The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1808-06-14 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. {MUSE OF LORDS—ileatiJor, Jest 13. ---e • ' •• . Mr. Clarke was iurther heard* weply, in the Roulnaryit epees& eases, upon a compelitionwilwieves, iu behalf if Me. Belioadeu h.tr, sad the furt her et t hup were routpomed all Wednesday nest, at two We ... . HIS MAJESTY'S 'AGE. , alisitisb Lord HAWILESSIIRY preseti ed . a Motor film His Majesty, relative to a vote ofvfedit, stetnig, that His Malesty,relyiug with confidence upon the seal of that House, and their readiness at all times Se give effect to His Majesty's undertakings, trust .ed that when they took into their consideration the situ: ion of His Majesty in respect to his enemies, they would be disposed to grant that supply, which would be necessary to enable Ills Majesty to car ry Ins measures for the defence of the country into erect. It was ordered to be taken into consider ation to-morrow. ' Upon the motion of Lord HavistiesuellY, • COM- Iwittes was appointed to take into consider:llmi the conduct of Mr. Palmer, duriug his n in the Poet-office. and the cause of his ' s uspeusion from that employment. SICILIAN Suns, DY. Lord IIAIVILEaStIitIf rest to move an Address, thanking Ilia Majesty for his gracious com inuuleation of the Treaty of Subsidy and Alliance with His Sicilian Majesty, intimating their Lord ships' hearty concurrence to the subsidy proposed. He observed. that no olectiou, in Ins opinion, could tic made, respecting this Treaty. which he pre vented on Saturday. It was proposed to grant to His Sicilian Majesty 500,0001. a-year during the war. His Majesty had been hound, from the tics of honour and fidelity, to attend to the welfare and interest of the King' of Sicily. which led to the ratification of the present treaty. If their Lordships considered that. in the year 1806, simi lar measures were resorted to, by the Administm tios of that day, and taking also into consideration that the circumstances of those times, in respect to the propriety of eatering into engut.;etnents of this description, were very situilir to those which had ituldieetl 1 lis Majesty to iferciate and confirm the present Treaty. be thnilght that their Lorashi a wrout.l he unanimouse upon .this rush net. He wnktl allow it was not a trueposition. that what miglit be proper to adopt, at one particular periedsweleid he therefore expedient at a subsequent tisite.htit if all cir!uttiNtant.eN requiriny, the existeneeefiuch a treaty, were the same at both periods of time. then lie presumed the Noble Lords opposite would not object to its propriety, and it would pre clude the necessity of his making any further ob servation. Lord llostawn said. the Noble Baron (Hawkey bury) had stated. with.grrat propriety, that what might be truly expedient, at any former period. might or might not be proper to be adopted at some subsequent time. However, he did not rise to oppole the granting of that subsidy mentioned in this treaty, for he must signify his hearty con currence with its general purport. He thought it accorded with the honour as well as the interest of Great Britain, to assist the King of Sicily, and enable him to defead himself against the attacks of his enemies. But while his Lord ship thus expressed his general approbation of that treaty. now lying on the table, he could not omit inakity; one observation upon the for tresses of the Island of Sicily. Some provision was made for properly strengtfieniug the fortresses alluded to in the treaty; but there was floe not mentioued, which he considered more important than the others, and this was the fortress of Me. lasso. Now he really thought, that while, on the part of Great Britain, it might be necesviry to great a subsidy, 'and to make good our engage- Inents, still it would also he incumbent on us to see that the money so granted should be applied in the best passible way for the proper defence of the !viand, and on that ncuount he deemed it singular, that no attention shoeldhave been paid to the moot important fortress ot Melazzo. As to the general part of the treaty, it Met with his approbation. — /le hail come down to that House, with the inten tion of offering his sentiments upon other subjects, bearing a collateral relation with the present ques tion, but, upon re-considerntion, he should defer those observations to some future opportunity. 'The address was agreed to usiessinionsly. The 11014 - vtid reading of the Irish Bank Charter Bill was fixed for Wednesday. The second reading of the Local Militia Bill was postponed till Monday next. The limasa then adjourned. HOUSE OF CVMMONS, The Chatham lines Bill was read a second time, end or der-ti t. I.l* committed to-morrow. The .1 mend:mots of the House of Leeds to the Berry St hoot Bill were agreed to, The ADVOCATIC-(i).‘ERAII. of SCOTLASO pre tootles, that to-morrow be would move fur have to bnne in a Dill to mimed the Act of sy Coco. 3, 1-rlative to Price Sloiscy. The Oyster Fishery Bill WAS read sid tear, and ordered to he committed oR Friday next. Mr. HIMILISION Raked lease to bring is • Bill to ii--ialitte the ditties on Prise Goods, eve —L ea v e gmlatryl. A 3lessage from the Lords asotooneed tbrir ford.lains• *swat to the Irish Girt" Home Bill, the Dian "icy Forest Bills, and several pro. tic Hills. PI LOT6' BILL This Bin sots rerommitted, for the parrwPse of some new climes hvina introslat.cd by \lr. Ross one of which was, that the Lord %Variku of 64 Cioque l'orts should haw the power of appointing silty pilots. to this Hr. iscieseit objerted, on account of its tending to er,:tte an undue degree of influence. A division took pluce, and we understand that the douse was carried- Upon our return , ,to the gallery', we found the SPRASF.II Trading ssicre which had been de livered from His Majesty, relative to the usual Vote of Credit. commiTTEc or SUPPLY. Mr. Du M DAS moved, *. That the Donde (to go into a Coonnittee of Supply, to whom slimiltl • %w refer red the fiction of the Committee of the East ludia Company. (pun this motion being put from the Chair, Lord FOLKLSTONa r(se4 . . end objected to the Speaker !roving the Chair, as he thought the Report alluded to was perfectly unsatisfactory, and contained so little information, that it would he quite improper for the (louse to go into its eon - siderati4u. Ou a former occasion, au objection had been stated as to the manner iu which that Com mittee had been funned, atql he still looked upon that objection as Wing justified by the Report now upon the table. There were, in his opinion, va rious farts, of which the House ought to be in possession, before they proceeded to vote any great sum of motley to the East India Company. Mr. IX s DAS simmered, by observing, that if the Noble Lord had waited till he had heard his mo tion relative to that Company, his objection would most probably have been rendered unnecessary. Mr. l'steLycy supported the objection of Lord Folkestom. Upon the question being put, the House weut into the Committee. Mr. Due DAR then stated, that it would be un necessary for him to say much, as the Retie% t con tained most of the facts that were necessary to be detailed. Some misuistierstanding had arisen be.. tween the Aecousitaiits of the l'ompany and the public, which were referred to the Committee tip poiuted upon East India atlisirs, w ho bad t hou eta s it necessary to adhere to the principles laid clown by the former Committee. The first article charged by the Company well the expense of pri setters of war conveyed by His Majesty's ships to hull', immediately upon capture, which neve.ssa rily be..earue chargeable upon the public ; and the nest wits the expense of remitting to India such sums of money as had been paid by the Company to the public Pi liquidation of the balance owing to them. A question had bath stetted, as to whe ther the public should be lamod to pay iu India the mosey so borrowed, or to the Company in tins country, and disputes had arisen as to the rate of interest to be allowed. It had been, however, settled, by the Report of the Committer, that not only the expense of the remittunce of bulliou to India, but the usual interest of that place, where it was originally borrowed, blend(' be paid. pin. these grounds he did not feel himself justified in culling upon Parliament to make any loan to the Company farther than that which had been for merly stated to he actually ascertained to be due.— Mr. Itundas then concluded whin moving— " That it is the triiiiiios of this Committee, that a stun not emtreilio4 1,300,0001. he granted to His Majesty, to ca.ihrle him to pry the East India cowman, the es t s:uses Weaned by them for the public service." Lord FOLKESTONE still persisted in his former objection, that there was not sufficient iufonnatiou before the House, to enable it to judge of the pro priety of such a sgsnOt. He accordingly mined, air as asneneintent to the motion.“ That instead of the sem asentiOned in the motion,- the sum of 31. be Mr. Cneevey objected to the motion, upon the ground if the charges made out by the Company against the public not being properly ascertained . In none of their former statements lied they ever made out a charge for the transmission of bullion to India. Mr. TIEINST spoke in favnnr of the Resolu tion. Although the Committee appointed to in quire into their affairs were not vested with the au thority of arbitrators, yet they bad been appointed to ascertain the amount of the debt due upon either side. The result of their inquiry was, that 2.300,0001. were found due by the public to the Company, part of which having already been pinch, this vote was only for am acknowledged bulauee, joined to some further subsequent claims. The point at issue, therefore, between him said the Noble Lord, was relative to the rate of interest and the mode of transmitting payment of the debt due by the public to 'wile. As to this, he hail no doubt of the charge made by the Company being per feet!), fair and reasonable, and that if their ac counts had been submitted to a Master in Chan cery, the amount of their claim upon the public would have been nearly four millions, instead of the suns at which it had been charged ip the Re port. lie could not really see apy just grounds fur ohjecting to the liquidation of the debt as now charged, as it was strictly due to the public. If the Noble Lord was determined to persist in objecting to any . part of that debt, he shanld et least. allow, even in hisamendinent. that which he might look upon as niobjectionable. Lord FOLKESTONE stated, that the principle upon which he had proposed a grant of five pounds, was merely for form sake. as he objected to Ow voting of any sum whateter upon the Report in its present imperfect state. Ile did not object to the paying of Indesu interest to much us lie did to the expense which was charged for carrying out bul lion to India. If money were burrowed in Scot land, or any other place whatever, by a person re sident in this country, the troahle and expense of carrying it bac , , was never charged. Sir Joint ANSTRUTIIE said, he most heartily con curred in the resolution which had been submitted to the Committee, twit appeared to him it was fair and rents:able the Company should receive pay ment of the 'floury in the same place, and in the same manner, in which it had been borrowed. The public must be paying interest for that money, un til such time as it was sent out to India, soul there fore he thought there could be no question us to who slioisltl bear the loss. It was iincloulatilly the public who hail been benefited In , the selvisnees which had been made, soil he could not help think ing the Coinpany world have done better, had they sought their payment by bills drawn upon India at the usual rate of exchange ; for it was undoubtedly the cheapest way for the public to send out the bullion. By the report of the Committee, it ap peared that there were additional claims of 470,00 11. against the public, the payment of which had been suspended, on account of objections reenlist them. every one of which was substantiated by dons meats coining from the Advocate General's (Aire, shewing they were still unaudited. Mr. WILBEaVOICS and Lord \loner:Tit seve rally stated their suntinieuts iu favour of she tori net resolution, and Lord Folkestsise's amessilinent was negatived without a ; also were se veral other limitations of the twit:inn' %17111, which he afterwards proposed in the shape of amend- ousts. The original re.nlntinn was then put awl agreed to. SICILIAN SUNSICI* ..... _ TIM CHANCSLI.OR of the F.x.t.lit.QUEß nett pro ptnetl to the Committee, in pur•nnn!• of His fiLpo jeoty's Alettoage, the Intlowing 11, , olution •l'f% the sum of 300,0001. be granted to His NI! jest!, to enable him to woke mood the cavigewteuts which he has at tired into with Ilia Sicilian 31-.. jest) " Mr. WlllTattblci) rout, fu• the purpose of ,c•ot- thee some questions relative to tl e Treaty , by which tins grant was clue. Thi'quesitions which the lilu. Gentleinan put related to the length, of time that had etansed before the couch:slim of the Treaty ; the forte end ammunition which was to be kept up for the defence of the island ; and 'align, why two fortresses only were to be retained by us, while the fortress of Melazzo should also have been in our possession, in order more effectually to de -1 cure its defence. Mr. CAN MING, in MIS* er to the first question, re lative to the time when this arrangement was made, ',tasted, that it originally took place at the coin nieuctented of the war, between the King of the 'f was Sicilies and France. Mr. ELLIOT Mated objections as to the policy of British troops being under the coutinand of • Rus sian General, while, at the saute time, the over throw urthe Austrian arms enabled the French to pour their it lioje form into Italy, by which the Neaptilitan Government was involved inure imme diately in war. Although it was evident that the King of N epics and Sicily could . not 'Dinned"' such a levee as was necessary fur his dt ICIICV, 34. t. in us much as the obligations of thei country were thereby rendered more clear, and its interests inure precise, in the same proportion, it became more inex pedient fur us to assist him in hie then predieu went, as it. was doubtful whether lie should be under a necessity of joini aig the cause of France, or look to Great Britain for assistance. It was out till the month of llcceinher. 1805, when the King of Naples adopted his resolution of retiring to Sicilj, and lie then had positite assurances of assist ance fr.tn the then Government. of a subsidy, to the amount of es,unul. a month, or 300,0001. year, upon the recommencement of hostilitiee on The part of Frunce. Although this egreeineut was arranged upon these principles; v et, owing to the state of the Aduunistration of Om lust weeks of 1805, and the beginning of tete:, no steps could be takett tow arils adjusting the othe r measures, in regard to the force to be supplied. There was, however, no neglect of public duty, owing . to the change of Arlministratime which took place in 1806; for very soon after, application was made by the Sicilian Minister here, as to carrying this measure into ef fect ; assurances were g iven, that as soon as pos sible a Minister should he sent to Sicily, in order to reduce it into a form of a regular agreement. Nothing could be done during the secretaryship of Mr. Fox ; but at the same time payments were made through the hands of our Minister, and through General Fox, subject to their controul. —Mr. Drummond was at the same time dis patched to Palermo, but had nut succeeded in re ducing it into a proper form, before the dissolution of l'arliament,and another change of administration, had taken place. It was not returned till the month of July or August last year, and when it did come, it appeareti that Mr. Drummond, either from mis conception, or from some other cause, had admitted some stipulations which were nut thought right Ilia Mejesty should agree to. It could net there fore helmet . before Parliament, so that the nego elation was renewed, nod the treaty now before the House was what had been the result. As to the other kind of assistance to be afforded, it was judged most prudent that Mv. Drummond 'lmolai act with cnutiou till matters were otherwise fully adjasted. Next, as to the fortress the lion. Geutle man had alluded to. he believed it was 'already in the hands of the British ; and the minimum of force deemed suffitient for the defence of Sicily amount ed to 10,000 men but this country bad it iu its power to send more if it thought necessary. lu point of fact, there teas Dow in Sicily a much larger force than was required. Lord flamer Parry expressed his satisfaction at the unswees which had been given by the Right Don. Getttlemait as it appeared, that every exer tion had been used to defend that important island. While he thought it was prudent to observe the moat watchful jealousy upon such occasions, yet he could not help observing it might have been pru dent to have reserved some further power in the Treaty, to enable us to put Sicily in the utmost possible state of defence. Mr. WHITBREAD also expressed himself satisfied with the answers given to his observations; yet he should like to know how the money already so be stowed had been employed ? Ile should still wish to have seen that part of the Treaty, as to the for tresses, otherwise worded. Mr. CANNING replied, that had we kept all the three fortresses, by the stiPulatioe, we should have been pus under the necessity of keeping more troops there than what we might afterwards deem convenient. The rummy already granted had been carefully laid out in strengthening the island, and an isccount rendered. • Mr. WINDHAM could not undertlaud, why we had not stipulated for the possession of the fortress of Melaws, as well as those of Augusta and Messina. • Mr. Wtteraroace disapproved of that clause in the treaty which rendered it indispensable that both powers should ha included in making a peace. Ile thought that part experience, in this respect, should render this country enure cautious. Mr. CANNING observed, that it was no doubt desirable, if ever the possibility occurred, to restore His Sicilian Majesty to his origieul dominions. It was one of the stipulation' , in the :ast negociatiun with France, that that power should Ise included. Mr. BA kEs disapproved of the enotinuatice of such a practice, by which we were to be bound by such engagements in regard to peace. The Iteeolittion was then put and agreed to. The CHANCELLOR of the Exentuu ER then pro posed, • 'rant a sera, not exeradiag seo,eonl. be granted to His Majesty towards the relief uf the several persons whose houses and property were destroyed by the (ire at Hussman, in the Island.,/ Dominica, occasioned by the firing uf ear guns o fg aite.t the mercy." Mr. W INDIUM observed, that it mattered not whether it was occasioned by our guns or those of the enemy ; but the question ought to depend upon the uteritorous conduct of those to vilioat this relief was to be grunted ? 'Mr. Alderman CERTIs expressed his high appro bation oh the Ilesoluttois proposed, anal lie wished tint some person iu the Hume of greater It right that' liiinself—/A head lattgli)—would propose as an Ainettrlment " That double the suns stated shoald lie granted to these sufferers." Mr. Ttetteer thought that each should have a proportional there, ars:wain to ins loss. The CPANCELLOI of the EirHrivra trial, that the sum he had proposed wa, accordiug to au ap pointment already mule out. Mr. Yoacx considered the conduct of the inha bitants so meritorious in effectually resisting so very considerable * force brought agatust the eo lolly, that he *vas resolved to vote tor the larger aum, luomoul. which he had heard would he but one-half of the loss sustained by these meritorious sufferer*. Mr. BARRAM thOU4ht it would have been better to distribute the grant specifically to those who bud suffered most, or were least able to bear the low. Several persons who were now to be remunerated, he had heard, were at the time in London and other places, a nd some of them were females, who could have taken no great share in the defence of the colony. _ . . Earl TEEPEE hoped there would be presented shortly to the Howse sonic correct account of the intended distributiou of so considerable a sum of public money. Lord CASTLERSA.OII considered the distribution propos:eel by the lion. Member unjust to the merits of the iudivirluals, and dangerous to the peace aad union of the inhabitants of the colony, The re lief should be get m erallj extended to all the suf ferers. Earl TEMPLE grain observed. be wished those who had been most active in the defeuce of the town should be more immediately remunerated. inasmuch as they hada double claim on the bene volence of Government. The 0W1011.1.01 of the EXCIUQUER thought no fair line of distinction could be justly drawn ' between the respective merits of the injured lois bitant. Females, he thought, theuld is amply compensated as others, and any distinction at tempted to be drawn, must inevitably be unjust to seine particelar persons. The sum of 50,0001. the one-fourth of their loaves, was the utmost, he thought, the House could votes with due regard to the state of this country. Mr. Possoune did not conceive the intended distributions by being voted without any distinc tion, would best answer the ends expected to be ac complished by the mover of the grant. There were two descriptions of persons whom it was in tended to remunerate—the meritorious in the de fence of the island, and those who had been re duced to indigence by the calamities of war. The present mtle of distribution was not calculated to effect kith as it made no different* whatever be terms those who might have, by a comparatively small loss, been reduced to beggary ; nhilst many, who had experienced considerably greater losses, stood in no need of remuneration. The original motion then passed for the grant of the smaller sum. The following cams were then granted— Per defraying the expeaers incurred by Cummia. Messrs i.e Military !wintry - L.ei,oso To certain tuismiasioaers for discharedic sums lof orboey, sea iespsetiag accounts relatm. to oar sett lemmas oa the Coot tarot of America Far eumpeusatia; the Commissionets simulated to inspect aatl eutiti‘t the Bettis' b Museum Yoe repairing ti.e Wes, sastabeed from the vio lent nouns of the t atoned istla of Jae. tteo9, in time harhontotind a Woof morgate For improving item harbour of nolyhme - The s.sestion being pat on this sum, Mr. SnERI DAN said, he was surprised to beer of seen a vote. especially when there had been of late years disc-mitred it much better harbour ; but be feared that the reason this had nut been brought iota general use, in our communication with Ire land, woe+ owing to the strong interestand influence which had been excited in favour of the Holyhead Captains, most of whom were settled in houses at Holyhead. and had used all their exertionto prevent the discovery of this harbour being generally known. Sir A:WHIM WZLLESLST thought the harbour • of Holyhead the beet in Wales. The other alluded to he had heard a very different description of ;and was therefore in hopes the House would have no objectiun to ref air the works of Holyhead, for which there existed a direct necessity. in this opi nion he was supported by Mr. HEIBERT. Mr. PARNELL thought it singular such an ap plicution should be made before those estimates and papers he had long since applied for en this subject should be produced. Mr. FOSTER objected to the sitnstien of the new Imarimeur, us being several miles to the south of the Head, which he feared would render it frequemmey ditheult of averse; and, iu itself, the harbour ass extremely dangerous. No Captain would, there- Mre, in the roughest weather, take shelter ; and this the I etlit I lon. Geutleman might have known, if he bud time opportunity of making any persuital inquiry into its situz.tiou and circuturtances. Mr. SHERIDAN admitted he never yet had seen Holyhead--yet he had formed an idea of its infe riority to the new-found hay, of which he did not yet know the came.--(A lawgh). This bay had. when it was customary in Ireland to pigeon Lotteiy. lx-emm the constant resort of all the pigeoti boats ; anti he had been informed by a friend, that to this day speedy intelligence was often scut by that route in preference to the other. All these natural advantage% n otwithstanding, had fatless before the powerful influeuce of ancient prejudice and venertAmle predilection. tinseled with the opt ration of the Holyhead Captains' strong interest , exerted to close up that harLour. Mr. IV AIME I.L knew well the harbour of Port. yn-clyne, and the mesons of the prejudice agaiest it were such as stated by the Night lion. Gentle. mash It was capable of containing thirty sail cm the largest vessels; and was there only u fair tri of competition given to the two, he was satisli“ the present harbour would, in less than 10 yews. be totally out of use. Mr. WHIT/till:AD thought there should he 4011 1. : plans submitted to the ;lutist.. ou the expemlietey of the grant. Si rA RTIIUR Wr.f.r.rAct:v sniml. be bad focinm .1 topinitin from the ril tie of Mr. ftet... burveyor of the first Mr. NV AILDRI. could ra,mly necomit for the opt nion he had given. Mr. Itemmy It a. tio• h wr.• who tad been etigalm! u., build the 1ir;.1.2 , Nlenai and Conway, %Ouch would be rem iered to necesatry should the new Ini , lnnir canto inn , In,. After some (Amery:o4ms Mon lllr. Fos ci BERC•FORD anti Mr. S. Earf Tesirtx thought it mumpropei to mealm a: tt,oott 5,e,40 10,a,• 4 1