The Sun.
London, England, 1814-03-24 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLiANIEN't:

HOUSE OF LORDS, WEDNE6DAi'', NIAECH
The.flouse met-at the usual early hour unol cause days, and their Lordships proceeded r 6 bear
Counsel (which took place at great length), re-
spectingthe. Scots cause *Selkrlg' o..Adain Fair-
bultneand others.
Mr. ADAM and Mr. LEACH, far the Appellant, S'r S. Ro.
mrbt,v and Mr. IV cntritaLt;, for the Respottients, and Mr.
ADAM in reply ftr the Appellant.
On the suggestion of the Loan Ciinslcrtz.ort, the conside,.
ration of judgment was postponed till Monday.
A few Private Rills on the table were respectively forward,
ed, and an adjournment during pleasure took place.
On the resuming of the House,
Mr. HIGHAM, trom the commissioners for the Reduction
of the National Debt, presented at the Bar an Account of
the Expenditure uf the- same, to the 31st of January, 1814,
and also of the stock transferred to the same period.
Mr. Lyronri ELI) presented a Copy of the Order in Coun-
cil, authorising the Bank of England-4o issue specie for cer-
tain.publie services; and •
Mr. M‘LEAN. presented en Account of the Receipts and
Disbursements of the Chest at Greenwich, for a given period.
These documents were severally ordered to lie on the table,'
No public business being before the House, an
adjournment took place soon 'after five o'clock,
till to-morrow, when their Lordships•stand sum-
moned in reference to the proposed Vote of Thanks
to the Marquis of Wellington. •

• HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Mr. LICHFIELD, from the Privy Council Office,- brought
copies 'of several Ordei's in Council, Conceruing'the issue
of
specie by the clank of England, which w.:re laid on the table.
Mr. KpiosTcts brought the account of the balance in the
• hatn;s of the distributors of the Stamps, from the 10th of Oc-
tober,to the sth of January.—Ordered to lie on the table.
The SPEAKER stated, that he had received two Petitions.
from Martin Kirwan, Esq. and Sir Neal O'Donnel, ,and
others, complaining of an unurue Election for the County of
Mayo. Ordered to be taken into consideration on Tuesday thq
19th of April nat.'

SHIP-BUILDERS' PETITION.

Sir S. ROMILLY. Said be held in his hand a Pe-
tition from a very numerous and useful body-, he
meant_ the persOnS employed-in building ships in
the , private yards on the Thames. They coin.-
plaincd of the total decay of their employment,
and the consequent ruin with which they were
threatened. To prove the hardships of their situa:-
tion, it would he sufficient to state, that in the
forty-one slips for building ships on the Th4tttes;
• only one ship was now building. There were fifty:-.
one double repairing docks,' and eleven single,
and in all only eighteen vessels were now repair-
ing. They ascribed the evil that had befallen
them', as well as the State, to the encourage:
ment giver) to ships built io India To this
eun►stsnce also they asclibed the frequent depar-
ture of their fellow workmen to foreign counties.
They therefore prayed that the House world not
extend the time for admitting India-built ships to
British registry. . .
The Petition was ordered to lie on the table.

CIVIL LIST.
Mr. BENNET wished to ask the Chancellor of
the Exchegnor when it Was h s intention to bring.
forward the estiwatas of the Civil List, with the
usual. accounts of the expenditure under that
head, which had taken place in the last year.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHECiWeR exuressed
an apprehension that it would not be practicable,
from a variety of Circumstances, to submit them
to the House before the Easter recess. He hoped
Shortly after the House met again they would be
produced, and he should then be prepared to offer
every explanation.

CORRUPTION' OF BLOOD.
Sir SAMUEL RomILLY• then rose,
.pursuant to
notice, to move .for leave to bring in a bill to re-
' move, in certain. eases, what was called in law
the corruption of blood; Although the hill which.
he had now to propose was precisely the smite as`
he had submitted to them last session, he hoped
that he should not-be charged with improper per-
severance, when it was recollected in -what "Dan-
ner his Bill bad been disposed of , last-year. He
thought that it was.probably his faith in not hay.
ing•sudicieiitly explained himself last year, as many
of those who spoke, and probably many who
voted.against -him,- seemed to consider that his
object was to do away the. forfeiture of estates
in cases of treason. This was, however, not
his - object. As the law now stands, a person
convicted of treason forfeits his lands, as ,well
as his personal property altogther ' • whereas a
person convicted of felony forfeits his personal
,property and his lands for one year. In both
cases, however, the conviction produced corrup-
tion of blood. He should not now discuss either
the Opinions of those who thought, that When the
.law took a man away from society, it was too
hard to visit his offence on his innocent children i
or the contrary opinion, that it-was right to de-
ter men from the commission of crimes, by the
' consideration of the misery that they would bring
upon their families. He was content to let the
forfeiture remain as it does at present ; but what
lie .wished to-remove, was that which was peculiar
to the laws of England, the corruption ot. hluod.
By this ' doctrine, a man that was convicted of
either felony or treason, became ineapable of ever
being a link in the pedigree tarot-gh which onoj
innocent person might otherwise in'her'it pro-
perty from another innocent person. • Sup-
pose that a man had a son' and a grandson, and
.the son showld be convicted of felony, in Such case
the grandson could, at no distance of tirue, inlorit
the estate of his grandfather, although it might
have been acquired after the conviction. The
estate of the grandfather would go to the Crown
rather than to the grandson, who had the misfor-
tune of having a guilty father. A distant relation
would also be prevented from inhe'riting, if he •
should, in tracing his relationship, derive it .from
a man who had been so convicted. The iiroperty •
would escheat either to the Crown, or to the Lord
of the Manor,' instead of going to the natural
heirs. In fact, the •reason of the law, if ureic

's'-at 'any rea-ion. in it, depeiideri tr+l Yettd ii prinei-
ples. This eorraiiiiiiti of blood,- ope-
rated 'so extensively in ;he case Of freehold lind
,cobvholde'staik,?:S; did !I'.,t act at all on personal or
rit',t-t,rty. At the time that he brought
bill last wear, many Gentlanieri were
'of opinion that the Crown would never elaitil the
forfeiture in such cases ; and y.:t it happened im—
tnediately after, tat in .h case it) which he was
tountel, the Crown did pnt it a which he
thought a very harsh one: The case was. this :!'a
Tratruer bit(' been committed by a woman
TordShire, about fifty yeafi ago ; since that time her
troperty had .heen ,transmitted to vtirious•. ,per-
sons for valitahle consideration ; and yet tlr'
CrOWn, having liitely received infornoition 'of.
_ _

thc original forfeiture by the conviction, assert-
'led its claim. There had been an inqui-sition upon'
it, and as the present occupier 'o!' the lands could
'hot -disprove the conviction; which took place
61) years a.. 0, thefintling was for the Crow.n. The
occupier of. the lands bad, hOwevet, applied to
C4iCery; and bad got leave to traverse the in-
on the ground that the escheat belong-
ed-to the Lord of the Manor, and not the ;
_ond this question would be-tried during the pre-;
Sent teSsion. After a variety of other observa-
tions, he concluded by moving for leave to bring
in a bill to remove the corruption of blood in,the
eases or persons convicted of treason or felony.
Mr. Yottx.r. was stn prised that the Honourable
and Learned Gentleman bad brought in precisely
the same Bill which was rejected last seas9n.. if
the Bill had been only to remove corruption of

blood, in the case of persons convicted of ordi-
nary felonies, lie should, perhaps, have had no

great objections to it. fie was not, however,
ready to agree to any diminution of the punish—
ment in the cases of treason and murder. lie
considered treason as by far the greatest crime
-which could he committed ; and the laws of
treason niust tieeeisarily be severe in every coun-
try, but more particularly in a free'country. In a
.Pee Country, whey traitors find protections and

defences in the law which they have not elsewhere,
it is necessary, that when those defences fail, and
their guilt is clearly proved, that the punishment
should be 'severe and exemplary. As to the hard-
ships that the Hon. and Learned Gent. had stated
in the descent of property, there were other pecu-
liarities in our law which appeared equally hard.
It might as well be called a hardship, that an
estate should escheat to the Crown, instead of de-
cending to a.brother by the half blood. He wish-
ed, however; to make no innovation, on our laws,
unless some great and striking neceSsity appeared
tot the change. He wished that the -Honourable
and Learned Gentleman would bring. in one view
before the hou3e the alterations he wished to make
in the laws, instead of introducing them separate-
ly. He hoped, however, that if leave was given
to bring in this Bill, the second reading of it
'would not be pressed before that.time, when the
attendance -of lawyers might be expected, who
would probably wish to deliver their Sentiments
on any material change in our laws.----Leave wtls
Then given to bring in fhe Bill._ _

Sir S. RomiLLY—then moved for leave to bring
in a Bill to alter ,the pultishment of high treason.
Mr. YORKE asked, if 'this were intended to be
the same bill which was brought into the house
last Session

Sir S. ROMTLLY said, the Bill now intended to
be btoilght in was the Bill which was rejected
Jast Session ; the original Bill had been altered
to meet the suggestions of the house ; it was ap-
proved of in the Committee, and yet it was after-
wards rejected.—Leave was then given.

Mr. MARSH moved for several papers relative to the ad-
r.inistration of Sir George-Barlow at Madras.—Ordered.
• On' the Motion of Mr. LUSHINGTON, the Committee of
Supply was postponed till Friday.
• Mr. Grant's Indemnity Bill was passed through a Com.
roitter. and the report received.
The .other Orders of the Day were disposed of, after which
the liouse sat for some time on private business.—lt then'
adjuarned,