The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-02-27 00:00:00

AN_ - ....
. sh• • , ie e. 4 • ' Lia o• k'
• 6 4s
may, ti. a aq, liac No
. , Viler ifie, N. 4 I •
'l4 -sliqee kw - .1 - ,bleb'

. •
dpi. • - •

" it if

1- 4110 -atlas -wed

on account of ow thing Apo langentgiggling and imprison-
int Itersattr charged oak Hth Tl6lllllll, 814. shall flghtft
Mid, and the persoos against wham sock actioos are Wright
skill be itideremilled. If any action or mil hatsbeeo it shall be
commeaced, Ate renal ism may be pleaded, and this Ad
giant in evidence, sad defendants shall base double eau. In
actions brought ie.Seollaad defenders sail be allowed their ex.
peaces. Application may be made to the Court in which the
adios shall be brought, or to one of- the ‘Jedges, if the Court
be net tatting, IS may proceedings, *c.!' ,
These are encooragemacts to eltlllllltOCl actions for
redress. It is thus that the compliints of the per-
.
owhose houses were entered by the armed power,
whose property was seised, and who were torn from
their families, and imprisoned under suspicion,• are
to be answered'; and this Act is to be sufficient evi-
dence of the innocence of all the transactions com-
'bitted under the horrid system of despotism which
has been ezerrised since the lit day of January;l
1817. The equity of this proceeding isnot just quite
so summary as the Algerine mode of stilling corn-
plaints —but there seems a strong desire that it should
be equally effectual. What a burlesque upon fair
investigation ! What an outrage upon the forms and
spirit of justice ! This is the greatest insult that was
ever yet offered to the common sense of mankind.—
Ministers have either a superlative contempt for hu-
man opinion, or, conscious of having done irreparable
wrong, they are determined to hazard every thing
sooner than esposerthemselves to the risks of an open
and fair trial. "That much-injured individual," Mr.
Oliver (to use the language of his humane employer),
and all the rest of the Spies, Informers, and Incen.
diaries, will find this Act a very convenient covering,-
and sleep in the silence of forgiveness, like the other
liberated blood-hounds, till their offences against
society again bring them into notice. This Bill of
Indemnity has been very aptly compared . with that
which was granted in Ireland in 1799, to the brutal
' FITZGERALD, io consequence of a verdict against
him for sentencing Mr. WitIoHT to a barbarous flog-
ging and imprisopmfint, for having in his possession a
treasonable letter in French (which Mr. F. could
not read, and which afterwards turned out to be a
mere note to apologise for not waiting on
.Mr. W.)
The actor in this scene of cruelty; as a Resiewtr of
the disgusting fact observes, not only obtained a Dill
of Indemnity, A TITER, AND A rviston (for these•
things are conceivable enough); but found .defenders
in the Howse of Commons, who justified the general
spirit of his proceeding:, and who derided any con-
cern at the sufferings of the innocent man.

The assertion of Mr. BATHURST, that the designs
of the disafeded, as Ministers affect to term the
persons who were discontented because they were
starving, were not encouraged by the moral Mr. Oli.
slur, has been so completely confuted, that it is al-
most unnecessary farther to allude to it. But al-
`though the statements in Parliament to this effect had
sot been so perfectly satisfactory, there is enough in
the nature of the thing to convince any reasonable
Person that almost all the outrages which took place
are to be ascribed to the agency of this convicted
ruffian and his associates. Oliver must have been,
able to act with a confidence, boldness, and security,
which no real conspirator could have pretended to.—
This alone would have sufficed to gain
,him the
ascendancy in a conclave composed of a few stare-
lug paupers. But Oliver had many other es-
triable advantages. . He ("peered in the character
of a Delegate from the Metropolis. lie passed him-
self off, exceeding .to the admission of Ministers
themselves, as the representative of 70,000 armed
men. He came, too, with pretended recommenda-
tions from Gentlemen to whom the People of Ell.
lead have long been accustomed to look up, as to
their patrons and their friends. His pockets were
stuffed with the produce of taxation; and his
command of money, combined with the otitis. cq=
renitence' which we IWlre noticeg,•_ and with •MI
preteded knowledge of the opemtionsof 1b.4118
lfeded other-puts of the•kingdom, most his*
enabled him powerfully to influence the resolu-
tions of those on whom he practised his ac-
cursed arts. The wonder is not, therefore, that
Oliver caused so much mischief, but that lie
caused so very little. It was • easy for him to
select topics for delineation calculated to make a
strong impression on the Public, and addressing as be
did, his insidious and treacherous harangues td per-
sons sunk in the lowest abyss of-poverty, and to
whom revolution itself could not possibly have
brought any accession of misery, it Is.serprising
how little effect he produced, The general, we
might say universal, good conduct of the People in
such extraordinary circumstances, abundantly refutes
all the foul calumnies that have been heaped on their
heads. To be sure, they complained,—and had
they not a good right to complain, of the wasteful,
extravagant, and arbitrary proceedings of Ministers ?
In that, however, they were only exercising their un-
doubted privileges. But whatever their calumniators
may say, they entertained no designs hostile to the
Constitution' And except in one or two instances,
where the agency of Spies and Informers, gasping
after blood-money, led to the committal of some
trifling outrages, the conduct of the People of Great
•Btitain doling the last two years has been 'most
exemplary.

Officers. The system pursued is evidently or the
worst kind, for apparently /W moral qualities of
. .
thatie4ipiiated to soppreSs crime are •perfectly ea a
level with the culprits wheat llser are sot to wat.lt
and detect. We cestainly can espect no reforms.
tion from rich a quarter. As one of our CODOmpore.
ries justly observer, 6. the thiettakers appear le
breed thieves• as sportsmen breed foxes, leCriilly,
ander pretence.of destroying them, bet in reality to
preserve the breed for :their Oat or amusement."
How dreadful this is, where-the pyre le .w r•fellow.
creature, whotiOesi are prenipled by
,natare, end
enjoined by our reltions to love and lo preserve!
There are those who set their. Wits. Meinst ill re.
formations whatever-4h' spy system most he ea.
cooraged in all its branches. Evea Judges will say,
what can we.do Without snob instrumeots? But we
will tell those •who*contend for the Continuance et
existing evils, 'front the tipprehenshin df changes, that
where every fresh disclosure shows the system to be
as bad as it can
.be, a. Reform is indispensible, and
must take place, or the nation will be deluged with
crimes, and society fall a prey to °fencer of the
most destructive character. The most callous criminals,
relieved from fear of punishment, may be continuing
the course of their misdeeds, Whilst new scenes of
depravity, and ether actors in the complex plots of
iniquity, are starting into view front the enormity el
their guilty arts. is this a state of things that should
be endured in a. Christian country, without the at-
tempt to redress it ? And is it
,left to chance and the
casual observer to make these discoveries?
manity is much indebted to the cordons and penetn.
Lion of the late LORD Mainte, for the disclosems
made in the system of Police so pregnant with ads.
chief. The Committee before whom the investigations
to which we: are alluding were made, acts under his
enspiiiits: It will be observed that Limbrick has been
suspended.

Thistatements made by Sir SAKI= hOMILLT is
the House of Commons on Wednesday night were
very. striking.- Of three hundred and. forty.teo
convicted of stealing in bonsai, not one had suffered
ifthe law ; whilst of those Convicted of forgery—
the imitation of a hand-writini ore printed paper, far
a frandotent purpose—though the crime ii, perhaps,•
the most frequent of any on the calendar, not one,
or but one,
,bas escaped ea ignominious death: and
it is attempted to veconcilei thia and various other in-
consistencies by some vaieecry of indefinite intoning
and uncertain application, that " we are a' commer-
cial people, and commercial transactions mut be pro-
tected ;" though other nationis tipsily commercial
with ourselves inflict on forgery but a comparatively
slight punishment, and with them the crime is rare.
A peculiar malignity seems to attend the elate of the
paper system in this country.

A Morning Paper has the following curious pare.
graph s—" We stated yesterday that a degree of ir.
resolution had been manifested as to the holding of
the Drawing•room. Report says, that the Minister of
a great Northern. Power had presented an 016 vial
Note on the marked objection which had bees
made to the preseatatielli of an Illustrious Lady at
Court—end remonstrating in strong terms on the
subject. The objection, however, was persisted in,
and the consequence was, that the Minister of the
Sovereign alluded to did not yesterday attend her
Nita E3TIOII Drawinproom."

By the Royal Marriage Aot two modes are pro.
Tided by which the Princes of the Blood may awry:
—l. By the king'* previous approbation, by and whit
the consent of his Privy Council, and consequestly, by
the same authority, in the name end on behalf of
his Mijesty, by the PRINCE iltsceeT.--2. Br lb.
Prince intending to marry, if hi shall have attained
the fall age'of 26 yeari, entering on the books of the
Privy Council such his iotention, sperifying the per.
miertaikfils 'notice shall authorize the union, antes(
140 goities_ of Parliament shall, before the roi-
l/ration of.-111 months from the date of sorb entry, es-
preit'atYrfeclare their disapprebatiou of such. intended
latifftlage. .
!.." • A lettch frisielydnev, in New South Walimosys,
The Wand of Van- Dmman's Land is kept in cull,
tined (tread from the out-laws, 'll in number, who
commit 'upon the farmers every species of depreda-
tion, robbing and plunderinclthem in open day, and
even setting tire to leeks of wheat ; several of
the most respectable farmeri and merchants have suf-
fered much from these vagabonds. Effectual means
have not yet been adopted to apprehend these mis-
creants, who bid defiance to all common measures of
taking them. Van-Dieman's Land has such a fine
crop of wheat this season, that it can more than tap-
ply the loss at the Ilawksbury."
What has been stated of the amiable disposition of
Miss WYKEHAN is the opinion of all who know her;
-but her landed property is mit so great as we repre•
tented it, its amount being between five and sit thou-
stud pounds a year. Iler ready.money fortune is
very large.
A moulage is said to be in contemplation between
the Furl of ROPEBERRY and body CAROLINE GRA..
IlAk, daughter of the Duke of MONTROSE.
We learn that a most respectable body of the In-
dependent Livery of London have presented
,a itequi-
%Mon to the patriotic and worthy Alderman Inoue,
that he would offer himself us a•Candidate fur the •
City at the nest General Election, and we rejoice
to say he has yielded to their request.