The Sun. — London, England, 1812-07-04 00:00:00

HOUS:S OF COMMONS, FRIDAY. The Frame-work Knitters Bill, and the Army Prize-Money .13,i11, were appointed to go .through Committees on T.Nionday - next. . , The Local "Mali{ Athendruent Bill went through a Comniittee, and was ,ordered to be read a third . time on - Monday next. - The Poor _Returns' Bill went through a Com mittee,- the report of which was ordered to be-re ceiired on Mon,lty. A message frtnn the Lords announced their Lordships assent to the Linen Bounty Bill, and a nuMber of others. Mr. LiJSIII.N . GTON brought up a. report of the Committee, on the Starch Duty Act i the report I: as received, and the third reading ordered for • Monday. - __ ' _ _ _ • The_ - Malt Duty Bill was ,read. a second time, and ordered , to go through a Committee ,on Tuesday. The second reading of the Auction Duty Bill was postponed till Tuesday. Tlie East 'lndia 'l'rec•;ws Bill went through a Committee, the report of which was ordered to be received on Monday. The Starch Bill went sthrough a Committee, the report of which wap ordered to be received on Monday. (',ommittee was appointed to examine the Jonr'n:•ils of tlic Lords, for their Lordships pro on the Gerwral Inclosure Bill. The Defence Mots Bill was read a third time and passed. • Ile third reading of the Lotteries Bill, and of the Irish Stamps Bill, was - postponed till Monday nest. LANCASTER GAOL. Sir FRANCIS BuitDETT said, tint the subject on which he was now going to address the was one of the greatest. importance, as it con- cerned the peace and vital interests of the coun try ; he meant the treatment of prisoners, whe ther under the sentence of the law, 'or - from any other cause, confined in the. Gaols throughout the . kingdom. Tfie law was bound to protect all per sons while under its custody 3 - but he regretted that' he had cause to state that such persons were frequently treated witb,the greatest inhumanityby the jailors, who were induced to be guilty of such barbarity, from a view to their own emolument, as it was customaryfor prisoner s,who could afford, it to endeavour to procure more' lenient treatment, by means of indulgence money to the jailor., Abuses of this kind prevailed to such an extent, that he thought a necessity existed for a general inquiry into the state of jails throughout the kingdom, and this he meant to make the snbjeet of a motion in some future Session ; at present he wished to call the attention of the }louse to the Lancaster Jail, regarding the slate of which, as he had re cently an opportunity of obtaining very particular information,, he thought it hiaaltity not to with , hold this information from the public any longer. lie had. , long been of opinion that there was not any one jailogainst which less cause of complaint eouid exist:Allan the one now in question ; and lie was led to this opinion from the very high chit - racier Which he had heard of the jailer, Mr. !lig . - gins. He begged also to say, that he - would not pledge himself for any of the statements he should now Make. Those who communitated them to him must bear the discredit, if, upon investiga tioal, they should be found untrue. But what ever the good character of Mr. Higgins generally •might he, it should not have the slightest weight to 'prevent the investigation of facts. What he should say would divide itself into three eonsi -d'erations : some of his observations would reflect - UpOir the Magistrates of the Coanty, some upon the jailor , himself, and some should he di rected to the important office of Coroner, to which he lamented that so little attentioi was paid. He held in his hand u copy, of printed Re solutions, intended to exonerate ?dr. Higgins lrom-the blame attempted to be thrown upon him ; but he would confess that they operated in his mind in a very different manner, and he thought Mr. Higgins-would have acted more judiciously_ hat' he depended on his general' character alone.. Be disapproved in -strong terms of solitary con finement, which he contended was in its nature eaposed to abuse, and must be abused miless'under the superintendance of such ,a man as Mr. Howard himself. It was - a system calculated to give - rise • to the evil of foul oppression covered With rank hypocrisy, as he had found in the instance of Cold bath-fields prison. He recollected thatthe method of investigatiort adopted there was, that of calling upon Aris himself; and then upon the persons complaining to give evidence in the presence of 'him they feared. It was the same way in Lincoln Castle • and as Aris had made a sort ()florally com pact of business, ,so Mr. Higgins had one son acting as his deputy, another as an attorney, and a third as a sort of, assistant surgeon to the pri soners. The Ma'.gistrates who had examined into, the circumstances of this case, came to the reso lutions which he held in his hand, •acquitting him of all the. charges ; and stigmatising the - com plaints as vexatious. and unfounded. The reso lutions'proceeded fo state, that a disposition had of late manifested itself among the prisoners to resist-the salutary authority of the Governor, but - this, he thought, rather improbable on the face of it. Great praise was also give nto the voluntary and manly manner in which some of the prisoners hail come forward in behalf of Air. Higgins's cha racter, but that was represented to him. as pro ceediug from the circumstance of his having lent money to those persons. The charges against the jailor. were, that the filth of the jail was not cleared- away for four days ; that he did not allow small parcels. of coe,ls i to be bropght to the prison ers• id 6 cold.weather, when he lose' that they could not afford to buy large quantities; another im puted hriinry to the turnkey, and the Magistrates permitted- the turnkey to defend himself by his own* oath against the allegations. The prison e-s who had complained, represented that the prison allowance was withheld from them by the Magistrates—an Assumption of power to which the‘i had no right, and which they had co etaised in a =liner the most cruel. It had been sated to him, that a quantity of oak • boughs LONDON: Printed by TI At the Surf oEru 'OVAS N1:001), ,, of No : ! , ;5, Maiden-lane, yovent-garden; and were brought into the prison, and that a rejo!ea ing. took place in his acquittal, which was not a very ors.e.lly proceeding in a jail. The Sheriff, it should be observed, had referred 'their com plaints to the Committee of Magistrates. lie be lieved it was a general' abuse in all gaol=, that a great part of the ipace intended for the conve nience of prisoner's was applied to thc convenience • of the Jailor himse:f, and he understood that one of the Turnkeys of Lancaster Castle was employ ed in a hot -house. Another charge alleged against Mr. Higgins was, that he did not visit the rooms of the _prisoners for ten months. He then pro . ceededto read a letter which he had received from a 'person of -the name of Jacob Wilson 'Wardel, on which he principally depended for convincing the House of the necessity of investigation. The letter stated, that on the 4th of May, hOrrible sercamings were heard in the. prison proceeding From a person named Jahn llawling. Several of the debtors had heard him exclaim; as the Turn • key was flogging biro, " :Monier ! - kill me, kill the !" On the Monday followiti , g he ara4 dead.— It was understood in the yard, that he was re moved to a cell under ground,, where his cries could not he heard ; and on Tuesday morning it was given out that he had hanged himself with his stockings. This man was, be understood, a lunatic; and had been confined three years for murder. The Inquest which sat upon the body consisted of six debtors, and , these not the most respectable, and six . stone,-masons employed in the jail, The body was not stripped, and the only maul( of violence on the face tvas one of the eves being blackened. . Two persons who had assisted at the washing of the body described it as a mass of congealed blood. He believed every one would agree with him, that a ease of this nature ought to be inquired into. In corroboration of the minor points of theoccusation, he read a letter from a - person of the name of John .Speneer, who was formerly confined in Lancaster Castle fOr debt, 'stating that he had broken his leg while in confinement by afall; and that the door was shut against the admission of a Surgeon for whom he had sent, on which account hawas lame to this day. It stated further, that 'the county allow ance was withheld from him, and his son prevent ed, from seeing hiM, merely for having 'inodestly remonstrated. He should not dwell upon the facts, .or endeavour to excite any. prepossession against the itnii‘idual who was concerned,. but should merely content himself with stating them, unless his motion should be opposed. This hadid not expect, especially as there was a petition filom Mr. Higgins himself, demanding inquiry. - Hewas proceeding to quote a pamphlet written. by the, Rev. Mr. Bingham,, who was c onAned in -Horsham jail, on an unfounded suspicion of having set fire to his house, in order to defraud the insurers, when Mr. DENT called the Hon. Baronet to order, as be was travelling into cases that had no applica tion to the question. •. Sir F. BURDETT said he wished the House .to be aware of the system of imprisonment which was going on in the country, but he should not persist. Now, for the first time since he sat in Parliament, he saw a disposition in the Govern ment of the country - to attend to' complaints ; and though he could not but feel a little jeatchts of Commissions, after the Commission of the Cold bath-fields Prison, and the Commission of Kil mainham jail in Ireland, which,, after detecting seven instances of gross misconduct, concluded with a panegyric to Mr. Dunne and Dr. Trevor, still he felt confident that the Government would do what Was right.. He concluded with moving an address to his Royal Highness the b Prince Re gent, " Prayini , • that he would be graciously pleased to order a Commission to be appointed for the purpose of inquiring into the charges made against the inspecting Magistrates of Lan caster Castle, and the General State of the Jail." Mr. WILBRAHAM BOTTLE Said; he felt himself placed in a difficult situation, by the new matter which the Honourable Baronet had introduced, and entered into an explanation on the different points . contained in the Petitions. Th e circum stance of one of Mr. Higgins's sons being an At torney, and the other an Assistant-Stugeon, could not be imputed as a fault to him, and therefore could not if&ct the cas t e. As to the prohibition of bringing small quantities of coals to the debtors, and the circumstance of rejoicing with oaken boughs, he did not believe them ; and hav ing often inspected the gaol himself, he could state, that he had never seen a-hot house attach ed it. The jailor had been a called a gardener, only because he had a small garden, not half the size of-that room ; and / also described as a mann fP cturer, only because he employed, for the benefit of the county, those persons who had been con demned to hard labour. A spirit of discontent bad sprung up a Wort time since.among theri sinters, acid 'he believed that the person from whom 'the Hon. Baronet had his informatiom, was at the bottom of it. The gaol was at present unusually full, which, of course, must produce some inconvenience, and give some colour, though it could not justify complaint. He then read a letter from the High Sheriff, stating that he had investigated all the prisons under his juris diction,, and bearing testimony to their salutary regiilations. It had been brought as a charge against* Jailor, that the county allowance Was withheld ; hut the jailor bad no contloul over it whatever, it was • or,dered by two' of the . County Magistrates, desiring that it should not he paid until further oriters which proved that it Nv,as revoca ble. Here he read several Petitions in favour of the conduct:of Mr. Higgins, and various deposi tiops on oath, contradicting the facts a►~~rted in the complaints against him. With ripect to,the case of Rawling, he had been acquitted of mur der on a special verdict of insanity. There were a number of unfortunate persons• in the same condition in the gaol, and the jailor had the care of all, those unhappy individuals, without the conveniences that were found in other places - , Nothing, he was sure, could appear more un- , likely to the House, than that they would whip a person to death, 'under such circumstances of. no- ioriety !--A Member of Parlia;uen►t was certainly bound to present all well-founded Petitions : but he should inquire into the truth of the - facts, or the table . would be filled With frivolous .petitiont. The C.:idefleCt eras strong in the gaoler's favour, and he 'was himself most anxious for inquiiing into his conduct: He did not Tflefili to shut the door arinst complaints; but he thought it 'would be a great loss of time to pay attention to loose allegatiOns. To the mode of inquiry by com mission he had no objection ; it rethalued for the [rouse to consider whether a case had been made out to call for any. • Lord CASTLEREAGH thought the nature of the, Motion by no means objectionable ; but the Hon. :Baronet had put the House 'in such a situation., that if they were to agree to , the Motion they would not come up to his view of the subject. 11 they called upon the Executive Government to issue a commission fur the investigation of com plaints laid before the House in petitions, a great part of the case,. as .stated by the Honourable Baronet, waS not in the petitions, ,and.theretbre Would not be included in the operation of the C6mmission. He allowed it was the duty of a - Member of Parliament to present petitions to the House ; .lnt be agreed with hiS Hon. Friend, that before a Member called on the House to - act upon them,- he ought to be able.to state to the House that he had general reasons for slip.: posing that the alleged iMproprieties had taken place. The case, as made out by the Honourable Baronet, was an ex parte statement to which he could not pledge himself, and that case was re butted on the other side by affidavits of other per sons. If an inquiry were in'tituted, under such' circumstances, they must lay it dawn as a prin. , &Ile, that whenever a petition came before that House, however uiisupported the allegations it contained, the subject must be sent to the execu tive to be investigated by a commission. He would recommend it to the Hon. Baronet to with draw his Motion, and theft, if he pleased; he could charge himself with-an inquiry into thy subjeet, and if he should see it right, be Would again, bring it forward when he had acquired more real know ledge of the case. He (Lord C.) would rather the Hon. Baronet shotild withdraw his Motion than oblige him to give a negative to it. Mr. BROUGHAM Spoke favourably of the cha racter of the jailor. From 'private information he han•eceived, he understood Mr. Higgins to be. a very good man, but under all the circumstances of the case, he Was in favour of an inquiry. Lord CASTLEREAG,H thought, as the charges had been met by a counter-statement, an inquiry was not necessary in justice to Mr. Higgins. Sir C. BURREL-L bore testimony to the hurim nity of the Magistrates of that County, - and also to the conduct of the jailor, who was a most hu mane man, who had treated his prisoners with great indulgence, and met with a very 'ungrateful; return. • Mr. CREEVEY believed Mr. ' - 'Higgins to be wholly guiltless'oleYery thing that had been im7 puted to him. General TARLETON thought it best that the mo tion should he -Withdrawn. After sonic further observations from•Mr.Black borne, Mr. AV. Bootle, . Mr. Burton, Mr. ,Lock--- hart, Mr. Martin (4 Galway) General - Taileton, and Mr. Foley- 7 • Sir F. BURDETT replied, he thought it, hardly fur thathe should-be called upon to pledge-hhn self for the truth of what he had advanced, or see his motion opposed as unworthy of attention. He had. so far informed himself on the sub ject, ,that he knew the person writing to - him was entitled to credit. Though he had a very favour able impression-on his mind with respect to Mr. Higgins, and, though he did nottoubt but the Hon. Gentleman Wzts'`Very sincere in desiring' an inquiry, still it 'appeared to him -Very extraordinary that file inquiry should be forestalled, as it had ' ,been to night, by the statement which they had heard. The conduct of the Magistrates too, in taking away the prison allowance of bread and potatoes, v, , hicJa he was persuaded was illegal, to him appeared very extraordinary, and in his opi nion made a strong prima facie case. The alle gatiorn4, brought before the House, and particu larly those which set fOrth that a man had died in prison of ill treatment, were not to be got over by general statements, however good the charac ter of Mr. Higgins might be proved to be•. These were circumstances which, in his opinion, very loudly called for an inquiry. He had heard-no argument that could make him think it was not his duty. to press this motion on the consideration of the House. He thought a Parliamentary case had been ibade put. The inquiry, he contended, would not be inconvenient, and he should there fore feel it to be his duty, unless Government un dertook to•make some inquiry into -the business, -to press the motion. Lord 'CASTLEREAGH explained. He thought that the Hon. Baronet had not made out - a . case for , a Parliamentary inquiry, and he thought, that if the motion Were acceded to it would not an swer his purpose. If the . Hon. Baronet had any communication to make, that he might think ought to induce Government to appoint' a Com mission to. investigate the business, he (Lord Cas tlereagh) would be happy to receive it out of that House, and if it ,wpeared in the same. light to him as it might to the .Hon. Baronet, he would use his endeavours- to, propose the appointment of a Commission without the interferende of Par liament. Mr. W. Boor r mid Sir C. BURRELL explained. Mr. W. SMITH supported the motion. Mr. M. :SUTTON objected to the proposed in- - quiry. . . • Mr. DE NT thought if the Honourable Baronet could not state that ,he had seen the Coroner's Inquest on the man, who it was said had died through ill-treatment, that a. 'Parliamentary case was made out. With this feeling, if the Hon. Baronet founded his,motion on :the character of Mr. Higgins, he,. from an anxious desire to do justice•to the character of his friend, and he Was . proud to cal Mr. Higgins by th a t name , wo uld vote with him ; but if it was founded on the Petitions on their table, be must vote against him. Sir F. BURDETT, after a short conversation with Lord Castlereagh, consented to withdraw his motion, with an understanding That same in quiry would be made by Government. The Motion was -accordingly. withdrawn. Published by . WILLIAM ARNIIGER SCRIPPS, South Holton-street, Growenc.r-..luare, HIGH WAITER AT LONDON TO-MORRW" ' Murviag, Lifter 13. L Even; aq, 5' :Jiro. rtf:flr 14• EAST I.I•7IMA,L6AN: WAT.,Lkelt rose to move the - Order cif the D-ay for the House gOing into a Committee oil the East India Loan Bill. Lie was sorry that he toidd tibt brinci - forward an Indian , Budget, from the impracticability of getting the accounts made out sufficiently early .to bring the m - forward in the course of the present Session. He 'would,: however ; give a short and ‘ very genel'al statement of the 4 4 :Fairs of the Company The llevenue• fur I SIO, was 'estimated prospec tively, at - • ••• - The actual amount was- • Making an excel; of • • • Having explained the causes 'of .this excess, he - stated the - charge on the same to have been estimated at The actual amount had• been - Making an ekr•ss of 7'he tat reveni:c of the three Presidencies 'bad' been estimated at The actual amount had been Makink an excess of , The surplus revenue applicable to the interest of the debt was The estimate of the to pay the 11:0 terestof the debt bkd been taken at It had amounted to 209600 Making 'an excess of ' 146,00 The Alon. Genttemaii proceeded to state and to expiaidi vat - ions parts of the revenue and 'expenditure of the Company', through Which, - from the noise which prevailed in the we could not pretend to follow him. The debt of the Company amounted in March, 1511,t01u 1812, to 13,885,78g Making an ;!,crease of 15 . ,6,00 Having givsn the estimates and actual - amount of. the 4Agets, and goods in warehc,use, be stated the Estimated Iteo-ipts for 1812 to have been 16,105,594 /6,679,19 8 573,604 13,376,104 , 1 ,009,95 3 33,631 2,229,94. 2,769,',N0 549,70 539,000 5,045,600 5,431,420 485,8522 Tipair amount was Making au excess of , The estimated Balance' of Cash for March JBl2, was e 3,551,672 . The actual Balance had amounted to 995,574 Leaving a deficiency of 4,556,7ft " The above Statement would sheer thenecessity' the Company had been under of.coming to Parlia ment. He proceeded' to explain the situation of the Company with respect to their 'Bond Debts, - and concluded a • series of statements of some length, by observing that those, though not vourable, nor yet very unfavourable, to the con , cerns' of the Company, were perhaps less unfa vourable than Gentlemen might have been led to expect. The revenue yielded to-the country, had, • in the last year, amounted, to -109,0001. ; in the present year it was estimated at 250,0 M. ne would* not -talk of the prosperity of the li,ast-India Company, till a different balance between their ependiture and their income could be shown than presented itself at present. He looked for an improvement from a reduction of their ex pellees ; and; under an impression that that might reasonably be expected, he . trusted 'the Howe would agree to the Resolution. .The first ob;ect of the Bill would be to carry into acct the .itiesolu tion of the House ; but the most material part t it would be to guard the Country against any loss, bymaking an effectual provision for Securing tlic Ra.yment, both of the principal and interest of the Loan.--With this view, it was proposed that a portion of it should b e p a id o ff be: ore the iePro- . prietors of Bank Stock made any dividend what ever. The sinking fund for the liquidation of the debt was on a plan similar to that . of the sink ing fund for the payment of the national debt, with this difirenee, thatit was larger in propor-:- tion, and would, it was _calculated, liquidate the whole in twenty years. s TLe situation of the Company, he trusted, would be such as to enable them to extinguish a considerable portion of it in a short time, and the whole of it in a much shorter time than the Hon. Qentleman opposite might anticipate. Mr. citr. , EYE,Y had no. fault to find with the fairness of the, accounts which the Right Hon. Gentleman had Wci before •the House. He , however, entered into a variety of details of the financial state pf the Company ; alter which, 7 the House then dividedon the motion for the f.speaker leaving the Chair—, Ayes . Noes . Majority for it -29 The House then went, into a Committee on tb Bill. On the clause for seeming the repayment of the Loan by a charge on the Consolidated Fund' Lord A. HAMILTON, HOWORTII, and Mr. WHITBAEAD, objected to this mode of securing the repayment as burthensome to the country. Lord CASTLEREAGH, the CHANCELLOR of tile EXCHERUER, and Mr. WALLACE, contended t 44 'the necessity for advancing . the money as aP7 ,parent, and that the security of the Company wA,f heyoAd doubt, so that any apprehension of failurF in repayment was unfounded. After some further-. observations 'from Mr' Brougharn, Mr. Whitbread, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lord Castlereagh, &c. the Corn' mittee divided on the clause. Ayes • Noes Majority... -15 The Bill then went through the Committee. IRISH TITHES. _ _ Mr. M. FITZGERALD moved the second reading of the Irish Tithes Regulation Bill. The 1710 9- , Gentleman entered into an elaborate statement the distresses 'of the peasantry of Ireland, in re spect to the. tithe on potatoes. This Bill he pro posed as a means " o f re li e f f r O m t h e ' oppress i on (J , the present system.'• Mr. M. SUWON and Lord CASTLEREAGH 1 135,(1 some observations upon the Bill. The Noble Lord suggeSted, to the Hon. Gentleman the pediency of postponing the consideration to some future day, the House being then very thin of Members,. itle named Tuesday. The debate i 5 accordingly adjourned to that day. The other Orders of the Day were disposed and the House adjourned at half-past eicre . 3 o'clock, till Monday. PRICE OF STOC. :KS YESTERDAY. Inlin Bonds, 6s. 7s. (Ks. ,: .• Old S. S. nAnn: 55 - - Excl-wq. Bills, iJja. per 4 . 0 4* — t.t c. 31 1]. ' ;C Is. Ss. pr. I • bi 0, 36 1. .r ea; •Onuoiurn, 04 14 1 pr. eons. for Opv4iug, 570 Bank Stock, 314 - Navy 6 - per Cent. shut 4 per Cent. 714 p :. 3 per Cent-Red. 55:56 551 Spec t!ent. Con 4. shut Bank L.Ann. 14 11-16 India Stock,