The Sun.
London, England, 1812-07-04 00:00:00

the table.would be filled With frivolous .petitiont.
The C.:idefleCt eras strong in the gaoler's favour,
and he 'was himself most anxious for inquiiing
into his conduct: He did not Tflefili to shut the
door arinst complaints; but he thought it 'would
be a great loss of time to pay attention to loose
allegatiOns. To the mode of inquiry by com-
mission he had no objection ; it rethalued for
the [rouse to consider whether a case had been
made out to call for any.
• Lord CASTLEREAGH thought the nature of the,
Motion by no means objectionable ; but the Hon.
:Baronet had put the House 'in such a situation.,
that if they were to agree to , the Motion they
would not come up to his view of the subject. 11
they called upon the Executive Government to
issue a commission fur the investigation of com-
plaints laid before the House in petitions, a great
part of the case,. as .stated by the Honourable
Baronet, waS not in the petitions, ,and.theretbre
Would not be included in the operation of the
C6mmission. He allowed it was the duty of a
-Member of Parliament to present petitions to the
House ;
.lnt be agreed with hiS Hon. Friend,
that before a Member called on the House to
-act upon them,- he ought to be able.to state to
the House that he had general reasons for slip.:
posing that the alleged iMproprieties had taken
place. The case, as made out by the Honourable
Baronet, was an ex parte statement to which he
could not pledge himself, and that case was re-
butted on the other side by affidavits of other per-
sons. If an inquiry were in'tituted, under such'
circumstances, they must lay it dawn as a prin.,
&Ile, that whenever a petition came before that
House, however uiisupported the allegations it
contained, the subject must be sent to the execu-
tive to be investigated by a commission. He
would recommend it to the Hon. Baronet to with-
draw his Motion, and theft, if he pleased; he could
charge himself with-an inquiry into thy subjeet,
and if he should see it right, be Would again, bring
it forward when he had acquired more real know
ledge of the case. He (Lord C.) would rather
the Hon. Baronet shotild withdraw his Motion than
oblige him to give a negative to it.
Mr. BROUGHAM Spoke favourably of the cha-
racter of the jailor. From 'private information he
han•eceived, he understood Mr. Higgins to be. a
very good man, but under all the circumstances of
the case, he Was in favour of an inquiry.
Lord CASTLEREAG,H thought, as the charges had
been met by a counter-statement, an inquiry was
not necessary in justice to Mr. Higgins.
Sir C. BURREL-L bore testimony to the hurim-
nity of the Magistrates of that County, - and also
to the conduct of the jailor, who was a most hu-
mane man, who had treated his prisoners with
great indulgence, and met with a very 'ungrateful;

return.
•
Mr. CREEVEY believed Mr. '-'Higgins to be
wholly guiltless'oleYery thing that had been im7
puted to him.
General TARLETON thought it best that the mo-
tion should he -Withdrawn.
After sonic further observations from•Mr.Black-
borne, Mr. AV. Bootle, . Mr. Burton, Mr. ,Lock---
hart, Mr. Martin (4 Galway) General- Taileton,
and Mr. Foley-7 •
Sir F. BURDETT replied, he thought it, hardly
fur thathe should-be called upon to pledge-hhn-
self for the truth of what he had advanced, or
see his motion opposed as unworthy of attention.
He had. so far informed himself on the sub-
ject, ,that he knew the person writing to- him was
entitled to credit. Though he had a very favour-
able impression-on his mind with respect to Mr.
Higgins, and, though he did nottoubt but the
Hon. Gentleman Wzts'`Very sincere in desiring' an
inquiry, still it 'appeared to him -Very extraordinary
that file inquiry should be forestalled, as it had
' ,been to night, by the statement which they had
heard. The conduct of the Magistrates too, in
taking away the prison allowance of bread and
potatoes, v,,hicJa he was persuaded was illegal, to
him appeared very extraordinary, and in his opi-
nion made a strong prima facie case. The alle-
gatiorn4, brought before the House, and particu-
larly those which set fOrth that a man had died
in prison of ill treatment, were not to be got over
by general statements, however good the charac-
ter of Mr. Higgins might be proved to be•. These
were circumstances which, in his opinion, very
loudly called for an inquiry. He had heard-no
argument that could make him think it was not
his duty. to press this motion on the consideration
of the House. He thought a Parliamentary case
had been ibade put. The inquiry, he contended,
would not be inconvenient, and he should there-
fore feel it to be his duty, unless Government un-
dertook to•make some inquiry into -the business,
-to press the motion.

Lord 'CASTLEREAGH explained. He thought
that the Hon. Baronet had not made out -a. case

for,a Parliamentary inquiry, and he thought, that
if the motion Were acceded to it would not an-
swer his purpose. If the. Hon. Baronet had any
communication to make, that he might think
ought to induce Government to appoint' a Com-
mission to. investigate the business, he (Lord Cas-
tlereagh) would be happy to receive it out of that
House, and if it ,wpeared in the same. light to him
as it might to the
.Hon. Baronet, he would use
his endeavours- to, propose the appointment of a
Commission without the interferende of Par-
liament.

Mr. W. Boor r mid Sir C. BURRELL explained.
Mr. W. SMITH supported the motion.
Mr. M. :SUTTON objected to the proposed in-

-
quiry. . .
• Mr. DE NT thought if the Honourable Baronet
could not state that ,he had seen the Coroner's
Inquest on the man, who it was said had died

through ill-treatment, that a. 'Parliamentary case
was made out. With this feeling, if the Hon.
Baronet founded his,motion on :the character of
Mr. Higgins, he,. from an anxious desire to do
justice•to the character of his friend, and he Was.
proud to cal Mr. Higgins by that name, would
vote with him ; but if it was founded on the
Petitions on their table, be must vote against him.
Sir F. BURDETT, after a short conversation
with Lord Castlereagh, consented to withdraw
his motion, with an understanding That same in-
quiry would be made by Government.
The Motion was -accordingly. withdrawn.