The Sun. — London, England, 1819-03-24 00:00:00

racier ns a man, a character which bad obtained the respect of all hid friends, and of all who knew Nay, he must have altered his character as a Goverocr, for when he had gone to New South Wales, the corioneocement of his government • had been marked by the most benevolent endea vours to ameliorate the condition of the persons committed to his charge., He had found the Co lony in a state of agitation and insubordination, which had overthrown the former Government. — Ail social bonds were dissolved ; the people lived in a state of concithitiage, and the most "solemn duties of religion were totally disregarded. His first efforts had been to restore regular habits, and revive the solemnization of marriage. lo 'such a population, it was easy to conceive that such attempts would create towards him. Hence ninny charges might be preferred against him. But let him enjoy the same privilege as every other British subject, of being considered innocent till proved guilty. Let his long and' meritorious services have their fair weight, and let•it not be forgotten, that whereas felons who had been pardoned by due authOrity, or had been found entitled to freedom by their good conduct, 'were still considered incapable of holding any offices, and kept in an immutable degradation, Governor Macquarry had rescued them from that state, and re-opened public employments to merit., He most cordially agreed, that after the charges that had been made on this, and on .a former 'night, with the interest they must all take in the ' prosprrity of the colony, they were called upon to determine that the Most complete and efficient investigation ought to take place without delay.- : Mr. •MatitalNG thought they ought to pause be fore they gave credence to 'statements so mate rially affecting the character of an Officer who was so many thousands of miles distant, and incapabre. of defending himself. Goverdor Macquarry, he could state trim hiS knowledge of him, was a per son of very high honour and reputation. He had 'served his country in Boinbay, he believed, for 'lB years, before he obtained the' present appoint loent, and he had been on the StafFin the London district under tile Earl of Harrington. He was extremely anxious that the House should.suspend their opinion, as a Commission bad been ap pointed to go out to inquire into the merits of time case on the spot. General Hata - had known Governor Macquarry upwards of 30 years, and thought it his duty to stand forward on this occasion to declare that he had never known a man of more unexceptionable character. He could not believe him capable of 'any oppressive or dishonourable action. Mr. FoRBES entreatecrthat the most efficient steps might he taken to inquire into all the cir cumstances of the case without -loss of time.— Governor Macquarry bad been one clay accused by the settlers in New •South Wales of treating the convicts with • undue lenity, and on the next he was charged by the convicts with oppressing them with uncalled-for severity. Now to him it ap peared more than probable, from these complaints, urged as they were front opposite parties, that Governor Macrpiarry had offended all, by the strict imoncialit y with which he had performed his duty. In imposing restrictions on the imrorta tint) of spirits into• New South Wales, it had been obviously his object to preserve the colony from a great evil which must have fallen on it had a dif ferent system been acted upon. His conduct in this instance, there was every reason to believe, had been most upright. He (Mr. M.) knew that in one instance a - ship had been sent from India with spirits, which ship was not permitted to ewer the port, and had been compelled to re turn with her cargo. This vessel had been fitted out by Officers' who had long been in habits of friendship with Governor Macquarry, sand his con duct therefore on this occasion attested his im partiality, which would not permit any relaxation in favour of those he might be most disposed to serve. In another instance, lie wished to place Governor Macquarry's conduct in a proper light. When the present Chief Justice went out, one of the first regulations that he made was that no person who had gone from England a convict, should act 'as a Solicitor in the Court over which he was to preside. It happened that some Gen tlemen who had been so unfortunate as to go from England as convicts, but who from 'their good conduct were touch esteemed in •the colony, were at that time pracriaing as Solicitors. The regu lation of the 'Chief Justice went not only to throw them- out of their occupation, but to give a mo nopoly of their business to one individual who had gone out with him. But did the Governor permit this regulation to continue in force ? No ; he had very properly exercised the authority vest ed in him, to annul it, anti he was happy to be able to acid, that he understood his conduct in this instance had met with the approbation of the Government at home. Governor Macquarry, if be (Mr. F.) Were not misinformed, had long since desired to -be recalled, and he hoped he would soon be here to defend himself. The inquiry into his conduct would, he doubted not, redound to his credit. Mr. tVtLßErtForics had bad the honour to be acquainte,t with General Macquarry before he went to New South Viales, and his conduct had ever given hint the idea of a gallant sol‘liertalivc to the het feelings of humanity. Ile, however, could not so far forget the principles of the British Constitution, under which he had been educated, and tie lessons which all history afforded, not to feel that absolute power wits the most thin:.;,Terous and corrupting thing that could be confided to any one, and with all respect,for Governor Macquarry he would say that he - must be almost more than human it it had no effect on his character. Jo illustration of the injurious tendency of absoliOe power, he detailed the proe , ;edings in 'a- certain libel case which had conic to his knowledge, but trout the noise which prevailed at the time it was iinposible to collect the particulars of his state matt with accuracy. Recurring to the question before the House, he agreed that after what had transpirtd inquiry was absolutely necessary. Ile t►nrierstonr! that a Commission was now about to 'l4O out. Though in former cases, when several Ci+oirilissioners tvei•e sent out, some inconve- Tnences hart arisen from their differences of oi►i llion, he thought More titan one necessary in the preteut iwtanee, for. the individual now allow to l►►oceed to New South Wales niust be gifted with n.ore than mortal discernment, to report 3 atisfac- .tnrily on the whole case A more difficult task could hal-ilk; he imposed on any one titan would . fall on this Gentleman. More Commissioners' ought to he arpointed, as, it tins were not done, the decease of this Gentleman might make a . new Commission necessary, at a time when the refor mation desired 'might be looked for, lie then noticed the .imperfect 'accommodation for females in the Colony, It was understood that 150 more were to go out ; but might this to be suffered,' when they were aware that the misery to which they must he exposed woulti be such, that it had been said it would be mercy to bang them op, ra- - thee than to seild them out under such circulll• Stances ? Au inquiry instituted here, which need not, he should • think, occupy more than . one week, would he likely. to put the per son about to proceed to - New South Wales in possession of facts of great importance, as there were several persons in the Metro polis who could afford him some valuable in formation. Not presuming to judge of the con duct, and still less of the motives, of the Gentle watt .who s e name had been called in question, he wont d still say, the settlers in New South Wales who had gone out expecting to enjoy something like the- spirit of the British Constitution, were entitled to the protection of that House, and .therefore he hoped the Gentlemen opposite would not content themselves with merely declaring themselves favourable to inquiry, but that they would actively support a , proposition to that effect.. He thought it.possible that in the course of two or three days such information might be obtained as would qualify the Gentleman going out to pro secute the inquiry with which he was charged better than any information he could procure in any other way,. As we continued sending. out what were 'called cargoes of human creatures to New South Wales, care ought 'to' be taken that they should be sent out under such circumstances as would not only prove not injurious to them, but under such as would rend to produce their moral reform. Willi these feelings he thought those who went out in any ship with Dr, BrownloW or Mr. Hamilton would be more fortunate than others, froni the superior opportunities fbei would have of improving themselves. It appeared to him, in every respect, desirabieT that an inquiry should take place without further delay, and he hoped his Hon. Friend opposite would make no objection to. such a proposition. He had a great respect for Governor Macquarry, but they in that House wh&were acquainted with Governors and Lieut.-Governors ought to remember that there was another.class , of persons who looked up to them -for , protection. The weak, the helpless, and the oppressed, wanted their care, anti how ever they might naturally be led away by friend ship'to favour.those.with whom "they were con nected, it was . their duty to attend as much as possible to the interests of those of whom he had lust spoken. Xr. Fottaas and Mr.. WILBERFORCE severally explained. . , Sir jiMES MACKIN . TOSH said, as the most per fect unanimity prevailed on the subject, and all were agreed that an inquiry ought to take place, the friends of Governor Macquarry being, as might be expected, most anxious fur it, he only rose, lest -his silence should be mistaken, to repeat his.former testimony to the_character of that Gen tleman, whom he had long and intimately known. He had always believed him distinguished by ho nour and humanity, and he could not think that he was likely • ever to deviate from principles which he bad held to form a part of his character. Mr. GOULEURN said all were agreed that in quiry was desirable ; the only difference of opi nion was as to the mode in which that inquiry should be conducted. In the first instance it had been necessary, as had been justly remarked, to entrust Governor Eslacqoarry with powers which went beyond those usually given to Governors, and though he knew _nothing of that Gentleman' personally, never having seen him, he was ready to bear testimony to the propriety of his conduct so f,tr as this could be known from the public do cuments' which had come under his observation. The powers given him to restrain the convicts, he showed, were necessarily extended in their opera tion to the free settlers. Had this not been so, the peace of the Colony would have been very consi derably endangered, as the disturbances which had broken Out on a former occasion were actually excited by that very class of persons. With respect to the case of one of the petitioners (Blake) he had a few words t') say. There was a place called the Governor's Demesne in the Co lony, which was something like Hyde Park. The g a t e s were open to all persons, but the walls hav ing been broken down, and the park having been made the scene of many indecent improprieties, the Governor at last issued a proclamation, in which he threatened, that those who should be next detected in breaking down the walls of the demesne should he punished in the way that such offence's were commonly punished in that Colony. The petitioner, with two convict s, his associates, were soon after taken in the act of breaking down the walls, and were in consequence carried before a Magistrate, and afterwards flogged. This certainly could not have been done in England, hnt since the first establishment of the C o ol on y i t bad heel] usual to visit offences with crporeal punishment, which would be d ea lt with iu another way in this country. This system was not new to the [loose. They had long since had it before them io the Report of a Committee. As to the manner is which this punishment was inflicted, from what he had been able to learn from the best authority, that of free settlers, who had returned to this country, if there was a fault at all, it was that of which he had spoken, as being too sparingly re sorted to. Of the case of Williams, as to the letter said to have been written by the Governor re specting that person he h a d n o knowledge what ever. With respect to what bad been said of the duties on the importation of spirits, he had to re mark, that ever since the that estahlishrnent of the Colony some restrictions had been found ne cessary, on the same principle that excluded spi rituous liquors front our prisons in England. The , duties bail been ra:sed or lowered from time to time, according to the circumstances of the colony. With the information recently received, it would shortly be his duty to propose a measure that would have, the effect of placing these duties on a legal footing. On the subject of the public expenditure, he had I r to state, that in New &nth Wales, as in every ether colony, the person - holding the public money "fres bOund to advance it on the warrant 'of the Governor. Thc warrant of the Governor was the Treasurer's,discfmarge, and it was for the Govern.i ment at home to determine whether or not the expenditure that hadiaken place was justified In this respect there Was not any thing . iMproper which, appeared in the system of' New South Wales. The Honourable Gentleman had thoOght two or three persons would be better sent than one' iu the Commission no going' out. He bad to state that the Commission had been is sued in 1817, hut bad never been acted upon till now, from the difficulty of finding any person, pro perly qualified to conduct the inquiry, willing to accept the office. Such a person had now been found. The Secretary who would accompany him, in the event of that person's decease, was a person competent to follow up the investigation, and therefore it was thought better that they should proceed forthwith to New South Wales, than that further delay should take place, while two other persons were sought to accompany them. On the other topics which had been touched upon, he declined entering at present. Mr. BRNNWT contended, the Governor of New South Wales bad exercised a power, which Go yernment—which the King himself could not authorise bins to exercise without an Act of Par !lament. If . corporeal plutishment were inflicted , for a trespass, it might iA apr-lied in civil cases. He also complained of the absolute power which lie had been exercise_ stased to exercise, in taxing spirits, and its imposing port duties. :. He wa2 friendly to a tax on spirits, but it svas to time mode in wWch this had been imposed for the last 20 years that he .objected. Of Governor 111acquarry he thought well but he was of opinion, that, possessed of absolute power, any man its his situation was likely to do what he would not do it he had a Council, and were subjected to domestic eon troul. He thought an . immediate inquiry, neces sary, as it would put his Hot). Friend, the Com loissioner about to pro,ceed to New South Wales, in pUssession of knowledge which it was very im portant that he should.carry out with him. He therefore gave notice, that on Friday he would move for an instruction .to the' Committee on Jails to proceed immediately to inquire into this subject. After a few words frotp fir. J. DRUMMOND, Mr. BROUGHAM replied, and the Petitions were ordered to lie on the table. OBSOLETE SCOTCH LAWS. Sir J. NEWPORT called on the House to inquire into the power assumed in the Sco;ch Courts of Judicature to declare statutes that were unre pealed to have fallen into desuetude, to be obso lete, and not binding on the King's subjects. Such a power, he conanded, ought only to be ex ercised under _the, SAIiCtiQUI of the Legislature. Not only were•whole ,statutes declared obsolete, but parts of statutes were_ thus dealt with, while other parts of the same laws were still held to be efficient., Lie moved for an humble Address to the Prince Regent, praying, that he would be pleased to direct an inquiry to be instituted into the nature, extent, and limits of the power assumed by the Lords of Session—the Judges of the Court of Justiciary, and the Barons of the Exchequer in Scotland, declaring statutes, or parts of statutes, to have fallen into desnetntle--rto have become obsolete and nO longer binding on the King's subjects---,specifying the authority whence their power was derived--..how their decisions were promulgated, and, hot! far , they were held to be binding on Other, Courts, -or on their successors, and to report, with their opinions of the cOrn mittee on the subject, a list of the statutes or parts of statutes declared to have fallen into desuetude. The LORD ADVOCATE of ,SCOTLAND said, that which was now objected to by the Right Hon. Baronet, had never been complaimed of in Scot land from the period of the Union in 1707 up to the present time. • He thought it would appear that the lion. Baronet proceeded in a misappre hension altogether. He showed that those laws only had fallen into desuetude,which, from various circumstances,were no longer applicable to the si tuation of the country. No law enacted by the Par liament of Great Britain had ever fallen into des uetude. Some of the statutes enacted by the Scotch Parliaments, which contained the best part of the law of Scotland, contained also enactments which no longer could be regarded as applicable to the circumstances of the kingdom. Some of these he might instance were directed against Englishmen ; against intercourse with England 3 and there was one law which the Bight Hon. Baronet himself might have no ambition to vio late, but which was often broken by his country men, some of - whom visited Scotland every day, which went to forbid the importation of Irish men, and to visit with pains and penalties all who should be concerned in bringing them to the country.—(A laugh.)—Conceiving the present motion to be unnecessary, he mast give it his opposition. Mr.Humc said, that the argument of the Learn ed Lord went as far as the proposition, that be cause no Scorchman had said any thing against the laws of their country in this House, that there fore the whole people of that kingdom were quite satisfied with the present state of their laws.— Against this doctrine he must protest, for it was nut borne out by the fact. He complained par ticularly that orders of the Court of Session in Scotland, called Acts of Sedernot, supthleded the authority of Acts of Ya►liament—(No, No !) This he could prove ; and accordingly he read an extract from the judgment of one of the Lords of Session from an authentic report, the first pas sage of which was—" I care not what the Act of Parliament says ; for the Act of Sedernut is that by which we must guide our decision."—On the whole, he was surprised to hear any objec tion made to this 'motion. It was a monstrous grievance in Scotland that there was an Act of Sedertmt which barred the door of the Court against every man, who had not his pleading on petition, unless it was signed by some Counsel.— This was, he believed, unknown in England.— Within the last few• months he had read the Scotch Acts of Parliament: mod he had no hesi tation in saying that many of them ought to be. repealed. Het hoped the House would not reject the motion. - The Lo AD ADVOCAVE explained; The-.prese e t, d motion ha nothing to do with Acts of sedero n fOr there was no case of an Act of Parliaments 13,-e, in declared to be in desuetude in an Act of S, runt. Tile expreition of one of the Ju d g es rel , live to At:is of Parliament which. bad beco me tioned by the HOn. Gentleman, ivaS„tnis -( 1 901c The Lear ned Judge had not used the words Men. tioned.—itHear, hear !) Mr. BoswELL produced the text of . A ct ° I ! the Scotch Parliament in the reign of C harles i! which recognised the - principle of Acts of ra(ia; meta falli og into desuetude. At . the same tirne thought i,t a great grievance in the LAWS of S c° land, that no man could know what Acts of 1 , 4 t; liament hod or had not fallen into disuse, amass he went before the'Court of Session. T hese „ °e b solete statutes ought to be repealed. Jt• mi g'", o r e an arduous task to determine, which, oug u, ought not to be repe a led, but it ought to us done. Sir Jot NEWPORT, in his reply, stated, that be had been lectured and instructed by a n Ilan. 1%1 1: ber on the other side (Mr. Blake), sod tlia :a t tl s though be had not p rac ti se d at the Bar for.l--0,.. years, yet he would not yield to the' Hon. tier in bis knowledge , of the laws. o t b in case, Lord Kilwarden had given an opl: ll i° hr . iss ' F an Act of Henry VII., requiring residencei;i Freemen of Corporations, was not obs °letC-- .. lie W Mr. r3LAKE . , in explanation, stated, th at cg perfectiy aware of his own incapacity t° u s e, i t t he so l h ti n g p l p it eti H ec o l, n. ia ßa p t o .o i n n e t t o , f but, at the ecv ,05:16.°8y' ti n sel l e ; dent, able to show that the Right II" was mi oaken, notwithstanding the cas ell(l b p sd nion alluded to. The Right Hon. l i 4r° ?',. t d asserted, that no s t a t u t e cou ld be con ' s: u e t obsolete according to the l aw of Eoghtffil ; A :, of what he (Mr. Blake) s t a t e d was, t hat 8 11 1 7b e , Parliament, in England or in Ireland, Iffi' s ' a be come obsolete where the matter intended t acted upon by the L eg i s l a ti o n ceased to e i Nis ,. t. o o The question before th e H om e w as, wb e ," ' its Act of Parliament b ecom i ng o bsolete by chs:,'-;-,isb Scollattd, was not an innovation of th e, Constitution, because the practice was on b ir , o f in England or in-Ireland ; the case and ° P i ;!„,` - j .ict Lord KA warden as to the contruction of I TAbe of Henry VII., was universally suppos.ed 1)Ire-• Bar IQ be the law ; but the TWeiVe4tlago 6'l „ ,0„,1 land lardy decided in that identical case ( " t i i 1 114 Kilwardeit's opinion , was erroneous ; t iro. have established the principle, for th e " r ,i e te that an Act of Parli a m en t did hecorne °(,) %a disuse, and that although it was tise d . ol; o a ro" upon lit the case to which the Right K° ll * net halt alluded— , t a t The SPEAKER here interfered, and 51a _e o 0 , the Hon. Member was proceeding b e r n limits c,lf an explanation. dete r ntio c Lord BINN to ING observed, that o l e o, what Acts ought or ought not to b e IV: Hon. made no part, of the motion of the R lisl °t Baronet.. The motion -called merely I .o r „ r iot's Acts which the ,Court of Session had, on but it occasions,wot(lint declaredgotoall those ttob diee in desuetude ; dared to have fallen into desuetude ' e vi e nced the Hon. Gentleman had been roisinpr _ /as to th e expression relative to Acts of alit of ment which he had imputed to the Presidpa the Court of Session. Lord A. HAMILTON said a . ce* words ill Or port of the motion. the Mr. FORBES spoke on the same side of lrinrself BoswELL explained.--He question, • oughte t :a bs , t i n t : ,pledge° of to bring forward a motion for repealing s°`." the old Scotch Acts, the • n nose Mr. KENNEDY said, he could not` o r , co at motion. He thought the decisions of tb e f ,boic o pf id S 4 es e s t i s oi t t and favourable to the liberty o w f .e t r l e te v s e u tb • Y i ellcet %ri elit‘ 0 , whelicoltahesaldietpordoen,ounced most ° ti w a n d e e n r ])ti those isti ques t ion n decisionscame t avers .be a p s ro w oo t a b b e 'ce l.) d , hits could inquiry, which not refuse the 1 • b 4 " j ect of the motion. Sir J. NEWPORT shottlY replied. The House then divided— For the Motion ..................... ..... • Against it ......... " • Majority .................... • to wao The Report of the Cominittee of S'lPPLoreli" received and agreed to, and Bills ortlereil 6 °V On the motion of Mr. BROGDEN, there W a 1E d tiered to be laid before the House, an A i e f ir t brl 4 all Victuallers' Licences issued for tile years. c e On the motion of the CHANCELLOR 0 ' e ff CHEQUER,- a printed Copy of the General /jot° of the Police. Committee was ordered t o be stactiiii the House of Lotus, pursuant to their 1-i°l.6- request by the message of yesterday• r odgbt The CHANCELLOR of the ExcHEatioll b Joe in a Bill to regulate the rate of allowance to keepers for Soldiers quartered on Oleo' first time.—Adjourned at Half-past i r e "' SIIOM.N...a.M.WWra BIRT. c m° . Ogl e On the T M inst. the Lady of Captain Forrest, place, Russell-square, of ttson. • DlED. G r a ff 4 # Early on Saturday morning last, after an illness;/ days onlyi Anne, the wire of Joseph King., Esq. Inn-square, and Cobham, Surrey. PROVINCIAL BIRTHS, NIARRLiCiES, AND On the 11th inst. Mrs. Napier, Albany-street, .1 of a daughter. Ed T k i b t u l l ie g u , t o h l i a ns e t o a l t i i . t, Mrs. Douglas, North Charlotte-strceti Do A t‘ t a l g ) e it r b L l Major-r e , s e t n o c ti r:il to H i c l a e r n y rie E t AIA it RI ED. ady D'Altoil, grand-daughter to Nicholas, the fa te Trunleston. utast,atiTuglitirt°ct::eorftCoilau,),,l-Alet On bis voyage home ft:out Quebec, • 'bal d risen. Moore, of Seahaok, .Rothesae, Scotland. It is uraersto?:l 'OO ship was wrecked in the River St. LaWrenee, and that al board perished. • bn 04 9 On Sunday se'nnight, Mrs. Higgins, widow of Jo gins, Esq. late of Tnrvey House, - Bedfordsh ire. -Alf At his house, Rutland-square, Dublin, Richard Alatlw- Esq. Barrister-at-law. Captain .Arch big 0 „... ---- a r st LONDON: Printed by 3. B. cAnsTAIRS , of No. 29)W-eft. Orinond-street, Queen-square; and pu blished bY ''A r ita SCRIPPS, of No. 7, South M o lt o n-street, 'at '10,..,6,00, Mice, No. Ilq, Strand ; where Adrettisementip t” ' Lislttets, 4c. (post-paid) vast buatld;:essed. 4 be. ..... I r t , 0, 4‘. /i Lo F, oh