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therefore moved that the former committee be revived, with an instruction to lay the proceedings taken before them on the table of the house.

**Lord Hawkesbury saw great inconveniences in the way either of the adoption or rejection of this motion; though on the whole, in his opinion, the difficulties arising from adopting it would preponderate. As, however, it seemed to be so much the wish of the hon. judge below the bar, he should not oppose it, provided it was understood that the motion should not stop at the laying of the proceedings on the table, but that equal justice was to be done to the hon. judge and to the petitioners, by having the proceedings printed.

The Lord Chancellor, for one, could not approve of the present motion. He found it to be contrary to the principle of proceeding and to the forms of the house. He must therefore say not content to the motion, though he should not press his opinion on the house, begging it to be understood that his reason for doing so did not proceed from any idea that the hon. judge below the bar was entitled to greater indulgence than any other person who might appear before the house, but from consideration of the peculiar situation in which the house found itself involved.

Lord Ellenborough confessed he could not see any of the strong objections against the present motion to which the noble and learned lord had alluded. Their lordships had already in the present case so far sanctioned the practice as to order the hon. judge copies of the petitions and other charges against him; and he recollected, that in the case of Mr. Hastings, the principal management of whose defence had been.committed to him, he had been regularly furnished from day to. day with copies of the evidence published only for the use of the house, and publicly referred to such evidence, in the course of the after proceedings.

The Lord Chancellor explained, and wished to know of the noble and learned lord, if the evidence to which he had referred, as furnished to him on Mr. Hastings's trial, was com municated to him with the knowledge and approbation of the house. He begged it at the same time to be recollected, that the only way in which evidence could be legally published was at the conclusion of a trial, but that the law did not warrant any publication pending the proceedings. dove og

Lord Ellenborough in explanation stated, that the evidence communicated to him in the course of Mr. Hastings's trial,

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was furnished with the entire knowledge and approbation of their lordships.

After a few remarks from Lords Auckland and Minto, and Earl Spencer, the motion was agreed to, the Lord Chancellor declaring it, at the same time, to be his intention to make an after motion, to prevent a knowledge of the purport of the proceedings from getting farther than that house. SNY The select committee was then authorized to meet the next day, and the house adjourned till Monday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

FRIDAY, JUNE 7.

Mr. Burdon presented a petition from certain inhabitants of Shields, against the inland navigation of coal (by the Pad dington canal), which was ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. Clarke Jervoise presented a petition from Southamp ton, breathing the same spirit as the many that have been already presented relative to the tenth report, and praying the house to pursue with vigour the investigation and reform of public abuses. The petition was ordered to lie on the table.

A message was received from the lords acquainting the house that their lordships had given their concurrence to the additional stamp duties bill, the license regulation bill, the grand junction canal bill, and other private bills.

On the motion of Sir Charles Price, the house went into a committee on the report of the London port improvement bill; in which a resolution, granting 60,000l. for the purpose mentioned, was agreed to. The report to be received on Monday next.

Mr. Rose brought up the sail-cloth, &c. duties bill, the bill for regulating the trade between this country and Ireland, and the Newfoundland expiring laws bill, which were severally read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time on Monday next.

Mr. Serjeant Best brought up the bill for the better pre venting any inconveniency that might arise from the insolvency of such members of the house as were merchants; which was read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time on Thursday next, and to be printed.

VOL. III. 1805.

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Mr. Dickinson presented certain navy accounts, which were ordered to lie on the table.

ch were Mr. Johnson, from the chief secretary's office for Ireland, presented the correspondence between the directors of the inland navigation and those of the grand canal, in Ireland, which were referred to the committee on the grand

'Sir John Stewart reported from the committee appointed to take into consideration the answer that should be returned to the message of the lords relative to the exammation of lord St. Vincent. The answer contained in the report was read and agreed to, and ordered to be sent to the lords.

The message of the lords requesting the attendance of Sir James and Sir John Stewart was then taken into consideration, and on its being found that the said hon. baronets were willing to attend their lordships, a message was ordered to be sent to the lords, acquainting their lordships that the commons had given leave to Sir John and Sir James Stewart to attend their lordships, if they should think fit. enga

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This being the day fixed by Colonel Wood for his motion for the production of the proceedings of the court martial relative to Sir John Duckworth, he rose in his place and stated to the house, that he was willing to defer his motion for some days longer, that every gentleman might have sufficient opportunity of informing himself on the subject. This delay had been suggested by some hon. gentlemen, and should it meet the approbation of the house, he would renew his notice for that day se'nnight.

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Mr. Baker did not wish to oppose the delay proposed by the hon. gentleman, but could not help remarking that this was the second time he had deferred his motion without adducing any satisfactory ground for that delay. He complained at the same time that the hon. member had handed about papers on this subject, one of which he had got put into his hand on entering the House, and which was calculated to make an impression on the public mind, to the prejudice of the hon. baronet who was the subject of the intended motion. Colonel Wood then stated, that though he wished to give members time to consider the subject, he had no objection to bring it forward then, should it appear to be the desire of the house. The paper of which the hon. member complained

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(Captain Wood's memorial to the lords of the admiralty) he stated to be a public document, and therefore a proper ject of attention for the house.

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Admiral Markham saw no reason why the question should not then be determined, as, it merely related to the propriety of producing the proceedings, and not to the merits of the court martial. For his own part he acknowledged himself hostile to the production of these papers,

et of On Colonel Wood's rising to explain, on to sasees and of The Speaker observed, that there was no question before the house, and it remained for the hon. gentleman to determine whether he would defer his motion, or now bring it forward pursuant to notice. The colonel preferred the latter.

Colonel Mark Wood The proceedings of the late naval court martial held upon yice-admiral Sir John Duckworth having been printed and published by the admiral himself, it cannot be the wish either of the admiral not that of his, fat of his friends to suppress or keep from public discussion a subject to which they have themselves given such publicity, and therefore I trust there will not be any difference in opinion to prevent those proceedings, and other papers relating to this business, from being laid upon the table of this house. With permis sion of the house, I will beg leave to read Captain Wood's memorial to the lords, commissioners of the admiralty, together with the legal opinions given upon a case, for the purpose of ascertaining how far the court martial decided: according to their oaths, and according to the 18th article of war "The Memorial of Captain James Athol Wood, 1990 #igus veb isrit 10t

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trusts he shall be able to satisfy your lordships, that such charges have been as fully substantiated as it was possible for them to be, under all those unfavourable circumstances under which your memorialist was placed.

"With respect to the first charge, for oppression in super seding your memorialist in the command of the Acasta, under the pretext of appointing him to the Hercule, a ship of greater consequence, your memorialist begs leave to submit the followng observations for your lordships' consideration:

"After having been constantly and actively employed under Admiral Cornwallis, off Brest, from the commencement of the war, towards the end of last November your lordships were pleased to direct him to proceed to the West Indies with a large and valuable fleet; and on the 2d of February your memorialist arrived with this fleet at Port Royal in Jamaica.

"The second day after the arrival of your memorialist at that station, Vice Admiral Duckworth gave him notice of his determination to remove your memorialist from the command of his own frigate the Acasta into the Hercule, a 74-gun ship at that time at sea; alleging for so unusual and so cruel an exertion of power, not only the good of his majesty's service, but his intention of promoting your memorialist to the com mand of a ship of superior class. It appears, not only from the evidence of Captain Dunn, Admiral Duckworth's captain, by whom your lordships' appointment was superseded, but also by the evidence of the admiral's secretary, that Admiral Dacres, long before the Acasta arrived, had declared his intention of hoisting his flag on board of the Hercule, and to carry with him his captain and officers. This fact Admiral Duckworth never has denied and accordingly Admiral Da cres did hoist his flag on board of the Hercule before your memorialist sailed from Jamaica.

It is therefore evident, that the reason which the vise admiral assigned in his public letter for superseding your me morialist, namely, the good of the service, and giving him the command of a ship of greater consequence, was false and groundless, and calculated merely to give a colour of justice to an act of the greatest stretch of power, cruelty; and oppression.

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If the ostensible pretext, that the good of the service required the vice admiral's return to England on board of the Acasta, your mentorialist was surely fully competent to have commanded

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