The National Register. — London, England, 1813-02-21 00:00:00

Mr. A azacaomay appealed to the candour of the. Noble Lord (Cas- 1 tlereagh) for time between the: Committee and the report, fur a ma ture consideration of the measure. Mr. Hoanz signified his approbation of the Bill as a remedy for an evil of .great pressure and magnitude. 'Lord Casti.zazacti said, he had no wish to hurry the measure through the House. The course of proceeding he should propose to adopt, if the House allowed the Bill to go through a Committee, would be to delay the report Upon it. till Friday, or this day se'imight, when it would, as amended, have been a sufiicient time in the hands of Members. Mr. PONSONBY signified his approval of Monday next for this pur buse. liriday, he observed, would be occupied with other important siness. Sir S. Rost LLY spokein favour of the plan suggested by Mr. Leach, which he saidhad nothing new in it, but simply proposed to have re course to what was already in existence to remedy the evil in question. Mr. BATHURST defended the principle on which the gill was founded, and gave it his Warmest support. Mr. STErntsr WAS in favour of the Bill. . After a few words from Mr. STIP/LIN, Mr. MARRVATT, and Mr. SISARON, the amendment was negatived, and the original question carried. The House then resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill, Mr. COARTENEY in the Chair.; Lord CASTLICREAnH proposed several Clauses to the Bill, which I were carried. They were, th a t th e sa l ary o f t h e Vi ce -Ch ance ll or should be. 50001. per annum ; 15001. of which to be paid by the Lord Chancellor from the emoluments of his office, the remaining moiety to be paid out of the Suiturs, or Dead Cash Fund; that 60,0001. be invested for the purpose of coveting the latter moiety. Mr. R. Goanox herenbseeved, that it would be better that the salary of the Vico-Chancellor should be paid entirely by the Lord Chancellor. The other clause proposed by Lord CASTLIRZAGII was, that neither. the Vice-Chaticetlor nor any of his Officers should be allowed to take any tees except salary. Mr. FRESTON, adverting to the Suitors Fund, nut of which it was inten Ito pay one-half of the salary of the Vicc-Chancellor, thought that rnti measures should be taken to restore the property in that ADA to those persons who had a right to it. For this purpose it would. be proper to appropriate part of the fund to discover the persons who, had a claim to any part of k. • Mr. SistcoN said a few words, expressive of his surprise that the; Hap. Gent. should not know that such a plan as that which he pro.% 'posed was impracticable. Mr. CoUstranzy agreed with his Hon. Friend (Mr. Preston,) the opinion, that as the property or Suitors Fund was unappro-, priateci l a great portion of it m i g h t b e distributed among those who , had a right to it. The Call of the /Joust was poiipnnett till this day se'nnight. Mr. It L ASKRUit Nr. presented a Petition from the Inhabitants of Lan caster against the Catholic Claims, which, alter an observation from Lord Stanley,• was laid on the fable. NATIONAL, It ROISTER. Me. Alderman ATIINS inform. _ House, he was directed by the Committee sitting trFon the Weymouth Elecrion, to inform them that a ma of the name of Lewis was, in the course of his ex envination, found guilty of gross "prevarication. On the report being deliveied in, and the question put from the Chair, Lewis was or (ISM to ba committed to his Majesty's ? risen of Newgate. VICE-CIiaNCELLOR'S BILL. On the motion of Lard CASTLLILLAGII I the question being put that the SPEAKER do leave the Chair, Mr. LEACH contended that the Master of the Rolls was an eilicer Anointed by the Constitution to assist the Lord Chancellor. If the Lord Chancellor wanted more assistance than he at present had, was it riot na•ural for them to turn their eyes to this cfficer, to see if, by another distribution of his time, he could be made equal to the t a S k of-affording the assistance required. By the Constitution the Mastcr of the Rolls was not required to attend to the Prize and Plantation Appeal before the Privy Council. He might then be withdrawn from these, and his place might be supplied by the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. To 200 judicial days which the Lord Chancellor might have, the Master of the Rolls could be enabled to acid what arostitt be equal to 310 ; and such assistance would be not only ample, bUt out of all proportion .more than was required, while the Mas ter of the Rolls would not have more of his time occupied than the other Judges. In two years the arrears might be eff::civally got under, and the business from that time could be met without difficulty. Having said this i it was not his intention to put his nega tive on the Bill, but as he thought it very desirable to pause beton they committed themselves to a measure of such importance, lie infould move " That the House should resolve itself into the Coin inittee on th at day fortnight." • Lord CASTLZSZAGiIt in persisting in the inot;on he had made, desired to he understood as in no way putting a bar to the considera tion Of the Honourable and Learned Gentleman's plan, but as acting ftom a feeling that the Bill before them had not yet been put fairly in competition with it. In justice to his own opinion, he, however, fglt it necessary to state, that he did not apprehend the plan of the Honourable and Learne d Gentleman would be found to supply an adequate remedy to the evil acknowledged to exist. Me. WLVILIyaL objected to the plan of the Hon. and Learned Getitlemen RR, 211? Mr. Goa non observed, that all th it had been said about the Suitors Futrl, served to impress more strongly on his mind the propriety of having the whole of the' salary of the Vice-Chamellor paid by the Lord-Chancellor. He hoped that when the Nob'e Lord next carne to the House, he would have "cession to inform them that the Lord Chancellor had agreed to thii.--Hear, hear ! and laughter.) After some farther conversation, the Rill was ordered to be taken into further consideration on Monday.—Adjourned. TUSSDNY, tEll. 16. Several Petitions were p , esented for and against the East India M..notv.ly, and the Cath.ilic Claims. Ordered to lie on the table. From the noise which prevailed in the /louse, the names of the pLices from which they were presented con d not be heard in the arc rv. The Committee on the Ayrshire Election was postponed from the 25th instant to the sth of March. _ _ IRISH FINANCE. On the motion of Mr. W. FL soya n, a Committee was ap ointed to inquire into and report to the House the state of the fiances of Ireland fir the last twenty years. ending January 5, IBM sheaving the increase and redemption of the Public Debt, the produce of the Taxes in Ireland. their progress, with estimates of their future value, the amount of the unfulu'ed debt, &c. Mr. HiLav Ann' NG row obtained leave to bring in a Bill to enable a certain portion of the Corps of Cornish Miners to enter into the re. gul..r army. . The Steam Engine Coal Drawback Bill was reported : and the Lo- . cal Tokens Bill was read a third time and passe I. Mr. Ht LF.If A DPI tit,TON found that the nature of the Motion he had made had been much mistaken. An idea had gone abroad, that he had it in contemplation materially to alter the local Militia Act. frothing was further from his wish than to make any great ilteratim in that excellent measure. What he wished to do was merely to introduce certain clauses to explain, and, in some instances, to amend the former Act. A Bill, which he brought in for this purpose, was read a first, and ordered to be read a second time on Tue s day next. He then brought in a similar Bill for Scotland. Read a first, and ordered to he read a second tune on Tuesday. He also brought in the Bill for enabling a certain portion attic Cornish Miners to enter into the regular army. Read a first, and ordered to be read a second time un Friday.—Adjourned. V I TPN suaY Frn. 17. • THE WEYMOUTH ELECTION. . Mr_ Alderman A TXINs informed the House,. that PENAL LAWS. Sir S. ROMILLY rose to make the *notior, of which he had given notice. He had, a tew sessions ago, brought in three Bills, which he thought were proper objects tio• legislative interfererce. The first Of the three bills he brought in was, to repeal the Act making it a capi tal offence to steal privately in a dwelling. house to the amount of 40s. ;—the s cotid, to repeal an Act to make it'a capital offence to steal to the amount of five shillings in a stable ; —anti the third, to steal privately, to the same amount, in a vesse l on the Thames, or any other river. All these Acts had past.ei the Flouse of Commons by a very considerable majority, but were rejected in the other House. The Bill he now meant to bring in, was for the purpose of repeal. ing the Act of King William, making it a capital offence to steal to the value of five shillings in a shop. I t had always appeared to him highly objectionable, that penal laws should ex:7;t which were not enforced; this bed been particularly the case with respect to the act he now alluded to. In London and Middlesex last year, 133 per. sons had been indicted capitally, out of which number, only 13 had beat convicted ; of the rest, 11,3 had been convicted of the larceny part of the charge, and 13 had been acquitted, so that it appeared one-tenth only were convicted, and of that tenth not one had been executed. From this he argued, that laws, which were in their na ture too severe, defeated the end for which they were enacted, and were seldom or ever executed, from a sort of universal understanding between prosecutors, witnesses, and jurors. No man couii suppose that a person stealing privately in a shop to the value of five shillings, ought, for that offence, to be subjected to the forfeiture of life. He did not know, and therefore would not say, that no person had suf fered death under this law • but as far as lie could learn, no ono ever had. 1 t would be, he o bserved, a desirable thing also, that the judges should be removed from that painful responsibility with which they were now charged, viz. that of passing a sentence, which, they were conscious was too severe • or of granting a pardon in a case on Which the prisoner was convicted on the most indubitable evidence. lie , 'then went into a statement of the judgment against the persons lately convicted of stealing silk on the river ; and asked, when the amount of that was considered, what must be the opinion of any man as to a per. son's being condemned to death for stealing in a vessel on a navigable river only to the arnouet of five shillings; and yet, in the case abi e ve al. luded to, though the amiattot at so very great,. all the Jury had joined in a petition to the Prince Regent, to spare the lives of the cul prits, He next alluded to the punishments for High Treason. These puilidlnucnt3 were ncyci witnessed withotit hardenia‘ the heart and , k , f o, .... Ft 1 N