The Press. — London, England, 1858-03-27 00:00:00

294 pott6ings in arliantent. HOUSE OF LOADS-MONDAY. EMANCIPATED SLAVES. Lord BROUGHAM drew the attention of the Govern ment to a recent Act of the Jamaica Legislature, the effect of which, he was informed, would be to reduce the emancipated slaves to something nearly ap proaching the condition of slavery. He hoped that act had not received the sanction of the Imperial Government. The Earl of CARNARVON said the act had not re ceived the sanction of the Crown, and wo still under consideration. Though it was an unusual course, he should not in this case have any objection to lay the bill on the table. EASTER RECESS. The Earl of DERBY briefly stated that, as there would be no business before the house to prevent it following the usual course, he proposed it should adjourn on Friday next till Monday the 12th of April. The house would, however, sit to hear ap peals on Monday, the 29th, and Tuesday, the 30th o! March. The Law of Property Amendment Bill was road a second time, and, in consequence of objections to some of the clauses, was referred to a select com mittee. _ The Church of England Special Services Bill and Trustees Relief Bill were read a third time. The Marine Mutiny Bill and Militia Act Con tinuance Bill were read a second time. AFRICAN TROOPS. Lord HABDINGE, in reply to a question from Lord Brougham, stated that there was no foundation for the report that two military officers were to embark for the coast of Africa to enlist negraes for service in the East Indies. Their lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS—MoNDAY. NEW MEMBER. Mr. WHITESIDE took the oaths and his seat for the borough of Enniskillen, on his re election since his acceptance of the office of Attorney-General for Ireland. TIIL General PEEL, in reply to Mr. Mackinnon, said that it was not the intention of the Government to embody any more regiments of militia, nor was it their intention at present to call out any regiments for drill. THE ITALIAN Mr. WALPot.E, in reply to Mr. Bowyer whether it was true that a body of delegates from all parts of Italy had been lately holding meetings in London for the formation of an Italian National League, and to bring about great political changes in Italy, and what information her Majesty's Government had on the subject, hardly knew how to answer the question. (" Hear, hear," and laughter.) '— Since the hon. gentleman's notice bad been given he bad made inquiries with the vi.w of ascertaining whether there was any truth in the statement that the meetings to which the question applied had been held, and all he could say was that he believed no such meetings had taken place. It was true that Italians did sometimes meet together, without any violation of the law, in private rooms to confer on matters of political interest; but with respect to the particular meetings referred to by the hon. gentleman, the person supposed to have been at the head of them was not an Italian but an Irishman. (Laughter.) PUBLIC HEALTH ACT. Mr. ADDERLEY, in reply to Mr. Repton, said that he should move that the order for the second reading of the Public Health Act (1818) Amendment Bill should be discharged, preparatory to the introduc tion of a new bill. AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS (scortAxn). Mr. HENLEY, in reply to Sir A. Agnew whether her Majesty's Government intended to make any arrangement for the collection of agricultural statis tics in Scotland during the present year, said that the system which had been pursued in Scotland was a half-voluntary arrangement, which was raid for out of the public purse, but at a very moderate charge. That arrangement having been stopped, it became difficult to introduce a fresh system, as the parties who assented to the former system would look with jealousy and perhaps disfavour at any attempt to establish a new system. He could only say that he would continue to give attention to the subject, and would not lose sight of the matter. CASE OF WATT AND PARK. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in reply to a question from Mr. Kinglake, said : We have received information two days ago that, in consequence of the representations of Mr. Lyons, the King of Naples had given orders that Watt should be home_ diately released without conditions; and he has been re leased, and, I believe, is now on his way to this country. ( Hear, hear.) Orders have also been given that the trial of Park should commence immediately. Perhaps the THE PRESS, MARCH 27, 1858. house will allow me to say that this morning we received a despatch, dated the 16th of March, frmu Mr. Lyons, from which it appeared that he had repaired to Salerno, and that the trial of Park had commenced. ' Mr. Lyons spoke to Park in the court, and he says that the proceedings were going on with great decorum and propriety, and with, he thought, a spirit of impartiality ; that the arguments of the counsel for Park were listened to with great attention, and the reply of the Attorney-General on a point of law was argumentative without any passion. After the proceedings terminated Mr. Lyons had un opportunity of being alone with Park for a considerable time. Park is well lodge , i in a room looking upon the sea. He is well clothed and well cared for in every respect. He is, to use his own expres sion, " in good heart," and animated by the feeling that he is not forgotten by his country. (Hear, hear.) The instructions given to Mr. Lyons were that he should not leave Park while in this position. Mr. Lyons is sanguine that the result of the trial will be favourable to Park—a feeling. I am glad to say, which our unfortunate country man fully shares. ( Hear, hear.) The papers connected with the affair wi!l be laid before Parliament as soon as possible ; but, being very voluminous, their preparation requires time. INDIA GOVERNMENT BILL.-ADJOURN3IENT FOR EASTET. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER begged to give notice that on Friday next he should ask leave to introduce a bill to transfer the Government of India to her Majesty, and in case the debate on the bill should be concluded that evening he should then be prepared to move, if agreeable to the house, that the house should adjourn till Monday the UM: of April. THE REOULATIOSS OF THE ORANGE SOCIETY. Mr. B. OSBORNE claimed the indulgence of the house in order to correct a statement he had made to the disadvantage of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, formerly a member of that house. He had stated that that learned gentleman had drawn up the rules and regulations of the Orange Society, but he was bound to say that it appeared from a letter Ile bad received that that statement was not correct. The rules and regulations of the Orange Society were placed before the learned gentleman in his capacity as barrister, and he gave an opinion on them as to their legality; but lie had never seen the rules pre viously, and he (Mr. Osborne) had fallen into an error, for which he was sincerely sorry. (Hear, hear.) 0 1TIL; BILL. On the order br considering :the Oaths Bill, as amended, Mr. Cocas moved to amend the preamble by adding to the words " whereas it is expedient that one oath should be substituted for the Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration now re quired by law," the words "and instead of the oath now taken by Roman Catholics under the MI George IV., cap. 7." His object was so to frame the bill that there should be only one ,oath to be taken by all members. Mr. WALPOLE and Lord J. RUSSELL objected to this amendment, which was supported by Mr. COLLINS. Mr. M. GIBSON, although he concurred in the object of Mr. Cogan, thought it would be better to postpone the consideration of the itoman Cathoiic oath. Some further discussion ensued, in which Mr. Palk, Mr. J. D. Fitzgerald, Mr. Horsman, Lord Pal merston, and other members, took part ; the house divided : For the amendment Against The debate then turned upon the latter words of the oath, " and I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, State, or potentate whatsoever, bath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecciesiastical or spiritual, directly or indirectly, within these realms." Mr. STEWART moved to insert the word " rightfully " after "potentate." A considerable discussion en• sued, when Sir R. BETHELL and Mr. WHITESIDE having explained that the amendment was super fluous, it was withdrawn. _ Mr. NEWDEGATE then moved the omission of the sth clause, providing that, whenever a person pro fessing the Jewish religion should be required to take the oath, the words " and I make this declara tion upon the true faith of a Christian " shall be omitted. Drawing a very unfavonrable picture of modern Judaism, which was based, he said, upon the Talmud, denouncing its doctrines as immoral, anti-social, and anti-national, he asked whether this was a religion which the house ought to declare by this bill to be, equal with Christianity, a qualifica tionfor a seat in Parliament. Mr. GILPIN and Mr. BYNG opposed the amend ment. Mr. DRUMMOND admitted the political propriety of the measure which admitted Jews to Parliament, but believed that it was altogether incompatible with a maintenance of the union of Church and State. Lrrd 11. CECIL insisted that the functions of Par liament were to a great extent connected with the discussion of religious questions. On this ground he argued that no one was fit to be a legislator who did not profess the national religion. Mr. HUGIIESSEN opposed the amendment. Mr. C. FORTESCUE contended that the clause it was proposed to cancel was the best and most im portant feature in the bill. Mr. WALPOLE, paying the highest compliment to the modern Jess, whose social and moral conduct was unimpeachable, whose benevolence and ch ar i ty was unbounded , whose religious faith was sincere, and who in fact were the most loyal and well-conducted subjects, stated thesole ground upon which he opposed the admission of the Jews to Parliament. His opinion was that it was not owing to the words in the oat h , hut in consequence of the inability inherent in thn Jews themselves of amalgamating with the people of this country. They were not excluded by positive enactment, it being taken for granted as an indis putable fact that Jews were inadmissible. He di s . cussed the question of the asserted right of the Jews to be eligible to a seat in Parliament. He showed that certain classes were excluded for specific reason , , and Jews, he said, were excluded because the whole of our laws were founded upon Christianity, and be causelin altering or framing laws every person con cerned in legislation ought to be a Christian. If a Jew had a right to be admitted, it must be derived either from the constituency electing him, but it was their duty to elect only those who were eligible by law ; or the right must be in the person elected, but Baron Rothschild could not maintain that r'ght on the ground of civil or religious liberty, according to the true definition of the terms. Then it only re mained to consider whether it was expedient to alter the law. He adhered to his opinion that it was not expedient to make a change in our institutions that would alarm the Christian mind of the country. In conclusion, Mr. Walpole said he trusted he should never be called upon again to speak upon this sub ject. He hoped this was the "last time." (Lud cheers.) Mr. ROEBUCK and Mr. MAGUIRE opposed the amendment. Sir R. BETHEL'. observed that the admission of Mr. Walpole, that the exclusion of the Jews was no a consequence of the words of the oath, proved that as far as the oath was concerned the Jews had been deprived of their birthright by a fraudulent abuse of those words. This fraudulent application affected, not the eligibility of the person, for Baron Rothschild had been elected, and if this bill were rejected, he would give the house an opportunity (unless Lord J. Russell took that course) before the session ter minated of declaring that it was not only empowered to determine, but justified in determining this ques tion, affecting its own privileges, by its own authority. Mr. WIGIUM maintained that the Jewi were ex cluded, not by any fraud, but by Act of Parliament. Lord J. RUSSELL admitted, with i%lr. Walpole, that could elect only those persons _ _ who were eligible by law; but the city of London, he contended, had a right to say, " Unless you show a fair reason for excluding Jews, you ought to take the person we have elected." The only reason shown by Mr. Walpole was that all our laws were founded upon Christianity. In like manner, the exclusion of the Roman Catholics had been justified on the ground that our laws were founded upon Protestantism. All this religious intolerance, however, was gone as a basis of public policy. He believed that the feel ing of the country was that the time was come for the settlement of this question, and that, so far front the admission of Jews being contrary to Christianity, by admitting them a nearer approach would be made to its spirit. Upon a division, Mr. Newdegate's amendment was negatived by 207 to 144. CONSULAR SELVICE. Mr. S. FITZGERALD moved for the appo►ntment Of a select committee to inquire into the consular ser• vice and consular appointments, suggesting various subjects which ►t was intended to bring under the consideration of the committee, the object of the Government being, he said, to obtain the earliest information. _ . . Lord PALMERSTON said it was quite fitting that a sifting inquiry should take place into these subjects. The motion was agreed to, after some brief obser vations by Mr. WISE, Mr. J. ENVART, and Mr. WHITE. On the motion of Ger*ral PEEL, a committee WB3 appointed to inquire into the operation of the present system for the billeting of troops. The house adjourned at ten minutes to one o'clock. HOUSE OF LORDS--TUESDAY. The Earl of SHAFTEmmy moved that a copy of the evidence taken on the trial of the King of Win be laid upon the table, which was agreed to. AFRICAN TROOPS. The Earl of ELLENBOROUGEI, alluding to the ques tion put by Lord Brougham on the previous evening, respecting the enlistment of negroes on the coast of Africa for military service in India, stated it was quite true a plan had been entertained for enlisting Kroomen of the western coast for such service : He had wished to employ them as an experiment; bat they could not be enlisted without such an a lteration of the Mutiny Act as could not be made on the third reading, and the plan therefore could not be carried out.