The Sun.
London, England, 1804-04-07 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAM.ENT.

ROUSE OF PEERS,
TRIDAT, APRIL 6.

ATTER some routine business was disposed of, the
House adjourned during pleasure. Some interval
hav'ng elapsed, the House was resumed, and the
Bills upon the Table were forwarded in their seve-
ral stages.
Mr. ROSE, the reading Clerk, officiated the first
time since his recovery.
The Committee upon the Irish Priests and Dea-
con's Bill, which stood for this day, was, on the
suggestion of the Bishop of Sr. AsATH, postponed
till Thursday..
On the Motion of Lord AUCKLAND, Certain,
accounts respetting the capital, '&c: of the Scotch
Bank were ordered to be laid before the House :
These were moved for, his Lordship observed,
from no inclination on his part to oppose the'rnea.
sure, but from the accounts moved for being ne-
cessary, he understood, for the due illustration of
the subje&.
The_ Bankers' Bill, and the Irish Militia Families
Provision Bill, were brought up by Mr. ALEX-
ANDIta from the Commons.
.Three Private Bills were brought up by
DU.NCOMBE and other Gentlemen; these were se-
verally read a first.time._,.
On the Motion of the Bishop of Sr. ASAPH,
all the Lords present during this Session, were or-
dered to be Members of the Committee on the-St.
Pancras Poor Bill.

VOLUNTEERS BILL.
The Order of the Day being read, the House
resolved into a Committee on this Bill, Lord WAL.
NGH AM in the Chair.
The discussion of the fourth Clause was resumed.
C By.this it is enated, that every 'person enrolled,
cr to be enrolled, or serving as an effective Mem-
ber in any Corps of Yeomanry or Volunteers in
Great Britain, and who shall be duly-returned or
'certified'as such, shall be exempted from being liable
to serve personally, or to provide a substittite in
.the Militia of Great Britain, or in any additional
force raised, or to be raised, fur the defence of the
Realm, or the more vigorous prosecution of the
War, by any A& passed in this Session, &c.
Earl SPEN.CER having referred to this part of the
Clause, moved to amend the same by the addition
of the words, " or any subsequent Session of Par-
liament."
This proposition gave rise to a discussion of
considerable length, in which Lords SPENCER,
GRENVILLE, the LORD CHANCELLOR, Lordi
ELLENEOROUGH, AUCE.4LAND, CARNARVON, and
the Duke of Mosrause, took the principal part.
It was contended on the part of those Peers who
supported the amendment, as Lords GRENVILLE,
SPENCER, CARNARVON, &c. among other points,
that the principle of exemption having been re-
cognized in, and provided for by the Bill, it should
consistently with Parliamentary faith and honour,
do which the VolUnteer relied on tendering his sir-
vices, be extended in the way proposed
.by the
amendment: the case was similar to that of the
'public creditor, who relied on a continued and un_
altered Parliamentary sanlion, as a security for the
interest of his money ; and in alluding to the re_
peals made by the Bill, it was preferaille that the
exemptions, such as contended for, should stand on
-the Statutes and Rolls of Parliament, as the best
security to the Volunteer, and not stiffer these te-
gala ions to be dependent on the feelings or futUre
.opinions of 'individuals.
If was contended by Lords HAWKESBURY, the
:'OttAN•ci.tort., and other Ministerial Peers, that
un.ler all the circumstances of the case, it was pre-
-le-6We io—let.the Clause remain as it stood : the
Clause had a two-told operation, and applied to
orps ece..lo he raised hereafter as well as to those
'now in existence. The amendment of the Noble;
,Earl-woulitriat-.-therefore meet the ()Ilea proposed ;
iinpolicy of. tying up the hands of the Legis!a_
ture in cortain.case;-was contended for ; the honour
Land good faith of Parliament was, however, to be
,Icept.iuviulate, and. these were considerations which
must have their due effect on the Legislature when
considering of Ads hereafter on the suhjel, should
,such ofocerdings be necessary.
. Atter a great deal of discussion, in which the
=abOvementioned and other Peers repeatedly deliver-
ed their opinions, ir Amendment, was pu,hed to
a division, when the:rc appeared for the same 14.
Against it 34

Nl,ijority

On an Amendment proly)sed by Lord Gr. EN-
V 1 t t, E to a subsequent Clause, the general effect of
which was to equalize all the Volunteer Corps,
even those. who had disclaimed them, with re_
%pea to the exemptions, a discussion of nearly
equal length took place: the Peers abovemen.
cloned, together with Lords KING, 1-IoART,
and RoNIN EY, were the principal Speakers. This
also terminated in a division to the same effect as
the former one, and the numbers were also the
same, viz. 34 to 14.
On a subsequent Amendment proposed by Lord
GR ENV ILLE, and whicit also related to the consi-
deration of Exemptions, sever4l FCCTS delivered
their opinions : the principal Speakers were those
who had taken a part in the discussions above al-
luded to.
Lod HOB ART particula7ly vindicated Mini-
sters from the imputation of incompetency respect-
ing the Volunteer System, and a3serted' that the
charge of inconsistency really applied to the Noble
Lord and his Supporters, who were determined to
find fault with the conduCt of Mioisters re'speaing
the Volunteers, be it what it inay.
Lord KING took occaoil to ()merle, that His
Majesty's present Ministers did not posses, the
confidence of the Country : Their retreat from
rower would be more gratifying to the people than
a, victory either by sea or land, or even a Peace ;
that event would however be displeasing to 130oa_
trtc, as he knew their continuance in power would
be beneficial to him.
Lord II AW/KES BURY rose,, and with a consi-
derable degree of warmth and animation, comment.
td on what fell from the last Speaker. The Noble
nrobablv suoke from his own acouzintanee arid

knowledge, "but they also spoke from theirs, and
they were well assured that His Majesty's present
Gavernment possessed the coAdetice, not only of
Parliament, 'hut of:the Country.: Meaqtressuch ak
thin under discussion, should bi judged !rom a view
of their own merits, and not with a reference to
who the aflual advisers of the Crown were. If.
these were obnoxious, the most fair and manly
way would be to come forward with an Address
for their removal. lie then went into a spirited
vindication of the condo& of Ministers in the pre.
sent arduous crisis, which, he was confident, would
not suffer by being compared with that of former
Administrations, even" when circumstances were not
so unfavourable to them.
The Duke of MONTROSE. expressed his belief,
1 that Ministers meant well.

Lord CARNARPON supported the amend.
ment : he coaessed that orte of his principal rea.
sons for opposing different. parts of this Bill wag,
his trital want of contideriee:in His Majesty's Mi.
nisters, and ht firmly. believed that a great Moja-
rit y of
_the Country agrcp,l with hint in that opinion.
The LORD CH /INCELLOR said, it certainly
was competent to any,Nuble Lord to express his
own want of confidence in the King's Ministers ;
but while they had the sanction of His Majesty,
and their. condua was approved of by 'a majority in
Parliament, which-was the constitutional organ for
expressitt the public opinirin, no Noble Lord had a
right to say that Minister's had not the confidence
of the Public: The offices which tthe present Mini-
sters filled they hatl nut sought f3r—they accepted
them under most arduous circumstances, and since
they held those offices, they had uniformly endea_
voured to discharge their duties conscientiously to
the best of their abilities.
Lard,GRENVILLE:saiti, he had never insinuated
that the present Ministry were aluated by any bad
motives, .I.tecattsc he was ready to give them full
credit for the purity of their intentions, but he con-
tended that At. such a crisis as the present, other
qualities besides_good intentions were necessary for
the Ministers of this Country, which was now for
the first_ time_fighi ing fox it s.exiatence ; and he really
and conscientiously believed. that His Majesty's
present Ministers did not, possess talents equal to
the Government of the Country at such an. arduous
crisis. •

After a short conversation the Amendment was
negatived.
Lord D ARNLEY then moved, as an amendment,
that. no Volunteer Corps should be entitled to ex.
ernptions Who had not offered to serve, in any part
of Great , Britain in cape of iovasion, This was
oppostd by Lords RQ4INEY., WIKCHILSE.A, and
EGREMONTr who contended that it• would be a
breach of faith to the Volunteers to narrow the ex-
emptions uudet which they had been embodied,

Lord DARNLEY then consented to withdraw his
amendment, tar the purse of introdu(9,,ng another,
the effea of. w bleb. was_to de4ilive 'al( Volunteers of
exemptions 'who had not offered to serve.-in the
titry distria-tb Which they belonged'.—This amend.
merle was opposed
,upon the ,same grounds as the
former, and afier some consideration, the Noble
Lord was induced to withdraw it.
The Clause was then
,agreed to, and the House
being resumed, the-Committec was ordered to sit
again on Monday, and at twelve o'clock the-House
adjourned to Monday: • :