House Of Commons, Wednesd...
The SPEAxEEn was summoned to the Uiouse OI reers tu near t1uI Roval assenti given by commission to several public and psivate bills. On' his return, he informed the house of the names of the bills. (See the Lords' report.) IRISH EQUITABLE LOAN BILL. On the motion that the report of this bill be agreed to, Mr. GOULBURN expressed his disapprobation of any measure which, like thepresentbill, wouldlhave theteffect of depiving a large body of traders of their means of subsistence. He thougbt that if the conduct of the pawnbrokers was improper, the evil might be re- medied by some general legislative measure. He should move, as an amendmert, that the report be received that day six months. Sir I. SHAW supported the bill. He thought every measure should be encouraged whicb would tend to introduce English capital into Ireland. After a few words from Mr. S. RICE, Alr. GRATTAr, M5r. DAwsorr, and Sir J. NEWPORT, in support of the bill, and from Sir H. PARSrELL, against it; the house divided, when there appeared- For the original motion,35 I For the amendment, 17 M Majority 18. The report was then agreed to, and the bill iras ordered to be rcad a third time. CITY BONDS INTERWST REDUCTION BILI. On the motion that the Thames navigation.debt interestreduc. tion bill be read a third time, Alderman C. SMIITH opposed it, as uncalled for, and unjuat tO. wards the present holders of those bonds. Dkr. 11U1ME supported the bill, as likely to effect a considerable saving to the public. After a few words from an lion. Mlember wkose name we did not hear, Alderman lWOOD, in defending the bill, observed, that when it was before the house last, it was left in its present state in conse- quence of there not being a sufficient number of members left in the house to divide. That deficiency bad been erroneously attri- buted to several members having gone out to see the balloon; but he should rather attribute it to the indifference which was sometimes shown by members to the discussions on private bills. Strangers were now ordered to withdraw, and the gallery was cleared; but on our re-admissionwe learned that the biU was passed without a division. On the motion for the third reading of another of the bills for rer ducing tie interest of the city debts (the coal-market bill), the house divided: the numbers were- For the motion, 30 I Against it, 35 1 MVfajority, 5. On the motion for the third reading of the last of these bills, namely, the Orphans' Fund bill, the house again divided, and the numbers were- For the motion, 38 1 Against it, 221 Alajotity 16. NET13ERLANDS TREATY. Alr. CANNI;NG laid on the table a copy of the comnerc-al treaty betwveen his Britannic Majesty and the King of the Netherlands. As an lion. member opposite had intimated a wish on a former niglet to obtain some inforrmation respecting parts of this treaty, he (Alr. Canning) wished to state, that as it was intended by a provision in the treaty, to place Sincapore and another place on the same footing as Bencoolen and other possessionas of the. Bast India Company, it would be necessary to bring a bill into Parliament to give effect to the treaty, and when such a bill was introduced, the proper time woultld arrive for conveniently discussing the general subject. The copy of the treaty was ordered to be printed. CASE OF JAMES TAYLOR. MIr. R. _MA RTIN had to present a petition from Ml ary Taylor, the wife of James 'l'aylor, who had been transported to Botany-bay, most improperly, as he conceived, upon a conviction for smuggling. I he hon. member detailed the nature of the case as it waq set forth in the petition. Taylor, with 18 others, was indicted for landing and removing by force of arms somne smuggled goods on the coast of Kent. Of four witnesses for the Crown, one only could speak dlirecdy or indirectly to his identity; whilst, on the contrary, four credible witnessezs proved an alibi for him: the jury recommended him to mercy. Four of the parties convicted were hanged; and they, dying, declared their own guilt, and Taylor's innocence; nevertheless, the latter had been transported'to Botany-bay. Taylor was further charged with having fired upon the revenue officers, whereas, in point of fact, it was another tnan who had fired, and wvho came forward to avow the fact, saying, a4da'rn qn?i fer. He had made every effort to avoid presenting this petition, hoping that justice would be otherwise done to the unfortunate family; five months, however, had elapsed, and no redress was administered; it became, therefore, necessary that lie should present this petition. On the question that it be brought up, 3Ir. PEEL said, thst as the responsible officer of the Crown, in a case of this description, he was naturally unwilling to remain si- lent, even under the imputation of an error in judgment, for he presumed nothing more was imputed to him in the part he had taken w-ith reference to the petitioner's case. He thought thathisduty in the situation which he had the honcur to fill was clearly dcfined. If his mind was madeuD respectingthe guiltofany individualagaiLstwhom a verdict was recorde , and sentence passed, and that neither in the proceedings nor in the sentence could he find any informality or undue severity, it became his bounden duty to uphold the verdict and the sentence, and to withhold any interposition of thc Crown for mitigation, lt msust be obvious that the extension of mnercy, vrhere mercy could be extended, w;ould be to himr. a more gratifving and easytask,thantorefuse the solicitations of those who had been painfully and ignominiously placed by a conviction. But in this case his opinion, upon a mature consideration of the cvidence, was that the n;an was clearly and justly convicted, and that his subsc- quent sentence of necessiq followed. The right hon. gentleman thena referred to the minutes of evidence taken upon the trial of these parties, which he contended fully supported the verdict, and justified the sentence. He had received a commsunication from Mr. Baron Illood, who tried the prisoner, upon which he had written as a me- morandum long before he expected this case to come before Parlia- ment-" DIr. Baron WVood says that lie has assured himself of Taylor's guilt, and that if he had known at the trial what he knows now, lie would certainly have left him for execution." He asserted that hehad made every inquiry into the circumstances of this case which its inportance required, and assured the house that he had fully satisfied himself of the guilt of Taylor. Under such circum.. stances, he felt that he should not be justified in recommending the Crown to extend mercy to Taylor. The petition vwas not brought up. A petition from several other individuals upon this subject was ofiered to the house by MLr. Hf OarWOOD, but was afterwards withdrawn, af:er afew observations from Dlr. HoBHousE and DIr. PEEL. Sir J. ASTLEY presented a petition from Ilr. Robert Gourlay, respecting the establishment of schools throughout the country. Mr. GRATTAN gave notice, that he should, in the next session of Parliament move for an inquiry into the county assessments of Ireland. M,r. HOBHOUSE presented a petition from several inhabitants of Seven Oaks, Kent, praying for a repeal ofthe window-tax. The honourable member gave nouce, that be should at an early period ofnext session bring forward a motion to carry the prayer of this petition into effect. AIr. EGERTON presented a petition from several manufac turers of white salt, in Cheshire, against the repeal of the duty on foreign salt. Mr. HUMIE presented a petitinD from a person of the name of Jones, residing at 24, George-street, Bagni ge-wells, complaining of the Magistrates of Hatton-garden, who had offered to admninister an oath to him in the usual maaner, which his religious scruples prevented him from taking, and wlho had refused to swear him upon the Bib. e according to a form wbich he had suggested. The petition, by the desire of Dir. HuxE. was ordered to be printed.I )Jr. HUME presented a petition from Mr. Hislop, of Dumfries, against the Teights and measures bill. M r.HUillE moved for aretmrn of the number of persons charged with criminal oiTences committed to prison on summary process in the different counties of England and Wales during the years 1822 and 1823. Also fora returnofthe numberofcotnmitmentstoprison in Scotand for the last 14 years, together with the number of convic- tions upon those commitments, and for similar returns with regard to Ireland. Mr. PEEL said, that he shoald take that opportunity of making a few remarks upon an observation which had fallen some time ago from the hon. niember for Aberdeen. That hon. member had con- trasted the number of commitments for seven years after 1810, with the number of commitments for the last seven years; and from that contrast had come to the conclusion that in the last seven years there had been a great increase of crime in the country. He had stated that the number of commitments from the year 1810 to the year 1817 was 47,950, and from the year 1817 to the year 1824 was 93,000 and upwards. Now, though this was a melancholy fact, it was still somne consolation to find, that since the year 1819 there had been a great decrease of crimne, notwithstanding there had also been in the same time a great inCrease in the popula. tion. The number of commitments for the last five years were as follows :-For 1819 14,224; for 1o20,13,710; for 1821, 13,115; for 1822, 12,241; for I823, 12,263. Sothat there had been a decrease of 2,000 in the year in the interval since the year 1819. Helremind- ed the house, that up to the year 1815 we were in a state of war, and that since that time we had fortunately been in a state of peace. .Now, in conmpaing thenumber of commitments during different pe, riods of peace with the number of commitments during similarly extended periods of war, he had invatiably found, not only that the number of commitments, but also that the number of capital execu- tions, was much greater in tine of peace than in time Ofl war. The right hon. secretary proceeded to prove this assertion by a detail of figures, which we were unable to catch, from the low and hurried tone in which he repeated them. He mentioned these facts in order that it mnight not be supposed that the increase of crime was so sur- prisingly great as the lion. tnember had inferred it to be front the documents which he had read to the house. The returns moved for were then ordered to be laid on the table of the house. Mr. MARTIN obtained leave to bring in a bil to abolish bear- baiting and other cruel sports. Oa the motion of Dir. AIABERLY, a return was ordered to be made of the sums collected in each paiish of the metropolis for lighting, watching, and paving its streets, distinguishing theexpease of each, during the last seven years. Dir. C. HUtfCH INSON sud that he had given notice, that lie should present a petition that day from Cork, respecting the claims of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. In consequence of the thin state of the house, and of the absence of several gentlemen who he knew were anxious to be present at thc discussion of this petition, heshoildd postpone the presentation of it till to-morrow. The otlier orders of the day were then disposed of, and at five minutes before eighss the house adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9. -