den, and Harrowby; and, on a division, the second reading was carried by a considerable majority. Friday, Feb. 29. ORDERS IN COUNCIL. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE, in a very long speech, stated his opinion of the impolicy of the orders in Council; stated their bad effects on the trade and manu factures of this country, and adduced all the arguments which have been so often urged on this important question. His Lordship earnestly recommended the resumption of our ancient policy; and concluded by moving," that a select committee be appointed to consider the state of our trade, and the effects of the orders in Council." Earl BATHURST replied; and maintained that the orders in Council were necessary for preserving our maritime rights; and that, if it had not been for them, our trade would have been much worse than it is. His Lordship said, that if the Noble Lords on the opposite side wished to know particularly the authors of this unjust system, as they called it, he would have the honour of giving them that intelligence. It was first adopted when Lord Grenville was at the head of the treasury, when Earl Grey was secretary for foreign affairs, and when the Marquis of Lans downe was Chancellor of the Exchequer. (Hear hear.) Lord GRENVILLE replied, that a great alteration in circumstances had taken place since the orders of Council had originated. The whole of the continent of Europe was now in the possession of Bonaparte, and we were probably on the eve of war with America. The House divided. For the motion 84; proxies 37-Against it 66; proxies 69 Majority 64. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Monday, Feb. 3. Lord MORPETH rose to submit to the attention of the House, a motion for a committee to take into consideration the present state of Ireland. A country whose importance to this in every respect was not necessary for him to elucidate, but the growing discontents of which were written in characters so broad aud attrac tive to the public eye as to render any detail of them unnecessary on his part. The most prominent feature of those discon tents was the recent disputes between the Government of Ireland and the confidential leaders of its Catholic population. A dispute in which he sincerly regretted to see the Government of that country engaged, inasmuch as their opposition seemed also to be directed not only against the general sense of the bulk of the population, but that of the great landed interest of Ireland, Protestant as well as Catholic. His Lordship strongly insisted on the necessity of an immediate removal of the various dis abilities under which the Roman Catholics of Ireland still laboured, and concluded by moving for a committee to take into consideration the present state of that country. Sir J. NICHOLS opposed the motion. It did not appear, he said, that any pledge had been given by the Catholics, for withdrawing their priesthood from foreign in fluence, or any security offered for the maintenance of the protestant church as by law established. Mr CANNING advocated the claims of the Catholics, but condemned their at tempt to assemble by delegation in the teeth of the Convention Act. He thought that the concessions to be made to them and that the annual discussion that should come as a boon from the throne, had ensued upon their petitions to Parto benefit their cause. liament rather tended to injure than He should, there fore, vote against going into the proposed committee. Lord MORPETH then spoke in reply, and A division having taken place, the motion was negatived by 229 to 135. Thursday, Feb. 6. Mr WALLACE moved to revive the committee on East India affairs, substituting the names of Mr Howorth and Mr Lushington, for those of Lord Melville and Sir J. Anstruther. Mr CREEVEY objected to the motion. The committee had sat five sessions and had produced nothing but reports unintelligible. He wished the business to be taken up in a committee of the whole House, that the public might be fully aware of the state of the East India Com pany's affairs, previous to any renewal of their charter. He contended that they bad not fulfilled their agreement with the public, and the trade ought to be thrown open; assigning, however, the territorial revenue for another term of years to the company. The returns for the property tax were less in 1811 by L. 1,100,000 than in 1810, which proved, that a great decline had taken place in the general trade of the country. He had then in his hands a document from the town of Liverpool, from which it appeared, that so great had been the accumulation of distress, that in the first week of last month, relief had been given to 8000 poor persons; in the second to 11,000; in the third week to 13,000; in the last to 15,000. To shew the advantage of a free trade to the East Indies, the Hon, Member then referred to the first years of the Protectorate, in which period the trade was open, and flourished; and to the example of America, which derived the most beneficial results from a free trade. General GASCOYNE said, that the merchants at Liverpool and all the principal outports, expected that the trade to and from India would be on a new footing, and he trusted that, until they had a fair hearing, no agreement should be made between ministers and the company relative to the renewal of the charter. After a long discussion, in which Sir S. Romilly, Mr Whitbread, &c. &c. took a part, the motion was agreed to without a division, and a select committee of 21 members was appointed. Monday, Feb. 10. THANKS TO LORD WELLINGTON. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose With peculiar satisfaction on the present occasion, and he was doubtful whether the skill or the valour of the troops were most conspicuous in the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo. The French had made several additions to the fortifications, but all gave way to the talents and courage of those engaged in this important enterprise.-Mr Perceval, in a strain of powerful eulogy, exa. mined the progress of the siege, and contrasted the promptitude with which this achievement was executed with the slower advances made by the enemy, when the place was besieged under the direction of Massena; and concluded with moving a vote of thanks to Lord Viscount Wellington, for the skill and decision, and the consummate valour with which he had effected the reduction of Ciudad Rodrigo, in the short interval of eleven days. General TARLETON said, he was the oldest officer in the House, and, from his experience, he perfectly concurred with the high compliments that had been paid to the distinguished Nobleman commanding in chief in the Peninsula. He said Eng lish valour had become proverbial, and that discovering, as he did, that the fairest laurels we had acquired, flourished on the ramparts of Ciudad Rodrigo, he should Right Hon. Gentleman. most cordially join in the motion of the On the same side followed Mr Charles Adam, Sir Henry Montgomerie, and Mr Arbuthnot; after which, the motion was put, and carried by acclamation. Motions were then successively made of thanks to General Graham, General Craufurd, and the other General Officers; also to the Officers of the British and Portuguese troops generally; also to the Officers of the engineers and artillery; and to the non-commissioned Officers and soldiers of the British and Portuguese army. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved an address to the Prince Regent, for the erection of a monumont in St. Paul's Cathedral, to, General Mackinnon ; which was agreed to. CIVIL, LIST EXPENDITURE. Mr EDEN took a review of the expendi ture of the civil list revenue, among which he pointed out L. 133,000 for repairs and furniture for Windsor Castle, in four years, and L. 44,000 for the same in Kensington palace; also L. 21,000 and other charges for building a palace at Constantinople. He moved for a select committee to enquire into the expenditure of the civil list, Mr Mr ARBUTHNOT, late ambassador at Constantinople, entered into a minute and satisfactory explanation of the whole of his expenditure on that embassy, and proved clearly, that with his utmost economy, he had expended all his private fortune, in addition to his salary. He al so stated, that the expedition sent by the late administration, under Admiral Duckworth, to intimidate the Turks into submission, would have completely succeeded, had not the wind prevented it from geting up to the Turkish capital, whence the French ambassador Sebastiani had orders to depart. After some conversation, a committee was appointed; but it was determined by 82 to 27, that they should not have the power of sending for persons and papers to be examined; on which account Mr Eden and Mr Tierney (members) declared they would not attend, as without these powers the labour must be useless. Thursday, February 13. Mr WHITBREAD rose to make his promised motion. All parties seemed to agree in deprecating a war with America; and yet that event, it must be admitted, was but too probable. The Governments both of Great Britain and America had, from the beginning, professed uniformly a conciliatory disposition. Unfortunately, how ever, with all those professions of friendship on both sides, the breach had widened day by day. From all the authentic information we could derive, from the President's speech, and other proceedings in America, war seemed inevitable if we continued to persevere in the same system which we had now pursued for five years. The case between us and America was now placed before the eyes of the world, extepting the two houses of Parliament in this country-Congress had the whole merits of the case, the people of France had them, any one who merely read the news papers had them; but the British Parliament had them not. In reading those papers, he saw great reason for blaming the conduct of those who conducted the correspondence, on the part of this country, with America; but he should then make no specific charges against any person, because the House was at present presumed ignorant of the contents of the papers, and, as he learned, was to be kept in that ignorance. The Honourable Member then went into a long review of the negociations between this country and America, and concluded by moving, "that an address be presented to the Prince Regent, for copies of the correspondence between our Government and the American, through the me dium of the respective Ministers, with the documents referred to in the correspondence, from the 1st of January 1810, up to the latest period." Mr STEPHEN Contended that there never was a more unfounded position, than that Great Britain had been unjust towards America, or wanting in a spirit of conciliation on the contrary, nothing but the utmost aversion to a quarrel with America could have enabled this country to have borne so much. So far from having done any thing to provoke a rupture with Amnerica, the strongest, most persevering, and almost even humiliating means, had been employed to avoid it. He saw no good that could result from a premature agitation in that House of the differences between the two countries; but, on the contrary, was satisfied that it might be attended with a great deal of inconvenience and mischief. Mr CURWEN said, that he felt the greatest satisfaction in the prospect, that with whatever pertinacity the commencers of this system of hostility towards America had persevered in it, they would not he long enough in their places to carry it much farther." (Hear! hear! from Mr Perceval.) He said this not from any personal dislike of the Right Honourable Gen tleman, but purely from a conviction that his measures would be ruinous to the country. He concluded by expressing his strong conviction of the danger and impolicy of a war with America, and his wishes that, by timely precaution, it might still be averted. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHɛquer entered into a long defence of the Orders in Council, and vindicated the conduct of Government in relation to the negociations with America. In reply to what had fall. en from Mr Curwen with respect to the hope entertained by him that his Majesty's present Ministers were not likely long to continue in office, he observed, that whatever golden dreams might be indulged on this subject, he must say, that as far as he knew any thing about the matter, he rather imagined that the Honourable Gentleman would find, that his consolatory prospects would not open upon him quite so pleasantly as he had imagined. (Hear! hear!) But if the system which the Honourable Gentleman Gentleman so strongly recommended were to be a system dictated to the Government of this country to pursue, then, indeed, he should feel happy to quit his present situa. tion, and not to form a part of any administration which should pursue a course so hostile, as he conceived, to the true in terests of the country. Mr HERBERT said, that, if we went to war with America, that country would be able to supply France with sailors sufficient to man her ships of war; and that was a circumstance which he could not contemplate without dread. Mr BARING said, that the feelings of the country seemed favourable to a war with America. Previous to the commencement of the former war, a similar feeling prevailed. It even went to a war of extermination; and all persons knew how that war terminated. And he prayed to God that the war into which Ministers were now about to plunge the country might not prove so to us. The House ought now to consider that America was become greatly improved in revenue and strength; and he denied that she had ever given just grounds of complaint. The question now was, not in what manner the Orders in Council originated, but whether there was or was not such a repeal of the Berlin and Milan Decrees, as ought to oblige us to give up our Orders in Council with respect to America? After a long debate the House divided— For the motion, 23-Against it, 136. Friday, February 14. Mr RYDER called the attention of the House to the subject of the riots in Nottinghamshire. He had the satisfaction of being able to state that within the last seven days they had almost entirely subsided, but it would, nevertheless, be proper to take measures to prevent their renewal. The origin of the disturbances he conceived to be, the great increase of frames that had taken place a few years ago, in consequence of the extensive speculations in trade to South America, the falling off in which had thrown many families out of employment. After enlarging upon the proceedings of the rioters from the 14th of November, and the measures taken by Government upon application from the magistrates, he stated that the best remedy that had been suggested, was to make frame breaking a capital offence, and to re-esta blish in the town and county of Notting ham the old common law custom of keeping watch and ward. He then moved for leave to bring in a bill accordingly. Upon a division of the House, the motion was carried by 49 to 11. Mr Ryder then brought in a bill, which was read a first time. Monday, February 17. The order of the day for the second reading of the frame-breakers punishment bill being read, a long discussion took place, n which Sir Samuel Romilly, Sir Arthur Pigot, Mr Whitbread, Mr C. Wynne, Capt. Herbert, and others, opposed the measure, chiefly upon the ground that it added to the list of capital offences, without any proof, that the existing law was inadequate to its object; the fact being that not one of the frame-breakers had yet been brought to trial. Messrs Ryder, Bathurst, Hall, Herbert (of Kerry), and others, contended, that the extent to which the excesses had been carried rendered strong measures necessary, and that the terror of capital punishment would, in all probability, break up the conspiracy among the rioters. The House then divided-For the second reading, 34-Against it, 17. Tuesday, February 18. LORD WELLINGTON. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER brought down the following message from the Prince Regent : "GEORGE P. R. "The Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, having taken into his royal consideration the eminent and signal services performed by General Lord Viscount Wellington, in the course of a long series of distinguished exploits in the campaigns in Spain and Portugal; and being desirous to mark the sense he entertains of services so honourable to the British arms, and so eminently beneficial to the interests of the nation, has conferred, in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, upon General Lord Viscount Wellington, and the heirs male of his body, the rank and dignity of an Earl of the United Kingdom, by the name, stile, and title of Earl of Wellington. "The Prince Regent, further desirous of granting to the Earl of Wellington a net annuity of L.2000, in addition to the annuity already granted by Parliament, and subject subject to the same limitations imposed in that grant, recommends to the House of Commons to enable his Royal Highness, in the name and behalf of his Majesty, to grant and settle such annuity, and to make such further provision as aforesaid as may be thought most effectual for the benefit of General the Earl of Wellington and his family. "G. P. R." It was repeatedly cheered in the Commons by the Speaker, and, on the motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, referred to a Committee of the whole House on Friday. Thursday, February 20. House. The Frince Regent had acknowledged them by the honour he had been graciously pleased to confer upon him; but on the present occasion, the House and the country did not stand alone; the me rits of the noble and gallant General had been acknowledged by our allies, and he had no doubt but the Committee would most readily agree to the recommendation contained in his Royal Highness's message. The Right Honourable Gentleman ther entered more at length into the services performed by Lord Wellington, and concluded by moving a resolution for granting to Lord Wellington the sum of L.2000 per annum towards the support of the dignity the Prince Regent had been graciously The Nottingham frame-breaking bill was pleased to confer upon him. read a third time, and passed. Sir FRANCIS BURDETT said, of what were the merits of Lord Wellington he did not think either himself or the House competent judges, not being clearly in possession of what he had done; but according to his opinion, no person, with so large a force as Lord Wellington had under his command, had ever done less--( Hear! hear!) Gentlemen might call "Hear," but he had a right to state his opinion: he understood Lord Wellington had 54,000 English and 30,000 Portuguese, making together 84,000 troops of the line, besides other Portuguese troops, militia, &c. making a force altogether of 150,000 men under his command On the second reading of the local militia bill, Lord A. Hamilton opposed the bill. Mr Whitbread said, this measure went to make a radical alteration in the system on which the local militia had been established. The original object was to train up all the male population. This would not be the case now. He would therefore oppose the innovation, Mr Ryder said, there was a provision in the bill by which commandants might be allowed to ask the men to extend their services to the army. This certainly was a deviation from the original bill; but it would be attended with many advantages, particularly in in--and, with such a force, he saw no reason creasing the strength of the country; and it would cause a saving in the recruiting service to the amount of L.100,000. this reason he thought the clause ought to form a part of the bill. Mr N. Calvert expressed his approbation of the bill as it now stood, for its clearness. It was then read a second time. Friday, February 21. For Mr PERCEVAL moved the order of the day, for the House going into a Committee on the Prince Regent's message; which being complied with, the Honourable Gentleman said, he was convinced little would be necessary for him to say to induce the House to agree to the resolution he was about to propose. He was persuaded, whatever opinion might exist, there or elsewhere, on the subject of the war in the Peninsula, the only question would be, whether the person who had been selected to conduct the affairs of the war had discharged that duty with zeal and ability? The merits of Lord Wellington had been frequently discussed, and allowed in the why we should so much exult at the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo, which all military men considered as perfectly indefensible, and which must always fall to the preponderating force. If, therefore, the people of England were to pay such a price whenever an exploit like this was performed, they would have redoubled reason for wishing the contest in Spain at an end. The Honourable Baronet then entered into a review of the progress of the war in the Peninsula, and contended we had no ground to expect a successful issue to the contest. There was, however, another and a stronger reason than this for his refusing his assent to this vote, and that was the distressed state of the people of England. At a time when our poor were driven by distress and hunger to despair, he could not consent to a sixpence being unnecessarily taken from the pockets of the people; there were other funds from which they might be taken; and till those funds were exhausted, and sinecures and reversions done away, he could not agree to a proposition like the present.-Loud disapprobation.) After |