The Sun. — London, England, 1807-03-26 00:00:00

a - grant of the. orrice fo life 'for that time, implied that the right to grant it f - ir life. should revive at the expiration of that tithe, if the Duchy sliou l .d not be merged in ,the Crown by the' passing of the Bill. It was certain that lrrger means - of mak ing grants would bp supplied' to the Sovereign by restraining grants for life, and the grantees would be kept in a greater state of dependence ; but the discre tion of making the grants would be limited and 're strained., He .represented the impropriety of adapt ing a general regulation in a particular case. If the office was at all .to be given for life, the House was not to interfere with-the judgment of the King as to the occasion on which it may be so grant ed. Was it meant to say, that on the occasion -on which Lord Rockingham, Lord -Lansdowne, and 11Ir. Fox, approved the grant for. life, it was perfealy right, but that it could not be so in any other 'circumstances ? Why was-not •the pre sent motion brought for Ward in the last Administra tion -? Now it was entangled in . the present state ‘of affairs, with the situation of the individual to whom it was prOposed to grant the office, and . with' the forthation of a New Administration. In quit ting his profession it was to be considered that the Honourable and learned, Gentleman gave up not only his present profits - M that profession, but -his prospect of the highest honours in that profession, - which he was well entitled to look forward to. He was nnwillingto adopt a restriction, which could be departed front in no cise, even though 'to-morrow a case of the utmost propriety for a gr. nt for life should occur. There was no Resolution o: the Committee of Finance recommending this restriaioti. He would not go into the question of the merits of the two Administrations ; but, frdm all that be had stated, be wishd the House to abstain -from coming to the • Resolution. • Lord HO/I'/6'k, though he had been several times personally tb' in the course of this de bate, w Wleil altogether to have abstained .from en:- tering this night into the, explanation which he had thought proper to reserve for a future occasion ; and therefor he would have been silent, but for . the ne cessity of answering one or two things that had fallen from the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite. The Right Hon. Gentlemen - obje6ted to the motion, be cause it went to put a general liMitation upon the Crown, on the spur of a particular occasion. He . would pot enter into any arguMent With the Learned Gentleman ; but if it was true 'that the CroWn had not the right to grant for life what was usually granted only during pleasure, it was no restraint upon the prerogative to advise the King not to de upon this particular.occasion what had been gene rally not done. •As to tl,lose places 06‘v granted• for life, which may better be granted only during plea sure, and those offices granted only during pleasure, • which may be with more propriety granted for life, it may be very right to pass an At of Parliament on that head, such as that of King "William for establishing the Judges for life. But, according ,es the case, stood at present, it would be very wrong to san6lionan unlimited discretion: For in that case the office of Chancellor 'of the Exchequer may be granted for life, and *so may that of Lord High Chan cellor. For Coke said of that high office, tha it was one granted by patent during pleasure, that it had somet Lines been granted for a term of years, a,nd once for life : but the grant was holden void, because an ancient office must be holden according' to the ancient custom. So if the office now under consideration had not been usually granted for life, the Motion now before the House did not go to restrain 'or confine the prerogative, but to regulate the exercise of: it according to the usage of the best of times. It had been disputed whether the grant for life to Lord Ashburton was according to law ; and, with all the venera:ion he had for the hTot • narneSby'whoSe 0 authority that transaction was san6tioried, Lord Rock - ingham,- whom he was too . young to have the loges of knowing, and Lord LansdoWne i 'whom he knew and admired, and revered, yet with all his ve neration for these exalted persons, and with all the' distinct nature's which the case of Lord:AshbUrfon hadsin its favour,' he was inclined to think that the lb grant to him was neither conStitutinnal nor politically expedient. The Right lion. and Learned Gentleman said it was proper to make a provision for thoSe who 'gave up professional pursuits to accept politiCal offices. He knew of no instance in which that principle had been recO L ;nized.--(Some Gentlemen mentioned across the Tal..le the case of Lord Grantley : )Lord Grant . ley had been brought frun the profession' of the law" to fill the Chair of that }louse, like the distincruihed person who now filled it so respeaably; an :intimate knowledge of the law being thought - desirable in a Speaker, , and it was in consideration of that that a provision had been made 'for him. So it was when. a person was removed from eminent pra6lice at the bar to be Lord Chancellor, it , was thought Tight •to annex to the - appointment a contingent provision for. .life, to .commeike on the termination of the tempo.: racy possession Of the office.. With all' due respe&- fofthe Hon. Gentleman who had been partieularly alluded to this night, it would he gAite ridiculous -comparehtm with Mr. Dannirig If We were going to .inake use of the Hon. Gentleman's legal talents, he would have no objection to grant him .a . provision. 'lf _the Hon. Gentleman • were to be made Lord-Chan , cellor, he' would have no objeElion. But ihOngh the- Hon. Gentleman liid distin Q ovished himself Tire in the House than at the Bar,he could not - say th.,:t hid done any thing to entitle . him to such a provision. it happened singularly, too, that the. llonoura'bie Gentleman was •the man of all others who .had least distinguished himself - on finance. If the Honourable Gentleman chose the career of ~oltics.in preference to that of law; he-should take . ; it sobjeCl to all its Tisques: 'The. vain -and arrogant boast of possessingr , all the talents of the -coUntry, had beet:. uniformly disclaimed by hith and the i , Z.oble and Honourable-persons Cotireled with him. • BLit It suited the purposes of newspaper libellers . to fasten on them the boast so often disclaimed, and to repeat it with mai icions - obstinacy and falsehood. He must, however, take leave to observe, that it afforded but a weak specimen indeed of the talents of the new Administration, if they could not find a Chancellor of the Exchequer witli . out having recourse to 'the _Law for him. He had mucb more to Ear l on this question ; but it had been so ably opened by Ins Honourable and Learned - Friend 'near and • by those other Gentlethen who had spoken for the first time this night, and who gave happy a promise of future ellPtienre, that it wis Unneces fiary for to add much . to what he had. said. A Gentleman bad observed; that ,only one Dever inn had been in tIC-e,pqwer Of;:tbe late:Adininistra tion ; but he t ould inform that Gentleman and the House, that -another very valuable one also had fallen in in the course of the last week. Another Honourable - - Gentleniant alluded to what he had said last night of the' reversion granted in - the Court of Chancery.. The Offices of that Court, and the other Courts of Law, were considered as en tirely under the patronage of their several Judged. The Committee ofFinance had so considered them, and he wished to put this distin&ion between those offices and those under the Government in general. He thought also, that the discretion of the Lord . Chancellor had not been improperly exerted, in making such a use of his private pate/nage to pro vide for his Clerk, who while he was in such extensive pra&ice at t4.'Bar, had a Considerable income from that situnion ; but who, by his Lordship's removal from the Bar was left desti tute, unless this provision had been made for him. Another thing that ought not to pass without an an swer was, the suggestion made by an Hon. Gentle man-of the propriety of the notice he had given for tomorrow, of the explanation .which he had- pro.mised of certaiu recent and important occurrences. The Honourable Gentleman suggested the prcipriety of his abstaining from that explanation in the ab sence of' those who alone on that side of the House cotild be conversant with the circumstances to which his explahation would relate. He was sorry to be obliged ,to bring forward his statement in the ab sence of any one particularly qualified to canvass what he should state. He had been always anxious for the arrival of the time when he should be at 'li berty to explain his coeduci fully. He was not at liberty to explain ;t sooner, and it was impossible 'now that he should agree to suffer the holidays to pass over, and to allow the false and injutious state ment that had .gone abroad with respea to him to circulate; vithout refutation, or even contradiEtion. 1 If there could be any doubt of the prOprie.ty of the re-. , olution he had taken, that doubt must -have been entirely removed, by his 'having seen in a News paper of this day, -a • Letter quoting the; sub stance of a Cabinet minute, Commenting on it, and distorting it with fake-interpretation and Kase colour ing. When he saw matters of this kind brought forward in such a manner, in breach of conlitfenee, and in breach of trot h, justice, and honour, was it right- for Intn'to sutfer this Newspaper writer to pro ceed uninterrupted with his false representations, and to blacken and calumniate his condett without • the least restraint or contradittion during the ,whole of the holidays. This was the reason why he had determined to give his ei9lanatiOn to-morrow; and he asked whether it was consistent with honour or propriety, with what he owed to himself and to the House, H and to the country, to sutler time to elapse after so injurious an attack, bad been made upon him. Let those who could, controvert what he had to state. —He should say nothing but what would be con sistent with truth, and what he would support aid make good to the .satisfaetion of the House and of the People. Mr. &TURGES BOURNE, in explanation, said, he had expresSed some surprise that the Noble should think of bringing forward his explanation in the absence of those who alone could know on that side of the - House the circumstances to which the Noble Lord would have to advert. The Noble Lord would not suppose surely that he had any thing to do with the Publication alluded to by the Noble Lord : he-assured him he knew nothing of it. H e had no .idea that the. Noble Lord would depart from:stria propriety in the statement he meant to make" to-morrow. But as he knew nothing o f what the Noble Lord had in his mind, and. what was the _reaon- - of his determination, the Noble Lord would not be surprised that he had questioned the propriety ()tottering to make the e xplauatin n i n the absence of all other persons acquainted with the circumstances. Colonel GRAbi!i.M supported the Motion• The question being then.lundly called for, a divi sion took place.—Ayes for the Address 208 —Nues against it 115—Majority 93. While the suppOrterS of the - Address were in the lobby, order was :ailed, and Lord Howlck addresSed them as foiloWs • " Gentlemen--4 understand that it is intended to propose to-morrow, that the House should, at its ' rising, adjourn for a Much longer time than is usual • at this period of the Session, or than I think con sistent with the.present state of affairs, or with my views Of the public interest: '-;The adjournment which is to be proposed is to'next Monday fortnight. - It is my intention;• on the grounds I have mention ed, to oppose that motion, an d to propo se , by W ay 'of amendment, Unless, as:l hope, it may be proposed by 'somebody a 4 0 ,, , that . 'no longer adjournment • should tak e pl ace t h an t ill Mpnday se'nni g b t at far thest. As there will certainly be a division Upon :this qnestion, and, in all pr o balitiity, an early one, I hope Gentlemen will feel the propriety of a full and -early attendance." On the re-admission of, strangers, 'we found that -the Address had - been ordered to-he carded tip by ,such Members oft he How,e vl4O were -of hi s Majes ty's Privy Council: The 'SPEAKER wished to observe, .•that the House should not come to .a decision that a breach f their priviteges bad been committed, without or eering the person who had been guilty of that breach into custody. This was the pra&ice of the House in such cases, however short the time for which the offender should be committed. • , Mr. TIER NEY thought that there was no breach' of privilege, where no intention appeared of coin- - miffing such a breach._ _ Mr. M. A. TAYLOR bore testimony to the re spe&ability of Mr. Alcock's charmer, and was sure his Hon. Friend (Mr. Dent) would not persist is any thing harsh or severe. Strangers were now ordered 'v." withdraw; and were not re-admitted during the remainder 'of the sitting ; but after some further 'debating upon the question, we understand that Mr. Alcock was taken into custody,' and a few minutes after .called to the Bar of the House, where he,was reprimanded by the Speaker; after. which he was ordered to be dig:. charged on paying his fees.—Adjourned at. twelve o'clock. MAILS. ARRIVED-1 HUSUM, i Dublin. Dut-3 COttenbUrgh, 1 Lisbon, t Dublin, 3 Waterford. PRICE OF STOCKS TIM DAY- AT TWELVE O'CLOCK. • Consols - - •6z I Onanium - -4, pr. THE SUN. SOLtM QUtS DICtRt IikL:SVM,AVaILtT? LANCASTER ELECTION. We also found Mr. DENT od . ins legs, explaining the manner in which Mr. Alcock had obtainod and served warrants of the Speaker, which were by him addressed to persons who were to come forward as witnesses before the . Committee appointed t o try t h e merits of the Lancaster Petilion. Mr. Aleoek's con du& in that respe& appented to him to be highly 176- pivlielisible, and to be a Violation of the privileges of that Honse: -- The Hort. Gentle Man concluded v‘iith muting, th:it Jolni Alcock,' for having served warrants, not duly' authorized / by the Speaker; was guilty of a breach of the Privileges of that 17.touse. Mr.TIERNEY assured the Rouse lfr. Al cock, in doing what he had.done, had no suspicion whatever that he was acting wrong. He iuiagiiied that Le Was a6ting only as an Attorney, and.aiAtror-: nio usually do in the Courts of Law. H,e noWßnd, however, that the praElice of the House was 1 - ,t - ry different, and. he wits ready to"throw himself on the percy of the House, and ask pardon for the tranS gression. . The Hon. Gentl-r,o.n couldl not surely take up any, of the - animositi s that" might have ex isted betWe,i Aleoc4 aJd other lersuns inter rested in the eleCtion: • Sir. H. 411LD.111AT defended his Hon. Friend fron . l any imputation of ‘eing capable of .a6.l;ng from motives of revenge, or from any disposition to seve rity babe tlionght such a precedent - should not be allowo to . i ass LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1807. , WE yesterday stopped -the Press to announce the receipt of Foreign Journals, Containing Intelligence of 'the rapid retreat or rather flight of the French Army towards the Oder, a step which weTprediEted ISONAPARTE would take as soon as we were apprized of the full extent' of the Victory obtained by the' Russians at Eylau. .If Austria had taken a de cisive part a few weeks ago, this Retreat would have been - -itnpraaiCable, and the - French Ar my in, Poland would inevitably have been cur oft: It evident, however, that i3APART.E entertains strong suip!eions of the.intentions of the. f;INIPERQR of AUSTRIA, fbr be _has "reinfbrced the Qarrison of Brannau with 3000 additional troops. — Gen. BENNIGSEN has been joined by ve'rylitie're;- inforcements, and will, of course, follow the French with as much rapidity as the state of the Country and the scarcity of provisions and forage will permit him. There is, "however, reason to ap prehend that the French, from the . celerity of their movements, will etTe& their retreat 'to the Oder with little loss. BONA PARTE was expeC - ted at Berlin last week : TALLEY4A ND had left Warsaw for that City, and all the Foreign Minister.q who wereat Warsaw were ordered to follow to Berlin. We, are prevented by want of ropmfronx commenting at length upon the important intelligence whirls s we have received; and must . refer our Readers, for the details, to the Extraft ill. our First Page, which, we have made from the Foreign Journals brought I),y the Hzisum 'Mail *bid' arrived last night. A very interesting conversation took place last Might in the House of Corm - none, upon the Motion of Mr. INIAky u for an Address to HIS MAJESTY,. praying that he would not grant a,ny Office for Life which had usually, been, grimed during pleasure. This Motion was directed against Kr. PERcIvAL, to. whom it was in contemplation to grant the Chan cellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster for Life, as a compensation to him for giying up his. PrOfes sion on accepting the Office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. PERCIVAL took his seat on the T rea sury Bench, and after having expressed his sen-. timents upon the Motion, he withdrew. The Motion tbr the Address wfis carried . by a considerable Majority. During the 'course of the Debate Lord, e a Howicx adverted to, a. statement which - appeared in a resp& ble Paper Yestrdpy Morning . ; nVon the snbje& of the differences which subsisted between HIS MAJESTY and his late Ministers, and said, that that statement rendered it ne- . cessary,for him to explain_ to the, House the ! : lircum, stances which led, to the dismission of, hitnkif and his-Colleagues from ot6ce.' That explanation is to be:given this day. The' statement to which 'hisLord.'. ship alluded, and which be represented to hare been an Extract from a Cabinet Minute, was as follows: " That Ministers, in Consenting to withdraw the Ca ", tholic Bill, trusted that Ills MAJESTY would see • " • the indispensiblos necessity of their expressing;' on withdrawing the Bill, the strong persuasion . they felt of the benefits v.vbich would result from ddif ferent course of policy to the Catholics of Ireland • " and they further stated, that it was indispensible r.,,g to their charaeters, that they should openly avow " these sentiments, not only on the present occasion, " but in the event of the. Catholic Petition coming - " forward: and they further insisted; that their pre seat deference to. His M.A.IESTY might not be un derstood as, restraining them - from submitting, " from tm e to time, sucli measures as circum " stances Might require respecting she statet:of Ise " lid.,' 'WE alluded 4 le v days a;‘) to the ieports which were in circa tion of some very Unfortunate events having happened tu the Carna,ti:, and at the same, time we-stated the grounds which ws wee lcd .to hope that those reports were unfounded, •Or ai least very much exaggerated. It gives, us much pleasure to find that our statement was confirmed by what fell from Mr. TIERNEY last night in the House -of Ootnmons, in answer to a question proposed to him by Sir PHILIP FRANCIS. Our Readers will dc us the justice to recoiled that we stated that neither Ahe'Dispatches to Government, from General MATT- • T AND, dated on the 21st of September last,. nor • those received by the East India , Company, con-. twined any account of any fresh insurrection in tits Carnatic ; and after what fell from 'Mr. TIERNEY last night, there is every reason to believe that the reports which have recently been in circulation are, merely .-repetitions of the . unfortunate events at Vellore. • Yesterday morning his MAJESTY'S late Ministers attended at Buckingham House, and, in conformity to the Royal command, resigned their seals of bake. Lord Chancellor ERSKINE, is not to surrender the Great Seal till - Wednesday next, 'is it is hisMaJgs- Tv's pleasure that be should retain his high office till that period, in order to enable .him to-pronounce his judgMent upon several causes in the Court of Chan cery, upon - which he was about to' decide. The Duke of PORTLAND kissed hands on being appointed First Lord of the Treasury. Mr. CANNING went. through the same ceremony, as Secretary of State for the Foreign Department, and not as first Lord of. the Admiralty, as reported. • The latter situation is, we find, to - be allotted to Lord MULGRAVE ; Lord HAwKEsatlAy also kissed his MAJESTY's hand oil . being appointed to the Home Department; Lord CASTLE . REAGIi for the War ,and Colonial 'Depart _ Ment: Bari of WESTMGRLAND, Privy, Seal. Earl CAMDEN is to be President of the Council. • Earl ELGIN is appointed 'Lord Lieutenant • of Fifeshire, and Earl SELKIRK Lord Lieutenant of Kirkcudbright Stewartry, and bbth yesterday kisaed, hands on the occasion. His MAJESTY, after the . Levee, held a Privy Cogzl• oil, which sat till five o'clock. - • A'Paragraph having appeared in a Morning Parer of yesterday, stating that the Marquis WELLEst.EI had " spurned at the (Ter which was made to him of Hie; Seals of the Foreign Office," we are ail thotized to contradia that statement in the most positive terms.. If any such offer was made to the Marquis WELLESLEY, it must have proceeded from persons for whoni he always entertainecl the highest resped, and therefore, must have been reoeivd with sentiments of gratitude on his part. If such an offer was ultimately declined, the considera tions which 44 to such a result were hohourahle to, 41. pitrtier4. The Princess- Ilinry Packet, from the Leewar3 Islands, with Mails, is arrived at Falmouth ; she sailed from Tortola on the 3d of February ; the letters will be delivered to•morrow. The Diana Packet, from America, was spoken ''ith on the ii . th inst. in lat. 44. 46. lopg. 31. .2, 7 . Mr. DACRE ADAMS, who filled the Office of Pri.- ate Secretary, to Mr. PITT, at the time Of the death of that lamented Minister, has been appointed to. I p i u ti b c l a isp e t entitled the same situation by his Grace the Duke of 1.'011T.! LAND, We d ~ tinde s r i s zo ta r r; a .dt e h m a n t r t khs upon ! Pamphlet latel y phßleectentP olitical c urrences,". is from, the pep of th e Ri g h t Hon. C . Among other interesti ng topics v er y ab l y touched upon, _are some suggestions upon Finance, tiarticnlarly worthy attention at. the present tu' oment; ;i s being the most practicable and solidly beneficial of any yet submitted to the It is understood that_ Sir ANDREW HAZIONS ". fIomp'POPHA., and AdMiral GAIOIER are to have Seats at the Admiralty Board. Yesterday P. Pendergrast was executed before the. Debtors door at the Old Bailey, for a burglary in the house* Mr. Reit,. in Edgeware,road be was an aged man, and submitted to his sentence with appa rent signs of penitence. A dreadful and fatal accident befel Mrs. Gel!, widow of the late Col. Gell, at her residence, H'ott's Hill, near Bayswater, on Tuesday. That lady en tertained a party of friends on the evening of Mon day,. and early on Tuesday morning the man ser vant of Col. M'Donald heard a shrieking in the house of Mrs..Gell, and oh his entering, her dress was in a perfe& blaze, and she was'on the stairs.— Immediate assistance was afforded . the lady, nut without effe&, for she expired, and has left a familf often children to bewail the loss of a tender parent. •It is supposed that the unfortunate lady had sat with her head reclining on the table near the candle, and her head-dress caught fire.- " Ten per cent. and a prospe& of a Bonus," ex claimed a Proprietor of Bank Stock, the other'day, to an acquaintance—" that's somethiiiglike-i4terest,. my friend !"—".TrUe, Sir," replied the tatter; but I . hope speedily to make a thousand per cent. by , a stake from my stock purse." Aye ! some harum searum plan, I suppose !"—" No, Sir—but by the very plan, which you once honestly confess «I to me, laid the foundation for your great capital in Bank Stockby an adventure in a State Lo.tery."—The Proprietor candidly acknowledged the faa, and as honestly confessed, that the present State Lottery Scheme was the most inviting one he ever knew, LONDON : Printed by R. Ileatis (of Martlett-court; Bow-street), and published by W. A. SCRIPPS (of Moulton-r4rcetl, at the Sun-Office r us ) Strand.