Star. — London, England, 1810-01-26 00:00:00

PARLIAMA :NTAR. ,DII~GS. HOUSE OF COMMONS, JANUARY SU. The SPF.AKER read letters from General Beckwith Ind Admiral Cochrane, at Martinique, the first dated the 22d of Liao, the other the sth of June, expressing their gratitude for be honour done them by the Vote of Thanks passed in the House of Commons. A new writ was ordered for Milburn Pon, In consequence of Lord Paget having accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. Lord PORCHESTER gave notice, that he would to-morrow (as We understood) move for an inquiry into the late Expedition After the appointment of the usual Annual Grand Comm;t.e s of Trade, Manufactures, and Privileges, and some other business of routine, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave notice of his intention to propose a further limitation of the time for re ceiving Private Petitions. It was necessary that they should be presented early in the Session, to allow every possible notice to the persons interested. PLACES IN REVERSION. Mr. BANKS gave notice, that he should move to-morrtiw for leave to bring in a Bill, to prevent the granting of Offices in Re version. He also gave notice, that it was his intention, on Mon day next, to move for the appointment of a Select Committee, to inquire into the general expenditure of the country. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that it hail been his intention to have moved on Monday next, for leave to bring in a Bill, for the purpose of renewing for another year the Act for preventing the granting Reversions, but not for making the Bill perpetual. EMBEZZLEMENT OF PUBLIC MOSEY. Sr JOHN NEWPORT moved, in pursuance of notice, for leave to bring in a Bill, the better to prevent the Embezzlement of Money, or Securities of Money, by any public officer. It was not now necessary for him to address the House at any length, as the Bill had gone through the House last Session, as far as the tiling up the blanks, when the Session closed.—Leave was given. AMERICA. Mr. WHITBREAD gave notice that he should, on Monday next, if there was time for it, move for the production of certain papers relative to the nego ciation between Mr. Erskine and the American Go vernment. He meant in particular to move for the production of a certain letter from Mr. Erskine to Mr. Canning, and could not anticipate any danger to the public service from the production of the docu ments for which he intended to move. Mr. MORRIS felt so much personal interest in a ' transaction touching so materially his Honourable relative (Mr. Erskine) that he begged permission of the House to make a few observations. It had been correctly stated, that the dispatch of the 23d of Janu ary last was the one from this country containing the express conditions upon which the Government were content to give up the Orders of Council as respecting America. Although this was undoubtedly the fact, yet his Honourable relation had conceived himself justified in referring to the whole body of the instruc tions he had received, and in obtaining what he con ceived to be their spirit and meaning substantially, although not according to the exact letter of them. The case of his Honourable relation would certainly have come before the House in a more favourable point of view, if the whole of his instructions had been stated ; and if Ministers should think that im prudent, from motives of general policy, he hoped that they would be candid enough to admit such parts as would be necessary for his defence. It ap peared from the correspondence of Mr. Erskine with Mr. Smith, that the former Gentleman had shewn to the American Ministers many letters of instruction which were not now before the House. It was evi dently impossible that all the conditions mentioned in the dispatch could have been obtained according to the letter, as it would he contrary to the nature and constitution of . the American Government for the President to give that sort of pledge that was re quired. He should have a future opportunity of en tering into the question in detail, when it should be regularly under discussion ; but he was anxious to ap prise the House now, that it was upon the spirit and the substance of his instructions, and not upon the letter, that the defence of Mr. Erskine would rest. I.IIE ADDRESS. Lord BERNARD then brought up the Report of the Address. Upon the question for its being received, Sir FRANCIS BURDETT rose, and said, that upon the first day of the Session he had been very anxious to learn what effect the recent events had pro-1 duced on the minds of the Members of that .House, and to hear the sentiments of the political men ex pressed upon them. He wished to know whether the , interest of the public could be combined with the opi nions and the feelings of many distinguished speakers in that assembly ; and it was with the utmost morti fication he perceived, that the unparalleled disasters which we have lately suffered, and the unparalleled waste of blood and treasure, had not made upon the Members of that Assembly the impressions which might naturally be expected. Ministers were still supported by the same kind of majorities which they commanded in times of less disaster : they were still supported by the same men, and the same line of ar gument. Seeing this, he was the more thoroughly convinced of the necessity there was of taking into early consideration that great measure which he had commended at the close of the late session. He I.vas the more and more convinced of the absolute and urgent necessity of Parliamentary Reform; from the whole of his parliamentary experience since he hfid obtained a scat in that room : but never had any zircumstances occurred which gave more strength toy these impressions than the circumstances under which ', Parliament had lately met. He did not mean to compare the pretensions of one set of public men to those of another ; but he never before witnessed in aqy debate, the nirastres of any set of Ministers so co mpletely abandoned as they appeared to be in the last debate. The Minister really seemed not to have a word to say in his own defence. He had not, how. ever, been able to collect, from what had been said in the last debate, any thing that held out any views of stich measures as would be necessary to unite the public at large with the Ministers of the Crown. He had not heard any suggestions for pressing upon the consideration of the Sovereign, the absolute necessity of tracing to the source those calamities with which the Country is now afflicted and oppressed. The great root of all those evils and calamities was not hard to be dicovered. The copious source of all our foreign and domestic misfortunes and disgraces might be found in the corrupt state of that Assembly. This was not only the firm conviction of his mind, but it was beyond a doubt that it was the fixed persuasion of a vast majority of the people of this Cpuntry.— I Tinier the circumstances of the present times, what name could he given to that degree of imbecility and folly which induced Ministers to advise his Majesty to treat with contempt and insult the Petition and Ad. hear, from many quarters) antiquity, its wealth, and. great State, had always been treated with the. tendon by all former sovereigns. This distu., attention was due to the City of London, not less A. its ancient privileges than from its real consequence in the State. He could not conceive a more dignified act in the Sovereign of the country, than to receive upon his Throne the Address of such an important city ; and he could not conceive any thing more foolish than to advise his Majesty to enter into a strug gle against the privileges of the City of London. He could not avoid recollecting with what attention the City of London had always been treated by every So vereign, from William the Conqueror down to Wil liam the Third. The Convention Parliament even had received its confirmation from the City of • Lon don. An Act of Parliament had recognized the pri vileges of the City of London, and enacted that they should not be forfeited even by disuse ; and yet his Majesty had now been advised to treat with con tempt the privileges of that great city, which were sanctioned by antiquity, and respected by all for mer Monarchs, and which were in every point of view of the first importance to the country at large. —He trusted, however, that the different counties of England would unite with the City of London in this great question, which so materially af fected the privileges of the people, to make known to the Sovereign their grievances and complaints by Petitions and Addresses. It was an extraor dinary thing, that in a country where the Sove reign was not permitted even to stop a foot-path, passing through a Royal Park (as in the case of Richmond Park), his Ministers should assume to themselves the power of obstructing the high road which led the people to the Throne, and blocking up every avenue by which the representations of his peo ple could reach the hands of their Sovereign. It could not be asserted, that it would be fatigue to his Majesty to receive the Addresses of the City, because it was not expected of him to give any answer at the time. All that was asked was, that the Petition might be placed in his Royal hand. It did appear to him, that the insult which Ministers had advised city, his Majesty to offer to the City of London, was only a part of a general system to treat with contempt all the privileges which belonged to the people, and all the usages of respect which had hitherto been cus tomary. He could not avoid noticing that even some slight had recently been shewn to the Gentlemen of that Assembly. It had been customary formerly to have the King's Speech read the night before at the Cock-pit, and afterwards it was usual to send copies of it to the different Members, that they might have sufficient notice of what was to be the subject of dis cussion. This usage was now abandoned. There was another subject which he could not forbear men tioning. In the last Session he had brought before the consideration of that Assembly a most foul and scandalous job, respecting the grant to an individual, of certain lands in the immediate vicinity of Chelsea I Hospital. He had supposed, that in consequence of Ithe exposure, Ministers int, tided to abandon it ; and he thought that by not pressing the subject farther at that time, he had allowed Miuisters a decent re treat from what could not be considered otherwise i C.:an as a most scandalous and disgusting job. He 1 now however found, that instead of abandoning it, Ministers had confirmed it previous to the opening of the present Session. What did Ministers mean by this ? Did they imagine that they would by this means avoid a further discussion'? If they did, they were most grievously disappointed; for he certainly should feel it his duty again to bring that question forward. With respect to the Speech, which had been delivered in his Majesty's name, it appeared to Lim to be excessively defective in many points. He thought that a Speech on the opening of Parlia ment should be, as in former times it used to be, a review of the measures of his Majesty's Government, submitted to the consideration of Parliament. It ought not to be a mere milk and water production, pledging the Government to nothing, and calculated for no other object but to obtain a mere unmeaning complimentary address without opposition. How came it that the Speech mentioned nothing about India ?—(Hear, hear.)—Was it that we are to be told that we have nothing to do with India, as it is governed by a Company, or something else, for their own interests and not for the interests of this country ? We, however, do find that disasters in India do affect this country ; and of the late events there, it must be allowed that it was very distressing to hear that one body of British troops was sent to attack and destroy another party. Events of this nature and magnitude ought not to pass unnoticed in a Speech at the beginning of a Session. He would wish to know, why was that recommendation of a grant to the poorer Clergy tacked to the Speech ? It appeared to hint to proceed from the same source as the cry of No Popery !—(Hear, hear.) He thought, however, that it would well ecome the dignified and wealthy Clergy to take care of their own poor—and he would never consent to extort a single sixpence from the hard hands of honest industry for such a purpose. In comparison to the campaign which our enemy has recently concluded, how contemptible was the cam paign which our Ministers had conducted ! We were told that that most disastrous expedition to the Scheldt was intended as a coup-dc-main; but it was managed in such a manner that Bonaparte apprized his officer ' commanding in these parts, of our intended coup-de main, no less than three months before the sailing of our expedition. He had lately read of the manner in which the Noble Lord who planned the expedition occupied himself about the time of its sailing, which might perhaps make him forget the objects of it.— The Noble Lord (Lord Castlereagh) was most ac tively intent upon preventing a certain individual from accompanying that expedition, which individual (Mr. Finerty) might perhaps have given a true ac count of it. Now, amidst the important care of pre venting this individual from going to Walcheren, the Noble Lord might haye forgotten the purpose for which he sent the army there. Indeed, the very transport in which that individual sailed appeared to have been forgotten, although it contained articles of great necessity to the meditated attack (we believe that either Mr. Congreve's rockets or the entrenching tools were here alluded to) ; and it was said by some that the inaction of the army for 16 days was a . con sequence of this forgetfulness, There was an insinu ation in the Speech that the Expedition to Walcheren had w part ;wended ; but it could hardly be espec. iiikt r ican; a most complete, disaetrous, and dis graceful failure. The . Expedition to Spilt was as nearly destructive to our array as that of Holland.— A dispute with America of a very serious nature had been provoked by the imprudence of Ministers; .and yet, notwithstanding all these misfortunes, and the strange occurrences in India, Ministers . were support. ' ed with the same steadiness as if these measures had been prosperous. He could feel no asperity in con sidering t ha t circumstance, as it only served to con. firm that opinion with which his mind was intimately and strongly impressed, of the necessity of a total change of system ; and, as the only means of ob taining such a change, a reform in the representation of the people. He thought those Gentlemen wrong who stopt short to compare the merits of one set of Ministers with another. It was the whole system that was wrong, and which ought to be altered. We ought to look back to the system establishedin 1793. The present calamitous war, and the oppressive weight of our taxes, ought to be considered as only the sequel and necessary consequence of that war which, in 1793, was commenced in folly and injus tice. Parliament was then powerfully warned of ill consequences which would result to this country from plunging into that war - and yet, in obedience to I the will of the Minister of that day, it despised that warning. No imagination could, however, then sup pose, or no prophetic warning fortel the whole extent of the mischief which the authors of that war were bringing down upon the country. However it was the custom of that Assembly to extol the character of the Minister of that day (Mr. Pitt) he could never view him lin any other light than as the greatest curse which the country ever knew. He could not now, after 15 years experience in that _room, unlearn in one minute all ! those terrible lessons which were imprinted on his mind during the Administration of Mr. Pitt. He could not therefore bear to sit silent, when he heard those who for many years bad, with great persever ance and ability, opposed the measures of that Mi nister, now, upon every occasion, take an opportu nity to extol his memory. Tbis oppressed and inju red people have even been forced to erect a monu ment to the memory of their great enemy. It ap peared to him, however, that there was no occasion to have voted any particular monument to Mr. Pitt, as he had himself ; as, by the faults of his Admini. stration, he had erected an eternal monument to his memory in the ruins of Europe, and the misfortunes of his country. However he disapproved of this sort of monument, there was another which he would ap prove of, and would be ready to subscribe for. He would not object to have a monument of marble erec ted in the square before that House, and on one side to have inscribed Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights; And on the other side to have inscribed the many violations of those sacred laws and principles of the Constitution, which had taken place with the advice and during the Administration of Mr. Pitt. To the foot of such a monument, he should wish it was the duty of the Speaker to conduct every new Member, before he took his seat in that House. It was im possible now to go into any part of the country with out hearing the loudest complaints of the cruel and oppressive system of taxation which now prevails. A host of men, under the name of Surveyors, Assessors, and what not, was now spread all over the country. They were men who had an interest in making the system oppressive ; and howevet unjust their sur charges might appear to be, they were never punish ed for that injustice and oppression. While such things were allowed to go on, it was ridiculous to ex pect all men to be unanimous in supporting the pre sent Government. Every man was liable to penal ties, which might be recovered by a common infor mer, for neglecting to enter a servant, or for not en tering him by the right name. He himself knew a Gentleman who omitted entering the name of a ser vant for whom be had paid, and was consequently surcharged. He appealed and often attended on the appeal when it could not be heard, and at last it was heard at a time it was impossible for him to attend, and was consequently given against him. He knew that farmers were assessed over and over again for dogs which they never kept ; but it was better for them to submit to the imposition than to lose so much of their time as would be consumed in attending again and again at a place some miles distant from their residence, to prosecute their appeals. These evils were forcibly stated at the late meeting of Berk shire. He hoped the time would come when no gentleman would consent to take the odious office of Commissioner under the present system. The oppres sive means by which their money was screwed trom the pockets of the people were quite too bad, when it was considered with what shameful prodigality these sums were afterwards lavished and wasted. The mul. 1 1 titude of acts which had been framed to regulate the collection of this part of the revenue, had not made it the less oppressive. When he recollected the situation of this country 15 years ago, and how upon each suc cessive year that situation was, beyond all comparison, worse than it had been in the year preceding, it called forth the most painful sensations. He believed there was not a single gentleman in the House who would not, if it depended on him, most gladly exchange the situation of the country at present, for its situation at i any former period. If this was the fact, and the si tuation of the country was consequently growing worse and worse, this regular deterioration must be to be traced to some certain causes which produced that effect. It was the duty of every body to trace ' those causes, when it was observed that no change of Ministers produced any material change in the fortunes of the country ; but that in all changes of Administration, and whoever were the men in office, whether wise or simple, still the same practical effects followed from a perseverance in the old system. How happy would we all conceive ourselves now if we could but bring back things to the situation which that' were in at the time the original dispute took place about the opening of the Scheldt ! How happy , I would we be, if we could bring back :France to what I was the utmost extent of her ambition under her old 1 Monarchs,or in her Republican times—the boundaries of the Rhine and the Alps ! How happy would we Ithink it, if we could go back to the time before Bona parte resolved to make himself Master of the Spanish ' . Peninsula ! How happy if we could be brought back to the period of the Peace of Amiens, or to the time ethat Treaty Treaty tyonfa had been lsepretences signed, !The 1 be M l in ° i r s e te w r e u bro nde k r whom that i and under whom it had been broken, had been since elevasd to the Peerage ; but he believed that the hosentr9rtsitierctieonwsasltvni'll'oa. t:h.c'cnonhlYla to ceuntryhad cause deeply to repent the break T ee r e p l i re a: * since ln th ali e ye art lc had gal waste of the treasures ofthe country, but of ts a nour also. We had heard oft the last nigh t , 4' 1 4; 4 laurel: v — er, (a b n eg ex ie p a re ve ssi t o cr e sa o y f , M that r. true i Canning,) aue s ar H eesenr. barren ; and if the Jarpsts now said- to b e e b.• were barren, blame must attach somewhere t nisters had confessed that there was no Fa ult found with the artily - in Spain ; skill was displayed by the commanders, and co mate courage by the troops. If such be the case, blame ;oust alight upon them ;elves, for sendin g an army to places where it was impossible to gai t important success. There were many othe r grown up of late years destructive us the righ t berties, and privileges of Englishmen. Of th ee would mention, as among the most dangerous t o liberties of the people,the building of barracks all -the land—the occupying military stations—but, a l b all, the power which the Crown new assumedi; troducing, at its pleasure, foreign mercenaries i n this country. But what sort of mercenaries vas that were lately introduced ? The corps of the iv. of Brunswick, which had been stigmatised bye, Archduke Charles in his Genera] Orders previo u , the battle of Wagram. England wants no „, defenders as these ! The next evil was, the p:, tice of inflicting secret and solitary i ; an pi.sosiment. a punishment for offences against the Govern:ll. In all the inventions of despotic power, thee: le e ., thing more odious, more dreadful to consider. mare likely to break the spirit of men, than period of solitary confinement. He could h.ir conceive any thing more hurtful in the whole le of despotism, and yet this was an evil which now permitted to exist in this country. Conti& • then the extent of our foreign calamities and r graces, and of our domestic evils and oppressions, did appear to him, that the insult lately offend the City of London, in the exercise of the undodb. right of Englishmen, and the privilege of that and ancient city, ought to be felt by all the peopl e England, as an attack made by his Majesty's MI. ters on all the remaining privileges which Engh men can now claim. The City of London had, the late instance, mit the voice o f th e peop l e England. and th the different cnnties now to unite themselves in the same cause ; for it King was never to be informed ef the grievances his people, but through the polluted medium of Ministers, who have an interest in stifling the of the people, there could be no hopes of-their vances being ever redressed. When it was consid for what a great length of time this coun try h a d ruled by a benevo lent Sovereign, whose reign constantly unfortunate—who was every succes year of his long reign, compelled to regret the cessity of imposing fresh burdens upon his poop some would attribute this to the influence of a lignant star, which prevailed at the period his accession ; it was not however necessary the Members of that Assembly to look to stars, but only to themselves. • It was there,. on the floor of that room, that he saw the organ causes of all the calamities and evils which affie and oppressed this country—it was there he saw tree, under whose shade no - salutary ?last wo thrive. The fruits of that tree were bitterness grief to the People of England. He hied drority for saying, that it was fair to judge of tree by the fruit; and " that the tree which , not good fruit should be hewn down." It was corruption which struck its root in that room and sembly which had brought, and which continued bring, so many evils upon the country. It was which destroyed our national honour abroad, by i interference with our army and navy. The princip being once established, that the Minister must get some means or other a majcrity in that House, the cause that our honour was surrendered to the my, and our people oppressed by the load of we This corruption, which was the cause of all our fortunes, he should constantly oppose. It had formerly urged by a Roman Senator, in every .. cussion, that Carthage must be destroyed." saying had been sometimes applied by trance to Country. He bad the same opinion of the nec of Reform as the Roman Smarr had of the struction of Carthage," and therefiere he must ag and again recur to this topic, whenever the great terests of the Country were discussed in that A bly. It was to Parliamentary Reform that he look to remedy all our evils, and heal the suff e rings of th . injured people. Mr. YORKE said, that before he proceeded observe on the topics urged by the Honourable ronet, he should request to call the attention of House to the terms he used through the whole co.. of it. The Hon. Baronet had never addressed alluded to them as the House of Clnamons; but had always c illed that House " this Room," or" Assembly," by which he would seem to infer, they were not the Representatives of the People; the Honourable Baronet had but one but-then to . song, for I.e began and ended with the same posit' that it was necessary to have a reform in Parham . that was, he (Mr. Yorke) supposed, a system change of Administration. He was, theretore, : - rous to take that opie r.ur ity of sating h:s ob to it ; and that was, that such a measure could onl tend to make the British Constitution totally ditf* to what it had ever been. The Honourable Barong because it had generally been corsid...red the ell debate on his Majesty's Speech, any Member hod: right to speak in a very diffuse way, and enter el various subjects, had thought fit to touch on aos topics, not included in, or immediately inetclentl the Speech, and had, therefore, introduced the It bilee which had been generally observed rhrougbot the country, in comthemoration of the b ng 2nd ml . reign of our beneficent Sovereign, in doing vied he had said, that the Jubilee joy, as he was pleel to term it, was forced down the thrlats of the re ple. Now he (Mr. YOrke) believed in his heart•do, he might fairly say, there never was an event wig had happened in the country, wh ch had given rue real satisfaction, or in which the ieople had ever . spontaneously, so cheerfully. and so universally job in the heartfelt expression of their joy and loyaltee The Honourable Baronet had been pleased to 0 that the present Sovereign seemed to have entered his reign under the influence of a malignant steeu . . that the progress of his reign had been marked n. : blood. He, for his own part, was of quite aa' content to give up tl America. Althoug yet his Honourable justified in referring tions he had receive ceived to be their s although not accorc The case of his Ho have come before t point of view, if th been stated ; and if prudent, from moti that they would be parts as would be n peared from the cor Mr. Smith, that the the American Mini which were not nov 7. 1 dently impossible th the dispatch could 1 the letter, as it wool constitution of . the President to give I quired. He should tering into the cues regularly under disc prise the House noN the substance of hi letter, that the defe Lord BERNAR the Address. Upon the questio Sir FRANCIS I upon the first day anxicus to learn wh duced on the minds and to hear the sent pressed upon them. interest of the publi nions and the feelin, in that assembly ; a fication he perceive which we have WI waste of blood and Members of that might naturally be supported by the sa, commanded in time supported by the sal gument. Seeing convinced of the tit early consideration ecommended at tl eras the more and and urgent necessit: the whole of his pa had obtained a seat circumstances occur these impressions th Parliament had la. compare the preten! those of another ; E any debate, the cimpletely abandur last debate. The a word to say in hi! ever, been able to in the last debate, of such measures a pu!)lic at large wit.] bad not heard any consideration of the of tracing - to the so the Country is no. great root of all ti hard to be di'c.cover foreign and domest be found in the cor was not only the fit was beyond a doub of a vast majority 1 Under the circums name could he give folly which induce( to treat with canter •