The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-03-12 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMLIVT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, TuuoAr, MARCII 11.

ROO'S PFERACA.
Their Lordships, pursuant to the Older of the
Day, resolved into a Committee of Privileges. Lord
Welsingharn in the Chair.
'The consideration of the claim of Lady H. Fitz-
gerald, to the above Berens,. was resumed, and Mr.
Adam, leadieg Ct tinsel for the Claimant, was
beard at some length in reply.
The Committee then deterred the farther con-
sideration of the case till Thursday, and die House
resumed.
After Prayers were read.
Lord Al iCK LAND moved, •• That the Report
of the Lords' Committees, appointed to search for
precedents, relative SO the piaßice of the House, in
cases of Impeachment for High Crimea and Mis-
demeanor, made to the House on the 17th of Aptil
I ,be re-priuted ;' which was ordered accord-
io The Bills upon the Table were lot warded in
their several stages.
LIABILITY OF WITNFSSFS.
The Order of the I).iy, being read, far their
Lordships going into a Committee on the Bill to de-
dere the law with respeB to Witnesses being liable
to answer, the House accerdingly revolved into
the 'same, Lord Walsingham in the Chair.
The en sele:g Clause being arrived at
The LORD CHANCELLOR proposed one or
Iwo short Amendments; the first was, to omit,
after the weeds " to accuse himself. or to ezpose
„Sim to." the word any;" and to insert. after the
words s• penalty or forteitute." the words, " of any
'attire whatsoever."
On the Question being put—
Earl STANHOPE rose, and expressed his dis-
approbation of the BA before the Committee. as a
deelawatory AA. He expressed his hope, that, by
subsequent Legislative provisions. should the pre-
sent bill be passed. Noble Friend would guard
against the mischiefs which might arise from such a
measure. On this ground, however, he could not
avoid coming forward and objeiting to the Bill as
it then stood. and endeavont ing to induce their
Lordships to divest it of its declaratory
• rafter. He was hostile to the prieciple of Bills
of that description, which, he thought. should
never be passed by the Legislature. except in
very extreme eases. The occasion which he al-
•ioded to was. for instance. a violation of a min-
eiple of the Constitution. such a case as was re.
furred to in the Preamble of the Bill of Rights,
ice. t and such was the case of the excellent Bill sic-
cleratory of the law tespeding libels, proposed by a
Honourable Member of the other House of
Pet iietnent. On that occasion, his Noble and
leagued Friend, ne.s: him (the Chancellor), deserved
the thanks of the commis.; he did not mean for his
conduit with respefl to the Bill alluded tom. but
for whet he had so nobly dune to assert and to up-
hold the Censtitetiewed powers of Juries. idecept
on some great excising% of the kind, Le never ap-
proved of a declaratory' Bill. le was a* engine 17'
which a gem deal of mischief might be done ;
through it the Law cf the laid might be overturned,
by its declaring that to be law, which was not law.
The Nnble Lark in adverting, as an hypothetical
rate. to the return of Members of Parliament,
through the influence of wealthy or powerful indi-
vid, recited the anecdote of a late Noble Lord,
• obtained the place he wished for, from the then
Prince Minister (we believe the late Viscount Fal-
mouth, and the late Right Honourable Henry Pel-
ham), by threa•ening him, in ease of a refusal, with
the delettion of his own support in one House, and
that of his friends in the ether. His brief and pithy
aeswers to the arguments and repre•ntetious of
the Minister. were, •• There are seven of us !"
▪ There are seven of us!" Remember, there
are seven of u.:!" Continuing his observations
against a decleiatery Bill, he stated, that an
adual majority of the great Lawyers of the
country were of such an opinion as to explode the
necessity of such a Bill as the present. He adverted
to some opinions given by the late Lord Mansfield,
and one of these, the case which gave rise to that
recorded observation of his Lordship, to the then
Dunning—.• if that be law, l'll burn my
h toks." He adverted to the established c.str.pella-
bility of pewnbrokers to give evidence, and adduced
some reasons why horse-dealers should be consider-
ed in dir same light. lie liked not the idea of the
pr gives Bid I ailing. to the imminent ask of that

I

•
which he proposed ; hut, with o,47ieW (Can far ob-
viaiing the inconvenience to be apprehended, it
would be better to pass his Bill in the trst instance
(a laugh). He adverted to some further cases,
which, he conceived, tended to chew the probable
inconveniences of passing such a Bill as the pre-
sent. lle was, he observed, very stout in his opi-
nions upon throe points ; he had read more Ads of
Parliament than perhaps most lawyer's, having pe-
rused all those from Magna Charm clown to about
fifteen years back. His Lordship, towards the con-
clusion of his address, adverted to some farther cases,
one of which, stating it hypothetically, from the
contingency of technical incorrectness in his an-
swer, an individual might he destituted of his means
of support. He repeated his hope, that the incon-
veniences which may arise from such a construction
in the law, would be guarded against by adequate
legislative provisions.
The LO lt D CH ANCF.LLO R observed, it
would be better, had his Noble Friend postponed
the discussion of his own Bill, until it came regu-
larly before the Hoese ; as to that he conceived
the greater part of his observations to have applied.
He did not altogether approve, on such an occa-
sion as the present, of his Noble Friend referring
to the authorities of dead Judges, as well as the
living. As, in all cases of the kind, the law must
be decided by the Racial Judges of the time. There
were cases in forensic practice, in which a Counsel
may, allowably, fortify his opinions by a reference
to those of former Judges ; hut, on such an occa-
sion, a poll of defend, as well as living luminaries
of the law, so as to out-number those of the living,
who may be of a contrary opinion, was a doctrine
to which he could wit !submit. Such proceedings
would tend eventually to interfere with the judicial
functions of that House. A proposition, that the
law was so taken from the very beginning of die
British Constitution, to the present moment, was
what he had never heard of. The Law was to be taken.
from the mouths of those appointed to deliver it
but a poll in the way his Noble Friend appeared in-
clined to adopt, would be as ohjedionable as a poll
of departed Peers, with respell ro decisions in.
that House—(e faziah). Adverting to the ohjocs
tions against the Bill itself, he observed, that in 1
such a case as it applied to, a declaratory at was
more peculiarly necessary, that is, where doubts -a-
isted ; as, if such did not exist, :here would be no
necessity or declaring what the law was.
Earl STANHOPE shortly spoke in exylination
He then adverted to the lancuage of the Bill. %if:in
resred sus the term " Lords Spiritual and i empo-
rah" These descriptice.s, his Lordship seemed •
think, ought to no reversed, not only-in,the present,
but in future Bats, inasmuch as Lords Telrinnal.
meaning (as we understood the Noble Earl Princes
of the Blood. Members of that Ifnur-7,•' ha., prece-
dence of the very foremost of the Spiritual Peers.
namely, the Archnish ip of Citirerbu• y.
Lend AUCKLAN) deprecated y alteration of
the kind, without the ano n. sr mature cons'.
beration ; deeming it far pre!, ratite to abide the
unthrm praline or Parliament, and to fallow the
example of their ancestors in such cases.
The qursiion was thee pet. on an aniendrnesi as
proporea by Earl Staniope, tending ti, do away. the
died nt the declara, ry part at the Bill, but which
was negatived by the Coramittee
!'heir Lordships then agreed to the amendments
proposed by the Lord Chancellor, after which the
Horse resue ed. cud ordered the R port to be re-
ceived to-.arrow.
Earl S CANHOPE moved. !! that the hill for the
more effectual Discovery of 'Fruits (an ! apparenly.
as if through inadvertence, precee tel no farilt
with the title of his Bill, which created a Jonah),
be read a second time to-morrow."

On the question being pat. that the Bill for rite
more effectual Discovery et L'rsth from Witnes.cc.
be read a second time to-morrow. it was ordeie
acceerdiagly ; and an &dimes-meat immediately took
place.
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The Bristol Road Bill was read a seemed time,
and referred to a Sele,t Committee.
Mr. Trevin, from the Office of the Inspetior
General of Exports and Imports, presenk,l au ac-
count of all the duties on customs outstanding,
from the nth of January, ; aPS, to the sth of JADU.
ary, 1806.—Ordered to lie on the table.
The Irish Clergy Residence Bill was read a se-
cond time, and committed for to-morrow.
Mr. Tierney pretested a Petitioe from the Insol-
vent Debtors confined in the Marshalwa Prlson, in
the Borough of Southwark, praying for relief.—
Ordered to lie on the table.
Mr. Alexander, after bringing up the report of
the Committee na that subject, obtained leave to
bring is a bill tot continuing the provisions made
in the Treaty of Amity with the United StAtrc.
The Expiring Laws Loan Bill Mai committed,
and the report crdered to be received to-morrow.
the Corn Exportation Bill oar reported, and or-
dered be read a third time to-morrow.
The House having resolved itselt into a Com-
mittee os the Bill for making Road-harbour, in the
Islarsd of Tortola, a free port ; after a short con-
versation between Mr. Ruse, Lord 'temple, Mr.
Fuller, and Dr. Lawrence, it was ordered to be
re-committed on 'Thursday next.
Several Petitions were presented from the Malt-
sters of Waraick, Coventry, and other places, com-
plainin of the hardships imposed upon them by
the bill of last year, and praying for its repeal.—
Ordered to lie os the table.
The Secretary a: War brought up the Mutiny,
the Meanie Pay and Clothing, and Militia Subaltern
Officals' Allowance Bills, for England, which sere
read a first, and ordered to be read a second time

Similar Bills, for the service of Ireland, were also
brought in, and disposed of in the same manner as
the former.

On the Motion of the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER, Mr. Parnel was ordered to be
added to the Committee for examining the Joint
Accounts between Great Britain and Ireland.

CATHOLICS OF IRELAND.

Mr. 1)11 I.ofsiadrerte el tosome rUmours which
had gnne abroad, cf a change having taken place
in the opinions of some gentlemen now in office lc-
speding the claims of the Roman Catholics of Ire-
land, and 'he acquiescence of that body in the dis-
cussiza being postpoced. As he thought it wc4.l be

•
right, for the trAnquillity of Ireland, -to havt,any
doubts, upon that subjed removed, he hoped he
might be excused, if he tont the liberty of asking,
whether this change of opinion hid adually takeh
place of not?
Mr. FOX—" As to any rumours tlie,Hon. Gen-
tleman retht have heard, he can scat.cely exped
any antWer to them from me. Whether there be
any change in my opinion on that subjed, may ea-
sily be known, when I assure him, that I adhere to
the sentiments I expressed last, as I thought, in the
most unequivocal manner. Whoever, therefore,
may wish to know my opinion on that point, may
refer to my past conduß, and there they will find
their answer. However, if any person were to con-
sult me now, on the expediency of bringing that
measure into discussion at present, I should advise,
merely to be guided by the chance which, under all
the circumstances, these could be of success. Winh
regard to the second part of the rumour, that of the
acquiescence of the Roman Catholics, it is a ques-
tion, I conceive, which I might rather put to the
Hon. Gentleman, than he could exped an answer to

from me.
Mr. DILLON replied, that he hoped, at least
with the moti►es he had stated, there could be no
impropriety in his having asked the question.