The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-05-09 00:00:00

ICE, REGENT-STREE
DENT :

able Earl GREY.
111:111741,4 :

• l•

Viscount Rulkeley .
Viscount Duncannea
Lord Braytrooks.
'see:
Sir George Duckett,Rart„
Williao Praed, Esq.

TRU

DIRECTORS:
William Bell, Esq. Robert Fleetwood, Esq.
Francis Const, Esq. William Judd, Esq.
Sir John Doyle, Bart. John Marshall, Esq.
Sir George Duckett, Bart. Edward Nugent, Esq.
William Dawson, Esq. James Sedgwick, Esq.
Robert Downie, Esq. M.P. Hon. W. Shirley
Jonathan Duncan, Rig. I John Wilson, Eiq.
Managing Director, J. T. BARBER BEAUMONT, Esq.

F.A.S.
THE PROVIDENT LIFE OFFICE was the origi-
nal Office which effected Insurances upon the prin-
ciple of combining the security of an ad►quate permanent
Capital (in addition to the fluctuating Funds arising from 11
the Premiums) with the beneficial rule of returning, at stited
periods, the surplus of theannual Premiums to the Contribu
tors, after paying losses, and expenses. The importance of
this improvement is acknowledged by extraordinary• public
approbation, and by the numerous imitations of it, which
new Offices have lately offered, and which older ones have
adopted, in changing their constitutions. The principle is
of chief value, because as it yields, by the specific sums in-
sured, and the return of the surplus, the fullest value for the
deposits, persons have no reasonable motive fur venturing
on the lureof reduced and insufficient premiums, which has
sled to such frequent instances of disappointment and ruin.
Bonuses of 131. St. and Yti/. Its. per teat. have been di-
titled during the last 14 years. .
Permission is granted to all persons whose lives are in-
sured at this Office (not being mariners iu the exercise of
their profession), to pass by sea in whole decked vessels or
steam-boats from one part of the United King•lom to ano-
ther, and also in time of peace from British t m the Foreign
Ports between the Texel and Brest inclusive, without license
and extra premium, as is generally required.
Military Men insured at this Office are not charged with
any additional premium, unless called into actual service.
No Admission Fees are required, nor is any charge made
for Policies, except the Stamp Duly.
Advantages thus extensive and substantial having been
constantly realised during a period of seventeen years, un-
der the plan end mansgeinent of this Office, the Public will
readily appreciate the difference between the value of Policies
issued by this Office and by others.
Agents are appointed in all the principal towns.

-9CONOMY IN DR ESS.—UHA RLES and CO.
N' TAILORS and BREECHES MAKERS. No. 181.
FLEET-STREET, two doors west of Fetter-lane, respect-
fully Inform Noblemen and Gentlemen, they can have a
Fashionable Cut and well-made Coat, of the best superfine
Cloth, made to measure, from 21. las. 6d. to 31. 3s. Blue
or Black Ditto. 2/. lbs. to N. 13s. 6d. Surtout Coat 21. lOs.
—Ditto, Silk Facings and Velvet Collar. 31. 3s. to 31. 1134.
—Kerseyinere or Cloth Trowsers. 31a. to 30s. Suit of Li-
very, complete, 4/. 4s. to 41. 10s. Box, Chaise, and Fa-
shionable Driving Coats ; Visiting and Travelling Cloaks.
Shooting Jackets. Young Gentlemen's Sults and Children's
, Dresses, elegantly made.
C. and Co. conducting their business on ready money
principles, ere enabled to otf..r these articles at the above
low prices. Quality uni Workmanship not to be excelled by
any house at the, west eod ; each article being made under
their immediate Inspection.
Gentlemen waited upon at their owe houses, by direct•
ins letters, postpaid, Observe the number is Ibi, ree;-st.

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_ _ _ _ Mw.tiT,..~y

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

• • •
• HOUSE OF COMMONS,—Tituasoai.
Mr. H. SUMNER gave notice, on tar part of R,
Martin, that be would move for leave to 611., in a bill to
preveot bull-baiting, on an early day.
Mr. MANSFIELD presented a petition ,t,„ ned by up.
wards of 3,000 persons in the county at I.xii ester, for the
abolition of Slavery.--.. Laid on the table
Mr. LVITLE'fON presented a similar petition. from
the inhabitants of Stoke-upon-Trent.--i.uid on the
table. . . ,
,Mr. BENISON presented a petition tram the Towti
and Neighbourhood of Epsom, for an equa. sAtion of the
Duty on I.:cals.—Laid on the table.
Mr. LEITH KECK presented a petitiot. f'om the Arch.:
deacon and Clergy of Leicester, for the ab,,lition of Sic.
very.--Laid on the table.
Lord FOLKESTONE presented a similar petition
from the inhabitants of Salisbury.—Caia the table.
Sir J. OWEN presented a siutil _at pe thou from the
County of Pembroke.—Laid on the and an.
Other petition from the SION musty for a revisitis of
Tithes.

Mr. HUME said this was a petition of the greatest
importance. It had for its object to have the tithes of
the whole coontry commuted tur live an twenty years'
purchase. This was a most liberal valtiatitin, and might
instantly be accepted by the Clergy. This arrangement
would be most beneficial, as it would c.•ntpletely rem.trit
those causes of contention which non unhappily prevailed
between the clergy and their tiocks.
Sir J. OWEN pre3ent.q.l three wher petitions to the
same elect fur the County of Pembrukr,—Laid on the
tab!e.

Lord ALTHORPE presented a petition from the Town
of Loughborough, praying for the establishment of a
cheaper mode of recovering Small Debts. They stated
two cases of extraordinary expense lectured in the reco-
very of Small Debts at the last Assizes for Leicester.—
In one case the debt was 31. 4s. lOd. ; the taxed costs of
recovery amounted to 471. 10s. The other was a case in
which the debt was 4/. 128.4 d., and the costs 901. Is. 10d.
-(Hear.) He trusted that these fiats would have theie
due iuspression on the House.—Laid on the table.
Mr. SYKES presented a petition from Hull, for the
abolition of Slavery.—Laid on the table.
Mr. BIRCH presented a similar petition from a parish
in the county of Nottingham. He stated that there was
a great deal of exaggeration abroad on this subject. He
trusted that the House would act deliberately and care-
fully with respect to it, and not be led in the heat of
*ling to infringe on the rights of property.
Mr. DENMAN said that whatever might be the fact
as to the statement, that a great deal of exaggeration
had gone abroad as to this question, doubtless there was
one fact u..denied, that the slave population in the West
India islands was, since the abolition of the trade, very
much decreased. As to the consideration that the pro-
perty of the planters should be protected, be believed
that could only be done by producing a better sta., of so-
ciety amongst that population. He believed, however,
that complete justice would never he done to that people
except by absolute emancipation.—The petition was laid
Ma the table.
RICHARD CARLILII.
Mr. HUME said he held in his hand a petition front
Richard Carlile, which contained matter of the utmost
interest. He should not now enter into the question
how far it was proper to interfere with the religions
opinions of indiviunals, as that was a subject to which
he intended to call the attention of the House in a dis-
tinct manner. He wished to do justice to Mr. Carlile
against whom the grossest prejudice existed. He had
had the present petition in Lis possession above two
months, an .I waited to see if the reonsentation of the
petition to his Majesty's Ministers would prove of any
benefit. But as they bad tailed to extend any indulgence
to the petitioner, he (Mr. Home) was compelled to britlx
the case before that House. It should be known, that
Richard Cerliiewas a respectable mechanic until 1516,
when distress drove him to be a hawker of pamphlets.
But the acts of the Government in that year excited so
much terror, that Mr. Carlile was induced to become
the agent of Mr. Sherwin. There was not a man in
Englund, whose moral character stood higher than that
of Mr. Carlile. Yes, he would challenge inquiry into hie
character. There was not a more exemplary husband--
bead of a family, or neighbour, than this individual.—
lie became proprietor of- Sberarin's Register, to which
he afterwards gave the title of " The Republican." lie
then printed 1001) copies of Paine's Theological Works;
250 of which were bespoke by different booksellers.—
But though he took every means in his power to
bring the works under the attention of the public ; in
the course of al months he sold so few, that be
began to despair of being able to dispose of them at all.
The prosecution then commenced, and before his trial
he sold the whole number on his hands, at 101.6 d. each.
The purchasers were not of the lower class, but chiefly
lawyers and others moving in an elevated sphere. Three
thousand more were printed, and before the close of his
trial nere all sold. Before Mrs. Carlile's trial 10,000
copies were sold. Of the " Republican" of which he
did not before those trials sell more than 2,000 conies
a week, be afterwards sold 15,000 copies a week. Here
then was a practical proof of the Impoliey of these pro:
secutions. The petitioner here complained that he was:
not permitted to go on with his defence, the Judge say-
ing that he would not sit to bear the doctrines or Chris-
tianity impugned ; a course of conduct which he (Mr.
H.) condemned as novel and unjust. The petitioner ap-
peared to him to have been treated with great cruelty
and oppression. He was lira' sentenced to a long im-
prisonment, and at the expiration of tbat period he was
to pay a fine of 1,500 E., which, however, long before its
expiration, all his property, amounting to 50,000 pam-
phlets, was seized and held over, without being sold ;
and at the termination of Isis confinement he was called
upon to pay the 1,5001., when he had not one shining.
and his stock having beam previously seized, Mr. Carlile.
%alien called upon for the tine, said, " Give me back my
property, and I will pay you;" which was refused.-
1 he result was, that the individual was now doomed to

imprisonment for life, unless the House interfered. No-
thing could be more unjust than because an individnal
was punished for a libel, and all the numbers of that
publication ordered to be seized, that therefore the wile%
property should be seized. As well might all the pro-
perty of Messrs. Stock ,ale or itivington be seized, should
they happen (though none were more unlikely) to be
fuand guilty of publishing a libel. The inquisition, in
its worst times, was never guilty of more cruelty or in-
justice than had been dealt out to this individual. The
devil himself, if he were on his trial, could not be worse
treated. He hoped the House would accede to the prayer
of the petitioner, and red ase him from the fine, other-
wise he would remain in prison dnriug his life, baying
no means to pay it. Thu Han. Member tend ailed by
moving tl.at the petition be brought up.
The SULICITOIt-IiENEKAL said he did not rise to
oppose the motion of the lion. Member, bat because ho
felt it necessary that Or House should know the subject
of the prosecution against Cathie; the libel for puotis!i-
. ing which Cull's was prosecuted sad convicted, v

• Paine's Age of Reason." This, the Moose was aware,
had been the snhject of many prosecutions, and notwith-
standing what had been said by the Hon. Member, he
world appeal to many lient'etnen in that House who had
been in the habit of attending Courts of Law, if it were
not competent to any individual though a libel had been
prosecuted fifty times, to urge in his defence, the fifty-
lirit time, the very same tapirs he had urged on the for-
mer trills. The petitioner complained that he was inter-
rupted i Mhis defence. Now be would state the facts to
the House, and they would then
.10-dee what ground he
l.ad for such a complaiat. On the first day 9i the trial
of Carlile, without calling any witnesses, commenced his
defence In an address to the Jury at eleven 'o'clock,
which he continued till ten nt night, and the Court then
• adjourned. The next day be recommenced his address
at ten o'clock, and rontinned till seven, when thaConrt,
again adjourned. On the third day he resumed his de-
fence at the usual hour, and closed at fire. The Jury
found him guilty, & the Court again heard him in arrest of
jedement. So indulgent was the Court to this indivi-
dual, through his defence, that at the time sentence was
passing on him, they told those individuals who were
engared in taking notes of the proceedings, that it
as mild net be safe for them to publish all that bad passed.
The Honourable Member complained of the excessive
fine of 1,300/. was imposed upon that occasion, and 54:16/.
upon a subsequent conviction. Carlile then stated that
nethingshoeld divert him from l•:s course, that he would
Ilse every means to t.efeat the law ; that his wife would
carry on the business, and be delighted to become a mar-
tyr in such a cause, and if she should be prosecuted and
convicted, he bad a sister who would continue the busi-
ness, and when all his family were convicted, he would
hire individuals at a low rat,., so poor as not to he ame-
nable to the law. Mr. Carlile has kept his word. All
his family and various of his shopmen have been convict-
e•l. It was only the t io:er day one was convicted, and a
prosecution was now going forward against another.
Soda has been the conduct of Mr. Carl'le. With respect
to the fine, theor rno•leof proceeding was resorted
to—a'• !evari facies" was issued to recover it; but then
the lion. Member says, it ought not to have been exe-
cuted till the period of imprisonment had expired : if
this was the fact, Mr. Carlile had his remedy, to which,
however, he did not resort. With this the Court had no-
thing to dix The.exeention was given to • the Sheriff,
and if he acted illegally in not selling the property im-
mediately, Carlile had then his remedy. and could have
made the Sheriff sell; but what did he do?—be held

over and then brought an action of damages against the
Sheriff. He did not mean to defontl the conduct of the
Sheriff on that occasion, but his defence was, that all
Carlile's pamphlets were so libellous, that it would not
he safe for hint t., sell them. The question went to the
Jury, and he did not believe they were influenced by any
partiality for the Sheriff, in giving one shilling da-
m sirs. The Sheriff then employed a Learned Friend of
his (the Salicitor General), Mr. Starkey, to go through
the 1641,090 volumes, and select those which were not
libellous for the
.porpose of sale, and so small was the
cumber that it only produced 351. at a public auction.—
Under these circumstances, he thought the petitioner
had no ground of complaint. There was but one other
observation which he wished to make before he sat
down. The Hon. Member had said that the fine was ea•
ceasing, and yet there was a statement in his speech
ceite ineunsistent with such a charge, because he admit-
ted that in consequence of the Conviction, Carlile sold
11000 copies of " Paine's Theological Works," at half-
al:tines-each, and pnt the nrotits in his pocket. Thus,
iu consequence of the proceedings instituted against
making much store than the amouht of the fines.
Mr. LV.,\ NAHA in supporting the petition, said that
the ptufishment if not illegal, was at all events unconsti-
tction,,llysevere. _ .

Mr. MIME said there were at first hat 2,000 copies,
3,000 were then added, and afterwards 10,00'0, altogether
n:aking
.15.000 copies. He reminded the Hon. and
Gentleman opposite, as it was a subject which
would fervently come under their consideration, tnat it
ought not, to he the object of punishment, to make its
sicttni glory in it, which was the case in the present in-
s'ence.
Mr. DENMAN said that it was now proved that irre-
ligion as well religion had its martyrs. The punishment
of the petitioner was excessive, as he bad no means of
paying the.fine, his p•operty having been taken from
him. He was tertain that if the Court had been aware
at the timintpassing sentence, that the individual would
not have the means of paying the fine at the expiration
0: hie confinement, it would not have been so excessive,
and as the House were now in possession of thecircurn-
stances, they ought ro (hi that %% lath the Court would
hare done.
Mr. pzet; said that at the time the Court passed the
sentence, they knew that. Carlile, who had stated it in'
his defence, bad sold 3,000 copies at half a guinea, each,
and most have had therefore a considerable profit.
Mr. HUME moved,that the petition he printed.
Mr. PEEL. opposed the motion on. the ground of the'
impropriety of. tiring eurrency.to am libellous
pnbliea-
Ilene mentioned io the petitions. ) •".
-Air,HUME said that he thought the names of the
beoks the meat essential part of the petition. If it,con-
teineri no objectionable words, he did not see why tire
printing of it should be refused. He had no objection
that tire marginal references should be omitted.
Mr. PEEL objected to the printing of any document
in a mutilated farm.
Mr. HUME said he would then reserve to himself the
power of. putting it.in another form.
The petition was then laid on the table.
Mr.: DENMAN presented a petition from Notting-
/10h praying for an araiilation of duty on East and
West Indiasugars.—larid on the table.
IlLAOKßUlAN'presented a petition from War-
rington. praying/Mr ties abolition of Slavery.—Ordered
to be prinusi
. Mr. DICKINSON presented a similar petition from
Yeseil.-Orttered to be printed.
. Mr, CHALONER presented a petition on the same
subj..ct from Yorkshire.
Mr. GRENFELL presented a petition from Burring-
don, praying for a repeal of the duty on Coals carried
coast-wise.--Ordereil to, be printed.
Mr. EVANS presented petitions from Bedford and
Balder*, praxiog for the abolition of Slavery.--Ordered
W be printed.
Mr. DUSKISSON presented s petition from the
bakers awl floor dealers of Liverpool, praying for the
flue/lesion of the bread assize of tLondon to Liverpool.—
The Hon. Member was of opinion.that it ought to be ex-
tended not only to Liverpool. boa to every town 1. the
.1
•ki ag(tOtn. 1 ~ )1
Mr. tsitENFELL: concurred with the Right Hon.
Gent. in the treeeseity of such a Bill.
Mr. G. RENNET. wring the Right Hort. the Attor-
ney. General loin* blase, wished. to ask him a question
which he had betaotihe habit ofputting every Session
fur the last.five year.. and to which he hull always re-
c,eived an ineffectual. snorter. He wished to 'carol( the
Alterations recommended by the Cersamission of Inquiry,
which had been scat out to Guernsey in ISIS, had yet.
been carried into execution.
The ATTORNEY.-GENERAL said that the subject
was now before the Privy .Council. Some alterations
were adopted, and others only waited foe further common'.
Goitres prior 14, their being adopted.
Mr. ABERCROJIBY molted that a Select Committee
be appointed to exaotioe the Jooroale of the Howse of
Lords, to astertain_the. beej. Means of facilitating the
hearing of Appeaser —Ordered.
• IttiiIZACIH.O,B Pt IV 'LEG N.. •
RAltltt now:mete. to, c4ll, the attention of the
Molar to eii; 4*. c`ieniiielitOW WhiC4l eitpraretriliat. day is