The Sun. — London, England, 1803-07-19 00:00:00

~ . ~` ~r D ; . r , ~. '~ ie ~_ ro ~, ~. trumusit 3380. j EVIPERIAL PARLIAMENT. 110 USE OF PEERS, MONDAY, JULY. iB. !'as House met at an hourly hour, and immediately pm. Cesded to the farther hearing of Counsel and Evidence on the bccasion of the Bristol Port Bill. Several Witnesses were examined, and Messrs. ADAM and HA R ICIS6)/ were heard in support of the Bill. SerjeAnt HLYWO os was heardin reply. The question was afterwards - put, and the Bill read a Second time. _ On the question for committing the Bill, a division took place, when there appeared in favour of that proceeding five, against it two. The Bill, as we could colleet, was ordered to be referred to a Committee above stairs _ Mr. H. BlowNs and others, brought up the Scotch In. land Navigation Bill from the Commons. The Iri s h Loan and Thames Police Bill were brought up by Mr. As.sx. NDI. R ; and a few Private Bills were brought up by Messrs. BALDWIN, GR A It AM, and other Gentlemen. The Bills upon the 'fable were forwarded it their several stages. The fad rf SUFFOLK took the occasion offered by the seco n d rea,inw of one of tuese Bills, to which the at7l+j , t+,:l had sotne,reterence, to observe that there should be . 4 regert . Re turn of the P n Poor. it was impo r t ant their umbers, should be known ; by a certain calculation the Poor of England, he observed, amounted to Three Millions. The LORI)CII4NCELLOR observed, it was competent to the Noble End to move any Clause he should think 'proper , on that su'ojea, in the Committee on the Bill. After some of the other Bills had neen disposed of, The LORD CHANCELLOR called the attention of the douse to a Bill introduced recently by a Noble Earl not then in his place, the objeit of which was to postpone, until t h e next Session of Parliament, the Proceedings, in their present state, upon another Bill of very great importance (the Wool. len Manuladurers Bill). then pending in their Lordships }louse. After explaining the nature anti efieet of these two Bina, he observed, that with reaped to the former, Its °Nett in rising was to move to postpone the second reading .of it for some time, if indeed their Lordships should. ever think proper to give it a second reading.-- Upon farther consideration and inquiry respecting the .11Ileasure in 'question, it appeared there was no precedent for a oceeding of the ki n d, save an d except the cases of hills of ins and penalti es , an d f or t h e due securing of those who, by it :it lir ,Ao,artsdout olfiatdhcrepndroevreislotnsheomfSeanlVeexiicealriti,enntabcloentsbtittiule. tion, that Parliamentary proceedings, save in the above in. stances, were put an end to by the circumstance of a prom- Bation. Indeed, the p rece de nt wh i ch the adoption of Such a ill would set, was rather of a dangerous tendency 1 it ;night be extended to other measures ; the praaice might beponie frequent, nay, a general Bill might at some f u ture trine be proposed. His Lordship then toned the circumstencesunckr tvloch the House was placed with respeel to the Woollen Manufacturers' Bill, and the ci:aterent options that are vested In therm with respea to its future progress. He observed. that while pending in the other Haute of Parliament, several months were necessarily dedicated to its discussion : it came Up to their Lordships at an advanced period, and with a refer. fence to a due consideration of the subjett, and a proper men, tion to the interests of the parties. it weuld be for them tole.tide whSt course they should take in the present Session. He observed, that in a future Session the other House might Oink it proper to go upon the report of their Committee upon the subjeea, which would be a considerable saving of • trine.; but it was with their Lordships, on a future oppor tunity, to determine. The Noble and • Learned' Lord 'then alluded to a Bill which was some time pending before their Lordships, and which, lie seemed to say, contained many of the saltitaty and desirable provisions (the Bill for suspending, .to a given time, all Proceedings in Atlions, Prosecutions, ix', under certain Ails of Parliament relative to the Wool-, ' leo- maaial.aaluea.t—op e t vtlia...ll.tt,. ..I , : c h taw -v et to ,. c.,..h. r tonsideritZ , -i $1 , .-.;itia4tctikuposir to have speech': con4iutdcd. }lc tlic:i inar.af, that the ,postponing Bill be read a second time that clay fortnight, which was ordescci accordingly, .and also that the Suspension Bill be taken into further consider. ation on Thttraday next. —Ordered. . • . The Bills brought up froin the Commons' were severally read a first time.—Aciaounied till to-morrow. 'NOUS E OF COMMONS, MONDAY, JULY Tut 11111 fsrlranting.io,oool. for the purpose of making a Canal ti :dn.! overne4s to Fort Augustus, was read a third tune ,and passf.ii, upon the motion of Mr. IlAwtiNs bitowNr. '.`. • - • Some .u.eounts were brought up.. from the Exchequer re. imeetitis, the wodyce of i),.rimnent Taxes, ending on the sch of July, 18 0 2, s0;;,i1 were ordered to be' I id on the Ti.l)le. Jr: Alderman COMAE brought tip the report of a Bill for raising a torce the City of L o nd on t or tile 11101" vigorous proseention of the 'War.--Orticred to Oe recommitted to a 'Committe e of the whole tiott4e to.:moriow. • Mr. V A NSI TT AR T moved the Order of the Day on the sill ter regulating the made of bointini, prize goats. . The 1-10mse tve;lt 'in; ti a Cwii.llittee Of the whole House Upon the hill, ..vrieti Mr. VA N s TT AR I opened the nature of it, which he said- was '0) be in force durkng the tontimi.M...e. el the present hostilities, and to he silitittir.io that which was an force in the last lie moved several rysollaions to that elled, which were voted by the Comtnittee-1' he !louse hying resumed; the'. report was ordered to be received" o morrow . The Longitude Bill past a Committee of the whole House, and the Report was ordered to be received to-morrow. - 'A Measa*;c from`the Lords informed the House that their Lcrdshipt had agreed to several private Bills Sir W. (MLitt)/ brought up the Report -of the pill for providing Glebe Lands,„&c. to Churt.hes, &c. in England and l reland. The Amendments being read and agreed to, a Clause was proposed by Mr. Boarotr, tiff providing that•no inarekthan so 'Acres or Land should be applied to.,t Glebe s ice, which produced some opposition tront• Mr. flutter w - ho thought this rneasurealtogether w ou ld operate to the discouragement or industry in agriculture, ere. Mr. Coos r girl y renewed his objeaions to this Bill, and slid , he must taku the sense of the House upon it. r. Bur. r o :tud Mr. H. BAOW N defended the measure altUgetlict. Air. ll uasr opposed it • after which the clank was 'agreed to. The question being put, that the Bill be engressed; Mr. Mast opposixl it, and said he Must take the sense of the House upon it. Mr. Bu 'crow spoke In favour of the Bill again after Which Mr. H o *sr sa i d, that as there., was 'a considerable expectation upon another and much more important subjed, he would not delay it a monient.. The Bill was then ordered to be engrossed, and read A ihird time to.mor row , if t h en engrossed. ! • . • The Irish Treasury Bills Bill was read a third 'time and passed. DEFENCE OF THE COUNTRY. The SECRETARY at,'W4R said, that in pur suance of the notice which he gave some days ago, he now rose to propose to the House a Motion tot leave to bring in it Bill for amending the At Intel passed for the Defence of the Country, and for ren• dering it more effedual, and to enable His Majesty to exercise his ancient and undoubted preroga,tive.to tequire tlie military service of his liege subjet)s in ease of Invasion. The Bill which he had to offer to the . House contained m an y p rov i s i ons whiCh were extremely important and . useful, as it appeared to him, in the preienr situation of this CouTrr... It - enntained 'prov isions to enable His'Majetity to 414 weliminar mea'ures 'for calling.. forth the Strength and resources of the different parts of this tourney, and also to sake a cQmi'endiums and ci4ea. THE eions mode of .acquiring possession of parts of the public prOperty as may be necessary for the public safety in case of an emergency; and the Bill con. rained other provisions, providing a summary mode for indeMnifying. those persons who,may suffer in their property by this measure, either in defence of the Country preparatory to an Invasion, or in con sequence of an aetual Invasion. The first part of the measure ht had to propose partook of the nature and followed the provisions, in many respeCts, some being nearly the same as that which was passed in the last War, in the year 1798. It appeared to His Majesty's Ministers that the late Bill for the defence of the Cotintly did not go far enough. It was defeCtive in one material point, namely, in not distinCtly enabling,. His Majesty to avail himself of his ancient and undoubted prerogative of command. ing the military service of all his liege subjects, and to call upon them to bear arms in case of lava., sion by a foreign enemy. The Bill to . which, had alluded went no further, than to give to His Majesty in account of the population of site Conn.: try, with a view ultitnately to the °Nett pointetat in the Bill, and likewise to take other measures with' respect to property as he had deictibed.. Now, what he had stated, that, it was the ancient and on, doubted prerogative of the Crown of this Realm .to command the military service of its subjects to bear arms, was its, clear, that he apprehended he need not labour much to prove it. It was laid ,down by the best authoritie', and it never had been disputed by any, that it was the ancient .and undoubted right of the Crown of England to command the military-ser vice of its Subjects against the Invasioaof a foreign enemy. This was 'a point so plain,. that he did not apprehend any Gentleman ire that House would dis t use . it ; on the contrary, every Gentleman in the H ,, use, he believed, would readily agree' to it ; but altiviugh this be indisputable in his opinion, yet it would be helmet, perhaps, to state very shortly the general principles of the law upon this subject, as it was to be found in the books, , and to refer to one or two precedents to be found on the Rolls Of. Parliament, which would put the point beyond all doubt, if it was possible that any doubt could he entertained. [Here he quoted a passage from Blackstone on the subject of the Royal Prerogative, 'by which every liege subject is compelled to give military service to the Crown, and to take. up arms at the command of the Crown, in Case of Invasion.] In this manner. Were the general principles of the Constitution of England 'laid down by Blackstone, who was an indispotableauthority upon this point ; but he ShOuld recr shortly to one or two authori ties whence this &thine was 'taken, and which ren. tiered it quite indisputable. The first of Fatw. 111. Statute 2, cap. 5, Which enacted, '' It is thelCing's will that no man be compelled to go out of the. ibire but when ner,-.H• . trvittircrb, and t4t4.it shall'be done as in time past k for the defence of the Realm." Certainly this must be taken to be, at that time, a parliamentary recognition of the law. So again it . was to be found' in the fifth of Henry IV. Upon a Petition of the Commons, it appeared that the form of army' was to - be I.ttled in Parlia. tnent, and the proceeding upon (his Petition hail the effect to all inteitts and purposes of an aCt. of Parlia. ment. This would be' found in the Rolls of Parlia ment of the fifth of Henry IV. No. 24-5, upon the stdjeCt of :dray, [fare he read the entry upon the Roll, by which it op pears, amongst other *limp to the like etteti, " That all those wh o a re able or hotly and fit lor arming, and who have means of thi:ir own, to arni themselves, every one actviciii i ,; to his state and faculty, and to be disposed 01 by 'the Clown, and to march them to the Coast of the Sett, and other places, wherein to destroy our enemy 1101 - time 16 time, as danger, shalt approach.' • This he conceived to lies complete 'Parliamentary: recognition of the ancient prerogative of the Crown, and which be conceived to be the Law of this Land at this day, it, every reaped whatever. This then being the Law of the Realm, it 'alight be asked, Why is it tiecessary.to call the attention of Parlia ment : to any Parliamentary measure to enforce that which was already law? To this the answer waa easy acid short. It was because the process by which that prerogative of .the Crown, and the duty of the subjea, to be enforced by the common law, was too tedious for the present purpose, for it pro. vided that the. Ratty whose service was required . should he summoned for that purpose, and for, dis. ' obedience might be fined and imprisoned ; 'that was the course winch was to' be taken by the law as it now stands. Every one could easily see that this: - would not suit our preient purpose, for the case to which he referred was the case 61 aaual Invasion of this Realm, and that was in fa& threatened. It was therefore on chat principle necessary, with a view to the 'eflicacioua and prompt exercise of the prerogative of the Crown, so indisputably possessed by the Crown for the Public safety, to adopt ionic. thing less circuitous, and mote decisive and effec tual for immediate.purposes; it was with that view .that he proposed to,bring forward the present mea., sure. It was unnecessary, at . ; he apprehended, for him to argue at length the necessity of such a' urea sore ; however, he should take a short view of it. In the _first place, the situation in which this Country stands, was perfealy well knoWn to every one in that House, indeed to every body in the Country. It was well known that the Enemy with whom we had now to 'Contend was an Enemy the most insolent that ever this Criuntry bad to contend with, and certainty riot the least powerful, tied now not only menacing us with lova. sion, but., was making aaual,preparations for that purpose; who had avowed.an intention not only of contaminating the, shores of this Country with his foOtsteps, but aflually meditated the subjugation of the Country. The for c e we had by Sea alai Land was undoubtedly very formidable, but when we considered that the Enemy was at-this time pos. I aes:ied of a very considerable power on the Conti:. SUN. 7 UESDAY, JULY 19, 1803. nent, and knowing,the sentiment and disposition of . France, and knowing as we did, the extent of our own coast, and also that of the Enemy, confident as we justly were that we possessed sefficient strength for the security of the Realm, yet the principle which had been already adopted. by Parliament, must not be forgotten, namely, that strong as we are, we should not leave any thing to chance or hazard, when we saw the present state of Europe, the state of Great Princes there, when we consi. dered that the French at this time were masters of the whole from Holstein to the shores of the AdSL atic, with the exception only of our faithful ally Portugal ; when we contemplated these things, it was impossible to say that, the power of France was not very great, or to say that they did not p ossess themselves of almost all the Great ,Rivers and con. siderable Ports on the Continent of Europe ; tinder these circumstances, although every,body must have (and he as much as any body,) a perfed reliance on the anivity and vigilance of our Navy, now certainly not only the, most Poweaful in the world io but perhaps able to maintain a eolith& with the Navy of all the world besides, no doubt we should blockade a great number of their ports. We might depend upon many of them being blockaded. We might depend also upon our sea force burning, sink. ing, and destroying every thing they met of the enemy ; yet ; no man could suppose that we could, as it were, hermetically seal up all the ports of France, so as to overwhelm every expedition that may be sent by France to us; under such circum. tio man could say, that with our great line of, coast, and -tdso the great line of coast which France had opposite. to that of Great Britain and Ireland, that an expedition- might not be made by France. When we considered the coast of England and Ireland, and also that of the enemy Opposite to it, we must admit that some distant province of ours not only may be attacked', but might even he, in the temporary possession of the enemy ; this was a point which, he should think. noloody doubted to he possible. Nobody would oippose that we could do otherwise with an Army Own to assemble Under , a plan to come to the ultimate decision of the question on which depended the safety of the Empire.. Now - the enemy determined .to invade us, and having his hands free on the Continent, and likely to have them ,so, as he. thought, that Enemy may throw a considerable part of his force upon our coast. He thought, to deal fairly by the Ens my, that if he could 'embark ioo,ooo men, that. after a battle in which so,ooo of them would inevitably be drowned in their passage, or dispersed, that he may be able to land 50,00 o." Supposing that so,ooo of ',these men should come on flit Coast of this Country, more or less divided, more or less Sea-sick, and more or less.provided with the necessary preparations of offensive War— atsd although it was not impossible, indeed he might say not improbable, we should not be able to know b e f o re hand, whit re they may design re land, for t h a t purpose they may change on - a sudden, and ,may even be compelled to change it, by being driven cut of their course, so that they might 'be obliged to land where they can, and give up their premeditated plan altogether, yet they might come*, . and we. would not know where, and therefore we h might not be sure of being ready Ott the instant to meet, them. Under these circumstances, he thOught that the power of this Country should be put in.a .state to be made use of in case of necessity. That *after collating our powerful army, we should have it so disposed as to have a second and a third line, Legion alter Legion, and Army upon Army, in order Mast Completely to fill up. the Body' of the :Troopittliat are m the field, and which may fall in battle, for this was a . point to which we were to look, and on which we ought to,ealculate: In case of aetual Iniaision of this Country, the operations in 'the field must by alive, and ahe contest must be extremely severe : no man would look to a slow and ordinary mode of providing a force for this purpose; no recruiting, or. even ballotting, would do, but resort must be had to the antient Law and Consti, ration of this Realm ; to the power vested in the King, by his undoubted prerogative, for the King in that case was enabled to command all his subject-, -capable' of bearing arms, into the field of battle; but this Bill was to enable His Majesty to do that, 'more speedily and effatually than it can now be done by law. We should refer- to the times in which ;the .Plantagenets and the Tudors, and those seasons which produced the most illus. trious clotratters that even adorned the. pages of our history. We should remember what was done by them ; we should remember the - pre. paration of, the:Spanish Armada, sent forth for the destration of this . Country. 'That was a prepara.„ tion which was not very dissimilar from that which we are rtow expecting, and a similar fare may await it. How was the Force of this Country then raised? By the spirit of the people. By that spirit the Army would now be raised, and was now about to he produced by the zeal of the people, which he said he saw every day arising in every quarter, and therefore this reference to the ancient and unquestionable prerogative of the Crown, was at this time highly seasonable. Having said this, he should now proceed to open the plan which he intended to submit to the House. This plan had two principal heads ; .first the enrollment 'and the assembly of men wen inrolled : Secondly, their Exercise and Training, What he should propose should be that of making as much up as possible of the mechanism of the Militia, and putting much of the execution of the system under the power of the laird -Lieutenants, and Deputy - Lieutenants, and under their order and dire Lion : and this was what we bad long been accustomed to in the .Militia,. and a better system we could not have. He should propose that the Lieutenants' of ,alt Counties, and frRICE SIXPRNCP.. every one of them, should calf a Meeting for the purpose of enrollieg all men b.oween the age of t 7 and 55: that the enrament comprehend the following particulars : It, thC first place, to divide all men capable of hearing arm., into four Classes, something similar to.fhat which takes place in the Militia. That the first class shall contain all young men between the age of seventeen and chit Batchelors, or being Widowers 'not having more than one, child- under• the age of, to years ; the second Class would be all men between the age of eo and so, Batchelors, or being Widowers nut having more than one child under the age,of to ; the Third Class were those between t 7 and 30, who may be mar. ried, hut have no more thane two children ; Fourth Class would include all the rest. He would propose also that the inrollment should distinguish those who were Clergymen, and also distinguish those who are now serving, aCtually serving in the Army, including the,. Army of Reserve, or in the Militia, oe inert, Voluntary Corps, intoned, and - approved - by .Majesty„,and distinguishing those who are now serving by Sultstitutes in the Militia; these" se meant to propose to he exempt, because if they were...trying by Substitute, either in the Militia or the Army of Reserve, he considered that the public faith was pledged to them that they should not be called. upon again for any Military. Ser. vice, while that in which they are now serving, although by Substitute, continued. He did not mean to distinguish and exempt those who had served by Substitute and their service now over, they had no claim to exemption, because theeprn_ visine-of the Militia Law atually prescribed, that a man who has served before by. Substitute may be called on again when it came to his turn, and, at this time, the enforcing of such a principle was proper. Customs and .Peace,oflicers also hepropus. eti'toexecup.o; Those persons who would all ;a1). peat , - . 4pon the Roll ,so distinguished- would heals. etttlifed' from - future .enrollment, and they ;would he exempted from the Military services to be ploy id. ed by this . Bill as long as they continued in that situation.: The .enrollment would proceed very Much as now making out in the Militia I.lt. Trim the Roll ,or List should be . placed on the Church dour, and . every man should have an opportunity of applyin4, to the Deputy. Lien. tenant in case he was improperly described, or ought to be .put under another Class than thatin which he was placed in the list, but the arrangement of the Bill (which he hoped would meet with as little delay as possible, for no time should be - lost j, he hoped would be effedual. He repeat. .ed, that the Bill should pass as expeditiously as pos. sible, and as little time as possible should be lest, and, yet not so expeditiously as to do injustice, lie should think, therefore,. that the Deputy brute. nants should appoint a day to meet to receive the ' Lists, and that on that day also should be the day at' Appeal, that is to hay, .as soon as they should re. ceive the Lists, they should proceed to 11:ar Ap. peals against it by those Individuals:who conceived themselves entitled to exemption. -He should pro.. pose that these Lists should be correaed :tonally in the Spring and Autumn time of the year,:and goltept as•correetly as possible. These Rolls of the Court. ties being thus kept, Abstracts of these County. rolls should be . traissmitted . annually to one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, deacribing as accurately as a thing of that kind was capable of heing,deseribed, the number of Men and their va. riot's Classes, also the Men entitled to exemption. Having so provided for the enrolment, he ahou4 propose that His Majesty should have it in his power, in case of adual invasion of the Re.,lm, or .appearance of the Enemy on the Coast, to order the Lieutenants of all the Counties, to call out, assem.' ble, and embodyall or any of the persons so on the Who did not fall within any of the excels. tions already specified, and all persons of the first and second class, or indeed all ur any of the classert . , as he thought proper, should be called hut to repel the Invasion,. and that .during the time they Should be so assembled, they shoual be aubjed to military discipline, and be liable to ..be sent to serve in any part of Great Britain, in any existing corps„. : serving in the field, as His Majesty should - direCt, or in any new corps, such as His Majesty should think fit to provide ; that the time- of service should be limited to the time of Invasion, for when the Enemy should be exterminated, or ahould be driven to the sea, that they,shOuld then be entitled to retire to their own hotnes, immediately when that service should be over ; that upon assem. sling, every man should be entitled to receive two guineas from elle Receiver General of the Counties, to furnish him with necessary' assistance fol. his march. That when the service should be over, and when each individual was entitled to return home, over and above that sum he was to be entitled to recei ve one guinea to he paid to hi m in like manner , upon the direlion of his Superior . ioflicer, under whom he had been. employed. /le would also' propose, that when this force was so asset Wiled, they should immediately take the oath' of 'glance and Fidelity,: also an oaths of service, which was not only" to march to repel the . Invasion of the the Enemy, but also to suppress any rebellion or in. "surreetien that might exist, during that tinie Within . the realm. He should state also another part athe Plaro, with relation to the Exercise and Traitling and here he begged leave to remind , the Haese of the antient l Constitution and Law of this realm, by which not only was it Cleati that Hie' IVI jest} , was entitled to call for the Military SeiYiees of hi, liege Subject* to repel the Enemy in case of 1n . .. vasion, as he 'had already said, but theme was a 'wholesome institution of our ancestors, 6, very much regretted had ever been laid aside in this Country=.--it was, that every man capable of heir.. ing arms should be exercised and trained to the ese a, ~:t ,-,‘ IA -Ott •'',;•''.:' t t s '•-•,...z. , C ir ,!,, ,- '.. *47 A it t 7 -. 01 , ,Ntifil 74.kr",:r 1 - t '..,,_ 44 - 4.- ",, •,,- ~e 4,1 0:1, 1 4 - -7',..j...-7,, v• •. , _