The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1824-02-12 00:00:00

REMARKS ON THE VAGRANT ACT. Notwithstanding the degree of perfection to which we , are supposed to have arrived in our system of British jurisprudence, we fear that an attentive examination of that system will by no means bear us out in the repute-' non we have acquired. We are most willing to admit that the English Constitution, administered in the truth and simplicity of its first principles, furnishes a degree of protection to the subject unknown in any other coun try. But we have penal laws upon our Statute book that are a disgrace to an enlightened age : the character of the mass of the people from whom our Juries are taken ; their good sense, their humanity, and their love of justice, when they are not under the control of passion or of party ;—these alone preserve us from the oppression which they are calculated to produce, and form our only security against the ill-digested and intolerant princi ples which pervade them. But this security we are in danger oflosing ; the increased and exclusive power given, Session after Session, to the Justices of the Peace, has gradually withdrawn this protection; and, if the attention of Parlia ment and of the public is not strongly drawn towards it, will imperceptibly subject us to the arbitrary domination of individual Magistrates, who will have the power, in fact they have it in a great degree alreatly,—to inflict punish ment at their pleasure, and to pronounce sentence without APPealt Before we proceed to remark on the VAGRANT ACT, and I to examine its principles and enactments in detail, it may be as well to lay down what we conceive to be, and what we are satisfied every man of hound reflection will admit to be, the fundamental maxims of penal jurisprudence. lo the first place, there is no one, we apprehend., but will ad mit that punishment can only be inflicted where some of renCe has been committed ; that to constitute an offence the act committed must be injurious, directly or indirectly, either to the community at large, or to some indiridaal mem ber of it. Now, carrying these two incontrovertible positions in our minds, let us proceed to examine the enactments of the Vagrant Act, which at present cuts so conspicuous a figure on our Penal Code. It is new on our Statute Book, and we may therefore approach without any of that supersti tious reverence which we feel for consecrated abuses. It may, indeed, be said to embody in its own loins a long line of ancestry. It purports to be " An Act for consolidating into one Act and amending Me Laws relating to idle and disorderly Persons, Rogues and Vagabonds, incorrigible Rogues, and other Vagrants in England. - The title is im posing.; but single vices gain nothing by being condensed Into one solid body: wrong cannot be ennobled into right by compression. IVe must therefore examine this Act as if its provisions were not intertwisted with all the former laws, but stood not divorced and separate, each claiming to be discussed in the individuality of its own merit. It must strike every one, in the outset, that in the very classification of the crimin als the rules of common justice are outraged. Idle persons are linked with blew', igible rogses. Now a person may be idle from the inability to procure employment ; is be, on this account, an object of punishment P The utter want of discrimination is manifest. But let us suppose that a person can obtain employment, end, from ill health or slothful habits, or any other cause, prefers to be idle, what have the laws to do with that? He disturbs no man in the enjoyment of his property ; he interrupts no other man's happiness ; he infringes upon no man s rights. What offence, then, is he guilty of ? What crime does he commit ? By what authority, then, and on what sufficient ground, can you proceed to punish a man who has committed no punishable act Q What definition can we give of tyranny, which this would not include ? Mr. Cbetwynd, before he frames another penal statute, should acquaint himself with the principles by which pu nishment should be regulated. Let him leave indigence to find its own remedy : if it is brought on by idleness, it is a sufficient reason for withholding public relief; hut be yond this, we have no legal warranty to inflict suf fering: as to the prison and the tread-mill, the inflic tion is iniquitous; it revolts against every rule of right, and every measure of justice. e will go through the separate enactments, as they follow in their order of arrangement. In doing this we shall not only have an opportunity of discussing the prin ciples upon which this Vagrant Act is framed, but of de veloping the principles which more or less pervade the great mass of our penal laws. The subject furnishes a vast fund of useful reflection; it is a subject in which we have all of us a public and personal stake, and which oar common duty, as well as oar common interest, makes it Incumbent upon us to examine. The first enactment merely repeals the former laws, which it is the professed object of this Act to amend ; we will therefore dismiss it, and proceed to the second:- - And be it farther enacted, that all persons who threaten to run away. and leave their wives or children chargeable to any palish, township, or place; all persons who, being able to work, and thereby, or by other means, to maintain themselves and their leoilies, shall wilfully refuse or neglect so to do, by which default eiref fii /lect they or any of them shall become chargeable to any , township, or place, from whence they have been legally removed by order of two Justices of the Peace, and shall there be aux chargeable without producing a certificate ownirg them so be settled elsewhere; and all common prostitutes or night-walkers, wandering in the public streets or public highways, not giving a a satisfactory account of themselves, shall be deemed idle ,end *Welly persons; and it shall and may be lawful for any Justice of peaceto commit such offenders (being thereof convicted before iihn, by his own view, or by his, her, or their own confession, or by the oath of one or more credible witnesses) to the house of OM ration, there to be kept to hard labour, for any time not exceeding one calendar month.' • To repeal all former laws, and to substitute such enact ments as this!—t. clear the way with such a solemn sweep (f is prepa ra w pr epa ration, in andve h ere ! — trul y to supply nothing it tis an beunttpoerrauus tth in e g outse! whatt r in meneement. The offence of threatening to run away and leave the parish chargeable, is equally absurd and unin telligible. Who are to be threatened, in order to constitute I he offence ? Is it the wife, or the pariah officers? 1 t is, more over, made no offence actually to run away ! It would be a curious statute that should punish with transportation the threatening to steal a horse and omit making it an offence to deal it. When any individual is to be subjected to a punishment so degrading and so severe as that of a month's hard labour on a !read-mill, his offence ought, not cnly to be very cautiously marked, but very distinctly defined. The next class of persons upon whom we find it inflicted, is " all persons who, being able to work, or by other means to maintain themselves and families, shall wilfully re fuse or neglect to do so, by means they become charge able to the parish." To require such persons to maintain' themselves " by other means,"/ is somewhat equivocal, as this latitude of expression would seem to give a virtual license to that means of maintenance which those unfortu nate persons resort to, who are immediately afterwards in cluded in this penal enactment. Nothing is so easy for thine who see at their ace, who have never known want, nor ever known what it is to labour—nothing is so easy for such persons as-to denounce heavy penalties against all who, being able to work, become chargeable to the Parish. They little know how many there are in this great metropolis, who, with every wish, and with every exertion, to procure employment, are yet unable to ob tain it. It is not merely inconsiderate, it is cruel, to attempt to enforce industry by law, without first se curing a demand for the labour of those who are willing to work. Before you punish those who do not maintain themselves, and their wives and children, you should be 1 brit well assured that the means of honest livelihood are within their reach. Unless some provision is made to this end, you are not in a condition to determine whethi r their poverty is the result of sloth or of necessity. It is on this unportant point that the enactment before us is defective. It punishes. and that too with extreme severity, those whom it chooses to denominate an idle, while it pronounces an in iisaindnate sentence on those who neglect to maintain P"oelres, without affording any criterion of determining "Ileacr such neglect is wilful, or adjudging under what mcuinstanees it shall be considered as not corning within ` l, Purport and provisions of the Act. The w'mle of this enactment is penned in an unreflective aril unfeeling spirit. " All common prostitutes, or night "4er; wandering in the public streets, or public high *,+!ll, not giving a sat'sfaetory account of themselves,l 41411 be deemed idle and disorderly persons." What vague numaning phraseology is this! How can such persons I pre a " 6CCOUnd nfikinseloes 1?" Cut off as they I "re, the far greater part of them, by the perfidy of our 7, 1 , from all the protective kindness and sympathy of ! a" 'me they know enough of wretchedness without , consigned to the loathsomeness of a prison, and the sic of a tread-mill: " The world is not their friend, nor the world's law." The Mere act of " wandering in the public streets" is not Nif a crime : to say of any person that they " shall be deemed idle slid dilorderly," and convicted as wick who are sot actually so, is the essence of injustice. If this principle Is once admitted, there is no standard of guilt. It becomes utterly impossible, under this stretch of constructive dclinqueuce, that the people,—the lower classes especially,-- , -can be secure against oppression, and that, too, of the worst kind. Besides, if females, of the unhappy description alluded to, are, when not publicly offending by any outward indecorum, to be apprehended and consigned to a month's impi isoimient and hard labour, what is to become of them when their term of suffering is expired and their constructive offence has been expiated ? What habitation is to he found for them ? What path of virtuous industry is opened to them? Who will afford them shelter ? and—Who will give them bead ? Having alrea dy punished them so severely for •' wandering in the streets," you cannot, in common mercy, turn them on the streets again ; and yet this is done, but done with what pretext of justice—with what colour of humanity ? But thus it is that persons legislate who are surrounded with ease and prosperity—who have never "exposed themselves to feel what wretches feel," and who are wholly unfitted, by their practical views of life, to make laws for the moral welfare of mankind. Such persons legislate not so much in wantonness as the thoughtlessness of power : they never stop to reconcile their principles to their reason, or to their conscience. Ilad Mr. Chetwynd done either, the Vag rust Act, such u it is, could never have been framed. We shall pursue the examination of it through the whole of its enactments ; but our space is limited ; and, for the present, we must lay down our pen. EAST INDIA HOUSE. IL,.ILEYBITRY COLLEGE. A Special Otneril Court of Proprietors of East India Stock was held yesterday, at the Company's House in Leadenhsll-street, on the requisition of ten Proprietors, to take into consideration the propriety of applying to Parliament for the repeal of the 46th clause of the Act of the 53d Geo. 111. cap. 155, by which the Court of Directors is prohibited from sending to India, in the capacity of a writer, any person who shall not hare resided during four years at the Haileybury College, and for introducing a clause appointing a public examination at such times and under such regulations as the Court of Directors, with the approbation of the Board of Con trol, may direct; to which examination all persons shall submit their acquirements and qualifications for approval previous to their being permitted to proceed,. in the capacity of writers, to either of the presidencies of Fort %Vahan], Fort St. George. or Bombay. There was a very numerous attendance of Proprietors. The minutes of the last lieneral Court having been read, The CHAIRMAN (William I% igrain, Esq.) stated the purpose for which this meeting was rendered special. THE 3IARQFIS Ok HASTINGS. Slr JOHN 1)0Y LE said, before they proceeded to enter upon the , li•ineas of the day, he wished to solicit the attention of the Chair I fora few minutes. _ _ ..... The CHAIRMAN rose to onler. The meeting was convened for special business, and he could aot allow it to be deferred for any o her purpose. . The lion. U. KIN NAIRD said it wan customary in courtesy to allow any Proprietor to put a question before the regular business of the day was begun. The (I'm ILMAN repeated, that the meeting was for special busi nets, and he conceived he could not with propriety allow it to be deferred. 111 r. Hintz expressed his surprise that the courtesy usually ob served towards the Proprietors was departed from in the person of his gallant friend (Sir J. Doyle). To illustrate the impropriety of this departure front the rules of courtesy, he would suppose a case : —His gallant friend might have risen to ask • question, whether some great officer of the Company had not embezzled 300,0001. or 400,0001. of their money, and whether, in consequence of this em bezzlement, it was not the intention of the Court of Directors to impeach hien ? (Hear, hear.) As a man of honour and justice, he (Mr. Ilunie) appealed to the Chairman, whether every Pro prietor had not a right to put such a question, and to insist upon an answer, " aye" or "no t' (Hear.) if any imputation of that description had been made against any officer of the Company. would he not have the right, would not the public at large have a right, to call upon the Court of Directors for an answer? and, if the imputation was groundless, would they not both have a right to re quire from the Chairman a denial of the calumny? (Hear, hear.) The Court of Proprietors were movers of their own proc eedings, and though they were then assembled for special business, they ought, if they saw reason, adjourn it, and give audience to another question of more pressing interest. Mr. S. Dixox was quite satisfied of the right of the Chairman to interpose as to the point of order; but though he advised the Honoutable Baronet to rive way at present, lie would suggest the propriety of his obtaining a pledge that he should have an °ppm (unity of puttirg his question before the meeting was adjourned. Sir JOHN Hoyt. e.—[f I had been permitted to state my object when I first rose with confidence to appeal to the joule,: and honour of the Chairman, I am quite sure that both he and every other member of the Court would have prevented the interruption that has taken place, and that I should have clearly shewn the rte. unity of being heard. The suggestion of my honourable friend (Mr. flume) is quite correct. 1 rose to put a question affecting the character of one of the highest and most meritorious officers tbs. Company ever bad. (Hear, heary. An anonymous writer in a periodical paper hes stated that the Court of Directors have canned an enthralment to a large amount during the adminlstra. don of the Marquis of Hastings, and that they have it in contem plation to impeach him on that account. (Hear, hear, hear). I now come to justify the honour and character of the Noble Marquis, and to challenge any man to say that there is the smallest truth in the charge thus insinuated against him. (Hear, hear.) The max. tions I would put to you, Sir, are these :—First, whether any em bezzlement or deficit by the Marquis of Hastings, to the amount of 300,0(101. or any other sum' s has been discovered by the Court of Directors? Secondly, whether,, in consequence of such discovery, the ('ourt of Directors have negatived any intended grant to the Marquis of Hastings of 11.0001. per ann. ? and, thirdly ; whether, in conse quence of such discovery, it is in the contemplation of the Court of Director to impeach the Marquis of Hastings? In the presence of this Court, and in the face ot our common country, I all on the Chairman to give a plain and distinct answer, " aye" or "no," to the questions I have asked him, and among men of honour I know that I shall not ask in vain. (Cheers.) Mr. I•OWNDEI said he was there also to canvass the same busi. new He had seen strange insinuations in the newspapers, and as he knew nothing on the subject, he was desirous of learning what truth there was in the reports in circulation. (Laughter, and cries of " Order!") . . . . The CHAIRMAN.—With the fullest disposition to answer any question that may be proposed to the Court of Directors, I hope tile gallant General will allow me to state that it is impossible I can give en answer to his question, because I have no instructions from the Court of Directors to give any answer to any question on the subject. Sir Joust Dov cr.—lf I had called on you, Mr. Chairman, to deliver the sentiments of the ('nun of Directors, or even to give your own private opinion on any subject whatever, 1 should un derstand your refusal to answer me, but I declare I am at a loss to know how to construe your refusal to answer an inquiry as to a matter of fact which you must know to be either true or false, and if true, you must equally know ought to be avowed, or if false, disavowed. (Cheers.) As a man of honour. then (and I believe you are so), I call upon you again to say "aye" or" no." If such a discus cry has been made by the Court of Directors, let it be brought forward in a bold, manly, and honourable way, and not left to be insinuated by the pandits to the calumnies of the day, who, while they whisper away the characters of honourable men, pretend to disclose matters of undeniable fact. I know you too well, Sir, to suppose that you meant the corollary that must be drawn from your answer; but it is, I trust, permissible for me to say, that it that answer had come hom another and less honourable man, the corol lary would be, that your refusal to answer the questions was calcu. lated to give aid and coutnenance to the calumny. (Hear, hear.) I regret, Sr, that your sense of duty induced you to interrupt me, but . 1 again call upon you as an honourable man, to shake off from yourself the possibility of such an inference. (Cheers.) Mr. Low NOES said, that as a proprietor. and a lame one too, he ought to know what had become of this 300,0001. Ile had seen it mentioned in the papers that the money was gone (a laugh); but he came to the meeting quite ignorant who had embezzled it. Now to his surprise and regret, he heard it was the Marquis of Hastings. (Cries of " Order !" " Spoke.") The lion. D. Kt rC XAI SI) said, he rould not be silent while such a libel was pronounced on the character of the Msrquia of Hastings. The Chairman was not asked for an opinion, but for an answer, "aye' or "no," to a plain maoter of fact,fully within his knowledge (hear, hear), and which, if not answered, would sanction the cur rency of a base calumny on a most distinguished officer—an officer, too, whom the Court of Directors had nut requited as they ought, but whom the public would compel them to requite, at least in this instance, with something better than silence. (Cheers.) Geed find! (extlainted the Hon. Proprietor), am I in an ass:mbly of Englishmen ? is it possible that when such a charge has been whispered or insinuated, much leas openly and loudly asserted, antoagat Englishmen, it shall be found that they will not do the common justice of giving an answer by which the calumny must be destroyed ? When the transactions of this Court shall to-nor. row be read by our countrymen. they will not believe them. Ac customed as they are to fair dealing, they will reject the report it self as a calumny upon us. Hut if tit:, should give it credit, it will not be the character of the Marquis of Hastings that will be sacrificed by such conduct, but our own. (Cheers.) We shall he condemned as men listening in silence to a charge which we could have refuted, but which we preferred to countenance. (Cheers.) But, 31r. Chairman, an answer we must have, and I will mores. adjournment till it is had. (Hear, hear.) There shall be nu tricks in this Court by which that fair dealing amongst honest men, which lis our national characteristic, shall be prevented. The Court of Directors dare not keep slimes In the case of a menial servant whose character has been aspersed. no gentleman dare to hold his I tongue without being liable to an action of defamation ; nor in the face of his country dare the Chairman of this Court refuse an an swer to the questions of the gallant General (Sir John Doyle); and moreover, I can foretell that when the HOll. Chairman dot" answer these questions, he dare not say "Vas." (Laud cheers.) Is the elm- ratter of the Marquis of Hastings no part of the properly of the Court of Directore, whose most distinguished servant be has been ? If it were possible, which I know it is not, that this matter could be slurred over, what man of honour weukl ever again embark his character as .1 future Governor. General with such men as you will this day prove yourselves to be, unless you do justice to the Mar quis of Hastings ? (Cheers.) The Hon. W. F. EerefrirsToWir—t will rarer, if the Chair. man does not. the questions that have been put to him. f declare t that no such thing has ever been thought of in the Court of Dime. tors an • charge of embezzlement, or as an intention of impeach ment against the Marquis of Hastings. I will nay more • I will I add that he never was suspected of having embezzled 3 00 .0001., or any other sum belonging to the Company. The charge is wholly unfounded ; there is not a word of truth in it. As an individual Director, I thought I ought not to sit silent and suffer the calumny to spread. without contradicting it. (Loud cheers). Sir Joint DOTLE—I ant satisfied with the declaration of the lion. Director. I am gratified with his manly statement. But why would not the organ of the Court of Directors make the same I statement as the lion. Director ? If my qtieations had involved any .introverted point of Indian policy, I should not have been surprised at your refusal to answer them ; but relating, as they did rarely, to matters of fact in which the character of a distiartielited Nobapn and most praiseworthy servant of the Canpeer wes I deeply concerned, I was amazed to see you sheltering yourself un der the shabby pretence of • point of form, until at last one of your I own body stands forward to voliinteer that denial which you refused to give. I have always considered the character of a British mer chant as honourable, but if such proceedings as these are sanc tioned by this Court, I shall be inclined to say with Bonaparte, I that you are only a set ofgrovelling shopkeepers. (('heers.) The Curti nasex.—The two Honourable Proprietors who spoke last have chosen to address themselves personally to me as an t individual, but I beg to remind them that I ant placed here in consequence of my situation as Chairman of the Court of Directors. In that view I understood the Hon. Baronet (Sir J. Doyle) pro posed his questions, and I stated in reply that I had no instruc tire from the Court of Directors to answer them. It was not my individual opinion he wanted, hut the collective judgment of the Court of Directors. If my reply was unsatisfactory to the Noble' Marquis's friends, they must impute their disappointment to the course they have chosen. The questions answered by the Hon. Director (Mr. Elphinstone) were not those proposed to me by the I gallant General (Sir J. Doyle). Sir Joule Doe I have misconceived the course I should have followed, I am yet ignorant bow I should have proceeded. I I h or certainly been misunderstood by you, Mr. Chairman; for so far was I from putting the questions to you es offic i o, as the Chairman, that I studiously avoided it. It was in your individual capacity as a Director, and not as Chairman, that I asked for an answer. I called upon you, because, from your situation, every thing that passes in the Court of Meat& must necessarily corns under your cognizance ; and I merely wished you to answer • common matter of fact. The CuenthlAN.—The Hon. Outcast, I coneeve, has no more right to select me individually than anyany ether Director. I stand here as the organ of the Court of Directors, and my answers are always so considered. Mr. Loy/lines said he had a right, and he would exercise it, of asking whether any fraud had been committed by the Marquis of Hastings, or any other person. He had are to the meeting in consequence of the statements he had seen in the newspapers that 300,0001. had been embezzled; and if it was not true, he thought it hifih time to contradict it. (Cries of "Order spoke.") Mr. PATTISON said, from whatpassed, he MIS apprehensive Court that the whole Cou of Directors ni ght be implicated in the act of the Chairman, and he therefore, as one, begged it to be under stood that he was no party to the Chairman's silence. Mr. AST ELL (the Deputy Chairman) said, the experience of that day would prove the practical inconvenience of the course followed by the Honourable Proprietor who had insisted on an answer to the questions. Not only bad those questions given rise to a long continued debate, but to • most disorderly one. (Hear, hear.) The Honourable Director (Mr. Penitent) who had die. claimed being a party to the Chalmette's silence, might have his own views of the due of the Chair, bet in his (Mr. A.'s) opinion. the Chairman could do no otherwise than refuse an answer, because he was called upon as the organ of the Court of Directors. (Cries of " No, no.") Ile knew not what right any Proprietor had to call upon any Director individually for his opinion on any subject not • mere mattes of fact. The questions were then, for the first time, made known, and it was, therefore, impossible for the Chairman to have answered them consistently with his duty. The Honour able Director (Me. Elphinstone) had spoken only as to matters of fact. Ile bad given no answer to the questions put to the Chair man. Looking at the inconvenience they had suffered that day, he (Mr. A.) trusted that in future they would, as far as possible, ab stain from discussing any matter not regularly before the Court. • Mr. PATT MX said, that as an honest straightforward man, he felt bound to give his opinion on the subject. To him the qua dons apprred to relate to the simplest matters of fact such as whether the sun shone, or whether that was a stool or desk he saw I before him ? No doubt could exist as to the meaning of any of I the terms used in the questions. They were all as clear and as • intelligible as human ingenuity could render them. As to the first, every man knew that the word " embezzlement," as there used, meant to take from the public purse and put into one's own pri rate pocket, and that the word " deficit" meant a sum wanting to balance the accounts which some person had entered to his own pri vate account. If he (Mr. P.) differed with the lienourable Ban. I (Sir J. Doyle), it was as to the propriety of having made his in. t quit) , of the Chairman in his individual capacity as a Rimier. lie (Mr. P.) would not be satisfied with an individual rower. He • would have it collectively from the whole Court of Virortors. (Hear, hear.) The question was, whether the Marquis of /las- I tinge had robbed the Company of 300,01.001.? (Hear, hear.) Was I this question to be passed over without a full and satisfactory an ' swES So tlir as he could give one, be would ; and In answer teethe I lint question, therefore, he would say distinctly " No." (Cheert)' • That question was answered as fir as his power went. Would I to God l for the sake of the Court of Directors, the Chairmatul could have overcome his regard to . foreit, and breaking through the I difficulties which he supposed himself to be sur ro unded, had I also answe r" No." (Cheers.) The question was not whether the' Marquis, of Hastings bad committed any mistake in his p • 'ermine of India—he who bad added mfllleas to its revenue, • and need shrink from comparison with none of his predecessors in any respect (—the question was simply whether he was a thief or , pickpocket. (Here hear.) Was it fitting, that after all the achievements of the Noble Marquis, for the benefit of the Com pany, the proprietors should leave the Court with a doubt whether he was a thief? (Cheers.) As to the second question, he (Mr. P.) r would answer that it was true that the Court of Directors had ne gatived the grant of 00001. a year so the Noble filarquis, but not t in consequence of any such discovery. Hie answer, therefore, to that I question also, was briefly, " No." (Cheers) As to the third, if he had been seated in the chair, he would have said that an impeach ' ment had never been mentioned in the Court of Directors; that no I such thing was ever in mineable costernplation (hear, bear) i that it was as much in contemplation r that the coma should strike us t fiat, or burn us to ashes (a laugh); that, in fact, it had never been hinted at, glanced at, or inocudoed was an active verb at the present moment, and he did not see why he might not enlist it in • the regular corps) in any shape. (Hear, hear, hear.) To the third I question, then, his answer would be briefly, " No." (Cheers.) He had given an answer for himself to each of the questions; and as an hotted MSS he felt bound to give them. (Cheers.) Mr. Low w Des.—ls there any deficit at all? (A laugh.) Mr. TRANT justified the conduct of the Chairman in not an swering the queetions, by reference to the practice of the House of Commons. the Chairman was bound to answer all questions I that might on a sudden be propounded to him, very great inconve nience would result. He felt as much, for those who had served the Company as any Proprietor, and particularly for the Marquis of Hastings, and it certainly was desirable that those most un founded rumours should be met by an early denial. The lion. D. Kix Kitten congratulated the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Trent) on his prematurely official sentiments, and hoped he had not deserted that active canvass which was destined to seat him within the bar. He would doubtless much conciliate his furore constituents by telling them that should any future Governor. General return charged with robbing the Company, and betraying his trust, he, as the Chairman, should he then till that important station, wrapping himself up in the dignity and consistency of filen, would refuse him his official testimony to his innocence. (Hear, hear, hear.) Ile (Mr. Kinnard) had little doubt that the lion. Gentleman would, under these circumstances, be the suc cessful candidate for a post for which his generous sympathy had already fitted hint. (Hear, hear.) Reverting, however, to the sub. ject, he (Mr. K.) was anxious to have an answer to the questions of his gallant friend. The Hon. Director (Mr. Pattieon) had . given foe himself a most satisfactory answer in his monosyllabic replies • bat the Chairman still refused to give any answer. He understooil the Chairman to say, that the Hon. Director (Mr. Elphinstone) who gave the first answer, had not replied to the questions put to him. 'the other Hon. Director (Mr. Pattlann)had most fully and catego rically answered the questions. He (Mr. )(inhaled) wished there. fore to ask the Chairman whethdt he coincided in the concise and direct answers of that Hore Director. Mr. Lows cgs said he was too often accused of. wandering from the question (a laugh); but it should be seen that day that he would stick to it (a laugh). It was highly n that this dark cloud impending over the Noble Marquis shot' be dissinated. He believed the Noble Alarquis tole much too high-minded a man to be guilty of so base a fraud. If there was any embezzlement. he believed it would turn out as in the use of the late Lord Melville, that it was the clerks under hint, and not his Lordship, who was guilty. But the question was, had any error at all been discovered ? And if it had, was it a mere error? for if it was, the Court well knew that in all accounts errors were excepted (a laugh). Mr. TRMIT vindicated himself from the personal attack made upon him by the Hon. Proprietor (Mr. D. Kinnaird). The Hon. Gentleman was proceeding to state the grounds or. which he hes came a candidate for the Direction, when he was interrupted by cries of " Octet." The Hon. D. KrX114111111) WI still anxious to know whether the Chairman coincided in the negative given by the Hon. Director' (Mr. Patinae?* As to the assertion that the Chsimian was taken by surprise, he would prove it to be wholly groundless. On the 30th of January a letter, containing questions in substance the same, in words only somewhat different, was sent to the Chairman, and by him laid before the Court of Dircrtoni. No grammarian or sophist could find any difference in meaning between them. This letter was written by the Noble Itlarquis'a nearest friend (Colonel Doyle). with whom his Majestic communicated persorally with the Noble Marquis's other self. The letter was to this effect Alontagu-square, Jan. 94). " beg leave to call your attention to a paragraph which appeared in the Sunday Times of the 9fith instant, a copy of which I inclose. You will perceive that it contains in substance a direct charge against Lord Hastings of having embezzled 300,0001. of the monies of the Honourable Company, or of having been 'party to an embezzlement, by which a deficit to this amount has been incurred. " It further states, that in comiequence of such malversuilem, which had been recently discovered, the Court of Directors had ne gatived a proposal to _grant to him a pension of 6,110C1. pa annum, and finally, that it is in the oesitemplation of that body to edict his impeachment. The general slanders of an anonymous libeller, it may be well to gem with contempt! hut s particular charge, deeply, greeting the public character of an individual, however distinguish- , ed, must be specifically repelled. Under this impression, I have the honour of addressing myself to Ton N Chairman of" the . Court of Directors, in the full confidence that you will enable meat once to give that distinct anti authoritative contradiction to these false hoods, which the form they have assumed demands, and which it is so important to the honour of the Noble Lord should no longer be delayed. ‘Vith this view. as every question that arises in the i Court of Director must be officially known to you in your caps ' city of Chairman, I have to request that you would be good enough to give me answers to the following qtteries : lat. Whether the Court of Directors have Made any discovery, or have received any . inffimation, or have reason to suspect, that the Marquis of 'listings has embizzled, or been party or privy to the embnilement of any monies, or to the creation of any de ficit, to the amount of three hundred thoutand pounds, or of any other sum ? " 2d. Whether the Court of Directors have threatened, or in tend, to impeach the 111srquis of Hastings for embezzlement, or for any supposed deficit of money, or otherwise ? . 3d. Whether the Court of Directors hate, in ebnsequence of any such supposed embezzlement or deficit, ahead y negatived a motion to grant a pension of 5,1,11121. per emit= to the Marquis of ' , Hastings ? " I am persuaded that your own high sere of what is due to the honour and character of a public man, will sufficiently account to you for the anxiety of the Noble Lord's friends, to lose no time in vindicating him from these foul charges, which have already attain. ed extraordinary circulation, and be my apology, at the same time, fur prtssing the subject upon you as a matter of immediate im. portance, as it is by you alone, from your o ffi cial situation, that, without in j urious delay, the means or effective contradiction can be furnished. In preferring, therefore, the above request, I feel as. 'Lured that I shall be only meeting your desire of &tog the earliest justice to the character of the Marquis of Hastings, whicil, la the paragraph in question, has been so wantonly assailed and that I shall be favoured with an answer to the queries at your earliest convenience. "I have the honour to be, Sit, " Your obedient bumble servant, '• W. Wigram, Esq." " F. HaStisdl DoTit. No man labouring under stronger feelings could have written in a more respectful style, or mid more perfectly have succeeded in preventing his agitation front rendering hint intrusive or importu nate. This was the answer to such a letter " East India-House, Feb: 3, Int. " am commanded by the Court of Directors of the East India Company to acquaint you, that the Chai rman h a laid before them your letter of the 30th of January, Wrestled to him upon the subject of a paragraph of which you inclose a copy, which is stated to have appeared on the 23th of - that month, fa a newspaper called the Sunday Times, assailing the character of tie Marquis of Slant ing!, sad with reference to which you hare framed certain interro gations, which you request the Chairman, as the organ at the Court of Directors, to answer. -- • 7 the regret the attack which has been thus made Imo. the character of that distinguished Nobleman : they cannot, however, but feel that it would be highly inexpedient for them to engage in any correspondence arising out of the vague charges of anonymous writers and they are persuaded that you will yourself perceive, on a review of your letter, the inconvenience of putting to a collective body, and the impossibility of their answering, VIM. dons of the mature proposed by you. " I have the honour to be, Sir, " lour most obedient humble servant, " J. Delft, Secretary. " Colonel Francis Hastings Doyle, ac." The Hen. Gentleman proceeded. The public will not believe that such an answer could have been sent to such a letter; they cannot believe the tact. I feel sorrow for the man whose official situation compelled him to record for ever against himself that he signed such a letter. But lam utterly astonished at the statement of the Deputy Chairman, that these questions have now come for the first time before the Chair. (Hear, hear, hear.) After the tub duction of this letter of Colonel Doyle, if you were willing to deny the Noble Marquis justice, and disgrace yourselves, you could not. I, as a proprietor, call on you to do justice to our servants. I say, that infamy rests on him or elsewhere. (Cheers.) He who denies his servant the benefit of his testimooy, when it has been asserted that he intends to prosecute that servant for em bezzlement, becomes himself party to the calumny, and shares the guilt of its originator. There is falsehood by silence as well as by speech. (Cheers.) The figure which the French call riticesce. expresses perhaps of all others the most base and cowardly mode of e ff ecting the object of calumny. Were the Mar q uis of Hast ings without claims on our gratitude, to an amount which history only will acknowledge, it would surely be no unreasonable expecta tion on the part of his friends, that the Court of Directors should, by their official organ, deny that they had ever contemplated the measures alluded to. I feel that the Chairman is bound, as a man of honour, to answer the questions. (The Hon. Proprietor, hay ing paused a few moments, proceeded.) I leave the public to judge between silence of the Chairman and the character of the Noble Marquis. I think the Court of Proprietors are now bound to take his mute into their own hands. They ought no loam, - to trust it to the Court of Directors, who leave it to be circulated, that they have negatived his pension for such reasons as are contained in the questions which the Chairman refuses to answer. (Loud cries of Hear, hear, hear.) The Noble Marquis challenges the proprietors to investigate his character. Let him not remain. not only your moat successful and least rewarded, but also your moat calumniated Governor-General. (Cheers. After what bat passed I value not the opinion of the Court of at one fig's end. ' I challenge their competency to act as jurors. They now stand as the accused calumniator, of the Marquis of Hastings: let him come to trial when he may, I ern satisfied that he will be acquitted by acclamation. It will be for the Court of Directors to defend themselves; and the Honourable Gentleman that. Tram), wll/ perhaps be retalbed, as the best expounder alb( masons why, when a great and gallant officer was calumniated, they should not contradict the slander. (Cheers.) The warmth of my has led me fee beyond the bowie* within whist% I con myself. I have a due reaped for the Court of =lt and I uum have always shown It; but when the ciliation is that I should acquiesce in the dictates of authority The the pauses of iijustice, I cannot forbear from breaking through the ordinmy limits of my duty, and expressing myself as eausely as I feel warmly. lam no personal friend of the Ilerquis of Hastings. I have been In his company only twice since his return home ; I never was in his company before. I believe that he has been ca lumniated ; but if it can be shown that he forgot his duty, I will be one of the first to bold up my band for his conviction. (Cheers.) Mr. Lowwnus nee to addrag the Court again ; but The CHAIRMAN called bin to order, and requested that the busbies' of the Oar might now be proceeded with. _ - HA I LEY BURY COLLEGE. Mr. Hours doubted whether the Court was in a condition. Ate the discussion that had taken place, to enter upon tile subject, which it was litended that day to have considered *wildly. The Confer had been for a considerable length of time a subject of cussion amongst the proprietors, and he wished to see them MOO. bled in a mate divest e d o f all party feeling. He therefore thought they would act wisely if, considering what had pared that morn. ing, they were to adjourn the question for fourteen days. An Hon. Proprietor, whose name we could not learn, suggested that the adjournment would probably prove Inconvenient to the Court of Directors. The CHAI m•w said, though the business was so arranged as to have allowed the Court of Directors to have devoted that day to the diactuision, yet if they thought it advisable to adjourn, for the reason stated by the Hon. Proprietor (Mr. Hume), that should form no consideration. Mr. bow sums opposed the adjournment. He saw no rational ground for it. He should be absent 170 miles from town a fort. night hence, though that, perhaps, with some of the Proprietors, would alone be a good reason for adjourning the question. (A laugh). General THORNTON supported the adjournment. He also pro tested against the conduct of the Chairman, whose refusal to answer the proper questions of the Hon. Baronet (Sir J. Doyle) had created all the confusion of the day. Mr. CARRUTHERS TOSS to order. General THORNTON, in conclusion, said he did not think the Proprietors were in a proper temper to proved to other business. 1 he question of adjournment was earned jfy a bur majority. INTEREST ON INDIA BONDS. As the Proprietors were leaving the Court, General TN turn*, as we understood amidst the noise, asked the Chairman whether any measures were in progress foe reducing the interest of India Bonds? The CHAIRMAN replied, that he was hi the same situation as before; and considering himself as the organ of the Court of Di rectors, be could not, without their authority, give an answer to the question. The Court was than adjourned. FASHIONABLE INTALLIGENCB. The Duke of Oloneester w ill have a grand dinner party this day at Gloucester bodge, Park-lane. Lord Colchester had a dinner party yesterday at his house In Spring Gardens. Sir George Werrender, Dart. had a dinner party yesterday at his house, Whitehall-plum W. Fremantle, Esq. M.P. entertained the Duke of Gloucester and a distinguished party at dinner yesterday, at his house in Stan. ho street, May Fair. Sir George Nugent, Bart., M.P. arrived yesterday at Gould's Hotel, Jertuyn.street, front his seat, Taplow, Bucks. Mr. and Mn. Lloyd and family left the London Hrl, Alhp mule-street, yesterday, for Surrey. Lord Hope left the Royal Hotel, St. James's-sneer, yesterday, on a tour. The Earl of Clare has arrived at his house is Satkrille-street. Captaiu and Mrs. Blagrave have kft town for their seat in Nor.. folk. Colonel Ham Won arrived in town yesterday from Brighton. The Duke of Bicluuond left town un Tuesday, for his seat, Oixidwatid. Lar' Fitzwilliam bas arrived at his house in Gratvenor-sguare, hem his scat in Yorkshire. The Hon f'harla and Lagy Catharine Cavendish arrived on Tuesday at Burlington House, Pierstldly, from the Continent. Dor:ages Lady Floyd has arrived at her house in Upper Bey- The Earl of Shrewsbury has arrived at hr house in Great Stan. hone-street, from his seat, Akon Abbey, Staffordshire. lion. George Rice, M.P. arrived yesterday at his father's (Lord Dynevon, in Dova.atreet, from South Wales. Sir John and Lady Byng left the Waterloo Hotel, Javnyn.street, ywertlay. for their seat in Vorleihire. J. Dupre, Esq. and Miss Maxwell arrived on Tuesday in Port. land-place, from Wilton Park, Bucks. The Bishop of Gloucester has arrived at his house in Hereford street. Yesterday Dowager Lady Rodney. accompanied by the Hoy. Mr. Harley Rodney, mired at her house in llarley.street, from her seat in llleriftwilahire. roitztalN PRENCH PAPERS. • • Last night we received the Paris Papen of klonalli from which the following extracts are taken : [From the Coeirrkr Francais.] M AIMID, JAW 30. From time to time, the Restawrodo , gives us articles, which evidently prove that Spain is far from enjoying a state of tranquil lity. There is reason to believe that its statements are generally founded in truth, although there appears to be some exaggeration in its details. The pnocipal objett of the Ediwr is to direct the most vigorous measures of Government against the wreck of tt.e Constitutional party. A species of terror reigns here la all its spirit and are Is taken not to make known more of the facts communicated from the dif ferent parts of the country than can be avoided. We are wsured, however, that the correspondence received by Government, an nounces to them the agitation that prevails in many part% of the kingdom. It le also said that Colonel Amor, and other Constitu tional chiefs, are recruiting in different cantons which are begiu ning to be infested by small bands of Constitutionalists. Reports are again circulated in the city, stating that intrigues are more than ever in motion, and that we have never been so di vided as we are at this moment. Soma persons, who represent them selves to be well-informed, alien that the King and the Rossi Family were about to Set out for Saint Ildefonso; but the journey, from some unknown cause, has not taken place. The King, it is said, has rejected for ever the project of decree ing an amnesty ; but we hope that this on-din will not be confirmed. PAR I& It Is cut ous to observe the trick, practised by certain ut 02T Journals when they find in Foreign papers something that di, pleases them. According to the Coairr, Mr. Cannit,g, whrn speaking in the House of Commons on the subject of the Eimmeipa non of the Spanish Colonies, grid. " A proposition for recognisuig the independence of the Colonies had been actually made by Spain : an answer td which was then on its Wee to Madrid; and when a reply should be returned from thence, Government would be akle to speak more openly on the subject." The Moniker, without entering into any explanation, denies the correctness of this passage, and gives it thus:—" A proposition existed respecting it (that the question of recognizing the inde pendence of the Spanish colonies). When this proposition is sent to Madrid, and shall have been answered, the Briti s h Go v e r n me nt wiU be able to speak more explicitly respecting it." The Debats and the gratidiesise observe in a note, that there is surely an error in the Courier, because it la impossible that the Court of :Spada could propose the recognition of the independence of its rebellious colonies. The Maritsa, the Debuts, and the Quoridicine, must permit us to believe, after the assertion, of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Great Britain, that a proposition has been made by Spain, and not to Spain, on the subject of the emancipation of its colonies, which is certainly a very remarkable fat. IFrom the Maltese of Monday.) An extract is given front a letter of a French Officer at rlldiZ. dated Jan. 10, wh!ch stare. that the Fleur de Lis and other French vessels of war, which had recently arrived there, had fur their only object (poise unique objet) to convey home more promptly those sub-officers and soldiers of the French army, whose term of service is expired. The purpose of this insurance is obviously to discountenance =tides that the French ships were intenued to co-operate in the projected Spanish expedition against South America ; and that it is founded to truth, we see no reason to doubt. ' There is a report in the Male, under done of Madrid, Feb. 2, of the approaching arrival of 12,000 Irish in Spain, to form regi ment for the support of Ferdinand. Foxitek Fr/cos.—Pants, FES. s.—Flee pee Cents. opened at Wit. 311 e. ; closed at 57f. 33c. Loan sf 1823, N. Bank Stack, 1,700. Neapolitan Rentes,ll2l. Spanish Renter, Exchange on London—one month, 25f. 411 c. f three months, 2.1 t. 36c. COIENT-GARDEN THEATRE. Haring said little yesterday of the plot of the opera of Native Land, we said quite sufficient Though its inci dents are few, their detail would be tedious, because with out interest or novelty; and to have gone into the minutia. of the language and manners, would have been to dwell on the qualities of a strain of dialogue, arid a mode or tone of demeanor, the varied cast of which exhibits a c mmon-plsce meanness of style, scorning every ap proach to neatness and elegance, and a vulgar aim at wit through the medium of a breadth of balderdash, the utterance of which, with much less eilhantery than that with which it Is given by Miss Love, woukt disgrace the lips of the most wanton and indelicate chambermaid in Christendom. But if the music of an opera is so far the principal anti predominant ingre dient iu that specks of the drama, that the whole lite rary composition is of little comparative importance, of still less consequence are its constituent parts. For this reason, in our yesterday's critique, we more de c id e dly de voted 'our observations to the music ; and,, fot this manse • mum. shall congas slum So the musk to-day. To go a little more particularly into the merits of Mr. Bishop's share In this rea m spectacle, we will trace his genies through the most flowery of its paths, in a parterre in which he appears to have meant to give a loose to the impulse of his imagination. The opening chorus at citizens is spirited and exulting, though the harmony is neither so richly nor correctly embodied as we should haws expected from this composer's science: its resumption. after an agreeable, if not striking, duo, by Lavinia and &mina, and a solo by Marcella is of the same description ; and if deficient in fullness, is not in ktuluess. The see ceeding ballad of Zanina is sprightly and characteristic in its melody ; and Calio's song, which followed, with the tervention of a beautiful eavatina, in triple time, by Rossini, is piquant and animating, though not very original. The duo, by Callas and Zanina in the second act, is both lively and pretty, and conveys the sentiment of the with force as indicative of talent as its truth is re e raL forc e tery of judgment. Peregrino's song of Oh ! brave rub-a-dab, bold, but destitute of that identity of character, that sin gularity of air, necessary to give it currency as a popular song, even among those whose uncultivated taste seeks gratification from the impetuous coarseness of a soldier's song. Of the ballad, Julio told me, sung by Clymande (Miss Paton) and of which we are sure much wu intended to be made, we cannot speak in very commentlabletertos : whether we allude to the melody or to the harp accom paniment committed to the hands of the fair vocalist her self, or to both, we must not be understood as allowing the composition any merit above that of mediocrity. The air is insipid, and the harp part meagre and ineffective: Ca a word, the whole is one of the few of Mr. Bishop's alms fleas. The Romance, by Aurelio, possesses some elegant turns of thought, but wants pathos. The e ar i s pleas ingly engaged by its detached but the heart does not feel, because there is nothing to move or reach it. The same remarks will apply to the solo, Saints defend me, by lymemte. The accompaniment to Aurelio's, recitative, Fe Silent Stara is appropriate, and ingeniously conceived; but the air to which it is introductory, au: nounces poverty of invention, and has for ita predo minant characteristic that cold and passive tameness. which is too distant from felicitous or passionate eon.- ception to awaken a single amatory sensation. The duo, Set the Dells ringing, by Prrrgiino and Zaninn, in .be quavers in a bar, is pleasingly gay, and sufficiently pretty to win and carry with it the feelings of its hearers. If we say nothing more of Rossini's tributary strains in this piece, it is because our remarks on his style and talents' have already been given so much at length, on this and an other occasion. Of the perf o rmance we shall, at present, only say generally, that it is too frittered, too Italianized, that the art of flourish, and the desire to set the compass and volatility of the voice above the more precious power of touching the bosom and awakening the passions, is made too evident in the execution of almost every air. Mr. Sin clair's, Miss l'aton's, and Miss Tree's accomplishments., as melodious, elegant, and finished singers, we shall always willingly acknowledge, because we shall never be insensible to the influence of those qualities, as far u that influence ought to go ; but with the extra vagant flights and roulades of these ladies (generally most indulged when least in place) we never shall he pleased ; and of that gentleman's gratuitous and lavish employment of his, falsetto it is impossible we should ever approve, be cause in a man we abhor every species of effeminacy. The opera was again favourably received by a crowded and respectable audience ; and, as we have already said, it will enjoy, though not a long, a brilliant career. A lady who lived alone at l'ortreeins, on the Upper Engadine, has been assassinated by an Austrian deserter, whom she had harboured for six months. This wretch then stole 1,000 florins. He is arrested. The main pipes have been laying down for several thiye • past for lighting all the open spaces in Somerset House with. gas, with about forty large lamps. COAL MARKET, Fr 11. Ships at Market. Ships sold. Rice. 36j Newcastle - . 131 - - ib 04 to IN N. : 8 Sunderland . . 7.. Us. Od to Ma dd. g 2 &deb Oval . . I . . —a 04 to 34a bd. 1 Wash Coal - --a id to —a N. 0 as ! ve the ,nd hest the Ain't n in own tor -4.— Aber oupg who akee itbial mbar