Star.
London, England, 1802-04-08 00:00:00

MALT.

Mr. WHITBREAD moved, that there be laid be-
fore the Houfe an Account of the quantity ofMalt,
on which the Duty had been paid in Scotland,
from the sth of July, 1783, to the sth of July,
8o t. Alfo the number of barrels of Strong Beer
on which the Duties were paid within the fame
period.—Ordered. He then obferved, that he took
the Accounts of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
to be ertoneous, and therefore he hoped the Right
Hon. Gentleman would poftpone for Tome time
the Bill for Taxing Beer, in order that it might
be known to what amount the Brewers were taxed,
and that Members might have an opportunity of
confulting with their Conftituents.
The CHANCELLOR of the Exc.+ Egy la faid, he
certainly thould not hurry the Bill with fuch pre-
cipitancy as to preclude Gentlemen from an oppor-
tunity of gaining information on it; but that could
not interfere with the early ftages of the Bill, as
the proper place to propofe any alteration was in
the Committee.

Mr. WHIT saliAD afked, whether it was intended
to propofe any ttew regulations with regard to the
collelhon of the Duties? becaufe, if new regula-
tions were introduced, as he underflood it was in-
tended to do, they might be attended with great
vexation.

Mr. VANSITTART ar.fwered, that it was proba-
ble there might be fome alteration with regard to
the collcdion of the Malt Duty. •

TAXES.

Mr. N. VANSITTAITI;tCmght up the Mitred
Taxes Bill, which was read a hrft time.

On the queftion for the fecond reading,
Mr. Roasoa rote to protell againft the meature,
confideriog it as a commutation for the Income
Tax.

Mr. N. VANS! TTART obferved, that the produce
of there Taxes being only 1,000,0001. it could not
be a commutation for 6,000,0001.
Mr. Rosson explained.
Mr. BRAGG 6 obferved, that an Hon. Member on
a former evening had Hated the Malt and Beer
Tax to be a commutation for the IncomeTax,and
now the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Robfon) Paid, the
prefent was a commutation for the Income Tax.
There was 97,000,0001. to provide for, and the
whole Taxes were to be taken together, and pot
this in particular fingled out, and alerted to be a
commutation for the Income Tar.

After a few words from Mr. ROBSON, and Sir
ROBERT BUXTON,

Mr. WHITBREAD faid, that though this was at.
fated not to be a commutation for the IncomcTax,
yet it was evident, that if the Income Tax had not
been repealed, there would have been no neceffity
for the greater part of the Taxes that bad recently
been brought forward.
Mr. BIAGGI! admitted what had been faid by
the Hon. Gentleman ; but obferved, that it was a
fallacious argument for any Hon. Gentleman to
lay his finger upon a particular tax and fay, that
this or that was a commutation for the Income
Tax, when the whole of the Taxes ought to b,
taken together.
The Bill was then ordered to be read a fecond
time to•morrow.

Mr. N. VANSITTART brought up the Beer, Malt,
and Hops Duty Bill, which was read a Brit time.
Mr. WHITBREAD Paid, that a large quantity of
Malt made before the Harveli was now on
hand, and he wished to know, whether it was not
Fable to exempt that from the operation of the
D ti_xy ?
The CHANCELLOR of the Exclaves Paid, he
did not know that it was praaicable. It would be
recolleeted, that the Brewers had lowered the price
of their Commodity fiJm 4os. to 355. with a large
Stock on hand. The only method they would
have of doing this was, by mixing Malt of a high
price with Malt fubfequently purchafed of a lower
price, and that they could do now.
After a Short further converfation between Mr.
WHITBREAD, the CHANCELLOR of the ETCHFitYIat
and Mr. N. VANSITTART, the Bill was ordered to
be read a fecond time to-morrow.

CORONBRII.

Mr. MAINWAILING moved the fecond reading of
the bill for granting an additional allowance to
Coroners.

Mr. SHAW Lr Fairies, previous to any further
proceeding on the Bill, withed the Honourable
mover to Hate what was its precife objeit.
Mr. Matawaaino accordingly entered into a
(holt explanation, the fubflance of which was, that
it was his intention to withdraw feveral parts of
the bill as it now flood, and to confine it to the
tingle point of granting coroners an additional al-
lowance for travelling expences.
Mr. Swam La Favas on this again rofc, and
entered at tome length into arguments againft the
bill. The topics he infilled upon were fimilar to
thole urged when the bill was flrmerly under dif-
cuffion. He confidered the antiquity and honour-
able nature of the office at a time when it was ex-
ecuted without remuneration, and thought that a
departure from this pratlice was proved by expe-
rience to be impolitic, by 'dining Its dignity, and
throwing it in Tome cafes into the hands of thole
whole fituation in the county where the office was
exereifed, was not Inch as was held to be neief-
fary by the common law, to render a perfon ca
pable of holding it. He adverted to the contells
which, in many parts of the country, eleaions to
the office excited, which incontrovertibly proved
that further remuneration was unneceffary.
Mr. H. Lascam.as Paid a few words in fupport
of the bill.

Admiral Iltsaastint was againil it in its prefent
form. If additional burdens for the remuneration
of Coroners were to be impofed, he thought they
ought to be laid on the Fara% and not on the

counties. He difapproved of the prefent applica;
tion of the coroners, as calculated to lower them
in the public eftimation. If the application, in-
Read of being for a pecuniary remuneration, had
been for an increafe of dignity and of influence, it
fhould have met with his hearty flipport.
Mr. Ross thought it very unreafonable to ex-
pat that the coroners fhould execute the duties of
their office without remuneration. Many of thofe
now exercifing that office were attornies of confi.
derable pratlice, and it was bus fair, when they
left their bufinefs to perform a public fervice, that
they fhould be recompenfed for their trouble.—
Since the time that timid' augmentation had taken
place in the allowance to coroners, many other
public officers had obtained an increafe of remu-
neration for their Cervices, and confidering the
great change in the price of every article, the co-
roners ought at leaft to have their claims impar-
tially confidered. A good deal of firth had been
laid on the ardour with which elation to this of
fice were conteffed ; but it ought to be confidered
that this did not by any means happen in all cafes.
Within his own knowledge there were inflances
where no perfon could be found to fill the office.
Neither could any conclufive argument of the pro-
fitable nature of the place be collated from the
fums expended in Tome of there contefts which had
been alluded to. He himfelf held an office in the
gift of the freeholders of the county with which
he was connoted, in a conteft for which at a for-
mer period no lets a Turn than 30,0001. had been
expended, but from which, fince he held it, he
could Wily declare that he had never derived
emolument to the-amount of twenty (billings.
Mr. HO/MOUSE contended, that as the Hon.
mover of the bill had now confented to give up
three of the four oiled: which were in the firlt
inflance Jetted to be reafonable and jun, the
Houfe ought to look at what was fill aced for
with great jealoufy. The language of the coro-
ners now was," we confent to withdraw three of
our requefts if you will grant us the other ;" but
if three of thefe requefts were improper, how did
the Houfe know that the other had any better
claims to be admitted ? The Honourable Mem-
ber ably enforced the feveral arguments already
adduced agnif the bill. He pre fled on the at-
tention of the Houfe the ardour with which the
office was fought after, as a proof of its lucrative
&nation i • he in particular alluded to the conteft
for the elation in the county of Kent, on which
four candidates originally appeared. Two declin-
ed to go on with the canvafs, and of the two who
continued candidates, the fuccefsful one had ex-
pended zsool. and the other not lefs than t 0001.
in the conteft. He concluded by moving, That
inflead of now, the bill be read a second time this
day fix months.
Sir EDWARD KNATCHBULL explained the cis-.
cumftances of the elation in Kent. It happened
immediately after the conclitfion of the conteft for
his own elation, while the heat of the oppofite
parties had not had time to fublide. The expence
incurred on the occafion was not therefore a fair
criterion of the profits of the Office.
Mr. WIGLEY fupported the Bill.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL read a ftatement to
the Houfe, from a Gentleman, who had filled the
office of Coroner in the county of Northampton,
for a (pace of twenty years. During that time his
whole remuneration from the county had not
much exceeded 4131. though he had taken no lefs
than 304 inquefts, of which 16 only were on per-
ions who had died in gaol ; to be able to take the
inqueft on the others, he had been obliged to ride
over an extent of not leis than five thoufand and
(even miles. The Honourable and Learned Gen-
tleman, from fats fuch as thefe, argued that the
Houfe fhould at leaft Puffer the Bill to go into the
Committee. '

After a few words from Sir WILLIAM ELFORD,
the gallery was cleared, and the Houfe divided—
For the fecond reading 87
Againft 32—Majority 55.
RESIDENCE OF CLERGY.

On our being re-admitted into the gallery, we
found the Houfe in a Committee on the At of
Henry the VIIIth, for enforcing the refidence of
the Clergy.
Sir WILLIAM SCOTT was calling the attention
of the Houfe to the Reps which had been taken
during the laft feffion of Parliament to protect Cler.
gymen againft the profecutions brought againft
them on the provifions of this Ad. He admitted
that the Houfe, in the Reps they had taken, had
acted with wifdom ; but independently of the pro-
fecutions which at that time more particularly
called for the interference of the Houfe, he had
no difficulty in faying, that from• a confideration
of the ftatute itfelf, it was incumbent on the Ls-
gillature to confider the fubjeCt, not only for the
purpofe of applying a remedy to particular cafes,
but for the fake of eftablifhing a general principle,
which might prevent their recurrence at a future
period. With this view the Right Hon. Member
entered into a very long, very elaborate, and very
learned difcullion of the =cum fiances under which
the Ratute originated, as well as of its feveral pro.
vifions. Wedo not profefs to follow him through
his minttte details, but content ourfelves with a
brief (ketch of the points on which he enlarged.
He.was fufficiently aware that the Aft in queltion
had been the frequent fued of panegyric, and
had, by many eminent and learned perfons, been
viewed as highly beneficial to the interefts of reli-
gion. He knew that no lefs a lawyer than Coke
had confidered it at the time of its eftablifhment
as produdive of very advantageous effeds, and
that at a much later period Lord Hardwicke had
ex prefred a fimilar opinion. But with all pollible
deference to thefe high authorities, he confeffed,
that aftcr all the attention he had been able to
bellow on the lubjed, he had ftrong doubts of
its policy, or its beneficial confequences, even
when originally inftituted. 1 oe doubts he enter-
tained were founded on the great general princi-
ples oflegiflation, and of national policy. He beg-
gad the Houfe to confider what was the zra in which
the aft 4,1 originated.' It was at a time when
animpfity againft the Clergy was molt rancorous,
when on all occafions they were object; of the molt
inveterate perfecution, when nothing was loft fight
of which could injure their blierCal or degrade

their character. In fupport of this tlatemcnt the
Right Hon. Gentleman prodeced a variety of
proofs, drawn equally from the temper of the
people, from the apofition of the Parliament,
from the a thitrai y charaeler of the Sovereign. In
a contell formed under fuch circumdances, it was
not very probable that the interzlis of religion
would be very difpailionately confulted, or that
the provifions, adapted profelredly for that pur-
pore, would be the bell calculated to produce their
end. What, accordingly, was the principle
adopted to fecure the refidence of the Clergy? It
was one altogether novel, one authorized by the.
pradice of no period of the Chrillian church. At
no former period was the rcfidence of the Clergy
a thing to be enforced by informations lodged it
the temporal Courts. For mapy ages before the
Ad was patted, the Bifhop Communi
.7ure, could
alone enforce the refidence of the Clergy under his
diocefe; and at the time of the Reformation a fimi-
far regulation prevailed. In the chinch of Scot-
land, founded on the ftrideft principles of the Re-
formation; on the Continent, in the fame way, was
the power of bringing complaints againft the
Clergy for non-refidence denied to the temporal
Courts in the met explicit terms. Such a principle
as that which he had slated to have at all times
prevailed in the church, was betides by no wears
peculiar to the facred proleffion. It was a re7u-
lation founded in jufiice and the nature of thins. s,
and accordingly it was a regulation obfervcd-in
every other profeflion. It was no folid objedicat
to fay, that the Laity had, in the refidence of the
Clergy, a particular intereft. If once this intereft
were allowed to authorize an enforcement of this
refidence, by an appeal to the Civil Courts, the
fame principle, only carried fomewhat farther,
would equallyauthorize interference with the other
profeffions. It was betides to be confidered, that
if they had the intereft fuppofed, which he would
not deny, they had a means of preferring a com-
plaint, Itrialy conformable to the fpirit of the cc-
clefiaffical Conflitution of the country, by bringing
it forward in the Ecclefiatlical Court. In pro-
portion as he admired the Courts of Law as being
admirably calculated to promote the ends of ge-
neral juftice, fo did he conceive them to be unfit
for deciding on matters purely ecclellaftical, and
that for the heft of all pantile reafons, that the
Conftitution of the country had provided that there
fhould be difcuffed in a feparate Court. The Hon.
Gentleman, after thus dilculling the principle cf
the Aft, proceeded to review its fpecial provitionc,
which to him appeared (till more harffi and ex-
ceptionable. By the statute, non-refidence fur one
month was to be pimiffied by a penalty of ten
pounds, and that too enforced with circumftancp
of the molt extraordinary feverity—cirournftances
too over which a Court of Common Law had no
fort of controul. The only three cafes in which
the penalty was at any time not enforced were
imprifonment, infirmity of body, and the want
of a habitation. The firft admitted of no moth-
fication, but the fecond had been conftrued into an
infirmity of body which left no hope of life, or at
leaft deprived life of all future enjoyment. e en.
largedatgreater length on the couflruEtiontttatwaS
given to the fort of habitation which was constru-
ed to be fit for refidence, or for want of refidence,
in which a Clergyman would be fubjed to a pe-
nalty without the leaft mitigation. It was of no
confeqnence that every duty of the facred profef-
lion had been moll affiduoufly and zealoully per-
formed, that the clergyman was a pattern of
every virtue becoming his ilicred funeion, that he
was an example to all around him by his diligence
in the peculiar offices of a Christian Paftor—all
could not proted him againft the penalty which the
Ad had fpecified to attach to non-refidence 'in
all circumflances. This was no ideal cafe ; it was
one which in more than one inftance had adually
occurred. What, on the contrary, was the fort
of refidence which the Ad was calculated to fe-
cure ? Did it fecure a faithful difcharge of the
facred duties, or compel Clergymen to devote their
time to the fpiritual inftrudion of thofe commit-
ted to their care ? It had no fuch effed. All
that was neceffary to elude the penalty, was for
the Clergyman to fleep in the heft bed room of his
patronage, and to live, if he thought proper, in the
molt (keenly negleEt of every duty ofhis fundion.
Having thus ffiewn that the Ad was calculated to
operate with the utmoft feverity even on the meet
confcientious and deferving clergymen,while it did
not at all compel the negligent to a more vigilant
difcharge of their duty, he appealed to the jrtflice
of the Houfe, whether fuch vexatious complaints
as the Ad authorized, ought to be countenanced?
He anted, whether it was confiftent with huma-
nity, with juflice, with policy, that clergymen
should be (hut out from the common intercourfe,
the common purfuits, the Common charities oflife?
He believed no one defired that they Ihould be
placed in fuch a lituation, and yet in loch a fi.
tuation were many o: them placed by the pro-
vifions of the Aft. They were compelled either
to forego many of the moft important calls of
civil and domeftie life, or they were fubjeCted to
the fevereft penalties. The next point to which
he alluded was the farming of the clergy, which
he vindicated as by no means incompatible with
the due difcharge of the clerical functions, as in
a variety of cafes rendered abfolutely necetrary in
the eircumilances under which a very numer•
ous part of the Parochial Clergy were placed, but
which, by the terms of the .Ad, they incurred
penalties which they were wholly unable to fur-
tain. On this head the learned Member prefented 4
great mats of faEts refpeding the (tate of avery large
proportion of the livings of the inferior clergy,
enumerating the various Iteps taken to afford them
relief, particularly by the diftribution of the fund
appropriated to this purpofe in the reign of Queen
Anne, which he contended had been wifely and
beneficially applied, Still, however, the augmen-
tation of the livings of the inferior Clergy was
a point of infinite importance. So far was he
from withing any diminution in the rum allot-
ted for their fupport, that he anxioufly longed to
fee them put on a footing of greater independence.
To reduce the incomes of the Clergy was to de-
grade Religion in the charader of its Minifters. It
was to lead the way to the introdudion of igno-
rant, vular,fantallical individuals into the church.