The National Register.
London, England, 1812-04-12 00:00:00

, THE NATIONAL REGISTER•

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

TUESDAY, APRIL 7.
A new writ was issued fur the Borough of Aldeburgh, in the room
of Colonel M‘Mation, who has accepted the situation of Keeper of the
Privy Purse.
Mr. MA R torATT presented a Petition from the Shipbuilders in the
port of London, a7ainst the encouragement of building &hips in the East
Indies.—Ordered to lie on the Table.

Colonel DILLON presented a Petition from the Freeholders of the
County of Mayo, praying for the removal of the • disabilities under
which the Catholics of Ireland labour.—Ordered to lie on the Table.
Mr. Nlitt.s prelented a Petition from the East India Company, pray-
ing a renewal of their charter for the term of twenty years. After some
o:iservatiani from Lord A. 1-In z 44 I LION, and others, the Petition was
received, and ordered to he on the Table.
Sir T. Tuit t o :st postponed his motion relative to the Property Tax,
from Thursday to the 23(1 instant. In the interim, he moved for more
papers on the subject, which were granted.
Sir J. Nitwpo al- moved for an Account of all Grain, Malt, Flour, and
M,,id exported frnm Ireland, from the Ist of January, 1812, up to the
Writ period. Afier sqtne observations from Mr. W. POLE, who said,
that it was his invention to move the House into a Committee to con-
sider the exportation of Irish Spirits, and also to put an additional Duty
upon Irish Spirits, the motion was agreed to.—Adjourned.

WFDNIESDAY

APRIL 8.

11-. e Wootton-P,a,set Petition was postponed to Tuesday se'nnight.
Sir C. MoRGA N presented a Petition from Birmingham, against the
motinp.)ly of the Ea,t lndi.L Company; and General GASCOIGNE gave
notice of a motion on the same subject.
The Princess,s Annuity Bill was rLad a second time, and ordered to
be coninntrt.d on Tuesday.
IVI7. i{obi::soN said, the Lords of the Admiralty having determined
to brit.g Lord W. Scuatt to a Court-Martial, for having run his ship (the
Comin,-stador) on shore :.n the coat of France, had sent out orders for
tit,: :Cubic Lorab ing ;nit under at rest; and, he being a Member of the
House, their Lorils!lip had felt it right to communicate the circum-
stance to the Hou.e —Ordered to be entered on the Journals.

Mr. AT JAN pciSlp !tied his tootion on the Catholic Clai-rs ti:l
Thursday, the 2.3 U instant, in order to afford time for the Catholics to
present their Petition.) to the Prince Regent before the discussion.
Mr. Peke A 1.. i clin,equelce, moved that the call of the House
be di,charged, and ren•Aved for Wedne:Aty, the 22d tuataut, which was
agreed to.
Ir. C. WYNNE. postponPd his motion on the appointment of Colonel
IVI4 Mahon till 'l'in ;day next.

In a Committee u on Cie Exportation of Irish Spirits, Mr. W. Por.r:
move.:, that the Exportati.)n of Irk!) Spirits to foreign countries should
be supended till the :31st of December next.—He also proposed, in a
Commoti-e of Ways and Means, an additional duty upon Irish Spi; its
of 2 .6d. per gallon. 1-hs object .vas to afford relief to the brewing
t:ade in Ireland, as well as to prevent the peknicious use of spirits in
tha: c •untry.—He also moved for the repeal of the Excise Duties on
Tobacco in Ireland, in order to propose a more effectual and profitable
mit: of imposing Busies On that article.—The Resolutions were agreed
to, and the i eport ordered to be received to morrow.—Adjourntd.

THURSDAY, A: RIL 9.
Mr: P. MOORE presented Petitions from the Royal College of Physi-
cians of London, and frum various inhabitants of London and West-
minster, in favour of tin, Sea 13.tthing Bill. Ordered to lie on the 'Fable.
—Fie. then move 1 its second re which was opposed by Admiral
Harvey, and Lord Henniker, and on a division the Bill was thrown out,
the numbers being, for it, 17; against it, 29.
Mr. Fut.i.y.it presented a Petition from the innkeepers of the county
of Sussex, cumplaininr of the insufficiency of the allowances fur the
quartering of soldiers.—Ordered to lie on the 'Fable.
Mr. LYTTLET oN. after remarking on the high price of grain in this
country, asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there was not
at this moment sllips in th, river, having cargoes of rice on board, with
licenses to proceed with the same to ports in France ?
Mr. Wilms aEA o also observed, upon the remarkable scarcity of
grain, and suggested the propriety of stopping the exportation of rice
upon the. same principle.
Mr. l'EiteEvAt'said, that if the quantity of rice in this kingdom was
gre It, it might not be advisable to export it ; but as the quantity was
small, he conceived it highly proper, in order that America, from the
profits which that rice would produce by exportation to France from
this country, might bc induced to send that article to Great Britain more
extensively.
After transacting some business relative to Ireland, the House ad-
journed.

PRIDAY, APRIL 10.
ADVANCED PRICE OF GRAIN.

Mr. CORWIP. N seeing the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his place,
wished to receive an answer toa few observations he had to make. lie
had stated to the ktiitht Hon. Gentleman, at the litter cnd of last Oc-
tober, that this year's crop would in all probability be deficknt, and

225

that immediate measures should be resorted to, to ameliorate the had
effects of such a calamity. It was now for him to say, that what he had
predicted wes now come to pass. The advance in the price c f grain,
Most particularly in the part of the country he had the honour to re-
present, was exceedingly alarming. He would not deny that he was
of opinion there was a quantity of grain in ele country, which, ifehtis-
banded, would be sufficient to answer the demand; • lie people, but
if the same supineness which had hitherto characte ized Government
upon this subject, continued to operate, the effect, woule prove ex-
tretre:y prejudicial to the lower orders, The measure of maki le bread
of one quality would, he thought, contribute to :to away, in a great
measure, the luxuries which at present.existed, and defeat the bad ef-
fects of such an application of grain.
The CHANCELLOR of the Excii Fut:ER was surprised, that the Hon.
Gentleman should couple the idea of a famine with wha- he was pleas-
ed to call the supineness of Government, unless indeed he was of opi-
nion that an Act of Parliament could have the effect of making land
produce two bushels an acre more than it now produced. He would
declare, that upon subjects of this nature the intereosition of Parlia-
ment had always the effect of creating more mischief than benefit, and
he would recommend it to Gentlemen before they came down with
measures of this nature, to weigh well whether practical advantage
would be likely to result tram them, Government had not been su-
pine. The distillation from grain was stopped, and measure s were at
present in the House, to prevent the application of that article to any
use except the necessities of the people.
Mr. Cu aWEN stated, that in the County of Cumberland an advance
had taken place upon grain in one day of 30s. per quarter, and gave no-
tice, that on Thursday next he would submit a motion upon the subject
of the state of the price of grain.
To a question from Sir JOHN Neve RT, Mr. W. POLE answered,
that he believed the Irish Militia Officers would, from the present pe-
riod, be exempted from the Prope' ty 'Fax.
GOLD COIN rit,L.

Upon the motion that the SPEAKER should leave the Chair, in order
to po into a Committee on the Gold Coin

Mr. PARNELL moved that the Committee should be postpon .d to
this (lay fortnight, for the purpose of ascertaining the state of th! cur-
rencv of Ireland, which, he observed, was exceedin; ly depreciated.
Mier a long conversation between several Members, the House di•
wits n there appeared for going immediately into a Committee
87 ; in favour of the Amendment, 27. Maiu: itv' C.
The Cn 7-:CLI.I.OIt of the EXCEEV ER said, th it with respect to du-
•rat ion, the lall s; as not to continue in fo c: longer than two months after
the commencement of the nest Sessign.. _ _

The Bill then passed thiouLli a Committee, and the Report was or-
dered to be received on Monday.—Adjourned.

POLICE OF THE METROPOLIS.

The Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, on the
Nightly Watch and Police of the Metropolis, has bee:, prii:ted. It e-
gins with adverting to the late murders at Rr.dcliffe, and the consequent
activity manifested to prevent similar outrazes, and then proceeds to
take a view of the Police as at present constitute d. The R port speaks
highly the system established in the City of London, which, from
the nature of its Magistracy, the gradation of its Officers, and division
of its limits, it says, affords an example of that unity and dependence
of parts, without which no good system of Police can ever be expected;
and recommends the adoption of a similar system in Westminster, its
liberties, and the other adjacent parishes, which have hitherto formed
an unconnected mass of scattered and uocontrolled local atithoritieg.—
The Committee, instead of projecting any new system, only think it
necessary to recommend such measures to be enforced by legislaave
enactment, as will give uniformity and permanency to the one at ptc.
sent established. With this view a number of alterations are suggested;
the principal of which are—
That the seven Police Offices out of the City should have a supe' in-
tending pnwer over the Parochial Police, in order to create a coninion•
centre to which information might be communicated, and daily re-
ports made.
chat the Thames Police Office be.removed from Wapping to the Sur-
rey side of the River, and its district extend from Greenwich to Bat-
tersea.
That the law for apprehending pickpockets and notorious thieves
'should be amended, and extended to the City of London.
That, for the greater facility of prosecuting receivers of stolen goods,
seareh warrants he enforced by night as well as by day.
That the number be painted on pannels of hackney coaches, ay, to
avoid detection the iron plate is sometimes taken off when they are
conveying sto en property.
that the IVia.o, rates should have further means of rewarding their
Officer, for extraordinary activity, so that the Police Officers might bo
precluded from participating in the rewards given by Act of Parlia-
ment, which circumstance sometimes operates against their credit as
witnesses.
That the expense of criminal prosecutions to a limited extent, and in
particular cases, be defrayed from the parish rates, or some other gene-
ral fund.
1 hat the City Officers should, in certain caves, be empowered to act