246 LON 
in the prefent cafe; and that the amount of exchequer- 
bills to be iflued (hould not be lefs than, nor exceed, 
6,ooo,oool. to be repaid by equal payments from three 
months to three months, the find not commencing till the 
middle of January next.”—After feveral fpeakers had 
given their opinions on the fubjeft, in which fome ex- 
preffed a doubt whether any good at all would refult from 
the propofed meafure, and none regarded it as more than 
a remedy for fome temporary diftrefs, the refolution was 
agreed to without a divifion ; and a bill founded upon it 
was finally paired. But its effeft appears to have been in- 
confiderable in relieving the diftrelfes for which it was 
meant as a remedy. The fums applied for were even to 
a lefs amount than the provifion made; for not many of 
thole in ernbarrafl’ed circumltances were able to furnifh 
the required fecurity ; and the radical caufe of the evil 
was of a nature which filth relief was not at all calcu¬ 
lated to remove. In fnft, the commercial diltreffes went 
on increaling during the whole year, difplaying theni- 
felves by frightful lifts of bankrupts in every Gazette, 
amounting to an aggregate to which no former year ex¬ 
hibits a parallel. 
Ever alive and mod eager to purify and correft our 
code of criminal laws, fir Samuel Romilly rofe on the 
2i(t of February to renew his exertions relative to the 
fubjeft, (lee p. 174..) and moved for leave to bring in a 
bill to repeal fo much of the aft of the 10th and nth of 
William III. as takes away the benefit of clergy from 
perfons privately dealing from fhips, warehoufes, coach- 
houfes, and (tables. This motion v;as agreed to, and alfo 
a iimilar one for a bill to repeal the capital part of the 
punilhment for Healing privately on navigable riversand ca¬ 
nals. Thefe and other bills brought in by fir Samuel Ro¬ 
milly, were all palled in the commons. Three of the bills 
fent up to the houfe of lords were thrown out; but the 
two relating to dealing from bleaching-grounds in Ireland 
and England, palled without oppofition. See the article 
Larceny, vol. xii. p. 241, 2. 
The feverity and difgracefulnefs of the punifhment by 
hogging in the Britifh army had frequently been a fubjeft 
of animadverfion as well in. parliament as from the prefs; 
and, though government had fliovvn itfelf very fore on 
the fubjeft,—though Cobbett, Hunt, and Drakard, had 
been profecuted for the manner in which they had expofed 
this praftice in their add relies to the public,—yet an im- 
prefiion had been made which it was apparently thought 
unfafe to disregard. When, therefore, the mutiny-bill 
was palling through the houfe of commons, on the nth 
of March,-,Mr. Manners Sutton propofed an amendment 
to give a power to courts-martial to' inflift the punilh- 
inent of imprifonment in the place of corporal punilh¬ 
ment, when they fnould judge proper. The claufe was 
adopted with general concurrence; and this acquifition 
to the interelts of humanity may fairly be numbered 
among the benefits refulting from public difcufiion by 
means of the prefs, however reluftant perfons in power 
may be to lilten to fuch a monitor. 
Tire doling of the foreign markets againfi irs having 
caufed a valt quantity of lugar to remain on hand, the 
Chancellor of the Exchequer declared his purpofe of 
making the diftillery productive of fome relief to the co¬ 
lonial planters ; and on May the 9th he obtained leave to 
bring in a bill for exonerating the diftillers of fpirits from 
fugar from the excefs of duties to which they were liable, 
in confequence of the expiration of the aft of the 48th of 
Geo. III. above the duties impofed by thefaid aft. .This 
bill was brought in, and read for the firfi time, and or¬ 
dered to be read again on the following day. The mi- 
miter then gave notice, that on the morrow he (hould 
move for a bill to lay a duty on the diftiliation on grain, 
in the fame manner as if this'biil had palled. It was alfo 
his intention, in correfpondence with thefe duties, to pro- 
pofe a remifiion of duty on fpirits made at home, in order 
to put them on a level with foreign fpirits; and alfo, an 
alteration in the fpirit-intercourle between this country 
DON. 
and Ireland, and a countervailing duty on the fpirits of 
the latter country. Thefe propofals he introduced on the 
10th, fhe houfe being in a committee of ways and means ; 
and, after fome converfation on the fubjeft, his refolu- 
tions were agreed to. Bills were at length palled by both 
houfes relative to thefe objefts. 
A rneffage from the prince-regent on the fubjeft of 
granting additional relief to Portugal having been fent to 
parliament, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on March 
18th, the houfe of commons being in a committee of fup- 
ply, rofe to introduce it to the attention of the members. 
He faid, that, although the propofition which he had 
brought forward laft yearon the fame fubjeft had incurred, 
fome oppofition, and though the grant he now meant to 
fubmit to the committee amounted to a_conliderable in- 
creafe beyond the film then voted, he conceived, that un¬ 
der the prefent circumltances it was not likely that his 
motion (hould be objefted to. He then proceeded to ad¬ 
vert to the happy effects which had enfued from the em¬ 
ployment of Portuguefe troops in Britifh pay, and under 
Britifh officers and difcipline, and to (how that it had not 
relaxed the exertions of the Portuguefe government. He 
dwelt at large on the advantages which had accrued from 
carrying on the campaign in Portugal; on the frurtration 
of the enemy’s confident expectations of expelling the 
Britifh army from that country; and on the hopes for the 
future that might be entertained from a vigorous perfift- 
ance in the fame plan ; and concluded with moving, 
“ That a fum not exceeding two millions be granted to 
the prince-regent, to enable him to take a certain number 
of Portuguefe troops into Britifh pay, and to afford fuch 
further affiilance to the Portuguefe nation as the circum- 
ftances of the campaign may render neceffary.”—Mr. Pon- 
fonby oppofed the motion ; but, after a fliort debate, it 
was carried without a divifion. The fame fuccefs awaited 
the motion in the houfe of lords. 
Among the various meafures by which, during the pro- 
grefs of the French revolution, the diflemination of prin¬ 
ciples confidered as dangerous to the Britifh conftitution 
had been reprefied, one was an aft of parliament obliging 
all printers to put their name and place of abode at the 
beginning, and, if more than one leaf, at the end, of 
every paper or book, of whatever kind, that they fhould 
print. On failure, they were fubjefted to a penalty of 
twenty pounds for every fingle copy of fuch paper or book. 
That this bill was paffed in the hafte and precipitation of 
alarm, was manifeft from the enormity of the penalty im¬ 
pofed upon defaulters, which might arife to a fum abfo- 
lutely ruinous even to a confiderable property, and that 
when the crime might be nothing more than mere negli¬ 
gence. The body of printers had Submitted in filence to 
this hardfhip, thinking themfelves fecure in the intention 
of notoffending; till fome instances had occurred of pro- 
fecutions inllituted by informers on the molt trifling de¬ 
viations from the provifions of the aft, and where traps 
had been purpofeiy laid for producing thofe negligencies. 
A petition was therefore at length agreed upon from the 
printers, bookfellers, and publishers, of the united king¬ 
dom, which was prefented by Mr. Henry Martin to the 
houfe of commons, on the 4th of March. It Hated, in 
ftrong but refpectful terms, the grievances to which the 
important bufinefs of printing and publiihing was expofed 
by the injunctions of the bill, and prayed for fuch relief 
as the houfe might think expedient. The penalties which 
might be pcliibly incurred by a printer, through the care- 
leffnefs or malice of a fervant, were calculated at ioo,oool. 
and the remarkable circumltance was mentioned, that, 
“ in every inftance of profecution that had hitherto oc¬ 
curred, the publication was of an innocent, or even ufe- 
ful, nature.” The petition was ordered to be laid upon 
the table ; and Mr. Martin gave notice of his intention 
to move for leave to bring in a bill Co explain and amend 
the aft of the 39111 of the king relative to this fubjeft. 
On the 19th of March, Mr. Martin made his promifed 
motion. la his introductory fpeech he enumerated all the 
provifions 
