The Express. — London, England, 1847-06-11 00:00:00

■ to wbt wee te he the period of separate confine ▪ Il e,7eal labour w hich ho would think a just nee ▪ „ ouste d with the sentence of transportation. aN was short, they . would be in this dilemma— If would be so. light, that it would be inopeeu tM le whilst, fit was long, public opinion risen" ' it , and it would bo napes. fa welt WM° rtlff it into execution. They might =l e* tt k . -- an a of imprisonment with regard to • conv Erie whom their reformatory discipline had b u t what could they do with the incorrigible ? YiMee";_;:.; on imprisoning them for the term of their tsuoa-f4l yeas or for life — public opinion , he would " revolt at the idea. (Hear, hear.) lie was or n. " 11•1 0,,s would be no opportunity at present of taking of the house with regard to the plan of the go ne wmild gladly go into committee with them t bills with a view to cenridering their delails, YsWe the hands of the government until another eat esideration of the great question of secondary t. °Q. ie they would take all the difficulties of the wo r•"' ---- wee - s ideration' , and then co_ me forw . ard with a s H tetute • their scheme of secondary pu ni shmen t. ( ear.) We C. BT:LLER mould at any time feel it difficult to tentthe ~tenon of the house after the right hon. gentle nitrite bad lost addressed it, but that difficulty was in ;neat an that occasion from the eminent skill with which b a n d nested tbe rubject. No gentleman who had cr i•iebe plan of the government had condescended to tell t ows what better course could have been taken; that, wo g., sight have been expected from a gentleman who ▪ oblymprenoted the government during whom adminis- Im am all - the di ffi culties had arisen. (fleet, hear.) The bee avernment suspended all transportation to Van mm's Land. tad MAHON—Not Norfolk Island. M. C. BULLER would give the noble lord the benefit of kt he eve thoughteverybody acknowledged that Norfolk ma ha suspended itself. (Hear, and a laugh.) The ••ateeW ointment decided that the old system of transportation et continue, and the present administration had • wide what should take its place. The ques ta was regueed to a 'ay simple point. Trans consisted in exile from this country, and pelimerit to the country to which the convict was igm, The change, as regarded the old system which the ponm ent emposed to make, was to inflict coercive punish ant in this country, and exile afterwards, the only differ anes o f opinion being, that the punishment should be in teed in die future seat of the convict's exile. Now, he Ap r/let M4l taps teens to show that all modes of inflicting wa in punishment in the colonies had entirely foiled. (goo, boa.) The most plausible method in the old plan is• tee assignment system, which had the plea of its being N e s aamoey to recommend it, and the chance which it held set to the convict of being again restored to society. n e t astern had been tried for several years io New South Wm, and it broke down because it was found impossible ads it to inflict anything like coercive punishment. Gen fl talked now-a-days of the horrors of transportation ; Ist is the days of the assignment system there were no Inces attending it. The labour of the convicts was valu able. They were placed under masters who had every in imement to pay and maintain them well, in order that they might get from them the greater amount of labour. It ass declared at that time, and with truth, that convicts h New South Wales were better off than labourers at home, sod, that a temptation was absolutely offered to the honest sea in England to commit crimes, in order to get tran sported! In emsequence of the exposure of this evil the saimant system was ahandoned ; and he would sak, before he went further, was there any one in that house who would venture to argue C li that system ought to be restored? (Hear, hear.) Vd, it was then determined to punish convicts by the 011100 system. The judges on their circuits warned the =al transportation was not what it was, and that the ts inflicted, instead of being mild, were of the meat character. The public, no doubt, became impressed witti the idea that transpor tation was a severe punish ment. But then there came last year all the midden revelations respecting the horrible evils &t -ending that system. They were told from Van Diemen's Led, that the moral character of the colony was tiated—that life, property, and character there were alike exposed to the ravages of the convicts. All those who could have the colony quitted it : those who could not earnestly petitioned the government for a change. The revelations boa Norfolk Island he would not dwell upon: they were diegraceful to the English name, and horrible to think of. This coercive system, therefore, was a failure. In the face ef that failure, was there a single practical sugges. lion offered in that house as to any mode of punish ment by transportation without a recurrence of these abominations? Not one. Former ministers of the crown who had watched the system attentively were present, but they lid no single suggestion to propound. Could there be any doubt, then, that they believed with him that it was impos. Ale any longer to retain the system ? There were two all nfficient reasons why it must be abandoned : —fleet, it was Impossible to carry out such a system in countries 16,000 miles away, and where no single resident was interested in the convict's punishment ; second, it was impossible to find among the small population of these colonies 'efficient persons willing and competent to carry out each a system as they required it to be worked. Let them starve the great practical difficulty thus occasioned. They amt out their officers from England. A vacancy, occurred. Who did they find to fill it ? They could not wait to send WOO miles home for a new officer to come out to there, se tin place was tilled by tome colonist, probably utterly in. mmerienced in, and unacquainted with, the duties he was smiled upon to perform. The system , therefore, was an im wa dable one; and it was best that, seeing its impractica bility, they should meet the task baldly and take the matter an their own hands as responsible officers of the state. (Cheers.) But there was another point of view in which as question had to be considered, namely, as it affected the Wanes themselves. It was no exaggeration to say that it Inched the very elements of the society of those countries. It was an absolute sin towards them and a positive scandal le this country, that we should pnsist in a system calculated Is do them so much wrong. It had been said that the pros perity of New South Wales was owing to the importation of convicts, but he believed the fact to be the reverse. He be lieved that it had been on the whole detrimental to that whey, and that, with all its advantages, it had on that ac cent made les progress than any of their other colonies, ant Western Australia. The main ground on which be Mended the present pin was, that the old system had been pnjadiciel to the colonies, that it filled them with a bad visa of slave labour, and, above all, that it filled them with a bad class of settlers who destroyed the in. bat society in its very foundation. (Hear, hear.) BIM now generally admitted that the state of society in I as colonies ought to reflect the society of the mother reentry, but it wee impossible that it could do so, or that the colonies could possess the free institutions of the parent sentry if one-half the population was to consist of convicts. It should be recollected that they were not dealing with a Pine like Siberia, or Labrador, or the Portuguese settle mints on the coast of Africa, or the French settlement in Guinn, but with a place the most available for colonisa tion in the whole circle of the British empire. It was • Mies in which it would be most foolish and wicked to wake the convicts form part of the society, and rather then do so the mother country ought to submit to great inconvenience in keeping them at home. But those per- Nen would not he let loose on the society of the mother emery. They would be retained here for a time and sent lota colonies after they had gone through a reformatory rem the best that could be devised, which was a very diffrent system from that which would send them out as convicts, subject them the degrading influenceselnot to Norfolk Island, and then turn them loose on society. (Rea, bear.) He was not inclined to treat with disrespect the opinions of the judges, but he was not disposed is place an undoubting reliance on them. It mu not the custom of that house to refer to them on all matters of jurisprudence ; and if the opinions of the judge. had been always followed, their criminal code would not have been so much improved es it now. But the opinions of the judges had not been n on the plan of the government, but on a certain lead- E t eri t ti tt o l n ey w ir hi o e ll i d ha a d be en ar t f h ully b pLit tio to n them, o . namely, ports tiom (Hear, hear.) clu r t o l e he o gov e ern a ment plan retained all that was really repressive of crime in the pitniehmient of transportation. The efficacy of transportation consisted in the terror to the criminal of being separated from all his old manta •' but, under the plan of the government , t hat Baling would remain in the mind of the convict, the only dif. hence being that he won't' be subjected to a previous imprison nest. Hot if it was said that the prisoner's terror of transport*. tionerose from his knowledge of the kind of society to which he was to be transferred, end that he was to be placed in • hot bol of riot where, bad es he was before, it wee not in human nature to remistlbeing made worse—where, to use the ex- C 650 of a convict, ' the heart of a man was taken out of • an d the heart of a beast put into him "—if that was the kind of tenor and punishment held out to the prisoner, it wu of a sort that no legislatute had a right to avail them selves of it. (Hear, hear.) The system of liberating per son from the galleys in France had been, he admitted, most injurious; but the circumstances of the two countries were different, and it should be recollected that France rimmed the worst system of police in the world toe detecting ordinary crimes, however efficient it may be for discovering conspiracies and other political A comparison had been drawn between New ru P tMales and their North American colonies in the last century, bat there could be no analogy between sending 6 ,000 convicts at one time amongst a population of 150,000, min the case of New South Wales, and sending 1,500 *monists population of between 1,000,000 and 3,000,000, as era the cue with their North American colonies in the last century, He begged the house to recollect that the govern ment were forced to immediate action, and that they were mile on at once to decide what they would do with their criminals. It was said that they were making the sentence Mrftaneportation uncertain, but it was uncertain for the last twenty yearn and ten years ego, when a person was sentenced ttrateliertation for seven years, he was never transported at all, the punishment being undergone in the hulks min prison. He thought the government had pursued the wisest course *Pen to them. It would have been a greet evil at thdriod to enter on a discussion of the general statute law regulating mmdate punishments, and it was far better that e cape- riment sho u ld he tried under the authority of the old law, than that a bill should be brought in which would require amendment next year. The right hon. gentleman had asked tore Pledge as to the next lemon. In substance, a pledge had been given, and it had been stated throughout that the government would consider itself bound to bring the whole me venom of secon d ary pun i s h me nts before the house in et 'mien. The government plan removed many of the mils n or the old system. It was neither a return to the assignment astern, nor to the execrable system which had been put an emits, in Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's 'And and, whatever might be its merits or demerits, it would be minimd into effect under the vigilant superinten delse of the ministry and of parliament. Of this, at least, he felt confident, that the plan of founding • new penal colony would never again be resorted to in this country. Sir F. KELLY said he felt such insurmountable objec tions to the measure, that anima he received • pledge far more eate dis , tiact and specific than that given by the Judge- Advtiate, he should oppose it in every way that the forms of the house would permit. (Hear, hear.) It was a proposal to set aside transportation, substituting for it a system of punishment whirls was not at ell defined; and the plan would be carried into operation without the contest of par Lament. Before the change was made it would be well to consider whether or not it wee legal. (Hear, hear.) At that moment there existed Many acts of parliament re quiring the in fl iction of the punishment of transportation. The measure was proposed under the authority of the 5 Geo. IV., c. 54. He contended that that act was passed for an entirely different purpose ; and be would ask whether any one legal authority, in or out of the cabinet, had pledged his reputation to the legality of the scheme ? (Hear, hear.) Why, singularly enough, the act which he had mentioned was entitled, "An Act for the trans portation of offenders from Great Britain." (Laughter.) It was on a single line in the 10th section of that act that the proposers of the measure relied. Now, at the time this act passed, nobody dreamed of • scheme like the present. It was then intended merely that prisoners under sentence should remain in the hulks until they could conveniently be transported to their ultimate des tination. The expressions of his right hon. friend the mem bee for Tansworth used at the time the act was passed, showed that nothing was farther from the intentions of the legislature than that any system of imprisonment should be substituted for transportation. And yet it was under that act that the ministers of the crown, without the semblance of legal authority, sought to establish a system opposed to the tenor of • hundred acts of parliament. Ile would warn ministers against adopting this extensive change, feeling as he did, thatit was not sanctioned by the highest legal au thorities inthe country. They might find themselves in this predicament—that if they sought to substitute a term of im prisonment for transportation, they might have every cri minal applying for his writ of habeas corpus, and obtaining his liberty under it, in consequence of the ille rdity of the government plans. The act to which he had before alluded, had been referred to as sanctioning the abo lition of transportation. He did not mean to deny that trans portntion was accompanied by , many evils ; but they were not evils entirely without remedy. They had the evidence of I Sir G. Arthur and other persons high in colonial authority, to the effect that an increased number of superintendents, and separate apartments for the criminals, under rigorous surrnsion, would remedy most of the evils at present ex isting. The right hon. member for Tamworth, in intro , ducing the 5 Geo. 4, expressly stated that the object of that act was to make transportation a more severe punishment than it had hitherto been, and Mr. Wilmot Horton added that it was intended that it should be a real and severe punishment. His opinion was, that to sabititute at the will of the government any system of punishment for transportation, was to act in direct violation of the spirit of the constitution. If it were not so, what was there to prevent the government, in the same manner, abolishing capital punishment in all @sass ? The great object of all laws for punishing crime was, dad their operation should be immediate, direct, and certain, Ned however much legal authorities might differ as to capital' t, all agreed that, for certain crimes, transports. l ai mtte best mode of punishing. What more unjust or =fair position would there be to place the judges in, then that, when they were called upon to pass sentence an era offender, they should not know what the punishment would be, or how to admonish him? (Hear, hear.) No doubt there were cane now punishable by transportation which it would be better to punish by imprisonment, with or without herd labour, but there were other crimes in which but in the punishment of transportation there was so security against their frequent commission. In cams of anon and attempts to murder, crimes which perhaps d► served the punishment of death, and were by the law es but which from some mitigating circumstances It be per not to carry out that sentence, but in whiVt i he infliction of the next severest sentence was still muired—how, he asked, were these to be dealt with ? Were the criminals in such eases to have held ant to them that, if they escaped death, their penhh mit should be not transportation for life but same- I thing unknown—something undefined ? He called epos the house to pause before they affirmed a change abolishing transportation, which, in effect, it did, a change unconstitu tional in the whole, and in all its parts. He should not feel justified in voting against going into committee ; but, melees he should obtain a distinct pledge that this was • mere tempo- nary experiment, and that the measure would be forward in some distinct form as • bill for consideration of the legislature at a future time, be should feel it his duty to oppose these bills, in whatever form and at whatever stage they might present themselves. (Hear.) Lord J. RUSSELL mid : No one can doubt the great professional ability of the hon. end learned gentleman ; and, was this a question in which we hail to deal merely with the legal interpretation of words, I should feel altogether unequal to address the house after him ; but, sir, I can only ex press my astonishment that an hon. and learned gentleman so well acquainted with the profession of the law, and of such eminence in its practice, should have shown himself so totally ignorant in respect to the administration of the criminal law. (Hear, hear.) Any one would have supposed from the statement of the hon. and learned member, that the judges of the lend pronounced certain sentences on offenders and that shoe, sentences were exactly and literally , c into effect, and that whether the sentence was death or transportation, the execution of it immediately followed ; and the hon. and learned member has told the house that such is the dreadful consequence of our unconstitu tional course, that capital punishment may be done away with by the act of the executive government. The hon. and learned gentleman ought to have been aware that capital offences, one after another, had been done away with by the recommendation of the judges, or by acts of the executive government, long before any act of parliament had passed for their repeal. There is hardly an offence I can name in which that has not been the ease. There are many offences for which,when I was Secretary of State for the Home Department, and since, the judges had no sooner pronounced emeence, than they expressed a desire that it should not be seeded into effect; and yet the hon. and learned gentleman tells us that the criminal law of the country will be turned into ridicule if the sentences so pronounced be not carried into effect; and that in the case of transportation, such a MEM will be unconstitutional. V hy, sir, it his menantly been the practice within the last 25 or 30 rats to set aside sentences of transportation. When the right hon. gentleman the member for Dorchester was secretary of state, he ordered certain prisoners so sentenced to be sent to Peetonville, and there confined for 18 months, and I, as one of the commissioners of that prison, asked the right hon. gentleman to allow a great number of the pri a ,ners to receive conditional pardons on arriving at the colony—the very thing that is now protested against, the seventy of the punishment being carried into effect here, ' and the mitigation taking place at the colony. In the course of last year, the hon. and learned gentlemen, being Solicitor- General at the time, the right hon. gentleman took upon himself to advise the Crown to suspend transportation for two years, to suspend altogether the law which ordered transportation for some hundreds of offences. The law was then turned into ridicule, and the venerable judges were made a laughing stock of, for pronouncing sentences which were not to be carried into effect ; and yet the hon. and learned solicitm-general never whispered kt the Home Gill Ise that the right hon. gentleman was tilting ea nassaatitatimsrl ' and illegal course. (Cheers and kwatifieS4 Si, J. GRAHAM aid that before's@ bit alba ton bad not been sueraded, and no opportasagiVri oren afforded to the law of of the crown to give ea opinion on it. He had certainly ememinended such a coarse to his 8110001110 r. Lord J. RUSSELL preeemissi to show that detaining prisoners in hulks had boa a milks seastiessed by Lords Eldon, Lyndhurst, Brougham, emillOgNembem. and directly sanctioned by law. He could resift met in me other way. After the American war there wee an end of transportation to our American colonies, when it task place to New South Wale'. In 1815, an act was pried empowering the Secre tary of State to send persons senteseed to transportation to certain places of confinement within Ids country, there to be kept until their sentence was carded lain sleet Tbs kidery of that eat and subsequent champs eal e that dun gasser dderable difficulty in disposing of wows Issopmessi ts 1 oar colonies. Lord Bathurst had been eo =esed id* I the difficulty, that he desired toloand anew = of lead to those who would take a stabs° = In this distress aid act woe to ad of 1824, edri alla rtilarsi it to be =it, by a warrant from his Misty, to appoint picas of confinement in Raging and Wales , . either on land or in versa lying in the Moms and other rivers, for the confiniment of male offender ease seneemo of trans portation. What took place under that act wa y that nearly all, and at some periods all, the poises seamed to only 7 Teats' transportation wen sent to the blabs god put to hard labour according to the reinter system 3 isi at tie end of a fixed ppesririod of four years if they hobos& well they received, aeeoaßng to the established predbm a pardon from his ffiejsety, signed by one of the Seaside& of State, the whole term of transportation for seven yeenbeing thus commuted to a sentence of con fi nement on board the hulks for 4 years. Such was the • from 1824 to 1847, with the learned Per sonages he mentioned holding the office of Lord Chancel lor, many others equally learned in the law being law officers of the crown, and ne one of them, until the hon. and learned gentleman opposite spoke that evening, had raised a doubt upon the subject. Thus it had been the constant practice of theSeenWj of State to set at nought the sentences of the judges ; any such he (Lord J. Russell) believed to have been the intention of the legislature, for the judges were aware of what was done, and considered the net of parliament sufficient authority for it. So mast esy he did not believe the judges ever content. pilled or intended to define the system when persons were asnimmed to be taken to the colonies. It was impossible, lossmns the system wee often changed; at one time it was Soo arm= of assignment, and that was not constantly for at Bermuda they were employed in hard labour larllt arbour, which was • different punishment, and the Odom when they sentenced two persons, one of whom liana mat to Australia and the ether to Bermuda, amilemeed them to different punishments. He (Lord J. , ilawell whoa he was in office, put an end to the system of 5ub. 4 .00 and Lord Stanley substituted for it an sae of probation on the public works; but Om motemee of transportation was never ed t the emessfew sidle judges were the fame, and the ac t of pediment was set altered. Yet the hon. and lusted gentians selidne after all these changes to have a system whir& eassided pertly of confinement in this country, end partly of a ticket of leave in the colonies, was wholly uncon stitutional if not illegal. One system might be easier and UM efficacious than another ; but he (Lord J. Russell) was unable to conceive that one was more unconstitutional or illegal than another. The tickets of leave did not permit those who held them to travel whithersoever they liked, but it was a system of severe restriction, like that of assi d gnmitent. It was different to oils or banishment, an might THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 11, 1847. be a geed or a bad system, bat it was not one with which the sentence of the judges had anything to do. The question was, whet was the best systems; and when sentence of transportation was passed, bow it was to be carried into effect. Having said so much ja vladlwatlsu of the government with regard to what was cad *dr di. (elation of the system and the law, he woad MOM MOON to rest the defence of the planproposed on the speeches. of Me honourable friend near him (Mr. Hawes), of his right honourable friend the home secretary, and his right bosos able friend the judge advocate, who bed lately The change was, he thought, an improvement in the There must be some change, and the esereete from • Diemen's Land were such as to compelEse late govemelenit Ito determine not to carry on the presmat system, and II am their opinion that it should be abandsned. The sight ru M gentleman (Sir J. Graham) said tbat there were not meragh, or cells, to confine those poem who were mew teiseed to transportation, sad reesibre there must be subsidiary means employed, ark r working in the hulks or on the public works, if Ailment of the system was edeird. With regard to a change ha the law, he did not se reel differ on that part of the girder with the hon. and kerma gentleman. He thought some pen ago that, as the rusk& ment of death was takea r i d ywa in many cams tree& ported= ought not to be to meaty ofilelled; width it was ; and when he was in he apetergheei a drew in the law. But it must be dew whit mane treeiden. don of each particular act of psdhamest, and the let tere of each offence, before it coal be decided what mimes should be punished by transportation, and what by impel. sonment. This subject would meet with the mire Mew tion of the government, and with regard te a bill he making sentences more in accordance with punialumente, it would also be attended to by the government with a view to its introduction in another session. But it would be unwise to introduce two such measures this year. With these explanations, he would express a hope that the house would make no objection to these bills. So far from wishing to commit the government to any future plan, be was rather anxious that these bills should haves passed without discussion, and that the subjoin I of transportation should have been dissented on • separate motion. (Hear, hear.) No subject earl be more important or more worthy the attesiles el w house, but he hoped when the house came to ahem oosk a bill they would consider the benefit of the weds as well as that of the mother country. It had best too much the custom, in passing sentences of transportsd's. to consult the convenience of this country, by getting rid ed persons of evil habits, and to take that view of the guanine alone—that they enre bound to consider the interests of the colonies, sod in planting provinces which might become empires in the future, they should endeavour not to make ' 1 them the seats of malefactors and convicts, but communities which would set examples of virtue and happiness; and they ought not, as Lord Bacon said, to be composted of the scum of this country. (Cheers.) The house divided.—For going iota committee 124 Against it 76-48 CORN IMPORTATION BILL On the motion of Lord J. Itessztt, the house resolved itself into committee, and agreed to a resolution, that the chairman obtain leave to bring in a bill, further to suspend until the Ist March next the duties en the importation of corn. The house resumed, the resolution was reported forthwith, and leaveN AVIGATION was given te brßlMing in the bill. .. On the motion of Lord J. Ruserax, the same form was gone through, and leave given to bring in a bill to allow, for time to be further limited, the importation of corn from any country in foreign ships. LUNATIC ASYLUMS BILL. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, as he understood the amendments of the Lords to this bill were an inter ference with the privileges of this house, he should move that they be considered that day six menthe, and should bring in anew bill. Leave given accordingly. COMMUTATION OF TITHES ACTS. Sir W. SOMERVILLE obtained hove to bring in a bill to amend the Tithe Commutation Acts in England and Wales. The house adjourned at half-past one o'olode that it had the most ample grounds and necessity for defying them. The entire correspondence of Mr. BULWER and Mr. SOUTHERN proves, that the re action against the Portuguese constitutionalists, un dertaken by the court of Lisbon, was planned, and protected, and salaried from Madrid. Mr. SOUTHERN names the very sum forwarded. The same letters announce that SALDANHA was but a creature of CABRAL, and that the whole counter-revolu tion in Portugal was a Spanish intrigue, get up, at French suggestion, for Spanish and French, not Portuguese, purposes. With such information be fore them, it would have been most disgraceful in the British government not to have resisted most peremp torily any attempt at Spanish or French intervention in Portugal. And we are glad to see that the British government did resist it. The Chnesiek and Times assure us, that the French King made offers to the Queen of PORTUGAL of any assistance, she might require, to put down her rebel lions subjects. The French government, in a subsequent despatch, disavows having made any offer, cxceptunder the quadruple treaty, and in concert with England. With respect to the Spanish government, it pro mised, under the Duke of SOTO/SATOH, not to do more than advance a corps of occupation to the fron tier. Under the new ministry of ?settee°, the Spa nish cabinet declared that it would concert in all with England, except a sudden crisis should arrive, over throwinf the throne of Donna MARIA. "M. ACEIECO'a real wishes," writes Mr. BULWER, "are to arrive at some fair transaction in favour of the Queen, in concert with ourselves; that he has no wish to interfere at all with an armed force, and is not likely to do so without our concurrence." To this Mr. Binwza adds, that the moderado and military party might indeed force M. PACEIECO to intervene alone, but this would be contrary to his wishes and opinions. Senor PACHECO'S views aro still more fully stated in Mr. BULWER'e letter of April 13. Such being the sentiments of the Spanish minister, it is evident that neither he nor his cabinet menaced us; and that the only fears of Spanish intervention could proceed from a military movement or moderado faction, overruling the minister and precipitating the army into Portugal. Any such factions movement of a Spanish party we were bound strenuously . to re sist. But we have a very different opinion of Senor Pecneco, and have fewer objections to enter ing into a convention with him for the co-operation of a corps of Spanish troops, than we should have had if the assertions of the Zinies and 6'hroniek had been correct. Far from this, the entire conduct of Senor PACHECO leads us to consider him as a friend of Spanish liberty and of English connexion, and as one whose character and conduct, as evin ced ' in these despatches, completely separate him from those mode redo and Afrancesado factions, whose intervention or influence in Portugal we should most strenuously oppose. At the same time we cannot but think that our diplomatic agents in the peninsula somewhat exagge rated the fears and difficulties, with which they were beset. Sir HAMILTON SEYMOUR seems to have been in a continued state of needless alarm. That diplo matist was hourly affected by fears and suspicions, quite unfounded ; and his venting of these feelings of alarm has evidently infected and un-Englified our cotemporariee. The story of M. De VARENNEB having offered the unconditional aid of France to Donna MARIA is evidently an exaggeration and mistake, arising from the state of Sir HAMILTON SEYMOUR'S nerves. A Spanish ship in the Tagus', with some Spanish marines, threw him into terrors of Spanish interven tion on another occasion. Then the envoy enter tained exaggerated fears of the Miguelites, of whom Mr. SOUTHERN formed a far more correct apprecia tion. In fact, whether it was owing to his personal connexion with the COBURO family, or to tempera ment, Sir HAMILTON SEYMOUR had a HMO= tender ness for Queen Donna MARIA, which has led to many errors in opinion here. Even in the conditions im posed on the Queen, it is evident that Sir IL SEYMOUR would have relaxed and allowed that obstinate female despot to exclude her political foes from the amnesty, if the firm and positive order of Lord PALMERSTON had not precluded the possibility. Mr. BULWER has shown great ability and address throughout these negociations. In the early part of them his success in combating the efforts and influ ence of COSTA CABRAL at Madrid, even at a time ' when French and moderado influence prevailed, is very remarkable. Some of his lettere, however, betray, we think, an exaggerated fear of Spanish pretensions to intervene. We should, moreover, have desired that his instructions had permitted his replies to menaces or insinuations of this kind to have been more firm. These interventions of Spain in Portuguese affairs are bad precedents, and we venture to predict their terminating one day in conquest and absorption. The French telegraph has put us in possession of the latest news from Portugal, to the effect that DAs ANTAS, with the best of his troops, had been cap tured, no doubt after having embarked, as he threat ened to do, at Foz. It is to be hoped that, thus reduced, the members of the Junta may yield, and that, as our plenipotentiaries contemplate, further bloodshed may be spared. Even then, however, we have undertaken no easy or enviable task. We have stopped the liberals of Portugal in the very height and cer tainty of triumph, and, having done so, as our own agents avow, we are bound to see that liberal party put permanently in possession of those rights, which the Queen has promised. Moreover, we have sanctioned the armed intervention of a Spa nish force, for the purpose of putting down a body of Portuguese liberals . B y . this act, we fear, the parties of Portuguese and Spanish courtiers, Portuguese and Spanish exallaclos, are for ever linked and identified ; the interests and fortunes of the two countries are intermingled, and the independence of the lesser coun try becomes henceforth a reed for every wind to shake, and for every power to pretend to modify or infringe. And much do we fear that the quadruple treaty, as ' now interpreted and applied to liberal as well as absolutist insurgents, will prove a convenient tool of despotism, and an inexhaustible source of trouble to • England, of injustice and oppression to Portugal. Twegreat mischief which lies at the bottom of all others in our law of debtor and creditor, is the process against property in favour of the individual creditor. The process against goods, or writ of Teri facial, in nine cases out of ten, either is at first, or becomes in the end, an instrument of fraud. The maxim of the common law, rigilantibus non dorntientibut omenrrit kr, or, in English, " the law helps those who help themselves," involves as a consequeme that if a man takes the trouble to sue his debtor be is at Meaty to satisfy his claim out of his debtor's nr•PaW. though there be a hundred . other with exacy the same demands as his, but who have either neglected to seek legal means of recovery, or been anticipated in doing so by the activity of one out of the whole number. If the debtor have 2001. worth of prowty, and ten debtors, each of 1001., to pay out of it, the first who sues and proves his debt, takes his 1001. with costs, which probably exhausts the estate, and nothing is left for the rest. They may . ail have mita pending, but the one who gets Judgment and execution firstonakes a clean sweep, just as much es if he were the sole debtor or the sole plaint/I 'nisi', unjust. There is this further evil. The prao ties bads to a scramble, in which, occasionally, the property itself disappears. Sometimes two creditors oome in neck and neck. Two executions are lamed, and two seizures going on at the same time. In a case at Southampton, mentioned by Mr. Commissioner Faux (to whom e le s iniblic is mainly indebted for ex pose, of the evils of our bankruptcy and in solvency laws bailee the two judgment creditor, the auditor to a fiat took part in the b. The property Word was a hair dresser and perfumer's desk. One of the executive creditors, and the sheriff's tam acting in his interest, threw a quantity of the per. homy cat of the wiedow, thinking probably that this was **Wend mods dilating it into the steed, sad carrying it ow. The roreatioo, of course, tke &streaks of the MiliF. ha maks was hmeght by the migoose; bat it .4 11=4"siffieg elm the law helped these who sp,Arder this system, hurried sales are knocked v i rhich by collusion between sheriffs' officers and brokers, the most nefarious sacrifices of property take place. But no evil, in such eases, is at all equal to the in justice which satisfies one creditor at the expense of thereat We have been considering the ease in which the suitors in execution is bona fide. But in very many ease', the common law is resorted to not by the cre ditur against the debtor, but really and truly by the debtmagainst the creditor. He finds a friend of ea may I constimes as his own, or a man of straw to sue. He kb judgment go by default. Execution issues. Mean- while he defends the action brought by the bond fsde creditor. The law furnishes him with only . too many means of procrastination. All are set :n motion, special demurrers, rotten pleas, and judge's orders. When, at last, judgment is signed and execution' issues, the creditor finds that " the friend" has been beforehand with him, and he is left to pay the costa of his attorney, and swear at the common law. , Meanwhile, if the property be furniture, the head fine creditor has the annoyance of seeing his debtor in grinning enjoyment of chairs and tables, which he declares he pays rent for to the convenient friend and I judgment cre&tor aforesaid; and if goods, he is driv utg a roaring trade, selling them, as he impudently declares, merely as the agent of the same dens ex machines, the real " friend in need," and accounting to him most religiously for the proceeds. The honest creditor knows the humbug of all this. The debtor b hardly at the pains to laugh in his sleeve. But as things stand common law affords no better remedy. Besides the submission to execution in favour of a friendly or fictitious creditor, the dishonest debtor may mono his property to the same convenient friend, in satisfaction of a fictitious debt, the rascality of which proceeding, in nine cases out of ten, the bowl fide creditor is unable to prove at law. If he ventures on the attempt, his snit is transferred from the debtor to the debtor's straw friend, and he finds himself as Mr. Fess puts it : " As helpless as a blind man in a contest with two thieves, each 'seeing perfectly well, and each a master of his weapons." Need we wonder, then, that it is found in practice that only one creditor in eight ventures to sue his debtor at common law P But suppose ho has recourse to the bankrupt law. It must be remembered that this only extends to traders ; that debts under 501., due to single persons or partners, are not within the protection of this law; that there is very great difficulty in forcing a , debtor to commit an act of bankruptcy ' • and that under the law there is no sufficient punishment for fraud. But deficient as the bankrupt law may be in these points (and that it is deficient, at least in cheapness, ie found in the fact, that to " work a fiat," even in a small estate, costs 100/., of which the court takes half), it has the good effect of distributing the property of the debtor among his creditors. AU changes in the law should tend to assimilate the effect of judgment and execution, at common law, to that of a fiat in bankruptcy in this particular. Let all execution against property be for the benefit of all creditors. It would not be difficult I to construct a machinery for this purpose, or rather to accommodate existing machinery to the production of 1 this result. We would not presume to offer the following outline, except as a proof that there is no insurmountable difficulty in the way. Let every creditor who is anxious to recover be required to appear and make affidavit of his debt before the Court of Bankruptcy. Let the court thereon' issue its summons to the debtor. He appears sad admits the debt, or declares that be has a geed defence to the whole or part. If he admits the debt, the court fixes a day before which he must either pay, or make some arrangement satisfactory to his creditor. If he fail, execution issues against his property for the benefit of all his creditors, such failure being considered, ipso facto, an act of bank ruptcy. If he assert that he has a good answer to the demand, let him give security to defend the action within a certain time, and in default let him be declared, at the end of a further period, at once bankrupt, and let his property be distributed under , the bankrupt law. If he defend the action, let the costa be at the discretion of the judge. When the debtor is adjudged to pay them, let them be taken out of the properly in the first instance, the suing creditor being rei as the agent of the rest, and then let the remainder be distributed among all, as in the other case. If his defence be declared frivolous by . the judge, let him be severely punishable, by imprisonment, and, if bis affidavit have had no grouud of truth whatever, let him be liable at once, and necessarily, to the legal consequences of perjury. Every debtor is either solvent or insolvent. If advent, this course would bring him summarily and 'haply to book, without the delay and cost of an mike. If insolvent, not temporarily, but hopelessly sail completely, some such proceeding as we have sketched might often be the means of arresting him on the road to ruin, and saving something out of the wreck for his creditors. If his difficulties were only temporary, it would Five an opportunity for arrangement and composition. The law before it could give effect to all equitable compositions between debtors and creditors must get rid of such absurdities as those involved in the well known case of " Camber v. Wayne," the soundness of which, as reported, we are glad to see has lately been questioned. The doctrine held in that case seems equally at variance with sound commercial policy and common sense. It amounted to this, that a creditor cannot bind himself by a simple agreement to accept a smaller sum in lieu of an ascer tained debt of larger amount. Thus if A, a shaky debtor and not over-scrupulous, owe B, a respectable and not vindictive creditor, 1001., and B seeing symptoms that A is meditating a " smash" or a " bolt," begins to tremble for his debt, and offers to Ato release him from all claim on payment of 101. ; l in a word, to take YE. and wash his hands of the 'man altogether ; the law interferes to prevent A from so binding himself, and calls the arrangement " a nudism pactum." But if, besides the SOL, A offers to take 50/. and a Mick of sealing wax, or SOI. and • red :herring, such an agreement is a good one at common law, because there is then thrown in a "bene fit, or legal possibility of benefit," to the creditor," which will turn the scale, and render the consideration suffi cient to support the agreement." Well might Coss remark that, "the reason of the law is not like man's common reason." The first mischief, then, to be got rid of, in our law of debtor and creditor is, execution against property for the benefit of a single creditor. The subject of arrest must be reserved for another occasion. Mr. I. SHAW LTHEVRE has addressed the elec tors of the University of Cambridge. In these days of subdued party spirit, and of a de mand for excellence and eminence in special talents and acquirements, few ought to have higher ' claims to sit in parliament than Mr. LEFEVRE. His distinguished academical career gives him pecu liar rights in addressing the university. Mr. LEFEVHed life, since he quitted Trinity, has been a busy and a useful one. He has been suc cessively Under Secretary of State, Poor-law Com missioner, and Secretary of the Board of Trade ; proving, by his perfect accomplishment of the duties of these offices, that a man of science and learning may be also one of the best men of business, a feet than which none could more tend to enhance the character of our universities and their education. At the same time, science and learning require representatives in parliament, although hitherto the universities seem not to have thought so. At a time when the great commercial centres and communi ties of the kingdom are displaying in general an absence of extreme political feeling, and substituting for such a close attention to the especial interests and development of commercial enterprise, the universi ties should come to consider academical interests apart from the old fanatical speculations about church and state. To members of the universities so disposed, Mr. LEFEVRE will be a welcome candidate. WE have at last received the official statement of the votes in the second Chamber of the Prussian Diet, on the various modifications of the proposal to petition the King to convene the Chambers at least once every , twa years. The results are curiously illustrative of the actual position of the Prussian legislature. A motion that the King be requested to acknow ledge the right of the Diet to be summoned annually to deliberate on the estimates of the year, or that his Majesty, if disinclined to do so, should submit an al ternative proposal to them, was supported by 260 and opposed by 247 votes. A majority of two-thirds being required to carry a motion of this kind, it was held to be negatived. A motion that the King be requested in considera tion of legislative Fecedeats and general utility to consent to summon the Diet annually, or propose some other periodical term of meetingorm supported by 327 and opposed by 171 votes. The majority was only six votes short of the required majority of two-thirds. Had three of the members who cried " nay " cried " aye," the motion would have been carried. But this not being the case, 171 voters are held to out number 327. _ _ . . A motion, that on grounds of right and utility, l the King be requested to convene the Diet once every two years, was supported by 287 and opposed by 205 votes, and, of course, according to the very peculiar political arithmetic of Prussia, held to be lost. Lastly, a vote was taken on a motion differing from the preceding simply by the omission of the word iresbesondere (especially), by simply requesting those who supported it to rise, and the minority gave in without counting the voters. The King and his ministers are fighting a losing battle for mere words. In an assembly so talented, so judicious, yet so firm as the second chamber of the Prussian Diet has shown itself to be, 327 gentlemen will not long acquiesce in the legal fiction that they ails outnumbered by 171. The Prussian government is wantonly courting public dislike. The affair of M. Emile do Girardin occupied the public and the press in Paris on Wednesday. That deputy was brought before the select committee of the Chamber on Tuesday, bat it not being open to the public or to reporters, and the members having come to an agreement not to disclose what should take place there until the report shall be laid before the Chamber, no information of a certain kind could be obtained. Numerous and contradictory reports were of course in circulation, none of which appear worth repeating. M. de Girardin was again to appear before the committee on Thursday. It is un derstood that he declines to produce any documents or evidence before the committee, reserving these either for the Chamber itself or for the peers, should he be sent there. Much embarrassment is F iven to the cabinet by the absence of M. Duchatel, Minister of the Interior, who has retired to Tronville, on the alleged ground of in disposition. It is, h o wever, a ffi rmed, that indisposi tion is little more than a pretext to render it more manifest how much the cabinet depends on him. He is not on the best terms with M. Guizot. A cabinet council was held at the Tuileries on Tues day, to decide on the measures to be taken respect ing the governorship of Algeria, vacated by Marshal Buraud. The resignation of the marshal is defi nitively accepted. It is now said that he will be suc ceeded by General Itumigny, who had, on a former occasion, been for a short time interim governor of , the colony. If this report be well founded ' the mea sure will be one adopted merely as the harbinger of the vice-royalty of the Duke d'Aumalc. Advices from Berlin have been received in Paris to the effect that M. de Hochow, the minister of Prussia at the court of St. Petersburg, had arrrived in that city, and was the bearer of grave intelligence respect ing the health of the Emperor, and respecting the ge neral discontent which prevailed at St. Petersburg respecting recent events. The Conetitutionnel says that numerous arrests have for some time been made among the military of the garrison of Paris. Soldiers of different arms are seen conducted continually under escort to the Abbaye, a I place now used as a military prison. The attempted intervention of the French minister at Berne with the head of the federal government, in hew of the separate league of the seven cantons (which we alluded to yesterday), has roused the in dignation of the liberal opposition, who allege that M. Guizot in this matter is basely truckling to Aus tria, and Le National even asserts that the note of M. Bois le Conte to the president of the confederacy. M. I Ocheenbein, was written at Vienna. " The bad style of this note," says Le Natiooal, ' is apparent. It seems to have been verbally dictated by Austria. It i s written in the French spoken at Vienna." A serious disaster has occurred on the new line of railway between Avignon and Marseilles, which was just ready to be opened. The viaduct which carried the railway over the river Neurthe, one of the prin cipal works of art upon the line, has fallen. The particulars of this event had not re ached Paris, but it appears that no lives have been lost. The damage to the company will amount to from two to three millions of francs. The Madrid correspondence of the 4th has been received, but is without interest. No journals ap peared on the 4th, in consequence of the festival held on the 3rd. CONSTANTINOPLE, MAI' 19. On the 16th inst. an extraordinary council of ministers was held at the Porte, relative to the dif ference existing between Turkey and Greece. On the following day an order was issued by the govern ment for depriving the Greek consuls resident in the Ottoman empire of their exequaturs. It has also been decreed by the Porte that in one month's time from I the date of this order, the coasting trade between Turkey and Greece will be stopped, and the importa tion of the productions of the - latter country will be prohibited throughout the Sultan's dominions. At the time that the Porte came to the above de cision, they were fully aware that Coletti had written to Prince de Metternich, asking his advice in the present question, and promising to abide by it, whether it should be to yield to, or to resist, the demands of the Turkish government. That the reply of the Austrian minister would be in harmony with the wiiles of the Porte it was natural to conclude. It was known here, from a sure source, that it had been agreed between King Otho and Coletti that on the receipt of Prince de Metternich's reply, the latter should resign and make it appear that he was forced to do so by the united influence of England, Russia, and Austna. This, it was supposed, would increase the sympathy already existing amongst the populace in favour of Coletti, and would be an additional means of securing the suc cess of his party in the elections. The new cabinet would be formed with the majority of its members de voted to theex-minister. After the opening of the cham bers Coletti would continue for some time to influence the acts of the government from without, and when a favourable opportunity offered he would again return to office. It was the knowledge of these facts which determined the council of ministers, held at the Porte, on the 16th instant, to come to the resolution mentioned above. They hope by these vigorous measures to terminate matters before Coletti can put his plan into execution. It is very evident that Coletti wishes to conciliate the Russian party in Greece. lie has given several of the leaders a place in the cabinet. His object seems to be to create a fusion between them and the French party. As we foresaw, the Emperor Nicholas's note, of which we sent you a copy is a former letter, arrived very mel cipropos for Coletti's projects. He denies stoutly the existence of any such note, and says that it is a weak invention of the English minister. He asserts openly that he is sure of Russian support, and that the Emperor will never abandon his cause, which is that of Greece sad of Christianity. A despatch was received at Athens from the Bavarian minister at Paris, which seemed to shake Coletti's reliance on the French go vernment. He had written to Guizot, through the Bavarian minister, requesting to know what part France would take in case Greece should be forced into hostilities. M. Guizot was said to have replied that France would do all she could to restore ami cable relations between Turkey and Greece, and that in case her efforts proved ine ffe ctual, and a war be tween these two powers supervened, she would re main neutral. Coletti feels the support of France rather uncertain, and therefore it is that he is now look ing more anxiously than ever towards Russia. It is very probable that his wish to see a cordial under standing between these two powers in Greece will be very shortly gratified, but it is not equally probable that a combination of the kind will tend to the advan tage, either of Coletti, rig oft a Xing Otho himself. Abe Cow. The Queen visited her Majesty the Qom Dowager, yesterday, at Marlbogi ze liewee. Majgaty also took an airing in an open mai bar. H.R.H. Prince animal by lasat.-Colonel the Hon. C. B. Phipps sad Coked Dear" resided yes terday at a meeting of the Society bribe lossengsment of Arta, Manufactures, and Commerce, fa his4esse,A4klphi. Her Majesty and Prince Albert, a by the Viscountess Jocelyn, Lady Caroline Cache, Has. ins Paget, Lord Canals, Lord Alfred Paget, end Colossal Benverie, honoured the performance at her Majesty's Theatre with their presence yesterday evening. H.R.H. the Duchess of Cambridge, attended by Lady Augusta Cadogan and Baron Kneeebeck, honoured Mrs. Lawrence with a Matt yesterday, at her residence, Eel ing_Park. Rival Memel& partook of a de,jeil ne. Their RR. HH. the Hereditary Grand Duke and Grand Duchies of Sue Weimar, attended by their suite, visited and inspected the British Museum yesterday. MILH. the Duchess of Cambridge honoured the Earl Cadogan with her oompany at dinner, last evening, at his residence, in Piccadilly. of Metropolitan Improvements yesterday, at the office of her Majesty's _of Woods and Forests, in Whitehall-place. There were present Viscount Morpeth, Lord Lyttelton, Lord Colborne, Sir R. H. Inglis, Sir C. Lemon, the Right Hon. J. C. }terries, and Mr. Hope. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England had a general meeting, yester day, at their office to Whitehall-place. The had a - 4: - he epilirtgg. LULL The West India walk, minim than be Metloo, Madura% and the Hannitsh, will be rib on It months, at the 17th June. The nails for %len Omen, Menke. Gediz, and Gibraltar a lbs mei kw Bride Monk Anent" linunde, and the United knee. ell le nob up ewe ~in if the lin Jr. Mae WlNZiewl ails kr 011oneer Illeib.finesh the leaden Island; et,/ire•Cleylan Inik.ltemp4sielt i r OMEN on Southampton, wUrle mei ni as the main nth, Jen. The everteed Ikea 1111411. MsneMn. le the Mediterreneen, =ea" izitr Am Tao& ft., will be spade up on the She len JIM IMnein ter Maw See& Wein. Yes Iflenee's Land, and New reinedwill Markup en the enetes et the nihilism. The nib kr the Drank, the leen Piste, Monte Video, Pawn. ri fe ia lltder iy and BOOMS L yre, will be made up on the • nal la Endes up for Mare Less. by N.M. steamer Growler, wink to sail from Plreeth in • few dap. Lett:re, an, man be mends " By Gender. itheellemble libmodel Ibp "swab tables weld's paper, mast at tie Ony• by Ns Vdmli the Yu pbblhablieb. MOB WATER AT LOND Tara DaT—Monims, AAA pal t. A ON• tAr B oar" AIDO 36 Isl. pad It Twlloase•—ilanlag, I ulnpril. Aftsattata. II Wu. post I. LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE 11. - - In the House of Lords, after a discussion of some continuance, in which the Marquises of LAssuowse and LONDONDERRY, Lords MONTEAGLE, STANLEY, Furzwittissr, and Powis, and the Bishops of SALIS BURY, OXFORD, and BANOOR took part, the Bishop ric of Manchester Bill was read a second time. On the motion of the Marquis of LANSDOWNE, the report of their lordships' select committee on railway bills, similar in effect to that discussed in the House of Commons, was considered and agreed to. The House of Commons met at twelve o'clock, and at once proceeded to disease the resolutions of the select committee on railway bills. A division took place on the third resolution, prohibiting the payment of interest or dividend on calls, or any other power of borrowing money, as regarded bills introduced in the present session, Mr. B. DENISON proposing that the regulation should only apply to future bills, and not to those already before parliament, when the original proposition was carried by a majority of 43, the numbers being 70 to 27. The ether resolutions, with certain amendments, were then agreed to. On the motion of Lord M. HILL, a new writ was ordered for Derby, in the room of Lord Duncannon, now Earl of Beesborough.—Lord J. RUSSELL, in reply to questions put by Mr. B. Os- BORNE and Lord O. BENTINCK, stated that the go- vernment had received no official information en the subject, but it was possible, under the in structions given to Sir W. Parke r to detach some ships of war to the mouth of the Douro, with the view of preventing vessels from leaving that river for other parts of the west with troops on board, that if the Conde Das Antes and his army bad em barked on board vessels at the disposal of the junta, and forced the blockade, they might have been made prisoners of war, as was alleged, by her Majesty's ships. A statement of the capture had appeared in the Moniteur, from which source, he presumed, the hon. members derived their informa tion. A conversation, at the instance of Sir D. L. EVANS, ensued, in reference to the difference in the price of bread in London and in Paris, as compared with that of wheat in the two capitals, after which the adjourned debate on the 'abject of transportation was resumed.—On the question of the committal of the Prisons and Custody of Offenders Bills, the rF were Mr. NEWDEOATE , Mr. MILNES , Mr. M MILES, Sir R. INOLIS, Sir J. GRAHAM, Mr. C. Buttes, Sir F. KELLY, and Lord J. RUSSELL. On a division, the proposition of the government was affirmed by a majority of 48; the numbers being 124 to 76. The house went into committee on the corn and navigation laws, when Lord J. RUSSELL pro ' posed resolutions for the further suspension of these laws until the Ist of March, 1848 ; which were to, and leave given to bring in bills founded % 1 3 . r e :o d n, accordingly. THE official letters, which passed between di plomatists on the subject of Spanish affairs, repre sent matters in a very different light from the pelf constituted organs of the British government. These writers did not represent the armed intervention of the three powers in Portugal as a wise and war rantable act, which they defend in itself, but as an act forced on the British cabinet by the threats of France and Spain to enter Portugal without Eng land's assent, and to restore absolutism. England, de ' clue the Times and asronick, had no spirit or means to resist or resent this menace, except by pre tending to join in it and execute it. Their arguments for the policy of England and of Lord PALMERSTON are simply ad misericordiam, the wretch's plea. We were driven into a corner, and coerced, they say. And what we did do, wu not the best or most honourable conduct to pursue; but it was all that ministers durst do, and on these grounds they crave of parliament to be indulgent and to grant a kill of indemnity. We are much pleased to see, that the official cor respondence is very far indeed from showing this view to be correct, very far from assuming this mean and deprecatory tone, or of representing such " flunkey" policy as suitable to the interests or dignity of Great Britain. On the contrary, the official correspondence not only proves that the English cabinet did not submit to such unworthy fears and unwarrantable menaces, bat that it defied them, and 0