The Sun. — London, England, 1802-03-12 00:00:00

IMPFBIeIL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF PEERS, THURSDAY, :MARCH 1 1. THE various Bills before the House were for, warded in their respeCtive stages. The Earl of WILTON presented a Petition from certain Debtors ocniined in Lancaster Jail, praying relief, which was ordered to lie on the Table. Some Private Business was dipos.ed of, and a number of Witnesses were sworn.. _ _ After waiting some time in expeaation Of Bills from the. Commons; their Lordships adjourned till tomorrow, • HOUSE OF COMMONS, . . imugSn4y, MARC.II 11. THE Exchequer Bills Bill was read a third time end passed. The Indemnity Bill was read a third time and passed. Mr. ALEXAIIpER brought up the Report of the Mutiny Bill, which was, agreed to, and the Bill ' was ordered to read a third time to-morrow. Leave was given to bring in a Bill for the Re gulation oT His Majesty's Marine Forces while on shore. Mr. 1 - 3QOT E gave notice that he should on Mon - day next move for leave to bring in a Bill for com- Felling Overseers to keep Registers of Parish Ap_ prei,;ices, The Order of the Day being { .read for going into Committee on the Bencoolen ettlement Bill, M. JONES said, he approved of this Bill, because he understood it was but the commence. rftent of a much larger plan of Reform ; and he hoped it was so, because he was sure, in the pre sent situation of the East India Company, they ought to use every plan of reform and economy. He had upon a former occasion stated the debts of the Company at twenty million Sterling, and he now had reason to think they amounted to twenty two million ; he was therefore glad the Right Hon. Gentleman had brought forward the measure, and he hoped he Would not stop here, but bring in two or three othetoßills of a similar tendency. The House then went into the Committee. Colonel WOOD o).ijeaed to the Clause which enacted that the Company's Servants transferred from Bencoolen to Madras should not rise above a certain rank. Mr. lv. DLIND AS supported the Clause--,which was agreed to. - Mr. W. DUND AS proposed a Clouse for allowing the Company's present Servants at Bencoolen the alternative either of accepting the amount of their present salaries, or of going to Madras. Mr. METCALF objeded to this Clause —he said it would be better to leave it to the Court of Direaors, and he was apprehensive that this might be converted into a precedent. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, the object of this Clause was, to prevent the East India Company's Servants at Bencoolen from sustaining an injury in consequence of the regula tions which were about to take place. The effed of giving them, this alternative would bring the question to the test. If they thought it more for • their advantage to go to Madras, undoubtedly they would go there, and not accept the other alternative; if they were of opinion that going to Madras would 'be injurious to them, it certainly \would be hard to deprive them of their present situations without any miscondu4 on their I.N.i t rt„ without allowing them - some indemnity. Mr. GOLDING said, the Company's Servants had different kinds of Salaries, the one attached to their rank, whi.eh was trifling ; the other attached to their Offices, which was very considerable. Mr. R. THORNTON was of opinion, that this Clause would not, as had been stated, bring the point to the test, because many of the Company's Servants at Bencoolen, might chuse to retire, and by this means, they would obtain Pensions, which they would not otherwise be entitled to. , Mr. METC F again objected to this regula tion being made the subject of a Legislative Provi_ sion, because, he said, it might, upon other occa sions, be drawn into a precedent. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, there could be no danger of this being drawn into a precedent, because this was a Parliamentary Proceeding. The Court of Direaors would not, uporfother occasions, be bound to act upon it, as a precedent ; an appeal must be made to Parliament tbr that purpose. It had been said, that this point ought to be left to the liberality of the Court of Direaors; he had as high an opinion of the Court of Directors as any man could have, but when no compleint had been made against the condui of those Servants at Bencoolen, he thought that Par liament ought not to leave them to the discretion of any body of men whatever. After a few words from Mc. HoßriousE, the Clause was agreed to, and the Bill went through the Committee, and was ordered to be engrossed. Mr. DICKINSON moved the Order of the Day for going into a Committee on the Clergy Non-re sidence Bill. Mr. 110BHOUSE said, he merely wished to a"brow out- a hint upon this subjed, which he hoped the House would think worthy of their attention. In consequence of the Nonresidence of the Clergy, several Qui-tame Actions were brought against them, but Parliament interfered, and an AEI was passed to suspend those Adions. It became then a matter worthy of consideration, whether, as those Adions were commenced in conformity with existing Ads of Parliament, the Legislature ought not, in some way, to indemnify the persons who had so commenced them. Whatever his sentiments might be with re gard to Informers,, yet, as they had brought these aUtions upon the faith of the Laws of the Land, and as they had been put to considerable expence, he thought they ought either to be indemnified, or be suffered to go on with their Anions. Mr. SIMEON concurred in the sentiments which had fallen from the Honourable Gentleman J who spoke last, • Me. JONES said, he thought they ought to beT. irlderanified a at the same time, lie was of opi_ nion that the Religion of the Country had suf fered greatly by the Non-residence of the Clergy. He would not say more upon this point at pre. sent, - as he understood that a Learned Gentleman opposite to him intended to bring in a Bill upon the subjed. Sir W. SCOTT said, that however incompetent he might be to the task, he had been prevailed upon to attempt to bring in a Bill to regulate this important subjea. No•man could be more aware than he was of the difficulty of the task he had undertaken. There were great difficulties arising out of the nature. of the subjea itself, and also from the great variety of opinions which were en tertained upon it, He hoped, however, in a few days, to he able to give notice of the time when he should propose to introduce this Bill, With re gard to what had been said about the Informers, he should lay that wholly out of his consideration, The House then went into a Committee on the Bill, Sir W..LENtoti in the Chair. Sir R. BUXTON said, he understood at first that the Bill was only to be brought in for two months, and now it appeared that it was for four months. Mr. DICKINSON said, the reason he had made it four months instead of two, was because the other Bill would probably, from its nature, occu py a considerable time in discussion, besides it might he delayed by the pressure of public busi ness.--" The duration of "th, Bill was then fixed for four months, and the House being resumed, the iteport was ordered to be received to-morrow. A Message from, the Lords stated, that their Lordships had agreed to several Public and Private Bills. • Mr. 1 7 ANS ITT ART -moved, that the House should to-morrow resolve itself into a Committee, to take into consideration the propriety of appoint ing an Inspeaor of the Convids.—Ordered. POOR. Mr. SIMEON rose, in pursuance of his notice, to move for leave to bring in a Bill for the better Relieving and Distinguishing the Industrious Parish Poor, for Regulating the Accounts of Overseers, and for making certain Provisions respeuing Bas tards, The subjea was one which appeared to him to be of great importance ; it had occupied the attention of many persons, and many plans had been submitted to the Public. But there appeared to him to be one great leading objeaion to every plan that had been brought forward, which was, that they attempted to lay down one universal re gulation for every Parish, which was impradica ble, from the many differences there were between' Parishes. Tl objed of his Bill would not be to shake the foundation of the Poor Laws of this Country, which for so long a periOd had been found so be,neficial. There was, very properly, a great degree of jealousy entertained in that House, about alt,ering the system of our Poor Laws, but that was. by no means his vvish. He proposed simply to bring in an Enabling Ad, "viz. an Ad to enable every Parish, as far as was consistent with law, to legislate for itself, if it pleased. He then proceeded to state a variety of incon- veniencies arising from the present mode of re lieving the Poor, particularly the great burthen of the Poor-rates : he admitted, that his plan would not render the Poor rates unnecessary, but he thought it .would tend very consideralsly to diminish them, . by seleding the proper objets for charity, and mak ing some regulations in the mode of keeping the Parish Accounts. In order to ascertain who were the most proper objcEts of charity, he _should propose in the Bill, that a person should be appointed, and paid by the Parish, whose duty it should be to ob tain information of the condition and condua of the Nor. He was aware, that .....hen a person applied for relief, and said he was starving, it would he impossible to refuse him, even though his condua had been improper, but still .he thought great ad. , vantages would result from the adoption of this plan. There might be, he was aware, Parishes in which this re; ;elation would not be necessary, therefore, he did not mean to compel Parishes to adopt this regulation, but to leave it to their option, if they thought it necessary. The next evil which, ;..,. his opinion, required a remedy, was the manner in which the Parish Accounts were kept. They were °illy laid before the Parish once a year, and then they were in general tou voluminous, and too complicated, to be minutely investigated. Instead therefore of having them examined once a year, he should propose to have them examined once a guar. ter, and that a certain number of persons, among whom the resident Clergyman should be one, should be appointed to examine these Accounts. These were the general outlines of his Bill ; but there was another objea . which appeared to him to be of great importance, and which he had thought it right to conneA with this Bill, and that was the situation of adjudged Bastards. They were, in general, the '. children of persons in the lowest situations of life, and though the mother was not, in general, want- ' ing in natural affeaion, yet she was in general pre. wailed upon to give up the infant to the father,who put it out to nurse, and, in a few days, it was heard of no more. This was not mere suspicion, he was un fortunately in possession of ratan k fads, which would be sufficient to convia those persons of murder.—• He therefore proposed to put these children under the proteaion of the Magistrates, and to take care that the child should be left in the care of the mother until it had attained the age of seven years. That it should, on no account, be given up to the father, unless by a licence obtained from the Magistrate, setting forth the place to which it was going.— These were the general outlines of his plan ; he hoped the House would give him permission to bring in his Bill ; it might, after being printed, stand over for two or three weeks, when Gentlemen would have full time to consider it, and to make what objeaions, or propose what Amendments, they thought proper. He then' concluded with moving for leave to bring in a Bill for the better Relieving and Distinguishing the Industrious Parish Poor, for Regulating the Accounts of Overseers, and for making certain Provisions respeding adjudged Bastards. Leave was given to bring in the Bill. The Report of the American Treaty Bill was brought up, and agreed to, and the Bill was ordered , to be read a third time to-morrow, if then engrossed. i Adjourned at half past five till to.morrow. THE StiN". 110 LEM QU4S DICILLs tw,i-rxm AL;DIAT ? LONDON, NIA RC If iz, 1802 WE this morning received the Paris Papers of the 7th and Bth instant.— The Constitution of the Helvetic Republic is at length announced ; the Government is to consist of a Landamann, a Senate, and a Diet ; the Christian Religion is to be the Established Religion of the State, .but all others are to be tolerated. , The Republic is to be divided into 2T Cantons, and is declared to be One, but the word indivisible is left out.—The Valais forms one of the Cant i ons of .the Republic ; but Letters frorn Berne state, that the greatest uneasiness pre vails on account of the recent movements of the French Troops in that Distria, and strong repre, sentations have been made to the* French ,Govern ment upon the subject, Letters from Florence, confirm the reports — that 4000 French Troops are to he taken into the pay of Tuscany, and that the Island cf Elba is to be ceded to France. There has been a slight rise in the French Funds : they are at 56 f. 75 c, IT is not yet, and possibly may not, for some days, be in our power to remove the Political Veil which still overspreads Great Britain and France: but amongst the various critical situations which we have had to surmount for some years past, there has been none in which we must have felt ourselves more at our ease than under the present. Every one at all acquainted with History knows, that Kingdoms have often found themselves in a pre dicament where they had nothing to hope, and no thing to expert, but a greater or less degree of evil. We are now in one, the absolute contrary of it : nothing have we to fear ; and the alterna tive in which we are placed is one only, of a greater or less degree of National Advantage. If a Definitive Treaty should happily terminate the great work so wisely begun, we should have to enjoy, after this long struggle, the honour attached to a Glorious War, and the benefits of a Pacification maturely considered. With the satisfadion of see ing our essential• interests fixed on a solid basis, we should see our Expences gradually diminish, our Commerce and Manufactures following a free and beaten course, and our Prosperity increase in the bosom of a repose, purchased by nine years of effort and of courage, and guaranteed by the 'ln disputable evidence of our power and onr energy being still in the plenitude of their vigour and a&ivity. If, on the contrary, the Ambition, or, we may say, the Folly of our Enemies, should compel' us to renounce, for a time, this happy prospea, we should have before us that of being enabled to make them quickly repent of their obstinacy, and of aim: ing at them blows, more easy to ourselves, and more disastrous to them, than any that we have had an op. portunity of striking for a twelvemonth past. Should there be a renewal of the War, then would appear in its full lustre, the Wisdom which has clireeted the conduEt of our Government, whether in the con clusion of the Preliminary Tteaty, or in the mea sures which followed it. Had they not nego,tiated last year, we should have been exposed to the greatest of all possible incoGeniences that can at tend War, that of waging it without an objcet, as we should have found none truly national, after the Conquest of Eg)pt. In that case, the Country might have complained, and with some reason, of Burthens and Expences that appeared useless ; and our Enemies might, with somewhat less impro priety than before, have thrown upon us the odium • of a Continuance of the War. In these two important respels, the conclusion of a Preliminary Treaty, ,has totally changed the Mate of things. By that transaaion, our Ministers have demonstrated to their Countrymen and to all Europe, that they entertained a sincere wish to re store Peace to the two Nations, arrd moderation in concluding it on terms, honourable and advantageous to both. Whatever may be the result, the Treaty of the Ist of Oaober., destroys before hand every argument which our Enemies might attempt to ad vance, in case of a rupture. It is an unassailable rock of defence, against which, MachiaVelism itself could never make any impression. - The measures which have followed this Treaty, would afford us no less advantage, in another point of view, in the case of a renewal of Hostilities. Short. sighted people, who we now and then hear deplor ing the liberty that was given to the Enemy's Fleets to quit their Ports, would not he long in dis covering, or backward in acknowledging their error, and in banishing their ill-grounded alarms. 'We should recommence the War, having in view the greatest objea that it could possibly pment to us, that of destroying . the Naval Force ° ' r Enemy, which fur the Whole - of the two last }'ea rs ' shut. up in the HarbourS of France, Spain) °Ls ' Holland, at once defied our efforts, and coMpell ed° . to continue them withoUt relaxatiOn. PosArAalc then risked nothing in a -Maritime j ar ; would risk every thing we were then, excert hoine defence, uselessly exposed to the expenc e °.• our vast Naval Establishment ; we' now should It the prospep, under Providence, althost a certain one, of obtaining a proud compensationfdr - this ExP egce ' , he by advantages, not only highly important for t present, but which would be so perhaps, in z 5- rill greater degree, for the future. In the course of °II year, we might perhaps find means of destroyil the greater part,of the Ships belonging to th e tbre A Powers which have ventured to quit their ports, ! Il i of thus giving a finishing blow to the rem ains (I f their Marine ; which had hithertO escaped ft . ° °II , Naval Efforts. Should we not prove too sanguine in these e ' r ' pe4ations, we should be more than ever, ill sof tuation to diCtate to our Enemies the Ter rils t d Peace, (unreaSonable we are sure they never svn- i be), and of continuing the War with more less expence, and little or no danger to ourseles:., ich to: This short view of the alternative, wh e state of things at Amiegs, as far as we can form conjecture about them presents to us, proves t we may be perfectly at ease with resvett to ° ,, e future destiny. Either we shall conclude • a Dei ni l l' • Treaty on terms such as we have a right to o ' l- di or VAR will soon place us in a situation reW iV 00 . snit more advantageous, than that in which W e the are. We are far from being disposed to a hand° l 4 , e r Trope that the loaner will be'realized ; and Ie 'h wil s lt y , anxiety we may feel to see the Definitive speedily concluded, some small delays w°ld o . o r far - from exciting in us impatience. The teirirnr, a embarrassments which may result from the m ()I t :r t Commerce, and to the interests of some ind!vA-- o cannot, ought not to be put in comPe t i tl " the importance of the object in View/ and With attention and consideration which it demand of DelibCrarlaUlTi CSi diu, quod statuendUm Yesterday morning, .His MAJESTT' WA 2.° ek' cursion to Kew, bei P Certain injurious and libellous reports half,itsi in circulation, and have even got into th e 1 ./ it . that an Officer of high rank had lost great 5 10 play. We have great pleasure in stating' o cial there is not the least foundation for these ZWitr all lous , rumours, and we need scarcely addf u bee ° the idle and contemptible stories which ' l-ve grafted upon the original Libel arc 01 3 true. tO The Earl of AYLESBI.IRy has been plea r se p i 10°' point Mr. ROBE R T BLAIR, to be one of jesty's Yeoman of the Guards, in the NO JOHN FORD, deceased. 0 10 We are authorized by the Naval Ofc er ' tl0 ( came over from France two days ago to sta t 7 r ,o l ' he did not see Marquis CoßNwALi.rs a t i t ero ll arid was wholly unacquainted with the .:30116 Ascribed to him at Dover. This shews, gife Public ought to be careful what Reports th e t h o ear to—They will do us the justice to allo l ' co pP we have never in this way a b use d t heir dence. ~1 1 ; It is generally understood that Lord NE Lt ° be appointed to the Chief Command in oc.. Indies, in the event of a renewal &the Waf. Yesterday the Dispatches for - Cliina, by 011011/6 Charlotte ) Captain R. PATTERSON, We r6 , l tO t h closed at the East India-House, and deliv ere " Purser, Mr. EDWARD GREEN. ot- By a Cartel, arrived at Plymouth ,frotr . 0 „ on Sunday last, we learn, that the French ) er l °'; permit any British manufactures to be I . 3° an cl 111 ; any account, except smuggled on s hore , ta r / Custom-house officers were so very stria, e ll . 3g e , ' sent of pickles, anchovies, and salt fish, r e `. o cl tleman there, was refused being l a nded , - t - ic li 0 1 ; turned again to the cartel. Provisions are much vaneed ; full 25 per cent. dearer than a few el since. flot rt Lord Etc laid the first stone of th eneW - t re f "/ at Constantinople, which is to be th e l u Orte: e rt dence of all English Ambassadors to the cli‘Plie The QUEEN of ENGLAND'S Birth-daY ' 41 , 3 1 1 5 0 0 . 1 0/ for the ceremony, in compliment to ' r d" CAPITAN PACHA gave freedom to one hun—gt forty Maltese slaves, e CT o f An extensive edifice has been lately e r u r pog, e w Hereford, appropriated to the humane P ll OP receiving persons labouring under the t° o f tion of Insanity. b etlse r . A distressing event took place at the nea r oc VERNON COTTON, Esq. Gilbert's-Lea, cleshall, in Stafford, on Thursday se'n oiil bell °ll l lo villains were endeavouring to break into . e py ter when Mrs. COTTON was so midi tetri fi i n tvl s noise as to be thrown into convulsion fits' ogs st ; she expired in a very short time.. 'tact" 1) 131 Yesterday was married at St. I V l . e Shaw, by 'the Rev. CHARLES EDRID GE : CA LI ' or in Ordinary to His MAJESTY, 1:1 101A ," jun. Esq. of Upper Charlotte-stree" ) to, y square (son of Mr. Alderman CAl:"V'a SMITH, daughter of ROBERT SMIT'I4) singhall-street. War ta t A match is recorded in which far surpasses any modern feats' for c. ,, Q c cer, 1606, JOHN LEPTON, Esq. of York,' y s iil derable sum, engaged to ride, six ( . 1a) 1 ' v°- sion, between York and London ; an wager—he consequently rode 19/ " Fuller's, in thtbei;ossii'c, 1