The National Register. — London, England, 1817-02-24 00:00:00

FEBRUARY f 241 Parliament. Were not these innovations in the Constitution Yet the Hon. Gentleman hail supported these measures.— ( flier, kear.)--With respet t to the subject which gave rise iiiii eiliately to this conversation, hr was sorry to tied persons, %d i n leak wished well to the cause, thus dividing and weak• ening the cause they advocated. As far as related to 14w es te:ono.: suffrage, 110 was persuaded, if suffrage was es teuded to direct tasatien, the people would be satisfied. a n d nothing More would be heard of universal suticege.—Mbar, leer.) Mr. RR AN o) expressed his regret, that nttempte FllOlllll be made by interested persons to introduce chinierieul and Vi iiunary schemes to Witte the great cause in which thee Were all so mewl' interested. He also regretted much the ill timed personal attack whirls had this night been made oil his lion. Friend by the Noble Lord. Mr. Cuewera was in favour of a rational reform. Lard A. HAMILTON also supported the (eerie of reform, and adverted to what had fallen from an Hon. Gentleman opposite( Mr. Ward), who, lie said, ought to be th” last to •,rpo e Parliameatary Reform, he having heels the friend and supporter of Mr. Pitt's system of reform Mr. WARD explained, and denied that lie had ever been a friend to the qiiestiosi of reform. Mr. CANNING COlllll nut join in the regret expressed by lowa Gentlemen at the divisions which hail taken place be tween the advocates of this great measure. He was per. waded they would never he overrun/iodate:l, the vat ious plans proposed were so opposite. He could not however avoid that the Noble Lord (Cochrane) had been hardly used liv his faieuds ; fur of all the plans proposed Isis eertately had tire majority out of doors, where all who had nothing were for universal suffrage and annual parliaments; therefore, though his plan would ultimately, if carried into effect, be productive •f ruin, desolation, confiscation, and elestructiim, yet it was the Noble Lord's plan, and let hiss stick to it. He invited the Gentlemen on the other side, each of whom hail a pocket plan of Reform of his own, to bring forward their whole steels of haberdashery before Easter, Ili it the House might have the benefit of them all, 011 the discussion of tho great Inestion. Mr. 'l'tEßke WAS WO old stow to enter into sissy visionary schemes of Reform ; what lie wished to do was to make the House what it ought to be—the guardian of the people's rights. (Inc thing lie must coinp.ain of; that W.1'1,11141 the Right lion. Gentleman opposite should have of:se reed on the differences vr 'licit existed on this side of the House, and take.: upon himself to say that those difkrenees couid never be aceonimodateel.--Did the Right Hni. Gentleman 111.. RR to mounpolise all power or aecousinod•tieg diffetences.of opi• pions its liiinseif.—llenr, tea;., —Certainly he had great ta lents that w ay. If the Right Hon. Gentleinau woos I inform the lieuse how he and his colleagues had accommodated their differences, those on his side the House need not de spare; for no differences could ever be greater than those of the noble Lord and the Right HMI. Gentleman who now at by his side had heen.—/Icer, hear! Mr. Li/TELE:TO"! defended the conduct of Mr. Ilrouttlntai, mid contended, (lest the Noble Lord was unjustified so the attack which he had this night made. With respect to the Noble Lord, he WAS taunt welcome to inquire into bus (Mr. Lyttletores) conduct, as he neither feared Isis enmity, nor courted his friendship. The petition was Oren brought up and read. Lord COCIIR NNE, iii suovine that the, petition would be laid on the table, said, lie had no personal motives tower(' the Hon. and Learned Gentleman. In stating Ins former opinions, he hail only wished to spew that the Hun. Gentle man was trot justified in speaking of the large body of the people wimfavoured A iiiii ial Parliaineuts and Universal Sof frage in the disrespectfid terms lie had done. He hoped the House would receive and entertain this subject, otherwise the public would consider themselves as having great cause of complaint. He trusted also that full circulation would be Riven to the debases, and that the gallaries of the House would 1w open to the public.—Order, order ! Chair, chair ! Mr. BROUGHAM again repeated, that his coo lest would be influenced either by the threats of those olio instructed the Noble Lord, and whose tool the Noble Lent was, without doors, or by the Noble Lord's speeches within doors. One thing he most say, the Noble Lord had uttered sentiments which spewed an intention to iatimidate the House. 'the question of Reform was not to be .carrietl by intimidation; and should the Noble Lord ever utter another sentence si milar to what he had this night thrown out, he( Mr. Brougham) anxious as he was for Reform, would adopt one of tw o . c ourses, either to confine the deLates within the walls of the Honee, or to move to adjutant the question of Reform altoge t ber.—flearrat de, near! The petition was then ordered to lie on the table. CORN LAWS. sir. DICKERSON {resented a petition from the owner' and Occupiers of laud in iontersetshire and Gloucestershire, coin phi iiiiii g that the Corn Laws, as they at present stem!, did not afford sufficient protection to the growers, and pray tog for the adoption of some measure on the setbject. Mr. Cuitwes could not approve of the prayer of this peti tion. He was ready to acknowledge that the distrestes of the country could not be stated tee high ; but he was eoevineed at the Swale time that it was not by giving bounties and keep ing tip the prices of corn, that these distresses could be ale rated. The petition was ordered to lie on the table. PORT 1111. - NEWR:V. Mr. !Mot:Guam wished to know Wilt: the r it was the inten tion of tlic Government to allow the collector of the twit of Newry, who had held that situation six y1:414.1111, to retire 1 upon All allowance of :1,001. a year. Mr. Pact. was not aware that any arrangement had been made nwthis subject ; but whenever lie did retire, lie is iOllll retire ouly according to the regulations of the Act of Patina- meat. Mr. FITZGERALD said, any instrument of the Lord Lien tenant, giving a larger pension than allowed by the Act, would tie illegal alkt Mr. BINNETT moved for a return of the number of per- 1 sons now under sentience of death lie NewgatL, specifying:' -their crimes; tic.—Agreed to. SE.IMEN. Mr. G.* WAtrituNnett proposed a vote of seamen.--Thei Mon. Baronet obsi %eft, that the !IMAM' now prol•osed mould exceed by about 1100 the number proposed during former periods of peace. The nasither to bo voted would br 19,000 for sis loiter months, at the rate of W. (is. per month per .nun. The greatest possible attention Jett) been paid to, the Estimates. the reamen actuall► to be voted, would be 19,000, including boo marines. Ile sm.% ed accordingly. Alr. Ttnott oliaierved, that the ra•n cAlculated in 1792, VAS dl. per wan ;it afterwards tinned out to b e 71. H e hoped, tneretine, that the present stuu of 61. lid. would not be enrich below the mark. Sir WAltatl4l3lll &unwed the Right Hoa. (iCatiCillalt- THE NATIONAL REGISTER. that a minute examination hail token place, and there wail no reason to expect it would be cketvded. Mr. 'ft Ensl;.t said , the t:ommit lee of Etittiry hod not yet done a stroke of work, iu consequence of the Estimates not Wing ready. 'flue motion was then agreed to; as weir ulso the following mom, s iv. 21ii,61/01. for wages; 2:1:1,7W11. for victualling ; 21,,,1001. for w ear and tear; and 22,6001. or ordnance. The report was ordered to be ree ei.e.l to-morrow. THE sEcitry.% HY TO TUE ADNIIII.‘L'IN. Lord Mivripsi rose to bring tiiil;rth,.tOtisititratii - o; of the House the Salary of the First Secretary of the Admiralty. The Noble Lord observed, that in the opinion of hk B. H. the Mince Regent, the country was in such a state as to require from hint a surrender til t one fifth of his income. A Noble Lord had folloned his example; and others, he be lieved, were following. But at such a moment another Gen tleman; in a Subordinate sititution, conceives that his merits were such as to entitle him to au eacrease of salary. The order made tor the iacrease in the summer of 18111—most taken as applying to a state of war, and he was prepared to deny that the country was in that slate to warrant such an in- CI ease. The Expedition to Algiers sailed to he suite, but no letters of r...prisal or marque were issued at that liine, constituting a state of oar. Lord Exmouth went oat a tieLm eiator, to deitiaml an answer to certain terms; trod the limy answer of the Noble Lord justified him in stating that cireinit stance, for the Noble Lord, In Iris di pair hes, sav s, " Thus has a provoked war of t ,lays existence been concluded." 'Fisk being the fact, the Admiralty think it necessary to grant au increase of salary to their Secretary. He denied that either in this case or the expedition to Copenhagen, there Was any real ground for giving war salaries. In the papers on the table there were two persons stetted to he entitled to war salaries; but these grams savoured too much of farmir itista—he did mit know theist to be :pally so. If th^ir call was not attended to, the people, would thank that the House were really not intent upon retrene,iment, and only axiosis to favour its own nody. It was impossi'de to say in what ligh. this remititeratio:, was made, whether for his services at the Admiralty, or in the Idolise, or elsewhere; for the secretary had iierformed various duties to „,overninent. 11, , coula not conceis e that an expedidtm like the one to Algiers eintel have iiiereased the la Minis of th • secretary. flirt pn ;lie t ad Steen dee , • led. fm- the Navy office had iso idea of paying die salary until the lien G •utlemin demanded it. The Board referred to Ow duns r:tv, to ascertain whether the country was at war with Algiers, and received an answer in the affirmative. It was clear, there , ' -re, they had nn Idca of paying him auy tiatitg lies ond his peace salary. The Hou. Gentleman seemed to think, that because lie had cointurneed a war against pirates, that lie was entitle•l to Wall pirate li:tn• self, and make war on the finances of the country. trusted that the home would wrest the contimil out of fits hands, mid cons hire the lion. Gentientan that his appetites when other public men were giving up tlieir incomes, were not to be gratified at the espetiee of a country already una ble to hear their burthens. lit cum-hided with snoring a resolution to t!ui etr , Ct " Thlt the i.sue of the War Salsi fies to the Secretary of the Admiralty, and certain other officers in .con-aleration of the expedition to Algiers, is un called for, and therefore an improper a i iplicatiou of the pub lic motley." Mr. CaOk FR claimed the attention of the House to his case, which the Noble Lord had made SO personal, that the Hmse waist be induced to think that the favour was purely a per sonal 011 , .. He was far front dens rig that lie had dente:tiled the increase. He made it after ice service was performed ; and he considered the sin mitt sii paltry, that he w , old not have dime justice to the office whit In he tilled, if he had nut made the demand. The Noble Lard had talked of sacrifices ; and he could assure the House, that be was as ready to come forwatd as the Noble Lord, or the Right lion. Gentleman (Mr. l'oa.onhy).; but it would hware bees an unworthy act to give what he was not entitled to. In the turath of August, therefore, he had made the demand, conceiving it was %Atilt he was justly entitled to. With respect to Algiers, it was not a mercantile State; consequently letters of marque or re prisals could not have been issued. The expedition to that place was actually fitted out during a state of war. Lord Exmouth went out less of a negotiator thau any other Admi ral that had left the country. The Hon. Gentleman here contended, that the duration °lithe war made no distinction, whether two days or two yeas; the fact was undoubted, and his claim well timuileil. lie denied that he had demanded the increase as a matter of favour, but of right precedent aosi right alone had guided him iu making the demaudoshieb he had done openly, without auy secret reservation. Mr. CA ICK SET thought the matter was not personal, but belonged more properly to the Lords of the Admiralty ; for the Navy Board were in so much doubt whether the time was one of peace or war, that they were obliged to apply to that Boaui, to know whether the Hug. Gentleinan had the right of making the claim. How stood the fact—Loll! Ea mouth went out with a treaty—the ley dill not accept the terms at first—war commenced—and then the terms were ac cepted. Under these circuinstauces, the Hun. Gentleman 'night have waived his claim, and pocketed his susceptibility for his successor ; the blame, however, was not his owls.; it rested with the Admiralty Board, and could not be supposed to influence the conduct of the Hon.• Secretary—a Sinn of. al. 3a. od. the sum total of the inerassed salary tor two day's , hostilities. lie wished to know what additional trouble the lion. Gentleman could have had with this estiedition, which his salary of 30001. a-year, grimiest by the Order-in Council, did not amply pay. Sir:l. Non an defended the conduct of the Board of Admi ralty in signing the was rant, which he did tint regret, tiering alba matter of right, and nut of laVOur ; sod he should do the same again. Sir G. Huta:observed, that if the Admiral had stet lite Algerines at sea, he was fully authorised to attack and Cap-'; tore them; so that it was not au expedition for mere ne- ' gociation. Admiral MARYIIAII supported the motion, but denied that this expedition could be called a state of war. He observed, that expeditions might befitted out for any petty place on the coast of Africa; but it could not be called an armament for the purposes of war. Mr. Ti Eke ha' was satisfied, that, in point of principle, the ' transaction mast create much desist thimighout the coon try. The right would depend solely upon the noutuer into which the Order in Council wax to be cuirstruest and hese . he would blame the Lords of the Admiralty ; for iboy had a discretionary power, either to giant an addition, or withhold it. Th. , (::der of Isoo authorised them to gniJIL a satin, of 30901—and an addition, in time of sear, of 1001. more. Now,. unless they were perfectly satisfied that the Hon. Gentleman was justified in making the claim, and tLit the nation was in That state of war as to authorise them to act, they should un doubtedly have refined to sign the warrant, because the pa naltY Nouid fall ui)ou the people of Eagiaad. It was [SUMO able Aosee the Lords of the Admiralty straining every pu the public, fur the treaty had actually attired on f e day of thst warrant bring signed. Mr. 'l'. then ridirulnil the idea of' the disinterestedness of the Hon. Secretary, who lust year hail drerelaiowd all claims, and'inive 000101 formied to as sert Ids right. The Lords of the. Admiralty had said to hint, " you make year demand, and we'll stand by von." Lord CASTLEMMAGIE considered the conduct of the Right Hon. Gentleman as actuated by a spirit of detraction, with 4 view to run down MI politic men, audinjore them in the est: mation of the (mount,. tin thet, the !loose itself imposed the task 'thou the Board of Admiralty, and strongly denied that they were at liberty to use their own distortion. He com plained of the course pIIIPSIMI by the :noble Mover, in, cot first calling for information.; and considered the line adopted as a cruel trap set tier piddle men, to render them odious. With respect to the facts of the cast., hostilities bad actually commenced ; for the letter of the Secretary of State to Iles Admiralty Board stated, that the aggression began with the Ma .were lit BOlla ; and it was tirstaactly declared in the body of instructions to Lord r.snintitle„ to consider all Ah.t.rive vessels which lie met at sea as enemies, and to capture then. the only discretion which he was at liberty to use was in le spect to those in port. Mr. Lavine maintained, that if the House did not support the motion, they would degrade theinavit es. Mr C. BA ItCLAY was not convinced, born all dist had transpired in debate, that the country, with reference to the claim of the Hon. Secretary, was in a state of peace. Mi. W. SMITH supported the moth n The }loose then derided—Fur the motion 141—Againstit IW--;tlajority 55 agamst Lord Milton's motion. RETRENCHMENT. On our readmission to the Gallery. %te futtryi Mr. 1 3 / 1 01.`11:111.iN say inr. that if any Member almald bring forward the general plan of lietrenehtnent, it would he treated in the same way a. the last question wWeh wooiti •11 , tw the public, tha. there w:ts no sincerity litte4tirs, %viten they yroft•seci Illiernbeives tavotinab.e 1 , ) retreneinatetit. 111 4C. 'We WI the Bill for rnabrng the I xcitertucr to receive voluntary contribution • from persona in office, Lord '.:A•Tt.un6AOtt it au t er we• the introitiou of esta t‘: 14)( ~• °Hirt. ;on the cunt' art, or w as out to be ee•- sidrred on the light of vuuuNary einnrinutinnb. Mr. GonDu wished knuw if it u.os intended to reduce the Win.kor Ectabtiodunettt? 'II. VANSITTART gala, that, ennsi , lering ibe delicacy 4 , 1 the intuition, he could not Let xp..cted to :in‘v , ct :t. The 11:11 th. n went through a Comm1:1 , ; the Mt* ITeCiVI:II, auJ orili red to be taLeat tut) furtitei c ...,1•1 :than nn Wt•Jnr~dny. . . . Mr. I,t statNcrow brought tic P liken reiativr t., th • D. ow. ou Paper a.',100e.1 to foe U:tiver.it% of Glasgow.—Ur. .iered to be laid uu the table. —Adjourned. I UESDAY, Ft 18. The noose was to ba;',ot fur a C tmouttee to try the merits of tlu. p •tit"mti romp!aining of au undue returr. for th• Bo rough of tV tottmt 114•St'l ; when the re,ittkite tmmiter of vutiters (Idd) toot hetng present, au adjournment, of course, took place. WEDNESDAY, FED. 19. The chief bn , iness of general isupartance thi. day was the REPO: Cr OF THE SECRET CO rEE. Mr. liAlltUksT appeared at the bar With the Report of the Secret Committee, which was read by the Clerk. It was in suhslinee as follows : " 'that the Cominitte., after a most attentive examination of the docennests which had been referred to their cow. &ea. lion, by order of the Print . e lle4ent, were conviticed th it at tempts had been made in various parts of the comely, as well as iu the metropolis, to tale adviietage of the distr. saes of the people, and to mate in their mind , a desire to over throw and destroy the present laude I and funded system. That. in the metropolis and other places, there existed a so urly, denominated the Spencettos, from the same of the ori ginal thunder, a visionary enthusiast, who lived scene years ago. At the umetnes of these persons Parliamentary Re. form was described as a half measure, not calculated to do any good ; the people were told, they must look to the land ; that they had no Constitution, and would search for it in vain; that the land-owner was a rapacious monster ; the fund. owner still worse, and that they must be hunted down. Other societies were held in the metropolis and elsewhere, which. Meeting under the disguise of conviviality, littered their seditious doctrioes and profane parodies on passages of scripture, and raised subscriptions to defray the expense of printing and circulating their opinions gratis to the people at large. he Committee had also discovered that there had bees its agitation a Plan for a general risiog of the people, which was to have been rendered so numerous, as by its [phy sical strength to have overcome all opposition. Committees in town hail been appointed to correspond with Committees in the country—the Town Committee bad been busily and actively employed hi collecting the names of persons alto could he depeuded upon. The general rising ass to take place is the right. The soldiers were to have been sur prised, the barracks set on hre, the Tower and /lank seized ; a machine had been invented, a drawing of which was ex hashed to the Committee, for driving back the casairftrom the streets, and other preparations were made. This plan, however, was fur the present postponed ; and it was deter mined to hold a m:eting somewhere in the ueighbourhood of the metropolis fur the avowed purpose of petitiunioc for Parliamentaly ILL( form. The map of London aas exanuned, and Spa fickle was the place tined upon. :Iccorelinely a meeting was held in that place in November, and vatoms indammatory hand bias were previous;e circulated amongst the people, cue of which Colit.sioeti the following expressions. " No Regent, no Castlereagh-44 with their beads; no Bishops, they are only useless luother;" &c.—At the meeting to November, no violence took place, but a secoliti areeliing was fixed thr the gel of December. when it was hoped they would be strong enough to proceed to aotion. In the menu time tire situps where arias and autumn:tam might be obtain ed had been meted. Tri-coloured slags and cockades hail been pros hied. and plans adopted for seducing the *oldie's; Anti confident hopes were expressed th , t if they could pre vail for two hortr,,onke, they should be able to furnish thent selveocempledely with anus. The pet •.ealS were all to have been thrown opeu ; a Humber of pikes had been ordered, Iwu hinedied and fifty had becu Matto, tic:it melt, a nil paid fur. Tlitems-coloured flags, cockades, &c. were taken in a waggon to Mpa-ficlds.- [Dere the report entered into a de tail of the tiarviactiont of the IA December, sod continued]—.. That improbable*, it was that success should attend this ee llaordinary anrletLeiin„get it was the resell am, at ranged systeot, the ,i1I4(01"5 et V. kid.' were confident of success; and, though then defeated, their coufideuce still continued. The Committee next (stied the attention of On Rouse to a chain of clubs, which, under the pretence of lot %as lligig the great olliet of l'arhanteetary Reform, had lieu e3tatJatAtti