right to state more particularly that W. • H. Fremantle, esq. one of the secretaries of the treasury, a gentleman who, they believe, has no property in the county, applied distinctly to the Barrack Master General, recommending the above candidates to his favourable influence ' and support, and desiring him, as a very ⚫ particular favour, to mention the same 'subject, with the same view, to the other gentlemen in the Barrack Department; in pursuance of which requisition, the most active exertions were used in that ⚫ department, under the specious pretence of carrying on his Majesty's service, to ⚫ influence unduly various freeholders, and to controul the exercise of the elective franchise: these allegations the petitioners are prepared to prove at the bar of the House, in the humble hope that such measures may be taken, as to the wisdom of the house may appear most effectual, to ⚫ prevent a recurrence of such unconstitu⚫tional practices, practices which, with all 'due deference to the superior wisdom of the house, the petitioners venture to des'cribe as calculated to bring into discredit the government of the country, and to *shake the confidence of the people in the * honour and independence of the house of commons; the petitioners have there⚫fore felt it their bounden duty, not only 'to themselves and fellow subjects, but es"pecially to the house, to bring under their notice these outrages, as they deem them, against the liberties of the country; and they have been cneouraged the more to do so, by the Resolution which stands recorded in the Journals of the house, which ⚫ declares, that it is highly criminal in any minister or ministers, or any servant under the crown, directly or indirectly, to use ⚫ the powers of office in the election of re⚫ presentatives to serve in parliment, and ⚫ declares, that an attempt at such influence ⚫ will at all times be resented by the house, as aimed at its own honour, dignity, and ⚫ independence, as an infringement of the dearest rights of every subject throughout the empire, and tending to sap the basis of this free and happy consti*tution." Mr. Ashton Smith then moved, that the petition do lie on the table, and at the same time gave notice that he should submit a motion to the house on the subject, on this day se'nnight. Lord Temple gave his full and unqualified consent to the motion that this petition should lie upon the table. But, whilst he concurred in this motion, he begged to recall to the recollection of the house that, he would not say this particular petition, but a petition of a similar nature, had been determined upon by the petitioners to be presented to that house, previously to the meeting of parliament. As the allegations of the petition involved a question respecting the privileges of that house, it ought to have been brought forward on the earliest opportunity; and it appeared to him somewhat extraordinary that the hon. gent. had kept it back till the present moment. Mr. Canning apprehended that when any petitioners resolved on presenting a petition to that house, complaining of a specific grievance, they had a right, as well as the hon. member who was to present it, to choose the time that might appear to them to be most convenient or favourable for that purpose. Mr. Tierney certainly thought that, if the petition was intended as a party question, it might have been desirable for the framers of it to have public opinion for some time previously directed to the subject. But if the petition was really intended to bring the fact of a breach of the privileges of that house under the consideration of parliament, no time should have been lost in presenting it. These gentlemen who knew of such transactions as amounted to a breach of the privileges of that house, should not have suffered those unworthy ministers of the crown to remain so long exempt from the exposure which their conduct merited. The house, however, would hereafter be able to judge of the motives of the petitioners in keeping back the petition, and also of the motives of those gentlemen who might since have been persuaded to give their support to this proceeding. Mr. Perceval said, he should not impute to the right hon. gent. who had just sat down, any party motive for the observations he had made (a laugh); but he was clearly of opinion, that the persons who had signed the petition, and the gent. who had undertaken to present it, had a right to chuse the time that appeared best to them. The right hon. gent. no doubt, would have been better pleased if the petition had been presented on the first day of the session, because then it would have been liable to an objection, if it had been proposed to take it into consideration previously to the last day for presenting Elec tion petitions. But the allegations of the which the petition was brought forward. petition were of so grave and serious a na- The matter to which it related was acknow. ture, that if any one of them even could ledged on all sides to be of the utmost imbe proved, it would be of small compara-portance, involving no less considerations tive importance whether the petition were than those of the dearest rights of the subpresented a day, or a month, earlier or la-ject, and the privileges of that house. He ter. Mr. C. Wynne contended, that it had never been insinuated from his side of the house, that the charges in the petition were of a slight or unimportant nature. He appealed to the recollection of the house whether they had not, in every instance, been admitted to be of the last importance to have brought forward. The charges contained in the petition would be highly important if proved; they would also be important if not proved, as he trusted would be the case, because they would then fall back upon the heads of those who had given birth to them. Mr. Hurst did not think it of the smallest moment whether the petitioners were influenced by a sense of duty, or by sinister motives; they took upon them to bring against certain persons certain charges, and he rejoiced that it would be now soon decided how far the charges were warranted by proofs, from the rumours that had been so industriously circulated,not alone through the county concerned, but through the country. He was glad that the petition had found its way into that house, and that those rumours would be for ever silenced by the paramount decision of the people's representatives, for he had no hesitation in saying that he anticipated with confidence an issue honourable to the parties so calumniated. Mr. Rose was not willing to question the impartiality of the hon. member who spoke last, but as it had been urged as an objection to the petition, the time of its being presented, he would beg leave to set gentlemen right upon that head. Parliament had met this session at a very unusual time, when few country gentlemen were able to attend. It was desirable to have as full an attendance of that description of members as possible on the discussion of this subject, and it was not tili the present period that many of them had attended in the house. As to the motive for bringing forward the petition, he was sure the hon. gent. opposite could not impute any to the hon. member, who had presented it, that he could not fully justify. Mr. Sturges Bourne highly approved of the candid and honourable manner in insisted that it would have been trifling with either to hurry on the discussion before there had been a sufficient attendance to give it adequate consideration. He re peated his sense of the candid and honourable way in which it had been submitted to the house. Mr. Fremantle adverted to the state of the house, and asked whether it could be considered such an attendance as the hon. member had thought desirable? As to the petition, he was extremely gratified that it had been produced, and gave his full assent to the motion, that it should be laid upon the table. He was confident that he should be able to shew, that the circumstances of the case had not the bearing represented in the petition, when the question should come to be discussed. He had only one word to add respecting the manner in which this proceeding had been conducted. He had always understood it to be the practice in that house, when any charge was to be brought forward against a member, that some intimation of the proceeding was communicated to the indivi dual concerned. In this case, not a word had been expressed to him on the subject, and though rumours might have reached him respecting the allegation of the petition, it was not till he came down to the house this day, and the hon. member had proposed to present the petition, that he had any certain information upon the subject. Mr. Sturges Bourne, in explanation, said, that in speaking of the necessity of a full attendance, he did not mean any allu sion to the numbers then in the house. The petition was not then to undergo consideration, but now that the members in general had come up to their parliamentary duty there was a certainty of a full meeting whenever this petition was to come before the house. Lord Howick thought, that as the charges alledged in the petition were of the most weighty kind, so did they exact from that house the strictest scrutiny, and the most mature consideration. They went to question the honour of that house, and the freedom of the country; for that house could not be honourable, if constituted by the undue influence of power and corruption; of the Board of Controul (Mr. Tierney,) respecting some transactions that had recently taken place at Vellore, in India. Some time had elapsed, since letters from Madras had brought accounts of the mutiny that had taken place at that town, and of the carnage that followed, in which above 1000 British and native lives had been lost. Rumour ascribed this disaster to some dan had been resorted to in that presidency, and deserved the most severe animadversion. He should not then enter into any detail of the melancholy transaction; but when the importance of an investigation, both to the interests of British subjects in India, and to the stability of British power in that quarter was considered, he was sure it would be felt that he was entitled to the information he called for. He wished, therefore, to ask the right hon. gent. whether any authentic accounts of that transaction had been received by the Board of Controul, or by the Court of Directors? There were vessels now going out; and a new governor-general and commander in chief were on the point of setting out for India. He thought it, therefore, material nor could the country itself be free if robbed of its elective franchise. Thinking then, as he did, of the importance of the petition, he could not conceal his surprise that it had not long before that period been presented to the house. When it was considered that it was the practice of that house to postpone all other kinds of considerations to the paramount one of its privileges; when it was considered that the hon. mem-gerous and unprecedented measures, which ber who presented this petition must have known the serious nature of the charges it contained; when it was considered that every member, having charges to adduce, involving the privileges of that house, had felt dispatch to be his first duty in submitting such charges to that house, it would be difficult to reconcile a strict sense of parliamentary duty with the alledged necessity for delay. The hon. member who spoke last panegyrized the candid and honourable manner in which there had been a plain statement of strong charges explicitly laid before the house. He for his part, should hesitate to term a charge candid, merely because it was a gross one, but should rather feel it his duty to look for evidence in some degree proportionate to the character of the accusation; but how-to know, for the consolation of the friends ever candid or honourable it might be to bring such charges, he was sure that it was not either candid or honourable to circulate industriously through the country rumours calculated to hurry the unthinking into inconsiderate prejudices against those persons whom their accusers had so long delayed to charge before the proper and recognized tribunal. Did the hon. gent. think it very candid to present to that house a paper reflecting in the most serious manner upon a member of that house, without giving that member the slightest intimation of such a proceeding, though such a notice was warranted, or rather required by all the usages of parliament? He should be anxious until the petition was decided upon, and hoped that if the charges therein contained were found, upon due examination, to be slight and frivolous, the house would feel it due to their own dignity, and to the aspersed honour of one of its members, to make the persons who advanced them, feel the consequence of wanton accusation-The petition was then ordered to be taken into consideration on Monday se'nnight. [MASSACRE AT VELLORE.] Mr. Howard rose for the purpose of putting a question to the right hon. the president VOL. VIII. of the British subjects now going out, and already settled in India, what information had been received, and whether any instructions as to the measures to be adopted respecting this affair had been sent out. He was of opinion, that it was necessary to shew, that if mismanagement or misconduct had been practised in India, the circumstances would be investigated in England, and decided in a manner consistent with the interests of all parties. Mr. Tierney was not at all surprised at the anxiety felt by the hon. gent. For some time past rumours of the transaction had been in circulation, but unhappily he was unable to give any answer to the hon. gent. on this subject, as no authentic accounts had yet been received either by the Court of Directors or the Board of Controul. But he would assure the hon. gent, that, as soon as the accounts should arrive, they would be laid before the house, so far as they could consistently with a proper regard to the public interest. What steps would be taken, or what instructions sent out, it it was not possible to state before the offcial accounts should arrive. But the hon. gert. could surely not think that the officers now on the point of setting out ought to 2 Y HOUSE OF LORDS. Monday, February 9. SLAVE TRADE ABOLITION BILL.] Lord Walsingham brought up the report of the bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Lord Grenville stated. that it had been found more adviseable to fix the same period in all the clauses of the bill for the Abolition of the Trade, namely, the 1st of May next, and to introduce a proviso, allowing vessels employed in the trade which had cleared out from the ports of this country for Africa previous to that day, to complete their cargoes in Africa and trade with then to the West Indies until the 1st of January, 1808, at which period the trade should be finally abolished. He also thought it advisable, in order to obviate any objection with respect to the construction of the general words of the bill, to introduce words for the purpose of limiting its operation to Africa, the West Indies and other parts of America. His lordship proposed amendments in the clauses of the bill to the effect he had stated, and some verbal amendments, which were all agreed to. The proviso introduced on Friday was struck out, and another proposed by the noble lord, allowing vessels which should have cleared out from the ports of this country for Africa previous to the 1st of May next to take in their lading in Africa, and trade with their cargoes to the West Indies until the first of January 1808. Lord Redesdale suggested, that as the loss of a vessel or other unavoidable accident might prevent the arrival of a cargo from Africa in the West Indies within the time limitted, it might be adviseable to make an exception for such a case. Lord Grenville said, that the period of the first of Jannary, 1808, had been fixed upon for the purpose of making an amply sufficient allowance of time for the voyages to be completed. He had no objection, however, to the introduction of words for the purpose of providing for the occurrence of circumstances such as those mentioned by the noble and learned lord.—After a short conversation between lords Redesdale, Grenville, and earl Stanhope, it was agreed to introduce words, excepting from the operation of the bill those cases where the voyage to the West Indies could not be completed within the time limited, on account of capture, the loss of the vessel, or other unavoidable accident, the proof of which to lie on the party.-On the question for engrossing the bill, The Bishop of London rose and spoke to the following effect: "My lords, I cannot suffer this opportunity to escape, without declaring my sincere and ardent satisfaction at the decision of your lordships. My lords, you have performed a great and signal act of humanity, you have executed a great legislative measure of relief to an oppressed and degraded population. The reasons and arguments which many noble lords have thought proper, with such eloquence snd perspicuity, to introduce, have been felt by me with their fullest force; but there is one of such an important nature and in which such serious interests are involved, that I trust I shall be excused for submitting it to your lordships, more particularly as it has not been adverted to in any previous discussion. The moral and religious consequences which may be expected to accrue from this salutary and humane act of legislative justice, are many and extremely desirable; for hitherto they have been entirely neglected-neglected, not by the clergymen in the respective islands, but it is a neglect naturally arising out of the unjust and unchristian system, which has been acted upon in the colonies. Worked all day upon the estates of their owners, the negroes have been forced to consign every other moment of their unhappy existence, to the cultivation of their own little spots of land, and even on the Sabbath, shame to say! a market was held for the specific purpose of enabling the slave to purchase his Sunday dinner. The number of clergymen has also been too few, compared with the great population of the blacks. In the island of Jamaica, where there are from 2 to 300,000 negroes, there are only 20 clergymen, whose time is in a great degree taken up in the performance of their numerous duties to the Whites. There is another beneficial consequence which will follow from the accomplishment of the present bill; namely, the great increase of popu lation, which the good treatment of the negroes will produce, independent, of the cessation of those evil effects which the present indulgence in promiscuous intercourse between the sexes must of necessity occasion. The only true method of abviating the mischief is, to impress upon the moral and religious consideration of the negroes, the danger of a continuance in such irregularities, to their health and constitutions, and, therefore, the immediate and absolute necessity of submitting to this kind of self-denial. It was said by Mr. Pitt, that the Slave Trade with Africa was the greatest practical evil; I can safely say, that the abolition of that execrable traffic is the greatest practical good that can be effected. A good which will immortalize the British senate, and which will display, to an admiring world, the striking contrast between this country, the great stay and hope of the civilized world, and the conduct of that arch enemy of human happiness, who, whilst we are relaxing the oppressive bondage of the unfortunate African, and communicating freedom to a fourth of the world, is pursuing his race of terror and desolation, and subjugating the continent of Europe, in violation of every principle of justice, and in contempt of every maxim of a generous policy. Earl St. Vincent took this last opportunity to enter his protest against the adoption of the measure, the consequences of which he was persuaded, would prove fafal to the best interests of this country. As soon as France made peace with this country (and she would hasten a pacification in consequence of this measure), her first object would be to get compleat possession of the Slave Trade, and if she succeeded in that object, it would soon appear that she had got possession of an engine that would work the downfall of the naval superiority of this country. Such was his conviction, and he uttered it now for the last time. His Lordship then withdrew immediately from the house. The different clauses were then agreed to, and the bill was ordered to be engrossed, and read a third time to-morrow. HOUSE OF COMMONS, Monday, Feb. 9. [MINUTES.] Mr. Barham reported from the committee appointed to deter mine the merits of the Plymouth Election Petition, that sir C. M. Pole and Thomas Tyrwhit, esq. had been duly elected; and 1 that the petitions against their return were not frivolous nor vexatious.-Mr. Vernon appeared in his place, pursuant to order of the house, and stated in excuse of his absence from the Saltash Election committee on Friday, "that when the house, on Thursday last, had given power to the said committee to adjourn till this day, on account of the necessary absence of one of their members, he had by mistake conceiv ed that the committee had actually been adjourned till this day; but being informed of his mistake, he had attended the said committee on Saturday and this day and that he was extremely sorry the committee had been put to any inconvenience. on his account." The substance of what Mr. Vernon offered to the house, was taken down in writing; and the same being verified by him, upon oath, at the táble, it was ordered, That the said Mr. Vernon be excused for his non-attendance on Friday last.-The Solicitor Generat brought up the bill for making the Freehold Estates of persons, dying in debt, assets for the payment of their simple contract debts, which was read a first time:Petitions were presented from the Tanners of Cumberland, Oxford, and several other places in England, against the Oak Bark bill, which were referred to the committee on the former Petitions.-Lord Temple moved that the order of the day for the se cond reading of the Oak Bark bill should be discharged, on the ground that the committee on the various petitions against the measure had not yet reported. The order was then discharged, and fixed for this day fortnight.-Mr. Fremantle presented, an Account of the net produce of all the Permanent and War Taxes in the years and quarters ending 5th of Jan. 1806, and 5th Jan. 1807.-Sir J. Newport presented the usual annual petitions from the several charitable Institutions in Ireland, which were ordered to lie on the table. The hon. bart. in presenting the petition from the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Seminary at Maynooth, near Dublin, stated, that it was proposed to make a considerable augmentation to the grant to this esta blishment, in order to provide inore adequate accommodation for the education of the students in that seminary, and that this augmentation was recommended to the house on the part of his majesty. The hon. bart. also stated, that it was proposed to make an additional grant to the Dublin 1 |