The Sun.
London, England, 1810-05-08 00:00:00

,

- , • ,7y7,
[PnICh IiAiSPBI4N to

121IPERLIL p.4111,1,14EM:

HOUSE OF.'f'EEIIS,.

MONDAY, MAY, 7.,
Sir S. Romilly's Bill for generally _amending-the
Criminal Laws of the Country, the Scotch Jradges',
Salary Bill, and several pliitate 'were brought
hip froth the Commons, and read a first time.

CRUELTY' 10WAft•DS BROTE.ANIMALS.
Lord ELISKIN moved the Order'of the \bay fPr the
second reading of the Bill he had the honour 9t in-,
tro hieing to prevent' the. 4AV:ding of .wanton and
malicious cruelty toWards,the animals that.wke ern,
ployed for the use' of man. He should trouble their
LOrdships With but a very few
.observations on tip
present occasion, confiding in their. L rd-
manity for the Interco: 'they would nal ui..iliy rake in
such a question. He sh-uld therefoN content.
self with reminding !twin that rte had endeavoived
to exclude from the'plesciii, all the pi dt isions and.
expressions which were considered as obje-tionatrie
in the former Bill. He had. omitted the word to
beat,' wiribh had been thought too loose, and he
had introduced a
,clau,d making it 'binding 'on the in,.
formation to declare on oath that the 'abuse of the;
animal was wanton, malicious and Cruel. With,
these alterations, adopted• chiefly tr,•m the sugges-
tions oft-heir Lordships, he ventured-to Ape that,
the Bill W :410 now 'appear unexcei.tionabie. He
had -dory to remind thdr*Lordship,- that the Toriner;.
even its obje.:tion'ible matter, had heel) unanimous-
ly to by that Abuse,. and that it passed the
-second rei.';ing in the,othei. House with 4 v.ery sreat
majority. It ~vas unnecess.rq sto add, that he felt.
very anxiously tot the success of • the present meat_
..sure-, OF of something similat' that would answer the
object he had in View. 'He made great allowances
for the strong feelings of Others, and he trusted that
some 'allowance would be
.Made for his feelings on
ki,.. present occasion. Faithful to lus--prornise;. he
would not detain their -Lordships' time or attention
any longer, but simply move that tins Bill bc.now.
read a second time.
Lord ELLENBOROUOH commended- the 'motives by
Which his Noble -and Learned Friend. was actuated
on the present occasion. • Mich; "howeter, as he
admired 'the humanity which dictated the Bill; he
cupid not yet consider it as altogether'uncbjectioti.
able. He was particularly averse to receiving the
•words' or otherwise abuse. There was too great a
lath tide in these words, which might expose human
beings to More vexation and cruelty than that which
the bill compl3ined •of as inflicted 'on the brute
creation. Fie should, however, reserve his objec-
tions for 'another Stage of the Bill: - •
The Bill was,then.read aseaond time, and ordered
to be committed to-morrow.

THE STATE OF THE NATION.

Earl GREY rose to give notice of a motion, -in the
subjea and objea.Of'Which, every Man who wished
well to his-country, whatever might be his laic of
politics, could not fail, of taking the, most lively in- .
tePest. Whoever took the trouble of 'poking- around‘
him, and of attentively considering the present-asped
of things, must be struck with the number and the
magnitude of the dangers which at this ino cent
as-
• sailed the country from all quarters. With thcsourse
of these manifold dangers and difficulties he was not -
unacquainted. In hi• opinion, they etiginally sprang
from the presumption, the wickedness, or the
weakness of the present Ministers,we ert- hurried
into some of them by tyar, or piunged into others
froni improvidence or pre-iimptioneYet ht- red those
with whom he had the honour and happines4 to act,
' were daily accused of rallying round and .support•
ingt that Admiiiisrration, to whose errors or imbeci-
lity they had imputed all the accumulated calamities
with which the_ country hid [tow to contend. He
had observed that the country was surrounded .by
ditticelttes from _lrnest every quarter. The dan-
gers and -Mt-EL:ales, from whatever quarter they
might come; he conceived it to be his bounden duty
to resit. 'A new and mischievous impulse had
lately 'been .given to the public mind—an impulse
which, he would contend, had. chiefly arisen froirt
the ign 'ranee and irresoltitiOn of Ministers ;
which was now dir-tied against the privileges and
the character of Parliament, and which attempted
not tt.3.(r. gulate or coetreul the eterce of those
privileges, but to annihilate' 'their very existence.
He hld always been a steady and warm friend of
reform, and to .these sentiments he adhered.
He thought-reform advisable, not.only in the public
expenditure, but also in the composition of the
Hbuseof,Cornmons and these desirable Ohjeas
he was ready to purSue by every peaceable and con-
stituttonal means. Bnt when he observed attempts
made to irritate and ;inflame the .feelings of the
people (and by no , conduct: could their feelings be
more irritated and inflamed, instead of being sooth
eel anJ satisfied; than by.the condua of hii Majes-
ty's present Ministers)/ he felt himself called Upon
'xetieusly 'to consideteto what consequences this po-
pular ferment and irritation Miglit.be carried by the
.4 delusion of the nciomen,t, It could not escape Obsere
vation, that it was the fashion .ancl'the study of a cer-
taindeseriptionOf persons not only to crydown all
public men, bet to degrade Parliament itstlf 'in th'te
eyes and estimation of the country,. Thom wee
were instigated and blindly .hurried into . this pur-
suit, were,: many of them at. least, little-: aware
of the evil consequenceswhich MII4 result front
such a conduct. Should the cliaiVer.ef Parliathent
be 'degraded, and its authority and dignity be
stripped of the. power and privileges upon which
'they vetted, what Would become o the inde-
pendence and the liberties-of this nation... It no*
possessed and enjoyed a Constitution universally iie-
knoWledged to be the best that was ever framt.d by
hurnanwisdom ; yet from what did the excellence
of that Constitution proceed, but florn the auth,
lily, the: power, and the independence of Paelia-
meat ? The privileges of rEglimaent, upon: which all