The National Register. — London, England, 1811-03-10 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL. NATIONAL REGISTER. prevention and counteraction of the trade were ineffectually ad ministered ; the punishment, obviously, was not sufficiently severe to deter those from prosec i pting their iniquitous object, who had already suffered pecuniary chastisement for pursuing it with avidity. There' exist to his knowledge, incontestible proofs that a very consider I* Slave Trade was now carried on, in which the merchants this country were concerned, and which had been promoted by them, and he had in his possession documents,. Which were sufficient to convict of capital felony, those very persons, if it had been the will of the Legislature to inflict capital punishment upon the crime of the Slave Trade.— He felt it his duty (and he would accede to that feeling, howe ver painful it was to him) to mention circumstances and names corm cted with the subject of his present reprobation, for the purpose of skewing the ingenuity with which the dealers in this odious traffic concealed the nature of theirtmsanthropic specu lations. The Neptune, a ship fitted out by a house in Liverpool, at a former period, avowedly the most noted for the traffic, sailed in June 1809, and upon her return to this country, pro fessed to have been on a voyage for ivory,- but it was afterwards declared by two young men, of an unquestionable veracity, who had been upon the voyage, that a great number of slaves were taken on board. The Captain of the George also acknowledged to the persons who.had given this information, that he was like wise engaged in the trade of slaves. There were various other confirmations of the existence of the trade which INlr. Brougham recited. He stated that about four months ago a King's ship met an English vessel going towards Africa, and took from her a carpenter, who mentioned that he was ordered, when it should appear probable that no detection would take place, to fit up bulk heads and platforms, the use of which could be easily guessed at. On the 12th of December this King's ship met the ship Marquis of Romana, which had on board one hundred and nine slaves ; the vessel was of course seized, and was now under condemnation. There were two other vessels which met svith a similar fate for the same offence. Those 'called them selves Spanish ships, and professed to be manned by Spanish sai lors, but it was soon ascertained that they were no other than the Charlotte and Mohawk, under Spanish colours, manned for the most part by Englishmen, and owned by merchants in London. He would - not trouble the House any further in re peating proofs of the continuance of this execrable traffic, but even if he had not been in possession of those proofs, he had the respectable authority of Col. Maxwell and others, for declaring that. though the Slave Trade was greatly diminished since the passing of the Resolutions relative to it, yet a sufficient portion of it still existed to demand the notice of the House. From the month of December to that og April last, no less a number of slaves was brought under condemnation into Sierra Leone, than ere thousand and ninety-one. To the colonies .the importation of slaves was looked upon' as a matter of course r notwithstanding the pecuniary punishment annexed to detection. Under all these circumstances it was unnecessary for him to assure the House that it was imperative upon them to take sech measures as might effectually check the revival of so dreadful an evil. — The object of his motion was to make the practice of which he haul snolten felony not capital felony, but of that kind which is punishable by transportation. Ile then moved for leave to Isring it) a Ilia,to amend the 47th of the King, respecting the 'lave Trade. After some observations from Mr. Marriot, Mr. Wilber force, Air. Barham, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in favour of the Motion, leave was given to bring in the Bill. PUBLIC BILLS OF IRELAND. Sir row , : NEW rolurProduded a Resolution to the House, the obj?ct of which was to allow the same time to elapse between' the second reading and the committal of Public Bills, respecting Ireland, as was allowed between the first and second reading of Private Bills. He represented that the hurried manner in which the important business of Ireland was transacted in the I . louse, occasioned the £reatest inconvenience, as it was impos sible that the Members for that country could receive due in struction from their Constituents upon any subject of public interest. After a long discussion, in which Mr. Foster, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr. Croker, opposed the motion, and Mr. Shaw, and Mr. Hutchinson concurred in it, a division took place.—Ayes 29—Noes 74—Majority 45. Mr. WI , NNE postponed his Bill to prevent bribery and cor ruption in elections fur Parliament, to the 9th and 15th of the month. On a division, Mr. Perceval's motion for giving a precedency, on certain days, to Orders before Notices of Motions, was adopted, by a Majority of 82 to 30. The House then took into consideration the report of the Army Estimates, and the first Resolution being agreed .to, be remainder WiliC po3tp..ned to Thuraday ne-it.—Adjourt,ed. WEDNESDAY, MARCH G. Mr. Rose moved the third reading of .the••Srok Manufaetur- • cr's bill, which was opposed by Mr. D. Giddy,..Mr. Curwen, Sir John Newport, and Mr. Parnell, on the ground that it went to add nothing hut superfluous regula t i • n. Mr. Rose stated, that the si.nple ,object of the eßill was to place women labourers on the same footing as men. The Bill then passed. The CHANCELLOR of the ExcfinQULß pospbind his motion respecting Distilleries to Friday. • Mr. WHITBREAD gave notice, that on a future day lie shoult4 move, that the Orders of the Day should al ways 1) taken in the. order in which they stood ; and that no order for any Money Bill should come on after 10 o'clock at nip. kr. The House being resolved into a Committee 6f %PVIV. I- ' , Mr. WHARTON moved a variety of sums; among -tlienti7S,tal."l . 4 the maintenance of convicts; 17.5,0001. for foreign und'slitra service money; 20,0001. for Law charges; and id,tal. fol. the Public Office, Bow-street. s • Thal Lord PALM E R 0 N brought up the Army Mu `Jim. Jim :. Read a first, and wdereil to h.: read a st;cond time to-morrOW: —Adjourned. ' TITVRSDAY, MARC!' 7. The Birmingham Water Works Bill, aster some discussion; was thrown out by a majority of 55 to 12. Mr. M. A. TAY LOlt twain brought before the House, the shu t ' ation of Appellants in tile House of Peers, anil suitors in the'. Court of Chancery. Such _was the increase of business', it r.:04 impossible oue man could get through it. In the Hoafle of . Lords there were no less than 300 appeals now Nraiting to be heard, and which, using the utmost expedition, as business was now conducted, could not be disposed ef in less than ::0 years. In Chancery, no less than 100 causes were wahine for hearing, and only one was disposed of during last term. In addition to this, the Lord Chancellor had another duty to pt2rfctron—lle meant the affairs of Bankrupts, which were daily increasing, as the number of banki iptcles in 1809 wore whilst in 1810 they exceeded f2OOO. The I lox. Member conclu,'ed by moving, " hat a Committee be appointed to search the Joan the House of Lords, to ascertain how many appeals were cut before that House, and to report to the House thi:reupon. The Cun NCELLOR or the ExentQusa acknowledged the facts stated by Mr. Taylor ; but conceived the House of Com mons not to be the proper place for taking up tilt: subject. Committee had already been appointed in the present Session to enquire into the evils complaieed of, he tiler, fire thought the present motion unn.Tcessary.---Several Ntembers stated iro3llC.: S within their knowledee, of the delays attending suits of this description.—On a division, however, the motion. as lust. The report of the Committee on Commercial Credit being brought up, Mr. Perceval moved that it be referred to a Committee of the whole House on Mondt.y next. He did not consider it necessary that the Report shoold be mad, but it purported to grant six millions by way ul' Exchequer Bills. IRELAND. Mr. Po' so Nav rose pursuant to his notice. He !mid that he was glad to see the Right lion. :entl.-man (Mr. N.V. Pole) in his place, whose letter was the occaston of the mott,:n wWch he intended to submit to the House. lie expressed his anxiety to hear what wean the cause of the circukftion of the !otter to the Magistiacy of Ireland, as he was bure that such a measure cou.d not have been taken if something dangerous had not been .appre hended.—lt was most strange that the Catholic Meeting, which was in that letter called an unkwful assembly, should be allowed openly to exist upwards of .two years before the proclamation. The Catholics had always. before enjoyed the privileges of 'com plaint. and this country m ver denied the rig!tt. He contended that the usual mode of enforein,q, the application of laws that had been brought into disuse, was, by proclamation, issued by the King in Council; and he wished to know why the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the representative or his Majesty, bail not resorted to this more efficacious as well as more paternal way of proceeding? He also desired to be informed whether any legal 2.tithority had been consulted upon the subject; and why, if the meeting wax unlawful, it was permitted to act after it had been declared so ? The proceeding was of the utmost interest; Ireland had already enough . to irritate her, and her injuries should now be removed, instead of being aggrU;rated. He concluded an eloquent speech, which we regret that our limits will not allow us to give, by moving, that " An humble Address be presented to the Regent, requesting a copy or copies of any proclamations issued by the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Ireland, relative to the Act for dispersing unlawful assem blies. Also for a copy or copies of any communications or references to the Attorney and Solicitor General thereupon, together with their opinions. • Also for copies of any dispatches from the Lord Lieutenant to this Government, relative to the conduct of that Committee. , ~.._. -• i _,,,,~.kv.<. . • r • ^~ t". . , ~ ~ . . • • 154