Star.
London, England, 1819-07-13 00:00:00

SCOTCH BURGHS.

Lord ARCHIBALD HAMILTON brought up the
Report of the Committee on the Royal Burghs of Scot-

nd.—On the question that the same, be printed,

Mr. W. KEITH DOUGLAS said that he thought
it was extremely desirable that the printing of. this
Report should be deferred till the next Session of
Parliament, upon an understanding that the subject
would then be taken into its immediate consideration.'
If the Noble Lord could bring himself-to agree with
what he (Mr. Douglas) understood to be the wishes;
of his Majesty's Ministers on this subject, he could,
only say, that from the hurried and vague manner in
which the evidence given before them had been taken,
it would be much more satisfactory to himself, and
he might add, to other Members of that Committee.
Mr. KENNEDY thought .ffieScourse.proposed by.
Ws Honourable Friend was most 'extraordinary,: The
;Mention of .the whole country had been directed,
'with extreme interest to the labours of chit Commit':
tee. The evidence was taken (notwithstanding, the
objections op this particular, urged by his Honour'
able Friend) in the most candid, fair, and impartial.
manner. Besides, no sufficient ground.had been as-
signed why the Public should ,not have the benefit
of immediate and unreserved publicity upon all the
details of this subject, as usual in such cases. , He
did not wish to enter into any man's motives, and
therefore refrained from imputing any. The case of
the City of Edinburgh was the most material of all
those mentioned in the Report. Now, one of the
questions put to its Chief Magistrate was, what he
thought of the financial state of the City ? The an-
swer, which he well remembered, was, " Oh ! very
good ; decidedly favourable." Now, Petitions had
been presented to the House, containing strong alle-
gations against the conduct of the Magistrates.—
Now, if the Chief Magistrate and the Petitioners
were so much at variance on so important a topic,
surely it was fit that immediate publication of the
evidence should take place. When this discussion
first took place, it was found that it might cause the
agitation of a dangerous question
. in that part of the
country—namely, Parliamentary Reform. But, on
the contrary, if this evidence were examined from
beginning to end, there would not be found the
slightest intimation, as applying to that questions:
proceeding from any one of tLe witnesses. Therefore
he, for one, should certainly support the original.
.:notion for the printing of these papers.
Mr. KEITH DOUGLAS, in reply, observed, that
it was not his intention to move any Amendment to
the Motion, but merely to suggest the Other course
to the Noble Lord.
Lord ARCHIBALD HAMILTON rose todeclare
that neither as an idividual, nor as Chairman of the
Committee, could he feel himself justified in acced-

ing to the suggestions of the Honourable Gentleman
opposite.
Mr. HUME thought the adoption of such a course
would be quite improper.
Mr. KEITH DOUGLAS was proceeding to ad-
dress the House, when
- The SPEAKER spoke to order.
Lord BINNING, wishing to give his Honourable
Friend an opportunity of expressing his sentiments
More fully upon the question, moved as an amend-
ment,
" that this House will take the Report into
further consideration early in the ensuing 'Session."
Mr. K. DOUGLAS, observing that he luad lately
stood singleln his opinions in this
•Committee, -con-
tended, that ft would be highly improper to allow
the Report tit go abroad without some explanation,
at this adirarked period of the Session, and when so
many. Members, who were greatly interested in the
qiestion„ and would have been disposed to examine
it with the neatest assiduity, were out of town.—
The Cornmeitee met, for the first time, to go into
e_ii Ice, uga the 31st of May last, and sinetthat
thMt had teen quite impossible to examine fully
Into the allegations of die Petitions. And they
themselves stated, in the commencement of their
Report, that they were not yet able to present a full
• answer to the Petitions ; but that they had offered a
ground which would be found extremely convenient
for future proceedings next Session. But they had,
at the same time, gone into the most, important of
all the allegations, as to the alledged system of self-
election prevailing in the Scotch Burghs ; and had
divided their observations upon that point into seven
,different heads. The Committee, he must say, met
too at hours which were extremely inconvenient ; for,
ling at nine in the morning, they frequently sat
• five, six, and even seven in the evening. An
lie
nourable Friend, he had no doubt from a feeling
Of-conviction of its being quite proper, often inter-
fered in the Committee, and told the witnesses .that
they Must not consume the Committee's time by en-
tering into long explanations, by way of extenuation.
lAlluding to the charge brought against the. Magi-
strates for lavish expenditure of the public money,
and the allegation contained in some of the Petitip.ns,
that the Finances of Edinburgh were in a bankrupt
sta4, the Honourable Gentleman observed, that he
did not think the case to be by any means fully made
nut, so as to justify its appearing in the.. Report—
. there were many creditors in Edinburgh, who
skiuld naturally, upon publication of such averments,
Linrperience the, greatest alarm and agitation.
Mr. ABERCROMBY confessed it did appear to
bim that the Honourable Gentleman had pursued a
beliurse, certainly not out of order ; for if it had been,
Fate House would not have suffered him to proceed
so long—( Hear, hear) ;--but one- most incenve-
tient and unusual ; and one that, if adopted, would
lead to the most unpleasant consequences, Now,
what was it that the Honourable Gentleman pur-
posed' to do ? Why, to discredit the proceedings of
a -Committee appointed by the House, with the
House. The object of the motion which had now
been pun into the hands of the Speaker was, in fact,
to chew that that Committee had done every thing
which was wrong, abomina'ole,. and iniquitous.—
Now, what the Honourable Gentleman had said, as
to the alarm likely to be excited by the publication
of-this Report, in regard to the state of Edinburgh,
Was itself infinitely more alarming than any thing
coetained.in the Report. He wished, apparently, to
revive a discussion which he had maintained with
great pertinacity—and, no doubt, with great ability
in the Committee up stairs. He (Mr. Abercromby)
trusted, that there was not one single individual
who beard him, who would support this singular
measure. One reason in support of it, assigned by
the Honourable Gentleman,. was not less extraordi-
nary. He had said that the Committee had exerted
itself with a degree of assiduity and application Which
hardly any Committee bad .ever done before. It was
unnecessary to remind- the Honourable Gentleman,
that in. filo persons of consequence and high in office,
the principal. Magistrates of Edinburgh, had been
cited begirt thetommittee, in order to be' examined.
.41.nclrwhat did he charge the Committee with, then?
..
,liiThst, that they were so anxious for the speedy re-
two of these persons, which they conceived to be a
matter essential to the public good, that they met as
1 early, Ind dismissed them as soon as possible. The
Honourable Gentleman talked of Many Honourable
Members being out of town, who would have beep
Lprepared to deal with this question with zeal, inte-
riest, and assiduity. Now, what did these zealous,
I assiduous, interested Gentlemen do? Why, they re-
Fired, before the labours of the Committee had at-1
pined their final conclusion, 'to their country-seats—
(4 laugh).—The Honourable Gentleman, too, who
talked of the delicacy which should have been ob-
served in regard to the ease of Edinburgh, had fol-
lowed a course rather opposed to that suit of feeling,
inasmuch as it was most unprecedented. The ho-
nourable and Learned Gentleman concluded by sup-
porting ng the original motion.
Mr. PETER MOORE wished to have the benefit
reading the evidence during the recess, so that
e might come perfectly prepared to speak to this'
subject next Session.
Sir RONALD FERGUSON bore testimony to
the great exertions, constant application, and inva-
, liable impartiality. of the Committee. One more
' eminent for these qtialitlcations had certainly neKer
sat. The Honourable Gentleman. had opposed a
part of their proceedings upstairs, and 'then 'came
down to the House to vilifs, asperse, and .discredit
their labours. .
The-CHANCELLOR of the FACHEQUZR Abed,
.
to suggest. to his Hon. Friend (Mr. K. Dueiglasl, that
the course he was purseing \ya.t. Unprecedented--;
When a Committee had once gone on to. make-its
report, it was not usual to oppose the printing of it.,
Unless the Honourable G nr entlean had a strong fea-
son for doing so, he thought he would not be jesti7
fled in proceeding further. The proceedings ct Par-
liament had been so invariable and uninteiriipn.:d un

Mr. SINCLAIR thought it his duty to state, that
its the course of his attendance on this Committee,
he never saw any, the slightest, symptom of that
injustice and precipitation chimed against it; butt
on the 'ontrary, that the Noble Chairman (as every
other Member of it indeed did) conducted himself
on al/ occasions with dignified patient impartiality.
Lord ARCHIBALD HAMILTON thought the
Hon. Members who had served upon the Committee,
and who were now present, as capable of forming
a correct judgment on the subject, as any of thlise
whose absence had been referred to, and whose au-
thority the Noble Lord had cited as the groundwork
of his observations. It was quite erroneous to
.sup-
pose that the evidence had beer. taken in a hurried
manner, or that any person had been examined with-
out being. allowed the fullest means of explanation
or correction. The Lold Provost, indeed, had not
yielded to the wishes of the Committee with that
promptitude which might have been exsiected, nor
given that facility to its inquiries which it was in his
power to bestow. It would not haVe'been necesrary •
for so many witnesses to attend, had not the 'Lord
Provost refused to communicate the accounts that'
were in his possession, as well as to attend personally
at the desire of the Committee. They were thus re-
duced to the 'alternative of either summoning wit-
nesses, or of entirely abandoning the investigation..
The proceedings of the Cammitteelad been much
misrepresenteJ, and he hoped that its other Members°
would be in their places whenever similar animad-
versions should be repeated. '
Lord BINNING shortly explained, and contended
that he had been guilty of "rto misrepresentation.
The question, that the Report should be printed,
was then put, and carried in the affirmative.