The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-02-19 00:00:00

FRIDAY.

Mr. PEASE came to table, with a number of members, who took
the oath as usual, but Mr. Pease made his affirmation. lie after-
wards shook hands with the Speaker amidst loud cheers, and then
took his seat on the ministerial side.

The London and Birmingham Railway Bill was read a first time.
. Lord MORPETII gave notice of a motion for making the affirmation
of a Quaker equal to the oath of any other person, so as to qualify him
for any public office.
Petitions were presented—by Mr. SIIIET„ from Lismolin, in Tippe-
rary, against Tithes. By Mr. RoEarck, from Bath, for the repeal of
the Assessed Taxes. By Mr. BLACKNTONE (Wallingford), and Mr.
C. CAVRNDISII, for the otservance of the Sabbath ; and by the latter
gentleman, for the Commutation of Tithes ; on the latter Mr. -CUR-
TUTS said, the Vicar of Pevensey had not set his foot in his parish for
seventeen years, and that reform of the church was the great demand
of the people, By Mr. E. CURTEIS, from Battle, for the repeal of the
Malt Tax ; Sir C. BURRI,LL and Mr. PALMER supported the petition,
and complained of the ill effect of the beer shops.—Mr. SANFORD
West Somersetehire), Mr. L. FENTON lituldereeld ), and Mr. SLA-
NEY, took the same side.—Mr. WARRURTON argued in defence of the
beer shops, and said, the objection to them was, that they took from
magistrates the controul of the poor man's recreation.—Mr. Hume
said, close the beer shops and gin shops will be opened ; as to mo-
rality, teach the poor, and they will improve, with or without beer
shops.—Mr. HARVEY strongly supported the repeal of the Malt Tax.
By Mr. YELVERTON, from Carmarthen, against the election of ma-
gistrates there. By Mr. HUME, from thellev. R. Taylor; complain-
ing of his sentence, which amounted to imprisonment for life. By
Mr. Sergeant SPANKIE, from Mr. Hetherington, complaining of has
incarceration.--Mr. HOME asked if it were intended to go on adding
to the 250 victims of this act imprisoned by the Whigs ?—Lord
AL-
THORP said, the prosecutions were 63, and *were under the common
Stamp Act, and not one of the Six Acts. By Mr. Manor, from Der-
by, against slavery. By General PALMER, from St. Michael's, for a
repeal of the house and Window Taxes.
Lord ALTIIORP, in reply to Sir It. FREEMANTLE, said, he would
introduce the subject of the Bank Charter before Easter.

TEIE DUTCH EJEIBARGO.

On the motion, that the house resolve itself into a com-
mittee of supply.
Sir ROBERT I'EEL, according to notice, called attention to
the order in council of the 6th of last November, imposing re-
strictions upon British ships trading with Holland, and pro-
hibiting every intercourse with our ally. So far they might
have been authorised, but the order goes further anti directs
the seizure of all Dutch vessels lying in our ports, and in-
structions are given also to take by force the property of the
subjects of the state of Holland in the open sea. As it ap-
peared to him, this order was an unwarranted stretch of au-
thority, inasmuch as it had the effect of suspending the powers
of acts of Parliaments.—Hear, hear.) Ministers have not
ventured to say why the trade with Holland was to be in-
terrupted contrary to the acts which regulated that trade. This
order was followed by another, limiting the restriction in favour
of perishable cargoes. The power was a tremendous one; it
claimed no less on the part oi government than a right to dis-
pense with the statutes of the realm, which declared that traders
are at liberty to go on with their trade to every nation with
which their country was at- peace. Magna Charta expressly
engages that all merchants, unless openly •prohibited, shad
have free intercourse with this country, except in time of war,
and then, if any vessels be in port, they shall be detained, but
without harm to them, or to any person concerned,' until it
be seen how English subjects are treated -by the power with
whom we may be iu a state of hostility:—(Hear.) Well, then,
are the English at war with the Dutch or not?—(Loud cries of
hear.) Nu intimation had been made of it, and yet the goods
of Dutch subjects had been seized, without the least notice of a
declaration of war. Holland had not imitated us. She
gave our merchants due notice to withdraw:—(hear, bear.)-
1-las the order been issued in consequence of injuries done to
us? Where have they been made? 'Was there any appre-
hension ? No public intimation had been given of it. The
word emharo had been used iu an extraordinary sense, but the
proper one -is, that you may forbid our own vessels from going
to a particular pmt, or detain tho6e of the other nation; but the
order of this embargo goes much further, it is made to extend
to the high E.:ls. lie would ask, do the circumstances between
Holland and this country justify the existence of it at all ? From
what was it to be inferred that there were hostilities between
them? If ministers would tell him (Sir L. Peel) that they
had a bona fide apprehension of mischief, he would allow them
to be acting rightly, but no public declarations to that effect
had been made. (Hear, hear.) The Secretary for Foreign
Affairs had said, that England was at peace, and that there was
"no war," so that the French expedition was no war, the
capture of the citadel of Antwerp by some thousand men, and
the loss of hundreds, was not caused by a state Of war ! If there
be no war, then there is a want of justification on this score;
but the noble lord further states there is no apprehension of
war; then again, he (Sir Robert Peel) would ask, why had the
embargo been continued for upwards of thirLcn weeks; how
were they authorized in detaining vessels and interrupt-
ing the commercial relations between the two countries ?
Nt hen he (Sir Robert Peel) spoke the other night upon this
subject, a learned civilian (Dr. Lushington) met his argument
by quoting the authority of Lord Stowed, who had laid it down
that " Embargoes had frequently been resorted to by nations
without any declaration of hostilities." Now no man had a
greater veneration for the judicial and legal character of Lord
Stowell than had he (Sir IZobert Peel), but he apprehended
that the learned and noble • lord did not mean today it down as
his opinion that•such an extreme measure as that of imposing.
an embargo ought to be resorted to, except under circumstances
of actual aggression; but the question was, did the opinion of
Lord Stowed include the present case, iu which au order in
council was actually issucu for imposing an embargo, and
authorising the seizure of Dutch merchant ships, as was done
in the present instance. He admitted that cases might arise
in which it would be necessary to' resort to au embargo by an
order in council—he meant cases of sudden emergency, such
as the former expedition to the Scheldt, when a temporary em-
bargo was placed on the shipping of Holland, because it wss
the object of-this country to prevent a comninnication with the
enemy. (Hear, hear.) The right honourable baronet went on
to argue that the doctrine of Lord Stowell was by no means
conclusive on the subject, and proceeded to notice the argu-
ment of Dr. Lushington, that it' two nations were at war, and
that the interests of a third nation were likely to be effected by
the collision, that such third nation had a. right, in her own
defence, to place an embargo on the vessels of either of the
contending powers. He denied that such right existed. No
country had a right to seize the private property of foreign
merchants, nor to- limit and endanger the traffic of their own,
unless hostilities had been previously declared. If this nation
bad not actually been at war, he doubted very much that the
government would have the right to issue an order in council re-
straining time commerce of other nations and injuring their own.
The hon. and learned civilian said that orders in council were
often issued for restraining the commerce of foreign shipping;
but let him show a single case in which orders in council were
issued unless grounds existed for apprehending that reprisals
mid ik oh, - H d 'sd th, -Olt of the government tr