The Sun.
London, England, 1810-06-01 00:00:00

_tr 44
[PRICE SIXPENCE ITALVIIMEM

for hard Dnrsley was eleeted and-returned withottt
any opposition as to his not having taken the neces.
sary oath of qualiiiCation which he was bound to do
• before he could be returned. As Freeholders the
Petitioners had the right of calling on the Nobi
Lord for his qualification, which, if not produced,
they might have voted for any other person. The
wrong . was therefore in themselves, and they
had forgone the right to `object to his eleaion
now. The fatl, ,in. his opinion, was, that the Pe•
titioners wished •the House to decide incidentally *
question which they were not called upon to clO.
Mr. C. WYNNE thought the House ought to
gravely and maturely consider the question. If a
body of electors claimed a right to complain of any
grievance in the matter of eleaion, the House. were
in duty bound.to hear and redress it. He was. for
adjourning the debate.

Mr. WHITBREAD, RS' 3 matter of course, was of
opinion the-Petition should be brought up but it
was a matter of serious consideration whether it
should be laid on the table. He thought that it
was not that description of petition which the
Grenville Mt recognized, and •he trusted that the
feelings of every Member in the House were in
unison with his own as to some allegations in it.
It was not for this House' to decide upon the corn-
plaint of any body of Freeholders as to the legiti-
macy of a 'person acknowledged by the Earl of Bet..
keleyas- Lord Dursley, against•whom, at the elec-
tion no opposition was made, nor was it even hint-
ed•that he was not the legitimate son of the Noble
Earl. Without giving a decided opinion on the se-
cond question as to. receiving the - Pe.ition on the
table he should inerely at 'resent state his :in-
clination' tci be,' to :give it a decided negative.,
Further time was, however, necessary to consider
the question.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER agreed
with the. Hon. Gentleman in the two points he - had
stated. He had no doubt of the necessity of bring-
ing up the•petition,' but it was matter of serious
consideration whether it should be laid on the table.
As to the allegations in the Petition when brought
h,fixe the -1-1/)use, some difficulty must *-arise in
deciding upon them, that mtist be subjed of future
investigation. The satne arguments which had
been•'adduced against .the Petition, with resped
.to the' not tendering the qualifica,ion at :the Elec-
tion, equally applied in favour of the Petitioners ; the
question therefore remained the same,- and was fit
for a more serious inquiry.
•
Mr. ARERCROMBIE W.IS for bringing up 'the
Petition ; obser,ved, that- the House ought, if
they c;insented .to place it •on the table, to have
accurate inlOrmation on the subject of the alleg.a-
--lion.

Mr. PONGINBY NNW/C(1 (0 know whether the Pe-
tioners really complained ()ran undue return under
the, Grenvile Mt.

• Mr. SWAN replied in the negative.
The-Petition was then brought up, and read by
the Clerk at the table. It professed to be the Petition
of certain persons, calling themselt es Freeholders
.of the; county of Gloucester, referred to the Act of
the Thirty-third of George the Second, which en-
joined, that every Member returned. to Parliament
.shotild produce to the Clerk of this House, before
he was entitled to vote or sit in the House, a paper
specifying the nature of his qualification of 6001.
a year fur County Member, and also that he must
take the necessary-oaths. If these provisions were
not complied with, he ShOuld Vote his ele6tion was
then void, and that the exemption from' these forms
should not extend to the eldest sons of Peers, as pro-.
'vided by a former e-t. It then, went :on to state,:
" that, at the ..time of the elettion, a person calling
himself William Fitzharding Berkeley, commonly
called-Lord Viscouat Dursley, was returned a Mem-
ber to'this Parliament,' and took his seat; but it ap-
peared from the Rolls of Parliament, that the said
person had not taken the oaths, nor qualified. From
a minute taken from the Clerk's Book, it did'ap-
pear that this person had entered himself as a Peer's
eldest son. That from reference to the Parish'Re-
gister-book of St. George's, Hanover-square., the
said person was baptized as the son of Earl Berkeley
by Mary Cole, on the 25th January, 1187. That
subsequently, as appeared 'from reference to the
Parish Register of St. Mary,.Lambeth, in the-Conn,
ty of Surrey, the Earl of Berkeley had been married
on the 16th May, 1796, to Mary Cole, spinster, the
said Earl Berkeley taking the usual oath 4 on the 6th
May, before the Surrogate, Thomas Champion eres,
pion', Esq. .that the said Earl was a bachelor, and
intended to marry-the-said Mary Cole, of that pirish,
Subseqiient to the said marriage, viz. on the 19th
November, 1796, was baptised at the said parish, ai
appeared by the .; Register, Thomas Fitzharding
Berkeley, called Lord Viscount Dursley, The pe4
Gijon concluded in the usual form.
_ _

• _
Mr. SWAN then • moved, f‘ That the Petition dO
lie on the table," The Hon, Member wished the
House to understand, that he would notitalo
responsibility of proving the allegations in the Petty
tion upon himself,' •

~Onthe question being pot,
Mr. CALCRArr arose, and after observing .tho
qUestion was certainly of a grave and serious
.nature,
did-not intend to take a View of it 'at present, but
merely to call the attention Of the House to a few
tads which the Petitioners had Chosen to keep
but which were within his otn -knowledge,,, as well-
as their knowledge. They had Suppressed the fad
that the Noble •Earl.(whoiri they stated was tor the
first time married 'MA 796 to Mary Cole) was mar-
ried in i 785, at the parish clii)rcli of It'rkrley, as
appeared from the regtsicta This w.gs a ter not
only generolly knowo'atid carne assiA 'at tae El coon,
but throughout the country. 1, was the •stib*
jed of grave inquiry in the House of Peers. Tho
Petitioners however had choscm to present a garbled
and suppressed account. He deprecated the idea of
laying the Petition on the nbl,-, because were it
might lay without an opportunity of answering thq
• •.•