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the fact was, that reference was always had to a man's circumstances, and the amount of bail regulated accordingly. His lordship shortly detailed the provisions of the bill, respecting which it was for the house to decide.

Lord Erskine repeated several of his former objections to the bill, and contended that no necessity hd been shewn for making any alteration in the law as established by our ancestors. He particularly objected to that part of the bill which placed the attorney general on a level with a grand jury, and authorized the holding to bail upon information filed ex officio.

Lord Ellenborough went over some of his former arguments in favour of the bill, and with respect to informa tions filed by the attorney general, contended, that the reason of the thing required that it should not be merely a notice to the party to run away, but that there should be the means of compelling the party to answer. With respect to the objection, that the attorney general was not - compelled to receive affidavits of the facts on which he filed an information, it perhaps might be thought expe dient by the court of king's bench not to hold a man to bail on such an information unless it was supported by an affidavit.

Lord Holland contended, that no inconvenience had been shewn to have resulted from the present practice which it was at all necessary to remedy. He objected therefore to making an unnecessary alteration in the law. He had a right to suppose in arguing this question, the case of an attorney general being the instrument of a ty rannical government, and then the provisions of this bill might prove highly injurious to the liberality of the subject.

Earl Stanhope objected to the bill upon similar grounds. He had expected that the noble and learned lord would. have acknowledged the statement respecting the expres sions used by him to have been erroneous.

Lord Ellenborough still thought that the expressions were improperly applied to him.

Earl Stanhope again denied that the expressions were intended to be applied to the noble and learned lord, and objected to any reference to expressions used in a former debate.

After some further conversation, the house divided on the question for the third reading:

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The committee on the marriage validity bill was postponed till to-morrow.

The house went into a committee on the Irish clergy residence bill. After some conversation, the house resum ed, the bill was reported, and ordered to be read a third time to-morrow.

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The Irish glebe house bill went through a committee, in which some verbal amendments were made in it. be reported to-morrow. Adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

MONDAY, MAY 30.

Mr. Campbell presented a petition from the landhold. ers in the county of Renfrew against the sugar distillation bill. Ordered to lie on the table.

Sir Samuel Romilly moved the second reading of the privately stealing bill, which, after some words from Mr. Yorke and the Solicitor-general, was read a second time accordingly, and ordered to be committed on Thursday

next.

The acquitted persons' compensation bill was ordered to be read a second time on Friday next.

The Irish fees of assize bill was read a third time and passed.

Mr. M'Leod presented a petition from the landbolders of the county of Cromarthy against the distilleries bill.

Mr. Western gave notice that he would, on Thursday next, move for leave to bring in a bill for the better regulation of the oyster fishery at Chatham.

Sir Arthur Wellesley brought up the report on the Holyhead harbour improvement bill, which was ordered to lie on the table and to be printed.

Mr. Smith presented at the bar certain papers relative to the expences incurred by the royal hospital at Greenwich in carrying into effect the late prize act, from the first of March 1807 to the first of March 1808. Ordered to lie on the table.

Alderman Shaw presented a petition from the freehold.

ers of the county of Ayr against the distilleries bill. Or dered to lie on the table.

The Vauxhall bridge bill was read a third time, passed, and ordered to the lords.

Mr. Wardel gave notice that he would to-morrow move for further papers relative to the army clothing.

The lunatics' bill was recommitted, the report was then received, and the bill was ordered to be read a third time on Wednesday next.

Mr. W. Wynne gave notice, that he would on the same day move for an humble address to his majesty, that he would be graciously pleased to order the building of a' gaol for the reception of criminal lunatics..

The Dean and New forests bill went through a com mittee, and the report was ordered to be received to

morrow.

Mr. Sturges Bourne brought up the report of the herring fishery committee, and leave was given to bring in a bill pursuant to the same.

Mr. Sheridan presented a petition from James Tandy, Esq. late a prisoner in his majesty's gaol of Kilmainham, and once an eminent wine merchant in the city of Dublin. The petition stated the imprisonment of Mr. Tandy for three years, and his solemn protestation of his ignorance of the cause of his confinement, and that he was not aware of any offence that could have produced such imprisonment, which was alleged as the cause of his decline in the wine trade, and the total ruin of his affairs. He therefore prayed for such relief as the house might seem fit to grant. The petition was ordered to lie on the table.

Similar petitions were presented from Bernard Foy, Thomas Ridgway, and Henry Hughes, which were severally ordered to lie on the table.

. Mr. Huskisson moved, that there be laid upon the table a copy of the letter from the secretary of the treasury to the king's proctor, dated the 28th day of October, 1808, relative to the restoration of the Prince of Wales Lisbon packet, and her cargo. Ordered.

The land tax commissioners bill went through a committee, and the report was ordered to be received to

morrow.

The committee on the orders of council bill was postponed till to-morrow.

Mr. Wharton brought up the report of the committee

on the public annuities. The resolutions were severally agreed to, and a bill ordered accordingly.

Mr. Palmer's per-centage bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Friday next.

Mr. Rose was anxious to call the attention of the house to the fifth report of the commissioners of military inquiry. He did not rise to make any complaint against the commissioners; far from it. He thought that their exertions. in the cause of public economy were highly meritorious; but still he was of opinion, that that part of their report which charged the apothecary general with having received undue profits did not seem to be strongly supported by proof. He was anxious to satisfy the house and the public that in the agreement between the lords of the treasury and that person the public had suffered no loss. He moved that there be laid before that house, copies of all proceedings of the lords commissioners of the treasury, from the 1st of December, 1796, to the 31st of August, 1799, with an account of payments for medicines and surgical instruments for the use of the army.

Mr. Yorke said a few words in vindication of the apo thecary general, when the motion was agreed to.

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The British ships bill passed through a committee, and the report was ordered to be received to-morrow.

SMALL POX.

Mr. Fuller, pursuant to notice, rose to make his motion for preventing the spreading of the small pox. After observing upon the great importance of the object he had in view, he said, that from a statement he had in his hand, it appeared, that the increase of deaths by the small pox was, during a period of forty-two years, nearly in the proportion of one-fourth; it was not his intention to impose the system of vaccination upon the country; he should leave that to work its own way; his design was to check the spreading of the infection, by removing the receptacle to be established for the patients three miles distant from the next adjoining vicinity; and when any person in the town was suddenly affected, to remove him to such convénient distance with all possible speed; and that such regulation should be enforced by penalties, to go to the benefit of persons who had caught the infection in their efforts to check its progress. The honourable gentleman then moved

for leave to bring in a bill to prevent the spreading of the infection of the small pox.

Mr. Rose approved of the object of the bill, and said that it was his intention on Thursday next to move for leave to bring in a bill to promote the vaccine inoculation. The motion of Mr. Fuller was then agreed to.

BANK OF IRELAND.

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Sir John Newport rose to bring forward his promised resolution for declaring catholics eligible to fill the high offices of the bank of Ireland. Of all the restrictions which the penal laws of Ireland had imposed upon the catholics, he commented on the absurdity of enacting that the creed of a director on a commercial establishment should be a bar to the exertion of his talents in promoting the interests of the concern; or that, in appointing a director, the proprietors of such a concern should be bound, in the first instance, to inquire into his form of worship. Ireland was the only country in Europe where this was the case. But in the act for establishing the bank of Ireland, no such restriction appeared; and it was only in the charter made out in consequence of that act, that any idea of religious restriction was introduced. By an act of 1793, the Irish parliament had very much relaxed those restric tions which precluded Irish catholics from holding certain offices, and reduced the number to a very few offices of state. But he believed no man ever imagined the office of a bank director was one from which it was intended to exclude them; on the contrary, he had the assurance of a secretary of state for Ireland, that it was meant the catholics should be admitted to the directorship; and, upon recurring to the act of 1723, he found they were eligible to become members of any law body, corporate or commercial, for they were precluded from none but Trinity college, any bye-law to the contrary notwithstanding. The charter, however, ordered it otherwise; law opinions had been taken on the subject, and the counsel on both sides differed. One was of opinion that the catholics were not precluded; but the others thought, that as the preclusion was by a charter, and not a bye-law, the exclu sion was valid. By the Irish bank act of 1781-2, it was forbidden to any company, above the number of six, to form any bank or take a public credit, under a heavy pe

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