The Sun. — London, England, 1827-02-14 00:00:00

DISSERTATION -UPON DINNEAS, • (Front as Monthly and European Magazine. Thin we, eltatly perceive will be an excelltnt article. The sub •_. jest is mixed. up, with, such social associations, and so intiMatel. *kid in the " mind's eye" with all the leading politital topic. *biota have stiried England, and consequently Europe, withi). • - the memory of the present generation, thaLit must quicken eves: stupidity itself.. A Dissertation upon Dinners ! inspiring thetne Other subjects appeal each to its particular class; brit this, thenir.w.ehreather is universal. It has been said, peradventur. c ii r i; c tay, that. England is the land of dulness : a fact which, • t r ue, is yet neutralized by the saving circumstance of it, baj a calso the land of dinners.- Nothing can be here done veith leak valionera It is Jolla Bull'. Utopia, or Fairy Land ; his road* of dainty devices," where his fancy, feeling, wit, and geed-bumour keep pace with his appetite, and are, by a logical consequence, exhaustless. -There are Shades of differertee in dinners, as in devotion ; and ad hough we.cannotfind, it its our hearts to speak ill of et,}nasti ostipg sect (we are no bigots, but look charitably on every kind of eating), yet nevertheless we have our oreferences. There is, for instance, civic—the diplomatic-a —the legal—the the biblical — and, lastly, the pastoral dinner, or that given to his tenantry by tome syeophaa tic landowner, just two weeks before his election. This last; notwithstanding _our vaunted toleration, wr pronounce detestable—we would add, diabolical, were we hot afraid of being called plagiarists from the newspapers. What can -be more afflicting than to see a parcel of vulgar, villainous mouths, ~.,,.sitretChed in sardonic cachilmation from ear to ear, while their , 'fawners, stuck sixty in a barn, with an overseer in corduroy its; at the head, keep-fighting like game-cocks for the first of a superannuated mutton, cold as charity, or an underdone wedge, from some unhappy prize ox, who died about ten days • Ivies/I. o f the dro p s y ; !. Yet this is a country gentleman's ovation, relive 4:".0j• ' 14 we i have seen t ourselves, to some sixty small farmers, . 1 7who after icrinibling through its starveling compound, are re toaat their landlord in swipes. Far different is the civic dinner • (not the last), that beau-ideal of gastric civilization. We senseless soul who can uninspired survey such a sympo sit; he mast be more or less than man. With what an air the Aldermen be s tir ibeniselves for the skirmish ! With 0 ") •'%tibit TtleXterity they arrange their weapons! HoW they lick 41eir lift, and twinkle - their . peepers, in all the manifest 'yearpressiveness of genius! Would. you not wear that they ra , ;:,a.:hatr , •-•been bound apprentices si to their appetite from childhood, alcf.asssa,:....lvettra - dirks house of Bacchtir - and Co.,- articled by isideiitirea never to be cancelled bat with life? The fact is, that aara:e . a•atheappeeite ie.& chief, indeed•the only reqksiaite for an Alder masa: is. (iir should be) chosen like Alatiornetan niistreSees, by the pound, and venerated solely- in proportion to his ciretuna Terence. Thal an Aldermen weighing twenty stone thaiild be more • • honoured than one weighing only nineteen - blit he who lifted up the scale with a ton attached to it shesild be deified. For our selves), yea Ipok - . upon a Guildhall dinner to be an epoch to date from;' of it as a toibject too awful for superficial medita flow; 'and that such is - the popul ar op i n i on i s manifest, from the fact that your trite - :oitizens; however sportive at other times, are invariably in earnest at:dioner. 'No man ever yet seated himself at the Mansion-House avho was not seriously bent on plying his grinderis to thea...'cnioit if he did, he was a timeless strin g, at dis etint with '..na• harmony of the place, which has, from time im nlem°L.tal, prescribed one uniform, unchanging music. Indeed, v;:osts ave , come,to reflect on the subject, we are_convinced that the • only, genuine "-national melodic*" are those , resulting frOm an Alderinaria mouth,.when. properly tuned at Guildhall. We our, solves are no discreditable musicians in this .respect; but we bow.reverently to his scientific superiority. Independently of suck vocal attractians, 'a civic - dinner-:-or, indeed, any dinner at all. L aaia'reintiricable for the waveless calm that it spreads over the-: Moat-stormy mind. Let - a- man- sit dowry to table ita a pasitotionni• he i alit at once finds hirnaelf insimed with its social apiritr with-the very-first nioutlifal, his voice ainki fro - in - :the tem pesttusua aones , of the- north wind to the melodious modulations of the zephyr; his face softens down into an ingenuous simper, and finally he becemes as-, purely angelic as;_the imperfect limits of htinian4atnye Talk,,not_to us then of _care, and its • at*adanta; life knows hut one pleasure and one sorrow •--a dinner," or noTainn"er. We at least conceive so--we who at this present .inotnent are scribbling our dissertation ' with some - savoury anticipations in the perspective. Could the public see our intelligent face, as we note down these amusing thoughts, they would be quite charmed with its benevolence ; but let the scene change-a-let our servant enter the parlour with information that onr dinner is spoiled ; heavens and earth, what an alteration ! Our Vesuvius countenance would instantly put forth its most vol tatic passions ; and this Essay, now so agreeable, would be con- Vetted into a Jeremiad, with a fiendish sarcasm running through it, like quicksilver through a diseased frame. But we will not anticipate affliction. We are staunch admirers of Milton—we admire his purity, his sublimity, his luxuriant imagery, his learned illustrations ; but while we confess thus much, while we do justice to his descrip tions, We think but meanly of his dinners. Adam and Eve— (hear it, ye misbelieving citizens)-dined at one o'clock, on dried togs and spring water. We wonder they were not carried off by a bowel complaint ; for our own parts, our sophisticated stomachs would have spurned even Paradise without a larder ; but, fur nished with good cellars, kitchens, and pantries, why we think it might have been made a pretty place. The public will perceive from this that we are no Milton's ; indeed, our mind is any thing but ambitious—hut, were we addicted to verse, certes we would make a point of enriching our friend Watts's next Souvenir with " Lyrics of the Stomach" (notes by Kitchiner), as a sequel 'Pt his " Lyrics of the Heart." And this brings us to the subject of poets, under which head we have one maxim, founded on ex perience, to put forward, viz. never dine with a poet. Of all dietetic miseries this is the worst. In the first place you are in vited at five o'clock, when the bard himself does not deign to make his appearance till half-past six. He then comes in with out his cravat, pops down in front of a cold joint (once the left leg of a sheep of genius like himself), which he saws into square wedges with a knife eccentric as its master, and forthwith com mences a conversation upon L. E. L. But this is not all—ten to one he is married ; in which case you are sure to be overlooked, for women never fail to be vaccinated with the genius of their husbands, a genius which not unfrequently runs, like a typhus fever (only in finitely more alarming), through the household. We ourselves muttoned, a few days since, with an esteemed friend in the verse line, and were waited on by a footman, who was himself a poet of no slight consideration, inasmuch as he had contributed to the Literary Gazette 16 sonnets, under the signature of " Adonis."' The cense matinees were obvious ; when we called for beer, we were helped to brandy—presented with a quartern-loaf, instead of a clean plate--and nearly suffocated with half-a-pint of castor oil, which we had swallowed in mistake for noyeau. How opposite to all this is a dinner given by a parson ! By a parson, we mean one who loves church and state, and never fails in a certain steady—not . voracious—appetite, becOrning a Christian and a preacher. Dis senters we eschew ; and until we find from experience that they pay more attention to gastronomy, 'hall always look upon them shud &kingly,' yet pityingly, as men without the pale of redemption. Amongst the ancients , Vitellins was,perhaps the most gentle 'Manly epicure that ever existed : Heliogabalas, too, krieW how to give a good dinner ; so indeed, did Lucullus : but there was a "scientific "propriety about the first, which modern times have never : equalled. Even Sardanapalus was not without talents as a gastronomist; and had the darkness of his times permitted, might have endeared himself to the palates of posterity. At the present day, O'Doherty and Kitchiner are almost the only living au thors •who , have ; studied .the philosophy of the stomach with the attention .due to. its importance. Of the former we have already- made honourable mention ; it remains to say, that the latter has published " Directions for Diners out," characterized by a calm and enlarged spirit, feelingly alive to the **aria/a prejudices of mankind. Nothing, indeed, is so difficult as to know how to give a good dinner; one, we mean, that shall please the most-fastidious palate, and tickle the amateur of mutton, while at shoe! as 'not the insensibilities of the connoisseur of beef. Our late Mena; 'the lamented Robert Edkins, was a genius of this stamp; fteave hire actually known him to invite half-a-dozen bi gotted epicureans to his table ; the first of whom professed an he reditary aversion to rum steak—the second to turbot—the third tove !'" 1 " 1 71- 1 ": p a ;fourth to veal—the fifth to roast goose—while the six.th""waa-aliinnOh:lieced from that orthodox sect who be 11eye in 'the fallibility ia ! sirloin. Cr But, alas ! how transitory flower of hie ; 04 - 11 . 4 , , --. 0. -7- t ate ear ris i ti_ young man was cut off in the • tap of thirty-two, in consequence of apoplexy, °e'comnqnsa oaa e consumption of Kirk White, by ' too zealous a 'devotion to lii, art. 111-fated friend ! it has been ou r painful lot for years to dine without thee for years to sit beside a table unenlightened b y wi ne but, nevertheless , the soothing reflection exp ressive features ; remains, that it is here permitted us to close a D i ssertation upon Dinners with an appro priate apostrophe to thy shade :---" Si quit; Epicurorum Manibus locus (we quote from memory), si, ut s a pi„ t i bus placer, non ruin corpora extinguuntur magnet aninte, placide:quieseas, nosque ..donitni, ma w, a muhebri lamentation; ad co n t emplationem vir „,:t.Autent, thaum , voces, qua[ nequ e lugeri neque plangi faa eat. ,N ro . u l tos ve terum velut inglorrs et ignobiles oblivio obruet, - , Elkins posteritati narra t u o et traditus, super:tea orit." t '' his,promieing young poet has been, we are grieved to add, tlitlilikfew months, transported for life. He was always djier'eghlar in his motions. t Tacat*de. Vita Agricolx. IMitRIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS—FEs. 13. - CATHOLICS: Lord TORRINGTON presented a petition from the Clergy, Gentlemen and Inhabitants of East Peckham, in the County bf Vent, praying that the House would grant no further Concessions to the Catholics. His Lordship said, he presented the petition, being connected with the parish, but he decidedly dis sented from the views bf the petitioners: The petition com plained, among other things, of the secret views of the Catholics. His LOrdehip said, the petitioners were respectable, and knew what they were signing. . The Earl of LAUDERDALE said, if these pe titioners knew what they were signing, it was more than shy-body else did, though he could hot tell how any persons should know . the see-ret viola of others. His Lordship then presented petitions hem the Forfar District of Forfarshire ; from the Farmers of Fife ; from the Banffshire Farmers' Club ; and from the Land owners in the vicinity of Preston, against any alteration of the Corn Laws. Lord REDESDALE presented a similar petition from the vicinity of Darlington.--Adjoorned: hOUSE OF COMMONS. At four o'clock the House met, and the requisite number of one hundred Members being present, it proceeded to ballot for a Com mittee upon the Leominster Election Petition. At five minutes to five the Speaker took the Chair. Papers were brought up from the Insolvent Debtors' Court, the Court of Common Pleas, and from the Office of the Clerk n. the King's Silvery. CORN LAWS. Mr. MAULE presented a petition from certain owners and occupiers of land in the county of Forfar, against any alteration in the Corn Laws.—Laid on the table. Mr. DUNCOMBE presented nineteen petitions to the same effect, from various particular places in the county of York.—Laid on the table. Mr. WYVILL presented a petition from certain merchants and bankers of York, praying for an alteration in the laws relating to the recovery of small debt!.—Laid on the table. Lord AIOUNTCHARLES presented a petition from certain Catholics of the county of Donegal, praying for Emancipation.—Laid on the table. Sir HENRY PARNELL moved for Returns of the quantity of Wheat, and of Oats and Oatmeal, imported from Ireland into Great Britain during the eight years preceding Jan. 1826.—Ordered accordingly. GAME LAWS. Mr. CALCRAFT moved a Return of the Con victions under the Game Laws during the seven last years. Ordered accordingly. CORN LAWS. Sir EDWARD KNATCHBULL, in a petition against any alteration in the Corn Laws, took occasion to question the Right Hon. Secretary opposite relative to the mode in which Government intended to proceed in bringing for ward the question of the Corn Laws. He also expressed his deep regret that the consideration of this question had been so long postponed ; for if the Right Hon. Secretary for Foreign Affairs was too unwell to bring the subject forward speedily, it might have been done by the President of the Board of Trade. The subject was of the greatest importance, and the public mind was intensely interested in it. If the matter should not, how ever, be brought forward at the time announced for (the 26th first.), he wished now to be informed by the Right Hon. Secretary for the Home Department, what was the course which the Go vernment meant to adopt ? Did they intend to proceed by Bill? or was it their intention to refer the matter to a Committee of the whole House, that the subject might receive that mature con sideration which its nature demanded ? He put this question. that Gentlemen might have an opportunity of coming as well prepared as possible to the discussion. Mr. Secretary PEEL said, that although he must decline giving any answer as to the nature of the proposed mea sure, which Government intended to submit to the Hduse on the subject of the Corn Laws, he had no objection to answer to the Honourable Baronet's question, that the mode or course of pro ceeding which it was at present intended to adopt, was to move Resolutions is a Committee of the whole House, which Resolu tions would contain the plan in its nature, form, and all its de tails. If these Resolutions should be agreed to so far, then the intention was, that they should be printed, and circulated for the consideration or the Mentibers - of the House, and that they shouts be then re-committed on a future day, that gentlemen might have an opportunity of giving this important subject the fullest possible consideration.—The petition was laid on the Table. Mr. DICK presented a petition against any Altera tion in the Corn Laws.—Laid on the Table. Lord BELFAST presented a petition from certain persons, praying to be allowed the means of emigrating to Canada.—Laid on the Table. Mr. HEATHCOTE moved for Returns of the Number and Tonnage of Ships which cleared out from the Ports of Great Britain for a certain period, up to January, 1827, dis - tinguishing the British from the Foreign; also, for an Account, up to the same period, of the Ships belonging to the several Ports of Great Britain, and the Persons to whom they belonged.—Or dered accordingly. Mr. MABERLY roved for an Account of the Net Public Income of Great Britain and Ireland, up to the sth January, 1827 ; an Account, also, of the Funded and Unfunded Debt, and of the Money which had been expended towards its re demption.—Ordered accordingly. LEOMINSTER ELECTION. The following are the nanies of the Members chosen by ballot, to determine the merits of the Petitions relative to the controverted election for Leominster : Sir John Beresford, Sir Ashley Cooper, the Marquess Graham, Honourable Mr. Percy, Mr. Charles Ross, Honourable Mr. For rester, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. King, Mr. Brinley, Mr. Stewart Majoribanks, Honourable Mr. Townshend, Mr. Attwood, and ---- Curry. Nominees :—Sir Edward Knatchbull and Mr. Fazakerley. DENBIGH ELECTION. Mr. SHADWELL rose to present a Petition from Mr. West, one of the Members returned for Denbigh. This was the case of a doable return, and the other Member had given due notice to the Speaker that he did not mean to defend his seat, and the Petitioner complained that the consideration of the ques tion had been postponed to the 22d of March, whereas he ought to have been immediately declared to be the sitting Member, be cause it was contrary to the Act of Parliament to allow new persons to come in and prosecute the Petition against him. Mr. WYNN said, that there was not the slightest ground for the prayer of the Petitio.i. It was necessary that the time fixed by the House should be allowed. The other Member, Mr. Ablett, was not the only party interested in the return. — Some of his constituents might choose to defend his seat, and if that was the case, he bad no right to abdicate it. Mr. hardship.D in A iii W eied S c O n N mi c . o w n es si t d , e t r o ed co t n h tin at ue it to w e o . u d l u ci d b e e h m g f r r e . a m t his seat when his competitor had resigned his pretensions. The Petition having been ordered to he on the table, Mr. DAWSON rose again to move that Counsel should be heard at the Bar of the House to-morrow, in support of the petitioner's claims ; but on a suggestion from the Chair, the Hon. Gentleman substituted as his motion, that the petition should be taken into consideration to-morrow. Mr. WYNN objecte d decidedl y to the motion.— With so clear a case as that before the House, nothing could be so ohjectionable as the course proposed by this motion, according to which the House were to hear Counsel as to the mode in which thsy should exercise their own peculiar functions. Such a prece dent had never been established, and he trusted never would be. Sir J. NEWPORT regarded the motion as a direct abrogation of the Grenville Act, by which the House had very properly divested itself of the power to do what this motion would call upon it to perform. Mr. SHADWELL said, that under these circum stances he would withdraw the motion. Mr. BROUGHAM reminded his Hon. and Learned Friend that he could not do so, as the motion was not his.—(A laugh.) Mr. DAWSON then declared, that though he still considered the case a very great hardship to Mr. West, he felt it his duty, in obedience to the voice of the House, to con sent to withdraw the petition. Mr. Secretary PEEL remarked, that so many ques tions had arisen this Session on the construction of the Election Laws, that he felt any man would perform a great public service who would consolida te the existin g Acts. B y h aving all the pro visions of those Statutes comprised in one law, the inconsis tencies from which so much inconvenience resulted would be , prevented. Mr. CROKER contended that Mr. West would suffer very undeservedly, if he was not allowed at once to take his seat. He would be in a much worse situation than if Mr. Ablett had persevered in his opposition. 'here would be now thirty days during which his right might be contested, instead of fourteen only, as in the other case. Mr. WYNN repeated his objection to the prayer of the petition. Because Sortie of the parties, who had a right to question Mr. West's return, had ntlected to exercise their rights, it did not follow that others should be denied Ile perfectly concurred with his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Peel) as to the I.'ery great inconvenience that resulted from the present state of the elec tion laws. He trusted they would be amended before another ge neral election. So convinced was he of the importance of the mea sure, that he would Ilt4d introduced it himself last Session, but that he felt, on consideration, that it raid be better to postpone the subject to the new Parliament , as the cage 4 ihAi qvnuld arise during the first Session; would enable him to deal Mote satiAfae torily with the difficultiee that would present themselves, and cor rect more eflectually the existing errors and defect 4. The Right Hon. Gentleman co :eluded by giving notice enal, course of next Session, he would bring in.a bill for that purpose.. Mr. ABERCROMBIE said, it was distressing that so much time was consumed in discussions relative to points of Election Laws. It would undoubtedly be advantageous if they were eonsoliOated. and at the same' time rendered consistent and intelligible. What could be mole perplexing than the doubts that existed whether. the 53d of Geo. 111. extended to Ireland ? Mr. PEEL, in otp dna ion, said, that in advising the consolidation of the Election Laws, he of cbtittle meant the substitution of a consistent and intelligible system, and not d mere consolidation of contradictory statutes. After a few words from Mr.. Croker and Mr. L. Foster, the the motion was withdrawn. LAW OF SETTLEMENT. Mr. MACQUEEN gave notice, that on Monday, the sth of March, he would bring in a Bill to amend the Law of Settlement. THE CORN LAWS. Mr. HUME presented a petition from the mer chants, manufacturers, and traders of Dundee, praying for a tevi sion of the Corn Laws, and for free trade generally. WOOTTON BASSETT ELECTION. Mr. S. RiCh_rose., in_the absence of his Hon. and Learned Friend (Mr. Scarlett) to move, pursuant to notice, that the Order for considering - the Wootton- Bassett petition be dis charged. The SPEAKER wished, before the Motion was submitted, to state, that he had that morning received a letter, signed John Bailey, stating, that in 'conseqUence of the objections that had been made to the service of his notices upon the Sitting Members, he did not intend any further to press the subject upon the attention of the House ; and that' he, therefore, should not object to the discharge of the Order for considering his petition. Mr. S. RICE, after complaininU at some length, of the irregular conduct of the petitioner, with regard to the ser vice of the notices, moved, according to notice, that the Order be discharged for considering the petition. The SPEAKER suggested that the wording of the motion should be changed, - so that it might appear that the reason for discharging the Order was, that the recognizances had had not been duly entered into, in consequence of the notices not having been regularly_ served. The motion so amended was agreed to. BRIBERY .AT .ELECTIONS. Lord ALTHORP postponed his motion for a Select Committee on cases of Bribery and Corruption at Elec tions, to Friday the 23d - of February, with the understanding that the Resolution,- and the instruction to the Committee, which he Meant to move, should be printed immediately for the purpose of facilitating the discussion. 'WATERFORD ELECTION. Upon the Order of the Day for taking into consideration the Petition against the Election for the County of Waterford being read, y Mr. CROKER, a‘f compraintrig of the state of the Law with respect to entering into recognizances upon Peti tions from Ireland in general, moved, that the time for entering into recognizances upon that Petition, be extended. After a few words from the SOLICITOR-GENERAL in ex planation and defence of the law, Mr. SPRING RICE said, the proceedings from beginning to end had been irregular, and the order must be dis charged. The order for taking the Petition into consideration was then discharged accordingly. CAVAN ELECTION. The petition of Mr. R. Henry Southwell against - the Cavan County Election, was in a similar manner discharged, is conse quence of irregularities in putting in the recognizances. LIMERICK COUNTY ELECTION. The petition against the Election for the County of Limerick was then taken into consideration, and the time for putting in the recognizances enlarged t I.ursday ee'nnight. Sir EDWARD TCHBULL moved that the petitioner complaining °Gaul &indite return for the Borough of Down, had acted confornsahly . with the construction of the Statute, as to the time of entering the requisite recognizances. .Mr. BERNAL opposed the motion, principally on the ground that the names of the sureties were not communicated in proper time to the Member, whose return was complained of by the petitioners. After a short discussion, in which Mr. Wrsrs and the AT TORNEY-GENERAL took a part, in support of the petition, the House divided : Ayes 28—Noes I9—Majority in the affirmative 9. COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY. Sir G. CLERK brought up the Report of the Committee of Supply on the Navy Estimates. On the reading of the Resolutions, Sir J. NEWPORT was desirous of availing him self of this opportunity to add his protest to that of other Hon. Members, against Impressment in the Navy, It was a practice, in his opinion, which, so far from contributing to the strength, was the real weakness of that important branch of onr national defence. He would rejoice to see some salutary mode of in ducing men to enter into our Navy, besides this odious and abo minable one of forcing them into it. So long as it was continued, it would deprive our navy of respectable and efficient seamen. We had experience of its inconvenience and misc hief in our men being induced to enter into the navies of o ther nations., We might have borrowed a useful lesson on this sub j ect from the navy of America, into which many of our men, on account of the preva lence of this system, preferred to enter. He cared not so much for what expence might be incurred by the substitution of another mode of recruiting our naval forces. An alteration in the mis chievous one he now condemned, would be almost worth any price. In the early part of his public life he had protested against the impressment of seamen, and now that in the course of nature, he was nearly arrived at the close of his public career, he was anxious strongly to renew and repeat his testimony against it.—(Loud cries of hear, hear.) Mr. WARBURTON expressed his conviction, that if it were put to the merchants and shipowners whether they would consent by supporting a greater number of seamen during peace, or by any operation-of taxation to avoid the evil of having their seamen impressed in time of war, they would cheerfully agree to a proposition by which an end might be put to so abomi nable a practice. Sir G. CLERK observed, that the arguments of the Honourable Member for Waterford would be very applicable if im pressment were the general mode of supplying the Navy with o th f e m m en. en time, of wa men. But it was only on emergenc i es t h at t hi s unp l easan t prac tice was resorted to. R e d en i e d that the Navy was an unpopu l ar t service. When ever men o f war, and Indiamen were fi tt i ng out a their the complement same were e always the was fil.st to In peace eae impressment never e bt h a a in d recourse to ; for the supply was always adequate to the necessity. Nor was it requisite in war to make good the ordinary casualties. But causes might arise where it was absolutely necessary even for the protection of commerce itself suddenly to fit out a large squadron ; the object of which would be lost if it were necessary to wait for its being manned by volunteers. He hoped, however, from the great improvement which had taken place in the treat ment and condition of our seamen, and from the great liberality with which the country had granted pensions, &c. that there would be less occasion for using the power of impressment in any future war. But it would be unwise and impolitic rashly to put an end to a power, on the exercise of which, under particular cir cumstances, the very salvation of the country might depend. Mr. LOMBE remarked, that the present system of punishment which existed in the Navy, was the cause of great dissatisfaction among the seamen. What was the cause of remo ving the British packets from New York, but the constant de sertions of the seamen, whenever they could find an opportunity of effecting their purpose? If such was the case in those packets, in which the term of service was limited for three years, what must it be in other instances? Sir G. CLERK replied, that the greater number of the packets to which the Hon. Member alluded were hired vessels, the crews of which were not under military law. The removal had taken place in consequence of the inconvenience sus tained by the masters from the great length of time which the vessels were kept at iiTew York. Their men had not deserted into the American navy ; but had been induced by high wages— a dollar a day—to work at unloading the ships in the harbour. Mr. LOMBE explained. Mr. HUME wished to state the result of all the inquiries which he had made on the subject. It was generally admitted that the service ti the Navy was less laborious, and that the men had less labour, bettet food, better regulations, and more advegeti than in the merchant-service. He had put the mat ter point by p'oin't to those who were familiar with the facts. —They stated that it sVao not, the inferiority of the wages to the wages in the merchant service of which the seamen in the navy complained, for that was compensated to them by pensions.— Thousands of seamen had been examined On the subject, and they one and all declared that their aversion to the service of the nary eiese from the discipline to which those who were engaged in it were Object. That such discipline was unnecessary had been proved in dation@ eases. In the Bulwark of 74 guns, therC had not been a single corporal punishment in the course oi eighteen Months. The seamen were dissatisfied that a Com mander had it in hie power to order the infliction of a summary punishment which degraded the individual for ever, and that there was no redress. To impressment they did not object on an emergency. But they oblected to being torn from their families by impressment, and then kept in the service for life.— Whenever the urgency of the public service required that a fleet should be expeditiously manner; the seamen had no objection *hatever to take their turn; but tii;:y wished for the establish ment of some regulation to prevent their' being detained after the eniergenCy had ceased to exist. One great abjection to im pressment was the expellee Which it occasioned in tee tiers ' 8"a r for the moment a sailor ryas o.essed, he became a prisoner, a guard, and was divested of all the rights of an P:nglishman.— He was satisfied that the number of desertions which took place in the course of the late war in consequence of the dissatisfaction of the seamen almost counterbalanced the apparent advantages of impressment ; except on one or two great emergencies. In be half of the seamen of England, he protested against their being exposed to a degrading punishment. While British tars were held up as entitled to glory, let them not be treated in a manner so disgraceful. He intreated those who had the power to intro duce an amelioration of the system to' consider whether it would not be much better to hate the fleet manned by volunteers,•by men attached to the service, who might be allowed to go on shore without being guarded by officers from fear of their deser ld - tion. The system of punishment oug ht to be re g ulated ; he wor l d not say abolished, because there were cases in which it was perhaps indispensible. - But the objection was to the arbitrary manner in which the punishment was sometimes carried into effect at the pleasure of an individual who had scarcely arrived at the years of discretion. Many officers were in the command of hundreds of men, whose, experience had not taught them the forbearance and self rule necessary in stick a station. In fact, an officer on shore, and the same officer on board ship were frequently two as different men as it was possible to conceive. When on shore an officer knew that be must govern himself by the rules of society; but when on board, being free from all controul, he too often conducted himself in the most arbitrary and tyrannical m anner.— r would always be abused. Man in every situation, and under circumstances, required con troul. Unlimited and irresponsible pow :e —When boys who were bred up to the st:.a were daily witnesses e despotic of a system of arbitrary authority on th e one b a nd, and of passive obedience on the other, it was not wonderful t:2at when they themselves became Commanders they should assure. , power. It was by no means, however, his wish to throw any general censure on the officers of the navy : all he maintal . u.: 4 was, that the natural disposition of man to tyrannize over hie fel low creatures ought to be as much counteracted as possible. If the Admiralty took steps to_ effect so desirable an object, they would never want seamen to man our ships.—Comparatively speaking, few able seamen were necessary in a vessel. If, of 100,000 men, 30,000 were able seamen, the ablest officers who had written on nautical subjects agreed that the proportion would be sufficient. Sir BYAM MARTIN utterly denied that the Naval Service was unpopular. As a proof of it, the last ship that was put in commission, the Asia, of 80 guns, in three weeks obtained 370 volunteers, and in five weeks completed her com plement. An Hon. Member had observed, that the packets had been withdrawn from New York, because the apprehension of punishment induced the men to desert. Now the fact was, that in the whole of the packet service of last year, there had been only three punishments. Mr. HUME explained. Sir B. MARTIN explained ; and repeated that it was quite untrue that the Naval Service was unpopular. Sir J. NEWPORT : " That, then, is an addi tional argument against the necessity of impressment."—(Hear, hear, hear.) Sir C. FORBES, in proof of the popularity of the Naval service, stated, that such was the run of volunteers in India from Indiamen to men of war, that the Admiralty, in order to prevent the Indiamen from losing the whole of their crews, were obliged to send orders to limit the number received. He was the last man in the world to stand up for unnecessary punishment, either on shore or at sea. He also admitted that he had known some instances of excessive punishment on board of ship, which he would not now particularize, because, happily, there was an end to all such tyrannical proceedings. It was due to Lord Exmouth to say, that he had introduced regulations on this sub ject on the East India station, which had since been adopted in the whole navy. It was now no uncommon thing for a man of war to make a long voyage without the occurrence of a single pu nishment. Had such a circumstance ever taken place on board an Indiaman? If punishments were complained of on board men of war, bow much more objectionable must they be on board mer chant ships. But in some cases they were absolutely necessary.— If the punishments on boar d men-of-war and the punishments on board merchant-ships we re compared, the latter would be found to e desirable impressment, get rid of. was He a certainly practice be the more excessive . The condition and treatment of the sailor on board of a Ki n g' s ship had of late years been considerably im proved ; and h is Ma j esty's service was now looked to by seamen as With h bte r d es ly d c ee pt thought that by a s y st e m o f judicious bounties the necessity for it m i g ht be diminished, if not altogeth er remove d. I eme rgency, let double bounties he giv en . If seamen werencases of to be got, Mthey oney would bring them ; if were not to be got, impress mwhosicthdesiitrab,lve;a u impress ment would not obtain them. He was persuaded that the coun try would not be dissatisfied with any additional expence to put an end to a system so generally denounced. A MEMBER, whose name we cou ld no t l earn , suggested the expedien c y o f l i m iting war, even if it we re found the power of i n fli c ting cor poral punishment on b oar d of men of impracticable to aboli s h it entirely. He especially alluded to the power at present possessed by the • tommander of a vessel of how ever small a class, when on a foreign at tio n , o f i n fli c ti ng cor poral punishment, without bein g un d er any controul e ith e r on the part of the Admiralty or of any flameu_cer. Mr. Alderman WOOD strongly urged the neces sity of intro lmeing some regulations respecting impressment, and adverted to various regulations on the subject which had been adopted by the Corporation of the City of London. Sir E. OWEN contended that no man was punished in the Navy who did not deserve it ; and the sailors were very seldom put in irons, and only when their misconduct was of the grossest kind. The fact was, that the exception was taken for the rule, and because punishments of the sort com plained of were now and then inflicted, it was given out that such was the constant practice. Punishments were awarded, in gene ral, not for offences against the officers, nor against the ser vice, but for offences against each other. As to the supposed degradation of the men, he could say, that perhaps in nine cases out of ten the sufferers afterwards admitted that they deserved all they had received. Whenever a man was brought up to the gangway, his pl•evious character was always taken into consideration, and if good, he was sure to have the benefit of it. The Captain, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, was the most impartial and competent judge that could be found ; he was perfectly dispassionate, and much more likely to be too lenient than too severe. The sentences by Courts Mar tial were usually more heavy than the amount of punish ment actually undergone by the criminal ; the Commanders often found it necessary to mitigate it, and the greatest boon that could be conferred upon the Captains of King's ships, w as to give them by law, the power to show clemency in cases where they thought it merited. Much had been said touching impressment ; but he (Sir E. Owen) was convinced that no pecuniary reward would be found an adequate substitute in a case of e mergency, and for this reason he hoped the law would be continued as it now stood. He was satisfied that the assertion that British seamen preferred the service of the United States, was a libel upon the service ; it was not the fact that men had deserted to any thing like the ex tent contended for by the authors of some works he had read. Some British seamen had indeed been found on board an Ameri can man of tsar, but in general, men deserted, not in order to serve the United States, but for the sake of being able afterwards to find their way-home to England. Sailors had not, by any means, the hatred of the impress which was attributed to them ; that caeca of hardship and cruelty had occurred, was undeniable, but he knew, within his own experience, of instances in which the men who had been impressed, had declared on reaching the quarter-deck, " You have us, Captain, and as you have us we will enter." Such sailors were to be looked upon more in the light of volunteers tiVra men serving by col npulsi 6n, and anxious to avail themselves of ttie first opportunity to eseal Mr. FYLER, in a low tone of voice, referred to the opinion of Madame de S . :•ael, and maintained that impress ment was contrary to the free s pirit of the Constitt. ttion, and an opprobrium upon the British nation. The Resolution was then agreed to. at the last Vote in the Estimates, Mr. HUMS rose, merely for the liats:dtvol'hiptlei.uelsto,ehteattotcheoeti;ii,snte:ehnyre: his protest against this mode of voting away viac mill ions of the public money for one branch of the service without any accounts to enable the House to revenue would be able to meet such an expenditt lit was con trary to the dirty of the,Representatives of the to a course so precipitate. The weight of taxati, us at the pr esent moment, depressed the nation below every other in the w orld ; other States were caving money and paying off the it debts, while in England, the only. question seemed how to spew it, eve n be fore it was known that tve had it to spend. A MEMBER u nder the Gallery was tmdeirstood to object particularly to heavy charges for Sierra Len! ae, and other worse than worthless coionies. Their A ReportGRANT . agreed ta Sir brought p the RClort. ..on the Postage Duties Acts, which was agreed to. MISCELLANEOUS EST-I:MAT ES % Mr. HERRIES brought up the Miscellgneolm, Estimates, and they were ordered to be prin. ted. When the t clerk arrivqrt . . EXPENCES OF THE COLOI `LIES. Mr. HUME wished to put a quest i, In to the Un der Secretary for the Colonial Department. 1 /nring the last th. ree or four years, he (Mr. Hume) had moved tt.': l " varion 3 ac in order to make file office of the Hon. Gentle nun as effi cient its - ro oib!e, and he wished them to be annually ' laid upon the Table. 7` 2 e Y related to the heav y char g e made upon this ec „. otry for her Colonies ; and what he wished now to know cement had yet been made to fin "nigh the counts, was, whether any mat; House with ageneral estitni s .! e which would give some idea of the enormous e nce of our Fo;"..`' i g n Military, Naval, an.it ei c, ?re Civil g mere details given before the Establishments ? He did not allude to ,!lle the Estimates were voted, but an enlarged and cemprebe. naive view, which would enable any man to form a judgment whe tier it was worth while to keep all our Colonies at isa enormous , t sacrifice. • . Mr. W. HORTON replied, that papers were already upon the table from which the Hon. Gentleman would be able to collect the information be desired. They had been an nually presented, and might be again obtained this year, although he was not prepared to say that such was the best mode of com municating knowledge upon the subject. Desultory conversa tions like these upon such subjects, led to no advantageous result, and he thought that the time taken for putting the question, not well chosen. Mr. HUME thought that 'no better moment could be pointed out than when other departments were laying esti mates upon the table; and those regarding the Colonies had not yet been presented. Had they been beiore the House, it might dared, that from the papers to which 1‘ .embers had already promise the have been fairly urged that he came too ,la g t e e .ss . ("e F h o e r d o es ne i , re l c :c . de access, be was not able to obtain the intelli Hen. Gentleman what he wished. Estimates of . Mr. W. HORTON could by no meails military expences of the colonies would not be kid . distinct from the estimates for the Navy and Army of th..' the naval and .. ) ,n the table EK -Tire. The Hon. G en tl eman m i g ht, if b e pleased,United molts ft , x .,:pired would be useless to him, and unnecessary for ,`he call , for an twanm t of the average co n ti ngen t ex p en dit u re ; but the 6. 0 " - se in a more perfect and complete shape, so as to to 6 s e ee lf : : 'h at .vas the civil expence of every colony, hide country at larg. • He hoped that this year the estimates would Iv,' the army and navy. PROMOTIONS IWITE ARMY AND MARINES. enableopet r d e e d n i t tto of the charge far' Mr. HUME gave notfee that to-morrow he would. move for returns of the promotblis in the Army and Marines, similar to those moved for last year. On the question that the House adjouri.`, , Mr. HUME begged to ask whether the Hon. Gentleman was prepared to state at what period the: Report of the Commission sent out to Sierra Leone would be lai,`l upon the table. Mr. HORTON answered, that the C ommission, was now in England, and he expected that the Report would be, upon the table before Easter. Adjourned at a Quarter past Ten. PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF COVMONS. NOTICES OF MOTIONS FUR THIS DAY. I. Mr. Hume--Motion for Copies of Orden; and Commissions respecting Major Arthur's Command at Honduras, and Lieutenant.Colcmel Bradley's dismissal from the Army. 2. Mr. Shadwell—Bill for the limitation of a Writ of Right. g. Mr. Hume—Returns of Ofticeri and Covamiesimig ip the Army aril Marines. ORDERS OF THE DAY FOR DAY. 1. Supply—Committee. 2. Ways and Means—Committee. NOTICES GIVEN YESTERDAY. Fay, b. 1. Sir John Newport—S e l ec t Com rid mittee Fe on the Petition from the Citrof Waterford [presented 9th February], for the improvement of the communication to the South and South-west of Iref and by Milford' Haven. Monda 19. Mr. Fyne Clinton—To discharge , the Feb. Order for considetation of the Hedon Election Petition. Wednesday, Feb. 28. Sir John Newport—To refer the Irish Estimates to a) SeleetCorantittee Tuesday, March 6. Lord Viscount Althorp—Select Committee to considOc the mode of taking Polls at County Elections. Monday, March 12. Mr. Macqueen—Law of Settlement. PARLIAMENTARY PAPER. COURTS OF JUSTICE. A Itrirunt4 of the number of Causes entered for Trial in the Court. of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, in each of the last Seven Years ; distinguishing , the number of Records made up in each Court for Trial in the County of Middlesex, and in the City of London respectively :—And also, the number of Bills filed during the same period in the Equity Court of Exchequer ; stating the latest number re maining to be heard—so far as relates to the Court of Ex chequer. I Certify, That the number of Causes entered for Trial in the Court 1 j 8 2 ,2. 1 1823. 1 1824. I 1825. 1 1826. of Exchequer, during the Years aforesaid, in the County of Middlesex.. and in the City of London respectively, is as follows, Viz Plea Causes ........................... . ..... . ........ _010.) In the Year lB2O. 1821. 1822. 1823. 1824. 1825. 1826. —..... In Middlesex In London 7 7 7 2 6 8 5 Revenue Cau5e5 ............ .... ... ................ (836). (all entered in ........... ) 1820. lB2l. -- --- ----....,..... ..._........ 144 93 13 6 111 3 149 106 95 Total of Causes entered (1346.) And I further Certify, That I am not able to make any Return to your Honourable House of the number of Records M ADE up in the Court of Exchequer for Trial, during the Years aforesaid, because, as the duty of the Associate does not extend to any Records but those which ARE ENTERED for Trial, my means of information are limited to those Re cords only. A. J. WALLACE, M ars hal and Associate to the Lord Chief Baron. Lord Chief Baron's Chambers, Dec. 14,, 1826. This is the anniversary of Captain Cook, the Cir cumnavigator, being killed at Owyhee, 1779; death of Judge Blackstone, 1780 ; and defeat of the French fleet off Cape St. Vincent by Sir John Jervis, 1797. A Very Rev. Dean, who appears go anxious to contradict the prevalent report relating to the real baton of his late Royal Highness the Duke of York, at the funeral. at Windsor, is perfectly silent on the subject of an equally prevalent report of another circumstance, which waA waid to have been derived from high authority at the time, relating to the covering of the book with black cloth, afterwards to be converted into a pair of gaiters. —Morning Paper. A certain noble Lord, who, although among the most hospitable i n entertaining his friends, cannot h i mself indulge. In the bottle, has recourse to an expedient not generally known, which wo u ld b e o f service to all those whose inclinations, ex ceeding their power of drinking, are not satisfied unless they quaff a brimtner. His Lordship uses a glass which the powers of reflection make appear quite full, though a very small quantity only is put into it. By these means, his Lordship not only has the credit of being a strong-headed fellow, but very often floors not a few of his company.— County Chronicle. A good lady from the north, sending her darling, a few ears since, to Trinity Col l ege , Cambridge, not only took espe cialy care to load him with school-cakes and other confectionaries, to be divided amongst his fellow collegians, but actually addressed an epistle, couched in the usual dictatorial style 6f mothers to the conductors of seminaries, to the lady of the late Bishop of Bristol, Master of the College, desiring her " to see th e s h eets we ll a i re d." Alma 'later.