The National Register. — London, England, 1823-03-16 00:00:00

Mr. BRIGHT was sorry to bear that tie Crows Officers had vs intention to originate mule measure oa this subject ; as the kW stood, the creditor was without that protection which he *might to have. Mr. BENNET said, the government ought to examine the laws, mid provide remedies. For what were they paid 1 But any amelioration of the laws was sure to be resisted by the Lord Chancellor Eldon. The government ought to come to terms with that personage. The law, as it stood, legalized fried. Mr. PEEL defended the government and the learned lord, tad said they were engaged from morning till night" in the *eyries of the public. Petition ordered to be printed. A new writ was ordered for Inverness fur a member, in the room of Charles Great, who had accepted the odice of Vioe- President of Trade. Mr. G. BENNET, for an bon. Mond, gave isotice, that on the 28th April a motion would be made on the subject of the state or the currency. Mr. B. MOORE, in presenting • petition from Coventry against the Insolvent Debtors' Act, gave notice that on Tues day or Wednesday next be should move for the repeal of those Acts altogether. Those who approved of the principle of the dates could easily introduce more oorrected measures. Sir T. LETHBRIIM.:E prevented a petition from Wood brid,;e, Suffolk, complaining of agricultural distress. The pe titioners represented that their than Miles were by no means abated ; that the Ministers had nut afforded reticle& which they felt the befell ; and that without much other relief they sew iirtlo hope of redress. • Petition ordered io be printed. Mr. LESSARD in consequence of the absence, from indis position of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, post poned his motion to the 23th instant, respecting the savings its the third class of the Civil List. Mr. iIIiTCHINSON presented • petition from the distillers of Cork, praying that the House would take the state of their trade into consideration. Mr. HUTCHINSON prevented a petition from Cork, praying forthe repeal of the coal duties. Sir J. NEWPORT presented a petition from St. Mary, Dublin, praying the revival of the local taxation Committee. Mr. PLUNKETT said, that to-morrow he should move the revival of such Committee. Colonel WOOD gave notice, that on April 23 lie should sub mit resolntions respecting the 14w of Settlement. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER presented pipers, by command of his Majesty, respecting ;be King's Library. The right hon. gent. said, that on Taesday next be should submit a motion to the House on the subject. Lord CRAN BOURN brisegid forward his motion on the sub ject of the Guile Laws. His Lordship spoke in a low tone ; and dwelt on the iucreasiag number of convictions under the game laws. He cooeluded with mooing for a committee on Ilse subject. Sir J. SEER:GMT seconded the motion. He said, the game laws bad materially affected the morals of the labouring climes of the community. As a magistrate, he had seen the pernicious consequesees resulting from such laws. Crowds of young men, who would bare been incapable of committing any robbery, were soot to jail ender these laws. He bad learned what they were before they went to prison, and his duties as a magistrate gave him but too many opportunities to witness what they were when they left the jail. He did not consider the subject as a game question—lie viewed it u one of the greatest importance to a large class of the labouring com muuity. Sir J. SHELLY spoke in a tory low tome, but he was un derstood to defend the game laws' system. Mr. GIPPS thought the convictions had diminis:ied since 1820, and that cart returns for 1822 ought to he obtained. Mr. PEEL supported the motion. After the statements that there were boo convictions in 11320, and 1300 in 181 , 0, he thought there was fair ground fur enquiry. He would not pledg• himself to any particular course—bet be thought an act to consolidate the laws would be useful, I. simplifying them ' and making them better known. Col. WOOD was glad to find that there were more liberal j notions on this subject entertained in the House. lie bad not altered his tu'od on this subject ; he was glad to bud that the House had altered Bleier. Motion agreed to; Committee appointed. NATIO:4I. Dr.mr.—Mr. BROGDEN pre se nted the Report of the National Debt Reduction Bill. Mr.TIERNEY said, he wanted to understand this Bill. By a resolution it was agreed that there almiuki be a certain aurplus of revenue fur a Sinking Fund—but if there should be any fillers of revenue—and if the specific sum were to be snaintalned—there must be an in crease of tales. There was to he a positive surplus ; the House did not say that if there were surplus of the revenuae of 6,000,0001. it should be ap plied to such purpose—it proposed to enact that such snm should fie so set apart. lie had not yet learned where the surplus of bre millions was disc ed; be could net find it out—no documents had proved it. If this Bill were agreed to, bow Could the House agree to the reduction of other lases Their hands wore tied up. The first question was, whether there etas • surplus of 'live millions ; then where it came from —how it was proved—and supposing the revenue should fail, were they still to supply the sum of five millions—whether or nut there was that amount of surplus ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was anxious that the subject should lie clearly understood. He took the revenue at 60,000,0001. , the expenditure at 47,000,0001. That left a balance of 3.000,0001,—D, die arra n g ement re specting pensions, it was considered that there would be 2,000,0901. saved. That would reduee the expenditure to 45,000,0001. so that of tie 30,000,0001. revenue, there was • elver surplus of 5,00:40001. to be applied to the reduction of slob,. Cutler dome circumstances he felt that he had been warranted in assuming that there would be a surplus of 6,000,0001. As to another part, he wools! lather have a 1101 , ple•;of mote than L000,uaol.; but he thought that it would be better to give the country the benefit of the remission of ' taxes.—(Hear.)—lie looked forward to great advantages to the revenue front a remission of taxes.—(hear.)—Hs, and the ministers generally, were most anxious to relieve the eouutry eta much as possible ; and if there were improvement, es he confidently expected, be should be glad to afford further re ief to the country.—(llear, bear.) Mr. 11211 E did not know how the right lion. gentleman mime to his conelemions. if the country were to derive so touch benefit from the remiesion of taxes to the amount or 11,200,000 1 . how much inme benefit would lee derived by a restitution to the amount of 5,000,0001.?—(/tear, blear.)—lle spin maintained, that ally surplus hat that of income beyond expenditure would be a mere mockery ; and he urged that the bill eonuined contradictory principles and sham regulations. lie' should propose, as an amendment. that, instead of 14000,001.— , ' the surplus of the revenue nut exceediug 11,y00,0001." I ; i• THE NATIONAL REOISTEB, The House divided on the immodident, Ayes 38—hoes 12. Report agreed to--2141 ordered to be read a third time to-morrow. Mr. HUSKISSON obtained leave to bring is • bill to amend the laws regarding apprenti :es to the sea service. The remaining orders having beau (Jimmied of, the llousp adjourned. FRIDAY, MARCH 14. A petition was presented from Leicester, for more effectual means to recover small debts. Sir J. MACINTosII gave notice, that on the 13th of May, be should subunit • motion on the subject of the criminal laws. —lle named se late a day in nenselpienoe of the absence of various learned gentlemen on the Circuit, &c. Mr.ll. TWISS brought in a bill to regulate the appoint ment of assessors at elections. Read a first time. Mr. EVANS gave notice, that his bon. Aired (Mr. Wilber force) would, on Monday, present 'Volition from the Quakers, praying that the House would adopt invasures for the gradual abolition of the slave trade in every part of the British domi nions. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved, that the House go int* a committee en the King's Property Bid. Mr. G. HENN= thought the properly in question was Wy lie property, at least from what he rreolleoted of Lord Lon donderry's explanation on the sahjcct. Mr. PEEL said the hon. gent. laboured under a mistake. — The hill was to grant to the Kin; power over that property which he possessed, and had power over as Prince of Wales. The property at Brighton, for inetance, wee private property, having been purchased with the Priebe of Wales', private lands. fdr. D. 2 4IENNET explained. Bill referred to ■ cum.miitee. Mr. WARRE observed, that, if be did not much mistake, according to the Civil List Report of 1816, much of the lue- . 1 allure at the Pavilion bad been paid for by the Lord Chamber- lain, out of the Civil List. • Mr. PEEL said, that the bill did net apply to personal or Crowni property ; it only regaided freehold property, &c.— Report on Monday. Lord PALMERSTON moved, that the House go into committee on the Matioy Bill. Colonel DAVIS moved, that it be an instruction to the com mittee to introduce a clause to prevent the Crown from dismis sing officers from the army without their being first subjected to a court-martial. He expected to hear mach of prerogative, of its uninterrupted exercies ; be had partaken of the commonly received notion, but the inquiry which be instituted, on the dismission of a much esteemed friend, (Sir R. Wilson), per suaded him that the power was not warranted by the law. It was, lie maintained, in the teeth of the Aaseal Mutiny Act. — That act gave power in divers eases ' • so that all persona, whe ther officers or soldiers, were protected ander the / i lls of the law. The bill expressly gave the power to erect courts martial to t.y officers who might be charged with any improper offence. The-power of the Crown was to punish for offences against the articles of war ; If those articles were not violated, no offence had been:committed ; and to ascertain whether any offence bad bees cominiited, courts-martial must be named. Blackstone was sgainst the severe power even of trying for violation of articles arbitrarily made by the Crown; but what would Black stone have sod had be contetopleted inch dismissals without remits-martial ? By such practice the Crows became legislator as well as Judge and Jury, and could it ever have been in tended to give the Crown such power? Since 179.1 there had been 1189 cases of injustice. Yes, lie wou d contend that they had been cases of injustice.—(llene, bear, from both sides.) — if a man committed murder in the street in the prestenoo of hundreds of witnesses, b. was not 'banged at the next lamp. post; be was tried according to the laws; and why were officers to be treated with so much less ceremony ? Way war. officers of the army, who bad as extra code of laws br articles to obey, to be treated so enteremonionsly ? The hos. member a &veiled to many of the cases of injustice, the number of which wsa proved by a parliamentary return. lie contended. that the power exercised over officers by the Crown was most pernicious, and of injurious tendency. lie concluded by moving the instruction to the committee, to insert a clause to prevent the Crown diewissing officers who have sot been tried by courts martial, &c. Lord PALMERSTON maintained the motion could not he supported by the /loose. It was the prerogative of the Crown, and bad been ,such from the earliest time ; and it was not a prerogative for the gratification of theil o ign, but for the maintenance of the constitution. The right bad been invariably exercised. lie need not make long quotations—be would abide by the nature of the cue, and the recognition of various acts of Parliament. The supreme government of the army had always been vested in the Crown, and there was nothing in the mutiny art which limited such power. That act was intended to give the Crown the summary mode of proceeding in sum mary oases. But for such act, how could the Crown proceed against such men, hut by the slow and ordinary mode which regarded the subject generally? And that might be dangerous where men bad arms to their hands. It was clear, by the construction that had always bean put on the prerogatives, that the King had the supreme commuud of the army • After some remarks from Mr. Hume, &c. the amendment was negatived without ad• 'on. The bill weut through a committee. Report on Monday. NAVY EsTi AMIS.—The House having resolved into a Com mittee of supply, Sir J. OSBORNE brought forward the Navy Estimates. He stated, that with the exception of the slumber of men, 24,00 0 ' granted fur the service of the year, being an increase, as compared with last year. tke estimate's were nearly the same as last year. The grant for the inen, had already been taken and on the other items he would give snob explanations as might be required. Where savings could be effected; they had been attended to ; but reductions that might affect the naval service certainly had not been proposed. The following is an abstract of the Estimates:— I.—Wages, floluale, wear and tear, and Ordnance for 25,000 men £1,543,750 0 0 11—Ordinary Estimete(eter abating 122.00a1 tar Navy, and 9,000 f. fur Victualling Old Stores, received iu 1822) 3,263.490 6 8 111.—Extra Estimates 535,300 0 0 £5,442,540 6 8 He concluded with moist/ the several grants inakiuz op the above grand totals. The several resolutions were agreed to, sod the report was ordered to be received on Monday. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER proposed the third reading of the National Debt Reduction lill. Mr. BENNET and Lord A. HAMILTON orrineed the read lug of the bill at au late Liu hour, uod deelared they would tAke the eenNe of the Houee oil the queatioa for reading the order of the as The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER consented to postpone the third reading to Monday, The House then went into a Committee of Ways and Mena's. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER proposed re solutions for applying the Ways mid Means of the preseut year —the amount of monies remaioin4 to ',may certain grants of former year,' outstanding ; the balance of the W a'• and Means of former year., unapplied ; the sum■ receivable, in 1823, from the trustees of naval and military pensions, render the net of the is l Session of Parliament ; the amount of the balances of unclaimed dividends end lottery priers remaining in the hands of the Bank of England ; all sums which may he paid into the Exchequer in the year 1823, on account of Exchequer Bills advanced for public works ; the estimated amount of the unappropriated produce of the Consolidated Fund in they tar ending the Sib of April, 1824. The several Resolutions were agreed to, report on Monday. The other orders were disposed of, and the House adjourned., 1.6.1 r•-•,• "A; - CAPITAL CONVICTIONS IV FRANCE AND ENGLAND. A work re t ntly published in Paris, entitled " Situation dc l'Angleterre," par M. Nonevent'', has the tbllowing statement of crime in Englund and France, punishable by death, in 1801 awl 1811, which presents a striking contrast between the two kingdoms:— FRANCE. ENGLAND. Condemn- I Condemn- Inhabitants. I ed to . Yeers. Isimbitants. ed to Depth. Death. 31,000,000 682 I 1801 I 16,000,000 3,400 42,000,000 392 1811 11,0140,000 I 0,400 M. Montveran declares, in his work, he ca 3 sub stantiate the above by authentic documents. If ac citrate, it is obvious that, in 1801, in France, twenty-six nut of a million of inhabitants ware eon. donned to death ; and that, in 1811—ten years al ter—the number of condemned had diminished two-thirds, leaving the proportion of only nine to a million. In England, on the contrary, when, in 1801, tha .erintinals condemned to death were 212 out of e million of inhabitants, the amount increased by more than one-half—there being, in 11111, 376 out of a million. It also appears, that the condemns tions in England, compared with these in France, were as 376 to 9, or us 42 1: The-report of the state of mendicity in France, compared with those of the parish poor in England, by M. Montveran, also presents a prodigious ditfer ence—the French list, in I$L2, exhibiting only thi...ty thousand individuals out of forty-three mil lions of inhabitants ; while in England, in the same year, a fourth of the population, or 4450,000 pour, were thrown upon the parishes. Two convicts, upwards of 70 years old, con' demned to hard labour for life, and who had spent some years in the gallej7s, having been sent to the House of Correction at Rennes, east lots which of them should put the other to death, and then murder himself. The lot having fallen on Louis Paitre, the old miscreant took one.of the posts of his bed, and at five o'clock in the morning of the 15th of November last, commenced his work of murder. He struck his companion several blows on the head, but the groans of the victim discovered him. He was tried on February 12, at Itennea, for an attempt to cum. mit assassination, but the laws had not provided a severer punishment tiny his crime than imprisonment fur 10 years, to which he was sentenced, with, how.. ever, but little chance of his completing that period. His companion recovered within three wanks after the attempt. 101 ILL.—One of those excellent inventions was put into operation a short time ago fur the em ployment of the 'mit:otters in the county gaol aid house cf correction at Reading, Pennsylvania. The prisoners, it is stated, performed the labour appa rently well for several days, when 32 mutinied, end refused to go upon the wheels,stating, that they must have cute provisions and leather-bottomed shoes, or they wouLl nut perform the labour. They considered confinement in cells was all the punish ment that awaited their disobedience, but in that idea they were deceived; the keeper and assistants were under the necessity of having recourse to arms and bludgeons, and compelled every man to go upon the wheel to perform the allotted labour. The effi ciency of this mode of punishment is so vory appu• rent, that we were surprised the legislature of Maryland has not before this directed the erection of a mill in the state penitentiary. In the Penn sylvania Leg islature we observe a bill fur this object has been passed by a large vote. The planet Mercury is seen at present in groat perfection about un hour after sun-set, in the wes tern quarter of the heavens. It resembles a fixed star of the first magnitude, both in size and by its twinkling, differing only in having 'paler white We understand that Edwards, the spy, of Cato.. street notoriety, is now residing at Truro, in Corn wall. He has no ostensible employment, and his finances appear to be in a very flourishing condition. It is confidently reported that ten salt of the line be iinutediately to be put in commission. t` • '.