The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1805-05-03 00:00:00

.'~ eft, of the %rows of ih• tzelequer, swills bad so scruple to say. that neither he, nor, ne believed, any of his colleagues, who signed it, knew at the tints that there were any arrears that signified, or any thing like the sum of 20001. and more, Which was now known to be the amount of them. BREACH 0? PRIVILEGE. Sir H. MILDMAY presented to the House the following Petition from Mr. Stuart, in the custody of the Serjeant at Arms, by order of the House ; " ro rot HowouitAsos rag mouse or COMMONS tx TAILLIANIttiT A seem stip, " The Petition of Peter Stuart, Printer and Puhli.her of a Morning Newspaper, intituled the Daily Adftrtiber, 0, sett, mid Trot Annus, ss MfAt he i.bly shewctb, " That for the publication of that part of his Paper of Thurs. lily last, deemed highly offensive to tlyo Honourable Hiniv, be fe,b the deepest regret; and that, although certain ex pressions in that Paragraph be indiscrcet and unguarded, and Nth u have incurred the displeasure of :is important a blanch of tae British Constitution, yet that Your retttioser humbly hopes, on this acknowledgment of his sincere sotruw, that this Honourable Flouse, in the plenitude of its contescention and liberality, will be pleased to panion him for a transgression solely attributable to the hasty composition of • Newspaper, sad not to any deliberate design of offending this Honourable }louse. ' " That your Petitioner is emboldened to solicit your indulg • Sues and f, , igivettete on his well f 'untied assurance, that, during the several years in which he has conducted a Newspa per, it has uniformly been his principle and pride sealoudy to styport the character and dignity of the House of Coalitions: airl that it Was frequently fallen to hi: 1,4 to have vindicated both from the charges of Societies ezpressly instituted hi bring dawn Cato pubic disrepute sad ermuunia. " In any observations which your Petitioner may have pub. Sated on the conduct or Lend Melville, he could not but year in mind, that the views amine Societies, abetting domes sac Tteaton, ar.d valued by the co op , :ratiou of the Revolu tionary Power of France, would, lir verily believes, hate eitcted the destruction of the British Constitution, had not the wise and efficient measures brought taeward by that Administratinn, in which Lord Melville held isri conspicuous a situation, i bees adopted ; and thi.Hoorniralale Homo would nut, in that tap, perhaps, have been now in ewiwence, ether to amine tied Mol"Ilos ts. to Pardm you: Pelt tolle. o That if any thing could. crease your retitiOner regret, dtarould be it. being snisgosed that the Ohittetthhlble Paragraph' was directed also against the Right gonourable the Speaker of the Howse ei Corn it'll" j that ~ . car Petitioner has no hesitation to declare, that nn .d •a was ever more remote from he mind i and that your Petitioner would be site very Tait person to in sinuate any thing disrespiwtfol of a character whom he, in co - inaction vita say whole Nation, highly esteenis as a privvte. Gentleman, and nowt peonstwadlf venerates as the head and public ocean of this Honourable House. • " That your P a ai.,..ei sheirtore most humbly hopes 01* H In.. • '' ,-. tt ..,... if 111 consent to his release; and your Pemba.: widreer pray, der, atliesy 2, 1815. " l'. STUART " Which ne.og read by the clerk, the Hon. Baronet moved.' that the said Peter Steart be now brought te the Bar of the House and discharged. Mr. WINDHAM said, that if he, in common with the rest of the House, felt any resentment for the language of the original paragraph, he was now Week with indignation at the insolence of what purported to be a petition. The writer of it had certainly. “in the plenitude of his own condescen sion and liberality," thought proper to apologise to, •and profess his esteem for, the charafltir of the Speaker, " as • private Gentleman,' but he dal not condi:it-cid to make any apology to the Hott,e.— With whatever apathy and indifference the House of Commons had hitherto suffered publ cations of this nature, its dig.ity, he trusted, would not re ceive a petition refiaaing on the nsaj ifity which seated in condemnation of Viscount Meiville, as persons aarng in concurrence with the disaff!aed people of the country; and every particle of the petition was accusatory of the House. I'o chew that this charge was implied in the instrument be fore them, he moved that it be read again by the clerk : which beingaccordingly done— Sir H. MILDMAY said, that hu did not think the words of the petition warranted such a crmstruc tioa, nor referred to those who voted against Vis count Melville ; for if that were the case, he would, of course. be , me of those implicated in the censure Mr. FOX thought the petition a very improper one to be received He had no objeainn to it, as far as regarded the panegyric bestowed on a former Administration ; and if it had stopped at that point, he should not have opposed it. Bit the Petitioner added, that, in writing the offensive article, he bore in mind the services of Viscount Melville, in the conspicuous office he hell under that Administra ti .n, and excused himself on the score of the sup port he gave It. He did not see how it could be accepted, unless it was meant, that any support to that Administration was to justify him for any of fence he might afrerwarcb commit. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER did not conceive that the petitioner stated that pas sage in the way of a general defence of his conduit, but sp stir of his support in that spirit of arrogance and importance which was very generally assumed be all persons cosine led with the press. It was no offence in him to state his general behaviour, and for the opinions he expressed of the bad tendency and objeas of the clubs and societies alluded tu, es well as of the measures adopted fur their suppres sion, he certainly had the sanaion of his Right Hon. Friend himself (Mr. Windham). It sac true that there may be some persons who might dis like such opinion, ; tint it certainly was no insult in him to say that he lied those opinions in common with both Houses et Parliament. Though the Petitioner, as was customary with persons in his si tuation, gave more consequence to his support and testimony than they were worth. he did not see that his doing so would be deemed offensive to the House. As to the tesolations against Visc. Melville. which were carried by the single casting vote of the Speaker, whose eh:trader and condua no man had a greater esteem and respell for than himself, and who did not stand in need of this person's testimony; he could not think that those Resolutions were entitled to a greater, for baring that majority of one, than if they were carried unanimously, or by a great majority ; though in any way he read , ly admitted that they were entitled to respea. It these unne cessary expressions of assumed importance, which were worthy nothing, were taken out of the Peti tion, he could see nothing in it but contrition for having incurred the displeasure of the Itouse. Mi. WINDHAM, in explanation, observed, that the contrition referred to formed the smallest part of the Petition. The topics adverted to in it might be In themselves very good, but nen era hie locu s t. This was not the place to introduce them (a try of Order! Order! deli Spoke! Spoke! lions reveal Isar tees). In whatever charefler he viewed the applica tion, he c-,uid net consider it otherwise than highly inch cent and insolent (tbe cr., of Order ! and Sroke I Spoke Mc ! reumeid). If_ be was oat pettedly in or. der in saying so much out of the shift line of expla nation, he would bring himself right by concluding with an Amendment . Sir W. SUR ROUGHS here interrupted the Right Hon. Gent. and appealed to the Speaker whether there was ground for a second Speech in the same Debate on the part of any Member who had before spoken on the subject ? The SPEAKER thought it his duty to apprise the Right Hon Gentleman that he was not, by the rules of the House, at liberty to make a second speech for the purpose of introducing an amendment. Mr. GRF.Y expressed his regret at finding him self obliged to trouble the House again on the sub ject of this libel. After taking notice of the para graph, he was not disposed to press it any farther, if the original cifence had not been so grossly ag gravated by the aisolence and charader of defiance in which the present Petition was worded. Nothing could be a stronger proof of this defiance, than the defence set up fur the Petition by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. who took his ground under the dif ferences of opinion that prevailed between different sides of the House, upon former topics. The Peti tioner himself ventured an attack upon all those who resisted the measures of a former Administra tion ; and in respect to them. instead of making any apology, put himself in the situation of an accuser. When ho first thought it his duty to bring this sub jed before the House, he could not but feel some uneasiness and anxiety on hearing an lion. Friend or his (Mr. Sheridan) describe the paragraph as harmless milk and water statement ; though, for his own part, he was convinced that, whatever free dom might occasionally be taken by the newspapers with tlo.ir proceedings, so gross a libel as that he referred to upon the conduct of the House of Commons.had never fallen under his observation. It was not an effusion, such as may be provoked in the warmth of debate; hut a deliberate condemnation, stating, that the House of Commons had not given Viscount Melville a trial, but that their vote was a stung and presumptuous negative to the amend mentoomposed by the Right Honourable Gentle man (Mr. Pitt). After the House had resolv ed that the article was a gross libel, he was dis posed to go no farther with it, and did not oppose the motion made by an Hon. Gentleman (Mr. A. Wright), that the Printer should be immediately called in and discharged. He was contented with the , punishment, if punishment it was, 51 bringing him to the bar ; and it was the Right Hon. Gent. (Mr. Pitt) himself, who stood in the way of his dis charge, and moved for his being committed to the custody of the Serj••ant at Arms. The same Right l ion. Gentleman, however, now thought proper to defend him, when he came before the House ex pressing his den ince, instead of shewing any contri =n for what h.: ha.i done. He knew not, he said, wnat may be the amendment intended by his Right I lon. Friend ( Mr. Windham), had he been permitted to do so by the Orders of the House. It would pro bably have been to transfer him from the custody of the Serjeant at Arms to Newgate ; hut he should content himself with opposing the motion for his being now discharged, and upon that subject he was determined to take the sense of the House. Mr. CANNING thought that if the Hon. Gent. (Mr. Grey) was really satisfied with the milder punishment proposed before. it was scarcely com petent to him to oppose Mr. Stuart's discharge now that he had already undergone a severe punish ment. For his part, he certainly did not think the paragraph worth the notice that was taken of it; but having been brought before the House by that Hon. Gent. its dignity required that it should not be so lightly passed over, and it was on that con sideration his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Pitt) aided in moving that he should be detained in the cus tody of the Serjeant at Arms. The unfortunate person now under consideration had no right regu larly to know of the aggravations that were then urged against him of having offended the dignity of the Speaker of the House of Commons ; hot having since been informed of them, he had a right in his petition to endeavour to obviate any unfa vourable impressions that might have been made against him, and by complimenting the charader of the Speaker particularly, in his Petition. it would be too much to infer that he meant no apology to the remainder of the House. lf, however, the House were inclined to treat this with severity, and that a new era was to commence of prosecuting discussions of this kind in the news papers, the same rule must of course be ex tended to all the daily and weekly publications, and he begged of the House to bear in mind in what quar ter this new system originated. In his apprehension it was perfelly fair in the petition to icier to the former services of Viscount Melville. at the time when, in conjunction with the other Members of the Administration to which he belonged, he fought the battles of the Constitution against the mischie vous attempts of the societies to which he alluded. However disagreeable those topics were to sonic Gentlemen. they were recorded in the history of the country; and lie was sorry the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Grey), in particular, should take notice of it. Mr. SHIRIDAN spoke against the motion. Mr. Darr spoke in favour of the motion. The ATTOnlitY GENERAL, the SOLICITOR Ge senau, and Mr. &ltion Rouses, several sup ported the motion. Sir JOHN NEwroer, Lord Dc BL AqUEIREs Lord MA RIM AM. Su* HENRY MILDM AY, Mr. WHIT. yaw), Mr. GREY, and Mr. Wit searoace, spoke against it. The question being loudly called for, the House divided, when there appeared—For the Motion, 142—Against it, 121—Majority, 21. The Printer was then called in, and, after receiv ing a reprimand from the &PRAISER, was discharg ed, upon payment of his fees. THANKS TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF NAVAL INQUIRY. Mr. SHERIDAN rose, in consequence of the notice he had given, to make his promised motion for the Thanks of the House to the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry for their past services. lie as sured the House. it was not his intention to have said many words upon the subject, had it not been for the strong insinuations, and repeated declara tions of the - Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Pitt) re spelling the condo& of these Gentlemen, who, in his (Mr. Sheridan's) opinion, had done so much for their country. He would even now state every thing as shortly as possible. •I'he Commissioners had been appointed not to inquire into the trifling peccadilloes of men in subordinate situations la pub lic offices, but into the crimes and offences of those in the highest stations, and most exalted anfithculoriiyties that they had to encoun ter the greatest dif, and had met with the most extraordinary opposi tion and resistance of various kinds. He adverted to the Aft brought in some years ag o b y Mr. Pitt, for the inspeaion of the public accounts ; and in that Aft a power was expraa Ay given to the Commissioners to examine every officer or person situated in an office, and to compel them to answer, or to dismiss them from their places. This Com mission, on the contrary, had been much opposed, and, in spite of every difficulty, worked its own instituted this During the Adm inistration wiuch this Inquiry, the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite had made an attack on the official condita of the Earl of St. Vincent, and threatened a p ros ecution; but the Commissioners still p ersevered in their course, and did not hesitate to do their duty, by a stria scrutiny into the condua of those in the high est official situations. The sth Clause of the Alt which appointed this Commission had beau much perverted, he said, for it was impossible it could ever have been meant by th e Legislature in the way in which it had been construed. It would, therefore, be most expedient in future for the House to define what those persons they may appoint on Commissions of this nature are to do. His Hon. Friend, who was at that time Treasurer of the Navy (Mr. Tierney), and who was looked upon as the black sheep of that Administration, had paid no attention to the application of theCommissioners,who issued their precept in July, and no notice whatever was taken of it till the 2d of 011ober. If a person possessing so large a share of amenity of manners and gentlemanly behaviour, as his Hon. Friend, had thrown such obstacles in their way, and treated them with so much indifference, it was easy for the House to form a judgment what immense difficulties they must have to encounter fiorn the numerous class of persons they must have to apply to, who were interested in keeping from them every circum stance, which, by militating against themselves, might throw a light on the Inquiry into the abuses of that Department in which they *fled. The Commissioners had shown their zeal by persisting in the inquiry, and not relaxing in their duty after they had experienced so much resistance from per sons in office. He considered, that the Hense had thrqe great duties to perform ; the first was, to grant supplies that were not prodigal; the second, to pro vide ways and means for making good ands sup.. plies ; and the third, and most important of all, was, to lo.sk after a due application of the money so raised ; the two first, in a manner, exercise them selves by the custom try sues and regulations of the Manse on that subjea , the third has sometimes been delegated by the House to other persons ; and, if in any instance, a C m'nittee should be appoints(' by the House for those ; u poses, and not supported in the execution of their d ty by every means the House could affo: d them, it was the same as if that power had been kept in the. hands of the House in order to do nothing at all with it. It might be asked, perhaps, whether this was the most tit time to thank the Commissioners for what they had done, and whether this was the most fit time for giving them the thanks of the House, in order to encourage them to go on with that zeal, ability, and persever.ince,with which theyhad, solionourably for themselves, and so much for the interests of the ceuntry, commenced their labour: > The Rig! t Honourable Gentleman oppos'te has given notice of a gill he means to bring in for the purpose of re newing this Commission, and surely this must be a most fit time to give them the thanks of the House, if the Commissions to he teteseec i t the sarneCoM missioners. When the House eekeed men to per form such high, important; and dith.tilt statues, they in the Aa itself demand from them a due perform ance of those duties. If these Ce airmen, who have been so appointed by theft use, ha re re tfly done their duty in a manner that has given cm vers it satisfaltion, and gained the general sivrobaeen, nob only of that House but of the country a. la ge.they certainly merit in an especial degree the thanes of that House who so wisely appointedeherns ai.d on that ground it was he wished to meet all the arguments watch the Right Hon. Gentleman might be as sated to urge against it ; it was not by any means his wish, by the motion he should mike. to provoke any com ments, criticisms, or opposition, from the Right Hon. Gentleman, or those who *fled with him, to the terms in which it was drawn up, the substance was a Vo'e of Thanks to the Commissioners ; and here it vas neces sty to consider in the first place, what they have d .ne; and, secondly, what remains to be done by the n. As to what they have done, it is very toe, the Tenth Report strikes at the very highest g.ime ; hut still he would venture to say, the same pood e `'ens had been found to result from ever' otht r pre 'ding Report. The First Report relates paiticula ly to the West 'a lies, in which a Mr. lack la ss...ed to have eitorb t Lady charged for naval stores tsh,Oool. for which only 98,0001• ought to have been charged. The Hon. Gentle man then shortly gave a sketch of the leading t :a ttires and impositions Jett...Red in the several leiter Reports, from the first to the tenth ; the contents of which have already been so frequently discussed, and are, of course, now so well known, that it is needless to make any farther comment oil them. The next, he said, was the Eleventh Report; in which, among other matters, was laid open and brought to light. the shameful and illegal praltice of issuing fifhitious navy bills. As this would be a matter of future and more serious discussion, he would not then trouble the I louse any farther tie. on it. Having shortly stated what had been done by the Commissioners, he would now endeavour to touch as briefly what remains to be done by them. They have to go through and overhaul the immense accounts of money lavishly expended in the condult of the last war ; they have to investigate into the anions and expenditure of the Navy Board, the Transport Board. and the office for the Sick and Wounded. They have been all tepte,eated Ai very enormnus in their waste of money but an It:moor able Admiral (!Markham) had told the Haus on lot mer occasion, that this last Board was the worst of any that remained to be scrutinised into. After they have travelled through all this, they have to examine into our different foreign yards, colonial, &c. where plunder was said to stalk with sti'd great er and holder strides than those in this country. in the Mediterranean, when Earl St. Vincent was there ass asediately atter the Aaiun he had with the Spanish fleet, and since that the different Admirals who had served on that station, had all found the prices charge ed forrepairsmnst enormously eztravagant ; they have then to examine into the purchase of arms by the Transport Board, in which it was said, an enormous sum had at one time been pli#fer arms, which were afterwards, on due examination, found to be good for nothing ; and they had also to enquire how far the Officers in the Treasury kvw of, or had any feeling in this transaction ; and, last of all, they had to enquire into the expenditure and abuses of the motley which ought to be appropriated for the bene. fit of Greenwich hospital, thar noble and beneficent asylum for our brave and gallant seamen, after they have lost their limbs,exhausted their constitutions, or worn out the best part of their lives in the service of their King and country. If they have such mate. nal business still to perform, which cannot be done without a continuation of that zeal, firmness, abi. lity, and fortitude,which they have exerted on every former occasion ; after the slurs and insinuations which have been thrown out against their conduct, it became peculiarly incumbent on the House to convince them on the present occasion that, in continuing them in the perforneince of those arduous duties, they had yet to %listen', they might depend upon receiving every encouragement and support which the Howe could give them. Reform, he said, was a thing which, on all occasions, hal been most odious ; but at present there was such a host of contrailtors, jobbers, and other descriptions of persons, who were used to derive advantage from the improvident expenditure of the public money, that the outcry against the Commissioners, and the resistance made to their efforts for the public see. vice,were such as had never been experienced at any antecedent period. On these considerations, he thought that if any material objedion were brought by the Right Hon. Geetleman, or others, ager.ot the Vote of he wars about to move, the House ought not be any means to encourage the idea of their re-appoiiitment en the same Commis sion. But if there were no such objeekirms, it was the duty of the House to stand forward, and to say. with that commanding force which shookd be heard from one end of the kingd im to the other, that these Commissioners hare hitherto nobly and honourably executed the high and imeortant trust reposed in them by the House; and that in what they have hereafter to do, the House will chearfelly support them to the utmost extent of their power. He would not, therefore. detain the House any longer than to read his motion, which he did accordinglg to the following purport : That it spriest to thiv Home, that the einsetimiArtins appointed bs an Act of the 431 of the K.ag, to aliqiiite into the inegulatiewas and abu es co wetted by Gerson' enipLiyed in the veveral Naval D .aartinetitii, have, et fat a.. aunca.-9 bon their Reports hitherto made, ex=erted themeolecs v'i'n eel •:•. ligence, ability, a.i.l firtituie, amt that tits *hubs al (bar cu. duct, in the execution of the a•diaoto. duties pittnete.l r o 44.5. is I to the typriabatiun and tbanks of this llos 4J The Question being real from the Clair ; The CHANCi..LI-Oit of the EXCHEQUER rose, and said, that before he 'peke to the mode. just made by the Hon. Gentlem in, he mist beg t' e attention of the House to a few uremia he had -a oiler, as to what hail been said of that A 8 ended hie for the inquiry into the expenditure of the melt money ; and, he had only to soy that, with regard to the clause allude,' to, he never conceived the AB, at the time it passed, possessed such a power. Out left it to the provisions of the common kv. How ever, after such a clause had bees introduced, and fom! its way into the Rill, it became necessity to he CAUtIGU4 'whether such classes should not lie goarde.! against in future. With regard to the motion itself, he did not rise to objet to it, if the sense of the House should appear to be in its favour; bur lie felt it his duty to make soire .4- :mations on the subjeet, In doing which he ste tOI endeavour to trespass on the House as short a time as possible. The rirst was that lie thought the H use should rather have waited till they had gone ::roach all the r •pt r s which have already been made; :,e thought this case of the present Commissioners dif fered fr en the Commission farinspecOing public counts, fee there the thanks were remitted to the Cornm-ss'oners in consequence of a due live tion idea the reports they had made. Without mean. ingrn Fess any; hing.urther on the present subject, he thought it necessary to continue these Commission ers in the execution of that trust which has already been confided to them; but from what he had sea as to some parts of their conduB, there awe cumstances on which he had formed an opinion. which, notwithstanding all that had been said is their favoure.he could nut give up, admitting it to he the duty of the Committee to i nves tigate every circumstance. to scrutinise into every part of d e public offices with the keenest rye, and, allowing ail their merits in taking care to the utmost ol tleir power, that enrol y man employed in a public office shall do his duty, they should not step further, aei prematurely teveal circumstances, the etas ti which may operate so as to cteate prejudices against individuals, before they can have an op portunity of saying any thing in their own defence. When it appears that any thing rellertner miner how severely, on any individual, that re quires report, they have made that report without giving any notice to the party of thee intentions so to do ; he did not at all mean that they should give any such notice as should enable t he party to loaf himself of it so as to defeat enquiry, but he thought that betore they made their report to the House. chef should give them an opportunity of explanation. adverted to the circumstance which occurred ia a late debate, relative to the conduet of Sir Andrew Hammond. in which that Hon. Gentleman had e pressed a wish to be further examined by the C missioners; but was told by them, in answer to application, that they could not enter into any et planation, h tving already made their Report to 8+ Hoes: whereas. had this etplenatian b lowed, ; it wools! have ptevented all o f the een dcbd which had ensued upon it, and all the nesapto_ Mention of tOe several parties which ha d given n! to that debate. Another circumstance there se which chews a great impropriety in their mode' proceeding. in winch, speakiet a pers.o a id a bill was thrown out in his case by the Jury, they, on the mere single authori to a ?."`„, citor, assume, that the Grand Jury mo o!v7 i tampered with t sus ely snore better authority Mow have ;seen resorted to, before such an insitmatioe hi.en 13 rashly made. evis alleged. ba.ra th.t there wits a MAlt) point nst the Navy 1 7 0 - 1 as to the high price given ice MOIMPIS the Inc adjured the times lust, whi the real tt• mike w nild le Thauks moment Mr. I Right t rated ti cAdult not►ght an y wei t o iunt e woui have al condua the tro! old UV Sir timed i o ught I Hon. F best W 2 Nail I lion. dent o of the ►ees d known Laid su the pr lle to. wards t o Par B.,ssior . went t. ardt !pions 1 , V , nc the all' coniun Mr. the sal to C 4 telati• s aying Doer c to dm Adi warm I against Ann, 2 dV etch Th tlertu &tali and thou), daft, fepOr beer lilt! lOU Brit do ite,3 eat grei pre‘ othi and of t had IPTII the hay in 2r inr do tho Pro