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The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in explanation, alluded to what had fallen from a Rt. Hon. Member (Mr. Canning), who had stated, that no information had been promised to the House, except in the alternative of war, and that no communication would have been made but in that event. He begged leave to state, that he had given no pledge

ever might be the event, he disdained the reserve which had been imputed to him, and that he never would withhold any communication from Parliament upon any subject relative to the public interest, which might be communicated with a due regard to that in

terest.

Mr. T. GRENVILLE rose to make a few observations upon what had fallen from a Rt. Hon. Gent. respecting the answer which had been given by the Minister. He admitted that which he was sure was felt by every Member in that House, that upon such a subject as this there ought to be no dissenting voice; but a question had been put to the Ministers, whether, in any alternative except that of war, they intended to lay any information before the House? To this question the answer was, that no pledge whatever had been given upon the subject. Now he could not help observ. ing, that the very mode in which this answer had been given, was a satisfactory justification of the Hon. Member who had put the question. Having said thus much, he begged to observe, that no man was more unwilling than himself to enter into any discussion whatever that could operate to retard, or even to throw a shade upon the resolution which had been proposed. He did feel a great deal of embarrassment on his mind as to the ignorance in which the House was placed on this occasion; for when Government proposed to the House an address, which the Rt. Hon. Gent. had described as containing no pledge whatsoever,

Mr. CANNING gave his cordial support to the address, as it pledged the House to nothing but that in which all members were agreed. He was unwilling to suppose that Ministers, in the conduct of the discussions now depend-whatsoever; but this he would say, that whating, were exposed to censure; he wished to suspend his judgment till they had an oppor tunity of explaining to the House the circumstances of their conduct. Ministers had promised this explanation, which, indeed, was what the House had an undoubted right to demand. In the manner in which this assurance had been given, there was something on which he found it impossible not to animadvert. The House were assured, that if, unfortu. nately, the discussions now depending should terminate in hostilities, Ministers would feel it their duty to explain the whole cause of the negotiation: but no assurance was given of this explanation in the event of an amicable adjustment of the points in dispute; the House, however, had as clear and undisputed a right to explanation in the one case as in the other. The message from his Majesty had excited throughout the country the greatest anxiety and alarm; and the public, as well as the House, were entitled to be apprized of the circumstances on which the expediency and policy of such a proceeding was founded. He must be allowed to say, that a refusal to give such an explanation would be a striking evidence of the want of that good understanding which ought to exist between the people and the Government. On the part of the people there had been of late manifested a great degree of docility, a strong disposition to give Ministers credit for the purity of their intentions and the uprightness of their views. It was fit that this disposition should be met with something of a corresponding spirit of confidence and openness of communication. Mi-yet the House must be supposed to be pledged nisters, however, seemed determined to act on a perfectly different principle: they appeared studious of mystery and concealment. The address was of the most interesting nature; it referred to subjects of the highest national importance. Nothing like confidence was to be seen, however, on the part of Ministers; they put the House and the public in possession of no one circumstance which might account for measures of new and extraordinary preparation. Never, he ventured to assert, was so important a measure proposed on the grounds which were made the foundation of the present address: alarm and anxiety were excited, and the grounds of this anxiety and alarm were carefully involved in obscurity. Heshould, however, support the motion, putting in, as he did, in the strongest mauner, his claim to demand a full and satisfactory explanation of the grounds of the address at a subsequent period.

in the customary manner to the facts to which they assented. He could not help remarking, that it on the one hand unanimity was felt to be so desirable, yet on the other the effect of it would be considerably lessened in the eyes of all mankind, if the present vote did not convey the tangible opinion of every man in that House: for so it must be when the House voted an address without any information respecting facts. With these few remarks he should conclude, assuring the House that there was no man in it more ready or eager than he was to carry up to the Throne the answer contained in the present address. His mind was certainly impressed with sentiments of great anxiety upon this subject, but he trusted that the measures now proposed would be of a nature to produce peace and tranquillity.

The ATTORNEY GENERAL said he could not be surprised that any Gentleman who con

curred in the vote should wish to lay in his would be able to state to the House, that those protest against giving any pledge as to the hostilities had not been provoked, and that future sentiments he might think proper to they could not, by any proper, temperate, adopt. He thought nothing could be more and honcurable conduct, be prevented. If his reasonable, than that at a time when a message Majesty's Ministers should lay before the of this sort was brought from the Throne, and House this state of the case, he was persuaded when the House was called upon to express that the spirit of the country would be in uniits thanks for the gracious communication, son with that which actuated his Majesty's those Gentlemen who were of opinion the Ministers; and that the absolute necessity of statement was not sufficient to justify the war, renewing hostilities, would give more strength, should lay in their claim to express their sen- vigour, and energy, to those which should be timents, whatever they might be, on a future undertaken, than could possibly be imparted, occasion; but he could not help thinking, that by preserving the exact military position of a the House had no reason to deem itself hardly particular period. He trusted the House dealt with by information being kept back, would think the question was left open to diswhen, in fact, no information had been called cussion, and that, whatever the measures of for, and when the question to be considered Government had been, they would be fully in was only a communication from the Throne, quired into. He hoped that Parliament and stating there were certain measures which ren- the country would not be too fond of peace— dered it necessary for us to make defensive an unstable delusive peace. He trusted that preparations and hold ourselves on our guard, they would not be induced to think that nothing and when it was expressly stated too, that a short of an attack on the country would justify satisfactory communication would in due time hostilities. He flattered himself they would be made to Parliament. The Hon. Member bring their minds temperately to the discussion who had last spoken had said the message of the subject, and to the consideration of— seemed to augur well, because it manifested a whether his Majesty's Ministers had acted disposition to exertion; but he thought he wisely in taking the course they had done with might as well have spared that observation: it regard to these points; he was persuaded inferred, that no conclusion the House should there could be no material difference of opinion adopt could be too violent. With respect to on general grounds; and, respecting the queswhat had fallen from a Rt. Hon. Gent. behind tion immediately before the House, nothing him (Mr. Canning), he answered him a little else was proposed, than that, supposing the prematurely, as to the disposition he had anti-case to be exactly as it was stated in his Macipated of his Majesty's Ministers withholding any communication upon the subject. There had been no disposition expressed by his Majesty's Ministers, that, in the event of war being unnecessary, no information would be laid before the House. Whether such information should be laid before the House, must depend upon circumstances. When it was pressed for, if it was withheld, it would be in the power of any Member to demand it; and the House, if it thought proper, would enforce its production. He would not prolong the debate, except by mentioning one circumstance. The Hon. Gent. he had mentioned seemed to have recurred to the opinion he had expressed respecting the calamities produced by the conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace of Amiens, on the ground that it was calculated to promote a war; and that, in the | event of this country going to war, we should be so crippled, that the circumstance of having had peace would be attended with the effect of rendering a future war more difficult. He wholly disagreed with him. He maintained that the opinion of the people at large, going along with the opinion of Government, upon a question so important as the present one, was infinitely more to be considered than the precise state of the proportion of military force referring to the period when peace was concluded. If it should ultimately turn out that this country should be obliged to renew hostilities, the Government, he had no doubt,

jesty's message, the House should pledge itself thus far and no farther; that it should admit it to be a case which justified military preparations, but nothing more. If afterwards it should appear, that the circumstances and situation of the country did not justify the present application, it would properly be a subject for future consideration. To give his Majesty an assurance of our determination to guard against surprise, was all that the House was at present called upon to do; he trusted, therefore, that there could be no reasonable ground of complaint on the one hand, and that on the other there would be no reluctance in giving further information.

Dr. LAWRENCE said, that the meaning of his Rt. Hon. Friend had been misinterpreted, when it was alleged that he professed himself to have been adverse to all peace, at the time when that of Amiens was concluded. He did not then oppose peace in general, but a peace that could be nothing better than war in disguise. He did not mean, that there was not the greatest strength in that unanimity of high spirit which it might be expected would not now be found wanting in the breasts of the whole people of this country. But he had opposed and regretted the peace of Amiens, because it never promised to end otherwise than in those events, on the unpleasing probability of which contemplation was this day fixed. It was not to be denied, that the spirit

urgently upon the entire attention of their Lordships, as totally to avert their eyes from all retrospective views, and to turn their regard to the prospect immediately before us. The plain path for Englishmen to pursue on this occasion, was so obviously chalked out by the animated and eloquent speech of a Noble Lord, a few evenings since (Lord Moira), that no man could mistake the great line of his duty to his country. Under such eircumstances, he said, it was impossible to withhold his expressions of the perfect satisfaction he felt for the unanimous sentiments of both Houses of Parliament within doors, supported by the opinions, the fortitude, and the bold, manly, and patriotic sense of every class of the people without. Actuated by such a sense of our situation and our common duty, stimulated by sentiments at once so national, so animated, and so truly characteristic of Englishmen, there could remain no doubt as to the final issue of any conflict, into which the exigency of circumstances might, however reluc

of the people was not likely to shrink from | affairs of Switzerland. That motion it was any new difficulties of war which they might his intention to have brought forward in the be now called to encounter. But neither course of the present week, but the intervencould it be in reason affirmed, that they would tion of important circumstances, already welk have been now utterly destitute of that spirit known to their Lordships, circumstances proif the peace of Amiens had not been conclud- minently developed by his Majesty's gracious ed. If, in consideration that no specific en-message to both Houses, pressed so much more gagement was made in the address, he should avoid to press, at this particular moment, for further information from Ministers; yet, if the discussions and preparations on which the message was founded, should end in a renewal of war, and if his Majesty's Ministers should come, as they of course must, to that House, for the supplies necessary in carrying it on, he would then expect the most unreserved communication of every document which could throw light upon the quarrel; and he should undoubtedly be disposed to enter into the fullest discussion of the wisdom of their conduct. He wished to know, if war must be resorted to, whether it was necessary to the safety and honour of the empire. His wishes were for peace, and he should therefore oppose equally an unseasonable war, and a war waged without that full energy which ould alone command success. It was argued, that since, in the alternative of war being yet averted, Ministers did not now say that they would give no information of the causes of this alarm, therefore they were not to be at pre-tantly, force us; and in such a contemplation sent blamed for not offering information as freely in the one alternative as in the other. But he thought it their duty, in either case, to offer that information which it was disrespectful to Parliament, and to the country, and for Ministers, not to offer, whenever they had to appeal to the good-will of both, in a case of so much magnitude. There might be some pieces of information which it were sufficient to give when the House should call for them; but there were undoubtedly others, as in the present instance, which it were highly unbecoming in Ministers not spontaneously, in all events, to bring forward. He concluded with expressing himself friendly to peace; but willing, upon due information, to grant the requisite supplies for war. For the address he would vote, as making no specific engagement.

The address was then unanimously voted, and it was ordered, that such of the members as were of the privy council should carry it up and present it to his Majesty.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

Friday, March 11. (See Minutes, p. 428.) [AFFAIRS OF SWITZERLAND.] Lord MINTo rose, and called to their Lordships' recollection a notice which he had given, previously to the Christmas recess, of his intention to bring forward, as speedily as possible after that recess, a motion for inquiry into the conduct of his Majesty's Ministers respecting the

of the existing circumstances of our country, their Lordships, he was confident, would not impute to him any dereliction of his duty, if he now declined bringing forward the motion which he intended; at the same time, he congratulated the country upon the spirit and energy manifested by his Majesty's Government, on an occasion so interesting to the honour and the rights of the British nation.

[MESNE PROCESS BILL.]-Lord MOIRA moved the order of the day, for the second reading of the bill for the better prevention of vexatious arrests on mesne process. The order of the day being read accordingly,

Lord MOIRA rose, with a view, he said, of trespassing, as shortly as possible, on the attention of their Lordships, in explaining his objects under this bill, which he had introduced, after many years of deliberate consiment on the subject. His main purpose in deration, as the best result of his own judg this bill, he said, was public justice between all the parties concerned; tempered, at the same time, with as much humanity as was consistent with, as well as indispensably necessary to, the administration of that justice, consistently with the spirit of British legislation and British jurisprudence. He had to express his sincere thanks to those law Lords, who, happily for this country, preside at present in the public administration of national justice, for the deliberate consideration and wholesome counsel, whereby they had favoured

kim in his endeavours to bring this bill forward. his Lordship wished was, to enable the person To their wisdom, as well as to the collective arrested to pay into the bands of the shers, sense of their Lordship, he would now submit or some eligible officer, the amount of the it, describing, as briefly as possible, his views, debt and probable costs for which he should under the several clauses it contained. His be arrested, and then be entitled to go at are first principle was grounded on the quantum until the debt should be fully investigated and of debt for which a man may, as the law now fairly proved in law. It might be said that a stands, under the rath of Geo. I. be arrested, man, for maliciously swearing falsely to a on meine process, namely, a debt of roi. Con- debt, for the purpose of embarrassing a man sidering the very material charge in the value by arrest, is severely pun stable in law; but of money from the period at which that bill such is the complicated nature of debt, under passed and the present, and the great prompti- so many balances, counter-balances, and set tude of creditors for small sums, and the low offs, as may be pleaded, that nothing would be class of practitioners, by whom they are but more difficult to substantiate on a prosecutice, too much influenced, to arrest their debtors for than such a malicious swearing. The remedy smail sums, his Lordship thought that an in- which the bill proposed, however, he con crease of the sum from 1 to 2cl. could in ceived with deference, to be a reasonable one no degree alter the spirit of the 11th Geo. I. for the evil he mentioned. On this ground though it should prevent many instances of having barely mentioned his objects in the cruelty and oppression, which it could never bill, he thought the committee would be the have been the purpose of that law to authorize. proper place for suggesting such emendations The next object was the sum of maintenance as to their Lordships should seem_necessary; to be allowed by the arresting creditor to the and for the present he would offer nothing imprisoned debtor. Than the principle of this farther on the subject. regulation, as it stood now authorized by law, nothing in his Lordship's mind could be more Lord ELLENBOROUGH said, that certainly just or reasonable. It was, however, exciu- those Noble Lords whose more peculiar func sively appropriated to those debtors only who tiors led them to the administration of the laws were detained under execution. But if a man in this country, bad many cogent objections to was thrown into prison for a debt which he the alteration of those laws, where strong mo was alike unable to bail or to discharge, it was tives for such alteration were not made clearly to all intents and purposes the same as if he apparent. His Lordship was, however, ready had been held in execution; and therefore the to acknowledge that there were some of the Noble Lord could see no rational cause why alterations proposed by the Noble Lord's bil the creditor in that case should not be obliged on the existing laws between debtor and cre to afford some assistance to the unfortunate ditor, which were but just and reasonable, debtor whom he throws into prison, and de- and might have a very salutary effect; that, prives of all means to earn bread, as in the for instance, which proposed an increase of other. Certainly the raising of the sum which the sum warranting arrest on the mesne prowould warrant arrest from ten to twenty cess, from 10l. to 20. on which subject he pounds, went considerably to diminish the agreed in the principle laid down by the Noble evil as it now stands; but the principle in his Lord. But on that part where the Noble mind was equally valid in the one case as in Lord proposed to increase the allowance from the other. The next principle of his bill was the creditor to his debtor in prison, beyoad one, which he conceived highly necessary, to the present sum allowed by law, or to the prevent oppressive and fraudulent arrests, and debtor confined on mesne process, and not in the adoption of which could never, in the execution, he could not so readily agree, as it slightest degree, impede justice. For instance: would be rather hard upon the creditor who as the law now stands, nothing more is neces- arrested his debtor in pursuit of redress, to be sary to procure a warrant for the arrest and obliged to increase the debt and his own inimprisonment of any man than swearing to a jury, by an extra subsistence to his debtor, debt. Upon such an oath a warrant is issued, who might stay in gaol capriciously, though the man thrown into prison; and though the in many instances able to pay; and with oath be absolutely false, and not one penny respect to the liberty which the Noble fairly due to the plaintiff, yet the arrested, Lord wished to give the debtor arrested, of person has no alternative for his liberation but paying the debt, and the trivial costs incurred to pay the debt, or enter bail. If he does the in the first instance by such arrest, and thus former, he submits to injustice without any procuring his liberation, the person arrested privilege of subsequent appeal; and as to the had already that privilege under the law as it latter, he may be an utter stranger, with his, now stands, and may pay the sum into a court, pocket full of money, and ample estates in or to a judge at his chambers, and thus proanother country, yet he may remain imprison- cure his liberation. ed for many months until the issue of a suit is determined, without any certain mode of forcing the plaintiff to procced, in order to accelerate the issue of such suit. Now, what

Lord ALVANLEY observed, that there were certainly some points worthy of notice, and which, in his mind, called for remedy. On

the point last mentioned, certainly a man arrested, however fraudulently, by paying debt and costs in the first instance, would be entitled to his liberation. But then, in such a proceeding, he admitted the justice of the claim, and had by law no subsequent ground of appeal against its injustice; so that to be entitled to a fair trial on the merits of such claim, he had no alternative but to go into gaol, or enter bail to stand the issue-a thing which the almost universal objection which all men entertained to becoming sureties, even for their dearest friends and relations, rendered very often impracticable to men of good character and property. However, as the bill was to undergo a full discussion in a committee, a proper remedy might suggest itself on this point; but he trusted that discussion would not take place in the absence of the Noble and Learned Lord who usually presided in that House.

On the motion of Lord Moira, the bill was committed for Tuesday, under the supposition that the Lord Chancellor would then be in his place.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

the circumstances on which the address was founded, as before the motion was brought forward. While he called for explanation, he disclaimed all opposition or hostility to his Majesty's Ministers, and indeed he was the more entitled to demand this explanation, as he had hitherto given them his support, and had reposed confidence in their conduct. He had therefore at this moment a peculiar right to know whether circumstances existed to justify the continuance of this confidence. He had a right to be informed whether it was to the fault or the misfortune of Ministers that the present situation of the country was to be attributed. When the preliminaries of peace were first signed, and before the terms on which it had been concluded were known, he had been thankful for the termination of a disastrous war. With this sentiment he felt obliged to Ministers for the peace which they had concluded, viewing it merely as the deliverance from a war without object or end. When the terms of the peace were known, they had been strenuously objected to by Gentlemen, of whose talents it was impossible to speak without the greatest respect. He did not mean to say that these objections, separately considered, did not possess great weight; but, viewing the conditions of the peace, and connecting them with the consideration of the continuance of war, the sacrifices which had been made did not appear to him greater than the object deserved. With such views, therefore, he was still willing to give Ministers credit for the conclusion of peace. That the executive power had the full right of determining, in the first instance, on peace and war, was a doctrine which he by no means wished to controvert. This, however, did not Mr. FRANCIS rose to offer a few observa- by any means interfere with the right of the tions on the motion, and it is with regret we House to inquire how far the servants of the mention that the commencement of his speech Crown had exercised their power in a treachewas delivered in a tone of voice too low rous manner, or preclude them from presenting to be distinctly heard in the gallery. The an address to his Majesty for their removal, vote which the committee were now called if they should be judged incapable of managing upon to accede to was one which involved the affairs of the nation under perilous circumconsiderations of the most important nature; stances, connected with the maintenance of and before any Member could, consistently peace or the renewal of war. On these prinwith his duty, agree to it, some general ex-ciples, he therefore ventured to ask, whether, planation was due on the part of his Majesty's Ministers. It was of importance to the committee to have some information communi cated respecting the situation in which the country was placed, the reasons which rendered such extraordinary preparations necessary, the character of those in whom the application of those preparations would be vested, the views they entertained in calling on the House to make preparations, and the degree of confidence to which, by their past conduct, they were entitled. He wished sincerely that the address on a former evening had passed without any observation. The discussion which had taken place had put the House in possession of no new information, and at its close Members separated as completely ignorant of

Friday, March 11. (See Minutes, p. 428.) [SUPPLY.] The order of the day was moved for going into a committee to consider further of the supply to be granted to his Majesty. The House accordingly resolved into the committee, and Mr. SERJEANT moved, "That ten thousand seamen be added to the "number now existing."

when peace was concluded on terms involving considerable sacrifices, great as these sacrifices were considered, as the price of an object of anxious desire, and there was now reason to apprehend a renewal of hostilities, the House had not a fair right to be informed what, after all these sacrifices, was the return which was to be expected; what, for all these sacrifices, was the return which had been obtained? It was not peace, but the prospect of war, after every concession had been made as the price of tranquillity and repose. Were the House now to be told that they should obtain no explanation? Was the country to be rought into the perilous situation in which it was now placed, and was no account to be given of the causes by which this situation had