The Sun. — London, England, 1807-02-03 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF PEERS, MONDAY, FEB. 2. • Tim Marquis of Buckingham, Lord Viscount Hampden, the Bishops of Bath and*. Wells, and ingor i Lords Harewood, Hood of Catbrington, and some other . Lords, took the Oaths and their Seats. . Mr. Hobhouse, Mr. Dickinson, and several other 'Members of the House of Commons, brought up the Militia Service Bill, and a private Bill; which were read a first time, and the former ordered to be printed: On the Motion of the Archbishop of CANTER BURY, the Thanks of the House were ordered to be gi . ..en to the . Bishop of St. David's, for his Ser mon preached before the House at 'Westminster Abbey, on Friday last; and . his Lordship - was desired to print and publish the same. SLAVE TRADE. Lord - GRENPILLE having moved the reading of t,he Order of the Day for the Second Reading of the Slave Trade Abolition Bill, observed, that those of their Lordships - who had witnessed his extreme desire to carry forward this important measure with the least possible interruption, would readily conceive that he now felt great r,:gret in finding himself under the necessity of proposing a further delay. Unfortunately, however,, two of his Noble Friends, whose sentiments respect ing this measure it was important the House should `Win 'Possession of, and whose assistance he much wished to have upon the discuSsion of the subject, were too much indisposed to be enabled to attend the House. He therefore. proposed that the second reading of the Bill should be postponed till .Wednes day.—Ordered, and that the Lords be summoned for that day. The Earl of WESTMORLAND .presented a Petition from the Ship Builders, Ship Owners, Manufa6turers, and others, of the Port of London, against the Slave Trade Abolition Bill; which was ordered to lie on the table. A short conversation took place respelling the pro priety of hearing Counsel in behalf of the Petitioners who had presented Petitions against the Bill. Lord GRENVILIE suggested the propriety of mak.; jug some Order upon this subject, if it was the plea sure of their Lordships to hear Counsel, in. order that they +night avoid the inconvenience which oc curred, of having a preliminary discussion of this nature on the very day in which the measure pro posed was to be brought forward. The Earl of INE,s - rmoaLANn moved, that such of the Petitioners 'as thought fit should he heard• by their Counsel on the 'second reading of the Bill. Lord GRENVILLE thought it would be expedient to ineke Some regulation with respect to the hearing of Counsel, in order to prevent. unnecessary delay. AS to the propriety of examining evidence, that of course would be decided on atter their Lordships had heard Counsel. He thought, however, that it wonld be sufficient to hear one Counsel upon each Petition, as the.greate.r part °Nile arguments which the Counsel must necessarily touch upon, had al ready been often repeated, and as it was of so much importance to avoid delay. - Lord ELDON also expressed himself decidedly hos tile to unnecessary delay, but at the same time it was of the utmost importance that a subjea of this mag nitude should'be deeply and closely examined, and that the parties whose interests would be affeeted.by, it ShOuld be fairly and fully heard. - The Earl of WESTMORLAND likewise expressed his hope that the parties whose interests would be nife6ted would be 'fully heard. Lord HAwKEsautty sug g ested that the • interest s of the Petitioners- might be equally benefited, and the time of the House less taken -up, if the Petitioners were classed according to the interests of those pe titioning, which would be found to be divided - into three, namely; the old.,Planters in Jamaica and other Islands, the new Planters in the Island of Trinidad, and the Snipping and Commercial Interests of the Ports of this Country, and Counsel heard for each interest. After some further conversation the Petitioners were ordered to be heard by thir Counsel-on Wed nesday, and by a subsequent Order, Coimsel were direCted to be called in at half past four. ESTATE BILLS. Lord ELDON gave notice, that he should very shortly propose that all their Lordships' Standing Or ders relative to Estate Bills, and other Private Bills where money was paid into the Court of Chancery, should be referred to a Committee of the whole House. The objects which he proposed were to re lieve the Court of Chancery from the pressure of business arising from these Bills, and, at .the same time, to do justice to the suitors in that Court. The LORD CHANCELLOR expressed his sat►sfac tion at the measure which the Noble and Learned Lord intended to propose, as did also Loid WAL SING4AM., ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN SCOTLAND. Lord GRENVILLt gave notice that he should; on . this day se'nilight, preSent ,to the House a Bill founded on the Resolutions passed last SesSion, for rendering more effeetual the Administration of Jus tice in Scotland. Lord HAWKESUURY expressed a hope that suffici ent lime would be given for the consideration of this important subjea : : _ _ _ Lord GRENVILLE said, it was.his wish that suf ficient time should be allowed for the considefation of the subject. At the same time he must remark, that ample time had already been given for.its con sideiation since last Session, during which interval there bad been an opportunity of obtaining the opi nions of professional men of eminence with respeal to the details of the measure, .agd that if it was meant-that an interval of equal extent should again be allowed, it was evident• that the mepsure,:could Nat be carried through Parliament in the course of the present Session. That some measure of this nature should be . adopted without delay was, be con ceived, of the greatest importance, not only on Lc count of the great (Weals which were ncknowledged to exist in she Administration ofJustice in Scotland, but also on account of the discredit thrown upon that liouse,in conseirence of the great number of -eals from Scotland, and whjch from being so nu decisions. ! '` ' Lord anotz thoUght that considerable difficulties still lay in the way of their coming to an ultimate de cision upon 11? e proposed measure.—Adjourned till to-morrow (this day). HOUSE OF COMMONS. 1.. • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2. S.ALTASI-1 COMMITTEE. Lord EUSTON reprted from the Saltash Com mittee, that Mr. Robarts had not been enabled, froth indispositio% to attend his duty on Thursday, Fri day, and Saturday; for which reason the Committee had adjourned from day to day till this -.morning, when Mr. Robarts having attended they went on with the business. Dr: Bailie was called to the bar, and, proi'ed the fa& of the indisposition, and Mr. Robarts was con sequently excused for not ha . ving attended on the days specified. WEYMOUTH COMMITTEE Mr. YORKE reported from th 6 Weymouth Com mittee that the Sitting Members were duly elealed, and' that the Petitions were not frivolous or vexa tious. MALDEN COMMITTEE. Sir GILBERT ,HEAT.HCOTE reported from the Mal den Committee, that he had received a letter from Mr. Win. Lewis Hughes, stating that his father was dangerouSly ill in the country, and that he, conse quently, was - unable to attend this day. Sir ROBERT WILLIAMS said, that he had. received a letter • from a medical Gentleman on the subje&, and therefore declared on oath at the table that he believed the statement in Mr. Hughes's let ter to be Sir G. HEATHCOTE then moved, That Mr. Hughes be excused from further attendance on the Comm i ttee:—Ordered. Mr: PATTERSON presented a Petition from the Tanners of Norwich, against the Oak Bark Ordered to lie on the table. Lord NVII. RUSSELL brought up a Bill for facilitat ing the. Recovery of Small Debts in Bromley, Lewisham, &c. &c. Read a tirst,• and ordered to be read a second time. • A Person from the African Company presented an Account of their Expellees in t 805. Ordered toile on the table. TREASURERSHIP OF THE NAVY. ' Mr. SHERIDAN rose, pursuant to notice, to move for leave to bring ilia Bill' for further regulat ing the Office - of Treasurer of the Navy. A train of circumstances, connected with, the provisions al ready nude for the regulation of this Office, rendered it unnecessary for him to' enter upon a particular gtatement of the grounds of his Motion. After the decision of the Judges there could only be one opi nion respeCting the , necessity of some amendment, in . order to curry into full effeettlie intentions of the Legislature. The object and spirit of the former ACI oa this subject was, that none should' be allowed to make use.ef the public money to their own pri vate advantage, and.that the accounts, as far as the nature of the thing would permit, 'should be kept at the Bank. But the opinion of the Judges had cast some doubt upon, that, and the object now was to remove that doqbt.. There might be some hesitation as to the mode of - doing this--a to the propriety of doing it there could be none. The best mode.would be, that which -would give every security - to the Public, and as little trouble as possible to the. Bank. He would endeavour to do that, by calling to his assistance the abilities of those persons who were mast conversant with the subject. 10, the mean time he would content himself with moving, ` That leave be given to bring in a Bill for the further Regulation of the Office of Treasurer of the Navy.' - - Leave was accordingly given, and Messrs. Whit 7 bread; Tierney, Canning, and Giles, the Attorney and Solicitor General, &c. &c. were appoinW4 to prepare and bang in the same. I iiISH. FINANCES. Sir JOHN NEWPORT moved the order of the day for the House to resolve . itself into a Com mitt,ee on the Mali Treasury Biiis Bill. He "loped that, before 'the Speaker quitted, the House would indulge.him with a few words, for the purpose of clearing up some doubts with reference to a statement made by an Honourable Member on a fbrmer night. In moving. to bring is this Bill for raising 1,000,0001. by Treasury Bilis, fur the service ,of Ireland, he trusted would not be thOught that he had ..claimed an unwarrantable confidence, when it 'was'' considered that a power had been given the 'lrish Government to raise half a million for the service of the last yoll7, which power had not been used, nor had any Treasury Bills been He would ask, whether it could with justice be pre sumed that the Irish Finances could be in the situa- . tion an Honourable Member had described them,' ,when thelrish Government had not found it_neces sary to avail itself of a power to raise haif a million of money ? feta, there had been 'no occasion for -makinz; use of that power : on the contrary, he ,had been able to discharge a debt due from the Irish Trea suiy to the English Treasury of a sum of two hun dred and seventy-six thousand pounds adyanced by the English Treasury for payment of the Lottery Prizes in 1802.—That was 'no proof Of a failure of the Irish Finances. There was also a sum of 146,0001, of Irish money - in the country unapplied, and there remained, after allowing for the subsistence of 'the ArMy, a 'sum of upwards of 560,0001: belonging to, Ireland. He was extremely sorry he had not been present when a Noble Lord made hiS financial statement, which did so much honour to the re sources of the country. But it was necessary he should take the first opportunity of deprecating any comparison between the finances 'of Great Britain and .freland, and of contradicting the as- sertion, that beCause one country could not raise a large portion of Supplies within the year, that there fore it is in 'a bankrupt: state: Those exertions which the great wealth and pfogressive increase of 'commerce and mantifai-..aires, enabled this Country to tuills;e, Ireland was incLipable:of; but for the dis charge of her engagements', namely, the interest of her - cieLl and Sinking Fund, her revenues were more than competent. The revenues of Ireland last year amounted to, 3,800,0001. a sum more than adequate .to her whole expenditure. He had thought it ne ces,ary to tresp..ss thus much on the time of the House, and regretted that he had been prevented by indisposition from attending on a former night • • • a. • Al, Lit;liCl. MAU MIA CbtenreU Ireland as being in a bankrupt state. The Hon. Gentleman had certainly taken a false report of what fellfrom him. His argument was, that Ireland had a revenue but little more than sufficient to - pay the interest and charges of her debt, and that it !would, consequently, be necessary to raise 4,000,0001. annually injhis Country, by way of loan, 'for the service. of Ireland; which he conceived would in terfere with the statement of the Noble Lord. He' had, in fad' stated the Revenue of Ireland at 3,800,000. If therefore the Right Hon. Gentleman meant to repel the charge of Ireland'i being in a bankrupt state, he was repelling a charge of his own imagination. He thought, and had merely stated, that larger loans would be required to be made in this Country than the Noble Lord had assumed. Sir JOHN NEWPORT said,, that the Hon. Member, although he admitted the Revenue of Ire land to be 3,860,0601. yet seemed to infer that the interest and civil charges exceeded it. He was at loss to conceive what he meant. By the AEt of Union Ireland had nothing to pay but the interest of her Debt and Sinking Fund. That, on the Ist of Jan. 1807, was 3,132,0001. which dedueled from the re venue of 3,800,0001. left a surplus of near 700,0001. Certainly'What had been stated in' Other places with respee't to the Honourable Gentleman's speech bore a very different aspen. - Mr. JOHNSTONE repeated.that he had merely said it would be necessary to borrow in this Country 4,600,0001. for the service of Ireland. The Bill then went through' a Committee, and the Report was ordered to be received to-morrow. MR. DkVISON. Lord iiRCHIBALD ethilLTON rose, and observed, that since he had given notice of a Motion respelling Mr. Alexander Davison, founded on the transaClions ,which had been detailed_ in the Third Military Report, he had heard that proceedings were pending against him at the instance of the Govern -ment. . Under these circumstances, and after a com munication, with his Noble Friend (Lord Henry Petty), on the opposite side, he doubted whether .this Motion Might' not be 'an unnecessary* trespass • on the time of the House, and whethek it might not interfere with and embarrass the measures that had been already adopted. But the great importance of the subject,' and the interest which it was calcu lated universally to , excite, would, he trusted, suf ficiently justify 'him jn • claiming the indulgence of the House, while he read to them the Motion which he intended to have• submitted to their attention. This Motion was—" That the Attorney-General be instrated to ascertain,what arc the best means to be adopted for securing such Sums of Money as ap pear to be due to the Public, in consequence of the Third Report of the Commissioners of Military In quiry."—Now, if it should appear that he had been too hasty in this business, and had pressed the mat ter forward with rather too much eagerness, he hoped that the fraudulent and iniquitous nature of tie transaetion would be his excuse, if got his justi fication. Indeed, if the feelings that must naturally 'be excited in the breast of every honourable man, by a review of this transa6tion, were duly appreciated, he.doubted whether this was not a charge against which he could scarce wish for a defence. Now he conceived that many Gentlemen in the House might Manic wished to, express their sentiments on this subject ; and this was one strong reason for bringing forward his Motion : and he felt it due to himself to declare, that ne thought, from the nature of the case, and the universal attention which it had attra&ed, that the Report ought not to have re mained long on the table of the House without no tice of some such Mallon *es he intended to have proposed. Besides this, he' had conceived that it would haVe been much snore advisable that the pro cess should have been carried on by the direction and under the sanction of this House, rather than at the instance of the Treasury. indeed, he had not yet wholly relinquished that opinion, though cer tainlyby his communication wito his Nuhle Friend it had been very much weakened. The enormity. of the offence was so great, and so general and ex tensive in its operation, that it called for the most public and exemplary punishment. Nothing could be so destruclive to . a . Goyerninent as thoseagents, who, while they were,s well paid for the duties they performed, yet made use of the confidence reposed in them to plunder the Public— The SPEAKER here interrupted the Noble Lord, and said, that if' he did not mean to propose any Motion, it would be inconvenient' and_ improper to enter upon the particulars in a case of this nature. Lord A.' HAMILTON ,again rose, and said, that he was sorry to trespass on the attention of the House--but all that he had said, or .meant to have said, was intended tnerel)i to account fpr the line of conJu& which he had pursued in this bumnesi. Lord H. PETTY felt that any discussion of par ticular details, under the present circumstances, were not stri&ly regular; but as the transactions to which his Noble Friend had adverted had excited such - general attention, he was disposed to avail himSeit of this . oppOrtunity to state. what the mea sures were which Ministers had thought it right-to adopt. He was .not surprised that these transac tions had attracted the attention of - his'Noble Friend, of the House, and of the Country. The Treasury had taken such steps as the nature of the case ap peared to them to require ; and the only objeetion, to the Noble Lord's plan of having the proceedings carried on by the order, and under the dtre6tion of the House, was, that this might seem to imply that his 'Majesty's -Ministers had not done what they ought to have done in this business:=-4n the early part of last autumn they had a cemintinication with the commissioners ; and it appeared desirable to the Lords of the Treasury that Mr. Davison should pro duce his cash account with General De Lancey,and the Commissioners appointed for examining the Barrack Accounts received instruEtions according- I . y. Sd instructed, they sent two letters' to Mr. Davison,. intimating the wish of theiords of the Treasury, and desiring him to produce the ac• count specified. To theie letters they received no answer, and consequently gave notice of this to the. Lords of the Treasury, and they ,. sent a peremptOry order to Mr. Davison to comply with the requisition of the -Commissioners.-- To this v at length, he returned an answer, and as- signed some domestic misfortune •(the death of his son) as the reason why he did not before attend to the letters sent by the Commissioners, but at the same /ume stated, that from th e mo d e i n w hi c h hi s a' counts were kept, it w ou ld b e i mposs ibl e to se's parate his cash account with the Barrack-Master' General from his other accounts. This was re ferred to the Commissioners, and they did not think the ground of refusal sufficient.—They could not, however, get' the account, and about a fortnight ago, Upon notice of this, Mr. Davison was again called upon. This was the situation of things , The Report on the table, together with the who'd of the correspondence, bad been laid before the At-. torney and Solicitor-General, to consider what steps ought to be taken to force 'Mr. Davison ~to produce his cash account, and refund the, money of which the Public had been unjustly deprived. The) had reported their opinion, from which it appeared that as a more .speedy method of attaining the objet.t its view, than a process in the Exchequer, it was de` sirable that a - Bill should be passed-, if Parliament would allow it, to enable the •Commissioners to‘ force the•produdion of accounts ; and he believed big' Learned Friend was already prepared to give no.' tice to that effeel.—They also were of opinion, that there were not sufficient grounds for a criminal pro ceeding at -present, though , there might be further evidence which would authorise even this. It was needless, on this occasion, to enter upon an eX" • amineition of the "Case, or to state his own opinion. But measures were taken to elucidate these trans- actions, and to dis Cover what might have been con cealed. Mr. Davison had lately intimated that he • would produce an account in his own defence, which would prove satisfactory. But unless he pro duced his cash account, he did not see how it could be satisfactoty. The Commissioners, However, had called for the cash account by the direction of Mi nisters, an d di rect i ons h a d been given for the. re covery of the sums due.; every step, therefore,•that could possibly be taken had been resorted to, and therefore he flattered himself that his Noble Friend would not repent the fair and candid manner in which he had consented to withdraw his Mopion. Mr, VANSITTART brought, in the Pension Dia! Commissioners' Bill. Read a first, and ordered to be read a second time to-morrow. ' • te , The Soldier and Sailor's Reduction Bill wog committed. In ,the Committee,. Mr. STijRGES BOURNE expressed his opinion, that the Bill should be made perpetual., instead of being- limited to , seven years. Mr. WYNNE thought that great caution ought to be observed in extending penal statutes.• Mr. PERCIVAL said, that there was little occasiori for that caution in converting high treason into 2 misdeineanor, which was in fad the effect of the Bill. Mr. WYNNE thought it best to limit it to seven years for the present. The mat t er might perhapA then be left to the ordinary statutes, and at all events, it would be in the power of Parliament to inakv . such provisions as 'the occasion might require.--.ReO port to-morrow. The Irish Gunpowder A6t was committed.—Re. port to-morrow. The ATTO4NEY-GENERAL ITIOVed- for a Copy of the Commission under which Messrs. Bragge and Harris ailed in examining the Barrack Accounts.—. Ordered. He then gave notice, that to-narrow be would move for leave to bring in a Bill to enable these Coal. missiotiers to compel thoproducc,ion of Accounts. The Grain Intercourse Bill was read a third time and passed: MUTINY BILL. Lord Howlex moved the second foaling of 0 - 0 Mutiny Mr. ROSE wished to know whether the price of clothing for the Royal Veteran Battalions was the same as last year. . Lord TEmILE. answered, that it was somewhat' higher. He was not prepared to enter into tho particulars at present, as he expe6ted no discussion but he would in due time satisfy the House on thai point. - The Bill was then read a second time, and order ed to be committed on Friday se'nnight. POOR LAWS. Mr. WHITBREAD postponed his motion respeEling the Poor Laws, from next Thursday se'nnight, to next Thursday fortnight. Mr. VANSITTART moved, that so much of the Act 'of Union with Ireland, as referred to the inaporta tion of spirits into one country from the other, should be referred to a Committee of the whole House. This was done, and leave was given to bring in a Bill to suspend the payment of draw backs on spirits imported from Ireland to this coup.' try, or exported from this country to Ireland. The 'Canada Woollen Yarn Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed to-morrow. The SECRETARY AT Wart presented Accounts, by' order of the 'House, relative to the number of re emits _procured for the army in different years.-- 1 ( Ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed. me; GILES gave notice, that he would on Wed nesday move for Account of the Salaries and EmolUments, of the Commissioners V, f the Sick and Hurt Office, and their pensions after they retired. Adjourned. MAILS. A R.A I VED—I Waterford. 1)u F. -- z G. - .4tetibtzrgh, ListloN I DubliH, t Waterford. PRICE OF STOCKS .‘ THIS JAY AT TWELVE O'CLOCK. Consols - -611 i Ti 3 E S UN. SOLEM QUIS DICERS FA:64M AUDIA.T ? L 0 IV D ON, TUESDAY, rEBRUARY 3, 1807. ,WE this day lay before ►our Readers the Official Letter of Gen. BENNINGSEN to His PfiTJS3IAN MA' JESTY, containing an_ account of the 13attle of th‘e 526th December. This Letter tends very strongly to confirm the opinion which, in opposition to most of our Contemporaries, we have maintain' ed for some days, viz. that the reports of the total defeat of the French Army on the 27th, 2 8 th , and 29th December, were unfounded. It appear s that the Division ofLA,,sNts, DAVOUST, and Movr,