The Sun.
London, England, 1821-02-17 00:00:00

TIMBER TRAog.

Mr. ELLIET, seeing the Ilight Hopourablo the
President of. the Board of: 'Trade in his place,
was desirous to put a question to him on-a subjeCo
on which much anxiety- existed. lie alluded to
the present situation of the Timbei Trade: ' The
flight Honourable Gentleman had, on a: f6rnier
occasion, staffed that his Majesty's :Governinent
Might probably contemplate some mettsitre of
future regulation with.respect to the tratroVeit
pending the inquiry now going on in a Carnmated
above stairs.. The question- that: he wiShed. toT
put to the Right Honourable Gentleman was,
whether it Was the intention of ;his I‘l4j'.-sty's
GOverntrierit to-propose any ,alteration ex-
isting system, previous• to any Report rtith the
Committee above stairsi'—and he-also wished' to
ask the Right Honourable Gentlemnan,-
Man of that Committee, whether the House inighi
not hope, that although. the Committee-Would
perhaps be, unable to present a -finished Re-pore
until late in the Session, they would make a'ilf;oi't
Report at an early, period, recommending sorne
temporary means for the adoptioniof the _Howe ?
Mr. WALLACE expressed his thanks. to 'the
Hon. Gentleman for.allowing> him an,opp:ortUu;ty
to'explain his observations on recent evening,
which had been taken in a sense very different
from what he intended. It had been stated-that:
is was the absolute intention of his Majesty's
Government. to propose, „the continuance of the
existing laws up to July. Now, he put it to
every Hon. Gentleman Who had heard iiirn on
the occasion In:,Alluded to, whether,-what he Clad
'arid, conveyed any- such meaning. What he hail
stated was, that the subject being under the con-
sideration and inquiry of a Committee of the
House of Commons, he thought it possibte that .a:
recornmendation might be made by that Com-
mittee to prevent til.ships which sailed early ill
the- t:.eason, from suffering by, the existing lawS.
But that, if no such recomincindation proccedcd

from the Committee, it mrght he a matter' of
fairness on the part of •the- House to extend the
- existing laws to such a,period as might prevent
thnse. early ships from being subjected to unex•
peited inconvenience and loss. He had stated
tt;at, however,
_expressly as a contingency. He
had said that it was possible some recommenda-
tion on the subject might proceed from the Com-
taittee ; but that if not, it might be fair to pro-
pose the extension of the existing law to July.—
if, on the contrary, the Committee, by great as-
siduity and industry, should be enabled to bring
--their inquiries. tea close,..and recommend some
general measures previous to the expiration of
the-ekisting law, or, if on a due consideration of
- ' the Subject, and feeling themselves unable to
ar-
riv'e" at the termination of the inquiry, -they
thould pro Pose-some intermediate measure,, then
he' should not conceive that by what he had
- tated, :his Majesty's Government was at all
•pledged to make the proposition-which he had
. -mentioned. lie hoped that what he had now
said would prevent further 'misunderstanding ;
he had not 'given any opinion on the subject by
authority of the. Committee;, he had merely
stated the contingency, limited to the necessity of
the 'case, by which his. Majesty's Government
would be influencgd. lle repeated, that if they
• should propose any measure, it would be limited
to the necessity of the case, and that no proposi-
titd whatever would be made to extend the
exiting law beyond that necessity.
• General GAscbvsE observed, that it was of
extreme importance to the individuals engaged in
the Timber Trade, that some final•arratigement
should be made as speedily as possible, as the
present was the seaknt of the year at which they
' ustMly concluded their various bargains.
Mr. WALLACE intimated his knowledge of that
fact, and assured the lion. Gentleman that no
man could be more anxious than himself to do
that it was possible to do on the subject.
SC-ornsH BURCHS.
Lord A. ITAami-om said, that as he understood
the. motion was not to be opposed, he would ab-
stain from making any remarks on the subject
at present, but would confine himself to moving,
that the several Petitions to that House from the
-Royal Burghs of Scotland, in the year .1818,
1819, and 1820, be referred to a Seleet Com-
-rnittee to report their observations thereon to the
House.—Ordered.
NiSCELLANEOUS.
-Sir G, WARRENDER presented the Navy Estimates, and
gave notice, that on.monaay the 46th inst„. he would move a
e to of Seathen iii the; Committee .of Supply.
A new Writ was o-dercd- for the Zirrouglis of Wigtorm,
&c. in the room of the Unit: J: H. Keith Stewart, who, since
13;1 election, bad accepted the Cleiltern Hundreds..
r. R. WARD presi-nted tht. Ordnance Estimate;. Pnd
e notice that "he vmum move the-in in the Committee of
supply on Monday fortnight.
AIr.GRENFELL expressed his intention of calling the no-
tice of the House to the subject oft he sale of old stores. He
did not mean those sold by public auction, but those sold by
private contract.
On mi.rinz that the Estimates be printed,
'Mr. HUME obServ,d, that as, if the Estimates were in
the same general form as last year, they were wholly useless,
and as he had himself a rotation on the present evening for
the particulars of the Ordnance Estimates, the Honourable
Gentleman would, perhaps, postpone the rnntitm fits piinthig
the.Estiniateg which he had just presented, until his (Mr.
Tiothe's) motion was-disposed of.
Mr. It. WARD acquiesced. •
Air. MARTIN gave notioe, that-on this day week Jae would
more for leave to bring in a Pill to enable persons charged
with felony to employ counsel in their defence. •
•Air CURZON presented a Petition from Scarsdale, corn-
plainioz of the distresses of agriculture, and praying for re-
lief.—Ordered to he printed.

• PETITION FROM A PRISONER.
Mr. riENNET presented a Petitionfrorn Thomas
g,fiodeS,.a poor young man, wilo was apprehend-
ed at Stamford in December last, charged with
creating zi riot and disturbance by assisting in
. burning the effigy of
.the celebrated Theodore
:11fajocchi. Not being able .to procure bail he
Was' committed to the jail of Stamford. His trial
was from. time to tinie postponed until it now ap-
Veared that it was not to take place ;until the As-
sizes in March at Lincoln. Perhaps there was
iso jail in' the kingdorri worse than the town and
borough jail at Stamford. The cells were ,ek-
trerne,ly- small.and-confined, and in a state of such
humidity that, the.water ran down their walls.—
'The'Petitioner described the various and severe
evils which he endured in his imprisonment. His
general.prayer was for such relief' as the House
might think fit to.afford him. Bennet)
Was:not aware that thelfouse could grant the
Petitioner.. any_ relief, but he hoped that the
statement .thus, mad-.!Bli ht induce.those who hap
hitherto Rursued this unfortunate being, no-longer
fo dO sO; and he also hoped that the Magistrates
of the Borough of Stamford would be induced to
pat the jail in-the condition hi which it ought to
T e Petition was ordered to be printed.

chlMlNAL TRIALS IN SCOTLAND.
M. KEN,NEDY brought its a Bill: to alter the
_mode of _proceeding in Criminal Trials in Scot-
land.,.
,O.A the motion that the Bill be, read.a first
.
time, .
, •
r he LORD ADVOCATE said that he by no means
objected to,.flie Bill's being read a first time.; but
that he trUsted.thenonourable .Gentleman would
tihin allow it to be printed, in order that- the Bar
Intl- the country. of Scotland might have full op-
portunity of•judging of its merits. Ile was one
o: the,ie who thought that a great practical evil
mast be likown: before, any innovation should be
permitted in an existing .system, and more espe-
cially on a subject, involving so many important
considerations.. Unfortunately, however, there
seemed. to be a general disposition in the- present
day to hunt-out. every hole and- corner in our
whole constitutional system to which some
theoreticatremedy might. by. possibility apply.----
lie, was sure the. English- and -Irish genre.;
sentatives in that Rouse would not think the
worse
,of him for defending the institutions of his
native country ; and -he -would therefore say,
without hesitation, that the criminal jtrdica(ure
of Scotland. especially, both .with reference to
its principles, and to the beneficial results of-those
principles, was highly estimable. There were.
fewertrials—there . were fewer, capital-, punish-
ments, and fewer sentences of transportation,
comparison with the population in Scotland, than
in any.other part of the. United Kingdom. It
was not his intention to draw any comparison be-
tween the law of England and of Scotland-;' the
law ,or England was, no doubt, worthy of this
great, and.eplightened country. -All - he wished
to state was, the advantage which- the-- accused
possessed under the criminal law of Scotland. In

the first place, a copy of the indictment was
served on him fifteen clear days before his trial
--(Hear !)—The nature of the offence was stat-
ed in that indictment, and the Crown was not at
liberty to offer evidm:e -beyond the indictment
—(Hear !)_The. names of the witnesses-against
the accused were,i,also hear!
from the Oppc)sitiim)--7-as were the namei,.Of the.
persons on the panel from which the Jury was to
be selected. He contended, that the laws of
Scotland, taken as a system, Were, as well, in
theory as in practice, - calculated to promote the
end's of justice, and to give to the accused .a fair
trial, as any. system, that ever existed in any
country. the,' Union, the-law of Treuson.
was made the "Sartid in bath countries, but the
English law of Treason was by no means so fa-
vourable to tbe•accusdd as was the Common Law
of Scotland.
Mr. KENNEDY said,. the Learned Lord assert-

ed.,- that Gentlemen from Scotland felt great sa-
tisfaction in stating the defects of the law. lie
agi•eed with the learned Lord, that-a great part
of the Common Law of Scotland .Was.of great ad-
vantage to that country ; that he' never denied';
but he could not agree with hiM that any Mern7
ber for Scotland dwelt on the defects of the law
merely for the pleasure of dwelling on those (.14-
fects—far different Were his feelings, he attempt-
ed to bring those defects under the consideration
of Parliament, with a view to their rernoval—
(ll ear, hear !).---The Noble Lord had stated, that
a general measure of amelioration was in contem-
plation, but he (Mr. Kennedy) could not know
whether it was intended toinclude in that mea-
sure, the 1-trtioval of those blemishes of the law.
which he had broUght Under the,consideration of
Parlianietit: He thought it by far a more dis-
creet mode of proceeding to point out defects in
the law, which by possibility might throw an

mputation. On those who administer the laws,

than-to attempt to point out,-what indeed he con-
sidered impossible, any mal-administration on the
part of the JUdges. To relieve those learned
persons from discretionary power, was what
he had in. contemplation. The Honourable and
Learned Gentleman concluded by suggesting
that -the Bill should be read- a second time in
the course of the next week.,pro forma, reserv-
ing all future discussion to a subsequent stage of
the measure.
Mr. M. A. TA.-y-Lon complained of Judges
having exceeded the. poWer of the law. . The
Hon. Gentleman noticed the judgment in the case
of Muir-=a judgment whiCh was held to be con-
trary to the IaWS of the land by some of the
brightest men that ever appeared at the Scotch
Bat.- Though he was not a: Scotch lawyer, he
was ready to meet the Learned Lord opposite on
the point; and to prove the utter illegality of '
that judgment.
The Loan. ADVOCATE expressed his readiness
to meet the Hon, Gentleman-(Mr. Taylor), and
to maintain that judgment was legal. He was
the .more confident on the subject, because that
judgment had recently come under the consider-
ation of the Supreme Court, and received its
sanction.

Mr. J. P. GitANT said he could not sit silent and
hear it. Said' that the Supreme Court of Scotland
had: recently. approved of the sentence of trans-
portation pronounced on Mr.• Muir, because he
knew. that the ablest Judge on that Bench held
opinions ,hustile to that sentence. There was
scarcely a laWyer of eminence in .Scotland who
did .not entertain at least grave doubts on tha
subject.

The Bill was read a first time, and ordered to
be printed and read a second time on Thursday
next.

TINIBER TRADE.

Mr. M,AnnYyr presented a Petition. from cer-
tain Merchants engaged in the 'fimber, Trade
with the Colonies in North America, praying that
no alteration might be made in the existing Du-
ties, that shotifd 'give any advantage to foreigners.
—Ordered to lie on the Table.