26] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



and also that a similar account be 

 laid before the House at the begin- 

 ning of every session of parlia- 

 ment. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 had uo objection to tlie production 

 of a paper similar to that which 

 brought down the account to May 

 1810, continued to the present 

 time. 



Mr. Brougham, in reply, main- 

 tained that the bargain between 

 the sovereign and the parliament 

 had been abrogated, and that the 

 crown could not, with safety to 

 the constitution, retain such sums 

 at its disposal. 



Ihe House divided upon Mr. 

 Brougham's motion, when there 

 appeared for it 38, against it 93 : 

 the resolutions moved by Mr. B. 

 were negatived without a division. 

 Mr. Tierney's amendment was then 

 put to the vote, and rejected by 

 exactly the same numbers as in the 

 preceding division. Mr. Brougham 

 then moved for the appointment of 

 a committee on the subject, when 

 another division took place, for the 

 committee 36, against it 94. 



It may be mentioned, as a sequel 

 of this subject, without entering 

 into the particulars of a debate 

 consisting of statements of indivi- 

 dual facts and their explanation or 

 contradiction, that on February 

 25th, Mr. Brougham moved in the 

 House, " That a select committee 

 be appointed to inquire into the 

 application of the various sums 

 received as droits of the crown and 

 of admiralty," and that the motion 

 was negatived. 



Lord Folkstone, having present- 

 ed to the House of Commons a 

 petition from a young woman who 

 had been thrown into gaol at Bris- 

 tol on II writ de excommunicato 



capiendo above two years before, 

 where she was detained from the 

 inability of paying costs and fees, 

 caused the same to be read on 

 January 23, as the foundation of 

 a motion. He introduced it with 

 saying, that having found upon 

 inquiry that no legal remedy ex- 

 isted for the hardships under which 

 the petitioner laboured, he had 

 been induced to examine into the 

 nature, origin, and history of eccle- 

 siasticaljurisdictions, the result of 

 which was a conviction of the ne- 

 cessity of parliamentary interposi- 

 tion to rescue the subject from their 

 exorbitant and unconstitutional 

 power. His lordship then gave an 

 historical account of the progress 

 of these jurisdictions in this coun- 

 try from the lime immediately pre- 

 ceding the conquest, from which 

 he shewed that they originated in 

 usurpations, and that notwithstand- 

 ing repeated complaints against 

 them, nothing hud been done in 

 remedying their abuses since the 

 Reformation. He tlien adverted 

 to the present state of the spiritual 

 courts, and took a review of the 

 case of the petitioner, Mary Ann 

 Dix, as well as of several other 

 persons, who had suffered under the 

 process of excommunication. He 

 concluded with moving, "That a 

 committee be appointed to inquire 

 into the state of the jurisdiction of 

 the inferior ecclesiastical courts, 

 and to consider whether any refor- 

 mation is necessary to be made 

 therein, and to report their opinion 

 to the house." 



The Hon. W. Herbert agreed 

 that it would not be desirable that 

 the law should remain as it was in 

 many respects, but said that an 

 inquiry into the proceedings of the 

 inferior ecclesiastical courts would 



not 



