violated by this bill; for last year the country only recognized one court; but parliament was now called upon to establish two courts. The honourable member then went over the pecuniary provisions of the bill, and said that it went to form funds over which parliament would have no controul, and that the privy purse, instead of belonging to the office of king, would come to belong to the man, which was a complete perversion of its intention. He next made various observations respecting the Prince's debts, which he thought it would be better to pay off at once, than to place in his hands a sum "to meet certain engagements of honour" to an unknown extent, and with the possibility of being unable, through fresh embarrassments, to discharge them. The charges of the civil list were stated to have exceeded the funds by a large annual average, which had hitherto been made good from other sources, and if these became insufficient, then it would be necessary to come to parliament. What was this but an indirect statement that an addition was to be made to the civil list to the amount of this average excedent, while in the outset the Prince was to be curtailed of 50,0001. enjoyed by his father? The fact was, that this was a plan to keep the Prince Regent always in restraint, always under the necessity of applying for something to ministers, for which, no doubt, he was to give something to ministers in return. Mr. T. dwelt for some time on the idea of distrust of the Prince Regent shewn in the bill, and then adverted to the great increase of influence which it gave the Queen; and he concluded with VOL, LIV. expressing his wish that it were deferred to a distant day, and that a committee were appointed for investigating all the matters which could throw light upon the subject. Mr. Johnstone made some observations concurring with those of the last speaker, particularly with respect to the importance of settling a specific adequate sum for the civil list, which should not be exceeded; and he supposed that if there had not been such a fund as the droits of admiraity to have recourse to, the excess of charges would not have taken place, and ministers would economised better. He gave an instance of the want of adhering to the strict principle of the civil list, in a payment to Sir Sidney Smith of a sum for extraordinary disbursements in 1798, which was not paid till 1811. This circumstance was explained by Mr. Matthew Montague, as the meredischarge of a debt for money advanced. Sir Thos. Turton, from a cursory view of the documents on the table, would point out one item which in his opinion would render the proposed addition of 70,0001. to the civil list wholly unnecessary. This was that of the diplomacy, the charge on which had exceeded the estimate of 1804 by no less a sum than 96,0001. He adverted to one particular sum charged, which was that of 16,000 for the Marquis Wellesley's mission to Spain for a few months; this might possibly be a very proper item, but without further investigation he could not know it to be so. Mr. Whitbread, after alluding to the cases of Sir S. Smith and Marquis Wellesley as proofs that further investigation was requisite, [C] called called upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer, before the Speaker should quit the chair, to assign some reasons why the examination required should not be made. The house was required to declare blindfold by this bill that such an excess as 124,0001, ought to be incurred; the fact of which excess only came out by a side wind when the bill was brought forward. He then stated various objections to the bill, of a similiar kind to those alvanced by other speakers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer made a reply of considerable length, in which he defended the general principle of the bill, and explained the cases of those persons whose grants had been particularly alluded to. Mr. Ponsonby then recapitulated some of the objections made on his side of the house; and Mr. Adam gave reasons why it was proper that the bill should go into a committee. The house then divided upon the question, that the Speaker do now leave the chair, which was carried by 141 to 59. The house having gone into a committee on the bill, the first clause, granting to his Majesty during his indisposition a further sum from the consolidated fund was read, and the blanks were filled up with 70,000l. to commence from February 18, 1812. The Chancellor of the Exchequer then proposed that the other clauses down to clause 14th should be postponed, it being his intention to divide the bill into two, and incorporate the omitted clauses in a separate bill, On the reading of the 14th clause, by which the Regent declares his intention of transferring 50,000l. a year issued to him from the exchequer, in aid of the civil list, some of the opposition members suggest ed that the consent of his Royal Highness should be expressly signified, before the house could proceed in the business. The Chancellor of the Exchequer then signified the Prince's consent, which was entered on the journals. The committee on the bill being resumed, Mr. Brand objected to the sum of 70,000l. remaining at the disposal of the executive in addition to the present civil list. Mr. Adam rose, and made a particular statement of his Royal Highness's affairs, of which he had been a managing trustee, which removed Mr. B.'s objection, and seemed to produce a general wish that his Royal Highness should be relieved from the embarrassments under which he had so long laboured. The 14th clause being passed, the 15th was read, on which Mr. Brougham strongly objected to the addition of the 124,0001. from a secret fund to supply the deficiencies of the civil list. The house divided upon the clause, and the numbers appeared for it 105, against it 33. other clauscs were then read, and the report was ordered for the following day. The On January 18th, the question being put, that the report of this bill be brought up, Mr. Brougham rose to state his objections to it. These chiefly turned upon the want of sufficient investigation into the state of the civil list and the grants made upon it, and the separate influence which would be established by the provisions of the bill. He was briefly corrected in some of his statements by Mr. Rose. Mr. Bennet then made a speech of some length, of which the chief topic was the influence of the crown crown in the House of Commons, the progress of which he traced historically. Mr. Sheridan then rose as the advocate of the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and recommended that the public should take upon itself the debts of the latter, extinguishing all question of the arrears of the Duchy of Cornwall, The report at length was brought up and agreed to. The remaining proceedings on this business afforded nothing new or memorable. The whole arrangement was finally distributed into three bills, viz. the King's household bil, the household officer's bill, and the regency expenses bill. At the third reading, January 31, Mr. Bennet proposed a clause for incapacitating such officers as held places in the household from sitting in parliament, which was negatived, and the bill was passed. On its third reading in the House of Lords, February 7th, some observations were made upon it by Lord Gren ville, but no debate ensued; and the royal assent was soon after given. [C 2] CHAPTER CHAPTER III. Bill for a Nightly Watch in London. -Debate on the Droits of Admiralty. -Motion for inquiring into the Jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts. THE HE horror impressed by the murders committed in the metropolis at the close of the last year, had occasioned many voluntary associations for improving the nocturnal security of the inhabitants, which in general appeared to be inadequately provided for by the existing regulations' of the poJice; and government at length thought it expedient to take up the matter. On January 18th, Mr. Secretary Ryder rose in the House of Commons to move for a committee to examine into the state of the nightly watch of the metropolis. After adverting to the alarming fact of the late murders, and to the unprecedented multiplication of offences of a less horrid description during the last three or four months, he observed, that in former times each parish provided for its own watch, and it was not till 1774 that an act passed which applied only to 15 of the most populous parishes, and which appointed directors and trustees under whose controul the watch, patrole, and beadles were placed. It could be no wonder that this was found insufficient since the vast increase of the metropolis, and many instances might likewise be mentioned in which the provisions of the act were evaded or neglected. If the house should agree to the Corrected to 1242 appointment of the committee, it would be for that to decide whether it were advisable to alter the system entirely, or whether it would be sufficient to enforce the present act. For his own part, he rather inclined to enforcing the present system by adequate provisions, than to establishing a new one. He concluded with making the motion above stated. Sir Samuel Romilly expressed himself much surprised at the confined terms of the motion. Considering the great alarm that had been excited, he should have thought that a committee appointed on the occasion would have found it necessary to inquire not only into the state of the nightly watch, but into the causes of the alarming increase of felonies and crimes. That such an increase existed was proved by the returns lying upon the table, which he had moved for, and which showed a regular progress of crimes in London and Westminster for some years past. There had been committed to take their trial at the Old Bailey for felonies of various kindsIn the year 1806 899 1017 - 1110 1342* - 1424† It would surely be right to inquire + Corrected to 1207 into the causes of this augmentation, of which many might be mentioned, but at present he would only notice a few. The honourable member then adverted to the system of punishment by promiscuous imprisonment, which associated together the most hardened offenders with those convicted of comparatively slight crimes; to the constitution of the police itself in giving rewards to the officers for the detection of offenders of a certain description, of which the effect was, suffering a growth and mulplication of crimes instead of their prevention; and to the depravation of morals by the encouragement of lotteries. After dwelling at length upon these topics, he concluded with hoping that the motion of his right honourable friend would be withdrawn, and submitted in a much more comprehensive form. Mr. W. Smith followed in confirmation of the necessity of such an extension of object as that proposed by the last speaker. The late murders, he said, originated in a set of villains about the town whose existence was not imputable to any deficiency in the nightly watch; and unless some change could be produced in their disposition, the only effect of a more vigilant watch in the metropolis would be to drive them into the surrounding villages. The Chancellor of the Exchequer made a number of remarks to shew that the considerations above suggested could not properly be referred to the committee proposed, the object of which was to provide a practical remedy for an existing evil. Mr. Abercomby observed, that two opinions had been advanced, one that the proposed object of the committee was sufficient, the other that it was insufficient, for remedying the existing evil. He contended that nothing had been said to prove that the state of the police ought to be excluded from the consideration of the committee, and thought that the propriety of extending it to that object was obvious After various remarks to enforce this opinion, he moved, as an amendment to the original motion, the addition of the following words," and also into the state of the police of the metropolis." He Mr. Ryder acquiesced in theamendment of the hon. and learned gentleman, provided he would consent to substitute the word "further" for "also," in order that the primary object of the committee might be that which he thought of great practical benefit. (To this alteration Mr. A. consented.) proceeded to take notice of the accusation brought against the police officers as being never disposed to detect offenders unless when stimulated by a great reward. This, from the best information, he stated to be unfounded, and he was convinced that greater efforts had never been made to detect offenders than those in the metropolis during the two last months. Sir S. Romilly reminded the right honourable secretary, that a reward of 7001. had been offered on the late occasions for exciting their activity, a consequence of which had been the apprehension. of a great number of persons upon bare suspicion, one of whom was the brother of one of the murdered persons. Mr. Sheridan began a speech of sarcasm and humour united, by pronouncing |