The National Register. — London, England, 1811-06-16 00:00:00

''l'U NATIONAL REGISTER. - TUESDAY, JUNE 13. PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. Mr. WitmT•aitEAD presented a Petition fr(an the isiabitants of the County of Kent, praying a Parliamentary Reform, and moved that it be laid on the Table. Sir EDWARD KN AIC it HULL had some doubts on his 'lliad as - to ille iegalitv f that Petition. It had been voted by the inhabicaots of Kent, and not by the freeholders, as on other occa sions, co:isequently many gentlemen were precluded from atteoding. It was nut therefore the general expressions of the county, no: (lid he think it was the prevailing °pinto i of the c ,tiny of Kent that Reform was necessaty ; and many of the names had been sitned by the same hand. lie did not, however, object to the Petition, but merely ruse to state that fact. Mr. C t caw FT contended that the Petition contained the sense of several thousands of respectable persons in the county of Kent It had been said that many of the names were signed by the same hand ; he did not know that this was irregular, as he had seen the same thing in petitions from ether places. He himself was a ln•iend to Parliamentary Reform, and he believed it was the prey opini,ni in the county of Kent, that a Re form was necessary to the welfare of the country. * Lord octc expressed himself friendly to Parlia mentary Itc•form, and 1w then gave notice that it was his inten tion to move, early in the next Session, for have to bring in a Nu for wa i i in. ; regu:ation for lessening the enormous expellees attendant on contested Elections. If he were fortu nate enouzli to cairy this. it was his intention to follow it up b/ mOviog for the repe-A of the Septennial Act. Mr. Slit!: ro:..—So far as be was acquainted, it seemed not to be the general wish of the county, and those gentlemen who hod prcsid, d at the Committee wished that some specific plan should be adopt( d. Mr. Wei USN n.--The Petition was deposited in his hands by us respectable a gentl._ man as any in the county, and he felt assured trial the Committee would tot have ordered such a peti tion unless that it proceeded from a legal meeting. It was a 1. gal assrmbly by the Sheriff, and he co; hi not give up the privi it ges which as such they right to claim. The I lonia - able Baronet (Sir E. Knatc.ibtal) had asserted that the newspa per accounts of that County Committ:e were ver) correct; did die Baronet rt collect that he was at a loss to tell whz.ther 1w had voted with a certain motion (we prestone he meant the charges again it the Duke of York) or not ? (Some Imighier.) The prayer of the Petition was, that the House would take the subj , et of the complaint into mature consideratton. The lion. Gent. (Mr.Wort ley had talked of men being actuated to sue for Parl'amentary Re fol 01 by " fits, " rto - N he could i(ssure the lion. Gent. that his (Nil . . Whitbread's) " tiC' had lasted for many years. Will he be told that there was no need of Parliamentary Reform, when 11. k• sitw tl:e descendants of their Ancien. Patriot—Lord Russel, join them selves in approval to the numerous band who wish for salvation to tit it comas y. There were men as honourable out of the House supporting the cause of Reform, as any of those Hon. ()entlem. II who in the Parliament were opposing it. He he li.•ved that the chief part of the inhabitants of the country were i..us fir a Reform, and without it, ttere could be no salva ti (n to the country. Sir L. KN yren no et. replied, he would interfere about Petitions whenever he deemed it proper, %vithout consulting the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Whitbread) on the subject. IRISH TITHES. Mr. PARNELL stated at considerable length, and with sonic bigoted: y, his cipittions concerning the itL-ct ssi v of ame liorating' the burthen of Tithes in Ireland. The Counties of Care, Wicklow, Armatll, Kerry, and the King's County, had girrn a colour to his assertions, by declaring against the op p.-esi.)ti of 'Tithes; and he was convinced every other county avou!el express tlw sant,' sense were they consulted. ft' w:ts too lat:. in the present Session of Parliament to sw.t,.in his oriinal motion; at:d he would propose another founded on it. lie wit>h«l th.r Ilouse to consider the prooerest me aus of removing the national p;rievaticr. It was nut for the Catho;ics he com plained, they were ;!enet - ally more quiet than the Protestants in p;tynlctit of Tizhes. 1 - te calculated the population of Ireland at 5,0;V,cr0, of which the proportion of the Catholics was as four to one—only one half of the Protestants were of the Est ab!Lhed Church ; add therefore only one-ninth of the Irish population belonged to it. He showed the distreis to which the labouring Irish wet e reduced for want of a perma nuocy of employment ; i,h live counties 1421 distrtess warrants had been issu. d on the retention of Tido a. He hopeO the House w•iuld consider the subject, and he therefore moved," That the House, on an early'day in the ensuirt; Sessions would appoint it Committee to exAmine into remedies to be applied on the Tithes of Ireland." • Mr. Su Ka:DAN gave his hearty concurrence to the motion. Mr. W. Pta.r.---The Hon. Gent. had laid down no plans to proceed by, and fur his opinion, ho assured the Hon. Gent. • that he saw no hopes of amelioration in the Tithes of Ireland He had examined into the subject mo 4 minutely, and saw no just and rational grounds on which amelioration could be constructed Whoever purchased or took a lease of land, took it with the burden of tithe. In Ireland one-third of the tithes was in the hands of lay isupropriators. Now the Hon. Gentleman had stated, that he did not wish for any modification with respect to those, yet there was infinitely more ogres-ion, he would eon- • tend, practised in the tollection of the tithe owned by them, than in tho-e appropriated to the Clergy. But the fact was, that the grievance of the Irish peasantry were not to be found in the existence of tithe. Nothing could, generally speaking, be more lenient than the collection of it in Ireland, indeed its pressure was much less severe there than in this country. What were called small tithes were utterly unknown ; in rnatlr parts there s , as no tithe paid for potatoes; in others none for hay, and that on flax was most frequently commuted for from Gd. to ls. per acre. As to a modus wjiich htd been formerly thought of, the adoption of it could never he consented to by Clergymen, as it must, in consequence of the rapid rise of the necessaries of life, very considerably, inja short time, reduce the value of their property, unless perpetu ally charged ; besides, it would, instead of relieving the class of people whose interests were, he presumed, the source of tie present motion, materially injure them; for what an unequal distribution of the burthen must it not cause ? The rich crop of the wealthy farmer or landlord would be liable to no higher a charge than that which covered the sterile acre of the labourer. However, it was needless to dwell much on the absurdity of a plan which st tined to have been relinquished by its projectors. lie thought that if the Clergy were to reside in their parishes that ciret instance alone would he sufficient to do away all the tliscontents that existed with respect to tithes. He thought the motion of the Hon. Gentleman calculated to produce much evi, and hop, d it would he withdrawn. Atter some further observations from several Members, tl:e House divided—For the Motion 29—Against it 54—Majority :c5. BANK TOKENS. The Cumccri.Loß of :he I..v.:urQue.it obtained leave, .and. subsequently brought in a Bill to authorise the Bank of England to is,tie new Bark toi en-, of coins of the value of si. Cd. each-3s. each—and 1 , . each, which was read a first time, and ordvrid to be read a second time to-morrow.—Adjourued. WEDNVSDAY, itINF. 12. Mr. Rosy moved fur a return of the number of sick and - con valeicent in the English Militia, with the eirective strength of the paid Militias.—Ordered. Sir SAstust Rommis moved for an Address to the Prince Regent, for a return of the number of male and female convicts in the gaols of England and Ireland frum the years 1807, 8,9 g and 10.—Agreed to. FRENCH PRISONERS. Mr Rosy: moved for a return of the number of Emrich pri.: soncri in England, from the 10th of April 1810 to the latest pe riod.—Orderrd. A ir. WHITBREAD complain;d of dna bad state of t! 'e prisons in %%inch French prisoners were confbn d, and hoped that mea sures would be taken to remove the evil. _ _ . _ . . Yo RICE had not heard any complaints before upon the subject, but would take care that an investivati,,n s h o uld be made, and if any inconveniences were suffered, inunedid.te re medy bhould be applied. JOURNEYMEN TAYI.ORS. Mr. Locv:Ana . rose to call the attention of the House to the regulations respecting Journeymen Taylors. He represented that of a number amounting to 4,01)0 within the bills of morta lity, 4000 were in a state of combination. Those combim,tions were carried on with peculiar sagacity and address, and were aided by a fund kept by those concerned of council and money, from which other coinbinations were occasionany assisted. It would be superfluous to cuter into a detail of the mischief which must infallibly result from an inattention to so important a circumstance, and he therefore moved for the appointment of select Committee, to enqui►e into the state of trade and wages of Journeymen Taylors. After a few words from Sir Thomas Turton the motion war agreed to. NAVY PAY. Capt. BENNET called the attention of the House to the state of the Navy Pay. He statcd that the Navy, by the manner in which they received their pay abroad, incurred a loss of from 35 to 41) per cent. It was his %Nish that they should be placed upon the same footing with the army, and he moved for the appoint or _it of a Committee of the whole House to take into consider ation the 35th and 86th of his Majesty, relative to the pay of the navy. After some fur; her discussion a division took place, when there appeared—Fur the Motion 11 ; Azaiwt it 34.