The Sun. — London, England, 1819-06-22 00:00:00

111 " line ass to do. This he admitted, but then be : 4 , 41 ( 1 have good faith 'kept towards both parties , " not merelv towards one of them. The law k e : it °OW stood prohibited British subjects from (" Ir rinr, into the service'of any regular Foreign , ;" v ernment. But, the Spanish Provinces being a state of insurrection were not regarded as a -e tilar Government, and therefore it was thought : e L e rsssry to bring in a Bill to prevent British - "fleets from'going there. This was the avowed '°ti*e for passing the law, but if the only object i w ," to plac e th e two Powers on the same tooting, w"old.be better to repeal the former Acts than b)l).ss a new one. He admitted ,that it would • Inaptoper t o ' p er mit bodies of recruits to be l lised it; that country by bear of drum for a fo te'r,n Powey. This would be an evil that Parlia ;sent oueht to repress. But to prevent individuals ft~" going into the service of a foreign Power to "ard his fortunes in another country, was to 1 4 'illicit farther than Parliament bad hith erto " ,/ * and much farther than it was now called any existing engagements to go. The ` , l " tt of an individual could not be taken as that of e Government; This he would contend, in op 1 1 "ition to , the Right lion. Gentleman, would not . "justifiable cause of war, and no feeling of .""erosity towards Spain ought to carry us so fa; 11 it was p ropose d to ca r r y u s by this Bill ; for t w nilld deny that the-act of any individual who 14 ht enlist in the service of a foreign Power ° 'hi 'at a ll com p rom ise the Government, seeing hat , Government had no power to controul the L 7titividnal tinder the existing ITtw. 'R•'GSANT, after giving the subject all -the `irlitideration in his power, had come to a con ,Pion.on this question directly opposite to that telr had been so forcibly urged by the Hon. tad Learned aenilerh" who had just sat down-- ~,,"gh he per'ectty agreed with him as to the ' -itlgnitude and importance of the question. The l i ( '‘ i ttds on which ir'i's argued by the Gentle •°l)Posite seemed 'to hits inconsistent with lash Ot he r, an d at var i a n ce w ith the c onclusion . ,b 4 ,' r litch they all came. He viewed the treaty of h -14 as binding us to nentriility, and if this could 4 -4 " be observed we ought not to take refuge ir. ; I . l fisineere, imperfect, and equivocating • cam -447"e -with the letter of it ; but we should ra r at once start from it, to open, avowed, tins 4 " i ged hostility. This point he eloquently ar `ssted at some length. If prohibited from assist la, the Colonists with arms, or with a single "el of powder, or even with loans of money, 1," 41 it' be supposed:that our vete6n troops might & offred to pass there, to fight under the South :eric an flag, and sweep away the military .I ) ,W e r of Old Spain without being guilty of 'eh of th at neutra lity whi c h we h a d pledged -"tselves to observe ) It was the sentinient of Ib ile ltreut man, that " the sinews of war consist !, as is commonly supposed,,in 'iron Or in gold, 7 in the h an d s an d arms o f b rave men ." No w , these were the - sinews, and in fact they migh' chlled the very soul of war, was it to be sup red tha t South .Atnerica could be supplied with 4o t tiOt soldiers, and in such numbers too ; as to ( f il the scale of victory against 'Spain, without ;Parting f rom our p ro f esse d neutra li t y ? H e : 13w ed, thit whilst We thus threw aside, in one la rkee the neutral character, it the principle at'Aternled f or by th e G en tl emen o pp os it e w ere ai: trf t upon, w e c l a im e d it so far as it was belie - 0-141 t" us f ur t h e p ro t ec ti on o f ou r m e rcha n ts, 4t u r coloni es and even our armies, trout annoy sti'.e. till the last reached the scene of action.— 1 1 :* was unjust, .and he was of opinion it would f or hlg hly dangerous to countenance a precedent sieParatitig the acts of the people from those . 14 , • t ne Gov ernment. Ad vert i ng t o w h at h a d been h .. `q on a f ormer n i g h t, o f 6,000 troops having le y! n rai se d b y the Marquess ol'H amilton for to tgit service, -during the reign of Charles the past, e he explained that transaction, by describ t! it to be p art of a sc h eme set on ' f oo t by th e vc rnhient, which bad merely been masked, by pretending to put the forces raised under the t„h 1) . 1 1r() " 1 of a relation to the Kingof Bohemia ki is , teas of itself sufficient to show the evils that iet kut ari se t rorn the pract i ce of separating the .1 111 3 of th e peop l e from those of the stat e...- hi tt er all circumstances, he thought the good Int aud good sense of . the country could come alt ti one decisi on — an d th a t wou ld b e favour fi,,ltue to the present Bill. He entirely dissented i h w hat had fallen from an lion. Friend of his, R b,speteli of unex am pl e d e l oquence , on . a f o r mer e int,-th oug h at the saute time he was bound to a; his ack now l e d gement f or t h e p l easure b e b a d kit. i .. "ed fro m h ear i ng that speech. if time col°. of North America were formerly strengthen -. .1 ht, strengthen !! by el oquence of a Mem b er of that H ouse, 4 1 , 4 Z1d the So ut h A mer i cans tr i umph they m i ght With equal reason of the signal - support p,iw • th their cause had received from• the splendid ata,, ers of his Honourable and Learned Friend. ruing to the language hell by public writers, 1/30t'oted Binkerschofe, who bad been referred to are a former night. That author said—'' There th at B , lo e Stat es i n E urope whose doctrine i t is; 44 _, . t heir subj ects s h a ll never a b dicate the i r alle- N_ D e 4 to enter into the service of a Foreign b po w a er ,: but thi s p ri nc i p l e i s not generally acted /re tell Speaking on the s it uat i on i n w hi c h dit 44_‘ countries w ou ld stan d if l ev i es o f troops lathe raised i n t h em for foreign countries, the ▪ Nl _ W riter says—" Where to raise men for such f o rse is unlawful, the State Etas' a right to ' t ooli rbirti.lnelt levies to be made, but not so other k.ries whete such a practice is not unlawful." t o Le for his part, he (Mr. R. Grant) took that txc u t the c rule which Binkerschofe marked as the '°n to it, and vice versa; but be this as it , rh N e t_ e i, they haul his authority, at all events, that f ore ; the enlistment of troops for the service of tt States was not sanctioned by the ere the laws, The ,_, ol e . Government had a right to forbid it. Ir dite 7 as and Learned Gentleman had described the th : s . po.nt loosest writer on national law, and t v o in as peculiarly biassed State whose practice it had litt "'4o „.is belonging to all ow i ts subjects to become stipendaries - P ow er in any war. B u t s ure ly if this sitt e i , -- ti was . held t o operate on the m i n d of Stro nger must matte his authority the wino) it w ,"ar, hewent against this practice.— _ hear hear !)--The authority of Grotius, %LH!'es 1„, vns 4o expr ess on this subject. As to the ex -111 history which hatk been quoted on a former night by his Hon, Friend (Sir J. Mackin tosh), he contended that the case of Sir Walter Raleigh was widely different from the present, and in no way applicable to it. in the other case of the 6,000 men which went to Germany under the Marquess of Hamilton, they went unde'r the King's licence.--( Hear, bear !)—The other in stances be maintained to be equally inapplicable. It was said that the Bill went to affect not merely the Statute hot the -Common Law. But why should not Coninroo Law be aided by Statute Law ? It was said the'Kirig had already power by the Common Law to interdict his subjects from going abroad, and that therefore there was on ne cessity for a statute to confirm an undisputed power. But-were there no instancesof such s'a totes to which no objection had evee been made Was not the Act against the exportation of arms or gunpoWder without the Kine's license such an instance ? A statute in aid of the Law of Nations was itt . .aid of the Common Law; for,by the greatest legal authorities-11a: of the Talhota, the Hardwickes, and the Alanstields, the Na. rions is part of the Common Law of England:— (Hear, lit ar !)—But it wa said this Bill was im proper, because it was done in 'consequence of a T. ea y with Spain. Certaiilly Spain or any other `Country had no right to tall upon us to alter our Comm in or Statute Law, nor was any such al teration intended. But surely Spain had a right to expect, that if vve condescended to make a Treaty with Spain, we should condescend to ket p it. , ---(Hear, hear, hear !)—An• appeal lead been made to tlie House on account o' our commercial interests, as being concerned in the success of the Colonists ; it must be observed_that there was no counsellor more dangerous in 'State affairs than counnerce. To prove .his, h i e might adduce as an instance the very war now in question. It half the oppressions which had excited this war in South America were due to time spirit of ty. rangy, at least the other half was oaitig to a tins', placed spirit of eommeree.--(Hear, hear, hear l) As to the employment of our military in such a contest, it' had been. said. that it would teach them to , ympath;z , in the efforts of freedom in the resistance of tyraeny. It fortunately happened that Bi kis!) troops needed no new lesson or no new excitement to such sympathy But when the nature ot„that contest in which they were en couraged to engage was considered, it must be, allowed that'it was not such as it was desit able, shat' Our soldiers should be' trained to. it was beton plusguam city lle, carried ow with more !hall the osual horrors of civil wars. •The habits which most he acquired in such a service were such as it mast be alloWed were most abhorrent, to humanity. As to the cootes: itself and issue, the heart of every Briton must beat high at the contest ofd people fort he inaintenaoce of their: freedom'.—Mear, hear !)--lint at the a r tne time, it was to be doubted whether complet t e.socceSs., of those now in arms against the "St.ratiish yernment would secure the freedoril or any.of the' civil ri his of a very important part ot the latilo of South America—namely, the Indians.i It was fOr the Honse'nii - a( to eonsidio . what Siie-• cies of revenge they qtiould take against Spain for her old treachery to us in s l ur war with our Aine rican Colonies. The circumstances were nearly the same, and it wp:s now about forty years since. the House had debated on the perfidious conduct. of Spain in taking a ,part on . behalf of our iusitc gert Colonists against ourselves, to whom they were bound by a solemn treaty. Whatever the . House should decide upon:as the course to be' pursued in Abis situation towards' Spain ; at least, he trusted that it would -be adopted and purstied. in an open and manly manner —(The Hon. Member sat dawn amidst loud cheers from all parts of the House.) • . . • Lord NUGENT said, it ought not to be forgot, that Ab e ba d been the first to light the torch of• revolt in South America. By oar alliance with the State of Spain, many advantageslmust he al- forded to her in the contest, which required some- thing on the other side to restore the balance of neutrality. Three years ago, when he was in Spain, at Cadiz, he saw an armament fitting out to proceed to Mexico, to fight against the Insur gents in South America, and in the hands of every, one of the scililiers, were English muskets with the Tower stamp. It had excited .his. Wino's; in dignation to see the mark of the British Crown on those arms, which were to be used in the most tool war in whiCh arms' Were ever used.— (Cries of Hear, hear, bear!)-.-When lie 'saw this, it seemed to him• that something was wanted -to keep the balance of neutrality._ What, then, did the British Government do to support this ba lance?' Iu the'cOurse of ihi'lairit - ye'3 . l. 36 vesieli had bee': fitted out in the River -Thames to carry arias and munitions of war to support Spain in her war agains - t tier colonies. British frigates, too, were employed in carrying to Spain 'the sinews of war.—(No ! no! , from the Ministerial Beach.)--He bejieved the AndroMache, frigate had been employed in carrying a freight of gold. —(No, no !)—Then he shOuld Wait forth e con tradietion.ofahe-Sicrettiryaat the Admiralty. was the neutrality which our Government bad observed, and, to crown.the whole, the Legisla ture was called upon to pass a law, making it a penal offence for any British subject to carry his sword to that coniest.-=--(Hear, .hear !)—lle im plored the House to consider'‘vell before it agreed to such a Bill, to consider the number of peti tions which had been pteisented against it. -The people of England had told their Representatives as plainly as they could be told, that they ought not to agree to such a measure, and he trusted that the House, acting on the opinion thus ex pressed, would reject this Bill.—(Hear, hear, hear !)• Mr. Saarrn (of Cambridge) said, he appre hended that it was a new principle for the House to think itself bound to pass a Bill to make good whatever stipulations might be entered into by the Crown. It could not be said that this Bill was founded on any thing like the general law of the land. , If the Parliament had acted on this principle, they would have prevented the great Duke of Marlborough from entering into a war in which this country was neutral, and thus pre vented him from cultivating those splendid mili tary talents which had shoti-e forth in his after life with such glory to himself, and advantage, as well as reputation, to his country. As to the sanguinary nature of the warfare in South • A.tnerica, awl,. the .the. Insurgents, he believed they, were occasioned by • tho. excess of the, tyranuy which 'they resisted.--- fie could not 'see, any reason why the militory part of our population should be prevented from joining in• this war—why we should fling in the faces of those who wished to join in it, 'that Treaty which, -as had been well observed, their oVro valonr bad procured,--(Hear, hear !)—pain indeed had applied to our Government to.prevent British subjects from joining the in.lurgents, and in - compliance with this application, had issued a, Vroclantation„ which was effectual and to the pur pose. Thinking. that this Boil ‘vni against the ancient policy of the present interests of this country, he should think it ,bis duty to vote against it. , Mr. SHEPHERD said the question was, what the honour of, the country and the law of nations re quired, as . to the • subject to tvhich this Bill ap with•resffct to the law of nations, his Hon. Friend (Mr. Scarlett) had under-rated the authority of Vaud!, who was quoted by his Right Hon. Ftiewl (Sir W. Si.ott) and said that he was a loose writer. In truth, however, Vattell was a very strong authority on this•questiOn, and his authority showed that nothing but an abso lute prohibition of assistance by men to either party was a perfect neutrality. Two grounds of objection were taken to the Bill by the Honour able Gentlemen'opposite, which in fact were in- Consistent with, and contradictory to, each other. One ty,is,lhat it was unnecessary, as the case was provided for by the common law, and the other that it was against the principles of our law. This , Bill, in fact, only gave the power of putting into more effectual execution-an authority already vested in the Crown. The principle. of the English law was, that there- should be no right without a re medy ; but it this law did not pass, the Crown would in fact he in . the situation of having a right without a' remedy. Ano(her argument against the Bill was, that it would be against our . commercial interests. This, however, did not-Stelli 10 him to be well faun-led. Mr. G., V. VERNON oppose?! the Bill at some length. Tit'esiipporters of the measure appeared to have assumed,ahat in proportion to tile !VEirtn and active feeliug - opposed to it, ~as the paucity and inefficacy of argument, an assumption ex , tremely illogical. In this case, as in Many others; the well known maxim held good— " Nintaaain afitadatnra, aliuei sapientiat The Hon;- observed; that he wrs reluce tan to do am the - House long - after that most ele- Tient, most argumentative, and most impress.ve appeal which-bad -been made -to them on a recent occasion, by an Honourable and Learned Gen , ' tlemati (Sir. James Macintosh), of whose speech, he might say — with the . p .. Oet, that it ,was " As rapid, as deep, and as brilliant a tide, " As ever.bote freedom aloft on its wing." —For all ticessaty purpose's, he conceived that the common 'la - W :was sufficient ; and be really. _could not see. why ; they should have recourse to certain onprecedented, unconstitutional,, and un- . called for provision's, which were contained in firat'Bill:• One of 'them invested the lowest Of ficers of the State, custoin.house officers, with a discretionary power of arresting persons, not merely before commission of offence, but on a barepresumption. This Bill was brought in at a.time, too,. when the revision ofthe penal laws was hnder.consideration, aided by antan in whom ZFOI tivas tempered by prudence, feeling regulated by jilt:OW(1r; and pi - rseverance and assiduity ren dered etillmore brilliant by his talents: , Spain, he contended, was bound to know the nature of our constitution ; hut the whole argument on the other side' proceeded on the error of coofounding injury :withinjustice •Spainhadasgoodarighttsicall upon us to :Alter any other law—to restrain, tor instance the freedom of ilehate.io that House, because such freedom might prove injurious to he?. Whether he examined .the question on-grounds of I.istice or of interest, whether he regarded the, pres,-lit mea sure ,as one of fear or of favour, he was equally: at a IOSS 4 i6 find a justification fur it:: He Would beg leave • to refer the House to that period of, history wbvi ,Queen Elizabeth, whose Govern-' meot was a model of foreign and diplomatic licy, was itiditeed•to assist the people-of Holland in their struggle against the tyranny of Spain.--, Phillip 11., remonstrated, and she withdrew all na tional assistance, but at the same time positively refused to prohibit her subjects from voluntarily engaging in the same cause. She made this refusal at a time when her own subjects were tliyided into factions, when, the country was,threatened by ex ternal danger, and when the necessary conse-, quence of •the refusal was to offend the most powerful Monarch in. Europe-. -It might be a subject for ,fine periods to urge that we gave to weakness what we would not give to strength, butt he did not . think the argument goed f'or any other purpose. The. principle of liberty' was of a diffusive and communicative nature ; it taught those wisp Were.in.spossession of freedom so to appreciate it as to deem it, good- policy tO extend it to others ; because by such-an extension it be came consolidated and secured wherever it pre vionsly,existed:. Although a friend to legitimate Government, he thought it would be for its own interest to correct abuses when they became grievous and intolerable to the. subject. A few. useful and memorable exaMPles had taught a salu tary lesson both Co PrinCes aid to People ; to the former, that there could be no assurance of im punity for misrule; to the latter, that while they were not born to be slaves by any unhappy 'fata lity, they ought to be cautious bow they innovat ed or overturned existing • institutions". To t e turn, however, to the- question more immediately before them, he must declare that the sole object of the present measure appeared to him to be a sacrifice of justice, for no other reason than be cause this sacrifice would he prejudicial to our in terests.--(Hear 1) Mr. 'Alderman NVA6 - nmAN contended, that even were we bound by our Treaty with Old Spain, it would he found that since that arrangement, pro hibitory laws against British commerce had been introduced by that Power. Spain, therefore, could not found a claim on a Treaty that site had since violated. He had to complain of the indif ference manifested towards the petitions of the commercial interests of the country. That was not always the case. When Ministets had a job to carry, and these interests could be' made subser vient, they were not slow in availing themselves of them. \S Len kite Bank stopped payment, they called meetings at the Merchant I alit/1 s, tiroCers' Hall (a laugh), aoc! at other places is the City. There was a time when the feeling in favour oi Spanish Patriots was loudly excited. , He believed the Noble Lord opposite Was at the dinner at the London Tavern, .where the toast was, " Success to the Patriots of Spain, our Companions in Li bery and Arms."—And yet these men, 'after shedding their blond in the service of theit Coun try and an ungrateful Sovereign, were consigned to gibbets and dtingeons.—(gear, hear !)—He wolild not support cUltllnercial interests when they militated against truth and freedom; but he bc• lieved there was an intention to break down that body, when he saw Government, at the moment it - wask loading the Country with fresh burdens, also endeavouring to cripple and destroy commer cial activity.—(Hear, hear !) Dr. PHlLLlmonr..—Whatever our compacts may he; we are about to forfeit our national honour. We are also about to sacrifice our, co mmercial in terest- in defence of despotism. The true question is—What is 'the relative situation of this Country with regard to the belligerent powers ? As a. neutral power, we ought, according to the law of nations, not to interfere with either of the con tending parties, But it is evident that we are acting under a partial bias in favour of Ferdinand, and against the cause of liberty. It has been said, that we may have entered into a treaty, but that we. are nor 'bound by that treaty. The House knew no other treaty than that befOiv it. The [ion, and Learned Gentleman then wenr into a disquisition of the treaty. Let us therwre pre serve 'inviolate that treaty, and act tar trout any thing foreign to it. A contemptible quib ble it would he to act contrary to the spirt of the Treaty. Every SoVereign"owes to his subjects protection. The Sovereign may command the allegiance of his subjects ; but, by the I.}w of nations, he is bound io ex , end to them his pro tectiou.- In the year 1736, the Knig t;corn r»ended the reduction of the army a.id navy but it was afterwards found requisite to bring in a Act, to meet the emergency of the times. Th a r measure Was the basis of-the .pre sent law, whicli . waa 'then 'passed . as-the common law of the laud, to prevent any flt;sitice from the subjects of this country, to a fapiily, expelled from the Throne. The same rules moral obli gation which - hind individuals to familie,s,.and (a to- stares; °tight to be adhered to on .this occasion. This is-an awful Crisis for. Spain, and he hoped that 11 - er - efforts - would be defeated by •the , - •„. • ... Mr. WILLIAMS insisted that his Majesty bad no power to alter the law of the land. The pre sent Bill was a forfeiture of our national honour, and therefore might not to pass. Mr; T. LONG WEI,LESLEY thought he ''735 bound to examine the stipulations of the Treaty. With 41,terence to Gentlemen learned in the law, he 'differed in many instances from them. Ile ad vised his constituents, who were about to present a Petition against the measure, not to expose themselves, as the Bill was proper, and an aet of policy. On most occasions he would yield to the wishei of hiS constituents; but in this%case he persuaded them that they were actnated• by mis conception. In viewing the conduct of Spain•tt) this Country. it would be necessary for him to. re cur to the time of Qtieeu Eliz-13e111, tracing every. important event to the pre:ent period; but that historical task he would emit; as unnecessary. In . 'referring to what bad taken place between Spain. and Buonaparte, it was . evident that the former had been forced against her inclination to espouse the cause of the latier. S.,me Gentlemen haa strongly applauded t he, Treaty, whose principles were now - questioned as some , ‘ hat objectionahi• It had been insinuated that the Treaty of Campo . .Formio. and others, had been entered into with. llttonaparte, merely for the purpose of breaking them the first opportunity ; but he hoped that the . (government of ttiia 'Country would Maintain its faith inviolate. He concluded by supporting the -measire. . Mr. BARNETT was hostile to the Bill. The projector of it (Sir S. Shepherd) was so ashamed - o►f the measure, that he had escaped to Scotland in order to avoid the discussiou. Lord CARHAMPTON gave his unqualified can. denthation of the Bill.—The House divided— ,Ayes Noes 129 Majority -CI • On strangers' admission to the Gallery, the House was fourid discussing an addition to the title of the 13:11, which we understood was pro posed by way of amendment by Mr. DENNI A N, And also to enable Custom-house Officers to lEarch for and detain.all ships which may be iu any ()ibis Majesty's ports."' Mr. GEotioE LAMB, in ridicule of the impolitic Bill, recommended - his — Hon. and Learned Friend (i\lr. Denman) to include all his authorities in, every sea port; from the Mayor down to the sexton of the parish, and even the siboariaster,,a very important personage in those !Owns. The portreere and clerk of the parish, as respectable civil officers, ought also to be fully eurpowered against all 'wbo were found about to assist the South Americans in their struggle for their - independence. He bad believed that the Lawyers of the Crown' would have teen the fu'i lity of enforci‘ig acts derogatory to our convito tional plin6iples • The Hon. Member inveighed bitterly against the Bill. He admitted, that the Servants of the Ctown - osight pass such Acts, but was of opinion that a British Jiffy, when called upon, would never in such a case condemn those who supported freettm against tyrAnny Lord CASTLLRFAGR could not allow such un. warrantable language to pass unnoticed. Such observations were by no means the usage of Par liatnent. The Hon. Member ought to recollect, that the Juries of the country were not to be treated with such levity. They had a grave and an important duty to discharge, and were to be guided by their oath, and not by such infiamma , tory speeches as had now fallen from the Honour• able Gentleman.. The Bill was then passed ; and Mr. BROGDSN and others were requested to carry it to the Lords for their concurrence. COTTON FACTORIES. Mr. PHILLIPS mo , e(l, that a Message be sent to the House of Lads, requesting that theit