Star.
London, England, 1827-02-14 00:00:00

A dloollaixaMeh Mr• BEINAia Mr.* .r _Ant 14x.
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-• After a few waitrons iir. NUMMI& Wry*. the dillasirl.
'Swing the itcomsimaciesows (Mused gnat Thursday se
air GEORGE CLERK then brought up the Repoit:u.A.
Canunitte of Supply on the Navy Estimates. ,
' 'On the Resolutions being read .
Sir JOHN NE.WPORT said,. he was desiring& if
Offing his voice to those which had already been.reis.ed
I IN tkat House against the /Absent system of impressing.
Mama for the Navy., U. should never be convinced
'Gat in this country there was-not. a power to call n,
usifficient number 'of 'leen 'Miro- service whenever it
—aright be necessary, witlicipt, the exercise of 'that said
be- consideted absoiete. tyranny. It had -been sheets
again and again in thiießobse, and in numerous pub-
licatiins on the suisjece, that such- means did exist, and
be believed in .10444itace, that until the tyrapnous
siStem tolef.fieh fp, Abjected ihould be done away. it
' would dperlite mob drawback upon the desire which
leoen would otheibisreviiice to ehter the Navy. The
40Rhetitlenea ail's. Ili'it4pirl irbuld.be driven from this
'atelier countries...rind Op :experience of the late:War
filth Americahaflobevoltheonfichievous consequeocti
if having the introit .thliitt- eraraiel and fought. by'
eritisb seamen. 'Ale,boised that- -this subject woul
soilage the serioys attention:or oore who had'the card,
ot the interests of the BritishA ivy. The eipente which,'
Sit o:casio* wools -be a nit-alitireittMee... Ile Would never
Maw to bear testintotiyih k4se'w.l4llll he "lv"""b*nr=l
Starifship, and in wished that, as yoke bid been in the
Ontliest part of his raglimarantry• e- against this swam% so his
br4elfort (which Maid not bi f 'distant) might be Aboard th
the oven whtt were. properly card the bieliratii of their
fain tie'Oranttrto which they were exposed. '
Mr. WARBURTON was of -opinion, that if the cinew
:try
I den were. pot to t,tie ma chant's and ship owners whether
:the system of impreisment. were injiniobs or dtherwism
they would, one and all, prdtest against the system.--
The shipping interest was materially affected by it ; for
Irbil could be a greater hardship on the part cease
talsip owners, than that the joseo'who worked their viii:
ells should be 'taken Out, of them, after perhaps a I
led hazardous voyage, on their arrival in the chops
the Channel ? The whole system 01 impressment :ems
degrading to the country, and destructive of thin file
spirit (or which British seamen were justly distinenishea.
1 ile waswitst that the people of Great Britain would sooner submit
to a new taxation, if no other means were to be found by which tin
system of naval impressnwnts might be &bonged.
SirGEORGE CLERK contended that the view which
Hon. Members seemed t-• take of the system oliMpress-
meat was founded on erroneous reasoning. It was only.
is eases of peculiar emergency that this mode of raising
seen for his Majesty's service was ever resorted to. A
sufficient supply of seamen could al wa)s be had, without
having recourse to the system complained of; but the
,flunee should boar in mind, before k insisted too strongly
in its abolition, that there were circumstances- in which
it might be nec• scary to require a fleet tithe niammd•
With extraordinary dispatch, whir h could only be accom-
, Plisbed by resorting to iniprestment. Tlie flon. Member
who had last spoken had talked of tlielierdship of thing
men from merchant ships on their arrival in the channel,
but would not. the merchants hasre-mteh moth wit-use-of
complaint, if Goiernment had not fri °tided trk means
of defending their shipping- from the.enemj? It was
to be hoped that the sfstem 'of irememarese would,
however, be so modified. as to snip 'ir of its geievaiicesi,
and he hoped that the lioerality which the country 'had
employed in bestowing pensions on ihiise sailori who
.badaarved their country would have the of ossiang the pleb:.
his Irksome. He thought is wrong, however. to hula too Mostly
OM patting ao end to impressment. altogether, particularly when it
ininessaidered that the salvation of the country might 'one-day dor
pianist the wtkrity with which we could command oar Nat,.
Mr. Lomax aged what had induced the seamen to leave some
° brigs at New York ?
VG. CLERK said these vessels were hired, and tbir
siews were not under military law. The stamen de-
serted in consequence of the great inducertmotiheld'otst
for them to unload ships in the harbour.
Mr. HUME said, the cause of the desertion of British
seamen was the terror of the seem discipline adopted'
is the Britisb•Navy ; this was proved negatively by the
feet, that from the mild discipline adopted in the Bilk
wark, 74-gun ship, when on ihe American 'union no't'a
single descrsi.iii had taken place. If impressment be
Continued, let its harsh features be.subdued; and itstime.
limited. Abuse and crime, and suffering, sit the' nee
denary consequences of unlimited power; the Captain's!
of men of war being seamen, are not exempt froillbe
tyrannous tendencies of humanity. • -

Sir B. MARTIN denied [fiat the Navy was at all
unpopular; the last ve;sel.that was put in commission
gainsayed this unloaded assertion ; that vessel,. the
Asia, of. 80,.guns,-foaa furnished with 370 men, volun-
teers, in ante weeks, 'alai was fully equipped by volunteers-within
five weeks. . -• • . ,
Sir JOHN NEWPORT eoatended,that all such favourable watt-
meets were arguments agaiust the system of impressment—(ll/0.•
Sir C. FORBES said, that orders were sent outifuns.
the Admiralty, permitting. East Indiameti
volunteer,into men of .war • the consequence wits, [boat
so many embraced the.offet; that scarcely me wailife
to luau the etterchant.eekselr. Tnis was the effect "Or&
severe discipline kcpt.up on hoard of Indiamen. fetaikes
ate better paid, hewer treated, and MCC kindly desk. wish
board men of wa, add ilierefure on ail. @comicial. prefer thirty'
vessels to merchantmen. Impeessnlient eoght to be abolished, were
it only to sesisratood and efficient kaftan. •
AirO.CODRBURN Assured the khan, none were mon, askew
to abolish the system of impressment than the Admiralty Beard.
Alderman-. WOOD bailed this symptom of improvement, and
would never tease toreprobate the bad system of impressment till
k Was Way:abolished.
Sir E. OWEN complained of the exception being put
(steward as tbe.rule ; punishment was but rarely resorted
so in the levy, nevertheless it was harped upon as if it
utere the daily fare of British seamen. He spoke from
40 years experience, When he declared that he never
knew of a man being brought to the gangway, without
previous minute enquiry into his offence, habits of
and general character. The greatest boon that could
be conferre upon Captains of the Navy, would be .to
take the wer of sentence out of their hands ; but still.
when.th efficiency of the Navy depended so much upon
its discipline, it would be dangerous to abruptly abolish
, the existence of the power of pcnishment.
The Resolutiess were then put seriesini, and agreed to.
Oq the Resolution voting £160,000 for the Transport Service
being pet,
Mr.HUME objeeted.to its being agreed to, without
a satisfactory statement of the manner an which so much
money is laid out. Economy was totally neglected by.
the Government, sotwithstanding the distressed state of the coon-
try.—The Resolution was then agreed to.
GRANT brought up the of abs Committee en
the Rue of Postage Duties.-The ktesolotions were read and
'ogrosel to, and leave given to bring in a Eta founded upon them..
Mr. BERRIES brought up the hitmellanesous Estimates for
the year 1827.
Mc. HUME asked the Hoe. S. cretary for the Colo.
flies, whether he was prepare-0 to give to the Hoes
certain information, which he bad Sought to obtainthro •