The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-06-14 00:00:00

. .

M

\

t

fb.‘-
tsl"k'

Rte-

Saar imputed to him on a former evening, with respect to navi-
Pimg • 74 with two or three able women. He did nut say any
thing of the kind.
Sir G. CLERK defended his Hon. Friend Slr O. Cockburn from
lbe conduct attrboted to him by the Member for Montrose.
Air U. COCKBURN hoped the matter would be now dropped,
after the very handsome manner in which the Hon. Member for
Montrom had expressed himself.
&fun a few words from Mr. HUME, the petition was brought
sp. read. and ordered to be printed.
Air. SYK ES presented a similar petition from a place in Yorkshire
which we did not distinctly hear.
Mr. HUME took occasion to observe that he would certainly
king the subject before Parliament in the ensuing Session.
Petitidh laid on the table.
LAW OF MERCHANT AND FACTOR.
Sr H. PARNELL presented a petition from the Chamber of
Commerce of Dublin, praying foe alteration in the law of merchant
sod factor.,--Laid on the table.
CORN LAWS.
Mr. LAii'LEY presented a petition front certain persons ciDur.
hats on the subject of the corn laws.
Mr. COKE presented similar petitions from several places in
Norfolk.
They were laid on the table.
DISTILLERIES BILL.
Mr. C. HUTCHINSON presented a petition from certain
Distillers of Ireland, praying to be heard by Counsel, against
certain pasts of the Distilleries Bill. The Honourable Gentle-
map argued at some length, that the Bill infringed the nth Article
of the Act of Union, which provides, that the duties upon Irish
spirits are not to be paid until those spirits arrive in this conntry.
The present Act requires, that one half the'duty should be paid in
lrelsnd, and bonds given for the remainder, leaving the merchants
the chance of a dead lomfroill shipwreck or leakage. He hoped
the Right lionoueableGeotleman (the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer) would take their MSC into consideration.
Mr. S. RICE pressed the subject on the Right Honourable
Gentleman's attention.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he would
not enter into a discussion upon the bringing up of a petition, be-
muse he thought the subject might be much better examined on the
second reading of the Bill. He did not, however, think the peti-
ttoners were entitled to be heard by counsel; and he was indeed
very much surprised to hear that they had any complaint at all, be.
cause they had been consulted by him upon the subject, and he had
adopted several amendments at their suggestion. He was quite
ready to state in the Committee why he thought the Bill did nett
violate the Act of Union ; and he could only say that it was a mat-
ter of great indifference to him whether the Bill passed this Session
evertor, although he thought it would be a public Was.
After a few words from Mr. WM. Swine and Mr. HUTCHIN-
-10)1, the Petition was ordered to be printed.
COMBINATION LAWS.
Mr. MAXWELL said he rose to give notice of his intention to
resent on Tueaday-week a petition from 10,000 weavers in the
West of Scotland, on the subject of the Combination Laws, lie
gave notice thus early, because, from the manner in which reports
were given in the paper+. (A Laugh. Tice Speaker here called
the Hon. Gentleman to order.) If the House would give him leave
he would read a letter he had received. (Cries of no, no.) The
lion. Gentleman then sat down, announcing his intention to present
the petition on that day.
Mr. HUME presented two petitions against, the re-enactment of
the Combination Laws--one from the Journeymen Victuallers of
Dublin, (victuallers in Ireland are somewhat like our slaughterers)
and the other from the Block Makers of the river Thames.—Laid
on the table.
EAST INDIA JUDGES' RILL.
After a khort conversation between Mr. C. Wooer, Mr. Tex.
wrsoce, and Mr. S. Vfono LET, the Howse went into a considera-
tion of the Report on the Eliot India Judges' Bill.
Mr. HUM E said he had some clauses to propose on the subject of
:Juries: Great inconvenience and serious injory had been suffered
by our East India subjects from natives not bring allowed to serve
or: juries. At Calcutta and Madras they were prohibitei, while at
Ceylon they were constantly admitted to that duty with the best
effects. On Courts Martial too, at Bamckpore, where he had seen
them himself, and at various other places, natives had been admit.
ted to pass judgment on natives, and given great satisfaction to the
commanding officers. Nothing could be more unjust and impolitic
nom the present method, of employing people who knew nothing of
the affairs of the natives, and always judged by an interpre-
ter; and he hoped the House would ndopt his clauses.—
lie wished that one of the clauses of the Bill should be to leave it
as a matter of option to the Chief Justice to Ammon the natives on
Juries, if he should think proper to do so. He wished to confine
the power of appointment to those plates in which the King's
Courts were esiabliahed. It was his intention to submit three
amendments s—first, that the Sheriff's of Madras. Calcutta, and
'Bombay, be empowered to summon half-castes, who are subjects
of his Majesty, and who are duly qualified by taking the oath of
allegiance to serve on Juries, whether they be born under his Ma-
jesty's 1114, or conquered, or ceded to this country. The other
clause which it was his intention to move, was that those persons
'who were duly qualified to serve on Juries should have a right of
'appeal, in the event of being omitted to be summoned. This was
•stmilar to the appointment of Juries in this country under Mr.
Peel's Bill. It was his intention to move other clauses, as to the
power of challenge, &c. in civil cases. He would, however, for
the preset, confine himself to the moving of the first clause.
Mr. WYNN was cot adverse to the objects of the amendments
'suggested by the Hon. Mover, but he was unwilling that the
adoption of such an amendment should be connected with a Bill
with which it had no natural relation. Although he was most de.
aims of giving India the utmost advantages that could be derived
(mei her enjoying similar institutions to this country, he was not
at this moment prepared to suggest any alteration 113 the law of
Jury In India. No such alteration should be introduced, without
fuller and more satisfactory information, as to the necessity, than
thrvernment at present possessed.
Sir C. FORBES supported the amendment.
. Mr. W. SMITH considered this subject of great importance.
"The proposition of his Hon. 'Friend, if agreed to, would prove a
useful link between the Europeans and the native millions of India.
The mote those links were multiplied, the more secure would the
power of England be in India. lie heard with great plearure the
intention of the Right Hon. Gentleman (Wynn) to interfere, and
front this interference he anticipated the beet results.
Mr. TRANT understood that much disapprobation was ex-
cited by the manner in which justice was administered at Madras.
In support of his observations the lion. Member quoted the fol-
lowing extract front an unrecorded Memoir of Mr. I. ullerton, given
in Tucker's Review of the Financial State of the East India
Company:—" To convey to the mind of an English reader even a
slight impression of the nature, operation, and results of the ryot-
nor system of revenue, connected with the judicial arrangements
-of ISM, must be a matter of some difficulty. Let him, in the first
plate, imagine the whole landed interest, that is, all the landlords
of Great Britain, and even the capital farmers, at once swept away
'from off the face of the earth ; let hint imagine a ens or rent fixed
on every field in the kingdom, seldom under, generally above, its
means of payment ; let hint imagine the land so assessed lotted out
to the villagers, according to the number of their cattle and
ploughs, to the extent of forty or fifty acres each ! Let him ima-
gine the revenue, rated as Above, levyable through the agency of a
hundred theusand•revenue officers, collected or remitted at their
discretion, according to their idea of the occupant's means of pay.
Mg, whether from the produce of his land or his separate property.,
And in order to encourage every man to act as a spy on his neigh.
Lour, and report his means of paying, that he may eventually save
himself from extra demand, let hint imagine all the cultivators of
a Village liable at all times to a separate demand, in order to make
up for the failure of one or more individuals of their parish. Let
him imagine collectors to every county acting under the orders of a
board, on the avowed principle of destroying all competition for
labour by a general equalization of assessment; seizing and send-
ing back runaways to each other. And lastly, let him imagine the
collector the sole magistrate or justice of the peace of the county,
through the medium End instrumentality of whom alone any cri-
minal complaint of personal grievance, suffered by the subject,
can reach the superior courts. Let him imagine at the same time
every subordinate officer, employed in the collection of the land
revenue, to be a police officer, vested with power to fine, confine,
put In the stocks, and flog, any inhabitant within his range, on
any charge, 41thout oath of the accuser, or sworn recorded evi-
dence on the case. If the reader can bring his mind to contemplate
such a course, he may then form some judgment of the civil ad-
ministration in progress of re-introduetion into the territories under
oile Presidency of Madre, containing 125,009 square miles, and a
ulation of twelve millions." In conclusion, he expressed his
determination to bring the subject next Session before the House '
if it was not undertaken by the Right lion. President of the Board
of Controul.
After a few*exphinatary observations, Mr. HUME withdrew his
amendments.
The Bill and its amendments were then ordered to be engrossed,
sod to bend a third time on IFednesday ee'nnight.
• DISTILLERY *ANVIL
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moted the
Ortin of the Day foe the re-committal of the Distillery Laws Bill.
Mr. CURTEIti opposed the motion (loon the grounds of injury
to the Corn Trade, as molasses (by a recent regulation) is permitted
to be used in the distillation of spirits. He also considered it too
bite a period in the Session for the discussion of such an important
queigion.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said a few words
across the table, which were not distinctly heard in the Gallery.
Mr. 14'. SMITH said this Bill was pregnant with injustice to
the English distillers. It was unsatisfactory to the Irish, and by I
no moms agreeable to the Scotch distillers. It was intended as a
boon to the Irish and Scotch dietiliem, against whom many charges I
have been made at the expense of the English distiller, against
whom no charge is made. The proceedinge of the English dirt.
tillers have been confeemely fair and hottest. The charge of mo-
nopoly urged against the English distillers was too groundless and'
absurd to be named.
The House then resolved itself into a Committee, and several
verbal agreements were agreed to in the different clauses.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in reply to a
question from Mr. C. H. Hutchinson. stated that the effect of one
of the clauses would be to allow Irish spirits to be imported into
this country, paying in cash the duty heretofore imposed in Ireland,
it bettig at the Fame time bonded for the difference between that
and the amount of duty on British Spirits.
Mr. C. H. HUTCHINSON complained of this arrangement as
materially detrimental to the interests of the Irish distiller.
After some observations from Mr. W. SMITH (Norwich), the
disuse thus noticed passed the Cornmittlik.
Mr. WESTERN addressed the Cellnaittee at some length on
she ether clauses, objecting to that which *Dewed nun to be ad-

I

[lll