Star.
London, England, 1819-03-06 00:00:00

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PRICE Szvax-pENcs.

to be considered; die, whether the Petitions thotild
be brought up c. the other, whether they should be
laid oil the table? If Gentlemen did not mean to ob-
ject to either of these stages, he, thought they ebould
not enter ipto dismission on the tubjeet.
Mr. LAMIITON was surprised that the honour-
able Gentleman should question the propriety of the
discussion—(Hear, hegr) ;--for it was perfectly
competent for any Honourable Merhber to state his
objection's to the Petitions. The question was one of
great importance, and he conceived they would not
do their duty_if they omitted any opportunity to dis-
cuss it. The. Honourable Member for Stafford had
done his duty; and had succeeded in raising a cry
against the Tits. He bad called his Constituents the
Country, and seemed to think that theii interests
were the interests of the Country at large. He ad-
;ratted that the Honourable Gentleman had only
done his duty ; but others' could not be blamed if
they als6 advocated the interests of their. Constituents.
He believed that the inland Counties, so far from
being injured by the measure which. was
would be considerable gainers, for they w!)ur have
arm provectilos to iesnimapent
Honourable Gentleman had

Mr. &till
on the motives

imputed to him, when,
Mr. LAMBTON rose to order. He appealed to
the House whether he had imputed any improper
motives to the Honourable Gentleman. On the con-
trary, he had said that the Honourable Gentleman
had only done his duty.
Mr. PHILLIPS thought that if.,any improper lan-
guage had been used, it had been used by the Ho-
nourable Member for Stafford, who spoke as if one
part of the community wished a Tax to be taken off
themselves at the expense of others. They only
wished the Tax taken of themselves ; they did not
wish it to be laid on others. A more i►.jurious Tax,
he conceived, had never been proposed. No Gen-
tleman who considered the subject could come to
any other conclusion than that there never was a
Tax more opposite to the principles of economical
science. The price of Coals made an important
element in the price of many commodities, amount-
ing to one per cent. on some articles, and more or
less on various others.

Mr. Alderman WOOD contended, that the object
of the inland. Manufacturer s, judging from their Pe-
tions, was, that there should be no alteration in the
Duty at all. He maintained that a Duty of Is. on
the Ton of Coals at the Pit's mouth, would only add
4s. on the ton of Iron. The Iron Manufacturers
knew that this could easily be proved by a Com-
mittee, and therefore they endeavoured by clamour
to prevent the appointment of a Committee. .
Mr. DICKINSON said he should oppose this mea-
sure when it ♦vpnt to a Committee. The Acts of
Parliament relative to this Tax were known ; and
the citizens 'of London had acquired their property
with the knowledge of these Acts. -He thought the
equalization of the Duties would be a most o:tions
Poll-Tax.

The Petitions were then brought up, and read.
Mr. E. LITTLETON said the Member for Dur-
ham had intimated early in the Session, that he in-
tended to bring in a Bill on this subject. He wish-
ed to know when it was proposed to carry this in-
tendon into execution?

Mr. LAMBTON said he had not yet communi-
cated with his4ponstituents on the subject ; but the
Member for Surrey had given notice of h's intention
to propose a Bill.
The Petitions were then laid on the table.

CITY OF LIMERICK ELECTION.
Mr. ABERCROMBY presented a Petition from
Thomas Spring Rice, Esq. (the Petitioner against
the return•for the City of Limerick) praying for the
amendment of the Act of the 38th of the King. He
did not know if the House could give the Petitioner
any redress after the decision of the Committee. He
wished to bring tthe matter before the House, for the
purpose of altering and amending this law.
Sir JOHN NEWPORT knew not whether redress
could be given to the Petitioner; bet it became him
to say, that provision should be made to' prevent a
recurrence of such a case in futUre. The Act said,
that a copy of the poll, verified by the Clerk of the
Peace, and deposited among the records, should be
considered sufficient evidence. But what he wished
particularly to call the attention of the House to was,
that the Committee had ordered the poll-clerk to be
brought over. What would be the consequence of
such a precedent? thirty or forty poll.clerks would
have to be called over from Ireland on every future
petition against an election! He wished the decisions
to be reduced to one definite rule, and not. left to the
discretion of a Committee : he wished the petitioners
should not be left to as many conflicting opinions as
there were Members in the Committee.
A MEMBER said, that he had been a Member
of the Committee, and therefore he offered himself
to the House. He was sorry to 'find that the decision
of the Committee was disapproved by so many high
authorities. As far as he was able to judge, he did
not think that the poll-book could have been received
as evidence in this eases
Mr. BARRY thought the hardships ought to be
met by a legislative act. The statute to which the
Right Honourable Baronet had referred related only
to knights of the shire, and could not intend to citi-
zens and members of boroughs.
Mr. STIJRGES BOURNE ;aid, that if a Com-
mittee thought they could not receive as evidence a,
copy of the poll-book, presented by the Returning
Officer, it was full time that the law should be put
an end to. Good sense would say, that it the book
was produced by the proper authority, it ought to
rest with the other party to prove that it had pealed
through improper usage. •
Another MENIZR of the Committee said, sky had
thought themselves bound by the law of swideoge net
admit the book, as they had ottsproof 0f441,617
book of the OIL "Dv had. bees elbowed to

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