The Sun.
London, England, 1814-06-22 00:00:00

GLOrCESTER GAOL

-Lord S=PA.Nnor-E.-1-Ie rote. now for the purpose
-41 f proposing somefother proreedini.; iu the case
of the Gloucester Gaol Petition, which be had
presented the °the day. Their Lordships would
recollect, that the Petition -contained two allega-
tions : one relative to the openi.og of the letters
sent out of the gaol by the prisoners, as well as
the letters sent -to them ; and that this practice
'extended to prisoners of all descriptions, debtors
as well as others. With respect to the opening
of letterS, it was felony in the Post-office carriers,
and ill&gal in all ; and he referred to the Act, 9th

Anne; chip. 10 ; but it ►vas unnecessary for him
to Teter to any Act.of Parliament on tile subject.
Nobody would or could say that the practice was
; and be referred to the 'proceedings before
the Holige of Lords, in the case of Mr. Jitt,tice
Fox. Then as.to the second point of complaint,
the refusal to admit their friends or legal advisers t o

see the ptisOners-,--conld that he said to be legal
It had been said a the Euglish law, that there
• vas no wrong for which it did not provide a re-
medy ; hut how could a prisoner avail himself of his
remedy, if he was mit permitted to see any legal
.advke;s ? How could he avail himself of it, if all
his correspionlence tva: to be examined by the
very man,, perhaps, of whom he might have the,
greate;:t reason to complain ? The motion which
he nolW thought it 'most advisable,- to submit to
their Lordships was, that a Committee should be
appointed to brquire into the subject of these
charges. It had been enacte4 by the 32(1 Geo:H.
that the' regulations of the gaol should be hunt,
!tit in the most conspicuous place of the gaol, and
that reeurns of them should be made. to their
Lordships' House. Where was the use of this,
unless their Lord Ships chose to institute inquiries
as to these regulations, when such a case as this
was hrottght before them'? 'Their Lordships had
already agreed to the motion .for laying the regu-
lations on the table, and therefore they ought in,
consistency to agree to the appointment of a
Committee: The next' motion he shoiiltl Make
Was, that a certain'Justice of the Peace should
-attend, as a witness. -He lord; on a-former oeca-,
• siOn,' stated the fact, that the Justice had written
to iri►n, .enclosing ,a letter front the prisoners, and
the Justice there said, that-it was the usual prac.,
We Of 'the gaortlnio he letterS should be opened
by theigaoler. He concluded by moving,
,thata
Cemirnittee be appointed to inquire into The,
charges io the,Pet:tion; '
Lord LIVE111•00L was- a subjett of- noto-
riety• that -the management of Gloucester Gaol
was peculiarly'excellenr;•and therefore he thought
that their Lordships ought to proceed with Very
considerable caution: In ''all cases of this de-
seriptiim, -as investigation by Partionteot was
attended with much inconVenience, 'their Lord-
ships•ought to proceed with caution-, and be sa-
tisfied that a strong prima facie• ease'Was made
-out, before they proceeded to' foram-- it:tit:icy. He
thought it also- infinitely preferable, that the' ap-
plication should be male in the first' instance to
the Executive, that it might be enquired into by
the-Secretary of State for the Home Department,
whether there really c'',lsted any.groundbf coat,
plaint. Their LordSliiicsWoold, no doubt, be the
more cautious; When they-recollected that solemn
enquiries by Parliamentary commissions had been
• instituted into certain complaints, relative to the
• management of Lincolii-Gaol and-the Mai•shalsea,
and that in these cases the chafes' had, been found
to httgroundiess. Considering, then, in addition
to this; that the Magistrates of Gloucester Were
highly distinguished for their Irespectability and
their attention to the Gaol, and to the' Comforts
of, the prisoners'; so far as was consistent, with
their sitiettibu; he thought their Lordships ought
to leave the matter to -he inquired into by the
Execit(ive before they adopted any further pro-
ceeding.,
- .
Lord GREY knowing notbmgv of this Petition,
except what he had heard since he came into the
House, he-could not, however; avoid saying,that
he eon!il by no me,nrs,agree in the general prin-
ciph. stated by the noble Earl apposite, that mat-
ters of this 161 A ought in the first instance to be
referred•to the Executive: There might oe par- •
Ceuta! cases where it might he proper, as a mat-
ter of con veuieuee, to adopt his course. But as.
a Member of their Lordship's House, he could
"not admit that a HouSe of Parliament was not in
the first instance a proper place for' the investiga-
tion of Ina:tiers of this kind, when:a case suffi-
cientiy serious was laid before, it,- to require Such..
interference. This was- a case of that descrip,-,
Tlie.Opetting of all the correspondence of
the pl-koners, and the refusal to admit their legal-
adviser to see them, were serious charges ; and
as they. were not denied by any nOble Lord con-
nected with thecounty, and-no exploitation was.
it appear fitting that thiS ;notion
61,0n1d he agreeo

Tie Lou) CHANCELLOR.—He admitted that it
s unnecessary to quote Acts of Payliament, but,
that tits practice of opening letters, must, if it
existed, tie justified only by. its necessity in cer-
tain 'cases. As to the. refusal to admit legal ad,
Nisers likewise, if a prisoner really wanted legal
advice, professiOnal bnen.ought t o , be allowed to
come to high. But, at the salmi time, he was not
so ignorant as not to know that prisoncrs some-
titneS, under pretence of wanting -.legal- adviCe,
procured perons to be admitted for very different
purposes. There were a.great mtuy charges In
the Petition, besides tho-se stated by the Noble
J;of 1 who introd aced the Petition ; charges which
Nit ite Lord had, in his ()pillion,. very judi-
cioasly omitted to comment upon. nut the Com-
mime- must 'ue.,to examine all.the charges. There
Was one charge, that the gaoler refused them
knives and' forks, whereby man, the image of
Coil, was :obliged to know his meat like dogs,"
Hi' say that language,of this-decriptian'
;.,.fte!p,on for refusing• to examine into: the
charge ; hut to:Mpqrle who would read the.whole
t-,e Pct tion,. it Must appea' that was one
ol_thooe, wi:11 respect to which, it was ,proper
that toine ihrtlee .ground .sPould- be kid befogs

their Lordship's interfereti in the manner noW
proposed.
• , ~-
Lord: row.ANil heard no reason to cOnYmce
-him that the motion was an.itnpYoper -6no', even
on %he Case 'now laid befilre their Lordships. No
Menial of. the truth 'of the allegations
no explanation was giVen, and under these cir-
cumstance* an inquiry ought to•be ordered. The
Noble Lord opposite had referred to the result of
the. inquiries in the cases of Lincoln Gaol and
the Marshalsea. That was eel tainly a most happy
result. Inquiry might be inconvenient; but from
such inquiries, whether the result was the disco-
very of abuses, or the.proof that no abuses exist-
ed, this effect on the public mind was produced,
that they found Parliament watchful for the pro.:-
tection of the people. This plan of previous in-
quiries was repeatedly resorted to• in the case of
Cold-bath-fields. After reiterated attempts for
two or three" years, the subject there was really
inquired into,- had much worse abuses found to
exist than had been originally charged. All that
he bad ever- before: heard went certainly to con-
firm, in the strongest manner, all thdt •the Noble
Lord had stated relative to the excellent manage-
ment of Gloucester gaol.. It had, in every re-
spect, been held. out as a model ; but at the same
time it ivos not to be permitted-lo- any one to
avail himself of a.good character to commit a bad
action.

Lord BATlturisT had not heard of thiS Petition
is sufficient time to cnahle him to makethose.en-
quiries which he otherwise shoild have done 1.
but the fact NVitS, that theSe chargrs hail. been
already enquired into, first by .:the ;11agistrate,,
and, then by, the Sheriff, and it had been found by
them..vvlio must have,had the-best opliorttinities.
that- these complaints were. unfounded. The
charge of perusal to admitlegal,advisers.had been
completely disFoved-.; and •as to the charge of
opening- letters, that was no new regulation', but
one".vvitich had prevailed from the conufleicetae

Lord STANHOPE std flint the Noble Lord •%:lio
spoke last was entirely out of court, for be had
admitted the existence,of the regulation for open-
ing tied letters, though be•bad•not sai:l that it was ,
a regulation of the Justices. The complaints of
This man 110 not been examined into by the Ma-
gistrates-and .Sheriffs, . though the complaints of
another man had been examine,!. The logic was
this—that beCause A's complaint had been in-
:quire& into, therefore B's lutist have: been exa-
mined and that becttuse•the complaints. of
.one
had been
.found to be groundless, so the corn-
•lr}aints of the' other imust he without foundation.
lint.the Noble Lord had:been.:Misinfornied.
Lordship then adverted to: abuses that had been
committed in the Fleet Prison, for which the
gaoler, Air.. Nixon, had accounted by stating that:.
they had been committe.d in -his absence, • and. be
was ..happy that be such:a good excuse to
make.•. But this, too_, snowed the necessity of a
vigilant attention to these things on the:part of
their Lordships. • •

The Loitn CHANCELLOR •put. ,the questiou, and
staid that the f.lron Contents -

Loril-STANHoTE.--The Contents must..certainly
have. House .divided—

For 1!h Motion a
AgaiL,i it
Alajoriiy against it . ,

Lord 'ST A N ItoPE tlieii moved that Mr; Cooper,
Justice of Peace, j and auother, shiiuld be
brought up as witnesses.

Lord HOLLAND asked, whether it was intended
that any inquiry or investigation should, be made
by the Secretary of State. It woubl be, satisfac-
tory that this should be done, as the motion bad
been received.

Lord LP/Et:root. did not pledge himself to any
soleum thveszigation ; but a§. soon as he could
communicate with his Noble Ftiend, to whose de-
partment. the nliater belonged:, he had no donbt
that 'enquiries would be made, to ascertain whe-
ther thire existed any grounds for further pro-
ceedinqs. ,

The !notion for witneoes was also negatived.—
Adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

The SPEAKER, a few minutes before four
o'clock, began to Count alehouse, and filere be-
ing only' 25 Metubets preseut at four, the House
was adjourmed.

throngla the Ardennes to Wcetip*.j
'the province of Litkesubsirgh.* The importamt
fortress of Luxernhui•gh is to have a numerOus
Prussian garrkson,,, and the Hcsiiasis now there
'are ro.go Th',..re seems 'TO sonVe di'flq-
lculty about the further march of "the corps of Bu-
low, of which the !..rst column is arrived i*re.—
These arrangements, 'which we stkce fresh' .ie?)od
authority, seem to stew that the Prussian Mo-
narchy is to confine with Prance at least frOM 'the
MoSelle to the Maese.

• All the French' property at Antwerp, which- is
not moyeabk, %yin be- sold by auction among
this is the Hotel of the _Marine Preticture.

French Commissioners ►►re,employed,respccting
the partition of the fleet and. ►►aval stores.
All the artillery on the walls of the town and
fortress remain at the disposid of the Allies. It
seems that the Austrian General, Bar?n
who is still-Governor of the Net;erlands,
shortly leave us, and reports say he will hp site
ceeded either by. General Graham, or by Baron
Yonder Copeller, Commissioner-General from the
Prince of the Netherlands to the
,Belgian Goi-ern.;•
went.

Many Frenchmen had here considerable posts,
who- had connuitted,the greatet crimes dnrin2.
the Revolution. Ragniei, Vice-President of the
Tribunal , which conde,mned. illavia Antoinette,
was at the head of ,the Imperial Alanntaetory of
Tobacco; but he-has now, by order •of the Go-
vernment, been conducted over the frontiers. •

We expect 10,000 English Troops from Lord
Wellingpo'§ Army. The states General have re-
sumed-their sittings.

A".111111C:IN PAPTLItS.

ACCOUNTS FROM HALIF%X.

Papers and letters have reached town- from
Halifax to the Stir May. They state, that peti-
tions bad been sent to England from Newfound •
land, Nova-Scotia and Brunswick, praying that
the fishing privileges at -Newfoundland should
not be again granted to the United States. Se-
veral inelividnals expressed an expectation that
the British Government would, in the pending
negoriation, contend for the cession of the entire
jurisdiction of the Lakes as one of the conditions,
of peace.
The Charlestrnin Courier, of the 7th. of May,
furnishes the following particulms of the capture
and safe arrival of the L'Epervier prize. It is
worthy of notice, in order to account for the
length of the actiOn, that shortly after, its cOrn-
mencement, ihellritiSh colours were shot. away.
The Peacock, then astern of her enemy, in a
raking, -position,, demanded if she had struck—
the reply was, not yet—and before the action
could he renewed, the Peacock lost this advan-
tageous position., The next day after parting
with the Peacock, Lieutiinant Nicholson .was
chased by a frigate, but escaped by standing close
in with the land,. ;where she was becalmed ; the
frigate's boats were manned, approached the
prize within hail, and asked " what brig that
was"-Was .answered " what boats are those," ac-
companied with throwing open the. ports of the
Meech so alarmed the enemy, that they
made off precipitately !! !

Aii.RIVED-1 Holland 2 'Waterford. DUE-1 Li bons 2 He-:
tigoland.

.... PRICE 011-: sTcms
TTITt..a) VAT.TI7Ei.vf, 07(.77,nct;.

. . .
.. . ,
3 per Cent. Iced, 6S . Bank Lunt.; Ann. 16 12-ICtlis
3 per Cent. Cons;:;luit ' - In'dia ',011,.k, 7s. Sc., pr. • 4
per Cent. Cons. 5414 . Excheq..Bilis, Is. dis. 35.. pr.
5 per Ct. Navy A.un,.. shut . Nev; Q-Inniitm, 31 - .
5 per Cent. 1797,.:' Curt; :15 tnr .Itily, 'Mil.
E: EYTQN, Stneli-4Eolier, No. ~.2, Corubin,
. .-.-
.. . . . amil No. IS, Curentry-street,.

lITCM WATER AT IX)N!)ON BRIDGE TO-NIORI;
Morning, 10 minute; after G. J Evenin, 35 miuutcs'ayter 6.

Pr N , N.

SOLEM (MIS DICERE' FALSUM AITHEAT ?