Star.
London, England, 1815-04-29 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

The Chancery Clerks' Sill was Lead a second time. •To be
'committed to-morrow.
, Mr. ROSE adverted to the WI for Regulating Mad-homes,
which was thrown nut et the Lords last fiassion, alter it had
penscd the Commons ; and moved, that a Committee be ap-
pointed to enquire into the State of Mad-booms in England.--
Ordered.

The SPEMEER gave notice, that Mcniday being the last day
for receiving the Repots, of Private Dins, he Intended to sit at
a quarter past three o'clock.
Mr. MONTAOUC, from the Office of dos Chamberlain of the
City of London, brought 'Up Accounts of the Duties paid monthly
to the Chamber on Coals and Wine, appacably to the Orphans'
Fund —Ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. V. FITZGERALD moved that the House should go into
a Committee of Ways and Means.
Mr. WHITBREAD wished to know if It was tit« intention of
the Chancellor uf the Eichequer to, bring on the Property Tu
Act before this motion with respect to the State of the Nation,
which stood for that night.
Mr. V. FtrzaERALD said, that his Taus would only h«
proposed by way of Resolution that night, and they might be dis-
cussed, when be should bring forward his general Estimates.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that, with
respect to the Property Tax. the discussion of it might be post
poard till a fuller attendance. At that time the Conunktee
might be gone into, winch would not occupy much time.
MI. WHITBREAD hoped that, when the Right Honourable
Gentleman recollected that his motion was intimately connected
with the Property l'ae, he would not press It then. If he did,
he would take the sears of the House on it. •

I HUH TIN ANC/S.
The House then went into a Coassnittee of Ways
and Means.

Mr V. FUZGERALD said he had to submit to

ackllOW e ged that considerable exertions were
necessary to be made by Ireland, in furnishing the
Supplies for the year, and to meet the exigencies of
the times. He was about to propose two measures
to the House for this purpose; the one was; to equa-
lize the Assessed Taxes in Ireland to those now paid
in Great Britain; and the other measure was to equa-
lize the duty on Malt in both countries. At the
Same time he gave notice, that he &Hill move to
extend the duties on the Distilleries in Ireland, in
proportion to the.quantity of wort in each of them.
The effect of the duty on Malt would be to raise the
price of brixr one halfpenny per pot. 'He was aware
of the objections to this duty; but it was necessary
for the exigencies of the Country. He then moved
a Resolution, that the Assessed Taxes in Ireland
should cease and determine.

Sir J. NEWPORT had always opposed the in-
crease of the Taxes in Ireland, because they tended
to increase that most mischievous evil of Absentees
among the Irish Gentry. Besides, there was the
Hearth Tax, which would make this Duty fall in-
finitely heavier on Ireland than on Great Britain.—
In all matters of taxation, after they arrived at a
certain point, they were sure by increasing the Taxes
to diminish rather than increase the product of them.
He thought, that in every point of view, the support,
of the Breweries in Ireland ought to be a- primary
object with those who wished to consult the moral,
benefit of that Country, by suppressing, if possible,
the use of ardent spirits among the people. And he
considered that laying an additional Duty on the
licensed Distilleries would prove injurious to the Re-
venue, by increasing the number of illicit Distilleries.
Mr. BANKES wished to know when the Right
Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Fitzgerald) meant to
lay before the Haase the -Estimate of the product of
those Taxes Which he proposed to raise in Ireland.—
He did not think there was any fear of a falillsgoff
from the Duty on Spirits, for it had increased daring
the last three years.
Sir J. NEWPORT said, the Honourable Gentle-
man (Mr. Bankes) was mistaken, for in 1807 the
Duty on Spirits was £1,256,000, which was a much
greater sum than any of the last three years.
Mr. V. FITZGERALD said, there was no great
branch of Irish Supply that had been left untouched,
except these branches of her revenue. Asia the pro-
duct of these Taxes, he could only form an estimate
of them from former Taxes ; but he should be. able
more correctly to inform the House when he should
bring forward his general Estimates. He condemn-
ed as much as any man the absentee system which
prevailed among the Irish Gentry; but he contended
chat these Taxes would not increase it. The Increase
of revenue from the Assessed Taxes he estimated,
according to the former rates, at 0280,000 per an-
num ; but he 'would only take it at 0200,900, en the
general Ways and Means of the year. The increase
on Malt he estimated at 4250,000; but in like man.
ner he would only take it at £5100,000, at as Increase
of 61. ad. per barrel. The revenue from the Distil-
leries was last year £1,500,000 ; but he could not
say what'would be the probable increase of it in con-
sequence of the measure which he had given notice
of Isis intention of submitting to the Hook

The „
R she esolution•was then agreed 'to, and the Re-.
port ordered to be. received On Monday.
Mr. V. FITZGERALD then Moved another 'Re.
solution, that the Duties on Malt in Ireland shOuld
cease and determine.
Sir .1. NEWPORT gave notice, that lie should
move to exempt theßoman Catholic -Clergy and
Fellows of Colleges from the Bachelor's Tax.
The Resolution was then agreed to also, and the
` Report was ordered to be received on Monday next.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER.
moved, that the House at its rising should adjourn,
till Monday. •
Mr. WHITBREAD thought that a very fit op-
portunity of knowing if it was the intention of alte
Chancellor of the Exchequer to press the Comtnittee
on the Income Tax before his motion. He viewed,
as he always had done, •the system of Notiies and
Orders alternately preceding each other, which was
inttedueed by Mr. lisocifih..in 110.4 as a mempre
!likely to cramp the freedom of discussion in that
House. He was aware that the Chancellor of the
'Exchequer wished to press the Property Tax through
a Committee that night ; but if he would let his
motim precede, he would have no ohjtction to it.—
For if his motion was not allowed to conic on then,
it might b.: too late on Monday to discuss the ques-
tion of Peace or War.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
said, this important Bill (the Properly T.,x) had
already been postponed for 13 days, but he hid no
objection to Nlr. Whitbread's motion preceding, pro-
vided the House would allow it to go through a
Rage that night after the lion. Gentleman's motion
should be disposed of; and let the discussion on it
stand over Lr another day.
Mr. BARIZAU, Mr. Serjeant Besr, and Mr. M. A.
TAYLOR, sefor.illy postponed notices-which stood for
that night till Monday, in order to make way for
Dlr. Whitbread's motion.
'The adj *mimetic till Monday was then agreed to.
The Report of the Copper llutiesßill was brought
up by Mr. 11110GDEN, and agreed to.
The Squth Sea Bill was read a second time, and
ordered to he committed on Monday next.
The other Motions were then postponed till
Monday.
WAR WITH FRANCE.
%e CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
rose to move the order of the day for the Committee
on the Pr;perty Tat, when
Mr. WHITBREAD put in bis claim for the pre-
cedence of the motion of which he had given notice.
Previous to Mr. Perceval's Resolutions, which were
now continued from year to year, notices had had
the precedence of orders, which had always given
may to motions of which by the courtesy of the
Horse notices had been given. If he had caught the
• *tic iiaz.ald have, ..turdore,
had a right to the precedence of his motion, and he
was now content to accept it from the Right Hon.
Gentleman as a courtesy.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
was unwilling the Bill should not pass through a
stage to-night, but if that could be done after the
Honourable Gentleman's motion, he was willing to
give way to the anxiety of the House to hear any
motion upon the important subject of which the
Honourabie Gentleman bad given notice.
This was at last agreed to, upon the question that
the House should at its rising adjourn to Monday,
which was also agreed to.
The other Orders of the day were then postponed
to Monday.
Mr. WHITBREAD then proceeded with his
notice.—lt was not only a question_ of the greatest
importance in itself, but it was important that it
should be brought forward at this time. It would
not be necessary to detain the House upon it, for the
question lay in the smallest possible compass, and it
would be for the House to decide whether they would
embark the country in a war, of which the duration
could not be foreseen, upon the narrow principle
which had been avowed as• the cause of it, and upon
which it would be for the House to determine whe-
ther they would consent to act, or whether they
would not take the opportunity of the documents
which, to the discredit of our negociators, had been
disclosed, to pray the Prince Regent to avert the
horrors of war from the country on such a narrow
ground as this. When this day three weeks an Ad-
dress was voted to the Prince in consequence of his
Message, did not every Member of the House under.
stand from the Noble Lord in the blue ribband, who
spoke upon the amendment which he had the honour
011 moving, that an alternative wassail left to us, and
that the die was not cast ; and that the Council of the
nation were still deliberating whether they should
avail themselves of the abstract right of the Allies to
make war, or whether it would not be more expe.
client to confine ourselves to repelling any hostile at-
tack either upon this country or that of those Allies ?
If any thing was to be collected from the Noble
Lord's speech, it was that; and he put it to many
Members of the House, whether, in voting as they
did against his amendment, they did it not upon an
express' understanding that such amendment was
unnecessary—that the Ministers had plighted their
faith that war was not then decid their
minds as the line of policy they
canary fee our safety ? The whi
which the Noble Lord chose to

ment. was, that it was a truism ,
abstract proposition, but a mgt.
praying that such mentors: might
be consistent with the honour of

faith to our Allies, to secure us ,
war. If the Noble Lord meant

was that it was unnesessary to
dress, for the Ministers would

What, then, was the surprise
they found that at the very moment
*ere deluding them with these
oat an Alternative as in their power,
Lord aad hie sollearies had decided

line of aggressive war, and that it did not depet4
upon them whether we were to have war or mice,
but on the Allies, to whoin specific pro Positions Ithd
been made, 'upon their answer to -which no alteina-
tive 'remained. If it had not been for a publica Lion
in the Vienna Gazette (one of those illicit, and -pre.
mature publications whose disclusurcs had destroyed
the fame of the Noble Lord in the blue iifltiand,
but had been of great benefit to this country},
he Might still 'go on endeavouring to avert the
present motion, when his line of conduct Vi'4!
tie-
'cided even before he uttered the words upon,which
the false expectations of Members were foended --
The Treaty of Vienna was signed on the 25th of
March et Vienna, was received by Ministers, and
brought down to the Houses and deliberated before
the Address was moved on the 7th. Oa the Sth an
answer was returned to Vienna, by which our Go..
vernrnent was precluded from further deliberetiun.
Ie cmse of the debate upon the declaration of
Ilie.l43th• of March. which was unhappily signed by
the Duke lA* Wellington (a measure for which it was
nopossible be could have had any authority). greAt
' pains were taken by the' Noble Lord to throw an
of discredit on the document, which was attenipte.t
to be explaineiraway by glosses which were- entirely
inadmissible ; for nothing could be more simple than
the declaration, the Vb hole of it tending to one par-,
titular point, and it was said by the Noble I.nrd
have been taken in a state of circtimi.t.inces not bind.
ing on the state of circumstances of tt.e 7th of Api,l.
The Treaty revived the declaration rei,2l red to it,
called all its horrors into activity, and the declaration
formed the basis of the agreement among the confe-
derated powers. It was new, therefore, for t:,:‘
Noble Lord to reconcile his words v ith thew t +cm
He knew by the Treaty cf Vienna of the 25:tt
March, that the declaration of the 12th forn:2l t!,e
basis of that proceeding ; he knew that Ministets tt'l-
yised the Prince Regent to ratify the Treaty, ref': r.
ring to the declaration ; and he knew that there would
be no alternative lett if the Allies abided by it, and
accepted the amount of our subsidy, the limits of
which Lord Clancarty had power to enhrgc, by
signing subsidiary engagements, to what extent Mi-
nisters declared it to be unconstitutional to divulge.
Thus was the question shortlj under the consideta.
tion of the House, and he should move that an hum-
ble address be presented to the Prince Regent, pray.
ing him to take such measures as wouhl be nccessai y
to prevent the country from bring involved in war
upon the ground of the executive authority in France
?ring invested in any particular person. Before the
restoration of the Bourbons, that was well known to
be the object of many advocates for the war, but they
never dared to avow it. Such an object was held to
be legitimate by Mr. Pitt; but it was never held to
be a tenable one in that instance, even by those who
wait attlenly ',Lifted f;-r the rie.noratien of the Emu-
boos. He then adverted to the Declaration of the
Prince Regent., that the 3cle Article t. the Treaty was
not to be understood as binding his Britannic Mad.
jesty to prosecute the war with a view of imposing;
upon France any particular form of government.
Certainly not : the Prince Regent had no right to do
it; such a thing was never asked from Pa:liamenc
by any government, and this was in tenderness to•
Louis XVIII. who Nall desired to be a party to it.
The Allies declared, that the restoration ot the House
of Bourbon was the direct object of the war. Great
Britain said no, and declared so for fear of mislead-
ing. It was not contending whether the executive
government of France should be imperial or r oyal ?
but when it came one step farther, it said to France,
44 True; but we won't interfere with the form of your
government, but one particular man shall nut he your
Ensperor." If the question were viewed ab.tractedly
was there any casuist so subtle, any politician so h 2.
wildered, as to take a distinction that we did not in.
terfere with the PM of a government, we only inta-
fered with the man whom the nation had elected to
the head of it ? Suppose the case your own ; sup-
pose at the time of our Revolution any nation had
presumed to say to us " you shan't have any man of
that family ;" and yet this was the very purpose for
which Ministers were wing to commit the country
in a war, which there was no man who did not ac-
knowledge that if it were not successful by a certain
time, it must be given up. An anathema against
Bonaparte was an anathema against millions of
people, and the Declaration of the Allies had dis.
gusted every independent man in the nation, and
caused him to feel shame that the hand of the Duke
di Wellington was subscribed to it. It preached up
the doctrine of assassination in so many words ; it
declared Bonaparte to be out of the pale of civil so-
ciety, had rendered himself liable to public ven-
geance, and had destroyed the caly legal title on
which his existence depended. What was this bat
saying, for him there is no law, no protection;
for you who may choose to take his life, you may
plunge a sword through his body with impunity, in.
asmuch as be is the disturber of the repose of man-
kind ; and therefore you need not fear p7inishrn: nr,
but will entitle yourself to the thanks of maratini.l ?
Under this declaration, would not any man be !Intl.
fled in bringing him to immediate execution without
the form of a trial ? The present afforded us an in.
fr the fi time the history of the wrrld,

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decided upon in their stance, for the first time in the history of the wrrid,
they should adopt as ne- of a war against one man ; for what was Bon-yam:a
e whimsical. description power unless supported by the people of France ?
to give of his amend- The tint article of the Treaty of Vienna pledged the
im ; it was, however, no Allies to nuke tlie resources of their respective States
request to the Regent, against the designs of Bonaparte, and the whole was
night be taken as would written in the spirit of murder and assassination cf
rof the country, and its the Declaration of March IS. It pledged the Allies to
us peace in preference to the sf union of all their efforts against Aim, and against
tans any thing by this, it all who have already joined his faction, sr should kn..
to resolve such an Ad. off join it, in order to force him to desist from his
uld of coarse advise it. projects, and to render him unable to disturb in fu-
n of the House, when cure the tranquillity of Europe and the general peace,
moment when Ministers under the protection of which the rights, liberty, and
use hopes. and holding independence of nodose had bees tecently placed
it power, that the Noble and secured.* He ogled the attestant of the House
decided upon fAking the. to the eritiatitel Mows of the bluer pan of slue
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