A conversation next arose on the subject of the Pancras vestry bill. The committal of the bill stood for Thursday next; but Lord Suffolk wished that order might be discharged, and another made out for a more distant day; Wednes-. day se'nnight, should that day meet their lordships' pleasure.

This suggestion was objected to by the Earl of Westmorland, the Bishop of St. Asaph, Lord Auckland, and some other noble peers; when it was proposed by the Earl of Westmorland, that the bill be committed on Friday next. This proposal being acquiesced in,

The Bishop of St. Asaph gave notice, that on Thursday he should submit a motion to the house, which, if acceded to, must prove fatal to the bill.

JUDGE FOX.

The Lord Chancellor then came forward, pursuant to notice, to submit a motion to their lordships respecting the place and manner in which Mr. Justice Fox should be allowed to attend the discussion on matters that concerned him, or even enter upon his defence and justification, should that learned gentleman deem it fit and expedient so to do. He had taken much pains to inquire into precedents to regulate what he should propose on the present occasion; but he could not meet with one that appeared to him to be exactly in point. Much difficulty arose in his mind from the manner in which the spiritual peers from Ireland were summoned to attend parliament. There was also a case of the attendance of Scotch judges, who were called upon by the house in the year 1763 to deliver their opinion upon certain points to the house. The Scotch judges at that time did not stand in the same predicament as the learned gentleman now concerned, and therefore their case could not apply to the present.-He felt much for the situation of the learned gentleman; and he was convinced that every possible mark of respect and regard should be paid to him by the house. But from the precedents which he had consulted, he was directed to think that the learned gentleman could not well sit on such an occasion in the body of that house, but that a chair should be prepared for him below the bar, and that every proper instruction should be given by the learned lord who sat on the woolsack, or the noble lord who presided at the table in committees of the house, that the learned gentleman should experience every possible mark and indication of respect which the house could afford his appearance below the bar. It was, in his

N 2

opinion,

opinion, to be left to the option of that learned person, whether he should attend in his judicial robes or not. The learned lord, after further elucidations of the case, concluded with a motion for the appearance of the learned lord in

a chair below the bar.

Lord Auckland differed somewhat in opinion from the learned lord, and conceived it to be in the spirit of the act of union, that the learned judges of Ireland should be treated as the judges of this country, who attended as peers in that house,

Lord Carleton seemed inclined to adopt the same opinion, and was proceeding to enforce and illustrate the reasons on which he thought it might be supported, when his lordship was suddenly seized with a dizziness or a fainting fit, which obliged him to sit down.

Much anxiety and attention were immediately exerted by the noble lords near him to afford every assistance and relief, and, after a few minutes, he was enabled to withdraw, and was conveyed home.

-The house, after a short pause, put off the further consideration of the question till Thursday, and then adjourned till that day.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

TUESDAY, MAY 28.

Mr. Brooke brought in a bill for the better regulation of the woollen manufacture; which was read a first time, ordered to be printed, and, after a few words from Mr. H. Lascelles, to be read a second time on Thursday se'nnight.

On the motion of Lord Glenbervie, a message was ordered to be sent to the lords, requesting their lordships would give leave to the Earl of Buckinghamshire, the earl of St. Vincent, and Lord Viscount Sidmouth, to attend the select committee on the eleventh report of the commissioners of naval inquiry, for the purpose of being examined.

Mr. Glover, from the commissioners of the customs, presented an account of the quantity of corn imported into the port of London, pursuant to an order of the house.

Mr. P. Moore gave notice, that, on Thursday next, he would move, that the petition which he presented in March last, from the calico printers, be taken into consideration.

On the motion of Mr. Vansittart, the house went into a committee to consider the propriety of enabling the lord lieu

tenant

tenant of Ireland to grant a certain sum out of the consolidated fund for the purpose of paving the city of Dublin. In the committee, twenty thousand pounds was the sum voted as necessary. The house being resumed, the report was ordered to be received on Thursday next.

The report of the committee on the expiring laws was ordered to be referred to a committee of the whole house on Thursday next.

The free port bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Thursday.

The house went into a committee to consider of the act imposing a duty on woollens exported to the East Indies.

On the motion of Mr. Rose, who observed that the duty operated very injuriously on our woollen manufacture, the committee came to a resolution that in their opinion the duty should cease. The report was ordered to be received on

Thursday.

Mr. Rose gave notice, that, on Thursday next, he should move that the house go into a committee on the act relative to the southern whale fishery.

Mr. Vansittart obtained leave to bring in a bill for the more effectual administration of the office of justice of the peace, and the prevention of felonies within the district of Dublin.

Sir George Hill-Sir, I shall best explain the nature of the motion which it is my intention to offer to the consideration of the house, by reading the words of the motion itself, and I am not without a hope that, when I shall accompany the statement of it by a few observations which I shall take the liberty of making, the Irish secretary (Mr. Vansittart) may be induced to give me such explanation and assurance on the subject of it, as to render it unnecessary for me to urge the production of the documents it requires. The motion is for an account of dilapidations done to the see house of Derry by the troops, up to the period of the appointment of the present bishop, as estimated by order of government. Also an account of the sum or sums of money agreed to be paid by government to the present bishop, when they repossessed themselves of the see house as a permanent accommodation for the troops. I am impelled by a sense of public duty in the first instance, and by a motive of private friendship in the second instance, to bring this transaction to public notice. Duty induces me to urge, that so important a diocese as Derry, both from extent and value, should not be left without fit and sufficient

residence

residence for its bishop. The present mansion was, in the absence of the late bishop, Lord Bristol, who had been many years abroad, occupied by order of government by his majesty's troops, in the year 1796, of which they kept possession until the present bishop was appointed to the see. He, as was his duty, repossesed himself of the see house; government again desired to have it; the present bishop could not oppose them, as he knew they could take it under the authority of an act passed two years ago. He therefore yielded, stipulating for a sum of money adequate to its value, towards building a new mansion-house for the diocese. In carrying this into effect, there have been some difficulties started; I shall not impute blame to any quarter, but am satisfied that the interests of the church generally, and of the diocese of Derry in particular, require that there should not be any delay in enabling the present bishop to be suitably accommodated to his rank; nor would it be fitting or decorous that he should be forced, or indeed permitted to re-occupy as a bishop's palace, what has now been for so many years the common barracks of regiment after regiment, and subjected to all the consequent scenes of military residence. Decency on this point ought to rouse the attention of ministers to get rid of any etiquette or obstacle in point of form, or claimed right to interference, that may impede for a moment this measure. We cannot at present afford to give cause, or even colour of cause, for sneering at or censuring any thing which relates to the interests of the church. On the second ground, private friendship to the reverend prekate (than whom there does not exist a more zealous, dignified, or excellent divine) induces me to lay the ground of complet-. ing this transaction in one mode or the other. He has no private view or interest to gratify; on the contrary, he will necessarily be subjected to a very heavy annual loss, by advancing a large sum to perfect a new residence ; in consenting to which he must have it understood and expressed, that he yields to the convenience of the public. He likewise expects, as in justice he has a right to claim, that he shall be treated as liberally as circumstances will admit. He has been forced to procure a temporary residence at a very great expence, and is willing to sacrifice much for the benefit of his diocese and successors, but in return expects the kindest treatment and due credit for his self-disinterested motives. What I have stated I vouch from personal knowledge, but without any authority for so doing from the reverend prelate in question. If the secretary for Ireland

Ireland assures me the measure shall be completed early next session, and admits the grounds on which it is to take effect, I shall not press my motion.

Mr. Vansittart bore ample testimony to the facts as stated by the hon. baronet, to the worth and disinterested conduct of the present bishop, and pledged himself that the measure should, on the part of government, be completed, and a bill to ratify and arrange it be submitted to parliament early in the next session, which nothing but some legal difficulties had impeded for the present.

Sir George Hill, in consequence of this admission and engagement, withdrew his motion.

Lord Glenbervie informed the house that the lords, on receiving the message requesting the attendance of the three noble lords before a committee of the house of commons, had stated their intentions of returning an answer by a messenger of their own.

The report of the committee on the Irish license bill was brought up and agreed to, and the bill ordered to be read a third time.

The house went into a committee on the Irish excise and custom-house officers bill.

Mr. Fitzgerald opposed it on the ground that the bill created an additional and unnecessary expence at a time when every such expence ought cautiously to be avoided. It increased patronage. Though a commissioner could not himself sit in parliament, his father, his son, or his brother, was eligible. At a period like the present, when the means of taxation were so exhausted that the right hon. chancellor of the exchequer for Ireland had been under the necessity of recurring to a tax that had been formerly repealed by the Irish parliament, it became doubly expedient to guard against a waste of the public money. When the right hon. gentleman who now filled the chair of the house of commons was secretary in Ireland, he had proposed several regulations in the offices of the revenue, which, had they been acted upon, would, he was convinced, have produced the happiest effect; but the increase of commissioners was not one of those measures, and, had that increase been necessary, it would scarcely have escaped the discernment of that right hon. gentleman. On all these accounts he should move that the chairman do leave the chair.

Mr. Foster replied to the observations of the hon. gentleman, so far from the present measure not being expedient, it was absolutely necessary for the proper collection of the revenue;

and