The Sun. — London, England, 1812-03-12 00:00:00

A NEW EtnTloti CE A CELEBRA LETTER. We humbly beg leave, but with delicate shyness, United, our thanks to return to ' our liighneis, sending the Letter. it seems the int t NCI R E CENT, For combining all parties his deern'd an expedient, A letter conceiv'd for the gyiwi of the nation, To form with due strength a new administration. iVe avail ourselves. then, of your gracious permission, And shall freely endeavour to state our condition. Tilts PRINCE. after touching on various aftiirs, At length kihtily to us has direEled his cares, Arid the wish, which to utter he then condescends, to strengthen his hands by his earliest friends, To join, in supporting his Government, those Who, al ways have been our political toes. On so lib'ral a basis, he thinks he might form A Government able to weather OA storm. vvhate'er other matters the Letter contains, *care little dispos'd to bestow any pains, but as in the wish we presume to suppose 'that we were included, a part to compose, 1n duty, as bounden, we feel that we owe To ourselves, explanation, with frankness to show. And first we beg leave to assure the Pe (Net 12re E NT, That in all things he'd find us most humbly obedient; We'd make any sacrifice, jointly we vow, save what duty and honour will never allow-- . 140 —nothing we'd pause at, divisions to heal, That WOU4 , i plainly. conduce to the iiational weal, kut We ne'er can consent, Sir -no, not for an hour, T hat the opposite party shall share the State-pow'r. Vet personal . / eeling, we wholly disclaim, 3 Sxclusio. s of that kind are fat irons our aim ; ° ur purposes rest upon national measures, We care not for Office, Or aught of its treasures ; Without any reserve, then,, our grounds we, thus trace,— llr e Can ne'er join the mm now invested with place; 1)1 n opinions are diiPre,nt as black is with white, And,' hence, with such men we can never unite. .rai PR . N C E wilt remember, no d ou b t . i n a tr i ce , vb impressions like these we have now aae.l twice. the 3 ear eighteen hundred and nine, when THE Kt uo. 31 'de the same proposition, we did the same thing, And list year when the Prince deign'd to ask our advice, F or flrrninz I Government, not over nice, e h° "est ly told him the very best plan —4 4 us 41d ur party to take to a man. The reAsons we gave him, it plainly appears, Hove Rather'd new strength from the progress of years ; tAnd here we beg leave just to make one suggestion-- I J c Put the ltat Portruo AL did, or what Sri. iN may yet do, We ne'er shall include in our insular view, Or the Conquests since gain'd in the West and the East, \Viler,: Britain has only her burthens increas'd.) tiOr aught that approximates yet can we see, To convince us both parties can ever agree. T re e on a basis, to keep from all pother, i 'le Persons before so oppos'd to each other. let not Malice triumphantly say Ih 4 v none were so adverse as GLENVILLE and G ASP, T hat through the whole course of the last fatal war ‘ir conclud, our measures, our minds, were at jat ; ha've come to a right understanding at last, 444 firmly resolve to forget all the past. We're u nw illi ng to enter on any d eta l ~, difPrences, which must for ever prevail rw ixt us and the party now trusted with place; v'Ur objedions the whole of theirsystem embrace. ie h eed not jot how the whole of the clan sla y vaunt o n success i n support o f t h e i r p l an ; 44 nt as the PRINCE RECENT, him - self, in his cares t he Empire at large, to u ch'd on Nil , afar:, , o ' r e too wil l advert to !he subjed, for here 11 3 " the most awful occasion of fear. „ ere ii to all th a t the Ministers l a tely expr ess 'd, e enter, bl rsr, , our hearty Protest. The a s Ystem for Ireland is big with disgrace, "bother that's quite the reverse must take place ; . 1 ; 1 „ 44 P API ST s no more we must strive to controul, reIII3VC. their restridiOns, REPEALING THE wit° Ls. 4 , , W e ow n that last year we asserted, indeed, Sr ~"'r its should all canctssions precede, t O 4 "e of us ventued, addressing FiNGAL, II : 4 Pero without hesitation to call ; ti , c°nti vY sentiments now we both feel, trothing will do but a TOTAL REPEAL. )1, 1 ) 1 ' 114 we get into place, not a moment we'd wait, t) ur at ° nee to the REGENT our arguments state, It o ;Plan Isefore Parliament urge him to bring, l it t end to th e sc r u pl es th a t g o vern'd THE NO. A us ""e warmly should labour our country to serve, ti bought from our purpose could tempt us to swerve. Sae ha ve have now nothing more to your Highness to say, ~i ss lo beg to the P R INCE you'll our duty convey ; ,hl 4 (Are hirll we earnestly wish for whate'er his Government prop, and avert our despair ; 4 111 41 bte his advantage, his honour, his ease, Itat I)4'duce whstso'er the whole Nation may please ; th: e /301 dly mint;in that to compass such ends, de r a end upon us and our Friends. at : th e h ill ,' be hoped that the just observations which of [ 4 , -- „,1" NoRFOLK. recently made in the House dad been as to the degraded state to which the Stage tl - s -e , ll reduced. by the introduction of horses, Rn ° d —lel ' ,B, :e. will have some effea upon Managers,. ,Prev,tit them front again sacrificing the dignity ttle bratna in such a manner. The late Mr. Itta n tiLL ' the at - tor, a very intelligent and. amiable u'r:d to des cr ib e t h e Theatte as " a School p ro , r ° l )tql up L a di es and Gentlemcm," and under tee Per rlPnagemerit it might be rendered an amuse ! t hat would not tertnimue with its ho ur , b u t n e the manners, improve the morals, and leave anip.essions of virtue and wisdom on the heart, Q „Prov what BOLINQBRO KE says o f History— rhilosophy Great teaching b y examp l e. " preparatio ns are making at the Mansion Ilse to entertain (this day, a f ter t h e Levee) at I htler, hi s R oyal Highness the Duke of Yoitiz, and 1 eat others of t h e Princes, to4ether With a large . rt ) of Nobility and principal Merchants, and in evening the Illustrious Party accompany the LOR D MAvoa (in state) to a atil gi‘etvto Lor- * n p by the principal 'M erc h ants and Banke h r is s of th d e Cit e of London. 1 iPERLIL, PARLIAIWEIV2 HOUSE OF PEERS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11. MISCELLANEOUS. Earl CHOLNIONDELEY (the new Lotd Steward) reported his Royal Highness the Prince Regent's answer to the last address of theft Lordships, touching the production of certain documents, importing that direCtions should be given accord ingly. The Expiring Laws Bills were read a second time, and ordered to be committed. The Lotitry Ad Amendment Bill was also read a second time. The OA Bark Bill passed through a Committee of the whole House, and was teported without any amendment. Thy Etrl of LtvEaro . oL moved the Order of the Day for taking into consideration the Report of the Conference held yesterday with the Commons, which being read, as well as the reason assigned by the Commons for disagreeing with their Lordships' Amtndment, Toe Noble SECRETARY Of STATE observed, that he Amendment in question, which was adopted on hiS motion, was not, in his mind, at all necessary. By the Bill as sent up, a power was given of fine and imprisonment. It was with reference to the effete which such a provision may have upon the proceedings in a Court of Law, the general practice of which, in such cases, his Lordship described, that he had proposed the amendment, and with a view expressly to give the option, he had proposed the words "or either." Though he had proposed this according to the best of his judgment and informa tion, yet he felt the great importance of the mea sure, and was fully. aware of the injurious tendency of any further delay ; and as he felt that the differ ence would not commute a sufficient reason for re jecting, or even hazarding the Bill, he would oiler no opposition upon the point, and would theiiefore move, that this House do not insist upon its Amend ment made to the Bill, which was the subject of the late conference ; which, on the question being put, was ordered accordingly. TIIE PRINCE REGENT'S LETTER. Lord Bout NGDON said, he held — llllishand a printed paper, purporting to be a 'letter from his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to an Illustrious Plrsonage at the head of the army, and relating to . matters of the highest impOrtance to the interests of the people of this country. Of this consideration he was strongly aware, and, therefore, seeing a No ble Secretary of State ire hi's place, he would taket the liberty •to ask of the Noble Earl, whether or no such document, bearing the sigrWure of the Llos trious Personage he had alluded to, was genuine ; and whether he should feel any difficult to assert the affirmative, or whether he was prepared to deny it ? The Earl of LIVERPOOL-.-" My Lords, in an swer to the question of the Noble Baron, I third: it proper merely - to state, that it is a question he has no right to put to me." Lord BoaiNGnoei then observe,!, that the Nobe Secretary did not deny the document to be genuine or authentic. He saw, also, two Note Lords in their places, whose signatures had appeared to ano ther printed letter, and - of' these Noble Lords he would take the hberiy to ask, whether or not such letter were genuine ? It was his intention to submit a motion on the subjed, which would in a great 'de gree determine the sense of that House upon . tile point. As far as his coining forward was to be Coo sidered as referring to the Illustrious Personage al luded to, he felt he was citing no more than what considerations of duty, and sentiments of resped and attachment to his Royal Highness dictated. He felt confident, that in writing the letter. in queStion, the first wish of his heart was to bring the proceeding referred to to a successful issue. He knew that a great deal hari.been said on the occasion, and there were some expressions which may give rise to observations ; j but lie could state conscientiously to their Lordships _ •his opinion, that the wish expressed was dearest to the heart of his Royal Highness. He was led to imagine, from the very nature of things, that some parts of the letter of the Noble Lords had been ' very much misrepresented. What had beets the issue of the correspondence their Lordships uuhappilj knew too well. It was most caiamitons, and in his mind most alarming, w ith a view to the tranquility at the integrity of the empire. Under these im pressions, he could not but feel it would be ex tremely desirable, that, from some quarter, some slight attempt, at least,, should be made to stem the torrent of impending evil. From these impressions he should .take the liberty to mote, that the Lords be summoned for Friday se'nnight ; on which day he should hate the honour of submitting to the. con sideration of their Lordships an address to his Royal Highness the •Prince, Regent, earnestly reqytesteng him to take such measureteas may.appear to film fit and proper for securing an administration of Govern-. went on a broad and liberal basis, and fotraded on such principles as may afford the best chime e of se curing the prosperity, the safety, and the nainquility of the empire. The Noble Lord concluded by mov ing that the Lords be summoned for the service of the House on Friday se'nnigltt, which was accord ingly ordered. Lord GRENVILLE took the opportunity to ob serve, that it would, of course, be proper for him to say, that he entertained not the smallest relud ance ; arid to chew that he did not manifest the !vast backwardness, to avow and declare, iii the face of the House, and of the country, tbst the letter al luded to by the Noble Lord, as herring his sig nature, was genuine and authentic; that it con tained the sentiments that team tally arose on the subjed ; and that every_ day's eeriedion• the more and more convinced him, that in determining the answer conveyed therein, he h;id discharged the duty of a faithful servant of the Pr4nceo, and subjed to his Majesty. Earl GREY generally expressed his concurrence with what had fallen troth his Noble Frier.!, with whom he had been joined in the correspondenCe.— On the present occasion, he only deemed it necessary ,to say,, that whenever an opportunity should be at, forded him of entering. into a regular explanation of his condud, he would assert and illustrate the prin oinks upon which headed in conjundioo with his Noble Friend, and which dktated an answer, which, the reflection of every day the more convinced Iran of its propriety. The Bitice of otti , oti.' said a reVir s words on the occasion; but in a low tone of voice. He seemed to approVe of the bringing forward for discusttori, a Subjet) of such great and peculiar importance; it was a jostice due to the coUntry; and he wished !hat an earlier day was proposed for its considera tion. In consequence of what fell from the Noble Duke, Lord B. agiced that the recent order should be re scinded, and an order was made for summoning the Lordi for Thursday se'nuight.—Adjourned till to morrow. HOUSE OF COMMONS. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1 1. On the motion of Mr. WHITBREAD, the Amend.. inents made by the House of Lords in the Drury lane Theatre Bill were taken into consideration, and agreed to. The Committees on the Woods and Forests Bill, the Legal Quays Bill, the Pilchards Fishery Bill, and the Glass Bill, were postponed till to-morrow. The Bill for the - Relief of Infant Suitors in the Court of Chancery, was read a second time, and committed for to-morrow. The House went into a_Committee on the Marine Mutiny Bill, in which Mr. CROKER introduced two clauses, and the Rrport was ordered to be received to-morrow. A Petition was presented by Mr. CALCRAFT, from various mechanics in Deptford Yard, praying relief; but on account of its not being recommended, it was withdrawn. THE MARRIAGE ACT. Mr. WILSON, in. pursuance of a notice which he had'prcviously given, moved that the Marriage Ad, and the debates upon the Journals on that subject, be entered as read, which was accordingly done.— The I-Jon. and Learned Gentleman made a variety of observations upon the abuses of that Aia, so far as it related to orphans and illegitimate children, and admitted he was aware of the danger of making any material alterations therein ; but contended that there was an imperious necessity for so doing, in order to protect the rights of that class of persons to which he had referred. He stated, that since the passing of the At which was brought in to prevent ;clandestine marriages, many fraudulent marriages had been toritraeled . , but tneie were efl - Zded by banns, and not by license,- Itorn the impossibility which arose in populous places of ascertaining the residence and condition of the parties. He cited several cases which had come before the Ecclesias tical Courts and the Law Courts, to show those faCts. He proposed to remedy the evil of which he com plained, by the introdudion of a Bill to explain and rt;nend that A&, by rendering illegal all marriages con t raoed and solemnised where there was no parent nor guardian inexistence. He did not mean,' how ever, to atfeEt by this. Bill any marriage at present in. dispute. He then moved for " - Leave to bring Bill to explain and amend the At of the 26th Geo. H. relating to Marriages." Leave was then given. A Message was brought up from the Lords, stat ing, .that their Lord hips, in consequence of the conference had with this House, did not insist upon the amendments which they had made in the Not tingham Frame Work Bill. PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. -• Mr. WHITBREAD observed, that he held 'in his hand a list of papers, which he thought necessary to move for,'respeaing Plymouth Breakwater. The Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Croker) since he came into the House, had shewn hint some papers on the subjea in manuscript, and suggested that it could not for certain reasons be proper to presi his motion; to that suggestion he had assented. Since then it 'had been suggested to him from another quarter, that there was a neces',ity for the papers, betcre the House Gould come to a decision upon the question of the propriety of adopting the plan which was in view. He had no wish to oppose the Bond of Ad miralty in their plan ; on the contrary, •he would rather further their views on the subjea ; but at the Same time it had been stated to him, that the scheme of Mr. Rennie required further inquiry. Hs should therefore vote for - the papers. Mr. CROKER stated, • that the papers in part con tained substantially what the House was already in possession of ; others of the papers were totally ir relevant to the subject, and improper to be pro duced ; he had therefore shewn to the - Hon. Gen tleman what he thought had satisfied his mind. The Board of Admiralty could not consent to the produ6lion of some of the papers for the reasons which .be had alleged. 11, however, there was any snbstantial reference could be made, he had no oh je6tion ; but the papers generally related to bye laws as bet ween Mr. Bentham and Mr. Rennie. • Mr. 'WHITBREAD pressed his motion, as the par ties meant to publish the correspondence between' those Gentlemen and the Board. The motion was then put and negatived. Goldsmid's Indemnity Bill was ordered to be read a second time on Friday. CONVICTS ON BOARD THE HULKS. Mr. ABERCROMBIE having some, days before moved for certain Accounts 'elating to the State of the Convicc,ts, observed, that he since had reason to believe that persons convided of offences, and sen tenced to the hulks, had received free pardons; and had been sent to serve in one of the regiments of the line. It had been stated by an, Hon. General, and not . denied by•the Secretary of State, that one hundred and forty persons of this description had been pardoned on the conditions stated. He was far from entertaining an opinion, that commutation of sentence should not be permitted in certain cases, to a limited extent, and that persons entitled to the benefit of such commutation should not be sent to serve in the At my and Navy, and also be entitled to free pardons ; but what he coMplaked of was, the excess to which the practice had been carried. He admitted the just exercise of the Royal Preroga tive. He wished, however, to ask the Right Hon. Secretary,, whether, before hundreds of cunvids had been dismissed, he had inquired into the character and situation of_the indi v id ua l s , an d , had been-satis fied they were fit objeas for mercy ? Whether the offences of which they had been convified, were their first ? Whether t het e were circumstances of . aggravation or of • mitigation in their respective crimes And whether reference had been made to the Judges, for the purpose of ascertaining those p irticulars He understood, that it was on the 're presentation made by Mr. Graham, the Superinter.- dant of Convicts, that they were discharged. To Mr. drah'am i s . testinititiY, as to their good conduct, he had no objection; for the truit was most pro perly Confided in him, and no doUbt he discharged it with fidelity. But Mr. Graham was only an oc 'casional visitor to the hulks, seeing the convicts per haps not more than once within the quarter of a year, taking of course his account of their conduct from the inferior servants, which he (Mr. A.) could not consider the best source of information. He was afraid the hiilks was not a proper ;lice for im proving the morals of those persons. &sicies, last Sess!on, a Committee had been appointed to inquire into the State of the Hulks, .and, that Committees had nbt as yet made their report. If the Commit tee vt ere so long making their report, he Was nor a•suming too much in questioning the ptipriety of this mode of punishment. H e dep rec at e d, un d er these circumstances, the placing the Officers of any Regiim.nt in so pitiable a snttaii.,n as having to Com mand 1 40 men of this description. He then moved for, " A Return of the Number of Persons Conviaed since the Ist of January, is3:o, sentenced to be transported, after being capitally convicted. or originally so, and also those discharged subsequently (having received free pa:dolls) trout on board the hulk., with the dates of their service, tic." Mr. Secretary RYDE3 deprecated the motion, but had no wish to screen himself from any responsibi lity for having ed. iced the pardons, because hes° doing he had followed precedent. • Pardons bad not been granted latterly to the event as fotmerly.— In one instance, he undervtood, that upwards of fiae hundred had been allow ed to enter into the army and navy. With reseed In the present Subjed, the fad was, that Mr. Graham had represented to him drat there were a number of persons o.' h cse conduit had been so cerreet, that they were 'fir objects for Royal consideration. In consequeece of this repre sentation, he had thought it his duty to recommend those persons to be pat . doned on condition of enlist,- ing for life. It had been • found that bad effee . ts arose from sending them for life to serve abroad, and a communication' was made to the Commander in Chief ; the result. was, that it was judged advisable to permit the . enlistieg under these conditions, but the men were informed that it rested with them whether they should revisit their native country again, and be restored to their families and friends. The HoUse would agree with him in conceiving that there could not be a greater inducement to behave well during their confinement on board the hulks, than the knowledge that by their good condud they might stand a chance of being restored to society. There was no principlestedangerous as that princi ple which went to exclude the' chalice of reforma tion. But if these persons were turned loose upon the world, without the means of earning their bread, and their charaiSlers gone, the probability was, that they would return to their evil hibits. What. was the case here ? 'By. permitting them to enter the Army and Navy ever) objedion was removed, and they most likely would be drawn from their old hag bits, and become as it, were new men and good citi zens. The Honourable Gentleman therefOre was • wrong in supposing that it was improper. to permit these men to enter. He had.drawn his observations from the state of the convicts before Mr. Graham held the office of Seperintendant. The Right Ho nourable Secretary then read a letter from a Cler gyman, stating the good behavionr of two men who had been liberated in. 1810, after four year confine ment, describing them as altered men.' The gene ral impression as to this mode of punishment was quite different to what the Honourable Gentleman entertained, for he (Mr. Ryder) W 33 in the priadice of receiving. letters from the masters of apprentices and servants serf ing on board the hulks, desiring that the rest,of the sentences against them might be re mitted, on account of the reformation in their con duct, and they would take them again into their service. Thaewas the best proof which could be' given - of the-utility' of the punishment, for would it be believed that tradesmen would risk their property if they were not convinced their once dishonest ser vants were now trust-worthy ? As to the numbers enlisted, the House perhaps were not aware that they formed three, strong, good, and efficient regi ments. With resreVto their general condualsince 1803, when they were first liberated, many testi monies were furnished. He had made many •in quiries, and he found that their general condud was very good ; as soldiers, they would not yield to any regiment for efidciency. In the year t 8%07, Colonel Gordon, then private Secretary • to the Commander - in Chief, was at the head of one of the regiments, and he spoke in high terms of that regiment when. in Alderney and Guernsey. In a letter, which the, Right Honourable Secretary read, they. are stated to have received the thanks of the inhabitants of those islands, for their good condo 1, and it was stated thee. out of the who!e regiment only two had attempted to desert. He then referred to the Gazette • of the 6th of March, 18.10, in which General Beckwith speaks in the highest terms of the Royal YOrk Rin gers, another of these' regiments . ; and, in General Orders, returns thanks to Brigadier General Wale' and Major Henderson, the Commander, for the gal. - !entry displayed in the conquest of Guadeloope,aind for tire discipline which the regiment had evinced on this and formetericcaaions during the campaien. Any regiment might be proud to have beers, memioned with such honour as that by . which the York Ran gers had been distinguished. He allowed he had been told by a Gallant General that offence had been given by allowing so many teen from the hulks to enter into one regiment. He ;was sorry for it, and and he was sure that by no one %vat immure regretted than by the Hits' rions Personage at the bead of the army. It was intended that it should not be know it from what quarter these unfortunate persons had proceeded; unluckily, however, it had transpired.— But he trested that no regiment could feel disgraced by the association .of individuals who had shewo so much' contrition-tor t heir .former errors, and Min had so well to decried the pledge they had given of future good conduct. As the present motien could tend only to revive unpleasant considerations with respect to these unfortunate individuals, • he for one must • give it his decided negative. If the Honourable and Learned Gentieman could bring for ward any parti celar case of itnpropriety in the greeting of a par don, he would most readily meet him upon it. He was not aware, howevvr, of the existence of any such. He might hate erred, Gut he really had used all possible diligence to a , cel Win the merits of the indieidoala in ques!ion, before he otfe•red any advice with respect to them ro time Er°, n. It would have been much better for the public service, 'amid for those unfortunate penious, had this cusi.ott not taken place. • lie had deprecated it w hen the lien,