The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-02-28 00:00:00

PUBLIC ACCOUNT&

Mr. 11ABERLY gave 'waft a a motion Ca Iltursey,

meat to effect a rrfwm is shmitemaNishosesito, the pram*
eassame will admit of pest' "
And wish that view thi reebeansetidei
they shoold be both stoited. At She time that Re:
port was made, the expense of toilet-time the re..
venue or both one and the other was 51,600/.. and
at present it 'mounted to between Sand 10,0001..
being at the rate of about sixteen per cent. fur the
In that establishment there were thirty
penenis employed. with the solarieti of 1001. a year
each, besides five Commiosionexs with salaries of bez
tween 3 and 4001. a year each. They had to attend
for that but one day iii the week. and they were of-
ten/Agent fur five and six weeks' The whole duty
awaked upon a receiver and two clerk's The re-
venue upon these two articles was collected
et the expense of 9,3401., whilst the stage
coach duty, which was live times the amount;
was collected at less than half the expense. It
woo clear the revenue of the country could nut
saUlli in that manner. There were also various
entry collectors most curiously selected ; one in
Hampshire was a Clergyman; and he had heard of
another who was not in a state of sanity. This pro.
eeeded from giving these appointments to the Tree..
sury instead of to the Commissioners, who should
have the appointment to those subordinate officers.
The same disregard was paid to the places for op-
pointing throe collectors. If it was important to
have these persons in the country, it must be an
advantage that they should reside in the most po-
pulous places. This, however. was not the case.
In the extensive town of Sheffield there was none;
in Macclesfield there was none ; in Manchester there
was sone; and in the inconsiderable village of Whit-
church. in Humpshire, and Kingsclift, its North..
trroptonshire, there were two of these officers to be
found. In 1797 an attempt was madeto doaway with
these establishments; but it was stated they an. '
swered a double purpose, for granting licenses and
hearing complaints. Rut at present the House
must be aware, that all disputes respecting hack.
ory.coeches were referred to the police offices. His
complained that there should be Ise Commissioners
paid fur doing nothing, who held other offices, and
the more particularly as the Finance Committee of
1797 recommended their abolition ; and bad that
recommendation been attended to then. the coun-
try would have been raved 8,0001. ayear since that
period. He should therefore, with a view to the
investigotion of the subject, move
" For an account of she expense of the sari.« estobNahv
meats is she City of London fur gramme Memos so how!
era mad pedlars. and barkiney.eumbee, for she year rad*
Sta January, 1922, mating the names of every person em-
ployed ifs them, specifying the places they bold, the ditty
they perform, the salaries sod emirlumenta they receive, sod
by whom appointed."
Mr. (AIRINGTON said, he had no objection to
the production of the papers; however, it was but
right that the Hamm should be informed, that the
net revenue arising from these branches of the
revenue was much more considerable than had been
stated. The Honourable Member for Aberdeen
had alluded to the Report of the Committee of
1797, but lie had taken no notice of the interuse-
diode steps which had been taken; for in 1807 thp
question wus brought before Parliament, and thee
it was deemed expedient to unite both the este-.
blislinsents ; but lie did not mean to contend that
• separation of them might not be attended with
useful consequence,. With respect to referring
the collection to the Stamp Office, that might be
done with the revenue of the hawkers and writers,
hut it wools! not answer so well with the hackney
coaches; for in that eerie the'Commisoioners filled
a judicial situation, and the control which the Board
possessed over 3,000 persons, certainly not of the
most tractable characters, was attended with the best
consequences. Finally, he could assure the Hoeft
that they would not find the Government backward
in support of any arrangement in the matter which
they considered beneficial.
Mr. Alderman WOOO said, he hod
of any persons charged with fraud token before the
Commisei )))) ers. With regard to the necessity of
rrgistesing, that could be done by the lowest kind
of clerks, without the expense of Conisnissioners.
Rod all complaints might be made before the police
Magistrates.
Sir Wm. DR CRESPIGMY thought, that if these
Commissioners filled a judicial situation it would
be a great inconvenience if they attended °littler
than once • week.
Mr. Hums reworked that nothing was to be done
by these Commissioners in their judicial capacity
stiut could not be dorm by the police Magistrates.
Ile should move, in addition to his former motion,
" Fur the mimes, ocenpotsons, and salaries, of all
persons employed in these establiksnsouts, bosh in
Loudon and iii she country."
Mr. LuSHltscrom suggested (as we understood)
that they should be referred to a Committee of 21
persons.
Mr. Bas NETT protested against. the practice of
Government throwing the whole weight of their own
business upon 21 persons in that House. It was
the (ravines*
the collection

and the Engliolt

coittres. to peel

ouch large salaries.
money for corm•
opetcheo, but

Sir J. NawroaT said that in rising to express the
satisfaction he kit at the statement of the Rt. Hon.
Gentleman (Mr. Wallace). he should not trouble
the House with any observations except regarding
what had fillet' from that Gentleman on the sub-
ject of protecting duties. If a Committee was sp.
pointed up stairs to consider these duties, he had no
doubt that some of them might he uholished with
advantage, and others continued : different cir-
cumstances would affect different branches of them.
He did not then mean to give any opinion, or to
anticipate any thing that might be said upon the
subject. but he culled upon the House, whenever
the question was brought before them, to exercise
their sound judg3ieut upon a matter of such lin-

portant,.
The Report wasthen ordered to he upon the table.
HENRY HUNT.
Sir R. WiLsoN had a Petition to present, signed
by ►,SUO inhabitants of Greenock, praying some
mitigation of the punishment upon Mr. Hunt, now
a prisoner in Ildirster gaol. It had been stated that
the Magistrates had no political animosity to Mr.
Hunt ; from what motives then they acted he
was at a loss to know ; still less c3uld he under-
stand why Mr. Hunt should be sentenced by those
Mazistrates to severer punishment than the Court
of King's Bench had considered necessary for his
security. Was it not enough to be imprisoned for
two years and a half of his hie, and to be shut up
in a chamber where he could not see the sun, ■nd
be obliged to drink water tainted with the most
loathsome impurities, but kis sentence must be
screwed 4 to the pain sod penalty of solitary eon-
linerneut. He thought that if Government had
any generosity, after Mr. Hunt had enabled theta
to detect and punish such abuses and such crimes
as were committed in that gaol, they would remove
him from a prison in which he was ao cruelly treat-
ed, and fulfil the expectations of the petitioners.
lie should therefore move for leave to bring up the
Petition.

Mr. W•ans was anxious to say a few words upon
the subject, God if he stated sae thing that was
. . .

_tvideoce
by bk. Hunt. He wished that it oinoW be
horse in mind by the Magistrate., and all in their
allergies's, that offenders treated with extraordinary
rigour attract public commiseration, cod are looted
on in the light of martyrs. He. lamented the inde-
finite stature of the laws respecting gaols. It was
hardly possible at 'orient to understand bowler
the powers given to Magistrates by 31st Geo. Ht.
extended. He should give los support to inquiry.
whenever it should be sought.
Mr. DICKINSON defended the conduct of the
Somersetshire Magistrates. The regulations which
they enforced having been ratified by the Judges.
became the law of the prison, sod could not be art
aside by the Magistrates without a new order from
the Judges. The whole matter of grievance com-
plained of arose from the county gaol having no
locality suited to the proper treatment of Mr.
Hunt. He complained of the unfairness of the
Honourable Member for Aberdeen, in having made
use of information which he had obtained through
him (Mr. Dickinson) to aid an attack on the Magi-
strates of that county in the House.
Mr. nude was surprised ■t the complaint of the
Honourable Member, who ought, had he done his
duty, to have presented the Petition of Mr. Husk
himself. His (Mr. Hume's) arguments were not
against the Honourable Member, but the whole of
the Magistracy. They had suffered things to be
done in Banter gaol which were unequalled in any
part of England. An Honourable Baronet (Sir T.
Lethbridge) had on a former night took upon him-
self to deny (Sir T. Lethbridge,.. On my own in-
formation"), according to his information, that
Mr. Hunt had suffered solitary ccutioement.
He (Mr. Hume) had on affidavit from a sur-
geon in the county, which was also signed by
Mr. Hunt's son, stating that admittance had
been peremptorily refused to him, as well as to
many other gentlemen of the county ; and that it
was nut until the order arrived from the Court of
King's Bench to admit this very surgeon that he
could gain admittance. There was, moreover, the
letter of the Sheriff to Mr.,Hunt. in which he said,
that lie lamented that any one should suffer solitary
confinement, except in cases where it was ordered
on the conviction ; that he was convinced the
Judges intended no such treatment ; end that it
was with regret he was compelled to withdraw from
Mr. Hunt that moderate shore of indulgence which
he had hitherto afforded, in distinction from the
other prisoners; bat that it was the pleasure of the
Magistrates, and he must•nbey them. An lion.
Friend of his had, on. former occasion, taken on
himself to deny some statemeots advanced by the
Honourable Alderman (Wood), in regard to
llchester. gaol. Let the House look to the Report
of their own Commissioners, noel be convinced
of the truth. They. would there find Mr.
Hunt's room descr►bed as dark, damp, and un-
fit far habitation. Who was to blame but the
Magistrates? Again, let them examine the Report
at page 19—there they would bud that pure water
was refused to the prisoners in some instance., and
t hat . 1 hey were al lowed none but that which was
filtered through the common sewers. He affirmed
that the Magistrates had been guilty of the grossest
neglect. Persons were brought up before the
Commissioners, loaded with 10Ib. of iron on the
wrist, which the Commissioners stated to have

left a. mark only by putting them on end .oil',
which was not removed for a few drys after.
It wag impossible that the subject should stop here.
It was not for the good of the character of-the
Magistrates that it should. Mudi had been sot
of the benefits to the country derived from the
services of the unpaid Magistracy. He was ready
*to admit the fact ; but because they did some good
were they never to be checked when they Jul
manifest evil ? He resented the imputation of
his seeking fur information from irregular source.,
Of of hiring people to prepare it for him. A
person had come to him and offered Imo ni-
fortnation npon the worm of trials tithe., the
offer of which he had accepted ; but upon a demand
being made far a payment of 251., he .refased it.
He did not wish for any one to give him inform--
non who required to be paid fur it. ‘Vhott wout.l
be his situation with Ministers if they could detect
him in line such practice ? Why he would be to-
crassutly taunted, as he most unjustly was at pee•
sent, with the fact of having done so.
Sir T. LIITUBRIDGL: cisii nut quarrel with the
conduct of the Hon. Member in presenting the
former Petition. As to Ilia ;:oncluct, then, he had
said that he did not teclirve that Mr. Haat suffered
solitary impri.onment ; he said the same now.
Nothing advanced by the Hon. Member for Aber.
deem had altered his opinion. He had 41%,-:y• un-
derstood solitary coofinement to be the most thread.
fat of punishments—a saturators in which it was im-
passible for the ',roamer to communicate with soy
human being. If the rules of Itchesier prison
vented the ameas of particular IWV•00/1 so Mr. Hunt.
that d.d no prove that he suffered solitary 'nowt.
sontnent. Mr. Hoot had, on the vomitory, ex pito

upon 41 perm.. In that muse. at was nc imuject., mou II i blairri Cu, wet% alma I.o+. nr wmancm. nar. .aunt tv-i., WI VIC VOLII MU, ripe., ,_I
ems of Government to examine carefully correct, Ile should be glad to hear the contradiction rienced considerable iminlgevice under al: the, co_ - 1
ohm of revenue, whereas the Irish revenue of it. In considering the question, they had no- cuiustsitrev of his ease. If the toed were ~,,t, „sit_
Englishrevenue were referred to Coin- thing to do with either the politics or character .1 eel to his eoritinement, he (Sir T. Lettibrtgel,was I •
to perform that for which Ministers received Mr. blunt; he (Mr. %Vette) neither approved of the sorry on malty aectinuis—(llsiir, bear)-4,1 h.,
;ir salaries. They did slut receive the public one our defended the other ; but they were bound kaihog heel, sent three. If Mr. Hum had suffered
it coining down there and tusking long to look at the real facts of the crow. AP he then undue severity, he (Sir T. Lethbridge) wive it his
, but for doing the public business, and he understood, there itas only one room in the prima heartfelt reprobition; but there nes no proof ii. A,
. . . .
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