The National Register. — London, England, 1811-07-21 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. &ow, Order !)—He would give his decided negative to tb Bill. on a division there appeared—For the second reading of the Bill, 133.—Mainit it, 35—Majority 98. • Lord Fol. ic Es ro N e proposed that the committal of the Bill • should be I.oiponed till Monday se'nnight. This motion was negatived without a divison, and the Bill ordered to be committed. • TUZSDAY, JULY 16. The Sint:AKER took the chair at four o'clock, when, there be ing only 33 Members present, an adjournment took place. WEDNEsDAY, IVI.V 17. • PRIZE COURTS. Lord COCEIRANZ brought forward his pr'mised Motion re garding certain alleged ~ruses in the Pr - zz• Courts at home and . abroad; the No'ule Lord s..id that the exnet:ct.s of condemning . •a pile was so great, it deterred the Navy from doing their duty; anti he nut._ .1 vart_ty of cases to prove the enormou s received by the King's Law O ff icers in those Courts; in two of them the Procutator received for his Bill no less than 5551. sterling. ct...,ideration of such subsequent extor tion an.l- wt.u.d reve: - , nor never had t..ken a neutral. It was a certain fact he s:.id, that in the King's Proctor's Office, every th.ray was car:ieci on by btibc.i, and by bribes alone. He pledged Intnseil to r , r..ve at the Aar of that House every rate inent he nt..de, and every he asserted ; and if, on a trial, he did reit,- ail. he atd:ed was, to be in future scout?d when ever lie opetted his In one case, the case of the Laming, there v..Lre L 2.1. ;...lven brilvs to the Clerk of the King's Proct.a's ..e. ;ter adverting to .the abuses existing also at Malta, his Lordii - Ap moved for certain papers to substantiate the all .gations he had nlw made. • Mr. Rost: t1er... 1 ..!ti the Prizi• Courts, and said, that the 500 guineas giv. it in the c :se. of Cie I in,;, was ft,r information, without - which the unt have heel con4lemlictl. Mr. Sr1.1 1 11C:4, ;:k2i:11.112, 1:11a Mr. PERCLVAL, spoke on the same side.n:; Mr. iv r. W. ;'stirra said, he kovr; there were many strong in stancg.-, c,f Injustice it: ilia Cwrts. A.CRT a few words from Sir W. ScoTr, the motion of Lord Coehrano vas agreed to. BANK-NOTE EILL. Mr. CR EVES' made a motion to disqualify forty-five members from voting on the Earth-note Bill, on the 1 round that, as Bank stock Proprietors, they were interested in the passing cf the time. The motion, after a lons debate, was negatived without a division. On the Order of the Day for the House going into a Committee on the b Bitt, Mr. • tNicrs iiiluded to the three-shilling hark tokens, rot s 9 much with respect to their value, as the execution of them. which he termed most wretched and mean, and very disgriceful in thi.• eh:ivacter of those arti, which, in his opinion, Intimately connected with the honour arid prosperity of • every civilized ountry. Mr.:MA MN (NG said, the three-shilling hank telten weighed eight :ernyweights and eleven ; r!uri that at the present price of Owl- it w'as worth (2s. These tokens had been by. the 'lank, so!ely for the convenience of the public, and could not he exec:uted better withltit an irfurious (Hay. The House havin7 de:ermined by a maji;rity of 75 to 11, to go into a Committee on the Lill, Mr. Pr:Rel.:v.li. moved the f.'llow ing provision should be subjoined : " That every v! son who rnnzi:t offend against the should he deemed alid ..ljudged guilty of a mistlemeaner."—After along discussion the same was • agreed to. The House then resumed, and ordered the report to be received to-tnorrow.—Ac.jnurned at haf past one Tf~RSDAY, JULY 18. Mr. \\"l:.r.r.ttrr.tacF. tlymed, that there should b - hid before the Rause a Copy 4111,2 CondeninatiGn of all Prop,rty by the Admiralty in the iblund called the Saints, in the Webt Indies.— Ordered. ADMIRALTY COURT OF MALTA. Lord cocur N entiTed into a tit-t:llc' Ftatement c.f all thr. • abuses which he c”nce•ived to exist in th. Lice-Atimira:ty Court , a Malta, itnil recapitulated tin' liktory ~f his impriontilent.— ' He was fuspected of taking down a table of fres aud int * medistcly seizec! and carried t.) prison. He did not go of him self, bu; they clrried him. He WiLS conducted to ati odious pri •' son, with a grated window—an iron door—a vile close-stool, and no other ennirert than a broken chair! He was afterwards ' shifted into the. keeper's room, and then brought before ite • eclat, whr re a-sl-ring of interrogatories were put to him, whic h he refused to answer, because he did not chwe to crirdnate bllline/f. • He was afterwards recommitted to prison; :.lid there • was an affidavit, which he was ready to prodtice, that there was no proof, by the Judge's own ndmissico, - of his hiving taken down the table of fees. The Noble Lord liere went into a l history of the bad administration of jerstiee in the Ithisni, Malta, where the civil and military . power was blended in the one person. He was kept in prison, and it appeared to be the intention of the Judge, to keep him there till the depatture of the packet with divarches, and perhaps till the return of it with tit? answer from England. He, however, escaped; and there was a Proclamation posted up all over the island, offering 2COO scudi, that is ..001.•for his apprehension. He did not wish to rely merely on his privilege, but he wished to know from 'the Speaker, whether the privilegEs of that House did not extend As colonies where the-Courts professed to act on the Law of Eq. land. _ _ The SPEAKER. thus unexpectedly called upon, could* not re collect any case similar to thitt cited by the Isloble • Lord. He knew, however, of no means ‘vhich the 1-I..use had of enforcing iti °wt.'s, except by its own officers; and there was ro instance on reccrd of those officers having been sent beyond the seas on such an errand. He never knew either that any Member was entitled by his priviltie to go into a Court of Justice, and offer it a contempt, with impunity—f Hear, hear ! ) Lord Cocnß A N z 'Alen declared, that he had all the documents to substamiate his cases ready at a moment's warning, and moved, " That a Committee should be appointed to cximine into the coneuct of the Judge, Register, and Marshal,' of the Vice-Admiralry Court of Malta, together with that of their I)? :tities." . The Nollic Lord said that those Officers had vic. loted the 45th of the King, the penalty for which was depriva• tint: of office, S ime interval occurring before any one would second the Motion, • P. Mona E said he knew nothing whatever of the case, hut from the Noble Lord's statement. However, conceiving it would he a rdkcti.,n on that House, if any Member lost an in quiry f. .r want of formality, he would second the Motion. Mr. Si ErnLN cemplimented the Hon. Gentleman on titis ex ertion of his benevolence. • He sec. nded the motion, it seems because nobody else would do it. ( Hear, hear ! ) Most cha ritztble it was in him to protect this poor ,out-cast—this destitute o:phao. In his o;linion the Admiralty Court at Malta treated the Nol , le. Lord vt Ey properly ; for even on his own showing, he d!d not deny the contempt with which he was charged. On the contrary, he (Mr. S.) had to state, that when the Deputy Marshal brAught him the monition of the Court, the Noble Lord pulled out a piAtol, and swore he would shoot any one who would serve him with an illegal process—(Heal ' hear.) Lord COCHRANE again declared he was ready to prove all he asserted; and remarked how extraordinary a thing it was, that he never moved for an investigation in that House which had been granted. Mr. YoRKE thought this the most frivolous case which was ever brought before Parliament. If the Noble Lord was wrong ed, why not apply to the proper source—the Admiralty Board It would have been better for the Noble Lord to have kept to his ship, and not invested himself with a roving commission; and then, perhaps he nii: ; ht have heard from the Admiralty in a very different way.—(Hear, heti, ) . • 'the Motion was then put, and negatived without a division. Mr. Ros E brought up a letter from Cook and I - Toiford, which had last night been mentioned by Lord Cochrane as kept back, which was read, and Mr. Rose moved that it lie on the table.• Lord Coon ItANE said, it was not the letter he had last night alluded to, arid therefore ought not to be received. Mr. Ros e said lie bad no objection to the whole of the corns poodtmee between him and Cook and Holfurd beintproduced ; on which I,ord COCIIRANE was about to frame a motion— Mr. CALCRAFT observed, that 1--kn. Members who brought forward matters before the IL use ought to come prepared and if the Noble Lord was not ready, he should not keep the ,House waiting, but bring it forward. to-morrow. The SPEAI:fiR said, that it was certainly the proper, mode of proceeding :.and his Lordship acquiesced. Mr. BitOUGHAm moved, that there be laid before the House the Minutes of a Court Martial held on Lieut. Richards, of the Dart sloop. in Carlisle Day, 13arbadoes, for causing the, death of a man by excessive punishment, and for which he bad been dis missed the Navy.—The Motion was opposed, on the ground that no man could he tried twice for the same offence. It was, however, agreed to. The Circulating Medium Bill was ordered to be read a third time to-morrow.-4djourned. FRIDAY, JULY 19. CIRCULATING MEDIUM fiTLL. T 1;(! Order of the Day having beez read for reaciirg a tbiFel tine the Circulating Medium