Star.
London, England, 1817-02-14 00:00:00

PUBLIC ZINTSPI4 .

Mr. BROUGHAM gave nittice of his intention to
submit s motion on the distressed state of the Trade
and commerce of the Country on the 4th March next.
WARRINGTON PETITIOZt.

Mr: WILBRA HAM 800 rLE reminded • the I
House that some nights past a Petition was presented
by an Honourable and Learned Gentleman (Mr.
Brougham), complaining of an obstruction to chat
,right of public exptnsion, by certain persons in War-
rington, Lancashire. The parties complained of,
namely, Mr. Edward Lyon and his uncle, deny all
partipipation in the alleged abuse. ,He held in his
hand a Petition from Mr. Edward Lyon, which
alleged that on the 25th of January last ,he beard a
great uproar, and *bus and cry of « Stop thief," in
the street, adjoining his uncle's residence; that he
felt it his duty, as a Special Constable, to proceed to
the spot; that he there discovered a man of the name
of Borough, whom he previously knew to be of ho-
nest character, in custody of two individuals, on the
charge of stealing a Petition in favour of Parliamen-
tary Reform—that Borough declared that the Peti-
tion was taken in joke, on which be.liberated him,
with the understanding of his being ready to appear
when duly summoned before the competent Autho-
rity. The Petitioner alleged that his uncle, the
acting bligistrate on whose interference a stress had
been *ad, laboured under a paralytic infirmity for
some ears past.
Mr. BROUGHAM observed, that no further
stress was laid on the case of the senior Mr. Lyon,
save that the Petition was carried to his house. he
being the Magistrate that application was made to
have the Petition returned, but was not complied
with. When he presented the former Petition he
distinctly stated, that he wished to give the parties
implicated the opportunity of stating their justifica-
tion. That power was afforded them by the persons
who felt it a daty to complain of the obatroction.—
He bad since learnt that the uncle bad been confined
for years under a distressing infirmity.
Mr. WILBRAHAM BOOTLE, is explanation,
stated the reason why be bad used. the word stress
was, that the Learned Gentleman (Mr. Brougham)
in presenting the former Petition, had desired the
House to bear in remembrance, that the Petition said
to be taken was conveyed to the home of the Ma•
gisttate. The fact was, that an obscufe individual
had carried it off by the way of
.joke.
On the Motion that the Petition do lie on the table.

Mr. BROUGHAM, although he was glad that
an opportunity had been offered to this Gentleman
thus to come before the House, contended that the
attack contained in his Petition on the parties by
whom the complaint of his conduct had originally
bees made, was by ne meats. justified.. The Gentle-
man, it seems, was afraid of giving back the pro-
perty which had been run away wigs. had no
doubt been nicer on this subject than in a case ot or-
dinary property I and yet the Petition wain property
of greater value at that period thai ordinary pro-
perty, as it was of no value taxless immediately re-
turned. He appealed to all who bad heard the ori-
ginal Petition. whether there was any thing in the
conduct of those Petitioners that justified the epithets
of " vile, malignant, base. unfounded, and false."
which had been applied wit by the present Petitioner.
Lord'STANLEY, not having been present when
this subject was brought Wore the House the other
evens& wished to say a fairy words upon it. He

had thought it his duty to inquire into the circutts-
•stances of the transaction, and the character of the
Gentleman who had been implicated in it; and it
was but due to that Gentleman to state, that every
thing which be had heard of his character was highly
honourable to him. Whether or not, in the present
instance, he had maintained that character, lie was
rather inclined to doubt. Certainly he had had
nothing to do with the transaction until he heard the
cry of " Stop Thief!" He then'raa into the street,
and seeing in custody a man whom he knew to be a
perfectly honest and industrious nem, he took him
into his house, when the man immediately told him
what had happened, and gave the Petition into his
hands. So far all was retest ; but he ( Lord Stan-
ley) did not think Mr. Lyon justified in with-
holding the Petition from those from whom it
had been takes, and retaining it in his possession. As
those -persons had followed the party into the room,
it would appear that the natural course for Mr. Lyoa
to have taken was to return the Petition to them im-
mediately. This, however, lie omitted to do. He
concurred with his Honourable and Learned Friend,
that the Petition became of no value unless returned
at the moment. Looking, therefore, at all the cir-
cumstances of the case, he certainly thought the con-
duct of this Gentleman had been injudicious and im-
proper. He would not apply to it any stronger terms
of disapprobation, because he was persuaded that it
arose solely from an error of judgment.
Mr. W. BOOTLE allowed that Mr. Lyon had rot
exercised a spend judgment in the affair, but denied
that any other' imputation whatever eon id rest on him.
Mr. WYNN censured Mr. Lynn's conduct asinja-
dicious and improper. What w is the duty of a consta-
ble under such circumstaffees ? Had he considered the
act a theft, he ought to have taken the thief and the
property before a Magistrate. Had he considered it a
joke, he ought to have returned the property to its •
owners. The Petitioner, however, did not say a
single word of having returned, or of intending to
return, to the owners the Petition which had been
carried off. In fact, the very tone of his address to
the House was censurable, for it was not a tone of
contrition, as it ought to have been, but of justifica-
tion exclusively.
Sir F. BURDETT askeeilwhether or not the Pe.
tition which had been run away with had been given
back to the owners ?

Mr. W. BOOTLE implied, that he knew nothing
further of the business than was.comprehended in the
statement made by the Petitioner. The object of the
Petition was to shew that he had no intention or dis.
position to deprive any of his Majesty's subjects of any
part of their privileges.
Sir C. MONCK observed, that there appeared to
be a determination on the part of the Petitioner • to
continue that detention, which. whether a joke or
otherwise, was, an unwarrantable act.
Mr. W. BOOTLE contended, that there was no
settled plan on the part of the Petitioner to raid in the
proceeding which had occurred. The prayer of the
Petition was simply that the House would disiniis from
their minds the prejudice on that score, which the for-
mer Petition was calculated to excite.
The Petition was then ordered to lie on the table.
COURT OF MO% BENCH.
Mr. CASBE RD rose, in consequence of his Aotiee,
to move for leave to bring in a Bill to facilitate the
'progress of business in the Court of King's Beach,
in Westminster Hall. The present means of tran-
sacting the particular business to which his Notion
referred, were wholly insufficient. Redress of Ore
evil could be obtained only by adopting one of two
courses; either by an internal arrangement in the
Court itself, or by a different distribution of tl.e bu-
siness. The rift of b#tiness transacted in the Court
might be considered in one IA two points of view :
cisher as formal, or as substantial. A priori. it would
appear, that the formal business ought to be made to
yield to the substantial. The reverse, however, hap-
pened to be the case. The adding and justification
of bail, as a matter of necessity, must precede every
other business. The accumulation of this business
delayed the other proceedings of the Cqprt. Without
going out of his way to bestow a panegyric on the
Learned Judges of that Court, for their anxiety to
do all in their power to facilitate the business of the
Court, he would say, that they had done every
thing they could to semedy this particular evil.--
They had allotted a period out of the vacation, in
order to bring up the arrears of the preceding term.
This, however, proved an inadequate and an ineor-
venieat proceeding. Inconvenient, as it required the
attendance of persons who at that time were wanted.
elsewhere—inadequate, as no judgment could be
given until the ensuing term. • Some more efficient
remedy was therefore desirable; and that .which he
wished to propose, appeared to him to be both simple,
and unobjectionable. He-proposed, that it should be
made competent to one of the Judges of that Court
to sit apart for the purpose of receiving justifications
of bail ; and that during theiotervaiiin which he was
so engaged, it should. be competent to the other
Judges of the Court to sit-in banes), and proceed as.
usual. At present, it was true that one Judge sat in
the Court to receive justifications of bail,but he was.
considered by thelaw as the representative of the whole
Court ; and although the other three Judges came
down to Westminster Hall, they remained During that
period in their own room in inactivity arid suspense.—..
He was cot one of those who thought that the Le.
gislature ought to be called on :u tnieriere• on trifling
occasions. But this was a serious evil. It was oue
too which was rapidly increasing. rn:the last twenty
years, the justifications of bsil had increased three.
fold in number. In 1795 they were only 700 ; in
the last year they amounted to between two and three,
thousand ; and were alteratop.tO be made in the
Insolvent Act, that number, would in all probability;
be still further augmented. • It• was. therefore a seri-
ous and a permanent evill loudly calling for a legit- •
tatige remedy. The Honourable and Learned Gen.
tleman concluded by •moving for leave to bring in a
Bill, &c.
Mr. LOCKHART allowed the magnitude of the
evil which had been described by • the Honourable
and Learned Gentleman. He doubted, however,
whether it was advisable to snake the decisi.ins of the
Court of King's. Bench legal,. when only three of the
Judges were sitting. Our ancestors had felt the
im-
portance and value of ordaining that there should be
tour Judges in every one of the three Courts of Law.
In his opinion; the appointment of a Commissioner
would be the preferable mode ; and the expense of
such Au. appoinuneut could not by any means be

weighed in the scale with the benefits that would be
derived from leaving all the four Judges on the Bench.
Leave was then granted to bring in the Bill.
Mr. MAURICE FITZGERALD gave notice,
that he 'would to morrow move for an Account of
the amount of the Salt Duties in Ireland.
Mr.,IIROUGHAM stated that the Acts of the
29.. h and 40th of the King, chap..sl,, sect. 16, re.
quired certain periodical returns from public ac-
countants which had not for some time been made.
He therefore moved that those aconunts should be
laid before the House from the priod when they
were last presented, according to the provisions of
the Act, and with, the other particulars therein di-
rected and specificd.
Mr. NV YNN said, that his Honourable and Learned
Friend had better call on the public officers in ques-
tion to know why they had not complied with the
provisicns of the Act ? and not order that to be laid
bef.-,rt! the House which had been already ordered
by Act of Pariiameat. •
The SPEAKER observed, that either course
would be effective. He was not aware that the ex-
istence of the Act debarred the House from adopting
11:e proposition made by the Honourable and Learned
Go)

Mr. BROUGHAM professed himself indifferent
as to which course was pursued, so that the object
was obtained. He by no means imputed any blame
to the Oil cets. by whom the- returns bad not been
made, for there were so many things 'required of
them in various Acts of Parliament, that some might
easily escape, their attention.
The SPEAKER declared it to be the practice of
the House to hold that the provisions of Acts of
Parliament should be carried into effect without wait-
ing for its interference to enforce lhem. On reflec-
tion, therefore, 'he thought it might be as well for the
Honourable and Learned Gentleman to content him-
self with giving notice of. his motion ; and then,
should the Aet continue to be disobeyed, an order
might be made for the production of the Returns
forthwith.

Mr. BROUGHAM instantly withdrew his motion,
and proceeded to ask the Honourable Secretary op.
posite when. the Returns would be made respecting
the Dots of Admiralty, for which he had moved a
fortnight ago ?
Mr. LUSHINGTON replied, that orders had
been transmitted for their immediate preparation.
Tbe Malta Trade Bill, and the Exchequer Bills
Bill, went through Committees, the Reports of which
Wire ordered to be received to-morrow. Adjourned.