Star.
London, England, 1812-03-12 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Mr. WHITBREAD moved that the Amendments of the Lords'
to the Drury-lane Play-house Bill should be taken into conside-
ration. The Amendments were agreed to without any obser-
•ation.
The Order of the House for going into a Committee of Ways
and Means was postponed till Friday.
The remaining Orders were postponed, with the exception of
Sir Aarnua PIGGOTT'S Bill respecting Infant Suitors in Chan-
cery, which was read a second time, and ordered to be commit-
tedto•morro w.

1 he Irish Sugar Drawback Bill was read a second time, and
ordered to be committed to-morrow.
A Message from the Lords signified, that they lid not insist
on theitbsmendments in the Frame-breakers Bill.
Mr. CALCRAFT presented a Petition from the Sawyer+,
Smiths, and Bakers in the Victualling Department, praying a rise
of Wages on account of the pressure of the times. Ile Petition
was read, but could nut be received, as it was not recommended
by any of his Majesty's Ministers.
Mr. WHITBREAD moved for certain Papers, chiefly Letters
from the Navy Board to the Admiralty, containing statements of
an eminent Engineer on the subject of the Plymouth Sound
Breakwater Bill, and upon other subjects connected with it; but
the Secretary to the Admiralty; Mr. Caoitta objecting to their
production, on the grounds of impropriety and irrelevancy, the
motion for their production passed la the negative.—The 'Mover
seemed actuated by a desire to satisfy the Gentlemen whose plans
had been offered to the consideration of the Admiralty.

MARRIAGE ACT.
Mr. WILSON having moved that the title of this Act should
be read to thi House, and that the Act itself, which is to ba
found in the 26th volume of the Journals, page sgs,-should be
entered as read, commented on the Act itself, giving the history
of its origin, the abuses which gave rise to it, the oppt.sition
it met with m the dine of enactment, the defects in the bill, and
the hardshi‘s which have followed in many cases, particularly in
the cases of the marriage of illegitimate children when under age,
and without the consent of a legal guardian, which, a-. the law
stands at present, is liable to great obscurity ; and having gives) a
hint of the remedy which he intends to propose, moved for leave
to bring iu a Bill to explain and amend the Ytisli of George the
Second, commonly called •he Marriage Act.
The Motion was seconded by Mr. Moaitica, and leave was
given.
The principal Amendment we andeptand t bee that Mar-

•
flare, whicS. If made new under certain eirestnatancrt, are void.
able at any time, may be legalized by, if not objected to 'nab
tbfte years

Mr. WILSON brought in the 11111, which was read sire, tad
ordered to be rends second time on the nib of AFL The Bly
was ordered to be printed.

CONVICTS ON BOARD TIIX BUM.
M. ABERCROMBIE, according to notice, tote
to movp.for certain Returns respecting the Convicts
confined in the hulks, and prefaced his Motion with'
a statement of the reasons upon which it was ground-
ed. The arguments advanced by the Honourable
and Learned Gentleman being near;; the same as
were urged when this subject was incis.leatally dis-
cussed a few nights ago, under the head olihe Army
Estimates, renders it unnecessary to state them now aag.
any considerable length. On that occasion it was xam-
tioned that a very considerable number of convicts
were pardoned on condition of enteriug into the At..
my, and that 140 were sent to one regiment aloft
it was now contended, that admitting the principle
of commuting punishment in this manner, still max
it was liable to great abuse. • That it was necessary
to ascertain the manner.of selection, the persons by
whom it was made, the nature of the offenc,es %tat
were committed, whether they were first off
and what portion of punishment those persons hat
already undergone. The subject he considered tif
great importance, as well from its bearing on the pc:
nal laws of the country, as upon the discipluse 44 the
army; he therefore moved for— •
" A Return of all Convicts ordered for transporters* one,
theist of January, 11110, weather by orignal daunts rase.
mutation for capital offences; for the number sent to the Anse;
and for the umber at trot pardons granted dimiliat unit"
Ifr. Secretary RYDER .opposed the Motion, and
contended, that so far from abuse eaihting in fns re-
spect, the state of the hulks, the mauagLmein of the
Convicts, and their improvement in industry And nio.
rality, were highly unproved, chiefly by the very
praise-worthy exertions of Mr. Justice Graham. As
a proof of the great improvement in the habiu of the
convicts, be would shew many petitions ot meatus
praying for the release of servants convicted by theni.
selves, and offering again to taste vieni into their ser.
vice, %%telt was always a necessary couaitioa to their
pardon, as ett.wertUllellt would Dever suffer such men
to be thrown loose on society. "rtie slumbers uuw scat
to the army were tar interior to what were salt on
tornur ckcA4 au; SW were sent at oat tinie formerly.
and with respect to employing them in this manna,
experience proved its propriety : Three excellent effi-
cient regiments, now on the establishment, all Glebes
rendered important services, and were as- remarkable
'for the strictest discipline as for the most beanie nicer.
The African Corps and the York Rangers had thus
distinguished themselves, and had received the high.
est approbation of their commanders, the litter parti-
cularly at Guadeloupe from Genteel Beckwith.
The General Orders, which he read, were highly
flattering, both to their courage and d.scipline. 'the
effects, moral and political, which followed tram this
lenient spirit, he described as very advantageous to
the individuals, and to the country, and those good
effects were more likely to be increased by throwing .
a veil over their former offences, and burying thee
in oblivion. Upon those grounds, he would therefora.4
oppose inquiry. If there were any particular cue of
abu..e, he was willing to meet the Learned and Ho.
nourable Gentleman on that, but for the sake of the
country, and the pledge held out to those men, be .
would go no farther.
Mr. ‘V. WYNNE was for, employing them in 06. •
parate corps, but would not infer them to be miter
with *other soldiers. It was also wrong to send such
a body as one hundred and forty publicly to one re.
girnent. Something had been mentioned of secrecy
in doing this,•bui. tins kind of secrecy resembled the
placing ot 120,000 men, by Major Sturgeon, cat ant.
buscade at Knightsbridge.
Mr. STURQLO-I3OURNE spoke against the Ma
tion. He thought that every facility should be held
forth to those ~,en to become useful to ultimata
and to their country, and lamented we difficulty there
was to find them proper employment. lie hoped
that the Motion would be.witildravrn. _ _

General FE RGUSOI4 spoke in of the Me.
tion, condemned the puolicity with which those one
hundred and forty crinvicts had been marched into
the barracks of one regiment, the hardships it imposed
on officers, and mentioned an instance of a person so
transferred, above fifty years old, formerly an office.
and ordered to be transported for forgery. This ha
thought a great abuse.
Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY argued iu favour of
the motion, the granting of it could be attended with
no mischief, and possibly might with great advaa.
cage.. The general policy he thought a proper mu*
sure for discussion, and, as the motion did not desire
names, he saw no objection to it. It was important
to know the numbers, their crimes, the yeare„theZ
had served, and other particulars, which would "'
brought .to light by the motion. The excess Golf.
not the principle, was found fault with, and he thoo Jr
it somewhat surprising that such a number sh '
made up at once for exemplary conduct. The Pit'
rogative of mercy was rightly placed, but it ought to
be guarded from abuse; and if pardons are root
it should not appear that it proceeded from favour.—
There were some. instances cf pardons supplied to
him, for which he could not account on any pri'
ciple ; one, that of a servant, who was transported to
Botany Bay for robbing Ms master, hut who was Intr.
doped before he landed, and returned in the same
ship that carried him oftt ; another, that of a teas
pardiined after one fortnight's residence on the
These things surely ought to be inquired into.
Mr. WILBERFORCE observed, that mercy had
been so generally tempered with justice in this rope'
try, and so much pains had been taken, partiertkvil
under the Right Hon. Gentleman, to exercise the
Royal Prerogative without any bias from layout or
partiality, that he saw no ground for any tetioll Cla
this subject. With respect to the enlistment of te•
victs, there were malty cases in which it might best'
tended with advantage to the Public, while it sai
those unfortunate men an opportunity orsefornstely
and acquiring a new character. It had been at 101
tried as an experiment, and was now found to
A Commanding Officer, A friend of his, had int
him, that, on receiving a certain number of
of th,s description, he drew them up in aemsehina a
ge:
informed thcm, that, if they conducted th
ProPerly; no notice should be taken of their
duct, nor their situation in any shape
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THE 'eft

spina them, but they should
i have his esteem ac-
cording to their behaviour, as f no such thing had
eem happened. These men, he was assured, all be.
bared well, and afforded his friend great satisfaction.
With respect to thb hulks, he admitted it was de-
sirable that the offenders should be separated as much
at possible, but was afraid that mixing the old and
young could not be completely
. avoided, as there were
imperfections and inconveencies, more or less, at-
tending every institution. When sent to the army
they were placed in
.a state of greater discipline than
life,. which might also facilitate their re-
in common
lam. With respect' to entire regiments being formed
a this description of men, he was not prepared to
cook with any confidence.
Mr. RYDER, in explanation, stated, that the con-
victs enlisted were such generally as were recom-
wended by the Captains ef the hulks for their proper
behaviour.
General TARLETON approved of recruiting
distant or condemned regiments from the hulks, as a
invasive that, in our extended service, might contri.
Bute to the public good ; but he deprecated the prac-
tice of sending such men into our regular army,\as it
would form a great objection to people entering the
service. He great
how much our army had im-
proved within these few years, from the practice of
tlrsughting from the Militia.
Mr. ABERCROMBIE, in rising to reply, found
k necessary to say very little, as no satisfactory an-
swer had been given to what he had formerly stated.
His object was, that in sending men of this descrip-
tion to the army, some degree of secrecy should be
observed, and that kw only should be sent at a time,
and not in Such numbers as one hundred and twenty-
eve, that bad been in one instance sent to a regiment.
lie declined withdrawing his motion, as he was not
in the habit of making any motion that he did not
think had the public good for its object.
On the question being put, the motion was nega.
tired without a division.
COLONEL PALMER'S EXPLANATION.

Colonel PALMER stated his anxiety to correct a
tnisrepresentatioa he was sorry to have seen in the ,
Papers, of what he was reported to have stated, in
answer to the assertion that an order had been issued
to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent's regiment
to exclude the admission of Irishmen. Being aware
that there were some grounds for such statement, hel
did not at the time take on himself to contradict fully,
but that he was now enabled to state from the highest
authority, that no order of the kind had ever been
lied. He admitted that the Recruiting Officers had
teceived instructions from the Commanding Officer,
Colonel Quinton, to enlist. Englishmen in preference
m Irish; and if any blame was to be attached to
him for this, he begged, as far as his own opinion
seed the propriety, to take his share: That he had!
Imitated, as reported, that his objection had been on
acme of the Irish deserting to the enemy; on the con-
trary,to one vras more convinced than himself, in com-
mon, he believed, with every other British Officer, of
the loyalty, courage, and fidelity of the Irish. What ,
kdid state was, that the description of Irish they met
with in this country were liable to desert, which was
treason for objecting to them; and to prove that his
regiment entertained no national prejudice, they ob.
jetted, in the same manner, to various classes of
the own countrymen, to all Londoners, and in.l
ileums of manufacturing towns, and confined
the recruits to that class at persons brought up to
agricultural pursuits ; for they found that Irishmen,
and those of their own country who were not in early
Isre accustomed to the care of horses, made bad grooms,
sari, though the best infantry, were objectionable as'
cavalry: He therefore trusted these reasons would
clear his regiment of all suspicion of the motive which
badbeen attributed to it ; and he would add, that
thissystem was not confined (as had been stated) to
his own regiment and the 15th, but that it was pur-
sued by every English cavalry regiment in the ser-
vice.
He would only add, to prove that he never ob-
jected
to Irishmen (who were welt recommended)
and still less that he preferred foreigners, that the
number of Irish then in the regiment exceeded that of
foreigners ; and that the amount of the latter did not
exceed thirty, out of a compleinent of nearly 900.
He concluded by observing that it was an unpleasant
subject, and that he should not have taken a part in
the debate of last night, had he not felt called upon
to do justice to a brother officer, thad whom he be-
.
ed, there was not a more deserving in the service,
and to whom tha; credit for its appearance and dis-
cipline, which, he trusted, was not unworthily be.'
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