The Sun. — London, England, 1807-04-23 00:00:00

MIPE IUAL PARLL4MENT. HOUSE OF JEERS, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2 The Innkeepers' Subsistence Bill; and the Ten nets'. Bill were read a Eeconcl time, and committed fur to-rnorrDn.v. Tile Earl of AYLESFOED stated that his Majesty had • been . waited upon with their Lordships' Address of yes4rday, and would be graciously pleased to give di reaiony accordingly. , , ADMINI:;TRATION OFIUSTICE IN SCOTLAND. ' Lord .1.? IiSKINE, took a brief retrospeEt of the proceedings hitherto had relative to the Scots' Judi catth.-: Bid, and observed, that he considered it of imiortance, previous to the motion of his Noble and Learned Friend on the Woolsack, for rejeaing . "the present Bill, that certain questions should be put..to the scots' Judge 3, the answers to which might per haps give a new turn lo the opinion of the House.— It was his wish; if the House should a g ree to the-se queStions being put,' that. the Judges should be treated with all that resped which the }louse shewed towards the Judges of Eno - - land, and that they should be allowed such tune as they might think ..necessary to answer them. He therefore,gaye notice, 'that he should,: to-morrow, move to put certain questions to the Scots Judges in attendance ; and - concluded by mov ing, That the Lord President and two. Senior Judges oil the Court of SeSsion, and such other Judges of that Court- as may be in town, should attend the House to-morrow.'--Ordered. ArFILNDANCE ON A CONE\IITTEE O 1 THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. Lard GRENVILLE Anted, that. be had been summoned to attend a Conimittee of the House of Common.- as a witness. Their Lordships were aware that there was a Standing Order which prohi bited Lords of Parliament from attending thellouse of Commons, or any Committee theteof, without the permission of the House: however, .the House would give but i permission, he had'noobjec . tion to attend. • The. LORD CHANCELLOR moved, that . the Noble Lord have permiSbioa to attend.—. Ordered. • Adjourned till to-morrow (this day.) HOUSE OP COMMONS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22,. - Lord PortcHEsTkat reported from the- Westmin ster Eledion Conirpittee, that they had adjourned, after having met that morning, in consetinence of the absence of Mr. Foley.=,--Dr. Bradley attended at the Bar, and stated that Mr. Foley was so indisposed a, k to be unable to attend his duty on the Committee. Mr. Foley was then excused for his absence, and from further attendance on the Committee. - Mr. LETHBAIDGE gave notice, that he should, on Tuesday next, move for the appointment of a Committee to take into Cousideration the Peti tion of Mr. Palmer, their vi'og on the table of the House. CURACOA. Cot. WOOD moved, that there be laid before .the House a Copy of the Letter of Admiral Dacres to the Lords Columis4oners of the_Adtoiralty, dated the Bth of January, sO7, inclosing a Letter from eke _Capt. Brisbane, dated Jan. 1, 1807, communicating the intelligence of the Capture of the Island of Cu racoa:-.—The 'Hon. Colonel, on being reminded by the Speaker that it was usual for Hon. Members, - when moving for Public Papers, to state the - ground Upon which they called• for them - , declared that it was witha view to an 'inquiry into the ground's of the removal of the late Governor of Curacoa-, and: the appointment of another (a connexion of the Right Hots. Gentleman opposite, Mr. Windham), that he. had brought forward thiS Motion: . I INDH4III thought the : Motion objec tionable, because nu Parliamentary ground had been la-d for it. The usual course on the 'Capture of any Enemy's Settlement was, to appoint a ProvislOnal Governor until his Majesty's pleasure should be taken upon the subjedi, and a Governor , appointed under the Sign Manual. Capt. Brisbane had been appointed the Temporary Governor, as Sir David 'Baird had been at the •Cape, and as had been the case at the Capture of •the Cape last ,war, for cer 'tainly Lord Nfacartney had not been the conqueror of the C.mpe. lion.. Colonel should a-ik why " Capt. Brisbane-had not been .continued in the Go vernment, b e i !a d only to answer, becanse another balbetem appoimmten: A !‘tptti4 be ler the House to deterinine whether the Hon. Gentleman's lltotion should be entertained on this ground ; end atter lw-hat Liit;),.' bad heard 'hmtely r f interference with the . ,Kin's Prerogative, he did not think the House `wouei go into an. ineuiry why his Majesty had thought of that to aPpoint this, or.that person Go •v,..reei• that Isleed. If the person who had been appointed wag not quelified for the' office, either by . ie;s Profession or limb berviixs, the liouse taught in- - It would be-a bad rule in - geneal that the :pertOn wbo'conqtrered an island should be continued in the Government otTit.. The man who made a ne.sicin instrument was not always the.best to play nit. There was, however, another. luestion to be Loe ,idered, e -wbether (Apt. Brisbane himself w uia irave liked that office, as an aetive command , was the ught generally preferable to the Government -of an Island Bt - et it was for the How' to decide whether the.Moiion should be agreed to. Lerd.CAS'7l, 7 Zi?E4Gii felt himself involted in considerable difficulty by the Motion of the Hon. Gentlernio. The House would be sensible that there was - no instaerce of the exercise of the Royal Prerogative in which they ought so little to inter - ere,as time appointment of -his Officers by his Ma jesty, Ma of the Officers who had-achieved .0 • • l e - - con quests bud attracted particularly the attention of the Clown, and were continued in the Government of lhoeSettlemeets they conquered. BUt that was not -a general or 'an absolute rule. As, therefore, the Hon. GETtleinan had not stated as ,the ground of his ',Motion that the person V;Fho bad been appointed Was unfit for the office, he hoped he would save the HonSe.the delicacy of deciding upon a question for which he neither bad made out, nor professed to make cat, any case, by withdrawing his' ~Motion, • especially as any discussion- upon such:a - question would ratjter detract from, than enhance, the high end distinguished chara6ler of that gallant Officer who was the particular. objeCt of the Motion,. Colonel WOOD" had brought forward ltis Motion only in defence of the rights of 'the gallant ()dicer, who had great claims upon his country. He sild I not mean in the smallest degree. to obje& to the Gentleman who had been appointed ;` but as it a; peared to be the sense of the House,. that the. My -1 tion 'should aot.be entertained, he had no diffleelty in withdrawing it ; at the same time observing, that it would be more for the interest of the country,: that Ministers . should• appoint persons of high claims . , to such offices rather than provide for their own eon-. ' n • , . et-bons. THIRD REPORT OF MILITARY INQUIRY. . . . Jord ARCHIBALD HAMILTON rose to put a question to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Merely to ascertain ,what was the stale of the trans aaion with respect to _the' proceedings upon the ' Third Report of Military Inquiry, and whether any alteration. had taken place in that transaction. The CHAACELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was ready to give the Noble Lord the most perfect satisfaaion upon the subjea of his inquiry. No alteration Whatever had taken place in the proceed ings. The. late Board of Treasury bad thought it eight, previous to the,commencement of either civil or eriininal proceedings in that case, to make further inquiries upon the subjea. . He could assure the Noble Lord that all due diligence was employed in making those enquiries, and that no disposition ex isted to avoid taking any step that might be deemed proper or 'expedient.. This was all the explanation which he could then conveniently give. PENRILYN ELECTION REPORT. , -Mr. A'rKlNs WEIGHT Moved the Order of the Day for resuming the - adjourned Date upon the, Special Report of the Penrhyn 'Election Committee. The SPEAKER stated, that the question in . the debate to be iesumed, was, That the House agree to the first Resolution of the Special ,Report of the Committee, namely, That Sir Christopher Hawkins, by himself and his Agents, was guilty of Bribery I and corrupt Proaices, with a view to influence the Ilast Election for Penrhyn. .. Copt. PERBERT was disposed to alloW the Special Report of a Committee every due weight 1 and authority ; but was of opinion, that the House e had the right to inquire into and discuss the grounds I ofahat Report: If a Special Report were final, then the first proceedings of the HotiSe would be to order a prosecution: But the House, on the contrary, ordered the . minutes of the evidence to be laid on the table, in order to examine whether the Report 1 Was•borne out by that evidence. It was for the I House to consider, whether the mortification Of the Ipersbn concerned, and the' penalties to which he was subject, were tneesufficient punishment without • aoy further prosecntion; Besides, unless the evi dence were such' as to be satisfactory to the minds of a jury, the question ought not to be sent into a. criminal Cuurt, because the ,acquittal by a jury, would take from the weightof a decision by a Corn . tnittee of that House. The Hon. Gentleman then proceeded to comment at some length upon various parts of the evidence, to shew, that the Hon. Bert. had not been intentionally guilty. He sheaved that the evidence of Stoner and Moon was contradidory with resped to the agreement, aed that there was no evidence whatever that could be Made the ground of a decision in a Court of Law. There was no proof of any agreement, or that any agreement had been titled upon ; 'and he put it to the House whe ther, upon this dohletful evidence, they would, by . agreeing to the Reselution, prejudge a.question that was to r to a Jury. It was not unusual with the House to pass over Special Reports of Committees ; for iinstance, in the Berwick and Cricklade eases. And upon these grounds he moved an amendment, i that, the Debate be adjourned to this day three 1 mouths. , -. Lord ARCHIBALD HAMILTON had attended particularly to the evidence for the last .five weeks, and declared the impression upon his mind to be the . very reverse of that stated by his Hon. Friend. This appeared to him one of the strongest cases that b a d ever been brought before Parliament. He had serv . ed upon many Committees, ary.i knew the, scrupu lousness with which their Reports were drawn up. There was no case. in which "greater confidence should be placed in'the Repast of a Committee, than when it Went to'criminate a Member of that House. The speech Of his Hon. Friend was not in mitigatieu, but for the complete abandonment of-punishment. He should th ere f ore votefor the Resolution. • 'Captain HERBERT, i n exp l ana tion, asserted that he was authorised to state, that no agreement ex isted at- the late- eleCtien, and declared- upon 'his honour, after every inquiry he c ould make, that ho such agreement existed at that Eleaion. ' Mr. LE6EI KECK argued at some length from. .the evidence, to shew, that the Report of the Come tnitiee was fully borne out, by it. He did not think it Just or hir, that the Hun. Baronet, becaus e he had -secured his seat for another place, should he in a dif ferent situation - from others under similar circum stances, because so- far as Penrhyn was concerned, he-was no longer a Member of that House. • . Mr. EDWARD 57t11 7 .1.1f contended that the House bad delegated.ita.powers to the Committee, and that it had then only to determine what proceed ing it should adopt upon the Report. One fa& was certain, that' the Hon. Baronet lid- agreed to' "give 24 guineas to each Voter, and the Gentlemen - who had read the Minutes would agree that this was one of the grossest instances of barefaced bri bery that had ever been brought under the considera tion of Parliament. Mr. HURST explained-the reasons that governed his Conduat, both in the Committee and since. He considered' the evidence with reference to the cri .minal law of the country. The proceedings upon. that evidence might be fQr the expulsion of the Hon. Baronet, or for a criminal prosecution, and - before they should determine upon either, he ' thought the Howse ought to consider whether the' ' evidence was such as to bear it out. ~The evidence of Stoner and Moon was contradiaory, *and if he were to decide, be should say, that neither was to •_ be believed; concluding therefroni that no agree- .ment existed. He had no knowledge of the Hon. Baronet until after the Report of the Committee, ' when in a conversation he bad with him, that Hon. Baronet bad declared to him upon his' honour, that no agreement was ever entered into by him. Sir W IV TYYNNZ observed, that the confi dential Agent of Sir Christopher Hawkins had admitted, on his examination, that there was an , agreement. Stoner, likewise, admitted the exist • ence of,an agreement. He trusted, therefore, that the House, aCtine upon the prieciple, that he who bought his seat would be most likely to sell his vote, would, %vith a view to purify itself, adopt the same course that had been pursued in the Cricklade, Shoreham, and lately in the Aylesbury Case, 'and throw open the Borough of Penrhyn, with a , view to prevent similar bribery in future. • • 16.1PINDHAM did not mean by any thing ,he had to say to influence the decision of the House, because he, knew nothing more of the case than he had been able to coiled since he came into the House, and did not mean to vote upon the question. He offered himself merely to. the House to entreat them not to baled away from the merits of the ques tion by any extraneous citcumstances., The. ques tion was, :whether the evidence. was such as to war rant the House in agreeing with the Committee in their Resolution. But the greater part of the dis cussion had proceeded upon an assumption_of this fad, and a consideration of what the House should do in such -a case. Ur. WHITBREAD replied to the argumenTsof Mr.. Windham. When a Committee on theirisolemn oaths had reported a Member guilty of bribery, ought the House to blink theluestion, and avoid coming to any decision upon it ? Mr. Ro§E thought the Committee warranted in their Report, and that the Report was sufficient to induce the House to put the Hon. Baronet on his trial by a Court ofJustice._ Mr:Simnos and Mr. LETHBRIDGE were anxi- Ous that the discussion should not be deferred. The Question was then put on the Amendment, which was negatived without a division. On the original Question being ptit, namely - , " that Sir Christopher Hawkins, by himself •and his Agents, had been guilty of Bribery and corrupt Praelices, for the purpoie of influencing,' the last Ele&ion for the Borough of l'enrhyn," a long discussion'ensued. Mr. SlP.lE6lJ'entetea into an examination of the evidence, and contended, - that• although corrupt {radices had certainly been resorted • to, yet that the charge of bribery was not sufficiently established; - Mr. LEICESTER followed, and drew a contrary conclusion. . Mr. litlasT declared that the evidence - was con tradiElory, and that no a& of bribery bad been proved. Mr.SWAN defended his constituents at Penrhyn from the imputation that had been cast upon them, of being generally corrupt. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER thought that the House could feel no difficulty in agreeing to the Motion to adopt the. Report of the Committee, and subsequently to send the case to a Court of Jus tice. In reply to some observations that. had been tlifiiikn out , on'the sUbje6t; he contended. that the expulSion of the Hon. Baronet ought not alsci to be resolved upon. Mr; BANKES declared, that there:was:llo instance on the Journals, of any Gentleman having been .al lowed to sit in the House against,whom a criminal prosecution had been instituted. When the..proper, time came, he meant to move for the expulsion of the Hon. Baronet. • Mr. FULLER was of a different opinion. He thought it would 'be wore fair first to send the Hon. Baronet to another tribunal, and, on the judgment of that tribunal 'having been given, to come to a subse quent decision. Sir W. W. WyNNP. hoped, fo i r the dignity of the House, that when a Member was reported by a Com mittee to be guilty of bribery, lie would be it longer allowed to sit among them. Mr. S. BOURNE trusted, that If the House should resolve to expel the Hon. Baronet, that expulsion would not be followed by a criminal prosecutiOn,' For his part, he thought a criminal prosecution pre ferable. Mr. WHITBREAD, while he maintained that there were cases in which expulsion might be followed by criminal prosecution, did not think that the present was one of theM. He was for concurring =in the Report of ,the Committee, and afterwalda sending the. Hen. Baronet to a Court ofJustice. The Gallry was then cleared, but we understood that , th;.,. Resolution of the Committee was adopted ‘vithoutp division. While strangers were excluded; we learnt that Mr. A? KINS moved— " That the - Attorney-General be direaed to prose cute Sir Christopher Hawkins for bribery," TO which. Motion Mr. BANKEs moved, - as 'fn Amendment, to leave out all the words after "That," and to substitute" Sir Christopher HawkinS be ex pelled." After debating some time, Mr. Banker's Amend ment was, we understood (fur the doors remained closed during the remainder of the discussion),:ne gatived without a divisioL The original Motion for an Address to his Majesty, praying him to direa the Attorney-General to prosecute Sir C. HAWKINS, was carried ; as were also similar Motions for the prosecutiob of eighteen persons of the Committee 'of the Eleaors of Penrhyn, who had fixed the price for which the votes were to be sold, and who had inr yited Sir C. Hawkins, by a Deputation from their body, to purchase them. It was moved by Capt. HERBERT, that Moon, an accomplice in the transaaion, but who had given evidence before the Sele& Committee of the House ,of Commons, should also be prosecuted. by ; order of the House.—This Motion was resisted, on the ground of his having already given evidence before the Committee of the House, and of his testimony being essential to the prosecutions that had been or dered. The House divided on this question— For Capt. Herbert's Motion - 13 Against it - . - - 46 After the Gallery was re-opened, the .Huse in a Committee of Supply voted 16841. to make good "the deticiericies of the votes for the service of the British Museum in 1805, and 38721. for the estimated ex pences of that Establishment in the current year.— The Report to be received to-morrow. The second reading of the Clerkenwell Parish Bill . was put off till Monday.—Adjourned. THE GQTTENBURGH MAIL. ELSINEUR, APRIL 14.—Letters received yester day from Mernel,.state, that the Emperor of Russia arrived there on the gd instant. Nothing new had happened between the armies—the Garrison of Dantzic had been reinforced with 4000 men. GOTTENBURGII, APRIL t 6 .--Accountshaye reach ed us to-day (but not official ones) that the Swedish, army, from Stralsund, has taken possession of Ros ock; in AlcciclnbUrgh, a ,d that in its parch thitlicc 1001 nTore prisoners have (since the affairs of the 3d and 4th inst.) fallen into its hands,. besides bag gage, ammunition, &c. and a considerable, sum of money, equal to about 80,0001.,sterling. The pri• soners remarked, it is said, that a general discontent * prevails in the French army in Poland in consequence of the hard services they had been exposed to. In deed, from all accounts, it would seem thatlf a safe rallying point could be offered them great desertions would take place. • MAILS. AR RIV ID-x Gottenburgh, t Husum. i Jamaica, Dublis. Due—t Lisbon, t Dublin, 3 Waterford. . PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT 'TWELVE O'CLOCK. Consols ;." Omnium - - pr. THE SUN. tOLZAd QUIT DICERS ALS:JAI AU,IZAT? 7,OKDON, Tlil"i,DAY, APRIL 23 ) . 1807. Tuts morning we received Jamaica Papers to the 14th ult:—they contain a report that a French Squa dron, supposed• to be, from Rochefort, had appeared in those Seas, in consequence of • which Admiral CocHrAKII sailed - with the whole of his force in. the Dopes of falling in with them. Dispatches were re ceived-this morning, at the Admiralty from• Admiral COCHRAtsTE previous to his sailing, which, we under stand, confirm the above account. ' These Papers state, that - accounts had been received, of General CRAUFL'II9 haVing taken Cumana but we do not think them entitled to any credit. THES . morning a Mail from Husuni and one from Gottenburgh arrived. The only article 9f im portance which they. contain, is .a report that alt Armistice had, been agreed upon between the Rus sians and French. We are, however,happy td find that '.the latest accounts from St.Petersburgh render this ac 'count very improbable. It is stated that the KING of PRUSSIA has' positively - refused to listen to any Overtures in which his Great Britain and Russia; are not iticluded. he EMPEROR of-Russm arrived at Memel on the Lld inst. • The Berlin Telegraph states that the British Fleet fiad sailed for Malta to repair the damages it sustain ed in repassing' the Dardanelles. A Report was circulated last night, that intelli gence of an unfavourable nature had been received from the East Indies by an over-land Dispatch.-- u pon i nqu i r y, however , we do- not find that there was any foundation for the rumour. • Yesterday; about 2 o'clock, 1-r is. MAJESTY ar rived at the QuEEN . S,i)iiince, from Windsor. The . Corporation—of the City of London left Guildhall at one o'clock, and proceeded on their way, ,to the QuEini's ! Palace through the. Tiorse Guards and along the Park. The - LORD Nal:ou'g state carriage, his servants in state liveries, on foot, and the .number, of carriages, between the frees, had a most delightful etled. The - procession arrived at the Palace ekaCtly at two o'clock, and. proceeded in grand procession in the folhAving order The City I,%larsital in tlill uooKin. Ti . e Mace. The Cap of Liberty. The SvVord of State. The Lord Ma% or.withl'rain-bearer and several Attendants. A Watson, id s Ant v r l s,..n, Earner, P rice, herrings a The Recorder and Common Sergeant. Aldermen FlJlver, Hunter, Schuley, and Ha.nkey. The SherittS of London ac.cl The City Reinernbrancer. Deputies Birch, Wrench, ?nil Dixon. Messrs. Browne, Harper, Valiance, Clarke, Beak, Creena. wa y, I. Dixon, Stewart, Box, and Ro.wlL.t. I'h4.Hall-Keeper; and several oilier Officers. Soon after their arrival His MAJESTY entered the i‘iLevee-room,Aius.ry the 6 we A h d r h Address r t ea. e i 11c 014 E, theoltD E c it ou p r t t es o e f ated to H co alino i: Council. It was as fOIIoWS " To the KING's MOST EXCELLENT MA ; , .ES'I'Y. " The huMble and dutiful Addreis. of the Lord Nlayoto Aldermen, aiul Commons of the City of Loadon, Itx Common Council assembled. ..; " Most Gancious SOVEREIGN " We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjeetsp i the Lord Mayor, Ald e rmen, a nd Commis, of the C i ty of London, in Common Council asseinbled, approach the . 'Throne with our warmest and most unfeigned gratitude, for the dignified and decided support and protect ioo recently giver , by l our Majesty to the Protestant Retained Religion, as b' • Law established, and for the firm and constitutional exercise of your Royal Prerogative, to preserve the independence of the Crown, " Deeply sensible as Your Majesty's faithful Citiiens of London at all times are of the great and substantial blessings we enjoy under Your Majesty's P:itenial Government, We should justly incur the imputation of criminal indifference, 55 the first Municipal Body in Your Majesty's Dominious, were We lightly to consider the scrupulous regard and fervent zeal which have invariably guided Your Majesty for the preserv ation of our Religion, Laws, and Liberties, inure pas ticularli at this interesting conjuncture, or silently to withh o ld our Loyal Acknowledgments, due to the best of Kings, for his wise and steady Resolution to secure inviolate our glorious Constitution in Church and Stare. " We contemplate, Sire, with the warmest affection, and most profound veneration, the exercise of those unextinguisiv able principles in the Royal Breast, which proted, in every situation, the Religious I uterests of y.ur l'eople, and pro' Vide for the happiness and freedom of posterity, by guardieb the Protestant Succession in Your' Majesty's Royal Moo° on the Throne of the United Kingdom. • . '" Your Majesty's faithful Citizens of London feel it O° .less their pride and exultation, than their bounden and indis,; pensable duty, to express the sentiments of satistadti o n animate their hearts at the wise and dignified measures purer sued by Your Majesty, for securing the glorious I iidepeodea of the Crown, as one of the Three Estates of our well tent pered and invaluable Constitution. •. efr "That Your Majesty may be long spared to us by a n ov ruling Providence, and that the .People of this Lana in.iy long sensible of the blessings of Your Majesty's o'l g auspicious Government, in the rotation , of - every 01 al dear to them, is the ardent prayer of Your Majesty'6 LOY Citizens of London. " Signed, by Order of the Court, " HENRY WOODTHORPE. " rx 5 They were received very. courteously by 5 MAJESTY, who returned them the folluWirig 10 graciuus Answcr. :