Star.
London, England, 1828-07-04 00:00:00

the snpply of ships, not abtolutely prepared for war,
Hwas concerned, he W 49 Mined to relax the present
1:4*., lort he pinaiple upon which that law Wit framed
• he entrreli aikveod. 5'..
. Sit; iftIViLSON agreed with the principle advocated
by the ltight.Hon. Member far Liverpool. It was ab-
solutely necessary that the Crown should have the
power of preventing person% from drilling and preparing
regiments in this country for foreign Powers. But.the.
present law gave that pother to an informer. It made
An informer a colleague of—nay more, a power inde-
pendent of the Crown. When the Bill was introduced,
the late Mr. Canning stated that it was undertaken by
the desire of the King of Spain, and he (Sir R. Wilson)
maintained, that the conduct of 'Spain, with reference
to Portugal, was in itself sufficient to•cail for the repeal
of Vie law, and to show that it ought to be considered
as nothing but a temporary measure. The law was not
an international one; it was maintained only by our-
selves. The Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Pe-1) had
done himself great credit by repealing the Alien Bill,
and he trusted that he would so 'modify the Foreign
Enlistment Act as to render it harmle,s to British
interests.

Mr.C.'PALLMER explained the motives which had'
induced him not to bring lorwaid the subject. Ile
had never intended to presume to bring forward the
whole of the subject. Ir was one of too much import-
ance for him to pretend to handle; and he had never
contemplated bringing m• re than one branch of it un-
der consideration. Cu conistances in the first instance
occasioned lym to delay his motion ; he then found that
many expected the whole subject Was to be brought
under review, and to that ta%lc he did not feel himself
equal, especially as, in his opinion, the peculiar State of
our foreign relations added greatly to the difficulties
inherent in the qu'-stion itself. He had therefore 'con-
sulted with sonic-Honourable Gentlemen, on whose opi•
irions-he placed great reliance ; and-the result was, that
he deemed it advisable tei postpone his Minion till next
Session. Be should, lviveever, be rriost•happy to see
the whole subject' brought-'for ward -at a proper time,
and .he t, usted hiS Majesty's Government would--tike
it into tlitir hand,. •

Mr. Secretary PEEL thought it would be Veit ints-.-
pedient, for him to give any paiitive'pledgetas to what
were the viears:or intentions of -his .Majekty'vOiltern-
.ment-opon the siibject.. He had, IsOweref,'"OhYrit'
:.sufficient attent;on to be able to say, that he thvici•
much from the view -*taken by the Hon. Aletisliei for
CallingtOn. With reference to what had fallealrotti
the Hon. MeMbei for Soutliwailr, he felt convinced that'
on further investigation the Han. Gentleman would be
inclined to modify- greatly his present proposition. It
was necessary there Should he in the Crown a pciwei of
restricting its subject, horn entering into the service of
foreign powers. Suppose; for instance, British subject's
had been in the command of Ttirkish or'Egyptiari stlirs
at the action of Navarin, how dangerous Might.have
been the consequences•?. Toe same 'sort of consideration
would apply tathe.building of ships for the service 'of
foreign. countries. It Was not 'necessary for:hith to say.
what restriction's should-he imposed, bat he was satis-
fied that many powerful restrictions ought to be pos-
sessed on the part of the Croivh.• Ships for parely
commercial' utpoies might now be' built for foreign
countries withont any license.
Mr. C. P. THOMSON stared, that eighteen months'
ago a largeiorder tame froni. Egypt for arms, a hich the
agents, from thestate of the law, had manufactured in.
France, although they could be had cheaper here, and'
thus one manafactuleis were deprived of a considerable
advantage. As.en-klie-organient with respeCt to ship.
png,thequestion:Wasi avirethei we ought m,t -to be
allowed to furnish and derive profit from what we could
not prevent from beifig•Filorarled in other countries? and
he believed tharit ive. did so, we 'should' have much
greater poiwei•tdsp•revihritijory to °Wares -than we'
had- at.present. • - • • • •
Mr. BARINO, in explanation, said that he wished

the law to stand as tt did before the pais'ng of 0;4 Act*;
And at-all events wtiuld consider ft a point gained if the
Hight Hon. Gentlieriiin would -considr • befose- theoeit
Session-, the prOprieTy of vesting the---poweri 'tinder the
Act in the Crovrtralone.

• te;

Mr:WYNN did. not Irish .rto use harsh lanktrage, but
he considered that the inclividttal who went into a fo-
reign military service enerelyrfere •the- purpose of em-
ployment, without being •actuated by any generous
motive, was nothing better thaira• hireling murderer.
It.tyasAttrite .ertuopOUti to soppose that, previous to the
Ntistence of the present Act, there was no power to
reAtratip 4 British subject. from entering into the -mili-
tary sepice of a foreign country. The contrary was
tfw fact, If he looked _back t i history he found no
greater curse than those bands who went about offering
theniselves in. war to the service of that country which
gave them the highest pay. •
.a Sir R. WILgON said, that he was not surgrised at
. •
.the zeal of the Right Hon. Gentleman upon this subject,
because he. believed hint to have been an agent to the
King of Spain. in having the Bill passel
Mr.y..wyNN.me to order) and said, that if this
were intended as a joke, it. was but a bad and miserable
attempt at one. At the same time he must sayi that the
Charge thus brought against a Member of Parliament
was a foul and libellous one, and he called on the [louse
for its protection... •
• Sir R. WILSON said, that if the Right Honourable
Gentleman had been in the House when he spoke, lie
would have heard him say, that it was stated as a fact
by a Minister of the Crown (Mr. Canning), that the Bill
was passed by the desire of the King of Spain; and he
(Sir R. Wilson) considered all who acted in conformity
with that desire as agents of the King of Spain. He
had also said, that it was discreditable and disgraceful
to permit such a law to remaut, and even more just on
the part,of the King of Spain-than of us; but he would
now say that the Right Honourable Ger.tleman had
supported that Bill,, and be believed did so from • the
spirit that ever animated histvrty—that of hostili:y to
liberty. .
, The Sr.RAKER said, the House would see, as well
as the Honourable-Gentleman himself, that he had at
the,outset:reiracted rbe disorderly expression .he had
made use of. He (the Speaker) understood the Hon.
Gentleman to say, on his recollection, that arelio.Azer of
the Crown stated this. measure to have been passed at
the request of, and from-that he inferred an agency to,.
the Prig of Spain. What the Honourable Gentleman
called agency-was the act of the British nation ; and he
should, therefore, recollect that the whole State was the
agent. Therefore he. would see that he was not borne
out by his own argument ; neither •was his statement
such as could be borne out. • • -
. Sir It. WlLSON'howed with submission to thejudg-
silent of the Chair. 1:30.t it -was
.Very extfacitclidarY for
the Right Honourable Gentleman to be so exceptions
ras to language, after the' pithets he had made-use of
himself. Hi had called those4hO fought in the service
'of other' countries " hireling assasssiqi," and he (Sir It.
Wilson)
.would tonfeti to' the House, that that expres-
sion 611 exOtici 'lnd; as it appeared,
carried' fitrrittiohlt ate buthicis of•decorum.• He had
4 'Oft hitiselfbinnd to rtltd lE hiiniviihotiotiriand what
7, • . • . .