Mar. 14.-Lord DARNLEY presented a petition from Belfast, complaining of the distresses in the North of Ireland, from the scarcity and bad quality of corn.

SEDITIOUS MEETING BILL.

Mar. 17.-Lord SIDMOUTH moved the first reading of this bill, and the Lords were ordered to be summoned for Thursday.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

Mar. 18.-Lord HOLLAND moved for a great number of papers and correspondence, respecting the confinement and treatment of Bonaparte at St Helena, calling upon Government to vindicate themselves from aspersions thrown upon them in various publications, for their harsh treatment of the ex-emperor. Earl BATHURST denied that any unnecessary severity was exercised towards Bonaparte; and said that there is no other restraint upon his correspondence than what is usual respecting prisoners of warthe letters must be opened. The sum allowed for his establishment is equal to that allowed for the governor-£12,000 per annum; and he has, besides, personal property, which he may expend for his own comfort, if he find that allowance too small. His Lordship assured the house, that the inconveniences complained of were created by Bonaparte himself. The motion was negatived.

SCOTS APPEAL.

Mar. 21-In the case of Arnot v. Stuart, counsel were finally heard. Affirmed, with £50 costs.

The house went into a Committee on the SEDITIOUS ASSEMBLIES BILL, on which some amendments were made.

SCOTS APPEALS.

Mar. 24.-Shepherd v. Waterson affirmed, with £120 costs to one of the parties, viz. Mr Harvey.

Macdonald v. Stalker affirmed.

SEDITIOUS ASSEMBLIES BILL. Mar. 25.-The order of the day for the third reading of this bill was read. Lord ERSKINE objected to the bill as unnecessary, and considered the existing laws sufficient for every purpose. The Lord CHANCELLOR supported it. Lord SIDMOUTH

introduced a clause to prohibit public meetings within a mile of Westminster Hall, with the exception of meetings at CoventGarden and Southwark. Several Lords objected to this clause, when the house divided. For the clause 111; against it, 23; majority 88. The clause was of course annexed to the bill, which was read a third time and passed.

Mar. 26.-In the Scots appeal cause of Walker v. Weir, their Lordship's decision was, that the case be remitted back for further consideration.

The Naval Stores Bill, and the Exchequer Bills Bill, were read a third time and passed.

APPEAL COMMITTEE.

Mar. 27.-The Earl of SHAFTESBURY presented a voluminous report from the

Appeal Committee, the recommendations in which were agreed to by the House.

PROTEST,

On the motion, that the consideration of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Bill be put off for three months, being negatived.

Dissentient,-Because we concur entirely in the reasons stated in the protest entered against the second reading of the said bill on the 24th February last, and because the delay that has taken place since the bill has been hurried through this House, contrary to its established forms and standing orders, (in consequence of which unbecoming haste the amendments have been found necessary), has confirmed and increased our conviction, that this measure, which necessity alone can justify, is without any such justification.

CLIFTON.

AUGUSTUS FREDERICK.
VASSAL HOLLAND.
SOMERSET.

Lords HOLLAND and DARNLEY entered a protest, dissenting from the resolution of the Lords, refusing the motion for the production of papers regarding the treatment of Bonaparte in the island of St Helena.

Mar. 28.-The Exchequer Courts Bill was returned from the Commons, their Lordships' amendments having been agreed

to.

Mar. 29.-Mr BROGDEN, accompanied by several members, appeared at the Bar, and requested a conference with their Lordships on the subject of the amendments in the Seditious Assemblies Bill, which was granted, and the alterations agreed to.

Mar. 31. The SPEAKER of the House of Commons attended, with several members, and heard the royal assent given, by commission, to the Seditious Meetings and Naval Officers' Half-pay Bills. The House then, on the motion of the Earl of LIVERPOOL, adjourned till Wednesday fortnight.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

GAME ACT.

Mar. 3.-Sir E. KNATCHBULL wished to introduce a bill to alter and amend the Game Act, which was to prevent persons from going out at night armed to destroy game. The bill was brought up and read a first time.

SEDITIOUS ASSEMBLIES BILL.

The SOLICITOR GENERAL rose to move the second reading of the bill for preventing seditious assemblies. Of the various means, he said, employed by the fomenters of discontent, one of the most efficacious was, to call together a number of persons, to inflame them by harangues, to persuade them that the evils arising from the circumstances of the times would be remedied by their application to Parliament, and to persuade them that they had a right to force Parliament to comply with their demands. These meetings, which might be turned to every mischievous purpose, the

bill was intended to control, by some regulations precisely of the same kind as those adopted at other critical times. After some discussion, and some remarks from Lord COCHRANE respecting the imprisonment of a Mr M'Arthur of Glasgow, who had been afterward released, the bill was then read a second time, and ordered to be committed

to-morrow.

SEDUCTION AND TREASON BILLS.

Mar. 3.-The Army and Navy Seduction Bills, and the bill respecting Treason. able Practices, were read a third time and passed.

PETITIONS.

Sir FRANCIS BURDETT moved that the petitions which lay on the floor, signed by nearly a million of subscribers, should be received. (There appeared to be nearly a waggon-load of petitions; they lay in a heap, and almost covered the floor of the House; it is understood there were 600 of them.) The SPEAKER.-Bring them up. (a laugh.) Sir Francis, on the suggestion of the Speaker, agreed to the propriety of proceeding with the petitions some other day.

PRISONERS AT GLASGOW, &c. Mar. 4.-Lord COCHRANE, seeing the Learned Lord Advocate of Scotland in his place, begged to know if the statement was true, that some of the persons imprisoned at Glasgow had been discharged, there being no foundation for any charge against them. The LORD ADVOCATE stated, that he had received no information on the subject. Sir FRANCIS BURDETT said, he had received a letter from Glasgow, stating, that the persons apprehended, and afterwards liberated, had been taken up on the evidence of spies. Several petitions for reform were presented by Lord Cochrane, some of which were objected to, and others ordered to lie on the table. The SOLICITOR GENERAL moved some new clauses in the Seditious Assemblies Bill, pro forma, and the House adjourned.

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY.

Mar. 5.-The CHANCELLOR of the ExCHEQUER moved a grant of £200,000 on account, for expences of a civil nature in Great Britain, which formed no part of the ordinary charge of the civil list. Agreed to.

Lord PALMERSTON moved for £500,000 as a further sum for the expense of the land service, with the exception of the troops in France, and in the territories of the East India Company. Agreed to.

SCARCITY OF FOOD IN IRELAND. Mar. 5.-Mr MAURICE FITZGERALD moved for an investigation into the amount and state of human food in Ireland, with a view to determine whether it might be expedient to stop the distillation of grain in Ireland. Mr PEEL thought he should be able to satisfy the Hon. Gentleman and the House, that a prohibition of distillation would not lead to the result which he anticipated from it. The question was not

merely whether they would prohibit the distillation in Ireland; the trade with Ireland was free, and, consequently, such a prohibition would give to the English distiller a preference in the Irish market. It should be considered, that one of the evils attending the stoppage of the regular distillation would be the stimulus thus given to illegal distillation, which would probably cause, on the whole, an increase in the consumption of corn and, as it would at least be a month before the stoppage could be affected, he was persuaded that the proposed measure would not save one barrel of corn, but be productive of mischief rather than good. He should add, that the Irish Government had taken all practicable means in its power to obviate the dangers of scarcity, especially by taking upon themselves the responsibility of admitting American flour, which the letter of the law did not permit. At the suggestion of Sir J. NEWPORT the motion was withdrawn.

NEW COINAGE.

Mar. 5.-Mr BROUGHAM moved for copies of some correspondence which had passed between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and certain Magistrates in the country, respecting the new coin, and expressed in strong terms his indignation on discovering the letters W. W. P. on the reverse of the new coin of the realm; adding, that Cardinal Wolsey having impressed upon the king's coin a cardinal's hat, this was made one of the articles of impeachment against him. Mr W. W. POLE declared, that if there had been any such correspondence as that alluded to by the Hon. and learned Gentleman, he had never heard of it.

With regard to the letters W. W. P. the learned Gentleman ought to know that he was authorised, by indentures, to put what private marks he pleased on every piece of the new currency. The question was put and negatived.

EQUALIZATION OF WEIGHTS AND MEA

SURES.

Mar. 7.The CHANCELLOR of the Ex. CHEQUER, in reply to a question of Sir George Clerk, respecting the general equalization of weights and measures, assured him that a measure was in progress for the purpose to which he alluded. A commission had been issued, and the whole was, for the present, under the superintendence of the Royal Society.

POOR RATES.

Mr CALCRAFT presented two petitions from two parishes in Devonshire, in one of which the Poor Rates amounted to 18 or 19s. and in the other to one guinea in the pound to the landholders;-that in one parish, containing 575 inhabitants, no less than 497 were receiving parochial relief, and to this he begged to call the attention of Lord Castlereagh. His Lordship said, he was convinced a great part of the rate would be found to be wages paid in the shape of poor rates; a system which ought to be discou

raged as much as possible. MR CALCRAFT, in reply, stated, that he wished to call the attention of the Committee on the Poor Laws to the subject of making funded property rateable to the support of the poor, and that he had sanguine hopes that their labours would be attended with the most salutary effects.

PETITIONS FOR REFORM.

Mar. 10.-Sir R. FERGUSON presented a petition from Arbroath, praying for a reform in Parliament. It was not reasonable, he said, to think that the people in Scotland should be content, when they could not but know that Cornwall sent as many members to that House as all Scotland. Mr BRAND rose to confirm what had been said by the gallant General, as to the anxiety of the people in Scotland for a reform in Parliament. Mr BOSWELL observed, there was not a single petition from the landholders of Scotland in favour of parliamentary reform. Lord A. HAMILTON asserted, that the voters in that country were not commensurate with the landholders. The LORD ADVOCATE had stated on a former night, and he would repeat it now, that the people of Scotland, taking those classes of the community who were most capable of forming a judgment on the subject, were nine-tenths of them opposed to any change in the representation of that country in Parliament. After much discussion, the petition was ordered to lie on the table.

ARMY ESTIMATES.

Lord PALMERSTON called the attention of the House to the Army Estimates, when the following sums were voted, from December 25, 1816, to June 24, 1817: For defraying the expenses of volunteer cavalry, £37000 0 15,682 10 25,000 0

Ditto for Ireland,

Chelsea Hospital,
In-pensioners of Kilmainham

Hospital,

8,300 0 393,200 0 82,700 0 The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved for a grant of £1,000,000, to be advanced to the armies who fought at Wa. terloo. Also the sum of £5,152,000, to make good out-standing Exchequer Bills. Also £1,680,000 for the discharge of Irish Exchequer Bills. And the House resumed.

Out-pensioners of Chelsea,
Ditto of Kilmainham,

POLICE IN IRELAND.

Mar. 11. Mr PEEL introduced a bill for the better regulation of the Police in Ireland, which would gradually reduce the military establishment of that country.

WAYS AND MEANS.

Mar. 12.-The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER proposed that the sum of £18,000,000 be raised by Exchequer Bills. Agreed to.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

The SPEAKER informed the House that he had caused the several petitions to be sorted. The total number presented by the VOL. I.

Hon. Baronet, Sir Francis Burdett, was 527, of which 468 were printed. After several were rejected for want of form, and others for impropriety of language, the question was put that the 468 printed petitions should be read, when Lord CASTLEREAGH contended, that the rules and practice of the House were against the entertaining printed petitions. The House divided. Ayes 6; noes 58; majority against receiving the petitions 52.

MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE.

Mar. 13. Mr BROUGHAM, in a long and elaborate speech, set forth the distresses of the lower classes of the community in fearful colours. The pressure in the cloth trade, great as it is represented, was less than in the other branches. At Birmingham, out of 80,000 souls there were 27,000 paupers, who were formerly able to earn from £2 to £3 a-week, who did not make more at present than from 7s. to 9s., in no instance more than 18s., and their wives and children had no employment at all. In Lancashire there were 500,000 persons engaged in the weaving and spinning trade, who could formerly earn 13s. a-week, but their wages in January last were as low as 4s. 34d., and some inferior workmen so little as 2s. 6d. weekly, for the support of themselves and families, and that many of them were actually reduced to live upon half a pound of oatmeal a-day, with a little salt and water. In Spittalfields and Coventry the distresses were nearly as great. He did not attribute this state of things to the change from war to peace (except perhaps at Birmingham), but to our restrictions on trade, our neglect of commercial treaties, and our excessive taxation, and keeping up so large a standing army, which not only prevented the nations on the continent from considering us in the light of a commercial country, but excited such jealousy of our power as incited them to every possible means of injuring our trade. He contended, that if the duties on foreign articles of Consumption were greatly reduced, our trade would be much increased, in consequence the revenue would be eventually augmented, and all classes of society benefitted. He concluded with proposing resolutions tending to reprobate the conduct of ministers, and calling upon the House to take the subject into their serious consideration. Mr ROBINSON replied; and Lord CASTLEREAGH, after stating that commercial treaties were calculated to do more harm than good, moved the orders of the day. The House divided. For going into the orders of the day 118; for the resolutions 63; majority in favour of ministers 55.

NAVY ESTIMATES.

Mar. 14.-Sir G. WARRENDER proposed, that the sum of £1,140,000 be granted for the ordinary service of the navy for six lunar months, from the 1st of January 1817.

SEDITIOUS ASSEMBLIES' BILL.

Upon the third reading of this bill, Mr 2 D

W. SMITH took occasion to make an attack upon the author of a Poem called Wat Tyler, which he condemned as the most seditious book that ever was written; that government ought to repress this work, and punish its author, who was, he understood, the writer of the 11th article in the 31st Number of the Quarterly Review, which contained sentiments strangely in contradiction to the spirit with which the poem was written. Mr C. W. WYNN, in reply, said, he was surprised the Hon. Gentleman should amuse the House with criticisms upon two anonymous publications, and by personal reflections, in a place where the author could make no answer. Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY opposed the bill, observing, that to control doctrine by force, was as idle as to attempt to take a besieged town by syllogism. Mr CANNING supported the bill, because, he said, persons went amongst the poor, not that they felt their distresses, or were anxious to relieve them, but that their voices might be called forth, and that they might take advantage of the inflan. nability of the people, to goad them on to a subserviency to their own wicked purposes. Mr BROUGHAM entered his protest against the measure of putting the power into the hands of a single magistrate, of arresting any person for uttering any thing which, in his opinion, tended to bring the government into contempt. A division took place, when there appeared for the third reading,ayes 179; noes 44; majority 135.

ORDNANCE ESTIMATES.

Mar. 17.-Mr WARD moved, that a sum not exceeding £258,000 be voted for the service of the Ordnance Department, from the 1st of January to the 30th of June 1817.-Agreed to.

COTTAGE WINDOW TAX.

Lord A. HAMILTON presented a petition from the landholders and freeholders of the county of Lanark, praying for a repeal of this tax.

LOTTERIES.

Mar. 18. Mr LYTTLETON moved, that the existence of state lotteries is prejudicial to the people, and must ultimately diminish the financial resources of the country. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER contended, that most of the evils formerly attending upon lotteries had been done away with by the present mode of drawing, and he did not see how such a sum could be raised in a less objectionable way. WILBERFORCE, in feeling and eloquent terms, recapitulated the evils attending on lotteries. The House divided. For the resolution 26; against it 72; majority 46.

LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN SCOTLAND.

Mr

Mar. 19.-Lord BINNING, in moving to bring in a bill for their better regula tion, stated, that there were 1500 lunatics in confinement, and about 2000 at large in Scotland.Leave given.

WEIR'S PETITION.

Mar. 21.-Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY presented a petition from John Weir of Glasgow, complaining that he had been unjustly detained in prison, on charge of sedition, for two or three days, and then discharged. The Scots Lunatic Asylum Bill was read a first time.

ILLNESS OF THE SPEAKER.

Mar. 24.-The Speaker being extremely ill, it was early in the evening understood, that all questions likely to excite discussion were to be put off.

POOR LAWS.

Mar. 25.-Several petitions were presented from different places, praying relief from the poor rates; one of which, from Sudbury, stated, that out of a population of 4000 souls, 2000 received parochial aid: and that the town lands paid 30s. per acre to the poor rates.

SEDITIOUS MEETINGS' BILL.

Mar. 26.-A message from the Lords stated, that they had added some amendments to the bill. It was ordered that the amendments be printed, and taken into consideration to-morrow.

ABOLITION OF SINECURES.

Mar. 27.-Mr DAVIES GILBERT appeared at the bar, and stated, that he held in his hand the First Report of the Committee of Finance. (Hear, hear, and a general cry of read, read.) As soon as order was restored, the clerk began to read, and the substance amounted to this, that such offices as might be considered in the nature of sinecures, ought to be abolished on the death of the persons who now enjoy them. 66 They therefore recommend, that the following offices should be abolished, viz. Chief Justices of Eyre, north and south -Auditor of the Exchequer-Clerk of the Bills-Four Tellers of the Exchequer-the Warden of the Cinque Ports-the Governor of the Isle of Wight-and the CommissaryGeneral of Musters." Mr GILBERT said, it was unnecessary to go farther. Enough had been read to satisfy the House of the spirit of the report.

On the motion that the amendments to the Seditious Meetings' Bill be now read, they were postponed till to-morrow.

T

SEDITIOUS MEETINGS' BILL.

Mar. 28. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL moved, that the Lords' amendments to this bill should be taken into consideration. Lord COCHRANE considered it his duty to delay the progress of the bill by every means in his power; and under that impression, he should have taken the sense of the House on every one of the fifty-four amendments; but as he could not find a seconder, he must suppose the majority of the House were right, and that he was wrong. Several verbal amendments were read, and agreed to. Mr BROUGHAM contended, that all the amendments could not be properly considered at so short notice, and he should therefore move that the farther consideration of them be adjourned till Monday. The House divided, For the adjourn ment 31; against it 77; majority 46. The several other clauses were then gone through,

and a Committee of Conference to communicate with the Lords was appointed.

Mar. 29. Mr VANSITTART, Mr BROGDEN, and others, who had been appointed to manage a conference with the Lords, stated, that they had left the bill, and a copy of the amendments, for their Lordships' consideration. A message from the Lords informed the House, that their Lordships had agreed to the amendments.

ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.

Mar. 31.-The Speaker, attended by several Members, went up to the House of Lords, and heard the Royal Assent given to several bills. Mr VANSITTART moved, that the House, at its rising, should be adjourned till Monday fortnight. Mr PONSONBY hoped, that Ministers would, in the meantime, take some measures that would lead to a complete removal of the distresses of the people. Adjourned till Monday fortnight.

FEBRUARY.

1.Meeting of Merchants. A meeting was held yesterday, at the London Tavern, of the principal merchants, bankers, and traders of the city of London, Sir Robert Wigram, Bart. in the chair; and a declaration to the following effect was unanimously adopted: After deploring the criminal excesses which had lately disgraced the metropolis, it stated, "that they were fully sensible of the distresses and privations of the lower classes of people, and were anxiously desirous of using every practicable means of relief, at the same time pledging themselves, individually and collectively, to support the government and constitution as by law established; and to resist every attempt, whether of craft or violence, that may be directed against civil liberty or social peace. The opinion of this most respectable body of men has always had great influence upon the public mind, and will doubtless have a good effect at the present crisis.

6. The Levee.The Prince Regent's levee, at Carlton House, this day, was one of the most numerous that is recollected, as persons of rank and distinction, of all parties, were anxious to congratulate his Royal Highness on his escape from the late treasonable attempt on his person.

6.-Edinburgh Address.-At an extraordinary meeting of the Town-council of Edinburgh, on Monday the 3d instant, the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council, voted a dutiful and loyal address to the Prince Regent, expressing their detestation of the gross outrage offered to his Royal Highness on his return from opening the Parliament, on Tuesday the 28th ult. Similar addresses

have been voted by the Lord Provost and Magistrates of Glasgow, and by the Town-' council of Paisley. Meetings for the same purpose have been called of the counties of Edinburgh, Haddington, Fife, Roxburgh, Renfrew, and in various other parts of Scotland.

Greenock.-First Ship from the East Indies.-Yesterday morning, the ship Anne Robertson, Macfarlane, from Calcutta, laden with sugar, cotton, indigo, &c. came into this port, being the first arrival in the Clyde, consequent on the breaking up of the East India Company's monopoly; and it is truly gratifying to find, that the most sanguine anticipations then entertained of the benefits to be derived from throwing this trade open, bid fair to be amply realized.

8.-Mildness of the Season. As a proof of the extreme mildness of the season, the following plants were observed in blossom on the 30th ult. in a garden in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, viz. the wall-flower, stock primrose, cowslip, polyanthus, daisy, hepatica, crocus, Christmas rose, green hellebore, winter aconite, white coltsfoot, whitlow grass, scurvy grass, golden saxifrage, and early flowering heath; besides which, many gooseberry bushes, currants, roses, honeysuckles, and even some plants of hawthorn, had already unfolded their leaves.

10. The Spafields Mecting.Every precaution was taken to prevent any riot or disturbance from the meeting at Spafields, which was announced to take place this day. About one o'clock several thousand persons had assembled, when Mr Hunt made his appearance; and, after stating that Lord Cochrane could not attend, and that Sir Francis Burdett would not, he delivered a long and