The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-03-27 00:00:00

FEVER IN IRELAND.

Sir Jon NistronT postponed his 'notion for the np-
pointment of • Committee to inquire into the state of Con-
tagious Diseam in Ireland until Toesthiy next.
ROYAL BURGHS IN SCOTLAND.
- -

Sir -Wass Maratarrostt presented a Petition from the
Inhabitants of Munro ies, ai:ainst site mode in which their
Magistrates were nominal* d. This Petition was signed by
a number of the 111110111 respectable inhabitants of that place,
the prayer of it was couch( d iu the most respectful language,
sod the redress the Petitioners naught was strictly constitu-
tional. Something had been said on a former evening re.
spading the opinions of the people of Scotland on this sub-
ject ; it was abseiled that they were not generally favourable
to the proposed alteration in the Burgh system. To this he
would reply, that according to the MIMI taken in tall, the
population of the several Royal Burghs in Scotland was
400,)00 ; of these inhabitants 410,000 had already petition.
eel Parliament either fur an alteration in the twisting system,
or had entered into Resolution* in support of she prayer of
;hew Petitions ; and ,if the 70,000 remaining iuliabitants,
une•seveuth have pronounced uu opinion whatever on the
subject. Undo r such cis eumstanets, it was nut too mueli to
say, that the objections to the present system were general
iu Setriland.--(Haar.) .

Mr. M•TTI.AND confirmed the statement of the lion. and
Leslued Gestkitten, and stated that the real rights of the
Burghs were managed by a small Coveted, over whirls, and
their mode of levying money, the Burgesses est:seised nu
eoutiol.

The Petition wee laid on the table, and ordered to be
printed. -
Mr. WIL DOUGLAP presented a Petition to the same effect
as the last, from the Inhabitants of the %ugh of Arnim
Hr thought this subject well entitled to the attention of the
House, to prevent the continuance of that discontent which
now prevailed in eonsequence of the present system
Sir J. M ACILITITOiIIi presented a Petit' from the Inhabi-
tants of the Boroughs of Elgin and Peebles, praying fur a
Ri form is the system of the Scotch Burghs._ .

He also presented Petitiunsfrum the lo;bahitants urog.leol,
in Lancashire, and Epping, praying fur a revihiou of the
Criminal Code.
Thole Petitions were laid on the table.
IRISH WINDOW TAX.

Mr. BUTLVII preseuteil a Petition signed by upwards of
300 lababotants of Kilkenny, against the Window Tan
Duly.—Laid on the table.
COPYRIGHT BILL.
- - -

Mr. JOHN Sl4llll presented a Petition from
Messrs. Lai kington, Hughes, Harding, and Jones,
the extensive booksellers in Finsbury-square,
against the Copyright Act. The Hon. Member
stated, that in presenting this Petition, lie felt it
to be his duty to make ik few remarks on the nature
and extent of the grievances to which this Act ex-
posed publishers. The prevent Petitioners had,
upon the publication of Dugdule's Monosiicon, and
fire other works, sustained a loss thiough the opera-
tion of this Act of 2,43.0. What added greatly to
the hardship of the loss was, that sonic of the nurks
were actually projected and undertaken before the
last Bill had been enacted. The Hill had, there-
fore, received en ex post facto effect, which the
Legislature could never have intended it should
have had. The Legislature, be was persuaded,
could not have meant to give this retrospective
operation to a measure of this description. The
Hon. Member concluded by stating. that the
grievances imposed spout publishers by this Bill
were greater than could he imagined in the first in-
stance.

The Petition was laid on the table.
STAIE OF THE CONVICTS IN NEW SOUTH
WALLS.

Mr. nENNETT naill;W a s relieved horn the
nece:sity of milting the motion of *loch lie hail
given notice, for iiistructiosis to the Gaol Commit-
tee to take into their consideration the state of she

Convicts in New south Wales, bec,inse that Com-
mittee had already determined tor make that sub-
ject a part of their general inquiry. and would. he
understood, so early •s Mouthy aext. turn their
attention to it.
The notice of motion was wit/Wraith.
PETITION OF EDWARD O'HARA.
Mr. &Num called the attention of tI e Hittite
to a Petition which hr held in his hand, from •
person minted Edward O'Hara. who was indebted
for one year's King's taxes. The Petitioner, on
bring called upon. was unable to pay the amount,
and the Commis.ioners forthwith committed him to

Newgate, instead of ascertaining whether he had
any property which they could seize for the debt.
They committed him to Newgate, where he lay for
ten days with telons—where he was confined in the
same ward with convict., some of whom had been
since transported, and others hanged. The l'eti-
tioner was, lie (Nlr. Hewlett) believed, • man of
unblemished character, when the Commissioners
thought it right to send him into the society, and
in the same place of confinement, with felons.
The Petitioner had himself brought up by a writ
of Habeas Corpus, before Mr. Justice Bayley,
who, seeing the scandalous illegoliiy of the pro.
ceeding, discharged the man out of custody. It
was no answer to say that the mail had his legal
redress—what adequate compensation could he re.
ceive fur being thus immured in the walls of a
prison, with the wort characters of every descrip-
tion ? The Commissioners, it was true, were em-
powered to commit a man, in default of payment
of his taxes, to the common gaol ; but the wan.
ing of the Legi-lature was, that he should be com-
mitted to the Sheriff's prison, where debtors were
usually placed. Lied they merely done this, there
would be no reason to complain, as they would
have only then exercised a power which the law con-
leered upon them. But to send a King's debtor,
for an arrear of 31. los. to Newgate,
among felons,
was a grass and wanton violation of the liberty of
the illbjet t.
The Petition was then brought up and read. It
set forth, that the Petitioner had resided in the
parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, from *lslet' place he
had been taken by a warrant from the Commission-
ers, and put one day in the Giltspur-street Compter,
and the next removed to Newgate.
The Petition was ordered to be printed.
MENAI BRIDGE.

Sir ROURT WILLIAMS presented a Petition from the
Inhabitants of Carnamin against the Menai Road Bill.
The Petitioners prayed to he heard by Counsel against the
said Bill.—Orderrd to he on the table.

Mr. BERKELEY PAGIT presented a Petition from the
Inhabitants of Conway agatust the Menai Ruad Bal.—Laid
on the table.

Sir flattaY PARNELL moved the second reading
of the Menai Bridge and Road Bill.

Sir RODENT WILLIAMS said he would not, on
the present occasion, take the senve of the House
on this Bill, but lie certainly would do so on a
future occasion. The expense of this bridge mould
be over 100,0001., and yet over • place where boats
every hour passed. This propotation had been sub-
mitted to Mr. Pitt about twenty-five years ago.
His appropriate answer then was, 14 We cannot
afford it." Why then should such an expense be
incurred at the present time ?
An Hon. Member, whose name we could not
learn, condemned altogether the structure of the
bridge. Ile could not place such a confidence as
other Hon. Members seem to do, to II chain bridge
500 feet above high-water-mark. The experience,
of a similar attempt in America had proved fatal.

Sir JOsEPH YORKE said. that if the moony came
out of the pockets of the individuals who were to
be beueti'ed by it. hr had no objection—if it were
to come from the pockets of the people. he should
most decidedly object to the emplu) ll'tilt of public
moony in this manner.
Sir W. W. Wlird r !.Nid, lie hilt, many objections
to the construction of this bridge.
. .

Mr. BERUBLIVI PAGET said, that the erection
of Cow bridge would interfere materially with ilia
navigation of the river. lie 6ud insuperable Mt.
.jections to the woik, and the Cllol'lllollll expeose
of it.

- --
Sir 11. PA RN ELI. had the Report of the Com.
mittee made on the ISt!' May read. From this it
appeared that the fist expenditure tugge%ted by
the Committee was 20,000/. This amount had
been gradually augmented to extend tf r mig;nui
advantages of the plan. lie remembered u unai.
11610 N./144 made 60111 CIIIIIIIITVOII, that the erection
of this bridge would injure the oavigation of the
Strait, but the complaint was at the time tarried
to the Trinity Howe, from which it was 111111111.
moualy declared that the bridge could not in any
manner affect the navigation of the river.

Mr. lIUSKISSON suit, that this bridge would cost
tint 60,000/., as had been stated, but 100,0001.
There was a proviso, that if any augmentation took
place in the price of the material (and a rise had
already taken place) a suitable allowance should be
mule—but the [louse really saw only a part of this
large expenditure. The proprietor of the ferry, the
amount of sebum: interest was 1,000/. ethyear, had to
he settled with. Ile did not mean to deprecate the
value of the improvement, bait he uid meal, to
sad•, that in the present state of the finances of the
country, they ought slot to ente► upon so itspieuriVe a
project. If they once advanced they could not
recede. Ile referred to the enormous expenditure
in which the country became involved by the Cale-
donian Canal. amid said that the example of this
expense should deter them at the outset from in-
curring the proposed bridge at Menai.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER justified
the recommendation he was induced to give at the

outset for the erection of this bridge; be had not
entered upon the yubject of the mad. The expense
of the whole was, he thought, exaggerated, and Ink
Hight Hon. Friend,- had not noticed the probable
produce of the tolls, set off against the En iKinal
expense. He recommended that the details of the
expense eh Id be discussed iu the Coiumittee.

Mr. Prit.r. did not approve of the 1118111 W, in
which the opposition to the projected improvement
was conducted. 'flr oil :meta oldie Ilinioure‘ble
Member opposite (Sir R. William.), that the bridge
iiijiiied the navigation. if good for any thing,
most hold as an argument against bridges alto..
gether. The question really was the relative pre-
ference between a bridge and a ferry. The argu-
ment of Ins Right flunourable Friend (Mr. lius-
kissun) was founded rutirrly upon the financial.
emboorassinents of the cousin) :--ibis •• untritt woe
no doubt a fair mie, but it ovoid dually

apply to all grants whatever. In his (We.
Peel's) opinion. there could not be a more •
deatery vuttt than that which went to p
this great improveinent. It wile to talk
Caledonian Canal on this occ —it was i ct
to say, 4, we have entered into an itnprovident ex.
penditure in Scotland, and we most finish that he-
fore the improvement you desire, which is a valua-
ble one, we admit, can he attended to." This im-
provement at Menai would greatly facilitate the
main communication between this country amid Ire-
land. By the Act of Union, the sister kingdom
had transferred her Legislature to this country, she
vent her Members to represent her interests here—
the right of appeal was vested in the British House
of Peers. I. lon was the great medium of com-
merce. and crotre of the commercial comruussica-
tioti which the sister country kept up with the dif-
ferent quartes of the globe. The Menai bridge
and road would most materially contribute to the
improvement of the counumoication between the
two countries, and the corninercial advantages
which must result, would LOUii repay the expense
iii a financial poled of view.
Mr. BA Nlc Ell thought this was a had time for em-
barking in so large an expense, sod for what he
must ronsider an experimental iron bridge.
Si, Juan NLWPORT said, that this improvement
would materially advance the' meatus of intercourse
between the two countries, and shortly repay the
original expense. The House should recollect that
this war the road on which the whole property of
Irish absentees was conveyed to this country ; if he
could keep this class of people at home, by leav-
log the communication obstructed, lie would not
support the present measure ; lie feared, however,
this was itnieeible. and that the absentees could
not he induced to adopt the more honourable deter-
mination of ',wading their property at home. Under
such circumstances lie thought it right to afford such
improvements as evidently were advantageous to
both countries, and to adopt them with us little
delay as possible. The Caledonian Canal was
purely • local improvement, whereas the work at
Menai was materially useful to two great parts of
the United kitigdom.
After a few wools in explanation from Mr. Hos-
KISSON, Mr. CLOWEN. and Mr. Ilan xxs, Sir
HENRY PARNFI.I. replied. The Bill was read a
second time, owl ordered to be committed on Wed-
nesday next.