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HOUSE OF LORDS.

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HOUSE OF LORDS. MONDAY, SEPT. 5.-Lord Cowley was introduced by Lord Maryborough and Lord Stuart de Rothsay, and took the oaths and his seat. PORTUGAL. The Earl of Aberdeen said that the petition he was about to present to their lordships proceeded from the merchants, ship- owners, manufacturers, and others interested in the trade between this country and Portugal. They complained that a trade which had so long enjoyed the anxious protection of government, and in which they had deeply embarked their interests, in the full assurance that this protection would not be withdrawn, was now exposed to great difficulties and danger, and they expressed their apprehensions that the suspension of amicable relations between the British and Portuguese governments, if much longer conti- nued, would produce still further injuries to a trade which had attained its present magnitude and importance chiefly from the intimate political connection which subsisted between the two countries. The noble earl entered into a long detail of the po- litical relations between this country and Portugal, and of the late attack upon that country, and the taking possession of its fleet by France. He said there could be no doubt that any change produced in Portugal by French means would operate, as it unquestionably would be intended, to injure the commerce of this country. Did they suppose that France cared any thing about Portugal? No, it was the English colony they wished to degrade. They were all alike, Bourbon, Buonaparte, Orleans- all alike wished to lessen the grandeur and impair the prosperity of this country. (Hear, hear.) Did he wish to excite animosity -between this country and France 1 No such thing. It had always been the principle of our policy to watch with the utmost circumspection the aggrandisement of France, and the increase and diffusion of her influence and if the noble earl acted upon -any other principle than this he had no hesitation in saying that he betrayed his country. He entreated the noble earl to look at the subject without prejudice or passion, to withdraw himself from the violent prejudices and passions of some of those who surrounded him, and to regard the affairs of the Peninsula only with reference to the honour, the obligations, and the interests of this country. He should now move that the petition be read. Earl Grey, at considerable length, vindicated the conduct of his Majesty's ministers, and concluded by saying that the only question now before their lordships was, that the petition, having been read, should lie upon the table. He (Earl Grey) therefore did not feel it necessary to go into the case further until all the documents were before their lordships; but the noble earl might be assured, that when the day came for the discussion to come on regularly, when the necessary information was before the house, he should be ready to meet the noble earl or any one else who arraigned the conduct of his Majesty's ministers, and to show that in what they had done, or in what they had it in con- templation to do, neither the honour nor the interests of this country would have sufferred by an act of his Majesty's present ministers, or from any circumstances but such as it was not in their power to controul. (Cheers). A long discussion followed, sustained by the Duke of Welling- ton, the Marquis of Londonderry, the Lord Chancellor, the Mar- quis of Landsdown, &c., when the petition was ordered to be laid upon the table. Some bills were then {passed without discussion, through one stige.—Adjourned. TUESDAY, SEPT. 6 •—The Duke of Sussex rose, pursuant to notice, to present to the house a petition on one of the most im- portant subjects that could come under their lordships' consider- ation. The petitioners prayed that their lordships would take under their consideration the present state of the criminal law of this country, with a view to its revision and amendment, and to disconnect the punishment of death from crimes affecting merely the rights of property, but unaccompanied with violence and bloodshed. The petition was signed by no less than 1100 indi- viduals, who were all liable to serve as grand jurors for the county of Middlesex, and seven of whom had actually served as foremen in that capacity. The petitioners stated that their own private feelings of humanity had at various times had a struggle with themselves, lest by finding persons guilty they should be accessory to a judicial murder; and that this feeling sometimes induced jurors and others to give what was vulgarly called a slip to the law, and that criminals from this cause often escaped the hands of justice. His Royal Highness at considerable length supported the prayer of the petitioners. The Lcrd Chancellor said, the subject was certainly of very great importance, and well worthy of the most profound consi- deration but none of their lordships were called upon to express any opinion on the matter in the petition at present; and he should have hardly obtruded himself on their lordships' attention, had it not been that he had been particularly and personally alluded to by his r;yal highness. After long consideration and practical experience, he had certainly been led to conclude that our penal laws were capable of much amendment in respect of the severity of punishments. But when the petitioners called for the abolition of the punishment of death in regard to all crimes against property, if unattended with murder or personal violence, he felt himself called upon to declare that he was not prepared I to draw the line exactly in that manner; for nothing, in his opi- nion, could be less judicious than thus to class crimes which might be of a very different character under the same denomina- tion. Why was it that it was held right to put a murderer to death? Not, certainly, because it had been said in scripture, Whoso sheddeth a man's blood, by man shall his blood be shad. They had no right to put even a murderer to death, for any other reason than that it was expedient that he should be put to death. They had no other right nor warrant, either in reason or religion. The object was to prevent others from com- mitting the crime of murder; and as the comfortable existence of society depended on the repression of that highest crime, it was .expedient to secure its repression by attaching to its commission the highest penalty. He wished, therefore, to guard himself from being understood that murder was the only crime for which death ought to be inflicted. But there was one part of their peti- tion which, in his opinion, could not be sanctioned by their lord- ships. He, at least, could not understand how honourable men serving on juries could trifle with their oaths. How any honour- able man could reconcile this to his conscience, he could not conceive. The jury had no more to do than say, whether, in point of fact, the crime had been committed; and it was for the judge to award the punishment; and he could award only that which the law had prescribed. If it were a crime to inflict the punishment of death in such cases, the crime was-not that of the jurors, but of the legislature (hear, hear); and until the law was altered, the former were bound to act by it. The Duke of Sussex expressed a hope that the subject would be taken into consideration by his Majesty's government. Adjourned. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3.—No business of public im- portance occurred.

TUESDAY'S LONDON GAZETTE,…

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PORT OP 'NEWPORT.

PORT. Or CARDIFF.

HUUSE OF COMMONS.

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