The National Register.
London, England, 1811-03-10 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL. NATIONAL REGISTER.

prevention and counteraction of the trade were ineffectually ad-
ministered ; the punishment, obviously, was not sufficiently
severe to deter those from prosecipting their iniquitous object,
who had already suffered pecuniary chastisement for pursuing it
with avidity. There' exist to his knowledge, incontestible
proofs that a very consider I* Slave Trade was now carried on,
in which the merchants this country were concerned, and
which had been promoted by them, and he had in his possession
documents,. Which were sufficient to convict of capital felony,
those very persons, if it had been the will of the Legislature to
inflict capital punishment upon the crime of the Slave Trade.—
He felt it his duty (and he would accede to that feeling, howe-
ver painful it was to him) to mention circumstances and names
corm cted with the subject of his present reprobation, for the
purpose of skewing the ingenuity with which the dealers in this
odious traffic concealed the nature of theirtmsanthropic specu-
lations. The Neptune, a ship fitted out by a house in Liverpool,
at a former period, avowedly the most noted for the traffic,
sailed in June 1809, and upon her return to this country, pro-
fessed to have been on a voyage for ivory,- but it was afterwards
declared by two young men, of an unquestionable veracity, who
had been upon the voyage, that a great number of slaves were
taken on board. The Captain of the George also acknowledged
to the persons who.had given this information, that he was like-
wise engaged in the trade of slaves. There were various other
confirmations of the existence of the trade which INlr. Brougham
recited. He stated that about four months ago a King's ship met
an English vessel going towards Africa, and took from her a
carpenter, who mentioned that he was ordered, when it should
appear probable that no detection would take place, to fit up
bulk heads and platforms, the use of which could be easily
guessed at. On the 12th of December this King's ship met
the ship Marquis of Romana, which had on board one hundred
and nine slaves ; the vessel was of course seized, and was now
under condemnation. There were two other vessels which met
svith a similar fate for the same offence. Those 'called them-
selves Spanish ships, and professed to be manned by Spanish sai-
lors, but it was soon ascertained that they were no other than
the Charlotte and Mohawk, under Spanish colours, manned
for the most part by Englishmen, and owned by merchants in
London. He would -not trouble the House any further in re-
peating proofs of the continuance of this execrable traffic, but
even if he had not been in possession of those proofs, he had the
respectable authority of Col. Maxwell and others, for declaring
that. though the Slave Trade was greatly diminished since the
passing of the Resolutions relative to it, yet a sufficient portion of
it still existed to demand the notice of the House. From the
month of December to that og April last, no less a number of
slaves was brought under condemnation into Sierra Leone, than
ere thousand and ninety-one. To the colonies .the importation
of slaves was looked upon' as a matter of courser notwithstanding
the pecuniary punishment annexed to detection. Under all
these circumstances it was unnecessary for him to assure the
House that it was imperative upon them to take sech measures
as might effectually check the revival of so dreadful an evil.—
The object of his motion was to make the practice of which he
haul snolten felony not capital felony, but of that kind which is
punishable by transportation. Ile then moved for leave to
Isring it) a Ilia,to amend the 47th of the King, respecting the
'lave Trade.
After some observations from Mr. Marriot, Mr. Wilber-
force, Air. Barham, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in
favour of the Motion, leave was given to bring in the Bill.

PUBLIC BILLS OF IRELAND.

Sir row,: NEW rolurProduded a Resolution to the House, the
obj?ct of which was to allow the same time to elapse between'
the second reading and the committal of Public Bills, respecting
Ireland, as was allowed between the first and second reading of
Private Bills. He represented that the hurried manner in
which the important business of Ireland was transacted in the
I.louse, occasioned the £reatest inconvenience, as it was impos-
sible that the Members for that country could receive due in-
struction from their Constituents upon any subject of public
interest.

After a long discussion, in which Mr. Foster, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, and Mr. Croker, opposed the motion, and
Mr. Shaw, and Mr. Hutchinson concurred in it, a division took
place.—Ayes 29—Noes 74—Majority 45.
Mr. WI, NNE postponed his Bill to prevent bribery and cor-
ruption in elections fur Parliament, to the 9th and 15th of the
month.

On a division, Mr. Perceval's motion for giving a precedency,
on certain days, to Orders before Notices of Motions, was
adopted, by a Majority of 82 to 30.
The House then took into consideration the report of the
Army Estimates, and the first Resolution being agreed .to,
be remainder WiliC po3tp..ned to Thuraday ne-it.—Adjourt,ed.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH G.
Mr. Rose moved the third reading of .the••Srok Manufaetur-•
cr's bill, which was opposed by Mr. D. Giddy,..Mr. Curwen,
Sir John Newport, and Mr. Parnell, on the ground that it went
to add nothing hut superfluous regula t i • n.
Mr. Rose stated, that the si.nple
,object of the eßill was to
place women labourers on the same footing as men. The Bill
then passed.
The CHANCELLOR of the ExcfinQULß pospbind his motion
respecting Distilleries to Friday. •
Mr. WHITBREAD gave notice, that on a future day lie shoult4
move, that the Orders of the Day should al ways 1) taken in the.
order in which they stood ; and that no order for any Money
Bill should come on after 10 o'clock at nip. kr.
The House being resolved into a Committee 6f %PVIV.I-',Mr.
WHARTON moved a variety of sums; among -tlienti7S,tal."l.4
the maintenance of convicts; 17.5,0001. for foreign und'slitra
service money; 20,0001. for Law charges; and id,tal. fol. the
Public Office, Bow-street.
s • Thal
Lord PALM E R 0 N brought up the Army Mu `Jim.
Jim:.
Read a first, and wdereil to h.: read a st;cond time to-morrOW:
—Adjourned.

' TITVRSDAY, MARC!' 7.
The Birmingham Water Works Bill, aster some discussion;
was thrown out by a majority of 55 to 12.
Mr. M. A. TAY LOlt twain brought before the House, the shut'
ation of Appellants in tile House of Peers, anil suitors in the'.
Court of Chancery. Such _was the increase of business', it r.:04
impossible oue man could get through it. In the Hoafle of.
Lords there were no less than 300 appeals now Nraiting to be
heard, and which, using the utmost expedition, as business was
now conducted, could not be disposed ef in less than ::0 years.
In Chancery, no less than 100 causes were wahine for hearing,
and only one was disposed of during last term. In addition to
this, the Lord Chancellor had another duty to pt2rfctron—lle
meant the affairs of Bankrupts, which were daily increasing, as
the number of banki iptcles in 1809 wore whilst in 1810
they exceeded f2OOO. The I lox. Member conclu,'ed by moving,
" hat a Committee be appointed to search the Joan the
House of Lords, to ascertain how many appeals were cut
before that House, and to report to the House thi:reupon.
The Cun NCELLOR or the ExentQusa acknowledged the
facts stated by Mr. Taylor ; but conceived the House of Com-
mons not to be the proper place for taking up tilt: subject.
Committee had already been appointed in the present Session to
enquire into the evils complaieed of, he tiler, fire thought the
present motion unn.Tcessary.---Several Ntembers stated iro3llC.: S
within their knowledee, of the delays attending suits of this
description.—On a division, however, the motion. as lust.
The report of the Committee on Commercial Credit being
brought up, Mr. Perceval moved that it be referred to a
Committee of the whole House on Mondt.y next. He
did not consider it necessary that the Report shoold be mad,
but it purported to grant six millions by way ul' Exchequer
Bills.

IRELAND.
Mr. Po' so Nav rose pursuant to his notice. He !mid that he
was glad to see the Right lion. :entl.-man (Mr. N.V. Pole) in
his place, whose letter was the occaston of the mott,:n wWch he
intended to submit to the House. lie expressed his anxiety to
hear what wean the cause of the circukftion of the !otter to the
Magistiacy of Ireland, as he was bure that such a measure cou.d
not have been taken if something dangerous had not been
.appre-
hended.—lt was most strange that the Catholic Meeting, which
was in that letter called an unkwful assembly, should be allowed
openly to exist upwards of .two years before the proclamation.
The Catholics had always. before enjoyed the privileges of 'com-
plaint. and this country m ver denied the rig!tt. He contended
that the usual mode of enforein,q, the application of laws that
had been brought into disuse, was, by proclamation, issued by
the King in Council; and he wished to know why the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, the representative or his Majesty, bail
not resorted to this more efficacious as well as more paternal
way of proceeding? He also desired to be informed whether
any legal 2.tithority had been consulted upon the subject; and
why, if the meeting wax unlawful, it was permitted to act after
it had been declared so ? The proceeding was of the utmost
interest; Ireland had already enough . to irritate her, and her
injuries should now be removed, instead of being aggrU;rated.
He concluded an eloquent speech, which we regret that our
limits will not allow us to give, by moving, that " An humble
Address be presented to the Regent, requesting a copy or copies
of any proclamations issued by the Lord Lieutenant and Council
of Ireland, relative to the Act for dispersing unlawful assem-
blies. Also for a copy or copies of any communications or
references to the Attorney and Solicitor General thereupon,
together with their opinions. • Also for copies of any dispatches
from the Lord Lieutenant to this Government, relative to the
conduct of that Committee.