Star.
London, England, 1819-06-11 00:00:00

GAOL DELIVERT.

Mr. WESTERN, in rising to call the attention of
the House to a Motion of which he had already given
notice, said that it was not his intention to trespass
longer on the indulgence of the House than he could
possibly avoid. The object he had in view was, that
an humble Address be presented to the Prince Re-
gent, praying that he would be pleased to direct a
more frequent Gaol Delivery. It was one of the
soundest maxims of our system of jurisprudence,
that every man was presumed to be innocent till his,
guilt was proved before a Jury of his countrymen ;
and he (Mr. Western) was therefore of opinion that
no avoidable time should be lost in bringing persons
accused-to trial. He knew it was a delicate matter
to propose any alteration in the existing system of,
Criminal Law ; yet the proposition he had to submit'
appeared to him to he called fbr by the urgent cir-
cumstances of the case. The Honourable Member
then entered into a minute detail of the several Sta- '
totes enjoining a frequent Gaol Delivery, and quoted
the opinion of Lord Coke on the subject. He con-
tended, that the present crowded state of .the Gaols
throughout the country rendered the proposed mea-
sure necessary ; and observed, that he had searched
among the Records in the Crown Office for various
precedents with reference to the question. Ile then
stated numerous cases of long imprisonment before
trial ; and dwelt particularly on .the hardships to
which persons acquitted had been subject. The next
subject he adverted to was the insufficiency of the
Gaols for the reception of the-crowds of Prisoners
who were placed together without any regard to clas-
sification or good order. The Honourable.Gentle-
man concluded with moving, that an Address (which,
he read) should be presented to his Royal Highness
the Prince Regent, the purport of which was, that
imprisonments had considerably increased in England
and Wales, since a Return had been, made on the
subject, which his Royal Highness was graciously
pleased to order to have laid before him; and pray-
ing.that he would be graciously pleased to order a
more frequent Gaol Delivery, agreeably to the law
of the ,land, and particularly to: the Statute -of the
4th of Edward- HI. chap. 2, enjoining a Delivery' of
the Gaols three times a year, and oftener, if neces-
sary; and thatihe nation would defray any. additio-
-nal,expenie that shouldle,incurred by the proposed
!TIMMY: : .*: •
The-ATTORNEY-GENERAL rose to object to
the Motion. 'The substabce of the Honourable and
Learned Qtyntlemaa's oppiisiiiert. to, the Motion Was

founded upon the aroment, that, accnriling t
present constitution of the Courts of Jactice,
were no means of carrying into effect more lo:qt..
Commissions of Gaol Deliveries than at prestia,
the time of the twelve Judges w.,; completvly
gaged in the great variety of legal 1,1,,ine.%
already occupied their attention. The
and Learned Gentleman then stated the
Gaol Deliveries, which, by the 4th of Li' I
.were ordered to be held three times a yeai
of Assize, and also the origin of Jtistic,. t.
Peace, who had been ordered in the rein ea i;d•A,
the Third, to facilitate the basine.. of

of' ( Delivery, by holding Sessions
the year. The 1101unit:ile and Learned I
then stated, that he knew of no plan by
purport of the Addro..., as f.lr as it regarded
Deliveries being carried into effect, uniess
Quarter Sessions l/eirg increased yearly from
eight, and being held by a ljonrnmer.t, or by •

pointment of an additional number of Judg,
land. It was impossible that, undcr the pa.?
teni of the Law Court,., Commis';oils of Ga'
very should be more fieopient than va ice a :.

was plainly proved by v,bat took place, whcn.
extraordinary exigencies, wllat v:ele called

issued—as on such occasions the:
of regular justice was of neces.ity

. .
I lonourable and Learned Member concluded by r
ing the previous question.
Mr. KENNET I' considered the evil corm' •.:.2
by his Honourable Friend a.: one of the ut,, •
portance. Ile could not on this occaSion
adverting in particular to the situation of f e
Northern Counties, where he personally •

stance in which an individual was confined e
months and a half on a charge of murder,
liberated, the Grand Jury thrnixiag wit the II::
trusted, if his Majesty's Government took no s:c;)
this important subject, his Honourable Ftiend
at an early period of the next (2,-sin rttov- f.
Committee to inquire into the suhiect, that :t.e
plc of England might in future have what thc•;
present had not, a regular administration of .
that criminals might speedily meet puniihrne:l
the innocent be as speedily declared so.
Mr. BATHt.msT thou, ht the ILinourable

tleman had gone out of the way on this occasion t:
an argument. The Northern Counties had Only o:
Assize in a year, yet the Honourable Gentleman ha
drawn them into his argument, to shew that mo
than two Assizes were necessary in other Countie
The Hight Honourable Gentleman opposed the M.
tion on the same grounds as those taken by the

torney-General.
Sir E. KNATcr !num, wished the 'Motion wntr
now be withdrawn till nest Session, to afford tin.

for inquiry.
Mr. WESTERN replied, when the Motion w
negatived, and the.previous question adopted wit...
out a division.

COLONIAL ESTABLISHMENTS.

MP. lIUME rose to n:ove the production of an r.
timate of the expenses of our new colonies of Ceyh
and the Mauritius. It was impossible for the How!.
in the way the present expenditure for these colon.
was conducted, to know what they really cost
country, as the accounts were only returned once
two or three years, and so mixed up that it was ir..
possible to separate items of account. It way, the?. •
fore, highly necessary that this subject sl:c
fairly sifted to the bottom, in order to establish Fcrr.•
thing like a system of retrenchment and economy.--
From documents on the table, the expense of t.t
troops in Ceylon, the Mauritius, the Cape of Gc.l
Hope, Malta, and the lonian Islands, amounted
one-third of all our expenses for troops from host.
serviae, and therefore he thought these colonies oug
to bear their own expenses. contended that the .!
was no risk to our Eastern Colonies from any Pm.
whatever. The saving on the Staff of these Colonit
and the money to be saved by their being obliged
suppart their own expenses, would amount, accordii
to his calculation, to £900,000. The annual amou
raised from these Colon:es was nearly I:2,300,00('.
and therefore, with all his confidence in the Nob..
Lord at the head of the Colonial Department,
could not consent to so Etrge a revenue being man.-
ged without the knowledge of the British Colonial
Legislatures. He had reason to believe that Ceyl,'.
and the Cape of Good Hope, paid large sums tot.-
Dutch ; and though he had not sufficiently accur...
information as to the Mauritius, yet he believed II:
it, as well as the other Colonies, were capable •
maintaining all the troops necessary for their intr.•
nal security or external defence. If Governme.:
would take pains to cultivate the good opinion of t
people of Ceylon, they would be able to take ofl
great deal of the military expense, and would :c
conferring the greatest benefit to the people of th...
valuable Colony. If such a system had been adept,.:
five years ago, a waste of British treasure and blo
would have been saved, to an extent whi:h the Hor.
could have no conception of. He then moved for
total Amount of the Revenue raised in these Colon .
for the last Two Yeam; the total Amount of the L •
pence of Ceylon for the same period ; a Return
Civil Officers Salaries for the last Year ; and an A •
count of the Military Staff Officers for the same f'•
riod in the same Island. lie had similar motions
make respecting the Mauritius, the Cape of Go,
Hope, Malta, and the lonian Islands.
Mr. GOULBOURN bad before informed the 11.-
_

pourable Gentleman, that he had no disposition;
resist the motion, and should therefore reserve what
had to say on the subject till a future period ; pled.
ing himself to prove much of the Honourable Ce
tleman's •statement to be erroneous ; arising, I
doubt, from misrepresentation. As to the Ioni:
Islands he would say, that we could not contra
their revenue, since that was vested in the Senatel
the Constitution granted by us to those Islands.

The motions were carried nem. con. as were simil.
motions respecting the Mauritius, the Cape of Gcc
Hope, and Malta.

lib. HUME, in moving for similar Returns frcr
tbe lonian Islands, denied that they were independe:
of this country, inasmuch as the appointment of MG
was in the power of Government ; and that their
nate was obliged to make a Return of the Expend
tore and Revenue of those IslandF. He therelo7c
hoped the Under Secretary of State ‘venld have
objection to this Return, which would complete thc•
for all the newly acquired Colonies—The met',
was, however, negatived %% ithout a division.
Mx. HUME tl.eu 11;oi c.. 1, fur a netuiuvl