The Sun.
London, England, 1808-03-25 00:00:00

IRISH LINEN BOARD.

Sir JOHN NEWPORT moved, that there be laid
betbre the House a Copy of the Letter of the Secre-
tary of, the Treasury in 'lreland, dated 7th Odtober,
1807, to the Trustees of the Linen Board, 'respeCt.
nig the deficiency of the Funds intrusted to their
care ' • also a Copy of the Minute of the Proceedings
of tbe Linen Board, dated 15th October, 1806,
whereby they suspended James Corry from his Of-
fice, as Secretary to. that Board; also a Copy of the
Memorial of James Corry to the said Board; also a
Copy of any Report of the Law Officers of the
Crown in Ireland, respecting the ernbeizlement of,
rhe Funds intrusted to the Secretary of the Linen
Board ; also an Account of the. Sums which had
been paid'to Mr. March, Surveyor and .ArchiteO to
the Linen Board, from the Ist of January, 1800,
specitying then dates of the several paymeets, and the
authority by which they were made, as also A% he-
titer made according to estimates previously pre-
pared, together with the balances due to or from the
said March, at the time of the last settlement ;
and also the names cf the Trustees who had audited
or passed the Accounts; and several other Papers on
the satire subjed.

Alter a fet-u observations from Mr, FosTna, who
did not objet,l to the produdion of the Papers ; and
Ntrwvorti., who bad net the slightest idea of
imputing a shadow of impropriety to the Trustees
of the Linim Board, and whose oh:Jed was solely to
remedy the deices arising from the, fluctuating na-
ture of their constitution, the motions were all agreed
to.

LAND TAX COMNIISSIONERS' APPOINTMENT

Mr. HUMISSON obtained leave to bring in a Bill
fol. Regulating the
.Appointment of Commissioners
to carry into execution-the Land and Malt Tax Aft
of the present Session, In submitting his motion '
to the House, Mr. Huskisson stated, that, his object
by the Bill was, that as the County Members had
hitherto' taken upon them.the appointment of Cour-
missionerS under the former Mt, the lists:ofithe
present; Commissioners should' be referred to.them
fOr the insertion of Other names, or the erasure of
any now existing, as it should seem to them expe-
dient, "He proposed, that the Bill, when brought in,
should be read. a 4ir.st time„ and then printed; slier
which, it was to lie over for some time, and to 'he
circulated through the country, in order to its being,
fully understood, and adequately judged of by those
nio,t intere4ed in it.

The A.TIThi4EY oa, gave notice of a
mc-
tion 6-morrow, which, as well as we could col.
iett its pi4ort, is for 10vc to bring in a lilt

ing certain Proceedings and Ofil,er, of the Court of
King's Bench.
Mr.:WHARTON 'brought up: the P,eport of the
Committee' of, Supply. The Resolutions were se-
yerally read and agreed to,
The Orders in Conned Indemnity Bill was read a
second time, and ordered to be committed on Mon-
day next.
The Irish Bank Token Bill was reported, and
ordaed to be read a third time to-morrow.
PETITIONS.AG4,kINST the ORDERS in COUNCIL.

The: CHANQEILOR of the ExciteQuax,gs after
moving the Order of the Day for goihg into a Com-
Mlttee on the Petitions against the, Orders in Council,
thought it right, before he should move that the
Speaker do leave the Chair, to state' the' course
which he proposed to recommend to the-House to
adopt on the subje& of the examination of other
witnesses, and which, upon inquiry, he found to
be conformable to 'the precedents of the pra&ice of
they House on similar occasions. It.was therefore
`not ,his intention to move this day for the produc-
tion of other evidence, but according to the praCtice
of the House, to allow the present Petitioner* to
close their case, and after Wards to hear the observa-
tions of their Counsel upon the evidence produced by
them. It would then, be competent to the Houae,
if the evidence should not appear sufficient, to call
upon the other Petitioners, or . Upon other Wit-
nesses, and to,examine them, touching the subjea:
Betas it might not be fair to call upon the' Learned
Counsel, suddenly, to submit his .observatieus
the House, upon the evidence, he proposed, that,
.however short the time may be-which wohld be OC-
cepied this night in the examinatioit of the remain-
ing Witnesses, the business should Stand over tjll
Tuesday, when the Learned Counsel should be
heard, upon the evidence. , .
. Mr. TIERNEY thought, that even the course pro-
posed on the preceding evening, by the Right Hon.
Gentleman, that of hearing the contrary evidence, and
of being present by their Counsel to crust'-examine
the VitnesSes that should be brought lorWard, before.
he was finally to sum up, would have been triuth
more desirable for the Petitioners than that now
suggested: It would be peculiarly, hard Upon the
Petitioners, if evidence should 'be brought forward
to disprove the allegations of their petition, and con-
trovert the evidence they producel in support of
them, that they should not be, permitted to cross-ex-
amine the. witnesses 'by their Counsel, or call other
witnesses in support of their Case. The House was
placed in a novel situation by the course
.pursued by
the Right Hon. Gentleman, though ail these diffi-
culties might be avoided it the proCeedingliad ori-
ginated in a Cominittee of Trade. - •
:The CHANCELLOR of EXCHEQUER illSiSt64 that
the proceeding was perfectly regular,: and adverted
to the precedent of the course adopted upon a Peti-
tion against the Tobacco Bill' in the year 1790, as
fully in point; on' which occasion the Petitioners'
Evidence and Counsel had been, heard at the Bar;
and the House had afterwards thought fit to call for
Other witnesses, and to examine with reaped to the
matter of the Petition, and the evidence brought
forward in support of it..
Mr. TtettNEY acquiesced for the present; but re-
served to himself the right to oppose the course pro-
'posed by the Right Hon. Gentleman, if. it should,
appear to him not to be regular.
The • SPEAKE3 then laid'down the praaice of the .
House in a clear and satisfadory Manner. Whatever
course it should ultimately please .the House to
,adopt, the proceeding, he observed, had been hither-
to perfectly regular.. In the opposition which had
heen given to the Boston; Port and the Bill to
restrain the Trade of New. England, Petitioners
had-been heard by, their Counsel at the Bar of
. this tionse, and evidence, examined in support of
their Petitions, but that had not precluded the House.
from taking such other steps as 'were deemed expe-
dient to investigate the allegations i 4 the Petitioners.
There were many instances of the examination of
witnesses upon Petitions, at the. Bar of the whole.
House, but the latter pra6tice had been to exa-
mine witnesses at the' Bar in a Committee of the
' whole House. As .the proceeding. in a Com-
mittee of Trade, when Petitioners presented them-
selves 'to that House, and "prayed to be heard by
their Counsel, the practice was, if their Petition was
received, to accede to the prayer of it, and by the
habit of the House, after hearing evidence, to per-
mit the Counsel to sum up the whole at the conclu-
sion of the case. The House had then many courses,
any one of which it [night adopt, but it was quite
impossible that a Committee of the whole HoUse
should be tied up by the evidence produced in sup-
port of the allegations of the Petitions,
.which might
be erroneous, partial,' absurd, or even false, as
might be proved by other evidence.,_ There were
also many cases wherein the House, without
any claim made on the part of an 'adverse party
to be heard, had thought tit, for its own satisfac-
tion tricall.for further evidence; after the Petitioners
case had closed. The Tobacco Case, which had
beenreferred to by the Right Hon. Gentleman (the
Chancellor of ,the Exchequer), was one of that de-
scriptioe. For after the Petitioner and his Counsel
bad closed the case and withdrawn, the House or,,
delve' other witnesses to attend, and the Committee
sat again to hear. the evidence ot,'these witnesses,-
and the House took other proceedings thereon. it
any Gentleman had any doubts on the subjeet,, he
would do well to consider that case. The case of
the Shop Tax Bill was similar. The proceedings,
therefore, had been hitherto all 'regular, and the
next step would be to hear out the case of the Peti-.
tioners, and the observations of their Counsel in
summing, after which the House would decidewhe-
titer it should order other witnesses to attend, or
whether other evidence should be necessary.
The HoUse then resolved itself into the Corns
mittee, Mr. W HARTON in the Chair,' and proceeded
with the examination of the remaining witnesses, in
support of the Petitions.,
Mr. Garland, of PoOle, Mr. Pollock, late of
Boston in New-Brigland, Mr. Mann, and Mr. Rath
bime, were the witnesses examined. After the exa-
mination was closed, it was agreed by the Gentlemen
whh eondo&ed it on both sides, that progress should
be roported, and that the Committee should sit again
tei TUdiday.—AdjourntA.