The Sun. — London, England, 1803-04-29 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PA RLIAMENT. HOUSE OF PEERS. THURSDAY, APRII, Ttr I Order of the Day being lead forthe second reading of Markham's Divorce Bill, Counsel and Evidence were called, from whose statement it ge nerally appeared, that the Petitioner was elle Rev.. Dr. George Markham, Dean of York, and son to the Archbishop of that Province—that•he was mar ried in June 1759,. to his. now wife Elizabeth Eve. lyn Sutton., and .daughter of the' late Sir Richard Sutton, Bart. of NOo.vood, in the county of Not. tingham ; that they lived and cohabited together until the month of Odober 1801, when it was dis covered that a criminal and .adulterous intercourse had taken place between the'Lady andiohn Faw cetr, Esq. of Facehy, in the county of Yor k, who was a Captain in i the In consequence of this discovery, the Petitioner Dr. Markham brought his a&ion in the Court of King's Bench, Westminster, against.Captaio Faw. cett for criminal conversaticn with his wife, and obtained a judgment against him for 70601. damages. The usual proceeding fora Divorce a mensa et thorn were afterwards instituted on. the part of,the Petitioner in . -the Consistory Court of the Arch. bishop of York,' where a sentence to that elle& was obtained. Ihe issue of the marriage was ten chi]. dren. The important fad of thq. adUltary was abundant]; proved by the narratiVe of the tyldence at the Bar, a derailed exposition of which we are precluded, for obvious 'reasons, from - giving. The hearing at the Bar was not concluded, the evidence which was ready at the time.to prove "the celebration of the jnarriage was, it appeared; riot adequate for the purpose, it being required in the course of their Lordships' usual proceedings that. persons who were present thereat shout() come for. ward ; the names of His Grace the Archbishop of York and of Captain Markham, very near rela tives to the Petitioner, were mentioned as wit oesses who could prove the solemnization of the marriage in the way above mentioned ; but on ac. count of some apparent mistake, or other cause, these persons were then not present; Another consideration was, with resped to the property which, had accrued to the 'Lady since mar respeding which some inquiries were made by one or two of their Lordships, of the Counsel, &c. with a reference to a proper adjustment of the relevant clauses of the Bill. In consequence of the above, and to enable the Counsel to he prepared with evidence, &c. their Lordships adjourned the further hearing of the case till to-morrow. Lord Viscount DUi.KELEY was sworn and took his Seat. The various Bills Wore the House were for. warded in their respeCtive stages, among which were the three Irish Private Bills, to which the at tention of the House had been drawn by Lord RcowsnAt.c., which were read a third time and ravied ; and their Lordships, in'a Committee, went through the Sugar Duties Drawback Bill, and the Innkeeper,.' Subsistence Bill, which were ordered to be reported to-morrow. Some private business was then d:sposed of; after Which an adjournment took place. HOUSE OF COMMONS. THURSDAY, APRIL 28. THE House tnet at an early hour, and proceeded to ballot fur Committees to try the merits of the Petitions complaining of undue Elections for Taunton , and Roston.• Names of the Committee upon the Taunton Elcc- ti!ln : i' . Boller, of IVoit-Loe, Esq. ohn Lowther, Esq. onati►a►t Maine, Esq. Henry Peirse, Esq. Walter Nik, - Esq. . James lirogilen, l Win. Sturgess, Esq. Richard Kenyon, Esq. George Smith, Esq. Walter I. I. I-Lnrilvn Wit'taint, Esq. Lord William Stuart, - Win. Burroughs, Lsq. GW.:3, Esq.. Rowland Burdon, Esq. . _ Names of the Commit tee for the Boston Elcc- tion : Henry Holland, Esq. Geo—Pocock, Esq. j. B. Walsh, Esq. . Geo. WlNlay ' Esq. Samuel Scott, Et q. 'l.lc I lOn. lA. Finch, Win. Middleton, Esq. Lord Arch. Ilawilton, I. Blackburn, of Newport, john Atkins, Esq. Esq. J. lion. F. West, The Hon. lohn Scott, Thornas'erever, Esq. 1. P. Bastard, Esq. flcnry loddrel, Esq. When the Gallery was opened, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved, that the House should be called over on Thursday next, which was agreed to, and also the other Lou! Motions. CAPE OF COOD 1-10i'E.. Lord POLICSTONE rose, pursuant to the no. tree' he had to move for certain Papers, with a view of obtaining Information respelling, the Events that have occurred at the Cape of Good 1 - lope. Ile vvi,hed, before lie.mide the Motion, to observe thai he had no wish, by this Motion, to interfere with the Negotiations which were now carryin g on between the G.rvernMent of this Coun„ try and france ; nor hitd be any wish to call for any Information which, under the present circumstances His Majesty's Ministers might think it improper to ve ; though, perhaps,it might not be improper if the ifon , e were torcall for such information, with a view of rescuing the business out of the weak hands in which it was now }laced. But as it was not his wish to tit ge on a dir.ussiori upon the general subj.eB of the Negotiation, if. His Majesty's Ministers would say that the produaion of the Papers he now called for, would in any degree interfere with the Negotiation that was pending, he would immediate, lv withdraw his Motion, and drop it altogether. if. however, this assurance was not given, he would persist in the MotiOn. There was another thing which he wished to premise, and that was, that in discussing this subjeti, he should be obliged tore_ fer to u species of information which he was sorry to be obliged to rt.t,:r to, viz. the French Papers. Considering the ignorance in which the Public had been for some time kept, upon what was going for Ward, Gentlemen must either be content to know nothing, or to have recourse to the French Papers for the official documents which they contained. The reason why he wished the produEtion of the Orders which had been sent out relative to the Care of Good • Hope was,; that the House should really know what the fa& was. He had heard that at differentlimes different Orders had been sent out : at . one time - it was.' " determined to give it up, and at another it Was tir'be -- kept, without any reason whatever being assigned far' it. After the signature of the Treaty of Peace, orders were sent out to deliver up the Cape; afterwards, - in the month of Oaober last, when there was a con siderable ferment in consequence of the Invasion of Switzerland by France, orders were sent 'Out that the Cape shoohl not be given up. He did not know these circomstances from any offi9ial account. pub lished by His Majesty's Ministers, but from the ac counts published in the French Papers. In point of fact we did not keep the Cape—it was a kind of re. capture, and there was a regular capitulation. He was anxious that the country should be acquainted with all the frets upon this subjett, because it proved such a wavering in the Councils of this Country, that the _House had a right to full information upon the subject. There was another reason why he wish ed for the production of the orders which had been sent out, and the dispatches which had been received, and - that was, to have an opportunity of comparing dates. He wanted to compare the date of the Dis patches which informed Ministers" of the detention of the Cape, .with the date of His Majesty's Mes.- loge to that House, because he did believe that those Dispatches conduced to the Message, and the consequent Armament. The King's Mes Sage was:: delivered on - the Bth of .March, stating that discus sions were pending between this Country and France, and that Armaments were preparing in the Ports of France and Holland. - The French Official Paper de, nied that any discussions were pending, and indeed he did not see what discussions could be going on except with regard to the Cape. As to the Arma.., ments in the French Ports, they were nothing more than had been carrying on . for some time. But it . 1 , was generally supposed that the discussions were re. lathe to the Island of Malta. Upon this point he wished to observe, that in the expose of the French Government, in which they gave an account of the "situation of the Country, it was stated that the English still retained possession of Alexandria and Malta, but that the Ships which were to convey home the Garrisons of those places, hail arrived in the Mediterranean. In the correspondence between Sir A. Ball and Mons. Busy, it ,was contended by the latter, that the English had, as long ago as the month of June last, consented that the Grand Master should be eleaed by the Pope, which had been done; and that as 'to the guarantee of the great Powers of •Europe, they were to he solicited to guarantee the independence of the Island, but that such a guarantee was not absolutely necessary. He did not state this aS his opinion upon this, question, be. cause this was not the proper time to enter into it, though he had formed a decided opinion upon it. He did not urge this with a view to extra& in. formation from Ministers, but to shrew that the discussion could not be about Malta, and cause. courtly to strengthen his argument for the pro duaion of the papers relative to the Cape of Good Hope. He again repeated, that if ,Mini s ters would state, that any Public inconvenience would arise from the produaion of the information he required, he would not press his motion, but if they did not state that, he should move, " That there he laid betbrc. this I louse a Copy, or Copies, of all Orders sent to the Cape of Good Hope, respeding the surrender of that Colony, since the signatta,: of the Treaty of Peace with the French Republic,. together with a Copy, or Copies, of all Dispatches relative to the Surrender or l)e. tention of that Colony', as received by the Commanders of British Forces by L and or Sea there, aniL the tinies when they weir received from His Majesty's Ilinistcrs. " Also, an 2,cLount of all 15iscussion, it any, which has taken place between His Majesty's Nlinisteis and the French Government, respelling that Colony, since the sigmiture of the Treaty, previous to the last order sent out for the sur. render or the same." TheCHANCELLOR of ale . EXC HEQUE R said, the Noble Lord must .forgive him if he,(iliserved, iliac there was a strange inconsistency between his 4ecl,atation at the commencement of his speech, and ► the argument s which he had tAed in the course of it—The Noble Lord stated begi'libitig of his speech, that he did not wish. to • fi . ring forlttard in his motion the general points which tiNtiflie supposed to be in discussion at present between this Country ;u France, more especially as an Hon. Gentleman had given notice of a Motion which would embrace the whole subject. After making this declaration, the Noble Lord bestowed a conSiderable pari of his speech to prove thit Me only subjea in dispute between. this Country and France must be the Cape of Good Hope, and in the concluding part of his Motion, he - desired to know what were the dis. cushions going on between this Country and Frike relative to the Cape. So that the Noble Lord first declared that he did not want to extract information respecting the discushiOns now going on; then' he endeavoured to prove that the only discussion going on must be about the Cape ; 'artcl lastly 'he moved, for an account of the discussions which were going on respeding the Cape. He was, therefore, he thriught, justified in stating, that there was a considerable degree of inconsistency between the professions-and _the Speech of the Noble Lord. But surely if the Noble Lord had been aware of the general accepta. tion of the notice which had been given by an Hon. Member (Col. PATTEN), which embraced every Ob. jet of public concern, he would have abstained from any specific Motion. He really had enter_ tained a hope . that, under the present circumstances, such Motions as the present would not have been • made. He was by no means - dispoied to deny that the subject to which the Noble Lord's Motion re. ferred, was one upon which the' House had a right to exped Information and ,gx : plltlation. It was one. upon .which. His Majetty.'s Ministers were anxious to give information, when it could be done Without prejudice to the Public Service. With this view of the subject he could not ,consent to negative the Motion : on the other hand, lie cOuld not accede to it, because it would require ex,Aanations that ,could not be given under the present_Circumstances, without inconvenience to the.Pubile Service, Ai e should therefore move the Order of the Day, or the previous question; he was inclined to prefer the former, because he could not approve of the form of the Motion. He should therefore move the ,Oitkr of the Day, declaring again, that there was clination on the part of His Majesty's Ministers - to keep back any information that could throw any light upon the subjea, when that information could 'he properly given, With regard to the form of the Motion, he suggested to. the Noble Lord whether it woul d not be better to put it into the form elan Adaress to His Majesty. Lord FOLKSTONE said, if it was more con. sistent with the fOrMs of the House, he had no ob jeetion to move it in the shape of an Address. Mr. WINDHAM said, he merely rose to re mark, in answer to wbathad - fallen from the Right Hon. Gentleman, who had censured his Noble Friend for some supposed inconsistency in his Speech, that there appeared to'him no ground for such a charge. His /46131C . Frien4lid not say, that he would not press hitoMotifin,if it had any connelion with the discussion ving on between this .Country -and France, he had merely said, that he would not press fur the disclosure of any information. that might be prejudicial to the Public Interest. He was there fore at liberty to conjeCture what were the points now in negotiation. With regard to the notice which had been given by an Hon. Member, he did not consider that as any argument against his Noble Friend's Motion, on the contrary, if the general subject was to be discussed,, it was a strong rcasdn why as much previous information should be ob. tained as possible. If Ministers would state that the produftioti of this Infortnation'would he itTu. riot's, in that case the House must wait until the proper time when the Information could be given, resting, in the mean time upon the Responsibility of Ministers. Lord 1-I.4WKESBURY said, he was not in the House at the commencement of the Noble Lord's speech, but certainly he had very se.tious objeffions to the Motion as it was Worded, and conneded with what he had heard of the Noble Lord's speech. He had stared that it was not his intention to embarrass the Negotiation, and yet the latter part of the Mo. tion went to call for information respecting the dis cruisions relative to the Cape. Now if this was one of the silbjeas now under discussion, as the Noble Lord supposed, it would be impossible to produce the information. required by the Motion, without going into explanations of other points which might be in discussion. He did hope that under the present circumstances, detached. Motions of this sort would :not have been brought forward.--- The House' and , the Country had a right to ex , pea pea all the information that could be given as to the way in which the afttirs of the Country had been managed for some time past. But the way of obtaining that information, and of forming a good judgment upon it was, to have the whole subjed before them at once, and not by taking up detached and uncenneded points. Conformably with that principle he thought it would have been better to wait until a communication was made, or until some general motion was made which would'bring the whole, subjea at once before the House. He begged before he sat down, to observe, in reply to what had fallen from the Right Hon. Gentleman who spoke last, that his Right Hon. Friend had not said the production of the papers moved for would be prejudicial, he had merely said, that the production of those Papers might lead to discussion and ea_ planation which might be productive of Public In convenience. It was not proposed to negative the Motion, it might therefore be brought forward at, any future time. Lord FOLKSTONE spoke shortly in reply, he said, he was not bound by any notice which might have been given by any other Member, and ob, served, that great inconvenience might result from the praffice of giving notices of Motions. Mr. FOX said, that there was . no want of can doux, as he conceived, imputable to .the. Noble Lord who had brought forward the Motion now, for the manner in which he had done it ;• but al though he felt that impression, he could not support the Motion at present, and herose for the purpose of stating in a kw words, why h e sh ou ld co n cur in 'the motion for the previous ques t ion, 'o r in' any other that Might he the beer iniide of setting it aside for the present. IN agreed with the Noble Lord in what he had stated about the Cape. It ‘,4s a subjea;fit to be examined—he apprehended tlfat everybody was ready to agree to that prop°. t;itii n. litirthe qUestion was, whether that exami nation Should be on this day or. oot ? If the House had agreed to the Motion fhr an Inquiry into the State of the Nation, then the Inquiry now pro. posed would have been fit as a part of that general Inquiry, ; because that would be entering into the , detail of a matter, the principle of which had been admitted. But whether in the present state of the Nation, the liOuse °ugh; now to enter into an Inquiry into the conduct of the King's Ministers, respeeting the Cape. , .. , -whether it was the best 'mode to take a view of that'question, as the Noble L rd's Motion pointed out,.or to wait until the House had 'decided on the general question of an Inquiry into the State of the Nation, was for the House to de. termine: Now, upon that point, he had. no (lA. cult)! whatever. There was another. consideration which was, in hi s opi n i on , pr e li m i nar y to this The general State of the Nation, in the first place ; secondly, .perhaps, the conduct which led to th e situation in which. we are.—These general points ought, as he conceived, to be disposed of, before any question in detail should be discussed. This appeared to. him to be obvious. If it should be the opinion of the House, it is not fit at this mu ment to enter into an Inquiry into the State of the Nation, then, undoubtedly, the present Motion will'have been premature, inasmuch as it must be improper to enter on a detailed part of an Inquiry, the whole of which should, in the opinion of the House, have been unfit- . -if the whole ought to be tiegativq, undoubtedly a part oUit could not pro. krlY he efitertained. If, on the other hand, the House should agree to institute an Inquiry into the State of the, Nation, there this Motio n , as a part of the detail of that Inquiry, would beCome a very proper and a very important part. As to the ge neral' subject of Inquiry; his opinion was, as it generally had been, that the House , of Commons ought not to be timid in asking questions of Mi. nisters, neither should it screen itself from the exe cution of its duty by desiring Ministers, and rely. on their responsibility, to do theirs. He had al 'ays been of opinion, that the !louse .should take spun itself the task of advising the Crown in almost all c a se s .whatever of difEcuity.t h erefore if tie House should, as he was inclined to wish, enter into an I.tquiry into the State of th e N at i on, this Modal would be premature, because the general Inquiry appeared to him to be preliminary to any particular detail of discussion. He thought to throw out these few hints upon the course of dis cussion, but there .was no ground whatever for saying that the conduct of the Noble Lord was not candid. Mr. MARTIN said, that the Honourable Gen. tleman who -spoke last; had used an expression, of which he could not help taking notice. He did not Mean to pay the Right Hon. Gentleman . (the CHANCELIOR of the EXCHEQUER) any comp% ment since he bad been in power, he, (Mr. MAR. TIN) bad bestowed his best attention to his eon, due, and he conceived that that Right Hon. Gen: , tleman had aacd with integrity and proprietY'; But,- with regard to his responsibility, Mr. Ttrr said, ca I have now been a good while in this House—l have heard ' responsibility' often used, but never to any effect—with regard to the respon. sibility of Ministers in this Country, I would not give two.pence for it." The Question was then put en the Ord er o f the ' Day and carried. Mr. Fox presented a petition on behalf of ter tain Inhabitants of the Town and County of the - • Town of Nottingham, against the Bill now pending for givir l 4 to the Magistrates a concurrent Prise diction wit those of the Town, a.id praying to be. heard a e Bar by Counsel, which was o rdered accordingly, and that the Petition do lie upon tbe Table tantil the ,Bill be read a second time. • Lord CMTLEREACH moved, that thine be la, before the HOnse an account of the amount of all, Goods sold at the Fast India Company's Sales; from , the xst of March 18oz, to the first of March OW: —Ordered. • He moved another, on the subjeft of the Stock of the East India Company, which we did not di, s - tindly hear—which was also ordered. l They were .immediately produced, and 0, erl — e re to be laid on the Table, and to be printed. Lard CASTLEREAGH, in pursuance of his nod tice, rose to move for a Bill to enable the Edse. India Company to discharge the expenses of e aistng and paying two Regiments of Volunteer Corps) 0"c of the men employed .at the India Honse• could not be done without bringing a Bill into Par liament for that purpose, the provision to en`Al His Majesty to accept the services o f Voluner. Corps during War, having of course ceased with. the War. The propriety of this force, heinX thui raised and provided for, must he manifest tO. • the House. They were all to be =limbed en tirely of men known and employed at the Intlias House, and none could be more worthy to tru s ted with the care of the pr eservation of the peace of the Metropolis , u p on an emergency course to be taken, was to refer the Motion the it Committee of the whole House, to consider thereolk after having entered the 33d of His present. Majesty" is read ; which being done, and the whole Ho use hse, avin lit g resolved into a Committee of the Hou twisted, " That the Chairman be direaed t o mtave for leave to bring in a Bill, to enable the East Nil Company to defray the Expence of Raising and r i sjl in two Companies of Volunteer Corps, etc..'er-vra, dered. s Orde r The House being resumed, the Report ed to lv. , received to-ntOrratvo Mr. Kitty EY moved, that the Report of the. C (74. , toners' Bill be received r o_murrow. Mr.SHAIV LEFEVRE wished a fe w day 9 more o to be allowed for the further consideration f d i l l subjea, to which he stated some objections, a_ said, he understood that others had met re to ea; which might require time ; professing a t the said time, that that no advantage should be take n on that Ot tiny other account,. of the friends of the Bill. ~ Mr. 11.1RVAY said he was desired to move ;" "l i le r by Honourable Members who had now left 6 Co any delay. If ai there were oh to the : sore they could be stated to.rnorrow ful ler in a .w.l he was nut empowered by them to a g House. Sir W. PULT EN EY objeaeti to prowediog atsf further in a House when there were not 40 I \ l° r. hers pres...nt. chart The House-was immediately counted, and' not being a sufficient number to form a Idous;s',2 adjournment took place of course. MA I I.S. Agßivg°' DUL. _ I lion:lnd ,'..) • . - - _ 0 . - - ll;inburgh 2 PRICE OF STOCKS, T /lIS LIY AT TWELVE O'CLOCK• Consols ----- 65 ailg THE SU N. DICLIZ FALSVPA AUDSAIr? LONDON, APRIL 29► j So3. BY the last Packets from France, v.'e have thell formation, that the utmost atlivity ptevaili the French Garrison Towns along the Co ast, mounting Guns, and making every preparation fo' a sthe of War. Two days ago a British Offic er arrives in this Country, who brings intelligence that a n orde r ha been issued by the Trench Government, for ibt Englishman to be permitted t o g o near t iny of Seaports, Calais excepted, at w hi c h place 00l the Seaport s, English : tie to embark for their own Cou'llY. Almost all the English in Paris %Vete prepaying (‘) return, and Lord WHITWORTH hi ms elf did 01 expert to remain much longer in that Capital. • NYE are not at all surprised at the impa ern:, the Public for a definitive answer from Fran ce ' er r of C oo The stagnation of Trade —the general wr• fidenCe—and the evils which a rise from the stale ° i Uacmainty in ‘vilich circumstances have Pl3ce`' I E'. 416,, P r ~ i ,i T i