The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-03-18 00:00:00

REFORM OF PARLIAMENT.

Mr. HORHOUSE said, he held in his hand a petition for a
kind of parliamentary reform, to which he could not say he agreed.
It was for what the petitioner called a reform of a moral nature.
The petitioner was one of his constituents, 31r. George Worgnian,
a considerable jeweller, in the Strand. He suppose) the merits of
the House to be so great, that no reform was needed in its com-
position. The prayer of his petition was merely for an alteration
in the machinery of the system. He proposed to allow the exist-
ing patronage and influence to operate openly and without disguise,
instead of being forced, as at present, into degraded channels.
The House did not now coquet with the truth, or deny the ex-
istence of undue influence, and he (Mr. Hobhouse) so far eon-
' curred with the petitioner, that he thought it would be better if the
mode in which the House was elected was made more clearly ap.
parent. The petitioner proposed, therefore, that the present
borough-holders should at mice nominate their representatives.
The Member would then stand in the House avowedly as the
nominee of this or that Earl, and he would avowedly express the
sentiments, and vote according to the interests or feelings of his
patron. (Hear, hear, and •laugh.) The petitioner's plan was to
confer oa the landholder the legal right of mending the 31embers
without the intervention of the voters. (Hear, hear, hear.) He
I also considered that it would be more available to the pur-
poses of good government, if the.purchase and sale of a certain
number of seats in that House were declared legal. To this be
(31r. Holthouse) had no objection. (A laugh.) It was done, in
fact ; and he did not believe it redounded to the honour of either
the House or the country, to conceal the practice by laws which
every body. knew were systematically violated. Mr. Vl'oqinisor
was no friend to what was generally known by the WOW
of Parliamentary Reform. He was convinced that the House
would never consent to it ; but he was of opinion they would con-
sent to his plan, which, he said, had the advantage of being practi-
cable; and, indeed, he (Mr. Hobliouse) did not ate why they
should not consent to render that a legal practice which was "
notorious as the sun at noon-day." r. Woegman proposed that
a certain number of seats should be disposed of by auction • and
this mode would unquestionably be attended with less immorality
than the present system. The purchase of seats was, in Mr.
lVergnian's opinion, the only mode of introducing deputies from
some of the large interests of the country. But he was not adverse
to the represer.tation of every class of the community. He prat_
posed, therefore, that the right to elect another set of menders
should be granted to sonic very populous towns, such as Riming-
hrin, Manchester, and Glasgow, in rimier to protect the popular in.
terests, and introduce those depresentatives, who looked forward
by that means to attain useful distinctions and official appoint-
ments. Mr. N'orgman woe no wild or visionary speculator. He
considered that the only objects that could incite men to toil
through the labour of obtaining the representation of large corn.
inunities, was the prospect of official appointments. These were
the only motives he could assign. lie proposed also to abolish the
useless machinery of our Election Laws, and leave to wealth and
power the right of travelling directly to their objects, without going
by the circuitous course of soliciting the suffrages of some twenty
voters, who dared not to give them otherwise titan as the borough-
, holder directed them. Ile (31r. llobhouse) could nut support the
prayer of the petition, as he had told his constituent when it was
confided to hi..l to present; but, at the same time, it was his duty
to state, that whatever might be his opinion of the petition, it was
drawn up in the most respectful terms, and contained nothing that
could give offenee.—Ordered to be printed.

SMUGGLED EMBROIDERY'.
Mr. HOIIIIOUSE said he had another petition to present, but
relattug to a very different subject. This was the petition of the
gold and silver refiners and lacemen of the city of Westminster,
complaining of the surreptitious introduction of embroidery and
other articles of their trade from the Continent The petitioners
alleged, that persons in the King's Government were in the habit
of smuggling these articles, and that the whole practice was so great
that they has nearly lost all their trade. He had been told by some
of the must eminent tradesnien in this line, that whtr,.: they formerly
kept 10 looms, they now had only one, in coLsNuence of the cent-
petition they had to sustain with the surreptnioas trade. The
petitioners stated, that articles of embroidery had been smuggled by
King's messengers, and under ttieseals of office; and they prayed
generally for protection.—Ordered to lie on the table.

LEGACY DUTY.
Mr. HUME then, pursuant to the notice he had given, roor to
more for &copy of the Treasury Minute respecting the wears of the
Legaq Ditty. He was anxious to know the extent to which they
hair curried the order. The day before yesterday he bad received a
paper importing to be an application from the Legacy Duty-office
ini the armee due on the estate of George Woodford, of Hanford,
she had died in lilt The party to whom the application was'
directed had died six or semi yews ago. If the duty was paid at
all, it must be by his relatives. The Honourable Gentleman then
moved for a copy of the Treasury 31inute lately made respecting
the collection ut the legacy duty now in arrears.—The motion was
agreed to.
THE GUARDS.

3lr. IlL'3lti then proceeded t—ob.rial—flr;ward his motion respect.
in,; the stock-parse in the Guards. He bad, some time ago, asked
the Noble Lord (Palmerston), whether the pay of men under con.
finement was added to the stock-pane, so as to be beneficial to that
fund. The Noble Lord admitted that it was. The same night
Mlle officers belonging to the Guards took an opportunity of giveng
an unqualified contradiction to the Noble Lord's admission, and
asserted that the pay of men under confinement was carried to the
benefit of the public. He had since had reason to doubt the am
curacy of this statement. By the words of the Act of Parli.unent,
there could be tio question that the money belonged to the pub!:e ;
but he understood that in the guards the Act was not observed.
The late Mr. 11'yndhani had endeavoured to alter the mode of
keeping the accounts of the guards; and he believed the Noble
Lore' had corrected a good many irregularities in their proceedings
relative to this subject. He was desirous of knowing how this fund,
called the stock-purse, was created. The House sated a certain sum
for the guards, besides which they had this fund ; but front what
sources they derived it he knew not. He had been informal that
in each company there was a certain number of non-effective tarn,
borne only on paper. Reckoning eight to each company, the total
would be 164 aim of this descririon. The pay drawn foe this;
non-effective torn went to defray the expenses of the hospitals,
, recruiting, and other contingent charges. The House had been
' told that the gu.erds were more economical than the regiments
'of the line; and if these were their practices, they might well
seem to be econumicaL ISut no practices could be more inc.
gular. No part of the public money voted for the payment of
the King's troops should be disposed of, but under the control of
Porliansent, and afterwards a full account should be rendered
of the expenditure. lie knew he was laying himself open to the
usual charge of making malicious and slanderous assertions
and insinuations respecting the officers in qumion. On a former
loccasion he haul been asked, whether be supposed they could be sus-
pected of acting on such base and mean motives, as to confine men
ut order to add to their stock-pune. He would only answer by re-
faring to facts. Two men had lately waited upon him, when he
happened to have a vacancy to attend to them. it laugh.) They
asked him whether he was aware that the practice in the guards
differed so materially from that of thedine. They told hint that
the consequence of this difference of practice was much discontent
among the men. Now, lie contended, that it was improper for offi-
cers to sit on a court-martial, who could be benefited by punishing
the sawed. The officers ought to be not only above blame, but
above suspicion. There ought to be no appearance of secrecy. He
had since asked what this stock-purse was, anti he lied learned
that it was • fund managed by the Captains and superior
officers. In consequence of this information, be had propounded
three questions to some officers in the guards, whom he knew,
and he would tell the House the answers he hail received. His
first question was, is there a stuck.purse in the gin ? 't hey ac-
knowledged there was. The next question ass. Are stoppage%
made from the men ender confinement? They .eplied In tl e allir.
motive. The third question was, Is the difference between 6d. and
lektd. per day left in the agent's hands, or is it applied to the aux.
mentation of the stock purse ? The officers admitted that they be-
, liens' it was applied to the latter purpose. He understood that
the surplus of this fund was divided among the Captains had
'Field Officers. These proceedings were certainly rot regular or
riper. The accounts were not furnished to the Noble Lord.
Note but really efficient men should be enrollee!. Before he had
made this inquiry, he had supposed that paper men were now
wholly nut of the question. The Honourable Gentlemen then
moved that a return be laid before this House of the number of men
confined tinder the sentences of courts martial, whether general or
regimental, or by the civil power, in each battalion of the .not
guards, in each year, since January, 11116, to the present year, with
the period of confinement for each man ; also an recount cf the
pay stopped from each man, and to what purpose the sane was ap.
plied ; also an account of the income of the suck-purse, from what
sources it has been derived, and how it has been applied since Ja-
nuary, 1616.

Lord PALMERSTON thought a gentleman so conversant
with the ,:any Estimates could scarcely have moved for the papers
now called for. The )took-purse was created out of the actual
number en:pitied, and those not on active service, the difference of
which constituted the stock fund, which was disbursed in various
ways. By 3lr. Burke's Act, the foot guards were excluded from
this arrangement, and no detail botbre that was given MS to the stock
expenditure for the antir generally. It was said that Mr. 11-yrolliam
rtshed to extend the system of the line to the guards, a tact of
which he knew nothing. The same was said of himself; but he
could assure the Hon. Member he was mistaken. With regard
to eh, apness, he rather thought the guards had the advantage, and
it both were placed on the saine footing he doubted if there would
be any saving. Under all the cireuienuances, he thought the stock-
purse. formed by the Act of 1783, could not he very easily ex.
plained, owing to the detail Into which it bridiched, and the diffi-
culty of procuring returns. By the Mutiny Act, the pay of con-
demned soldiers in the guards goes to a fund; in the line, that
we;.t to the putlic. In ttte case of the guards, the forfeited pay

NEW THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY-LANE.
This Evening, THURSDAY, March 18, will be performed
MACBETH.
Macbeth, Mr. Kean; IlaedutY, Mr: Terry. Hecate. Mr. 0. Sapith
Lady Macbeth, Mrt. Bonn.
After which, SPANISH GALL %NTS.
To conclude with the Farceur
DEAF AS A POST.
To-morrow there will be no Perfornuence.

TIIEATRE ROYAL, COVENT-GARDEN.
This Eveuing, THURSDAY, March IS, will be performed
NUDE sIiALL HAVE A FALL.
Count Ventoso, Mr. M. Fairer: Stefano, Mr. Egerton; Lorenzo. Mr.
Cooper. Victuals, bliss Paton ; Leonora, Miss Love.
To conclude with the Burletta of
MIDAS.