The house at its meeting, proceeded, pursuant to the order of the day, to a ballot for a committee, to try and determine the merits of the petition complaining of the election and return for the borough of Malden. The members returned upon the reduced list, and who were sworn as the committee, are the following: R. M. Phillips, esq.; L. P. Jones, esq.; hon. W. E. Eden; W. Biddulph, esq.; B. Hall, esq.; W. L. Hughes, esq.; lord Clive; sir G. Heathcote; hon. H. Caulfield; lord Forbes R. Benyon, esq.; J. 464 M'Donald, esq.; sir W. Lemon; nominees; Hervey C. Combe, esq.; John Simeon, esq.—Mr. J. Smith, having been returned for the town of Nottingham, and the borough of Midhurst, informed the house, that he had made his election to sit for Nottingham; and a new writ was ordered for the borough of Midhurst, in the room of Mr. Smith. Another writ was also ordered for the borough of Midhurst, in the room of the right hon. W. Wickham, who having been returned for that borough, and Callington, had made his election to sit for Callington.—The adjourned debate, on the motion for enlarging the time for receiving recognizances, on the petition against the return of the right hon. H. Grattan, was resumed, on the motion of Mr. S. Bourne, and the time ordered to be enlarged to the 10th of February.—The Secretary at War presented, pursuant to orders of the house, an Account of the effective strength of his majesty's regular militia forces; also, an account of the number of men raised for the regular army in each month, since the 1st of Jan. 1805, exclusive of foreign levies or colonial corps. On the motion that they be laid on the table, lord Castlereagh submitted to the right hon. gent. whether it would not be for the convenience of the house to defer the printing of these papers, until after the discussion of the Army Estimates to-morrow. The papers were then ordered to be laid on the table.—Mr. G. Johnstone adverted to a practice that had been recommended in a former session, and had been acted upon, of having duplicates of papers presented, so that when one copy should be taken off to the printer's, another should lie on the table for the use of members. The hon. member submitted, whether it would not be desirable to adopt a similar regulation. The Speaker observed, that it might be for the convenience of the house to come to some understanding on this head. The practice adverted to had prevailed to a considerable extent, though not universally, in a former session. It was for the house to decide how its convenience would be promoted by such a practice, and if they were to come to any understanding on the subject, the clerks in the public offices would take care to regulate their conduct accordingly. There were some papers on the table which had been presented in that form, but the practice had not been observed in all. Lord H. Petty admitted that it would be desirable that the practice should be con- 465 formed to in every instance in which it could be carried into effect, but was apprehensive that it might not be possible to act upon it in all.—Mr. H. Thornton presented a Petition from the directors of the Sierra Leone Company, praying for leave to bring in a bill for re-investing in his majesty the possessions that had been granted to that company, and to limit the duration of the company. The Speaker desired to be informed, whether the prayer of the petition involved any application for a grant of public money? Mr. Thornton replied, that it might be taken to have that effect, as the expences which the company had heretofore been enabled to defray by annual grants from parliament, would hereafter be to be defrayed by the government. The speaker then observed, that in any case of a direct application for public money, the house could not receive from any individual a petition, without the consent of the crown; though, where the interests of his majesty were only indirectly concerned, such consent might be signified in any stage of the measure, which was to be founded on the petition. The house was therefore not precluded from receiving this petition. The petition was then brought up, and referred to a select committee.—Mr. Jacob observed, that an account had been moved for, and ordered on a former day, of the number of ships engaged and registered, in the British trade, and stated his desire to move for another paper, that would be supplemental to that, and was necessary in order to put the house in possession of the whole subject. The paper he proposed to move for, was, an Account of the number of British ships that had been captured by the enemy, and without being re-captured, had been admitted again to British Register. The practice was, to have such vessels taken into the enemy's ports, where they were sold to neutrals, and afterwards were allowed to be replaced on the British Register. This practice he contended amounted to a premium to the enemy for the capture of British vessels, as the neutral would not give half the price for the ships if he had not the power of placing them again on the British Register Lord H. Petty was not aware of any particular objection to the motion, as a paper of a similar description was already on the table. It was then ordered, that there be laid before the house an Account of the number of British ships captured by the enemy, and afterwards without re-capture, 466 admitted to British Register, from the commencement of the present war to the 5th of January, 1807.