The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1805-03-09 00:00:00

-TVS MS^ VII S . the seat, the Sherifa . stood in the tints ' rim ' s{ ` I.c..ty Jury, whose verdiet was final ; bout • as t inz]dental circumstances, such as the intetfer . ••enre of Peers. et the misenadgil of Returning 01- L t y. Ettess,.they were its the nature of a Grand Jury. fund ground of complaint, which they referred to the final de. ision of this Hotue. was proves! 17 . bry the official Report of the Ilchester Petition, , whew. the Committee represented the miscondutl of I Mt. Davism incidentally, though his name WAS not so mach as mentioned in the petitian. The Shore • Ay , : fleetion tests the fit st dispute that came before . the :chose after the pa-sing of the Grenville Aa, and though there were then in the House such supporters ef it as Mr. Grenville himself, Mr. Dunning, Sir —George Saville, Mr. Wedderburne (since Lnrd Roslyn), and others, they could not deny the jus tice of he.tring tlie accused in their own justificatio These Sherid's did not Appear before the Committee . . with any of the chArdaer. of atraigned delinquents, nor hadt:le Committee the ch4r.taer of a Petty Jury. The former had no notice of a charge set ved upon them; they had no time to prepare for fni-ir defence. or to prepare their witnesses, and cross i•x.i, lsi l e these against them : they could not chal . kne am of the Jury, nor had they any share in the appointment of the nominees; the latter could not s t a nu after rile of the candidates should vesign, and if .. . the dellu s queeey charger upon the Sheriffs should ap pezr to them to be false, tiley had not the power of it reporting it to be frivolous and vexatious. It was true, that though this House might call for and exereitte parole evidence, they had not the power of administering any oaths; but it must be teen!. leßed, that all impeachments and matters of great nationel importance were taken in that way ; and if the power of administering oaths was found to be merge:try, it was time that some legislative measure should he adopted, to give the House that power ; and he did eon conceive on what ground even the assumption of it could be objected to by the other branches of the Legislature. 1 4 .. a understood from a Member, whom he did not then see in his place, that this defect was corrected by the Irish Parliament, as was no doubt in the recollection of the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite him (Mr. Foster) : the former prat:lice then was, whenever a special report was made on Election Committees, to rehear the Counsel ar.d evidence before the whole House; but finding this process to be both teclous and laborious, they passed an Ad of Parliasne it, tatjaining, that whenever a charge was b, ought against a sheriff or Teeming OfOcer, the party accused should be fur nished WWI a copy of the charge, and the Cum . mutter be bound fully and completely to try it. This appeared to him se just and so equitable a ' mode of proceeding, that should he fail in his pre sent opposition, and the desere bit resumed, he meant shortly to submit to the House a provision similar to that which had been adopted in Ireland. Lord MARSHANI expressed his cadre concur rence in many of the principles and conclusions , i tie Hon. Gent. As to the eelence sent down, he admitted that it did not comprise all that had been taken helm e the Committee, but the greatest dili gence and attention were used in extracting all that was material, or related to the adritission of the millers on th: poll. In the course of the enquiry be fore the Committee, the Sheriffs were at liberty to watch such parts of the evidence as might affea themselves, and it certainly was in the power of t . their Counsel to suns up upon it,if be thought it pro per so to do. The case of Davison, in the Ilchester F • cause. was 'very different; he had fiti copy of the charge, he had no notice of it whatever, as his name was not even mentioned in the petition. In the Shoreham case also, Roberts, the retaining *M eer, was in no better predicament than Davison, and as he had no Counsel before the Committee, it was but just that before sentence should be passed upon bias, his Counsel should be heard somewhere. The minded of the Sheriffs of Middlesex was now for the decision of the whole House, many Members of which had not heard, nor had any opportunity of reading the whole incidental evidence, and be thought it but justice that they should be admitted to be heard by their Counsel. Mr. FOX hoped, that after what bad fallen - from the Noble Lurd, there would now be no ques tion as to hearing the Sheriff's defence, for all that jtad been urged on a former night against go ing into evidence, Wel s by no means arelieehle to the heating of their Counsel. .le made no doubt thit the evidence, as far as it materially uffeled the a, - cased, was fairly and judiciously selected We hid, therefore, the evidence before tn. but we wanted the comments of the Counsel, which had rim been trans mitted to us. A Right lion. Gent. (Mr. Pier), on a former nccssinn, wished every thing to pass upon fell cniifidenee its ate Committee i but considering the Noble Lord aide organ of that Committee, he m'ssr consider the confidence in then to be very li• mittel and imperfect. if the House should be pa st! sited to adopt a d:fferent reels. heal what they recommended ; and when the Minister was so urg ent to proceed in a different way, he could not think that he rested more upon the letter, than he did upon the spirit, of Mr. Grenvilles Att. The MASTER of the ROLLS thaught it would Le exceedingly proper that some new le,;islative measure should be adopted for the regulatio e of this k unl. As it stood at present, it appeared to him to be improper. father the House or the Com mute should have the whole and final judgment of the matter. As a court of justice, they stood in an anomalous situation, and o s ly direCted by the prece dent of its own practice. All the Courts of Judica ture had justice for their ohjeet ; bat many of them arrived, or aimed at it, by dissimilar mediums, which seemed to vary from the uniformity of the - jurisprudence of this country. A roan arraigned for felony at the Old Bailey may demand to make • his defence by Counsel, and nothing struck foreigners with so much surprise, as that, in this extreme case if life and death, a pursots accused should be refused the same advantages, to which he would have been entitled is cases of a much inferior and more trivial nature. He confessed that, with these judicial ex amples before Mtn, he was unable to determine, a priori, whether, in propriety, Counsel nu ;ht or aught not to be heard in the case, at the her ct the House ; in that respect, he bad only to leek to the precedents of the Wave. In doing this, be found abet the practice of making the reports of the Lice elfin Committees final, had ceased in the year 1671 ; when these causes were tried in Committees of the whole House, Lo end, nce was eitinsinrct upon oath ; but when toe petitions were Mened to select Corn- mittees, their fefortt were considered as authority, on account of the witne sea being sworn. When these reports collie down, the House may either confirm or reject them. If they flied the whole case over aeain, it would be a case .k n0..0, and have re) relation whatev , r to what passed in the Committee. It ts (mid then resemble a new trial in the Courts below, where the evidence in the torm. er trial \va , put out of the contemplation of the Jury. This method of deciding in Parliament was, no doubt, an anomilir in the Constitution, and attend ed, nu doubt, with great inconvenience—but the ..ther way was still wias.e, by dividing the trial into two, and leaving two .Turies to decide upon it. From this it must resuln that a new law should be enacted fior determining the manner in which returning offi cers should in future be finally tried on charges of inisconclud. He remembered that, in the year 1778, when the Bill was brought in, amending Mr. Grenville's Act, a clause was introduced, contain ing a similar clause to that law which the lion. Gentleman (Mr. Sheridan) stated to have prevailed in Ireland—but, for some reason or other, with which he was unacquainted, the clause was drop ped in the progress of the Bill, and the House had since heard no more of it. If the prac tice, however, was not absolutely to regulate their proceedings, upon which he should give no decided opinion ; the reas , ii of the thing would certainly demand, that the Couns-1 should be heard. The House had a great mass of written evidence to be examined, and it should be recollected, that even in those Courts which are in the daily habits bf deciding on such evidence, they always wish for time to examine, and find themselves greatly assisted in their decisions, and every way benefitted, by the comments and 11:us:rations of the Counsel. He for one would wish, if the praAice would at all admit of it, that he should be assisted in his judgment by the comments of the Counsel. This he thought absolutely necessary, unless, as he observed before, the predice of the I-louse was decidedly and uni formly against it, of which there were very many present who must he much better judges than himself. There seemed to be a difference of opinion, not only respelling the Counsel being called in at all, but also as to the stage in which it would be moat expedient to hear them. Upon the latter point, his opinion was that no stage could be so proper, or so conveoieut as the present. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER oSserve.l, that the question, as it was now put, lay in a much narrower compass than it did on the for mer evening. It was then proposed that the House should -e-hear the report of the evidence against the Sheriff% ; but now Gentlemen appeared to con tent themselve.., with hearing the comments of their Counsel. He agreed with the Learned and Ho nourable Gentleman who spoke last, that if they ware to be decided by the reason of the thing, it would be right that the Counsel should be heard now ; hut wh it made him hesitate was, that in the whole proceedings of the House, he could not find a single instance in which the parties accused were heard, either by their Counsel, or by them selves. He meant parties of this description, whose criminality was reported by the Com mittee, and the evidence produced on which the report was founded. In a s:titation of the kind, where they had no precedent to guide them, their duty Was !ti consider hoth justice to the particular case, and the regular pradice of the Idolise.— Considering the length of time during which the enquiry was gnieg on, and the long interval in which the evidence lay on the table; he thought there could be hardly any one who expelled, that much light could now be thrown upon the subject, by the speeches or the arguments of Counsel. It was cer tainly a question more to be decided by preeedent, than by am abstract reasoning. As to the rehear ing of the evidence, he was glad to find that pro posal now alrandnued, as nothing could well be much ounce absurd. than to have evidence taken upon with, by evidence given not on oath. But, whatever may be the objections which suggested themselves rn his mind upon the mode of proceeding, yet when he found on the other site. authntities of so snitch weight with him, as that of his Learned and Ri g h t Hon. Friend, and the Noble ,Lord who pre sided in the Committee, he should persist in that mod. of proceeding. to which he was previously in clined Mr MI ttlfrall and Lord MAISMAII severally ex plained. Mr. FULLER said, that b.? was sorry to observe , the eaumeration made bv the Hon. Gest. (Mr. Sbiri Jan) who opened the debate, be had omitted ;be mention of Mr. Rose Fuller. who sat as Chair man of the Committee, which framed that Bill, and was as strenuous in support of it, as Sir George Saville. or any of those whom the Hon. Gent. had selected t a Gentleman who WAS Only attached to the se/vice of his country, and k. pt himself always free from the contests of any par tics. On the question being then put for resuming the adjourned debate, no person answered for the ayes, and Mr Sheridan', voice was the only one heard in the negative. The C H NCELI.OR of tile EXCHEQUER (before the Speaker &Tided no the question) sug gested. that it would not be the better mode t ne w& ve the debate being resumed; but atter that was agreed to, that the Counsel should be called in. The SPEAKER said, that it appeared to him to be the most regular mode to enquire, first, whe ther there were :my Counsel attending ? If they were not in attendance, he supposed the debate could not, consistently with the understanding that seemed to prevail, be at present resumed ; but if the Counsel was ready to proceed, as these seemed to be every indication of, the order of the day may be assented to. and ~ he Counsel called in. The CHANCF.LI.ORciftheF.XCHEQU ER gave it as his opinion, that the most obviously regu lar mode would he to assent to the I louse resuming the debate, and when that was done, it would be in the power of any Gentleman immediately to move that it be again adjourned to a future day. Mr. SHERIDAN was for postponing the busi ness altogether, as the Counsel for the Sheriffs, cot 'apes:ling to be called in, were not, he under stood, sufficlently prepared to do ample justice to the cause of their clients Mr. FOX suggested the prop-iety of postponing the calling in of Counsel to a future d a y. F rom t h e turn which the debate took on a former evening, it was the general impression that, on a•coUnt of the objetions made by the Right lion. Gentleman op- ~~ • mite to him (Mr. Pitt), to the hearilg either of Counsel or evidence, that opinion would prevail with the House. He believed he could appeal to the candour of the Right Hon. Gentleman to admit that to have been his own impression, and, as it was natural that it should also he the impression of the Counsel, as well as of the House in general, it was probable that they had no expedation of being caU ed in, and that therefore they may not be prepared at this moment, if they were attending, at all to do justice to the cause of their clients. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied, that he must admit the impression on his mind to be upon the former discussion, that the case was already decided by the numerous puce. dents against hearing either the evidence or Coun sel ; but the Hon. Gentleman must recoiled, that he himself at that time suggested the adjournment of the debate upon it to a subsequent day; and he could not now agree to have the business delayed; nor consider the Counsel justified in anticipating what may be the decision of the House. He cer tainly wished to give the parties concerned a full and fair opportunity of vindicating themselves by Counsel ; but, at the same time, he could not con sent to compromise the dignity of the House, by making its proceedings subject to the mistakes or misapprehensions of Counsel; and the less as, from the length of the proceedings on this subject, and the discussions of it, they had Already been engaged in before ; the Committee could not be supposed altogether unprepared at this time to enter on tie subject. However disposed the House might be to make• reasonable allowances, it must on no occasion suffer itself rn be trifled with. Mr. SHERIDAN then moved, that the Counsel should now be called in, which being agreed to ; Mr. ADA M appeared at the Bar, as Counsel for the Sheriffs, and, being desired to proceed, he said he felt himself in a situation of no small embarrass. ment. He admitted, that it would he presumption in him to anticipate what may be the decision of the House, bet, led by the opinion of others, who may be supposed to be better informed, he thought there was no reason to believe that he should not be called upon to address them this day. He did not rest upim any precedents which might have authorised that opinion ; but understanding that a previous question was to be disposed of,there appeared very little likeli hood that there would have been time for hearing the comments of Counsel upon so voluminous a mass of evidence. It was undoubtedly true, that from past experience in subjeds of this kind, from the habitual dedations, which may be drawn from evi dence, and from some knowledge of the laws which applied to it, he may be enabled to address some matter very important for the consideration of the House, and equally inclined to the cause of his clients ; but he must at the same time confess, that he was not prepared at the time, to make all the reference to the different testimonies, nor to arrange the subject in such a manner as both the House and the accused might have espeded of him. He was therefore under the necessity of requesting with deference and resped that the House would consent to postpone the hearing to some future though early day. He presumed to make this request as a per: sond indelgence to himself, and, what was of much more importance, as a proceeding necessary to the justice which was due to his clients ; and, should this fad be granted, he should eadeavour to com prise what he might have to say within as small com pass as was possible. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, having first moved that the Counsel should with draw, said, that after what had fallen from the Learned Gentleman, he could not think of pressing him to go on in an unprepared state, at the s ime time that every Gentleman must be sensible how necessary it was that no great delay should be suf fered to interfere in the decision of this question. He should, therefore, move that the further hearing of Counsel should be deferred to Monday next, wishing it to be distindly understood, that whatever portion of time the Counsel might occupy, the re samed debate upon the report should be proceeded on immediately after. He then made a motion to that effeA, which was agreed to. Mn. FOSTER observed, that the subjeA of the Irish Ways and Means which stood for Monday next wool(' not admit of much delay, as the Revenue Ads of that Country would expire on the 25th inst. But as the subjctt relating to the Sheriffs of Middle sex was of very great importanc- to the freedom of eledion, as :here might be tirne after wards to conclude the Irish business, he should defer his mo tion for the Irish Budget to Wednesday After disposing of the remaining Orders of the Day, the I loose adjourned. PRICE Of STOCKS YESTKILDAT. • $ per Ceist. Carp.... 58 3 / 4 5 per Cent. Nate .1....1191 9 I tiverml 3 pee ego • :rlj 011oitotit• Bi Exclatntwer Bills •...........,• prow is Ala. Pug. Lottery T.ckete . ..... Its. Commas fur sBiii 'IIIIE BRITISH PHA LO N DON, SATURDAY, MUCH 9. Lord Kiwi', Motion produced a long and in teresting Debate Lilt night in the (louse of Peers. There was a full attendance. Their Royal High nesse. the Prince of WALks, the Duke of Yong, and the Duke of CL A R 111.4 CE, were present. We are sorry to announce, that the Lively. of Jersey, which arrived at Portsmouth on Thursday from the Mediterranean, has brought the intelli gence of the capture of the Arrow sloop of war s and 0 sail of merchantmen, out of 30, bound from Malta to Gibraltar and England, by two French frigates, near 'Toulon. Yesterday a Gotteaburgh Mail arrived, with Hataburgh Papers to the 20th last. A leuer from Lyons, of the 301 January, states, that the Toulon ... .... "5! Vet was destined for Minorca ; but that when wit ia twelve leagues of that Island, it learned that the place WAS in possession of the English, and returned to Toulon. Letters from Rochfort, of the 16th January, add, that the Rochefort squadron, of five sail of the line, had farmed a junction with the Brest fleet, at sea, upon the 13th—but this account cannot be true, as the Brest fleet had not ventur:.l nut of port. Yesterday morning His MAIM Y arrived at Windsor at 10 o'clock, from Kew. Hi, MAJESTY, aceornpanie.d by Count Mums - rite and General Ms mit es, inspeaell the Royal Horse Guards in Windsor Gre:it Park, and headed them through Windsor to the Barracks. Yesterday, at one o'clock, Her MAJEST Y and the PRINCESSES left the QUEEN'S House for Windsor. This morning His MAJESTY will take the dive,. Lion of stag hunting. Agreeably to an arrangement made ley Lord MELVILLE, three Admirals are to be stationed ill the East-Indies, those seas being so extensive that it will require their united cervices. Sir. Pet.t.tw is to be senior, or firs! i't covnneaad, Sir TIIOMAS TROWERIDG •CColld. Tble appoint ment of the third is yet unknown. Admiral CORNWALLIS still remcins with the Chan nel Fleet in Torbay. Twenty more transports sailed on Thursday foe Cork, to take tr...nps on board. The East-India outward-bound convoy was,to sail from Spithead yesterday morning. Mr. C. Ge ANT was presented to Her MAJESTY et the Drawing Room on Thuisd:ty last by his father, Sir ALEXANDER GRANT, and nut by the MASTER of the "torts. The Dowager Duchess of RtertAND arrived in town last. evening, at her house in Sackville•itreet. Lady Sv ICES has issued 400 cards for her rant.. The Hon. Mr. KNOX has announced dinners for the 14th, IGth, and 17th. Mrs. C A LVEP.T, of Albemarle -street, gives a grand rout on Thursday next. Lord MLLVLLLe gives a grand dinner on Wed nesday next. Lord CASTERRRAGH has taken a house in St. ;lathes's-square. The Marchioness of satistuev gives another grand rout on th? 19th. The Marchioness of HEADTORT h.ts annoanco a grand rout for the tlst. The Marchioness of ASCRCORN gave a ball list night ; a great company was expettect, but less apologies arrived in the course of the eitening Among the company were The Duchess of Dirvonshire—Marchioncs,ts or iiatrotl'od Salistituy—tslarquisaes Tuvriasteend and Waterford—enuotion Maniluda and Clare — Latins, Murveth, Stanley, 15. Clers•• dish, C. Fiuroy, C. Cavendish, G. C eel , Sarah asilvy, aid F Ponauuby—Lord, Dunewi .on and Morpc•tl , ...6tr:i. bosky —.Misses Puosonlq, Nonli,Ciao.,er, and Waller. Vocsc Co Pc aa r .—The Manager; gave the mast choice Concert we have listened to for some tint.. It commented with the music ttorn Miss Ts/mama - sung the charming air of "Cage unto taie,ie vela to Sands," and wall most rapturouslyap planded. Mr. Goss gave " Fall Eli horn Flle, " with much effect. The delightful glee of Dr. ST VIINSON'i, OA! gay, Sweet Pair, by Mad. Biancut, Mr. kl.t.c. R ISO M, and Mr. BAR TERN %N, was guttered, Mr. Hoc hags displayed his unrivalled powets. Imp cet to on the Bassoon. Mad. iiIANCHI was very we i r in an Italian Air. Mr. BARTI.ZIAAN was eaccted the celebrated mot: t, Metbiat I hear the far/Ice/to. Ckuir, computed by Dr. CROTCH. hliisra ass was absent, in consequence of her engagement to sit.g to a Concert at lki:slirrich. Ott Thuisday geenang the. Ladies Concert was held at Mrs. Kitaia's in Mainsteld-street, Cavendish square. Upwards of two hundred persons of distinition 'were assembled. The Glees leleard were all of the most *mice composition, and it is needless tot add, t 1 were sung in the most fiaished style, when we inform our readers that nearly the whole first-rate vocal performers were ell/AO : Among them were Madame Ba • SCRS. Miss l'prasamr, Master IC 'Luisa, Messrs. SALK, WELSH, NIEL°, Leers, GORE, and the three KNY VETS. The next meeting will be at Mr.. LIENYou 's, in Grtsveno;-square. L tst night Mr. and Mn.s Moutsratm had a most charming and select Copcert, at their house in Itathbone-place. About sixty persons of distin&iva were assembled. This may certainly be deemed a Concert and. Rout, for, between each piece, th.ie is time sufficient al owed for the company to cnit verset and refreshments; are handed to the cum 'e ns,. !Its. MOLNTA.re, besides Ramon C stfe.w. ..,1 several charming songs. Ur. "Sutra and '4.r. Lanza assisted Mr. and Mrs. MOUNTAIN in t:i Glees of re spored &taker, and Little R. 4 • Pla• Shall take another opportunity to speak of siege sane displayetl in the rooms. ,„ Covrs I-GARDEN OR A T ORIO . i_ CH3III7HIg seleaian of last right attraaed a very respeaahle audience. Be AHA to was universally tweed in the charming song of ar.ft beg., efazelt. to the shies. Met Mt - sok v, who is becoming a favourite with the town, sung the popular air of Let thc Gright S.. raphisis, with great execution, and finished it with a most charming cadence; accompanied by Hs oat on the trumpet, in his best manner. Mr. Nea r displayed much execution in a concerto on the piano-forte. CoIIKSk OF EXCIIANi tntetst.ittm .... t I Uhl AI .at Sight .. 38 . _ _ KM. Fa, V, MANCH 8 Genus V 'wee SSI Lovbmi OWITto• I Vubl ,n Kown.rarie. f IY 4 2 U. Hionbolgh 4, 4 t i ll 4ltnna • • S'r 9 tll earn Dm. Bt. ut4elhut .41 9 C.arlsa DIP.) S4i eff,ct, Maind .... ...•• 14 in paper Unto 931 effect . Bohm% Leitho,K 491 Na ,)lei Dublin on Lundell (Match 14elfast on L.•naloa (Match 1 Belfast on Dublin (March 1. wauow 4. Patrtugal Gold me , aan aud Bana• pea ea 0 0 naaulalcaeava 0 0 0 hew Donets silv.f Bu d" 0 0 New Louis each _ 0 0 Arlo ea eke Bask Hoikkal 5 pet Cast 1., 1.) •> LONDON:—ennead by ORORLA DANIDSON, No. 3.1. Wych street, St. Clement s, ao4 pubb.hed by 30515.11 RYDER, at the Office, Nr. 15, Rack of St Clement's Ehertit, Strand, where Arden for ihe .:•c_ 1 ) will be &A., atty. Jed to CA .--: - 1.1 Adult Mo BiAta T' The( 1 . 11 Ire II T' A' teal DkUl tech I TENI ire to 5011( 11. 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