The Sun.
London, England, 1812-01-15 00:00:00

DISTILLERY ACT.

The-House having resolved itself into a Com..
mittee ora the Distillery APIs,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER expressed
his regret at. the necessity which obliged him to
bring under the consideration of the House a sub-
ject which had occupied much of their attenti .n in
the corpse of last Session, ielative to the ditstilleries.
Doting the last recess, such a disappointment had
taken pl tce in consequence of the comparative fai-
lure of the crop with that of the preceding year,
that it was become necessary to prevent.distillation
from grain, in order that it might be, reserved f..r,
other mor-q useful purposes. ' The subject had beta
so °Oen discussed before, that he need not now
deil upon it at any length, but he would refer to
the experience-of Gentlemen, whether there was
not such a rise in the grain markets as to make this
stage expedient not only as a means of eucon,
raging the agriculture of the country, but also
of providing feat a period of comparative distress,
There was no prob,bility, at least not such a
prcibxbility as could he calculated on with any -
degree of confiience, that we should,be able to de-
rive resources from the foreign tnarkets. It was
urged -in the debates of last year, that, Wilt withs:lnd-
ing the rise of spirits, there was no material dirn•nn-
tion in point of consumption ; but it se happened,
that there Wa4 a considerable diminution in thedistil-
lation from grain. The' period of distillation Com-
menced in the month ofJuly,l.vlietio he price of6ra n
was raised, the spirits -of course advanced in a pro-
portionate degree. From the conversations he tool
had with the distillers of tHstown, he found that
they dill not think this oofasure would materially
increase the distillation from sugar, and therefore he
would propose to make such an addition to the du-
ties on the sugar wash, ss would compensate for
the deficiency. As to the foreign spit irs which would
come in competition with the home produce,
thought it desiorwle _that 'no addition a duty should
be imposed upon ruino but upon foreign brandy he
should propose an add,tiou of twelve and a hallker

cent. He cancicded with moving a string of Reso-
lutions, the first of which declared, that distillation
from grain, should be discontinued from the Ist of
Feb. 1812, to the 31st of December. The second
empowered his Royal Highness the Prince Regent
to continue or discontinue the prohibition by procla-
mation, frOm the month of October, as circum-
stances might seem to require ; and the third im-
posed, the sone duties upon distillation from sugar,
with, those which were imposed upon distillation
from grain. There were seveal other Resolutions
referring to subordinate arrangements.
Mr. PONSONBY said, he did not rise for the "pur-
pose.ol offering any opposition to the (notion now,
before the Committee,• but merely to make,a few
observatiorrs upon the course which was oft-late pur-
sued both in and out of the House, with regard to
measures of thisnature. There appeared to him to
have crept in a sort of change in the opinions of the
p.. ple, and in the Constitution of the Country, in
this respe&. The course in former days used to be,
,to assemble Parliament on any important occasion,
not m call upon the Executive Government to aft
of itself immediately. He did not mean to say, that
there were no cases in which the Executive Govern.,
rnent should as on its own responsibility, at all
risks ; on the contrary, he would allow that there
were many in which it would be the height of folly
and madness not to do so. But this was a ques-
tion which respelled the agriculture of the country,
and wa, not included among those instances of ex-
treme emergence which called for the immediate
hand of Government: it would, have. been more
wise to have assembled Palliament, and taken its
opinion,
.in the first instance. He thought he
could observe in .such aas a sudden change in the
opinions of the people of this country, who, in-
s'ead of looking to Parliament, looked now to the
Minister of the day. He saw no reason why Par-
liament should not have been assembled sooner for
this purpose, for it was now evident, that since the
month of July lasi, none of the Physicians enter-
taine,l any linpe of his Majesty's recovery ; from
that period, therefore, the Government was to be
considered as fixed in the Prince Regent. He did
not mean to cast the slightest blame upon the Right
Hon, Gentleman, as perhaps any other man would
have done the same thing, in the same situation ;
but he.coold not help regretting, that in -1 he prat) ice
of Government, and in the opinions of the people, it
was no longer deemed necessary to look to Parlia-
ment in such cases, rather than to the Executive

Power.
The CHANCELLOn of the EXCHEQ,LIER said, that
in the tew remarks he-should submit to the House,
he would follow the same tone in which the Right
Honourable Gentleman had delivered his.; a tone
of perfect temper and moderation. The .complaint
which had just been urged, was addressed to two,
descriptions of persons ; the one comprising the
Mit.isters, the other those individuals ho thought
it ne(e.sary to apply to Government, rather than to
Parliament, upon a question of the description now
before the Commiltee.—For his part, he saw not de-
partote whatever from censtitntioual principles in
the conduEt of either party. With respett to those
who had brought the subjetl undrr the view of Go-
vernment, if their object was to bring it before Par-
liament immediately, he did not see how they could
proceed otherwise than by applyiug to that Govern-
ment which had the power to assemble Parliament`
for the purpose of affording redress. As far, there-
fore, as they were concerned, they had done nothing
that should alarm the most extreme sensibility.—
With regard to/the Government, th .y had to con-
Sider all the circumstances. The Right Honour-
able Gentleman seemed to think that the opi-
nion off the Physicians upon the state of his Majes-
ty's health formed iground for the assembling of
Parliament, but upon this subje& he (the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer) would be ready to meet
him whenever inquiry should'be thought expedient.
[Here Mr. l'onsonby denied having used such an ar-
gument.) He was sorry if he had mis-stated the
Right Hon. Gentleman, but he thought that the
state of his Majesty's health might even have jus-
tified the postponement. The fag was, that neither
the state of his Majesty, nor the situation of the
Prince Regent, made such a step necessary, and
should be put entirely out of the question. With
respect to the measure itself of prohibiting the dis-
tillation from grain, it was necessary ; but it ever
Ahem was a time when Government should be
-1-cautious of proceeding, that time was the present.
After the discussions of last year, and the reluEtance
manifested by the House upon-former occasions, it
was right to consider, in the firsi-plaee, in what man-
ner it could be best carried into execution, for,when
the distiller had gone through a great part of his
process, to stop him would not only be a hardship on
the individual, but-a hardship from which no good
consequence could follow to the public: the grain by
that time viould be unfit for the purposes for which
it was ire ended. The proper way of proceeding was
togive the distiller a reasonable time to work up the
materials with which he was provided. For this
purpose Government should give trot ice to the trade,
that if Parliament agreed, they would prevent the
distillation from corn, by which means the distil-
lers would have a sort of notice to keep their stock
short. It was mote convenient to the trade, and
provided for the commencement of the measure in
proper time; for e% en if Parliament had assembled
sotner, it would have been hardly wise to have pro-
, po.ed an earlier day,. Under those vows be had
stied. He hoped he had answered in a temperate
Manner the arguments that had been temperately
urged.
Mr. PoNsotiev" denied having said that the state
of his Majesty's health required the assembling of
Parliament ; all he meant to convey was, that it
forine:t no obstacle to it. The arguments of the
Right Hon. Gentleman, he must confess, made a
part of his objeCtions to the praetice 'Which went
to put every thing into the bands of Government.
No man could start a subjeEt in that House on the
internal regulation,of the country, %%hich would not
find a number of persons acquainted with it, arid
capable of offering the best advice. But as he had
already stated, ,there was a growing pradice which
had a tendency to supersede the constitutional in-
terference of Parliament. He acquitted the Right
Hon. Gentleman, but. that practice he must depre-
cate as productive of- the worst 'consequences.

Mr. Ross said, that in every case of Revenue

they must always go first to the Gover,omeni. .And
Government had certainly.ettvd with great caution
in:this case.. They had expressed uo opinion, but

merely stated, that they would Nvait until Pail'a-
ment wet, and then take its opin4m on the subj,..tt.
If, as the Right Hon. Gentleman had suggtsted,
they had called Pdrlimmerii ingeth,r in consequeme
of the representations made to them, that one cir-
cumstance would excite an alarm in the country,
which would raise the price of gram materially.
In a tornaer instance, an alarm Was excited by the
letter of a Secretary of State ; much more might it
be expelled from snelt.-astep as that tecommended
by the Right Bon. Gentleman.
Tee several Resolutions were then agreed to, and
the RepOrt orOrred to he received to-morrow.,
The CHANCELLOR of the .li Cli ECIP Elt s*, that.
while the distillation from grain wits permitted in
Ireland,'the exportation- front that country should
be prohibited.
PONSONEY gave notice, on the part of a
Noble Friend of his, not th,=:u ii; 1:1e. House (Lord
Milton), that he would on 'Monday se'nnight uring
forward a motion OH t he state ot, Ireland.

The CHANCE'LLOII of the EXCE6QUER said it
would be convenient if the Itight. Hon. Gentle-
man would state mote distinctly the nature of tie

mot ion .

Mr. PONSONBY said, that the ohjea of the mo-
tion was the appointment of a Committee to inquire
into the state of Ireland, particularly with respell to
the present condition of the Catholic popular on
The Sugar Exhort Bill went trout a commit-
tee, and the Report was ordered to received to-
morrow. _ .

Mr. WHARTON brought up the accounts of the
Civil List Revenue, which viere,ordeiel to be print-
ed. Also Estimates of the Allowance to poor French
Refugees.—Adjourned.

MA! LS.

Aititzvin —t Dug—i Cadiz, i Lisbon, i Matta,
2 Guernsey, 2 Jersey, i Brazils, I Wecrford.

Consols.

PRICE oF sTOCKs.

THIS DAY AT TWILV O'CLOCK.
- - - 6z I Red. Ann. • - - 63

T i 7 f

S U N.

SOLIiA QULS DLC[R6 FAL.SUM AUDEAT.?

.1., 0 IV D 0 N,

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1812.

The Report of the Physicians, to the Committee
of the House of Commons, respecting his MA-
JisTY's health, was delivered this morning. It con-
tains the Examination, at too great length for us to
present to our readers this day, of the Physicians,
in the following order :

•
DR. MATTliii.w BAILLIE.
DR. WILLIAM lIIIIIERDEN.
DR. rIIOMAS MUNRO.
DR. SAMUEL FOART SIMMONS,'
DR. SIR HENRY HALFORD, BART.
DR.rlOl-IN WILLIS.
DK. RODERT DARLING WILLIS.
They all agreed upon the improbability, but not

the hopelessness, of his MAntszy's recovery.—That
early in July last the disorder had taken an aggra-
vated turn ; and that his mind had been then im-
pressed with all the errors, which have continued
since.

Dr. BAILLIE admitting his experience in com-
plaints of this class, to be limited, said, that the
only person whom he had knoWn about his MA-
JESTY'S time of life, whose mental health was de-

raoged, did not recover.
Dr. HEBERDBN considered that. there had been,a
slight improement since the second week in
December, which consisted in-a greater porter of
conversation, and in having laid aside some erron-eous
notions with which he had before been pos-
sessed, but he had thought his MAJESTY'S recovery
highly improbable since the latter end of last August.

Dr. MONRO said, that his MAJESTY had no syrnp-
'oin of fatuity, and that it was miller a favourable

circumstance.
Dr. F. SYMMONS declared that thou he thought
his MAJESTY'S recovery improbable, yet he had
known many cases. of recovery of persons as old,
and older than his MAJESTY, and ►hat after se-
veral attacks they had died of other diseases
than insanity. That his MAJESTY appears to' re-
tain a consciousness of his regal state, whichlmakes
the case'rather more difficult to conduct, That his
MAJESTY'S blindness is rather unfavourable to reco-
very, hecituse he cannot be guided and managed
so well ~a§ if ire could see. His MAJ,ESTY'a
health is as good as a man of sixty ; his
perceptions, with respect to objects presented to.
him, correct ; but he has a number of ideas floating
in his mind, which are extremely erroneous.
Sir HENRY HALFORD said, that the present state
of- his MAJESTY'S bodily health was not good
by any means.—That there was no immediate dan-
ger of his MAJESTY'S -life when he left Wind-
sor on Saturday, but that within the last twen-
ty-four hours, the KING had not been so well.—
That his MAJESTY'S mind has been deeply stricken
by the supersession of his authority, and that this
had weighed with him greatly in the opinion which
he had formed as to the improbability of his MA-