The Sun. — London, England, 1819-04-03 00:00:00

t hera ld b e en ? b a d s cred.' c id be': %Vim CO"' ;' 7;(1 2111 sk. lie its loose; ;entl e ; 0) 061 ' 4 ' it oc vend' . befo re olti lid a fel/ I a cct. Pi Of goe rs: . t i ' ° ins. ' 1 tbso ,fend' :Iry 711 °L ofelf ,is f - rotel,!, end% 01; It Oble ale (3 ' 1005 e, not • .brnee of loaded pistols So that it appeared, if lie they had not seized these in their own defence, "1141 have brow ,. l.° ht the qu n estio to a more Pid c onclusion than could have been desired. After this tvas done, it appeared that the Ge neral had tviih him what was not always tnund in a Gentleman's bed•chber, a dagger der the bed-clothes ; hut fortun am ately for the offi tin cers, he happened to seize on it by the point, leaving the hatolle open to them, so lila( he, in the strug his Xle hic lz fol lowed had only th e s h eat h l e f t i n hand, while they got the dagger, which they did not use so improperly as th e G enera l was disposed to use it. When this was over, lie lock ed and sealed his portfolio, and the officers cool otr remonstrat;'d with I;bn oil his situation, and the propriety Of his suffering himself to be senrive!,ed quietly to the carriage. The same spi t" which bail previously an i mate d hi m cause d E:im to disregard tire advice which they gave ; and its he had not sn'cceetled in the house, he deter , Il lined to try what he could effect mit' of it, by ; 111 . 111 g, " Murder —Robbery—and Rescue," in hope o f raising a mob in his behalf to prevent " execution of the warrant. Now, if any vio lence had been used it was not till a f'cr• his out rageous conduct had made it necessary. -One of The Officers, in consequence of the efforts he blade, was „w a ll y k noc k e d d own b y sonic per , harp in the crowd. Alr-Capper offered to p a y every attention, but his dignity waz then too "telt offended to m acct of th ose accom 410d letations which were at his ep com mand. On his Iv a ac to H arw i c h he acted a similar part he -trk one of t h e officers, and endeavoured t o one at the Populac e to attempt a rescue. When Harwich .he had been taken before the Mayor, ' Ith° had lo o k e d at t h e warrant, and explained to q bi t he ne c e ss i ty of y i elding obedience to it. He then off ere d his ti portfolio, but as h e nder ilth " (1 Gener a l Las C a sas had b een d et ai ne d some • le e waiting, for his papers, h e p re f erre d h av i ng i t nt- after hi m to Hamburgii. He could only 1%1 t his, he was confident no Officers front the thi t e : l o f t the Secretary of State woold have cotn -1 so brutal an outrage as had been charged 11 61 „ He would now leave the case to the to rt till the time arrived at which it could be 4er discussed. th,:ra.„l::;hDerouGLaAS. • reed with the Noble Lord, io a i g . would anti - ye for dehatiog /1 14 i s, T i estion, however, could not regret the he had asked early in the Session, and ; , afl that be had then sat dow•rt svisfied with a nswer lie had received, as to have acted other sis vv ° 4l, l have seemed to throw doubt on the it ra . "'" , 13 of t h e H on. Gentleman. But he thought Ih4ther hard th at i t s h ou ld now b e coMplained, °l e matter had not been b , oug!it torwarl fartta Si ll", in pOi nt o f f act , i t h a d been brontOt Iten-'atri by hi mse lf , and Inc had only been pre eel fr om foll ow i ng i t tip by the auswer he had t e ve d itcen the Hon. Gentleman, The present hen 'lit most urgent case. N ew matter h a d o r ti °ti ght -forward since it h a d l a S t been men lip.le .4 r d . and h e hoped it - would n w - nw be f o ll oe d h e cha racter o f t h e i tteividual acainst whom L%l c lio o aRe had been committed, bad, in iris opi. Th e "thin g to do with the merits of the cast,. ! I tny e° ‘P . se pursued un d er t h e Al ien A ct i t was:the %y e 1' the H ouse to ware; with tle"'- 11, ar ca det Two l poi n t s were o be att e nd e d ;o--first, , riv(ycilland'oi th e G enera l to carried :nefnre the s ()tiocil; and, secondiv, th e detention of Il ere;; -° l'etty. On the first it was to be , remem laN t he only reme d y t h at was l e f t to the on % th ' : 4l e ali en l ay w i t h t h e P r i vy Council, arid la tis• b % great s tress b a d been laid, when the Bill Ilitiiere?(lte the House. But then it was said, Gour gau d h ad not d es i red to be car t° L e e are th e Privy , Council, but h a d w i s h e d * as i t ta ken before a Magistrate. Good G o d . eh.,., an such quibbles that the uofortunate r er was ; to be deprived of the benefit which Ittlie(7:4'slalute had intended for him ? If he t ali a : ° he taken before a Magistrate, he ought hi;e be en told that it was to the Privy Coun• n a , D t te4l must be made ; and he had to coin ed great injustice, since such information tr la Z been afforded. The papers of the Alien, ;: 3 i s -tai "ed, ouOrt not to have been seized. To hp:"8 to act 10 direct opposition to the prin h-ightwhith the Alien Bill was passed. What rPar t ad t he officers to take them to the Foreign r'st • Vor security it Would he said. B ut hard w hose curiosity was it necessary to its hY, against the Home Department ite h eF Y at 111(.111' c"8 tdd s' if such a measure • wet e ne ,ttl"-rt a . It was said his papers were t rar he aler) all' and under lock and key. But the , I , ° l)ee ~,,Was stated on the part of the peti 'tot ' &le r R on e then was assertion against asser tl-No flit, t his tv,s soThient to justify an inTory tt. wntrir'l Merits ot tl:e case. He, for his own e')Ilet„41:1 rather take the assertion of the Hon. b e did on , Lthati that of General Goorgatol, whom to ; but the House bethought was •tt I"t•er dn more to the statement of the peti 'and 17 , ,,,ewaSl'ia1,8 a Member of the house, he thought r ter d i ‘'lltv to d o i ) . The conduct' of the i ‘ad 41 - . A ttl avvrich, with respect to his portfolio, 0 0nlor the road to that place, appeared to tti e t han might be expected. The manner eevii ieli lit4d been treated I viewed as one of s nece Lnl/ tlitmneoutrni,s'arilY springing out of the possession Vvi•l'esista PO‘ver. Weat bad been said of tro'tell the hee he had made, and of the danger to fi r lt s. it he had had been exposed, was ludi tte;' thereminded hint of Major Sturgeon's nem,- 411 all eb itr .Parc e , the misfortune which had f 4 , ) . , rr,bb ed 'self and his brother officers. who were stripp e d , an d b eaten, by ' a single ti • e 11% HA T tN i t hat noußsr thought it extremely improba- Li d tiord e d ,flicers employed to arrest Gen. (lour lit La dle It eommi, led an outrage like that y been , as trii 'aid to their charge. The probabi to 3, 1 i 1 : 1 1 Y the oilier way The Hon. Gentle ttia sub. te called the attention of the House i l '° as t u j T C allY in the Session ; • he certainly. ,e Papers of General Gourgaud, but rt b coi l - 141 • ; 1 41 ,ers tract ! l a i n of the brutal conduct said to tto . I ' s lqn .Pri m the seizure of the General ; L. • tleto, touched d had Only remarked that Ibis it, 40 .„ bad s upon before. The Hon. NI Frio) , that he would sooner believe 4 4 1 but " (Mr. Clive) than General Gour e4r, tv 11,4 id 5 e he thought be was bound -e ° I the retitioller. But did the Hon. Gentleman mean to pay no attention to facts stated on the opposite side of the ques tion. Would he, for instance, say that . there had been no resistance, or t h at such resistance, which caused the severity complained of, formed no part of the case ? The whole conduct of Ge net al Gourgand proved that he had never had any wish to tippeal to the Privy Council. But it was said, ! what a quibble-it was, because the Ge neral had, through ignorance, demanded to he carried before a Niagistrate, to say he had no de sign to appeal to the Privy Council. This would be all very well but for two things—the one was, that, General Gout - gaud Lad been told he might appeal to the Privy Council by the Under Secre tary of State ; the other, that he had received the same information front the Honourable General (Sir R. Wilson). The troth was, he had some confused notion that he bad a right to bring an action against those whom he accused of 'robbing him, but be had no wish to appear before the Privy Council. Mr. F. DOUGLAS explained. Mr. BENNET believed the statement ,of General Gourgaud, and thought it could be proved by the evidence of the two servants of the house in which he bad resided to be quite correct. He believed the outrage committed to belong natu rally to the exercise of arbitrary power, which decided that those who resisted should be beaten to the ground. He was not surprised that Ge neral Goorgaud had invoked the interference of the populace, abused and persecuted as he had been. Theme was one point on which the lion. Gentleman and the Noble Lot d had not said one word : he would ask, Did they read the papers belonging to the General ? Did they comntit fe lony, and break the lock of his portfolio ? Let them say no,,if they could. He did not say they could not do so, but they had not as yet. Now then he called npon them to say, did they read his papers or not ? Mr. SINCLAIR said, that he did not intend to enter at large into the merits of the case which was now before the House ; but lie was fully persuaded, that, if any inquiry should take place, it would Appear that the ill usage complained of by General Gourgaud was occasioned by provoca tion and resistance on his part. It was incon sistent with the national character to aoppose that any Englishman, - and especially a person of acknowledged humanity and reputation, would use any 'violence towards a prisoner in the General's situationwithont adequate cause or necessity. He, (sir. S.) had chiefly risen to state his entire dissent from the opinions expressed by the Hon. M over and others upon th e sithitlct of - the Alien Act ;he thought that enactment highly salutary and ex pedient. It was consistent with the best interests of the country that a power should be vested in the Executive Government of removing Incendiaries from flit Kingdom, who, after having employed ziter whole lives in endeavouring to overturn the Establishments, and perpetuate the misery of other countries, came here for the pur pose of persisting in the execution of their mischievous designs. It was far from being Isis wish that 'Great Britain should be com pelled to foster serpents in her bosom, who, after having been nurtured by the genial warmth of English hospitality and benevolence, would em brace the earliest opportunity to sting their bene factress through the heart. He hoped that a dis cretionary power, would continue to be entrusted, to his Maje tv's Ministers, in whom he had suffi cient confidence to believe that they would never wantonly abuse it. Mr. HuTcrusisorr condemned the Alien Act as the most disgraceful measure the country had ever known. The subject now before the House de served their most serious consideration. A ques tion more important to • the vital interests and - glory of Great Britain was, in his opinion, never discussed in Parliament than that connected with this Petition. The statement of the Hon. Gen ileum!) opposite had, been far from sati s f actory ; Rod the Noble Lord and the Right Honourable Gentleman who followed had said nothing but this, that had the General submitted to have the bed-clothes taken off front him, to be carried naked through the Hall, and thrown into the coach ; had he, in fine, submitted to every possi ble indignity that could be offered to him, then he would not have been so severely beaten. They had represented him to have used violence, but to have been treated with none; hut this he con tended, as well as what had been said of his en deavouring to excite the populace to a rescue on the road, did not wear the face of probability.-- He wished to know . who the officers were that bad been concerned in 'the seizure of General Gout.- gaud, which he regarded as a violation of princi s pies that in this country had ever been held sacred. He hoped an inquiry would take place, that General Goorgroof might have an opportunity of proving his case, or that Ministers might have an opportunity of refuting his statements. The case was one as serious as had ever been brought be fore the House, and the defence as lame a one as had ever been heard itt it. Sir J. COCKBURN, as some Hon. Members bad spoken of General Gourgatui as having been ruin ed by his fidelity to his former master, begged to offer a few words on that subject. He had one day, at St. Helena, said, when speaking of Gen, Bertrand, " It was all through that scoundrel (thus he spoke of the General) that i came here." It was natural for him (Sit John Cockburn) to remark, that he supposed he came to St. Helena with Buonaparte because he wished to be of the number of his followers. He said, " No, that was not the case," and further observed, that he had seved under Buonaparte in Russia, where he attracted his notice, and was made a Lieutenant- Colonel. He afterwards served in that campaign which cost Buonaparte the loss of France ; and while Napoleon was at Elba, he (General Gour gaud) re-appeared in France. He was of course. absolved from his oath, and served in the Royal army. The Due de Berri took great notice of him, gave hitn the Croix de Louis, and in various ways distinguished him. When Buonaparte re turned from Elba, Gourgand hastened to meet him, and applied for employment. He,was ap pointed to a command, and the next day waittd on General Bertrand to thank him for his good offices. But the General last mentioned gave him rather a cool reception, and told • him no thanks were due to him, for, bad bit master bun ruled by his ad eke, he would have had nothing to do wilt such Girouettes as Gen. Gourgaud. But fur that foolish speech, he said he should not then have been at St. Helena, for he should have turned again, and he was confident that he should have been very well received. It was, therefore, not his fidelity that had carried him to St. He lena ; if it had been, no one would have known better ho iv to respect it than himself. He no - ders ood a report had gone :Abroad that General Goorgarld had been sent out of the Country at the instance of a person connected with the Navy. This was routine. Mr. LAIIBTOISI, in reply, remarked, if the char racter of General Gout gaud was so very had, it was remarkable that he had been repeatedly per mitted to dine a' the house of one of his Ma jesty's' Ministers. The statemetos of the violence of General Goorgand, whet), seized, rested on the aothority of Mr. Beojlinin Capper. This person, it appeared front the Itercut of the Police Com mittee in S!3, had entered a gamiog-house, dressed in au officer's uniform, with a drawn sword in his hand, and seized tine money then lying on the table, which the Gentlemen to whom it beloogeii were afterwards unable to get back from him. Any statement from such a quarter be should feel inclined to doubt. He call ed upon the Noble Lord, if he had any regard for the character of the present Ad ministration, to grant an inquiry into the merits of the"case. It. ivas said, that on the road to 'Harwich General Gourgaud had struck and ill-used some of the officers. The im probability of this had been sufficiently strewn by his lloa. Friends ; but he (Mr. Lambton) was informed, that on the road the General had been struck by one of his attendants with a cane, in such a way that his head bled trout the blow, and in that state he was taken into Harwich. lie stated it to be his inteotion to move that the pe tition should be printed, Mr. BECKETT had known Mr. B. Capper for some years. ,While he was connecter' with the thrtca of*the Secretary of State he had behaved as well as a man could do. The proceeding alluded to in the gaining-house was'avholly under the di fection of Mr. Graham. Mr. RENNET referred.to the 'report which his Hon. Friend alluded to, and after reading, what appeared there against Mr. Benjamin Capper, Ire declared he for one would 'not credit what he might shy.. The petition was then ordered to lie on the table. On the motion that it should be printed, Mr. FluToutalsosi objected to tire printing of the petition, if all infinity were not to be instituted into the merits of the case. Lord CASTLEREAGH said, it would be for the House to determirie On another occasion, when the petition , should be prir,ted, what steps they would take on it. The petition was ordered to be printed.. . CHIMNEY SWEEPERS, Mr Bata:as:a- brought in. a Bill for,the better Regulation of Chimney Sweepers' Apprentices, which was read a first and ordered to be read a second time On Monday. BANKRUPT LAWS. Mr. J. Smnrit, in [(roving the: second reading Gf the Bankrupt Law Amendment Bill, detailed the proceedings which had taken place within Ur- last and the preceding Session, upon the subject of the Bankrupt Law. The defects of the Law, as it stood, be stated to be principally the ditficolty rrf getting possession of the property, books, and pa pers of a bankrupt, the facility with which a man could be made a bankrupt, and' the imperfect manner in which bankrupts accounted to their assignees, and assignees to the creditors, together with the mode of obtaining certificates. These defects it was the object of the present Bill to correct ; and also to make farther arrangements with regard to who ought to be liable to the Bankrupt Law, limiting tire present system, in some instances, and extending it in others. In the present Bill also it was proposed to settle in a more satisfactory manner what should be deem ed acts of bankruptcy. By the existing law it was scarcely possible to make a trader a bank rupt, if he himself desired not to become one. No act indeed could constitute him a bankrupt against his own will, .excepting imprisonment for two months. But by this Bill it was proposed that if a trader should he absent from, that is, if he could not be found at his house by a credi tor for seven days, he should be deemed a bank rupt, unless he were proved to have been indis posed. So if a trader should suspend payment for thirty days. These provisions, he thought, would be deemed some improvement. There were many objections to the law as it stood ; and no thing perhaps served to produce frauds in bank ruptcy so much as the capital punishment de nounced against the concealment of a bankrupt's effects, because the Pt:verily of the law prevented prosecution, and thus encouraged the crime...—. But the difficulty, however; of making any man a bankrupt was a great evil. It was' a fact, that under the existing law, 99 bankruptcies out of 100 were concerted—a man being compellable to become a bankrupt only on his having been imprisoned for two 'lntroits. The House would see the situation in which assignees , were placed by such a system. It was in the power of the bankrupt to !ton rotund on the creditors, and on the vitry ground of its being a concerted one set aside the commissjon. The bankrupt might Oleo demand the return of the whole of the property, and in the event of any deficiency., send the as signee to prison. Respectable men were fre quently not to be found to fill these situatiours. There was a clause in tire present Bill, therefore, to protect assignees. One great principle also of the measure was, to afford additional power to the Commissioners. Under the existing law they have not the means of preserving even order at their meetings. The most disgraceful scenes were witnessed at the moment when property to an im mense amount was to be disposed of, But where the want of any sound discretion was most evi dent was in tire admission of proofs of debt.-- If once the proof of debt was admitted, it was impossible, though further information might proie the debt to be ontounded, for the Coln missioners to expunge it ; it could not be clone without an appeal to the Chancellor ; and it was not to be expected that any one creditor could tostertake the expence of an application. There was a clause in the present Bill to allow , tae Cotnmissioaers the pow er o f expung i ng, on forther proof, at their pleasure, leaviag it open to the person applying to appeal to the Chancellor. He apprehended that the would encounter some difficulty in the provisions 'by which it was • intended to rcgolaie the lists of Bankr;int Corn.. missioners in the country. At present, niough the Lord Chancellor apivertted seventy Commis siouers for the Mptropolis, yet he refused altoge ther-the patronage such appointments would give in the country. The con . “:quence was that much abuse prevailed—frequently the friends or the partners of the solicitors were appointed by the lat ter, and a dividend On the estate of a bankrupt was in some parts of the country a most rare oc currence. it was also hit endcd to increase the powers of the assignees, and to adopt the practice of the Scotch system, by appointing a collector, at asr»,ll per receipts, On th e reipts, to rece i ve t h e debts, and keep the accounts of the Bankrupt's estate. Every person coo versan! with tile 'hits , with whom he had convataed, assured h,im, that this arrangement was essential to any great im provement of the Bank, opt - Laws. He had also to iMpres3'on the House the necessity of giving to the Conignissioners the power of inquiring into the previous cote!uct'of the Bankrupt. By the present law, the Commissioners cannot refuse their signatures to a certificate provided the Bank rupt has conformed to all the provisions of the law; • how the property was expended it seas out of their province to. inquire. He himself kirew of an stance, where a Bankrupt to the amount of 34,0001. on giving an account of his expenditure, admitted that part of his property was spent in keeping a mistress at Hampton, and another at Brighton. That man got his certificate, and set up in business again. Stool a transaction was a disgrace to a icommercial country. As an instance of the dis graceful perjuries that tecre too often practised before meetings of the COUltnismioners, it wa, -evidence under the authority of Mr. Montague, a Gentleman who might be said, trio the avn;A:- tio.is he filled io those Courts, both as a Cowl-iris sioner and a Barrister, to Low lire system inside Out, that men actually ply Guildhall for hire, to swear to fictitious debts. There persons were 'also to be found at a house in Doctors' Com moos, ready to trade with their perjuries at a regulated, stipulated commission on the amount. H e hims e lf recollect e d an instance of a per son swearing to a snspicious debt, which was . opposed ; the proof was however 'allowed, and in a few days aver he met ate creditor in the ca., pacify of an old clothesman—a calling, indeed, houestly pursued, much more creditable than tire perjured character he had previously assumed. Another principle of the Bill was to grant an al• lowance out. of the estate to •the honest - Bank rupt. When it was recollected, that by the exist.. ing law, every severity was dealt our to the Bank rupt, without any other motive for a fair sort ender of his effects than Lite hope of his certificate, it must be evident that the temptation to conceal ment, partial payments, and the tis,ue of other frauds now practised, was almost invio- • cible. Common humanity and true policy there.._ fore recommended to make to the holiest but un fortunate debtor a liberal allowance. When he re flected on the enlightened change that bad taken place in public feeling relative to the inefficacy of coercion, in reforming -crime, he had every hope that this part of the Bill would meet the concur rence of that [louse. Happily the time bad passed when the cry of hang and transport had lost its influence. That system had bi-en too long tried, and the increased growth of crime was the result; but above all, the crime of fraudulent Bankruptcy had, notwithstanding the severity of the law, be come the reproach of the Country. The object of the clause to which he alluded Was to give the BAnkropt an interest in every point—to stitrinkite him to assist his creditors in the recovery of his debts, by alloteitig hint a liberal per ceatage on the dividends of his estate. The Hon. Member proceeded to discuss-the remaining clauses, but we are prevented, from the pressure of the pre ceding part of the debate, from following him at • length. He concluded with noviog, that the Bill be read a second time. In the CoMmittee, the respective clauses would of course become the subject of separate discussion. ABOIICRoMBY complimented his Honour.. able Friend on the unremitting attention which he had paid to a subject of great importance, but which he feared, though not attractive enough to obtain a huge attendance or considerable discus sion in the House, was likely in the end to be opposed snccessfuliy by that small, but compact body, who knew the time to secure their object., It was for that reason he recommended to him to divide his Bill into two parts, one for the regular lion of the existing law, which might be carried ; the other, as introducing principles wholly new, the blending of which would most probably en danger the success of the other. Sir JOHN NEwroRT said, whatever might 'be the tate .of this Bill, the greatest obligations were di l e to his Hon. Friend tut' his exertions on this most important subject. Mr. Alderman Warrnmn s ; said, the th . anks of the House and the Conory were due toathe Hon. Gentleman (Mr. J. Smith) and the Committee out the Bankrupt Laws. The Bill was then read a second time, and or dered to be committed on the 23d inst. ATTENDANCE AT BALLOTS. ,On the motion of M r . BLAKE, t h e O r d er f or taking Mr. Martin, of Galway, int o custody, as gt defaulter on an Election Ballot, was, atter some explanations from the Speaker,. Mr.. Wynn, and Mr. Blake, discharged, on time ground of that Gentleman's not being. in the country when the Order was made. BARNSTAPLE ELECTION. Lord Cuvr. moved the Order of the Day for taking the Report of the Committee on the nem:. staple Election into further consideration, whiett being agreed to, his Lordship, after a sOeech of some length, but delivered in a tone of •voiett which was not audible in the Galtur d , two Resolutions, the first declaring the opi.nion of the Committee that Sir Alasseh 'Manasseh Lopez was gu il t y of bribery and corruption, ,by bi - .) agents, in the last Election, and therefore iboqfd be dis qualified from serving in the present ParlFment an d tame beCO!)(1 Stating that Such a eysteua of bribery