ciple the justice of which he could by no means admit. There was but a single precedent, that of Lord Macclesfield, that. wore any resemblance to this case, and this he thought by no means bore upon it in every part, for this reason, that though the masters in chancery and Lord Macclesfield were participators in the same crime, yet that the guilt of the masters in chancery was infinitely less than that of Lord Macclesfield ; whereas in the present instance, although the moral guilt of Lord Melville certainly preponderated, yet that on the ques tion of participation (which was that to be submitted to the decision of the lords) he was only an accessary. In his opinion it would be always better to let a criminal escape without punishment, than to adopt legislative provisions for the express purpose of bringing down punishment on him.-The bill was then passed. Mr. Sloane moved, that an humble address be presented to his majesty, praying that he would be graciously pleased to order such remuneration as he should think fit to be made to Edw. Colman, Esq. late serjeant at arms, for his long and faithful services in the discharge of the duties of his office, and assuring his majesty that the house would provide for making good the same. After a few words from Mr. Keene, who expressed the pleasure which he felt in seconding a proposition that tended to reward the zeal and fidelity of the gentleman in question, the motion was agreed to, nemine contradicente. The southern whale fishery bill was, on the motion of Mr. Rose, read a third time.-Adjourned to Monday. HOUSE OF LORDS. SATURDAY, JULY 6. Counsel was heard on the Duke of Athol's annuity and the smuggling bill. The bills on the table were forwarded one stage, and the house adjourned till Monday. HOUSE OF COMMONS. MONDAY, JULY 8. Mr. Alexander was heard for the respondent in the appeal Campbell v. M'Nairn and others; and Mr. Parke in reply. The judgment was postponed till Wednesday. The hop duty bill, sugar drawback duty bill, Irish spirits VOL. III. 1805. warehousing 4 B warehousing bill, plate glass duty bill, Irish assessed taxes bill, Irish revere regulation bill, southern whale fishery bill, public accomptants indemnity bill, and the linen duty drawback bill, severally went through a committee. The report on each was ordered to be received the next day. The Marquis of Buckingham moved, that an humble address be presented to his majesty, praying that he would be graciously pleased to order that there be laid before the house, an account of the revenue and expenditure of the Isle of Man, from the year 1798 to 1805.-Ordered. DUKE OF ATHOL'S CLAIMS. The Earl of Westmorland moved the order of the day for the second reading of the Duke of Athol's bill. Some misunderstanding arose respecting the regularity of the motion, and a conversation followed on the point of order, during which Lord Ellenborough insisted strongly on the indecency and injustice of hurrying forward this measure, without giving the house the means of judging of the fairness of the claim. Some of the papers on the table were not printed, and he would ask if it was proper that one noble lord should look over the shoulders of another, to endeavour to get through the perusal of the unprinted papers, while they were debating the subject? He besought the house to act with more regard to their character; and concluded by moving, that certain papers on the table, relative to the subject, be printed.-Ordered. The Earl of Westmorland then rose, to state his motives for giving his support to the bill. He entered into a very full history of the transactions between government and the Duke of Athol, from the time of the question of the sale being first agitated between them to the time of the purchase. The rights and powers of the Duke of Athol's family in the Isle of Man, he contended, could not be purchased by a sum like that given, and were never willingly alienated by the noble owner. The royalty and dominion of the family over the island was a distinction such as no subject of the crown enjoyed, or ever had enjoyed; and the then noble owner expressed, in the most unqualified terms, his utter reluctance to deprive himself or his descendants of it. This reluctance, it is true, was overcome by his deference to the wish of his sovereign, and his regard to public utility. It was found that the loss to the revenue of this country by smuggling from the Isle of Man was prodigious, and that it could never be remedied while the sovereignty of the island was distinct from the crown of Eng land. land. The noble owner therefore yielded to these reasons of public convenience, and became willing to treat for the purchase. But was an adequate compensation offered to him? No! he never considered it as such, and would never have given a formal assent to it, if he had not been plainly enough told that England must take such measures for her own safety as would ultimately render that possession of no value whatever to him. Dear then as it was to him, and justly so from motives of a very pardonable ambition, he was compelled to alienate it, and that for such price as the government of the time thought fit to give him. He therefore supported the claim of the noble duke, from the inadequacy of the means of compensation given to his family, from the intimidation employed, and from the consideration that it would be ungenerous in this great country to reap the immense benefit it has reaped from the bargain, and refuse further compensation out of a part of that gain. Noble lords of the privy council, who heard him, knew he stated the matter in its true light, and to them he felt himself bold to appeal. Lord Ellenborough rose to express his absolute disapprobation of the parliamentary proceedings on the claims of the noble duke. He was surprised at the appeal made by the noble earl. For himself, he would answer as a man and a gentleman, that he knew nothing of the proceedings in the privy council on the subject, after a certain period, when one of the reports then on their lordships' table was made by the board. He would answer to the same effect for another law officer (the Master of the Rolls), of as great integrity, and high legal knowledge and talent as any man. Neither that distinguished character, nor himself, were summoned to the privy council on the subject, after the period he had alluded to; and he would declare, he was as ignorant of the motives they proceeded on as the most perfect stranger could be. It had been thought by some indecent to call this claim a job; he would say, if the house will proceed with the precipitancy which seems to be threatened, they would commit as gross and disgraceful an act as ever marked the worst of times. A moment before he is called upon to consent to that stage of the bill in which it is his duty to oppose the principle, if he thinks that wrong, a huge folio volume is put into his hands, so reeking from the press, that it is with danger to his health he can hold it to read it through. Could this conduct be reconciled to the character their lordships wish to possess? Would their lordships go to their respective homes, and meet 4 B 2 the the people with such a recent stain upon them? He would conjure the house to preserve all that is left of parliamentary character. He would intreat them to reflect before they rushed into this enormously harsh conduct. He would pro pose, as a measure that might be given to candour, that little delay should be granted, that he might acquire some knowledge of those documents on which the government have proceeded. He would sit down, to give opportunity for a concession which he eagerly desired for the sake of the country, and of their lordships' reputation. His lordship then sat down for a short time; and no lord rising to notice that proposition, he rose again, and said—He must then understand that they were to go on at any price or hazard. The noble friends of the bill depended on their number, and on the weakness of his opposition. He would, however, discharge his duty, and declare his opinion of the bill itself. It contained, and was founded on propositions untrue in fact and in law. The very first was, that the former right of the Duke of Athol in the Isle of Man was a sovereignty. It was a lordship, it was a dominion; but no lawyer, no historian, had ever named it a sovereignty. Every writer has laid down, that no country constitutes a sovereignty, which does not legislate for itself, and exercise all supreme authority within itself. The privileges and rights of the duke in the Isle of Man, were held by petty serjeantry. Cer tain rights of dominion may be held by subjects, by grants, on certain tenures. It might as well be argued that the Archbishop of York holds the supremacy in his church, because he holds certain powers, as to call the power of the Isle of Man a sovereignty. Yet the bill three times repeats this untrue assertion "Like a tall bully-" He would not finish the sentence in its own words; but every man saw the epithet that would apply to the conduct of the bill. Much stress is laid on the circumstance, that acts of parliament have no force in the Isle of Man, unless specially mentioned. But the consequence of sovereignty in the island does not follow from that. An island may be subject and be a dependency, without being included by the ordi-: nary words of an act, legislating only for that which is within the immediate realm It was nothing but puerility and absurdity, to construe acts as they have been done in behalf of this claim. He wished to be, and he believed he generally was, orderly in his expressions. But, he could find no words but but such as he had used, to convey the contempt he had for the reasoning used to induce their lordships to give away a large sum of the people's money. Every one of their lordships knew how severely the taxes lay on the people, yet how cheerfully they were borne; and he could not, as a man, throw away the right of examining into the propriety, the reasons for granting the sum now demanded. The government, in making the bargain for the public, with the noble duke's predecessor, had not acted as the house is now called on to act. The person then at the head of it (Mr. G. Grenville) was not of a disposition to do so; and he wished to God that minister could have transmitted, with his robe of office, to his successors, some of that integrity, that care of the public purse, that good faith with the people, which distinguished him, and which saved the revenues of the state from depredation. But though that statesman guarded the public purse, he did no wrong to the individual interested in this case. It was falsely asserted either that the noble duke's ancestor was compelled to alienate his rights in the Isle of Man, or that he did not receive full compensation. He knew the ultimatum that the minister would give before he went to treat, and he only negotiated to arrive at that. By what means he came at that knowledge so important to him, might be imagined; but he would not then attempt to develope them. The fact, however, was, that the noble possessor of the rights so displayed as they have been, might have declined further treaty after he had known the ultimatum of the minister. But the case was the exact reverse of what is stated. The surplus revenue of the duke's rights in the island, after paying all expences, did not exceed 800l. per annum. Let the whole account be stated between the noble duke's family and the public, if the house must be pressed on in this course, and then it would be found that the bargain has been a clear advantage to the family of 200,000l. The only advantage to the public was the checking of the contraband trade. He would acknowledge the advantage in their name. But he would ask, is not the family well paid by the public, for rights of small value to the family, though of benefit to the public, perhaps adequate to the purchase money? He again besought their lordships to pursue this harsh measure no farther. He would even beseech the friends of the bill not to turn their lordships aside from doing their parliamentary duty in the gross manner now attempted. The people of |