The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-08-02 00:00:00

submit to the infringement of his liberty. The King could not
control the liberty he enjoyed; nor could the la ouse of Lords
nor the judges control it; and he would ask the house if it
would set up tnis system of reporting, and establish it as a higher
tribunal than that of the King, Lords, or Commons, or the laws
of the land. The poWer possessed by the press at present was
such as it ought not to possess. It had been accumulated by a
monopoly of the press, arising out of excessive taxation, and. to
so great au extent that it required a fortune to establish any
thing in competition. This monopoly was now become a most
domineering aristocracy, and it was said that nothing could put
it down ; but he had put his hand to the business, and he would
try. The reporters boasted that they had succeeded in putting
down some of the greatest men the country had produced; that
they had overcome a member of the Firesent administration;
nay, that tiaiy had overcome the Lord Chancellor himself; and
they added to the list the names of Tierney and Wyndham' the
last of whom had conciliated them by a dinner. But they should
not put him down, and that they would find. It was said that
the time of the house had been taken up with Ireland; but
what blessings had the house conferred upon her? She had
rather cause to regret than appreciate those attentions. He
would- have the house not to be misle,don this question; but
calmly to consider that if its proceedings were not fairly re-
potted iii any paper, that the paper was not worthy the suffer-
ance of reporting, at ail. He wanted to know who are the
inunag,ers of the Times, the reporters or the proprietors ?
Sir It. PEEL said it would be well for the house to consider,
he'fore it 'took the first step in this matter, to what itwould lead.
He had seen the nature of the complaint of the hon. and
learned gentleman. He admitted that the privileges of the
house had not been' observed, that the house had been accus-
tomed to connive at their violation, and that the tacit under-
standing of that connivance was, that impartiality should he
equally extended to all. The question, however, was this—
was the course now adopted by the hon. and learned gentleman
such as would enforce the impartiality and justice for which he
contended ? The hon. and learned gentleman had endeavoured
to deter those who took a part on this question different from
his own view of it by sayin, that they were shrinking from the'
despotism of the press. Ile knew not whether he (Sir R. Peel)
would he considered as a man likely to shrink from that des-
potism. He knew of no baser fear than that which would lead
a man to accommodate his conduct to the feeling of the press.
(Hear, hear.) Still he was of opinion that the fear of being
thought afraid of the press ought not to prevent a man of spirit
from doing justice to it, (hear, hear;) and, as an act of jus-
tice to .it, he must say that during the 20 years he had been in
Parliament he had bad no occasion to complain of the reports
of his speeches which had been inserted in the press, and that he
had, not had in that time any communication with the reporters,
save once or twice, when some of them had called upon him
for documents referred to in his speech. He thought, therefore,
that without going into further particulars—looking at the ne-
cessity existing at present for having the debates both in the
House of Commons and the House of Lords accurately re-
ported looking also at the intention of those who made
[hoe reports to supply the country with an accurate account of
the transactions in Parliament, he thought that the reports of
the debates of the House of Commons fur the last 20 years had
' been given with great efficiency and fidelity. (Loud cheers.)—
During 15 of those 20 years he had held of ce, and during the.
whole -of that time he had never received any communichtion
from any person connected with the press respecting the man-
ner in which his speeches had been reported. He had never
during that time received any solicitation for any favour or
patronage from any reporter, and he believed he might say that
no application had been made to any of his colleagues while he
was in office for any such patronage or favour in consequence of
any favour shown to them for having given their speeches fully.
(Hear, hear.) If he could bear this testimony to the indepen-
dence of the reporters, founded as it was, on the experience of
15 years in office, he thought he might challenge those who had
succeeded him to say whether they could not bear the same evi-
dence. (" Hear, hear," from.LOrd Althorp.) It occurred to
him that the hon. and learned gentlemen, when lie said that he
held a power in that house which was not to be controlled, either
by the King' or the lords, or the courts of law, or the judges, it
occurred to him (Sir R. Peel) that he (Mr. O'Connell) ought,
as his power was irresponsible, to temper its exercise with justice,.
(cheers); and if he (Mr. O'Connell) said that the reports in the
morning newspapers were not only incorrect and ignorant, but
also " designedly false." (Loud cries of " Hear, hear.")
Mr. O'CONNELL said that he had intended to confine himself
'to the reports in one paper only (Oh, oh,) he meant The Times.
Sir R. PEEL.—Then, why commence his motion for bringing
up the proprietor of the Morning Chronicle ? (Loud cries of
hear, hear.*) Now, he understood that with the four papers
against which he complained some 40 or 50 gentlemen were
connected—some holdipg commissions in the army and in the
navy—several having
.got academical education,—several of
them members of the inns of court—some of them practising
barristers, and all moving in the rank of gentlemen, and they
naturally felt sore at the designation of their reports as deli-
berate falsehoods. (Loud cries of hear.)
On the division there appeared—
. For Mr. O'Connell's motion 4B
Against it. 153
Majority . —lO5
The order for calling Mr. Lawson to the bar was therefore
discharged.
On our return to the gallery we found the house about to
proceed with the order of the clay for again going into commit-
tee on the Slavery Abo ition Bill, when
Mr. 0 CONNELL, addressing the Speaker, called his attention
to the presence of strangers in the gallery.
The Speaker ordered the gallery to be cleared, and the house
proceeded for, the remainder of the night with closed doors.
We understood that soon after the gallery was cleared,
Mr. ROBINSON gave notice of a motion for to-morrow (this
day) for suspending the standing order which excludes stran-
gers.

HOUSE OF LORDS, TUESDAY, JULY 30.
The LORD CHANCELLOR presented a petition from certain
farmers residing in the county of Berks, praying that the te-
nants as well as the landlords should be allowed to take game,
and that the game laws should be altered for that purpose.
.The Earl of KINNOUL said the petitioners had no just cause
to complain more than individuals in other parts of the country.

PORTUGUESE BLOCKADE.

The Marquis of LONDONDERRY rose for the purpose of en-
deavouring to execute the task which he had imposed on him-
self, 'that of acquiring information with respect to, the singular
position in which this country stood with fespect to 'Portugal„
and relative to which there had already been some discussion
in that house. He endeavoured, by the questions which he had
put to the noble earl some days since, to elucidate the reasons
which led to a recent proceeding at the Foreign Office. He
confessed that the only paper which had been lard on the table,
with reference to the extraordinary situation of this country
was so meagre, and contained so little information, that it by
no means satisfied him. He should therefore press on the no-
ble earl whether there were not some other documents to jus-
tify the notification of a blockade which was so prejudicial to
the commercial interests of this country. If he expected to de-
rive any great advantage from calling their lordships' attention
to this question, he should have brought it forward more rea-
dily; but, having served for a considerable portion-V his life in
Portugal—having been for 10 years in that country—having
there followed the footsteps of the noble duke near him—feeling
a sincere and deep interest in the welfare of that people, and
having seen all descriptions of kindness manifested towards
himself and the British army generally by those who were now
at the head of affairs in Portugal, he could not help, however
unsuccessful he might be, raising his voice on this occasion, and
declaring that the conduct of his Majesty's ministers towards
that country was ccntrary to good faith, was partial, and un-
just. It was decidedly so with regard to those who were now
at the head of the government of Portugal, and he questioned
very much whether the noble earl could deny this proposition
—namely, that Don Miguel's claim was manifestly supported
by the voice and the will of the Portuguese people. He feared
that he should derive no benefit from this motion, because if the
noble earl chose to avail himself of the power which his situa-
tion gave him to arrest the effect of any motion to which their
lordships' house might come, it became evident that there was
very little use in their lordships' decisions. But, feeling it,
right to uphold the interests of this country, with re-
ference to Portugal, as far as possible, he felt it to he
his duty to come forward, and to ask ministers in what
way this blockade had been carried on, and on what grounds
a notification of that blockade had been published? He
held in his hand the opinion of that. very eminent civilian
Sir William Scott, who stated, "that to constitute a legal block-
ade two things were necessary,—first, that a real, not a nominal,
blockade should exist; and, secondly, that due notice and
warning should be given to neutral ships. The fact of.the
e)thitence of an actual blockade was most essential, since, with-
out it, notice of blockade availed not. The mere notification
was not of itself sufficient to raise the presumption of blockade."
Again, Sir W. Scott .said, " If a single power declares that a
blockade, by such power, extended to every part of any country,
and if such blockade was not effectual with reference to certain
ports, then those ports were exemted from the operation of the
blockade." How, then, did this doctrine agree with the
blockade notified by Lord Palmerston ? The letter on their
lordships' table from the Chevalier de Lima to the Foreign-
office set forth, " that Providence having granted to the squad-
ron of her most Faithful Majesty a brilliant victory, and
crowned the valour of the illustrious sailor whose glory is re-
flected upon two crowns and two nations, which were accustomed
for ages to mingle their laurels, the Vice-Adm. C. Pon za was pre-
paring to establish the blockade of Lisbon without delay." 1 his
was pompously put forth, as if this country were interested in the
exploits of those gentlemen, those British subjects, who went out
to serve their own perSonal objects, on the one side or the other.
,With respect to, the late naval action,-ho4id confess-that he had
seen, with great surprise, an account of proceedings, having for
their object to reward the officer who commanded on that oc-
casion for a breach of the law. There was, he observed with re-
gret a great meeting held, at which an illustrious duke (Sussex)
had presided. He admired the conduct of the illustrious duke
when he came forward in support of great and extensive - chari-
ties, but he did think that the illustrious duke, with his illus-
trious judgment, ouglit not to'have presided at the meeting to
'which he (the Marquis of Londonderry) had alluded. How-
ever unpleasant it might be to any party, he felt that he was
called on to state his opinion. He felt very great regret, as
a military man, that he had suffered himself to be placed at
the head of a meeting in the city, the object of which was to
grant praise and reward to a British officer for breaking the
laws of his country. If such recompense were held out—if
the applause of such meetings was to be given to those mili-
tary or naval men who broke the law—the example would be
most dangerous. A more dangerous precedent could not be
held out to either profession than that. Feeling the highest
reverence for the family who now occupied the throne of these
realms, and entertaining a sincere 'respect for every branch of
that illustriouS family, he deeply regretted that one member of
that illustrious house had appeared at such a meeting. (Hear.)
He concluded by moving for "a copy of the letter addressed by
the Chevalier de Lima on the 15th of July to Lord Palmer-
ston ;" and " copies of ail communications from commanders
of His Majesty's ships of war relative to the blockade of the
Portuguese ports addressed to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs
before the2.sth instant."
Earl GREY said, in answering the noble marquis,
_he shor

throw aside all the extraneous matter which the noble marquis
had introduced. He should make no observations respecting
the general policy of the government,—respecting the defeat
of the Portuguese fleet,—and still less respecting the rights or
the cause of Don Miguel. He should give a very short answer,
an answer of One or two ininutes, to the observations with re-
spect to the blockade which the noble marquis had thought
proper to make. On a communication made to the Foreign-
office by a person resident in London, not accredited indeed,
but acting as the agent of a particular power, notice was given
of the intention to blockade those ports. Whether an expres-
sion contained in the letter, and to which the noble marquis ob-
jected, was well introduced or not, he would not say. It was the
work of M. de Lima, and all he (Earl Grey) had to do was, to ap-
ply himself to that part of the letterwhich announced the blockade.
The letter set forth "that the regency had resolved to establish
the blockade of Lisbon and of all the other Portuguese ports ;"
and therefore the noble marquis had no right to assert that the
noble secretary had gone beyond the point laid down in that
letter. The notification said, that " the regency acting in Por-
tugal in the name and on the behalf of her most faithful Ma-
jesty Donna Maria da Gloria, has resolved to establish imme-
diately an effectual blockade of the port of Lisbon, and all the

. ,
•
• Our readers will recollect that `tile motion of tife•4n. and learned
member for Dublin moved, in the first instance, against four of the
London morning papers, but he chose to begin with the Morning
Chronicle.