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

SECOND EDITION. SUN OFFICE, Seven o'clock. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT, THIS EVENING. HOUSE OF LORDS. - - - _ The house met to-day at half past twelve o'clock. Prayers were read by the Bishop of HEREFORD. The Duke of RICHMOND, in the absence of the Lord Chancellor and the Earl of Shaftesbury, took his seat on the Woolsack. . _ The NOBLE Dutra presented a petition against the Senleoates Small Tenements Bill. No other business was brought before the house, and their Lordships adjourned till to morrow. HOUSE OF COMMONS. The Sexaxtart took the Chair at a quarter past fire. Sir J. WROTTESLEY moved for an account of the sums due to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty by John Paterson.—Ordered. The hon. member then move d for a new writ for the borough of Paisley in the room of Sir J. Maxwell, who had acceptrd the Chiltern Hundreds. Mr. GILLON moved for an address to his Majesty, praying th-A there be laid before the house a return of the number of parishes in Scotland, in which fish tithes were paid, with the amount paid in each of the years 1831, 1832, and 1833. BOROUGH OF CARRICKFERGUS. Mr. HALCOMB presented a petition from the freemen of the borough of Carrickfergus, complaining in strong terms of the report of the committee appointed to inquire into the franchise of that borough. The petitioners un dertook to prove the falsity of the charge of bribery which had been brought against certain parties, and prayed that an opportunity might be afforded them of establishing their case before the House. Mr. O'CONNELL said be bad got very positive in formation that scarcely one of the persons whose names were attached to the petition but had been bribed. (Hear, hear, and a laugh.) He understood that one of the persons who signed this petition was John Legg, the High Sheriff of the borough of Carrickfergus. He was the principal agent in bribing at the election, and they had made him high sheriff as a reward fur his valuable services. —(A laugh.): Mr. GOULBURN said it would be scarcely fair to have the claims of these persons prejudiced by an assertion with out proof, because an hon. and learned member had averted the parties whose signatures were attached to the petition had been bribed, the house should not place implicit reli ance upon such statements. Mr. HALCOMB thought that enough bad been said on the subject, and would not, therefore, provoke further discussion. The petition was laid on the table. Mr. LITTLETON presented a petition from the con gregation of an established church in Staffordshire, praying that the religious liberty which they had enjoyed might be preserved, and handed down unimpaired to their pos terity, in the prayer of which the right hon. gentleman cordially concurred. Mr. LITTLETON, in answer to a question put to him in a low tone of voice by an honourable member whose name we could not learn, said that the returns adverted to by the hon. member, and which had been moved for at the end of the last session, had been made by the principal part of the diocese of Ireland, but they were not complete, and therefore had not been laid before the house. Mr. W. ROCHE understood the right hon. Secretary for 1 refand intended to propose some alterations in the Irish Reform Bill, when the English Reform Bill came to be amended ; and he wished to take the opportunity of suggesting to the right hon. secretary the absolute ne cessity there was for introducing a clause to ob viate the necessity of Roman Catholics being compelled to take the oath of allegiance upon registering themselves as freeholders, a thing that was not imposed upon any other class of his Majesty's subjects, and which often afforded a great advantage to popu'ar candidates, because many Roman Catholics would not take the oath on such an occasion. Mr. O'CONNELL lose to move the second reading of the Carrickfergus Disfranchisement Bill. In doing so, he was exceedingly glad to congratulate the house on know. ing that those who objected to some of the details of the bill, did not object to the principle of the measure, and, therefore, that this reading of the bill would not be opposed. This obviated the necessity of his tresp losing at any length on the attention of the house. This much he desired to say, he had not volunteered this task, as he bad not sought for it—on the contrary, he had desired to avoid it, but it had been forced upon him as an imperative duty, in consequence of his having been the chairman of a commiteee which decided that Mr. Dobbs had been returned as the representative of Carrickfergus by bribery and corruption. In the course of this duty he entertained not the slightest party feeling. The bill he brought in was simply fur disfranchising the borough of Carrickfergus, without proposing any substitu tion.—(Hear.) He did not, however, think it would be doing Ireland justice to take away one of her small portions of representatives without substituting another in the place cf that abolition ; and, in his opinion, if a substitution should take place, that substitution ought to be given to another part of the province of Ulster. He had understood it was the intention of the hon. member for Donegal to nominate another part of that province to which the franchise should be given ; should that hon. member do so, he should feel it his duty to support such proposition. At present his bill was purely for disfranchisement without regard to any substitution. In stating the grounds for his motion he should be very brief. In that election to which he had alltided,it was proved that the practice of bribery was rooted in that borough, and that it had been of long standing. The contest appealed to be between two noble families, who struggled for the supremacy, and it appeared, that whoever suc ceeded, did so at an enormous expense. After the passing of the Reform Bill, there was in most places a strong contest between reformers and conservatives, but in Carrickfergus there was nu struggle of that kind. In Ireland there was generally a struggle of a different kind, namely, upon the subject of religious differences ; but at Carrickfergus there was neither a religious nor political distinction, for it was generally a mere question of pounds, shillings, and pence, and whoever had the longest purse carried the election. He took this opportunity of totally acquitting the electors of Carrickfergus of allowing any political or religious opinions to influence their votes. There was one family, in order to increase their interest, made fifty-three tenements, with three potato grounds, worth some:3/., 41., or ibl. a year, in fact as tenants at will, but apparently in perpetuity, although it appeared that at the last election only seventeen of those persons voted for the person who gave them subsistence; therefore there must have been a very strong reason for the others voting against the interest of the person who gave them bread to eat.—(Hear, bear, hear.) If the prac tice of bribery were confined to the poorer classes, there might possibly be some amelioration of the crime, but it extended itself to other classes. One man, it was proved, took the bribe, and promised to vote a certain way ; that promise was alive until the man went to the poll, but when he was offered the bribery oath, be refused to take it. Those who tendered the bribes were men of rank and fortunes, and to what a condition did they reduce a man when they brought him to the wretched alternative of either not taking the bribe, or of sending his soul to everlasting perdition ? To show how far the public mind in Carrickfergus had been contami nated, he would appeal to the evidence of Mr. Brierly (or Burley), a magistrate, an active partisan, a,tad one of the committee of a candidate, who was eeeirained before the committee appointed by the house. e _-(Hear.) That gentleman denied every thing, but in the course of the investigation a letter from Mr. Brierly was read, dated from the election committee, referring an elector to the agent, Mr. Legg, which agent offered the mut a bribe of 6/., and it also appeared that Mr. Brierly accompanied the agent to the elector.—(Hear.) He was sorry to be obliged to mention the name of an individual who was, through the nature of hi. education, a gentleman—he meant the Rev. Mr. Cheyne of the esta blished church ; but the house could estimate what was the state of the public mind in Carrickfergus, when that reverend gentleman held in his bands a sum of money which he knew was to be distributed in bribery; there was no doubt that it was for such purposes. How contami nated must have been the public spirit when no species of shame was attached to such proceedings, even in the person of a clergyman ! The words of the witness before the Commissioners proved that the only feeling which existed was one of regret on the p art of those who had not the means of being corrupted, because they had not a franchise to sell. After the tirst examination that took place before a commission of that house, in which he (Mr. O'Connell) was Chairman, the corporation demanded a re examination. That was granted to them, and what was the evidence after all ? Why, by the report of the committee, it was pronounced to be a case of the most just disfranchise iment.—(Hear.) He would trouble the house sv . Dli one fact more. The corporation of that town actually wanted to take the franchise into their own hands ; and he (Mr. O'C.) would prove that the sum of 450/. was subscribed towards disfranchising their own freemen. Mr. David Legg, who was the acting man at that moment in London to prevent the disfranchisement of this borough, was the agent of the corporation upon the occasion he alluded to. The came Mr. Legg swore that he only bribed five persons ; but Mr. James Legg, his brother, concurred with a Mr. Cohen in the bribery of 214 persons. That gentleman, who was so active in the work of corruption, instead of being tarnished for so doing, was rewarded by being appointed to the office of High Sheriff of the county of the town of Carrickfergus. The same gentleman would probably he mayor in some few years hence, and on a future occasion that house would have the pleasure of seeing the gentleman take his seat as member for the renovated constituency of Carrickfergus. He (Mr. O'C.) had to apologise for having troubled the house at such length, but he considered it his duty to put a firm hand on bribery, and seek the only remedy that was left to purify a corrupt constituency. Mr. EMERSON TENNANT said the: so far from op posing the motion of the Lon. and learned member, he should give it his most cordial support.—(Hear.) He was prepared to visit, to the extremity of severity which that house was authorised to exert, every and any individual who might be convicted of violating or abusing his elective franchise. He was as anxious as the hon. and learned member could be to see every individual who had been guilty of bribery at the late Carrickfergus election disfranchised. It was for the purpose of carrying that into effect he was willing to vote for the second reading of this bill. But he did not hesitate to say that he differed altogether with the hon. and learned gentleman, as to the extent to which he wished to carry his propositions. He was willing to admit that bribery had been carried on to a certain extent by one class of the electors, but it did not therefore follow, that that bribery had extended among them all. He was prepared to show to the house, on the committal of this bill, that the Carrickfergus con stituency was a constituency unimpeachable. The hon. member for Dover had a motion, he believe d, with regard to that business before the house. He hoped that the hon. meml'er would see the propriety of withdrawing that motion, as he (Mr. Tennant) should, for one, oppose it, and he should oppose it on the same principle as be voted for the second reading of the bill before the house. Mr. HALCOMB, in rising to propose an amendment, would only say, that with regard to whit had fallen from the hon. member who had just sat down, and who was un known to him, it appeared to him (Mr. H.) that hon. member had taken an extraordinary course in declaring what his vote should be upon a proposition, the merits of which he at present must be perfectly unacquainted with. ft was inconsistent with his (Mr. H.'s) notions of legisla tion, that any hon. member should state that he should give his vote against a proposition to be submitted to the house,— before he bad condescended to attend to a single observation, or before that hon. member had had any opportunity of addressing the house. With regard to the amendment he Lad now the honour to propose, he could assure the house that he made this proposition to them after much and anxious consideration—after full examination of the course which had hitherto been pursued by the home in furtherance of just objects, when they were sought to be enforced against boroughs alleged to be in circumstances that entitled the house to deal with their elective franchises.—(Hear, hear.) He would be per. fectly satisfied if the house would allow him to state to them the great and important steps which was taken in reference to any borough accused of m;s aonduut in the exercise of its elective franchise. By pursuing such a course, the parties would have an opportunity of defending themselves at the bar of the house, and he thought that the honse, and not the corn mittee, or the chairman of the committee, or the council, should decide on the merits of the borough to be disfranchised. Where five or six committees were sitting at the same time upon different boroughs, one might take one view, and another another, and the proceedings of the house would be involved in contradiction and absurdity. Looking at the report of the committee on that borough, it was ad mitted that the parties bribed were the lowest class of voter, and if the freemen wire disfranchised, there would still be a sufficient and respectable constituency. There were similar cases ; for instance, that of Liverpool, where the house was proceeding by a distinct bill, not to disfranchise the borough but the guilty parties. It was not for him to say which would be the proper course. He had no right to dictate to the house, but it was imperative upon them to consider what was the course they ought to pursue. He thought that when parties were accused they should form themselves into a committee of the whole house. They should_ hear the evidence, and give the accused parties that which by law they were entitled to, an opportunity of answering the charges brought against them. Ile was sure the feeling of the house was with him in this suggestion, and it was under this feeling he proposed as an amendment that the house should give the parties an opportunity of being heard at the bar, before they proceeded to disfranchise them. It would be sh .ovn that the charges against upwards of forty of the freemen could be satisfactorily refuted.— (Hear, hear.) Whether that was the case or not, was it not enough that he was addressing those who were the conservatives of English liberty and rights—was it not far enough for him to say, that the parties said so? Oat of re spect to the house, he would not think of trespassing for a moment upon it—(Heir, hear)—unless he had well looked into any case which he brought before it, and was satisfied of its justice.—(Hear.) In every bo rough that had been disfranchised before the great measure of reform, the reason most relied upon was that no party should be declared guilty without being afforded an opportunity of proving their innocence. He called upon the House to pause before it committed itself to a step which would inevitably involve it in a series of judicial inquiries—it was not with re spect to the five or six boroughs that were now before the house, but with the fifty or sixty which would unquestionably be soon in the same state. They were now proposing to do that which bad never before been done by any House of Commons before the Reform Bill.—(Hear, hear, hear.) How stood the case? Why, upon the petition of two or three individuals, a com mittee was appointed to inquire into the general charge of bribery; a report was made, making serious charges upon individuals that had never been before it, nor in the nature of things could have bee n,yet theywere to be punished without at all being heard in their defence. He then field in his hand a bill introduced by the noble lord the Paymaster of the Forces which would show the opinion of govern ment upon a question of such a nature, and to that opinion they were bound to defer. He was glad to see that -noble lord in his place, as, if he acted at all consiste ently, he (Mr. H.) might calculate upon his vote. The house might not have perused this bill, they might not be aware of the intention of his Alajes , y's ministers and the noble lord, but be would tell them.—(Hear, and laughter.) The bill allowed parties to come to the house for the appointment of a committee, with a view to examine winesses, and if the parties were not satisfied with that examination, they bad the libersy of e arcing again. The noble lord also proposed that the power of the house should be delegrated to three barristers, to be paid three guineas a day.—(Hear and laughter.) He was not to he deterred in consequence of that—(hear, hear)—from offering ob servations to the house which he was sure were well worthy the attention of a deliberate assembly.—(hear, hear, and laughter.) No cheers or laughter would prevent him from pursuing that course which he felt it to be his duty to adopt.—(hear, hear.) He offered no opinion upon the bill.—(Hear, bear.) If the house would not take his caution, he thought they would soon become a refuge for the destitute. The hon. member, after adverting to the parliamentary history of the country, mentioned the opinion of the late Mr. Can ning who had forewarned the house not to tamper with the electoral franchise, lest they should be urged on by party spirit to deal unjustly with it.—(Hear, hear.) He conclhded by moving as an amendment, " That this house will on the 19th day of March instane, resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, for the pur pose of taking into consideration the reports and evidence select committees respecting this borough, and, i❑ the mean time, the further proceedings upon this bill be suspended." The SPEAKER inquired who seconded the amend- I ? After the lapse of a short time, an Hoe. 1111MBEIL (we believe Sir R. Vyvyan), seconded it. A discussion ensued between tie STEAKER and Mr. HALCOMB, in which the right hon. gentlemen intimated his opinion that Mr. H. was irregular, and could not make a motion so worded. At length the amendment was thus formed :—'` That this house will, on the 19th of March instant, resolve it- self into a committee of the whole house, to take into its consideration the reports and evidence of the two select committees respecting the burough of Cat rickfergus. Sir JOHN BYNG congratulated the hon. member who had just sat down on becoming the legal champion of boroughs that had been convicted of bribery and corrup tion.—Hear, hear, and cries of " chair, chair." Mr. SPEAKER was quite sure that the right hon. gentleman did not mean to address any thing either personal or offensive to the hon. gentleman who had just sat down, and he would, therefore, no doubt direct his observations to the Chair. Sir J. BYNG hoped the bon. member would excuse him in not following him tbrough the speech he bad made. It was impossible for him to support the amend ment which had been moved, but be felt bound to give his unqualified support to the second reading of bill, as a case more imperiously calling for such a measure bad never before been brought before the notice of the house. Mr. TODD made a few ohservations which were per fectly inaudible. Sir R.. PEEL felt the beuse was now called upon to discharge an impartial duty, and for his part he could not satiety his mind that be ought to concur at present in the measure now proposed. He had no interert in Carrick fergus more than in any ether town that might be named which ought to induce him to opposite its disfranchisement.—(Hear.) He looked to the measure simply as regarded its principles; and he had to ask those who were about to pronounce an opinion upon the prineip!e of the measure which was to destroy for ever the right of voters in a respectable town—destroyed in them a most valuable right. Had they that information before them upon which they could satisfactorily decide this judicial question? If it were a question of private right would the house feel itself in a situation to pronounce its judicial opinion? Here he felt bound to remark, that if the hon, gentleman behind him conscientiously felt be ought to call the attention of the house to this question, he surely ought not to be open to the sarcasm of being denominated the chain. pion of corruption and bribery.—(bear, hear, hear.) He was of ;opinion that if corruption prevailed to such an extent as to render that borough incapable of discharging its franchise, be would consent to sacrifice it altogether, and mbke a public example of that borough. Certainly there were aome of unimpeachable character, and who weve entitled the more to praise from being contiguous with corruption ; there were those who would suffer a private wrong, yet he (Sir R. Peel) would overlook the injury done them, in consi• deration of the public good. He (Sir R. Peel) wished to ascertain in what proportion, corruption and honesty existed. Mr. O'CONNELL—There were 885 freemen and 105 freeholders in that constituency. Of the freemen they w. re universally to be allowed, with few exceptions, as a ll corrup'. Mr. EMERSON TENANT said there was evidence of 240 having been bribed out of 885 ; but of the rest, with the exception of seven, there was not a tittle of evidence against them. Thera were 140 householders, and, with one exception, there was no evidence of corruption against them. Sir R. PEEL said that statement would guide them in the course they were bound to pursue. The house was called npon to affirm that gross and scan dalous bribery prevailed at the late election for the town and county of Carrickfergus, and that a great part of the constituency were Influenced by bribery in giving their votes. That gross and scandalous bribery :did prevail, he (Sir Robert Peel) couid with a safe conscience affirm ; but with whom did it prevail? He thought the parties who offered the bribes, and not those who received them, would be the just objects of any pun • ishment, and he for one did not object to any puishment that could be inflicted upon them. Hut the house was called upon :to dispossess the town of its elective franchise. He should like to see the opinion of the committee upon the whole of the facts of the case, the extent to which the bribery prevailed, if the evidence appeared to warrant the conclusion that it did prevail, and there being two classes of constituency in that town, whether the charge of bribery applied to both equally, or whether any one portion of that constituency was corrupt. Mr. O'CUNNELL made an observation by way of ex planation. Sir ROBERT PEEL—The house should pause before it proceeded to make a great public example of a whole community. An election committee had reported that bt ibery bad prevailed at an election for that borough, but that the members were not implicated in the corruption. —(Hear.) The house then appointed another committee and, withrut meaning to cast the slightest imi tation upon ti at committee, he thought they bad taken a mistaken view of their duty. They had re ported, that after examining the whole of the evidence, they had come to the conclusinn that the borough should be disfranchised. (LEFT SPEAKING). IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF COMMONS, Aftsci 4, Mr. F. O'CONNOR had had a great deal of expe rience on the subject. The noble lord, as well as the right hon. secretary, admitted that the change which the hon. and learned member introduced was important, and yet, in the bid proposed by ministers, this improvement was not to ba found. He (Mr. F. O'C.) had witnessed such corruption and such perjury upon trials in Ireland as was quite horrible, and which might. by a proper measure, be all prevented for the future. He had been counsel on the trial of Sir George Bingham ; h;s learned and hon. friend led on that occasion, he, am junior (and be hoped it would be the last time he should ever be engaged by the Crown), was watching the jury, and the learned judge thought proper to accuse him of abusing the discretion vested in him as counsel for the crown, but which be had not been doing. He and his learned colleagues, how ever, bad succeeded in convicting the prisoner, but who was fined 6d., and discharged—any thing but a specimen of pure justice.—(Hear, hear.) Irish members had been taunted with not bringing forward practical measures, but why was it, when such measures were proposed, that Government opposed them ? Why did they not permit the hon. and learned gentleman to bring forward this effective measure ? He implored the noble lord and the right hon. Secretary to withdraw their objections and to allow the bill to be introduced. Provided the measure was brought in, there would be no clause in it, if upon consideration i► was thought would not be useful or ought not to remain, but which might be rejected. Mr. O'REILLY said that both the right lion, Secre tary fur Ireland and all right hon. Secretaries had admit ted, which they could not avoid, that the state of the grand juries in Ireland was in a state calling loudly for reforma tion. It was unnecessary to refer to particular instances, because numberless instances must present themselves to any hon. member, who had taken any interest in, or acquainted himself at all with, the affairs of Ireland. The Roman Catholics were rich and respectable. Surely, no hon. member would maintain that a fair proportion of them should not be selected for the discharge of those im portant functions that devolved on jurors?—(Hear.) The law in Ireland was felt by the people to be strong enough to punish them, but too weak to protect them. It was a matter of indifference t) that house how the law was enforced, but to preserve peace should be one of their first considerations; and that could not be restored or in sured while an unequal selection took place in the forma tion of juries. Mr. O'CONNELL begged leave to withdraw his mo tion, but be would take an opportunity, during the session, of bringing it before the notice of the house Again. BRIBERY AT ELECTIONS. Mr. HARDY was anxious to introduce a bill for the better regulation of elections, and the total doing away with bribery, He was astonished that something similar had not been done before, Certainly the noble lord, during the last session, introduced a bill to that effect; with the general provisions of it he did not wish to interfere, rout to the fist part of the details he ghoul i call the attention of that house. He hoped that hon. members and his Majesty's ministers would give their assistance in correcting the abuses that existed at elections dis position bribery. He gave the latter f u ll cred i t for ev i nc i ng a position to root out corruption as far as was pos sible ; to check it was possible ; to extirpate it be feared was not. He was afraid they might wait long for the coming of the time when men would be imbued with so much morality as to refuse a bribe on that ground alone; therefore it be came their duty to take such measures as to put an end to the system by laws. Man was so prone to the crime that, without some very strong measures indeed, it would always flourish. It was to consolidate and amend all the laws on the subject, that he had imposed upon himself the duty he was then performing, and it was a vast undertaking fir him—(Hear)—b!“ he trusted that, with the assistance of the house, he should be well able to perform it.—(Hear, hear, hear.) He knew well that bribery was punishable at common iaw, but something more was necessary. He ap proved of that part of the Bribery Bill which disfrancl3ised any voter who was proved to have accepted work from a candidate even six months before the election. Since the 2d Geo. IV., bribery had been so managed as to render it impossible to cnnnect it with any pro . vious promises ; and money was paid in a most. unblushing manner after the election, with re ference—not to an express contract, but to a secret un derstanding or custom, so that the rent or value of a vote core a proportion to the poverty of the voter, or to the ambition of the candidate.—(Cries of " Hear.' ) The provisions of the act were entirely prospective, so that unless the act of bribery was committed with some prey ous engagement, it was impossible to render it punishable. In consequence of the irregularity in the pleadings, the party lost his cause.—(Hear, bear.) There fore, all bribes for having given a vote should be placed on the same footing as those given for the promise of a vote. If it should appear that the bribe was given with referenee to a vote previously given, it should be considered as a previous contract to purchase and sell a vote. He thought it was absolutely necessary to provide for the purity of election. He now came to what was called the " Treating Act ;" if that act was intended to prevent treating, it was most impro perly so called, for it, in fact, went to legalize all descrip tions of treating.—(Hear, hear, hear.) The committees of the house had made decisions upon that subject of various descriptions, and indeed the late Sir Arthur Pigott said, that although he had attended Committees of the House for 20 years he was - tillable to give any opi nion to a candidate as to the law of treating. That act was founded on a resolution of the house in the year 1677. The object of this resolution was to prevent all species of bribery or treating, and it was followed shortly after by the 7th William 111., which permitted a candidate to treat to the amount of 101. in his own name. He would submit that if any entertainment be given during the election, it be received by the Committee as a proof of the criminal intention of the candidate. There was another point upon which no doubt should exist ; that was, with respect to the trav e ll ing expenses and loss of time of voters, He thought no such expenses ought to be allowed at all. Though the Reform Act, by increasing the number of polling places, and diminishing the period of election, had done much to mitigate this species of expense, yet if some decided objection were not at once taken, we should in a few years find voters residing only a few miles even from the polling places claiming to be taken up, and putting the candidates to great and unnecessary expense. He was aware it was contended by some that the voter was entitled to receive, and the candidate ought to pay, the expenses of conveying the former from his residence to the polling place. Some persons had attempted to compare the voters to witnesses, whose expenses were paid by the parties subocening them. But where was t he analogy between the situation of a candidate a nd a p lain. tiff or defendant? He thought it was rather to be com pared to the case of jurymen, who frequently came many miles to the Assizes, and sometimes remained there eight or ten days, at considerable expense and loss w themselves. But they were fulfilling a public duty, and if they were not paid their travelling expenses, how much lees should they be paid who cime to exercise a franchise, uniformly considered as one of the most valuable privileges that could be conferred upon man—(Hear) —more particularly when so many facilities had been afforded by the new Reform Act, and the parties had so much shorter distances to trivel ? He trusted the house would, in the language of the bill, call on the constituency to vote freely and indiffe rently, according to the language of the act, and according to the theory of the constitution.—(Hear.) With these objects in view, he brought forward the present bill. It would be necessary not to confine the provisions of that bill to individuals; but also to extend them to places. He thought also the time of petitions should be extended (as we understood) to 28 days after the last act of bribery. He proposed also to introduce a provision containing an oath to be taken on the part of the candidate.—(Hear, hear.) He saw very little use in administering an oath to the voter at the place of election, unless an oath were also administered to the candidate—(Hear, hear)—or unless he declared (if they did not like an oath), that he had not procured, nor would suffer his agents to procure, any votes by any corrupt means, nor that lie would thereafter pay any expenses that might be incurred to obtain votes from any agent on his behalf.—(Hear, hear.) This would be the most effectual blow to any attempt on the part of agents to procure votes by improper means, as they would not be very likely to pay slims of money at risk, which the candidates had solemnly declared they would not be re. spensible for. He did not intend to force his own opinions on the house, but should wish the bill to be referred to a committee embracing as many as possiole of those mem bers who constituted the committee on the bill of the noble lord opposite.—(C,eers.) Mr. O'CONNELL seconded the motion. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, who spoke in a very low tone of voice, said it was not his intention to offer any oppasi. torn to the motion, but that part of the measure which referred to the time within which petitions against bribery and corruption were to be presented, was unnecessary in consequence of recent and existing regulations. It was indeed, important that the presentation of the petition should depend on the act of bribery, for be knew it to have been a common practice for agents to wait till after the limited time, sometimes till a year had elapsed, and then pay the voters the various sums which had been cor ruptly promised them. This and all other methods of corruption would most probably be put an end to, by adopting the resolu'ionof the right hon. member for Mont gomeryshire.—( Hear. ) Mr. C. W. WYNN had not the slightest doubt of the general concurrence of the house in the principles of the present hill. Decisions had been come to by committees last year, which extended tbe law beyond the words of the act of Parliament, particuhrly with regard to treating, and it was most desirable that the law should be perfeNly clear on that point. He would ask those gentlemen v‘ho had stood contests for counties, and who knew to what height the eagerness of their partisans was carried—far greater, indeed, than their own—whether those p trtisans could be restrained from adopting such means as they thought most efficacious to secure votes ? Would they answer for preventing their friends from treating ? (Hear.) If they did this, they would open a door to a most extensive system of expense. He agreed with the hon. and learned gentleman that no travelling expenses ought now to be allowed to voters.—(Hear.) After a few words from Mr. HUGHES HUGHES, expressive of his approbation of the Bill, Mr. HUME suggested to tbe hon. member, that the difficulties to which he hid alluded, and the corruption of which he complained, would be much more simply and efficiently remedied by the introduction of the vote by ballot, than by any of the methods which he bad pointed out.—(Hear ) Mr. HARDY briefly replied, and leave was given to brieg in the Bill. FOREIGN ENLISTMENTS. Mr. MURRAY should !rove for leave to bring in a bill to repeal the Act 59 Geo. 111., relative to foreign enlist ments, except so fir as it repeals former statutes. Alr. SINCLAIR merely wished to guard himself against being supposed to concur with his hon, friend in con deconinv. the Foreign Enlistment Act. He (Mr. S.) had, in 1819, supported that measure in all ite stages; he had since seen no reason to alter his opinion. Leave was then given to bring in the bill. IMPRESSMENT OF SEAMEN. Mr. BUCKINGEIAM had given notice of a motion which be should now proceed to submit to the house— namely, for a select committee to take into consideration the practicability of devising some plan, by which It re gular and voluntary supply of seamen might be procured for his Majesty's navy, without recourse to the practice of forcible impressment. He had had abundant means, in the course of his life, of ascertaining what was the general opinion with respect to the practice of impressment in sea-ports, the inhabitants of which were well acquainted with the evils which attended that practice, and were com petent to form the best judgment as to the most desirable mode by which those evils might be remedied; and he could assure the house, that it was the uniform opinion of such persons, that the mode of raising men for his Majesty's navy by impressment, was not only most cruel and oppressive, but that it was the most inefficient mode for the purpose that could possibly be devised. He hoped the house would do him the favour to listen to him, while he stated as shortly as possible, some of the grounds on which that opinion was formed. Being extremely anxious that others should be afforded an opportunity of expressing their sentiments on the subject, hon. members who were equally competent to speak upon it as laituself—offieers e o o t nfi tla n e e n h a i v, and officers a y remarhawithi othe n f the Marines.—be narrmvest s eoi h n o p u a l s d a into which they were capable of being come pressed. It would be a great waste of time in this house jibe were to enlarge on the cruelty and oppression of the nee•t d he on de a g li ra w d h a ; it neces Every sa one ly k i degrada tion practice and o f indignity impressment. which were so unfortunate as to be the subjects of its exercise. In the last session of Parliament the noble lord (Althorp) had expressed his surprise at his (Mr. Buckingham's) having compared impressment to slavery. On mature de• liberation he was thoroughly confirmed in the sentiments which he expressed on the occasion alluded to. What were the characteristics of slavery? A slave was torn from his native country, his family, and his friends, sub jected to a servitude which he detested, coerced by the lash, and, if he attempted to escape, visited with the pu- nishment of death. If such were the characteristics of the slave, so were they of the impressed sailor. The sailer, like the negro, was dragged from his home; the sailor, like the negro, was thrown into a condition of abject ser• vitude; the sailor, like the negro, was coerced by the lash; the sailor, like the negro, was subjected to the caprice of his superiors ; the sailor, like the negro, was liable to be shot if he deserted from the ship to which he bad been compulsorily attached. If these were facts—and it was imposible to deny them—what difference wae there between the sailor and the slave? Yes; one dif ference there might be—that to the mind of the mariner whe called himself, or who had been taught to call himslf a free•born Englishman, the stigma would be much more painful than to that of the negro, accustomed to slavery and suffering, and to whom no change could materially increase his sense of degradation. If such was the result of comparison between the two individuals at a former period, how much more striking must it be at the present moment? Before the abolition of slavery in the West Indies, it had' been maintained that sugar could not be cultivated except by compulsory labour. The resolution, however, to which Parliament had come, on the sug gestion of his Majesty's Government, proved their opinion, that negroes not in slavery might nevertheless be induced, by just payment, to undertake the labour which had been hitherto performed by slaves. Was that coercion which had been destroyed in the West Indies to be continued in the navy? He hoped net. He hoped that in twelve mouths from the present day people would wonder why the barbarous practice of impressment had been so long continued. It had been asserted that seamen bad not com plained of the practice; and that they did not entertain any aversion to it had been inferred from the ab sence of those memorial, and petitions in which other classes of his Majesty's subjects were accustomed to state their grievances. But let the house consider the diffe rence between seamen and other classes of men. In large counties thousands of the yeomen might be assembled by the sheriff, in order to express their opinions upon any great popular question. But with the exception of men of war, seamen were shut up in very small bodies. If, in a man of war, they were to carry to the first lieutenant their wish to assemble for the purpose of framing some resolution expressive of their opinion upon such a topic as impressment, it was easy to guess what kind of answer they would receive from him. Merchant vessels seldom contained more than 30 or 40 men. When sailors came ashore the enjoyments which naturally followed the hard ships of a long voyage, occupied their whole time, and rendered them utterly forgetful of other considerations. So, therefore, the absence of all petitions or memorials upon the subject from else sailors, did not justify any one in imputing to them that they disregarded its evils and injustice. In the year 1750, however, a memorial from the seamen was presented to the crown, through the medium of the Duke of Cumberland, which ex pressed not merely their abhorrence of the prac tice of impressment, but their conviction that that practice defeated the end which it had in view. The seamen of Shields, also, being the crews of a large num ber of coasting vessels, bad come to resolutions on the subject quite as unequivocal. There could be no doubt, indeed, that the feeling of abhorrence entertained by ma riners towards the practice of impressment, was as strong as it was possible to conceive. Great stress had, never theless, been laid on two points—the legality, and the utility of the practice. To those who held that the prac tice was legal he would, in the first place, say that that was no reason why the law should not be changed. The law was continually undergoing alterations on other sub jects by the introduction into that house of new bills, and why not on this subject? But be further maintained that even the legality of the practice might be questioned. Lord Camliden, no mean authority on such matters, had challenged the whole profession of the hew to prove the legality of impressment. Lord Mansfield had declared that it was only a usage which in clear cases of state necessity might he resorted to, but that it was not sanc tioned by law. In addition to these authorities there unfortunately existed cases of individuals who had resisted being impressed, and who had shot some of the press gang, and yet who, on having been tried for murder, were acquitted on the ground that any man bad a right to defend himself from impressment. A case had happened at Hull, of which be believed an hon. member of that house bad been an eye witness. A whaler just returned from the South - Seas, being about to enter the Humber, his Majesty's ship the Rover chased, boarded, and took possession of her. The crew of the whaler, however, full of ardour and expectation of returning to their native land, and raging at the disappointment to which they saw they were about to be subjected, after having confined their captain in his cabin, in order that he might not interfere with, or be implicated in their proceedings, armed themselves with spears, lances, harpoons, and other weapons, and killed two of the man-of war's men before they were overpowered. For this offence several of them were tried at the York Assizes ; and although the judge endeavoured to convince the jury that his Majesty's go vernment could he upheld only by the practice of impress ment, and although he endeavoured strongly to stimulate their loyalty on the occasion, a verdict of acquittal was returned, and there were several days of public rejoicing at York in consequence. Another well knovin case was that of a press gang who boarded a vessel in Dover-roads, not being accompanied by the person who had the press warrant. In the scuffle, one of the gang, named O'Cal laghan, was shut by the crew of the merchantman, several of whom were tried for murder ; but the jury found them guilty only of manslaughter, notwithstanding the judge, Judge Foster, had strongly charged them against the prisoners, observing that the state had a right to obtain the services of its subjects by any means, in eves of in surrection or ievesion. Who denied it ? In cases of inv 'mien or insurrection men of every class would be liable, as be was sure they would be anxious, to share in the dgence cf the country. Bat would any one say that there was no distinction between a condition of things such as those, and the introduction of the practice of impressment in a time of profound peace? After adverting to the opinions which Benjamin Franklin had published on the subject, the hon. gentleman proceeded to state, that when the great Lord Chatham brought in a bill to register the navy, be expressed himself in the strongest terms against the practice of impressment, declaring that although in the event of sudden invasion or of insurrection it was justifiable, yet that in all other cases, until every other measure for manning our ships had been tried in vain, it was contrary to the law of England. It was declare] by Alagna Charta, that no man could be punished with out lawry, except after a trial by jury. Lord Coke had de clared that the King could not send any man even to Ire land, wi.hout the sentence of a court of law. If not to Ireland, so not to any other place. But it was contended that the practice of impressment was one of the usages of the King's prerogative from time immemorial. It seemed, however, that that prerogative had been surrendered ; for in the reign of Charles the Second, two bills of a tempo. rary nature had been brought in and pissed, to remove any doubts which existed on the subject. Those acts having exp:red, and no subsequent act of a similar nature having passed, it might be said that the pre-existing doubts revived. There was another view of the subject that de served attention. Cases had occurred in which press-gangs had killed seamen—in which the officers of press-gangs had shut seamen—and yet although the men were killed, juries would not find persons who had killed them guilty of murder. Thus it appeared, that although there was killing on both sides, yet there was no murder. The party assailing killed some of those whom they attacked, yet there was no murder—the party resisting killed some of their as sailants, and Set there was no murder. Why, at that mt., a thousand men might be slaughtered on both sides, and no single person found guilty of murder. If there quitewere no sufficient reason for b u but e f t e h r a r t i ,. g i t whether a man might be killed without the comm ission of d, i at murder —and c n o d mm if itt s e: o s t u t u i l e n e t y o h t s m h e i o g p h c i o t n i o s n n s u e ri be e - e , in Having shown that the leg alit y of im p ressment was, to when, r dte where, hrwe say the hest of it, doubtful, he would proceed to show the inefficiency and inutility of the practice. Even so long ago as the time of Sir Robert Walpole, that statesman in giving his opinion of impressment, had dwelt not so washe did not suddenly toww entertainoouulldd break t bb h oee e u least stse,ennottr otanon doubt, but much ore the cruelty ewlejrna.t a to nd fi jaaoannpdjopeuvrxebpisytseemicdotioneydu Plymouth to atvota the swbi eopansrfia the i d c i n e c , osauus o reti f , on the fact that it was not productive of the advantage which,l e w pao S nmru u h ddre p i ep c crog h o ases a pe : n e t oap:haif ships captains a : 8 1 vane and however, Portsmouth s impressment—.they other insur rection, the Lords of ..... t ffi he cthere A sy dmiralty would, of course, y s e u h c o a er e a o t f in tenddusk,their t d uriequipmentduring daylight,; boats i w ,e o c u au l would be in manned by latter ryP case, u as c e h , vtheesselssaaisiorhsawd would have and wouldthe b e e ep se e n v t iu o n n ity shor o e f forthe escap ing. Now supposing that there were ' twenty thousand s r b o y t h scouringntthe the streets, 9,ooo, or alarmed eai any naval officer would be aware th at t h e pressgang , eis;b 1 s would not exp er i ence any difficulty in catching a thou sand o f anhd mc h n b t g v t le h r t taverns fate of their comrades, would in the morning make their escape. They would put off their tarry jackets and black silk handkerchiefs, disguise themselves as carters or ploughmen, and get away into the country as fast as pos sible. Even those who did not succeed in achieving that object, would, nevertheless, in most instances, be able to conceal themselves; for it was honourable to the huma nity of the people, male or female, that when a man presented himself at a door with a press.gang at his heels, that door was never shut against hitn.—(Hear, hear, hear.) Now, was it possible to conceive any practice so calculated to excite universal abhorrence towards those who were engsged in it, and universal sympathy towards those who were its victims? It was well known by all who resided in seaports, that the great mass of the inha bitants made common cause with the seamen on such occasions. After the first haul, therefore, no more sea men could be obtained in a similar manner. Not being able to obtain seamen, the gang. began to impress lands oftri:ani orsoob,,nir (wc°tow mein a fit, . tithi_re co i ,er o,:n ' bale 11;s tt men. It might be said that a landstne fA n om m uer i r g ie h ena t eeoiresup - t remedy against this in a court of law. But bow i 7 e d, possible for a carpenter or a blacksmith suddenly se the confined on board the tender, and then sent off t o o. _ East or West Indies, to bring the transaction fro ;e4 court of law ? To such a man, the remedy /., hp by the court of law was a mere nullity. tia,!_lnegogs pressed as many Englishmen as they c ould. '''' next began to impress foreigners. tcrayusaesndofthtleaeudnisipteudteswtahtiecsh, hwaadsotchcautrriveedib:entpweresee°,ll itreaetrh_tih;e:mojerugslitotei, cans der pretence that they were English count tem t h e y r . th . e re soo n , b wv e ehroe wo nelrbetowacrajdsmowpueerililschkdinptosowfing fight manyht abtaoizaleui against s i n t gt the last o 00 : i t wig because the British officers either did not believe, B.l'l"mnt, not believe, that they redly were not Americanto o l er ' the other hand, m iny of our best sailors went . t l ie l countries—to France, to Russia, to America --and oselityA to discipline the navies of those powers. It W re ,/ known that in the last war Commodore Decatur deals p 0 , that he had not the captain of a gun w ho Wig jcketi Englishman. The bargemen of his ships--tbe P . 0 creased men ea n ps er o da f cbt t yi h e e eß crew—were ei : s h i e s hi o l iass g emd e n e r a 1 ty E o g i i s h au c',, I L. thus in time of war was the strengfithdoe was direc _orAnt... i 1 the streets of our seaports had been scoured first f the?e 1, men, then for landsmen, and afterwards for foreigners! 1. prisons were resorted to, and criminals were series f, board our men of war to add to the difficulty of Ice p i o . f their crews in a proper state of 'discipline and s the sa lt c t Lion. Well did those who were acquainted with t " s tsiAl ject know the difficulty which in many cases the ettl? f , ei a fr nf frequently placedur n e a. under i of nyd e increased war hi had to tt by ya ntdh .e preserve wTr discipline ehtecrheed w ma nad I l a , nudla order I P g mn th e e nt moonmtehnist subject. je b e a t t . tle It or m i i n gh t t h b a e t s o: , storm ; " l ore they know how his di ffi culties and his responsibilityee , system of impressment were not beneficial in anY_, oo ll : respect, it must at least be economical ; but what 7,,,,, the house say, when they were told that A d miral Pil`2,o. a roan whose character was well known tothe valrm, fession, had declared that 15,000 impresse se n a a me o serted in the abort period of twenty-five months! to Nelson also (a name which ought never to be mentioar; conjunction with naval subjects except with the greste it i, Terence), in a memorial which be presented to Lord t ; Vincent, stated the number of deserters in a given tie have been 42,000, and estimated the loss to the coety, at the rate of twenty pounds per man, amounting °los whole to 840,0001. Lord Nelson could have no P 3 r for exaggeration ; but even if be had somewhat e. 17,0 rated, the evil was still enormous. Now if half t h a t —if a quarter of that sum—had been devoted to theni, payment of the men, and to affording th p era Pwi e edwd y i ssi d o ut_isith i ll o iilft : ll :to r it ilbr l e bs i be r ' pense for their services, who could doubt the t _A 00 42,000 sailors would rather have remained on 107; 1 0( Majesty's ships than have deserted for the purpose ' 3 i to merchantmen? To the cruelty--to the illegal i . i. 0* t t p o hean t ts b ei e t. i w ne at ffi sou c rd i t e t n eN c rl y eyi c toifinni,pmoinps,rhiesbisisemmteoenpit:roe was vllei, ts t Otath b tee e diu r einn d ed awdbcood st i o e s deserted front leaving England, and that not A to r sailed from the channel that did not carry awe' a _.„ ( led sand of them. He (Mr. Buckingham) hitnselfcomM;o ~.j a merchant ship during the war, and he well ree . ..." e s. the impossibility of openly obtaining cinepdtiannggetrhoosfeimwphroeswsmereeneti.theTr htoenelljdatEogr:to:coseivh into* was obliged to ship French, Spanisb, thirty ~ Swedes, Danes, tcc.; so that among thirty o lo o r_ a es. there were natives of eight or ten differenot coo 5 1. S men cm T o li orn e n e et e ho,ptn iay were paid ,w p a a hi i ei d dn e a ni t iot e t Er b e rate of 41 l u . s a . v e n titr e t° hi s WIC! . r li ci o s' e s iimi conee l ftl to i the ve had any scruple, however, and, usncdreurpie, stances, he never should have any or 50 English seamen in his hold, who , w bt f ., P rt her dr t i bad reached the open sea, and they were inn o 'l d w or , t t h o e t i h r e p i a r ss n a a g ti e ve ou co t u t n o t A ry m . erßiCualotrweolsdea here, ger, came upon deck, brea'hed the wys f r e :: rand tofled never i]d _ ee l _ be a ,1 01 00 a letter from a friend at Liverpool, wboinformetl_e4o.o. when in 1832 a fleet was under equipmentforttlea:tur W of going to the Scheldt, the Admiralty se nt 5 00 1 1 Liverpool to obtain men. His correspondent 001 Admiralty to provide a thousand able-bodied id pail Al t they n: : w yi n o , g o al him i c onsent dm ob fortainhei t ds o o g off i ne v ir e y, thebu but adding, twentymen a d i o t r :l ti E ges t :ei l or e iot r l advance, as was the usage on board merchaeforfis o bta re ce ived ignha ms a uaffin ve yc r i e y hnut io nd ll ur r ein t d e bs o e u r i oefr a na e n g rn m s i w i ree os n n e h i g r dw s f i i r tt i it. The result, however, was, that the ci l ! W :ie v- I , forty five men on board, lay for a considerable titna;o,Q 1 thou en ter, P o ttle ; they could have obtained the advance whiA lt th ati ii :, usage to give in the merchants' service. I la " 0 ,01,a 1- V - Vance been accorded, the expense of sending r ou n d e cutter with the forty men would have been ga vel. 00 1 • them hold out inducements similar W the ze , A , tnee„ o s the merchants, and government would obvi' id s befL a readily as the merchants obtained than. J D sod they,. , all remember when the agents of Don Peu i9 oo detoe" , Miguel came into the Thames and the Merge'', tii ,hlo . ,o many men as they liked ? Sailors have ne ferte j rop , danger or fighting; on the contrary, they P re Thet f ,d weather and hard knocks to calm and quie t • dio r, nar to meet either the tempest or the e nerni.."'" , o a r P,,,,e Service in the navy would become most PO_ ~i;t1 17 4 seamen were allowed a little time in rotation told 0 ge, r o a— e tif f h w aa af y i n i a l l ih e y d n ilnie : theill i s c i e r inhiu e eegy ofo a d: rf rw f i r o dt s .hw m ee iu w :enr i n fe d e i r a p d e t p aae h e omG r m na w e p o err s o g ree b re s no r gra m l l ge e v e te a ai e onss i t ts n f o cti eho t ry r dei i en : am: consequencef t w y pl e r w e Vo r re s e emi a sr t s ste e t is r ml d tmra w h a eei nd y faedst a 'ue i e n t ijnic Idoiwnac:rnenrettotosttshrtdohtdhebreert:rePebilrPrrste c 'l7c'e g et p o e lo: , r : it ; dr: :::: : : :: ° :: °: ;T: f ' : ° tb f: . e .l , . 1 . . ever, allotordgehthaedrdgeicvliantged up he entertained e a v - hicl , f p tion whatever to inquire into the means b ,Y h A t f a r danger, I n t h pg e ha c t safety. He (Mr. Buckingham) we' not Wh ich aol enough to contend that cases might not ari 4 e l a wie; 0 1 law must be set aside for the service of the P h op Do s , that did not justify the habitual violaintir::: Habeas Corpus Act had occasionally been "l e i, 0 E 5 7,0 tering seamen from that liability which , in °T at a ll cr public danger, they must share in common wi. th li d it had only been suspended. He would not t.b in es o f Co entorce impressmen-, fle agreed tat , . classes of his Majesty a subjects. be eligible to o, t at noble lord in thinking that it m ight c o ni that, in a case of emergency, an o . coo. 0 la was an additional argument which be wished Oa si under country tetmertiiynicteigiaitn3toeldvit,a,fi:iie:abibiteato, d e ipeajvbse jott:iii!. the house. Since the practice of impressh ° la (sd ' discontinued, been making great progress in improvement 's dor" pleasant to look back and contemplate t s tbe 500 e knowledge of many classes of the people. his ,„, tbeiLati, suppose that sailors had stood still, and that were 87:0 were, in point of inf xmation, where they - i - i , ii r n " f r years ago ?—( Hear, hear.) They were 1 11 - ofie A da of profound peace, when such a change as the he # posed could more safely and more advant e rsge e G a te" and sure was he, that if it were not 03 04 ,, 14 eti" - ott should break out the odious system would rn ie fer.ioT order but would be resisted even to the death. ii ; 1 0' 00 in inCeOnant itti: would do so. He said it advisedly. --he woul' at , of o il pressrnent to the death. Liberty w as d as e wards,ser t u co shouldn. r i g iastepoce.eberiel birth-right —it was a part of his veil if, „d Otto, eg o( liberty was this, when a man could be tor , s, s tet 1 fal ; , endured. ht to it as the King him" ' ol oc- ii• 1 he would maintain and defend. But ti.hacteda to ile will from his home, his family, and frier° ~. sh o _ , O° 1 ., he was satisfied it would be resisted 11l I d o eetw e itit e had $.140, shore, and he could assure the house h at the, se i f n u o l I from the growing opinion on the s ubject .00 %/ O!, `. that the landsmen would make control ca,'__ o tter," c i t: ..... s(iclojul h el e edrsi. attempt rn)prevsos iwnt:ntthreiusjeo isnviuthei deamf.ro:ll:su?;:eroili :1:: ( H e a r , uwlhear,waareoitiey. working iextnaiiigror.uo)sui in the o a t h r u et abolish,b dd e r seaer%kv r ? e i , o o l lo..e ! uri: ' d 4te e i i d eo r tio ll i s :ro,o l o l l4 ie; .:, ''‘ house to ageee to his motion, reconnniel4 b och! efo ~ ' osnogitfor i certainlyreewiteeyattil:ty.a consideration apprehension sehlsooirieepicidey s tye v cr% a , voay s etfe , irroebhntvi entitled a of b Alevtii the broughtitrege:sotgtinytusi,aliesa tsisonuerila;ii f fl o e. Ge r : ant w ocur e o : :: : :: ,: sebeyee a f: igr i r d oloos t :ye t .:10 ° 140:: : : fil ::. : picious season. 'They ha I no war...than,' soiou'ol: train it would greatly disappoint thew- .....,(Che,e l !, 7 o ol dr it n.' an d sincer%idecatios.sipi ;, ) motion lie thought the government tv uu „, a tioro , $ (050 1 that they would consult their own reP" t ry -. 0 ol d ' cclu Colo ed 1 0 of , It perhaps would be asked what plan le P 4 pot t ds I . anetn'oer of that house, he knew we ll ,: o lso 1° , 6 )19 such a question at certain tinaes ; he t to b e e V . Ye if a proper plan was submitted, ic was sor e wo uld ) f fit and if a plan was not submitted, the oe,tcrir would) mercantile navy, it was well known, ' . 'v e to b g a ' ,l l oo l ' our seamen , and i Pen was, that sailors should be well Pr ° 0 14 ' ' nary rendered as attractive ae Pon tible/ l° ~ , 1 + '