The National Register.
London, England, 1812-03-08 00:00:00

NATIONAt-M:..GMTER.

ought to to be mite ..-changed. The Hun. Member concluded, after I
vatierY 'ath Otani, with supporting the motion.
Mr. S rtelttst `Milted said e—To go into•Ctrituniteee now, would be
waif to raises bisi lei the Minds of the n t I.aIII.I:i...CItOWS which might I
not so readily be appeased, and, therefore. so fa from producing any I
benefitial advitntages to the couhtry, it would only tend to Irritation
kid injury. If the House was to go to the extent of the Hon. Mover's
imposition; they must be prepared td violate the most sacred treaties ;
'this was a proposition must monstrous in itself, and insulting to the
Iteieral feelingi of the House. In defending the •system of licenses, he
ltdverted'to the opinion of the Continental merchants, who would not
'trust their goods in neutral ships, unless protected by British licenses.
Without these licenses, the British trade would be in danger, not only
from capture by the enemy, but also be lieble to capture from our own
frairitine regtdations ; without these licenses every vessel might be
eelzed by British cruisers, no trade could bee carried on with the Conti-
'tilt of Europe, it was idle therefore to attribute the distress of our
manufactures to this system, cr to any other Act of the Government.
Ms Honourable Friend lead charged this system as supported by per-
jury,. and originating in fraud ; if the Government did not countenance
this system, opt trade would be utterly ruined, and revert entirely to
•Ameiic,a, and Other neutrals. The Honourable Member who spoke
last, eteribpted.all our calamities to our originally resisting the gascon-
ade, of asonapsrte's blockading Decrees, and yet he would remind that
1-lonouneble Gentleman, that in his speech upon a forma. night, he
declared, he never would give up the Order of Council of January,
11307. He should. ever be desirous to make the greatest sacrafices in
support ofour commercial interests. The Orders in Council had been
the source of much misconstruction, of much pervertion of truth, of
distorting facts, and of much false logic ; but nothing was more demon-
strable to him than this, that we must not retract those only means, which
under Providence must protect out commercial interests, tke only
means by which we are enabled to resist and defeat the overbearing
tyranny and boundless apibition of our inveterate enemy.
Mr. CANmisn was strongly of opinion that the Orders Council
would, on enquiry, be found guiltless of the mischiefs coirTlained of
by our manufacturers ; but he entertained considerable doubts as to the
policy of the license trade as at present conducted, and it was a topic,
tate the nature, of which he wished a deliberate investigation.
Mr. MARRTATT and Sir C. Pelee opposed the motion.
Mr. J.,JoutisToNE supported the mutton.
Mr. Wiesettroacz deemed the question before the House of very
great importance, both in a moral and political point of ii4•W. As to the
proposition made by the Hole. Member near him (:\ rr. Prougharni ) he
thotieht it a very reasonable one ; for lie was of n iiiiun, that the ideuse
ought to go into inquiry to ascertain whether there was any possibility
vt palliating the tendency of our present system.
the Ca ANCELLOR of the Leciiren a said, lie eves under DO appre-
• hension of inquiry, confident as he was that the distresses alluded to
did not at all arise from the measures to Which the Hon. Gentlentan
opposite would attribute them. Our merchalite had uedoubtedly
suffered a heavy loss in the Baltic,. but he would ask, would nut that
loss, in a great measure, account for the bankruptcies by which the
nation was alerrued, and for the distress which now subsisted in the
. ..country? Why should the Orders in Council be necessarily supposed to
have produced them ? He perceived that those Gentlenien who endea-
voured to inculcate erroneous notions, and neel.e the people believe
that their distresses arose from the want of trade, would hardly
propose~ a rneestire which teNsfil have the effect of redecing that
• which they admitted we yet retained. A 4 half tearful; half philosophical
opinion seemed tsibe entertained that the French Emperor was an enemy
to. trade gentral4... he
.Wai to Liberty. He was indeed an enemy to Bri-
tish trade, bteevele theyarients Title's and other works, projected for the
purprise of .proW.Cingetlie internal trade of his dominions to be cond-
i
deyed as indicating his asessiou .to etennierce ?
Mr. Wart abeam& Supported the,ITIOLIOII ID allo3.rerful speech, and con-
cluded bse saying, tbeugli the vote they were about to give might be
an ineffectual, he hoped it. would he
.at least a menacing one.
Mr. Haza sax, Lord.oeeNytt.ett Qowert, and Lord MILTON, all
• spolse, decidedly in favour of the Motion:
Mr. Becittenta se concluded a very animated and eloAuent reply by
hits', that every men who voted on either,side of the question might
• pii v.O his head in perfeet repose, from a consciatisness. that he had
acted to the best of his judgment.
The House theft diyided, when tb,:re appeared, For the Motion, 111
.Aealtuit it, 416; Majority
.72.7-Adjourned at Five o'CLoca. , •

• .

verpNr.snAY, MARCH 4.
Sir F. Bys n e re- gave notice, that he intended, in some stage of the
• Iklutiny t tll, to.propose a Ciatve for insertion to, event the flogging of
Ili Aplrt 1.111,a, btl*CC ut so Much iuiportance, he had
felt it his duty to give this previous notice of his ini
Mr. W.:it:roar tl Inquired why an opportunity had not been afforded
imatbie periods to present petitions to the Regent.? •
Tfie CHANCELLOR. of the Excitiquia answered, that, as far as he
was informed of the business, he believed it was owing to the circum-
stancit of no Lfvee clay having intervened since the intimation was
wade, and imA. been the practice to present petitions at the
,I.exa#..; iirowever, tire: if any special intimation bad
beept • allittled to required to be immediately pre-
sta4r- * .beau tinned for the purpose.—. djuuructi.
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TiIURIDAT, MARCO
MR. WALSH.
The SpEAKIR informed the House, that be bad received this day an-
other letter from Mr. Walsh, in which he confesses his physical disa-
bility to face the House, in order to answer the charge against
He wishes the House not to delay proceeding in his business any
longer; and hopes his letter may be read, not to excuse his crime, but
to palliate his apparent neglect of the Orders of the house.
Mr. Be N Kee said, in rising to make a charge against a Member of
that House, on whom he wished to enforce the severest punishment
the House could inflict, he should be sorry to set the exatnele of ad-
ducing a precedent for the exercise of the inquisitociels pew: r of the
House to search into the private actions of its Member:'; but he ee.e,;:e
the nature and constitution of the House imposed oti :item the site- of
looking to their honour and dignity, and more especially u. ;Are
of the purity of their character as the first assembly of he . If
they felt it elevated and raised in contemplating the briliten of
many of their Memberse--if they felt honoured and wet ese s he
praises- bestowed on the military endowments anti ad:ls:see e
others—if they felt proud from reflecting on the humble:i.ei s•
: .
tuts, the sincerity, honour, and integrity possessed by ot
they not feel in an opposite way, on hearing that some were c. • .
stated by vices and when they discovered these among th• In, v.
not necessary they should look to the privilege of purging the
ei
He then adverted to the extensive and uncontrelied ouwel give..
the Censors over the Senate of Rome, which kept that assent :1y pert
and irreproachable; till foul corruption, bottornest on the luxury et the
times, broke through all their bounds, and overwhelmed the who.o
empire. He premised, that tee House ought never to entrust tetir
powers into any other hands than their ow::. If they locked into prt-
cedents, they would find offences of every sort against wince the : lease
had thought proper to excercise its indignation. In the bee:he:mg el
the last century there was a case of immorality, in the iee LCIV of
words spoken against the Christian Religion. biece that pie ei new
cases had been continually arising. In 1796, that of Colonel Laws
thorne wasein entire new ease, which had with• souse erected seine
doubt, but for his own part he thought the House had acted wieey
in expelling that Member. He thought there eould be no
for cases mo
ore
exemiltry than these of corruption and fraud, practised prie
ititereet on the property of individuals.- He did not. think he was
hound to shew that this case was in exact conformity to those which
he had quoted ; but there was a precedent in, 1.73, which bore hint
out in what he should ask of the .House.. It was not a case of
ienbezzlemeet or misapplication of the public money ; it was the case
of charitable corporations, in which three Members of this liots3e,
who were Trustees for the charity, were expelled the House fur indi-
rectly carrying on fraudulent practices relative to the said trust. 'I hey
were not charged with applying the money to their own uses, bet
merely for connieitig at fraudulent practices, in their capacity of
Trustees of this charity ; and for that practice the House took upon
itself to expel no fewer than three af its Members at one time.
House had even assumed the power to enquire into the affairs of pre
vate individuals. • He then cited the case of Sir Edward lhomas and
his Soil in 1607. On the complaint of ',fir Edward, by petittan ageive
his Son, fur contumacious and undutiful behaviour, the House :ap-
pointed a Committee, who, though they reported in favor
hof the Son,
end that there was no ground for the petition, yet they toouk te•case to
be one of flagrant immorality. He once more begged the Hoese
recollect that they were not bound to adhere to the strict rules of tee
common law, tut had frequently determined that Members shouldw.be
excelled; and afterwards ordered them to be prosecuted, not eitine
for the law first to take itsrcourse, as bad been done in the present
case, and to see if the person had been guilty of a legal ofience, het
proceeding entirady on their own judgment, and exercising their own
will. From the publicity arid notoriety of the facts, it was nut
`metes
nary . for him to mark • out particularly how the matter stands; ppers read at tt.e table eufacieetly proved the 'nature of the
an
trans-action.
With retard to Mr. Walsh', non-attendance, it was by no meF.
intention to press on him. If he had appeared in bis place, ke should
have thought it a proof of a hardened mind, and a heart callous to
those feelings of compunction for an abandonment of all tne princll:ks
of hbnour and integrity. Mr. Banks concluded by moving—
heN• s
-" That Benjamin Walsh,. Esq. a Member of that douse,
..
been tried fer felony at the Old. Bailey in Januaty last, We, convic,cd
thereof ; but for the reaeson of time opinion of the Judges, that tise
'did not -04nbernt to a. felony,:a free pardon had been eranted hie; ,
but ps gross fraud and breach of trust had been proved -against 1:!•:‘,
on the said trial, he is =worthy and unfit to continue a e.ember I
tide lioture..7 • . . •
•Sir A ertiolePleseeter said; -he. thought it . his duty to oppose the te.-.:.•
don. ' lie was-firnsly -convinced, that whatever odium or disgrace
attach to Mr. Walelefbr his conduct, 'the proceeding now prepesca
re founded uportolor.any. way consistent with, PLaliamentary
dents. tie:vraa.notnew disposed to exe mine the ll:Aare- of the juri.l-:.;
tim.whith the 'House' hard 2f-different times exercised over its
lilembere ;islet the eases quoted did not hear on the present etucs.,r;]r.,
The only precedettrof an, inquiry of a private nature, was Lab "n
tite es-When the: usages of Parliament were vague and unsettled— to
es Y.;`.
IW7—the beginning of the reign of James the Fire, He wished
fori.ted what the liousdithew of the charges ana cern r.:ints