The National Register.
London, England, 1817-02-17 00:00:00

DISTREAC.I) ST tTE OF TFIE COUNTRY:

Mr. Ilizot cat tm gave notice of a motion. for Tucsday. the
4th of ue't month, respecting the distressed tuts of the trade
and manufactures of the country.

SLIGHT OF PETITIONING.
Mr. B. WILBRA HAM pri sl•nteil a petitiOn from Thomas
Lyon the younger, residing at Warrington. It contained 1
justification of the conduct of those who had beca charged
by An Honourable and Learned Munilirr, tile other night.
with forcibly seizing, a petition which had been agreed to be
presented to the House of Commons, pritisig 'for Parlia-
mentary Reform. and in his (Mr. B. W.'s) opinion, it was a
complete answer to the accusation. Too much cress had
been Ltid opim the fact of 'Fliinuas Lyon, the present pcti...
tii . being the nephew of a magistrate. The petition, it
wotdd ue observed on reading It, showed that the uncle of
this young man had been attacked with a paralytic stroke.
and )or a considerable time past had been unable to execute
the acute duties of his office,

Mr. Ittitit,GHAst said, that with respect to the stress said
to lie laid mum the eirectustance of the young man being the
nephew of a magistrate, tie wished to rewind the house that
this was nc t the pciat particularly remarked upon; but the
eiretinistance e.hieli had astoili..le-t1 hini (11r. 11.) was, that
this young taken the petition to ttte house of a ma-
gistrate, at which !anise it was demanded en eaiu. lie
aware that Nlr. T. Lyon the cuter w es aidlcted with a lament-.
able distemper; bit. tit House %wind do Min (Mr. B.) the
justice to remember, that he hail expressly delayed to take.,
any steps upon the subject mita time shuttle; have been allowed
for an answer to *lw accusation.

Mr. IV. NV ti.sitapvm.--The words of the Hon.und Learn-
ed Member were, " 43c it remembered, that it is the act of a
niazi,trate of Waeringtom"
The petition was then .breught up and read. After having
reminded the House of ilie.ite.ciatiatiou which 11414 befit
it 'AIWA kit% e to lay befote the House a stmeinent of the
real circumstances Gf tilt-. ease. The facts were, that abolit
seven o'clock in the evening of the day mentioned, the peti-
tioner was eujai.cd his comitieg.house, and On a sudden
beard a hoc and ety, the bit err : a constable, lie rati-
on: to give Lis assist.,•:e?, us lie 4/n.1%111 he %ins hi dill,: b, I
to do. Ile saw a crowd or persons there asse.obleti, and
man of the nitrate of 14 ichard Poi -rough in the custody of two
constables. Attar into the cease-of his apprehen-
sion. Ila took Lim to tht house of a Mr. coats just by, when
Min roach acknowledged tliatlic had, " by wa of juke," car.
Tiled off the petition. It I oink believed that flttrrorgli hail '
hot acted with atty crir,instl intention, he was permitted to
go at large, and the petiii-J.:er took the petition so seized into
his own custody-. 1:e Was applied to tar it afterwards, but
did not give it op, umiceiving that he was not appiied to be
cornetent persons. 'rho petition concluded w.th praying,
that the House would dismiss from their minds any preju-
dices which might have arisen from the vile, tualiguaut, tin.

thought been
made by the petitioner apritilliote who in the mildest way
load twought forward the accusation was entirely unjustifia-
ble. (Mae.) He trusted the House would observe the
great nicety of the petitioner's conscience, who had been
afraid to Rive the petition back to its right owners, though
they had made a formal demand of it. (Hear, ?nor.) The
petitioner most have been well aware that the petition which
'•o was property of tfurdescription, that unless it
wet e given back imniediatelv, it Mnuld he of very little V4loe
to its former possessors. He left it to the judgment of the
House, whether the conduct of the Hon. Members- who
brought the complaint before the House deserved the epithets
contained in the petition, of " vile, malignant, unfounded,
and false." :Mar, urn.)
Lord STANLEY thooght it WV; slue to the petitioner to
state, that from all he had heard of his character, it was most
respectable. He had no concern in the transacting' men-
tioned, and never interfered imtil kr heard a cry in tht street,
in this statement all parties conenrred. As to the subsennent
retention tie petition, he certainly was nut justified in
that ( Hear, hear). lie was also muck to blame in that, when
he took Iturrough into the ionise of Mr. Coates, he did le
call any of the parties who knew the whole transaction, but •
but at once acquiesced in the statement of the party con-
cerned. He also should have considered, that if the petition
were not deli e.red np immediately, tt became oarless, and
mere waste paper. Upon the whole. however, thong!: he
now, and at all times did, and should look at any breach of
the right of petitioning with a jealous eye, vet, in the pit sent
case, lie was hielined to think, that the petitioner conld nut
have been actuated by any malicious intent .
Mr. C. W. W',-NNE said, there could he no doubt but that
the petitioner, in the exercise of his office, should have taktli
both the person who committed the outrage, and the vro-
pony scieed, before a magistrate. When flue min.:teflon
was diseovered to have_ been a mere joke, he should have
released the prisoner, and have returned the prove' ty to the
right owner. Heu was, however, very notch surprised that
the petition now presented to the House said not one word,
whether the other petition had, or hail not been returned to
its right owners. He believed that the pt•tioner was ouly
eaargeable with an error in judgment.
Sir P. ItuRIWAT asked whether the petition had been re-
stored or not?
Mr. B. Wit.nnAHAM could not give any pc,itive answer.
Lie C. Motscu expressed himself as living much surprised•
at the petition having berm kept by Mr. Lyon, notwithstand-
ing tise urgent demand of its legal (mimes. Though lie did
MR think proper to detain lltirrough, ye: he had held it just
to detain the petition. Whether Burette zit hart taken it in
a joke or nor, at least the petitioner seemed toeuter into his
views.—(/bar, km am.)

( Ot! KT OF KING'S BENCH.
Mr. C.tsuEnn rose, in pursuance of notice, to move for
leave to bring in a bill to facilitate the progress of busine,s
in the Court of King's Bench. There were two sorts of bu-
siness Aransacted in this Court, that of a formal nature, add
that or a, more substantial description ; and it would be
agreed on all hands, that, a priori, business of a formal na-
ture abould w.i) to that of greater weight and import-
ance; hut the reverse was actually the ease, and it was of
nett ssity so; the potting in, and justification of bail, which
must be considtie.l HA 014 Itirtwii nature, 1)1(1-, dud all other
business, trasmneb as all writs were returnable during term,
on a particalav day; and also because the litstification Gf bail
h 111 for its sole object the prevention of the default of cer-
tain parties. What be wished to propose, was, that it should
be colipetent to one of the judges of the Court of King's
!knell to sit apart front the °theta, for the purpose of taking
justification of bail; and that issAlse Interval it shoold be
competent for the other judges to sit in bane°. It was trite,
indeed, 'tat at present only one judge attended a Court to
take justification of bail, but during that time, that is, from
nice until to n o'clock, although he was considered in law as
a full Court, vet the other three judges remained in their
rooms in a total state of inactivity. He concluded with
moving for leave to bring in a bill accordingly.
Ater some obsenations from Mr. LOCKHAIIT, leave was
given to bring in the bill.— Adjourned.
FRIDAV. Fen. 14. •

Sir F. litatnrrr presented a petition from the tradesmen
and in::,ibitants of Norris-street, Haymarket, complaining, of
certain injuries anstained Rota the e‘eention of the New-
street Act. The Hon. Baronet deprecated smelt interference
with private property as had here occurred, and complained
that the plan followed was not that which had been sub-
mitted to the committee, and received the "ipeakt is signa-
ture.

A conversation here cturned, in n hid) Mr. liuskisson,
Mr. Ponsonhy, 'Me. Mellish. mid Mr. talcr:ift too part.
The petition was referred to a CC/Milli:ter, wheel) to ap•
pointed, including' the names of the nit mhcrs of the committee
who examined the original draught of the Intl.

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.
."....,,
I- rolialtletl, „td ro4. attack iiliiett laud Lacint anutle upon
LAS- petitioner and his nude.
hi r. 131t01..CH +ls thought that the aitatk 'Which hail 1