The Sun.
London, England, 1830-05-28 00:00:00

IRISH MALT DUTIES.

Mr. DAWSON brought in a Bill for the regulation of
the Malt and Beer Duties in Ireland. It was read a first
time and ordered to be printed.
ISLE OF CEYLON.

Mr. JOHN STEWART, in moving for a Select
Committee to enquire into the Revenue and Expenditure
of the Isle of Ceylon, wished to put the House in pos-
session, by that means, of some information in addition to
that which had been already afforded it through the Fi-
nance Committee. By a return on the table of the House
made up to the Ist of December, 1824, it appeared that
the debt of the Isle of Ceylon of every description,
amounted at that period to the sum of 463,2011. ; while
the Sinking Fund appropriated to its extinction, and
which at one time amounted to 176,0001., had
been wholly devoted to other purposes. In December of
1826, this debt bad increased to the SIAM of 491,0001 ,
without a single shilling bring provided for its extinction,
and it was still accumulating. At the time the island was
in the hands of the Dutch, the whole Civil Establishments
were a mere trifle, compared (we believe the Hon. !lim-
ber said 16,0001. a year) with that which they now cost
under the present extravagant government, notwithstand-
ing the pressure of this continually increasing "debt. In
1825, the salary of the Governor was 10,0001. a year ;
and the civil expenses, including this salary, were 111,3401.
ay ear. This enormous expenditure was coupled with, and
supported by, a monopoly of trade, injurious to the in-
terests of the island, and more close and more annoying
than the very worst monopoly ever practised by the East
India Company. The trade in cinnamon, one of the ex-
clusive products of the island, was a monopoly of the
worst description. All cinnamon grown in Ceylon was
sent home by the Government, and sold on their ac-
count ; and every tree which produces it, whether it
grows on the side of the highway or in the hedge of a pri-
vate garden, is claimed as their property. It was to this
injurious system of carrying on trade that he wished to
direct the attention of the House; and he therefore pro-
posed to move for copies of the correspondence carried on
between Sir Edward Baines and Lord Bathurst,. on the
subject of the cinnamon trade. It was not, however, in
the monopoly of a particular trade that Ceylon formed an
exception to the territories of the Company. All imports
of the colonists were taxed to an extent unknown in Ma-
dras or Calcutta. All woollen goods paid a duty of nine
per cent ; cotton goods live per cent., and iron nine per
cent., while on the Continent they paid little or nothing.
On these and other points of commercial interest be
thought a Select Committee could obtain much useful in-
formation. The island was much more salubrious than
any part of the continent of India. All who were ac-
quainted with it pronounced it one of the finest climates
in the world. Coffee grew wild in the fields ; every ar-
ticle of necessity and luxury was to be had in abundance ;
and yet all these advantages were lust by a bad admini-
stration of its resources. Alluding to another branch of
the subject—the Administration of Justice—it was a re-
markable exception to the ordinary independence of
Judges, that the Government of Ceylon had the power
to suspend the execution of an order of the highest court
of justice. There was a remarkable instance of this in
the time of General Campbell. A vessel had arrived at
Columbo, in which a person named Rosier was found,
and apprehended as a deserter from the East India Com-
pany. He applied for a writ of Habeas Corpus, which
was granted him ; but the Governor, through the Attor-
ney-General, denied the right of the Court to issue such a
writ in opposition to the order of the Governor, and on the
Court persisting, the Governor resorted to his arbitrary
legislative power, and declared that no such writ should
in future be issued in opposition to his order. As a fur-
ther proof of the defective administration of justice, the
Judge, who levied exactions, afterwards sat in judgment as
to the right of levying them. It was impossible but that
such a system ;nest be fraught with corruption ; at least, if
it did not produce corruption, it was calculated to produce
it. The Government of Ceylon had, in 1810, issued a
proclamation, encouraging settlers to come to the island.
But, notwithstanding that encouragement, notwithstanding
the fertility of the soil, notwithstanding the salubrity of
the climate, the monopoly to which he had already al-
luded had deterred persons from availing themselves of the
advantage as hich settlers would unquestionably enjoy.
The inquiry which he recommended would therefore con-
duce to the attainment of two desirable objects ;—a re-
form in the administration of justice in the island, and
the establishment of the best means of further coloniza-
tion. That the inhabitants of Ceylon were perfectly pre-
pared to give efficiency to any measures calculated to im-
prove the condition of the ,ettlement, was evident from
various occurrences, and from none more unequivocally
than from the resolution to which, on the recommends-
!:l:_ of Sir Alexander Johnston, the proprietors of slaves
he Wand of Ce)lon tannin 1815 ; namely, thaz, all

the children of slaves born after the 12th of August, 1816,
should be horn free; a resolution, the value of whici
would be more correctly appreciated when it was known
that the number of slave proprietors in the island was 751,
and that the number of male and female slaves to whost
affspring the resolution was applicable, exceeded 10,000
The Hen. Gentleman concluded by moving that a Select
Committee be appointed to inquire into the revenue and
expenditure of the island of Ceylon.
Sir GEORGE MURRAY had not expected that so
many observations, not strictly referring to the question
itself, would have grown out of the Hon. Gentleman's
motion: To many of tho,e observations he should feel it
unnecessary to advert. He was very willing to admit that
the finances of the island of Ceylon had been labouring
under considerable difficulties—difficulties arising from the
expences which had attended the Kanditn war—and from
other circumstances. The Hon. Gentleman had, by im-
plication at least, recommended the introduction of the
principles of free trade into Ceylon. Those principles
had been tried there with respect to cinnamon ; and the
result was, that, in the course of a single year, the revenue
had fillen off 50,0001. He (Sir George Murray) was
no friend to the monopoly system ; but these were sub-
jects which must be looked at practically. He aloa rd-
mitted that the expences of the colony were considerable.
A commission was, however, appointed to inquire into
these matters. With respect to the patronage of the
island, he (Sir G. Murray) had no desire to exercise
it, except for the interest of the colony ; and he
believedthe only patronage which he hal with reference to
that colony, since his accession to office, was a single
writership.
Mr. O'CONNELL thought that the Right Hon. Gentle-
man had not given sufficient reason for refusing the motion.
Mr. HUME said, thousands of pounds were wasted
both in and upon these colonies in paying salaries propor-
tioned to the rank of the officers, and not to the nature of
the duties they performed ; and yet they had heard
the Right Hon. Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment, with all that gravity which so well became
him, and all that imposing manner which he so well
knew how to employ, getting up in that House, as he
did the other night, and affecting to read them a lecture
of economy upon the expenditure of 61. in printing a
petition.—( Hear, hear, and a laugh. his opinion the
Government of the colony had done every thing in their
power to cramp the energy and destroy the resources of
the colony. As an instance of this he would refer to
the expences of the establishments there. He objected to
the high rate of salaries given in the colonies, and among
the rest of the enormously paid individuals he could not
avoid mentioning the Colonial Chaplain, who received
a salary of 4,9201. a year, and the Superintendent of
the Poor with his 2,1801. a year. Then there was the
Superintendent of the Vaccine Establishment 1,6001.,
and Superintendent of the Botanical Garden 1,4001.
All the other expences of the colony were on the same
footing. The Judicial Establishment cost 43,0001., and
the Revenue Establishment 65,0001. The consequences of
all this extravagance were that the expenditure exceeded
the receipt. And it might well be so when the military
establishment cost 170,000/. a year, of which 20,0001. a
year were paid for the military staff alone. The expenses
of that colony were so great that the Right Hon. Gentle-
man's predecessor in office had acknowledged they might
be reduced, and ought to be reduced. When Lord Bathurst,
one of the most illiberal Ministers that ever governed a
colony, and one who was ready to maintain abuses in a
Government for the longest possible time; when such a
Minister recommended Reform, it was indeed the duty, the
imperative duty of his successor to act on the recommenda-
tion.—(Hear.)--He cordially supported the motion.
Sir C. FORBES said a few words, which were inaudible
in the gallery.

Lord ALTHORP thought that the state of the colony
required examination before a Committee, and suggested
that the word " commerce" ought to stand first in the
motion, in order that if it were carried, the Committee to
be appointed might first investigate that part of the sub-
ject, so as not to anticipate the Report of the Commis-
sioners which might be expected in July.
Mr. TRANT observed that it would be inconvenient,
while the General Committee was sitting upon Indian
affairs, to have another distinct Committee on the state of
Ceylon.

Mr. STEWART adopted the recommendation of the
Noble Lord (Althorp), and altered his motion accordingly.
The House then divided—
For the Motion SS
Against it B2
Majority 44
COURT OF CHANCERY

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL, referring to the Bill
this day brought before the House of Peers for the regu-
lation of the Court of Chancery, intended to propose that
it should be read a first time to-night, and that the second
reading should be fixed for the 10th of June, when the
discussion might be taken. He hoped this arrangement
would be satisfactory to the House, and that it would
allow him to name the same day for the second reading of
the two other Bills, connected in subject, for the regula-
tion of the Master's Office and for the regulation of the
Registrar's Office. He hoped, if this suggestion were ap-
proved, that Members would not fix motions for the 10th
of June, which would precede the Orders of the Day for
the second reading of the three Bills he had named.
Mr. BROUGHAM was of opinion that this important
subject wed merited a separate day's discussion. The sub-
ject of the Court of Chancery had been postponed in this
House for two Sessions, in consequence of the expect itlon
of the Bill which had just made its appearance from the
House of Lords. Why it had been so long delayed he
knew not, but, per tot discrimina rerum, it had at last
been sent down to the Commons. He must freely state
that he felt the strongest repugnance to the plan proposed,
and on the day named, for which he hoped no other bust.
ness would be set down, he would not scruple to detail his

objections.
Mr. FERGUSSON took this opportunity of urging the
Lord Advocate to fix some early day, prior to the 10th of
June, for the debate on his measure, which had excited
great attention in Scotland, and was, in fact, of the highest
importance to that country.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE BILL.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the further con-
sideration of the Report on the Bill for the better Ad-
ministration of Justice in England and Wales.
Mr. E. DAVENPORT said, that for any good it was
likely to do by its adaptation to this country, the measure
might as well have been drawn by the Grand Vizier as
by his Majesty's Attorney-General. He complained espe-
cially of that small part of it which took away the local
jurisdiction of Cheshire as a County Palatine, and con-
tended, that if such a proceediu g were just and proper, the
Bill ought to have been extended to the Counties Palatine
of Durham and Lancaster. Ile called the attention of the
House to the petitions against a change, not only from
Cheshire, but from the great towns of Liverpool, Man-
chester, and Warrington ; and required the Attorney-
General to state some grounds for the change, as stat pro
ratione voluntas was not enough to satisfy the inhabitants.
The Hon. Member then entered into a detail of those parts
of the Bill which affected the ancient system of administering
justice in Wales and in the County Palatine of Chester,
describing them as open to many objections, and concluded
by moving that the Bill be read that day six months.
Mr. WILBRAHAAI concurred in the injustice of
abolishing the Welsh Courts, and especially objected to the
destruction of those institutions under which justice had
hitherto been administered in the county of Chester. The
inhabitants of those places had, he conceived, a right to
retain all the peculiar advantages which, up to the present
time, they had enjoyed. If in those amendment, legis-
lators sought to make the language of the law more intel-
ligible, they would be conferring a greater benefit upon
the public, than by introducing regulations which would
go to deprive particular districts of advantages which they
had possessed from time immemorial. Hoping that some
of the old and peculiar advantages of the Welsh system
might be retained, he should not, in the present stage, op •
pose the Bill ; but if he found that in the Committee
those were not preserved, he should certainly feel it his
duty to give it all the opposition in his power.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, said, that his object
was to accomplish what he was persuaded would prove a
great national benefit, with as little opposition as possible,
and therefore his aim had been to remove from the Bill as
much as possible everything to which objection might be
taker. In doing that, however, it was scarcely to be ex-
pected that he could conciliate every person, and at the
same time be governed by those principles which he con-
sidered essential to the value of the measure and calculated
to promote its success. He certainly did not imagine, that
by the unaided and native force of genius, he could accom-
plish all that the Honourable Gentleman opposite seemed
to suppose himself capable of effecting, and therefore he
had endeavoured to avail himself of the suggestions of
others as far as he possibly could, for he candidly confessed
he did not entertain so exalted an opinion of his own ge-
nius as some appeared to indulge. As the Bill had been
printed, and was in the hands of Honourable Members, it
would not be neces-ary for him to enter into minute ex-
planations of its several clauses; but, once and for all, he
begged the House to understand that the Bill was one
combined measure; that the addition of the Welsh Circuit
made the appointment of new Judges necessary in West-
minster-hall, seeing that the business of the Principality
was transferred to the Metropolis, and that new regula-
tions were required by those alterations in the Courts. It

was evident, however, that the whole • was essentially on.
combined measure. The House, too, would see that no
elatues were intreduced except such as were necessary for
carrying those objects into Effect, or Puch as seemed natu-
rally to grow out of it. He presumed, that were the prin.
ciple of those alterations once conceded, there would be no
doubt that the additional Judges were necessary ; for not
only would they be required for going Circuit, but it would
he necessary that one of them should always be in London
also ; those Judges would he necessary for the increased
facility and despatch which it was one of the objects of the

measure to afford, and which, with the additional labotta
and increased impediments, would have been defeated hut
for that precaution. He should now advert to the clauses
respecting arrest upon mesne process; he had fixed it at
a sum of one hundred pounds, and he felt bound to de-
clare thus early, that in principle he could not abandon
those clauses. He was free to acknowledge that he should
have had no objection to go further, but he had some re-
spect for the opinions of others—he did not think his own
powers all-sufficient—he attached soma value to the la-
bours and information Of other men; but though he did
so, he found it impossible to accommodate the clause to
the views of every one. Some thought it went too far,
snd some thought it did not go farenough—and be became
therefore the more induced to adhere to his former views,
finding that he could not reconcile all the difficulties which
presented themselves. He was the more anxious to afford
this explanation, as a deputation from the trades of Lon-
don and Westminster had done him the honour to wait on
him, and make representations upon the subject, to which
lie felt bound to pay attention, and in consequence of which
he introduced the clause allowing of a distringas, and
' had also induced him to adopt a course respecting another
pin of the Bill, which he hoped would meet with the
approbation of the House. There were some of the clauses
which he proposed to withdraw from the Committee, in-
tending to give them more mature consideration, and in-
troduce them in the form of a separate Bill, or else lay
them before the House on the bringing up of the report, so
as in any event to make them the subject of a separate
discussion, and not mix them up with the other clauses
of the Bill. There were none of those clauses which
he so intended to withdraw, respecting which he slid not
intend to reserve to himself the right of bringing forward
again, either in the manner he had mentioned, or next
Session, in the firm of a separate Bill. The Hon. and
Learned Gentleman then entered into the statement of the
existing regulations and practice of the Welsh Courts, and
contrasting their past state with what he anticipated their
future condition would be. He pressed that consideration
upon the attention of the House, and then proceeded
to answer the objection made relative to defendants
rendering in discharge of bail. To meet that objec-
tion he had alrered one of the clauses, by which a de-

fendant might be rendered at the gaol of the county in
which he resided as resdily as at any of the Courts at
Westminster—thus the advantages enjoyed by Chester and
by Wales would be continued to those districts, and ex-
tended to the rest of the country. He then entered

into a statement of the increased facilities given in the
Bill in obtaining judgment, and issuing execution on
application to a Judge, and on procuring his certificate,
showing that landlords, from the protection which it af-
forded against spoliation and waste, and other creditors,
from the advantages it gave them, would find themselves

in a better situation than before. He then noticed the
extreme horror which some of the Welsh counties seemed
to entertain of being combined with others, pointing out
at the same time the advantage which that combination
would secure to them of enjoying the services of a more
enlightened Jury and a more numerous and better qualified
bar. It it would he the means of preventing opposition

(though he had no great hopes of that), he would have no
objection to introduce a clause to make it incumbent on
the Judges to go to the different counties where the
assizes were appointed to be held, and subsequently to
meet at Chester. The Honourable and Learned Gentle-
man concluded by moving that the Speaker leave the Chair.

Sir C WETHERELL—The Bill, when he fist saw
it, was but the skeleton of a bill. It was now con-
siderably altered ; that was to say, limbs had been am-
putated, and features bad been added, so as completely to
change its appearance; and what with what had been
tagged on, and what with what had been detruncated, it
was quite something else from what it had originally been.
It seemed to him to be chiefly divided into three parts—
the appointment of new Judges in Westminster Hall; the
raising the liabi.ity of arrest to 1001. ; and the abolition
of the Welch judicature. In a great measure he thought
the Bill objectionable ; and he should therefore vote
against it, till this great boon, which, he supposed, was
what had been so pompously held out in the Speech from
the Throne, at the commencement of the Session,
was put into a somewhat more palatable shape, as
far as the public was concerned. He thought that
the proposed rise in the standard of arrest was so
large, that instead of its being hurried on in this way,
at the close of the Session, it ought to Lave been an-
nounced long previously, so as to afford an opportunity of
collecting the sentiments of those the most interested in the
alteration. With respect to the appointment of new
Judges, as the Judges themselves were of opinion that it
ought to take pl ice, and as the Welch Judicature was to
be done away with, that measure, perhaps, was the least
oljectionable of the three. He, however, could not un-
derstand the principle upon which Parliament was called
upon to legisl tte upon this subject. One Hon. Gentle-
man, who wanted to have the law of England altered, pro-
posed to do it by consolidation, while the Attorney-
General, in altering the law of Wales, wanted to do it
on the plan of division and subdivision. He would not
take upon himself to pronounce which of the two was
right ; but this he would soy, that one must he wrong.
He objected to the arrangement of the counties being left
to the King in Council; that arrangement ought to be
definitively settled by the provisions of the Bill itself. As
proposed at present, there was to be a power in the Crown
to consolidate the counties, and a power in the Crown,
pro hac vice, to appoint the Sheriff. If it was proposed
to join Carmarthen to the nearest English county, and so
on, he should be able to understand it; but, as now ma-
naged, a man was never to know to what country he be-
longed, for one day he was to he a Welshman, and the
next an Englishman. The whole of this arrangement
appeared to him to he so anomalous, that he did not
hesitate to say that it was directly unconstitutional. It was
not even fixed when-the change should take place ; but the
whole appeared to be left to the hand of chance, or to the
good providence of God knows who. He had often heard
the Welsh Judges abused in that House; but he might
observe that the Welsh Courts of Equity had never been
found fault with ; and in all his experience as a lawyer, he
had never known but two cases brought from that Court
to an Appeal in the House of Lords. He should be glad to
hear the sentiments of others upon the subject; but, fur
himself, he ntu•t say that unless the Bill wax greatly
altered, he should certainly oppose it.
Mr. DAVENPORT opposed the Bill.

Mr. SADLER wished to say a Few words, as he had
missed an opportunity that evening of presenting a peti-
tion from Macclesfield against the Bill ; nor was it to be
wondered at that the inhabitants of Chester should be averse
to having their privileges taken away from them before
they knew what it was proposed to give them in exchange.
The Grand Jury, the Magistracy, and all the towns of
Chester had petitioned against the measure, and he there-
fore thought that the House was bound to regard its pro-
visions with suspicion. 'With respect to the raising the
standard of arrest to 1001., he thought that was objec-
. .

tionahle, because it still left the rich creditor, whose deal-
ings were large, the power of proceeding against his debtor
as before, while the poor creditor, who seldom had a debt
amounting to 100/., was to be exclude,' from that pri-
♦ilege.

Lord BELGRAVE was happy to hear that some of
the points recommended to the elnsideration of the At-
torney-General were likely to meet his favourable consi
deration.

Mr. JOHN WILLIAMS was surprised to hear the ob-
jections made by the Hon. Member for Newark, more
particularly as the Bill went to take from Ministers a
greater quantity of patronage, which, greatly to their
credit, they gave up, than had been resigned by any Mi-
nisters of the Crown since the Revolution. They aban-
doned that source of patronage—the Welsh Judges. As
he understood also there was a measure in progress which
went to abolish eighteen or twenty places in Scotland,
causing a great saving (though in this he was net so san-
guine) to the public. He could not agree with those
gentlemen who had attacked the Bill, towards which he
telt himself attracted. With regard to introducing addi-
tional Judges into the English system, he thought the state
of the country, when twelve Judges were first appointed,
justified that. Six hundred years ago, there were twelve
Judges, and now there were 100 times as much business as
at that time. At present it was impossible, with all the
skill of the Judges, to keep down business in the Court of
King's Bench. To force parties into another Court, as was
sometimes proposed, would be as unfair and unjust, as to
make them toss up for a decision. No Legislative Act
could remedy this, but it might be remedied with-
out an Act of Parliament. If his Hon. ,tnd Learned
Friend would only go into another Court, he would carry
the business with him, but a law could not carry it. The
public would go to those barristers in whom they had
confidence. The Courts of Equity might be curtailed of
their business by taking some of it to the Courts of Com-
mon Law. There were conflicting systems of law and
within ten minutes' walk of each other in Westminster