Mr Vansittart had no objection to state that 4000l. a-year was intended to be proposed to Lord Colchester, and 30001. a-year to his heir male. On Friday, June 6, the Speaker acquainted the House, that he had received a letter from Lord Colchester, in acknowledgment of the letter communicating to him the resolution by which the thanks of that House had been voted him. Lord Castlereagh stated at the bar the answer of the Prince Regent to the address respecting the late Speak. er, which recommended to the House to enable his Royal Highness to bestow an adequate provision. The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved, that it be referred to a committee of the whole House on Monday next. On Monday, the House resolved itself into a committee, on the answer to the Prince Regent's message. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, after briefly adverting to a pension of 30001. granted Mr Speaker Onslow, proposed, for his great labour and anxiety, that Lord Colchester should enjoy a pension of 40001. for his own life, and 30001. for a successor, to commence from the 1st of April last. Mr H. Sumner moved that the first sum should be 5000l.; and Mr Lambton moved that it be limited to 30001. Both these amendments were negativ. ed, and the original motion agreed to. The following circular letter had been addressed by Lord Sidmouth to the lords lieutenants of counties, da ted 27th March 1817. "MY LORD-As it is of the greatest importance at present to prevent, as far as possible, the circulation of blasphemous and seditious pamphlets and writings, of which for some time past great numbers have been sold and distributed throughout the country; I have thought it my duty to consult the law servants of the crown, whether an individual found selling, or in any way publishing such pamphlets and writings, might be brought immediately before a justice of the peace, under a warrant issued for the purpose, to answer for his conduct. The law officers, having accordingly taken this matter into their serious consideration, have notified to me their opinion, that a justice of peace may issue a warrant to apprehend a person charged before him upon oath with the publication of libels of the nature in question, and compel him to give bail to answer the charge. "Under these circumstances, I beg to call your lordship's attention very particularly to this subject; and I have to request, that if your lordship should not propose to attend in person at the next general quarter sessions of the peace to be holden in and for the county under your lordship's charge, you would make known to the chairman of such sessions the substance of this communication, in order that he may recommend to the several magistrates to act thereupon, in all cases where any person shall be found offending against the law in the manner above mentioned. "I beg leave to add, that persons sending pamphlets and other publications in the manner above alluded to, should be considered as coming under the provisions of the hawkers and pedlars' act, and be dealt with accordingly, unless they shew that they are furnished with a licence, as required by the said act. "I have the honour to be, &c. "SIDMOUTH." To this letter were subjoined opinions to the above effect, signed by the Attorney and Solicitor General, W. Garrow and S. Shepherd. Earl Grey on the 12th May brought this subject before the House of Lords. His lordship, after reading the letter and the opinion of the judges, observed that at present he meant only to move for the case upon which the circular letter had been founded; which, if granted, might be the foundation of future proceedings. The question was, whether any justice of the peace may be called upon by any common informer, to decide at once what is or what is not a libel, and upon his sole judgment and authority commit or hold to bail the person accused. His lordship then referred to the opinions of Hale, Hawkins, Camden, and other eminent lawyers, in order to shew, that no justice of the peace could possess any such power. After bringing together an amount of evidence which he contended was quite irresistible, he strongly censured the conduct of the Secretary of State, in issuing this circular. Such a direction to the magistrates, not being a general exhortation to vigilance and care, but a specific instruction as to the manner in which they were to interpret the law, would have been a high offence against the constitution, even if that law had been clear and indisputable. He hesitated not, therefore, to describe the measure as most unconstitutional and danger ous. Lord Ellenborough contended, that the course followed by Lord Sid:nouth was strictly regular, and endeavoured to shew that it was supported by the very authorities which had been quo ted against it by Lord Grey. He conceived that such a power was indispensable for the security of the country, and that if it did not already exist, it ought to be communicated without delay. Lord Erskine expressed the highest respect for the legal knowledge of Lord Ellenborough; but did not conceive that the doctrine now advanced by him could be borne out by the practice in cases of libel. During the French Revolution, a time when much danger was apprehended from seditious practices in this country, every part of it was inundated by libels. Whatever evidence was brought forward during that period, at the Old Bailey, upon the subject of those libels, referred to such as were actually published. There were libels tried there at that time, collected from all parts of the country; and in no one case was a person held to bail after an arrest by a justice of the peace. The Society for the Suppression of Vice never proceeded against any person arrested and held to bail by a justice of the peace for the publication of a blasphemous libel. The question now was, how the common law stood upon the subject. The noble lord read a passage from Lord Hale, to prove that a justice of the peace could not hold to bail for every offence within the cognizance of a session. They were here upon the plain law of the land. If the Secretary of State considered the case so clear, what necessity was there for taking the opinions of the law officers of the crown? Surely the miserable crea tares who went about hawking these seditious or blasphemous papers could not be looked upon as guilty of libels, and held to bail by every magistrate who may think proper to arrest them. This was never the case, even during the French Revolution. The judges themselves, without a jury, had not power to decide as to what was and what was not a libel, and yet that power was now given to every magis trate, without proof-without judge or jury. His lordship afterwards said, "The press had better be thrown into the fire, than the power of committal be given to every justice of the peace." dictment. The conduct pursued by the noble viscount was most destructive to the harmony, and fatal to the safety of the country. Lord Sidmouth should think himself inexcusable if he should attempt to strengthen the arguments already adduced by the highest authorities by any observations of his own. When he had the satisfaction of hearing it proclaimed in that House, that the measure which he had thought it his duty to adopt was conformable to the opinion of the highest legal authority in the country, (the Lord Chancellor,) and of the Lord Chief Justice of the kingdom-when he found that it was conformable to the opinions of the greatest text writers on the law, and also to the recorded practice of all the most eminent law servants of the crown, both before and after they had attained the highest judicial situations The Lord Chancellor objected to the production of the opinions of the judges, which would, he thought, be in several respects a bad precedent. He was clearly of opinion that the whole proceeding was legal, and defended it by the authorities of Mr he felt it would be presumptuous in Northey, Lord Hale, Lord Hard him to attempt to add any weight to wicke, Sir John Willes, Arthur Hill, this mass of dead and living authoriSir Dudley Rider, and Lord Mans- ties; but though he did not think it field. He contended that the quota- necessary to detain their lordships with tions from Hale and Hawkins by no any remarks on this point of discusmeans warranted the inference drawn sion, yet there was another point on from them. Blackstone he considered which he should think it a matter of as a laborious and useful compiler, but great self-reproach, if he could not by no means very high authority. He vindicate himself to their lordships. was now in the decline of life, and he It seemed that he stood before their declared, that he should feel deep re- lordships charged with having used gret in his retirement, if he could think his best endeavours to stop the prothat the measures which he had deem-gress of blasphemy and sedition. To ed it his duty to advise or support had trenched upon the just liberties of the country; but, on the contrary, he believed sincerely that they had been essential to the preservation of the constitution. Lord Holland spoke strongly in favour of the motion, contending that the House ought to be guided by the legislature, not by the opinion of any Attorney or Solicitor General. He contended, that the only legal mode of proceeding against libel was by in that charge he pleaded guilty; and while he lived he should be proud to have such a charge brought against him. He knew that efforts unparalleled had been made to carry into every village and cottage in the manufacturing districts the poison of these seditious and blasphemous doctrines. He had himself seen the effects of these pernicious doctrines on some of these misguided men; and had heard from some of them, while under examination, the free confession that it was the influence of this poison that had taken them away from their regular duties; that up to the time of their being as sailed with those publications, they had been industrious and well-affected members of society; but that themselves, and hundreds of their unfortunate neighbours, had been corrupted by the insidious principles disseminated by these itinerant hawkers of sedition and blasphemy. Never was there a period, till the present, when blasphemy was so completely enlisted in the service of sedition. A greater number of persons could read now than at any former period; they were better informed; they were collected more in large bodies, especially in manufacturing towns; there was also, he was sorry to say, more ale-houses. Besides, these publications were very cheap, almost gratuitous; and the seditious and blasphemous dealers were itinerant, in order to disseminate their mischievous wares more widely. Such being the case, the magistrates became alarmed, and applied to him (Lord S.) for instructions. It was said that the proceedings ought to be by indictment; but this could not be, till the next quarter-sessions; and by that time these wandering venders might have removed to another quarter of the country. Earl Grey declared that every thing he had heard only tended to confirm him in his original opinion. He called for law, and they gave him authority; he called for deliberate discussion, and they gave him bare assertions.--The motion, however, was negatived by a majority of 75 to 19. On the 25th of June, the same sub. ject was brought before the Commons by Sir Samuel Romilly, who contended that no more dangerous power was ever assumed by any servant of the crown. By the command of any magistrate, a person might be held to bail, or sent to prison, on the oath of an informer. No newspaper, in any part of the country, could criticise the conduct of ministers, or render itself obnoxious to some busy magistrate, without the danger of exposing its author to imprisonment and expence, without trial. The tyranny of the reign of Charles II. could not be greater than this.-The motion, however, was negatived by a majority of 157 to 49. On the 9th of July, Mr Wilberforce brought forward a motion on the subject of the slave trade. He described the manner and extent in which this horrible traffic was still persisted in. The Hon. Gentleman said, he was afraid that even a great many American subjects, and much American property, had been embarked in the slave trade. It had also been greatly carried on in the colonies on the coast near Goree, since they have been restored to the French. There was reason to believe that in one Dutch colony, the slave trade had been favoured by one individual very greatly. As to Sweden and Denmark, no complaint could be made. But Portugal, notwithstanding our favours, had carried on this infamous traffic to a great extent. All, however, sunk in this scale compared with the devastations of Spain, whose conduct in encouraging so infamous a traffic, he spoke of in the most glowing terms of indignation. In places where schools had been established, and efforts made to induce the chieftains to supply their wants by peaceful industry and legitimate commerce, the Spaniards laboured to persuade them to return to their old habits of selling their subjects, and making war upon their neighbours. The Spanish ships were crowded beyond all precedent. In one instance it had been stated, that of 540 negroes embarked, 340 had died. By a paper obtained by the Cortes, it appeared that there had been imported into the Havannah in eleven years, from 1799 to 1811, about 110,000, or 10,000 per year, and in the three last years the importation had been much greater. The Spanish and Portuguese flags formed also a covert for the illicit traders of other nations. Mr Wilberforce concluded with moving an address to the Prince Regent, praying that his Royal Highness would still endeavour to obtain the total abolition of this traffic. Lord Castlereagh stated, that since the treaty of Paris, we had been in negociation with Spain and Portugal for the abolition of this trade; but he felt it difficult at present to enter into any statement of the progress of these negociations. He hoped, that by the next meeting of Parliament he would be able to submit to it the result of these negociations. He could not say that this result would be complete; but as far as it should go, he hoped it would be satisfactory. A number of members delivered their sentiments, all in unison with the motion, which was then put and car. ried. On the following day, Lord Grenville made a motion to the same effect in the House of Peers; when he received from Lord Liverpool a similar assurance, that government would use every effort in their for the suppression of this odious traffic. power On the 18th of March, Mr Lyttleton rose to bring forward a motion for the abolition of lotteries. The Hon. Gentleman contended, that this mode of raising money was improvident, and the expence of collecting it was greater than that of collecting any other tax of equal revenue. The estimated amount annually was 550,000l.; for this year he would take it at 500,000l. only. He went over the items in re spect of charge, the price of the tickets, &c., and was of opinion that, calculating all these sums, the people actually paid 840,000l. in order to bring into the Treasury a sum of about 570,000l. The Hon. Gentleman then referred to the scheme of the present lottery, which he pointed out as founded on fallacious views. Instead of 220,000l. in prizes, the real value would only be 108,000l. Mr L. contended that the preamble of the Little Go Act would equally apply to the Great Go Lottery. The Lord Mayor had expressed satisfaction that he was about to bring forward the subject, for he knew the evil was increasing, and required correction; the Corporation of London, too, justified the opinion which the respectable Chief Magistrate had given, for they had petitioned the House to abolish lotteries. Another evil of lotteries was, the great patronage which it created, by providing more than 30 offices, most of them sinecures. He then concluded by moving a set of resolutions, that by the establishment of State Lotteries, a system of gambling had been promoted, which ultimately tended to diminish the resources of the country. The Chancellor of the Exchequer trusted the House would weigh most seriously before it gave up any part of the revenue of the country, at a time so precarious as the present. With respect to the system of lotteries being unlawful and immoral, unless all games of chance were held to be so, he could not see how lotteries could be so considered; and he believed the severest moralist had never carried his speculations so far. A man might find (if he were determined on it) a great many ways to ruin himself without ha ving recourse to the lottery. Every precaution had been taken by the go. vernment to diminish the temptations |