The Sun.
London, England, 1812-07-29 00:00:00

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

Sir FRANCIS BeRDETT rose to bring forward
the motion of which he had given notice, on the •
subject of the, present state of the country. The
Hon. Baronet began-by stating, that there never
was a time when public grievances more abounded,
and when tie necessity for some public remedy
was more apparent. • -In his estimation, there,was
little appearance that the pros-ecution of the war
would be carried on with success. The dangers
of the country were great, both in a foreign point
of view, and as it respected the internal state of
things. Under these circumstances;and impress-
ed with these ideas; he thought it his- duty, before
Parliament adjourned, to call the attention of the
Prin6e Regent to the-situation-of the country, and
to lay before him the'only remedies which, in his
opinion; could safely be adopted, to remove those
evils and dangers with which we were surround-
ed. He was not prepared to go at cull length into
a detail of all the grievances of the country,: but
-would content himself merely with giving a short
sketch of those pres Sing and strong paints of abuse ,
which tendedto produce such great dissatisfaction
and danger throughout the country. Those were
of various kinds and descriptions. In the first
place,- and certainly those were the highest' sort of
abuses, were to be ranked those, inroads which
from time to time had been made by the Govern-
inept upon the Constitution. At first they were
introduced with a sparing hand, until by degrees
they became more glaring,. and at length were re-
garded with a less jealous eye. This class of legal
grievanCes was then very 'great;; Judges were
continually construing the law 'of the land different
from what the legislature meant it should be, con-
struingit most unfavourably to the liberty of the
s'ubject, particularly with respect to the press ;
the usurpations of power by the Attorney General
in filing Ex Otfieht Informations, putting men in
peril and danger, bringing them before a jury of
their country for trial, and putting off that trial
to a distant dav, at his own will and pleasure,
putting the parties to great trouble and expence,
upon no reasonable ground or pretence whatever,
was a grieirance which required an imMediate re-
medy. Unless Blackstone was totally mistaken,
measures of this nature were not to be justified,
but upon a supposed overhearing necessity of the
case, when the Government was in danger:- • It
would not be pretended that the practice was not
disgUsting to all, and was too dangerous to be
placed in the hands of one man, especially in wa

country Where the liberty of challenging' a Jttri
and of having a previous inquiry into the rfatui'l
of any chargewas the essence of the law of d"
land. But- by A Bill lately passed, additioo
powers had been given to the Attorney
neral ; which was a sad evil, proceeding -foil
a branch of the LegWature, where constitu'
tionallv all grievances Nvepe to be redressed--
that tiris House should lend its authority to 091
thingwhieh favoured of inroad into, und hostil!
to the spirit of. the Constitution. The power 0!
chaltAging Jurymen had been violated, as he sv'l'
informed, iuthe case of Bellingham,: for the firs'
time ; that person was not indicted'for high trl
son, but felony ; yet the Attorney-General tot:
upon himself the challenge, and eight out of t°'
twelve were actually challenged by the proseent°r'
Thereaniglit have been reason for the prisoner t°
challenge -the Jury, het certainly none for tlit
•
prosecution ; besides,-if this principle was cofe
admitted; there was no saying to what extent the
Attorney-General might carry it.. Such an
.skinption of power was dangerous and intolerable'
It went to destroy the first principles of the (201"
stitution.' Among the other grievances which "e
had to enumerate, 'Was one in. which it had beet'
admitted in this Muse, by the, Clianceller of ti"
Exchellber, that there was an .absolute "neces.vitY,
for some great exertion to support the labouri°4
finarices' of
.the country.- When taxation had ,ar-
rived to swell an extent that it:was_ found diffietut
to collect the taxes, measures of great enonon'E
became necessary. _ Three great exaetions
finance hatiabeen. mentioned by different Minister''
One of them was, and that was the first and the
greatest, the tax upon income, trilich,.at the tittle
it was proposed, it was denied would lead to vexV
Lions. Subsequent experience, however, had 0100
the contrary,, and those who opposed the tits at
first,, had since found that .they opposed it plo4
justly. 'Another great exaction was, . raising the
tax 10 percent. and taking away all exemptil
grantee in the first instance to those persons •
narrow drul limited incomes. The next gref.
action .was levying, the War.. Taxes. • What 'll
these great exactions had-led to, he would shell
from the Finance Committee's Report, in which it
was evident that ktigc,sums of money, raised 14
means of these taxes, had beensuselessly and Pro-
- expended. The Hon. Baronet then re:J(l a
variety of, items from these Reports, in illustratiuti
of ,his assertion,. Among them 'were, he obscrv-
ed,.sunis amountitvg•to 392,3611. paid to. sinecw
place:nen hr England, Scotland; and-lreland,,n"t
one farthing of which Was paid for public •serviec'''
es
Compensations to Officers deprh-ed Of their °flit'
in Ireland by the Ullioll,looall3i. and it W'l
singular to remark, that of- this sulmil, there vr"-9,
an item of 2000/. to the Prince of Meeklenburga
Strelitz. The _Consolidated Fund, 382,1101. ; 11'7
Post Office, 13,7001. ; Excise 14,0001. 5 Scotr;
49,700/.5 to the French, Dutch, and •Americ'ul
Loyalius, 161,0001. ; the money lost in loons r°
the Emperor,
,of Germany (who is' DOW fightil
"
in concert with the enemy of this conntry,)
„,
to other Foreign Powers, amounted to 2„143;59°':
He then" went to state a variety of other itc:9'
chargable to the Royal Familvato Foreign Cars'
to the East India Company:, &c. and noticed par-
ticularly_ the sinus of 176,000/. paid for -Seer& z.M."'
vices. How that money was expended, whether
in fomenting the war, :by hiring such persons "s
Henry, or for paying Spies and infpriners to
trap amen at home, into the commission of offenee'l
he knew not, but which ever way. it was
pended, it was eqUally liable to his observatr° 1
* and animadversion. There as also a•geaot t
100,0001_ for the poor -Clergy of the Church. °t,
England. Why this grant was made he did It'"
know, but he did think that the poor Clergy urigUt;
have been assisted ..by the rich Clergy -'of Ode
Church Of England. If any poor persons stO°
in need of.assistance, it was the labouring n"***.'
chanies thrown out of employ by that Measure t"
Government, the Orders in Council, were, the
first to-claim relief; they were entitledtto
support, since they had suffered by the policy
Government. • The, Commissioners of Public Ac-
counts had done little good further than reccivil
their salaries .; that money might have been safe
to the Public if the House had done their,business;
He next alluded to the various. jobs, as he terine"
them; the Boarl . of.' Agriculture, Scotland'
Palace-yard repaks,: the Royal Military CaW4l'„
Barracks, a sum of. 54021. to the Princess ("j,
Wirtemburgh, &c. 5 all- of those items' making 3.
total of nearly nine millions sterling, burtlien .t°
the country. With. respect to the Civil List Re;
venue—that he did...not object to,. for he though
the Kind had suffered by his bargain with 'lie
Public for the sale of his Crown ,Taands,---the3c
were so badly managed 'by the Pub:ie Cottlini3'
sioners that, as he was 'informed, they only r.r"-
duced 16,0001. a year,, when by. proper manage.'
ment they would produce considerably above on°
million sterling. "He expressed himself a fir°''
friend to the constitutional power and dignity °-
,
the Crown, though lie had_ been repeatedly re-
presented as. hostile to Ministers had nnu.l4
the Government of King, Lords, and !Commons"
an odious : oligarchy, and to that oligar,chy 50
made, and to the Borough-mongering faction,:
he- objected: He noticed the vast expence
the . army, which coat the country between twery.
ty-two and twenty-three'thillions -annually, nct
more than one-third of which. sum went t°
the "'support of the soldiery, the rest of coast
went among the Officers, for barracks, and for jOll-4'
In, order to remedy these abuses, he thought re"
form in the representation of the people. was the
chief means. He comma-id in the opinicins of.tlm
Member for Bedford, with respect to the necessity'
for peace, and. the folly of rejecting the late over;
tures—these overtures demanded a different king
of answer to that •*nt over. He denied that Fel—
dinand the Vlith was the person with whorls we
had a treaty, and consequently that the negociatio,l;
might have been entered into. He deprecated
the coalitions entered into against France; atncl
observed; that experience had shewn the inutility
of them,for invariably the arms of France had
conquered. If we must have allies, he recopy
mended to his Majesty's Ministers tb make otr
own people their first ally, by giving them the
Constitution entire, by redressing their grievances,
by permitting all sorts of—toleration in
and using the strictest economy in the public re-
sources. lia6ng descanted at some le-ogS-11 Or
these topi(s., he concluded with expressina lilt
-

opinion on the necessity of adhering to the•steps
pursued in the outset of his Majesty's reign, with
respect to the formation of _a Regency
,when the
King was taken ill. Such a Regency now, in the,
person of the Princes's Charlotte, would be most
desirable, in order to provide against possible in-
•eonvenience to the State, in the event of the ill
Hess of the Princeßegent.
He then read the Address, which was of great
length, embracing all the topics of his speech. .
No Member, however, being found to second
it, the Address of course fell to the ground.
A Message the Lords announced their
Lordships' assent to the Irish-Insolvent Debtors'
Bill, without any amendment, and to the English
insolvent Debtors? Bill, with an amendment, to
11•(tieb they desired the coneurrenee of the Mouse.
On•the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the Ex. 7
cluiQuEß, the amendment to the last Bill was
agieedlo,--and a message was sent to the Lords
acvainting them therewith.
A, Person from the Directors of the East India
India Company presetit&l an aceOunt of the
• amount of all-the Loans that bad been made for
the Company. Ordered" to be printed.
Mr. VANSItTART presented the Correspondence,
Instructions, &c. relative to the recruiting of Ne-
-groes on the Coast of _Africa for-the Black corps
in. the West Indies. Ordered td lie DJI the table.
Mr. JAcKsoN gave notioethat he would to-nior-
row move for some additional" papers on the above
subject;
Mr. -BARING, after a .variety -of observations
tending to spew the expediency Of aCcele-rating the
redemption of the Land 'Tax either by sale by
buetion, or. otherwise, and after giving notice that
"less Government should adopt- and propose
some measure on the subject, he would in the
text SessiOn of Parliament call the attention of
the Ilouse to it, moved that there be laid before
hThe douse an Account of the Amount of the Land
redeemed, and of the Stock transferred to
The Columissioners of the Sinking Fund ; and of
the Amount of the' Land-Tax remaining unre-
deemed, to ,the latest period to-which the same
could' be made out. •
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER. eipressed
his satisfaction that the attention of the House
bras called to this important subject; and inti-
mated that GOvernment would take it into serious
consideration during the- summer—and would,
Le trusted, be prepared next Session to propose
some measure, by which the redemption mielt be
extended.
,
Mr. TIER'gEi.", in Order to prevent wy un-
necessary alarm to the landed interest, wished
the Right I/anon:table Gentleman would state the
stature of the proposition which Government meant
to make-. •
The CHANCELLOR of the, EXCHEQUER repliO,
That no distinct plan , had hitherto been agreed
tlpon

Sir F. BURDETT characterised the redemption of
- a taX as the last resource of priidigality on the
Part of a nation'.
After a few words from Mr. CALCRAFT and
:•kfr• the motion was Agreed
~Journed.

•
if
BIjONAPARTE were not utterly callous to all
41.nse of shame, as well'a_s,to al.l •the dictates of
l'unour and justice, every sentiment which be or-
tiered to be put into the Declaration ofhis Polish
vassals, as to the profligacy which marked the
annihilation ofthe Crown-of Poland,'and tee par-
ticipation of the country by neighbouring Poten-
tates, would make him feel the bitter reproaches
Z.hich that Declaration impliedly contains against
"self, for his destruction of the independence of
'l5 many States, and' his rapacious seizure and
annexation of them to his own usurped corrtinions,,
after the most solemn assurances, repeatedly given,
that he' would respect their Governments while
ey continued in alliance with him. The fate of
'l°ll-and, and his attempts onSpain and Portugal,
so say nothing of other countries which he has
euslaved, are directly in opposition to that
the
has commanded his tools in Poland to utter in
•Lle name of the nation, and for the restoration of
'ts independence, to which it suits his purpose at
It'feent to pretend to give his sanction,. but when
hat purpose is- accomplished, (which Heaven
f
'c'refend!) there can be no doubt that the Poles
gill find themselves as much deceived in their
hopes, if they can be so credulous as to entertain
as the people of-many other countries whom
he has deluded and betrayed. Indeed his conduct and
character must be sciwell known to the world in'gene-
tat, that is impossible to suppose that any who are
hat absolutely madmen or ideoti can have the
Imallest confidence in him; and do not expect
11°11.1 him the reverse rather than the fillAiment of
,
'"2 Most, solemn assurances and ptomises'.
We are little inclitießO place any confidence in
the..tv reports implying that the DukeD'Er.*Atoup
tas by no means so 'much attached to the lute-
rests of this country' as many of the. distinguished
i_uaracters by whom he was countenanced were.
ndueed to. suppose ; but as we have so many fo-
,
suers among us, and as too many of them may
`ve.asonably be suspected of being disposed to fa-
ti?ur the views of our inveterate Enemy, we trust
that. Government will be firm andrcsolute in its
(indeavours to ascertain the true tharacter r'of'the
teParted French Nobleman. The interests of the
tountry • demand d rigid scrutiny into the truth of
ihe rumours alluded.to, for if he xras not deserv-i,
,',lg of the confidence and protectiOn which lie ex-
rieuced, we shall have strong' reasons, . indeed,
,(,) be suspicions of many other foreigners who ap.
rwe.i!r is a-more questionable shape ; and; on the
hand, it is hut just and liberal to have the
re3lnt decided, that rio unmerited censure Should
e't upon the memory of an individual who was
eld in high esteem, and who certainly possessed
414 eat talents and information.
the Edinburgh Theatre re-openectcm TiVlOnday
•„st, with the tragedy of timid. icitunLE was
-4e
v hero of the piece ;-and his characters ,through.
aWeek were to be Octavian, Pentuddock,
icllrd, andjUacbeth: The Scotch critics express
Itdesire to see him in that
." living specimen of
co°lll grandeur,' the haughty and ill-fated
7.lOlanZlS."
It is said, that several 'Oraggon loadF. of. false
focses and ears, stuffed. with Cotton, haYe left Paris
i;„the French armies in Poland. This is done in
z pation of a winter campaign, as these articles
e Worn to prevent the bid effects of frbst.