The Sun.
London, England, 1821-05-03 00:00:00

PAnLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, 2.
, ,ORDS MA
Counsel were heard, and evidence were exa-
mln'Ed'at the Bar in support of the 2d reading of
the Glerawley Divorce Bill, and further proceed-
ings were postponed till Friday next.
BANK CASH PAYAIENT BILL.
The Earl of LivEn.pool. stated, that as he
found the Nob!e Marquess (Lansdowne) to whom
he had meant to allude'yesterday, bad not been
able to attend this day in 'his place, he should
postpone the third reading of the Bank Cash
Payments Bill until Friday next.
Lord KING presented a Petition from Godal-
ming, praying for the revision of our Criminal
Code.--Laid- on the table:

The African Company Bill was read a third
time, passed, and returned to the Commons. The
Irish Starch Duties Bill went through a Com-
mittee. Report received.—Adjourned to Friday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
HORN BLOWERS.
Mr. BYNG prrsented Petitions from the Ves-
tries of St. James's and St. Martin's-in-the-fields,
praying that a law might be passed-- to prohibit
the boys_ of newsmen and others from blowing
horns in the streets.—Laid mf the table.
DISORDERLY lIOUSES,:,
Mr, S. BOURNE presented aiPetitiou-from Ge-
neral Thornton, complaining of. the unreasona-
ble severity of the '2sth of. George 11., which
enacted that all 'houses where dancing and other
public amusements were carried On without license
from four Magistrates, should-be considered and
treated as disorderly. The Petition recapitu-
lated the circumstances attending,a recent en-
forcement of :this Act with respect to a number
of persons who were assembled for the purpose
of dancing, in a house in St. Martin's-lane, and
prayed the repeal of the aforesaid Act.---:The
Petition was ordered to be printed.
Snips.
Colonel CAWTHORNEmoved for an,account of
all ships built and registered in Great Britain for
the last 7 years--Ordered.
- CONWAY BRIDGE.
The Conway Bridge Bill went through a Com-
mittee of the whole House, and the Iteport was
ordered to be -received on Friday next.
ADULTERATED SEEDS.
Colonel DAVIES presented a Petition from cer-
tain Seed Merchants = of Worcester, complaining
of the prevalent adulteration of 'Clover and Tre-
foil Seeds, and praying that Legislative measures
might be taken to prevent it. 'The Hon. Colo-
nel stated that it was his intention, next week,
to make a motion on the subject.—The Petiiion
was ordered to be printed.—Sir R. WILSON pre-
sented a similar Petition from certain Seed Mer-,
chants of London, Southwark, and Westminster.
Ordered to be printed.
CHURCHES.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER brought
in a Bill to amend an act for regulating the erec-
tion of Churches. .Ordered to -be printed, and
to be read a second time on Monday.
ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.
On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER, it was resolved that the. House should,
y- n
on rising, adjourn to Fridaext.
THE:BANK.'
Mr. GRENFELL moved for an Account, shewing
on the one side the Rate of Interest paid on the
Quarterly advances made by the Bank of Eng-
land, to make up the deficiencies in the Consoli-
dated Fund ; and on the other the aggregate
Amountof Interest which would have accrued to

e public service, had all the public. money

die bands of the Bank been put to interest, ac,
cording to .a statement on the table of the House:
making itiathount in the year 1820-to 3,713,414/.
llis object for moving for this account was to shew
the House the improvident manner in which our
relations with the Bank of Englanll were carried
on, by making it appear that -thOinterest on the
3,700,0001. remaining idle in the hands of the
Bank, would. have more than ebvered the amount
of interest paid on the •quarterly-advanees in the
year 1820, _ . -
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCItEQUER had no
objection to the production of the Account, but
he did not ,think tile Hon. Gentleman had put
the matter, in a fair point of view. Whatever
use he meant to make of the return, the only fair
way of judging would be by a comparison of the
expense of raising loans to make up the deficien-
cies in the Consolidated Fund, with the
profit derived by the Bank from so much money
being left idle in their hands. By that coMpari-
son it would , be found, that had the method of
raising the amount. by loans been resorted to, it
would have been one much more expensive.to the
country, -
Mr. MAUERLY, said the Righv'lfon. Gen-
tleman did, not seem to have underithod the ar-
gument of his Honourable Frien&-ii!lie did not
mean to,find fault -with the manlier in'which the
quarterly deficiencies were made.up-by:the Right
lion. Gentleman ; but he merely complained that
a large sum of public money- was i left idle in
the hands of the Bank of England; and he was
certainly justified in looking with jealousy at any
benefits conferred to the'prejudice of the public
on a body so richly chartered as the Bank.
Mr. BARING, thought the Hon. Gentlemen who
had spoken on ,this subject had left out of their
consideration,„that although the Bank had gene-
rally upwards of three millions of public money
in its handS, it was frequently in advance to a
much greater extent ; and in justice to that body,
those two accounts should be balanced. If that
were done, it would be found that the Bank had
no more than,its due, and, no more than on the
renewal of its charter was contemplated. In-
deed, unless they were to receive some benefit
in this way, it would be impossible it could make
thOse advances which it was occasionally called
upon to do.

Mr. GREW-TU. explained, and after a- few
words from Mr. RICARDO, the return was order-
ed tc ne made.
COMPLAINT AGAINST TIIE LORD ADVOCATE.
Lord A. HAMILTON presented a Petition from
a person named James Turner, a tradesman in
Glasgow, cari-vng an the business, of a, Tobacco-.
nist, and Who complained of acts of outrage and
tyranny alleged to have been committed against
him, by persons acting under the authority of the,

tortflitiecate and-filS bieptite... The Petitioner
alleged, that on the night of the 9th of April,
1820,,he was taken into ctistotty tinder a warrant
te search for papers and arms ; that he was thence
taken to the-police office, at eleven o'clock at
night, and thence -Marched 14.'d guard of horse
anti foot, and locked up in 'Bridewell in a solitary
cell, where he was kept froM the.gth to the 14th
on ra stone floor, and without a Are, and then
brought up and examined; The -charge made
against him:was. that Of 'high treason; but he was
admitted .tcv bail, and.'neither 'he nor the persons
admitted to bail' were called upon afterwards,
nor had like Petitioner received any compensation
fot the injustice done him, though the only coni
pensation for which he aSked was redress to his
injured character. The Noble Lord commented
at some length On the statements contained in this
Petition, and called upon the Lord Advocate to
explain why it was that the individual was treated
with such -excessive severity in the first instance,
and not brought to trial subsequently ; and why.
he was charged with high treason, and yet bailed,
although: the offence was not bailible ? He added
that he belieVed the Petitioner, who had a re-
speetable character, to be• totally innocent of the
charges Made. against hini, and'though he (Lord
would not call on the,_Lord Advocate to
mention his authority, yet :'entreated him, in
proportion as he 'shielded'
,liitiVelf behind secret
information; to .do the Petitioner jUstice at the
present- time, as. he would be 'satisfied-by a dis-
tinct avowal that he had suffered unjustly.
The Loan ADVOCATE stated that it was not his
intention to object to the 'Petition being read,
but he could. not avoid calling the attention of
the House to the time when this complaint had
made its appearance.• It was on the 9th of
April; 1820, -that the act was committed of
which the Petitioner complained, and yet it was
only now that ,he came forward to seek redress.
He -was aware that the 'Noble Lord had not the
'Petition put into his hands until six weeks ago.
but it was eleven months since the Petitioner h: d
been committed to. prison, and all that time the
door's of the Law Courts were open to him in
Scotland, and the doors of justice in Parliament,
yet he had -mat attempted to approach either.—
lie ';owed it to himself to have made his com-
plaint sooner if he were indeed
.wronged, and he
owed. it ---to those whom he accused, and who
would have been prepared to justify their coR..
duct. . He was not bound to state the ground of
Suspicion on which the warrant was issued, but
supposing there . had been no ground, the Peti-
tioner ought to have gene into a. court of law,
where it would 'have been open to both parties to
have. given their cases all the support which the
circumstances connected with them would allow.
He'c.4iltended that he had the best grounds for
causing:the apprehension of the prisoner, denied
thathe- was treated with harshness and severity,
on .the contrary, he was taken to the Bridewell
instead. of the prison of Glasgow through lenity,
as there were then about 100 culprits in the pri-
son, and iu Bridewell he had every. accommoda-
tion which it was proper-to allow. He added
that
,it was very extraordinary, while the Peti-
tioner complained of harsh treatment, a
_cotr7
plaint 'was also male that 'lie was admitted to
bail,'Although the offence with which he stood
charged was high treason. ' The reason why he
was not brought to trial was an insufficiency of
evidence, like what had happened in many other
instances lately in. England. If, however, the
Petitioner would bring the''cas into .a court of
law, lie -would prove that he' had sufficient cause
for acting as he had done,'
and would shew that
his. Deputy hatfnot only done his diity, but that
if he had not detained him, he would have been
guilty of gross misdemeanour. On the whole, he
insisted. that the Petitioner had' been justly ar-
rested, and afterwards treated' with hunanity.
Mr. AIAXWEEL said,'he was satisfied, from the
explanation given- by the Lord Advocate, that
the Petitioner had not been treated with all that
harshness and severity which -hid beeli alleged,
but still bethought he had not been treated
with all that. considerate humanity, which was
the proud characteristic of BritiSh law. In re-
ference to :the:argument on which the Lord Ad-
vocate- relied so much, of the complaint having
lain'over for so long a time, he could account for
that ;'.he knew that it was the conviction on the
prisoner's ,mind, 'whether right or not he (Mr.
Maxwell) could not say, that he could have no
justice against the Lord Advocate in: a Court of
_Law in Scotland. He bore. evidence to the cha-
racter of the Petitioner, which was that of a re-
spectable tradesman, and , said the Lord Advo,
sate ought -to. have not so lightly•lisienpd to.a
charge of -high treason, Nit ought to have' justi-
fied it by the case of the SpafieldS rioters, who were
accesed,off high treason, and were pr,ovtql to haVe
been engaged, at the utmost, but hi, acts of dol.
The Learned-. Lord ought .te'ver -to forget the
principle, that no r,ndu`.shotild ,be-treated as guilty
until proVed:so..- • J-.
• .
On, the
.sUggeStion of Mr. MONTEilr4the Pe-
tition read. It detailed, at donsiderable
length, the circumstances stared,.bythe Noble
Lord„.who• presented it, 'and prayed for such re-
dress as might clear the character of the Peti-,
tioner,:and repair the injury he had sustained in
his. business and property.; -and it :also-prayed
that the Lord Advocate of Scotland might :be -re-
quired to give up the name: of the person on
whose information the Petitioner had been ap-
prehended.

Mr. MoNTErrn, wba was the Lord Provost of
Glasgow at the time of the occurrence in ques-
tion,
-related the circumstances which had given
rise to the apprehension of the Petitioner; and
observed, that the Bridewell in which he had
been confined havino• been cleared of its usual
inmates, was more comfortable than the jail.
Such a variety of infprmation, - some gbod, and
some bad, was laid before the Magistrates, agaitist
indiv.iduals engaged in the riots in-question, that

•
it was surprising more were not apprehended
Mr. HUME had not heard the Learned Lord
say, that the deposition on which the. Petitioner
had been apprehended, was on oath. If note,
what could warrant such an infringment of the
rights of the 'subject ? They had just heard the
lion. Gentleman say, that the -Miigistrates at
Glasgow had acted on anonymous information.
Mr. MoNTEITH positively denied ever having

p.

made any such statement. What he had said
.was, thatallkilidS of- inforinaZiofiffi4:;teen laid
before the.. Magistrates. The..tOntitity had rea-
son, to be thankful that in all of public
danger; some individual, stung wlthl.renaorse, af-
forded the-means of avertingit •
•Mr. lIJME wished to ask,: either,thte?Learned
Lord or the Honourable :Clentrilari,,.w.liether
the Petitioner had been arreited;iiii•.consequence
of .-.a. deposition on: oath,..taken before a Ma-
gistrate'?
The LORD ADVOCATif yenned (as.firci under-
stood the Learned Lord), that that was not the
practice of the Law of Scotland: :I'he.Public
prosecutor proceeded OR the- information. which
he received 3 and was of course answerable for
his acts.
• Me. HvnlE observed, that this shewe .the de-
plorable state of the people of Scotland; and that
they were not on the same footing as_ . the klnglish
with reference to. theirrights and liberties; He
repeated at considerable length the'circtrinitances
of the case under consideration, and expressed
his earnest hope that the - House.:.Watild, by a
Committee or otherwise, institute an inquiry into
the subject. If the Lord Advocate had: thus the
power of apprehending any inclividuaLin Scot-
land without a. previous deposition on oath, the
Scottish .people were in a state of slavery Be
(Mr. Hume) -might be taken from his_ home the
next time he returned thither, as
_no doubt-many
persons .would be very glad if he were.—(A
laugh.)—lf he continued to go on as he was doing,
it would be clifficult for him to say !my long he
might keep out of the Learned Lord's .clutCles.
After a reply from Lord A. HAMILTON, who
denied that the had been satisfactOrily ex-
plained, and some
,further observationS.frern the
LORD ADVOCATE and Mr. IlumEoheTetition
was ordered to_ be printed:: ••
CONTINENTAL EVENTS.
Mr. HoTcnirisoN observed, that the NAVY Es-
timates were to be considered in. the Corninittee
of Supply on Friday.—Hie now begged leave to
give notice, that on the motion for the Speaker's
leaving the Chair on that day, he would submit
to the House a few observations on the events
now passing in Europe ; and in which, as he con-
ceived, the safety; prosperity, and independence,
of this country were materially involved.,
ILCHESTER GAOL.
Mr. BENNET presented.a Petition from John
Wheeler, a boy of 13 years of age, confined in
Ilchester Gaol, coMplainitig of harsh itid`s‘e-vere
treatment, and praying for„redress...,. •.. - •
On the motion that the Petition •Shoultigie on
the Table, Mr. Alderman Wool), observed, that
it was not -long since he had presented .a. similar
Petition, and that he had 'low reason to .know
that every one of -the allegations of crneP:treat-
ment which' that Petition ~ contained was: well
founded. Whenever a complaint was. made of
the conduct 'of any gaoler, he was immediately
described as one of the best of men. The. Hon.
Member for the county who had gone down to the
Sessions, would speedily have an opportunity of
knowing what the real state of Ilchester Gaol was.
Sir It. WILSON said, he had made some inqui-
ries on the subject of the late High:atria', Sir
Charles Banifylde-, and he'fomidthat the severe
regulationsin Ilchester Gaol had been suspended,
not abolished, during the Shrievalty ofthat Gen-
tleman. There was no doubt that they-had
since been renewed. . •
After a few words from Mr. BENNET ,t'P
' e-
tition was ordered •to lie on the table.
• ••:ORPHANS' FUND. .•
Mr. Serjeant .oNsLow, in the absence. of his
Hon. Friend, the Member for Surrey, gave no-
tice, that he (Mr. H. Sumner)• would on the:i2d
nst. move for the appointment ofaConunittee
:o inquire into the state of the Orphans' Fund.
-SUPPLY—HALF PAY OZ 'iCERS.

The CILiNCELLOR of the'. EXCHEQUER muved
that the House resolve itself into a Committee of
Supply.

Colonel DAVIES rose to Submit the motion.of
which he had -given notice, that an humble ad.-
dress be`' presented to his Majesty, praying' that
for Abe present and future ease 'of the country,
his Majesty would be graciously pleased to employ
the Half-pay Officers who are qualified to, serve
his Majesty. He proposed the employment. of
the Half-pay Officers only for one half.the vacan
cies that might occur in each regiment. A similar
motion had been agreed to without a dissentient
voice in 1740.
Lord PALMERSTON said his only objection to
the motion was, 'that it 'was not called for, and
that it would therefore be a censtire:iipon the
conduct of the Commander-in-Chief. Fhtiing
the fine years from 1816 to 1821, 411 officers
were brought to fultpay without exchange 'or.
purchase, and 762- .by exchange : altogetheti'•
2,173 half-pay officers were in that period.
brought to full pay: His Lordship calculated
that there. were now 8,100 half-pay officers, that.‘
4,400 of them were ineligible, or unwilling to
serVe, and that the remaining 3,700 who were
eligible or willing, vvotild, at the rate at which
half-pay were brought Ao full pay in the last 10-e' •
years, be all brought to full pay in the course: f. ‘
nine years. Casualties might be expected to
make the period shorter, for 175 had died in the
course of last year. - „-
Sir ROBERT WILSON, disclaimed, on the part \ •
of Gallant Friend, any intention to censure.
the Commander-in-Chief. The Hon. Member
next adverted to the peculiarly hard situation oft
'Major-Generals. Some of the most deserving,
officers of this class now lived on 7s. 6d. a day.
Captain O'GRADY recommended the employ-
ment of half-pay officers in various situations
throughout the country, in preference to others,
Mr. HumE stated, that of 1,105 Ensigns auct,i.:-
,CometS appointed in the last five years, only
were from the half-pay, which gave the miser::
able proportion of 10 per annum. !
Mr.. C. HuTcmisisoiv cordially supported the,,,!:-
motion:--,-Lord PALMERSTON explained.
`Colonel DAVIES replied, that he meant by his.
motion to cast no imputation on the Commander- •
in-Chief. if it had led to that inference, public
duty would have compelled him to persevere.
After an explanation from Sir R. WILSON, the
House divided—, ,
For the Motion . - 7 - 14
Against it - - 45

Majority . - -31
On our re-admission we found Mr. HuNE on

his Tegs making some remarks, approving the
system adopted by Ministers with regard to the
supply,,of medicines, for the arriiy,•by, which a
saiing. of 19.p.er cent. had been eirectettbeyo.nd
VG min expended for the same purpose in -the
navy.