Star. — London, England, 1803-04-30 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE. IN CONTINUATION FROM THE PRECEDING PAGE. HOUSE OF COMMONS, FKIDAY, APRIL 29. The bill (or improvirs the harbour of Briftol was read a Brit time. Mr•JORNSTON e brought up a Petition, complaining of an undue elation 4nd return of Charles Brooke, Efq. for the Bo • cough of llchefler, which being read— He move i, •Itat the tink for entering into the recognizance be enlarged, on at-cot:lit of Mr. I. Mat.ners's ill Rate of health. —After earug Mr. Walker, the Apothecary, who attends Wr. Mann , . rs. the time was enlarged 3o days. The Bill for improving the Harbour of Dyfart, in the County of Fife, was rt ad ahrft time. . . . . 'l'helttrort on the Coroners' Bill was ordered to be received on Monday. In a Committee on the Lunatics Eltate Bill, the Sot.tet•ro■ GENERAL propofed, that the Bill, with the alterations, Ihould be printed ; the Houle was refunied, the Report received, and ordered to he takeu into further confideration this day fe'nnight and prirted. Mr. ALEXANDER brought up the Report of the Committee, and moved for leave to bring in a Bill to enable the India Com • pany to raife motley for defraying the espences railing a cer tain number of Volunteert. Granted. _ _ Mr.!. H. BROWN e breught up a Petition from the Freehol- ! der% and Burgeffes of Nottingham, Rating the expediency of the Bill now pending relative to Eleetions,and praying that the I fame may pats into a law. Ordered to lie on the table. Mr. Fox prefented a Petition from certain other Freeholders and Burgeffes of the raid town of Nottingham, agalntt the raid Bill. He laid, that had the Burgeffes been aware of the Bill fooner, it would have been ligned by many more, at prefent there were not above 4000 names to it. (if levi.) Ordered to lie on the table. Mr. H. LA SCE LLe s brought up a Petition from the Wool. len Clothiers in Yorkthire, agaitift part of a Bill now pending, and praying to be beard by Counfel. Ordered to be referred to a Committee. DUBLIN UNIVERSITY ELECTION. Mr. JoHN FANS reported, from the Committee appointed to try the merits of the Dublin Univer fity Eleaion, that the Hon. Geo. Knox is duly eletled ; and that the Petition of Dr. Plunket was not frivolous or vexatious. NOTTINGHAM JUSTICES BILL Mr. I. H. BROWNS moved the order of the day for the fecond reading of the Nottingham lattices Bill, which being read, Counfel was ordered to be called in, and Mr. Serjeant Lens appeared at the Bar of the Houfe on behalf of the Mayor and Corporation, againfl the Bill. The Learned Ser jeant argued at fome length on the fubjed, and when he had finifhed, he was told he might with draw. As (non as he had done fo— Mr. I. H. BROWNE, the Chairman of the Sete& Committee, and mover of the Bill, role and re marked on the obfervations made by the Learned Counfel. He raid, the Learned Gentleman had argued, that if the Magidrates Were guilty, they might be punifhed. This was very true ; but the Committee had not charged the Magiftrates with guilt—their lenity would not permit them to at tach that degree of criminality to their conduft— they had only charged them with what was very apparent from the evidence, not having exerted that authority which the law had put into their hands, in order to prevent riotous proceedings, which they had fuffered to go on in favour of their favourite popular Member—and with another fpe cies of criminality, diet of fuffering the peace, of which they were the guardians, to be violated and broken. The evidence produced before the Com mittee, and which was partly forced on them, (hewed that great riots and tumults had prevailed in that place, when Candidates were favourites of the Corporation, not only at that elation, but at all others which had preceded it. If franchifes were given to any particular place, or any parti cular let of men, they were granted for public good, and not for private advantage ; and when they were perverted to ends and purpofes for which they were never intended, it was high time fame remedy fhould be applied to the mifchiefs to which they were made rubfervieat. He argued at fome length on the great power which the granting of licences gives to Magiflrates in eleftions, efpecially in a place like Nottingham, which war very po pulous, and contained not lefs than 30,000 inha bitants, who, in fuch large and populous towns, Were always prone to riots and diforders, and heeded a let of vigilant, aftive, and zealous Ma giftrates, anxious to promote and preferve the public peace, and at all times to fupprefs diforder ly proceedings, from whatever quarter, or on whatever behalf they might proceed. A pam phlet, he laid, had been fent to him, (hewing that the oppofite party to them had, in the years 1793, 3794, and 5795, committed the greatelt riots, and moll violent outrages, on the property and perfons of thole whom they called Republicans, whenever what they called good news arrived, which they fuppofed the Republicans did not like to hear of, and thole Magifirates flood by, and never attempt td to flop them. No man, he Paid, felt more warmly than himfelf the arrival of intelligence during the war, which announced the fiiperior cou rage and intrepidity of our gallant feamen or fol. diers ; but then he fhould be very lorry to fee or bear that any man, or body of men, lhould fuffer in their perfons or property, in defiance, and in breach of the laws, becaufe they were filed Republicans, or entertained different political opi nions from himfelf. Whether the Magifirates did this from any negleft of duty, or that they found their power unequal to the putting a (lop to fuch Blameful and illegal proceedings, and were there fore altuated by timidity, he would not pretend to fay ; it teemed to him, however, very clear, that the Magiftrates have loft their authority, and that it was highly expedient the Bill he had the honour to prefent to the Houk, to remedy this, fliould pats as loon as p efpecially as the Houle had agreed to four of the Refolutions of the Com mittee, and bad dete; mined that no reu writ (h um id due Fir Nottingham, till either the prcfent Bill Mould pars into a law, or that fome effettual rnea lure he adopted to preferve in future the freedom of Eleo ion in that :own. lie therefore thou g ht it his dt.t y to move, that the Bill be committed tr., a Cunin.iti t e of the while I Inure, and the} the raid Committee take place on Monday next. Mr. A NDF a sot. admitted that misioncinfl was very evident in the government of Notting ham; but esprelfed his apprehculii n that the MCA bite before the Houk would, by inveliing the Lc . , . , with the power of app , . ',mg ithwitrates, iuttricre with the flame of the A ;Li) of ;luny VIII. cap. 27, which confined that power folely to the Crown. Mr. Fox, in terms of uncommon force and ani mation, entered into a defence of the condo& cf the Nottingham Magiftracy, and replied to the in finuations thrown out againft them. He protefted againft the ufe of the word "lenity" as applied to thole Gentlemen—it was infulting and unjuft.— They were ready to anfwer any charges that could be brought forward. They defired to know the nature of their guilt, if any could be alledged, and the degree to which they were guilty ! But this was not done. They were not to be taken before any legal tribunal, but they were to fufFer from a kind of punifhment which excluded trial and de -1 fence. Did they requeft not to be profecuted ? No. Did they try to elude legal punifhment ? No. 'Why then talk of lenity ? Thofe refpeCtable Magiftrates were thus flandered by implication. and without any fpecific evidence, in the minutes of the Committee, or even in the words of their refolutions, to junify it. He wifhed that the in veftigation of their charafter fhould be left to the laws, that if they negletted their duty they fhould I he brought to the bar of the Court of King's Bench ; but that they fhould not he attacked in the (month and lenient ftyle in which fome gentle men had dealt ; that fuch a mode of punithment fhould not be inflicted upon them. It was the duty of the Committee to have afcertained and Rated I the degree of guilt which attached to the magic= tracy ; it fhould not have expreffed any doubt o n the fubjea. The Hon. Member who was Chair. man of that Committee had, indeed, Rated that many Members of that Committee were of opinion that the meafure now before the Houle was too lenient with refpea to the magiftracy—of this equivocal mode of conveying an imputation on the charatiers of refpeaable men he highly dif approved. The Committee fhould have fully ex plained their fentiments ; and the Hon. Gentleman in Rating the opinion of fome of his colleagues as i • to lenity, ought alfo to have Rated the grounds of I that opinion, for certainly nothing appeared in the ' evidence to junify it. No hints of this kind, tending to injure the reputation of men, ought to be fent abroad. The juftice and dignity of Parliament fbotild forbid it. He would challenge any Gen tleman to point out that part of the evidence be. fore the Committee which could in the lean de gree ezeufe it. He would only of c of Gentle men to take a full and candid review of the con. duff of the Magiftrates of Nottingham for fume years back. It was perfealy true that they had in many inflances, like prudent men, yielded to fome inconveniences, rather than by refinance ex pole themfelves to Rill greater. There exilted in this town, two parties exceedingly holiile to each other. They called each other by different names, as one party will not hefitate to apply any odious epithet to its adveifary ; but the generally under. Rood diftinaion was the old Whigs and the Tories. The latter party, favourable to the views of Go vernment, has been in the habit of abufing and ca lumniating all its opponents, and particularly the Corporation of the Town, the individuals of which they never ceafed to infult. The houfe and mills of Mr. Davifon, a molt refpeaable gentleman, whom he had the honour to know, were attacked; fo were the houfe and perfon of Mr. Oldknow ; and they were obliged to endure it. The power of Government was not with them. Thofe riots, however, provoked no Legiflative interference.— The impotent Corporation was left to fuller. There was no party fpirit to induce any Bill for their protection; but, in the year 18ox, a preffing ne ceffity for this important innovation on an old charter, is found to exift, in order, as it is pro feffed, to fecure the freedom of Election. Recur- I ring, however, to the attacks on Mr. Davifon and Mr. Oldknow, though they conceded much to the prevailing fury of the fpitit which then over-ran the country, and which bore down fo many great and good men, they were not quite paffive—they ventured to profecute one of the rioters, who, if fill in Nottingham, was no doubt a fubfcriber w the Petition juft prefented by the Hon. Member on the other fide ; but he hoped he was not to be one of the Magiftrates under this Bill. (A laugh.)— He cautioned the Houle to beware of the nature of this Bill, which went to eflablifh a precedent for the invafion of ancient charters—to take from the people the appointment of their Magiftrates. It was not a meafure•merely drawn to meet and reprefs riots; but to give to magiftrates appointed by the Crown a concurrent jurifdiaion with that of the Corporation; and for the purpofe, ton, of giving a triumph to that party in the town which had never been found backward in rioting. This was the fire cafe in which a popular tumult in any r Corporation Town was made a pretence for in vading the privileges of that Corporation. We had heard of riots at the eleftions of Norwich and Coventry, and yet it never occurred to any one to propofe, that the magiftrates of Warwickfhire or Nor folk thould have any jurifdiaion in thole towns. When the riots of London, in 1780, occurred, and Co much alarmed the country, no one ever fug gelled, though the maginracy of the City were in that inflance culpablynegligent of their duty, that therefore the maginracy ofididdlefex fhould have any concern in the municipal government of Lon don. The Houle had alfo, no doubt, in recollec tion, that the moft difgraceful riots had occurred at Birmingham, which was not, to be lure, a cor porate town ; but he quoted it in order to remark, that though filch outrages were then committed on fome of the molt enlightened and Oat men this country had ever feen, as ferved to fix a ftigma on the nation, yet no lii ong remedy was propofed. no redrefs was granted to the (offerers. On the con• tray, even an enquiry into the caufe of the diflut ances was prevented. So much for the impartcil fo licittide which fume Gentlemen felt to preferve the peace of the country. One of the arguments which the Honourable mover advanced for this lid! was, that Nottingham contained 30,003 peo• pl e ; and v. as not London, he would afk, a pnpu- Inns city, and was it to be faid that becaufe a town was popukus, it was good to transfer the Govern. mutt of it to the Magiftrates appointed by the Crown ? Another argument of the Honourable Gentleman arofe not of his profened anxiety to re *tore to the people of Nottingham the tight of re. turning a Reprefentative to that Houfe ; but why poltpone it fo long ? the reftoration to a man of what he had no right to lofe, is Rill robbery. This detention of the right is, however, attempted to be excufed by the affertion of the Hon. Gentleman, that the Magiltrates were unable to preferve the general police of the town ; but in oppofition to that affertion, he would quote the declaration of two of the Judges (Naires and Mac Donne!) which was highly complimentary to the fyftem of the Magi Rracy, and to the good order and regularity which prevailed under their government. As ano ther proof of the police of this town, he would re fer to the calendar of offenders tried at their af fixes t—he would a& any of the Judges who have gone that circuit for the laft ten years, whether they know of any town where a fmaller number of crimes have been committed ? This, he thought, would very fatisfaltorily (hew the Rate of the town, and he took the period of ten years for the corn- parifon, as it was the period referred to in the ac-' cufation. Though during that fpace of time this town was to be found under the government of forte of the molt enlightened men in the country, they, notwithtlanding their virtue and their talents, were condemned to !offer from popular fury more feverely, perhaps, than the members of any other party ; but yet things went on as fmoothly as in other towns agitated by oppofite political parties, until the late elation, when two candidates ap peared, and if the Sheriff had immediately return. ed them, or rather if Mr. Coke had not delayed in order to regitter fume freemen, the Houfe would have heard nothing of this bill, to prove the necef fity of which In many years diforder are now re ferred to. It is raid that the Magiltrates did not give a due oppofition to the riots which took place during the elation ; but he would call upon their accufers, what did they neglect -to do, and hew were they to blame ? for it did not appear in the minutes of the Committee that they were in any inflance culpable, though fume Gentlemen were now fo forward to condemn them and to infult their feelings with the affectation of lenity. Did they refute to do any thing which the friends of Mr. Coke requefted ? No ; except that of calling in the military to furround the booth, not to fecure the freedom of elation, but to dictate to the elec . tors. Was this their only crime I—was this the caufe of the reproaches they met with ? If fo, why not avow it ? Let them be charged with re jecting the application to make it a military elec tion, and try the event ; but don't let them be thus hardly dealt with ; don't let them be the victims of loofe, indefinite accufations. They were a body of Gentlemen entitled to relpeCtful confideration; fome of them he had the honour to know, and very highly refpated ; for all of them he felt that interelt which he ever fhould for men un• juftly attacked. He repeated his wifh, that if the Magiltrates were Guilty, they fhould be tried and punifhed, and his opinion was that no bill (tumid be brought in to wink at their guilt. Their guilt' , fhould not be made the ground for this bill, and if they were innocent, the BM was unjuitifiable•— What remedy could be derived from the inter ference of County Ma;iftrates in cafe of riots What means could they employ different from, or better than thofe in the power of the corporation ? Was it ruppored the mere increafe of the number of Magiltrates would answer; or was it propof ed to call in the Hi ceraitatut of the county to preferve the peace ? Of this he could not ap prove, but the bill, however, would be much lets objectionable if it authorifed the interference of county Magiltrates only in cafe of riots. It did not follow that becaufe on loch occafions their affillance might be neceffary, that therefore they were to participate in the whole municipal jurirdiaion of the town. This would be a deviation from the old eftablithed policy of this country ; for it would enable the Magiltrates of ihe King's appointment to rule over the Magiftrates of the People's elec tion. It would be extending that dangerous power of the Crown—dangerous he would call it, and the hiftory of the nation had (hewn the danger of it, for the firft attack of all thole who meditated the fubverfion of Briti(b liberty was upon corpo rate towns, upon thofe charters which formed the belt fecurity of popular rights and the molt effec tual controul on Minifterial power—Nottingham was about to lore its privileges for ezercifing its controul. The independent fpirit of its Corpora tion was to be the caufe of that privation. It was mockery to attribute it to riots; for riots had hap pened in almolt every corporate town ; and was that to be received as a reafon for invading char ters ? Was it to be (aid, 4 , becaufe the peace of your town has been difturbed by an elation riot; I your corporate rights (hall be done away, and we (hall give the Government of your town to the King's Magiltrates?" Such was the language of the Bill before the Houk. He had heard that at the end of the halt century a pamphlet was publifh ed. entitled "a (port way to the diffenters ;" and that he thought would be a very fit title to this I Bill ; for it certainly was a very fhort way to get I at the diffenters of Nottingham and to take away their rights. The provifions of this Bill, he again obferved, would not be quite fo bad if they ap plied to rights only ; if they were confined to that, 1 yielding to bad times and to bad principles, he perhaps, though he would not like it, might not oppore it ; but in its prefent fhape it was utterly in confiftent with his ideas of juflice or conftitutional freedom. He declared that he felt every rape& due to the Committee, but could not help (Merv. ing that their refolutions were very look ; they ought to have been more decifive. If men deferved cenfure in fuel) a cafe, they ought to pronounce it Rrongly. Their proceedings fhould not be fo doubtful, particularly when the charafters of men were concerned on the one hand, and tire free dom of elation on the other. He was ready to confers that he had his prejudices on this occafion, and that he always was dilpoled to take up a pre judice in favour of perfons cpmniated. He knew that to be the fad with refp eft to thole Gentlemen. —He knew that a number of idle ftories had been propagated refpating them, and the proceedings of the late elation, among which was, that a naked woman was, in the courfe of that elation, led in procellion through the town, as the Goddefs of Realon. This talc had ((mad its way into newri.a. pers and pamphlets, and a Learned Friend of his, whom he much refpeaed (Mr. Pigot) was even perfuaded to mention it in his opening before the Committee, though not a particle of evidence was adduced to prove it ; and though when it was of. fered by Mr. Birch's Coonfel to prove that no fuch thing took place, the Chairman declared there was no neceffity, as noMember of the Committee had the flighted belief of it; yet this fabrication is Rill re. peated, and it fully ferved to betray the falfehood and virulence of the fpirits which had circulated fo many reports refpeaing Nottingham. This he thought fufficient to warrant the prejedices he en. tertained againft the Ratements generally made with regard to thofe Magiarates. He alfo thought it of fuch a nature as fhould urge the Houle to be. ware of grounding a legillative meafuie upon fuch rumours ; and, above all, taking power out of the hands of refpdtable men, who enjoyed it under an ancient charter, and transferring it to the aw n by whom thofe calumnies had been fpread. Mr. BOND Paid he was of an opinion diarnetri. cally oppofite to that of the laft Hon Speaker, and would maintain the principle that all magiftrates nominated by the Crown were eonftitutionally created. The difcreet and learned Connie', wh o was heard againft the Bill at the Bar, fet out with all the caution that was neceffary for fuel' a tank as that he was engaged in. He attempted to call no witneffes, though he was entitled to do fo but argued, that the Bill itfelf was too wide for the ground laid down in the preamble. As a Mem ber of the Committee, he hoped to be indulged in Rating his reafons for the fupport he meant to give to this Bill, which holdr forth, in the language of one Hon. Gentleman ( Mr. Fox) an ;narking lenity to the magiftrates of Nottingham. He freely ac. knowledged that any Gentleman, in glancing over the voluminous mafs of evidence given before the Committee, might, from detached parts, find cir cumftances to juftify him in &yin the Mayor of Nottingham was deferring of praife ; but let him read the whole of it, and it would be ltrange if he would not find himfelf compelled to draw diffe. rent conclufion or elfe he mull have fome mod: of which he, (Mr. Bond), neither poffelfed nor envied. The magiftrates, in his opinion, and up on which he fhould not fear to Rake what reputa tion he had as a lawyer, were criminally anfwer able for their neglect ; at the fame time that there were circumflances of extenuation which would give preference to a snore lenient remedy. —On this ground, he and the advocates of the Bill, were anxious and Itudious to feparate the queftion of guilt from the meafure which they propofed to be adopted. As to the juftice of the cafe, he contended, that it was not to be dif. puted : this was not an invafion of any exifting right; for as the right of judicature was not given to any man for himfelf, but fro orfiori galersatore, the con fining or extending that right did not increafe nor dianinifh the value of it to any individual. It could not be denied that riots at Nottingham during eleaions,confidered as matters of prefcription were, " Than which the memory of man reacheth not farther." They teemed to be juffified on the fame principle, that a cook was Paid to have repelled the reproach of &inning eels, by [eying, rhry were arfd to is. They were the general courfe at actions there of all kinds. The practice of haseerky, or cutting off the fkirts of the coats of perfons voting for the unpopular candidate, took its rife at the elation of a Common Councilman, in the fame way as a fcene of impious violence was exhibited in a church at the ele6ion of a Churchwarden. With regard to the compliments Paid to be paid by the Judges, he would only Rate, that one Judge was fo difgu fled and offended at a riot, that he deter mined never to go that circuit again ; and another having complained to a fheriff, that there was a tumult in the Court, and being mildly anfwered by that Magiftrate, that he had no power to fupprefs it, declared, that if tranquillity was not reftored in five minutes, he would then immediately quit the town, and reprefent the proceedings in London.-- For once the menace was effeaual, the Magiftrates interfered ferioufly, and tranquillity was reftored. He totally difapprovcd of the idea of confining the interference of County Magiflrates to the time of riots only. No one could think of accepting fuck an office, nor could he conceive a much greater of fence could be given to a Gentleman, than to de. fire him to take out a dam: jelfgalars, and tell him at the fame time that he was not to exercife the authority of a Magiftrate, except it became ceffary to thrall his head into a riot. The prefect Magiftrates had powers which enabled them great. ly to countenance riots, by giving licenfes to ale houfes, which were made netts in which riots and turbulence were nourifhed. This bill would take away nothing from the prclbnt Magißracy, but, on the contrary, pour frefh fatal blood into a dif eared carcafe. Mr. Moots (of Coventry), in a maiden fpeeck declared his conviction that the Mogi(trate:, men tioned in the report by the Committee, were e x . tremely deficient in their duty, and wo rthy of ex. emplary puniffiment. The tubjeCt was one which he had tome means of underitanding with tome degree of accuracy, and he had no difficulty in Paying, after a careful examination of the evidence. that the Magiftrates had not ufed effectual means for the prefervation of the peace of the town. — Whether the Magifirates had failed in preferving the tranquillity of the town from want of inclina tion, or want of ability, he did not think the Bill afforded a proper remedy. If they were, as the Hon. and Learned Gentleman had defcribed, a dormant Magiltracy, then the law ought to be let loofe on them. If they were criminally inactive they ought to be removed from their office. He wiflaed individuals to be punilhed, but was an enemy to any encroachments on the Connitution. He was, therefore, an enemy to the Bill. The Hun. Member illatrated thefe points in a forcible manner. Mr. FRANK LAND fpoke in favour of a quick (hellion, in order that Nottingham (bould remain di little longer unreprefented as poilible. This he L id would be impeded by the delay of invelligation And trial. Mr. Guy replied to many of the obferyations of Mr. Bond, and remarked on the incontinency of hating at &Li that be winked to feparate the guilt