were reported with amendments, and afterwards read a third time and paffed The Income Duty Bill was reported without amendment, and ordered to be read a third time the next day, and the Lords to be fummoned. Adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. MONDAY, JAN. 7. The Speaker acquainted the Houfe that he had received notice from the Court of Directors of the Bank, that on and after the 14th infant, the Bank would pay in cash, during the ufual hours of bufinefs, all fractional fums under five pounds; and that on and after the first of February next, the Bank would pay in cash for all notes of one and two pounds value, that are dated prior to the firft of July 1798; or exchange them for new notes of the fame value at the option of the holders the Speaker alfo acquainted the Houfe that he had, agreeable to the act paffed laft feffion, for continuing the restriction on the cafh-payments, caufed the above notice to be inferted in the London Gazette. The Amendments made by the Lords in the Indemnity Bill were read and agreed to. A meffage from the Lords acquainted the Houfe, that their Lordships had agreed to the Newfoundland Judicature Bill, to the bill for continuing the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus, and to feveral Naturalization Bills. The lifts prepared by the Clerk, agreeably to the provisions of the India Judicature Bills, were referred to a committee to examine and report the names of fuch members of that House as fhould occur more than twenty times in thofe lifts. Adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS. TUEDAY, JAN. 8. Several bills before the Houfe were forwarded in their refpective stages, read a third time and paffed. CONFINEMENT OF COLONEL DESPARD, &c. Previous to the order of the day for the third reading of the Income Tax Bill being read, The Earl of Suffolk rofe and called the attention of the 3 K 2 Houfe Houfe to what had fallen from him on a former night, re-. fpecting the arreft and confinement of Colonel Defpard. Part of what he had ftated at that time, he understood to have been perfectly correct; but with refpect to a certain point, from what had fince come to his knowledge, he was afraid he had, on account of previous mifinformation, miflated the fact; and he regretted that he fhould inadvertently be made the medium of fending forth any thing implying a charge against the executive government, which was unfounded. But he had fince received a letter from a perfon apparently well acquainted with the concerns of that Gentleman; his Lordship withing to convey what he meant to communicate to the House, in the language of the letter-writer, read an extract from the letter:-this fet forth, in fubftance, that the writer had been acquainted with Colonel Defpard while the latter was employed as fuperintendant at Honduras, and fpoke of his character as an officer highly refpectable; that he was apprifed of the circumftances of his arreft and confinement; that he was confined in a cell as cold as the open ftreet, and deftitute of furniture; that he was fupplied only with the common prifon allowance; but that about fix weeks fince, in confequence of an order from Government, he was taken out of fuch a difgraceful fituation and removed into a more comfortable room. The point in which he had been mifinformed, and which, in confequence, he had erroneously ftated to the Houfe was, his affertion, that the brother of Colonel Defpard had been arrefted and confined for fome time through mistake, that he had fince learnt was not the fact it was the Colonel himself that had been apprehended, but before the meature of fufpending the Habeas Corpus A& took place; and, after detaining him fix weeks, Government, not being able to fubftantiate any charge, had liberated him. Immediately after the bill pafled laft year, the Colonel was apprehended a fecond time, and had been confined ever fince in Cold Bath Fields Prifon in the manner before described until the period he had mentioned. The writer of the letter from which he learned the foregoing facts, was, he confeffed, entirely unknown to him. He had offered to wait on him and give him further informa tion, but he had declined the interview. The letter thereføre requiring no answer, the communication dropped. He would however put the circumftances of Colonel Defpard's cafe, and the conduct of minifters upon the occafion, to the feelings and confideration of that Houfe, and a whether, by the the powers entrusted to minifters at prefent, it might not be placed in the fame fituation? The circumftance of the Colonel's being an officer of rank, and formerly converfant with all the comforts and luxuries of life, (and he had on a former day stated, that from the high situations Colonel Defpard held in the army, he kept, and was entitled to keep, as Iplendid a table as any, the most opulent, of their Lordships) was a matter of aggravation. He had not feen Colonel Defpard thefe 18 years, nor did he mean to fee him, but he muft fay, that it reflected much difcredit upon those to whose department the fuperintendance of fuch affairs was entrusted, that fuch treatment to British prifoners, of any defcription, was tolerated; the more fo, after what had been written and published by that excellent man and genuine philanthropist, the late Mr. Howard, was confidered-a man whole humanity would not fuffer himfelf to content himfelf with examining the ftate of the prifons of his own country, but whofe indefatigable efforts to do good to the moft wretched of his fellow-creatures prompted him to explore the jails and dungeons of a great part of the continent. Therefore, though a Howard himfelf, he must do the memory of the worthy man to whom he alluded the juftice to declare, that no person that ever bore his illuftrious name, reflected more real honour on that and on the British nation. The Duke of Portland faid, that after what had been faid, it was abfolutely neceflary for him to fay a few words, and a very few they should be. Had he imagined that the fubject, after what lately paffed refpecting it in another place, would have been that day agitated in that Houfe, he would have brought down official documents in his pocket, to prove that all the affertions of the noble Earl were founded on misinformation. So far from the complaint that neglect was fhewn on the part of Government, to the reprefentations refpecting Colonel Defpard's inconvenient fituation being true, the fact undeniably was, that as 'foon as a reprefentation was made to his office, immediate attention was paid to it, and orders were given for his being removed, and every accommodation compatible with the nature of his cafe was afforded. The difcuffion of fubjects of that nature in Parliament unneceffarily, and without good evidence of facts, could do no good, but must lead to much mischief; but as fo much had been faid in both Houses, he fincerely wished that the matter might undergo a regular inveftigation, by which means alone the real facts could be afcertained. The The Earl of Suffolk faid, that he muft rife in confequence of what had fallen from the noble Duke, and contradict the affertion, that immediate attention was paid to the application of Colonel Defpard, refpecting that Gentleman's fituation. He had dined, the preceding day, in company with a Gentleman who had made much enquiry into the circumftances of the cafe (Mr. Courtenay); he did not know Mr. Courtenay was to be of the party, their meeting, therefore, was purely accident, but that Gentleman had affured him, that every word he had stated in the Houfe of Commons refpecting Colonel Defpard's fituation was true, and that he was able to bring complete proof of it; and that not only one application had been made by Mrs. Defpard to reprefent her husband's fituation, but feveral, fo long ago as April, again in May, and again in June laft, both to the Duke of Portland and Mr. Wickham, and that little or no notice was taken of them, till very lately; and that ever after his removal from his cell, he was denied wine or any fpirituous liquors, and was but meanly accommodated; and that it was not until Mr. Reeves's vifit to Colonel Defpard, and perfonal enquiry into the cafe, that the hardships were alleviated. The refult reflected much credit on Mr. Reeves; and his Lordfhip expreffed his firm belief, that the statements of Mr. Courtenay were correct, and that Colonel Defpard's reprefentations were not attended to by Government until the period above-mentioned. Lord Grenville faid, he conceived it neceffary to fay a few words in confequence of what fell from the noble Earl. Every noble Lord muft agree, that all prifoners fhould be treated with as much lenity as fhould be confiftent with the fafety of their refpective fituations, and the objects of their confinement. The benevolent exertions of that great philanthropist alluded to by the noble Lord was entitled to every commendation, in confequenee of whofe writings, and the mild adminiftration of the fyftemn of the British Government, the prisoners of our nation were placed in a fituation far fuperior to thofe of any other country on the face of the globe. With respect to the particular cafe in queftion, he would caution the noble Lord and the House against placing too much ftrefs on information derived from anonymous letters, or from common report. For his part, he had authority for faying, and on investigation he was certain it would turn out to be the fact, that on the firft complaint, on the part of Colonel Defpard, which reached the cars of Government, the grievances grievances, if any exifted, were immediately removed. And, confidering that to be the true ftate of the cafe, he conceived that any further prefent difeuflion of the bufinefs would be irrelevant and improper. Lord Halland faid, he thought it neceffary to remark upon; fome points which had fallen from a noble Secretary of State. That noble Lord faid, that under the prefent administration of the British Government, prifoners were better off in this than in any other country. To that statement, however, he could not accede; neither could the noble Lord fay, that prisoners detained on fufpicion of practices against the state were not treated with more severity than prifoners committed for other offences. He had understood the other night, that under the prefent act no perfons were meant to be detained, but with a view that, and certainly perfons in the fituation of the Gentleman in queftion, fhould not be confined more ftrictly, or treated with more rigour, than was neceifary to prevent an escape. He would go farther, and fay, that a prifoner detained only for the purpose of being tried thould be treated with more lenity than one convicted and detained for purposes of punishment. He expreffed his furprife that a noble Duke had not touched upon the point of Colonel Defpard's being taken up previous to the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus Act, and relcafed for want of Government be ing able to fix any crime upon him. The Lord Chancellor faid the Houfe muft feel the propriety of his puting an end to fo irregular a converfation in which noble Lords thought fit to ftate in that Houfe circumstances, and to make uft of expreffions which they could not dwell upon or use in any other place with impunity. The effect of this kind of conduct was obvious. Already the hafty and indifcreet manner in which the fubject had been taken up by fome perfons, it did not fignify where, had produced very unpleafant effects, and the operation of the fpeeches made in that Houfe would be, not to allay thofe feelings which fome how or other had been excited in the minds of the prifoners, but to en creafe the diforderly behaviour that had for fome days past been obferved to prevail among them. It did not happen to him tot be much in the way of hearing any thing of the cafe of the particular Gentleman who had that evening been alluded to; but he had been informed, and he gave full credit to the statement, that government took the earliest means in its power, confiftent with difcreet policy, to remove whatever inconvenience or hardfhip the Colonel had fuffered. The noble Lord had stated that he |