The Sun.
London, England, 1818-05-29 00:00:00

nOUSE _OF COMMONS.

The SPEAKER went to the Lords to hear the Royal As-
pent given by Coretilisyion to se% rral Bills.— See Lords.)
The Greenwich !'size-money Bill was reported 'l'o be read
a third time Sa-turday.
The Chancery Clerks Bill was read a third time and

passed.
Mr: WBOTTESLEY rave notice for Saturday of a BA to
Berea' the Law which obliges Commissioners of Bankrupts
,to hold their third mec•tinti in
Mr. Srrjeant ONSLOW gave notiee, that early in the. next
Session, he should bring in a Bill to Repeal the Usury Laws.
• The Irish ludruiaries Bill was reported.—To be taken into
forthei consideration-on Saturday.
The Scr►ts Marches Bill uas read a third time and passed.
Also the Irish Stuck Tr,nsfer. Bill. -
•;• Mr. J. SMITH moved that the House do resolve itself intci
a tbffimittee on Saturday, to consider the propriety of givi:►g
saltries to Bout raptcy (ommiss►oners in-lieu of Fees, and of
ptoriding a fit pLice for their meetings. . -
Papers relative to the tria of the Rev. H. Brookins, at St.
Christopher's, wereyresented, arid ordered to he printed.
' The Report of the Cutlety Bill was agreed to.
-'the AT WWl\ EY-ciVNERAL Obtainrd !.•are to bring
in a Bill to amend a•+d explain the Slave Trade Felony
Act.

• Ntr..I:OI7LBURN, for Mr. Peel. moved fora Committee
in the Court of Chaim ery.in Ireland.--Agreed to.
The ATMIINEY-CiENERAL brouglit in his Bill to amend
the slave Trade 17.,1011y Act winch was read a first time:
`The Apptopriation 1;i11 Was read a third time and passed.
s' SLAVE TnADE.

On the third teading,ot the Portugal Slave
.Trade Treaty Bill, Dr. PHILLINtOrte argued, that
there was no necessity for any such enactment as
that which the Bill contained to.enable the ships
of the King's Navy to 'seize Portuguese slips
engaged in the Slave Trade under certain circuin-
stances. Ti;e King being the representative of
the Sovereign' power of the nation in all trans-
.actions will) foreign States, it was perfectly Com-
petent for him to give orders for the capture of
those ships 'of fOreign- nations, which those na-
tions had agreed should be forfeited. ile•
siancedt he case of au embargo, which might not
bappen to end in war ; yet no one could contend.
that an Act of Parliament was necessary to in-
demnify,the cantors. against the consecriences of
that Act. 'The enletnent being superfluous, was
therefore misehieYous in a constitutional view, as
irintertcred with the pterogative, and might be
drawn into precedent, lleshould, therefore, af-
ter the third reading move-that it he otnited.—
'There was another circumstance in the he
wished to advert to, viz. the appointment of Com-
missary Judges and Commissioners of Arbitra-
tion, to determine on the lawfulness of the sei-
zure of vessels. The Commissary Judges were to
be half fortuguese, half English. The Commis-
sioners to be drawn by lot from the Judges of the
two nations, and were to be the final appellate
jurisdiction. This was a new power of immeuse
importance, as it did a.way, with that. principle of
the law of nations, always so. inflexibly main-
tained by this conntry—;har claims .to vessels
.seized should always be decided 011 in the coon.-
try of the seizor. It Was in the recollection of
the Hattie, how
_treiinently ElCtitrrii nations had
remonstrated with this country on the propriety
of appointing a diffe'rent jurisdictiOn ; 'especially
. •
the famous Prussian m Mertrial of. )7:3, and how
strongly it had been resisted by this.. country as
absurd and impracticable. 'Though the principle'
had been departed from in the case of Spain, he
had hoped that. Portugal would have had faith
enough in the justice of Great Britain to. have
abided by the declsion of her ordioaty tribunals of I
International Law. -

Lord CASti.EREAGH contended, that the acts
which the King was to authorize his Navy to per-
, form, did,uot..atise out of belligerent rights, but
ot:a peculiar and anomalous.provisions of a Trea.-
whkh might neve! occur again. It had (leen
lield by the Law Officers; who had been con-
sulted, that 01'011;0 some of the acts mentioned
in the Treaty tnii..nt be done. by the ord.nary
th()rity of the Kimg, others would require legis-
lailve enactment ; therefore it wasjudged best to
recite the substance of thefTrea.ty, and authorize
hig Maje•ity to give folders accordingly. -He
therefore hdped the Learned Gentleman would
withdraw his amendment. The second objeCtiOir
-of the Learned Gewl-r:maii was to a mixen juris;
diction, and in this case.he had been misled by the
analogy drawn from. the conduct of a belligerent
tovi'ards a presumed enemy in the guise of a nen--
tral. It %Vas obvious that in such a case the
'claims twist be determined, to have a chance of
justice, in the country of the sei'zor, but the case
before.the,flonse was. that of -an •amicable mu-
tual arrangement between two allies. It was ne-
cessary to hold tint the inducement of such a ju.
risdiction to nations, who otherwiSe would 4.0 t
enter iniii-kiny arrangement at -all. It was an al-
teutacive which had been chosen, the hint of
hich had been taken from the Commissioners on
CielL,ielish• Claims in France.

Dr. riiILLIMORE explained, that the King was

not Only the litp'resentati've of 'the filtion in
questions of peace. anti war, but in all transactionT
eign States.
The ATTottNEN-GENERAL argtted in support of
the provisions of the' Bill, and contended, that
unless the Bill passed, the seiZor of the Portu-
guese vessel would he subject to an action ion
Court of Common Law, The only bar to such.
an action was, that a vessel was taken as a prite,f;
while the vessel seized' under ihTS treaty could
nat.be SAid to be so. It woOld not be enough to
!dead the treaty without an Act of Parliament:
Ile defended the principle of the mixed jurisdic-
tion,' as the only one which either of the con-
tracting nations could have agreed to.
Mr. Smirro wished to know whether any steps
bad-teen taken to induce 'Portugal to fix a term.
for the abolition of her trade in Slaves ? Spain
and Portugal were the only nations ivitich -pow
continued the Slave Trade; but had co -
tracted to put an end to it in May 1820. Portugal,
.hough site hail stigmatized t he'll-I,le as having de-:
solated AltiCa and arnicied humanity, had, with
what lie could wily designate as' hypocrisy,oou-
tinned to carry it on, without any pledge for its ter-
mination.. Tie agreed that-the re'st'riction the
trade to the South of the Line was a gr'eat object
accomplished, but much remained to be done. It:
het•ii piovided at X7ienna tl;at the Allied
111,,tvers shotiA concert measures to put all end to;
this traffic, and if Portugal persisted in it, ;t•w as
fit thi4- stiptihtion should he carried into effect.
lie mert'ly wished to add, that Portngal had not
the-shglttest claim to pectiniary compens.tion.
Lord CAST LS REAGLI merely \visited to state the
facts which hail occurred. In consequence of tlie
eolifefence at Paris, Spain bad been induced to pot
an end to the trade. The Ministeis of the Allied
PoWers, immediateiy oil the conclusion of that
Treaty-, had taken steps to represent it to the
Icng of Portugal, and to. urge his Most Falthtfil
Majesty to a;; rte to a similar Treaty. This was
about t:to months ago ; be was not able to inform
the [louse of the manner iii which that represen-
tation had been received
Dr. Potht.tmottP. submitted to the authori.y of
the Attorney-Genetal as to die law respecting
vessels seized, but confessed that he was not able,
from airy thing which had been said, to distin-
guish the seizure vessels wider this Treaty horn
tine case of au etnbargo.—The Bill f was read a
third time and pliSSed.
The Vestries Bill was brought down from the
Lords with. atneudniews-