Star.
London, England, 1815-03-01 00:00:00

menu wore made,rivripar,
Loan CHANCELLOR.'"
Lord 'ERSKINE made
ameaeUre Wore qtte`tomc
liactment. of elk' Bill, bi
Drell knawn. . lie WAll 4f i
if once introduced, would soon work Ay
Scotland ; its benefits and blessings being sensibly
felt by the people, its rapid and complete progress

WAS certain.
After some further discussion, in which Viscount
MELVILLE, the Earl of ROSSLYN, and the Duke of
Most MOSE participated, the remaining clauses of the
Bill were agreed to by the Committee, and the House
resuming—the Report was ordered to be taken into
consideration on Thursday.—Adyiumed.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Lord G. BERESFORD informed the House, that his Royal
Highness the Prince Regent had received the Address of the 4itli
instant, and had been graciously pleased to order the Parrs in
question to be pruductd.
Sir JAMES SHAW brought the Bill for widening and im-
proving the West End of Cheapside, which was read a first time.
Mr. H. ADDINGTON obtained leave to bring in a Bill to
procure Returns of all Persons coamdttedand tried for, and con-
victed of crimes and misdemeanors. The Right Hos. Gentle-
man stated, that it was precisely the same sort of Bill as he in-
troduced last )ear.—it was brought up, and after a few words
from Mr. Suety LIT svaziwu read a first time, and ordered for
a second reading to-morrow.
An Account of all foreign Iron imported during the last ten
years was moved for, and- the cotlntries from which it was
brought: Alto an account of British Iron exported during the
same period. Likewise an account of all Foreign Corn Imported,
into Great Britain during thelast ten years.—Ordered.
Mr. LOCKHART gave notice, that on Thursday. t` lirth
March, be should move for leave to bring in a Bin to regulate,
the sale of Crops growing and taken in executidis
Lord LASCELLES presented a Petition from the Mamas.
turas of the West Riding of the County of York., praying that
the duty on Cotton Imported be taken off.--Or&wid to le on
the Table.
Mr. LUSHINOTON brought up the Report of the Bill re-
Linn to the Duties on Wine and Tobacco, which was read a
second time, and ordered to be committed to-morrow.
The Bank Loan Bill was read a third time and passed.
The Repen of the Glass Bill was brought up, pod craned to
be read a second dine to-morrow.
On the motion for the second reading of the Amendments to
the Jail Fees Abolition Bill, Sir lames Shiw wished to introduce
a clause, which wasobjected to by Mr. Bennett.
The SPEAKER observed, that as it was of a pecuniary cha-
racter it could not be received, according to the forms of the
Heise ; but he indicated that the Honourable Baronet Might
either make it the object of a Supplementary Bill, or might move
that the present Bill be now re-committed, which would give
him an opportunity of introducing any number of clauses.
Sir JAMES SHAW preferred the latter mode, and moved for
the re-committal of the Boil.
Mr. HOLFORD contended that the Ices about which so much
had been said, as affecting the City Prisons, were quite incon-
siderable, being only 6s. ed. on the discharge of a debtor; and
that if a man either could not through poverty, ur would not
through obstinacy, pay this trine he was always discharged at
the end of two days. He considered it pitiful for such a rich Cor-
poration as that of London, to pretend it could be affected by the
loss Of such petty emoluments.
Sir JAMES SHAW replied, and the motion for the re-coni-
mitmem was negatived.
The House want into a Committee on the General Export
Acts, when the t4anks were filled up. Repoli to-morrow. • .
On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
the Committee to consider of the Act of the eth of Queen Aim.,
relative to the Charter of the South Sea Company, was postponed
till to-morrow.
In a Committee on the Citrate of Lime Importation Act, it
was resolved that the duties on the importation do cease and
determine.
Mr. LUSHINGTON brought up a Bill to exempt the Post
Once Packets from the pr.yat‘m of Harbour Duties, winds was
read a first time.
'1 he Local Poor Amendment Dill was read a second time and
committed for to-morrow.
l‘NIGliTs OF TIIR BATH.

Mr. GORDON wished to be informed, whether,
it was the intention of the Advisers of the Crown to
propose any further augmentation of the late extent
of the Order of the Bath ; and also, whether the es-
penses already attendant on it will be Wine by the
public ?
.The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
replied, that be bad received no commands on the
subject. Respecting the expenses, it was impossible
for him to answer that question at present; but he
oonceived that the amount of the expense incurred
was intended to form a part of the public expenditure.
DISZAIAOPTING TIIII MILITIA.
Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY said, be did not think
it necessary to apologise for bringing again' under the
notice of the House a subject to which, in the course
at the present Senion, he had already called their. at-
tention. If it remained exactly in the same situation
as when he last noticed it, he should think, from its
great importance, that he was justified in imploring
the House to give it the fullest consideration i—but
the fact was, that all the circumstances connected
with it were now materially altered. At that time
more than five months had elapsed since the signing
of the. Preliminary Treaty of Peace with France, and
we were also in negcciation with the Envoys from
America for electing a peate with that country.—
This likewise had since been accomplished, and now
this country had been not only sine months at peace
with all the powers of the Continent, but Might also
be c aside red as at peace with the whole world ; for
although the ratification of the 'Preliminary Treaty
with America had not yet been received, there was
no reason to apprehend. that the terms would be re-
jected. When he last noticed this subject, ie wao
asserted, that the militia having been called tint, and.
embodied under the Act of the 42il of the King,-it
remained for the Crown alone to determine, .wider'
what circumstances it should' be disembodied. But
the tact of a part of the militia remaining embodied
for the long period of nine months after a general
peace with the Continent of Europe, was a thing um
exampled since that description of force had been
first established. The extreme importance of this
subject must be' forcibly impressed upon every mind.
It imposed a most serious sacrifice upon the lower
orders of the people, by separating them from their
families and occupations ; depriving them of the
great advantage they derived from the civil law, and
subjecting them to all the rigour of that of the mili-
tary ; while the rich, on contrary, were not at
all affected by the operation of the measure, which
they get rid of by a pecuniary tax. It could not be.
denied that the sacrifices of the militia-men were only
submitted to from absolute necessity, and the grounds
for their being called out were distinctly stated in the
r Act to be actual invasion, the danger of invasion, or
internal insurrection. Even when the Act was first
produced, so teAttl?us was the Legislature of the
necessity of imposing restraints upon the Crowe, that
it was expressly provided, that in no other cases
should this larcebe called out but in those .he had
mentioned, and it was expressly ordained that the
King should publish the grounds for calling it oil
1

.o.
, if the P4oo4ll:_tirtobt mss.
ante what occepion mood for putting
jam This 'beihg tO.cley and in
4 the law, and nce&ubt •whAtever.
fipon it, he would asseessiwith all'
.f, Ca hit opinion is, that it this rm.
..- Keeping any part of the militia embodied
is contrary to law. • Bat; besides this, he understood
that several of the men who had been discharged were
still illegally detained. It, therefore, only remained
to he said, what was the construction of the law,
which involved no complicated intricacies. • The
' Learned Gentleman then entered into a full explana.
tion of the Act, from which he read a variety of ea-
tract's, and contended, that the doctrine now helds
that when the King had once called out the Militia,
he bad the liberty to retain them embodied for any
length of time was illegal ; as thereby the only se
curity which the militiaman had, that his liberty and
life might not be sported with, was the responibility
of Ministers. No. doubt a great discretion was and
ought to be placed in the Crown, as to determining
when the causes for which the militia had , been
called out had ceased but when it was clear to
every man in the kingdom that all possible causes had
actually ceased, there could remain nogreat ground for
discussion. But if his Majesty's Ministers could say
that at this moment any one of the causes exist,
~with the least appearance of reason and truth,
he would not make this appeal to them. But
)se would say, as his own opinion, that there
never had been a trans`, during the whole course
of his Majesty's reign when the causes for calling
the militia out had more completely ceased. it
was a maxim of common sense, that when causes had
ceased, •.;their. effects must cease also ; and he would
defy Ministers to produce any instance of the Militia
remaining embodied, except during the existence of
actual war with an eneatj. Even at the conclusion
of the last war, when nobody entertained a sanguine,
belief that the peace would be permanent, Ministers
did not think themselves justified in keeping up this
force, but disembodied the whole of it within five
weeks after the Treaty had been signed. The period
was not so long past, but that the House must re.
collect the consequences of the ambitious strides df
the then First Consul of France, when he made secret
Treaties of Peace, and obtained large territories by
invasion or fraud : this was between the signing of
the Preliminary and the Definitive Treaties. Yet it •
was within a fortnight after the news had arrived,
that the Secretary of State brought in a Bill to aug.
ment the Militia, and urged as a reason, that it was
necessary to infuse a military spirit amongst the
people; and the Bill had actually passed, before the
Treaty of Peace came under discussion.. Ministers
must, therefore, have thought that this was a time
when their duty called on them to avow what was
the construction of the law ; and they then did not
dare to assert the same construction of it which they
do now. On the contrary, they disbanded the Mi. •
litia, and immediately called them out again. The •
Learned Gentleman then proceeded to comment up.
on the opinion lately given by the Law Officers of •
the Crown, who, on being applied to for removing
all doubt as to the construction of the act, had trans.
Imi:tett their opinion to the Secretary of State, who
hal sAtt it to the Commander in Chief's Office. from
whence it had been circulated amongst the Com-
manding Officers elf the Militia regiments. He con. •
tended that it was the duty of the Law Offict_rs to
argue such a subject ; and that it was not right to
take their mere opinion as an authority fur removing
all doubts upon it : they should have acted the parts
of achiocates between the Crown and the People, and
not that a Judges. Yet amongst those who had
given the decisive opinion to which he had alluded,
was the Chief Justice'of Chester ; and other Judges,
who might afterwards be called upon to try causes in
which their own opinion had been previously formed.
He then read the circular latter alluded to, and de.
vied that the construction of the Act by the Law
Officers was just, that there was nothing imperative
in it as to the time when the Militia should be embo-•
hied, after they had been once called out. To what
a situation, he observed, should we be reduced, it we
suffered the word expediency to usurp the place of
that of necessity ?—( Hear, hear.)—Ministers thus
may take men away from their homes, and keep'
them from their families and employments, act as
long as is necessary fur the safety of the country, but
as long as they thought expedient, and ti.cre is no
remedy but the responsibility of Ministers. Was
that, he would ask, a sufficient protection, rr even a'
sufficient consolation for the p ogle ? There wis no'
country uhatever in which the M;nisters of the Cr. wit
were riot responsible for their coriduct e hat
greater danger could await a country than that Mi-
nisters should do what they think expedient, merely
upon their own responsibility ? . Our ancestors, by
the very construction of the Act, had thought it ne-
cessary to guard against such an encroachment.—
But it must now be understood, that his Majesty's
Ministers may, at the present moment, according t.
the opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor General,
call out the whole of the Militia that bad just been
• disembodied, in consequence of any turn tile negoci-
ations ntny take at Vienna ; for the keeping of only
one Militia regiment on toot enables them to call out
all the rest, without any of the safeguards Which the
law had provided for the people. The Learned Gen-
tleman then went into an elaborate comparison be-
tween the Local and the Regular Militia, mid con.
:eluded With observing that the single question, after
all, was—.why, when the causes for calking out the
Militia had ceased to exist, the terms upon which
they were embodied ought not to cease also ? The
tendency of the doctrine now laid down was, to leave
every thing burthensome under the Act, and take
awe, every thing
In beneficial ; for they may be thus
cruelly retained the service till all the petty squab-
Isles amongst the Foreign Powers, . and the pitiful
ambition of those persons in their contentions for ter-
ritory
shallminisbeterstisthfieindk it
; nay, even
to keep on h
ensartill the great force
Continent shall be recalled home. The Learned
Gentleman then concluded with moving.—At That
nine months having elapsed since the signing of the
Definitive Treaty of Petit, find this country being
now at .peace
with the whole world, no causes are
now in existence for mutinying any part of the Mi-
litia embodied."

Mr. BATHURST. complimented the Learned
Gentleman fOr having iery fairly stated bit own opi-
nion *pots die.sobjeca I bet it appeared that he had
only taken a partial view of the matter, and bad

Afyon the sugleitilte.*: sitkicro4amation,
\
144 •'. 4 ':: • t tit If Shan, 1 VI
Els gotne .observe on to the measure in jar
runittee. On the prominent comestible nature <
its stirtiments, he sakl, tree; being entertained
i•opininn the 'Trial by. Jury, perfect humility, 41
ild soon work its way into 'mcnt, the keeping