The Sun. — London, England, 1802-12-21 00:00:00

1.11P.$ PA.q.LIAMENI. HOUSE OF PEERS. MONDAY, DEC. 20. THE 'Order of the . Day being read for giving Judgment on the Scotch Appeal, Graham' v. Hen derson, the LORD CHANCELLOR quitted the arid — Wier - ricakirig Tfa — ciliseo - ationS to the , ineiits of the Case., from which it appeared that_he, was decided .theieon, moved a Resolution, which tended to aftipn ,the, Decree of the Scotch Court, biit, without 'the'anne . xatior; of Costs. • The . Question being put, it was ordered.accord ingly., On' the otder,- for . Cl^. further-consideration of the Scotch -Appeal, Lord I.itinairtl rth Matthewson, the LORD eflANct LLOR stated his opinions- of the Case at very great length, and concluded 'by moving , :Thar:the 'further _consideration thereof be -deferred' till to-morrow, in order -to afford time for the due framing of a :Proposition,, for remitting certain 'parts of the Case. to the Court of Session, Statement• of Claims, &c. which, on the Question being put, was ordered - accordinglY.' - • The Earl of TALBOT and Lordl3llAbFotto were sworn and took their Seats. - Mr. ALEXANDVI2, attended by several Gentle_ men, brought up froth the Commons, the English lVlitiria Amending Bill the Irish Militia Pay Bill the VelOns Transportation; the Sugar Dnty'bravy'_ . hack ; the fri ll FloUr ; the -Coin :Export and Import Regulation '; and the, .Woollen Aanufae.. turers' Bills. ' • .Captain MARKHANT; attinded 'by Lord GAF:U- N:En and'othei WieinberSi'-lrbuglit up the Navy Abuses Bill. Two Naturalization Bills were returned by Mr. STRANGE. The above-Bills were severally read a first time. It was ordered, on the motion of Lord th Wm,- , STNGHANI, at a wiessage - ne sent, to.the Commons, requesting a copy of certain Reports made to that House, relative to the . state of the Dock Yards, Sc. &e. A Petition having been_ presented, to defer the second reading , of the.Gotimanchester Inclosure Bill to a disian.t.day,. in order that the. Petit loners. might have time .to be heard by .their Counsel against the measure, ecc,, the.. .Agents- on both sides were called to the Bar; fiom whose - sratements-it ap peared, that the Parish of Godmanchester con, tained 4.700 acres, of which the •Petitioners occu pied little more than zoo acres, and that the Peti tion presented to the House of Commons against the Bill was pot followed by the hearing of Counsel. Upon the whole, the Lo RD CHANCELLOR Seeikd of opinion, that the second reading . of • the Bill may not improperly be deferred till to-morrow, and that the Parties have leave to be heard by their Counsel.---The Noble and Learned Lord having moved to that effeci, the "second reading of the Bill was ordered to be deferred accordingly. Some other private business was then disposed of; after which their Lordships adjOurned till to- I morrow, • HOUSE OF COMMONS% MONDAY, DEC. 20. CAPT. MAR KHAM moved for an Account of the Quantity of Flax and Hemp imported during the, List ten years, distinguishing each year, and the Country from.whieh i t w as i mporte d.— . -Ordered. The English Militia Amendment Bill was read a third time and passed. The Order of the Day for the third reading of the Sugar Bounty Bill being read, Mr. 3:OIINSTONE rose to state some objeaions to this Bill :---he was sorry he was under the neces sity- of differing from many Members of that House, but viewing the subjea in the light he did, he could not help offering a few observations, though he was apprehensive that they would not produce any effedt. The obje6l of the Legislature, with respect to the Sugar Trade, had always been to grant Bounties on the re-exportation of that article,. equal to the duty it paid upon its importation. This principle was uniformly ailed upon till the year 1794, when we had obtainea such a monopoly of the ,Sugar Trade, that it was thought advisable to depart from that policy, and accordingly the Bounties upcin Expor_ lion were diminished. No bad eft Is were felt from this plan until the year 1795„ when it was found necessary, from the state of the trade, again to grant the old Bounties on Exportation. He wished the House to consider what the expence.tb the Na tion would be, if the Bounties proposed by this Bill were agreed to; In the year ending ,the sth of January, iSos, the quantity of raw Sugar exported Was one million 'of cwt. and of refined Sugar, eight hundred thousand cwt. The Bounties upon the, former, would amount ro soo,oool. arid upon the latter to 125,0001. 4t was not unnecessary to ask, why the Public should incur Jhis .e; - epence,, because the more Sugar that was exported to the Continent, the dearer the article would be at home, and, therefore Parliament would be only Baying a Bounty to the Exporter, in order to raise the price of Sugar. It might . be urged, that if some assist ance was not given to the persons engaged in this , trade, they would be ruined; : but surely it never could be laid down as a principle, that if a number Of persons engaged in any branch of trade were losers by their speculations, that therefore they had claim upon Parliament for their relief. Would the Cotton Manufafturers, or men engaged in any other branch of trade, have any claim under similar . circumstances to apply to Parliament for relief ? Certainiy not .; then what right had the West India Traders to a greater share of indulgence than any other description of persons ? Many Gentle Men who had property in the West Indies, but who xesided in England, complained that the profit of their West India property Was small, but if tl;iey did not attend to the management of their own estates, or it they employed impfoper persons to manage them, it was their Own a r i - al,certaimy did not strengthen their claim to haVe'their losses made up by Parliament. But one circumstance to hew that - the profits of trade were' very 'great in The Wesi Indi es , w a s , that at Jamaica'thy interestof money wzr; so per cent. and many persons chose a leave Lute .unpaid, paying an interest' of tio per cent. rather than withdraw their money from trade, which decidedly proved that they must . make more than that interest upon their capitals in trade. He threw .out. these. observations merely for the consideration of• the House, and declared that he entertained no.prejudices t,vhatever upon the subject • , • 111;-. FULLER said, he conceived it to be`iPery hard that the West India Traders, afterpurchasing every - year, English inatinfaCtures to a large amount, and afteriurnishing. at-,least one tenth of Seamen cmployed..in our Ney,lhoulcl not make above 2 . per cent. upon their Capitals. The West India Planteri expended irrorive eieven Millions a year in purchasing thftirnanufafteres of this Country, they brought back,Fight of.their own pro duce,' they furnished ,one ,tenth of your Seamen, and what do they ask in return for this ? Why, that they might be allowed to sell that part of their produce which :could not be : consumed in this Coun try, in Foreign markets, and upon an equal footing with others. • And if this Bill was 'not passed, it was.impossible that English Merchants.could meet Foreigners in the Foreign markets. The state of the We'st India Traders was particularly hard, they Werecompelled.topurchase all they wanted in this Cppntry, and they were obliged to bring all .their Comthodities to this 'market. For instance, he himself could sell Sugar in Jamaica for 4.0 guineas, which he was cmnpelled to bring to this Country where he could,only sell it .for, 25 guineas, Under all these circumstances, , what was it they asked ? Why, upon the.l-lon. Gentleman's own statement, only bounties to,the.amount of 225,0001. a year. Mr. BARHAM also supported the Bill, and con tended, that the4ituation of . th e , W est I n di a Plan. ters was particularly hard, for the dUties they paid amounted to more -than . double the whole of their profitS. The 'objeCtion'tO the present Bill seemed to him rather uocandid, because it was telling the persons engaged in that trade, that whenever their profits were large, Parliament wo u ld c om e i n ' f or a share of them ; 'but that Parliament Would afford them no relief in the hour of distress. It had, been urged, that there was something novel in this mode of _relief being granted, but Ile was sdrprised that any one could be so ignorant as to make such an 1 assertion. He could produc e a b o v e - f or ty i nsta n ces I from the Cuitom,liouse books, where Parliament had . • granted the same indulgence'. It was not to serve merely the interests of the West India Planters that this Bill was- propoWd,:but for the benefit of the , Community at because the . Public were in terested in the prosperity of the - West India Trade.. Mr. Y4.IIISITTART said, it was unnecessary. for him ,to add _much to what had been said upon this subject. He concurred in general with the Gentlemen who had spoken last respeCting . the.West India Trade; but they were not Correa in stating, that the interests of that Trade had ever been ne glefted by the LegislatU re ;- on the contrary, it had always watched over and protected them. This tneasure.was necessary, as, well for the relief of the persons immediately concerned, •as for the Com munity at large, 'because so large a portion of Bri tish capital was vested in that Trade, and so many thousands of persons were conneCted with, and de_. pendant upon it, that if it were to be stopped, it would produce the greatest confussion and..distress ;. therefore it w a s not necessar y 10 - Inake any - a-p;:4togy far the introduCtion. of this , measure. The only question to be considered was, Whether this Bill was calctilated to produce the effeet for which it was intended ? Upon this part of the. sub jeCt he begged leave to state, that at several meetings which had been held of the West India -MerchaOts, it was generally agreed that the plan now proposed w.as the most effeetual one that - could be devised to grant them relief, and . that at the same time it was the most economical to the State. It was obVious from many causes that. the supply of Foreign Countries from Foreign Colonies must be considerably diminished. The situation of. St. 'Domingo, from which-immense exportations used to be made, it was not necessary-for, Min to allude to. The island of Guadaloupe was also in a very unpro dative state. Foreign Countrie must, therefore, in a great degree, be-supplied from British Planta tions. It was theretOre, necessary to adopt some means to facilitate the' gxportation. By the -last returns, there were not less than two millions of c.wt. of Sugar now in this Country more than was, ne 7 cessary for its consumption. If to this stock was to be added, another year's produce, it would re duce the price so low, as to be absolutely ruinous to the Merchant. What had. been urged by one of the Hon,. Gentlemen who preceded him wits . un doubtedly true, that if Parliament laid on additional Dutiei - when the price Was high, it ought not to refuse relief under circumstances of peculiar pres sure.- Upon these grounds it was that this Bill was introduced, and in addition to this: it was to be recolleCted that this was but a temporary measure. Mr. FULLER explained-L.he said, he did not mean .to say that the West India Planters had peen oppressed, but "that they would be so if this Bill were not passed. Mr. AT4yNs spoke shortly in favour of the Bill. Mr. Jou NSTO NE explained. . • lhe Bill was then read a third time and passed. THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION. Sir FRANCIS BURDETT expressed his appre hensions that he had not sufficiently explained him self in the notice he had the honour of giving on Saturday last, and now considered it as -the fairest and most candid way, to state explicitly what were the Grounds, and what the nature of his Complaint. He shouh thezefore, with the permission of the House, submit two Resolutions, but was. uncertain as to the line he ought to pursue, hough the matter in his judgment lay within a narrow compass. He had read in one of the Public Papers (THE TR4I E . BR vroN) an Advertisernent settitia forth a Letter from Mr. MAI N NV A Ri NG, iddiessed to Mr. BLACKBURN, a Member of that House, and at the time alluded to, the Chairman of a Meeting of the Friends of the petitioning Candidate for Mid, dlesex. his was followed by Resolutions to sup port Mr. MAINW AR ING'S Cause by Subscription, which he belie v ed t h e SPEAKER and the House could consider no otherwir,e, than a Breach of the Privileges of the House of Commons. He then ;tad from the ms TP.UE itiTe,:d the Re,olutions stating that the expenees were such, as ought not to be sustained by any individual, but should be de_ frayed by subscription and voluntary contribution. He did not imagiNc there ceuld be two t opinionsin , the Ho.use,_ as to such a proceeding being highly .indecorous, "at the time a Trial was pending in .Par. Jiament ; because its objet : manifestly was to pre. judge the case, and to prejudice the minds of those who were to he the judges He did not know whether the House would expert him to go into-the meritpoLtbr.question this day, or merely submit solneßesoluci4na, and wait for the final determination tilj .tnotrowtovhen he was .. assured of the assist ant4of a.Mernber, *hose opinion haa justly great weight and Astxhority in the House, arid. whik.Was now prevented from attending only from indisposi. tion. He then read the tTO Resolutions he meant to .proposei with the-', ermission of the'House, the effect of which were : ist, That after a Petition had been received, c.ny Appli cation tending to prejudge the merits of the Case, ur preju dice 'the 'Members, was a Breach of the .Priviteges of the House, and a contempt of its jurisdiolion. ally, That subicribing money in support of a - Petition, while.pending in the House, was a Breach of its Privileges. 'As to the rest, he said he was ready either to pro ceed now, or defer it till to-morrow, as the House should think proper. Mr. H. THORNTON thought ,that ; if it suited the convenience of the Hotise, the Hon. ;Baronet had best proceed immediately. Sir F. BURDETT then went on to say, that he did not take up this matter upon any account per. sonal to himself, but as one that was • equallyinte: resting to every Member of the House, though in the first view, it must appear particularly so to him. It would not, hebelieved, be denied, that pendente lite; it was highly indecorous, and that even to give an opinion on the merits was punishable, as . had been evinced in the case of Mr. JOLLIFF,E, formerly one of their,Members. That in the Courts below, a public Subscription to 'promote or sustain tiob, would be deemed an offence, was a matter of public notoriety ; but the House of Commons ought from its Constitution, to 4)e• much more jealous in these cases than the Courts, because in the former there was much more danger of partiality than in the latter. He left the House to judge of the analogy he 'spoke of, and, only observed_ chat he had nos. , the least personal animosity to any conaerned in the , transadion. He had no wish to brint r any Printer to the Bar, but leave it co, that liousew mark its disapprobation of such pro.Fetiings, coinsul ring, as he always -trusted it would do,. its own Dignity and Honour. . The SPEAKZR then acquainted him, that the first - step he had to rake, was to deliver in the News paper from wilich• he read the Extraa, (which was accordingly handed-to• 'the Clerk by Sir taAricts, and entered as if read). The SPEAKER then asked him, whether he com plained personally as an individual ? Sir FRANCIS BURDETT replied—No. It was a Public Affair, thoogh he was individually concern ed, he did not whh to do any thing pendente lite to prejudge. the cause, and prejudice.the Judges. . Mr. H. THOkNTON declared, that he was not desirous of bringing this Subjett into discussion, at the same time that he must be solicitous to stand well in the opinion' of the House. His -name had,, indeed, appeared to the Resolutions complained of, and so far he was implicated; hut' being ever anxi- - ous. to keep his duty as an Eleetor; compatible with theduties imposed upon him as a Member of 'that House, whatever May be the effect of his vote, his condua on the occasion .alluded to, did not 'pre clude him from serving in any Committee of which he might be Chosen a .Memher. • In asserting his right . as an Elector of the County of Mid dlesex, he felt himself. interested, because the means, which he deemed improper, used by the Honourable Baronet to get, ,himself returned,. had, for .the time,. rendered nugatory the vote of himself as - well as those whom he considered to be the inajtir,imoi i. who joined in his opinion. What he (111 4 kerefr.;rm for.the purpOse. of restoring his owe, riglitot i rd that of his: FellOw-ele&ors.— .D lightsThe4e lic, i lyas supporting . in his subscription by, his own Pump, and in . order to, give encourage ment to 'otters to take a similar part. This he humbly conceived he was justified in doing upon every just principle. The declarations . which ac compatried the subscription were, not made with 'any view to influence the decision of a. Committee of the House of Commons.. The eleaion „and return of. the Hon. 'Baronet. he conceived to be such as called for the most serious investigation, and lie knew of'no Way of expressing that sentiment other wise than by saying that be procured his Seat for Middlesex by improper means. That language was correl, and 'all delicacy was superseded by the tenor of a, Petition which the House rejeaed, on behalf.° some of the friends of the Hon. Complainant. Lord 11,4WKESBUAY considered the first Re. solution to be founded on an erroneous statement of faEts, and in order to ascertain the question of Pre-judgment, the House must consider the cir- cunistances as stated in the Paper. Mr. MAIN. W ARING had a Petition presented ascribing tnis conduCt to his successful Opponent. In that Peti tion it was observable, that the language was as calm and as moderate as could have been used on the occasion. The Petition was made public and circulated in parts of the kingdom by the Votes of the House, and he could not comprehend how it was indecorous in any set of Gentlemen, thinking in the same way, to subscribe to that Petition. As to the second Resolution, it could not well be disputed that the Subscribets had a right to call upon others to join them in opinion. The Can didates themr4es were entitled to give their votes, and the Stihscrtja were so far as much interested in the . efrdd ,of - I.,l A ir votes as either Mr. MAIN : watt' 1 9.,0r the ;in. Baronet. Their directin_ terestsp. ‘ theln,to I subscribe for the maintenance of their rig4i§ k il,Khe should like to hear the grounds of the olljeetrons to them. Nothing could be more fair and impartial than the decisions of Com- mittees of that House, .and were the fatt even otherwise, how was it to be supposed that an Ad.. vertisement, like that alluded to, could possibly influence them ? His Lordship concluded by moving, ", that the other Orders of the Day be now . read." Sir FRANCIS BURDETT replied, that in sub. rnittinv this subject then consideratiQn `‘. did no more than, what he conceived. to 11 ' duty, and it remained with the HOuse to dl I c ; pose of it a s i t ma y t hi n k proper . Th e 1 •74 ° I ; Lord said-the p rocee di ng was not i n d ecorous , - but'' e, could assure him that a person of high authoritY; now unavoidably absent, was of a very difiere' li opinion. Zile principle on which he went itiou:` not be contradict e d, h e b e li eve d, b y any L a w Yet 1; the infeti oc C ourts ; b ut at a ll events , as he 'll3`'. -no—personal charge or accusation, it co uld-W ‘ supposed th a t- hi s conduCt. was veratiou4:,t. merely discharged what he conceived ;O . Ile "I) I s 6 u. 9 .0 to' himself and his C _onStituentss. e"" The CHANCELLOR of the ) ErAtOMQ I - 14' in reply - to the observation of Sir F. Buni )E11 : 1 that such a proceeding would be deemed an irregi larity in the Courts below, said the analogy did not. holdygdod, : for alts House of Commons was 'Z s governed by the s ame ru l es . I n t h e case of ti' Middlesex ElKlion the House by receiving the P e n ' Litton of Mr. MA INW A RING h a d on l y ma de a ct ; , ' inceptive step, which • was to be the groun r work of subseque n t p rocee di ngs. O n the otifc hand, a peti t i on h a d b ee n o ff ere d on the part A 11' Honourable Baronet, which it was the almost U 1 nimoul . vote of the House to reject, but, -thnok" rejeEted, it still stands upon the, votes, and was c i ; culated through e ver y part o f t h e country. ? was therefore as likely t o p re j u d ge an d influence, . 1 ° it was couched i n l anguage , to say no.more o f , extremely disrespeaful to Mi. MAINwAttiN4. this case the Subscribers' had an - interest' in they were aiming at,,,and had a right to b e ar chef portion of any expence' with which their cause n'al be attended'. In cases of petitions, ,the construe' Lion may be, that the House -might be prejudiced, and the merits of the case prejudged. But it o r t ,' e not so ; the Hou s e a n d t h e C ountr y re li e d on t''. integrity of the Members who composed i ts Col!, mittees, and he could not b ut comp l a i n o f t h e Baronet, and make at least a remonstrance on his directly impugning the character of the House, giving the people to understand that it was other; wise than upright i s th e a d m i n i strat i on o f Wi"-• was due, not only -to th e mer i ts o f P et i t ioners! but also to the rights of the Eletors. After some explanatory remarks from Sir F. By . • • PETI and the CHAIICELpOit ' of the ExcHEQueF'.. the question moved by L or d H AWKESBUR Y for t"' ,„ Order of the Day, was agreed to without a divisionf A Message from the Lorjs requested a Copy of 31st Report of the Finance ComMittee The CHANCELLOR of the EiCHEVti that the said . geport be sent, as ick . Lordships.--Ordered. He then moved, that t he Messengers be dalii4lP' ftf; and acquainted therewith, which they were 19 4 cordingiy. Mr. Cor9tY gave notice, that he should 0 : morrow move for certain Public Accounts -reWilti to:lreland. Adjourned at seven o'clock till to-morrow. MML&. nits' A.R.grvisc. Holland o French - -4 Harnburgh I - 1 - - PRICE OF THI , DAY AT TWELVI O'CLOCK.. cprviols - - - - p a 721 THE SUN. 4?6 " LEM DICERS. rALlum ZON.P9IV, D.f'CEAIBE~ 2t , Igo?•• Count Wottczyzow, Ambassador from the CO • of Russia, landed at Dover 'from Calaik s . y0( 40317 0' afternoon. - ••oro` i • .:" • We last night received the .?Sris P ( 11° ..•!f 16th, and this morning the Monit tur of the ' inst. but they bring no intelligence of importance' The Indemnities which are to be allotted tn.t il6 GRAND DIME of TU.SCANY, appear to be still 'subjeCl of Negotiation between Austria and Ffail 4l ' The Emz , fißOß has proposed to the Deputatioo Of the Empire, that the - EleCtoral Dignity should t) conferred upon the GRAND Duics of TtticAtisr4 and also that a certain number of Catholic Vu le° should be - admitted into the College of Princes, 7 order to preserve the due proportion between t he hate Protestant and Catholic R e li g i ons . Th e Diet • nor yet„decided upon this proposition. It appears by letters from the H ague , that a dig" puce has taken place betwee n th e Batavian Goe r n• ment and General M O N TR I CHARD , w h o had b eea 0 sent to take the Command of t h e French Trour s ; c Holland. General MONTR 'CHARD proposed t° his residence at the Hague, and also to introd uc e a French Garrison into that place. This SVas not only opposed by the Batavian Governmerl4 but they refused to recognize General Mowr gl : CHARD as Commander in. Chief of the F renc h Forces, and have declared that they t W ill 0° continue to pay the French Troops after the present month. General MoNtRicBARD has acs patched a Courier to Paris, for instruetions. The French Funds/are 53. to. THE Hambargh Mail due yesterday arrived tbis morning. A Letter from Vienna, dated Dec. 4' states positively, that the EMPEROR of GERNIO Ir has fully ratified the Conch/sum of the DePt ltatia° respeding the Plan of Indemnities ; but th e Letters from Ratiibon, of klater date, say, that the R atifi ' cation was conditional ) and subjea to certain Tocr' vations.