The Sun.
London, England, 1822-07-02 00:00:00

PARLIAMENT,

HOUSE OF LORDS, Motu) Ay, JULY 1.
ROYAL ASSENT.

At a quarter to four o'clock, the LORD CHAN.-
CELLOR, the Earl of SHAFTESBURY, and the Mar-
quis of WINCHESTER, appeared as his Majesty's
Commissioners, and brought the Royal Assent to
the following. Bills :
The Pensions Duties Bill, the Assessed Taxes Composition
Bill, the Tonnage Duties Repeal Bill, the Sheriff's Depute
Bill, the Doyle Divorce till, and four private Bills.
The Scotch Distillefy Bill, and the Westminster Improve-
ment Bill went respectively through Committees, and were re-
ported.
MARRIAGE ACT.

The Marquis of CAMDEN presented a petition from Char-
lotte Ann Hayward, a young.lady of respectable connections
at Brecon, who stated, that being underage, she had suffered
herself to be peiSuaded to .marry a person of the name of
Josiah Crutchley, who had deceived her by false representa-
tions, and had, she had since discovered, obtained a license
for their marriage by a false affidavit. They had no sooner
been married, however, than they had been overtaken -by her
brother, who brought her back to her mother's house, where
she had resided ever since, not having cohabited for a single day
with her pretended husband. Proceedings had been instituted,
but no decision had yet been gained, in consequence of the eva-
sions of her deluder. She feared that the Bill now
,pending he-
fore the, House would affect her case and confirm her in.arnage,
and prayed such alteration hr the wording thereof, as might re-
lieve her from its operation.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH said, that as the retrospective
clause only affected those marriages where parties had lived
together till the death of bne of them, or had cohabited till the
passing of the Act, Miss Hayward never having cohabited
with her pretended husband, was clearly exempted frOm its
operation. Her case was covered by the exceptions, and her
marriage would be invalid after, the completion pf the mea-
sure. He would only. add, that if the Bill had been passed
before this occurrence took place, the offender would pro-
bably not have dared to procure a marriage by the means
which he had employed, as he would then have been subject to
transportation for life.
The LORD CHANCELLOR thought that what had passed
this night showed that the retrospective clause, at least, if not
the whole Bill, was not well understood.
The Earl of LAUDERDALE conceived that as no one was
better able to understand the Bill than the Noble Earl; he
ought to explain it for the benefit of the House. If he did net
do so, it might be thought that he did not understand it himself.
The LORD CHANCELLOR. then pointed out some obscu-
rities in the Bill. Among!it other things, it would leave Cler-
gymen in doubt what portion of the Marriage Act should be
.read in churches. As it stood he himself did not know what,
part was to be read.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH maintained that no difficulty
could arise on that head, as the Bill expressly said that sr,
much of the Marriage Act should be read as was recited there-
in. The other objections related to mere trifles, which. would
be corrected without any difficulty.
The LORD CHANCELLOR.—My Lords, " Izcc nugee
seria ducunt in nzala ;" and I believe that if the Noble Lord
understood his own Bill, he would find it one to which he would
not give his consent:
• Lord ELLENBOROUGH believed that he understood his
own Bill. If, indeed, it contained the clauses proposed by the
Noble and Learned Lord, the case would be different, for he
would frankly confess that even now he did not understand
them, and he had conversed with matiy individuals' out of
doors, not one_of whom could apprehend their meaning.
The LORD CHANCELLOR had neidea that the Noble
Lord should know enough of the law of the country to under-
istand. his clauses, or that the individuals whom he had con-
sulted should be likely to illuminate him on the subject. -
Lord ELLENBOROUGH.--Surely, my Lords, an Act‘of
Parliament should.not be drawn up so as to be understood only
by lawyers. Such an Act too, as the Marriage Act, so'import-
ant to the community at large, should be written in such plain
terms that the man who runs might read.. -
The LORD CHANCELLOR was'understood =to say that
the present Bill had been drawn up bylawyers, and that he
had never seen any so defective.
The conversation then dropped, and the petition was laid on
the table. •

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TUESDAY, 31ULY 2, 1822.

and praying the assistance of the House towards the accom-
plishment of this object.—Ordered to lie on the table.
Mr. GRENFELL wished to know what was the amount of
the sum subscribed by the Petitioners.
Lord BINNING said, he believed about 24 or 25,0001. And
that several thousands more were expected. •
Mr. HUME expressed his surprise that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer should sanction such a petition as the present.—
It was much to the credit of the petitioners that they had pro-
posed the monument, but- their petition for pecuniary assist-
ance took away, from that credit. •
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that
100,0001. had been voted by the House some years ago for the
erection of churches in Scotland; and it was conjectured that
there could be no objection to prnmote the reasonable views of
those who wished to make one of the churches a monument of
nationa lhonour. - •

After a conversation between Sir R. Wilson, Lord Binning,
Mr. Curwen, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr'. J. P.
Grant, the petition-was oTdered tcrlie on the table.
Mr. HUME said, it appeared by returns on the Table, that
the land tax collectors were in the habit of retaining in their
hands considerable sums which ought to be paid into the Ex-
chequer. He moved for some fu returns, giving the j)ar-
ticulars of the sums retained by, and the patronage allowed to,
those collectors.—Ordered.

Mr. P. RIOORE presented a Petition from 1,100 Persons
connected with the Siltc Trade at Coventry, praying for an al-
teration of the act called the Combination Act.
Mr. ELLICE supported the prayer of the Petition.
• After, a few remar,ks from Mr. Ricardo, Mr. Bennet, and Mr.
Fume, the petition was ordered to be printed.
A Message from the Lords here announced their Lordships'
assent to several Bills.