The Sun. — London, England, 1806-03-20 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE DF PEERS. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19. WOOLLEN MANUFACTURERS' BILL. The House having resolved itself into a Committee on the Woollen Manufaature Bill, and the Order of. the Day being read for hearing Counsel on the Pe tition against the same, Lord SPEI4CER observed, that he feared the House could not, consistent with its usual praCtice, , receive the Petition, It was not customary to receive Peti tions against the principle of a. Bill in its progress through the House. He could not account for tilt opposition made to the Bill, which was only a re pewal of a measure which had received the concur rence of the House for successive Sessions. _The principle of it was merely a prolongation of the pe riod to which it had been found necessary to suspend a complicated system of laws applicable to one of the most important branches of our national industry. Lord ELLENSOROUGH also explained the nature of the Bill, and the Bill was committed without bearing Counsel.. • Lord AUCKLAND presented a• second Petition 'against the Bill ; to which Lord ELLENBOROUGH objeCted, , on the ground of informality and:inaccuracy in the prayer of the Peti- tion. Lord SPENCER again took the' trouble of explain, ing the nature of the Bill, and expressed an inclina tion tu hear the, Petitioners'hy their Counsel, if they Were of opinion that,they had any arguments to offer which could influence their Lordships. 'to change their opinion respe&ing the necessity of the Bill. Lord HotAaNt,),thouglit it would be best nJt to `insist upon the stria practice of tiv, House, but td let the Petitioners be heard at the Bar ; to which Lord LLENBOROCIGII acceded, and an Order, was'mdde accordingly, that Counsel should attend / on the'third reading to-morrow.' The'Bill went through, the Committee, and was reported without amenchnents. The Scorch Bankrupts, and another Bill,(private) wers. brought up from - the Cotnthons,..and read a first time. DECLARATORY 'BILL. On the third reading of the Declaratory, Bill re speeting Witnesses, Lord ELLENBOROUGff stated, that he had - the permission, of a Noble and Learned Friend of hiS to withdraw the Provisoes which he had wish 'ed to engraft upon the Bill. On his own part,, he also wished to withdraw the claise which he had submitted to the House, and which he meant should have superseded the Provisoes introduced, by his - Noble Friend. From the best consideration he had been 'able to give the subjeka, he thought that the Bill would be more satisfaaory, if it were unaccom panied with either of those Clauses. The I,olw CHANCELOR explained the reasons which had induced him to introduce the Bill, and to frame it in that particular way in which it now ap peared before the House. It went to deClare nothing inore than what a great majority of the Judges had averred to be the law pc the land. Earl STAN HOPE expressed his satisfaetion that the two Noble and Learned Lords had at last discovered the inutility of the clauses they meant to have en grafted upon the Bill, both 'of which would only have I-cur:it:red it obsourp and inexpli&ble. He wished that means could he found to incorporate, the Bill which he had the-honour of proposing into that now in its progress through the House. Lord Hot4...‘rip stated some objections to the provisoes, and gave it as his opinion that the Bill would bp more,clear and explicit without them. Lord 'E L LENBOEOUGH defended his, conduft in the part he had taken in the -Bill. The clause which he had prepared was at the request of his Noble and Learned Friend, With whom be had had some cOnsultation on the subject... The Bill was then .read a third time, and passed. It was ordered that the Judges should deliver their ,opinions in the, cause of. ‘r Lucena v. Cranfurd," on the 2d of May.--Adjourned till to-morrow, ffOUSE OF COMMONS. NVEDNF.DAY, MARCH 19. Mr. S'F.ANEIri. having taken the Chair, • A new was or:16-ed for the electionof a Member for the County. of Kilkenny, in the room of the ilight Hon. Wtn. Brabazon Ponsonby, who is raised to the honour of a Peerage. Mr. 'Bo ND was introduced; and took the Oaths and }pis Seat in conequence of his re.ele&ion. Upon the motion of Mr. DUNDAS, the Scotch . tankrupt pill was reed a third time, passed, and or, dered to the Lords. The Bill for reviving several Expiring Statutes was read the second time, tand committed' for to: morrow. Mr.. VANSITTART moved for a Return of the Estimate of the Interest upon Exchequer Bills is 7 sped pursuant to a Bill passed in 1 803.-Ordered. The same Honourable Member presented the 10,500,0001. Exchequer Bills Bill ; which was read the first time, and ordered for the second reading to morrow. An Officer from the Department of the Naval Commissioner? of Revision presented an Account of the Expences attending the same from their ,first Establishment, distinguishing the items of Expendi, ture in each year.—Ordered to lie on the Table. Mr. ALEXANDER brought up the Report of the Irish Military Volunteer Service Bill; which was read the first time ; and upon the question being put for the second reading, Mr. LEE said, he highly approved the principle, 2nd wished to extend it still farther, by establishing reciprocal Plan of Service for the Militia of each Country ill the other, as occasion might . require, It was rather an awkward thing to propose a question of Volunteer Service to men with arms in their hands ; - but now that au Union was established; the main objea avowed' for which was to consolidate the strength of both , Countries, he saw no reason why the Militia of both Countries should not' be embo- . died.at their outset upon a legal obligation to nerve in any part of the United 'fingdom to ,which they might be called. Upon the good consequences that wool result from Nat a principle of 'reciprocal Service be tween the Militias of both Countries, 'in promoting civilization, 'manners, and mutual confidence, be tween both i aountries, he perfealy agreed in the, sentiments Wpressed by an Hon. Uentleniap a few nights since (Mr. W. Keene); and when he recol- Gentleman behind him (Mr. Paull),. on which oe les:led thal at .this moment there were 29,000 1i- easion discretionary power, now proposed to be given; litiamen embodied in Ireland, awl 60,000 in Great .to the Board of CoMroul, was first given. He had Britain, he, felt that it must be an embarrassing cir- been asked, whether there were any Papers relating • cumstance to his Majesty'S-Governrnent, in caseeof,. I to the Bhurtpore Charge, to the produdion of which the invasion of either Country by the Enemy, that ; he ' thqught there might be ol*etions on public no part of this efficient Force could be transferred ! grounds ? To this he should answer, that though i from either to assist the other without the formality he had not . again looked over those Papers, his im- ! of an Ad of Parliament to authorize the procedure ', pression decidedly was, that there were-passages in 1 being introduced Session after Session. He did not ! some parts of those Documents which it might not mean for the present; to make , any Motion on the ! be prudent to make publi'e. He said, that the Hon. 1 subje&, not knowing what might be the .Military 1 Gentleman had undertaken a difficult task; namely, Plans in preparation by his Majesty's Ministers, but '; that of convincing the Hose, that what was right if that. made no part of the Plan he pledged himself 1 in June, 1805, was wrong In March, 1806, as the 1 to bring forward a substantial Proposition on the sub- cases were precisely similar, the accuser the same, jed early in the next Session. . as well as the accused, and the' circumstances pre- General TARLETON' said, that having had un- , cisely the same, except that the Board of Controul ! der his command, at different times, the Militia of ! was a. different one. Did the Honourable Gen bath Countries, he found them excellent Troops; " Ilernan mistrust the present Board ? If he did, ff but he was convinced at this moment that.all dans ou .what . grodnds, either individually or in the ger of invasion to Ireland vanished with the issue aggregate? Were his motives suspeCted• because ' of the battle of Trafalgar : with resped, therefore, , he had avowed a ffirmer friendship for, and an high- to-the Proposision of the. Honourable Gentleman,;l opioion of the Noble Marquis who was the obje& he thought it much better not anticipate any cons iof attack on those Motions ?He had avowed it, be jeEtures or proposals relating to the System of De- i'cause he felt it ; and if any Member Was capable of fence for the 'Country, but to await the regular pro- suspecting that be would suffer his public conduct di-talon of the Plan in preparation by his Majesty's 'I to be biassed by any such considerations, the best Ministers; and it would be then time enough to ?radical answer would be, that he had not opposed suggest alterations ,or improvements if they were i the produCtion of one single Paper that had' been judged necessary. , - ,I moved for with a view to fix a charge on that Noble . Lord FOLKST ONE fully agreed in ',the sen- Persists. Had 'he any such nowerthy motive, it timems expressed by Mr. Lee, -and wished the .ceuldihardly be supposed that he, a bumble Mem principle to be finally settled without the necessity,. tier of the Board, could influence the many high of bringing forward a Bill upon the subje& every ipdividuals of which that Board evas composed.--- Session . ; ' . . , Mr. 4. then said, that these House must be aware of Lord C4BTLE'RE 4CH said, thatit stas in the, the danger and disgrace that would attach to the contemplation of His Majesty's late MMistera to Beard by ley abuse of the responsibility which have -proposed a mode of increasing considerably the l must be attached to such -dikretionary power, as ' Troops of the Line, by engrafting a Clause on the there were so many Diredora in the House who 'lrish Militia Bill for enabling the commanding Of, were privy, to the contents of :any doceithents which ficers to discharge ' a certain portion of men from might be withheld. He would put, es to. the ques- , each Regiment, oot'exceOing 401 Men' per coot- tion itself, a parallel case :—Suppose any Member 1 pany, upon their receiving a. certatts Run. of lionnty , should have moved, with a view to criminate the to recruit those men, upon their agreeing to enlist late Government, while it continued, for the failure for general service. The facility of obtaining se es of the -Continental Confederacy, for necessary Psis crafts for the Irish Militia at three guineas per man, pers to elucidate the transactions belonging to it— compared- with the high bounty, twelve guineas, would any man, say that the Ministers, even though paid in this Country fOr the 'Line, would lead to the parties accused, would not have been bound by such a coMpetition• as very much to decrease the public dn'ty to withhold such as by their production ekpences, as well as diminish the ditticulties of th e might have, been attended with public inconvenience I recruiting service ; and if such a projed made no or danger ? That was even a stronger case, because part of the plan . in Conteniplatiou by His Majesty's in the present instance the discretionary power was ' Ministers, he would earnestly recommend. it - 'ior to be given to persons who lied no interest one way , their adoption, and feel it his duty to suggest suelt or the other.' ! a proposition when their plats should come before . Mr. FRANClSexplained. the House. • Lord FOLK,STC.9..VE had beard of ,Motions - be- Mr: VANSITTAI3T at the same time that he ' ing refused for want of; being founded on Puha , believed the project- suggested by the Noble Lord mentary grounds; and lie should be glad to know ' made no part Of the plan in contemplation, sue- what Parliamentary grounds had-been laid fur the resent. The Right Hon. Gentleman had declared Bested the propriety of Gentlemen' Waiting till the. P plan itself should be brought forward, instead of he nevee read the Papers ; nor did he assume to de- ' saeggesting loOely such propositions when 'no ques7 dare they really contained any thing improper for tion was before the House. .. , - . - , disclosure. It would be time enough then to sane- The Report was then read and agreed to, and the tion the refusal when that Right Hon. Member felt Bill ordered to be engrossed. himself warranted to speak from his - own knowledge A Person from the-India House presented several that they did contain matter unfit to be made India• Papers, pursuant -to orders of the es - th and Public 2-oth Jul ; which, on the Motion of Mr. VAULT,' Mr. FOX felt himself rather under some difficul- , were orde y red to, be printed. ty on the present occasion. The Floese certainly - INDIA PAPERS, had. u pon two former occasions,. as stated by his . Mr. If. JIDDIXUTON said, that, having stated Right Hon. Friend, acceded to similar Amendments; and, So far, he saw no blame, attach for the present the day hefore, when he gave the notice of the slilo , tion he was- about to make, that his abjeCt - was Motion; but certainly he would be very far froru da assenting to any such proposition as a general pre merely to supply an omiSsion which had ina cedent to operate weeny future occasion ; but, if vertently eccorred when the House had. on the no such question had been hefOre the House, under 11th instant ordered 'rite . Papers respeeting the Bhurtpore Charge, -he should content himself .with the old pradice, at least for the last forty years, a merely moving that that Older should be read. This -discretion was always understood and allowed by the House' to His Majestgs_Ministees, to withhold being done, he moved that the words " So much public ;communication upon matters- the disclosure as the produCtion of which may not be injurious to the public safety," should be added. of which they conceived to be injurious to the publ tic serKice—taking, however, a jieavy responsibility Mr. FRANCIS, not so_rouch with a view to on' iii the exercise of such discretion, if they should be pose the Right Hon. Gentleman's Amendment in deteded in any abuse of it : a matter, however, not the present case, as to resist a principle which might so easy as in the present case, where any improper hereafter influence every . branch 'of the public af fairs, as Well as those of India ; gave his,' decided': concealment could be exposed by such yarious At , The thorities ; but though he saw no Injury liable to opposition to time Motion as it , then stood. House of Commons had a right to full commonica- arise on the present occasion, he by no means Wished • Lion upon this, as well as upon every other subjed; to establish a general precedent. and h Mr. BANKS thought it would be time enough e could never agree to see that right frittered away by Motions for confiding to the discretion of to grant such a Motion w hen a c a se was made out, and the Right Hon. Member, or any of his Col any individual, or set of men, how far they should leagues, could assert that-the Papers contained mat-; comply with the orders of that Hoose, or what do ter improper for public disclosure. cuments or information they should ehuse to com municate, apd what withhold. If once the House Lord HENRY' 1 1 1:ITY professed to hold the of Commons should accede to such propositions , it , same opinion with respea to the Motion of his Right would be in vain • that it should institute InqUiries ' Hon. Friend; as expressed by Mr. Secretary Fox ; but as it seemed to be the sense of the House, 'he to detect peculations or delinquencies. It would be would rather, to avoid any idea of instituting an im in ,vain that it should attempt to carry up Impeach proper precedent, revert to the old niode, by which meats for high crimes and misdemeauours to the Ministers were heretofore responsible for the discre- Bar of the House of Peers, as was the objea 'avow tion vested unavoidably in them, in the comtnunica ed by an Hon. Gentleman. The documents abso- - tion of such documents or extrads as they should lately necessary to sustain the charges against U. think fit to lay before th . House, and in the with- Public Delinquent, might be in the keeping of a holding of such as they judged improper; he would, Public Officer or Board, under the controul, per-' thereffire, recommend , to his Bight Hoe, Friend to haps, of a-friend, a brother, or even an accomplice; - withdraw his Motion., .3-r o :, party accused. There would be an end to all ' Lord C4I.STLEREAGH felt it necessary to rise attempts to bring home comidion to a State Cri in explanation of the motives which induced'him to minas: who, veiled under the sceurity of such a ells- move the former Amendment, in a similar rase, to a cretion, would set detection and pneishment at de- fiance.' He had no notion of false delicacy in fa_ , Motion of the Hon. Member opposite to him (Mr. Francis). lt was in consequence of a voluminous your of this person or that, when public duty de manded his exertions. He' spurned the idea of colledion of •Docutnentss laid generally and indis eriminately before the House, in compliance with its shaping and modifying Motions to please one party , orders, founded upon' Motions of a very wide and . or another, when his object was truth and public justice, and he felt Parliament degraded by acced- ' general scope, upon which the Directors imagined they had no discretion to exercise, but must comply . ing to such proceedings. The privilege of impeach with promptitude : in consequence, there appeared ment of State Delinquents was, as bad been justly said in the case of Mr. Hastings, ,s t h e r i g h t arm , among these Papers the secret communications made , by persons to the India Government of the motions of the House Of Commons," and the Impeach , 1 slants which they carry to the'Bar of the Lords, and progress of the Enemy, with the names of those very persons expressed, whereby their persons and I " the public cry of all the Commons of England , " Delinquent. He should, therefore,' re- i lives were exposed to vengeance and deatruCtion.— against the i • , This taught him the necessity of the Commissioners sisttne present Motion. being vested with a discretion to withhold, in future, Mr. ADDINGTON replied to Mr. Francis. He . papers of a secret nature. He agreed in support of said, that he considered that the Motion which he ! the necessity, and recommended submitted to .th the Right Hon. .. e House H was so much a matter of ' ..Gentleman to persist in his intention. course; that he really had not anticipated the pos- I The discussion was continued to considerable sibility of any objedion being made to it,: ethers , knoll). wise he should certainly have 'thought it a, piece of , al r . .s 3 ASTAnn, Mr. WALLACE, Mr. I'AULL, and respe& to the House to •State his reasons for having ! Mr. WILBERPOECE thouglit - a case ought to be made made it. It had been objeded to him by the Hon. ' i out to justify the Motion ; and. Mr. AetssaNpiat, Centleinan who preceded him, that it wag • esta- ; Lcre a-1 'l." i EMPLE, and Lord MoRPETH, joined in the Wishing a clangemie; precedent. If so, this' charge 0 e 0 recommendation Of Lord HENRY PETTY. 1 • . could not tie * - Aitsly apply to him, because he was i Mr. GILES said a few words. • not establ4ilAng the precedent, which be had ibund , Fl . Mr., H. ADDINGTON said, that it had been in the Votes of the House, namely,, in June': Cause, .much his Wish to have had all earlier opportunity to wh=ithe Oude Papers . Ikue nomad for by an Hun. assure the Ifouse that it trot; fir from his desire to. bring the queAion to a division. It appeared to him so innocent, so unimportant, and so much a matteV Of course, that lie had been on the point of making the Motion the day before,.,even without giving a . . nouce. He had risen immediately after his Noble Friend near him (Lord H, Petty) to express his rea diness to comply with his suggestion, notonly because it came from a quarter to which it would be' always his wish to pay deference, but because two or three respeEtable Members, who had , spoken before, seemed desirous that the Motion Should be with drawn. His 9pinion, however, remained com pletely unshiken as applying to the present case, by any arguments that he had heard, though he agreed as to the general principles laid down by the Ilight.Honourable the Secretary of State. He still thought that it would appear strange, that, after the House had, no doubt, for weighty reasons, adopted these words on two occasions out of three that had occurred, that in the third, and that an intermediate one, those- words should not appear on the Votes 9f the liouse. He consented, however, to withdraw the Motion, thinking it :immaterial as to the Main objet, whether it was adopted or not. A Message from the Lords signified their Lord 4 ships' assent to LOrd Collingwood's, Family Bill, and the English and Irish Sugar Drawback Adjourned. PRICE 'Ol 7 STOCKS THIS anv AT TWELVE O'CLOCK. Conwls MAILS. ArtretvED—l Dublin. I)OE—L Gottenbirtgb, t Lisbon, r Publin, 3 Waterford. TPE SOLSM taup DICLRE FAL4I.!M AUDEAT ? L 0 N D 0 N, qqiugspAy, MARCH 20, 18:-.G. WE yesterday stopped the Press to announce the arrival of a Flag of Truce from France, with MS / patcls from the French Government. The. Di spatches were fiat - warded by Express from Deal, and arrived yesterday afternoon at Mr. Fox's Office.—s • Whether they relate to the Propositions made on' the tart of government for 4txc4apge of Prisoners, or whether they contain Overtures of a Pacific nature, can of course only he matter ef con, je6.tme. It seemed, however, to be the general opinion, particularly in the City, that lioNAALIT4 had followed up:his eleclaptioni in his, Speech,- and in the Exposé, by a dire& Proposition to our Go vernment, and the Funds rose accordingly. The rise would have been considerably greater, if it had not been fur another citcurnstance, which tended very strongly to depress them, and that was, the notifica , ties' from the Governer of the 'Bank, to the' Gntlel men of the Stock Exchange, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be ready to negotiate fqr Lean for the present year an Tuesday nwst, it i$ understood that the Loan will be for 25,000,000,1. The arrival of this Messenger has naturally given rise to a variety of reports, all, of which have a fen-, dency to excite a hope that some pacific Negotiation may be opened between this' Country and 04 French Government. That 4 our I\linisters will bit ready to listen to any terms which will not be int compatible with the honour and interest.cf the Na l tion, we cannot for a moment doubt. due consideration of the ,events which have taken place , since the past hollow Truce between the, tw9 Countries (for it cannot be called a Peace) will spew that there are great difficulties in the way of any such arrangement as would meet the wishes and expeEtations of Great Britain. ,NArpir.Tß insisted upon the Treaty of Amiens, as the indispensible ground-work of a Peace, long before' he had made such prodigious alterations in the state of the Continent as leave him a much more formidable portion of power than he possessed at the period alluded to.. It is needless, to dwell on the changes he has made,' and his consequent acquisi tions, as they are too well known to all m . riankind.. Is it to be supposed teen, that in the intoxication Of triumph, and with such an enormous augmentation of po'ver, he will at all recede from his purpose ? He declared in his 'late Address to his Senate, that the Peace of Amiens should be the basis of all future Ne gotiation with this Comm.) , ; and though he did not so emphatically insist upon " the Treaty of Amiens, and nothing but the Treaty of Amiens," as he did upon a former occasion, the comparative moderation of his language is by no means to be considered as axriterion of his intentions. If he had any notion of relinquishing that ground as the basis of -Negotia tion, he would not unnecessarily have introduced it' in his Speech, as he was thereby pledging himself to all Europe to be consistent in his requisition.— But .we have reason to rely an the foresight, firmness, and patriotism of Lord GRENVILLE, and are persuaded that he and his Colleagues will not treat lightly any possible chance of re storing the blessings of Peace to afflieled Europe, if those blessings are likely to be founded on a sure, permanent, and honourable basis. We have thought it necessary to enter into a few observations upon this very interesting subjeti, be cause it is likely to have 'a strong influence upon the . feelings of the public in general ; but we should 'not be surprised if, after all, the purport of this .new 'Message. from the French Government, should be n a?