Star.
London, England, 1808-03-05 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

Mr.WINDHAAI called the attention of the House to a subject,
rhich, in his mind, was of the very first magnitude, as it went, if
carried into effect, the whole length of overturning the whole-sys-
tem of the army, which the wisdom of the House, after long and
earnest cliscusions and grave and weighty deliberations, had
adopted, no later than last year.. The House probably was not
aware of this. It was therefore necessary, that returns under that
regulation should be laid on the table of the House, before the
paeasure which Miniaters had in contemplation was brought for-
The altetsatian was intended to be introduced into the Mu-
gtayAct.
" Here the SPEAKER interfered, and obseryed, that the Right
ocutleinan was exceeding the bounds prescribed, there being
o *am before the House.
Mr. WINDHAM was proceeding to justify the regularity of
tic:cotli!ct, wbea bewadagain. Failed to (74'r by Mr. Sturges

The SPEAKER again Aserted, that it was a part of his 111030
irksome duty to repeat the admonition he had be/Dentate. There
neither was motion or notice of motion before the'House, and It
was ethic uncustomary to enlarge upon any topic, without first, by
the courtesy ofdebate. giving notice thereof.
Mr. WINDHAM replied that a great military question sin,
in a state nearly ready for agitation ; that Papers to give informal- '
tion on that subject were urgently required--dtat no time could be
spared to wait the usual forms of the House—thatif they did wait
the object would be lost altogether.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER remarked, that
11. there certainly was noquestion before the House, nor did he see
the necessity of the preface which the Right Hon. Gentleman used
;hi bringing on the subject as lie did. He, however, was very
certain that the motion would not be opposed, if the parliamen-
tary courtesy, so very necessary, had been adopted.
,W WHITBREAD thought that the urgency of the abject vies
apology sufficient for introducing it, without any previous notice. '
Mr. JOHNSTONE was surprised at the zeal with which it
was enriCavotred to urge the motion; which' the Right Honotte-
able Gentleman had in contemplation, to the House; the MOM
especially when 4t would be admitted, diet the subject was pre-
cisely the same this year which the House, and that Gentleman
himself, had agreed tolast year.
Mr. WINDHAM then said, " 17l make the motion simply,
and leave it with the Rouse and the Noble Lord who has just en-
tered (Lord Castlereagh) whether it be such as they ought si en-
tertain." He then moved, •
" That there be laid befpre the House Copies of the Rules and
Regulations for the better ordering of the Army, pursuant to•an
Act of the last Sessions of Parliament." - -
Lord CASTLEREAGH instantly rose and saidithe moilonwas
perfectly unobjectionable.
Mr. WINDHAM then saich If that were the case, it was pro-
bable the Noble Lcrd would of himself by them before the House
ia due time. •
Lord CASTLEREAGH answered, that he had no objection to
place them in the possession of the House as soon as possible, and
fur that purpose they should be ready on Monday neat.
The motion was agreed to without any more observations.
SECOND LIVERPOOL PETITION. •

Mr. TIERNEY presented a petition, signed by three respecta-
ble Gentlemen of Liverpool, the Delegates of the others in that'
town, against the Orders in Council. The petition stated, that
their first petition had been rejected by the House on account of
a point of fort ; and the present petition prayed the House that
the petitioners might be heard by Counsel at the her, when they
would prove by evidencf how Injurious these orders in Council
had been, and were likely'to prove to their interests.
Mr. PERCEVAL objected to the petiti^n being received, ash
was one and the same with that rejected last night.
Mr. TIERNEY said it was not a petition against the Orders
in Council Bill, but against the Orders themselves, and the peti-
tioners surely had a right to be heard.
Mr. HUSKISSON said, if it was a petition against the continu-
ance of the war, he should have no objection to its being brought
up ; but as it was a petition against a tax for carrying on the war,
it could not be received.
Sir. 1. ANSTRUTHER defended the petition, and a long dis-
cussion ensued, involving the material features f the debate of
Friday, on the first petition from Liverpool. The Gentlemen
who spoke against the, petition were Mr. S. Bourne, Mr. Perce-
eel, and the Solicitor Generd ; those who supported it were Mr.
Tierney, Mr. Whitbread, Mr. W. Smith, Mr. Alderman Comb e,
Dr. Lawrence, and Mr. Eden.
Mr. BANKS wished the lionourableGentleman to withdraw
the petition, and to get another in a different form; less obnoxious
to the forms of the 'loose.

Mr. TIER.NEY replied at considerable length, and observed,
that no argument he had heard would induce him to withdraw a
petition, drawn up by persons of the first mercantile respectability
and education, and strictly entitled to the attention of the House.
neral TARLETON objected to the petition as the product I
tion of a party, who had selected the Right Honourable Gentle.
man as their organ.
Mr. TIERNEY said, that the Honourable General's colleague
had been taken ill, and being unable to attend his duty, had reques-
ted him (Mr. Tierney) to present it to the House—that was all he
knew of the petition.—(A laugh.)
After a few words from Sir JORN Nicnor.ts against it, and
Lord STANLEY for it, the gallery was cleared, when the House
divided,
For receiving the petition 55—Against it 111—Majority 54.
During the division Mr. Ponsonby addressed the Membars in
the Lobby, requesting a full attendance on Tuevi.ty, when the Mu-
tiny Bill would be discussed, as there whs a clause in that Bill,
which in effect did away the whole military system introduced by
his Right Hon. Friend (vir. Wirdharn) and v.hich bad received
the sanction of Parliamen•.
READING EXTRACTS FROM OFFICIAL PAPERS.

... . _ _
Mr. ADAM rose to make his motion, which stood
on order. He drew the attention of the House to
the conduct of the Right Hon. Secretary (Mr. Can- ;
ning) who had on the 3d and Sth of February last
been guilty of a violation of constitutional principles
and parliamentary proceedings. He hoped those days
would be the last, in instances in which the House
would have to witness such conduct. Having stated
the secrecy adopted in Parliament with respect to offi-
cial documents on former occasions, he complained
that extracts of dispatches had been read in that
House by Mr. Secretary Canning without the consent
of Parliament, or by order of his Majesty. This was
the first time his Majesty's Ministers had read extracts
from letters sent from Foreign Ministers abroad with-
-out authority, and they had transgressed the orders
and principles sanctioned by Parliament. On the 2d
of February, a Right Honourable Member of this
House put a motion fer addresses to his Majesty,
which became the subject of discussion. Certain
papers were then called for relative to Denmark.—
The papers contained a letter from Mr. Garlicke to
Lord Howick in 1806. This letter would have vin•
dicated several characters vilified, but on the 8t1; of
February its production was rejected. On the 26th,
during a motion for papers, this very letter was pro-
duced by the Right Honourable Secretary, and par-
tial extracts read from it, notwithstanding it had been
previously rejected. If a libel was printed against
any' Member of that House, he might, with leave cf
the House, read the libel, and have it laid on the
table ; but to do any act without the document pre-
viously laid on the table, was contrary and subversive
to the established rules of business of Parliament.—
He had discovered several instances, in the Parlia-
mentary annals, to prove that the conduct of the
Right Honourable Secretary had been a violation f
parliamentary form. In November 1767, a discussion
took place in the House between Lord Grenville and
Mr. Dyson. The latter contended, that all public
documents ought to be laid on the table, and when
Lord Grenville made several observations in opposi-
tion, Mr. Fox declared that it was Ut parliamentary
to speak from documents not properly laid before the
House. The Honourable and Learned Gentleman
instanced various similar cases in both Houses of
Parliament ; and contended that the Right Honou-
rable Secretary had exceeded the limits prescribed
by his official situation. It was _a most dangerous
thing, he said, when Ministers undertook to disclose
the secrets of Government without the authority of
the King. He then moved a resolution to the fol-
lowing effect :7--
Resolved, That it appears to this House that one of the Mem-
ben did recd, on his own authority, partial extracts from dis-
patches receiyed from Ministers at Foreign Courts, and other do-
cuments, which laiul not been laid before the House by comniand
of his Majesty, such conduct not being according to the usages of
Parliament, and the ancient practice in the discussions of that
House, &c.The resolution being put,
Mr. CANNING said he felt no difficulty in re.
futing the Learned Gentleman's argument, and of
convincing the House that the custom dreading ea-

LONDON.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5.
PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK.
Consols, money, 63i 64—for April ace. 641k—Reduced shut
Osmium, 31—Exchequer Bills, par.

Yesterday Government received dispatches from
Lord COLLINGWOOD, by the Earl Spencer cutter.=
The same vessel has also brought information from
Admiral PURVIS and Sir R. STRACHAN.

All doubts seem now to be entirely removed re-
specting the Rochefort squadron. We have this day
received the following letters from our Correspondent
at Gibraltar, from which it appears that that squadron
passed the Gut on the 27th of January, and that Sir
RICHARD STRACHAN, with his fleet, in pursuit, passed
the garrison on the 9th of February.
A force, consisting of about 4000 men, were getting
under weigh at Gibraltar,.., for Sicily, on the 10th
ult. when our letters came away.
Lord Cormowoon had proceeded for the Adriatic
in pursuit of some Russian ships—a circumstance
which left Toulon unguarded by any British force.
Let us hope that we shall soon hear of a favourable
result to these movements.

"GIBRALTAR, FEB. 6.

44 We learn from the Prize Master of an American
brig, detained by his Majesty's sloop Surinam, that on
the 29th inst. in the longitude of Cape de Gatte, he
fell in with a strange squadron, consisting of six sail
of the line and one brig, which he is of opinion are ei-
ther Russians or French. The brig gave chace to the
detained vessel, which hove to and shewed her co-
lours ; on seeing which, a signal of recall appeared to
be made from the squadron, as she hauled her wind
and joined. They were steering to the Eastward.
“ The following account, received by the Master of
an American ship, from New York to Marseilles,
which arrived yesterday, may serve to spare us a mul-•
tiplicity of conjectures as to their nation :

gi On the 27th ult..in lat. 37.0. long. 10. 30. he
fell in with a French squadron, consisting of one
three-decker, four seventy-fours, a heavy frigate, and
a brig. From the frigate he learnt, that, taking ad-
vantage of the late gales which had blown our cruizers
off the coast, they had effected their escape from
Rochefort on the 17th, and, in doubling Cape Finis-
terre, had steered to the Southward in the longitude
of 11. 0. to avoid our look-out frigates. After exa-
mining the American ship, they continued a Southern
1 course until they reached the latitude of 35. 0. when
they hauled to the Eastward and fell in with the coast
of Barbary about ten or twelve leagues to the South-
ward of Cape Spartel ;en the 26th they lay-to till
Sun-set 3 about six it came on to blow very heavy at
S. W. with rain, when they entered the Gut under
double-reefs topsails, and were abreast of Ceuta about
twelve that night, where the American vessel lost sight