This recommendation to government to proclaim Ennishowen, proves decidedly the opinion of the gallant general and the other magistrates, of the state of that barony. The operation of the Insurrection act is far more severe than the Townland fine system, but it would not stop the illicit distillation of whiskey. high constables, whereas the misconduct | these miscreants assembled for the purof the high constable of Ennishowen pose, met by them and murdered in the chiefly caused the necessity of appointing most brutal manner. the special still fine collectors, so much complained of, and this high constable of Ennishowen was neither dismissed or punished in any manner by the grand jury of Donegal. What right of monopoly in smuggling (he asked) ought Donegal to claim? not surely a right from usage; and if its delinquency is to be forgiven, the fines paid by Londonderry ought in justice to be refunded. Wherever landlords decidedly and resolutely gave their tenants to understand that smuggling must be got under, they had succeeded. He knew various instances wherein energy and determination had conquered it, and he could not conceive what there was peculiar to the county of Donegal to prevent their success there also. A large tract of country in the county of Tyrone, where fines had been imposed to a considerable extent, had been, by the exertions of the proprietors and their agents, thoroughly cleared of smugglers: similar exertions have been equally successful in the county of Londonderry. The right hon. baronet conjured the House to hold the principle of Townland fines over the country, as severity was essential to abolish this trade, so baneful in its effects. He stated that the hon. general had attended a meeting of magistrates, in the barony of Ennishowen, in his own town of Muff, in the latter end of 1816, when the fining system had actually been suspended by orders from government, and the gallant general joined in the unanimous recommendation of that meeting to government, to place Ennishowen under the operation of the Insurrection act. He would here relate one instance of outrage which had been perpetrated during this suspension, and noticed at this meeting, as it proves (amongst many others) the horrid state to which morals have been abased in that country; and which, with strange perverseness, is attributed by some gentlemen to the Townland fines. An organized assemblage of near 200 persons endeavoured four or five different times to way-lay and murder a man named George Balfour, and why? because he had dared to give information where Magenis, one of the murderers of Norton Butler, was secreted. Their plan to murder Balfour was known to many hundreds, and yet no discovery of it was made, and accordingly Balfour was, on the fifth time It is vain to assert, that smuggling has not been diminished; for the transit of barley across Lough Foyle to Ennishowen, from other counties of the north, and the return again of spirits has totally ceased; the same to Scotland; the smugglers are driven to their most remote fastnesses, and the traffic will, by persevering against it, be at last annihilated. Already four legal distilleries, paying a large revenue, and capable of affording a good price for the barley of the country, are established in the vicinity of Ennishowen. The proper time for this proposal, to abrogate the distillery laws, cannot for one moment be maintained to be at the close of a session of parliament, and the discussion of it calculated to create doubts in the minds of the smugglers, and those who encourage them, as to the continuance of the fining system, will be most mischievous. Under all these circumstances, he hoped the House would on this occasion reject the present motion. Lord Compton pressed upon the gallant general the propriety of withdrawing his motion. Mr. Chichester said, it was impossible that the same measures could be employed to advantage in mountainous districts and other parts. He might ask any lawyer whether it was possible by law properly to make an accessary, before or after the fact, a principal; but by that law the accessary before and after the fact was not only made, but was made a principal. Let the House consider the position in which they were placed by that measure; they must either impoverish districts, or accumulate a charge upon the country. The property that had been charged could not amount to less than 600,000l. The sums charged on different parts were enormous, and not one shilling of indemnity had been received from the effects of that unjust and impolitic measure. If the proper powers had been exercised, the practice of illicit distillation would have been put down, and it would not have been necessary to resort to this unconstitutional measure. At least, it should not have been resorted to till all other means had been tried in vain. county of Donegal. The question then arose, why could not things be managed differently in that county?" There was a variety of causes which operated against that. It was a fact, that, in that county, the tithes amounted in the worst and most remote parts, to 12s. per acre. A memorial had been presented by a Mr. Robert Young to the board of excise, in which he had expressed his surprise that he should have suffered more than those who had employed all their exertions to support illicit distillation, though it had been his constant endeavour to suppress it. By the evidence of a revenue officer, which had not been contradicted, a Mr. Lucius Carey had actually imported man. traps, with the avowed intention of catching any revenue officer that might come near them. There seemed to be a particular fondness for illicit spirits in Done premium for them. The gallant general, on his examination, on one occasion, had been asked what sort of whiskey was most sought after; to which he had replied, If the people could get any other, they would not drink parliament whiskey. He was asked if he gave his haymakers what he called parliament whiskey (meaning legal spirit); to which he replied, he would not give them that if he could get any other. Many of the inferences that had been drawn on this subject had been totally erroneous. Mr. Peel said, the first question that arose was, had the measure been efficacious? If not, there was ground for repeal. It might be efficacious and yet unjust, and then there was no reason why it should not be repealed. It was necessary it should be proved to have been effective not alone in one district. It might, however, have failed in one district, and have been efficacious in the rest of Ireland. There was not one petition against it but from the county of Donegal. On the contrary, documents had been presented proving the system to have been as successful as could have been anticipated. If he compared the number of fines, and found a decrease with the system, then it might be said to be successful. If he ex-gal, which, perhaps, operated as a kind of amined the rewards to the civil and military power, and found them diminish, then it might be said that it was efficacious. The quantity of illicit spirits increasing, rendered the demand for legal spirits less; but if the latter increased, then he might argue that the system was successful. In five years great alterations had taken place among the fines. In Lent assizes, 1814, there had been 1,327 still fines; in 1815, 1,506; in 1816, 1058; and in 1818, the amount had diminished to 368. The two last years had diminished by one-fourth. Of rewards in 1813, the sum paid to the military and to the civil power had amounted to 21,000l.; in 1815, it was 15,000l.; and last year 7,000l. Last year, therefore, it was one-third of the sum paid in 1813. With regard to legal spirits, in three years in the county of Derry, there had been consumed 18,000 gallons, before the operation of this measure, but in the last three years the consumption had been 111,000 gallons, six times the amount of the former. In Ulster, the consumption for the three last years had been 1,540,000 gallons, a quantity greater than what had been consumed in three years before the measure was in operation. In 1817, the fines on the whole of Ireland, except Donegal, were 593, and in that county 619 more than in all Ireland besides. For the last five years in Kilkenny there had been 13 fines, in Cork 12, in Wicklow 5, in Waterford 3, and in Kerry not one. For these 33, there had been in Donegal 3,400, i. e. for every one in these parts, there had been 100 in the Sir N. Colthurst thought that the system would finally prove effectual in Donegal. Its discontinuance would be the greatest injury to those who had large distilleries. Mr. Parnell said, that the measure was most vexatious. It was not only operative when a still was found any where, but if a worm or any part of a still was found; and it was known that, if any quarrel or disagreement existed, a man had nothing to do but to go and put a still on the person's ground with whom he had quarrelled. Mr. V. Fitzgerald said, that the measure by no means justified the strong expressions that had been used against it. He deprecated the mode in which the gallant general had come forward at such a period of the session, without making single statement in support of his motion. If in Donegal the measure had not operated, the rule should not be ex uno disce omnes. Mr. Knox said, if the question came to a division, he should vote for the repeal. General Hart replied. It had been said, that he had no grounds for his motion. His grounds were-to prevent cruelty and oppression; and his arguments-that the Jaw provided punishment enough in fine, imprisonment, and transportation. He would pledge himself that every material statement contained in Mr. Chichester's book was correct. The gallant general defended the gentlemen of Donegal, and after giving notice of some farther proceeding in the next session, concluded by expressing his willingness to withdraw the motion at present. The motion was then negatived. LAND TAX ASSESSMENT IN WESTMORLAND.] Mr. Lushington presented a copy of correspondence between the tax office and the assessors of land tax in Westmorland. Mr. Brougham wished to call the attention of the House to this correspondence, particularly to the letter of a Mr. Johnson to the commissioners of taxes, in which he describes himself as being the secretary to the committee for managing the election of the present members for Westmorland. He goes on to ask for certain returns of land tax, in which return Mr. Johnson tells the commissioners of taxes that lord Thanet's property need not be included. Now this was the letter of an electioneering agent to the commissioners of taxes, a person who never ought to have been allowed to approach the Tax office; yet to this letter, Mr. Winter, the secretary to the board of taxes, the next day returned a most courteous answer, recognizing him in his character of secretary to the committee for managing the elec4ion of the present members, and informing him that the returns for which he asked would be furnished to him by the assessors of the several districts. If, however, any should be wanting there the Tax office would furnish them. This was a most flagrant breach of the privileges of the House, and if notice was not taken of it by the proper quarter, he would him-self move to bring the parties implicated to the bar of the House. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, the whole of this correspondence was new to him, and he wished to have time to make inquiry before he gave any opinion upon it. Mr. Brougham trusted that Monday would not be allowed to pass over without the right hon. gentleman's again mentioning the subject. It did indeed appear to him that there was a system of electioneering policy established in favour of the present members for Westmorland, and that the commissioners of taxes were parties to it. This was one of the grossest attacks upon the freedom of election, that he had ever witnessed, and he trusted the House would not pass it over without showing its sense of it by calling its authors to the bar. The letter to which he had on a former night alluded, namely, that of Mr. Thompson, had turned out to be a real document, and not a fabrication, as some gentlemen had declared it to be in their opnion. Lord Lowther declared himself ignorant of the whole transaction. HOUSE OF LORDS. Monday, June 1. PETITION FROM WESTMINSTER FOR A REFORM IN PARLIAMENT.] Lord King presented a Petition from the inhabitants of Westminster, praying for a Reform in Parliament. It was couched in the same terms as the petition presented this day to the Commons by Mr. Alderman Wood [See proceedings of the Commons]. The Lord Chancellor observed, that as the petition stated great lawyers to be men of narrow minds, it was singular enough that the petitioners should have chosen the son of one of those narrow minded persons to present their remonstrance to their lordships. The ancestor of the noble lord who had presented the petition was a warm advocate of the liberties of his country; and he hoped that a descendant of a lord chancellor would always be found ready to bring under their lordships consideration the just complaints of the people; but when the absurdity of this petition, and the language in which it was couched, were considered, he trusted that a descendant of lord chancellor King would not consider it one which their lordships ought to receive. Lord Holland did not see why the absurdity of the prayer or the language of a petition should form an argument for not laying it on the table. That it was unintelligible might be a very good reason for not reading it; but as it had been presented and read, he thought it should be received. The Petition was rejected. ALIEN BILL.] Lord Sidmouth rose to move that this bill be committed. He observed, that when the events and circumstances of the French revolution were considered, it was not surprising that the effect of that great convulsion should not yet have subsided. Many of the persons who had taken a part in the overthrow of the French government, and in the attempt to overthrow the governments of other countries, it was true, were dead, but the spirit still existed in many parts of Europe. It was with the view of counteracting the effects which this revolutionary spirit might have in this country that the first alien law had been enacted, and for the same object it was now proposed to continue it for two years longer. It was necessary to keep out as well as to send out of this country those persons who should avail themselves of the vicinity of France to foster a spirit menacing to the security of this and the other governments of Europe. He was aware it might be said that the situation of things was very different now, and at the time when the alien law was first enacted; that the year 1818, with the country at peace, was not at all like the year 1793, and the country at war; but if their lordships compared those periods, they must also take into their consideration the difference of the two measures. It was by no means accurate or just to assert that this measure resembled that of 1793, for they were, in fact, of a different nature. By the act of 1793, aliens were made subject to very severe regulations, and were exposed to penalties if they violated them. They could not land at any port in the country without a licence from the government. The place of their residence was fixed, and they could not travel to a distance of more than ten miles from it without a special licence obtained for that purpose. There were no such provisions in the present bill, which merely proposed to provide for the regular exercise of an authority which, he must contend, belonged to the executive government. It was true that this authority, to the extent to which it had been laid down, was questioned by some; but even those who most objected to the doctrine, admitted that a power for the removal of foreigners in periods of danger ought to be lodged somewhere. That power was one of the prerogatives of the Crown, and it must be exercised in some way or other, either under proclamation or under a legislative enactment. The present bill merely provided for its prompt # exercise, and, in fact, tended only to give effect to the prerogative. He was however, ready to acknowledge that such a measure ought not to be adopted without necessity; but the existence of such a necessity was at the present moment unquestionable. At a time when it was a part of the policy of all the governments of Europe to expel from their territories, or place under particular regulations, obnoxious foreigners, was it to be contended that this country ought to form an exception to that policy? Were we to cherish the revolutionary spirit, and to allow all factious individuals to find an asylum in this country? He would ask whether the evil of such a course of proceeding would not be infinitely greater than any that, could possibly arise from this bill? Before he moved the commitment of the bill, he should briefly state the nature of a clause which he intended to propose, the necessity of which would appear from the circumstances he was about to state. An act of the Scotch parliament passed in 1685, for the establishment of the Bank of Scotland, contained a clause by which all foreigners holding shares in that bank became thereby naturalized subjects of Scotland, and, according to the act of Union, all subjects of Scotland were naturalized in England. It appeared, therefore, that any foreigner, by investing a small sum of money in the Bank of Scotland, might become a naturalized subject of Great Britain. All the pains which their lordships had hitherto taken in framing regulations for naturalization, and all the precautions adopted in passing naturalization bills, might have been superseded by the short process he had described. At the expense of a very inconsiderable sum, any foreigner might become a subject, and all alien bills would be of no avail. His attention had been called to the effect of this act of the Scotch parliament only within these few days. Had the discovery been made at a more early period of the session, he should have proposed a short bill to meet the case. There would not now be time for discussing a proposition for the repeal of this act, but he would recommend to their lordships the suspension of its operation during the period in which the present bill should continue in force. Earl Fitzwilliam said, he had heard with considerable pain the proposition of the noble viscount to continue the system of restrictions with regard to aliens which the present bill proposed to enact. He had, during the war, supported restrictions of this nature, because he thought they were rendered necessary by the circumstances in which Europe was then placed; but he saw no necessity for their continuance now, in a period of peace. Considering, therefore, the danger that called for those restrictions to be now over, he was anxious to return to the ancient usages, practices, and forms of the constitution, and he should consequently feel it his duty to vote against the present bill. The Duke of Sussex said, he had opposed the former bill on this subject, and he conscientiously felt it to be his duty to oppose the present measure. But, even though he had not felt the strongest objections to the principle of the measure, occurrences which had taken place in the course of the last year, and which proved the improper manner in which the power given to ministers had been executed, would have been sufficient to have induced him to oppose it. With the case of an individual against whom the Alien act had been enforced his own name had been connected; but he sincerely despised all the insinuations that had been thrown out on that subject, and he would now state the facts which had come to his knowledge to their lordships. An officer, who held a commission in the British service, had been tried in Portugal for a pretended conspiracy. In consequence of that trial, his name was struck out of the army list, by his majesty's government. But this was not all having escaped, he arrived at one of the out-ports in a ship from Lisbon; upon which, the government immediately ordered the expenses of his passage to be paid, and sent him on board another vessel to be conveyed out of the country. As to the trial, he firmly believed that this gentleman was perfectly innocent of the charges brought against him. The only thing which had been alleged against him was, that of his having been accused and tried at Lisbon for some practices against the government there. Of that charge he believed him to be wholly innocent; and here he should say, in allusion to the insinuations he had before mentioned, that he had not been acquainted latterly with the individual; he had known him before, when he was in this country. While in the service of an illustrious personage, he was in the habits of communication with him, but since then he had had none. The ground of the arrest of this officer on his arrival in Harwich, was, that he had been tried at Lisbon; but to any of their lordships who were acquainted with the forms of a trial at Lisbon, where a promotion of the judge generally fol lowed the conviction of a person inimical to the state, it would not appear that a conviction was always an evidence of guilt. He could not, then, but regard this case as one of severity under the powers of the act. Their lordships ought at all times view the exercise of such power with peculiar jealousy; but more particularly when they heard it asserted that this measure was necessary for the tranquillity of other countries. It was proper to pass laws for the tranquillity of England; but to invest ministers with arbitrary power, under the pretence of maintaining the tranquillity of other coun tries, was what he would always protest against. He also particularly objected to the language of the preamble of the bill, which, contrary to fact, appeared to ground the expediency of the measure on a circumstance which had taken place since the last act was passed. Lord Holland regarded the measure as most unjust and impolitic. The grounds on which it had been attempted to induce their lordships to agree to this bill; namely, that few persons had been sent out of the country under the former act, and that those who were sent were persons of notoriously bad characters; were either totally inconsistent or untrue. The argument which, however, had, he believed, the most effect in reconciling the public mind to this measure, was that which was founded on the small number of persons against whom it had been enforced. The objection, however, was not merely to the number of persons sent out of the country, but to the cruelty with which the act operated on those who were allowed to remainin the country. The noble secretary of state begged the question, when he inferred that those persons who came to this country must necessarily be of bad character, He says, "Would you make this country a receptacle for all the persons of bad character whom other governments may think proper to expel from their dominions?" But, was there ever a time when the governments to which he alluded did not possess the power of sending any person they pleased out of their territories? This, however, formed one of the principal objections to the measure. The illustrious person who had just spoken had pointed |