The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-03-10 00:00:00

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PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE.
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HOUSE OF LORDS, WIDIIIIIDAT, hianca 9.

The Royal Assent was given by Commtasion to the Irish Unlaw-
ful Asouiation Bill. The Lords Comruiesionets veto, the Lord
Chancellor, the Marquis of Winchester, and Earl Bathurst.
Mr. Johnson, from the office of the Secretary of State of IrsLehd,
brought up various papers pursuant to Act a Parliament.
Me. Klemm brought up the Annual Accounts of the Commis-
shilleim for the Reduction of the National Debt.
igh Stuart VFortley and Mr. Craddock, from the House of Cam-
=, brought up several private Bills which were read a first
BARING'S DIVORCE BILL.
The Home west iato a Committee on Rarities Divorce Bilk and
Me Bereft wee mewed to be received to-morrow.
,filrese's Dimes* Bill also went through a Committee.
The Reroutes the Glebe Lands Bill was received.
CATHOLIC CLAIMS.
Lord CLIFDEN presented& petition from the Protestaste of the
county and city of Kilkenny, in favour of Catholic EmancipatiOn.
Ibis Lordship observed, that the petitlen was most numerously and
irespeetably signed. It had unseated from gentlemen who were the •
• *my first to the county in rank, property, and influence. fie could
• out help especially his satisfaction at the *MMus reports on this
subject that were abroad. The Catholics had now remooable hopes
' Mot their prayer would now meet with More consideration from those
wbo bed heretofore takep part against them.—Laid on the table.
'The House then adjourned.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, Il'anstretiov, lialcat 1.
On the Speaka's taking the Chair, the House was summobed
b die Usher eq the Black Rod to the House of Lords, to hear the-
. Bohai Assent given by Commission to the Irish Unlawful Amos
Mottos Bill.
IRISH RETURNS.
Mr..loatome brought up some Returns from the Chid lierret.'
taq's*O is Ireland.—Ordered to lie on the tab:e.
NATIONAL DEBT.
Highstn brought up same from the Comillusdhltolr•
to reduce the National rePbctr..—The papers were ordessill
tripe printed.
LONDON HARBOUR-MASTFIK'S OFFICE.
Beturris were broeght up. and laid on thii table, of the cumber'
id_tesoels engaged in the coal trade in the Pert of Londun,and their
'etertavve tonnage._
IifETROPOLITA N WATER COMPANY.
Os the motiod of Mr. HOLMES, the Metropolitan Water COW.
peay Bill was read a second time, and committed.
KENSINGTON TURNPIKE ACT.
A petition was presented against the renewal of the Kensington
Turnpike Att.—Ordered to lie on the table.
SEA WATER BATH COMPANY.
• CURTEIS moved for and obtained leave to bring io a Bill
to inaceporate a Company foe-the erecting sea water baths for the
accommodation of the inhabitants of London, Westminstet, and
Middlesex. •
IRISH PROVINCIAL BANKS.
Ms T. FITZGERALD presented a petition from Sligo, in
ilseour.of the measure for establishing Irish Provincial Banks. The
Hen. Member said • few words in support of the prayer of too peti.
ticoarer—Ordered to be printed.
, PASCO PERUVIAN MINING COMPANY.
Mr. OR.EEN moved the second reading of the Pasco Peturian
Mining Company Bill.
Mr. BM:MOUSE declared his intention of opposing the Bill at
a fauns stage. He had looked ioto the merits of the scheme, and he
would undertake to show the House that there wan not the least
shadow of pretence for coneideting it a profitable speculation. The
mines which it was proposed to work were situate an a mountainous
country, ar.d were elevated thirteen thousand five hundred feet above
toe levet of the sea. The last attempt made to work client had
iatteriy failed. The Hon. Member went on to say, he could con.
wince the House that the promoters of the Bill had no plausible
grounds on which to call for Parliamentary sanction.
The Bill was then read a second time.
ST. KATHARINE'S DOCKS.
Mr. N. CALVE'RT said he had two petitions to preser.t against
fee St. Katharine's Docks Bill. The Hon. Member condemned
the hasty mode of proceeding adopted by the Committee on the
Bill. The Committee were to sit at o,e o'clock, yet they contrived
to sit earlier, and despatch mach of their business before that time.
tio carder= were they, that in three hour" they hurried
through more than was wont to occupy three weeks last Session.
tie had come dawn to the House last night to present the petitions
then in his hand, and found that the House did not sit. His
object was to hare the petitioners go before the Committee h but
the Committee, availing themselves of their absence, voted the
preamble of the Bill true. On the Committee there were eight for
the Bill and three against it. 'Of the eight, four appeared to be
subscribers; two of them admitted that they still had a pecuniary
isiterest in it; and the other two-satisfied hfm as to their having
disposed of their interest. The flonounible Member, after some
further remarks, declared the conduct of the Committee to be,
• indecorous. Oee of the petitions was from certain pro-
prietors of warehouses and wharfs in the parish of St. Botolph
Without, sad other places below the site of the intended Docks.
The petitioners prayed to be heard by Counsel against -certain
chums in the Bill ; and also that, if the Bill passed inte a law,
the Company be compelled to erect two bridges instead of one.
The other petition was from the London Dock Company, and '
prayed the Bill may not pass as it then stood.
Mr. P. ORENFELL said, the petitioners could thee no just
cause of complaint an to want of time ; a fortnight bail been al-
lowed them to petitMo lihtween the first and second reading of the
Bill. (Near, hear.) The Honourable Member thought the peti-
tioners should have stated tome sped* grounds for their opposi.
iron. He thought them highly season in waiting down to the
very last day, and the fact of therebeher no House yesterday could
be no excuse. They should have contemplated the possibility of
such an occurrence. for the simple him of forty !Members net
being present at four o'clock on any day was sufficient to create a
disappointment.
Mr. H. SUMMER stated, that the Committee did cot sit before
one o'clock as had been charged against them.
On the question that the petition be referred to the Select Com-
mittee,
Mr. GRENFF.LL objected to it, inasmech as the petition did
not state specifically the grounds of their opposition. The Hon.
Member proceeded to read a standing order of the House in support
of his position. Hedeelared he should know what the grounds
were before heconsented. As far as he had yet heard, the peti-
tions did not contain a single allegation.
The SPEAKER said, his view of the order read by the Hon.
Member was, that the House was not to entertain the sufficiency
if the alleged grounds of opposition, but that the Committee were
to be the judges. The order said, that if there be not sufficient
• grounds rated, the petitioners may be called on to state them. Ac.
cording to the proposition of the Honourable Member, the House
were to decide on the question of sufficiency. If there were any
doubt on the subject, he thought the sooner it was determined whe-
ther the meaning of the order was that the House should be the
h.dgvr ; he, however, would say, that it ought to be left to the
Committee.
A conversation ensued.in which Mr. CALCilarr, Mr. H. Scat.
s ER, and the SrEsara took part, and the petitions were ulti-
mately ordered to be referred to the Select Committee.
SCOTCH COMMERCIAL BANKS.
Mr. K. DOUGLAS moved for, and obtained leave, to bring in
a Bill to incorporate a Commercial Bank Company in Edin-
burgh, and to enable the said Company to sue and be sued by its
dicers.
METROPOLITAN FISH COMPANY.
Lord J. FITZROY moved the second reading of the Metropo-
litan Fish Company Bill.
On the question that the Bill be read a second time.
Ur CA LCRAFT said, that that Company was one of the modern
speculations, and undertook to supply them all with delicious fish
in ail weathers, fete or foul, let it blow high or blow low. (A
Jaeigh.) He recollected that shout sixteen years ago a Bill was
brceight in to errp!oy the boys of the Marine School in the fisheries.
-nit Bill he opposed. because he thought it trenched on the live.
Lhood of the fishermen, and for the same reason he would oppose
the proseet siii. Ii was idle to suppose they could furnish the
'oolitic with fish cheaper than at its present rate, for at present the
great bulk of the tish was seld at sevemiarthings a pound, and he
datiod soy Company to furnish it at ato rate. The Hon. Mem.
bey went on to say, that in the prospectus a manifest falsehood was
set forth. is was Stated that at the present nioment the Dutch: en-
grossed the daintier. The fact was, that the Dutch were only er.
gaged in the turbot and eel itlteriot, and the Company promise if
they estch three hundred thousand pounds in money for that was
the amount of their proposed capital, to outsell the Dutch. and, as
they say, by British sai ore. Fish it may be true, has dear at that
end of the town, and why not ? lie wished to know, if delicacies
are to be culled, if they shottid not be paid highly fur ? if a ver-
sos; chose to pick a tut hot from three or four cargoes, ought he not
to eel ? The lion. Member. declared the proposed IllestaUrero be
inimical to the interests of those who bed already embarked their
capital in the fishing trade—it was inimical to the fishermen, and
every one keel,: that the fisheries were the nursery for British sea.
men. They talked of giving fish to the poor at a lower rate. If it I
were cheaper the poor very likely would become dainty, and not
eat it if se cheep. lie trusted, however, that the poor would never
become fish-eaters, whilst they had good bread and good cheese to
live or.. The Hon. Member said, trade was never promoted by
means of Compaoin, except where it became necessary to force
it. The very first step of the present Company was to create an
officer of two thousand a yes ; so that they set out with a job. So
satisfied was he that he should defeat them, that he was quite rea.
de to go into a Cotnmittee with them, if they dared to go co far, and
jibe once got them up stairs, he promised the House he would
soon send them to ma, and that nenho the House nor the country
should hear any more of them. (A leagh.)
third JOHN FITZROY declared he had no pricote interest
whatsoever in the Company. (cleat. ear.)
Air. J. SMITH said a few words in suppert of the 11:11.
Mr. CURTEIS supported the Bill.
Sir R. WILSON rose toe erect s mistake into which an lion.
Member (Mr. Cekraft) had fallen when he stated the Dutch only
liaised far turbots and eels. lie (Sir Robert) had resided for some
time at a Duttb sea-poet, an Ihe could creek (ram personal °beer-
vatinn, that they not oufy Asia! for turbot% and eels, but ftw very
Sne cod, flounders, and various other kinds of Mill. The prices,
too, were as low as the halt was plentiful He had himself sent an
uncommonly fine turbot flout Ostend to Brussels at the coat of
ority seven tranca.
Ir. CALCRA FT explained.
After a few word. from Me. J. P. GRANT, the Bill wig read a
accand time.

JOINT STOCK COMPANIES.
Mt. S. RICE obtained leave to bring in a Bill foe creating a
Joint Sig& Coin say to employ British capital in Ireland.
COMMITMENT OF PIaSONERS IN TILE BOROUGH.
Mr. AlJeiman WOOD obtained leave to bring in a Bill, autho-
rising Mains:rates to commit prisoners taken in the Borough of
Southwark to the gaol of Newgata
PORTABLE GAS BILL.
Mr. Alderman WOOD brought up the Portable Gas Hill. It
was teed . first time.
RAIL-ROADS IN IRELAND.
Col. BAOWELL presented a petitlan from Limerick in favour
of the establtshinent of Rail-reads to Ireland.
OIL OAS COMPANY.
Mr. M. A. TAYLOR presented a petition from aonut of the in-
habitants of Whitechapol, complaining of the injurious effects of
this Bill to their interests, and praying that it may sot pass into a
law.—Roferred. to the Committee upon said Bill.
' ASSESSED TAXES.
Lord. MILTON presented a petition from Huddersfield. pray.
Big- for the repeal of the Assessed Taxes—Laid upon the table.
Mr. HURST /resented &similar petition from Horsham. The
Hon. Gentleman observed, that the petition was signed by tee most
respectable inhabitants of the place, many of them known to hint
personal:y. . It comphained of the evils arising from the present
method of taxation, in there being no scale of reduction in the
amesement for houses of an inferior description—a house wortlra
rent of SOL a year paying only the same as a house worth only 201.
The petitioners prayed relief from this comparative evil.—Petition
ordered to 1k upon the table.
Mr. CRADOCK presented a similar petition from the parish of
Orinthon, in Yorkshire.—Laid upon the table.
Mr. S. WORTLEY presented a similar petition from DJDCAII.
ter.—Laid upon the table.
COUNTY COURTS BILL.
.I,ord MILTON presented a petition from Thomas Hamilton,
Of Morrrietta-street. Covent-garden, praying that no sompensation
be granted, to claimants under this Bill. The Noble Lord observed
that the petitioner, he thought, expressed himself with a great deal
of good sense upon the subject before the House, and Preyed,
'very reasonably that, if compensation be granted tor the kisses
arising from mean and inferior offices, be too magic be aspen-
bated fit his toss of busing* as 40 atiorney.--Ordesed to be
printed. I
Mr. STITA R T WORT ' is-petition from swain
: Connors, praying for compensation 'lldieforssoid Bill. The :
lame Honorable Gentleman present s petitions against
the Bill.
Mr. J. WILSON obtained leave to bring in • Bill to anahle the
Pariah of St. Dunstan to borrow money for parochial purposes.
Colonel DAVIES postponed his motion upon the subject of the '
reduction of duties on foreign radon,.
DUTIES ON COALS.
Mr. LAM BTON presented a petition from Bishop's Auckland
against the duties on coels.—Laid on the table.
Sir THOMAS ACLAND presented a petition from the mer-
chants of Dartmouth, for the repeal of the duty on coals.
Mr. CALCRAFT 'moved for a return of the establishment of
the British Army, specifying the number If officers; subalterns, &c.
—Ordered.
CATHOLIC CLAIMS.
Mr. MAXWELL presented a petition from Downpatrick
against any further concessions to the Roman Catholics.—Ordered
to lie on the table.
Dr. LUSHINGTON presented tot, etition from DrUmcondra, In
the county of Meath, against the snpmession Of the Catholic As-
sociation.
Mr. HUME, in a low tone of voice, 'poitponed.his motion coon
the subject of the Sinking Fund, in consequence of an event which
he, in common with the House, unfeignedly deplored. (Hear,
hear.)
The SPEAKER said, with a voice of sup/tressed emotion, that
he could not restrain the expretSton of his grateful feeLng foe the
kinduess and favour he had received from the House do this occa-
sion. (Hear.) He had seen with very great pain the pressure of pri-
vale business this evening ; but he was glad to learn that the in-
convenien:e arising from the delay of yesterday had not been so
great as he feared tt would be. The House had, however, already
extended its kindness to his personal convenience longer than he
bad any right to expect, and to the utmost extent he could have
anticipated. (liar, hear, hear.)
CONSOLIDATION OF THE LAWS RELATING TO
JURIES.
Mr. PEEL rose to move for leave to bring in a Bill to Conso-
lidate the Laws relating to Juries, and for the better regulation of
Special Juries. The laws, he said, upon the subject of regulating
Juries extended over a period from the reign of Henry the Third
down to the present time ; all varying from each other, generally
obscure, and in sonic cases wholly contradictory. The House
would hear with astonishment that there were no less than 81
statutes relating to the impanelling of Juries. Could there be any
objection to put an end to this vague contradictory state of legisla-
tion upon a subject so closely connected with the just and im-
partial administration of justice? (Hear, hear.) He apprehended
not. It could not be said that it was any proof of disrespect to
our ancestors if we rendered their enactments somewhat more con.
formable to the spirit and knowledge of our own times. In
Magua Charts, indeed, they had themselves shown us an example
of this kind of revisal, for he believed that it had been altered
and amended three times before it assumed its present form (Hear.)
He thought they could not be charged with any indifference to
the wisdom which had transmitted to us our present happy Con-
unction if we culled what is valuable, and rejected what had be-
come obsolete and unnecessary, in so large a trams of statutes upon
the same subject. (Hear, hear). In the Statutes pasted in the first
ten years of Queen Anne, a great many of the absurdities and in-
consistencies he complained of were to be found. In an Ate passed
in the 3d and 4th Of that reign, entitled, "An Act to amend an
Act for the better regulation of small Tithes," it would not pro-
bably occur to the House that any thing could be introduced upon
the subject of Juries; and yet in the body of this Act were to
be found several clauses relating to the summoning and impa-
nelling of Juries. This Act was now in force. In another respecting
some regulations to be adopted in cases of fire, and upon the tut-
ject of building county gaols. There were clauses mato relating
to juries, which lie believed it would puzzle even a lawyer to un-
derstand with reference to our present practice. In the Ist of the
same reign an Act was passed to prevent the exports ion of leather;
in this again there were clauses regulating the medical of appointing
Juries ~ but what he chiefly wished to mention was the fact, that
although the Act, so far as it related to leather had been repealed,
that part which applied to. Juries remained in force. (Hear, hear.)
There were 61 Acts of this kind, whose provisions it was his wish
to consolidate, and 20 others which he proposed to repeal alto-
gether, so as to leave a pure, simple, and perfectly intelligible
vide to the formation of this important protection of the subject.
(Hear. hear.) There wan another statute relative to the conduct
of .luries upon proceedings of attainder, to which he wished to
direct the attention of the House. Twenty-four Jurors, according
to the present law, might be called upon to pass an opinion on the
conduct of the previous Jury, and if they found that the verdict
of that previous one was influenced by any Irrupt motives, they
were tiablo to the punishment of being considered infamous, their
lands were forfeited, and their houses rased to the ground, &c.
It had been observed by Mr. Justice Blackstone, that he would
as soon expect to see the Trial by Battle revived, as to hear of
any proceedings under this statute of attainder. Now this same
ii eager of Battle, coeval with the procegling by attaint, had in
their days been revived ; and it was not impossible that some in-
genious lawyer might find occasion to call the other from its obscu-
rity, he thought there could be no objection to its total repeal.
(Hear.) It was his intertion, in the proposed alterations' to take
the power of summoning Common Juries from the hands of petty
constables, upon whom that duty now devolved. He had heard, and
indeed he knew, that many persons in that situation could neither
read nor write; and that in many cases they were in the habit of
receiving sums of money to pass over the mimeo of those who
might be averse to the duties of a Juror. The consequence of this
corrupt practice was, it appeared to him, that the rich man could
throw this public oflice upon the shoulders of his poorer neighbour,
and, of course, upon those commonly much less qualified to fill
it with benefit to the administration or justice. He proposed,
therefore, that the duty of fanning the arrangements should de-
volve upon the churchwardens and overseen of the parish, who,
from their situation, would be, be conceived, free from the imputa-
tions cast upon the constables. (Hear.) It was intended, too, that
the enumerations of the qualifications and residences of those liable
to serve on juries should be much more particularly set forth than
at present—many name, being at present he understoot omitted,
and many more passed over from ignorance of the street or number
where the individual Juror was to be served with the summons
for his attendance. It was also intended that Magistrates at Petty
Sessions should be empowered to receive application of those
omitted improperly, or liable to serve; this he conceived could be
done with very little infringement upon the ordinary business of
Petty Sessions. He now approached the subject of Special Juries.
It was his intention to make a considerable addition to the class of
esquires from whom those Juries were now selected. As an in-
stance of the inconvenience of the present mode, he would mention
the case of Major Cartwright, at ‘Varwick, when the whole
number of those qualified to serve on Special Juries, who an-
swered to their names, amounted to only 14; of these, 48 had to
be selected, and he putt it to the Ilouse, what consequences are I
likely to follow, when the whole Jurors of a county are no more
than six above the number required for one trial. Suppose these
six were detained by illness, or say other unavoidable cause, it
follows that the duty devolves upon those who are presumed to be
less capable of fulfilling the intentions of the law. He therefore
proposed that all merchants and bankers should be included in the
class from which Special Juries were in future to be selected. As
to the mode of impanelling Special Juries, he proposed a new
system, not that he meant in the slightest degree to east any re-
flection upon the person with whom that office at present rested ;
the high character and unimpeachable integrity of that gentleman
secured his office from any imputation of mal-practices; and as he
had never heard of any complaints of abuses, he assumed that
none existed. But to put it beyond the power of any artifice, and
SMUTS a fair and impartial trial, he proposed that the names of the
Special Jurymen be entered in a book, with the rank and qualitict-
Lion attached, and numbered from one to one bombed arithmetic-
ally. These numbers were then to be written upon cards, and put
into a box, from which forty-eight cards were to be drawn, and
these cards thus drawn to lie the Jury, answering in their names
upon the book to their numbers as placed in the box. By these means
i he hoped to obtain in all cases what he was convinced would be the
' desire of that House—a fairly-chosen and impartial Jury for the
administration of justice in all cues. (Hear, hear.) In civil
causes he conceived that sortie difference might perhaps be allowed.
The Juries desirable upon civil eases were nien aciputinted with
meresintile proceedings, and the general laws of traffic. As Spe-
cial .11.ries by ballot might not at all times afford a number of
Jurors calculated to give satisfaction its this way to the suitor, it

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