The Statesman. — London, England, 1812-02-15 00:00:00

~ ~ ~~ i' . 4 4 • ;. 71 1 I '. ( ' -.1 I: . . " • • • ' ,r i i I " I , .. . .;","'• ~... i : .. - . . . . . ...• ".."1 ..1 • . . 1 .: . ...• I. 1 ..! • 1 l' 4 .• ! • ,` I • 1 6 • , . .. 4I , 4. . , ! • ' s • THE STATESMAN. . - • .114,11 t lion. Gent.. had stated, that war was th ele-• meat in which we were Jikely to live and move in Ile believed, the only hope that the Right Ilqn. Cent. could bale of filling sp'his subscription, ' was in the notice that he sent into the City, that :f it did not fill, he mist raise a new stock iu the 5 per cent: funds. . Mr. BARING thought that the market price of the stock last year .i4stiAed the Right How. Gentle- Man in then doing what he did ; but he did not thjnk it politic in the preient state of pricey: Iu the Ids pt,. the Right Hon. Gentleman wily gave 1031. for the Exchequer-bill, but this year be gave 1081. This d derence of 1 per cent. he thought was sufficient to make that not advisable this y ear which last zeal was advisable. - is . l4 . tficterihesstloirottlt iir§ rut' any reasonable time, be-hblitil aollatt despair of it; and th - ought that It would be-better now to consider -- 'ate pressure. the immediate pres...,. . _ The CHANCELLOR - oIT - the EXCIAFRUM 014, that there had been hardly .an srgOtnetft stated this night by the Hon. Baronet-which bad net been stated - by him last yeti.; ant then he also conceived it al most' tioupossible to have any. considerable sum, subscribed. -'As to the notice which he had sent ioto the city, it was precisely the same as what' hp )4d sent last year. The lion. Baronet had' been mi., taken,' in suisposing that there was a pirtimlar de pression in the s'per cents. 4 would be foundqapors examination, that relatively thesiepeession had been less in this fend thetrits the 3 per cents. He believed, that very great (*bile good had heen.deVived of late years from the pr,setice of dividing 'the money to be raised fet the service of the year iuto two different funds, and in two modes. He thought, also, - that there WRI sutticient inducement held out to the hold ers of l'Achequer-bille, as he believed that they could make more profit of them by funding them, than they could fu any other. way. After some observations -from Mr. Ir.. Smith, and some explanations between Sir T. Torten and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, -the Resolotiou Was agreed to. The Report was ordered to be receives, on Mon day next.. g 2 - - f : I / . . . . . . ••• . ... • •1Ir• • " f •... . .. 00 • r. - gr- ... . v. should propose, that, instead of considering This crime as a simple felony, as the Act alluded to did, it should be punished capitally. Taking the extent of tho depredations, the nature of them, the motive) in which they origistatad, and the ineffectual measures used to put them 'down, he considered that he had laid sufficient grounds before the House for his mo- Alen. lie had also' areaueilierymeasnre to pro- Peke which was to re-establisAttie o co mmon law custom of keeping.. OTetch , a t heouh the g town and county of Notting•liam. therefore moved,„ for leave ep bringja. n LUU tatethiamore ex publihnieut of the frame-preakerain the county of Nottingham. .e• . r. Mr. EYItE said, that the frame-breakers were ifeleiriairee, that in the commission of their depreda tions they wero acting against their asset true interests —that they were destroying- the implements of their I future livelihood. He thought both. Measures• pre- . 1 posed Week' be *productive of the -meet benefit couseqiitnces. The 'Government from the, lieginoitig fiad acted with the. greatest promptitude and seal. I !They afforded every assistance in their powers'-both L civil toilitary tind,yet the got ' to- a head w reatened the utmost danger. It sem thought by some, that the county should hare been given up to martial law, but that remedy he considered a s werie s tbanehe disease. Tice latter remedy met hiai peculiar approbation, because it met the wishes of! all - the Magistrates of Nottingham, and was con ° sistent with the free spirit of our CuitstitutiOne IMr; J. SMITH would not enter into any discus ; sion on the chases of these riots, because he did not ' coded'') this the proper time for such a discussion.--4.1 He begged, however, to say blieily, that the great cause of these riots was the decay of trade, and par.l ticularly In that one of our most ancient manufac -tures. At the same 'time he did not deny, that this temporary cause mentioned. by the Right Hon. Gen- I Hearin had a considerable effect ; huf was it not evi dent, that the very speculation which he complaiued of was produced •by the circumscribed situation of ; our trade? [Hear I] Another cause also was the system of paying wages in kind, which prevailed amongst the master manufacturers : a journeyman . • RIOTS AT NOTTINGHAM. I received his wages in linen drapery, or iron work, Mr. Secretary RYDER said that, in prefacing the or some other articles, by which he lost four or five motion which he Should, make on this subject, he hadjahillings in the pound. By this means, certainly first to state, that within the last seven days, the I many individuals were oppressed ; and altogether he riots at Nottingham had almost altogether subsided. I was sorry to declare to the Houee, that when he was Although, however, the actual evil had in a great; last in Nottingham, he never in the course of his measure ceased, it would ill become the Legislature :! life witnessed so much misery. The Hon. Gentle- not to provide • a remedy against any future recur., man then said, that although he was convinced that I rence of it. Though the spirit of elistuitrance was the punishment of death vault' add to•the difficulty now allayed, yet it might arise again ; and the Go. of detection ; yet he would not oppose any thingi vestment ought In duty to be prepared with every ; which could possibly have a tendency 'to • put down: check. against it. Ile did not think it necessary to those dangerous disturbances. lie then compliment.; disgust the House with a detail of the outrages which !ed the Right lion. Secretary for the 'Home Depart had lately disgraced the justice. and order 'of the ',.tnent, for the talent and zeal a Lich he knew him tell country ; but it was notorious to every person, that have manifested for the suppression of the disturb,l a system of riot existed, for the last three mouths,— ances since the it commencement; and he had also to it system bordering almost on insurrection,--which' assure the House, that the energy and activity of called for the active interference of the Gbeernment. the Maeistietes of the town of Nottingham deserved ' —On the 14th of lest November, appliestiart every praise. _ was fi rst made by the 'High Sheri ff of this county ! Mr. C. W' NNE did not thick that there were of Nottingham, for military assistance. •About - the sufficient parliamentary grounds laid for the motion beginning of December, the riots assumed. ,a edit r ot th e Right Hon. Gentleman. Ile thought, 'that' more alarming appearance ; and - by the - InfOrmatige something besides the statement of the Right Hon. received from the Lord Lieutenant of Nottingham, it Gentleman before the House, shook. appear on the was feared by the Government, that the ,riots were t Journals, hi a case of such importaneeas an alteree -, likely to extend to the counties of Leicester - and ''tion of the law to the infliction of capital punish- Derby. Between the 14th of November and -the meld. lie considered the proper wax of proceeding' 9th of December, no. less than 900 cavalry and 1000 , to, be, as in local Bills, th at a motion should. he made Infantry were scut into Nottingham,' witiCle was a on a petition from the Magistrates of Nottingham, or-! W i ry force than had ever been found necessary in that a Committee should be atvoisted • : the report any 'period of out history to be employed in the of which would be a parliamentary ground of pro- 1 q Jolting •of any local disturbance. Towards the seeding. latter end of Deirember, the heat of the riots seemed I Mr. FRANKI.AND had been Induced to look to be a littleahged; but about the SO Jan. it was ne- , into the case of the Parliament of Elizabeth, which emery again to apply to the Commander-in-Chief had been called, by a Learned Friend of his, a dis. and he had to state, that no application ever Wes graced Legislature : and had fonnd - in the Committee made for minter, or any - other assistance by tbe ; which then took into their 'consideration the out- Magistrates that it was not immediately granted .— ra g es of disbanded soldiers and seamen, there were 1 On the 23d of J a conference with the, Ma- persons of no less emineuce than Sir Walter lia ;nitrates was held, and it was thought advisable to leigh, and Sir Francis Bacon. The passing of the have recourse to a special commission ; but that was Act at that time was accompanied by a concomi foetid impossible until some of the offenders were taut measure of a Committee, for considering the - apprehended. A Proclamation was;however, in the., case of those distressed persons who had coin ' mean time issued, altering a reward for their appre- ; mitted the outrages, to see whether a Bill could !tension, This measure 'he confessed to be one of i be brought in to relieve them.- It was a hard doub ful policy ; but he hoped that it was well war- ; necessity on Parliament to be compelled' to le ranted byahe urgency of the occasion. Two very gislate in such cases, and to euact severe punish experienced Magistrates were also sent down to Not- melds; but whatever might be the tenderness of feel tiughare, to consult with the Magistrates there ; and bug that every Member must necessarialy have on such effery effort was tried , which could be conceived as a subject, he was at the same time bound to discharge Leading to repress the riots, but all failed: there was his duty with firmness. When enormous crimes were *tamely any detection of offenders in consequence, committed, and the law Set at defiance ; and the phy. and that arose chictty from local circumstances, and sisal strength of the populace opposed the law, all particelary from the fact of many of - the tenants of ; the laws of the land were set at defiance. .The pro • the houses having no permanent interest in the , sent evil did not consist in breaking a piece, of Mae • friotevairdtgoas their having connived at the break- ; chineryeeteda t he law proposed, was not merely to tug of them. • This was the cause why so few 'of protect. individual property, burroceedeff •en a • those connected with the riots were discovered : and, broader principle. .When the disturbances . took besides, he' was sorry to be obliged to confess, flint place in the woollep, the silk, and the cotton' trades, there nawetappared in this country a system of de.; laws were made enacting the offences felony; without predation saecnipletely organised : so organised was • benefit of clergy. it, that the Vi t igiatratet ibuW not possibly act. The Mr. LEIGH KECK said, that very few framed ' method of breaking the machinery had this peculiar , had been broken without the help. of armed men, in characteristic, that it c could he done without bustle the neighbourhood of Nottingham.; an d suchwas ge or noisei and there were' tautly instances of nerally the case in similar outrages in :die midland frames betaibroken by.peklei o(30 and SU, without', counties. However itidispOsed he felt hiMself to the creating alarm, and while the military were 'within retention of the penal code, he should not do his duty IW y ards of the scene of mischief. The alight lion. to the country if he did not accede to the Motion.-- Gentleman then stated what conceived to be ; The cause of the disorders he was ready to admit, the canses of these disturbances ; and lie particularly was the decay of trade. lie thought the law ought .attributed them to the increase of frames which took 1 to be extended, more genexally e theet.to the preciuts of place in the county of Nottingham about four yeers Nottingham. when the Ceetinent of South America opened a! - Mr. SHERIDAN raid; that.; .lasho' rding to his ap t. 'w market for the speculations of those coucerned prehension, the arguments of his Hon. Friend (Mr. I• 1 the manufacture which. those frames were used.— Franklaud) 'went toa very different conclusion from The swell of business caused by - the speculations al. that'to which he had come.. When he quoted tbe hided to, continued for about two years; but then it high-authority of •Sir • Walter Raleigh and Sir F. Ba b.lan to cease, and many families *ere, of course, ira- ; con upoh this subject ) he (Mr. S.) took it for grant. mediately thrown out. of employment. The come- ed at first, that he meant the. IfOusatafollow the ipienee of this want of employment were those , example in Which they took a part : but the • Hon. judged and furious riots, which, if net checked In Gentleman had stated, 'that the Bill then passed was time, promised very fairly to drive the manufacture! introduced after the report of a Committee of En. itself entirely out of the county. The next thing, [Hear, hear !] Parliament e it therefore *p c therefore, which he had to consider, was the peared,idiff not even then thiak it right tetextendthe nature of the remedy to be applied to this evil. It ° penal codiewithout an enquiry into the necessity of , . eon well known, that by the 2Sth of the present-, doing ,so : and surely Pariiament ought to ,be as King, that frame-breaking was punishable..by trans- ' cautious now, particularly -.when a proposition was yortution for fourteen years ; but the 'dread of this I made to apply capital p.onishwient tot pasetlealar &- punishment, as it appeared, did not deter offenders; trict. According to his a.h. Priendfs argenteite,' tom the comeasion of this crime. He therefore ' the House shouldlollow the pre cedeit in Elisabeth) • • far • • ..ihntrrls:at and though they could not ex p ect m a i n n d ds po o i f n m t many of the t t l h ie em deluded hedi heinousness such distinguished effectfthe o peace, t he a‘' n ames and high authority on their Committee, there o was littledoubt that they could . find many respects- of their offence. At the same time theo f severity ble well-informed Gentlemen to sit in it. Another the penalty must have its operation. The Hon. Member had said, es la not the necessity sum- prevention operated in a mixed ratio mode o f li of the means of cleutly known i" Perhaps it might : but assertions iu detecti on and th e sever it y o f punishment. He did speeches would vanish into nothing. When Parliament : not believe that it would augmeret the difficulti es of made a strong law,the repo it of aComniittee of Enquiry • detecting the offenders. The Learned Gentleman We the subject of it, would shew its justifieition, (11. Martin) had stated, that the t i town of Notting. which never could be done by ally Member rilleg in ham had speedily suppressed the disturbances there; that House, and saying, " I know this, and I know ' but then that had been done by ' - measures nearly si i that." . iiist-the Hon. Geotipild thatutitntilettreteed ,•mtar 'i • 1 •to those proposed by the other Bill respecting' i t to, he desired to know why such delay had 0C- ! the Watch and Ward. That might have Crimea ? Why had the tieWetery of State for the • been , el. . parattvely easy within the town, bit' difficult ii. ti :e Department been asleep all Lids while ? lime '! county,• where the population wa, thinner, . e l trifeigh had elapsed to propose the measure long be. more ' dispersed. This was a reason f '-- - et' teem dl& fore now : the House might have been put into Iron- !the operation of the law. As to „crate t . • r e. session of all the facts, and have proceeded in the went to workmen 9 he thoug ht th ey and I . application- of a suitable remedy. He could not ' employers the best judges ; and that i ' ;' r .10 avoid viewing the way iu which this measure was hurt the workmen's interest U Partials i supported by Gentlemen is a serious light. One fered. Even when there waselistress in s l e - r proposed it for Nottingham and its immediate rid- 1 tiring district, it was the most unkind wa , e e ie ere city ; another said it should be more comprehensive . Bement to prescribe the terms of employment. If is in its operation ; another still, proposed to make Itrlperson could employ a man at certain wages, bid Was ; operation geueral, which would be, in fact, a mate- compelled to give him more or none st all, the coeie. rial alteration in the whole police . of the countey, quence would be, that he would not employ him at without enquiry into its necessity. He could not all. These things had better regulate themselves.-- I apprehend any alarming dangers from the more satin: I So, as to the mode of payment, if any regulations on factory mode of proceediug by the . appointment of a , those points had been -attempted, he should' have Committee in the first instance to report to the! thought an enq u iry necessary., He was glad to see +House on the facts and circumsntnc.es of the case.---v I that the general sense of the House was not in oppoe, All the delay that was likely to occur, need not : salon to the Bill ; the second Wading of which would amount to more than 3or 4 days at most ; for he i present a better opportunity of discussing it provi e must suppose that there 'was no great want of per- . . t.ions. hi the present, he thought it sufficient to make sons in the metropolis at the present moment, cepa. .44. ...en cursory ebser rations. No advantage, he re. ble of giving to the Committee sufficient information. treated, could lie derived from a Committee ineeste. IThe report of such a Committee would be the best gating the muses of the disturbances. Suppose they i ' said the recorded justification of the. Bill when ' arose from a decay of trade,—and there was too much' enacted; and would shew to all the country . the rea- ! reason for that supposition,—whet then ? Could a sons and grounds on which Parliament had proceeds.. i Committee open the Continent, sad send the goods ed is increasing the number of the severities of the ;as formerly to the foreign Eiropean markets ? H a . penal laws.—lf the mischief as so immediately ; Committee could de that there would be, indeed, I pressing as et had been.stated to e , and the passing ; some reason for its appointment .—[ tica r !]— But lof the Bill, without enquiry, indispensable, great ;from whatever cause the riots arose, would any body blame must certainly attach somewhere, or they I deny the• necessity of putting them down? On the would not be thus forced to - theadoption of a severe whole, he could see uo advantage likely to result remedy, in a manner neither suited to the bonopr . .uor from an enquiry. • the character of Parlianielit. r " • • Mr. WHITBREAD expressed himself entirely in . . . Mr. HENRY MA it riN perfectly agreed with the 1 favour of a Committee. According to the usage of last Speaker. fie had a kahledge of Nottiughafn in our forefathers, no capital punishment could be in. his capacity of a Magistrate, and could say, that if 1 flicted by law without a previous. enquiry. When the the same activity had been shewn by the County ! Right Hon. Gentleman talked of persons bearing Magistrates, as had been by those of the County of . arms, the House, he hoped, would recollect that the Town of Nottingham, there would have been no ' there were then called upon to enact the penalty of need of this Bill. Within one month, not a fatties: death on persons breaking frames, and not for bear. had been broken in the town. lie hoped to see a tug arms. lie was sorry to say, that from every in fuller attendance of Members in the House on din- ! formation he had been able to obtain on the subject, cussions upon this subject ; and that the stigma the distresses of this class of men had been the reief thrown upon the House by the late Mr. Burke, 1 cause that impelled them to undertake these desperate that there was no better mode of insuring a thin at- ° measures. Would the puntshment of death give teodance of members than a proposition to enact new'' facility to the discovery of the perpetrators of these capital punislrrn.lrts, might be wiped away.—[llr,vl)! acts of outrage ? lie thought not. Was it not ne -The riots originated in extreme distress. Ile did cessary enquiry should be made before the punish not say this as a justi fi cation of them, very far from I went of death was enacted for a n e w offence ? Yes. it: but as a reason why they ought to consider what tThe Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Perceval) laid ether mode of punishment than that proposed might ;great stress on this being only meant es a temporary coerce the disturbers. The Secretary of State - must i act, but the House ought to proceed with amnion.— have been apprised of the situation of the personsl Tlie statute of Elizabeth, relative to soldiers and who had mistakenly supposed that their wages were sailors begging in the streets, which had so lately about to be curtailed. Many fratnet had been been brodeht under the notice of the House, was at broken of considerable-value, which it was out of first only a tempory law; but it was from time to the power of the -Magistrates to prevent; but there time continued, and at length became perpetual, was no general disposition in the inhabitants to assist t to the disgrace of the Statute Books. He could not the rioters. He was sure that vigilance might have divest himself of the opiuion that a Committee ought prevented the continuance of the mischief. Think- to precede the enactment of death. He was not in iugao, he saw nothing to require this new punish- dined to oppose the first reading of the Bill, but went. , would caution the House to proceed with deliber. Mr. BA.BINGTON thought the extension of our ation. He believed he was the first person who had. penal laws a serious consideration, and the danger of called the attention of the House to these riots; and a short delay but little. He preferred a. Committee, he was highly satisfied to say, that from every infer because a report could be sooty made. As the evil /nation he had since received, he had reason to be eve was but temporary, the law ought to be same. If that the Right Hon. Secretary had completely i one any law were made on the subject, he thought it his dui. He firmly believed also .that the Mage should be general. It might be %anted at Leicester' trates of Nottingham had dose their's. The mes as well as at Nottingham ; indeed, during the dis- tion, then, was, how the evil nese() be put down. turbances, information was received that emissaries He was conscious in his own mind, they ought not had been sent from the latter to the former town. to proceed without a Committee. The House should The CHANCELLOR, of the EXCHEWIER -- -- recollect they were now about to legislate fora teals agreed to the extension of the Bill to other parts ; porary evil, and that *every act of legislation done in but as it would be printed, every gentleman would a hurry generally left a lasting disgrace on those who be able to judge on that point, when the.liouee went [s assed it. He begged, therefore, for delay, and into the Committee upon it. The present question' hoped that after the first reading a Committee would was, whether any previous enquiry was necessary. 'be appointed. If he had heard a doubt suggested of the nature or - Mr. HERBERT argued in favour of a Committee, quality of the existing evil, he might have found •on she same grounds as Mr. Whitbread. some - reason fbr a Committee. On the contrary, The question was then put, that the Bill be read a 'there was no doubt of the danger and of the neces- firstittne, ou which a divison took place— ~ sity of suppressing it, and putfing an. end to the si- - • Ayes.• ..49---X0na....1 1 . lent and systematic efforts -of the disturbers of the On re-entleingehe gallery, we found W WieNN-E on his lgs, ,re-urging his for public peace and violators of the laws. It had been .1 Mr- W. said that a Commit t lee could make it appear more sax . mer argement; tesat i nn inconvenience could result ' s 1 eisfactory to poneeekve ,Ile thought that the Bill 's from delay. eihould be a temporary one, and that therefore they 1' 'Me- EYRE (the Member for the county) wis!wil, bad less reason, in framingit, to thitik.abein.those mo ment should be lost. on the contrary, that not a Committee to en- Who were to come after them, than for theniselves, 1 Mr. HERBERT moved for a . .nature of the riots in Nottingham, and and there Could be no need for delay. A Hight Hon. i ' quire into the the fur- Gentleman would put Ministers into . a dilemma by , the neighbouring counties ;an account o f , isuppress the same ;sons m" asking - how they would defend . themselves for no t ther provisions necessary to I bringing 'l n the Bill before. Nok.Othuiswtir to this what steps had been taken to d isc over was, that the measures taken before, were taken in the concerned therein, which , view, and with the hope, that no such measure as The question was then the per on a division, waSelegativeds Aye. l4 —Note. • —l6 the Bill f o r the put, that . 'the present would he found necessary. In Queeit peace in- the fee re effectual reserrationef the Eliaabeth's time a Bill of the same hind was passed. fn ° I' .. ,read a and County of the I own of Nottingham be . It *as true, there wr i a COCaMittOtt in that instance, 11 . t time , which was read accordingly, and ordered He did not mean to disparage the great . lame which . 2 11 , t „, Tl !_ _ e ; TO Pe ma a second time , on Monday. an Hone Gentleman had with nets leerittiiioue re. ; . . . Meotuned till Monday. dustry discovered on that Committitie4Alattg4 ~ --.-.1.-- . but hecinild not help thinking, that, in the present - - MINORITY times, the ' means which Gentlemen possessed of ; e ois VIE NM tau r. aftorGar M. knowing the state of the country generally, and , Plaine, Hutchinson, Martin, IleurY W bitbread. Bennett, in particular places , were much greater then could i M 0... ..0c1re, Sacridan. Herbert, i apt. have been ceitained.at that time, even by that Corn. I Fat e d Itaniikoa, .__ Lurd A. 9 mittee. There was no Committee on the Act re - MINORITY specting the woollen manufacture ; nor the silk, ex- , son Tag ColtYrrtaS. cept as regarded foreign silks. • Wat was said about i Hume, Wpitbread, Wilberforce, A difficulty in getting at the offender, w as applicable to M auv e, . Marvin, 11. HamiLuu, Lord '' Herbert. - cases of individual property : but hey* the offence wu Frankland, Babingtod, Tonna, Sir T. of a quite different nature, proceeding open a.system bheridan, ltenuett, Has. Sinclair. of 'opposition to the law, which menaced the greatest Teti ras—W pine, and Burdett, Sir t. ~..: calamities, and must bebeaten down. He looked to / d Co. sold the 0111 v mach Illinefit fronethe Bill, in the people kaowityg• ln the last totte litlr - irT nn • o f 0,06 1 ) that Parliament had taken 'up the business ineo to i- Prize of .90,000 in shares, and a prat Tueay , "ono a seseiier; and' anhaadveried apes It , by eailt - also in shares. The new Lottery draws. on ...e, heheavypenishments, as from the operation of , the Silt and contenteTw o P rizes of k 2000,, o,Two of ,e sd -lovu knit: Its this view, be thought it -nimbi late its besides Others as usual. .. . ' i I .r, r. S • .; • , . d s•