The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-07-03 00:00:00

PRICE SEVEN PENCE.

But it was most wanton and superfluous to give the ti`
vernor a power to transport an accnsed pers At without
trial, inasmuch as this very Bill had a provision in it,
enabling the Governor to make laws for the trial of such
persons. If this arbitrary power was to be given in any
case, it was not to a Governor of a colony of emanci us.
ttd convicts, because the finger of scorn was alw.t.
pointed at them—(hear, hear)—because they were ,na:k-
ed out as inferior beine, and bad, in the eyes of all the.r
neighbonrs, contracted a stain of infamy never to :)e
faced. That clause would teach a Governor to make a dis•
Unction between the other free inhabitants and the
ernancipatetTconvicts: and to be oppressive on the let-r
class. He objected to that clause as a bar to all atnervf-
ment in those persons. It would daily remind their
neighbours as well as themselves of the crimes a ith
which they had been stained. It would produce and per-
petuate distinctions and dissensions. The nearer the
condition of those persona wai brought to the state of
those who were still suffering the punishments of the
law, the more dificolty dm* *in yamettd-
ment in their character. He objected, therefore, to that
clause,astmnecessary and wanton—heeirjected to it giving
arbitrary power, where power ought to be restricted, and,
lastly, be objected to it as a bar to motility. It taught
one part of the society to look down on the other with
insolence and contempt. It taught one part of the colony
to consider themselves a privileged and favoured class,
and to believe the other a degraded and inferior east. It
was calculated to engender tyranny in the one, while it
inspired vengeance in the other. He distinguished those
three clauses from the rest of the Bill, of which (with
the exception of those clauses) he highly approved. tie
hoped that before the Bill. was passed into a law. the
petitioners would be beard by their Counsel at the bar of
that House.
The petition having been brought up,
Mr. WILMOT HORTON said he was sorry that the
Hon. and Learned Gentleman did not reserve his area-
-1 meats till Friday, when the Bill would be in a Comm•t-
, tee. The petitioner was not sent to this country for the
purposes stated by him, he was deputed for the objects
in the 13117, and having.secared these, he showed his gr
titade by characterising the House in the manner he did
lin his petition. He would not detain the house by Ru-
ing into arguments at that moment, bat would reset ve
them till the Bill should be before the House. The cir-
cumstances of the population of New South Wales were
different from those of the people of England, and fv'ly
justified the clauses complained of. The Bill was parfi.
colarly applicable to the state of society in that Colony.
But there was in the Bill a clause which escaped the at-
tention of the Hon. and Learned Member, but which
thorised the King at any time to supply the defects, by
extending to the Colony the trial by Jury. The repors
of the Commissioners on the judicial establishments is
New South Wales, stated that the population there was
unfit fur the exercise of the trial by Joey. The peti.
'loner, he contended, misrepresented the whole ease, an
made complaints in the name of persons who did not
commission him. The Bill was necessary to cam into
effect the recommendation of the Commissioners. There'
was no reason given to justify the hearing of Counsel
on this Bill.

Mr. BRIGHT said that the petition was most worthy
of the serious attention of the House, as being one
which complained of being deprived of the trial by Jury.
The withholding of that noble institution from the peo-
ple of New South Wales, was the most effectual bar to
their ever hemming free, or liberal, or high minder,.
The question was. were we to have a Colony of freemen
to assist us in time of emergency, or were veto estat•li;h
a despotism, to be joined with other despots against us;
The House, he contended, were better judges of whit
ought to be done for the Colony, than the Commission-
ers on the Judicial Establishments. He implored them
not to suffer the Bill to pass, though late in the Session,
without inquiring into the complaints of the petition
and hearing Counsel.
Mr. MARRYATT said it was important to see if the
Bill was perfect in ■ll its parts. With respect to the
trial by J nry, ■ good dealissight he said on both si les.
He thought that all who had expiated their guilt by su..-
letting the punishment allotted to them, ought to be
received into the bosom of the British Constitution
(Hear, hear) He was friendly to the prayer of tne
petition.
Mr. FORBES defended at some length the admini•-
tratlon of Governor Macquarrie, and found fault with
the statements of Mr. Commissioner Biggs.

Mr, RIDLEY COLBORNE defended the conduct of .
Mr. Biggs against the attack of the Hon. Member who
spoke last.
Mr. FORBES exulained,
The petition was then read, and ordered to be printe4.
Sir J. MACINTOSH said, in rising to move that the
petitioner be heard by Counsel at the Bar, be would not
enter into any disputed or irritating topics. He only
put to the House this question, would they sanction a
power to -the Governor of the colony to expel any one
person out of 8,000 free inhabitants ou his sole will an•t
pleasure without a trial ? He then moved that the p..ti•
tioner be heard Icy his Counsel at the 'jar.
Mt. W. HORTON said in the Committee he %co•nl
give a full explanation of the clause of the Bill re.
fermi to.

Sfr.HIJME hoped the House would reflect before they
confirmed an ez post facto law.

Mr. MARRYATT said that he had every confidence
in the Hon. Secretary for the Colonial Department, hut
he thought that Honourable Gentleman ought to be the
brat to agree to Counsel being heard. as his triumph
would be the more complete if they feiled in making
out a case against hitn.—A division then took place.
For the motion to hear Connsel47 —Against it 60-114-
jority against the motion 13.
Mr. MA !WHIM presented a petition from Thoniat
Hazard, Queen•street, Edgware.road, praying for e,rn
pensation for an arrest on a false charge for High Trea-
son, on the 3tl March, I:1•M0, and stating the amount of
his loss thereby to be &O.

The SPEAKER remarked that the direct prayer rif
the petition was contrary to the forms of the House, as
it contained an application for money.
The petition was then withdrawn.
SHIP REQUIN AND MR. OGILBY.
Mr. VOWEL BUXTON rose to more that the papers
on the table relative to the capture of the American ship
Requin, be referred to a Select Committee. He would
briefly emskia to the House the circumstances of the case
on which he demanded their attention. In consequence
of the victories of the British Army in the Peninsula. in •
ktil4, they became matters of Bordeaux. Lord lirref.
ford had the command of the town. and under his (ward-
ship Brigadier General Lord Dalhousie was sewed .in
command. Lord Beresfoed dinned Mr. Ogility, then in
the commissariat Departmeit4to make a survey pf the
river. Ad to take possession the ship' of the enemy
tbea lying under the batteries. Mr. Ogtlby performed
that duty with one boat and a few men, soda clerk who
was with hiM sugretted ti e propriety of toeing further
down the river. He did su,soid alter a progress of abo..tt