The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-02-22 00:00:00

FTii S OF COUR N OF JUSTICE IS IfIELIND.

Sir JOILN NE.WPOIIT, after several obserra-
Jim's, mowed for Temp to brim.; in a. Bill em:,o%vering
the Commissioners appointed in compliance with the
atitlress of that House, to enquire into the fees of
Courts of Justice in Ireland, to compel the attend-
ance of necessary witnesses.

Mr. B. BATitUitiT opposed the mntion as un-
nerestary. No such -lid was given to a similar Com-
ans.ion aprinted in 173,2.

Mr. WILLIAM SMITH said, thwt the only ques-
tion was whether those vowels were necessary.—
But if the House wished to obtain information, it
should jefllnVlß all inducements to concealment as
much as.possible.. A strong inducement to conceal 7
mr-it on this occasion was voluntary attendlnce ; for
a person, who world draw on himself much danger
f,nrn hn supetiots in office for giving information in
sm-h a case. CPVIII 1101 be at all blamed, if his giving
Worm:llion were compulsory. This was a question of
mere common sense. If it was necessary to give the
Coosis.iooers such powers as the Bill required to
oluaio—ittfotmation, how could the House refuse
them? He. for his part, thought the powers were
t:11L~i1e1~~UI11 L' necessary, and he Would therefore vote
for t 1101.

Mr. Slat EON ,indicated the characters of Mas-
tvTx in Chancery, and exposed the improbability of
their being influenced by such petty corruption as
that widen ti 4,• enquiry necessarily supposed.
lIOIINER. did not think the panc.:) tie pro.
o-04.4,41 and 114:4 other Nlostots of
C.lncery by the Hon. and L (4i4nitleman any
a...aer to lie obseo..tion of his lino. Friend. The
llou.e had 4114.0,41) r6olv d. that an enquir) should
t lie place, and the only tjueitTnn now to be eon-
t444 nii., n het her this enquiry should be etlecti2al,
1.10101(41 4.f the House last Session should I.
or 44: c 1.41 in tit,. 'Ott ifonont.tb'e and
1..1.41..vd • 44 I..erted, that according to the
r.,rnhvion is. .:I rerrir d, tee•..ral 411ficeis of these

Cu 11.

t I acio,l iti a mo.t . :.justitiat;le manner, by
crea,ip; (rimy their o it U; .101 i iy fees which not'
oars not ry.thaiised by the .1(4-4es of these.
tour's, but were also expres.ly contrary to an Act of i
Parliament. Ile did Hot knew who • the Corn- ,
inissinners were that been anpe.-;,ited in Ireland, .
but there was an instance in Scoland n here the per-
son named as a Commissiorcr was the very mats who
bad for .20 years acted as the Chief °Meer of the Court
in which all' the abuses romplaiito,l of had arisen, and
bnen put in:continual practice. It thought it very
extraordinary that any objection should be made to
give the power slow required to the Comn+sioners,
to sommon witnesses to give evidence on oath;
because that, without seen a power, the am.int mem
of Commissioners appeared to him to be .0 story :
and if the Right lion. Gmitlemau should succeed
ve%isting this motion_ had no doubt but that all
ftni:re endeavours to check the chases complained
of would prove fruitless.
_ .

ATTORNEY-GEN!...tIAT. op.oo,Ftl the mo-
ti( n, on the grounds of the Bill's being perfectly
unn;.rescary. Was'it to be thought that persons of
inch reqpeetability would forfeit their chat-cicr4 by
bet proceeding in the best war for the ohj‘,ct of I! e .
enquity. He had already said that pet sons refu%ieg
to attend, and to gite evidence, were pun's:table by
an action f. ,r misdemeanour. This was a full answer
to any necessity for the Bill. It Was a ptineiple of
I,,4lltiott hot to legislate untte..o,sArily, ar,d
Foj no.lll he a most untlecesary piece of
for thore was no reed of att) further powers
e,mmission already, to ghe perfect vitalit)
and rri-•rt to the enquir). He tfietefure concurred
an the motion fur the qn.rious questio:r.
Alr. BERCHONI B: supportt :ire motion on
ti ~,rcoutts, and neat is by the same
0, ; i• l'slietui l'iorner.

rt).\9.lillV said, the present question was
it,df ua. I.kvit)st eFsentiallu the due adminis-
tr.,•••it f.f jrwico which had ever been hrou.;:it under
It • coteddination t•I the !louse. o.:ii;'..?rs who irul
L':,•llguiity of malpractices wculd ut:t Le very for.:
1"t'l or noxious to give inCormation Ciat might crimi-
nate ti.e.,,stlycs; rind if the rs had not
the 1.... et to administer oaths, it wls in vain to ex-
t. I.,,rsons would o.iv: t'.; truth. It had
Oat the 110 Coottnis‘ion ovule out for this
had colitirrol ei2l:t • *oh( ut Pr"dua.
tiesiraNe 'nut: ;;.;;;E' he, and he had
tiouht was, ter} true; amid he rou!d, thinefOr',
safrlY predict. that if the present Commis ion has
no vested with mere evco,,i% r powers than the other
had been, it wrr!,l cott;;!,..te lb year!, and prove in
the et.d qs•
M. ihergi, i.e had voted aga'nst the
rl'ir,tion when it was first Irrciwtt forwaid, tli.i so
becalm. ht. thought that no case had !won made out ;
butt he ;tad since wen rea,on to after his 4,l,iliiott, and
shoeld now vote fee it,because he thou ht sgine good
It fight arise from it. _ _

ra MILTON hylieved there hnd been Rinses
the Courts on the PehjN•t of fees, very de-
!.%e t•i the it.tere‘ts of the conntry, and more
.::vultirly so from falling most severely ou the

lowerordire of. the petspie, ,who Had 'utast need of
the protection of the Legislature.
'The 'CitANCIII;LOR; 'Of the t XCREQUER
said, that the quettion was, is te•grmnting powers to
a ermmission Which were not pitterally granted, even
tinder the Great Seol.

Amer a few wot from Mr. HOLM r: SUMNIR,
the House divided—

oesllB-eAyes Us-Majority 12,
•GEN/011.
LA MBTON, in bringing forward the motion
which he was about to submit to the House, •conceiv-
ed that where the fame and honour of tire country
were sullied, by anyeemisure Of -.Government or their
agents, it was as much the duty of an humble indivi-
dual like himself, as of the most prominent Member
of the House, to stand forward, and endeavour to
call down upon the transaction that reprobation
which it merited. He now alluded to the late surren-
der of Genoa, a transaction the foolnestrof which had
never been exceeded in the political history of this
country; and which remained a blot on the character
of the nation. [Hear, hear!]-11e hoped that Mini-
sters would not be permitted, in this case, to follow
the course limy had all along pursoed-4efusing to
answer to any charge exhibited against them in that
House, on the pretest that the sebject could not be
discussed till the whOle foreign affairs of the country
came under the consideration of Parliament. If Mi-
nisters were in this manner permitted to continue
their silence, either from a feeling of iuebtlity. to
withstand the attacks of their opponents—and ifthe
Noble Lord at Vienna was to he allowed to decide
on the most important affairs and interests of the
country, without the knowledge of the Cabinet at
home, and without 'the knowledge of Parliament,
the functions of the House were at an end. He trust-
ed, however, that if the'Right Honourable Gentle-
man should persist in this dishonourable silence, that
a day would come when the country would no longer
be degraded by such taciturn Ministers.—[hear!]
—lf, iu private life, he wore to charge a man with a
participation in the commission of a crime disgraceful
to his honour ind•hfs reputation, would it be enough
for him to titre West and say, he was Innocent, but
he could not defend himself till the return of a corn.
panion equally implicated with himself. Ile charged
his Majesty's Ministers publicly, in the face of the
House, with having degraded the country in the eyes
of the world'!—with having forsaken a pledge given
to a nation invited by them to indeperlence. The
disgraceful measure width: he deplored was unfor-
tunately .no longer pending, but accomplished ; and
he hoped that the Right Hon. Gentleman would at
least have the merit not to add duplicity to injustice,
or to endeavour to deny the part which they had
taken: The unfortunate Genoese had tint ni It been
delivered over, like drones of cattle, to the King of
Sardinin, but they had been so delivered liter by
England ;—Englaed had been the instrument of this
oppression. We it talismanic shield could ilefend
them under this disgrace? What balance of poem,
a term always brought forward to justify every net
of .iolenee or rapine, could justify such a measure ?
The best balance of power would always. be found,
by Sovereigns, in the affections of the Iteopte ; and
their best sty of gaining their affections wined he in
eventing .
their
hearer. instead of counting their num-
bers.—[hear, hear!]—But hoe es er disgraceful
many of the measures which Eerope hail lately wit-
nessed, to no particular instance had England breniee
such a party as the spoliation of Genoa. In April
1813, Lord William Bentinck, in a Proclamation,
told the people of Genoa that their ancient Govern.
ment was restored, and that he acted on the princi-
ples declared by the Allies in the Treaty of Paris.—
'The more just and generous the news professed ,in
that Treaty, the more disgraceful the avaricious
squabbling for territory which they hadsubseqsently
displayed.—[hear, hear!]—Lord Wm. Bentinck,
in the name of the British Government, appetileel to
the national feeling of the Genoese, recalled to theta ,
the days of their ancient prosperity, and pledged his_
country to reinstate them iu their former privileges.
Was there an English heart which did not beat re-
sponsive to•suell a Proclamation? Was there a matt
in the MI Oil V who was not Convinced that it was
most glotio fer Eegland that the Enelish arms should
lyeie been so employed? ..Not employed in acts of
pre ...ion, of plunder, or spoliatien, but in restoring
a.l ancient and ious Stale to its lotig. lost tights.
ar,hcar n—Secli were the promises held out to.the
Genoese, but far different was the.execulion. Eight
months afterwards, when they had been tantalized.
with a momentary enjoyment of their ancient pri-
vileges, a mandate arrived from that detestable Con-
PbS of Vienna, annulling all that had been done in
(diem of Genoese fieedom, and delivering up that
unfortunate country to the King of Sardinia. This
transfer was made by a British Proclamation, signed by
a British Officer. This was an act, the criminality of
which did not attach alone to the Noble Lord at Vi.
eons, or the 011iccr whose nan.e appeals te it, bet to
the whole of his Majesty's Minister.;. • In this Pro.
clemation General Dalrymple informed the 'moo. of
Genua that the Government appointed by Lid
Williara Bentilick had been delivered up into his
hands, and that he surrendered it to the King of
Sardinia. He would ask his Majesty's Ministers,
did they or did they not avow this order ? If they
disavowed it, then they ought to deliver ud General
Dalrymple to the consequences of his conduct. If
they avowed it, let them then come ma telly for-
ward and justify themselves in the eyes of the tuition,
for having falsified the sacred word of England, for
hash); rendered the name of England, feir the first
time, suspected among the nations of Europe. This
most infamous measure was not one of those which
;!Roisters could avoid explaining; and it was in lain
for them to think theycould 4ed acquitted to the
p
country by maintaining arofeund silence oe this,
as they had done on so many other subjects. Such
silence was not more disgraceful to themselves than
to the country, who suffered them to be at the head
of its affairs; and no one who had its honour and
eletracter at stake, but must regret to see it under
• the guidance of such ,Ministers.—[!Leer, hearl—
Ile then moved for copies of the liroclatentions ad-
dressed to the Genoese by Lord William Bentinck,
timed Cith April, 1814, .and by General Dalrymple,
dated December 27,
1514, and of copies of the In-
,
strurtions sent by
(,government to Lord
William Bentitick, iu cletoberof the Correspondence,.
for the guid-
ance of his conduct [talk ;
Mid Lord Williambetw6en Mujebty's Ministers'