The Sun. — London, England, 1819-06-04 00:00:00

Lott! Castlereagh, moved that the 14 '"'‘c, at ifs ri\itig this night, do adjourn till 'Alon , hy nvxt.—The ',notion was agreed to wiih our any reinAt ks. I)1' ENTERS' MARRIAGES. Mr. W. SMITH presented a number of petitions o' Di•senters, complaining of the present Ope- I i7:oo of the Marriage Act. Their prayer was, tit tt they might be allowed to have the martia;ie ceremony, like the J-ws and Quakers, in their owl) Macs of worship, or that a certain part of the ti ial might be omitted, To hint it tip ?eared that -the--praTer of the - petitioners might Le ray ,cd without inconvenience. lie then yre , iented Petitions front certain Protestant Dis- StftlierS of Tcttend , en, in Kent—of the City of Gloucester—and from the Association in Parlia nolit-court, Arlihery-lane, London ; and he also presented similar Petitions frotn the Disenters of Suffolk—Norfolk—Nor w ch—Li neoln—Li ye rp 00l —Newport, it the Isle of Wight—and the City of Exeter.--The Petitions were severally ordered to lie on the table. Sir M. W. Iltptv't presented a Petition from the Merchants of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, against the Foreign Enlistments Bill.—Ordered to lie on the table. PLAN OF FINANCE. The CHANCFLLOR of the EXCHBRUER moved the Order of the Day for the House going into a Committee on the first Report of the Committee on the Public Revenue and Expenditure, and that sever.l documents should be referred to the std Coo rnittee. The motions were agreed to, and the House rtsylved itself into the Committee. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then read the Resolutions which lie had announced it to be his intention to 'bring forward. They were ►►s follows: Ist. That since the termination of the War, in 1615, the Property Tax in Great Britain, and other Taxes in Great Beitain and Ireland, which yielded a revenue of upwards of 18,000,0001. per annum, have expired or • Peen repealed, or reduced. r2d. That by an Act passed in the 56th Geo. 111. c. 98. the rcrenucs of Great Britain and Ireland were consolidated front the sth of January, 1817, and That in the year preceding the said consolidation, the net separate revenue of Ireland was 4,561,3531.. and the charge, of the funded and unfunded debt of Ireland was ti„410,1231. including therein the suns of 2,438,1241. as the Sinking Fund, applicable to the reduction of the debt, and which charge exceeded the whole net revenue, of Ireland, by the sum : of 1,885,4721., without affxding any provision for the Civil List, and other permanent charges, or for the proportion of ,supplies to be defrayed by that part of the United Kingdom, and That no provision has been made by Parliament to supply this deficiency. 3d. That the supplies to be voted by a Parliament for the present year, may he stated at 20,500,0001. 4th. That the existing revenue, applicable to these supplies, cannot be estimated at snore than 7,0@0,0001. leaving. the sum of 53,500.0001. to be raised by loan, or other extraordinary resources. sth. That the Sin Ling Fund, applicable to the reduction of the National Debt in the present year, may be estimated at about 15,500,0001. exceeding the above sum, necessary to, be raised for the service of the year, by about .2,000,yu0i, only. 6th. That to provide for the exigencies of the public ser vice, to make such progressive reduction of the National Debt, at, may adequately support public credit, and to afford to the country a prospect of future relief from a part of its present burthens, it is absolutely necessary that there should be a clear surplus of the Income of the Country, beyond the ck penditure, of not less than 5,000,0001. ; and That with a view to the attainment of this important ob ject, it is expedient now to increase the Income of the Coun try by the imposition of Taxes, to the amount of three mil lions per Mr. GRENFELL understood that to-morrow the Chancellor of the Exchequer was to meet the Gentlemen with whom be proposed to contract for the Loan. Now as the Resolutions before the House must be connected with the consideration of the Loan, he would take it for granted that the Chaucellor of tie Exchequer, at his inter view with the contractors, would not commit himself in ,any way with respect to the Sinking Fund, so as to ant:cipate the decision of that House on Monday. He hoped the Right Hon. Gentleman would be careful to leave it open to the House to provide that the Loan to be raised 'in this or in any other year, should be raised iii that way which to them might appear most for the benefit of the country. He was anxious that before Monday nothing should pass between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Loan Con tractors that should fetter that House in any re• spect, but especidly with respect to the applica tion of the Sinking Fund in diminution of the The CHANCELLoR of the EXCHEQUER said, it could not be his object to finer the judgment of the house. The Contractors of the Loan, iu g their bargain, well knew that all most de pend on the decision the House might think it right to come to on the resolutions which he had brought forward. The resolutions were laid on the table. The House then resumed, and the Chairman reported progress. - The Report of the Committee of Supply was brought up and agreed to. , EAST INDIA AFFAIRS. Mr. Hump, wished to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if in his estimates for the present year he had taken into account the large slims doe to the East India Company for services performed at Ceylon, and (or other transactions in the East. lle believed the amotio doe 'to the Company to be very considerable, and this must of course go to increase tire deficiency in tire revenue. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER had no hesitation in saying that no provision had been made for the sums alluded to. He was not aware in what way the account stood on both Wes, but be belived the Court of Directors were not likely to be very pressing on this subject. DISTRESSED WEAVERS. Mr. CURI-EN wished to ask the Noble Lord (Lord Ctirlitle) whether any steps had I been tdken to relieve the Carlisle weavers.' Their rou tine( bad been most exemplary, and now, wittiont toniplaiiing, they ftnxionAly awaited the ilet.cr mina`tion on their Petition. Lord CASTLEREAGH said, when the petition came into his han . (l% i►e lost no time,.iu laying it hoore the. Prince Regent, who immediately gave dir.ections that it should be submitted to the First Lot d of the Treasury, that it might' be taken into consideration. He was not yet enabled to com municate any dedsion on it, but the Hon. Mem- ber could not be surprised at this, as he most be aware of the difficulties in the way of adopting :+t► partial measure with a view to afford them PARGA. Mr. F. DOUGLAS wished to , know• if any steps had been taken with a view to afford relief 16 the people of Parga ? Lord CAsTLEREAGII remarked, great difficulties wo.dd be thrown in the way of Government, it they were compelled to disclose the nature of the instructions they sent out. The present question called for information respecting that which had been done in the discharge of a responsible duty, and therefore, with all deference to the Honour able Gentleman who had asked it, lie did think that he ounht to answer it. Mr. F. DOUGLAS ventured to hope, that some thing had been resolved upon for the relief of the unfortunate inhabitants of Parga, as on a former night there had appeared a leaning towards them on the part of the Noble Lord, Lord CASTLEREAGH begged the Hon. Member would come to no conclusions from what he might have said. Ministers - had done what they had thought it was their duty to do, and must abide the result. Mr. MELLtstt presented a petition from the Ma nufacturers and 'traders orPoptilar, Shadvvell, Wapping, and other Pari , hes, against the Fo reign Enlistments 13111.—Ordered to lie on the FOREIGN ENLISTMENTS FALL. The ATTORNEY-GINEHAL moved the second reading of the Foreign Enlistmeets Bill. Sir R. WILSON: opposed the second reading of the I3iil. The principle of the measure he held to be highly objectionable, and wholly at variance with the ancient law of the country. 'The Acts of 9th and.29th of George the Second, respecting Foreign . Enlistments, llad been reterree to, as if they had not been framed to meet any particular emergency, but ,were a part of the general policy of the country. .11. e must therefore make sonic reference to those Acts. The fitst of those Arts was passed in the year 1736. What was then the Stale of Europe ? The King had sent down a Message to Parliament, stating that France and Austria had sigoeti preliminary articles of Peace, and that the good oflices of England were re quired, not only between France and Austria, but between all the belligerents. These ciecrun stances seemed to render such a law desirable, but he denied that there was any thing in our present situation that could make this necessary. In 1756, when the other Act passed on this sills ject, the French King had seized the ships of the English, the King of England had po sitive information that it was the intention of the King of France to invade Great Britain or Ireland, and the Pretender was then resid lug near Paris with many thousands of persons attached to his fortunes. It was under such circumstances that the Bill of 17;56 passed, and this, as well as ,the former Act, had been resorted to under particular difficulties, i n o r der to meet a special anti extraordinary necessity.— It would be found that all the Acts that had passed orsuch a nature had been passed under similar circumstances. Such were the circumstances tin der which the Acts of James the First and Second bad passed. It would be seen that such measures had never been resealed to but when Engl an d was scprincipal in the contest, or when she had un dertaken to act as a mediator between the Belli gerent Powers. These laws had never been acted on. Those who had offended them had either been tried on the Articles of War, or for High Treason., He proceeded to illustrate this by a variety-of instances. He noticed the treatment which the body of English subjects taken at the battle of Dettingen, in the French' service, had received, anti. proceeded to state, that in 1794, when General O'Hara was taken prisoner by the French, and sentenced to death by the French Convention for acting' with the Emigrants who had been landed on the French coast, the Dake of Yolk immediately sent Lord Hutchinson- to the advanced posts of the French army to remonstrate against the sentence, and to remind the enemy that the corps taken in 1744 in the French ser vice had been treated but as prisoners of war.— The treatment which the Irish brigade in the French service, who, on the death of the French King, refused to serve the Republic, met with on their coming to this country, when, without any Bill of Indemnity passing, they were employed in our service, served still further to prove the correctness of what he had advanced. He was further borne out in what he had said by the course pursued by the Irish regiments in Spain. The indi vidual instances of persons acting with Foreign• Powers were nnmerons. When Gen. Money came here it was not viewed by Austria as a just ground of war. When the French General La Fayette went to America it was not regarded as a cause of war by England. In the same way Sir Sidney Smith had commanded in the Swedish fleet ; and the Russian fleet, in the wars between Russia and the Porte, had been full of Scotch Officers, without giving offence to the Powers who it might be supposed would have felt aggrieved. All writers on the law of nations were agreed that it was not incumbent on one GovernMent to pre vent it subjects from enlisting into the service of foreign powers, but merely to avoid giving a pre ference to either party. Its 1756, we bad sub sidized corps of Russians and Hessians, withont engaging their Governments in our war, and it had been the practice of the Swi3s to let out their men thus at all times. We were taunted with America, and told that she had passed an Act of this nature, He was one of those who admired -America, for having established - within her own bosom an impregnable citadel for freedom ; but in the case referred to, he thought she bad only studied her own aggrandizement. At the emu unetvceinent of the contest the United States of America had given the Spanish Colonies - all the assistance in their rower, The Government of Spain, alarmed et this, had said, " Foibear ! as sist per Colonies no more, and we will give you Florida." The boon was accepted by America, a nd she became possessed of Florida. Hereafter, he could venture to prophecy, America, acting in the same spirit, would demand and obtain the island of Cuba, and having got it, she would make a dash at the Main, plant her standard on Mexico, and having obtained the command of all the commerce of its gulp!), laugh at England for being the dupe of her professions. He censured the hardships to which this Bill would doom those whi.) went to fight under the banner of liberty, however well they might serve their country while abroad, when they returned crowned with laurels And loaded with the benedictions of millions. Such .men, at the will of any informer, might be sent to jail, to be dealt with like malefactors. Seel, a Bill he must describe as one not called for by the rights of neutrality —as one which humanity west reject, and policy condemn—and, in short, as one in favour of Ferdinand, and opposition to liberty. He concluded by moving, as an .amend ment, that the Bill should be read a second time on ilia: day six months. The ATTORNEY-GeNERAL said, it appeared to him the course pursued by the Gallant General was a little extraordinary; for, according to his argitnient, it he had understood him, the subjects of one Srate had a right to elitist into the service of foreign Powers, even though those powers Were at war with their own country—(Cries of '' No, no !")—The Hon. and Gallant General bad talked of the treatment which the Irish Brigade and "other corps had experienced, after hearing arms against their own Government ; and he (the At orttey•General), though he quarrelled not with the mercy which had been shown in the cases ie lerred to, maintained, that supporting his argil went thus, the doctrine of the `Hop. and Gallant General did in fact amount to this : that subjects ;00l a right to enlist against their own country. This, though lie had not stated it, was the effect or what he had said. He would contend that the :siihiects of one country had no right to enlist in the service of a Power at war with one that was at peace with their own conntry. The principle 'or, which this measure was founded was the same by which the King had the power to command his subjects out of the kingdom to return to it.— Both were founded on the main principle of con sidering each individual subject as composing a part of the Srate. The State would be a mere cypher, if any subject of it might refuse to obey it, and to act as not belonging to it. Let the House recollect what this Bill professed. It was to prevent persons from going to any town in the kingflom to beat up for recruits to serve in a war carrying on against another State with which we were in amity. How could transactions be car ried on between one State and another, if such things were to he allowed ? What the Bill requir ed was, that there should be the King's license to authorize such an act ; .and that without such license, whoever did, it should be punishable as guilty of a misdemeanour. The Bill itself was founded on the Common Law. When he said this, he was aware that it might be said, if the act, which the Bill went to prevent, was against the Common Law, the Bill was unnecessary.—(Hear, from the Opposition.)—And if it was admitted that the crime was one against the Common Law, then all the argument of the Gallant General who spoke last was in support of an act against the Common Law.—(Hear, hear !) It the House was of opinion that the act in question was against the law, why ought there not be an Act of Parliament to put all men guilty of it tinder an equality of punishment whether they served the one State or the other ? But were that class of the combatants (whom with out disrespect lie would call insurgents) to have a power to call our fellow-subjects to fight in their ranks, while the other class who were the recog nized Government were not to be allowed ? It Would be gross injustice if the act were lawful. But the truth was, it was against neutrality. The principle of the Bill was one of strict neutrality and impartiality; It nebber favoured nor injured one party more than the other. He could not help alluding to a petition which bad this day been presented On the subject of this Bill. Ile could nut but think that the petitioners wholly mistook its object. They said that it- would injure the commercial interests of the country. Unless by commercial transactions were meant dealings in the munitions of war—(No, .no ;_front various parts of. the House)—the fair commercial inte rests of the country would not in any degree be affected by the measure. Bui if it was objected that this Bill prevented the fitting out ships of war in our ports to set ye on behalf of either of the contending parties, it could hardly be con tended that it was not a thing which ought to be prevented. The Bill had adopted a policy which was always held consistent with the 'principles of the common law. He would ask, whether revolt ed provinces, not being in the rank of King, State, Prince, or Nation, could be considered as • absolved and exempt from•all regulations, and all the principles of international law, which govern the intercourse of other States There was a provision in the Bill to preent it from affecting persons who had already entered into the service of either of the contending parties ; and this was introduced, not because those persons could be Considered as wholly free from offence, but that this Act might rather be made to serve as a no tice. - On the whole, therefore, tkie House would agree with him in thinking that this Bill was a wise measure, and that no solid objection had yet been made to it. Mr. DENMAN thought the House must be very much surprised to hear the prinCiples of.law which had been laid down by his Honourable and Learned Friend who had just sat down, and the more so, inasmuch as they were wholly uncalled for by what had been said by his nonourable and Gallant Friend, and inapplicable to its arguments. The argument of his Hon. Friend was, :that a neutral state ought to give its subjects the power of entering into the service of any foreign state. Interference to prevent this was against the prin ciple of neutrality. But this measure was an in-• terference of a partial kind, and tending to favour one party more than the other. It was well known that it would have the effect of deterring many from joining the Colonies; - while it Would prevent none from entering the service of Spain, because there were none likely to enter is--be" cause no Englishman, with the heart of an Eng' lishman, would enter into the service of Spaiti against her colonies. But it was said that the house ought not to allow a system of recruiting in London, and the various towns throughout the kingdom, by beat of drum, to levy forces to serve against Spain ; and he talked as if this system was carried on to such an extent that these recruits were paraded through the streets rsfWestminstars through the Haymarket, and St. James's-streets The House did not know that such things well done ; and if it were actually trne, perhaps, it ought to be prevented. But why should Parliat went now depart from the old and sound principle of Law which prevailed down to the year 1736_1 In former cases it never had been resorted iire--* In the war of the Hugenots, in France, British subjects bad never been prevented from joining either of the contending parties ; because the print ciple had always bean recognized, that the autil lect of a neutral power had a right' to 1314 • his genius, and his strength, and his courage, to the assisting of either of the contending parties. It was true that there was a common Law" right in the King to prevent . any of his subject' front departing from the realm. There was the old common law writ of ne exeat regno for this purpose, and there was another writ for recalling the King's subjects from abroad. These m i g ht, no don's , : be lessally employed, and the first was often resorted to in private cases. But as a mea' • sure of State policy, the moment a license was made necessary to authorize a British subject tit enter into the service of either party, an act of hostility was committed against that, party, a nd ' the principle of neutrality was departed from.-- . " The power which the BC gave of detaining ships in purrs, gave such an inducsment to informers, that there could be no doubt tile Act would be rigorously enforced. The time when this 134 11 ' was introduced was most ungsacioos. By the long Avar, a great proportion of the people woe become so wholly military as to be incapable 01 : exercising any other profession ; and now this Bill went to prevent them from availing theme. selves of the only opportunity of justly and satelt exercising the profession of arms. The effect ot• the Bill was obviously favourable to Stain, and threw a great weight into her scale, by prevent' ing an accession of strength to her colonies. Mr. C. W. WY NNE said, whether he considered this measure with a view to the reference it ha d . to this country, or to Spain and her Colonies; b e was the more convinced of its propriety. The Hon. and Gallant General referred to the reign nil Elizabeth, when British subjects were allowed t o, serve against Spain, in the contest between tlO t kingdom and her colonies in the LoW Countries. -- " But it was forgotten that it was the policy of tbis .Country to weaken Spain at that time, and that . English subjects were allowed to serve in the 1.0 51 Countries for the purpose of effecting a diversion , The same remark wati apolicahle to the other casef. of such permission mentioned by the Hon, and Gallant General. It was quite monstrous to sop' pose that the subjects of any State had it in their power to lay down their allegiance whenever the)! chose to accept a commission in the service of 1 foreign Power. The case of the Swiss was talked of, but who would wish to see the principle in' troduced among the people of England, of selling their services to the highest bidder, and pointing. their bayonets against each other's breasts, ac, co7diios, as they were paid for it ? But it was said that this Bill .was unnecessary, because the Com' mon law enabled the King to reed his subjects by the writ of ne exeot regno. This was quite Orli" colous. Could it be seriously supposed dis c ' writs of ne exeat should have been aired out ageinSF all British subjects now in Sots America ? •Fic his own part he was rasher inclined to think that Ministers were to blame for not having sooner adopted so effective a measure as this Bill, '''• cheek the evil before it had reached its presenc. extent.. He hail b: en informed, that within t" last few days,• out of a battalion which was (Hl''. banded at Chatham, 300 men had immediatel beets enlisted to serve in South America. It aP,' , peared to him that it must' always be consider ed as a breach of neutrality for a State to permit su armed expedition to be fitted out within its il°' minions to serve hostilely against another: CP ( the whole, therefore, lie certainly thought tbsfr this Bill ought to be allowed to go into a C00 1 '• tnittre. There was, however, one clause which be thought,ought to be modified, namely, that which related to the detention of vessels, so far as re' garde.d the evidence to be . admitted. But 01' great principle of the Bill was exactly conform' able to the printiples of our Law and Constitu d lion. Sir R. Wnsotstexplained. , AV:F. Dotioi.A's said, that at any other time 11$ would have waited till others of his lion. Fricai, around him had expaessed their sentiments, but 0 11 . the present occasion he felt himself called on t°, rise, he differing so entirely from all the principle: and opinionslaid down by the last speaker. fl e thought that views of policy alone might hove prevented Ministers from proposing a measure the present ; not only good policy, but a regard ta - the feelings of the country, would have dictat ed another line of action; for he would venture to OP that more of English feelings and exertions Wei ° vested in the cause of the South Americans than'i! , any other, distinct from its own, that ever anialv , e , tied an interest in the country. The people we r. " interested in the success of the Colonies, not org: from hopes of increased commercial advantageS'•' but from nobler motives. They recollected 0) .0 1: these very Spanish Americans had been first rouse,'' into action-4ad been first animated into Oil ) riresent opposition to the oppression of Spain, i re glorious struggle ,for freedom they were no", • • carrying on, by the Government of this country' They called to mind that the buds of indepepdeoe , now expanded and flourishing in those. re gions!' were first called , forth by ourselves. But it (OW': tunately happened too often that foreign nation' were spirited into an assertion-of their rights bY this country, and afterwards deserted whet! 61! Noble Lord opposite had changed his views 1 our foreign policy. According to, the general Is° of nations, the subjects of a neutral State migb. give their, assistance to either of two belli4e' rents, as they thought proper. He thereforti. onntended, that all any belligerent power cool require of a neutral was a return to —foe diet th e haw t r `l' It fait Clip "tXa ;ICe~ ri d►; - sidc /or . ilio 1' '~3 c~ Isla Con Till tit; ri *„; f)i lb" 114 111 Or! 411 : , i tst , ot a l try : r jrh !her 4et e lety Cent li on %It/ It ee er a , ‘v l ;'4 lieve Dir A , tieg ti T rt , Yiea : 3 1 1 rti it, i s Itr at ftry c l It 41 at SOUS ~~