The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1810-04-18 00:00:00

Freeholders of Westminster. of which the fallowing is a copy : To TH HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OP THE tl N ITr.D ILINOOoM OF GREAT BRITAIN ♦BD :Reid LAND. IN PARES ISI ENT ASSEMBLED. The Petition and Remonstrance of t►e Inhabitant Householders, Electors of the City and Liberties of Westminster, asseinbkii in New Palace-Yard, the 17th dm of April, 1010, by the appointoient of Arthur Morris, Esq. the High liaihtf , in put- BILIAllre of a Reeptiaitiou for that purpose. IVe, the Inhabit:tut Householders, Electors of the City and Liberties of Westminster, feel most scioubly the indig nity offered to t►is City, in she prawn or our beloved Repre sent uive, whoie Letter tuns bar 'aeon under the censure or your Honourable House, but which, su far from deserving that ‘....lsure, ought, in our opinion, to have led your Ho nourable [louse to reconsider the subject, which be hail so ably, legally, Rad eoustitutionally discussed. tVe are coutrintert scat pin one ought to be Prosecutor and .Maur, Judge and Execut i•mer, iu his own cause, much less •ir.ume, accumulate, sod exercise all those offices, iu his 0 pet sou We are also convinced that the refusal of your Honour. Ea: !linnet to inquire into the con.luct of Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Perceval, (thee two of tits Majesty's Ministers) when distinctly charged with the sale of a meat in your ho nourable House, evidence of which was offered at the Bar, by a Member of your llonuuiable House ; and the avowal la your Honourable Home " that each practices were as 1111.441141111 u the sun at 'boon day i" practises, at the bare mention of which the Speaker of your Honourable House de - chord " that oar ancestors would have started with MAIL; • satiou," and the committal of Sir Framer, Purilett to pet. sea, enforced by military power; are circuuistaiii•es which reader evideut the impetiuus necessity of au dials actors in the Rerreseutation of the People. Ite, therefore, most earnestly call upon your llottour able Horse to mature to as our Representative, sad, according to the notice be Las given, to take the state of the Representation of the People into year VW lOUS considerntion ; a Reform is. which, is, is roar uptown, the only mesas of preserriug the euunti y bout militai y despotism. He then moved, •• That the Petition should lie ou the table." Mr. WNW opposed the Motion. Ile conceived, that if the House should accede to such a proposi tion, it would submit to the grossest violation of its dignity. He hoped that the House would evince its repugoance to any attack upon its 'nitrite.; and unammously reject the motion. Mr. C.axtvgY spoke in favour of the motion. Mr. Cuawita said, that if the objection to the Noble Lord's Motion was founded upon the ob servation in the petition, respecting the buy* and sidling of Seats in Parliament, that objection was rattily done away, when it was considered, that the object of that represeutation was Parlia mentary Reform; a measure which surely the House divined of indispensable utility, and in the necessity of perfecting which. the House, as well as the petitioners, must coot ur. If any objection of a more palpably unwarrattudile nature could he made, he would recoutmewl the withdrawitig of the petition, for the patties,. of framing it mine, in lanotage leas objectionable. hlr. LUSHINGTON said. that the House was cer tainly hound to receive petitions ; but the present was an union of remonstrance and petition ; and, though it was the duty of the House of Cointnons to receive petitions ;it etrtaioly was not imperative upon it to sot •t to insult. Mr. WHITT/MUD wished that the Right Honour. able Gentlemen out the opposite side of the House would deliver their sentiments upon the present question. He was particularly desirous that the Right Houourahle Gentleinau (iha Chaucellor of the Exchequer) would state his *objections or se. quiescence to the motion. He (Mr. Whitbread) would not *ay. whether the petition had berudrawsa in the latiguit4a- usual upon such ocenions, or in the terms in which it should have been touched; but if the House refused Its consideratiou, the re- find would be the most violets% bleach of its duties to the people. The meeting had been conducted without riot, or eves. that turbulence which was so inseparably interwoven with meetings of all sorts. got whatever purpars.. assembled. It was a merinos ateordilig to law, and the petition was a legal and Constitutional one, the result of that uteetiog. As to the term remonstrance, the application of it should not, surely. have prevented the House from taking into consideration the merit,. of the Petition. What then was to induence the House against a proposition so fair and equitable ?--The Eleetors had cotnplained of an indignity offered to them. by taking away their Representative from them; but they had not cast the charge upon that llotn.e— they•had not censured that House as repreheissible for any conduct towards their Representative. The Electors haul remonstrated sophist the treatment which Sir Francis Burdett hail received ; taut they had not *Wed, that that Howie was the cause of the *enmities under which the Honourable Biro let at that moment laboured. They had asserted. that the Honourable Baronet had legally and constitutimially argued upon the question respect ing M r , G a l e .ones, and such an acknowledgment was by no means censurable. However different might have been the opinion of Gentleinea in that House, he (Mr. Whitbread) remained still con voiced, notwithstanding the major sense of the House, that the Use. B troaet was guilty of no act ot violation of any prieileres or rghts, either its or out of that House. He couteArd, that the Electors of Westminster were not °My not ceissurable, but most justdksb!e, in making such observations upon the conduct of the Hon. Baronet. The m was an oilier circumstance to which he would advert, name ly, the refusal of Mr. Percersl and laird Castle reagh, with respect to the mot• relating in the sale caseate in that House ; every body hail the liberty to Eire his opinion upon the proceed ings on such an occasion. With regard to the es yressions attributed to the Chsir, although they Gould not be taken from any official document in that House. yet, they had been so correctly given • so the public prints, as to justify such a riferenee to them, et had been made at the Meeting of that vlay. Thor Electors questioned the right of dna Wane to imprison, by force, without the inter vention of soy legal authority. If any had a right to state their doubts upon such a subject, the Et'et"ril wee" surely the men. W4II it sairprising Si ouptecedeated, that after kit Cleat bag; passed iu that Reuse, the first wish of the Elected% should be that. of Pirliatnentary Reform? and was it sur prising, when the mats upon whom they had looked as the ablest champion of reform. was imprisoned, that, they should pray for his enlargement?— It could not be said that they ascribed any fault to that House. The Serjeant-at-Arius might, in their opinion, be the offending person ; they might have looked upon him as the occasion of all the severities with which die Noble Baronet had been treated. Was it wirprising that they should express their resentm- sit at the appear duce of • military force, ii, t...:jutirlion with the civil, upon the late unfortiniate oceasion ? Such an onion was deaerving of the highest repro batioa. The civil power was here inseparable from the military. As to the complaint against the buying and selling of places, it was but last year it had been asserted, that seats sere tonight and sold ; and. 'iron application, an inquiry war refused to be entered into. The fret was, that such a traffic was carried on; but. " we love the trtason, though we hate the traitors." He would ask the House to examine every tittle of that Petition ; and then he would heg to know whether they would do such an act of violence to the subject, as to refuse their acquiescence in the propositi )))) If such should be the case, he would believe that the slams of that House . were closed against the petitions of the people.—He would make no observation respecting the warm expres sions n.ed in the Petition, but heartily wished, that that p.m of it which related to reform, would be moot strictly attended, as it was a measure greatly needed by the House and the country. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCdEQUER said, that the House had, upon all occusio,is, taken rare to avoid the appearance of interfering with the right of petitioning. and had to this end uaiformly over looked the language of any petition, warm and in temperate*. it might be; forbearance upon all such occasions was the usual mode of coudurt observed by that House. In the case of Horne, though all had reprobated the language of lieu petition, yet the House did not reject it. on account of this lotto perance of phrase, they looked to the matter of the petition. and received i►; the most. objectionable part of the present pattion, was, that in which it was said. that instead of deserving censure, he me rited praise for his conduct. As to a Reform in Parliament, no individlial had a right to p. titian the House on that subject. He however conceived, notwithstanding these objection., that the Fetitiou should he mit he table. When lie considered that the precedent was derived from the principles of those who had gone before us, he was the more inclined to the amino,* of forbearance. If the Hotter were of opinion that the form of petition was made the vehicle of abuse. then indeed they ought to reject it; but if there was nothing more than an impro priety of language, it would be the snore becoming in them, to ;ass that over, and look only to the ob j,ct it had in view. Mr. PowsoMßY hail read the Petition over three times, and, from all the consideration be had been able to give it, be did not think it contained any matter that ought to cause its rejection; if there were any thing in the wording of it. let them hear the complaint on that subject. hnt do not let them. from any impropriety of this kind. interfere with the right of petitioning of tbe subject, so essential to them, and so oecessary to enable the House to pro tect them. The Right Hon. Gent. then proceeded to read the petition. paragraph by par a graph, avid, by his comments to shew , that the opinion he had given on the subject.matter, was correct. As for the language, in some parts. he did not thiuk it was bat it ought to be. but still that was tint a I sufficient ground for rejecting the petition. In deed it appeared to him intpowiible, that a petition against any proceeding of that House. could be so framed. as not to afford a handle to some one to oppose its reception, could that be thought a suffi cient ground. Mr. CAN rtwo.—Upoo the right of the subject to petition, and the opinion held by almost every one of the speakers who preceded him, that they ought to took more totlie object than be scrupulous in examining the latignage of this petition, hr pretty nearly concurred in their sentiments. As for the present Petition, it was evidently (rained so near I the law, as to give au opportunity to those who preferred it, were it rejected. to come again before Ithe House, with another and smother. car) ing per haps in minutia, hut still so contrived as in the end to hinder thesis in an intricate and unprofitable con test. The part of it which appeared to have most offence its it, was that iu which they seemed to ac ` rose the hlouae of offering an indignity to a great bode of the prop's. . . IY[4I.IASI SMITH cownreed in these senti ments. and congratulated the HOuse on the return of moderation. lir was happy to we tbat they had now got shove the fear of being thought fearful. With regard to the last sentence of the Hight Hon. t:entletnan who preceded him, he did not think that the construction of the petition witrninted the st.inisription that the indignity was citf,reil by the linuse ; it might a. well apply to the Seq....lit and officers of the llouse, in executing the duty int pored upon them. . . Mr. iVurciassn observed, that, even if the former was the conetructioes, that would not warrant the 'louse in the rejection of the petition. The peteion was then ordered to lie on the table. The Art:Akan stated to the House, that he had received a further notice from Sir Francis Burden, of Ilia illtrution to teL proceedings apicst him. Tile enure was occavioned in consequence of an error %shah apecated in the former one, with re spect to the parish in which Sir Era nein Burdett's bump w,4%. The CIIANCELLOIL of the EXCHEQUER proposed to th.• 11 , nm., whether the bet of issuing a win rent. by the Speaker of that House, and by its authority, .ra•• not legitsrisate ? and whether an action, brought in midi a ease, was not an infringement of the Bill or it‘util,? Wiiirenvsn said. the subject was a very • oar, KIRI might to be atteoilcd to with great fb-litwrieliun. With respect to the opinion that ▪ h d euudoct as had Iwen represented, was au i,,fr.6 , 4 ,!nent upon the Bill of Rights, he belirsed it I. tie itusst crturi.suis. He comelier, that the of the Sptskor ryas du 'act of the House, but nr.ttliuut its sails. t'u&acca.i UR of the EXCINVQUER that clic .ict I, o'proctedius of Parhasseut. and whether performed within or without the noose, was valid stud eltictual. —...-.__.. The notice was ordered to be entered on the Journals. - - - Mr. I 4 ►ttsonett moved for • return of the Sur veyors. Clerks. and Engineers; employed in die Bogs in Ireland ; together with au account of their salaries; and also. fur an account of the stuns Paid by the Commission. independent of the►r salaries.— Ordered. _ _ After :iome ob.ervations from Mr. Rosa, Mr. Ctt.Eti, and Mr. U.' Gloov, the motions were agreed to. Mr. Dumas§ moved for the annual East India accounts for t 405, ti, 7, and 8, which were ordered. MR. MIST. Mr. CALCRAFT.—Thusigh the question he had to agitate was one or great importance, yet, us he could not expect any opposition to it, he did not think it necr.sitry to trouble the House at any length on the occasion. Ile rose to propose the ex pulsion of Mr. Hunt, late Treasurer to the Board of Ordnance. This, he was aware, was a grave and serious rusestion ; but to thine who recollect d the igth Ripon, it %stolid nut be ukcersary to say moth 011 the sal jcrt. . . . The SPRAK Eithere interfered. and noticed to the Hon. Gentleman, that one of the Orders of the Day being fur Mr. Milt's attenihince, it was tit to inquire, in the first instance, what return there war to that order ? The Serjeant having called the M.a.rnger to the Bar, he WA, ettautilled by the SPICAKSIL It ap peared fruit, hi. Hiaiwer4 that he hail upplird at the Ordoauce.oflit r, where all the information he ob tained from Mr. C'rewt•, w3e, that they knew not where Mr. Hunt was to he f 1 , hut sumireed he was not in England. Hr had not, however, in. quired where his last residence wail, nor made any further inquiries among Mr. Hunt's relations or connections. Mr. CA LatArT said. he understood from a Mem ber of the House. that Mrs. Hunt sits in town. and had a letter from Mr. Hunt, dated Litton, 7th March. The SPEAKER risked. if the Hon. Gent. would wirer for this bring recorded ? The CHANCELII.Oii of the EXCIIIQUTR observed, that the present motion was evidently premature and suggested the propriety of sending another summons to Mr. Hoot. before they proceeded any farther. The Hoare would do well to are, before they proceeded to the expulsion of a Member, that all due formal, us well as auhstantial dept, wire taken. [Jr therefore recommended to the Hon. Gentleman to postpone his motion till after the recess, by which time. full inquiry. and a far mere effectual search might be made, and the House be enabled to proceed on satisfactory grounds. Mr. CALCRAIFT concurred en the propriety of this suggestion. and fixed on the first Thursday after the holidays for renewing Isis motion. The SPIAIRS observed, that every thing done hitherto had been perfectly regula►, and that they bad only failed in bringing the 'natter to point. from not having their Order brought home to the mem ben to whom it was directed. He suggested that the Order of the House ought to be renewed. This being acquiesced its, the matter was interrupted by Mr. IVaIT•RFAD, who thought this as fit an op. portooity •s any other, to put • question to the Hight Hoe. Gentleman opposite, respecting LORD CHATHAM. This question he considered to he of extreme importance, and it was of such a nature, that when he heard of the fact, he could scarcely believe it to be possible. He hail heard, that notwithstanding the tender of his resignation by Lord Chatham. and its acceptance by Iles Majesty, of which they had been assured by the Hight lion. Gentleman °pito-, site, that Noble Lord still continued to fulfil the dutiesof Master-Grater:ll of the Ordnance, and to draw the salary, and exercise the patronage per-,... I/tilting thereto. lie swished to be inforin'ed by the Hight lion. Gentleman, if this was true or not The Cr ANCILLOS of the ExcHaqu et said, that, in point of fact and of law, Lord Chatham conti nued to transact the business of Master-General of the Ordnance, from day to day, till his successor should be appointed.' This was necessarily done in all patent places. Cut hr had merely fulfilled the duties of the offiea,and had abstained from advising in the Cabinet. earn iug in the reports, &c. to His Majesty. or &M.; any other official act connected with his situation, which had devolved, in the inte rim, on the Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance. Mr. Wurraatan conceived this to he 1 gross and scandalous delusion, practised on the Mouse and the country by His Majesty's Ministers. They had in fanned the House that the Noble Lord's resigna tion had been teudervd and accepted; but hr could not understand how that was done, if he still cam tinned to fulfil the duties of the office. Ile had of late given the Right Hon. Gentlemen opposite se veral opportunities of explaining th's matter, by urging the inexpediency of Living so important an office as Master-General of the Ordnance Ira coot, and had once directly asked him if it was filled up ? But still the Atelusion had been car ried on. They were now met by the foirn of patents ; but how would that have hero, had the Noble Lord been deprived of his came in couse qiience of a site of the ? Would lie then. still have been allowed to do the duties of that im portant office, and manage trifler military etl'airs, of which they thought bins so ut.iit c The 'Ugh! Ilon. Getstleman, he fancied, nits aware that a motion to this effect was only not made. beesiew the Noble Lord resigned his situation. It was not whether he attended Cabinet Councils, advised Ministers, or performed other acts, but whether he actually re mained in office, alter the Illative and Country uu derstood he hail retired ? The CHANCILLLOII or the Eat HEQUER explain ed. By law, one patent could only be revoked by the communication of another. and the duties of an office must be discharged by the last patentee, even after hie resignation, till such time as his suc cessor was appointed. Mr. Whyratc,to rose to speak, when he was collad to order .by a Member, who %titer', that there was no question on this subject before the Wiese. Mr. WHITBREAD then sail, he would raise a question in a motorist. i-h.ol to be informed, in point of fact, if Lord Chatham still recei►ed the salary of his office? The CUANCLLLOS of the EXCUEQUIER thought „,, b74,,, ,, r ,„ rh.e e tAve nt . i t tl ac. eti tionoy to rd: ec ad,s eie it, id oi v ioi rannost b:: did n t o h t e 'stated, that Lord Chatham had received liar i as Nlaster-General of the Ordnance, till the ,;; of the last quarter. Mr. Wxyriattan expressed a hope that he do so no more, to prevent the disagrt ealdr of hlts bringing a” question on any subject bi 11;,,,. the Noble Lbrd, under the discussion of the The oIuLICITOWGEMERAL then reties ed ttiet v; versatiOn with respect to Mr. Hunt; and alter gvi remark. from the Chancellor of the Exr+tm.. the Speaker, Mr. Wilson, and Dlr. Cali r; further consideration of the matter esg p.,:pc!. till the loth of May. LON DuN WET DOCKS. Mr. W. SMITH moved the second rendin g id 1;, London Wet Docks Compensation I:ill. this merely for the purpose of havin g the referred to a Committee to recon.iiit r the of curtain individuals injured the eoi:Shi„l.„•, these Docks, and who had not bre o snit. ,• coutipemated for their losses, und er t h e I. passed by Parliament for their relief. The CHASCEI.Lua of the N.Yt NI ovs „. 3 this as •cessary; and contended, that th, missioners for granting c.enpensatiotis had ; the most Wirral in , er. Hr itl,o ain.„ on t h e ma d e of brinuing ward a rlaitu 1..1 money, by a Hilt, itrneinl of a ti:, eeA di ng th e u.nal concurrence of 11, Ni l , ~,•• Goverument. If it had liven done in the way, as a Counsellor of His Nlsjesiy, he aoril.! .• felt himself bound to advims a refusal ; MINI• Was nothing in the course adopted to ircuinunim the claim to his concurrence. Mr. Holmes Sumner, Mr. Hibheft. Mr. W. Smith. Mr. Willictforce, Mr. Matey at. awl M r . Merlimn, severally delivered their opinions oil the queetuni. The SPEAKER, before potting the question, had to slate what was of some impurtatice to the p m _ credings of the House. The present claim further demand on the public purse than had beet, already granted to the claimants by Parliiiii.ent. if it had originated Inc petition, it must have received the sanction of His Majesty's Government; bet this was avoided, and a bill was brought in to explain and amend a.former Act. and call for more moon. This was deserving . of the serious attention of the House, as it was giving . the go-by to their sm.. turne d f orms , and potting on a mast to deceive the House, and put an end to their custom-- The Bill was not declaratory. but to explain and amend a former Act, and ovoid the sa n ction of the Crown. Under these circumstances, he' I. ft it to the House to decide whether it could by porsibility be received ? Ali. W. SMITH felt that this remark us. f a hi i n the Bill; hat explained. that the persons tut altpui he was interested. had no drt•ite but to lv, re . explauied, arb;eli, in their opts r on, h a d bar tn:-in terpreted. He trusted thec would 1101 out from sU redrew. The question was then put, and the tow:oz.. - Fpotired. Thermstrcet.r.on of the Ext,tirltrs „no.- tire, that he would, to-morroio, n. , ,,e fu. Ivor et 1)644 in a Bill to consolidate into one the Mb, 40,.reyor of the Crow n Lan,ls, sod Sur Woods and Forest,. The Itvit lieu, t;• ni!,a“l.l gave a notice with re spret to the of olfier, but, from the low tout it tua e. we could tint aseertuin what it was. tieollll JUDGIN. _ The Immo .t D C 11. A N bronzht a Bill f.r nitgoatotiog the salaries or the Judges; wis.olt was read a first time, aud ordertd to be rend a trentoll trine to-morrow. _ . • Mr. Ll !ROTOR brought up the Report of the Committee on the Guadeloupe trade.— rhe Ite,o lutioos were weed ►o. Mr. LIJERINOTOII also brought up the Report of the Supply, when the Irish, Commissariat and bar rack Estimates, were agreed to. The Isle of Mao Trade, and the Irish Conover went severally through Committees.—The Reports to be received tn-morrow. Mr. A. COOPER presented the Papers ordered by the House respecting the securities takeu by the Board of Ordnance from Mr. Ridge.—Laid on the table, and ordered to be printed. The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of, and the House Adjourned at Nine o'Clock. WESTMINSTER MEETING, PALAC&YARD. A vast number of the Freeholders of Tl'estmin ster met in Palace-yard, yesterday, for the pur pose of determining how to act, in consequence of being deprived of the services of their Represen tative, Sir Francis Burdett. At one o'clock, vivre being at that time about fourteen thousand prr4un. , es.enhled, the High Bailiff, attended by Lord Cochrane, Mr. Wardle, Mr. Jennings and a nu•" - ber of otbrr firtitleineis, appeared upon ti e Tb.-y were hailed respective, c tiic Sin ' eat applunser, by the numeruns and - tog. The lItoH BAILIFF having rend the Rt., 6011, iofentott;dl thrm. that emote of the (;e,.1. , who Kid signed ir, would irate more at • object f.ir whieh they were called together. Mr. STUMM then teams Zoe chuuntionn of the multitude. Ile ',aid, te Regoe•itintt which bed islet been revel t the High r in almost eh occasion upoi was known House of C, services of Applouses. was tleCtliSat ble effects at itivestiga:a al the •uxit.o preened Ihrl by nearly to , of one diy. taken tie in , it expedient the mertini shnishl prey. it W:t% tires s• fir the 'High Itaillif, and which had liven in almost all the newspapers iii t o w,,, hail -1 occasion upon which the meeting less r:n;e t. It was known to them all, that, by a R e salu;inii tt.e House of Commons, they had been delis lied el the services of owe of their worthy It epresert Applamses.) Into the causes of thi, p•isatie: , It was necessary that they should ingnir , ; the pn.'ia- tale effects of it, it was flee y ;hat they 511 , 1 1 investigate and provide agana.t. It was a proA the isiiximis feeling with which the subject 114 , 1 i, • pressed them, that the had urea pi tia .1 by nearly two thousand people, almost in the of one d'iy. I.4pplawsts.) These who had tunk , taken tl•e management of the bupire+•s, lutol it expedient not to am ' too e.illy a nerwilt the meeting, I , st the ferment 181 ti.e t:,,; slnuhl Pr"rot that coolness of i• it oas 11 , e , scary th•,t they al lit ext.!, re• 'lli, 1 ,, - *,at inninent was sc lrcte.l as ptnp•r omit jitOtton . for the ferment had now subsided, and the tcel,,t,