The Sun.
London, England, 1822-04-27 00:00:00

PROSECUTION FOR LIBEL.

Dr. LUSHINGTON said he was instructed to present a
.Petition from an individual who complained of a gross act of
injustice, for *hi& he savi.no means of obtaining redress ex-
cept through the mediation of the House. 'The name of the
Petitioner was Thomas Clarke, a bookseller in the Strand. In
the course of hishusiness, he published a work called Queen
Maly, whiCh the Nice Society thought fit to prosecute as a blas-
phemous libel.:.-This occurred in June, 1821. He gave bail to
stand his trial, and attended on every occasion for which he re-
-ceived notice from the prosecutors that his trial would come on.
The trial had never yet taken place; but Mr. Clarke's recogniz-
ances had beentstreated, on the ground that he had not appear-,
ed to answer the charge against him. The injustice of thts.pro-
.ceeding must be manifest to the House; and he was eonvineed it
was impossible to find any precedent for it. Mr. Clarke had also
.another ground of complaint in the circumstance of his not
'raving yet been brought to trial. By an Act passed some time
• since, it was provided that in all cases of prosecutions by the
Attorney-General, the suit should be at an end if it were' not
brought to trial within 'l2 months after it was instituted. It
-was improper that the Vice Society should possess a power
which the Law Officers of the Crown were not permitted to re-
-tain, of keeping a prosecution suspended over the head of an
individual for an indefinite ,period.—. The Petition was then read
• ar.d ordered to be printed.
Sir T. LETIII3RIDGE rose to present a Petition corn-
- paining of Agricultural Distress. The revision of taxation in
All its parts.he thought was indispensably necessary.
Mr. DICKINSON stated that some of the finest estates in
.f;rtenersetshire paid not' s. of rent.
Mr. J. BENETT said there was evidently ample room 'for
the reduction of taxation, .and that the whole country looked to
'it as the means of relief.

The Petition was read. It was from SOnth Petherton; iii So.
mersetshire.

Mr. ELLICE said he could not let this opportunity pass; of.
saying that the great resource of tlie,cotintry was first a reduc-
tion of 'Abe expenditure, and: .then a reduction- of .xation.—
fHear.)—When the question of reduction should again,come
orward, he hoped it'would-,llave the unanimous support of the
• COnntry Gentlemen. It 00414 Pe recollected always, that there
was a Sinking. Fund which. ought' , the first instance to,be
_loosened from the public burdens, before other expedients were
:even to be contemplated.
Mr. H. G. BENNET observed, that the return to cash pay-
-ments was right, but due preparation,had not been made forsit.
.; The Petition•was ordered to be printed.
Mr. HUME presented several papers respecting the charges
Tot the militia establishment, and moved that they be referred
•to.the Committee of Accoaats.—Mrdered. •

Mr. S..RICE presented;a Petition :from Limerick, against
the windoiv on the table..
Mr. LUSIIINGTQ,),-4 in allusion to what had fallen from
the Hon. Gentlerui.nwhe- spoke last but one, said, that if the
Noble. Marquis slu3uld_be.-able:to.iittend on Monday, he would
bring' orward his motion on the Agricultural Question, before
going into a Committee of Supply. . .
A conversation ,arose with respect to • the supplying of inn-
rrra ....Rion to the nirla ; . in. which Mr. Hume,: Mr. Bennet; Mr:
Wilmot, arid Sir G. Cockburn took a part. We understood
..the purport 'to be,•,that.ships had •takenin cargoes 'of ammuni-
tion here for.Constantipople, ofi the proclamation
the Governor of the lonian Islands, .and•were therefore
Ifivred to proceed to their destination; • •
The London .117.ater7qorks.. Repeal Bill 'vas read a second
time, and committed to'open Committed above stairs. •
. Mr. H. SU.,MNER,•maved..that ;the-Petition from the Bo-
rough of Southwark- (0 to the building of a new Bridge) Might',
be referred to the sesmkeoinrnittee, and that 'the GOininftrtek
should have leave toluitke.pmvision;actording
the Petition, if they should think fit. - • ••- 'Qs/
Sir W..CURTIS dinight that:at-time likd-the present,'Wheii
Oentlernen were talking, of econorny.-and retrenchment, was riot
a time for.building nes*.BridOso'.;Unlet,S.ati absolute necessity
for such a measure we. e'. shewn, it ought not to'be listenectto.
lie (Sir Win. Curtis)twolild oppose .theltotion, • and take -the
sense of the House itpoirit.; ; ' • • •
Sir G. COCKBURN;believed ilsat Londoilßridge,
stood, materially j ;.t he; ria iigation ref therhatn es ; and
he heard that the best engineers were of the same opinion.
Sir W. DE CRESPIUNY declared the brid&e to be in an
unfit state to remain. • • - •

Mr. WSI. WILLIAMS supported the motion.
The question was then-putgand carried.
Sir W. DE CRESM.NY. presented a Petition from the
Managers of the London,-,Bridge Water Works, praying (as
vas understood) to be heaid against the Di:l.—ft was referred
to the Committee. , 1 . • • - -
VICTLIA.I7I4;IIB' LICENSES.

On the motion of Mr. .H47G: I,3ENNET4 .there Were' ordered
to be laid before the ,110u5e4.3 :return of tine number of licenses.
to public-houses issued by4tlielliagistrates of the Tower dillsion since the year.lolo, tlistinguishing the tumber of licenses
refused to be renewed. Similar returns were ordered from the
other licensing divisions in, ..lsotidon;•; IVettninster,, and South-
wark.

BRIViIif,COLN-SULS. : '
Mr. lILTME-postponed itia:Enotio• n on this, subject till Mon-
day, hoping that nothing would,occur to prevent his bringing.it
on on that day. - •
LAND-TALREDEMPTION.

Mi. HUME then rose feiihe purpose of moving for certain
.geturns on the subject of thittax,;,to ,which he -understood there"
:would be no objection. The Honourable Member prefaced his
potion with several remarks on the subject of the tax and its'
pganagement, =buGfrom the number of persong who were then
flgt*g thegglery (die busintsi of ihe /louse being considered,

over), we 'ere prevented from hearing the whole of his •xemarks
distinctly. We give the tollowing as the substanee :
In the year 1799;the amount iif the land-tax £ s. d.
was - - ' 'tl - - 1,989,673 7. 10
18204 !lift;
w'r) (" ditto - 1,163,382 18
Making a reduction in the liihOunt received of 826,290 9 5
The amount of dividend
_Kilted on the 3 per
cents, cancelled by,theredemption of the
land-tax• since 1799, alTeared to'be only
which showed a defaleatidii of #l,e sum of .
r.

770,876 0' 0

55,414 9 5

by the operation, exclusive of suit& of - 304,730 710
under the head of expences ofinanagement in these years.
The great expence attending the office would appear by the
amount of 3 per cent. reduced in the last four years, and the
expences incurred in the management of the same.

In 1817 .
• 1818
1819 .
1820 -

Amount of Dividend
cancelled by redemp-
tion of Land-tax.

The Amount of Ex-
pences of manage-
ment of office.

£2,947 3 4
3,385 15 11i
4,026 14 11
2,696 7}

£3,1118 14 -10
2,659 19 7
3,374 7 9
4,414 '2 2

- . •13,056 310 I. ;14,267 4 4 •
making the expensies of management amount to 14,2671.45. 4d.,
whilst the amount of dividend reduced in the same,tim6 was
only 13,0561. 3s. 10d. It also appeared, that in the year 1811,
upwards of 12,0001. of land-tax on small livings and charitable
funds had been exonerated, on the plea that great advantage had
'been derived to the public from Mr. Pitt's plan of redemption :
whereas the public account, as far as could be made out, exhi-
bited a considerable loss to tJie public by the operation. In the
finance annual account of the,,,Treasury Miscellaneous Receipts
there appeared to have been.reived a sum of 19,8681.125. 4d.,
under the head of land rederpptlon; between the years 1805 and
1820 but it did not aPpear;;Ap.what use that rponey had been,
applied, or wh3ilt had beeri.applied on that account. The. Hon,,
Member then moved
.that there be laid before:the I-louse an ac.-•
count of the amount of land-tax redeemed in each year since
the 38th of Geo. lIL, cap. 56, distinguishing the amount by_
the three per cents., and also by cash. Also an accouht of ihe
abstract of expence for the redemption of the land-tax in each
year since-the 38th of tied. charged • under the_ head of
miscellaneous. servites.--Ordered: -

There were some other motions on the same subject which
could not be collected. - -
STAMP DISTRIBUTORS.

The lion. Member then moved for a copy of the last Trea,
'Airy Minute for regulating the office of Stamp. Distributors.—
Ordered.

On the motion of Mr. BARHAM, there was ordered to be
laid before the House an account of the contract price of pro,
visions for Greenwich Hospital in each year since 1818, dish
tinguishing the particular kinds of provisions.
Mr. CURTEIS presented a Petition from the Farmers and
Landholders of the East Division of, the County of Sussex,
complaining of Agricultural Distress, and praying for Reform.
—Ordered to lie on the table.

On the motion of Mr. RICARDO, the House adjourned at a
quarter to seven o'clock. • -

LIST OP THE MINORITY

.ON spz. r. BURDETT'S MOTION TOR AN ADDRESS TO TIM
KING TO REMIT THE FURTHER PUNISHMENT OF MR
HUNT.--APRIL 24.- • •••
Barrett,, S. B 4 M. Gaskell, Ben. •
Benyon, Benj. Heron, Sir :R.
Bernal, R. . flobhouse, J. C.
Bird', J. •• - - Hornhy.v Ed.
Brougham, Henry Hume, Joseph
Bright, Henry ' Jamis, W.
Bury, Viscount Johnson, Col.
Buxton, T. F. Jervoise, G. P.
.Calvert, C. : Lamb, Hon. G.
Chaloner, Robert Lambton, J. G.
Concannon, Lucius Lennard.,-i W. • •
Crespigny, Sir W. Lloyd,- Sit-Ed.
Crompton, S. - Lushington, S.
Daiies, 'l'. H. Leycester, Ralph
Denman, Thos. • Macdonald, J.
DAncantion, Visct. Mackintosh, SirJ.
Dundas, Hon. T. Martin, John
Ebrington,-Visct. Maule, Hon.W. R.
Ellice, Ed. . Milbank, M.
Farquharson, A. Monck, J. B.
Fergnsson, SirR.C. Moore, Peter
Folkestone, Vise. Blarjoribanks, S.
Farrantl, Robert. Norinanby„ Visct. •
Grattan, J. Newman, R. W.
Graham, Sandford Newport, Rt. Hon.
Grant, J. P. Sir John • •
Griffith, J. W. , . Nugent, Lord - -
Guise, Sir W. O'Callaghan, J.
Gurney, Ossulston, Lord
Grossett, J. R. ' Palmer, C. F.

PoWei, Rd.
Pryse, P.
Rickford, w;
Ramgden, Sir A.
Ricardo, D.
'Roberts, A. W.
Robarts, George
' Robinson, Sir U.
Rice, T. S.

Smith, W.

Sefton' Earl of
Scott, J.
Stanley; Lord
Stewart, W.
Stuart, Lord J.
Sykes, D.
Tavistock, Marg.
Titchfield, Marq.
NVebbe, Ed.

MINORITY

Western, C. C.
Whitbread, W.
'Whitbread,' S. C.
Wood, Alderman
Wyvill, M.
Williams Sir R. '

TELLERS.
Be/I=4l/on. H: .G,
Burdett, Sir F.