The Sun.
London, England, 1823-02-18 00:00:00

PA RI, 1 A NIENT.

, HOUSE OF LORDS, FEB. 17.
Lord It 41::1 IN DA LE, presented,, a petition from the traders
al Witham, praying for an At for the more speedy recovery of

=Small Debts.
INSOLVENT DEBTORS' ACT.
The Marquis of LANSDOWN said he held in his hand A
petition from the merchants traders, and votherinhabitants ut'
Shepton iUett, praying the repeal of tliednsolve.nt Debtors'
isut, Ile begged to be under%tood at not concurring with the
pectiohvrs to the extent of the total repeal of the Act. Ile
Nal aiwAytt been in favour of the principle of the (Tsai° twiorum
lo the most salutary which could be. acted upon ; 1u.t.0 de-
gree of fraud had crept in, anti it was highly desirable that the
honest and fair tradegman should be protected against-a system
which m many instances pressed severely upon hint.

. • . INIARRIAGE .aCT.
'The Earl of 'l' N KERVI LI, E presented a petition from'
.certain persons compleinitip,: of that part of the Marriage Act
which abolished peculiar jurisdictions. Ile hoped that their
ietiedships would now be 'enabled to pass a Bill tree from the
t. ejections alluded to.in the petition, in doing which they would
center aatreat benefit on the'public.
• Lord EI.bENBOROUGH took the opportunity of the nre-
tentetion of this petitioe, to express his regret that so much in-
convenience:shauld havb resulted at the number of petitions
presented testititd. the believed that nu Noble Lord, except
.e legal lord or a member of the right reverend bench, was
aware of the operation of ..the clause complained of. Legal
.darde and Members of the right reverend bench must have been
aware of its operation, anti he thought it a just subject of coine
plaint on the part of the lay lords, that no legal lord or mem-
eetiet the right reverend bench bad risen in his place and stated
the ineenvenience likely to arise from abolishing the jurisdive
limes in question, which he saw no objection to restoring. He
timid not conceive how the House was to do its duty to the
public if dime who posseraed knowledge on any particular sub-
ject did nut give their opinions to the House.
Lord STOWELL said he was not at all aware of the nutn-
bre of these pee telitirs : they were_ an entire distinct jurisdiction
from that with which he was more particularly acquainted, and
he entirely concurred in the propriety of restoring them, its they
hed been inadvertently taken away. '.
The Earl of SIIAP :ESBUR lir presented a petition from
certain person% residing at Leicester, complaining; tai that
elitist of the 3larriage Act, abolishing the peculiar jurisdic-
tions..
Lord ELLENBOROI,MII said, as • there would doubtless
be many petitions of a similar nature, he would wish to under-
stand whether the Noble and Learned Lord meant not to op-
p: se the re-establishment of these juriedictions.,
I,ord STOWEbIe replied, certainly not.
The Earl of LIVERPOOL said, undoubtedly the case
of thole jurisdictions was a very string one, but he should
. wish to reserve his opinion both on this and eveeiry other part of
.the subject to a more advanced state of the discussion.
bora ELLENBOROIXIII observed, that in fact these
were immemorial juristlictionin taken away without any grievance
alleged.
Lord REDESDA LE said be should have called the atten-
tion of the. House to this subject; 'but his reason for abstaining
was a thorough conviction that whatever might be the decision
Of the House, it was not for the general benefit that some of the
jurisdictions should remain.. He could not understand on
what pretence laymen should exercise an Riscupal jurisdic-
. time 111 some insteecee, tio far from being immemorial, they
otiginated but since 'the Reformation; and in the Act of
Parliament fur abolishing the religious houses, he could not
find any mention of such a power preserved to any Inc ; he
therefore doubted extremely whetheethere was any authority
hilt usage.
'The LORD CHANCELLOR said, it was for the consi-
'deretien of the ilottee mew, whether it wonla not be useful that
Whatever alteratiens were to be made, the whole of the law on
the subject ofinarriage should be embodied in one. Act. PrO-
feeeing himself a.s he tlitl4 as hostile to the injustice of taking
easy these jurisdictions as any other Noble Lord, yet it would
be very 33emrable that the doubt expressed by die Noble anti
Learned bortii(ltedesdale) should be cleared up. He would
venture to state to their Lordships, that many persons were nut
metre that the power of granting presses was taken away. It'
they leet continued in ignoranee of the law to grant licenses,
these peraee might' have been wearied under, licences granted
by pewit's not ;Authorized by law. If el/gel; of this sort had
cmairfeel, end there were persoes who had involved themselves
in 513tili consequeeces through ignorance of the law, he could
net heeitate to make all' those marriages good; but it was nut
ligtvkaiti y to discuss those poiiite if such e cut:mittet: mere an-
polnteel as he thought would ten
The Archbishop of CANTERBURY said, that this being
the it coed time within e :slier! period that a charge had been
made against the Right Reverend Bench, he meet be excused
fur tuldreetUog a few words to the 'intik,. A Noble and Learned
friend of hie had undertaken the condtiet e" the ,nrospective
eiettse, entlafttri that, be had certainly repoeed himself in se-
cority me that puini. .They were 'charged a few days ago with
retake-di: i g the public.(to that charge most certainly he should
not plead guilty), had they ,were told by Noble Lords that the
' +tuition, with respect to theee surrogates, was brim end intri;
eiii:e, and that it hardly- was in the power of any individual to
know either the extent. of their authority or its abuses. Ile
,certainly had heard it,stated, that it Would be convenient if the
nombee ef surrogatee should be cut down, and it was so done,
leaving the appoint:items to the Iliehops alone. Ile was not
aware of any advantage or additional, security that was derived
limn the alteration; and if there Were not, the objection was
'i.,,i1,,, tiatfitfi'::rit that it interfered with the vested rights of indi-
YW.'.ialn.
• herd STOWELL then moved that a Committee he appoint.
oil to bike into consideration the present state of the law ram.
tive to marriage, und whether any, and what. amendments are
w neesitry in the details, and to report thereon.
. Lord EIiLENBOROUGH said, be had the greatest plea.
sure in eecorallng the inouon. 'There Was tio mode of proceed-
in; that could give bite greater 'satisfaction, or that, in his
opinioo, would be Moro satisfactory to the Mame. He bad
/agar{ wi.thed that the result of their Lordeliips` labours should
Le *law giving ea little inconvenience to the parties, and as
much :security to parents and guardians, at; potteible. fleeing
no Niel knewledge, he could not himself lieve preeumetitto
have incorporated the whole of the law in cm: scar but such I
ws! alwaya his desire, and be was glad tint th;., Honourable
and Ir.:fear:lid Lord on th'e woolsack had ex Dragged' a similar
while Ife was convinced that the public at :age wueld learn
with malefaction that the probable result woo' .1 be, that all the
eneettnents on the riubject would be embodied in one clear law.
--Ho must obiterve that the Noble and Learr.,d Lent (Stowell)
we% almost the only one who wished to retaie ~se nullity clause :
it would theiefore be desirable to know if 4 .v.-ire his intention
to;bring that again under the consisleration.i.f the House. The
iteenveniencee whieh were felt at present woelii, he trusted, in..=
ii,.,ce the Noble and Llarned Lord (Eldon) .-atici other Noble
leerte to give the nupooarti as much of their attention as poi-
- hit.J.;, in older that no time might be lost in endeitiouring to
perfeet it. •• - - ,
Lord srowELL said he bowed to the decision of the
14euee an, the retrospeetive clauses, but could not content to
liirel himself from opposing his obgetions to other parts of the
Isll4. ' • '
".L.4‘,,ra ELLEIN/BOROUGII said, he gave full notice to the
N WO Lord, that he "would. give every opposition in his
power' to the detestab wie.propoion of the nullity of • marriage,
and maintain thepriaciple of the indissolubility of marriage,
which.lashyear the litare almost unanimously sanctioned; and
their decision was umwed by thapublie at large.
The Earl of WESTMORLAND concurred, in the senti-
rneettemclstoletd by the Noble Lord (Ellenborough), and view-
tee with coneidereble al...irm any attempt it: fe roar of the nul-
zits. el roieee
The LOAD CHANCELLOIt said, it would. be recollected
by the: lihuae, that hohoiy opposed the retrospective clause
mere than he did ; and he should have no difficulty in Saying
n'4ll, that with reete.e4 to pereoria ' who might stand in a better
mitt:Wiwi front that 4viste lie should be inclined to act very
cantiettsly. With respect to thtSprospective clause, though he
tnieted the Committee woilllJ )say - attention to the opinion of
tile Houeea expresvd in :the last Session of Parliament; yet
tat.wee vole, soma inti:t4 tf that dale? which it might be well to
emeoieider, His Lett'ship concluded by . pledging himself to
give all the time which' he could ispere from the discharge of
other duties to the cotalideration of thee Hill ; and would snake
'Wm stiggcstions to tlit'Cominit4t, thciugh perhaps he might not
lekeleele to he it pasonsil4.
.: The Committecwee thee appointed. Among the Members
Were) the Archbishop of Canterbury, the lend. Chanceller, the
Bieber; of London tied rwcter, the Marquis of L trealown,
lend Ifollaed, Lord I,:lleoborough, the Earl of Westmorland,
tie... Earl of Shaftesbery, and Lord Orosvenor.
Lard ELLENHORtitleill then moved that the see.oticl
readily 1)1' the Marriage Act Amendment Bill should be post.
porindi tot a fortnigli* - -.Agreed to. •
AGRIC' /14TURAL PETITIONS.
IATI! W./ITU:LI) prasented a petition from thy Nobility,
Cl,,rgy, Ana Gentry or the Hundred of Harpiagton, in. the
examly of Norfolk, ccre:;laining of Agricultural Distress, pray-
ingf.,t itqf,irm, andtlieelairuing el participation en the pro.
ceediegst the; Norfolk Rekeing. Tire Noble yati said the ye-
. 'WAD Wag uilth A by 'blue tfit most reipectable_ inhabitants pt
di,: iiktntita . 'May dieelailPed'all partiortion in the COurity
Meeting, and eicpreestel tleeip opinion on pettiest* of di; tae,s
and remedies. They prayed* rellaradfieM (10/10ft .frt.
4
.mod were pinieularly mond e n Oita' vtevii, he Soli

Lord was of opinion with the petitioners that Reform trust
take place, and when opportunity offered, he should endeavour
to make the Right Reverend cknch convert+, by proving that
Reform was desirable on moral and religious grounds.

---iliftepettilOnWlsread and laid on tio;tahle.
Lord SUFFIBI,D also presented a similar petition f:om the
Hundred of Greenhough, in the county of Norfolk. The pe.
tition, however, did not contain a prayer fur Reform.—ltead,
and laid on the table:.

. AUSTRIAN LOAN.
The Marquis of LANSDOWN- Said he had a question to
put to the Noble Earl at the'head of his Majesty's Adminis-
tration, which, considering the present suite of agricultural dis-
tress, he conceived to he of great importance. It was well known
that among the large sums of money sent nut of thin kingdom
to foreign countries, one large payment had been made in the
shape-of a lean many years ago. This subject was well known.
to the public ; it had often undergone discussions in Parlia-
ment, and aasuratices were repeatedly made that it would be
repaid. He 411adecl to the Austrian loan, and he understood,
that there had been an intention on the part of oitrOovernment,
to make the propoaed repayment of this money one of the sub- •
jects -of the negociations at the Congress of Verona. He now
wished to ask the Noble Earl if he could state what had been
the result of the negotiation, or whether any negociation had
taken place on that particular questiOn, and if so, whether there
was any prospect of repayment. He hoped thatoo part. of this
money would be employed in the prosecution of designs which
every Englishman. ust reprobate.
' The Earl of LIVERPOOL replied, that transactione.of this
sort must always stand on their own ground. If the Noble
Marquis meant to say that such sums as this ought never to
have been advanced, helLord L.) would tell him that, to ad-
vanees.of that kind, Europe was indebted forhe liberty which
she now enjoyed.. The Loan in question could not regularly
have been made a subject of discussion at the Congress of Ve-
rona, because it was a transaction between Austria and Eng--
land. He was not now about,to enter into the merits of this
particular question ; but he could assure the Noble Marquis
that since the conclusion of the peace up to the present time, the
Englisit,Governm ent had been pressing Austria for. this debt;
that discussions took place last year on the subject, when the.
payment of the debt was again demanded, and he had no (Mfi-.
culty in-saying that a principle of arrangement for -the 'pun.
pose had been' agreed to by the Court of Vienna. •He, hoped
to be.aoonable to state to the House that the same was en-
tered into. t •
Lord ELLENBOROUGH thought it necessary to say, in.
reply to what had • fallen from the Noble Earl respecting the,',
freedom gained by, Europe. that the general feeling throughout
this country now was, that the:advance of sums like this was
likely to subject Europe to tyranny much more detestable than
that which it was intended to avert. If Europe had been sub-
jected
to such a tyranny, it wottld at least have been a console-
tion to think it was subject to a person who had some greatness
in his character.,
• The Earl of DARNLEY said he knew very welt that it
never was intended or expected that this debt should be paid ;
and that it never would be paid. The war fdr the support of
which thialetan had been ailVanced was badly conducted,; the
loan did not promote its success; and he, therefore,: protested
against the declaration of the Noble gait It had contributed
to produce the general distress under which we were suffering ;
and that distress caused persons who now attended public meet-
ings toadvocate:rinciples that were dan,,,feeroua to the country
and its Constitution. Other wise he could not have conceived it
possible that such a petition ns that proposed at the late Norfolk
:'Meeting would have beeralfilopted. nereal cause of the pub-
lic distress was the enormous expence of the late war ; and he
was sure that no relief could be afforded for the removal of that
distress but a remission of taxes.
The Earl of WESTMORELAND presented 'a petition
from Nottingham against the Marriage Act.