The National Register. — London, England, 1818-02-02 00:00:00

TER. I. ter. was garbled, and that information which ought to have been communicated to the Committee was withheld. He well knew that the Noble Lord: was incapable of stating any thing which he did not in conscience believe to be true, but he could assure their Lordships that every kind of information which could with propriety he laid before the Committee had been produced to- theta, and that nothing had been with- held which was necessary to enable them to. arrive at a fair and proper cenclusion on the question submitted to their con• sideration. The Noble Lord also denies that the Act of last session has been of any advantage to the country. In Cie Prince Regent's Speech, it was true, only the other causes %thief' had contributed to the returning prosperity of the country were mentioned, bat it did not follow that great benefit hail not hoen derived from the suspension of the Habeas Cor pus Act. There never was a greater contrast exhibited by the country than that which the comparison of its present state with that of last year afforded ; and he would now main_ lain, and if the occasion should arrive, world prove, that the act of last session had mainly eontri lusted to this result. The effects it had bad in many parts of the country did not rest in assertion; they were already proved. The magistrates and persona best informed in the comity of Leicester stated, on their knowledge, that the passing of the suspension Act had produced tnangitility in nsaitufacturing districts where the greatest alarm for the peace of the country had previously existed. In another place, where there had been a more formidable manifestation of treason, the good effects of the measnre had been still more apparent—he meant that insur rection lit coesequence of which a bill of indictment had been found agaiast the offenders who were tried at Derby. On that occasion, ten of the persons accused fled ; four were sentenced to suffer death ; and in all, thirty one confessed themselves guilty of high treason, some of whom were trans ported, and tho remainder pardoned. These men, besides making a confession of their guilt, gave certain information that an insurrection of a touch more formidable nature than that in which they had been engaged was in contema tion, and would infailattl, have taken place had not the Ha beas Corpus Act been suspended. It was that measere alone which had deterred them. Thus it was proved be ineontro vertiblc evidence, that the measure for which the Noble Lord contended there was 110 necessity, had preserved the peace and tranquility of the country. As to the petiegyric that the Noble Lord hail passed on the privilege of Englishmen to he called to trisl,and publicly charged with the offences of which they were suspected, his Majesty's Ministers had shown their respect for these glorious and exalted rights in the proceed. ings of that day. The act then under their consideration did not expire until the Ist of March, and that there was no record on the journals of the house, that an act of that description had ever been repealed or not suffered to run out to its ut most limit, Bnt his Majesty's Ministers admitted that nothing could justify the continuance of such an act but the necessity which originated it, and when that necessity ceased, it was due to the legislature and to the people of this country to re. peal it lot tliwith. The Hill was then read a secodd and this d time, ordered to be engrossed, and sent to the Commons.— Adjourned. TITVRSD %Y. The Earl of LIVERPOOL rose, in the absence of his Noble Friend, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, to give notice, that it was the intention of that Noble Lord to lay before the House on Mond ty next, certain papers chalice to the internal state of the' country. and to loose that these do• cameo's be reterred to a Committee of thei r Lordships' House. lie therefore now moved that their Lordships be summoned for Monday next. An order was made, that no Petitions for Private Bills be received after the 34 of March next, and no Reports from the Judges on Petitions fur Private Bills after the (nth of April. . The Bill for repealing the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act was twilight up from the Commons by Mr. Brugden and 01414. The Lord Crikuceci.ost read the title of the Bill and stated that it had been re:tensed without any amendment.— Adjourned to Saturday. HOUSE OF COMMONS. TUESDAY', JAI% 27. At a qatirter before three, the Speaker cam to the House, and at three o'clock went lip to the I louse of 1,01115, accom panied hy Neveral incnitwr:•, on receiving the timid commu nication from the Black Uod. On return tho Speaker stated filar the lions. , had heard the Speech front the throne, deli erect by the Lind Chancellor, as one of the Lords Commis fioncits. lie then observed, that he had, according to the pro visions of the act, issued writs for the representation of Obi tuoraan, and for New Romney, lately held by Mr. Hall dad Sir J. T. l)tiek worth. The Clandestine Outlawry Bill was then read a first and second times. _ _ Lord COCHRANE role, and desired to know from those who eonld give any information, whether it was in thy view of the Admiralty or the Governimmt, to propose the application of any sum from the Droits of Admiralty towards the relief of the distressed seamen. • Mr. W. MINIM!), as we understood him, said, that he had no particnlar communication to make on that sub,ject. Lord COCHR A N E then said, that he should certainly make a motion on this matter at au early day, unless something was previously done by the Admiralty. General Tnonterost gave notice of a motion on the 7th of February, for the repeal of parts of certain acts of Charles 11. in which the itoman Catholic religion is called idolatry. Mr. P. GRENFILL Save notice of a motion (we believe for 'rumlay nett) for sundry accounts respecting the affairs of the Bank of England, i•pecifying the untidier of notes issued sad other particulars, He gave the notice in time from cour teiy to the Bank. Mr. &muses BOURNS moved for certain returns of mo ney advanced to the poor in 1748, 1749, and 1730, Ordered. KING'S SPEECH. The SPEAKER then stated, in the usual way, that the House had been in the House of Lords, and had heard the speech of the Prince Regent in the name of the King, from the Lords Commissioners, sit which, having obtained a copy• he would read it to the House, which lie accordingly did. (Fur the speech, ,re our report of the Lords.) Mr. Viotti. utilise rose to move the Address. He recapi tulated the leading points of the Speech, and dwelt particlo. tally ou the sir cessity of attending to ihat recommendation in it respecting the increase of places of Public. Worship. Mr. % NUAI4 QW N seconded the rwainn.• The Speaker having read the Address, which was an echo of the Spred'. Lord ALTIIIIR PE rose, and said, that lie agreed in every part of the Address. But there was one emblem to which he telt himself bound to call the aticutiou ul the 110111 C. die TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER'. alluded to the late three successive trials. It was a topic of great delicary, because the prod saved cinema those prosecu tions, the parodies on sacred subjects, no man could justify. He strongly disapproved of those parodies yet he, in com mon with the hulk of' the Wiwi, rejoiced that an individual without any support had triumphed over the extraordinary severity of his prosecntors. He could not say that lie adieu' , eti Mr. Hone's chaeacter,,because he did not like the parodies he had composed and published ; but his abledelence of him self convinced him, as it has convinced three juries, that he had been guilty of no legal offence. The Hon. and learned Gentleman (the Attorney. General) should not have pit:mem. ed at all in such a case. The regular mode of going with a charge before a Grand Jury ought to have been adopted in this instance. But it was unquestionably the right of the Gentleman to prosecute es officio, if he was so disposed. Bait vihy wasthe prosecution continued after a jnry had pro nounced a verdict of acquittal/ A jury was the only com petent tribunal to say what was or was nota libel. The judge had given his own opinion, in opposition to the jnry, the only competent authority. The opinion of the judge was not desir ed at all on such a question. fie did not mean to say any thing disrespected to the honourable gentleinaa. opposite, but he was, by his official character, disqualified to say what was libel and what was not. Yet he, after a jury had found that the subject of prosecution was not libel, proceeded to a se cond and a third trial. As the trials ended, no evil was dasflr but if it had turned out otherwise, it' a conviction had. been obtained on the third trial, it was manifest from the nature of the proceedings that the panishment would have been as great as if a conviction had been obtained for the whole. The evil of prosecutions of this sort was great indeed, but it was not to be compared with the evil of ilestsing the confidence of the country in the trial of jury. He had said this, becau'e the present was the only opportunity of adverting to the subject. In every part of the Address lie willingly acqui esced. Sir Smitten. Roattaav began by giving his entire approba tion to the Address. He deplored the loss which the nation has sustained in the death of the prestunptive heir, He then adverted to the outrage which had been committed upon the constitution, by the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and censured in severe tarsus, the conduct of NI inusters, who, lie said, bad magnified petty acts of outrage produced by the distress of the times, into plots for the subver s ion of the g o _ vernmeut. He blamed the spy system which the ministry had adopted, and to it, attributed much of the mischief which had accrued. He equally condemned the prosecutions which had been institnted against Hung, at the sometime bestowing the severest censure upon the publications for which those pro secutions hail been carried on. He thonght they had tattier have been left to perish, then to acquire a fresh consequence by the interference of the Attorney General. He concluded by a most severe review of the conduct of filinisters, and avowed his intention to oppose any bill which might be offer ed to inde 1111 l ify them for the part they had acted in spurting with the liberties of the people. The SoLicrron GESlittiAl. was surprised to hear his Learn ed and lion. Friend mating light of such proceedings as the trials at Derhy had developed. Never was evidence more clear, and never was Royal clemency greater. He felt sur prised at the language held relative to the trial of Hone, his Learned and Hon. Friend could not find tel sufficiently strong to convey his detestation of such productions as that mon had been tried for publishing, and yet he blamed the pro Sedition. And why ? because it gave the libels a wider eir., collation—the conclusion to which such an argiunent would lead, would be, that the mnore atrocious the libel the greater would be its of impunity. 1.0111 FOLKSTON a eCIISUred the conduct of' Ministers in the late proscenium, as calculated to destroy the dignity of oar Courts ofJustice and bring odium upon` duties. Limit) C IPITLEK UIC; LI declared, that desirous as lie was of meeting the objections anal anisseulversimis which had been brought torts aril, not only wills regard to the adder . • diately under consideration. hut as respected the couduct of Ministers during the recess of Parliameut, yet as he was aware of the numerous up port 111 l Ales that a ((old soon present themselves for discussing them separately and in detail, he should a user se himself tor those occasions , when lie trusted ' that a sati•faeriary exploitation would be famished. ()laser. vations had bean made, against which he must imniediately protebt, and particularly against the statement which retire. waited the trials at Derby tat have arises. out oldie proceed. illgs of a spy employed by Government. lie now undertook utmost fully to disprove such Mi assertion alieneser the proper time of investigation should amive. He could not etnieeive what pats of the conduct oh ad.uioist ration had indtined the Hun. and Leanied Gentleman to conclude that his Majesty's Ministert had it in contemplation to propose slew measures restrictive of the liberty of the subject. lie was not CellSel QOM thou they hail manifested any dieposition of such a nature and he was happy to assure the litinse, that lie should, on an early day, be prepared to emiuminicate information with regard to all that had oven passing in the country since the last session. He believed sincerely, that this intermnation would satisfy, not oily the Hon. Members opposite, but would satisfy the II arse and the public, that the measures adopted during the last session had been founded not merely on prudential cosisiderations; but on a strict necessity, and that it was to them that we were indebted fur the internal tranquillity which had been restored. The energy of Parli ament hail not wily provided the Suspension Art, but had ensured its speedy termination. 114 Majesty's Alittiatirs, who had been placed in u situation of great difficulty, would not shrink from the most rigid scrutiny iuto their conduct, and would be found, he confidently hoped, to hove faithfully discharged the trust confided to them : to have administer ed justice duly tempered with met ey, and to have contended successfully against the danger with which the country halt been threetened. The greatest of those dangers be belies. rat had passed by ; but he would nut hill Parliament into a belief that I.,erfect seem ity was restored. It gave 'limn, however, sincere satisfaction to congratulate the House on the unprecedented rapidity with which the country had passed from a state of depression to one of progressive prosperity, which there was every reason to believe would contiuue. Mr. BROUGHAM thought the speech of the. Noble Lord sufficiently proved that the topics, to which so much obser. vation had been directed, might be di,cu•sed a ithout endan gering the unanimity ot the vote to which the flutist was iuviitrd upon the present question. It gave him the utmost satisfaction to born, ulna the follebt iiifurwatiun %mild swill be laid before them, and he presumed in the only pt oiler and antLentie mode, by appointing a Committee with Authority to and yell for every spet•irs of evidence belonged to the course ofparliauteutait invesfigatiou. Lord curiae A N 0.1111:10rd lift• blivrch drlis red oy thy• Lords Coniiiiii•doners, with that of the A ine rieAn Presidellt and thought his 31ijcs!)'s :Aliiiisters wt. uW hate bcttct at .l fur their offences io the employment of spies aL;ainst the lives and liberties of the people, by assuring Parliament that as y were building hospitals and alms-houses, fur the starving poor, than in seeking to obtain credit by the erection of new churches. The questida war then put and carried unanimous ly.—Adjourned. WICDNESDAy. SLANE TRADE ABOLITION. Lord CasTLaavaanbrought up the treat• with Spahr enc. cerning the abolition of the slave.tr4tle ; and mut•cd that it should be talen into consideration on Mond.) , se'nuight. Agreed to. ASSIZES. Mr. M. A. T iNton gave notice of his intention to make a . motion fur holding of assizes tivicci in, the year in the nu, there. counties. Mr. Curtwaa, seeing a Noble Lord in his place, could not ain from expressing his surprise -that the eireimistawre of the Poor Laws were not noticed in the King's speech. it• wished to know whether amY measure WAS intended by Vrrllilltllt on this important subject. There was no point on which more benefit could be conferred tn. the couture. He N hoped the .' dile Lord would bri ng forward sonic be neficial proposition on this business ; fur, without the support of ad ministration, he should despair of any thing that lie himself should propose. Lord C LEREAGH OillerVed, that Parliament had already taken tip this subject with much zeal, sild 'hut Giosernment was Wily desirous to give it es ery possible attention. It %ibi not, however, intended to make it a Government question. He hail reason to believe that a friend of his would on Moo. day next propose the revival of the Committee. Lord Cescuticcscit moved the appointment of the several , Committees, according to the usual practice ; that for gionoo sit every Tuesday ; Rost for grievances, every litters day ; that for Courts of Justice, every Saturday. 'The motions for these Committees were agreed to ; after which, the Committee ou Privileges were appointed and - dered to sit on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, sad to report on the matters coming before them. ADDRESS TO THE PRINCE REGENT. Mr. WODEFIOUSE brought up the Report of the Coonnitfre appointed to prepai e the Address o vhich was Is:ad. Lord MILTon said, that he did nut wish to take up the time of the house ; but that lie felt sincere and unfeigned satisfac tion at that part of the speech which related to the increase of the number of churches. Nobody who lived es en fur a short time in the metropolis, could have tailed to observe the deficiency in the number of the places of parochial worshir. If it was thought eavedient to call on the public purse to sup ply the deficiency,•he shook/ think it right that some inquiry should be made into the affairs of tha Church Establishment. it order to see what 'nodes of relief therein could be made available for so desirable an object. If nothing could be dune in that way, lie should readily and cheerfully consent to some addition to the public burden, for such a purpose. But in the building of these new churches, he was of opinion that great attention ought to be paid to the accommodation of the lower orders at society, who were slightly attended to in many parochial churches. Mr.Cuits* EN Lull, that however, acceptable it 'night he to many tospeak ofgreat iinprovenients in the situation of the country, and howesvr convenient such a statement might be to Government, yet such a statement was made unjustly, if it was intended to support our present Establishments. It was his ditty to say this ; and to add, that it was necessary to probe our affair, to tie very bottom, in order to discover the lest means of relieving us from our existing and pressing difficulties. The report on the address was agreed to. ADDRESSES OF CONDOLENCE. Lord CASTLEH PAGEL—The Noble Lord commenced by ob 4erVilig, that lie rose to make a motion, which , lie trusted. would meet with the unanimous ronciorrence of she House. The want of pr ecedent on such 4 snbjret , lie hoped, would Ise no elistacle to a measure which he hail no doubt accorded fully with the feelings of all present. The event which now called for their condolence was of the most tiairical deterip. li on . 'Clic unexpected and sodden death of a mother and her child in such atiectin.; eissomistaisces, etch in private life, was a subject of deep And painful interest to et cry feeling mind ; how much, thou, 1 flirts. feelitio he aggro- voted by the consideration of the 1601.i:ohm amt prospects Of the illusli lime individual whose lamented death now called for our condolence! Her recruit marriage to the Man of her choice wilt' brollght shoat under the most auspicismsand happy cire,,,,,,t at w es , a n d funned a painful COlillast to her sudden and untimely - coil. It was painful and tionecesssi y. In dwell HOW %Toil a subject tti which all had but use a k e li ng , (bider the impression, therefore, of stick firlings, so strong and so sincere, it was sorely their ditty to give them exprt.44• gli they should have ict president to pubic them in doing so 'flue only precedent of which they could avail themselves for their direction in this cote, was the mode which they hail presented their colezratid itions to her Ma jetty on the marriage of the illitsti wits pail. He propoted, therefore, that they 4110;:lil follow up this precedent iu coo 'eying their condolence to Her Al:tinny. lie said they had no precedent for any address of condolence hcynn,t the throne : but the same principle which hail guided them thus fir, would also warrant them in addressing that illustrious in. dividual whose fate hail been so untimely connected with that of our beloved Princess. The Might prospects held out and the expectations formed, from the happy union of Priors Leopold and the Princess Charlotte were such as rarely oc cur. The rare virtues and exemplary habits whirb they ex hibited, were such as to reflect dignity upon their eslialtvil situation : :and the sorrow excited by the fatal overthrow of hopes so confidently and so justly entertained, was not more Neutral in this country than in every lot eign slate. He there fore proposed that a Message of Condolence be sent to lice Majesty, and that the same course he adopted as formerly in presenting their rotierattilations. Mr. CA LCRA FT felt it very painful to dissent from this mea sure; bun such was his feeling upon the subject, that he felt he should be wanting in duty to himself and to the publi c did he not give his negative to this motion. He would use no harsh words, nor would he enter into any explanation on the subject ; but lie felt something within law which compelled him to express lois mat ked Jissent—(Htar, hear, from the Opposition Beildierl.) Mr. M. A. TAYLOR expressed his strong dissent to the mo tion. The trentiln Avaa then put. The' e %V. 1% grotral erg f Are" from the Treasury side of the house, atod its ge!.tridi . cr. of .• No" trout the other side. 'flw SEE KEII.-1 think the Al es" have it. it was then NV ced tine Colonel DESIIIIIUVO vhotild prteent the NlessaKe to r Lord CASTLIMEAtIf then MOVIA 3fi;:sagts to hip Sei roe Highness Prince Leopold. Vpr roreinecr 01i A::. Pnic.i