T ---- THE NATIONAL REGISTER. FEB. 11. his person ; whereas he had in fait liven Op two of the office' • which he held, namdy, that of Clerk of the Bail, and that of Cleric • f the 1 3 .1, ers, sine the Re.,ort was made. Great difficulty had Amt.(' for erly in accommodating the prisoners, whose numbers so tar exceeded the number of rooms, which, as he before pbserved, amounted to only 193 ; and during the first three days of last No vember term, no less than 397 prisoners were committed, 160 of whom were sent on the first day. Steps were taken to obviate as • far as possible this inconvenience ; he had also the pleasure. of being a ole to state to the Honse, that those prisoners who could not afford to pay for advice had medical advice gratis at the expencc of the Marshal; and be had also much satisfbetion in being able to state that the number of deaths which took place in the prison was less on an average than what took place in any other part of the metropolis. Mr. Lishington, the Gentleman who was appoint ed to visit the prison, and enquire into the state of those confined there, ope;:ed almost every room, and enquired of every prisoner whether they had any complaints to make of the Marshal ; the. re ply in every case without exception was, that they were perfectly satisfied with the conduct of that officer. Having stated these facts for the information of the House, he trusted it would be 'found that the Judges of the Court of King's Bench had not been so negligent of their duty as the Hon. Gentleman represented them to have been; and that the lion. Gentleman had been negligent of his, in not taking steps to inform himself better on the subject he tine he brought forward accusations against others. Mr. BENNETT did not ray, no improvement had taken phicein the Prison, but that be understood mud' rem:lifted undone. He had particularly objected to the mode in which the Keeper of the prison was remunerated, namely, by the grant of indulgences, and by the sale of malt liquors, by which he made large profits : and thus his duties and his interests was put at variance. With respect to Mr. Lushington, no man could have a higher opinion than he (Mr. Bennett) had of that Gentleman. lie had no doubt but he riceived the answer he represented ; so did Mr. Templar, in 1792, when a review of the prison took place at that time. But had he visited the prison in question last year, he (Mr. Bennett) was con vinced he would have found it in a most scandalous state, dis graceful to this country, and unequalled, for misery, by any other prison in Europe ; and he . mnst be allowed to say, it was somewhat ungracious in the Hon. Gentleman •to reflect on the Committee, because they'were anxious to see their duty perfectly discharged. —( Hear, hear.) Mr. LAW observed, in the report which he had seen of what the Hon. Gentleman had said, it was stated that he had asserted no• thing had been done towards reforming the abuses of the prison ; whereas, the two reformations which had taken place, namely, the curtailnent of indulgeac:es, and the giving up the olices of Clerk of the Bail and Clerk of the Papers, had done more than any thing else could have done towards diminishing the profits of the Marshal. SUPPLY. The 1-10114 C went into a Committee of the whole House, MT. LottiNGTom moved, that a Supply be granted to his Ma jrsty : and in doing so observed, that it was the intention of his Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to lay the principal Estimates before- the House to-morrow Se'anigh t. The Resolution was agreed to.—Report to-morrow. SINECURE PLACES. Mr. Mvit - rtN observed, that by the death of the Earl of Buck inghamshire, an otli was fallen to the disposal of the Crown ; as this (Ave was one of those which the Resolution of the House, of May, Is 10, had declared oulsht, when the then vested interests ex pired, to be abolished, and as he was not aware of any vested in terest existing tit' present, he-wished now to know from the Noble Lord if it was now to be abolished, as recommended in the Resolu tion to Which he had alluded. Lord CASTLEREAGH said, he was not prepared- to answer the' Hon. Gentleman's question immediately. Mr. M.YnTiN hoped he should have an early and satisfactory answer front the Noble Lord ; otherwise he should, at an early day, bring the so bject before the House. Mr. notzhcis also expressed his hopes that nothing would be' done in the interval to preVent the abolition of this acid other' similar appointments as those vested interests fell in. Mr. BRouGHAH observed, the patent ve stin g eights in tile place' queition in Lord Buckinghamshire, and after his Oath in the - two sons of !owl Hardwick, was made out in 180;) ; in fttilti the third Finance Re - port, declaring - that this place, Cierk of ihe.Kitigs Bench in Ireland, was useless and• borthonsolue,•and ought. to b.- aboliNitedoiras•inalle to the Ictunse,.and itelhlt) the Moist, cane to a resnlittkin, that at the • espiration of the then-vei,'etinterests it ougir - tb kr abolished. At' that time, munel:, ieos, them were„no 933 person's interest in it except the three persons he bad named ; thoy were all dead, and unless hay tit* Interest was created in the interval between Isbh had 1810, there could be none now existing but such as were in dhalet opposition to the resolution of the House. He wished to ktiew froth the Nelda Lord if any new grant. had . beeh Made, and at Whit period it was made, main fa your of wheati. Lord Ca,:siri.titsaell could riot answer with certainty, but woeld enquire. Here the conversation drhpped.—The other orders of the day were then disposed Of.. --Adjourned. Wici . NEittAit, - FitetteAnY 7. PROPEUTV TAX. .Mr.l i aatdiost PreSehted a fietition from certain Criltivators of Land in the county tit Dirilmtn, Oain4t any renewal of the Pros gperty Tait. In presenting this Petition , he would Make bet one observation ; .that IS, ex prisa his hopes that this Petition would be fdlanired bi thotiaauhs (hear, htai9 ; and that the ()Ithaca thus expressed by . tit'd *bold be so far attended to by Mi nisters as to piesent the* piesiang a tax so obnoxious to the coun try at laige ; Whither it WAS iniposed for the purpose of sew:, t ing on their Thrones the Bhurhons of France, or the Bourberis of Spain, or any unprincipled Gov4ihrie.rit whatever. The Petitiea was. read, andordereo to lis bri the table. Sir S. bring fortvard, once more, his li able motion to for leave to bniik Its a Rill to make Freehold Prope tl y the Payrhent of Simfile•ContraciDebta.' the lion. Gentleman ch *reed, in again bringing this arihjeet before the House, it NVC111:1 (not be Aceelisary.for him to detain the House long. He must, how ever, one objection which had been Made to the measu re, iota of . doors. It had beefn said; if the Bill should pass as he pros posed, it would be iitAgiary, in all cases wheie a person died in debt, to seta decree of a Court cif nity before the freehold pro perty could be tints applied; hut he was not aware that any such difficulty could arise, as all he was anxious to do in ibis case was, to put simple contract debts on the same footing as bond debts, or rather to place them next to bond debts in consideration. Ano ther objection to this Bill Wes, that it did not go far enough; but that it might td attar 'h to C011)17041 property also. This, however, was a snide he wiis tint alt rreseat prepared to take; there being a strong, mid, he feared, insurmountable, objectiou to it, namely, 'the rights of Lords Alt 191rmers. He had also heard of a third ob jection, which was, that the adoption of the treasure he had now to propOse, woald have tire tea seitiug. ritroie evidence aoainst real p.toperty ; 6at tra must observe, in reply to this ob i. e Iteetion; trill the wens-Objectiois would apply to allowing parole evidence io'be sef ittainst personal property after the death of a testator. He did not' Believe that there were many false demands substantiated' noW ag'ainst ptrsouni property; nor did he bdievo the ohjection wouhl any more apply to real property. Another objection tweed against the Bill was, that t it wo uld afford wou facility youn g null of landed property to ge ld be, is jerious to them. H. aid not Consider that the measure would ;wall lt,•,vc that effect. Other persons had objected to his proposi tion of giving a creditor his reMetly mica Bill in Equity rather than a Tri a l by Jury. He had ai bleb "a reverence as any rear could have for a Trial by Jury ; and if he proposed a in Equity, in • his present measnre, it was oh:y than in his opinion, it was the better mode of thc two ; but 'shan't' it appear olherwhie to Gentle men, thelliti might be altered in that-respect, when it should cote(' into a Committee. The lion. Geotleman then proceeded to 'hake some obst.rvationi Oh the hresetit tante of our laws, as related t, Debtor Mid Creditor ; he observed, were adopted at a pe riod when the manners and- custoats of the people were widely prese nt, and they were therefore • differeet froth what they seers at altdinapplicableto their object.. adverted fti-liltlytteliedeui(Tlattlts'iolVent. Acts, which had been passed by lie the ;10 ran at diff ere at pet cod e s ; and Observed, that they were in many respects Itiohlyiniatiote; Mid though it was necessary to do something oc e casionaliv fur the relief s e ree mifortunate debtor, yet at the time that that was done, tith instsot the ilsequently more unfortunate respectst nottotally negtPcled; as they mid hopeen in some ia the adoption of the' bisoivent Act whi assrd the Ifou'se si,cret ti.ee stace. The hitt. Gentleman coacinded by moving for It ate to :iritig in -a Bill to render freehold property lia ble to the Pita: stmele contract deats.—Leave was given. EAlifir OF liDelilliGHAMStilltE . Mr. Batiaretia.m, adverting to the conversation %stitch took k •ilace on the.subje tof the place Cim kof the Pk.. Ireland, 'Vacant- by lite &Mira the Noble Earl, asked, whether the S e cret, for Ireland had ohtained any infuraimien iti he . e p e atflieh : the plat+ to any other person. . 111r:r t i that at present no grant of the place ha +M.wt Onw- ,