! pay the triple tax for those which they kept in lieu of the horses fo employed. Colonel Porter feconded the amendment; which was oppofed by Mr. Rofe and Mr. Buxton, after which the Houle divided. For the Amendment Majority 18 30 12 Sir William Pulteney next moved, that those who had made a fair return of their affeffed taxes, according to the Bill introduced last year, fhould not now be obliged to give in a new lift to the commiffioners of taxes, as is required by the new Bill. Mr. Rofe oppofed this amendment; and complained bitterly of the evations that have been reforted to by perfons keeping carriages and horfes, &c. &c. which evalions confiderably contributed to aggravate the burdens that already weighed fuf ficiently heavy on the people at large. The mode propofed by the prefent Bill was, in his mind, the only one that could make it effectual. Mr. Wilberforce was of opinion that the regulations of the original Bill thould be ftrictly adhered to, as it would otherwife oblige Government to encourage fpies about the houses of great men, and thus tend to establish a system of efpoinage to which he could never lend his countenance and support. Mr. Dickens approved of the amendment. The Gallery was then ordered to be cleared; but we understood that Sir William Pulteney's amendment was agreed to without a divifion. The Bill was then engroffed, read a third time, and passed. SLAVE TRADE. The Order of the Day being read for the Houfe to resolve itfelf into a Committee on the Bill for regulating the mode of carrying Slaves, Mr. William Smith rofe, and faid, that on this fubject he had flattered himself that there prevailed but one opinion in the Houfe; for he had understood that, though the tonnage had been acceded to as a proper criterion for fhips carrying Slaves, that criterion had nevertheless been acknowledged as inadequate; and the more closely it had been examined, the more evident it appeared, that the fuperficies of the deck, or the cu bical contents between the decks, was a far fafer criterion. This was obvious from duly attending to the conftruction of two veffels, which, though they were of different capacities, ne might be able to carry double the quantity of goods, and ftill not have more tonnage than the other. When this subject was difcuffed laft year, there was fcarcely heard a diffentient voice against the truth of this obfervation. This opinion of the Houfe has fince, it feems, varied, by which his expectations were highly disappointed; for an oppofition, he understood, was now to be made against the propofition, and thofe who. were most deeply embarked in the trade feemed determined to keep it up on its ordinary footing. He would, however, move "That it be an inftruction to the Committee to whom the "faid Bill was referred, that they be empowered to limit the "number of Slaves to be carried, according to the fuperficial capacity of the decks, or the cubical contents between decks, "and not according to the tonnage of the fhips fo employed." Mr. Dent felt himself difpofed to oppofe the present motion; because it appeared to him to be an indirect and infidious attempt immediately to ftop, and wholly to abolifh the Slave Trade an attempt, which though already made this Seffion, in a fair, manly, and open manner, had, however, met with the fate it deferved. He would therefore move, that the House do now adjourn. Mr. Wilberforce made no doubt but that it must be the with of every man that the Slaves fhould be carried in the most ealy and comfortable manner poffible. The mode now propofed feemed to promife that better convenience: it would therefore have bis moft cordial fupport. Mr. Dent explained. General Tarleton faid, that it was with regret that he oppofed a Motion like the prefent; inafmuch as it promised more comfort and convenience to the Slaves; but he heard no new argument introduced to fupport its neceffity; on the contrary, he muft regard the introduction of the cubical fuperfices as tantamount to an immediate abolition of the trade, and as wholly deftructive of the hopes which the late decifion of the Houfe on this fubject had held out to the merchants, who were deeply interefted in this trade, as were thofe of Liverpool, Bristol, and London. Colonel Gafcoigne was happy to coincide in opinion with his Honourable Colleague. Mr. Barham approved of the measure, as it went to diminish the number of Slaves, and to fecure their comfort and convenience during the voyage. To fuch meafures he would always affent, and if all other Motions refpecting the Slave Trade were fimilar to the prefent, they fhould likewife have his hearty con currence. Mr. Sewel opposed the Motion; and contended that the fuffering and mortality to which the Slaves were faid to be exposed, No. 26. 6 C was was on an average greater on the fide of large fhips than on that of fmaller ones. Lord Belgrave wifhed the business might be deferred, as he had a Motion of greater importance, (that on the Treating Act) to bring forward this night. Mr. Wm. Smith faid a few words in explanation; after which the House divided on the Motion for an adjournment. For it 18 34 -- Majority, 16 Mr. Smith's Motion was confequently carried, and was ordered to be referred to the Committee. Adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS. WOODMASON'S DIVORCE BILL. On the question for the fecond reading of the Bill to diffolve the marriage of James Woodmason, Efq. with Mary Magdalain, his now wife, being read---Counfel and Evidence in fupport of the fame were called to the Bar. By the statements of these it appeared, that the petitioner, Mr. Woodmafon, was married to Mary Magdalain Gaville (a native of France), but then refiding in the parish of Paddington ---in February 1772, and that they lived and cohabited together until September 1790, during which interval they had ten children; two only of whom are now living. That at the laft mentioned period (Mrs. Woodmafon, being at that time at St. Amand, in Flanders), a ferious difagreement took place between them, in confequence of the Lady's neglect of one of the children, when a feparation took place, and an end was put to the intercourfe of the parties. Mrs. Woodmafon retired to the house of her father, M. Jean Jackques Gaville in Paris, who confented to receive her. It appeared alfo that in the month of June 1796, Mrs. Woodmason fued for and obtained a divorce according to certain laws and regulations then newly made in France; and in April1797 the married a perion of the name of Jofeph Antonie Guibert, and lived with him as his wife, at his house in Paris: in confequence of which, Mr. Woodmafon exhibited a libel against her in the Ecclefiaftical Courts of this country, in November 1797, and in the month of March, in the prefent year, obtained a definitive fentence of divorce thereon, from bed and board. The neceffary parts of this ftatement being regularly proved by the witnefles, one of whom depofed, that he had feen Mrs. Woodmalon Woodmafon and the abovenamed Guibert in bed together, the The various Bills before the Houfe were forwarded in their refpective ftages. Adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. PATENTS. Mr. Burdon having expatiated on the public inconvenience of granting with too much facility the renewal of Patents in certain cafes, moved a refolution, that before any petiton be prefented to the Houfe for confirming or prolonging any letters patent, notice of the intention to prefent fuch petiton shall be published three times in the London Gazette, and three times in the Edinburgh Paper, when the matter relates to Scotland, ftating the nature of the intention for which the patent is granted, and the term of its duration, &c.-Ordered. That then a Committee do report to the Houfe, whether this order had been complied with, before any order fhall be made on fuch Petition.-Ordered. That this Refolution be made a standing order of the Houfe. -Ordered. Mr. Tierney faid, that the newspapers had miftated the circumftance of a cafe in the Court of King's Bench in Ireland, and which led him into an erroneous statement in the Houfe a few nights ago; and in confequence of which he faid fomething of a Learned Judge which he fhould not have said, had the statement in the newfpapers been conformable to the fact. He alluded to the cafe of Mr. Roger O'Connor, from whom a letter was fent to him; and from which he would read an extract for the fatisfaction of the House. The letter was in fubftance as follows: "Mr. Roger O'Connor thanked Mr. Tierney for the kind manner in which he had noticed the treatment which he had received. But he begged to affure him that the statement of the Judge's fpeech was incorrect; that the Judge faid he fhould have been happy if witneffes had been produced against him, as he made no doubt of his acquittal in that cafe, and that the conduct of Mr. Juftice Finocane was perfectly manly and correct.' Mr. Tierney then faid, he was glad to do justice to the liberality of the Learned Judge upon the trial alluded to; and he was glad alfo to do juftice to the candour of Mr. Roger O'Connor in making this ftatement, to enable him to do juftice to the character of the Learned Judge; a proof of the difinterested spirit of Mr. Roger O'Connor; for he had never before this written to him any C letter. Moft certainly, after this, the character of the Learned Judge was entirely unimpeachable. MAROONS. Colonel Walpole rofe to make his promised Motion upon this fubject; and, having ftated the Commiffion which he received for the purpose of acting against the Maroons, that Commiffion, he said, he had executed fuccefsfully; little suspecting at the time when he concluded a treaty with them, that he fhould have been made an inftrument of one of the most flagrant violations of public faith that ever difgraced any civilized people. It was not affuming too much, or could he be charged with vanity, when he said, that but for him the treaty would not have been concluded; for it was on his word, on the word of the King, which he pledged, and which he affured them none would dare to violate, that they were induced to come into any treaty at all. That alone was the ground of the treaty; and if it had not been for that pledge, they would not have put any faith or reliance on European promises, and the event had fhewn that their caution was not ill-founded. He now rose to deny all the furious and violent affertions of the Ifland of Jamaica, and to declare, in his place, that the Maroons had not, in any inftance, infringed the treaty entered into between him and them, and of which they were falfely accused by the people of Jamaica. The caufes of the war between them and the Jamaicans, it was not neceffary now to enquire into. He believed the Maroons were a people ftrongly attached to their natural rights, and that the war arofe from a juftifiable refiftance to tyranny and oppreffion. The real caufe was, he believed, becaufe the Whites dreaded the influence which the example of a free people would have upon their flaves; and therefore they determined to exterminate the Maroons. At that time the Ifland of Jamaica was rich and flourishing, and it seemed to be the privilege of rich people to have more folly than others— ftultitiam faciunt opes. The Maroons, he contended, had made peace in the real fpirit of peace. The treaty itself confifted of three articles; Ift, that they should beg his Majesty's pardon on their knees.-2d, that they should go to Montego Bay, or fome other place on the ifland, to be appointed by the Affembly, and furrender.-3d, that they should give up all runaway flaves. With refpect to their furrendering, no force could ever have compelled them to it, as, from the nature of the faftneffes and mountains, and their being inured to the climate, they were able to refift any body of European troops that could be brought to act against them. But in point of fact, one party did furrender immediately, and another party, though they |