The Sun. — London, England, 1806-03-06 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OrPEERS. WEDNES,DAY, MARCH-5.. In an Appeal from the Court of K-ing's Bench, IVlacdonall 7.!: Bailey, Mr. Knapp was heard for the Defendant, after which the judgment of the Court' of King's Bench was affirmed, with 801 costs. Mr.: Fordyce, Survekof-General of the Crown Linde, presented the Third Report respething-the Land Revenue of the Crel.vn---which was ordered to lie on the Table. - ' ' ' • The Qualification Indemnity Bill was read a second time, and committed for to-morrow. Adjourned till to-morrow. HOUSE OF COMMONS. ViEpNESDAY, '.MARCH ‘5. Mr. C. IltrreitiNsoN obtained leave to rbring in a Bill' for ereEting a new Gaol in the City of Cork; Mr. , FoitnycE presented at the . Bar the Third Re port of thr, Surveyor General of Crown Lands,, ac cording 'to the prescriptions of anAEt of Parliament.. Ordered to lie on the Table and to bt4 printed. A Person from the Commissioners of. the Thame s s Navigation presented an Abstraa of their Disburse ments for the year 18.05.—Oraered to lie on the Table. • ••• . • LORD MELVILLE's IMPEACHMENT. • •Mr. WHITBREAD brought- up a Report :from the Committee appointed to:manage the Impeachment of Lord Melville. • The Report, Was read:lt stated, that Alexander Trotter, who had acted as .Paymaster, &c. to Lord Melville, - while Treasurer of the Navy; had refused to answer certain questions touching the said office, which were put to him by the said Com mittee.—Ordered-to lie on the Table. On the motion of Mr. WHITBIIBAD, the prece dent on the -Journals was read, which refers to the case of Nicholas Caxton, Solicitor,of the Treastiry, who had refused to answer questions before a Com mittee of that House, in the year 1742, and who, for such refusal, had been committed to Newnte by.or der of that House. • Several other precedents; of a similar nature, referring, to the cases of,'Thomas Heath and Robert Harley, &c. were also read. These precedents being entered as read, Mr. WHITBREAD mOed, pursuant, as 'he stated, tc instructions from the ComMittee, That Alekander Trotter should be committed for the said offence to the custody of the Serjeant at Arms. • • The SPEAKER put the:question, That Alexander Davisbn should he committed, &c, Which produced a general laugh. Upon order being restored the ques tibn was correctly put. ' Sir WIII".•ELFORD rose and expressed his•hope' that the House would not adopt the. proposition Of the Honourable Member, and consent to commit Mr. Trotter for refusing-to answer the questions al luded to, Upon a -fair Consideration of the reasons that; induced that refusal,- • When Mr. Trotter derstood that he 'was to be examined before this Committee, he very naturally considered the pro priety of declining to _answer any questions which might have the effect of criminating himself, or ex posing himself to a civil suit. Accordingly, upon questions' being proposed-which appeared to Mr. Trotter to have that tendency, he, had recourse to' the advice of Counsel, and this advice corresponded with that which was proriounced law by several of the Judges in another place: The majority of the Judges had, he was aw are, declared the law to be otherwise. But still doubts existed upon the que,stionj namely, whether a Witness was compel lable to give an answer.to any.such question as might subjea himself to a civil aCtion? and in consequence of these doubts ifwas understood that a Declaratory Law was deemed necessary, and was intended to be brought 'forward. Under these circumstances, con sidering the difference 'of opinion which prevailed upon the point which applied to this subject even abiong the, Judges, and that it was not' yet, ascer tained what the law is, but that on the contrary a Veclaratory Law was in contemplation, which two of the most respectable Lay Lords had very-proper ly said would require the :most mature delibera-. tion, he trusted the House would not inflict the pro posed punishment upon the conduCt,of Mr. Trotter. The Hon, Baronet read the opinion of Counsel . under which Mr.. Trotter acted. This opinion' was sl oned by .Mr. Serjeant Shepherd and Mr. Alex aiider, and imported that a Witness was not etim pellable to answer any qneStiOn . , the effect of 'Ai - Ikb might be to subjeCt him to a civil suit. , With all these considerations, in view,•it struck his mind, and he hoped it would appear in the same light to the House, that pending the, progress Of the Bill, which was tioW in the_ other House •of Parliament, and which was introduced by. 'the Hon. Mover him self, it would be more reasonable and just that the Committee should suspend-their inquiry upon this part of the case-. It would, indeed, be inconsistent with the grounds Upon which that Bill professed to rest to take a different courser,-for that Bill, as well as the ACt of Indemnity from criminal prosecutions, obviously recognized :the principle 'on which tile conduCt Com' lained of in Trotter was quite justi fiable.-.. Prom these.considerations he must say, that' to commit Trotter into custody would be an ad of oppression. If Mover-would consent to, lrive the inquiries of the Committee suspended, so far as. Mr. Trotter was concerned, until the Bill be-, fire the other .Hou,se should be 'passed into a Law, retrial -of 'hotter to answer any question put to hini by the COmmittee could' not be excused ; and upon the •enaarrient of such Law; he believed that Mr. Trotter would - not be inclined to make any refusah • Mr. FOX said, the if no Bill of Indemnity what , ever had pissed, or was passing through Parliament, - would be, extremely Wrong, in .the House to take the course recommended by the Illon.Marotiet, and refuse to sonaion,the condo& of its Committee. 'Upon sUch an application 'as - that'under discussion, • it was not fOi - the Houice to•consider whether Trot ter was legally compellable to answer certain ,ques, tions whin might have been put to him by the CoMmittee, Now it should be taken for granled that the questions ,proposed' to him were correa, otherwise the House 1)4 not a proper.cenfidence in its Committee. What was the case? • Why, that upon the recommendation of this Committee, a wa I?rought in " to indemnify Trotter from aria; aLitipn that, might arise out of his.answers Leac:Te thcin, alOtough the opinion of many Lawyers that he waD convenable to answer cipestions ,of that tendency. That opinion, which prrvailed before the Bill was introduced, was since strengthened by a declaration of a great majority of the Judges. How could the, House then,', upon a question so circumstanced,. reCencile it to itself to. delay the progress.of great ProsecutiOn, as the Hon. Ba ronet proposed ? Such a proceeding would be, in faa,..to withdraw their confidence from the .CoM rnittee, and to` imply a suspicion that that confidence had been; abused. Coupling the preposition of the Hon. Baronet for delay, with what had taken place last year, when,, by a mere majority the cause of justice had triumphed, the. House could not be unaware of the obje&. But he trusted that the House would not sanction the disposition that; was manifested to withhold from thiS Committee the degree of confidence which had never been refused to any Committee upon similar occasion s. ' Mr. IVHITBREAD observed, that if the .Mo tion he had introduced at_the instance of the Com mittee should not be agreed to, the House had better withdraw its confidence from that Committee alto gether. It was impossible for him, consistently with his duty, to state at present what pissed in the Committee 3 but at the same time be could say, that Mr. Trotter was treated, in the course of his examination, with the utmost possible indulgence. ,In the opinion of many, indeed, among -whom he was one, that indulgence had been often puShed too far : he had' been indemnified from all Criminal prosecutien,' and it was proposed to indemnify him from all civil • anion.: he , had frequently demurred ,toquestions,'wh;ch, according to the declared opi nion - of eight of the Judges, he was legally com pelled to answer, and yet titne Was'given him de liberately to advise with Counsel, &c. The Hon. Member disclaithed the intention ,of offering any thing with a view to extenuate or to apologise for the condu& of the Committee. Nor did he mean to state precisely the questions which Mr. Trotter refused to answer ; but he could state in substance, that they 'were of such a nature as, according to the Law pronounced by the four dissentient Judges, he could not be screened froth answering. The Hon. Member repeated, that if the Motion before the -House was not adopted; the Committee would be '. placed in such a situation, that it would be bet ter to withdraw the confidence of the House from them altogether, and to appoint another Coin mittee. ; - . Sir I ELFORD dis Claimed .any intention, in the observations which he felt it'his duty to submit, toimpeach the integrity Of, , or to weaken the con fidence due to the Committee. • . . The Motion was •agreed to. Mr. WHITBREAD declined to go to the extent of the preCedentS which the House had heard read, and which committed the refractory Witnesses to Newgate; &c. he should only move that the. Ser jeant at Arnis should attend Mr. Trotter before the Committee, whenever *they shall think proper to , examine him.—Agreed to. DEFENCE OF THE COUNTRY. Mr.. LONG,, seeing a Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Windham) in bis place, took occasion to, ask. when he would be ready to lay before the House his plans with regard to the Military ?' The reason he asked this question was, that time was very pressing, in consequence of the suspension which had taken place in the progress of those arrangements, and particularly in Ireland, to which the opinion of the Right Honourable ,Gentleman was knoWn to. be adverse. • 'Dr. LAWRENCE 'rose to order, conceiving • •that the words of the Right Hon. Gentleman might lead to a debate in an irregular manner, or if sudered to go abroad' unanswered, be likely to produce inju rious effeets.. . , The SPEAKER conceived the Right - Hon. ! Gentle man perfeEtly in order; Mr. LONG'professed that hi objea was to state the reasons which induced him to . put a question upon a subje& with regard to which he disclaimed any intention to .produce inconvenience to the, Right Hon. Gentleman fo whom it Was addressed, but to obtain some. Satisfaelory informatiOn.as to arrange ments in the proposition of whichthe trusted that no, delay would take place which could posSibly be avoided. . Mr. •WINDHAM had no obje&ion to give the Right Hon. Gentleman every - satisfaaion in his power.' ,Bul he was by, no means prepared to give that answer to his question, which he appeared, to look for. The Right Hon. Gentleman, in talking of plans, assumed of 'course that some, plan existed ; but of this he (Mr. W.) declared that he knew no thing. Certainly there, was upon the public mind strong impression of the inefficiency of the existing militatT arrangements. • The SPEAKER. called the Right Hon. Gentle Man to order, and : pointed out the propriety of confining himself ; to.a mere answer to the question proposed. Mr. IFINDHAM resumed, and said, that Mini sters had no doubt diligently applied their mindS to the consideration of the :Military Defence of the Country. But that no plan was yet matured. The subjed was .too delicate, difficult, and , important, finally to fix upon any plan Without the most atten tive deliberation, without an ample consideration of all points bearing upon the case,, and without , con sulting all those whose opinio: w as ikititled to re spelt: In the prosecution of this course no time would be lost. • Mr; CA NiVING rose to inquire, whether the Notice on the Book with regard to the 'Repeal of the Additional Force Aft was meant , tO be followed up ?=—The' Right Hon. Geutleman (Mr. Sheridan) who gave that notice was not then in his place, but the Right Hon. gentleman who had just sat down could no doubt tell whether it was intended that ,the Aft alluded' to should form a part of the proposed military arrangements. The Right Hon. Gentleman stated his reason for. putting this question, that, While 'any suspense preVailed to the intention of Ministers, this Ael cquld not have its full effeat.— On the contrary, as his Hon. Friend behind him had stated,;it had ceased already to operate in many parts of the Country. Mr. WINI)HAM . , although he felt that he could nry well decline at present to answer this question, upon the grounds lie had already stated, yet he had no hesitation in stating, that in any military arrange- Merits vihich he might have the hotiour of snbmit-, ting to 'the House, the Ad alluded to should, certainly have a i lace.. Loid OstiLsTOki - withdrew 'his Nbtice of Motion with respe6l to the D:A)ts of the India colupany in Eno - land. • ; Lord TEMPLE obtained leave to bring in a Bill' farther continuing the A& which suspended the ope ration of Certain Laws which apply to the Woollen Trade. • Mr: - TIEWNEY postponed, till Monday next, his Motion relative to the Elea.ioa Treating A&, which stood for to-morroW. LORD COLLINGWOO.D. Lord HENRY PETTY moved the committal of the Collingwood Annuity Bill. • Colonel BASTARD expressed. his Cordial concur rence in the ohje& of this Bill. But in considering the rewards about to be distributed for the Vi&ory of Trafalgar, he begged to know_ from the Noble Lord, whether, it was intended to make any parti cular grant to the Widow of Captain Duff,. who, with a large faMily, and scarcely any means of sub sistence;. had to lament the loss of her husband on that' glorious occasion ? With this Lady he had not the honour of being acquainted. He spoke only from the information, of others. But he hoped that she and her family would not be left to subsist on the ordinary provision allowed the WidoWs of Naval Captains. Lord HENRY PETTY s tated that - an application had been made to Ministers in favour of the Wi dows. of Captains Cooke and Dug ; and that subjeti was under consideration. He should only say; that itiwasnot usual to grant to the 'Widows of- Naval Captains more than the ordinary allowance.; but he was not yet prepared to give adecisive 'answer to the Hon. Gentleman's question. The House resolved into the .Committee, and Clauses were introduced into . the Bill, providing that, in the event of 'Lord Collingwood's death, 1.,0001: a--year should be settledsupon Lady Colling wood during life, and 1,0001: a' year .upon his daughters during their natural lives. ' The House resumed, and the Report was ordered to be brought up to-morrOw. . INDIA. Mr. Fox requested that his won. Friend (Mr. Johnstone) would consent, as a matter of personal ac commodation, to postpone till Monday next his no tice of a Motion which stood for to-morrow. Mr. JoHNSToi.•E felt great pleasure in accommo dating- the Right Hon. Gentleman. Mr. PAULL gave notice of a Motion for-Friday for, the produ6lion of three or four more Papers to lay the grounds of an additional Charge against Marquis Wellesley. , Lord TEMPLE asked whether it was _the intention of the Hon. Gentle Man to bring for Ward on Friday the additional Charge he alluded to, 'or to move only for Papers ? Mr, PAULL replied, that he meant to move for the Papers, and they would fOrin all the Documents he thought necessary upon this, subject. If they should be produced in due time, he gave notice that he would,,in the course of the first.Week.after tile re cess, bring forward his accusation's against 'Marquis Wellesley. Mr. H. ADDINGTON begged :the Hon: Gentleman to describe the nature of the, Papers to/which - his in tended Motions Would refer. Mr. PAULL said, that tbereswas, a Prince in India intitled the Rajah of Bhurtpore,--with respeet to whom the Hon. Member was proceeding to make some remarks, when he wassailed to order by Tbe SPEAKER, who directed the Holt. Gentleman to confine himself to the answer required of him. Mr. PAULL stated, that the Papers he meant to move for, related to the cOnduil of Marquis Welles ley towards the Rajah of Bhuttpore. Lord CASTLEREAGH gave notice Of a Motion for Friday, for the production of certain , Papers, to sliew the progress of and effeets of the Additional Force AEA. ARMY ESTIMATES.; he SECRETARY at WAR presented the. Army Es timates, which ‘ the Right Honourable Gentleman stated to be formed on the same scale precisely with those 'for three months, which had been voted on the proposition of his predecessor. The Estimates which he had now the honour to present were only for two months, and lie hoped that much before the expiration of that time His Majesty's Ministers would have fully matured, and Parliament finally adopted, a plan for the permanent Military Establishment of the year, a plan Which, he trusted, would, at the same time that it augmented and strengthened our military force, reduce -the expefice ,of our 'Military Department. Ordered to i lie on the Table, and The Right Hon. Gentleman' gave notice,' that he , would on. Friday move the Estimates in the Corn mittee - of Supply. • Lord CASTLEREApIi took occasion to state, that the reason of the late Ministers . for proposing the Estimates for only three months, was in . order to leav4 their successors completely unfettered, .1 . 16 was' enabled to say, that were it. not for that consi deration, the late Administration was fully prepared, at the time to bring forward a plan for the pernia nent Military Establishment of the year. GeneralTAßLETONconsidered the EstiniateS laid on the Table to ' , have. been brought forward pro forma'; and was glad' to hear from a Right Hon. Gentleman, in cow se;of' the evening-. The Hon. Gentlemaii was proceeding, when lie was called to order' by the Speaker. Mr. VANSITTART brought in, a Bill for the farther continuance of certain Revenue \&s in Ireland. Read a first time, andordered 'to be read a second time to-,morrow. IMPORTATION OF WOOL. Lord TEMPLE moved fort leave to bring in a Bill to permit the IMOOrtatiOn of : Wool 'from America. On, the WIOn for:its first reading, Mr. HARRISON entertained obje&ions to this measure, which he conceived likely to injure the landed interest, but he would reserve the full state ment of thew objedtions to a future .stage. In the mean time he hoped that some regulations should be introdueed into it, that might , render it less ex ceptionable. It struck him that if the unlimited importation of Wool' were permitted, the' effea would , be "to discourage the growth of that arti cle at home, by placing the landed interest at the discretion of the manufaaurers, who would, upon a surplus, in consequence of the importa tion, be at liberty to offer any price they :pleas ed. The importation at , present allowed. proceed ed from a wish to obtain the fine'wool of Spain to mix with our own. But we had no want of the coarse wool of America. Indeed he could pot conceive nhy reason for this Bill. We' had no scar city Of wool whatever, and therefore the,Bill was, on the fao of it, unnecessary, and he much feared it effects would'he injuriours. • Lord TEMPLE called to the recolleetion ,of the House, that the importation of Wool from the United States, of America was alr;.•ady permitted, and' the only objeE of this Bill was +to.grant to our own Colonies the same advantage. It-was his intention 'to propose, that the Bill should be printed, and al low full time for its examination, in order that no alarm should arise from a misunderstanding of its provisions,. - If it should appear deSirable to limit th e continuanCe of the Bill, he should offer no objection to such a proposal ; and, if hereafter, it should be found disadvantageous in its, operation, s its repeal' would naturally follow. HARR/SONrecommended every encourage meat to the groWth of wool, upon the same prin ciple that the Legislature encouraged the groWth of corn. • He advised the introduaion of . a Clause into this Bill, imposing a smail duty on the wool imported, as the best means of ascertaining that which was very desirable, namely; the quantity of the importa tfon.—The Motion Was agreed to. The Marine Mutiny Bill was reported; and or-1 dered to be read .a, third time to-morrow. Lord TEMPLE brought in a BIM to permit the im portation sof Corn and other articles to our Fo. reign Garrisons.. Read a first, and ordered to be read a: second time. • The Foretii SOldiers' .Enlistment and Indemnity Bill was eoMM4ted. :In anwdr to a question from Mr. Huskisson, the Secretary at War stated that the number "of the Fo-: reign Troops in our service 'was before settled at 10,000, they now amounted to 13,000, and hy this Bill it was. proposed to extend them to 16,000. The House resumed,' and the Report was ordered to be brought up to-morrow. • The House in a. Committee—the Chairman was dire&ed to move for leave to bring in a Bill to en able His Al'ajeSty to permit -the importation of cer tain Goods into Rhode Harbour, in the Island of Tortola, for a time to be limited.—The House re sumed, and the Report was ordered to be brought uptO-morrow.. • _ In a Committee of Supply, Resolutions were adopted, and on the Motion of Mr. Vansittart, that Provision should be made for the Adjutants and Subalterns of the English Militia during Peace ; also for the Pay and Clothing of the Militia of Ireland, with a Provision for.the Adjutants, &c. during Peace, &c.—Report to-morrow. Lord Wm. RUSSELL presented a Petiiibn from the Proprietors of the Surrey Iron Railway.--Referred to a Sele& Committee. Mr. FULLER presented a Petition from certain Merchants, praying for leave to bring in a Bill to construat a Pier and Harbour _at Brighton.—Referred to a Sele& Committee. The other Orders of the Day were postponed, and the House adjourned. MAILS. ARRIVED—I Dublin. Duz-3 Haruburgh, x Gottenburgh, 1 Lisbon, 3 Waterford. Consuls PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT TIVELVE O'CLOCK. - 60. THE SUN. soLEK Quxa'DICERI FALSUM AUDEAT ? LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1806, 'A Letter is said to have been received by a Mer cantile House of great repe6tability in the City, froth America, stating, that War had been declared by the United States against. Spain.—We are very much inclined to doubt the accuracy of this intelligence, because although the last New York Papers which we received spoke of a rupture'with Spain as by no means improbable ; yet we do not think the Ame rican Government would plunge so precipitately into a War with that Power, at a time when they are engaged in such a serious discussion With Great . Britain. The Gottenbnrgh Mail which "arrived yesterday did not contain . any intelligence ; but private icounis state, that Prussia and Denmark have posi.; tively refused to comply with the repeated and press ing applications of BONAPARTE to them to shut theit Ports against Great Britain. YESTERDAY Mr. TROTTER • was committed, by order of the House of Commons, to the custody of the Serjeant at Arms, for refusing to answer ques tions proposed, to him by _the Committee appointed to manage the Impeachment against 'Lord MELD VILLE, which he conceived tended to implicate him self. Yesterday morning His MAJESTY gave audiences to Lord BARHAM and Mr. FoRDycE. • At two o'clock His HAJESTY held a private Levee at, the Queen's Palace, which was attended by • The Marquis Cornwallis. Earls—Fitzwillia►n, Moira, Spencer, Carnarvon, Dart• mouth, St. Vincent, and Aylesford. Viscounts—Newark and Sidtnouth. • Lo►ds—Grenville, Boston, and Ciaheart . . . • The Bishop•of Clonfert. The Rev. Dr. Hal4 - theProvost of Dublin. Siri—CharletiMorgan, Thomas Sutton, ,Charles Hastings, Philip Hales, john Newport, and Arthur, Wellesley. Colonel.M l Mahon. ,. Measrs.---Calcratt, Grey, Bond, Windham, Fox, and Pon. sonby. The following:Presentations to I,lis MAJESTY took place : Mr. Ponsonby, on his being appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland, by Earl Spencer; and 'lad the honour to kiss His Majesty's hand. Colonel M'Mahon, by Earl Moira, upon his being ap pointed to the Office of Keeper of the Stores, Ordnance, and Ammunition of War of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: upon.which occasion he had the honour to kiss His Majesty's hand. Mr. Calcr;dt, by Earl Moira, upon his being appointed Secretary to the Board of Ordnance ; and had, the honour 'to kiss 1-ha Majesty's hand. The. Bishop of Clont'ert, upon his creation to that Sec ; upon winch u4;ei-,5i0,11 he had the honour tq kiss His Majk,lsty . 's han.d. r ,