The Sun.
London, England, 1817-03-22 00:00:00

HOUSE OF' COMMONS.

• ••.
At a lower before foar, the .Deputy Usher
,of
the Mark Rod summoned the SPEAKER to the
lloWit! of Peers. 01 his return, the SPEAKER hi-
fortlied tine house, that the !loyal Assent hail been
pven, by cot»tnissioo, to the Mistioy Bill,-. the
I,u lines gol.
e .1 tin Bill, atol the Silk Lspotta-
-' a •
"tiOo Bounty
Mr. NI, .1 TAYLOR postponed the sec,nid reading of the
Paving Bill till Monday..
The Exchequer Cowl Bill was read thirdlime, and passed.
Mr GB ENFELL moved fur Accounts of the Exports
Imports of C,yper, in the year endieg Jan. 5, 1817.—The
:Motion was aereed Jo.
Mr. CUR WEN presented a petition from Hornclmrcb, in
Essex, praying (oral) alturratioa in the Poor Laws.—Ordered
to lie on the table.
Sir E. 111111)CiE.ti moved, that, there should be laid before
the !loose a List of all the Books claimed by Public Bodies,
aud the number of Copies regatred of each Wolk.—The Mo-
tion was agreed to.
On the Motion of Mr. P. GILBERT, it was ordered that
the 'Elnan,.? Committee 41tOnlilontinue to sit, not withstand-
anv.tultimrnineut. of the flotia.
Mr..CROK Lit ',resealed a Retain of the number of Pursers
now in the Royal Navy, with other Beto ils, sieving the
of formve years, all the Removals which had taken
place.-01dered to lie on the table.
ARREiT FOR SF.DITIOUS PRACTICES.

Sir S. notmit.LY held it) his hand it petition ; it
seas Iron' a person of whin)) he had no know-
ledgi•, hilt lie itimiloa it his din from the feria in
is-hich it w at; totalled, to hi ing it before the !loose.
T:te.petition,,vas tigne.l John Weir, Wha,ilegcrih-
ed
hints-elf to be a muslin matinfacturcr at GlaS •
grlVr. It appeared front tins petition, that on the
93,1 of Fidirany the petitioner hail been seized in
lii' own lonise, 11 SeVell o.Chiek ill the mottling,
then in bud, and taken into custody, On
sitspicion Of ay lie been concerned in sedit ions
or ireasontAble prietives. lie had clesircd to see
the warrant on which he wAs appieliendecl, and
this had been' with sonic et (licit!! y Ott
looking at it lie round the pthoti against whom it
liars been issued was described Inertly by the
,nante of Weir ; Christian name appc.ared ;
sort on asking what filtiber description had been
given of the party, be was infonneo the address
. had been sajd to Blikekts-laud, Green-sheet.
On this the, petitioner reminded th,e Officer that
his residence was in Taylor's-Lon], anti not in the
sheet which been tnensioned ; butt, not with-
.staitcling, he was not released from catody. lie
woo taken to prison, and kept from Sunday morn.
ing, sit close eon,fineiiient, on the feloit's sale, and
in a tonal! cell, where he i.oniplained of having
rstiffercd .ety
.great havdt.hip, Wit bout hi ink; able
ohtain any rt.lief till the Wednesday billowing,.
:sion was vety extraordinary, if the ficts were ac-
been curately stated the petition. li,tving

the turnkey to tol ow hint, the petitioner
conscious nt hid innocence, he gladly obey-

ed, and went with him into the COlitiell Chamber,
• where,. on being examined lry sheria, Mr. A.
Hamilton, he had honestly answered to the ques-
tions put to hint, that he knew nothing of the mat-
ters laid to his charge ; tllnt he slid not, even know
the house of Mr. Hunter, . at a bids so was said the
conspirators assembled, and that he was not in any
way acquaiuted with Bogle and others, %vim were
said to be among the disaffected. Front his giving
these answers, the sties'iti took occasion to de-
clare, that his thus denying every thing laid to
his charge looked exceedingly like guilt.—(A
langis.)—After this he was taken hack to his dun-
geon, where he remained the rest of the day, and.
all Wednesday night, till Thursday, when he was
told that nothing appeared against him, and he
was occordrugly set at liberty. As the petitioner
.1144 committed no offence, he could only suppose
that .he laid been taken into custody through
being nristliten for some other person„ He,
however, complained of having ,suffered tassels
nar11$1111),. lie was ready to substantiate the facia'
set forth in the petition, in any way that might be
thought most fitting, and under these dream-
, stances he prayed the House :.to afford hint such
relief as in such a ease they might think proper.
Ilse petititn hiving been read,
Sir S. Rums LL Y said, he-wished much to. com•
mtmicate with some person from that part of the
country, what the petitioner rnided, who might
know something of the charao er of the. indi
He had 00 doubt that what he had already said
would attract. -the. notice of some flonourahle
Member, who would, on a Tutore oceasion, be
abfe to speak to the Matter of the petition. At.
prexent he would unly.move, that it should be laid
on the table.

Mr; FINLAY was confident, if the warrant had
been extoited in the manner described, such in-
formation had been given to the Magistrates as
bad made it appear nece,sary. From the know-
ledge he had of the M tgistrates, he was sure :they
would not have acted thus had it not appeared
their duty to do so. He had no reason to doubt
the pc! itiouer's having been arrested in the manner
tttated ; but his subsequent treatment, as described
in the petition, he believed to be a gross exaggc-
ratiou ut the facts, es prison in
,the kingdom
bad those c9tifined less to complain of on thi3.seore
than its that of Glasgow. .

Air. by, Smut! said, his Friend, who had
just sat down, wished them to discredit the greater
_part,,of the statement of the petitioner.,,which set
forth many great grievance's, because he ha•l a
good opinion of the 'Magistrates. Really, he
(Mr, Smith) could not be satisfied with this se-
cond or third-hand sort of contradiction to them.
If the Magistrates were not to blame, the officers
who executed the warrant might be in fault.—

There must have been tirr error snmewhere , for
it appeared that atter all there was charge
whatever against the man. He dared to say the
hardship of the.case.was exaggerated ; but yet he
was satisfied the petitioner bud suffered'inore than
ite.onght'to have suffered.
Mr. FINLA'Y Said, it «'M% bit intention to inquire
into the merits of the case, ,ill he desired was,
that the House should suspend their opinitM on
the subject for the present.
Lord BIN N iNt thought nothing- could be fairer
than the conduct of his Hon. Friend the Member
for Glasgow ; he did not object to this petition
being laid on the table, but he thought it must
be seen thut the course abont, to be taken was at-
tended with some inconvenience, as for some time
to come, from the statement' going forth to the
World, whatever the real merits of the ease might
Awn out to he, it would appear to tlie public that
the perimier had been exceedingly 111 used,
The petition wits ordered to lie on the table.
Mr. CALCII AFT postponed the motion on the
subject of the Ditties on Salt, to Tuesday licit.
Lord BINNING brought in a Bill for establish-
ing. District Lunatic Asylums in Scotland. Read
a first, anti ordered to be read a second time on the
20th of April.
GAM t LAWS:

Sir S. Romtt.LY moved the second reading of
'the Game Law Act Repeal Bill.
111 r. BAY.Kes observed, that as another Bill was
in progress which Was likely to give satisfaction,
he had no longer any objection to the repeal of' the
former act. As the other 13i11, however, stood for
that day se'nnight, he begged to move, as an
amendment, that instead of the Word " now,"
the words " Monday se:tonight" he inserted.
Sir S. Rositt.l.Y felt it necessary to re-state the
object of this treasure, which was merely the re-
peal of that part of an act lately passed, which in-
flicted the punishment of transportation for seven
years on all persons who should. be found in any
enclosure, with arms or nets about them, at night
and that, for the purposes ot this.aet, it should be
considered night till seven o'clock in the morning.
Another Bill was already introduced, in which this
clause was omitted, but is hich could not pass into
a law until after the Etster Quarter Sessions. The
enactment which hip Kill went to repeal was ge-
iserally admitted to be a cruel and unjust, as well
as au absurd law. 't he oppositioo now made to
the second reacting of the Bill amounted to ate ad-
mission of the injustice of the existing law ; but
indicated a Wi,b, that this injustice should conti-
nue till atter the next Quarter Sessioos. He had no
spoon that t here were matlyguilty persons who might
come without its operation ; but there were others
whose instocence wssuld not exempt their cases
from falling wohos the, purview of this highly
penal statue. lle had not been afraid of 'eating
it to be applied at the Assizes, because he was
satisfied that the constroction of it would he go-
vetoed by the geoural, object set forth in the
preamble : but with all his respect for the ma-
gi.stracy, he was nut satisfied to commit its exe-
cution to.them ; particularly, whets he knew that
on all subjects relative to offences ag.iiittSt the
Game I,aws they were actuated by peculiar feel-
ings, and R temper differeot front tbat which they
soanifeAed on other occasions. He ninth
deceived i,t persona had not been, not (oily isupro-'
pctly convicted, but transported under this Act.
lie Sides, it was to them in the oatme of an ea-
posl-factu law ; it Intl been rsseil in secrecy, and
•.. s! clever@ pt.,
them. It bad been argued, that gaining Was Merely
a nm/ant prohibitum ; but it might be saitl of killing
game with at least as touch propriety. He denied
that his lamented friend (Mr. Horner) had eVerSaise-
tioned this Act of Parliament wish his approbation.
If he had, be must have forgotten all his oriueiples,
and, in particular, that disposition, which most
endearei, him to Isis friends, of protecting the
lower orders from oppression 1 but the truth is as,
that he had intended to oppose it, and actually
did succeed in striking out the most Mischievous
and objectionable, clause which it contained, viz.
a clause empowering two magistrates to inflict
the penalty, without the intervent knt of a trial
by jury, He feared that such coact ments tended
to multiply climes, to alter the national character,
and to inspire ferocious and vindictive feelings.—
Ile might take this opportunity of reprobating
the practice of setting spring guns, ands other
cogines of bodily harm, in private grounds.. He
had seen the opinion of an eminent counsel pub-
lished, which was, that if death were produced
by such means, it would he wilful murder in the
person who placed the instrument of mischief for
that purpose. He-did not agree in this opinion :
bust he did think that it would be a case. of ag-
gitteated manslaughter. lie had heard of several
poachers convicted iii the north of the country,
who expressed their surprize when informed of
the existence of this Act, and declared, that if
they had known it they shouldnot.have comniit ted
the offence, He trusted, that upon these grounds
the Mose would concur' with him, that this Bill
ought now to'be read a Second time.

Sir C. MoNco.‘ said, he committed the persons
in Northumberland, and tl,tl certainly expressed
great surprise at learning they were liable to trans-
portation ; but the House would not_t:e_grst... tipg
these persons had
.been taken.in the penalty of au
enactment of which they aright, not have been,
perfectly aware They were, notorious characters,
and made all the resistance that was in their
power. The Statute' which the Bill proposed to
repeal was not so objectionable when it was
cansidered that. the punishment wai discretionary
from imprisonment to transportation. Still he
should' concur in apportioning the puni:shment to
the offence by Act of Pal,liament, rather than
leaving it discretionary to any judicial euthority.
He should vote for the Amendment of the Hon.
Gentleman.

Mr. liusmssoN expressed his intention of vot-
ing for postponing the Bill of the Hon. and Learn-
ed Gentleman. He thought it would be better
to leave ont the %rota Game, and to pro'VAe an
adequate punishment for persons found with arms
at night.
After a few words from Sir E. BRYLIGaa'-and
General THoawroN, the House divided on 'the.
Amendment—
Ayes
Noes ' 3O
Majority against the Amendment.... —lO
Air. BROUGHAM presented a petition !roar

tatkt OT CS' arr Via ntia it 3 1; 112.g.ihtall'1100(1, prAylfig
for a reform iu Parliament.—Ouleied to lie on
lbe table.

llember then tnoted for nit :Additional
statetnet.t of all persons now indebted Ili Iris Nln-
jesty on the tioni nntlit of public neconnts.=—Or-
tiered.

11r. licrtrittrt asked the woo lion. Secretary
for Ireland, whether he intended to !oink.; forward
any specific ntewure for the relief of persons in
that country, who had been contirmed in cost"Y
olf acedonl. of being linable to, pry their fees ?
Mt. l'Er.t. said, he had inquired into this sub-
ject during the summer, but he had or' er pledged
himself to take any steps upon it. lie believed,
however, that another Gentleman had mentioned
his intention ofbringing it tinder the consideration
of the Ilonqe.

MV. BENNETT 161 Said, that, ;WTI few days, be
‘voubl wore for such papers as alight be neccssavy
to enable the House to lore► an opinion on these