The Sun.
London, England, 1806-03-12 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

.I.IOU.SE OF PEERS; .

TUESDAY, MARQU 11.

The Committee of Privileges sat for some time on
the Claims of the Barony of Roos.

Mr. Adam was-heard -on-behalf of th-e Claim of
Lady Hemry Fitzgeirakt to that Peerage ; after wliiclh
—thefurther 'consideration of it was postponed till
Thursday.
Lord A.Uc ::LAND ::novel, That the Report, of the.
Committee apoinfed to search for Precedents of the
Prcceedings of the House in caseS‘of Impeachment,
- presented on'tbe fith of April, *t7-91, should be re-
printed.—Ordered,
LIABILITY OF WITNESSES. . •

The lio'nse resolved itself into a Committee. on the
Bill' for declaring the Law with respect to Witnesses
11?ingl,i41)1.to-auswer. -
The LORD CHANCELLOR, in \order that there
might be no doubt.. as, to the security of WitneiSes
against being coppelled to answer. any question the
answering of which might subjea them to. penalty
or forfeiture, .p.roposecf.,to. insert. the words any
penalty or forfeit ire of what nature soever,” instead
of the mere words " penalty, or fp_tfeifure,"

Earl sTAAT7Iop4' delivered his . sentiments at
some length, on the subject of Declaratory Bills in
general; to the principle of which he was adverse,
except in cases where any of :the principles of, the
Constitution
.had been violated, and where cOnse-
fluently it might be necessary to declare them anew.
He thought that from Declaratory Bills, like the
present, many evils .might arise, and that if thrprin-
Ciple were admitted; Bills of, this description might
hereafter be obtained to declare that to be law
which was not previously known to be laW, by
which great injustice might be done to parties. ge•
objeaed to the present *Bill in particular, because it
dedired that to .be law which he did not in his
conscience believe to be law ; 'and though seven
_ .

Of the Judge 3, as well as the Noble Chief .jus-
tide of the King's..• Bench, had stated it to be the
law, yet if the opinions of many eminent :Judges,
'pow no more,- on the contrary side, were taken
into the account, and added to the opinion's of the
four JudgeS who had in that House diftered from the-
majority, they would be found to Out-ndmber the
opinions of the seven Judges, •together. with•the
Noble Chief Justicd,- and to constitute a majority on
the .contrary side of the 'question. Their Lordships
/might perhaps think that he intruded his opinion on
legal subjeas; lout he felt confident in-hiS own know-
ledge, 'having,• with an able;Attorney at his elbow, •
read through the whole of the Statutes, from Magna
Pharza to .the present time, a piece of drudgery to,
which, he would venture to say, no one who heard
him had ever Submitted: He had no objection to
the enaElment of what the Bill stated to be law, if
he thought the House would after Wards pass his Bill
for the prote6tion of Witnesses. He concluded, by
'playing to' leave out ,the Declaratory words in the

The LORD CHANCELLOR -strongly objeLted
•
to the, Mode proposed'by his Noble. Friend of polling:
the opinions of dead as well as living Judges, tor the
purpose of ascertaining on which side the majority
was to be found,. as such.a,sp tem must put an end.
to the jurisprudence of the Country, by rendering of
no avail the decision of the Judges in any case, tin
,-
less they were supported y a majority of •the
Lions of-Judges who were no more. With respell
to the declaratory part of the Bill, he'would gi-c,-6 up
thd Bill altogether rather than give up the declara-
tory part 'oeit, or appear to be merely enaaing a
law upon a case that was to come before the House
for judgnient. If his Noble Friend would look over
the Statutes agaiu,,he would find several Ace of this
'description, ,here the law, ,upon certain subjeas,
having fallen into doubt, was declared ~in order to
remove. those doubts.'
The Motion made by Earl STANHOPE was nega-

tined. '
' The LORD CHAN'CELLOR'S Amendment, after in-
' setting the word " disability" between " penalty"
and.“ forfeiture," on- the suggestion of Earl Stan-
hope, was agreed, to.
Earl STANHOPZ objeeled to the words " The
,Lords Spiritual and Temporal," contending. that as
the Prince of Wales and the Royal Dukes tookine:
redence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the phrase
ought to be " The Lords Temporal and Spiritual."
The Lout) CHANCELLOR urged the impropriety of
making so material an alteration in the thrm of, their
bills, a form which had been san&ioned by long and
...pstablished usage, unless it was done upon due notice,
and when, all the Lords had been 'summoned ; but
certainly not upon the suggestion of the moment,
when
,only three or four Peers' were present.
Lord AUCKLAND obterved that the Earl Noble
(Stanhope) -had offered no proof of the necessity of
anrsuch alteration.

Earl Si.ANnorE, withdrew his proposition.
The Will then passed through the Committee, and
was ordered to be reported to-morrow.
Earl STANHOPE moved' that his Bill for the Disco-
very of Truth should be-read' a second time to7tnor-
rew, and that the Lords tie summoned.—Ordered.
Adjourned till to-frtorro‘v (this day).

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

TUF.SDAY, M.I,RCH 11.

The Bristol 'Harbour Bill, and Irish Clergy Resi-
Oence Bill were read a second thnp, and committed
;Or to-morrow.
Mr:lrw Me, from theOtEce of the Inspe&or of the
Customs, presented' an Account of the. Duties out-
standing from the sth of January, 1805,, to the sth
of January, to6.—Ordered to lie on the Table.
Mr. TIERNEY presented a Petition from the
Debtors in the IVlarshalsea Prison, praying relief,—
Ordered to lie on the Table.
After the Report of the Committee on' the subje&
lead been presented, Mr. ALEXANDER obtained leave
to bring in a' Bill to continue and amend the PowerS
pf the American Treaty Executibii-Alt. '
The House resolved into a Committee on the Re-
port of the Expiring Laws 'Commit tee ; some Resur
lutions were agreed to.-7-Report to-morrow.
The Report of the Corn Bill was agreed to, and
the Bill was ordered to be read a third time to-
.
;norm
The House, in a Committee, entered into a consi;
4eration of the Tortola Free Port Bill, upon which a,
conversation took pl4ce between Lord Temple, Mr.