forfeited, he was thrown into gaol. He held that there could be no grosser injustice than to keep a man in prison on account of an occurrence, which neither he nor the person for whom he was bail could prevent. The name of the person so confined, was John Perrin, who had also complained of oppression on the part of the gaoler.

The Earl of Liverpool said, he would enquire into the case, but thought that an application might be with propriety made to the court of session, at present sitting. Earl Stanhope said, that the debt was a debt to the crown.

first instance, than be hereafter called upon to refuse the payment for wasteful expenditure. That the expenditure was wasteful, would, he apprehended, very soon appear quite glaring; and the extraordinary delay which had taken place in these preparations served to render the expenditure more a matter of regret. The emperor of Russia and king of Prussia, for whom it was understood, these exhibitions were originally intended, had left the country-the principal part of the nobility and gentry had already gone to the country-London itself was, in fact, almost gone into the country. Then to whom was this exhibition to be presented, for Lord Redesdale said, that if it was, as he admission to which the lottery offices were supposed, a recognizance which had been employed to sell tickets? When was the forfeited, because the party did not appear farrago, so pompously advertised, to be to take his trial, it was rather a debt to displayed? He wished to know the day public justice. To the consideration of fixed upon, either from the noble lord, or cases of grievances adduced by persons in any person competent to inform him. It gaol, there was this objection, that if all was fair, that the public should have some such complaints were enquired into, their information upon the subject, after having lordships would have no time left for other been so long kept looking for the shew. matters. As to the case of Gloucester At the same time, he could not help say. gaol, he had made particular enquiries ing, that if the performance did not exceed through sir G. Paul, who was now no the published programme, the public must longer concerned in the management of be very much disappointed. But even But even that prison, and he was convinced, that no were it to exceed the public expectation, grievances did exist. Mr. Cunningham, were it much longer delayed, all might be against whom the complaints had been right, but the audience would be gone. made, had been at their lordships' bar, at the time, ready to answer any charges if he had been at that time permitted.

Mr. Wynn expressed his intention to move an address against any encroachment upon the Park, should such an encroachment be in contemplation; and in this proceeding, he should be governed by the precedent of a similar motion with respect to Hyde Park, some years since, upon which occasion many gentlemen who heard him, could not forget the impression produced by the speech of the late Mr. Windham.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer declared, that he was not aware of any intention to encroach upon St. James's-park, nor did he think that any such intention existed.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

Tuesday, July 26. GLOUCESTER GAOL.] Earl Stanhope said, that before he presented some Petitions which he had in his hand, he should state to the noble earl at the head of the Treasury, the case of one of the prisoners in Gloucester gaol. The case was this: a person whom he should call A. was bailed by B.; A. was taken prisoner by the French, and B.'s recognisance being thus

Earl Stanhope was astonished at the speech which he had heard from the noble lord, which was called for by nothing before the House. It would be better surely that their lordships should listen to the evidence which they might take at their bar, than to the hear-say evidence of the noble lord.

MESNE PROCESS.] Earl Stanhope said, he had a Petition to present on the subject of arrest by Mesne Process, from a foreigner, who had been arrested in consequence of a debt contracted in a foreign country, where arrest for debt was not legal. The Petition was from J. A. Von Lengerke, a native of Bremen. The person at whose suit he had been arrested was also a foreigner. After having been detained from April 2 to the 1st of July, the petitioner had been liberated on account of some defect in the declaration, but the plaintiff having quitted the kingdom, he was left without a possibility of obtaining redress for his illegal imprisonment. His prayer was, that their lordships would pro

The Petion was ordered to lie on the which concluded with the entire defeat of table.

"Sir, I can only repeat, that I shall ever entertain the highest sense of the honour conferred upon me by this House."

Ordered, nem. con. That what has been now said by Mr. Speaker, in giving the Thanks of this House to major-generals Fane and lord Edward Somerset, together with the answers thereto, be printed in the votes of this day.

set; Your name also stands recorded | amongst those distinguished officers, whose gallantry was conspicuous in the last great action, which called forth the strength and valour of the British cavalry. "In defiance of the early scoffs of an insulting enemy, this nation has, during the late continental war, re-established its military character, and vindicated its ancient renown. The nobility of England sent forth its sons to the tented field; and there, trained up under the great commanders who have obtained and dignified the honours of the peerage, they have acted throughout upon the just persuasion, that, in this free country, the willing tribute of respect paid to high rank and birth, can only be secured, by a continued display of the same great qualities which ennobled the founders of their race.

"The profession of arms, which you had gallantly chosen, you have successfully pursued; and, in those provinces of France, where your ancestors, of noblest descent and royal alliance, have, in former ages, fought, conquered, and governed, you have renewed, by your own sword, the claims of your illustrious House to the respect and gratitude of your country. I do, therefore, now, in the name, and by the command, of the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland, in parliament assembled, deliver to you their unanimous thanks, for your able and distinguished conduct throughout the operations which concluded with the entire defeat of the enemy at Orthes, and the occupation of Bourdeaux by the allied forces."

SLAVE TRADE.] Sir James Mackintosh presented petitions against the Slave Trade, from Dingwall, in Scotland; from Henley-on-Thames; Droitwich, and Wincanton, from Wicklow, and from several other places. He said, that in presenting these petitions, from the course of the session, nearly the last of that long train of petitions, which might now be safely said, to convey to parliament and to Europe, the genuine, spontaneous, and unanimous opinion of the British nation; he was desirous of saying a few words on the present state of the great question on which that opinion had been thus pronounced. All the petitioners had seen the article in the Treaty with regret and disappointment. Many, among whom he must number himself, had viewed it with feelings which would call for much stronger language; but he was desirous to avoid the revival of every polemical discussion of the subject. He should only guard himself, and those with whom he agreed, from a misconception to which they had been subject. The question, in their view of it, during the negociation at Paris, was not whether humanity, or even justice, was to be imposed on France, but, whether dishonour was to be averted from Great Britain? It was, whether we could be fairly required to restore our colonial conquests, without equivalent, and upon conditions, which, to be consistent with ourselves, we must deem to brand us with the blackest disgrace? We were to restore colonies, all avowedly, and some exclusively, to be converted into the instruments of what we punished in our private subjects, as robbery and murder. This was a humiliation never imposed, in the most disastrous negociation, upon any European "Commanding British troops, and hold- nation. It was never proposed to drive ing that command under the duke of Wel- France into the practice of general hulington, a British general can never fail of manity, by the force or the fear of arms; supporting the character of the British but to repel this foul dishonour from ourarms. It is to this favourable circum-selves, at the risk of that alternative of stance, more than to any merit of my own, that I consider myself indebted for the high distinction which I have this day received.

Upon which, Major-General Lord Ed

ward Somerset said:

"Mr. Speaker; Deeply impressed as I am with the high honour which has just been conferred upon me, I feel totally incapable of expressing my gratitude in adequate terms.

"The thanks of this House, which must at all times be received with the most lively sentiments of satisfaction, have been rendered doubly gratifying to me, by the handsome manner in which, you, Sir, have been pleased to express them.

prolonged warfare, which is implied in every serious, at least, in every earnest, proposal of an article of a treaty; and

southern and western portion of Europe, and which is doubtless destined one day to banish that stain and curse of human nature from the world. There was no reason to doubt, but he might be induced to interpose an authority revered by so many natious, and to promulgate the sentence of condemnation, already pronounced by religion, against the infernal crime of man-stealing.

The principle of the Slave Trade had been condemned by every maritime and colonial power in Europe or America but one (Spain), which it was at this moment impossible to name without pain and shame. All who had consented to the abolition at the most undefined period, had, at all events, condemned the principle. On this point, there was the opinion of the whole civilized world against the practice of some states, and the silent dissent of one nation. There never was a question on which there was such a preponderance of authority.

which one party cannot disavow without | subject becoming his character and his ' openly proclaiming, that the opposite station, and that Christian religion, which party is the master of the negociation. had banished personal slavery from the The position of the British negociator at Paris respecting this article was purely defensive. We had only to ward off from ourselves, the ignominious necessity of becoming accomplices in a crime, which our laws had declared to be of the deepest dye, and subjected to the highest penalty. But that vantage ground had been lost, and he only adverted to it for the purpose of self-defence. Much ground still remained, and some had even been gained, since the last discussion of the subject. The unhappy failure in the Treaty had even produced some advantage, by calling forth a general declaration of national sentiment, and arming the noble lord with a more decisive public opinion, than ever a negociator carried into a congress. The principle of our colonial lessons, was itself a great advantage in an equitable discussion of the subject. He agreed with the noble lord, that it was impossible to offer colonies to an independent nation, as the price of humanity. It was as clear an insult to bribe, as to bully a state into the observance of humanity or justice. This was not the manner in which he considered the restitution of the colonies, as connected with the negociation for the abolition. We had ceded these colonies for no equivalent. We could hot have been deprived of them by the events of war. They were ceded in obedience to just and liberal principles, of general and colonial policy, which he should be the foremost to applaud. They were ceded, that France might have a portion of colonial power, which the system of Europe required that she should possess: that sources of wealth and schools of industry might be opened to her population, and that her government might be strengthened in national opinion; an object too intimately connected with the repose of the world not to be most legitimate, if pursued by legitimate means. But England, by her observance of such liberal policy, acquired a right to call upon France to concur with her in regulating the whole colonial system upon that paramount policy which consisted in justice. If one policy required from England the restitution of colonies, another and a proper policy required from France the abolition of the Slave Trade.

He had been informed, that the venerable Pontiff at the head of the Roman Catholic Church, entertained sentiments on this

It must not be said, that the personal opinions of the great military sovereigns had no weight, because they had no colonies and little commerce. These states might become maritime and colonial; and, to say nothing of those moral claims, which he earnestly prayed that they might strengthen by the disinterestedness of their policy, they had a direct and important interest in the colonial system, which forms a great and effective part of the balance of power, and of which the stability is interwoven with the habits and accommodations of all Europe.

But of all the authorities lately acquired by the cause of abolition, the most weighty was, beyond comparison, the noble decision of the government of Holland. Certainly, the cheerful and imme. diete abolition of this Trade, by the government in Europe, most dependent on colonial resources, and properly most influenced by a colonial interest, was an act which deserved the admiration and gra. titude of all mankind. He rejoiced that our reconciliation with our ancient friends had been signalized with such an act of atonement and justice; and he was perfectly confident that Holland would soon reap the fruits of her virtue, in the amendment of her colonial administration, which, chiefly from being abandoned to foreign adventurers, had hitherto been the chief