The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-04-21 00:00:00

NOTTINGHAM ELECTION.

Mr: I. H. BROWNE moved the Order of the Day
for taking into consideration, the minutes of the evi-
dence taken befbre the Committee appointed to try
,the merits of the petition complaining of an undue
elation for the city and town of Nottingham ; which•
bring agreed to, he moved for the resolutions of the
Committee to be read ; which being also complied
with ; he said, his preient °bled was to postpone the
further consideration of some of the resolutions, for
though he was aware of the propriety of admitting
as little delays as possible in the next return, yet the
subjed was of such importance, as to require the
most mature deliberation. It was, not his intention
to criminate zny person, nor was the- subjed of cri-
minality necessarily conneaed with the present ques-.
tion. Whether the Mayor of Nottingham, or any of
the other Magistrates were culpable, was of distind
consideration, and may be made the. s;:bj.ed •of a
legal l recess, with which he had-no inteutign of in-
terfering at present.
The Clerk then r:..ad the resolutions, the first of
which stated, that 'during the late eleCtion, the town
of Nottingham had been for 'five days scene of
turbulence and riot, destrudive to the freedom of
election.
On the Motion of Mr. BROWNE the House
agreed to the resolution.
The next resolution was, that John Davison, Esq.
the Mayor of Nottingham, neglected to make use
of the most effedual means.to preserve the freedom
of eledion.

Mr, FOX said, he did not rise to objet to this
motion, though he did not altogether approve of it.
lie believed, t to be true that great riots and out-
rages took place at Nottingham, but he could not
see that the Mayor and Magistrates were therefore
to be censured. This resolution was so worded as
not to exculpate any of them ; and he wished it to be
understood, that in acceeding to the resolution lie
did it on the conviction that they were not to blame.
The resolution was then agreed to.
Mr. BROWNE then proposed, that as the other
resolutions were not immediately conneded with his
object, he should move to have them postponed; and
the more so, as what they contained Werelikelv to be
made a matter of ciiniinal prosecution, He said
that he .had no personal conneEtion whatever wits
any of the parties, and knew no more of-the
stances than what trait:Tired in the Committee, of
which he had the honour of being appointed Chairman.
It was in compliance with the instructions of that
Committee, that he had to make the present proposal.
Though he did not now intend to 'criminate aay
person, he felt that the conduit of the .Mayor cf
Nottingham was not to be passed over but, on the
contrary, required serious consideration. It was
evident, that some regulations were necessary for the
futnre government and good of that place, and the
more.: a, as the disturbances and riots complained of

-- - '
were not peculiar.to the last, but common to all the
de/lions A Nottingh.un. The outrages and turbu-
lences were •so . flagrant that the peaceable
tants. were "fir.frOr4 Axing saNin
.their persons or
property. •The tirtuhittee therefore authorized hint
*to pronose the;s4pensioO of the 4pe4ces. writ till
some 13i11 'was agreed to for. the ,fooli ~b;ttezcrpment
of the police...of NOitingham. -The .objefft .of the.
•Bill was tlit?lesi liable to. objection, as it (ha not tend
disfrat4ise ifke corporation, or to criminate or
pustish any person. It no more disfranchised the
,Mayor and .Aldermen. than. the Bill which altered
and regulated the,police of. , Westminster could be
considered as art. encroachment on 'the lights and
.po*ers of the magistracy of Middlesex. The Mayor
and Aldermen Alight •be perfectly innocent of any
,Hence, and yet it
,conia7 tlcthotight•the less neces,
sary to proiide. Ter. the "peace and security of the
town ancisountip(*ttingearu... They would be
restored to. their.. for'inci- siolaijons.,.•and not hay.e
their jurisdiai:i.4l drrnjuislied.ly .th.e privilege pro-
posed.of ehapng ;be, couqty
,Magistrates, to adt in
ctinjtinarenitll thd,sp-tf. dig Amp whenever occa-
sion may require. He :then melted for leave to
bring.in a Big fcit,ipore, .eiresTna:lly preserving the
peace, and securing. the freedeM of eletliou in the
town and,cotintY:br,the town, of Niatinghim.
Mr. PIERREi".OiNT seconded the motion. He
said, tlukt ever since,helad-thehonour of a seat
in that, ouse, he scarceli Verpres4med 40 intrude
any opinions on it, and it-was..*th e:areme repug-
nance that, he offered himself at present. He had
been called upon to gc), doina tb Nottingham during
the late eledtion, and Witoeised such scenes of licen-
tiousness,.outraga, and violesFe, .as were destruaive
of the must valuablEpriiileges of the town, and must
be a diskrace to ahy civiliaufil country. He knew,
that if the Magistrates did not.forward the disor-
ders, they at least sat as silent. speitators of
them. He supportocithe Bill, therefore, as he con-
sidered some effeclual regulations necessary.

Mr. FOX hoped that the House would not be
determined in their decision by long assertions,
though. coming from holveveirespeaable a quarter.
If the assertions made by the last Honourable Gen-
tleman, were true, it' must• necessarily follow, that
the Committee had not discharged its duty, as they
ought to have-reported:that the Magistrates were
culpable. All that he knew of the subjeft was
from a cursory inspealon-of the minutes of the pro-
ceedings ; and upon:that Uuthority he must say, that
the conduit of the Mayor:of Nottingham wisrmuch
more deserving of thins than of censure. Gentle-
men should recolle, that-we still had laws existing
-in the country., and- that awes by them expressly pro.
Tided, that at the time ael.popular elections for the
na-
tional .representation, military should. not only
abstain from visiting the place of elation, but should
also be: kept at a distance -from it. He had only a
• very slight.personol %knowledge of or.e 'of the par-
ties, but it -appeared to hies from the report, that
the Mayor and Aldermen had regaxded no measures
• proposed t them for the repression of disturbacces.
l'he Mayor ;however .bad refused to let the elceters
be brought up
.to the hustings, under the pro-
teCtion of the soldiers, and had he done other-
ivise, he then would have been• really guilty of a
criminal offence against the privileges of that House;
and be deservingof an eieniplary punishment.
It was stated, 'and he understood Very trtily, that
Nottingham had always, as well as dying the last
.eleition, heed the scene of riot and disturbance; but
it was remarkable,- and well worthy of notice, that
the rioters were uniformly in support of partiei to
whose. interest the Magistrates were supposed to be
adverse, and therefore not liable to the. suspicion of
encouraging or abetting such disturbances. The
grievance was such as to require a remedy, but he
could not see that this Bill would • supply it; and
it should not escape notice, that though it avoided
direetly criminating the Magistrates, it had at least
the aspea, and seemed- to imply a censure on the
Magistrates. The true made of proceeding would
be to enquire if they had Suffered the riots to proceed
fromneglka of duty, or want of means to repress them.
- As to extending the privilege of acting to county
Magistrates, it would-be at least doubttut.whether
any good could result from it, as they might be as
powerless for that purpose as those who were already
in office. He recolleEted that the House bad re-
course to remedial Bills. to -secure the- freedom of
eleEtion in Norwich,and some other places, bat had
not made it a part of their Tan to disfranchise the
Magistrates. The Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Browne)
. had contended that thi sz easy ere, instead of disfranchi-
sing, would only restore the Mtyor and Aldermen to
the same situation in which-they were before; but
it was the first time he ever heard of restoring a
charter *by: taking it away.. The 'Magistrates did
not refuse to appoint constables proposed by any
of the parties ; and had even consulted Mr. Coke's
Committee on the best means of preserving good
order; but they very properly declined the assistance
of the military, except at the hours after the day's
poll was closed. An 'Honourable Member, highly
distinguiefied for his eloquence, once said, that
he did not 'like the etc:dom-for Brussels to be
concluded in the Ito; low"sqZiary Of the French army;
neither could be approve of an eleltion at Notting-
ham; to take place under the cor.troul of
Power ; justice shOuld lie "clone to the condua
of-the Comruitte oa one side,..as well as the other.
Ike admittedewith them, thm some remedy should
be provided- egainit the grievances complained *of,
and he hid din:fete a right-to concluth, that if they
!lad discovered abuses or culpability on the part of
t!:e Magistrates, they would have repo.ted them ac-
cordingly
• Mr. BOND considered it as unnec issary on this
occasion to aliiicess the condua of th Magistrates;
which had betoer be reserved ler future considere-
tion. AN hen the subjefk should cme regular 4
to ! the Hotter, it would be seen drat the Committee
done its duty. :The Question sow was, whether
there was any ground for'bringing in the Bill pro-
posed ? It was manifest, that in the tiwn of plot-
tingham the freedom of elation had trees} gressly
violated, and that the lelngisirates, from ~vtatever
causes phey may arise, 41 not inter
.pose 9ny effec,