board his majesty's ship. Had Captain Wood been ever so well disposed, he durst not have permitted such articles with out subjecting himself to the penalties of the eighteenth article of war, and being dismissed the service. Captain Dunn, by his friendly compliance with his admiral's wishes, is now placed in that unfortunate situation, to be tried by a court-martial, and dismissed the service.

Notwithstanding Admiral Duckworth's oppressive and unjust conduct was most clearly proved before the court-martial, and indeed admitted by the lords of the admiralty themselves, by their having immediately, on the first intimation of the circumstance, reappointed Captain Wood to the command of the Acasta: notwithstanding it was clearly proved by Captain Dunn, that the spirit-room, in direct violation of the naval printed instructions, pages 120 and 203, was cleared out to make way for the admiral's liquors; notwithstanding it was admitted by the admiral himself, that he had on board eleven logs and two slabs of mahogany, wardrobes, two hundred guineas worth of Spanish snuff, twenty casks of wine, and thirty casks of fruit, and various other articles; a naval court-martial has not merely acquitted him, but most fully and most honourably ac quitted him of every part of the charge; nay, not satisfied with his acquittal, have declared the charges gross, unfounded, malicious, and scandalous. So illegal and so unjust a sentence, I will venture to assert, never was given by any court-martial; and this I do upon the very first legal opinions of this country.

Thus, sir, have not only two acts of parliament, formed for the express purpose of restricting naval officers from converting his majesty's ships of war to the private emolument of individuals, been not merely set in defiance, but, by the sanction of a court-martial, the door has been thrown open to abuses which, if not speedily remedied, must end in the ruin of the discipline and good government of the naval service of this country.

I shall therefore move, that there be laid upon the table of this house, the proceedings of a late naval court-martial held on Vice Admiral Duckworth; the memorial of Captain Wood to the lords commissioners of the admiralty, dated the 25th instant, accompanying a case and opinions of the attorney and solicitor general, Messrs. Erskine, Dallas and Garrow, respecting the 18th article of war: also a return from the customs and excise of all articles loaded on board the Acasta, that had been ordered or has paid duty.

Mr.

Mr. Dickinson could see no advantage that could accrue to the public from this measure, nor had any sufficient ground been made out for its adoption. The opinion of counsel related only to the violation of the act of parliament, and had been given without a knowledge of the particular circumstances, whereas the court-martial had an opportunity of examining viva voce evidence, and consisted of two persons of the same rank as the prosecutor. The hon. member concluded his remarks by observing that as Captain Wood had experienced no inconvenience in his profession, from the judgment of the court-martial, it was the less necessary to carry the question farther.

Mr. Bennet, Sir W. Elford, and Mr. Baker, defended the character of Sir John Duckworth, and, from their personal knowledge of him, contended that no person could be less apt to transgress the rules of the service.

Lord Glenbervie thought the house interfering with the proceedings of a court-martial without better grounds, would form a dangerous precedent.

Admiral Markham vindicated the character of the gallant officer, under whom he had served many years, and never knew him in any instance to do a thing oppressive to any officer. The charge of bringing home articles as presents to his friends would be applicable, he contended, to every officer of the navy. As a lord of the admiralty, he had often desired his friends to bring him home a pipe of wine, and referred to other gentlemen present if they had not done the same; the practice was well known to be customary.

Col. Wood did not think it proper to urge the question farther at present, as it did not seem to meet the concurrence of the house, but gave notice, that, early next session, he would bring it forward in another shape.

On the question being put from the chair, that the motion be accordingly withdrawn,

Captain Harvey insisted, for the honour of the gallant officer who had been the subject of their conversation, that the question be put on the motion.

The question was put accordingly, and the motion negatived without a dissentient voice.

STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

Mr. Grey observed, that some time had elapsed, since he had put a question to the right hon. gentleman opposite (the chancellor of the exchequer) relative to a subject that had

been

been alluded to in the speech from the throne. There was reason to expect, that some communication would, before this, have been made to the house on that subject. He rose in this instance for the purpose of repeating the question he had put on the former occasion, and to ask, whether there was any probability, considering the very advanced period of the session, that any such communication would be made to parliament previous to the close of it.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer had nothing to add to what he had stated on a former occasion. It was not in his power to return any other answer to the hon. gentleman's question.

Mr. Grey had delayed as long as possible any motion on the subject. He now felt it his duty not to suffer the house to separate without having an opportunity afforded them of considering this very important matter. He proposed, therefore, to bring forward a motion on the subject on Wednesday se'nnight, unless circumstances should in the mean time occur to render that motion unnecessary.

Colonel Craufurd, pursuant to notice, moved for several accounts relative to the army, which were agreed to. He also moved for an account of the number of the East India company's discharged soldiers, exclusive of invalids, that had returned during each of the last five years.

The motion was deferred, after a few observations from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had no objection to it.

After a short conversation between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Colonel Craufurd, the latter member's motion was put off from Thursday next to Wednesday se'nnight, with a view to leave Thursday open for Mr. Whitbread's motion for resolutions relative to the conduct of the chancellor of the exchequer.

. Mr. Huskisson obtained leave to bring in a bill for vesting in the barrack-master general, for the time being, estates held for the service of barracks, and to give him authority to sell the same with the consent of the commissioners of the treasury.

The Secretary at War obtained leave to bring in a bill to empower his majesty to retain upon full pay and allowances, officers of militia during the war, notwithstanding any reduc tion of the militia.

ISLE OF MAN-ATHOL CLAIMS.

Colonel Stanley moved the order of the day for the consiVOL. III. 1805. deration

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deration of the report of the committee on the claim of the Duke of Athol. The order being read,

Mr. Curwen went into an historical detail on the financial and legislative transactions of the Isle of Man, from the time of Henry IV. in the fifteenth century, to the present day, for the purpose of shewing, that at no time were the revenues of that island rightfully or constitutionally vested in any individual for his own private emolument, but for the public good; that the grant of the sovereignty of that island to the predecessors of the Duke of Athol, by James I. with the liberty of imposing taxes arbitrarily on the people, without any other control than the discretion of the sovereign, and the means of the inhabitants to pay, was not a lawful right, nor one which it was in the power of any king of this country, of bis own mere will, to grant; that the grant of an unlimited . power to any subject by a limited monarch was unprecedented in the history of nations; that the legislation of the Isle of Man was like that of Great Britain, tripartite, and depended on the consent of the House of Keyes, who were the representatives of the commons, the council, and the lords of the island; and that never, but in one single instance, was the absolute sovereignty of taxing the people, granted by James II. exercised by the lord of the island. The predecessor of the Duke of Athol, in selling that island to the English go vernment, had no right whatever to sell the revenues, as they were not his, but those of the people, and were inalienable, and consequently he had no right whatever to claim any compensation, on the ground that those revenues had since increased; and even if the right to the revenues had originally vested in him, the bargain was finally closed when once he sold them. He had for fifteen years acknowledged his compensation to be liberal, and he had no right now to come forward with a new claim, because the revenues had since increased by the industry and commerce of the people, and the fostering protection of the British parliament, any more than the country would have a right to call upon him to refund part of the purchase-money in case the revenues had decreased. But, in fact, the purchase-money given to the Duke of Athol, was for the surrender of the territory, and not revenue. He had nothing to sell but his estate in the island, accompanied by a barren sceptre; and therefore any claim now for further compensation, which would subject the people of that island to additional taxes, was unjust, and such as he trusted that house would never sanction. He concluded

by

by moving, that the report, instead of then, be taken into consideration that day three months.

Sir W. Burroughs supported the claim of the Duke of Athol for an additional compensation. He proved by a reference to Lord Coke, that the lord of the Isle of Man was formerly an independent monarch, and that the House of Keyes was not a legislative but only a judicial body. The members of that house could not be termed representatives of the people, for they were self-elected. The lords of the treasury in 1765 had been authorized to treat with the representatives of the lords of the island, without any supposition that any other parties were entitled. The Duke of Athol refused to alienate his rights. It was not till the government of this country shewed a disposition to abridge those rights that the alienation was agreed to. The commercial pretensions of this country to legislate for Ireland and America were abandoned; there was no better right to legislate for Man, except as the holders of the rights of the lords. The customs revenue

since 1798 had increased from 6,000l. to 16,000l. a year, and the compensation which was to be regulated by the result of the experiment, was claimed accordingly. The sum of 70,0col. with the pension was an inadequate compensation. He adverted to the purchase of the heritable jurisdictions of Scotland, which were very highly paid for, from the consideration of the honours surrendered. He trusted the minority of the present duke, when the arrangement was made, would give force to these arguments, and dispose the house to consider the claims now made as valid.

Mr. Bond, when he opposed the present reception of this report, did it on the principles laid down by Lord Coke, Sir Wm. Blackstone, and by the attorney and solicitor-general, who had all concurred in the opinion, that the authority of parliament was paramount, and that it had an unquestionable right to legislate for the Isle of Man. Whatever ingenious reasoning might have been employed by the hon. and learned baronet, there were no facts to shew that the Duke of Athol was independent of this control The commissioners appointed to inquire into this business said, that if the custom duties were increased, it must have been with the consent of the claves insulay who would require a return for such a concession. How, then, could the duke obtain an increase of revenue from this source to the extent that had been pretended? The only question of importance was, if the compensation already made to the house of Athol was grossly inade

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quate;