Star. — London, England, 1821-02-09 00:00:00

but for the expression which he has chanced to use, in endeavouring their attainment ; and I am sure your Lordships will not think it necessary, in such a case, to mark your judgment with a vindictive cha racter. My Lords, the judgment of the Court will cast no ignominy upon Sir Francis Burdett ; it is not meant to cast ignominy upon him :—I may say it cannot cast ignominy upon him ; it will not convict him of entertaining any objects inconsistent with the habits of his life, or with the welfare of his country. My Lords, in one uniform course of conduct Sir F. aacis Burdett has lived ; he has steadfastly main tai:ied certain princi r t!es, and he is now too old to reform ; he bows implicitly to the judgment of the Court upon the terms of his letter ; to the last mo ment of his life he will maintain the sentiments which it expresses. My Lords, the painful duty which it has been my lot to perform is almost at an' end. I know your Lordships will look at the ques tion with that candour that belongs to you. I feel that, however you may punish my client's expres siJas, you will acquit him upon his motives. I know that you will feel, as the defendant has felt, that in those motives and intentions there is not anything unbecoming the character of an honest man, and of an English Gentleman." Mr. SCAIMETT then sat down. During the whole of his speech the most profound silence was observed. lie delivered it with a feeling and impressiveness which was calculated to produce, and did produce, the most powerful effect. Mr. DENMAN folowed on the same side, and jus .Cfied the indig nation which the defendant had ex pressed, by a reerence to the narrative of the transac tion, as published in the Newspapers at the time. He I was satisfied, that as the persons concerned in that outrage had not been eiposed to a trial before a pre judiced Jury, their Lordships would not sentence the individual to a severe punishment for expressing those feelings too warmly, which it would he a libel on their Lordships to suppose they did not share in com mon with him. Mr. Plitturs, Mr. BLACKBURN, and Mr. EvANs, each briefly addressed the Court on the same side. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL rose and said, that if it were possible he could indulge any personal feeling towards the defendant on the floor, some temptation was afforded him by the speeches of the Learned Counsel who had addressed the Court. But his Learned Friend (Mr. Scarlett) who had addressed the Court with so much feeling and discretion, had done him no mute than justice in acquitting him of. any such sentiments. The Learned Counsel pro ceeded to argue, that the innocency of the defendants motives was no apology for the improper nature of the language. The language, he contended, had an effect different from the motive now given to it by the defendant's affidavit. That was an offence for which he now, in the exercise of his duty, called for such judgment as the Court thought it merited. The SOLZCLTOR-GENERAL said, the case had been so fully brought before their Lordships, that he would not occupy the time of the Court with any observations upon'it. Their Lordships consulted together for about twenty minutes, during which time Sir FRANCIS BURDETT (having risen from the place which he had occupied on the Attorney's Bench) stood on the floor of the Court. Mr. Justice BAYLEY then rose, and proceeded to pronounce the sentence of the Court. His Lordship said, that it was impossible the Court could proceed to pronounce judgment on a case which had occupied so much of their attention, without a close and careful review of all the circumstances connected therewith. —ln looking at this libel, it was but reasonable that the Court should lean to the recommendation of the defendant's Counsel, and pause to consider of the motive of the Honourable Defendant. It was true, indeed, that a difference of opinion took place in , Court respecting the proof of the publication of the libel in Leicestershire; but then it must at once be seen, that had a new trial been granted in Leicester, it would have . availed little to the defendant, for the proof required might at once have been supplied. As to the motive of the Honourable Defendant,.who had the candour at once to avow his being the au thor of the libel, the Court had looked into the de fendant's aitdavit of this day, in which he states that he had no intention of exciting the people against the Government, but that his only desire was to call his Coastituents together to assert their right of Peti tion upon an occurrence which he believed to be a violent and dangerous infraction of their rights.— The , tive of course was an important consideration for the Court; where it appeared obviously bad, it was a high aggravation of the offence; but where, though not bad, the inl?oence of exercising it was yet perni cious, a party, whatever were his motives, must be held by law as responsible for the consequences of his acts. It must be allowed, that this Letter was written at a moment of great excitement; and it was obvious that that Letter, coming from a man of such rank and character, must greatly add to that excitement. True it was, that the Letter was written (as indeed from its style is apparent) in great haste, and under the in fluence of highly excited feelings. The Honour able Defendant had just (as he himself had stated) read in some Newspapers a statement, which repre sented that men, women, and children, peaceably as sembled, had been cut down by an armed force, in cold blood. GOD forbid, that in this country any man should read such a statement as this with. out horror and indignation. But the Honourable defendant should have recollected, that he had no right to assume the facts to have been so from a statement in a Newspaper. He should also have known, that the crime which had excited his indignation was the highest known to the laws, and the proof of which would reach to the life of the party or parties committing it. The Hon. Baronet should, therefore, have borne in mind, on so impor tant and solemn an occasion, that the law secured for every man, whatever were his crime, a cool and im pat :aid trial ; and that to excite the public mind while yet the party was open to the tribunals of the law, was to disseminate a prejudice from which it was the espe cial object of the law to protect every individual. The Hon. Baronet had also assumed, without the smallest proof, that the Government was a premedi tating party; to the outrage on which he had made so strong a comment. It was for these reasons that the Court looked upon the publication of the Hon. Baronet's letter as a libel, and, in its collective capa• city, pronounced upon him for the said offence, -•, the fqllowing sentence, • which was—ll That Sirl FRANCIS BURDE7'r do pay to the.. King a fine of Two Tkeusand Pounds; and that he be imprisoned in the King's Bench fur the space of three jiill Months. The worthy Baronet made a low bow to the Court, and the announcement of the sentence was received (no doubt from its comparative mildness) with loud demonstrations of applause, which called forth the reprehension of the Court. The Ilonourable Baronet was congratulated by his friends who were in Court, among whom, in addi tion to the names we have before mentioned, were, Mr. LAMBTON, Sir ROBERT WILSON, Mr. BENNETt, and other Members of Parliament. On a back seat, behind the Counsel, was seated Mr. FIOLIAS SLOINIER. The sentence was received without the walls of the Court by acclamations from an immense concourse of the people.—Sir FRANCIS soon after got into a hackney-coach, accompanied by Mr. HOBIIOUSE, and prOceeded to the King 's Bench l'i ison. Apartments had been for some days prepared for the reception of the worthy Baronet. PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF LORDS, FEBRUARY a. The Earl of ROSSLYN presented a Petition from theTnhabit ant Householder - 3 of the City of Edinburgh. It was signed by no less than 10,500 persons, and every possible care was taken, that in order to make it as unobjectionable as possible, none who were not inhabitant householders of Edinburgh, should put their names to k; and that none of these should be under eighteen years of age. Ile believed that no Petirim ever had a more respectable set of signatures, nor was there ever one that ottgre fully and generally spoke the sense of a body of people, who were as intelligent, as enlightened, as well informed, and as capable of acting, on all occasions, conformably with the princi ples of the Constitution, as any other set of men in the king dom. The Petitioners prayed that the queen's name might be restored to the Liturgy, and that ber Maje; , T. y might be rein stated in all her lawful and just rights.—The au( ir was read ; and ordered to lit on the table.—The Noble Erri nest presented a Petition from the Isicarporated Weavers of Eas: and West Anstruther, in th.t County of Edinburgh ; and another front the Inhabitants of 1 Lrinye, in Ayrshire, to the sane eifect.—Ordered to lie on thetabie. DECLARATION OF THE ALLIED POWERS. Earl GREY called the attention of their Lord ships to the circular note that bad been published by the Allied Sovereigns at Troppau. Although an official copy of that Paper bad not been received, he understood that the circular which appeared in the public journals was substantially correct. He was sorry, however, to find that the answer given by his Majesty's Ministers to that Paper was not so sa tisfactory as lie expected. Therefore, as it would be necessary to have some further information laid be fore the House on this subject, in order that the Pub lic might have a clear understanding as to the con duct that bad been pursued by his Majesty's Go vernment, he gave notice, that on Monday next, he shoyld move for such information. Respecting the 'circular issued by the Allied Sovereigns, he had no motion whatever to make, but he supposed there would be no objection to mention the date of its being first communicated tO our Government? The Earl of LIVERPOOL said he should have no objection to give the Noble'Lerd every information in his power ; bnt he should abstain from giving any opinion on the subject of the Paper referred to, un til the motion was made on Monday. As the Noble Lord had observed, the circular of the Allied Powers which he had seen in the public journals, was substantially correct. His motion on Monday would give him (Lord Liverpool) an opportunity of explaining the conduct that had been pursued by his Majesty's Government. He should, however; be glad if, before that time, the Noble Earl would take an opportunity of describing to bias the particular I Papers he intended to move for. Earl GREY hoped the Noble Lord would have no objection to produce copies of such instructions sent to his Majesty's Ministers abroad, as were referred to in the answer that had been laid before the House, and as having been communicated to those Ministers. The Earl of LIVERPOOL said he should have a strong objection to produce the Papers just alluded to, and on Monday next he should state his reasons for that objection. Lord HOLLAND asked if the secret Article en tered into between Austria and Naples, on the 12th of August, 1814, had been communicated to this country at the time ? The Earl of LIVERPOOL replied, that he had no hesitation in saying that his Majesty's Govern ment had been no party to such an arrangement. Lord HOLLAND said he had not asked whether this country had been a party to any Treaty between Austria and Naples, for it was not pretended that any such thing had taken place. All he wanted to know was, if the Treaty entered into by those Powers had been communicated to his Majesty's Govern ment at the time? The Earl of LIVER POOL could not take on him self to say whether it had been communicated pre cisely at the time, but it was subsequently made known to his Majesty's Government. GAME LAWS. Lord CALTHORPE observed, that in the course of the last Session of Parliament, he had moved for a Return of all Offences and Convictions under the Game Laws, that had occurred within a given time. These returns had not since been made, and he felt it necessary again to move that these returns be made forthwith. From the information, however, which had since been communicated to him, he had reason to apprehend that these returns, ,when made, would convey but a very faint and imperfect account of the offences that had been committed against these laws. He was not aware that any Parliamentary document would be sufficient to give the information which he required. But his object in moving for the returns was to shew what little effect any alteration in the! Game Laws could have in checking the vicious prat= tice so generally complained of. This practice, which was the origin of almost every other crime;• had been encouraged and favonied by the existing state of society, to which the great wealth arising from commerce held out an encouragement that was almost irresistible. When lib moved for the returns last year, he expressed a hope that the warm philan thropy of the Legislature would not suffer the Game Laws to remain as they now were; and he had to ex= press his regret that the controul which the other House of Parliament had exclusively 'over money bills, went 'to preclude that House from adopting any effectual measure for the suppression of this evil; Ibut he entertained a sanguine hope that this mea- ' sure would be brought under the consideration of , • • their Lordships in the present Session of Parliament:l and it was with a vie+M•to prepare their Lordships minds for the subject that he now addressed them. He tken moved fora Return of all the Informations and Convictions that had taken place under the Game LaWs, from the year 1814 to the present time; also for a Return of the Number of Informations and Convictions before Magistrates at Petty Sessions during the same period, so far as they could be made out.—'These motions were agreed to, and the House adjourned. • HOUSE OF COMMONS. The House was occupied with private Petitions until within a few mlnutes•to five o'clock, this tieing one of the last days fixed by the Orders of the House fur receiving them. Mr. 'STUART WORTLEY presented a Petition from cer tain Woollen Cloth Merchants, praying thzt a Select Committee of that House might be appointed to inquire into the present mode of marking and stamping Woollen Clutbs.—Ordered to he printed. The Honourable Member also presented another Peri tion of a similar nature from Leeds.—Ordered tr. be printed. M. LEE KECK presented a Petition. from the !Inuit:holders and other Inhabit:4ns of Salesby, hi the county of Leicester, praying the Ilouse to procure the restoration of the Queen's name to the Liturgy.—Lald on the table. On the motiim of Mr. CI; (LIVEN, the 13111 for the'pqnection of Patent Rights was read a first time, and ordered to be a second time on that day fottnight. The Bill was also ordcred to be printed. AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS. Mr. CUR\VEN presented a Petition from the Far mers and Agriculturalkts of the County of Glouces ter, representing the distresses under which they la boured, and praying ti.e liciise to inquire into the same, ,with a view to I]:ein relief. lie beggedpardon of the Howe for calling on their attewion while he made one or two obset rations on the Peti• tion entrusted to his care. The present average price of grain, he observed, was so low as six shillings per bushel. One shilling more in the price of the bushel would amount, on all the corn produced in this coun try, to a sum not less than L:5,0(10,000 sterling. If the price were raised to eight shillings, that is, two shillings more than the present p: ice, which he thought might be a saving pt:ce to the farmers, the sum It ould amount to 4:10,000,000; and if the price went to 10s. per bushel, it would make a sum of E 20,000,000. Ile had made these calculations, and thought them well worthy of the attention of the !louse.—The Pe tition was ordered to be ps hued. TIIl: QUEEN. • Lord EBRINGTON rose to present a Petition from the Freeholders and inhabitants of South Molton, in the County of Devon. The Petitioners stated, that they felt disgust and indignation at the late abomina • ble proceedings instituted against her Majesty the Queen. They prayed for a restitution of all her rights and dignities, and also for the dismissal of his Ma jesty's Ministers. The Noble Lord said, he had been instructed to state before that house, that 970 signa tures were obtained to the Petition in the course of eight days; that of that number seventy were resi dent freeholders, and the remainder of the signatures belonged to the yeomanry of the place, the great ma jor ity of whom had signed the Petition. He was per sonally acquainted with the Petitioners, and he could assure the House, they were of the y reatest respecta bility. He begged to state, that a Loyal Address had been got up from the same place, expressing loyalty and attachment to the King :rid Constiortioa. To this Address only 183 names had been aliixed, al though it lay a long time open for receiving signa tures. At the head of these were the names of the Clergyman and the Parish Clerk, five Officers of Ex- 1 cise, the Supervisor, and Postmaster. He should not have troubled the House with these observations, had not the Noble Lord opposite and his ti icnds been con stantly in the habit of asserting, that the sense of the country respecting the late proceedings could be best collected from these Loyal Addresses. Let the num ber of signatures affixed to the Petition be opposed to those subscribed to the Address, and the former would be found far to exceed the latter. Besides, he could assure them, that some of those who signed the Ad dress had also signed the Petition. Sir R. FERGUSON said, that though he was not acquainted with the County of Devon, yet he wished to avail him‘ell of that opportunity to make one or two observations on the subject of Corporation Ad dresses, to which the Noble Lord opvosite looked for the sense of the country. lie begged to st:,ur, that in the Borough of Burnt Island, in Scotland, a Loyal Address had been carried, and that that Address had been printed in the Gazette, as from the Minis ters and Elders. Only thirty signatures were to the Address; and of the three Clergymen in the town, only one signed ; and of the four Elders, only one.— Out of the thirty who signed, two were non-residents, and fourteen in the pay of Government—(Hear, and a laugh).—The Petition was ordered to be printed. Lord EBRINGTON presented another Petition from the Parish of Bunnytravy, in which the Peti tioners complained of the general distress which pre vailed all over the country, and prayed that Honour able House to inquire into them. They also prayed for Parliamentary Reform. The Noble Lord made some observations on the propriety of attending to the prayer of the Petition.—Laid on the table. Mr. MONCK presented two Petitions, one from Hungerford, in the County of Berks, and another from the town of Newbury. The Petitioners felt in dignant that the Prayers of the Church should have been refused to the Queen, and wished all further proceedings against her to be discountenanced.— They earnestly prayed fire a reduction of taxes, and for a restoration of her Majesty's name to the Liturgy. The Hon. Member observed, that the Petition from the Inhabitants of Newbury, prayed to be exempted from the charges of sending representations to Par liament, from whom no benefit was to be expected, while the constitution of the House remained the same as it then had, been. The people of Newbury, although they had complained of having lost their old trade, yet had gained a new one, which, although. he believed it came under the denomination of those trades called contraband, he believed not to b e par ticularly offensive to the Gentlemen on the Troastn y Bench. He thought the public opinion entltled to respectable attention ; but ..c confessed he was not one of those who thought r populi, vo.r Dci. It may be very often mistaken. He might instance the cry of. "no Popery," which was raised in this coon try some years ago, and on which his Majesty's pre sent Ministers, got into the,possession of power. Ile thought that an expreision of popular feeling, which was tar from being identified with consummate wis dom. He added, that be entirely concurred with the Petitioners in thinking that there could be no tranquillity in the country until her Majesty's name !hould be restored to the Liturgy were ordered to be printed. Mr. DENNISON presented a Petit County of Surrey, praying for an econoi the correction of abuses, tad the rests Queen's name to the Liturgy. He st: Petition came from a body of men as in the count• y, and in the pryer of i nine tenths of the People coati' red. Lord AurnoilPE ho:e testimony order and respectability of the Meeting Petition was agreed to. When the w 1 joined in the request that her Majesty* be restored to the Liturgy, he would that their request was not granted, if not teach him that the Petitions of the little etFect in that House. Mr. MAI3EIILY, jun. in supporti, of the Petition, took occasion to express probation of the conduct of Ministers, though it might be imagined by same, and emoluments of power wete no rect its cares and anxieties, still he thought jesty's Ministers displayed an anxiety lot which did not by aay means illustrate r Sir W. DE CP ESPIGN Y also suppoi of the Petition. Mr. C. CALVERT, after adverting ration of a Noble Lord (Castlereagh), thL_ wish to retails office longer than he possessed fideace of the country, begged to refr County Member (Mr. 11. Sumner) for to what was the sense of one of the la►ge st populous counties, at the Meeting where • was adopted. Ile night also refer hie the expressions of another Noble Lord, the Meeting, and who there declared, at, in another place, that he user witnessed cletly, impartial, and respectableNeetir Member for Surrey himself was aware tion was adopted by a great majority friends of that Hon. Member d►d not only be accttunted for by the consciousnt of the badness of their cause. Mr. H. SUMNER felt it necessary words in answer to what had fallen on of die House. He did not mean to imi spectability, tiality, and good cot Meeting; but woaid any one say that consisting of about 600 pet sons, or tali those who were not freeholders, of above expressed the real sense of a large poi'. Whoever supposed so was greatly deli asked, why his friends did not' attend He would answer, that the terms of the were so moderate, and altogether of a promised to produce so little dilleren, that he felt himself justified in suggest' of his friends, that as the Minister avowed that no proceedings would be ret the Queen, there was no necessity for then Had the Meeting confined themselves tr the Requisition, he would have joined but the Requisition had been exceeded. part of the Requisition that a Resoluti was to be passed upon his conduct? the conduct of the lion. Gentleman t ungenerous, and unbecoming in one Met liament to another, in bringing forward Lion at all, and especially after the Petiti sohrions had been asreed to, and after had gone away. He had only to repeat, Nlcieting, as far as it went, was certainly and as to its good order, impartiality, Lion, was a model of imitation for the w. He did not consider it at all offensive the entrusted with the presenting of this ('en contrary, he felt it A great relief not to: to do so in a case where his oi:inions wt. at variance with the sentiments of the Petii Mr. MACI)ONALD would assure the 7 Member for Surrey (Mr. Sumner), that the Meeting witi.out the slightest intentie the Resolution of censure on him. Hot always thought that the conduct of the tires of the People was al s ays a fair sul cism, and in this instance he imagined stituents of the lion. Member had his liamentary conduct so fresh in their reef it ssas impossible for them to Reject the nity that occurred of declaring their it. And the reason why he (Mr. Mac iginated that vote of censure to which Member ascribed unmanliness and want was, because there was a great want of t. of generosity in the conduct of that lb in attacking, in that House, the character who was absent—(Hear, hear).—But he (Mr. Macdonald) did not indulge in potations or unauthenticated assettions—(, he cane and stated what he h id to stat' of open day, and in the presence of du was the object of his animadversion. Member complained that he (Mr. Mac& until the Resolutions and Petition were and until he (Mr. H. Sumner) had mad( Why, was it not obvious that this was tin utility he had? Was he to interrupt or tegular proceedings of the day in the fit in the next, was he to move a vote of 0 sentiments of the Hon. Member unti ments were expressed ? But whatever conduct, there was apparently a strong Meeting of disapprobation at the He conduct, and they seemed desirous of an for disclaiming his opinions, as by thi —and never was a Resolution more eni carried—they Inld done. In justice to able Member it ought to be stated, thal attack in a fair and manly way.' Mr..M ABLRLY supported the pray( tition, aid repeated several of the star by•different preceding Members, as o and reectable character of the Meet decisive and ardent m anner i n which ti were . declared. He felt pet reedy sate sense of the great majority of the Peoph nomical Reform, a remedy of abuses, an, tion of her Majesty's name to the Inturg; people were most discontented at was, tl j(fsty was degraded b e f ore tr i a l, and did obtain the benefits of acquittal. Mr. BENNETT said, that the Requisn the consideration o f t h e res t ora tion of • to all her rights, under which terms tin of her name to the Liturgy very properl ißmtio:entha,_lfrPooet4l:nr.oriNthe .I.lf di I ti b rr epe at tated that th„. ye 1 loyal as • -• . ae „ Ine it he * 41 sum re Y to the 804 'g at which t i lt 18 ,, whole cow * , f r i r$ nam e wou ji ex People h a d b it , , I L:en tn:n ce t-i4 : l :ing th e ptarli tess his di, , s and said ,; that the se em pr .eCOMPthe La 4..1 It that his M a , for their oly eet that opini ett. irted the praytt g to thr dad a , that he did 04 n stemied them * in !fer him to de e if informatio nal , t h, rgebt ma 4 M R !re this Peel* * wi 'is Lordship is • who attgaid and afterwa r d ' thl sad a more Q . A t :ink. The H et r i e that the P et i. .e 1 ; and ully th e 01 : attend, mkt c isness they had aft er rto say a f ew he the other t mpugn the re. cor.diu.; ..Ith e that x Meeting tiler, etc pt:ag et lut 4001,e; sie 4 in t i he ulo li u te s B P: lulled. It ins F I the Meeting? 4,e, character that i et nee of or h i ady wor, 7u: had a sting to several enewed agXot d' mit- attendance .esl to the termscf D O4 , with them,— Sall I. Was it any el" tion of Censure Pal He clinsidered Wl unmanly and Mi 'ember oi Par mg rd this Resole. ! Ile etition and Ro " tfter his flienh wit peat, that the or tly respectable; the , and modems 11 )i' whole enuntiy. b: :hat lie nand 'etition; on de der be called opt were so mud 'e! es Petition. l he Honouraik in n° 2 l tat . he weld tion of molar ee mever, he hal il.'uebtitleacetFtrtleri'Hihectiti•ca. ass,ee s peculiar Pr a collectioa,it , 13 ; seaj Fiat oppiata Io trot H.il l tt a tt l miic c oro P nha d in. i o n n o tfgei i ith n oi u lia al neff n inerosoenem 3 pe d g ) ii iititi hei P l oiWn wh Yo tha n hearsay —(Hear ' IS ate in the fat the Tarty aft or n. The Ina dona Id) sand l- eder e dispesedc4 ode his speed.f - (1 he only °ppm' ctt sr postpone irst place; at ; _ censure on ; a til those set'' ✓ might be hi f• eeling in de vr‘: Icn Membe il an opportunif ieir Resonant :nthuriasticall •11 o the Honote tat he met de ar as :t a F iittioc t s e i c ifil r ei n wgeti ll r r a f :: c oat t ior t .orn s h iidar ma lke aante l odst:r as Ind the restart 601 that her Ma d nit attend •uSition inch"- .t