The Sun. — London, England, 1834-03-05 00:00:00

interest and duty go hand in hand together.e.e(Cheers.) Ih eY never found any difficulty in procuring seamen for ' the merchant service, and why should that differ from the King's? Let them have a registry—let them f et a tab nt i l limited time of service-make their men corn -117 ' and allow a bount and the old system would again be required in this y country.—(Cheers.) He • w that if seamen were properly provided, they had a it, g to n se of duty; none were more willing to perform and to Perf orm it•well; each man took his turn with ala crity if there was only fair p lay and strict impartiality. 'OeaOl a r ear, h ear.) soe persons, he believed, asserted I:}allit failed egistry h ad been already tried in this country, and e ; but thi s was no valid argument aga i nst a tr i a l or. The r eg i stry alluded to might have been a bad one, o l ' ruieht have b een conducted b y b a d men, or i n b a d I m ea• In the reign of William the Third, an Act was e• 11 e r zist euce auth or i s i ng a reg i stry : b ut b e f oun d, f rom la nu net and othe r aut h or i t i es, that the pay o f t h e navy was zthears, to the amount of a million and a half of money at the supply of food was meagre in the extreme— deedat t he fund itself was bad—that all the regulations, in :3k_ of the service were so bad that, though the registry ;n a premium of 403 they could not find a sailor to teg a h e i l . name. Nay, at ” this period a number of seamen . li e f mall} , hanged for mutiny—the act of mutiny con teeing in having asked for the wages due to them. Could • e L t me wonder that in such times the attempt at a Vett re gistry had wh o lly failed?—(Hear, hear.) It , th i s i t ' he believed, to be urged, in opposition to his m o tion, e kh or it o wat an i n t er f erence w i t h t h e preroga ti ve t he tal t ; ; uat of he mai n t a i ne d t h a t t h at preroga ti ve was gran t e d o,` a nd ought t o b e h e ld on l y —f or th e p u blic good.— :. went It was a poor comp li ment, i n d ee d, t o t h eir Ding, whose humane disposition they were all 4eti -!'ainted with, to suppose that he would allow his prero. Forth e° %S tand betwee n men and their fair and just rights. tee rights the seamen now c ontended. They asked +Do w _ fete and respectfully to be placed on a level with their jeet e : lT P--with the other classes of his Majesty ' s sub tholod th ey did not seek to get above them ; he, for one, b eneath et honour them if they were content to . cont . inue ite thee%itonLi "' (L d cheers.) With these observations, Leto l ee -- t mpTyin u o u ve for " A select comm ittee , .. to take by llinderation the practicability of devising some plan Prue eh a r egu l ar and voluntary supply of seamen may be Peace, for his M a j es t y ' s navy , w ith ou t re course to the resum,- td:thee forcibl e impressment." Mr. Buck i ng ham to -- ' 1 ale seat am id s t cons id era bl e c h ee ring, which lasted rn or e r se' l 'e s " • YOUNG seconded the motion. He had k i r that the necessity for bringing it forward would he n: beet ' s uperseded by the concession of the right bon. e i tb i 'et at the head of the Admiralty, for he was sure the te'v t oe ll s e i n : gentleman cou ld . not have forgotten the une tihett it ' expression of feeling on the subje ct . in that house teat ! was ' v as last under discussion. This hope had been Pro-*Yenconraged from the new regulation which it was ' aitoPeled;to adopt, of discharging 500 men from the navy by ta l : ar ' n g 1 ,000 boys ; and from the bill introduced at a e - ,, g ? t erntnent, to do away with service in the navy inin e l„ -m ahnient for the crime of smuggling, thus en htdo,g the character of the service, and holding out toes! ha to men voluntarily to enter it. Impress. Sri ilad been upheld on the ground of necessity (that Le, fj,, n hitherto the only plea for its continuance), but i ev eor ; t lO, denied that that necessity existed. At a red a ; w as Plea of necessity had never been made out, t tlo - n - e, " Well known, both Lord Camden and Lord to no Well it. It had been asserted that the Jo Il a ra we were honour themsel ves quite indifferent on the subject. Lad tat which h e would refer to the petition he %tee e to h , "(Mout that day of presenting to the house, from te„„_,auors of North Shi e ld s , an d t h e strong terms o f 4at'uiliation which they used as to the system of impress they As et proof, t oo , o f t h e progress i ve a d vance w hi c h oat of makin g i n civilization, be begged to state, that tioh, B ,!lie 805 subscrib e rs to the petition, there were inci o a, w ho made that mark which proved them to be ProWe of Writing. He trusted the time was fast ap this , ft tg, When the British sailors would be released from Ittenel . ' and degrading system—when proper induce %knot; y°ll lntary enlistment would be employed—when ‘rotilo -°ll Would be by merit, and when prize money -Sip l j 'e rnore equally distributed. in alld' Am Es GRAHAM for a few minutes was very thatdale - gat h e ' We understood the right hon. baronet to say, l estie should have appealed to the courtesy of the hon. Puld re h au Mr..Buckingliam) to postpone his motion, tunnel t e with propriety have done so. But he was nuk e L aa i it would not be consistent with his duty can her e s. .f 4 4 request, because by postponing it, the mo. i _ eal in ani t . e , r might not have that full hearing, and that Mee d e 4 P 4B ionate discussion which its high impor to, mended, and which it was necessary for the best -ereao, of , or e , lie Zeln:eotantry should be conceded to it. There esPeeitlty f reoo nt icut on th e groun d s state d —an d more to c ome to 4... a rega r d f or the great maritime interest— point of preroeat deli beration of the subject. For the Sheffi e ld , that if he Co uld assure the lion. member for teas actin g for the y it, m aintenance he did not think he " the h 1 eici encY of the service, and the good w 0 e I ' %fend •. , realm , le for en would never attempt t o '•••• - ••tflear b e had a - Pealed.. ministers tha to grant this committee, on the ground . 0h ,,.` ,_°Y to, doing they would add to their reputation, and h u ' m n a considerable increase of popular favour. Now, - .could World assure the hon. member, that no men in the e t o the Were more sensible of the vast services re b ud t er o d n th e L t a by th e popular favour they bad enjoyed ; _u ,_ sire of hand, be must be permitted to say, that the de ' - °l applause, however grateful it might be, n otibi Popular . th ee 'lever shake their firmness of purpose if they thought - ta e ,;;:ere right, or induce them to swerve for one mo fore the strict line of their public duty. There etl-e 'n this as in ever) other instance, they would not do Ithiu g 1 ' • hthe intention of obtaining po,, e , u the hope, or with tie favour ; but their conduct would he guided by TatWe consideration of what was best calculated to insure s t o etY. and increase the general interest of the state. he last Z. gentleman (Mr. Buckingham) stated that since r:s,..un, ;ought forward his motion, he had had many op- Thi, the of acquiring valuable information on the subject of ' r‘a he seafaring men at the out-ports, and in the north I, e _ . gland, He (Sir James) certainly must say that the reaontl gentle He had brought his motion forward in a '411441'4 which was unexceptionable.—(Hear, hear.) He and th e °: hut admire the talent which lie had displaye d, . tossed emPer with which the hon. gentleman had dis -1.44,,,,.."1e question.--(Cheers ) On a subject such as ledel-ment, Where declamation • might almost naturally be b e ged in, 11 _, be excited, an th ought i l: u when the feelings could eas ily . _ roj e mber t o 8 , ahowed no common judgment in an hon. erg". 'ate his points in PO fair, so dispassionate, and would eientative a manner, as be was sure the house (Lo o a g r ee with le o„, t ' ch eers , im, had been done that evening.— rent"'•cd t o the •J He regretted to have seen speeches attn. to t he 4 "- gentleman, which were of a very dare : oet.p prt er, and which, from having been delivered at eyes b olllid - . 3 ' B:light have caused unpleasant feelings. Ile ei to say *h . 1 , 3 g be en os 1 however, that a full atonement had that etos l t n the po made. He was convinced that the course st ileet to a -n • Member proposed—that of referring the v inta ge b "Mmittee—could not either with safety or not resin th e tet te ,. Were his opinion not so, he for one would Wit iiiee ;notion The hon. ' member asked if the house 443 eerakte • bo es) %yam o Into decide upon the question ? Whet on 01 . 'tie last person to deny the competency of the 4"oottlier th eylit or y other subject; but would merely ask t e m ,e larite_,Would not have a better chance of coming . to ti r i i lue e o to ‘allnle result% by leaving the question to be in ' e adriser 8 house in some way or other by the . respon l i t? the o re 3 ,. of the crown, when the whole subject might, co uler e o e e i n o r nt ,Btages, be completely and effectually con soole of hi: tad ••••••-(Hea r .) The lion. member, in the (ee, u , e twee e ? m arks, had thought to institute a . cor . npa i ri . - er e eaglet, ,•ruPresament and slevery ; but thoe in us '''"t bl ot () a ) °Pinion, would nut at all hold good ; foothe l' w ell '"erat• e t sl every was, that it enforced lauour without "t an i-°•-•••(Nu • ) N in the naval service, there f tealli -IP 'e Leith' • Now, tea. es, am lea afforded to sailors to provide , for their os delna e ha thee received wages regularly. file hon. e t Petitio d beat argued that, though the sailors had t c . )l3strtied an t on on this subject, their silence was not to be I4te °/*P°llll n7t; lnY thing like indfference, as they le!r1 not To lva a nec eees ," of meeting which other classes enjoyed. iere t eat Y the points should be met, arid met fairly. l)ruwer nt. once an o pportunity, when th e seamen had the 4 2 4 i t, natiZ r i eja ing the tight of petition—a moment of tell';', 1) : , hist ro d c iat rest, which was too memorable in 4 " mltl hi, ;') ' 4 r an to be ignorant of—and a ii.t .., -..eEr petal y man to ''' ei g h t 0 on set forth ? Oa that occasion in vatioa mentioned. r ten grievances, impressment was not , . e ; , e , they io, ,-- (Rear, hear.) On the point of prero wa_ot t o the ereoelvvevulence, not merely of the prescriptive th'earelinetioneo b 0 as to impressment, but that that right But ief" of Iyd:statute, and had been so frequency from the b on a e this ~ W ill statute, tile Third down to the present day. (instead ranyetr"nt there was any doubt in the mind of o , d of th e ' how there much more preferable would it be an, on h• co urse o bill, and 1 3 own tea now propured) for the lion. gentle- Op . i o 'C ' settl e t h Ponsibility, to introduce a declaratory fact rl , n, the hon. e question at once. Leaving matters of Ze_4 assertion., that entlernan had approached matters of , t . h ad bee n in a tim e of props peace, impiess hi`°44lunent we asexerciled. His (Sir James Graham's) the ilnatement wacaertainly great when h e heard this; but i_ t u " o• gentletna considerably increased when he heard 4 knee occurred 11 specify the actual tim e when such an Y ea) the hon, gentleman had gone nto minute details, and actually brought the eyes of the house to the very year be alleged such impressment had taken place. He (Sir James Graham) again repeated, that he had heard that et it.enrnt with the utmost asto nishment. It was tls only instance adduced by the hon. gentleman ; yet how was it borne out by facts ? He as serted that press wan ants were issued in 1832, during the period of the embargo on Dutch vessels; the seamen were impressed, and the vessels were sent round from Liverpool to take nut the men. The bon. gentleman must have been strangely misinformed. What be bad stated was not the fact.--(Hear, hear.) No press warrants were issued since the conclusion of the war in 1815, and no difficulty had at all arisen in 1832 of obtaining the necessary complement of men.—(flear, hear.) A vesse I, it was quite true, was sent sound to Liverpool, but her destination there was to receive volunteers who were most anxious to enter under the British flag.--(Hear, hear, in which Mr. Sheil's voice was particularly iFstinguisbed.) He (Sir James Graham) well understood the cheer of the hon. member for Tipperary, and what he thought he could convey by that expression of his feelings. He considered the willingness of those men to serve his Majesty might be adduced as an argument against his positions, and, there fore, that the question could be at once disposed of. The hon. gentleman could not correctly arrive at such a con clusion. The time should be taken into account, and the peculiar nature of the duty which it was considered the fleet would then have to discharge. If the hon. gentle man had reflected on this, perhaps his opinion might have undergone some change.—(Hear.) He (Sir James Gra ham) far from being friendly to the system of impress ment, and considered it should never be resorted to ex cepting in cases of extreme and urgent necessity—times of peril, moments of danger, when every consideration should bend to the imperative call of the country's interest.— (Hear, hear.) He felt that the King's service ought to be made as attractive and as comfortable as it could allow for seamen. This could be only done by an adhesion to three points that ought never to be departed from—namely, first to hold out encouragement to merchant seam en to enter the royal navy ; secondly, by good treatment when on board ; and, thirdly, by conferring promotion on zealous and efficient services. Provision for age should also be recollected, in order that he who had passed the best days of his life in an arduous service, might be sure of at least a protection from want in the decay and helplessness of old age.—(Hear.) Having gone thus far, he would proceed to state what had been done since 1815 to carry the views of the hon. member for Sheffield into operation. First, as to the wages of seamen, he would for a moment recall the l attention of the house to the altered value of money, which had materially increased the pay of the sailor ; added to which, the pay was nominally enlarged in 1825, indeed, so much so, that at present there was not more than one-eighth difference between the wages in the King's and the the merchants' service, and when the superior quality of the provisions were considered, they might be then said to be fairly equalized. The King's sixpence was allotted so as to benefit the sailor, and the profit of the the purser, which was formerly at the expense of the sailor, was now reduced so much as only to allow the country not suffering by the sale of provisions below the wonted standard of valise. The scale of pensions had been likewise increased, and at the present moment the regulation was, that a man, after 20 years' service, was entitled to the allow ance of 101 a day; or if he had lost a limb or his health was injured in the service, no matter the time employed, he had the same allowance—(Hear)—thus, the measures of amelioration up to the period of the last debate in that house. He should now proceed to detail what had been done since that period, to render the King's service more acceptable to seafaring men. A complaint had often been made, and before the time to which he was desirous to direct the attention of the House, not sufficiently attended to, and which was found to have been productive of the greatest personal inconvenience. A vessel might be on a foreign station two or three years, and during that service the seaman had not the power to draw any portion of his wages. A former Board had, indeed, allowed 4s. per month, but that was not sufficient every luxury might be around, yet the sailor, although 50/, perhaps were due to him by the country, could not satisfy his wishes or his wants. An arrangement had been just made by which the sailor would be permitted to draw 1/. per month, which would not interfere with the whole some practice of enabling his family to draw that sum at home necessary for their support in his absence. The sailors formerly were objects of high consideration with the country ; but in thinking of them the absent father or husband was not forgotten.—(Hear.) The distribu tion of prize money had also been placed upon a better footing. At former periods prizes were so disposed of in the navy, that letters of margee were followed, and the privateer service became so popular, that the decks of its vessels never failed to be adequately and sufficiently manned. A proclamation had been recently issued by his Majesty, granting a new scale of prize money--(Hear)— which could not fail to be recognized as most just and encouraging. For every 10,0001. taken, the seaman's former share was Si., at present it would be 151. (Hear, hear.) This increase would not be fed by deduct • ing from the old ranks in the navy, but from a reduction l in the allowance to the Admiralty.—(Hear, he ir . ) The custom-of sending smugglers to serve in the navy for five years, as a punishment for the offence, bad been justlyde nounced. It was converting the King's vessels into prison ships. It was a stain that could net be too soon removed. Another plan was to induce boys of good character to enter the service, to place them under the pennant with fair hopes of their future advancement and benefit to their country. One thousand lads had already entered ; and however the service might be dispraised, it promised most fairly for them. Ile could assure the house every attention that could be paid was given to the subject by his Majesty's ministers. It hal occupied their patient and most serious inquiry ; they duly considered its importance ; and their peat desire was, that such a mighty arm of our strength should he strengthened, not paralysed; worthy of the body with which it was con• nect , d—worthy of the country it was destined to defend. If the subject was left in the hands of ministers, hon. members might rest satisfied that those progressive im provements would take place which the hon. member fur Sheffield was so desirous to further. He (Sir J. Graham) was likewise anxious that the merchant service—that nursery which cradled our seamen—that school in which they were taught their first and most useful lesions— should also have that attention paid to it which its value and its present state so urgently required. During the recess, it had occupied his undivided attention, and he had proposed a bill to consolidate the different laws relat ing to the merchant service, and to effect a snore complete registration throughout the kingdom. That bill was then ready.—(Hear.) From its operations, if it became law, lie looked for the lost results. The name of Nelson bad been introduced into the speech of the hon. member for Sheffield, and his great authority quoted its opposed to impressment. Any thing uttered by that illustrious cha racter must of course have great weight, and be heard with almost reverential attention. It so happened, bow. ever, that be (Sir James Graham) had the advantage of hearing from a distinguished officer, who bad enjoyed a large portion of Lord Nelson's confi•fence, a far differ. nt version of his lordship's sentiments. He alluded to Sir T. Hardy. Lord Nelson had indeed regretted the stern necessity of impressment, but considered the navy could not be manned without having recourse to its repulsive laws. He felt, however, that by proper regulations, the necessity might be considerably lessened. Those regula• done, ministers wished to see adopted.—(Hear, hear.) By the bill, which he bad proposed, every seafaring man would be compelled to have a certificate, and if found wanting, such compulsory service should be the penalty. One difficulty certainly presented itself, of which he did not then see the means of extrication. He alluded to the case of sailors on foreign stations, but that would be of course subject for after consideration. If all means failed, the power of impressment should be held in reserve ; it ought not lightly to be dispensed with. The house which he then had the honour to address, was a delibe rative assembly; they were not, he trusted, to be moved, unless ample cause were shown; they would not unre fleetingly do that which might render less efficient a ser vice to which the empire could so proudly refer. The hon. mover had spoken uf the non-effectiveness of the navy in consequence of impressment. He would, in answer, refer to Carnperdown, St. Vincent, the Nile, and Trafalgar.—(Hear, hear.) The men who had fought and conquered in those battles were impressed.—(Hear, hear.) What, then, became of the hon. member's asser tion? The fact be t Sir James Graham) had stated could not be disputed ; it spoke in a language not to be misunderstood. Ile should again call upon the house to pause, to weigh well the decision they intended coming to that evening; upon it much depended. If they once denounced impressment, it would be impossible after wards to recall their vote ; their resolution could not be rescinded. And should impressment afterwards be found necessary, with what face could they proceed ? W ithout going into the inquiry sought, let a desultory inq u iry take , place, and permit a responsible Minister of the Crown to introduce a measure of six months' preparation — a measure I which, he felt assured, would be found to work well. Ile had been told so, and he gave every credence to the source from whence lie had derived his information. The heads of the intended bill were, first, to give facilities to parishes to apprentice youths; these facilities they then had in re spect to the mercantile, but the bill provided they should be extended to the Royal Navy. Secondly, that rules should he - established for keeping up a complete registration ; thirdly, that indulgence and protection should be afforded to seamen in the merchant service, and that means should be within their reach of obtaining their wages ; and fourth ly, which was of paramount importance, the condemning of a practice which was more than of rare occurrence—he alluded to the custom of masters leaving their men on foreign shores, to the evident prejudice of the country; for the men thus deserted by him who should be their protec tor frequently ent,red the service of the state on which they were thrown, or, more frequently, became pirates. These were the points which his bill intended to carry into effect; and, after Easter, he was willing to send it up to a committee, if such was in accordance with the wishes of the house.—(Hear, hear.) All inconveniences would thus lie obviated, and there would be no danger of unduly interfering with a service, on the efficiency of which de pended the safety, the honour, and the independence of this common country.—(Cheers.) The right lion. baronet concluded by proposing an amendment for leave to bring in a bill to consolidate and amend the law relating to mer chant seamen, and to keep up a more effectual registration of seafaring men. Mr. ROBINSON asked whether the proposition for a committee up stairs did not receive an inconceivable addi tion of force from the announcement of this measure on the part of the Government? If there was any individual in whose hands he should be disposed to leave the question it was in those of the right hon. baronet. But he denitd that this was a subject to he dealt with by any individual, and especially by any one in the immediaot service of the Crown. The right hon. gentleman had asked would it be prudent to take away this privilege of the Crown in all cases? He (Mr. Robinson) bad had great experience, both in commercial shipping and in ships of war, and he should therefore answer decidedly in the negative, that it would not be prudent to deprive the Crown of the power of impressment in cases of great emergency. But because thus much was admitted, was there any necessity that the system should remain in its present state, and with its pre sent unlimited powers ? One of the great complaints urged against this prerogative was that its adoption wan not confined to cases of great emergency, but exercised by every commissioned officer in the navy at his own discre tion or caprice. He should be very sorry to say anything against the fairness or moderation of the officers of his Ma jesty's navy, with many of whom he had enjoyed a long anti friendly intimacy ; but still he must be permitted to assert that this power had often been used most unfairly, most un wisely, and most capriciously. It was true that cases of this kind occurred more rarely at present, in the time of peace, than formerly; yet was that any reason why the house should not interfere with the unconstitutional prin cipte of the system itself, with a view to the prevention of wrong in the event of another war breaking out? The right hon. baronet need not fear that the house would take up this inquiry rashly, and upon theoretical prin ciples, merely to destroy a power which could be shown to be practically necessary. The committee now moved for might probably determine that this power should be re tained to the Crown; yet they might also, at the same time, propose such modifications in its application as, with out impairing its general efficacy in time of need, would render it less repulsive to the national feelings of the people. The right hon. baronet had very truly said that the naval service had lately lost very much of the disrepute formerly attached to it. It was true that the govern ment and the officers themselves had done much to render the service as acceptable as possible to the sailors under their command, and remove the opprobrium which had been cast upon the profession ; yet, notwithstanding all these laudable attempts at liberality, the service could never come fairly into favour as long as the present odious practice of impressment was continued. The right hon. baronet had said that in consequence of the altered value of the currency the sailors in his Majesty's service had now the same pay as in the merchant service. That; was true in the time of peace, but in time of war the case was different; and he therefore thought the time of peace a favourable opportunity to inquire into the hardships which pressed upon his Majesty's ser vants in time of war. It was well known that although the pay in the two services was now pretty nearly equA, if a war were to break out the pay in the merchants' ser vice would immediately be increased four or five pounds per month, and the consequence would be the same disin clination on the part of the men to enter his Majesty's navy as formerly. And it was very natural, too, that men should feel a distaste for a service into which they were not only compulsorily impressed, but at lower wages than they could get in another to which they wereadmitted by their own free will and agreement. Under circum stances like these the practice of forcible impressment was an unjustifiable iaterference, not only with the per sonal liberty of the subject, but also with his only pro perties—his time and his labour.—(Hear, hear.) Ano ther serious inconvenience in the time of war which deterred the sailor from the national navy was the in definite period of the service in it. When a sailor was ordered upon a foreign expedition, whatever might be his natural disinclination against that particular destination, or against the officer who com manded, or the rest of the crew who worked the ship , there was no help for him ; go be must. And very often it would happen, as in the late wars, that the whole of his life would be spent in this forced hanisliment. Another principal. point upon which the naval service la boured under popular disrepute was the nature of the discipline which it was alleged the efficiency of the service demanded. Whatever might be his opinion upon this subject in principle, he was bound to state that he had been from time to time in many of his Majesty's ships, and that from all his own experience there lie had no reason to believe that the powers vested in the officers in command had been exerted with any undue severity. But he would relate one circumstance which had fallen within his own observation, and which was a striking instance of the hardships entailed on the seamen by this system of forced servitude. It occurred that when the fleet was at a foreign station, the Admiral, fearing that desertion would be attempted, issued an order to the whole fleet, to prevent any sailor from going ashore during the whole of their stay. Now, how could it be supposed that such an excessive interference with the liberties anti the enjoy ments of the men could be tolerated with any degree of good will on tl eir part; or with any credit to the service ? The right hon. baronet said be had devised means by which the grievances at present complained of might, one time or other, be alleviated. as by the use of ballot or other wise, though he was not very clear upon these points , . But he (Mr. Ribinson) hoped the house would not give its support to the amendments of that right honourable member, which would totally defeat the object of the original motion. The right hon. baronet doubtless felt a little jealousy at an interference with him in matters which fell directly within his office, and he was therefore not the person whom he could expect to find voting for a com mittee of this sort. He did entreat the house, however, ' not to be carried away by the plausible arguments of the right hon. baronet, but to vote in favour of the motion before them for the appointment of a committee, which, without interfering unnecessarily with the royal prero gative, might at least suggest some alterations in the me thod of impressment if they would not entirely abolish it. The present system of impressment was not only a great violation of the natural liberti,s of the subject, but also operated as a very great hardship to the interest of the merchant service in tittle of war. To avoid impress men , sailors were then driven into holes and corners, and higher prices were obliged to be offered to induce them to take employment. Not to detain the house any longer he would merely thank the right hon. baronet fur the feel ings he had been induced tvi express upon the principle of the system, and entreat the house not only to adopt the motion before them, but to urge his Majesty's government to co.operate with them in the removal of the grievances complained of.—( Hear.) Sir EDWARD CODRINGTON was not desirous to wrest any prerogative from Isis Majesty, but he only re quired that seamen should be placed on the same footing as other classes of the King's subjects. He recollected an instance of one seaman who had been impressed, and who had served with him afterwards for the period of nine years. At the end of that period he asked for his dis• charge—and, from the length and nature of his services, he was fully entitled to it—but the man's application was refused. The difficulties in the way of impressed sailors to obta n their discharge were great. Besides, sailors in the royal navy did not obtain wages equal to their merits, and they were not encouraged to enter the service by receiving bounty, as soldiers did for engaging in the land service. It was his decided opinion that if seamen were fairly treated, they would enter the royal navy in prefer. ence to engaging in the merchant service. The bad treatment they had received was in a great measure the consequence of the present system of impressment. In the merchant service seamen underwent double the labour they did in the n ivy, but then they were more kindly treated--they were alowed to go on shore, and to coin !nunicate with their families, whilst in the royal navy those indulgences were not extended to them. He remembered that at the battle of Tnifalgar he bad in his ship an ex cellent sailor, an Atnercan, who was a pressed man. This man had been pressed into the Terrible; in order to get home to his country, be went to the West Indies in an Eng lish ship as an Englishman ; be was there pressed again, came back to England, and was eventually sent to him. This man said that he would be glad to remain in the English navy, but that he had a wife and family in America with whom he could not communicate because he bird been impressed. The truth was, that in consequence of the odium attendant on the system of impressment in the eyes of foreigners, it was difficult to get them to have anything to do with the service. There was another evil attendant on this system, namely, that a bad set of fellows were often picked up and sent among the fleet. He would mention an instance in which 27 fellows picked up in London had been forced upon him. He would rather not have anything to do with them, for he was sure they would demoralize his men, and he was very glad to find a way of getting rid of them. They were only looking for an opportunity and the very first one they had they pro fited by. One fine day they manned the boats, and every one of them ran away. —(Laughter.) The house might believe that he was not very sorry for their desertion. With respect to the way sailors used to he paid, he always objected to the power of paying them in paper money. In consequence of their being paid with paper money, they received 6s. in the pound less than their due, and when ever that particular question should come fully before the house, he should claim for the whole navy 63. in the pound as being still due to them on the whole amount of their wages.—(Laughter and Hear.) He begged to mention what occurred to him on this subject once when he was stationed cff Gibraltar, where the men received in dollars 14s. for their pound of paper money. The men came upon the quarter-deck. and asked him what was to be done? His answer was, the thing could not be helped. So the men went away contented. But if he had told the men that paying them in this way, with paper money, was a robbery on the part of the government, it would have caused a mutiny in the fleet.—(Hear, and laughter.) Though he had men that had been pressed in jaia ship, he had never, himself, pressed men in his life ; and he knew several instances of men returning on board ship from foreign countries, allow themselves to be headed up in casks, and undergo other hard privations, rather than submit to impressment. It way a well known fact that, during the war, the sailors returning in fleets from the West Indies, the South Seas, and other parts, used, on their arrival off the coast of England, to he taken out of their ships—sent on board the royal navy, without having been allowed to touch shore, or to communicate with their families—and that other men used to be put on board the returning trading vessels, to navigate them up the Thames. He hoped the house would allow him to briefly express his opinion on the subject of corporeal punishments. He granted that he once supported the principle in that house. What be meant to say by this was, that he objected to an alteration for the substitution of other species of punishment. He confessed that it was a painful and degrading thing that it should be imposed upon officers and gentlemen to see cor poreal punishment carried into execution ; but before it was changed, he should he glad to see some better substi tute proposed. He recollected the instance of a marine, who, in order to avoid the infliction of a thousand lashes. committed a crime in order to be transported. He would repeat, that he should be glad to see some good substitute for corporeal punishment ; end should be happy if any one could devise a mode of punishment that would be more pleasing and agreeable to soldiers and sailors.—(Laugh ter.) They had no black holes on board ships, and there were many sorts of punishments suggested, that would be more strongly objected to on the part of soldiers and sailors than the present mode. It was a common error to imagine that good men were punished —it was only the scum of the earth that were flogged— (A latigh)—and for his own part, he would say, that every lash inflicted on the back of a good man, was twice as painful and severe upon him as it was on the person punished.—(Flear.) In consequence of impressment, so great was the desire of escape at the end of the war, that they were obliged to give up a proposed plan of using large pieces of cork on board, to prevent the sailors from being drowned. It was feared if these pieces of cork were introduced, that the sailors would slip down on them, and use them as a means of escape. He believed that if they went into committee some mode might be devised to get rid of the odious system of impressment. The hon. and gallant admiral concluded by saying that he cordially supported the motion of the hon. member for Sheffield. Captain ELLIOTT said that the hon. mover bad brought forward two instances to prove that impress ment was unjust, inefficient, and unnecessary. For his own part, he had commanded a ship from the breaking out of the war ; and, in consequence of the general sys tem that then prevailed, it was impossible to keep ships manned without having recourse to impressment. Two officers had been mentioned, Lord Exmouth and the lion. and gallant member for Davenport, as never having em ployed pressed men. Sir E. CODRINGTON—I said I never myself im pressed men, but that I had pressed men on board my ves sel who had been sent to me by order of the Admiralty. Captain ELLIOTT—The nature of the hon. and gal lant member's statement was such as to make the house believe that so little impressment was necessary, that ships could be manned without having recourse to it. In re ferring to certain returns, he found that in the gallant ad miral's ship, for the space of four and a half years, the number of pressed men were seven, nut of a crew of 614 men whom he had during that period. Now, the question was, how many volunteers were to be found in that num ber? Only five; so that there were 609 men serving on board at forced service. Without throwing himself upon other officers for relief, it was clear, then, that the crew of this ship could not be kept up to its full complement. He (Captain Elliott) never had recourse to other officers to keep up his crew complete. In the instance of Captain Pellew, whose ship had been first manned before the re volutionary war, every man was a volunteer, because it was before the first peace. Captain Pellew remained ten months in the ship he alluded to ; she was completely manned by volunteers, and yet during those ten months there were no less than 51 desertions, being an average per annum of a desertion for every third man and a half. He would quote another instance that related to the ship the Indefatigable. On board her half the crew was composed of volunteers, and the other half of men that had been im pr•ssed ; and )et the average yearly desertion was only one man in nine. He would now come to a ship after wards commanded for four years (as we understood by Captain Pellew also), and during that time only one in 30 deserted. These instances he considered sufficient proofs that impressment was not the cause of desertion ; but that, on the contrary, in proportion to the number of men impressed on board, the number of deserters was 'educed. For his own part, he confessed, however un popul ir such an avowal might be, that, considering it a duty he owed to the service to keep the ship manned which had been intrusted to him by his King and his country, he bad never hesitat d, in order to keep her manned, to have recourse to impressment when he found it impossible to get volunteers ; nor did he ever hesitate to employ corporeal punishment when it was found necessary for the good discipline of his ship. From April, 1807, to December, 1812, the total number of desertions on the 280 men he commanded was nine—being about an annual average of one desertion out of 171 men. Notwithstand ing this, his ship was manned differently, and upon dif ferent principles, from the ships commanded by Captain Pellew; for Capt. Pellew had in one ship 95 men forced into the service, he had them ten months, and not quite that number of volunteers. In the next ship he bad 340, which he got from the receiving ships ; and in the third ship he had 126 men, also from the receiving ships, with 26 man that he was obliged himself to impress; making a total of 162 men forced into the service. He had no volunteers, since he was obliged afterwards to have re course to impressment ; and then, as he bail before stated, the number of desertions among Captain Pellew's crews diminished. From these calculatioos, lie (Capt. Elliott) thought that he had fully proved to the House that de sertion did not depend on impressment. He could any, of his own experience, that lie never knew the sailors, as a body, complain either of the power of impressment or of corporeal punishment; what he heard them complain of was the abuse of these powers. With respect to the al. lu,ions made io the mutiny at the Nora, the seamen there knew well enough that impressment was in vogue, and they did not make it a chief cause of complaint. The grievances they then com pl a i ne d o f h a d s i nce b een success fully remedied. The fact was, that impressment, under some shap-, existed in every country. If they went to America it would be found another thing—(Hear)—at any rate it existed in all the old countries of Europe : it existed in Portugal; in Spain, fur the Spanish mode of registration was little better than impressment ; it existed in Holland, or something very nearly the same, since men „Tre there pressed for soldiers, and they had the option of serving in the navy or on land.—(A laugh.) Worse than our impressment was the system adopted in Russia. Colonel TORRENS sass understood to express the opi nion that impressment was a dormant power, very rarely used, and then only in cases of extreme emergency. He thought, therefore, that the Crown might safely retain that power. - Mr. WARRE said, that under the present circum stances, and in consequence of the right hon. baronet's amendment, he thought it might be more advisable that the boa ! tnemoer for Sheffield should withdraw his motion. Mr. INGHAAI begged to ask the right hon:7.onet opposite, in reference to his proposed plan of registering se a uen, whether it was his intention to introduce a clause into Isis bill, for the purpose of making it avail able to•government to supply the navy wi►h men by ro tation, when suff►cient men could not be got for the exigencies of the navy as volunteers? He also wished to know whetber the service to be required of men in the merchant service was to ty... I mited ? Sir JAMES GRAHAM was understood to siy, that his prolmsed measure made no pr ,,, ision as to the mer chant service. 11,, in :sttre l,y.him was confined to the registration of s,uneu. \V, :t ultimate measures might be proposed shmild, in same m 'sure, depend on the degree of success attending the r. , g.s.rv:oa. The expe rknce of n century and a hail shooed the difficulty of such a scheme ; and though he mis aware of the diffi culty, he was still in hopes that a plan might be discovered to answer the ends in view. Admiral FLEMING said that, though the statement of the lion. member had made a considerable impression upin him, be was still disposed to vote for the amend ment of the right hon. baronet, because he thought it would have the effect of accomplishing the object which the hon. member had in view, and that more safely and gradually than if his motion were agreed to. Captain DUNDAS said that "impressed seamen now wore the same ribbon which the S2eaker displayed upon his breast. —(A laugh.) Mr. LYALL thought that, in case of war, impress ment could not be dispensed with. In the merchant set-- vice a man was able, after four or fife months' voyage,to return to his family and friends ; but in the navy men were separated from their families for five, six, or seven years, without the possibility of once seeing them. This was a sacrifice which no money could compensate, and money therefore would not be sufficient to induce men to enter the naval service. Many eminent lawyers had given their opinion as to the legality of the practice. Among others, Wedderburn and Sergeant Glyn, two of the most eminent lawyers of their time, had said that im - pressment was not only legal, but of imrneineriel usage. Mr. HUAIE said, that when the question bad for merly been before the house, he had always given it as his opinion that the pay in the navy ought to be at least equal to that of merchantmen. He now repeated, that when merchantmen gave their seamen 5/. wages, the navy should not give less.—(Hear, hear, hear.) The government admitted that it would be desirable to abolish impressment. but said that there were objections to its abolition. Yet they opposed the motion for a committee to inquire how these obj-ettions could be removed. (Hear, hear.) The hon. and gallant Secretary of the Admiralty opposite had boasted that the whole navy was manned by impressment during the war ; but, good God! were they not now, when in a state of profound peace, to take means to get such an evil removed ?—(Hear, hear.) The right hon. baronet should have at once come forward and stated manfully whether he thought impressment a subject fit to be inquired into or not ; but instead of that, he stated that he had a measure in hand on the subject. This was a trick—(No, no)—a House of Commons' trick, only resorted to in seasons of difficulty. After the announcement of the registration, without the abolition of impressment, seamen would think that it was intended only as a net by which they might be the more easily caught.—(Hear, hear.) He knew many seamen who were not for the abolition of impressment, but who still thought that it should only be exercised in cases of emergency. These persons said, let there be impressment in cases of emergency ; but let it be made legal, and let the periods at which it shall be made be fixed.—(Efear. hear.) And he (Mr. Hume) agreed with them that Parliament ought to fix these pe riods, en that if he (Mr. Hume) or any other gentleman in that house, were impressed—(A laugh)—he could not but ray that that was a very childish laugh.—(Loud laughter.) It was utterly unworthy of men.—( Hear, and a laugh.) He would say that seamen ought to have in creased wages until government found some substitute for the present system. He thought the government ought to come manfully to the question, and grant the inquiry. Mr. LYALL said a few swords in explanation, which were inaudible in the gallery. . . . . Captain ELLIOTT rose to explain, and complained that the hon. member far Middlesex had put words into his mouth which he had never used. The hon. member stated that he (Captain Elliott) had prided himself on the navy having been manned during the war by impress ment. He (Captain Elliott) had never said any such thing. No man regretted the necessity of impressment more than he did, or more regretted that it could not be entirely abolished. Mr. HUME was sorry if he had stated anything dif ferent from the hon. and gallant captain's opinion. He had certainly misunderstood him. Lord ALTHORP then rose, and said that the question was certainly one of the very greatest importance. It had been said, however, that this was a question whether impressment of seamen fur the navy should be abolished or not, but that was not the question ; for it was satisfac • tory to know that all parties admitted that the power of i mpressrnent should necessarily remain in the Crown. The question moved by the hon. member for Sheffield was for a select committee to take into consideration the practicability of devisingsome pl in by which a regular and voluntary supply of seamen might be procured for the navy without recourse to the practice of forcible impressment. The hon. mem • ber himself admitted that the power must remain, and the only object of his motion was to inquire whether a more popular plan could be devised fur manning the navy, without having recourse to it but in cases of emergency. Now his right hon. friend (Sir J. Graham) had stated that he had several measures in view on this very subject, and he asked the liberty of the house for leave to bring in a hill for the establishment of a sufficient registry of sea. n en. The hon. member had admitted that any plan for the abolition of impressment must be founded on registra tion ; and when it was asked whether his right hon. friend meant to go further tli.n a simple registration, he said certainly; but tit it that could not be done until it was ascertained if the registration was efficient for the purpose intended. It would be on the registration, if successful, that any future measures should be founded. The very object which the hon. member for Sheffield had in view, was the one which they also had in view. Would the house, then, at the very moment the government were proc e eding to bring in measures to effect this object, take the business out of their hands, merely because the hon. member had made this motion ?—(Hear, hear.) He knew that many members, who were not aware of the intentions of government, had come down with the inten. tioa of voting fur the motion of the hon. member, but would now abstain from so doing.—(Hear, hear.) The hon. member fur Middlesex had said that the plan pro posed by the government was attnere ttick. What trick? —(Hear, hear.) They were trying to mitigate an evil, which all admitted tc be au evil ; but which all admitted to be a necessary one.—(Hear, bear, and No, no, from Mr. Young.) The hon. member who seconded the mo tion says that he did not say it was an evil. Mr. YOUNG—I said it may be an evil. Lord ALTHORP—He (Lord Alrhorp) would ask how this country would like, in time of war, to see the enemy's fleet at sea, while her own fleet could not leave her harbours for want of seamen to man it.—(Hear, hear.) He admitted that the power of impressment should be put in practice as seldom as possible; but if it were abolished entirely, they might find that before the country could be sufficiently protected, the men who should in the first instance have affurded that protection would be lodged in the prisons of the enemy. He thought that everything should be dune to mitigate the evils attendant on the system, but that the system itself should not be abolished. He thought that the system of registration proposed by his right lion. friend one likely to introduce improve ment in the manner of classing the men, and regulating the period of their services. He trusted that in these circumstances the house would place confidence in his right hon. friend, and instead of taking the subject out of his hands would rather give him credit for pursuing that course which ho thought most likely to have the effect desired by all parties.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. BUCKINGHAM rose to reply, and said, that if a system of rotation were introduced, and if impress. ment were only practised at periods of emergency, much good would be done. But he doubted if s. amen would be inclined to register, if some provisions of that nature were not added to the plan of the right hon. baronet. He could not see on what principle the government came into the market to buy stores, masts, &c., while they refused to pay the market price fur teen.—(Hear, hear.) As to the extent of the p:eregative, he knew it to be the opinion of able lawyers, that it extended to the impress ment of seamen within the narrow seas, for the defence of the country, but not on the ocean ; and for the defence of the colonies, in all parts of the globe. The several positions which had been that evening advanced by those hon. gentlemen who had taken the same view of the subject as he (Mr. Buckingham) had done, had been completely proved. They had proved the general feeling which existed in the country on the subject of impress ment; they had proved the injustice and oppressiveness of the measure ; and they had proved how strong and general the desire was, that the law which sauct:oned such a proceeding should be abolished. He would not detain the house any longer, but conclude with the expression of his hope that it would divide with him on the subject, and grant a committee of inquiry. Toe house then divided, when there appeared_. For the motimi For the amendment '2lB . Majority for Ministers -88 TIMBER TRADE. On our readtnis3ion to the gallery, we found D w i i r. dil on his legs. The lion. metubt-r brou 6 ht for relative to the timber trade b e tw ee n forward Ti m ' otion this country and Lower Canada. We understood him to say, that the uncertainty which existed as to whether any sPeration on the subject was in contemplation by govern ment, or whether they intended not to disturb, in the course of the present session, the arrangement which now obtained, gave rise to much uneasiness, and to great injury to those interested in the trade. How long, he would ask the noble lord, was this suspense to be suffered to continue? Men were afraid to import my quautity of timber into this country at present, until they had learnt the intentions of Ministers, and the consequence was, that there was now lore timber in the market than at any former period. Will government put on heavier duties now than formerly ? France, and Belgium, and Holland, and other countries, were receiving their timber from the Baltic on far more favourable terms than this country, We were carrying on commerce with Canada at a very expensive rate. That commerce cost us yearly ebout 2,000,000/. The hon. gentleman concluded by moving fur "An account of the aleount of duties levied on timber, deals, and other articles of wood, imported from the Briisli provinces in North Americe in each of the years 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831. 1332, and 1833; stating, also, the amount of duties which would have been paid upon such timber, deals, and other articles, in each year, and also the whole amount if they had been imported from the Baltic." Mr. FERGUS O'CONNOR seconded the motion. Lord ALTHORP said, th it the bon. gentlemen had asked whether he (Lord Althorp) had changed his mind on the subject before the house. He begged to say, in answer, that he had not changed his mini, but did not think, under existing circumstances, that it would he a ,prudent course to press the question on the attention of government. He conceived it was desirable that the subject should not be gone into at present. He (Lord Althorp) had no intention of consuming the time of the house by any motion on the question this session. He had no objection to the production of the papers which the hon. gentleman had moved for except this, that they had been already granted, on the motion of the hon. mem ber for Bridport.—(Laughter.) Mr. Alderman THOMPSON said, so far from hie country beine a sufferer from the duties imposed on timber imported from the Baltic, site was a gainer by that impost. Mr. ROBINSON hoped that government %mai not sacrifice Canada, in the vain hope that, from the free ad. mission of timber into our ports from the Baltic, Russia would open her markets to our manufactures on the same terms, Mr. WARBURTON said that the general expectation of those engaged in the timber trade was, that the duties would be taken off the timber imported from the Baltic. If the noble lord thought that the putting off the question for the present session would not prove injurious to trade, be was greatly mistaken. The postponement of the question would be productive of great disappointment and injury to those engaged in the timber business. Mr. G. F. YOUNG said that it was a fallacy to suppose that the consumer in England would be benefited by the lowering of the duty on the Baltic timber. Toe motion, as we understood, was then withdrawn. Sir F. BURDETT moved for returns of the fees levied in the courts leet at Westminster.—Agreed to. MR. COHEN'S CASE. Mr. WIGNEY moved that " a humble address be pre sented to his Majesty, praying for a remission of the re mainder of the term of imprisonment to which Mr. Cohen had been sentenocd for a libel published i❑ a Brighton paper." The bon. member wished to impress ❑pon the house, that the gravest part of the charge originally made against Mr. Cohen—that of inching the agriculturists to incendiarism—that gentleman had been altogether found innocent of, and the only charge of which he had ken fount guilty was tint of libelling and attempting to bring into contempt the magistrates of Sussex, which lib,l, it had clearly appeared, had crept into the newspaper without Mr. Cohen's knowledge. Mr. F. O'CONNOft seconded the motion, which wes also supported by Mr. KEatr. The question being put, Lord HOWICK considered that a more aggravated case of libel than that for which Mr. Cohen bad been sentenced hid never come before the court in which it was tried. Mr. Cohen had attempted to bring the magistrates of Sussex into contempt and dislike, by asserting that their o t spressions bad driven the people to incendiarism and other acts of violence—than which a greater libel could not have been uttered. He (Lord Howick) was not, as a general thing, a promoter of prosecutions against persons for seditious libels, as they were called, the eff,:cts of which he considered would be always neu tralis rd if the digestion were left to be decided by the good sense of the public; but he did think that it was necessary and proper that there should be a law to protect pi ivate individuals from the unfounded attacks which might be made upon them by the public press. Mr. Cohen was sentenced but to six months' imprisonment, while on former occasions the propagators of sirnil tr libela had been adjudged to two years' confinetn-nt—(Hear, hear)—and a much heavier fine than Mr. Cohen had to pay, which was but 501. He (Lord Howick) by no means thought this a case which called for the interference of the Crown, much less that of the House of Commons. Besides, nothing had occurred since the passine of the sentence to warrant the Secretary of State interfering ; on the contrary, it had appeared that this was not the first offence of which this person bad been convicted, for this was the fourth lioel of which he had been found guilty, from the penalties of one of which he hail only escaped by becoming bankrup% He (Lord Howick) had not heard any reason adduced for establishing so dangereus a pre cedent as the setting aside by that house of a solemn and deliberate judgment of the judges of the land. There had been only two instances in which even an attempt of this sort bad been made ; one was, that in which an hon. gentleman had sought to induce the interference of the house in preventing that part of Lord Cochrane'e sentence which adjudged him to stand in the pillory ; the second was an attempt made by the right hon. Paymaster of the Forces to procure a remission of part of the term of im prisonment to which Sir Manasseh Lopez had been ad judged for bribery and corruption, and which being a case of this nature—referring to an election—the house might have been considered more entitled to interfere with, yet, although that baronet had paid his fine of 10,0001., and bad suffered six months of his imprisonment, the house had shown itself so jealous of instituting any such prece dent, that they had objected most strongly to the propo sition, which, as well as the former motion with reference to Lord Cochrane, had been withdrawn by the movers; nor had Sir Manasseh Lopez's imprisonment been abridged by more than a month. He (Lord Howick) repeated that he saw no reason for acceding to the motion, and Le protested against establishing so dangerous a precedent. Mr. HAWKINS supported the motion. He differed with the not,le lord in thinking this no case for the ex ercise of the Royal prerogative : on the contrary, be thought it singularly deserving it. The fact that the law itself under which the unfortunate Cohen was suffering was this session to be altered was, in itself, a sufficient recommen e dation for the sufferer. What good would be effected by exacting the full amount of punishment ? It might rnakee the individual a martyr in pocket ; it might ruin. Lim ; but would it ruin his paper ? Would it put down the principles conveyed in the paper? No: it would have a contrary effect; for it would spread, and strengthen, those principles; and the only benefit derived would be by the Stamp-office, in the increased number of stamps which would be necessary for the increased circulation of the paper. The learned judge had wholly acquitted Mr. Cohen of the only part of the charge which cou:d have deservedly subjected him to such punishment as that to which he was sentenced. As to the minor offence, that which imputed to Cohen a libel, tend ing to bring the magistrates into contempt, Mr. Cohen had clearly proved that the passage which contained this libel had crept into the paper without his knowledge. Few who read the paper in question were not aware that it was not a journal much inclined to flatter or fall in with Vie opinions of that house. Indeed, its opinions were ultra radical.—(Hear, hear.) They were strong, uncom promising, perhaps acrimonious, on matters relating to church and state; yet one thing particularly remarkable under such circumstances was, that it was singularly free from personalities.—(Hear, and laughter.) Hon. members sowed to doubt this; and yet if time and cirentr i st ances allowed, he should be able to prove it. Let them adduce, if they could, instances of the contrary. He would insist that it was a journal almost entirely free from per sonalities. It had been asserted that the article prompted to outrages of the law. He did not see how such a con struction could be even tortured fro m i t. T e i s was a case in which circumstances peculiarly called for the exercise of the Royal prerogative. Mr. Colten's conduct since the conviction peculiarly entitled him to clemency. He never complained of any of the parties engaged in the prosecution. He acquitted the judge who tried him of any effort to extend the severity of the law, to which alone he ate ibuted the extent of his punishment. He (Mr. Ilasvkine) was glad Mr. Cohen bad adopted that course. Though it was a severe case that the whole should torn on a paragraph of 32 lines, and the sentence to be e,rounded on that, without taking into consideration the general tendency of the articles published in the paper. The punishment was certainly undeserved, as it arose out of the detective stet., or tee law; and now that the law wets about to th! corrected, it was to be regretted that .ministers adopted the course they were pursuing. H e (Mr. Hawkins) would strongly urge upon goverumvo tias