The National Register. — London, England, 1818-06-14 00:00:00

1;.:(; IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF IORDS. MONDAY, JUNE 8. Air. Courtney and others, from the Commons, requested a •renterence on the sirliject of the amendments made by that Home in the Slave Trade Regulation Bill. )' Committee, eon si-ting of Earlsltatlinrst and .Liverponl, Lords Sidinouth, Ken yon and Napier, the Bishops of Chester null Exeter, were then appointed ; and, MI their .return, :Earl Bathurst mated that the amendments wifich , this House had made in the Bill were rejected by the Commons, us unnecessary. The Fart of Liverpool then moved that the same be not persisted The Motion, atter sonic übservations from the -Earl ut .Lauderdale, was agreed to. THE -SCOTCH AC.T REPEAL .BILL. Lord SIDMOUTH moved that the Standing Order, N 0.104, he suspended to-morrow. If it should he their pleasure then to agree to dispense with its operation, it would leave the house at liberty to go on with the different stages of the Bill oL tbeefatne day.—Adjourned. can AV. ALIEN BILL. Mr.BacCUFN, and other Members of thelHonse of Corn :nuns, brought up a Bill fur mispendirig the operation of the Act of the Scots' Parliament in 1691, and the other Acts re :stive to the Naturalization of Aliens. Lord Sinsitourit, some time after, rose and moved the first reading of this Bill, which he stated to be a Bill for prevent g aliens from becoming naturaliaed, except in certain cases therein mentiened. Lord HOLLAND said, that tie offered no opposition to the *Mile Lord's Motion, as welt because he had no objection to :se proceeding, as in obedience to the 23t1 order, which pro r Act' for ltills offered to their Lordships passing through the :Lige of a fast reading. LordStuatouvit stated, tlict the object of the Bill was to .prevent any Alien,mialer the Scots Act of 1695, for establish. .i.g the Bank of Scotland, orainderActs relative to other cur -1 nrations,;from beeontlag denizens in virtue °fungi Acts, pre s iously to the 15th of March neat. The Bill would merely upend the operation of these statutes, and atiorit an oppor tanity next Session for the due consideration of any propo tion for the repeal of the Scots Act of 1695, and other Aots of a sinlar nature. In order that the Bill might pass through the sabsequent stages, lie should now move the sus. pension of the standing orders, agreeably to the notice he .had given yesterday. Lord kios.kaso now found that the only reason the Noble Secretary hal for proposing the suspension of the standing orders was the dispatch of business. He did not mean to throw any obstacle bin the way of the measure the Noble Lord had ultimately in view, but he thought he strained the preeeritots for suspending the stanting orders itoo far when he applied them to the present measure. To the order 21, aiid proceedings which lied been hail thereon, lie•slionld fitter in contradiction to the Noble Secretary of State's supposition. (Here the order was teat: by the Clerk.] Their Lordships %could perceive that shortness of time was not a sufficient reason for mar:aiding all the standing orders relative to the reading of Bills, and that it ought to depend upon the neces. city of the measure. Thongls lie did nut mean to oppose the measure itself, lie could not help remarking on the ex iraordi mary conduct of Ministers respecting it. 'they had declared themselves ignorant of an important law, and had presumed that every . I .ntlividnal in Parliament, and the whole country, bad been equally ignorant. lint if 'they showed ignorance at the outset, they manifested still more in the progress of the measure. They began to apprehend Matt here were possibly other Acts besides that whirl' had at first alarmed theen,which it would be neressaay fur them to suspend. These laws, how ever, they could nut point ont ; hut without specifying them, it was proposed, contrary to every principle of legislation and . ..justice, that they slunild also be taken away. Another in •stance of their ignorance was the assertion, that undsr the .Scotch Act of Parliament, any Alien who purchased stock swould thereby be enahled to sit ii, Parliament, contrary to ;the Act:by vrhich.foreigners every excluded. 'this .was far tfrom being the fact for by au Act of Parliament, not that of private and local description which this Stems Act had been described to be, but one of the most public and important Nature—he meant the Act of the titli of Queen Anne, cap. 7 --it was provided, that every person disabled from sitting in the Parliament of Ireland was also rendered incapable of sitting in the Parliament of Great itrinin. The; he didnot urge as an argument against the Bill, but to show their. Lor dships hew cautious they ought to be in adopting legislative proceeding*, on the recommendation of Ministers, who proved themselves soCompletely ignorant of every thing con nectedvrith the subject on which they proposed to legislate. \V hat had occurred un this occasion reminded him of the ad. ssiee once given him by an eminent person, a relative of whose memory he regarded with affection and veneration ; that person observed to hint, eqnstly wisely and truly, that " when politically in the dark, the hest thing that could be done was to stand still." Contrary to this prudent maxim, it was this practice of Ministers, whenever they were in the dark, to ran straight forward, nut caring against what they might run their heads, or whom they might overturn. It was difficult to say what might be the consequences of this blindly adopted measure. It might be a qaestion whether it would not take away the riethts or English' childreu born between this and the 25th uf March, rho wank! otherwise be natural born subjects, and whether it hid net take away the rights of the deseendants of the Princes Sophia of Hanover. fie ti id not say it had those effects, and he thought it had not; but still there was much doubt and obsearity on the face of tie measure, and if time were allowed many errors in framing it might be corrected. It was now discovered that -there were certain laws in Ireland by which foreigners were ad.. •wsitted to become denizens. There might be several other Scotch Acts and English Acts also, to which the Bitt applied ; bet Miiiisteis remained in total ignorance respecting all the Acts they, propoved to repeal or suspend; only those which were excepted were mentioned in the Bill. The flagrant in. justice of the retrospective clause in the former Bill was, however, what he hail most objected tu. That objection lie was glad to find was now in a great measure removed, though even as the Bill now stood, it appeared to cast " a lunging •lauk behind" towards old injustice. He could not see that persons who purchased stock for the express purpose of na. toralization, under a law authorizing •that object, were less entitled to the rights so acquired. than those who had par t:bandit without that view and found themselves accidently naturalized. He, therriore, did not approve of the clause which fised the cominruceinert of the operation of the Bill snow, rather than at three or tour doss *fier it had passed. there was another objection which mtgt.t oe urged against 2 1 . 5 Bill; bat so little time was ollowtal for considering its THE NATIONAL REGISTER bearing, that lie could not venture to sneak positively on the effect of any of its provisions. It might be a mere misappre. lien'ion in I . but he conceived it probable, from the pre amble of the Bill, that it might trench on some of the prernga tivci :the Crown with respect to Aliens. lint no part of of the prerogative, their Lordships knew, could be taken away without a recommeothation from the Crown. It would, however, complete the climax of ignorance on the part of Ministers, if, after.proving themselves ignorant of the Scots Act of 1693, of the practice of Parliainerd relative to amend. talents of several Irish and English Arts, they should finally manifest their ignorance of the prerogatives of the Crown. He defied their Lordships to see at present all the effects of this Bill. He azreed that it was proper to do something in the state which the law stood, but he could not come to the conclusion that this was the measure which ought to lie adopted. Their Lordships had witnessed the lamentable ignorance of ,Ministers on this subject.; and it must therefore be ditheolt for them to place reliance oil persons who had, within a few days, so often changed their opinions on this silLject. He, in general, disapproved the course of proceed ings which had been adopted, hut as the retrospective clause was removed from.the Hill he should not object to it passing. The staiiiling orders were stispentled,.the Bill read a second time, and the Motion forcommitting it negatived. It was then read a (birth time. Or. the question that this dilll do pass, Earl GREY said, he could not permit prooeedinge•fraught with such dangerous .conseqiiences to take place, without entering his protest against its being made a precedent, Min isters, lie was aware, had placed themselves in a situation of difficclty. Ile alluded to the general belief of the speedy dis solution of Parliament. Me was aware that, at ench a time, delay might be attended with much inconvenience, as the country was making preparatiour for the new elections; but notwithstanding that inconvenience, he should have been dig. .I posed rather to meet than to run a risk of netablishing any I precedent of this kind. The standing orders ought •only to be suspended on questions of great public importance, and . not merely for the sake of expeditiou. The principle on which they were to be suspended was, that the measure was of such urgency that delay would he attended wieli injury to •the pnhlic interest. Now thisecould net be said to be the case with respect •to the present Lill, for no danger to the public could arise, whether it war passed this day or a week hence. It was for ;he House to determine whether they would now establish a precedent of thus rashly repealing Acts of Parlia ment. The rights of foreign seamen serving in the navy, of foreign Protestants settled in the colonies, were, according to the Bill. saved. lint were these the only •rights that might be affected? There were several sa.cts of Parliament inviting foreigners to settle in Ireland, with a view to the .political iuterests of that country. Were their Lordships certain that these Acts could be repealed without a breach of faith? It was provided in sonic of these Acts that they should mice effect under the license of the Lord Lieutenant, but these ikets were not saved by any exeeptiou in this Bill. It was a serious consideration, that the .person %VilUie .rights were suspended, might, before tifie2sth of March, be scot out of the country on theenformation of some of eliose miscreants whom Ministers encouraged and associated with. and One placed in situation never tc he able to prosecute their rights. This was a case in which the wholesome rules framed Tor the security of the rights of indiviiinale and the public interest had been set aside ; and therefore to satisfy his conscience, he co Id not permit the Bill to pass without expressing his disapprobation of the rashness with which it was framed, and protesting against the course by which it waspaesed becoming a precedent. The Petri of Livitemme said there were gumerous instances in which the standing orders had been suspended for passing Bills, merely for the sake of expedition, without any reference to the importance of the measure. The standing orders, how ever, could nut be suspended without a day's previous notice, and in this their Lordships had an advantage over the prac tice of the other (louse, and it sufficient security against sur prise. When it was agreed that the orders should not be suspended without a day's notice, their Lordships expressed an opinion that they might be suspended at any time, without referenceeo the importance of the measure. But he was not disposed to rest the question on this ground ouly. Indepen dently of any expectation of a dissolution of Parliament, if it could have been calculated that the House might sit a month on this Bill, it 'multi, in that case, have been necessary either to suspend the standing orders, and pass the. Bill with the same rapidity as now, or to give it a retrospective effect.. If it should have been neglected to do one or other of these things, there would soon have been lIJ alien in .the country to be affected by the Bill. They would all have been naturalised under the Act relative to the Scotch Bank. He, therefore, maintained, if there ever was a case of necessity to he made out in order to warrant the suspension of the stand ing orders, this was one. As to the objection that the Acts affected by the Bill were not specified, that wouldhe very worthy of consideration, if there were time for It was, however, agreed on all hands that the mode of naturali zation taken away by the Bill ought not to' exist, and yet it was not repealed but only suspended. The Noble Lord had asked what rights the measure took away; iu fact it afforded noue. It only suspended for a time the capacity of acquiring rights. There were exceptions relating to nava l and military services, and other cases ; and it was the exceptions which in such a measure, a merely temporary measure, ought to be specified. Their Lordships would doubtless agree with him, that it was not fit, persons should acquire the rights of natu ciecept in a regular and definitive manner; and to prevent the infringement of that principle was the sole object of this measure. Earl Si'ENCF.ft expressed his readiness to join with his Noble Prieud behind loco in pretesting against the unjustifi able measure. He complained of the manner in ss itch it had been introduced, by a clause tacked to the end of a Bill, and hurried through the House without any previous discussion whatever. When'he save all the errors tnet had been coin mitted through excessive baste, when be saw the present Bill proposed in so precipitate a rnanuer,he thought it constituted a precedent that might on no account to be established. If it had neen retrospective, it would have beeu still more °knee tiunable ; and he still thought that no evil whatever could arise from its postponement, even under the present qualified form. Altogether he thought it did affect the rights of in dividuals in a most unprecedented rummer, and it must meet with his decided opposition. Lord HOLLANO, alluding to the plea of •necessity that had' hems° strongly; insisted on by the Noble Lord (Liverpool) advised him so be a little more chary in the nee of it, anti to preserve it, like Goliah's sword, only to be brought forward ; on urgent and stet . occasions. It was bust three or four days ago that the Noble Lord had maintained with the ut• mast pertinacity, that it was' absolutely necessary for the safely of Li;glanti, and the peace of Lutope, teat the 1.11 ..rti NE 1 4 should have a retrospective effect. Since that period, bow. ever, the Noble Lord ;rad been able to lay his head on his pillow, without suffering much from tear of the terrible effects' that must follow if the retrospective operation of the Bill should he entirely done away. Ke, therefore, (Lord Hol land) could put very little trust in the soundness or sincerity elany argements that the Noble Lord might aldtree on the score of necessity. As to the arguinerit that the Noble Lo: si haul urged from the immediate expectation of a dissolution, he (Lord Holland) remembered Curt some years since a di s• solution had been hurried to save the establishment Iron, tit.- danger of an act that was impenaing; and yet that very ace which was thought so dangerous in 1805, was passed sui silestio some years afterwards: he thought, therefore, that the Noble Lord's ideas of beeessity might vary again in the course of four or five days, and that by that titre lie might foe! no apprehension though 49 or rig or SP aliens more should become naturalized by buying a share in the Bank of Scot ' land. Upon the whole, he thcap,':_t the present proceeding smethat covered with shame the Ministers of the country, both. from their ignorance of the law.; and cuutcn.pt of the rights of the nation. The question vrw; tlben put, and the Bill read a•tbird time and passed.—Adjourned. V:FDNFFDAV. Soon after two o'clock, the discharge of 21 guns announced the arrival of the Prince Regent, who, after the osnal formali ties in the Robing Chamber, entered the House, anti took his seat beside the tlirone. An order was then given by his Royal Highness to aunpnun the Common- to attend. Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod. immediately proceeded to the Commons, and intimated his Royal Highness's command fur their attendance. Soon after the Speaker of the House of COIIIIIIOIII, attended by a prat number of the Members of that House, advanced with the usual ceremonies to the bar. The Speaker presented the Ap_ propriation and addressed his Royal Highness in the fol lowing speech:— " May it please rn. Royal ilighnzss, " C, His Altsjebty's faithful Connrms of .the rnited Kingdom of (heat Britain and Ireland, attend your Royal Wellness with our last hill of supply. " In obedience, Sir, to your Royal Highnms's recommendation. we have not failed to apply our anxious and continned attention to the state of the public-income and expenditure; and heavy as un questionably the weight and pressure roll remain upon our finances. we have the satisfaction to observe that the revenue, in its must ma portant branches. is gradually and progressively improving. " Among the various duties, Str, In which we have been engaged, thete is bon., perhapv, &Lat could have devolved upon us more in teresting ;in itself, or nacre in unison, we are pursuaded. with the sincere and .unfeigned sentiments of all classes of his Majesty's sub ject:, thun the duty of adopting the necessary measures tin the MI -anent of those engagements which your Royal Highness was graciously pleased to zommunicate to us, as having been concluded with the Courts of Spain and Portugal, on the subject of the Slave Trade. •• Nor, Sir, have we been less attentive to another subject of great public importance, earnestly recommended by your Royal Highness to our early and particular consideration—the deficiency which has so long existed in the number of places of public worship belonging to the Established Church. To the remedy of this deficiency we have most readily afforded a large and liberal nasistance, well con vinced, that the first and dearest interests of this country—its truest happiness—its 'soundest prosperity—its surest independence—its .proudest and most substantial national glory,are all involved and blended intimately and inseparably in the religious and moral habits of its people. •• The Bill, Sir s which it is now my duty htimh ly to present to your ' Royal Highness, is entitled, • An Act for applying certain monies therein mentioned for the • service of the year one thousand eight hundred and eighteen.' •• To which .with all humility we gray his Majesty's Royal Assent:" On the conclusion of this spi ech the Lord Chancellor re. ceived the Bill from the Speaker, which, with the Alien Na turalization Prevention Bid, and several other Bills, received the Royal Assent, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent then read the follow ing Speech:— "M' LORDS ANL 'GENTLEMEN, " It is with 'deep regret that I am again under the -necessity of announcing to you, that no alteration has occurred in the state in his Majesty's lamented indisposition. " I continue to receive from .Foreign Powers the strongest 5--sur .auces of their friendly disposition towards this country, and of their desire , to maintain the general tranquillity. " I am fully sensible of the attention which you have paid to the many important objects which have been brought before you. " I derive peculiar satisfaction from the measure which you have adopted, in pursuance of my recommendation, for augmenting the number of places of public worship belonging to the established church; and I confidently trust, that this measure will.be productive tt the most beneficial effects on the religion and moral .habits of the people. • " CENTLEMENr OF THE 1101.1811 OF COMMONS, " I thank you for the supplies which you have granted to me for the service of the present year ; and 1 highly approve of the steps you have taken with a view to the reduction of the unfunded debt. " I am happy to be able to inform you, that the revenue is in a course of continued improvement. " MY Loans ANTI GL:NTLymEO, closing this session I think it proper to inform you that it is my intention Inuits ith to dissolve the present and to give directions for callin,,s a new Parliament. In making this communication, .1 cannot refrain from adverting to the important change which has oc coned in the situation of this country.and of Europe, sincel first met you in this place. " At that period, the dominion of :lie common enemy had been so wide:) , extended over the continent, that resistance to his power was by many deemed to be hopeless; and in the extremities of Europe alone was such resistance effectually maintained. " By the uriesav”pied exertions winch you enabled me to make, in sin of (*.mules nobly contending . for independence, and by the spirit which was kind led in so man y naumns, tb 2 Continent was at length delivered from die must galling and oppressive tyranny under which it had ever I , rooured ; and I bad the happiness, by the blessing of Divine Providence, to terminate, in oonjunction with his Majesty's Allies, the must eventful and sanguinary contest in which Europe had for centuries been engaged, with unparalleled success and glory. " The prosecution , of stash a contest for so many years, and more particularly the eff ints which marked the close of it, have been fol lowed within our own country, as well as throughout the whole of Europe, by considerable internal difficulties and distress. But deeply as felt tot the insinediste pressure upon his Majesty's people. I nevertheless looked forward without dismay, hating always the fullest confidence in the soliditymf the resources of the British empire, and in the relief which 'night be expected from a continuance of peace, . and from the patience, public rpm, end energy of the nation. " 'rhese expectations have.not been disappointed. " The improvement in the internal circumstances of the country is happily manifest, and psoosuies to be steadily progressive; and .1 feel a perfect assurance that the cuutinueeLloyalty and exertions of all classes of his ,Majesty's subjects will canine these growing intli.- cations of national prosperity, by promoting obedience to she laws and attachment to use soristitatien, firommbich awl blessings have maim