Star.
London, England, 1812-01-24 00:00:00

tauted his memorable inquiry, and the Committee,
lsisted.by the endeavours of the Right Honottrable
de,,,,„nadoertwhk(iii)
gspoke last, would acc. molish the
of alteration. He had heard that
bilaYeu ea were accused of attemptiny. to bring, by
~'"`-„;;Teni /notion, the Ecclesiastical Establishment
u:or,-"i•oßdens into contempt. Let the Parliament
010;21; thosei reverend tribunals respectable, and then
they would become. worthy of respect ; let the ears
of the nation be opened to complaints, and then re-
id follow.
IDedsiYr jci°ll9 N.NICHOL asserted, that the same ex-
imprisonment would have followed the
peaces and
other Law Court, vie whole
hie pioceeaings in any
appeared with the ordinary complexions
cos quoted
otevery day occurrences, and proclaimed that the
{salt lay not with the, laws, nor with the persons who
enforced them, but with the complainants themselves.
The Courts were created for far other considerations
than those-of publishing the sentence of excommuni-
cation against those who merited the punishment.—
They embraced a wide range, mending the breaches
„
i the • led state, or separating those whose ac-
pons required them to be put asunckr, awarding dis-
tribution or personal property, and performing many
more offices of equal trust, which every Gentleman
in the House was sensible of. But the Noble Lord,
in a west industrious search through a period of 13
yeas,had only been able to rake twelve cases of im-
enrtnce from the extensive jurisdiction of Exeter,
Wells, Bristol, and Salisbury ; six of these did net
properly belong to the stibject, three of them were
fa tithes, two of them for rates, and the other was
the case of the complainant in the petition. There.
tae, on the most accurate and deliberate considera-
iioe, he saw no reason to support the motion, and
decidedly disapproved of it.
Mr. WILLIAM SMITH was of opinion that the
speech of the Hon. Gentleman (Sir William Scott)
vest asreat way to support the arguments employed
by the Noble Lord; and he was assured, from the
flowledge he had of the Noble Mover's mind, that
e the Hon. Gentleman contemplated the formation
of any Bill upon the subject, he would have the
tarty concurrence of his Noble Friend, and the mo-
bon would be withdrawn in his favour. But he was
afraid that his Majesty's Ministers had so much press-
ing business on their hands already, that they would
hardly find leisure to prepare such a Bill as was re-
quired. He could instance many cases himself, where
the power of the Ecclesiastical Courts required re-
ttraint. He saw a woman confined for seven years
because she was a kind of moral enthusiast, differing
little from the Quakers, except in one prominent cir-
cumstance—that she had a kind of religious dislike
against marriage ; and accordingly she was sum-
moned before the Court by her maiden name, to an-
swer for living publicly with a man, whose name she
had assumed. A scrupulous conscience hindered her
from obeying the citation—she wanted to be cited by
the name she had assumed ; a process was instantly
entered against her for contempt, and seven years con-
finement ensued, when she was liberated, because
they became weary of persecuting her ? Why did not
the Grand Committee of the Law Courts, which an
Act of Parliament ordained to sit every Saturday,
take such subjects into consideration ? For what
purpose were they appointed ? Let the Gentlemen
opposite answer that. His Noble Friend, he was
convinced, would allow the motion to pass before that
grand Committee. The Common Law had lately
altered its mode of proceeding, and pronounced the
ion-appearance of the party as an acknowledgme.it
alga:lt, and• awarded a small fine accordingly.—
Could not the Spiritual Courts adopt the same me-
thod ? Where would be the injury ? The method
proposed by the Noble Lord appeared the best, and
therefore had his hearty concurrence.
The Ara) it NE Y-GE NE R A L confessed that no
argumenls from the other side had convinced him of
the neccssity of the measure. The question was,
whether they imputed an improper administration of
the law, as it exisied, to the Ecclesiastical Courts ;
for if they administered them as they stood, the fault
lay in the laws themselves, and not in the Courts.—
The Judges, in all the instances cited, had pro-
nounced according to the law, and had they not
panted the process, they would have violated the
law. The proper mode was to correct the law, the
pressure of which they complained of. He was con-
vinced that were his Right Honourable Friend (Sir
W. Scott) employed to frame a Bill on that subject,
it would be accomplished with ability and success--.
He believed the Honourable Gentleman would wil-
lingly take upon himself the trouble of correcting
the law, and fitting it better for the purposes of
Society. Correcting the law itself went directly to
the root of the evil, whereas the motion of the Noble
Lord went only to the administration of the law.—
horn the excellent abilities possessed by his Honour-
able Friend, from the great powers he had shewn in
his administration, he augured the performance of the
Bill in contemplation wit all the discernment of su-
perior intelltet. He hoped he might be induced to
wept of the proposal.
SirJOHNiXEWPOR.T recollected the expressions
used by a Noble Lord against the Irish Roman Ca-
tholics for the ceremony cif excommunication. He .
hoped, after what he had heard of its use in the
Church of England, in the debate of this night, that
it would never be employed in such a manner again.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
expressed his opinion that the Learned Judge Advo-
cate (Sir William Scott) would have before applied
to the House for an amelioration of the law, had it
no; been that his Learned Friend was justly fearful
ofits being said of such an application, that it was an
effort of the Ecclesiastical Court to arrogate to-itself
some of the powers of the Courts of Law. He knew
that such was the Learned Gentleman's opinion, and
he also felt assured that his Learned and Right Ho-
nourable Friend would most cheerfully take upon
himself the task of preparing a Bill to remedy the
defects complained of.
Sir WILLIAM SCOTT here signified his readi-
ness to prepare a Bill for such desired object, if such
sere
the we'll and opinion of the House.—(Hear.)
The Motion was then withdrawn, in compliance
with the general understanding.
Lord FOLKSTONE observing that the Petition
from the unfortunate woman (Dicks) still remained
"disposed of, wished to know what course he was
itho Plirs. ue•---No answer being given to this general
qmrYi the SPEAKER observed, that the matter had
better be deferred to another day.
S.r J. NEWPORT moved for leave to bring in a