The Sun. — London, England, 1817-07-12 00:00:00

'lair wards the House of' Commons, and refused to be mi-led Iry demagogues, who told them that the I\lettotcr, were not the kepresent wives of the Pcoille—if any (we had got ty and said at a pub ‘‘ by go rt,eeei they will do no thine for you," its .was Sure such a person would Out have been save Meet) t e r'u beeu said of the panaceas - and:DO - strain, 14' .: Voiriitnetitary Reform, but they had been derided.. e'en by the bear anti warmcmt friends of'. Reform ; and the natural consequences of this, great distress was to e catCh at straws. But as the House had . ditne nothing for these, people, it mights not be .araiSs to inquire whether the. distresses of the Country had been' greatly dimieisheal by the cootie of nature. "lhe doubtediv*there was a prospect of abundant harvest, and, he would fait, hope that the trade of time :Coimirtry had reached its lowest level.. The el-- fecti. '4 the late harvest had, he hoped,..'spt:ri thelie , elves there was said to be a - considerahle iticreiqu'in time value of land, though he thought thk 'Might be. exaggerated ; there ,was alSo a - rise in the Fonds, and there was every. reason to be lieve that we should not see the revenue so bad as . it was nee or six months aeo. But that very har vest had had the effect of reviving our.eevenue,by . the opening of the ports for tite itn - portat,ion of corn, which paid.no duty. 1 7 1te falling off in our coninieree was the want of goods to import, and the'Want of riches.,, so that it could not fail to be bet ved that the opening - of our ports for corn had been the practical cause of the increase of our trade. But the fear was, that this change might be only temporary; as the cause would soon cease. As to the . . rise in the Ftinds, there were two (*rise's; permanent and temporary. The 41 . 1 i. TOillAtt - On of taxes, and the annual savings.in quence, persons in wade,. might have in some deeite itnnros ed 'them ht the course of the. last yei:ir, b u r he u2Ot of issue or 'vent for our trade, and the want of any Whey mode of laying out our money, rendend this cause only temporat v, and the. Fonds most, as so - ii as trade revives, sink to 8 l o wer r e vel Therefore he could not look a t their pre , .ent state as an tmeqiiivocal proof of our p ros pßot when wagcs were down as• low a , ss. or 6s. per week kir an able bodied wolittuan in the ‘NeetVing line, it could not seem that there was any thing like a considerable improvement in our general circumstances. Yet he hoped and trusted we loot seen the . tt orsr. Bet this was no reason ter the House to remain satisfied, and not proceed to improve the condition of the people; becan , e that condition was a little worse five or six months aeo. He denied the assertion that Parliament could do nothiug. As long as any remedy remained within their reach, it Was a bleach of duty to sit idle, with their RUMS acros , , and wait the went. Now, what had been pro -and- what. acted upon ? Nu man charged Bliuisters 'lilt, the consequences which must have been expected ro, happen by time natural transition from war to peat e, however much Wattle ought be thrown on them for the conduct cif the war. But it had - been said our system wants revision,- whieh every great change rendered necessary. Revise your commercial policy; revise your finan cial system, fit the peroose of seducing the taxes. These were the- propositions ; emit how were they ansuered ? Tile Right . HOim. Gentleman at the bead of the Breafd 'of Trade had admitted the jtis t ice of .every principle which. he (Mr.- B-.). had ventured f(; lay down, on the - sohject of our cpM rnercial policy ; :and, iu that memorable candour of his dispositiou, still mote memorable fronethe result that f1)111/VVtd it, ,he bad said, that though lie „diem ed all time peirieiples that, heti been ad vanced, Goat-virulent lutist not act on one of them, because they ere surrounded by tonfiic , ing pri vate interests: AV;.y were these conflicting inte rest. submitted to ? There w is the interest of the Baltic trade ; then came Canada and the ship-. ping interest ; and a hat, it teas asked, could be done 1 Next came the. iron and the copper mer chant. and th y besieged the Board of Trade, and then it was asked what could be done with all these Gentlemen ? If we oppose the lioen trade of the north of lit land, all these Gentlemen will come upon its in a body Such was the touching simplicity, with which the Gentlemen opposite confessed their toter inability to do what they wished. So, said they, in effect, " we will move the other orders of the day, because we admit that what you have proposed would greatly benefit the coun try; bet tic little paltry consid,rations of wood, iron, copper, and linen, have tied up our hands." Put if the House Lad done its duty, it would have answered, " Go on, and if you are not dismissed !rem your places for imbecility, we will back you, by the result of a Committee of Inqu'ry, and then you can no longer complain." The House, how ever, had thought proper to adopt the other course, end thus, in the third year after a defini tive Treaty of Peace, we remained without any iational attempt having been made, to restore the commercial and trading,interert3 of the•Coontry. Now with respect to our finances, Gentlemen on his side maintained, that the way to improve the revenue was by lowering the taxes, as by lowering time ditties they would increase the amount of' the consumption, and consequently of the income, while the people would he relieved from their bnrthens. .But the Right Hon. Gentleman oppo pi!e wonld do nothing until he could re-enact the lfleotne Tax. Now lie got a loan from the Bank . with interest ; then a loan without intet est ; then an issue of Exchequer Bills, .and similar expe dients : and, in short, the Chancellor of the Ex chvymer's- system was to have no system, but to have things as they were, under the cheering con soletion of the rise in the fund 3, till circumstances rendered it possibie. to revive that favourite child of I l k, pt• whom himself and the Right Hon. Gentleman near him (Mr.:Rose) were cmitinually sin gists; the dirge. But he was sore they never e iree ld succeed—they never .could till the, House of c ee emeons became generally detestable- and aban doned. With respect to ; foreign commerce, there was the same want of articles of importation from w kil e we were.ptess.ed by the competition of foreign skill and foreign,eapital, so that time Fi oseee Cometnittee could resort to nothing but an average in their opinions as to the causes of . the revellueetailieg off. .It bad been said, that though there WAS some reason to believe the foreign trade would revive to some extent, there was but too 'limb reason to believe it would never regain its tom reel. stale. This was his opinion, Alld he tretill ttlllC4 it still. There was an incapacity on the . . part of the Continent tes t ate Mir goti:As , nnA Oe'rr growing actiiiiy would 'O to opits•ite tho t i.— Our advantage lay in our skill ainr, l initchinery ; but at Vienna, iMulrlitatisen, and other nlacesi i they had attained to so much like equal. ability, that t no,. n ho reckoned on such mantitartureslie- ing exclusiveiy our own, would too soon'find them .lves outlet: a. great. delusion. This. brought kin] to a topic . connected with our home tOsimtactures. There 'was a' Petition proposed by the Master Cot ton Manulacttets ag•ainst - the exportation Of Cot, ton Twist, which was - to have been signed by 200,000 of the working people. it had been said that if things should remain in the s►+me situation tilt next Session, there would be no difficulty in persuading the House to enter into a full investi gation of the subject, and he should. he who would be most ready to enter it. But though'no, body would be more anxious than himself td . eatch - at.every . thiug that could afford the slightest re , Ref to \those people, it was his duty to state, that the m►►re thoroughly the project of prohibiting the exportation of twist was investigated, the more it would be found to have the effect of diminishing the export trade, by the atnount of the exporta tion and the value of the article imported for it, and to increase the price of the article at home.— The Hon. and Learned Gentleman proceeded to attribute much of the distress among the operat ing cotton weavers in distant parts of the' coun try, and their reasons for joining persons ot dis conteated views, to there being oo permanent and regular connection between them and their em ployers. He contrasted their situation with that of the clothiers in the West ot Yorkshire, where the connection teas more regular and sub stantial, and consequently there was less distress and disturbance. He argued that we had no bet ter means of hettelin'g our general condition than by fi ding new channels for our commerce. He adverted to the resisting of a proper intercourse between this Government and South America ; and observed that there was precisely the sante uniform want of system in this as in all their tither operations. We had a 'Con.til at Trinidad, but he only produced his commission atter the Spaniards had revolted ; while ilk Portuguese and" British America we had no such Officer. & cry Merchant condemned the Governor Of Trinidad, who had shewn himself from the greatest to the minutest details of his government, hostile to the imemests of the Independents, had caestol an almost total interruption 'in the communications with the Spanish Main so that the price of pro• visions had been advanced abotit 1000 per Cent. or front sd. per lb. to ss. fid. He must beg to call the attention of the House to the• manner iii which Ministers had exercised that very prepon derating influence which all the victories and cre dit we bad with the Allied Powers gave us a right to expect. One fact was worth a thousand ar guments, "acrd this existed in the case of Genoa, where a circumstance hid lately taken place, which shewed as•great oppression and baseness on the one hand, as humiliation and indecisioWon - the other. It vat 'known that the King of Sardiltia, though an ancient and legitimate Sovereign, and 'a model of legitimacy he was - ----(Laughie principally of our creation ; he had been expanded by into such a bulk, as to befalmost ealted our own. 'We endowed him with Cielloa, and the Con gress declared it to be a free port Ile lavvailed on the Chamber of Commerce, in whiCh the British merchants had no representative, to make him a donation to construct a large frigate, and the as sessment seas carried over all the British and 'Mal tese merchantS. ' These merchants were assessed in considefablesums each, for what was called a voluntary contribution. They applied to Mt% Hill, otir Resident, who told them to go -to' the Chamber of Commerce and make a eaitiplaint. They did so, but no answer was given tor three or four months, and then they sent a soldier, who was 'quartered on every British merchants and three francs a-day levied for his pay.. Mr. Hill said the Chamber of ComMerce could not be tified, but there was no help for the merchants, and they had nothing to' do 'bet to submit, as there was no means of redress. But the Noble Lord bad consulted the King's:Advocate upon a half- statetnetit of facts, and no more, and it was made to appear that the extortion was contributed in the shape of a tax ; on which the King's Advo cate decided that the laws of nations bad not been violated., Such conduct on the part Of an ally was an insult to us, and a mere - mOckery of justice. It was a mockery to . say that the Noble Lord could'have used no influence, but' sat silent, and made no representation or attempt to obtain re dress. It struck him that this was an act inex cusable and shameful on his part. But was it to be endured. that the British Merchants were to be thus treated and insulted by such little petty contemptible Sovereigns, creatures of our own poliey, - and not to' - he 'pro tected ? He next adverted to the preference shewn at Genoa to 'articles of French mann factnre, particularly woollen cloth, which paid only three or four per cent, white otrs'paid seven; so that no cloth could he in future exported from this country to the King of Sarilinia's territories. He specified numerous other dUtiei to which Bri tish commerce was subjected, - and argued that it was impossible we could expect auk - commercial facilities from Russia, Austria, or France,•after we had suffered ourselves to be s'o treated With impuility by such a little petty King. After sortie severe animadversions on the propensity of Mi nisters for attempting to follow the wilitary Mania of the Continental Powers, he adverted to the large armies whicb those Powers 'Were still keep ing on toot ; not one of them having attempted to reduce them since the Peace. From this cir cumstance lie an d ilred speedy political "shock, notwithstanding the holy Alliance, of which Raissia was the fOunder, but who had always had views of aggrandisement at the expence of Turkey, and who could'easily — comproniise with Austria, who seemed to entertain similar views towards this Power.: proceeded to comment on the line PE conduct lately pursued with . reOect to Lucien Buotia - parie. The - course which Tad'been taken by the Allies he compared with that adopted by that House on Dycit's"Divorce Bill. The pe tition presented by Littien . fora-passport bad been [timed into an enactment against him; and not only did they refuse to allow him a passport, but they also decided against granting him one for his son, lest this should enable Lucien to cover bis - , designi, and effect his escape to AMetica. • He y to see the name of the` - Duke of %Vet laigtori connected with this transaction. Sack, hoWevee, be mest :Obs4ve, was7the •maeia for • Mixing up military authority with diplomatic ar raugements, that he should not be surprised if he were shortly to hear that Lord Stewart, the Mi nister of this Country at Vienna, was not to act '4a - diplomatists had been acenstomed to-do, but on the instructions- which he might receive fro m :the Military Commander in Chief. lii answer to the application of Lucien Buoaaparte for pass ports, it had been stated, that the number of malcontents who had found their way to America was•so great, that his presence there might b e dangerous. He wished to know what danger could be rationally apprehended from such a matt going to America ? What was there to be feat ed from a man like Lucien Buonaparte, devoted to literary pursuits and to poetry, who spent his time in collecting specimens of painting, engrav ing, and statuary, and in making researches after the remains of antiquity near his seat, at tiSeu lum ? The conduct pursued in this instance re sembled the policy of the Peace of NVestplialia, - concluded in 1648. He recited the answer given to the application of Lucien, and the decision come to by the Allies to remove him further from the coast, and to assign him some other abode that' Rome. Was it worthy of the Allies, or of England, to act such a pact ? After ail theexer tions made by this Country, was it well that its influence should be exhaustad_in this waya--that it should be. used to remove an individual from the dominions of an independent Sovereign ? If, in this enlightened age, a, Convent had been ran- . sack, (1 in order to draw hoar it a Monk ; it such a character had been taken flow, his beads and rosaries, to be made an independent tanVeseigit,' is should be remembered that we - had been the means of setting him tip, and had no right to in terfere with his authority now. We had,` lioa - ever, taken upon ourselves to act, where We bad no occasion to do so, on receiving news that an iodividnal was about to ptoceed to America, order to assist the plots of the nr;dcontetas 'who were already them Now, firm all that he had I beard of the peaceable ant! decorolis conduct of Lecien BuonAparte, both while he was in this country awl while be was abroad, where his ac tions were most sedulously watched, he had reason to believe that the news which had been receiver! . concerning him was like that furnished by some of the agents of the Nubile Lord for the . LiOnie Department. Such persons, anxious to be enaj bled. to dispatch a courier with a great or a' little scrap of paper with a broad seal (fur these • things were tie luxuries oh such agents), it they could not discover any mischief, would ehdeavotir t o .t o ..k e some, He could hot but suspect that the , sidionlitiate spies, nho had banished the infor mation received against Lucien Buonaparte, re sembled the Oiivers and others that might be men tioned in this country.. He next animadverted on the mismanagement of the patronage of the fo reign officers. He had nothing to say against the te~o most respectable ofii.ers now. representing this country iii Austria and Russia, but to appoint two soldiers to situations like those confided to them, lie helot to be an abuse of that most deli• cate branch of patronage. He had talked with persons of till countries on the subject Of these appointments; and lie found that at Vienna, and oilier places, there was but one opinion as to the fitness of Lord Stewart to fill that situation which be now held. He honoured the professional merits of that gallant Officer, but still his appoint ment he -had every where found a subject of . regret with some, and of blame with others; but tleose who regretted and who blamed it the Most bad still been ever. ready to do justice to his private character, and to his military taleois. The ap pointment was objectionable, as it caught only 'to have been given to one who had been - bred up to the diplomatic line. He hastily noticed the Con- - suls lately appointed, which he contended were such as reflected no credit on those .with they originated. It remained tor him fo'Mentitin the posture of the country, in a constitutional point of view. He lamented that the hopes which . had been entertained that the Catholics would be admitted to a full participation in the blessings of the Constitution, had ended in bitter disappoint ment ; new strength bad been gained (for it was in vain to attemot to disguise the fact) by bigotry and misgovernment, and the . means of raising a new cry of " No Popery" bad been secured.— On . this occasion he thought could descry, as entrusted to certain hands (hatuls well known iota), the repetition of a well known in trigue. This he was sure, that whatever the design might be that had been formed, enough - had been done to damp the hopes of the country. The question which had been diaeosed of was nOt merely whether the Catholics should be admitted to such and such offices front which they had here tofore been excluded : it was not whether this or that branch of patronage should be given to one particular branch of the community ; but the question at issue was, whether or not Ireland sh . ould be well governed ? It was necessary that the claims of the Catholics should be conceded, to rescue them from a situation which in some respects was not superior to that of the Negroes' in the West Indies.. He did not mean to say that in colour or in treatment they were the same, but the comparison which be made was this, that they were like the slaves in the Colonies, in being dis tinguished from their fellow-subjects. The Pro testants and • Catholics could- not consider each other as brothers and fellow-subjects. In this re spect their situation was similar to that, of the Negroes, but with this difference, that a distinc tion was, in the one case, stamped by the hand of Nature ; in the other, it was created by foolish, and, be might almost say, by -wicked legislation. 'Till Catholic emancipation shonld be granted, the people of Ireland would never unite heart in hand with this country. The present system must Prove fatal to the finances, and not much less so -to the liberties of England, as it Made an enor mously large standing army necessary to the se curity of the - Government. At present the Ca tholics were not the only sufferers by the system pursued by Ministers. It was in this Session of Parliament that, for the first time since the Revo lution, in a period of profound peace, and when there was no risk of the public safety that could scare a child, the libertiaa of the people were con* tided to the Ministers of the Crown, not merely for a limited period, but " durante Gene placito." It was important to consider by what hands the new code was to be used. He would assume the ' Noble Lord opposite to have been wholly igno. rant at the time of what passed in Ireland in 1798, when the victims of the Government were taken to the Castle, and thence to the Barracks, where they were flogged till their bones -appeared thrtitigrthe'skin,:z-nay, till their flesh was-nearly cut off from their bones, when gunpowder and • salt were rubbed into the 'wounds till the most ex. cruciating torment was endured, and then, with- t out reprieve, a. new punishment had been inflict. ed. One man had brought an action, for haVing been flogged (he shudifered to relate the fact) till his bowels appeared through his wounds, when an attempt was made to dispatch him,' by throwing him into a dungeon for six or seven days, without affording him any medical assistance: if then such tortures as these could be iii icted in 'lreland with.* out coming to tht knowledge -of the Noble - Lord,' for the avowed purpose of` extorting confession of . crime, what security could the People of England 'now have, that while he sat in Dowuing.striet the same enormities would not be, practised its Cornwall or Yorkshire 2- He illustrated his argu. . menti by referring to the case of ‘Vright v. Fitz. . gerald, iu -which the detendant had, avowed that he tortured those who were apprehended, in order . Co obtain the truth. Tills 111(111 had been,support., • ed on that-occasion. by the son of tie Chief Jus. tice, Mr. Yelverton, and when he applied for a bill of indemnity, the application WAS sanoloned by the Attorney-General, %%h) hoped thC noose would grant it, with one unanimous voice. He did not now apprehend that the torture would be applied . in England, but he . w as that niifor• tunate persons ‘vo•dd bedrAgged from their homes, 'and confined, without having 'deserved such. pa. 1 - iiishment, in solitary dungeons, and it was-that which he feared cotild..not .b.e gnarded against by.-!: sigadity of the - Noble Secretary of State for the Home Derntnient, 11' by that of the. Right Hon. Gentleman oppusi'e Under these circumstances, he thought the ' House, after paSi tug.tlie. Bill for , suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, pught to do all they could to guard against the,powers ,e4hich . .they had entrusted to Ministers being abused, by cart y . ing up an Address to the Throne, praying_that every attention should paid to those whO might he confined under 'the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act. He apologiZed to the HOnse for the length of his speech, as also -7 foi• - that of the Address Mild) he was about - 6-o submit to the - in He then trioved , a very long Ad. dress, embracing, with little ear'', t y, nearly all the topics'e-impreirended• in his speech. .Lord CASTLERFAGU waS sure, alter Zni: speed* which bad- been made by the Hon. ant Loved, Gentleman, - that he should be considered entitled _ to some indulgence from the House, while offer ing a few remarks on the statements they had heard. !if deliberation- li.,:td.been the rya: jestof the Hon. Gentlentan, and not inflammation, the House would see . that he would nut brought forward such a variety of topics at when it was impossible, to go into them Tile r House would feel, that if half the facti'''which had §t.iited were true, he ought to have tiftived an ibipeathinent against the parties concerned.- They Wodliralso observe, that the subjects - whirls , 't he had now pressed on their attention, he had•not , • thought* his duty to - bring - before them in the course of the b'ession,p; but baying written e ••• pamphlet-during its progress. v./21)1840g ii,c0n0. 4 ,,, derable quantity of libellous matter, he now, the last day the House was to 84, came tiowu make a speech, in illustration of its c on tents —. • Knowing what theconduet, and what the mea sures, of goveroment had been; be bast reserved' this attack till the last diy_iif the SESSion; and had now prefaced an Address, which he'had enov . ed; wilt. a 144 itiflainniatory s - petelt; 'though; front" what had been previously said, it Might have beett' - expected that. he mould hardly have spoken on it 'at -es. Ms object :was understood to be merely to gi a id Iris sOlenib - prdtest "against ihose meoures„ which he itinfd_ not approve. It the • charges' now, made7 - tVer not bringing them forward sooner the lion. Gentle, man bitd-attandoned his duty. He had, however, prove:r4o. , co4e-'464.iti with them on the last day or theessiotY, in 'the hope that taking Nthi s isters by surprise, thetwoUld not be prepare(' to - 'give him an answer on.,every point. He cdulit. not thank the Hon. and Learned Gentleman for. the candmir he itisplayeil, ter feel that he was at all indebted to. him for any*race or favour that' had been sheivii to him-. - ..Knowing the iticlul's gence of the Molise, - he . slibuld now proceed to offer such exlilauations on some of the topics which had been touched upon, as he had it at present in his piswet to -supply. He felt himself called upon this,`not on y for the sake of his own character, and that of those with whoin he had the honOtittfiracf, :hut it, order to Fol. tect the character of ParliaMent itself against those Whose object was to . run it down and Stroy it ; and among the various attacks which • had, been made on it, a more illustrious instance of bOstiliti had not,occurred, than that which it had been their lot to - wittie;Ss that day. The first most opprobrious chargecvlach he had preferred against Parliament was,. that it had been wholly unmoved by the distress - or the people. Could this, he would ask, be seriously urgidby any fair, by any honest -man ? Could it be denied by any. 111811 tilKt Parliament had sincerely devoted it. self to the consideration Orthe public distress,--. shewn the_ warmest sympathy in the Sufferings of the people, arid: exerte&themseites to remedy . them as far as they •C'Oidd"? He had said Par. liament had seen a rime when the people were la'. bottling under atiexampl:6l - distress. The extent of the calamity he (Lord Castlereagh) would noA deny. But the Hon. and Liarned Gentleman went on to say that Parliament had done nothing to ree lieve the distress of the people, but instead of.doing this, they had 'taken: from them their liberties.. He would,ti however, contend that Parliament di relieve the m. The first step which it was neeea-. nary they should take was to protect them against those disturbers of their peace, who, - under the pretext of calling for Reform, were endeavouring to destroy the Constitution, in the hope of raising themselves to power, by the destruction, per haps, of all that was dearest to the hearts of Eng, lishmea.—(Fear, bear, beg. !) , --The Parliamept