The National Register. — London, England, 1817-02-10 00:00:00

FF.BRAIARY 10. tle Donnington, iu Leicester,ltire, and lioniton, and laid on the table. Mr. V ViiITTART moved that the Home go into a COM- Mittee ut Sourly. Mr. CALCo ser wished to know if the Right Hon. Gentle en in, in the pi esent state of the country, inc,nt to give tip any tax that pressed heavily on one part of the com munity. Poovrates were a heavy hurtlien on the people, add Il N'd 4 lin I)oV4illde that MOM! Slatieet 10 them could sop t them. The Hon. Gentleman suggested to the Right Ihn. Gentleman the propriety of taking a part of the Sink ing Fund to Apply to the neressities of the State. Mr. VANStTrAItT COuId not reply to the lion. Gentlemen. The Supply wa► then voted..—Adjonrned. THE NATI, Tt;iADAY, FCBAOARY S. Mr. Si!rjeorst Best progritteil a Petition from G. Farquhar. son,romnlaining of Nou•a+sessment of Mr. Howland Hill's Cii,yel fur Perish Rat's. ...„. . . _ of the City of London pre4ented the Petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Conocil of the City, praying fur imentary Reform, an abolition of tin nim ited Places and Pensions, and for Retrenchment in every Branch of the State. Ordered to lk on the table. Lord Cocnit , ist , : preunted a Petition from Hamilton, fur Helimn and Retrenchment. Ordered to lie on the A similar Petition was presented from Bandon ' in the county of Cork ; and also prayed a repeal of the Window Tax. new writ was ordered for tie. electim of a MeanSer fur Homing.. A Petition was presented from the enmity of Nottingham, praying an amendment of the Poor Laws. r. LUSIIINGTON brought up the report of the Committee of Supply, and the resolution Sr.,, agreed to. Mr. W. SmITII presented a Petition from Norwich fur Par diatneutai-y Reform. Mr. W. W V NNE regretted being obliged to oppose the bringing np this Petition, as lie had always heard it laid down as a rale by the ahlesr and must constitutional melt, that no Petition condi be received unless the Member pre sentin.; it pledged his 0?iiii011 that tlitre was nothing in it offensive to the House ; he must therefore oppose its being bronight up. The soy stint: said the Home hod a right to expect from every Me:ll4er that lie is satisfied the Petition he presents contains nothing offensive to the House. Mr. W. SMITH was as mock disposed to defer to the - SpeaLer's opinion as any one. He never disputed that tile House conlil ask any Member whether or not he had read the Petition which he was about to present. But he thought it was the duty of every Member to defend, to the best of his power, the right of 'his constituents to Petition. He said this as a protest in favour of his constituents; and haviiig done so, lie was in the hands of the Hume, and would be !mond by its ileeision. He then moved that the Petition should he brought The Petition was then rejected without a division. THE REGENT'S MESSAGE. Lord CASTLEREAGH moved an Address to the effect of in forming, his Royal Highness, that the House would proceed immediately to enquire ibto the information laid before them by command of his Royal Highness.—Agreed to. Mr. PoNsoisnx did not wish to prolong this discussion; but he was desirous of knowing whether the Noble Lord in ten Jed to propose that the enquiry should be gone into im mediately. Lord C ISTLEREAGR said, he was about to move to rrfer the papers on this subject to a Secret Committee. He then moved that the papers be referred to a Committee of Se crecy, to consist of 21 Members, to be chosen by ballot, each Member potting tomorrow a sealed list of 21 persons to form the Committee, into a glass.—Agreed to. "HINT'S PE I ITION. Lord COCHRANE said he had a Petition to present from a gentleman named Hunt, in which he complained of a con spiracy having been formed azainst his character. It also stated, that at various times lie had dune services of &Inger in defence of his country; but th it hill-stickers, protected by police officers, had been employed in posting libellous bills, asserting that he had neon hissed out of Bristol; and that in the police offices w✓re si.nilar bills, so that any per son found polling them down might be punished by the Init, being so much eager to be identified. He (Lord C.) wouid not undertake to answer for the truth of these allegation , : but the Petitioner only prayed that lie might be allowed to Prove the truth of them at the Bar. He theu moved that the Petition be brought up and read ; and he k Lard C.) thought Walentitled to that, as tile Petition was quite iespectful. —Laid on the table. Sir F. BURDETT presented a Petion from Leicester, pray ing for Reform; 111.1 one from Leigh, in Lancashite, on the same s.t.tijeet. —Ordered to be 141t1 0.1 the table. Mr. BROILI;KAM sail, he had a Petition to present from respectabli- individuals in Lancashire. It appeals, that a Petition, the illtlSt gnarded and temperate, praying for Re form, Irtd b..en signed by about 00 inhabitants of Warring ton. T., this, one would have tliong4i, no objection would have been offered; but it Wil4 seized by Richard Barrows in the street, while being t•iirricd round for signature : it was by hun sent to the home of a Slr. Lyon, a Niagistrate, where they applied for it, hat it was refused to he delivered up to them again. 'they then drew up the present Petition, c.oitplaioing of this obstruction.—The Petition wus recuived , --.t.!j,turued. WETIVESDAI', FET1111; 4R j. LORI) EXMOUTH. The SFEAKE P. infot ntctit be lied rreeieed a irtt r from Lord Exmouth, acknowieLleing the receipt of the thanks of the house, which the Sptaker accordingly read. commirrEE OF SF:CRECY. I.Ora CASTLER ERG,' moved the order of the day for proceeding to ballot for the committee of secrecy, which was it7reed to, and the ballot ordered to proceed. The SPEI 5 ER then dt sired the clerk to read over the names of the members of the house in the order of their comities, and desired such ineuthert as had prepared lists of statues fur the committee to deliver them at the table. Mr. 115011:GUAM observed, that Shore was clearly a consi derable loss of time in the pretest nitele of proceeding in the election of a Committee of Secrecy. About an hour had been occupied In receivim: the lists io the urn on the table, and tiler this they must appoint scrutineers, wife) must retire anti east up the numbers ' anti thea decide who ate precisely the 21 members cleded for the committee. lie believed he might almost venture to predict the names of all the members folio wunid be eh ',ten : so that the business might have been got through without the necessity of any committee of scrutiny, or of goinz through any sort of arithmetical opera s:pa. lie read to toe house a list, whirl) he held in his hand AL REGISTER. f the mentheri likely to be elected. 'flac scrutineers then withdrew. POOR LAWS. _ _ _ Lord Monett:tor presentetin petition from owners and oe cepiersof estates in the parish of Alsteal, in the county of Cumberland. respecting the state of the poor laws. Lord CASTI.ER FA 611, ti.tvertilit to anontission in the vote of thanks to bard Exmouth, and the (bil(cers mid men tinder his command, in the conquest of Alters, of the royal artillery and engineer( employed in the service, moved, ;' That they .41)0111t1 he added to the list of those to whom the thanks of the house were voted." They, togetherwith the sappers and miners, were accordingly added. Mr. CuItWEN moved for the proceedings in the Court of Exchequer iii the first cause, in which a moth's was settled without reference to a jnry ;as likewise an atcount of all the tithe canses pending in the Courts of Exchequer and Chun. cart.—A et eed to. Lord CoCIIRANE presented the petition of the distressed inhabitants of the metropolis anti the vicinity, praying for reform, aereci to at Spafields on the td of December last. It wits signed, ht said, lay 21,400 names. He was instructed to say, in answer to falsehoods and misstatements that had gone abroad, that the meeting which had voted this petition hail not been in the least arcessory to the riots and disturb ances which alarmed the metropolis on the day on which it was vetted. disturbances originated in Cie violence of certain persons called the Speureans, who had adopted the wild theory, that the land of the country did not belong to the present proprietors, but to the Government, who were uomid to make a fair distribution of its produce among the people. Nothing could be more frantic and absurd ihan sorts a scheme; for what would ministers, who had already male such rapid strides in ruining the country, with the means put into their hands, not execute if they could grasp all the landed property of the nation. cht.ar, and a laugh). Mr. Gut Earle,. wished to stibmit to the house an ee se eya. .lion or two in consesmence of this and other petitions 'although be was sensible of how little weight his opinions were. He would not touch the treat qaestion of Parliamentary reform; feeling as he did, the blessieas we enjoyed as a nation venerating the constitution of his country from the deepest conviction of the benefits it emit . ..114.d, and the excellence or the institutions it protected ; believine that it secured to who had the happiness to live muter it a greater degree of practical liberty And individual enjoyments than ever fell to the lot of any other nation in any other age, he could not free his mind front sonic alarm at the disorganizing doctrines that were now so industriously propagated—doctrines which had formerly beet' propagated in this cgentry i , which had been abandoned from a sense of the evils with which they were preguate, and which he never expected to see again preva lent; doctrines which being wildly followed in a neighbour ing comittry, had produced resnits not only disgraceful to human nature, from their ati unity and cruelty, but itestruc• tive ofliherty itself. Actin:: guider the impression of danger Elms the wild schemes admit', but not relating ie his vigi lance ht watching the expenditure, and reeminnendine every practical reduction that might allay popular irritation, or alleviate national distress, lie Was prepared to concur iu any measures that mien have for their object to resist the machi nations of those men, some of them deluded, but others wicked and dangerous, who, tinder the name of reform, were endea vowing to effect revolniion. and to involve the country in anarchy and confusion. ( ;ear, hear.) Tile petition was then ordered to lie on the table. Lord COCHRANF: presented petitions from the borough of I.ee, in Lancashire, and from Horsetortn, in Yorkshire, pray ins; for refit-in. Lord J. Itesseet. presented a petition from the borongh of Tavistock, complaining of wasteful expenditure and praying for reform. It did not pray for annual Parliainents and uni versal suffrage, but left the specific kiad of reform necessary to be determined oil by the house. Mr. Reeve% presented a petition from the city of Norwich, praying for reform. SECRET COMMITTF.E. Mr. BROGOEN appeared at the bar of the bruise with the report of the committee appointed to scrutinize the lists given in fur composing the committee of secrecy. The re port was read, mud the names of the committee were as follows: — Lord Milton Solicitor General Right Hon. G. Ponsonby Attorney General Mr. Egerton Right Hon. G. Canning Right (lon. W. Elliot Right Hon. C. Yorke Lord Castlereagh Mr. Bootle Wilbraham Loud Laseelles Mr. Wilberforce Right Hon. It. Bathurst Right Hon. W. Hondas Hun. W. Lamb Right Hon. G. Rose Sir A. Pi.mtt Sir W. Curtis Hon. Mr. Robinson Admiral Frank Right Hon. Sir J. Nicholl There was a laugh at the corcluelms of this list, it being the same as that anticipated by Mr. Brougham. The was approved of; and the committee received the necessary iustruction. Die. HASINIF.RsLVY moved for the production of accounts of all monies date to this comely front ['sane(' oil account of prisoners of war, and all SUMS paid MI this account during the last ten years. Seeing the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his place, the Hon. Gentleman asked him, it' Government was a party to the French Wait at protein negotiating in this country? The CHANCCI.I.OR of the ENCHFOtOttt had no objection to the production of the ace-omits moved for, though it might cost some trouble to make them up. In answer to the quea. tion aho:ut the Ereiteli luau, he repli...l,Governmeut 5553 reaper ty to it ; and in a eourt.rsation between him, Mr. Tit riity,anil %Ir. Ponsimiliv, which ensued, he declare(' that Government had neither gnat:unveil, encouraged, or countenanced it in any Manlier ulwever, but that he conccised no law ex isted against u foreign friemlly Power negotiating a loan in this country. A new writ was ordered for the borough of Yarmouth. SAVINGS BANKS. Mr. Rost moved for leave to hying in a bill for regulating the provident institution of savin:ll; batiks. Mr. Cenw EN could not but express his fears, that the plan which the Hight HMI. Gentleman had propo, , d, how lauda ble hoe set his inteNtions might he, and he by no means meant to qnestion them, was totally inadeqoute to relieve the wants and distresses which the great body of the• labouring classes now suirered. It was, in fact, to hold Mit a delusion to the country, 'illicit, in these times ofl unparalleled misery, re quired the most substantial relief. No solid advantage hatever could be es pee ted from such partial ientedies. Great satisfaction had been expressed. and many consolations appeared to have been derived from the subscriptions which had been set on foot fur the relief of the poor; but had these übscription.sreally filieved thew? No,they had si::t relic - 4,; eel them ; for although they might amount to about 200,0011 in one way or other, in Great Britain and Ireland, they had not colitributed to make the poor either happy, contented, or industrious. Nothing, lie was persuaded, could tend to any real benefit, but such a measure of compulsion as would make the poor man tel that his own happiness and comfort depended on himself. From the very first moment of their intrudnetion, the poor laws had gradually increased from year to year, and the poor rides for the curreut year w ould amount to ti, or perhaps he should be neater the mark in saying 20 millions. Tlis was a question of the utmost im portance to the country, and which most be speedily brought befose the house. Mr. ROSE, in reply to what had fallen from the Hon. Gen tleman, respecting the idea of imposing on the conntry, felt great anxiety that it shinild not go forth to the pu She, that the poor rates would be considerably diminished by the measur e lie now proposed. Ile merely deemed it to he understood, that, as far as it w ent. it would tend to afford very great re lief Without this bill, it was impossible that those unfit n tions could prosper t but he was fully convinced, whatever some gentlemen might think, that very essential advantages would result front enemiraging the poor to save sonic part of their earnings. He could speak from experience on this sub ject, and from bets which had come under his own immediate eye. He had a number of people about him who contributed a shilling a week to one of these• savin :3 banks, and tikes cun t 'bitted that small portion of their wages cheerfully. if gen tlemen, therefore, would only unite, and exert their utmost endeavours to promote the benevolent ohject of these insti tutions, they world render a most essential service to the country, not only by diminishing the present wants and dis tres-es id the labouring poor, hut also by teaching them to rely in future on themelv Cs for haiipineas and indi pen& euce. Mr. Wrtantrotteg said, that his Right lion. Friend pro. paved to introduce a system which wouid traeli the poor what they were capable. °liking by their own exertions. He, therefore, ready felt that this was one of the e1,16510f things for which he, the Mime, and the country, were extremely in. iiebted to the Right Hon. Gentleman. The poor laws, no doubt, were a very heavy borthen in these times, tint it was rather the administration of thug laws than the laws themselves which had produced the evil. Leave was given to bring in the hill. COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY. On the motion of the (CHANCELLOR of tit,. Esenaougs, the house went into a Committee of Supply, when the Right Hon. Gentieinau stated, that he had to propose a vote for a very large sum, in older to pay off four distinct classes of bills, amounting in the whole to 28 millions, being 24 millions for England, and 1 millions for Ireland. The following sinus were then severally proposed to the committee, and voted to his Majesty:- 11,000.O+Nt1. for paying off Exchequer loins issurd for the service of Great Britain in lOW, and now outstuading and not pro:riled for. . . 13,000,0001. for like bills, issued in the same year, and re unprovided ter. 1,434,41901. Irish currency, for treasury bills issued in Ire land, in te RI, now outstanding. 3,050,0016. for like treasury bills in Ireland, now outstand ing. The house then resumed, and the report was ordered to be received to-morrow.—Adjourned. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6. Mr. G. LANGTON presented a petition from woollen-mann fartnrers in Wiltshire, Sontersetshire, and Gloucestershire. He felt the greatest anxiety that every thin; should be done to tranquillize the public wind, partiealarly of the suffering classes of the community, to afford relief to whom every prac ticable mode should he resorted to. He would freely say, in alluding to the contents of the petition, that the use of machi nery was essentially necessa, y to enable lIS to meet our foreign rivals in inanidaetnres in the markets; but some limitation of its use might perhaps b.. advisable at particular times, and under certain particular cirri/Instances. The petition, which stated some evils arising. limn the use of machinery, and from the situatiln of the woollen . trade, and praying for Parliamentary consideration, was ordered to lie on the table. LORDS OF THE ADMIRALTY. Mr. BROUGHAM requested to know whether, as R war of so long u duration had now happily been terminated, any dimi nution had been made in tita numucr of the Lords of the Ad miralty? After some panne, Lord C taTLER EACH observed, that he was not aware of any dimination. SUPPLY. Mr. Mien DEN brought up the report of the committee ofsupply. The resolutions were read and agreed to. YARIAIMLNTARY REFORM'. Lord COCHRANE said, he hail a petition to present to the House on this subject.. Though some word• of this petition might be objected to hs tuo strong, yet he should move that it be brought up mad laid on the table, that the house them selves might judge of its laiignage, and act as they till/tight hit. lie wished to take no responsibility whatever upon him self. It value from Manchester, and it was signed by 30,060 'flie petition was brought up and read. In the commence ment of it, it stated that the house was not, iit any ratio.ial or constitntional sense, a representation of the people, as it might to be. It complained of the constitution being sub verted, awl of the arts and designs of wicked lalets. Iletlt some eseeptions, it was•the same as a petition rejected a feat days back. Lord Cthll./.11F.A011 remarked on the declaration that the constitution was subverted, which he 'him 4iit put it to the judgment of the House whether the petition should be receis vet or lint. Mr. ftnounilAM said, that if he had taken up his idea of this petition aunt what fell from the Noble Lord (Cochrane), he should have supposed it worthy of rejection; but now he had heard it read throngliout, lie found that it was not ex setly similar to a petition which had been rejected. Here, then, consisted the great advaiitage of waving petitions read. The objectionable passage iR a former petition did nut °cent in this—he meant that which stated OA the debates in that House were repeated, protracted, and disgusting. On that ground he understood that puiition to have beea rejected. (Hear.) All lie could say of the present petition was, that the wording of it was not extremely prudent, or very advocate like. The CIIANCF.I.T.OII of the EXCIIFQUER observed, that it was not merely for the particular and improper allusion to the discussions of Parliament, but on account of almost es cry part air. From the present one he then read a paragraph, which stated that the proceedings of the House tended only to keep up the unrelenting sash of enormous taxation to the utmost liarit of human endurance.