The National Register. — London, England, 1818-06-08 00:00:00

I 8 11,0 IOW: of such Ganiesupplie.l thy Royal 'l anic. lie conlil Alree to the going into a Committee. rail (lutist; Eaton arglied on the bailie side, and thought it extremely hard that the (lame Laws, front their rigour, pressed hard upon tht• tlamekeepers, exposing them often to tugger, sod sometimes depriving them of life. The rarl of LIM LH lex considered the system of the Game Laws to be founded in error, as well as in cruelty and injus• tire. 'l•hougha friend to the sportsof the field, lie had no relish for sporting with the liberties of the people. He should there fore rote against the Committee. _ . Lord lios.Lasu said lie should vote for the Bill on precise ly the saute grounds and µrine:plea on which it had by sonic Noble Lords beeu opposed. To the general system of Game Laws he was decidedly adverse, but while they were starred to eskt, he thought it right that they *Wahl uptrate alike on all. The LORD CHANCELLOR, with the best attention he was able to bestow on the Bill, fait much difficulty in giving his :issent to it. lie could not but perceive that itit was a crime to Lill or sell game, it was a criml of equal, it' not greater magnitude, to buy it ; and when he heard of a person's being sent to Dorchester gaol fur the former offence, be could not suppress a wish that the buyer of the game had been sent to keep him company. Earl 8117111. R.T justified the Bill; and after a few words ft urn Lard I tollitntl, and Lord l'Artutrvon, the Horse divided on the question fi or going into a Committee, which was agreed to by a majority of :1, there being 33 for, :anti 9 against the 4: momi t tee. _ The Alien ICI! was (ead a third time and pas!ci.l.—Ad jutirntd.. The Royal Assent was givetr by Cuatntissiontathe Chancery 1(64' Fees; the Vot India Marriages, the Negociable Se- _ . . ..rity, the Lottery, and to several private Bills. Sir V. Gum , : ilclivered the opinion of the .liid,:rs on the ~iiestion of the 4irly Peerage, which was nufavoarable to •i,e claimant. :he second reaiiiig of the Privately in Shops Bill ;icing moved by Lora 1 - folland, the Lori Chancellar declared himself hostile to the Bill; and it was thrown out without a division. ROYAL MARRI AG". !Aril Liven pont. mused an Address of Cangrotitherrin to her Majesty on the marriage of his Royal Highness the Duke ni Cambridge. The Address was agreed to, as were similar Addresses to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and to the Royal Pair. The Gains Laws Amendment i3ill was read a third time and passed. STATE cr PRISONS. Lord LA NSDOWNi called the attention of the House to Cie increase of crime, and said he should have The painful task of calling their Lordships' attention to the returns 011 the table of the House, front which it appeared that crime had increased in a three-fold degree in the last to years; the r.iiiiiber of convictions in 1813,16, and 1;, being 19,736; and in lee!), 6, and 7, only 7865. This increase of crime might Le imputed to different causes by different persons. Souse nf. edit impute it to a long continued war; some to the state of our revenue lam s, and sortie to a large paper currency.-- Indeed, it might be the result of all these causes united; but whatever might be the cease of crime, every one would Lgree that the fact of their increase or diminution depended r.i;ch on the state of our prisons; and here he would only slate shortly the variety of crime and charges of crime which :night be found in one prison • namely, charges of felony, p^tty theft, niansliteghter , fraud , against the Excise, Game Laws, proceedings in t lie Ecclesies lica I Courts, charges of bastardy, and various other descriptions of crime. Now, svhen it was considered that there were annually upwards of t,OOO persons committed in the course of the year, 13.000 of whom at least were again returood to society, the House would not fail I. see that this practice f mixing offenders, without considering the different shades !*their offence, was an evil of the greatest magnitude. From all the works published on this subject, it would appear that the system prevailing in the primes of the metropolis, was the very opposite of that which would prodnce reform. To prove this, be need only read an extract from Mr. Buxton's hook, who, speaking of the Borough Compter, says, " every sort of profligacy pre -wailed there, the tried and the untried, the ('hauled and those at liberty, all mingle together in one common la erd." And the keeperof that prison, a most humane man, stated, that in nine years he had never known a single it:tut:ire of reformation take play in the prison. And further, that if he were to illteharge peisonen, he was persuaded he should in a few weeks see :ro of them back again. Even the prison of Newgate was not free iron objec tion on this head. ln that prison there was acsomonoclation fot only to persons when under sentence of death. In this prison, profligacy of mariners prevailed till very lately ; here however an extraord:nary reformation had been brought about by a most extraordinary aud 'amiable female, who, notwithstanding the disadvantages she had :a snuggle with, had d one much to introduce morality into the prison ; and what might not her progress have been, bad the proper regula. riots elisted in the prisons , and had it been possible to have aided her irier good work, as she deserved to be. To girt the House in possession of information on the subject was the object of his present meson. and to obtain that object, he would move an humble Ad. • arms to the Prince Regent, preying that his Royal Highness would be graciously pleased to direct an enquiry to be entered into on the Rate of the different prisoas in the kingdom, and a report thereon to he laid before the House. The Noble Lord concluded by moving an Address to that effect. Lord Curium's expressed his satisfaction at the section of the Noble Marquis. to which he would give his support. The measure of crimeln this country, in the space of the last eight or nine years, had indeed been alarming j and that increase certainly arose out of venous combined circumstances. It was, however, a consolatory eofketion, that the increase of crime had not been proportionably peat within the last four years as it was in the preceding, though, in that wield, we had had distress at it highest. provisien at its high est psitee,anAle had had • transition from war to peace, and a re duction beyond 'precedent. both in our army and navy. Another airrionstance of a most consoling nature also. was, that though the ramher ofiebotro had increased. the number of capital punishments had deoreased. The Noble Lord then went into a comparative view of the nuraberof capital punishments in different periods, from t;so to the present time, by which it appeared that the executions were much more numerousen the early part than in the latter years of that period. Only two means of remedying the evil remained, one cf which most 'be adopted. either to introduce greater severity of punishment. or to adopt such a system in our prisons, by classifies von, iestreetioa, and other means, as might produce reGorinatios, ar.rl that, decrease crime. He was happy the Noble Marquis had breaglit this subject forward ; the result would be, most probable, the appointment of a Committee, from whose labours and SOCIXILIOGI3- dation' he anticipated the greatest benefit. The POST Laws Amendment Bill was returned from the Moment Commons. lord CASSARVIIV observed, that lie still retained his opinion that it was desirable the clause respecting th: nt urent of the prior iret, try y the owners of Imperil? might be am lie thought the sum mould be sitned horn el. to 61., and that cottages under 61. i leac should be exempted. TIM NATTCiNAL rtrmsTrit Lord LIVERPOOL agreed in this opinion, but expressed his fears that and alteration now made in the Bill might risk its being lost tbr the present Session. Lord CARNARVOII, on this saggeition, withdrew his amend nient.—Adjourned to Friday. ArtmAY. PLACF.S IN REVERSION, AND SINECURES. Larl Gitosys:siou rose to make that motion, of which he had given early notice, respecting the abolition of Sinecures and Places held hs Reversion. It was by no means his intention to take up much of their Lordships' rinse; the subject had so often been dis cussed, that little remained to be said upon it. lie should, therefore, witia the utmost brevity, submit to their Lordships the abstract of his opinion. lie thought it radically wrong, and peculiarly so under the eircumsuinces of the present times, ground and'oppressed with enormous hurthens as the people were, that useless offices and idle officers should be paid out of the public purse. There was, however, one case *Welt might very naturally be supposed to star.d as an ob. ,:ection to his proposition, he meant the reversionary grant its the I)uchess of Gloucester, of tke Itangership of hagshot Ileads. Nothing could be snore plausible, nothing snore true, than that if high charac ter and exemplar• virtue could constitute a claim of such a nature, that claim would be substantiated in behalf of the Illustrious Per sonage alluded to. But he considered those very vittues of the Illus trious individual as strongly supporting his argument, liecause it set forth a very dangerousprecodent. The Noble Earl then, after sonic further cursory remarks, made three successive motions; fist, for the abolition of all offices in rev ersion; secondly, for the diceontimi. ance of sinecure places; and lardy, for a plats of general practical etenFitny. . . . 'l'he ;notions were revernlly put fro:-: Wec7sack, and each was ze.iected without .;;.creation. l'he fulls on thy table , +erc thl'i: !:V^:32 stage, and :lu:it Lordships adjourned. -rpm- HOUSE OF COMMONS. MosnAv, Jt- NE 1. Mr. T. Sill ru brought up the Report of the Bani.rupt Coin rnissioners' Salaries. The Resolutions were agreed to. Lord LASCELLES nsutieti the third reading of the Cutlery Jill!. Mr. WH A RTON opposed the 2d Clause, which prevented the manutiseturers of hammered steel, front stamping the word " steel" on their gelds. Mr. Foam wls'ied to see all these fraudulent snarls on different species of goods prohibited. Mr. lift'r.:C;HAM said, the Return, as t 0 the. tampering with the Assessment of the Land-tax in Westmoreland, bad 41014 been made ; and from it, it appeared that all his statements were perfectly trne. This paper skewed that the assessment could not be made till Juoe, and, therefore, could not Ise amended in time fur the election, if a dissolution should soon take place. The order to delay the Assessment was signed by two persons, one of whom was Chairman of the prineipal Electioneering Committee ha Westmoreland. lie trusted the proceedings would have the efleet of pt eventing a recurrence of such improper conduct. Lord LOH THER said, several persons lately in Westmore land came forward voluntarily, and desired to be taxed fur the Land-tax, certainly a novel proceeding. Information was respired by the Tax Office in London as to it, and that caused the delay in the Assessment. The I Ime,Gent. (Mr. Brougham) had made a must unjustifiable use of LurdI4OIISHAWS name, in a matter with which he was unconnected. Mr. Ituot.cti im said, it was an indecent thing to set an Election Agent con esioitling, as such, with the Commission ers of the Tax Office. Mr. W. W Y t. NE said, that if an interference with Elections should take place by Commissioners of Taxes, they would be liable to severe punishment by the House. Sir J. Gnats 44 said, the Assessments for the Land-tax had gone on quicker iu Westmoreland, than in any other county. Here the conversation dropped. The Regency Bill was read a second time, and committed, after some observations from Mr. 'rieraey, who 'proposed a reduction of the expences ot the Windsor Establishment ; and expressed his surprise that a provision had not been made for the demise of the Prince Regent ; and from Mr. Canning, who contended that delicacy should withhold the Home from makinn." any alteration in the Windsor Establishinent.—Ad journed. TuEsuAv. Mr. J. Spurn moved the second reading of the Bankrupt Laws Amendment Bill. Mr. WROTTMEY said, that Westin' of 30,0001. had been judged snfficient fur the erection of a proper building for the Commissioners of Bankrupts; . should a Committee be appoint ed, the accommodation would probably be better and at had the expense. The Rill was then, after a few words from Mr. SMITH, read a second time, committed, reported, and the Report ordered to be taken into farther consideration that day three months, and to be printed. Sir F. litai Imre presented a Petition from Longlohorottgb, in favour of Annual Parliaments and Univorsal Suffrage. The Petitioners, he stated, to be chiefly old people: the age of one being 39, of another 64 : and of the youngest 54. He also pre. sented 12 Petitions from Lancashire, eight from Edinburgh, 20 from Birmingham, eight from Dundee, 30 from 31iddlesex, one from London, 2:i from Westminster, three from Warwick. and 51 Irma Mary-la-bowie, containing the same prayer. Lord COCHRA Nr. theta presented 39 Petitions from Leeds, 43 from Bridgewater, and 39 teom Portsmouth, veining for a radical Reform, Annual Partiamtuts, and Universal Sur (rage.—Laid on the Table. Mr. LA sIBTON stated, that not being in his place when the Petition from the City of London had been presented upon the subject of the equalization of the Poty on Coals, be gave nutiee that nett s.ssion he should moose that the Duty on Coals, wbetber carried by canals ur by sea, sbould be equal. lied. REFORM OF PARLIAMENT. F. BURDETT Stilt( d. that in rising porsi;ant to the no. lice he had given, he should submit a to the House, itself agreeable to all the notions of emotin' jusht r. and Mo. netted with all those pi inciples c.t the Con -titutioo that had exalted this country to BO high a (auk lattells tot Europe. He would indeed (Lilt th. Mtscioil was of such a nature that it eoudi u nliv he ohjecit uy inan,who was capable of ctovio. them-tot.; its utoject. The prin. iples upon winch the Mu; ion was founded, wen not drawn from the artnal ict•uele.l•, nor from ottl writers.; hilt he bud hiliost It to One soo rce, ;old that %As flit autliori.y of the filling tile highs si official •ite. —to 11 the etpui.try, a.. appeared in the speeches Iron' the . ~ ,o tevsiog s that he wished earn. stly t • ici• -. • ooeu the. flits i. '.t - had always appeared to 11101 A ."*. Kin,and lb' people, wher nude:•• audtsi be ;flood to cunt:cat . ; anti there was no season 10 , • Lamm:: jeJ.ous) of the Ctown, it tlii- pours of t!i.E t.t.ot to.:lanced, by Lie cheek ...flirt.' ell . a la,. I,..esentatitni or Mt - people to - .5 ow: of I' JUNI: El me& 'liar resolut:uns he intended to move might be ther.;_iit long, but they would not be found too long, nor had they bee:. advisee-eel without a due consideration of the subject, and, as Car as authority %%eel, would he found uudesitahle. The s.ii; jest appeared to him to be so plain, that he was at a loss means of illettratieo. to eiupsov, as the subject ir:tiled to Lin to call fur universal assent. The him. lierunct, its a long ar gument, having proved that emu al Parliaments were no in:: vetiver, that suffrage %sus, and ought to he more uuiversa', havisig at geed the subject upon the equitable principle of the universal benefit that would rese!t trout refines, hoped it would lint be objected to him that !lc advocated principles of anue•ehy, or of an unattainable: and visionary perfection.-- If such was the case, at least he supported such principles in good company, in company with men whose integrity and ta lent ought to be sufficient to protect lehe at least against the imputation of evil designs. Has ing no either wishbeet to place this question on the ground of reason, lie would now proceed to otter some resolutions upou it. The Ilunourable Baronet having then read a string of resolutions. Lord Coen lose' to second the resolutions. After what lie had seen take place, on so litany occasions, its the House, on the subject of Reform, he could not have any sanguine expeetat as to the result of the resolutions which his 1/1011, rriesiel had sit Tlwy would, however, have this good • ffect, that they would teach the people what it was for which they were to petition. He world not on the present oecasiole, say, that the House was influenced in its decisions by particular motivesottele as 1111. power oh hunstrrs, or that inlet est %hide they possessed, of making places the reward of votes in a certain way that world not be parliamentary for hint to express; but, if Hon. :Members looked to what %atm done in former I s, if they looked back, not only to the abuses of power which had beets committed under the sane. teen of the Unman Senate, but even to those nets which had been authorised by the bodies calling theinselseri representa tive in this country, at oilier perients, and compared them with the acts of thy present representative b ely, they would not believe that our ancestors nor their ancient predecessors were the teals persons who were to be blamed fir their acts. They wuntd , ton the contra' y, think that the smaller fault lay with the former; fur the. greater the trust reposed in any bo dy, the greater was their crime in abusive that trust, as the willing :Ministers of a despotic gos ttttt ent hail less to answer fur their eundeet than they whit pretended to act as the agents of a free eople. lie gave his general and unequi vocal assent to the resolutions proposed by the Hon. Baronet. They were, in his of • 'ou, ant+ am the House ought to re ceiveund agree to ; and heres as probably it Wright be the last time he should ever have the honour of adelreasong the House on any subject—plere the Noble Lord shed tears and ap peared so overpowered by his feelings as not to be able to proceed fur some seeonds.J—As this, lie continued, might be the hist time he ihuOld have the honour of addressing the Huse, lie was anxious to slate to them what his opinions were of their conduct. It was now needs eleven yews since lie ::111 the honour of a seat its the license, and since :Items ll)(le wet. , very few acts of theirs ni which he could agree with Om opinines of the majority. To say that these Acts so voled were cinerary to justice, would not be parliamentary in Dien. He %sunlit oat ev Ai go into the iisquiry whether tiles treiti..l to the natioual good or not ; but he would merely appeal to the femings of the lanillioldera present—he would appeal to the ktion ledge of those Milliliters who wile engaged in coin. Intlee„ autl ask them, whether the Acts of the Legislativ e Body were not of a description, daring die late war, that would, if not for the timely intervention of the use of machi nery, have scut this uatiou to tutol ruin? 'llte comitry was burthened to a state, which, but fur that intervention, it would have been impossible fur the people to bear. The cause of these measles es having such au effect upon the coun try, was examined, and the sunuce gone into by the results hoes of his Hon. Colleague. They weer to be traced,as had been so well observed, to that puttee:me duel intheenee which a number of powerful individuals pO , SPAStAI over the uonii nation of a great menthes of the :Members of that House ; a power which, ilrvolving un a few, became thereby the more liable to be alkeeted by the influence of the Croon; and which Intel, in fact, been rendered almost entirely subservient to that influence. To reform the abuses which arose out of this sy•tein was the object of his Hun, friend's Motion. lie would not, he could Out anticipate the success of that Motion; but lie should say, as had been before said by the great Chatham, the father of Mr. l'itt, that if the !louse did not re form Ore** from within , it would be reformed es Oh a vengeance (tom without. The people would take the subject up, and a reform would take place IA 11411 w. meld make utany Mem bers regret their apathy in refusing that reform which might be rendered efficient and peinutuent. But unfortunately in the present state of Oa House, to its present formation, it appeared to him, that flour within no reform could be expect ed ; and for the truth of this he appealed to the experience of nearly lOU elembers who were then present, nearly 600 bring absent; he appealed to their experielice, whether they ever knew of any one instance where any petition of the people fur reform was taken into consideration, or any re dress afforded in consequence of such petition This he regretted, becausehe foresaw the consequence which would necessarily result from it. Iletriesteel and hoped, that ;Mem bers would see in time the. noctsaity of adopt:Use some step towards regaining the confidence of the people, which they had, heconeeivid, entirely lost., for unless they duel so, they would have, he believed, veva:aim to repent it n hen it would be too late. ineee the 'Swa- Lord's utterance was again choalsed for a time, and he ag..eit ease way to teas He had, ler observed, no Refereed in et:eking these oksere slim's, but that of the country. What he said was dictated by conaci morons feeling, lie was fully convineed of a great evil in the :state, anti he wished to see it lemedied, its order that tbe consequent me %Mitch he believed would result from its canal netaime might be as oldttl. lie had for 1111/CC than ten years the I • .sf a seat in the House, and he test deeply the coubdteire which was reposed in bine by tar (demo's of a,.1 only in gnaw Imo a seat in the HutiNt, but, I Ilre/Illse fill a late OreO•1011 it sillAtril their feelings ul abhor -1 leery of the tout and hot-rode euesioniies which had been raised aganisi lion. [Heir again the Notiii Lead was pru• VI ut;il sins 14t.1,,a ua for Millie aerwuds by All etisisiun of le.:lad—He b. heel to be undeestuod as nut wir.loitig its the pi esent oreasein to rear any aversions epos, liti Majesty's %resters, la' was 1111%111,ft now to speak wish 111.4 lily of day or Throe; nue &legged that they algal t..ke winn i ng i n Ante. He belied tales would see the itiser.op,,e.) of the ctitenw Mies hail so i1141g1144144.4.4, and grvi il n . , 1. , t w a s toe ) late fix /.14r02•,•1AirS 5 et l'iad it its Illts.i 4•41M/ST 1u du awes a pail i,t the t sit al ..1. they had created ; his connate to Olen. was , lliat uu it to time. The it, Wt.,* hei.qt tht•.l put bunt the e 1.411, I+• . tl tliAl it v. as rar tit..st his iatration .tac.g to opia,iou of his llou.