Star. — London, England, 1817-07-12 00:00:00

*sunder the Copyright Act, arra it beirig moved and agreed to that they be printed. , • Alt I3ANKES observed. that the object of the motion was to know hdw the books had been dispo sed 4.1 but only four .tenants bad arrived out of rine : Iron , the British Museum, Sion Coll.ge, and the Glasgow and Dublin Universities; and it als peate.: that in no one insrance whatever had such boas but sold. but all had been deposited in the libraries. He should theret• re wove that the order for printing these papers be discharge-4 in order to save the exoen-e, particularly as the returns were . incomplete. Tire sPLAKLR suggested, that rl it were t-'e •pleasurt a 4 the Hotne, the motion for printing had better he withdrawn, AS it was not regular to with drav to s.rder on the same day it was made. T!ris suggestion was agreed to. at 15'CK MASQUDADM Geneva! THORN TON gave notice, tbat neat Sersion he .hnsstd move r.,r le we to bring in a B 11 v , prevent Publec Sur►=cripr , nn M-sktivierade.—( Load toad totes:oat low:Ater from all'lra►tr of tie th. u .) PRENENT SITUATION Of THE cmarair. Mr. BROUGHAM said, if the present situation of the country pre,. oted that aspect which we ha.l been led to expect—if no extraordinary occurrence had marked the cornmence•eent of the Session:--and if, sit the close ot it. the House were to retire, lest ing tlo liberties of our Constitutionowtheir ancient fmairg, .snd the powers of the Crosin only as li., railed as that Constitutioa should keep them, be shoula have found it necessary to trespass once more tei the indulgence of the House in their present exhausted state. But, when he looked at the expec winos the country had formed, and the disappoint. meat of these hopes in the course of the Parliamen tary proceedings—and, efauve all, the footing On Which now stood the rights and liberties of each in. dividual member of the community ; he could not allow the House to be prorogued Without performing the nut very agreeable duty of 'rendering an account of shot it had done, and what it had not dune, and of endeairouring to carry to the foot or the 'ltirone 'spelt an Address as, during the Prorogation, might make a proper impression. It must be in the recut. lee inn of every man, that the distress of this coun try, for some months previous to the opening of the Session, WAS such that it was beyhnd all description. tic should nut attempt to describe it. It was, how. ever, too feelingly desteibed in the language oi many of the petitions that had come before the House; and the picture of it given by the Noble Member for Hertfordshire was indeed such as to render any de scriptioo of it unnecessary lu the midst of these grievous sufferings, it was natural that there should be great discontent amongst the people at tree mea sures of G .wernment, and an anxious desire for a change—( Hear, hear) —and that here and there there should have been partial excesses of a trifling extent. A variety of persons, inconsiderable in point ot weight and understanding, had certainly attempted to avail themselves of this distress for the worst of purposes. But amongst the reasonable people of Ibi s country—those who admired the stability of our etc. cellei,t institutions, there was a universal expectation. of relit f, particularly where the distress was moat deeply rooted, from the Parliament alone. It was here only that they found they could or ought to look fur relief. How had Parliament answered these ea. pectations ? They lied begun, not with measures tor relieving the people. but for destroying them. Be fore asking what tee> could do for them. thy had proceeue.i to take from them what they possessed, and Ashen they did inquire into their distresses, and• measures were proposed on his side of the House to relieve them—when it aas shewn that these measures consisted of a revision ,of our commercial policy, th'e answer made to such a proposition was, by adoption,, a motion, 's that the other Orders of the Day be now read." if, when the stairving people.turned their, eyes towards the House of • Colmns, and refused to be misled by demagogues, who told them that the Members were not the representatives of the People , —it any one had got up and said at a public meet ing, c‘ Why go there ? they will do nothing for you," he was sure such a person would oot have been sale. Wei had been said of the panaceas and nostrums of Parliamentary Reform, but they" had been derided even by the best and warmest friends of Reform; and the natural consequences of this great distress was to catch at straws. But as the House had dune nothing for these people, it might not be amiss to in quire whether the distresses of the country had been greatly diminished by the course ot nature? Un doubtedly there was a prospect of an abundant har vest, and he would fain hope thet the trade of the country lad reached its lowestierel. The effects of the late harvest had; he hoped, spent thernsAve: there was ,said to be a considerable increase in the value of land, though he thought this might be ex aggerated ; there was also a rise in the Funds, and there was every reason to believe that we should nut see the revenue so bad as it was five or six months ago. But that very harvest had had the effect of reviving out revenue by the opening of the ports-for the im portation of corn, which paid no duty. The falling off in. our commerce was the want of goods to im potv, and the want of riches, so that it could not fail to be observed that the opening of our pOrte for corn had been the prectical cause of the increase of our trade. But Use tear was, that this change might be' only tempoeary . as the cause - ivould soon cease. As to the list in the funds, there were two causes, per.' Omen; and temporary. The diminution of taxes and the aunual savings in consequeuee, of persons in trade;might have in some degfee improved them in the course of the last year, but the ',,ant of issue or vent for our trade, and the want of any other mcde of laying out our 'money, rendered this cause only tent. por. :y, and the funds muse, as soon as trade re vives, sa kto a lower lard. Therefore he could not look at their present state as an unequivocal proof of our prosperity. But when ant:. were down as low as ss. or 6s. per week for an able bodied workman in the weaving line, it could not seem that there vial earthing like a Tousiderable improvement in our ge ,• rend circumstances. Yet he hoped and trusted we; had sten the ,worst. • But this was no reason for the House to remain satisfied, and not proceeding to imyrOve the condition of the petiple, because that condition was a little worse SVOst e lair months ago.-- He denied the assertion that!Parliiiittpt could do nothing. A; long as any reY?ltdOerissiined Shashi their reach, tt was a breach tieduty to sit idle, kith, . • their atm. act oia, and wait the event. Now, what had been proposed, and what acted upon ? No man charged Ministers with the tonsequettses which must have been expected to happen by the natural transi tion from war to peace, however much blame might be thrown on them tor the conduct of the war. but it had been 641d,0ur system wants reviiion,which every great change rendered necessary. Revise your com mercial policy ; revise your financial system, for the purpose ut reJucing the taxes. These were the pro pitiations ; and how wire they answered ? The Right We. gentleman at the head of the Board of Trade had atftnitted the justice of every principle which he (Mr. Brougham) had ventured to lay down, on the subject of our commercial policy; and, in that me m wade candour of his disposition, still more memo rable from the result that followed it, he had said, that though he admitted all the principles that had been ad saneed,-Government must not act on one of them, because they were surrounded by conflicting private interests. Why were these conflicting inte rests submitted to There was the interest of the Baltic trade ; then came 'Canada and the Stripping int. rest ; and whit, it was asked, could be done ? Next c .me the iron and tie copper mercham, and they beiiiged the 13h.erd of Trade, and then it was asked what could he dcare with all these Ger.tl"men If we oppose the linen trade' of the N , .rth of Ireland. all these Gentlemen will come upon us in a body.— Stith was the, touching simplicity with which the Gentlemen opposite criticised their utter MAW:, y to do what they wished. So, said they, in effect-- •• We will move the Miler Orders of the Day, be cause we admit that what yon have proposed would greatly benefit the country; but the tittle paltry coo sideratioas of wood. iris, copper, and linen, have tied up our hands." But it the House had done its duty, it would have auiweved is Go on, and d you are not dismissed from your places for imbecility. we will back yoii, by the malt of a Comakut s e ut • I n • gitiry, and then.you eta no longer complain." The. House, however, bad thought proper to adopt the other course, and thirs,itt the third year sher a defi nitive treaty of • rieace we reinamed without any ra. &tonal attempt hilviug been made to restore the commercial And trading interests of the country...— Now it ith respect to our finances,-Gentieinen on his side maintained, that the Way to improve the rt venue' was by lowering the taxes, as by lowering the dunes they woOldincreare the amount at the cousumptian, and consequently of the income, while the people ' would be rclievsd from their burdens But Inc Right Hon. Gent!' man opposite would do nothing until he could reenact the lucerne Tax. Now he got' a loan from the Bank with interest ; then a loan wit., out interest ; then •n asses of Exchequer Bills, and similar expeditnis ; and, in short, the ettaticetlot• or the Exchequer's system w..s to fiase no system, but to live things as they were wider the sheering con solation of the rise in the Nods. tilt CIICUUIi.n• re. renuered it possible to revive amt tavounte child of his, of whom himielt and tne Right ainouratile Gentleman near him (Mr. Ruse,) were couttnuatit sinuing the d;rge. But he was Me they never w.O succeed—the} never could, till the House of Con- , mons became generally detestable and abandoned.-- With respect to foreign commerce, there was the same ant of articl,s of : importation Worn abroad, while we were pressed by the competition of foreign skill and foreign capital, so that the Finance Committ. s could resort to nothing but an average in their erpi. Mons as to the causes ot the revenue falling off. kit had been said, that though there was :we reason to believe the foreign trade would revive to some cx tent, there was but too much reason to believe it world never regain its former states This was his ryirson, and he maintained it still. There was an incapacity en the part of the Continent to take out goods, and their go' s , ing activity wt aid ger to su persede them. Our advantage lay in our skill and machinery—but at Vienna, Mulhausen, and other places, they find attained to so much like equal abi-, lay that those who reckoned on such manufactures being exclatively our own, would too soon find themselves under a great delusion. This brought hint to a topic .connected with our home manuflo.' tures. There was a Petition proposed by the Master Cotton Manufacturers against the exportation of Cot ton 1'144 which was to have been signed by two hundred thousand of the working people. It had been said that if things should remain in the same situation till next Session, there would be no diffi culty in persuading the House to enter into a full in vestigation bt the subject, and he should be one who would be Most ready ,to enter it. But though no body would be more anxious than himself to catch at every thing . that could afford the slightest relief to, those people, it was his duty to state, th a t th e m or e theioughly the project of prohibitieg the exportation if twist was investigated, die more it would be found to have the effect o! diniinishing the export trade, by the amount of the exportation, and die value of the article imported for it, and to increase the price of the article at home. The Honourable and Learned Gentleman proceeded to attribute much of the dis tress amongst the operating cotton weavers in dis tant parts of the country, and their reasons for joining persons of discontentedviews, to there being no per manent and' regular connection between them and their employers. He contrasted their situation with that of the clothiers i►i the West Riding of Yorkshire, where the connection was More regular and substan tial, and consequently there was less distress and ,disturbance, He argued that we h a d no b e t ter mans of bettering ou r g e ner al con di t i on t h an b y Fiding new channels for. our commerce. He ad verted to the Misting of a proper intercourse between ttlis*Governnient and South America; and observed that there 'was in this precisely the same imitates Want of system at in, all their other operations.-.- We had a Consul at Trinidad, but he only produced his commission after th e Spaniards.had revoked; While in Portuguese and Brittish America lie had no such officer. Every Merchant condemned the Governor of Trinidad, who had theists himself from the greatest to the minutest &toile of his Ge vernaient, hostile to the interests of the Indepen dents, and had caused in almost total interruption in the communications with the Spanish Main ; to that the price or prmrisions had been advanced about 1000 per cent. or from sd. per lb. to 55..6d. must beg to call, the attention of the House to the Manlier in whith 111iniste . rs had exercised that very L peopondeeaung influence whichsill the-eiciories abd credit we had with. the Allied Pdwersgeve as a right ,to exiled,. 04 - fact was worth a 'thoussed j mente, and this existed in the case of Cern, where a circumstance had lately taker place, which sheaved as great oppression and baseness on throne hand aslu ruination and indecision on the other. It was ;:mown that the King of Sardinia, though an aticii-lit aid legitim:re 3 , .vereign, and a model of legitimacy be WAS—(a:ugia!r) —was principally of our • eiesiiion'; he had been expanded by us into such a bulk, as to be almost called our own. We endowed him aid: Genoa, and the Congress decl red it to he 'a free i port. He prevailed cn the Chamber of Commerce, in which the British merchants had no repre.entaiire, Ito make him a donation to construct a large frigate, l and the assessment was carried over all the •British and Maltese merchants. These merchants were as.- 'sessed in considerable sums each; for shat was Called a vohintary contribution. Th:ty anlied to Mr. Hai, lour Resident, who told them tog:: to the Charittits of Cotnmerce• and make a complaint. They did so, ; but no answer was given for three or four months, and then they sent a soldier, who was quartered on every British merchant, and three tr.:ncs a•day le vied her his pay. Mr. 11111 said the Ci.atnber tit Commerce could not be justified, •but them ss As 110 1. help for the metchants, and they had nothing to Jo hut to submit, as there was no means of fedi, ss But the Noble Lord had consulted the K ng's A dvo cate upon a halt-,tatement of facts, aid no more, and it was made to appear that the extortion was contributed in the shape of a fax ' • on which the King's Advocaat decided that the laws of nations .ad not been violated Such conduct on the part of AO Ally, was an insult to us, a:id s mere mockery of J ustice. It was a mockery to say that the Noble Lord could have used no influence but sat silent, and made no representation or. attempt to obtain redress. R struck him that this was an act ineacosable. and shameful on his part. But was it to be endured, that the British Merchants were to be thus 'treated and insulted by such little petty contemptible Sovereigot, steam:ea of our own policy, and not to be protected? He next advered to the preference shears) at Genoa to. articles of French manufacture, particularly wool. len cloth, which paid only three or * font per cent. while (sues paid seven ; so that. no cloth could be id future exported from this country to •slie.ging of Sardinia's territories. He specified •Tsbasemos Antler duties to whicießritish commeice seas subjected, and argued that it was illt.pOSSlbic we cupid expect any commercial facilities from Russia, A uatria,or France, alter we had suffered ours< lvea us be so treated with impunity by such a little patty King. Alter come, severe animadversions en the propensity of Ministers in attempting to follow the military mania of the Continental Powers, he adverted to the large armies winch those Powers were still keeping on foot ; cot one of them having attempted to reduce them sipce the Peace. From this Circumstance he augefed speedy political shock, nutwithstanding the Holy Alliance, of which Russia was the founder, hut who had always had views of aggrandisement at the ex ven,e of Turkey, and mho could easily compromise with Austria, who seemed to entertain similar views towards that Power. He proceeded to comment on the hue of conduct lately pursued with respect to Lucien Bonaparte. Toe course which had been taken by the Allies lie compared • with that adopted uy that Ilouse on -Dyott's Divorce Bill. The Petition. preseuttd by Lucien for a passport had been turned into an enactment against him ; and not. only did' uiey refuse to allow him a passport, but they also b. dtct.led against granting one for his son, lest this should enable Lucien to cover his designs, and effect his escape to America. He was sorry to see the .name of the Duke of Wellington connected with this transaction. Such, however, he must observe, was 'the mania.. for mixing up military authority with 'diplomatic arrangements, that he should not be sur prised if he were shortly to hear that Lord Stewart, the Minister of this country at Vienna, was not to yet as diplomitisttehad been accustomed to do, but on the instructions which he might receive from the Military Commander in Chief. In answer to the application of Lucien Bonaparte for passports, it had i been stated, that the number of malcontents who had found their way to America was so great, that his presence there might be dangerous. He wished to know what danger could be rationally apprehended from such 2anan going to America ? What • was there to be feared from a man like Lucien Bonaparte, 'devoted to literary pursuits and to poetry, who spent his time in collecting specimens of painting. engrav ing, and statuary, and in making researches after the remains of antiquity near his seat, at Tuscultini ? 'Che conduct pursued in this instance resembled the policy of the peace of Westphalia, concluded in - 16443. ' He recited the answer given to the application of Lucien, and the decision come to by the Allies to remove bids farther from the coast, and to assign him some other abode than Rome. Was it :Worthy of the Allies, or of England, •to act such Sara 2 After•all the exertions made by this eonitft, was it well that its influence should be exhausted way—that it should be used to remove an individual' from the dominions of an independent Soiereign . If, in this enlightened age, a Convent had been ran sacked in order to draw from it a Monk if such : a character had been taken from his beads and resariel to be made. an independent Sovereign, it should be remembered that we had been the means of setting him op. and had no right to interfere with his :tali's,- rity now. We had however taken upon ourselves to act, where we had'no occasion to de so, tier' recelyins news that an individual was about to'prio'‘apd,tii America, le order to . assist the plots of the:Mal - con-. tents wao wereplready there.. Now, from'all 'that he had heard of the peaceable and decoreus•conduct of Lucien Bonaparte, both while he was in ibis cotin try and while he was abroad, where his actions were most sedulously watched, he had reason to believe that the news which bad been received concerning him was like that furnished by some of the Agents of•the . Noble Lotd for the Home Department. Such persons, anxious to be enabled to dispatch a courier with a great bag, or a little ;crap of paper with a broad seal (for these things were the luxuries of such Agents), it they could not discover any mischief, 1 would endeavour toin a k e so m e . H e could riot but suspect that the subordinate spies, who had furnished the inlormatiop received against Lucien l3onaparte, resembled the Olivers and others that might be mentioned in this country. He next animadierted ou the mismanagement of the patronise of the :ereiga offieeri..He . had nothing to say against the two most respectabbr °hit* , now. representing this country its tiusttla;itad Russia, 'but to appoint twe .. iclii;er:, to i • tltt:a...cr.; like dote enitEded try th. - r, I:el.; ntime of that tr.:nit delicate brand: of pt:rona r , -. 1 - I'? had talktd with ref-sous of till ecuntrieb t•ss subjezt of these ap;,ostantents, and he t: Vienna, end at otlicr places, title was but as to dr_ fitness of Lot t! titt,ar to tiii that at ion which or :tow held, lie litmr,tutd the prr . binoal tuerih of that galtant'Officci, tet 'sot! pointment he had eve, y Miele tOilild a monied (.1 . ,rat with scow, and of hlgne ioith ether: tut who regretted a n d elm blamed it the most had ,: •'. been IA er ready to de justiee to his prieete chores ! • AO te his military talents. The appointment ve i objectionable, as it ought only to hew been pie-e te one who bad been bred up in tile diplomatic I;ne He hastily noticed the Consuls lately appoitio e• . which, he contended, were such es ofkcteci neer e - on those with whom they eriginated. It iereahee. for him to mention the posture of the tourney ih a v.-esti:whiled point of view. He lemented tenet tee I hopes which had been entertained that the Catholics would be .I,fiiiitted to a full participation in the bless ings et the Censtitution, had ended in bitter direr punitment. New strength had been naked (for it was in vain to Attempt tQ disguise the tact) by bign.• try and misgovensment, and the means of raicinl' a. new cry of " No Popery" had been secured. On this riceasion he thoteest he could descry as entrusted to cert sin hands—hands well ktiewu too—•.lie repeth tion of .4 well known intrigue. This was sure, that, whatever the design might be that had been forine ',.. enough had been done to chimp the hopes ot 11:1 country. The question which had been dr.post:d of was not merely, whettienthe Catholics slif,uld he a ,1 ... mitred to such and such offices, from which they had heretofore been excluded ? It was, whether tl,is Er that branch of patronage should be given to cne per ticuler branch of the community ? ein the qiies.he at issue was, whether or not Ireland should be 17 Al governed ?—lt Was necessary that the claims of the Catholics should be conceded, to rescue -heel frorn 4 situation which in some eeepects was not superior to that of the Negroes in the West Indies. lie ea of wan . to say that in colour or. iultreattnent they . were thename ; but the comparison which fie •mada .43 was this, that they were lihe the Slaves in the enlo o flies in being el.stiegnishcd from their fellemesubjects.: The• Protestants mad •Cadudics tould not consider eachoTher"as' brothers 'and fellow-subjects. Ih class' respect theinsitnaiion*Weiesimilar to Met of the NE !•giciekh—bah with •.this difference, thlt a distinction sees, id the one case, stamped tenthe hand of Nature; in the other, it was created by foolish, atistilieiinht . 'almost say, by wicked leigfileel Till Caiholie. emancipation should he granted.: Yllepoirle sit Ire. lend would never unite heart in leanehneithetris coon try. The• present system must ptote fele) se the finances, and not much less so to the liberties ,el, Eng. land, as, it made an enormously iatge standing allay • nec.cisirr to lhecurity Of1(1.4:1111:::qt.' At pewit theC:itlibliei 'were- 'not the only sit ffsiu . ..ii;gi An eye. tern pursued by Ministers. It WA.: in thieSeitihn Of Parliament that, for the first titre since she Reecho,- Lion, in a period of profound peace, and vileit liore• was no risk - of the public safety Oat-could .. ire a child, the liber ties of the people were conllded to the Ministers of the Crown, not merely for a limited pc ' riod e .but "Arent( bene placilo." it was importaut to• cuneider by what hands the n' Code was to be used. . He would assume the•Nuble Lord eppotiLto • -have' been wholly ignorant. at • olee time of whit passer( ie Ireland in 17h8, when the victims of the te4feertiment were taken to the Ceele, end thence to the Bairacirs, where they were Rouged till their bones appeared through their skin-nay, till their flesh was newly* cut off Item their bones, when gunpowder and salt were rubbed into the wounds, till the moo excruciae ting torment. was endured,--and then, without re. prieve, a new punishment had been inflicted. '• One titan had brought an action for having been 113eghtle (he shuddered to relate the fact) till his bowels ap e peered through his wounds, when an attempt was . made to dispatch him, by throwing him into a den.. peon for six or seven days, without afferdieg !inn any inedieel assistance. If then such tortures as the:. could be infloted in Ireland without conking to :he knowledge of the Noble Lord, for the avowed pare pose et extorting coutession of crime, what security could the people of England-now have, th.t whee he tat in Downing -street, ti. same enormities weeld not be practised in Cornwall er Yorkshire? He il lustrated his argument, by refer - rine to the cost ei Wright o. Fitzgerald, in which the defendant had avowed that he tortured those who were appicheened, in order to Obtein the' truth. This man had been supported on that bee-Asian by the son of the Ceitf Justice (Mr. Yelverton), and wilco he :applied for a Bill of Indemnity, the applicethei was senctit tied hT the Attorney-General, who hoped the hose would grant one nueni mous voice. He Ohl Pot now a pprelw nd: that tho ehtehre. would be applied in Eng. land, but be • was alreid, thht unfertuthete p-ienna would •be •drekged hoinAeir'hornes, and corieeed e with* hiving deserved suctcpuniduneffte its se:eery dungeon':; and. ;t'lTdi Abet' which Ite, tiered could not be guarded against by . all thoesagecityht the Noble Secretary of • State for the 'Home ; Djpartne nt. or by that of die Ai& genouniple Gentleman oppo site. Vseffee nUkee :circumstances, _lte; throve h: the House s House, of lei ironing the All for suspending the 1 e. - bea's" i:hseptie Act, otrgaltedo all they could to ?° 3 '•,d gal . l4l,tl l epower 3 which they had eetrueod t• be n . Moen being huse &e 1.,. by eerie ying up an addrees t 0.... the •ThYonv, .ps.iyitige that' emit *tenth:realise:id be raid to - those who mightfie.cotifieed,iindet the Ha. beat cfir44ll.Si'Aspeiiiiiip - A tc, kie• a pti le I: 1 7 -!..1 L.' i: -C ll 'Hos di fer,e.feagili.of kii,s e sgeOsili;eae aiso ,tor skit oh the Address which he hoeseitininita iabueit to tl:ent. He then moved •a veneelinbg 44dress, einixecing , with littre•naiietne neei•lx ail the topics toseerehrti ded in hi: speech,- Lord.cAsr4EßEAO4Saido.it Was Si'lg°l3 t. . e Hen.,pnd Learned Cendernan :hid en Vol; delayed bringing forward the qUelehedsivolved in his se.och, manyeot which, .from deiii4 4 eareneabstnot imp:- taieo, might have- jblihtleil *watt end dieisiso mo nhtis lid discustionn . bot • Abie. li.imaJ, b.: a. , lenge: paradoxical, it it contd - tee slipposed thei thc °hie" o ta l k . e thLl-lo u tr i . l b :, l . e ,il e t tit y Le b. ,: . i i it „ Lo . . c, , , , ... d it a .m .::. w z 7:- case .iAainsc Ministers, at a movirrit when they iiiight , b ,,, e lr u . n )L ee l p h a t red il t o o n me a e n t d it t in ea a r l l h : i d ts u pic el. ii e c ir u n t —l ha i d icar ta: voive.l the House with a leng speech ; out, toe lrs part,. he could not di.cover the argument of it; le, hed deed: it:hies:4 eed:llibcral oncrtiono e epeprearcd I