Star.
London, England, 1809-03-28 00:00:00

TETHER IN IRELAND.

Mr. PARNELI, reminded the Chancellor of the Exchequer tef
a promise he had made during the last Session, to keep in view
and bring in a measure for altering and amending the Laws re-
lating to Tithes in Ireland.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER assured the Ho-
nourable Gentleman, that he had not lost sight of the object to
which the Hon. Gentleman had alluded. Indeed, it hau occu-
pied a considerable share of his attention during the last vacation;
bat the more he considered it, he found it surrounded with the
&eater dilficukies ; io much so, that he saw no hopes of being
able to bring forward any measure connected with the subject,
' at least within the present Session of Parliament.
CAPTURE OF CAPRI.
Sir JOHN NEWPORT asked the reason why the Details of
the Capture of Capri had not been laid before the Public ? There
had been two foreign regiments In the island; one of which bad

• •
behaved very utd the other very iIL He tiostght the Polk,
ought to iknow the whole transaction.
Lord CASTLEREAGH said that the details of the ulterior
operadons had Dot arrived till lately. He had no objection tsi
?tame them.
Sir JOHN NEWPORT then moved that they he Lid co ;h•
table.—Ordered.

• • THE INDEPENDENT WHIG.
Mr. WHITBREAD said, he held in his hand a
Petition from Mr. White, the proprietor of a new
paper ;40 The Whir, now a prisoner in Dorclie,
gaol, and Mr. Hart, printer of the said newspaper, no
a prisoners in Gloucester gaol, praying relief agaia
certain and alledged hardships. Mt. Whitbread sad
that, in presenting them he would not be understood
as pledging himself to the truth of the several
gations contained in the petitions. He thought
however, his duty, as Member of Parliament,
present any petition complaining of grievances, p:. .
tided it was respectfully worded. The pttitkill
Mr. White complained of some improprieties hav;r:,
occurred in the mode of impannelling his jury,
of some subsequent hardships attending the circ:%:n.
stances of his imprisonment.
The Clerk at the table then read the petit;,
signed Henry White, which was to the following
, feet: _ _ _

That the Petitioner is a Citizen of London and a Stationer, and
has been and still is the sole proprietor of the weekly paper called
the Independent %Vbig, now printed at 23, Warwick-square,
don. That there appeared in said paper certain Letters,
t4junius"-71.4 A Seaman“7--and "T. C.' That for the publicatioa
of said letters, his Majesty's Attorney-General had nosed for cri-
minal informations against the Petitioner; and that though, lot the
last 10 years, in all similar cases, the publieatioias were Pronounced
to be false as well as malicious,yet,in the case of t he Petitioner, t hey
were termed to be malicious only. That previous t., :he trial the
Petitioner the Solicitor for the Crown had applied tor a special our.:
and that the Master of the Crown Office had nominated the ;toy
in place of the Sheriff. That the petitioner Was then, upon
tion and a sentence, removed to Dorchester Gaol, on the Gth of
July, 1808, where be was kept in close confinement, and re..
stricted from the use of fresh air until the 15th of October LI
lowing, though at the time of his imprisonment his' ad state .if
health had been certified by four respectable medical gentkmen.
That though exercise and the benefit of air were essential to the
preservation of his health, he had been denied all access to au ail•
joining garden, and was obliged to walk in a small yard of d.irr.p
stones, and that very much aggravated a complaint he then had
his feet, and a bilious affection of the liver. That: after repeatil
repreientations of these hardships, he at last obtained the
indulgence of walking half an hour each clay in the garden ; that
his family consisted of his wife and two sons, cote of whcm
confined to London by the duties of his business, and the other,
with his wife, was allowed only to see him for eight hours every
other day. That by being pmoved tq Porchest be was obiigJ
to take lodging! in the town, at a very .considerable expetce,—
That in addition to the punishMent of three years imprisormeet,
a pecuniary fine had been imposed, much beyond the propartina
of his means. He therefore prayed to be allowed to prose
truth of the above allegations at the bar of the House ; and fit,
ther prayed for such relief as that House might, iv their judgme.it
be disposed to grant.
On the question, that the Petition do lie on tine

table,
Mr. CALC RAFT rose and said, that, as a Ma.
gistrate of I)orsetshire, some of the allegationS con•
tained in the petition having reached his ears, he hai,
him Self waited upon Mr. White, in Dorche,,ter
to ascertain from him the grounds of his complairii,
Mr. White complained of not being allowed inter-
course with his family, particularly in his very bad
state of health, and made the other complaints which
have been already mentioned. He (Mr. Calcrai',)
went to the Magistrates of the County, and they
stated to him, that the reason why they did not give
Mr. White the accommodation of the garden
that it had been allowed to Mr. Gilbert Wakefield,
and that he had abused that indulgence by exciting
sedition in the other parts of the gaol with which the
garden communicated, it being situated between tee
two yards of the gaol ; but that they were willing
allow Mr. White to walk in the garden every day
one hour, provided he was accompanied by the gao:er,
or other person. They also agreed, that the inter-
course between him and his family should be less re-
stricted, and that his wife should be allowed to see
him at all times when he was ill, and at other tim;s
for eight hours each day, his wife and son taking the
turn each alternate day. On his (Mr. Calcrafi's)
return from the Sessions he acquainted Mr. White
with the intentions of the Magistrates, and he (Mr.
White) had expressed himself perfectly satisfied with
them, and much obliged to Mr. Calcraft for hN
effectual interference. Mr. Calcrift further 6).
served, that the room in which Mr. White w4s
confined was an airy spacious room, and papered,
but he believed at the expellee of Mr. White; aad
that it was a better room than he (Mr. Calculi) in
general occupied in any of his Majesty's banacks,
when he was with his regiment. He had in his poc
session a letter of thanks from Mr. White, which,
he had been apprized of this petition, he would hai
brought down to the House.
Mr. ASHLEY COOPER bore testimony to
same report, as having been Foreman to th:;. Doi
Grand Jury.
Mr. WHITBREAD reminded the House,
he did not pledge himself for the truth of the Pt
tioner's allegations. It was the petitioner's son wl
delivered the petition to him, and he felt it his chit)
as an independent Member of Parliament, to presto
it to the House. If the grievances complained
had been remedied, it was to the honour of the Dos
gistrates : but why such severities were at all infiii
ted, might hereafter be matter for inquiry. Why t!.
Magistrates of a county should assume an authori:i
to inflict punishments upon persons imprisoned me
than were authorized by the Court who commitu
them, he was at a loss to conceive. He was Oa(
however, the petition had been presented, as it !nig!.
lead to inquiry touching such abuses, and settle
regulation in similar cases.
Mr. CALCRAFT explained.
The SPEAKER, on looking at the petition,
it necessary to apprize the House, that there app::.,:-
ed on the face of it several erasures and interlino,.•
tions, and therefore, in point of form, it could not
considered as the petition of the person by whom it
was signed.
Mr. WHITBREAD said he was not conscious cf
any informality in these circumstances ; the erasures
and alterations were made by the son of the Pe!!•
tioner, who had delivered the paper to bifn.
would, however, with the leave of the House, wish'
draw the petition, on the ground of its informality
Leave given.
CAPTAIN HUXLEY SANDEN.
Mr. JOHN FANE •presented a Petition, sign!!
Huxley Sanden, to the following effect :
" Humbly sheaving, That their Petitioner ha( nerved'
jesty in the West Indies, the Spanish Main, America, the
sula of Spain and Portugal, for thirty-two years ; that he ins:
!krt.
sight of one eye in the service of his country; that in de )1"r
1800, he bad met with an accident by falling frosts his horse j-t

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hi,.; g .iotent coucussion of the brain ; that he was they
'1.,:.11. deprived of life by the fall, as would be certified by the
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.r,:f,cate of a respectable Physician, annexed to the Petition;
chat 'old accident has since been productive, at various intersids
of a weakness and debility that deprived the Petitioner of the sae
zr.d possession of his judgment ; that that circumstance, combined
.: th the novelty and perplexity of the situation in which he lately
..,osti at their Bar, had involved bins in unintentional conuzdiv,
cons, for having been guilty of wfiich he most humbly apologized
to that Honourable House, and ackrowledged the justice of his
Powmenthowever he might have felt the severity of his
ement, owing to increased ill health, he still had too much
deference for the opinion of that Honourable House to obtrude
his sufferings upon their consideration at an earlier period ; that,
bowever, he hoped that it would not be thought presumptuous
in him now to appeal to the compassion of the House, when he
bad been five weeks a prisoner in Newgate, and when his impri-
sonment had already tegun materially to affect his health. He
therefore humbly prayed that the House would restore him to
4.i, liberty; that, as in duty bound, he would ever pray."
rtlci'
The certificate above alluded to was then read, and
Mr. JOHN FANE then moved—
That Captain Huxley Sanden be brought up to-morrow to
.Se Bar of the House, for the purpose of being discharged."
Which was agreed to without any observation.

EXPORTS TO AMERICA.

Mr. ROSE stated, from an account which had been presented
to the House of the General Return of the Exports and Imports
for the year ending the sth of January 1809, that notwithstand-
ing the Embargoes and other measures of the American Govern-
ment, that the exports of British manufactures for the last year
exceeded that of the preceding year by nearly a million and a half,
and that it had been very nearly equal to the best years which the
country had ever known.
lye WHITBREAD said, that when the Right Hon. Gentle-
ran Wag mentioning—notwithstanding the embargo and acts
of the American Government—be should have added, and not-
withstanding the Orders in Council and Acts of the Government
oh which he himself was connected.
Mr. BARING was astonished that the Right Hon. Gentleman
null talk about the prosperity of our manufactures, at a time
that the distresses of the manufacturers was so notorious and un-
prect dented.
Mr. ROSE thought it astonishing, that it should be represented
as an insult to any body, to state the truth from an official paper
on the table of that House.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was surprised,
that whenever any statement was made, which was flattering to
the Country, there were many Gentlemen who appeared imine-
datrh• to take the alarm. He could not account for this on any
oiler principle than that Gentlemen who had indulged A prophe-
tic spirit, and found themselves disappointed in the fulfilment of
their prophecies, might be on that account supposed to feel no
szaallmortifi cation.
Lord HENRY PETTY observed, that it was not the mere
ratement of the Right Honourable Gentleman, hut the triumph
which he expresse.: over the arguments of those who always
tholig,ht differently upon the subject, which drew forth these ob.

LOCAL MILITIA.

Lord CASTLEREAGH rose, in consequence of
a notice on a former day, to move for leave to bring
in a Bill to amend the Act which passed in the last
Session, with respect to the Local Militia. In the few
obsefvations he should have to offer, he had great
pleasure in taking notice of two very material points,
namely, the favourable reception which the measure
had met with all over the country, and the great ex-
ertion of the Country Gentlemen (without any distinc-
tion of politics or party) to carry it into effect. There
were now 250 regiments of local militia, consisting,
on an average, of SOO men each battalion. The total
number of local niilitia in England and Scotland was
195,161, of which 125,000 had transferred their ser-
vices from the volunteers. The principal alterations
he proposrd was, that the bounty should be reduced
from two gui:leas a man to one guinea, and that it
should net be levied by local assessment. The other
alterations were, that the men should be marched out
of the counties into an adjoining county, for the con-
venience of training, and that Officers' Commissions
should not be charged with Stamp Duties. He also
took occasion to mention, that it was in the intention
of Government to equalize the allowances to the yeo-
men cavalry. At present the home allowance was
five guineas, and the August allowance but two. it
was intended to make them both five guineas. He
concluded by moving for leave to bring in his Bill.
Mr. WHITBREAD expressed much pleasure at
finding that so many men had been procured, but
feared that the reducing the bounty at present would
stop the volunteering.
Mr. WINDHAM made an able speech, in which
he necessarily repeated the ideas he had often before
thrown out respecting regular armies and militia.
Mr. CURWEN considered that the martial spirit
of the country would be much increased by the esta-
blisnient of the local militia, and that oar armies
would gain recruits by it.
Leave was granted to bring in the Bill.
Militia The Local Amendment all was brought in and read
first time; as was also the Strand Bridge Bill.