The Sun. — London, England, 1852-05-29 00:00:00

i2IPERIAL PARLIKIVIENT. HOUSE OF LORDS, May 28. The Royal Assent was given this afternoon, by Coin mission, to the following Bills: Property-Tax Continuance. Copyright Amendment. Linen, &c., Manufactures (Ireland). Poor Relief Act Continuance. • Loan Societies. Repayment of Advances Ants '(lreland) Amendment. Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. Stock in Trade. Highway Rates. Barnsley Gas. Bristol and Exeter Railway (Yeovil Branch). Macclesfield Improvement. Great Munster Fair. Skipton and Crisco Road. Portsea Gas. Derby Gas. Stockton Extension and Improvement. Vale of Neath Railway. Barnstaple Markets and Fairs. Medina River Navigation. Lockwood and Meltham Road. Stockton and Darlington Railway. Great Southern and Western Railway (Ireland). Belfast Gas. Rhyl IMprovement. Droitwich Junction Canal. Sunderland Waterworks. Thetford Fen District Drainage. Eastern Counties Railway (Branch to the River Nene,&a.) Cheshire Constabulary. Eastern Counties Railway (Junction with the East and West India Docks, &o.) Glasgow Union Arcade. Ilkley Waterworks. Norfolk Railway. Cork and Bandon Railway. York, Niiwcastle, and Berwick Railway (Thirsk and Malton Branch). York, Newcastle, and Berwick; and Malton and DritEeld Junction Railways. London and Southampton Road through Bishop's Waltham. Bury (Sussex) Road. Retford and Littleboroagh Road. Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway. Dudley Waterworks. Aberdare Market and Slaughter-houses. Deptford Gae. Londonderry and Coleraine Railway. Lmionderri e.nd Enniskillen Railway. British Empire Mntaal Life Assurance Company. Porthdiallaea and Naothwynant Roads. Easaarn Counties end Newmarket and Chesterford Railway Companies. Vvorpool Corporation Waterworks. Forth and Clyde Navigaioa. Glaacfard Briggs Watarworks. Sheffield Bridges and Saae!s. Cheaezharn Improvement anti Iltalth. Abardeea Fire and Life Assurance Company. Accidental Death Inzuranco and Railway Assurance Companies AmAgataation. Sott';dan2 to Kinston Massey, Broughton, StcAtoridge, and Wallop Roads. and North Midland and East and West Yorkshire Junction Railways. Dumfries and M'4X HAW Bridge and Road-. 3. Bedford and Kinal.olton Road. Deeside Railway. LiTbut's Es!at?, Bradford Eele Maneticster Hotr.e of Recovery. The Lords Comtuisaionr..rs were the Lard Chancellor, the Eel of Lonsisle, and the Marquis of Salisbury. Yuri own Waterworks. The LOAD CIIANCELLOB took hi seat on the Woolsack at Five o'clock. The Earl of GALLOWAY presented several petitions again:A the Maynooth grant. Th. 3 Masters in Chancery Abolition Bill was read a third tiMe and passed. MR MATTER. - - E:irl FITZ WILIT6.III;Ti iquestion to the Noble Lord at the head of the Foreign office relative to the case of Mr. Mather, the English gentleman insulted at Florenc and the damages awarded to him by the Tuscan Gs,verntnent. • The Earl of MILMEDURY said that the amount of darcr , ' es awarded to Mr. Mather wrs not so great as Mr. Scarlett had been directed by her Majesty's Govern ment to claim, but they were of such an amount as was considered equivalent to those which would have been awarded by an English court. Her Majesty's Government certainly had not considered that that sum would be sufficient to compensate Mr. Mather for the injuries which he had suffered; but he had no doubt that it would be found that Mr. Scarlett had actedin the Iron jalicious manner by accepting the sum of 240/. which V 33 awarded, especially as the Grand Duko joined with that the concession of releasing two Englieb gentlemen who had been for some time impri aonf,d st Florehee. Lord CAMPBELL bore testimony to the very great ability and skill with which Mr. Soarlett, who though only Secretary of Legation, had for the last six years fuldiled the duties of Ambassador at the Court of Flo rence, at tithes most arduous and delicate in their nature. After a few words from the Earl of ABERDEEN and the Earl of MALMESBURY, who both expressed their great approbation of the manner in which Mr. Soarlett had. always carried on the duties v,ith which ho had been entrusted, - the subject dropped. QUARANTINE REGULATIONS. Earl ST. GERMANS moved for copies of all corre spondence relating to the Sanitary Conference lately held at Paris. The Noble E irl proceeded at some length to enter into the history of quarantime, which he said had first been instituted a: Venice, and had not been intro duced into this country before 1720. With regard to this conference, he believed the result of it had been the expression of an opinion that the regulations were injuri ous to the interests of humanity and of commerce. Think irg that the subject was one which required the immediate attention of Parliament and of the Government, with that viece he desired to sea all the information upon the subject laid upon the table of the Howe. The Earl of SHAFTESBURY agreed that this was a subject of the greatest importance to the commercial interests, at the hiss which was caused by these quaran tine regulations was enormous in a commercial point of view. Ho believed that the result of this conference would be to abolish many of the most iejuiious regula tions, and to equalize anclassimulate the rules of every port. The Earl of MALMESBURY said that her Majesty's Government were fully cognizant of the great importance of amending the quarantine regulations of Eu rope, but the subject was one of great difficulty. The Government had no objection to grant these papers, although as there was now being negotiated a conven tion on this subject between France and this country— a fact of which the Noble. Lords might not be aware— it might be rather unusual tosproduce the correspondence before the affair was concluded. Earl ST. GERMANS said that he would not now press for the papers, if it was inconvenient to produce them, and the subject dropped. THE BARQNESS VON BECK. from BEAUMONT, in rising to present a pet ition Constant Derra do Marods, observed that the peti talibtuererawre,lF. native of Pesth, in Hengary, and that shortly with a Tait/lag in this country he became aecieeinted Beck, an?, who hed bane the name of Baroness Von vv)rk narrawho had become known as the authoress of a That wooi w il t ! certain events in the Hungarian war. prevail " on tl e ie xtrcm;:ly sucNrsaful, and the publishers the petitioner, nbioldY to write another. She engaged _ ec it seemed, was of a good family in ffungary, but and a prospectus w a dy circumstances, as her secretary, :ftacear ye? up of the work. That pros pectus was printed, von of introduction were fur nished to the.Baronoss Beck and the petitioner for presentatlon m Binu • nghare___and other towns, a tour in having b eenl r the coun tr yrecommen ded for the purpose o f obtaining subscriptions . ua Thec ettending the Noble Lord then went on to relate th e well-know ncite arrest of the flaroness Von umatances B o rk ,: at the house of arrest of theiaßaßriornmeisnagtvaz Mr. Tindal,ch arge of having obta i ne d a • s e t he of IL 4s. nutlet the conduct of th false pretences; and proceeded to animadvert.. upon the parties who prosecuted on the he magistrate and occasion. He contended grant uneer t isaued a summons, and not a wa, should have b e en. Circumstances, by the magistrate, and that the matter Shou ld have vroe 'ci e __ n been treated as a civil and not as a criminal was said there was something written n 011 1 7 41 If- Mr.it Pulsky in the poor lady's former book, , but that reason for civil proceedings at his suit—(Hear, hear s r) a The whole affair was so monstrous that he attro r k • whether moat to condemn the parties who had i n i th r Mr. Toulmin Smith, the barrister who had condnot e d m prosecution, or the barrister him self for the manner i; which ho had done; or the magis tr ate who had i ssued the warrant, or the officers who had executed it so bar barously.—(Hear, hear.) He really h o p ed some in q air y would be institut e d into the case, and some means taken to make magistrat es see t h a t s uch things could not be permitted to pass with i mpun i ty .—(Hear, hear-) If pro vincial magistrates were so ignorant of their duty it was high time measures should be taken to restrain them. It was most dangerous that large discretionary powers should remain in the hands of men so ill-qualified to ex ercise that—( Hear , hear.) And if the course which had been pursued in this i nstance w as usual, inwas imperative on the Legislature to interpose, and, by Act of Parliament, limit and define the powers of magistratee in issuing warrants.—(Hear, hear.) The petitioner had taken legal proceedings against the par ties, which were now pending; and into his case he (Lord Beaumont) did not propose further to enter than by stating that the petitioner set forth the proceedings at full length; the information on oath; the warrant; the depositions taken on the hearing; and the decision of the justices. The petition concluded by representing , that the proceedings bad been harsh, cruel, and unj usti !table by law, and prayed that an inquiry might be made into the circumstances and into the conduct of the jus tices, especially as to their right to hand-over the papers of the deceased lady to the prosecutors, after she and the • • (Hea p , e ) t_itto b nersh had been acquitted of every offence— d hjeh which evidence, which would have este. The petition ater, was suppressed.—(Hear, hear.) Particularlyprevent t prayed that precautions might be taken to er unprotected foreigners from being exposed to similar arbitrary arrests—(Hear)—and against the discretionary issue of warrants, or, at all eveute, against their belnftetiacuted in such a manner as in th e present instance-- d ead of the night—even in the case of a l a d y in ill healt h, and deprived of all power of defending herself from the accusations brought against_ber, for the pnrPOSI of gratifying the malice of her enemies by obteinine her temp,,lariarrest. 1e The 2,rcnala of SALISBURY ,aid the matter bad . , been brought before him some weeks .ss and o, then, as now, he thought it a very lame story. wile Noble Baron J THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAV had not stated the depositions on which the warrant had been issued, and' on which everything depended so far as the magistrate was concerned, who might have acted quite properly, perceiving that the party making the in formation on oath had sworn positively to the charge of false pretences, in which supposition the proceeding, at least on the part of the magistrate, would have been re gular and proper. He could not say how far this was or was not- so, but as the matter at present stood, their Lordships hardly had materials for pronouncing any censure upon the magistrate, whatever might be the case as to other parties—(Hear)—and as to them an action was now pending, so that he submitted it would be im proper for their 'Lordships to enter into the inquiry until the action Was decided, the result of which would, he doubted not, be to show that in any case in which a wrong had been perpetrated, the law of this country was adequate to give ample reparation to the injured par ty.—(He ar.) The Earl of ABERDEEN said ho really was asto nished to hoar the language of the Noble Marquis the Lord Privy Seal, who called this " a lame story."— (Hear, hear.) A lame story I Why, he had never heard one more completely established, or more painful in its character. —(gear, hear.) It was hardly credible that such a case should have occurred in this country. —(Hear, hear.) On one occasion a Noble Lord had observed of some case that it was only in Madagascar it could be conceived to have occurred, but the case before their Lordships seemed to be of such a character as could scarcely be credited'of any country, however cruel or unciviliscell—(Hear, hear.) What were the facts so far as they were undeniecl, and related not to the peti tioner but to the deceased lady? That a female, a foreigner, in bad health, was arrested in a barbarous manner at night, and dragged to a prison on a charge of obtaining money under false pretences—a charge which turned out to be totally false, for the magistrates entirely acquitted her.—(Hear.) irhat falte pretences could there have been? The lady had represented that she proposed to write a work. Well, she had written one already, and was no doubt about to write another, and the money was received as subscriptions for it, acd the subscribers would have received the book when published—what false pretence was there in this representation?—(Hear, hear.) How could any person who had subscribed his money upon this representation, pretend that he had been defrauded of it under false pretences?—(Hear, hear.) As to the lady's title of baroness—if their Lordships were to decide whether ell the barons or baronesses were entitled to bear such rank, many persons might have to relinquish them.—(Hear.) Bat:really this had nothing whatever to do with the question.—(Hear.) Here was a poor lady in ill health, dragged out of the house at the dead of night, on such a false accusation as this, locked up in prison all night, and then dragged before a police-court—until, under excitement, she sank down dead!—(Hear.) Surely no person of any human feeling could hoar these plain facts without seneations of horror.—(Hear.) It was shocking to see that such things as these could happen in a coun try such as this e --which boasted its equal justice and its fair lawe.—(Hcar.) And then, when the persen who had gone down to prosecute this poor helpless woman— the real reason being some offence given to certain of her countrymen in her former publication—(Hear)-- when this lawyer who pmecuted made the demend, the magistrates—while her corpse was lying before them— made an order for delivery of the papers to the prose cuters—(Heer)—to obtain which was possibly the main motive of the prosecution.—(llear, hear.) It was a very good tl:ing that such a monstrous case should have been brought forward to be stigmatised as it deserved.— (Hear. hear.) And he hoped an inquiry would be instituted into the conduct o. the magistrates who had acted or allowed others to act with such illegality and inhumanity.—(Hear.) The LORD CHANCELLOR said, if the party cam pleining had applied to the Noble and Learned- -Lord who had occupied his office at the time, the magistrate would have been called on for an explanation, and if his conduct were considered culpable, he must have been visited with a sapersedas, having first, however, been fairly heard in his defence.— (Hear, he'ar.) The proper authority, the Chancellor, did not appear to hive been appealed te.—(Hear, hear.) This was to be lamented, for, in common with all who had heard of the case, he had been very much shocked at it.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") He could not conceive it was true, it wac so shot...Eng.-01(2er, hear:) -- The question was,how far the proceedings were culpable. The petition im peached alt - parties- concerned—the councel, the magis trate, the officers, the prosecutors. An action, however, was actually pending on the part of the petitioner. Their Lordships could not at present proceed with t s be inquiry prayed for.—(Hear, hear.) On the face of the matter undoubtedly there had been unjustifiable pro ceeding.—(Hear, hear.) Even if the poor lady had to some way acted improperly, it was impossible to vindi cate the course which had been adopted.—(Hear, hear.) The practical question war, who was the party respon sible and vplpable? Probably, not the magistrate, who perhaps acted on information given on oath—some per son swearing positively to the ledy's guilt.—(Hear, hear.) Unquestionably a magistrate ought not to grant a warrant without great consideration—(Hear, hear) end the magistrate ought to take care not to be imposed upon—(Hear, ,hear)—especially ought he to be cau tious how he allowed a warrant to be exe cuted at , night—(Hear, hear)—as in this in stance, in which (though the magistrate might not be responsible for the manner of executing the warrant) the poor lady had been dragged from the very hearth stone of a friend. He could not say that the case was not one which should have been brought before their Lordships, who were bound to protect the loweat of their fellow-subjects from the undue exercise of magis terial authority; at the same time, it meet be borne in mind that there was an action pending, and it would not be proper to prejudice its issue by any investigation in that House.—(Hear, hear.) The Earl of CARLISLE concurred in the feeling of Satisfaction that the case should have been brought for ward.—(Hear, hour.) And he could not avoid ex pressing his indignation that such a case should have occurred.—(Hear, hear.) The remark of the Noble and Learned L ,rd, that an action was pending, applied only to the petitioner, and not to the poor lady whose life had been sacrificed, and who was now beyond the reach of human violence and inhumanity.—(Hear, hear.) A s a female, as a foreigner, as an invalid, and as a guest,she had been treated with brutality and injustice— (Hear, hear)—aud not only with brutality as a female, but with treachery as a guest.—(gear, hear.) Ho could not help alluding to the conduct of the magistrate in ordering to be delivered up to the prosecutors on a charge dismissed as untenable the' papers of one of the parties accused, who was actually dead.—(Hear, hear.) The poor woman, one of the parties, having expired be fore the case was heard, so that against her of course no charge could have been substantiated; and the other-- the petitioner—having been acquitted.—(Hear, hear.) He could not but say—without going further into the case—that (with respect to the retention of the papers particularly) the ordinary course of justice had been culpably departed from.—(Hear.) The Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND said he was sure all of their Lerdships had felt shocked at the case, but he submitted that the fact of a suit being pending should prevent its being at present inquired into or dis cussed. The Earl of ELLESMERE said he felt indebted to the Nob!? Baron who hod brough this case before their Lordships.—(Near, hear.) Ho felt not only pity for the fate of the poor lady who had lest her life, but commiso ration for the simplicity of the magistrates who had al lowed themselves to be made dupes and instruments for the perversion and prostitution of our law to the purposes of private malice.—(Hoar, hear.) That was the real history of this case.—(Hear, hear.) Suppose the Foreign Secretary hod allowed a B r i t i s h su bj ec t i n Austria or Tuscany to be treated as thin poor lady had been, he would have been baited with glaciations, and vestry agitators would have lived upon him for a week. —(`ear, rend a lough.) The unhappy lady had been accused of assuming a title she was not exactly entitled to; but, if the pretensions of all parties who assumed titles were examined into, many would not be safe.— (Hear, hear.) There had been an itinerant orator pro fessing to be " Governor of Hungary," whereas some alleged that he had voluntarily abdicated that office, and had no right to the title, either in fact or right.—(Hear.) If that person had been arrested at night, and dragged to a prison and kept in confinement until the morning, and then brought before a Tory magistrate, what an outcry would have been excited. Yet what was done in the present ease was worse than this,—(Hear, hear.) He would not enter further into the subject, in deference to the appeal of his Noble and Learned Friend the. Lord Chancellor—not with much respect for the opinion of the Noble Marquis- the Lord Privy. Seal, who really seemed to think there was nothing irregular in the MI; Lord BEAUMONT begged to say, with reference to the observations of the Noble Marquis, that all the de positions were incorporated into the petition; all the pro ceedings before the magistrate's at the hearing of the case when they dismissed the charge, so that their Lord ships had all the materials necessary to form a fair judg ment on the case. The matter, indeed, had been decided by the magistrates, who had acquitted and discharged the petitioner. As respected the petitioner, he did not desire their Lordships at present to interpose, an action be' a :n d ie hd p a ending; but as to the poor lady who was dead, been so ill treated, what remedy could be had at i i , v? .. : ._ (Hear, hear.) If, as the Lord Privy Seal L eu t le .,a_to think, all this was only the regular course of eene r r ; alor its such law was altered the better for the its character.—(Hear, hear.) Lora e n , MPBELL said such cases ought not to be prejudg e d, ea the condu c t 13,644 while an action was pending. If inforrnatienl could magistrate had been culpable a crimi nalouild be obtained against him, and then he would be heard i 34 his defence. The Earl of OUGHMORE was understood to say he thought th e ease a serious one, and deserved inquiry. The Marquis of SA.LISBURY explained that he did not dispute thia, but 0 1 4 Y that at present it was impossi ble to pronounce upon the Marquis of et, A zduct of the magistrate. The CARDE said that their Lordships were indebted t o Similar case h . the Noble Baron who had brought the subject before thens.—(Hear, hear.) Now he hoped that if any the ou ever occur, it Id ' would be brought for Ward i n same way.—(Hear.) It appeared fallacious to :ay • medy available to the p att , es, th ro l t a h n ere w . as a legal re action could not afford reparation to the poor lady ; an d as . . . to a criminal information, who was to run the rick of setting the la in motion? The very fact, however, that the LordC . Chief pointed out that course of a criminal infor mation,ilJustice had to prevent a recurrence of EU h proved how serious the ease Ne - . as What provi sion had been made cases? The matter took place in August last, and since that time it did not app ear th a t the authorities had acted. Wes the case to be passed over without any at tempt to apply a remedy or to afford redress? —(Hear, hear.) Surely the magistrates must have seen it was only a case f o r a summons.--(hear, hear.) And though the magistrates might not be responsible for the manner of executing the warrant, they were re, sponsible for the character o f the officers whom they retained in their employment to execute these warrants. —<Hear, hear.) In such cases it W 33 often not practic- I able to set in motion the processes of the law for the purpose of obtaining redress ; and their Lordships should institute an inquiry, as the authorities had not thought proper to take the matter up at all. The Earl of DERBY said the Noble Marquis seemed to think there had been a gross act of oppression, and that there had been neglect on the part of the autho rities in not inquiring into it. Bat the Noble Marquis and the Noble Earl (Carlisle) were Cabinet Ministers at the time—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear")—and sitting by their side was their colleague the late Lord Chan cellor, who was of course peculiarly responsible for the conduct of the magistrates, and who had allowed six months to pass before he left 'office without instituting any inquiry into the case.—(Hear.) Probably the Noble and Learned Lord (Lord Truro) did not deem it neces sary to do so, nor his Right Hon. Friend the late Se cretary for the Home Department, or it must be pre sumed that they would have done so. At all events the Noble and Learned Lord and the Right Honourable Gentleman were the parties responsible for the delay of inquiry. —(Hear, hear.) And it was most extraordi nary that the Noble Marquis should complain that in puiry had not been instituted, when his own colleagues had been the parties to institute it.—(Hear, hear.) The Marquis of CLANRICARDE explained that he had not imputed blame to any parties; indeed, he had always imagined that inquiry would be instituted, and had ho still been in office he should have expressed the some opinion as he had now. The Earl of CARLISLE also wished to stale that he imputed no blame to any party now or then in office, and the only persons he found fault with were the ma gistrates who acted in the illegal manner that had been represented. Lord TRURO (who spoke with his back to the gal lery, and was consequently imperfectly heard) said he had the honour to hold the great seals at the time these transactions occurred, and in attending to a variety of other matters ho had not given much time to it, and had not heard the facts stated till they were detailed in the House that night. If the ease had been brought cfficially under his notice, as a matter of course ho would have neticed it; and if not, he would have been deserving of the severest censure. But it was not in the power of the Lord Chancellor or the Secretary of State for the Home Department to watch all that occurred in tho newspapers. He could not understand upon what grounds the magistrate had been supposed open to the very severe . censure that had been poured upon him, and which no doubt would be fully and eloquently detailed to the jury when the case was brought before it. If all these facts had been true, and that the parties were open to such public reproba tion, he could not understand why the petitioner had not appealed to the Lord Chancellor or the . Secretary of State for the Home Department. He confessed he saw nothing in the case to leal him to suppose that the magistrate had not good grounds for what he did; nor was there anything to show ho was aware of the critical position in which the unfortunate lady was at the time the warrant was issued. All he had to say was, that it could not be charged against the constituted .authorities, the Lord Chancellor or the Secre tary of State that they had not interfered before the matter was brought before them in some shape or other —that would be both impracticable and inconvenient. He would be quite ready to concur in the condemnation that had bsen pronounced against the magistrate if the case tad been proved, bat he objected to condemnation before the facts had been proved, and he must protest against the House receiving ex parte complaints against the constituted authorities. The Marquis of CLAN RICARDE said on account of the legal proceedings that had been instituted and their subseqaent postponement, it was impoasiblo for any complaint to have teen made, or the authorities to have taken notice of it. The*Duke of ARGYLL said one of the moat serious charges against the magistrate was the delivering over the papers of this unfortunate person to the opposite party. The papers were given to Mr. Toulmin Smith, and, so far as he could understand, were still in his possession. Lord TRURO supposed these paptrs had been im pounded in order to be produced before the grand jury. Lord BEAUMONT said the papers were not im pounded, but handed over to the prosecutor. That was the information he had received. He begged to ask whether it was the intention of the Noble Earl (Derby) to recbmmend to the Secretary of State for the Home Department to make inquiries in order to procure the information that had been laid before the magistrate, Mr. James, on which he had issued his warrant, and on which it had been served and executed? The Earl of DERBY—I have no intention of taking any steps in the matter, and I do not intend to recom mend to the Secretary of State to do so. When the case is properly brought bofore him, I have no doubt he will do what is right, consistently with his public duty, but it is rot my intention to take any steps in the matter. Lord BEAUMONT—Then I :hall make a specific motion to bring the inquiry before your Lortishipa' House.—(Hear, heat) The Apprehension of Deserters from Foreign Ships Bill went through a Committee, and was reported. Oa the motion of Lord COLCHESTER, the Differen tial Dues Bill was read a second time. The Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Bill went through a Committee, and was reported.. The Property of Lunatics Bill, the Stamp Duties (Ireland) Bill, and the Masters in Chancery Abolition Bill, were severally read. a third time and passed. JURISDICTION OF EQUITY BILL. On the motion for the third reacting of the Improve meat of the Jurhdiction of Equity Bill, Lord TRURO said the present session would be emi nently distinguished beyond all others by the efforts which Parliament had made to improve the jurisdiction and the administration of the law. It was remarkable for having instituted a fuller inquiry into the common law than had taken place since the time of Edward 111. The improvements embraced extensive alterations in every department of the administration of justice, and it was desirable that they should be as perfect as pos sible. The L-gal Commission which sat in 1850 had presented its report on the 27th of January in the pre sent year, and on the 27th cf February just one month afterwards—he had retired from office; and that was, he thought, a sufficient justification for his not having laid any measure founded on that report on the table of the House. It was only very recently that the present Bill had been matured and produced by his Noble and Learned Friend, and if they looked at the progress that had since been made in these legal measures, it would prove the great desire that existed in that House to pass these measures into law during the present session. Lord URANWORTH expressed his entire approval in what had fallen from his Noble and Learned Friend, and believed that on the whole these measures would contribute very materially to the improvement of the ad ministration of justice. It was quite true that the re port of the Chancery Commissioners was not made until immediately before the meeting of Parliament, and consequently there was not the same opportunity of con sidering the subject as the common law report. It was scarcely a fair ground of complaint that that measure did not go the full extent that might have been antici pated, but he trusted, at least, they would disabuse the public mind of what he believed to be a vulgar prejudice, that the persons connected with the administration of the law had a feeling which prompted them to resist im provements in their particular profession, It was his in tention to move that the 50th clause of the Bill be omit!ed, because it went against the wholft scope and ten dency of the Bill. It directed that certain books of ac counts should be admitted as prima Jacie evidence of the maten:s, although, according Ito the ordinary law of the land, they cluld not be received as evidence. Lonl TRURO fully agreed with his Noble Friend in thinking that the clause should be withdrawn. The LORD CHANCELLOR readily admitted that the clause in its operation would be very doubtful. This Bill passed through examination by a select number of Members of their Lordships' House; and he (the Lord Chancellor) was not at liberty to withdraw the clause without their sanction. The motion was then negatived by consent, and the Bill was then read a third time and passed. TURNPIKE-ROADS (IRELAND) BILL. This Bill was read a third time and passed. COPY.EIOLD ENFRANCHISEMENT BILL. On the motion of the LORD CHANCELLOR, Lord Brougham was added to the Committee to which this Bill has been entrusted. Their Lordships then adjourned to Thursday, 3d of Juno. HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 28. The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'Clock. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The Lords' amendments to the Somersetehire Central Railway Bill were agreed to. The Asthall and Buckland Road, and the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway (No. 1) Bala were read a third time and passed. The following Bills were considered and agreed to:— Commercial Gas Company and British Gas Light Com- _ pany. Wedmore Road. Adams's Estate Bill was read a second time and ordered to be committed. ROYAL COMMISSION. The Usher of the Black Rod appeared at the table, and summoned the House to attend at the bar of the House of Peers, to hear the Royal assent given by Com miswshioinchtoseseayLeroardl Lords' report).ublic and private Acts (for the names of PETITIONS. Mr. DUNCAN presented a petition from a place in Scotland against the Maynooth grant. Mr. HARDCASTLE presented a petition from the Master and Wardens of the Brentwood Grammar School, praying that the Attorney-General may be called upon to explain the grounds upon which he had compromised their claim upon the late head master. • Mr. SPOONER presented a petition from various places in Warwickshire praying for an inspection of religious houses. Mr. BANKES presented a petition from a place in Dorsetshire, praying the House to step in and put an end to the Peruvian monopoly in guano. DUTY ON CARRIAGES. Sir DE LACY EVANS wished to know if the Chancellor of the Exchequer could hold out any hope of the duty on carriages being abolished? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said it would not be in his power to propose any remission of taxation, Isowever triflirg. this session. PUNISHMENT OF CRIMINALS. Mr. CARTER ,wished to ask the Secretary for the Homo Departmen, if he was aware that men above 30 years of age, married men, and fathers of families, are subjected t o th e d egra d a ti on o f w hippi ng , as part of their punishm en t, on conv i c ti on o f l arce ny or other petty offen ces; and, if there is any law or statute the intent of which was to authorise county magistrates to Whet the lash on such persons of mature age? Mr...WALPOLE was aware that by the statute of. EVENING, o? trade, Liverpool, and sounded the tocsin of religious disc rd, by telling the olcctors that if they would vlte for him ho would support the withdrawal of the grant to Maynooth. The following lines in Hudibras were applicable to the position of that Hon. Meml37,r "What makes all doctrines plain and clear? 'Tis just twelve hundred pounds a year. And that which was proved true before Proves fele() again?—Twelve hundred more." The Chief Secretery for Ireland also sat mute, and left Meynooth to the tender mercies of the Hon. Member for Warwickshire, The Right Hon. Member for the Uni versity of Cambridge had suggested a commission of in quiry. To inquire into whet? Into some recent cir cumstances? Into the Durham letter, into the Eccle siastical Titles Bill, into that permanent conspiracy, half lay and half clerical, which held its sittings in this city under the name of the National Club? What need was there of inquiry, if there was nothing to be inquired into? It was the old principle to throw as much dirt as possible, in the hope that some of it would stick. That reminded hiui of a story—a candidate for a seat in Par liament, a most respectable man, was utterly driven from the hustings, because an agent of his opponent asked him "who killed his own washerwoman?" It was said this was a Protestant country. He (Mr. Reynolds) thought the best proof to the contrary was the presence of Roman Catholics in the Legislature. It was not a Protestant country; for one-third of the people were Roman Ca tholic, and one-third of the income also.—(No.) And yet they were told that 26,000/, applied to Maynooth, was a misapplication of the public money; it was but a beg garly instalment of jultice. It was never asked for; and it was now sought to be withdrawn, in consequence of the acts of the Synod of Thurlee, end the opposition of the clergy to the new colleges. As a Roman Catholic Member he would give no such pledge as that suggested by the Right Hon. Member for the University of Cam bridge, that the debate should be closed on Frid Ay. In conclusion, he denied again the imputation of desiring factiously to protract the debate, and stated that ho for gave the Hon. Member for North Warwickshire for having done so much mischief in the Christian commu nity of this country, as ho hoped God would forgive him.—(Laughter.) Mr. FRESHFIELD explained. He repudiated the charge of being the cause of any delay in the discussion of the motion. He had only moved the adjournment at an hour—half-past three o'oclock, when the House was close on the period of proceeding with other busi ness; and he had done so to give the Souse an oppor tunity of fixing a further day for the resumption of the debate. His motion was strictly in accordance with the rules of the House; and was, moreover, made to facilitate, and not to impede, the discussion of the ques tion at issue. Mr. ANSTEY said the imputation came from the other side of the House, and not from his side, and to that the Hon. Member for Boston ought to have ad dressed himself. Ile (Mr. Anstey) trusted her Majesty's G)vernment would give a pledge to prosecute the in quiry in the form suggested by the Right Hon. Member for Cambridge, in a fitting and proper way; and it was his intention to test their sincerity on the subject by putting a question, when the time should arrive for that purpose. Mr. KEOGH made no complaint of the Hon. Mem ber for Peebles ~hire, but certain matters ought, in his opinion, to be mentioned before the House went to the country, to the end that the electors should understand the game that wa3 now playing. He understood the Hon. Member for North Warwickshire—and it was only right the Hon. Member should hear what was said — was anxious to have the discussion on the motion pro scented, and that the other Hon. Member for North Warwickshire was anxious that the question should be supported by the whole strength of their party. He had heard something said about raising a cry in the country, but he did not believe that was the Hen. Member's ob ject. He beloved the Hon. Member for North War wickshire was sincere in his desire for a repeal of the grant to Maynooth, but he did not give other Hon. Mem bers the same credit. The Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State had spoken on the question; but the Right Hon. Gentlemen the leader of that House had not favourel the House with his sentiments. That Right Hon. Gentleman had not told the House whether one of the present Government had not counselled the Hon. Member (Mr. Spooner) to bring forward this question. — (Hear, hear.) The Right Hon. Gentleman was accom plished in literature—both in comedy and tragedy; and in one of his works he had immortalised Tadpole and Taper, who, in a conversation with Rigby, drew from that personage that he never did anything with out first setting up a cry.—(Hear, and laughter.) Now, in the present case, there was a chuble cry— the cry in England was Protestantism and Derbyism; in Ireland, it was Roman Catholicism and Derbyism. —(Hear, hear). What faith could the Honourable Member for North Warwickshire put in such a Go vernment? The Honourable Member ought to know the secret practices going on in other places. He bad seen as address from ono of the Derbyites in Ireland, in which the candidate stated he was opposed to the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill of last session, and determined to support the grant to the Royal College of Maynooth. Was the Hon. Member for North Warwickshire satisfied with that state of things? When the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 1845, was assailing Sir Robert Peel, he then said that protection in 1845 was in the same condi tion as Protestantism was in 1841.—(Hear.) Could the Hon. Gentleman put faith in a Government which was raising a cry of Derby and Maynooth in Ireland, and going about the country in England raising the cry of Darby, and down with Maynooth? The question before the House was for a Committee of that House to in quire into Muynoutb; that proposition had been sup ported by the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State, and forthwith the Hon. Gentleman who made the proposition rose, and told the House the Committee ho sought could never meet, and the inquiry, if granted, could never take place. Was the House to concede to an independent Member such a course? He had al ways heard, when an independent Member made a mo tion fur a Committee that a Minister would say, though favourable to the proposition, still his sense of duty would not permit him to allow the public time to be wasted, and therefore ,he must oppose the proposition. But in the present case the Right Hon. Gentleman had told the lion. Gentleman the public time must be wasted, and, though it was impossible the discussion could take pl a ce satisfactorily, yet would suppcfrt the proposition° Right Hon. Gentl eman for discussion. Here was a question described, and truly u w described, hieh t the e o w b wh e ohli o ec f hc a ai nn tholic population of Ireland — and Protestant important nature—a question population was deeply interested—eeauvquulseesttihoen his conscience he believed wouldti $1 ,:fd the eet Hon. Member fer North Warwickshire, en trusted it to the guardi a nshiplea:lie the great interests involved in it to be compromised in the same way as certain oth e r had been dealt with by the Tadpoles great questions sae it not one of the followers ll a com promise.—(gear.) Tapers of the Treasury bench—namely, by ' promise.—(Hear.) afte owers of Bill, called the attention of the r the second the Right lion. Gentlem tb an who in 1845, reading of the May n to the ' v k o e td th ag e a rt in r s e t m t i h e e r head of the Administration circumstance of two members of his Adminisutdrattaiounuthhaavilnyg be trifled with Government measure,a allow him g self as t (Sir R. hiske wouldetdminiatration persoonwould by keep P in e g el in i . f opposition to their colleagues?swho The vote so wildly in an swer the inquirer received was, that he (si r R. Peel) meant to be master of his position; that he kept to him self the power of controlling the acts of his colleagues; and that he intended to exert the whole of the power of Governmen t to carry the question. But what h a d t h e H ouse now, under t he leadershi p of a Gentl eman who h a d spoken whol e hours, and written whole volumes, to wd p ro ve the necessi t y of making public men a d here to a public J ust standard o f M law ha etffi did the the of blic principle—ear) House new find? They found ,th e second the Crown the first to raise on the hustings the cry of anti-Maynooth in tho very teeth of the record e d o pi n i on of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.—(Hear, hear.) Th e y found the Secretary of the Treasury, who ought to have been the last man to place himself in a p os i t i on i n which no public man ought to be pl ace d, t h e recog nised whipper-in of the party, going down to one of th e most i m portant constituencies in E ng l an d— a constitu ency once represented by a Canning —and setting up as the only pretension which, in his (Mr. Keogh's) con science, he believed ho could put forward, a reckless do clarttion to maintain his opinion, and a bigotted deter mination to sacrifice everything to the retention of office and his party.—(flear, hear.) That Hon. Gentleman, however, might have this consolation for his retreat from principles he avowed in 1846—if a vacancy occurred in the Cabinet, and he was called upon to fill it up, he would return to his former opinions, and would fling to the winds his present professions in order to win the em braces of a more enlightened constituency.—(Hear.) He had sought to place the position of the Government before the House and country, because he was aware that many people believed the grant to Maynooth, the first instal ment due to justice, ought to be withdrawn. He would warn the Hon. Member for North Warwickshire and the country that the occupants of the Treasury bench were playing a most deceptive game. They had sent the re• cognised and confidential agent of the Premier to Ire land, who had published an address to the electors, in which he openly expressed his determination to give a decided support to the endowment of Maynooth—thus leading every one to believe that the Noble Lord the chief of the Administration entertained the same opinions, and that nothing was further from the intention of Go vernment than to concede a single particle to the Hon. Member for North Warwickshire. With such facts be fore them, if they believed that anything could be gained by inquiry then they were the most credulous dupes on the face of the earth. He believed by this discussion they would only irritate, exacerbate, wring, and torture the feelings of the people of Ireland; and all this about a grant, which, if divided and subdivided, would not give a penny a head to the Catholic population of Ire land.—(Cheers.) The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he might have risen before to reply to the sug ges ti on o f the Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for the Univer sity of Cambridge, but he preferred doing so now instead of waiting until the discussion terminated. He had with the rest of her Majesty's Government,been sub jected to the comment s o f the Right Hon Gentiemanthe Member for Taunt on , w h o had charged him with praciteing conduct unworthy of th e pos i t i on he occu pied, in consequence of his having suggested Friday next as the most suitable day on which to resume the debate on the Maynooth question. No one was more ready than him se lf to acknowledge how he tun goal was to the responsibilities which he had been called upon to discharge—but he was bound to say, in the course he had taken that day, he felt he had done that which he ought to do.—(Hear.) It had been said that these dis cussions were calculated to lower the tone of that House, and to shake the confidence of the other House and the pcon!e; but he could not help thinking that nothing could be mcro ceiculened to lows : tone cftha a t House and to shake popular confidence than to make systematic effort to evade such discussions, or toresi st judgment on questions involved in thew. Ie "'PA, k George IV. persons ocinvieted of feb my or larceny were liable to be ordered to be whipprid at the discretion of the court before whom they were •yri ed. PIMLICO DIPRONTEI 11ENT. Sir H. WILLOUGHBY wished tc a•_k the Chief Com missiener of Works if ho would p 1 tse, 3 on the table of the House a plan and estimate of the ex pence to be incurred under the Pimlico Improvement I ►ol ,? MANNERS said there (mid be no objection to produce both the plan and thee estimate, and it was ordered accordingly. POSTAL COMIUNICATION V TITH SCOTLAND. Mr. COWAN wished to ask 1 the Secretary to the- Treasury if there was any intentio. 2 of the mails between London and Edinburgh being acc, de rated so as to save a day in the course of post between th e two cities, and, if so, when such change was intend itti l to b 3 carried into effect? Mr. HAMILTON said , that a pi 'oposition had been made to the Treasury for twee lit 'ating the mail be- Awecn London and Edinburgh, b) at it had only been re cently made, and he was not, the to Fore, prepared to say whether it was likely to be carrif id into effect. An ar rangement had, however, been c in• tered into by which letters-would be dispatched to Ei linburgh by the five o'clock Dublin mail. POST-OFFICE SA L ARIES. Mr. COWAN wished to ask the Secretary to the Treasury if the copies of mem ar ids end the answers thereto (from officers in the ink ,nt I department in the General Post-office, Edinburgh), of dered on the Lst day of April last, were likely to be to id on the table of the House before the dissolation of P 12.1 liament? Mr. HAMILTON said the ret .ru would be laid on the table within the next fortnigb jy '. HISTORY OF HA fl SOURS. Mr. TENNENT wished to aslc the Secretary of the Admiralty, whether it was intend o I to prc,:eed with the of the Harbours of the U:n ited Kingdom, which had been already commenced by the History of Belfast Harbour, recently published by t" 1a Harbour Department of the Admiralty ? Mr. STAFFORD said that t here were difficulties in the way of the work being conth to led, and be could hold out no hope for its completion. NEW ZEALAND C.CIMPANY. Ia reply to Sir JAMES GRA,I AM, Sir JOHN PAKINGTON said. he ho must decline producing the opinion of the law c Moors as to the claim of the New Z34land Company to o ampensation for their unappropriated land. AGRICULTURAL S'l7., ATISTICS. Mr. O'FLARERTY wished t o know if Govern ment intended to introduce any Itt IL far calculating the agricultural statistics of Ireland, a nd the value of agri cultural produce? Lord ITA.AS said that a Bill ' q as in preparation on this taint, which would short d; 7 be laid before the House. Ur. SCULLY hoped it would b e i aid before the House before the General Valuation Bill las proceeded with. Lord NAAS could nut make sufeh a promise. MR. MATHEI Mr. OSBORNE said. a correspotat Jenne relating to the case of Mr. Mather had cppot red in the public prints this morning, in whiot t the Secretary of State fur Foreign Affairs 'w as represented to have expressed himself disp o sed to compromise the affair for 200/., that being t sec price for which, in the estimation of the Noble Lo rd, the life of a British subject might be exposed to risk and danger in a foreign country. Nov he wished to l ow if this correspond ence was authentic? • The CHANCELLOR of th La EXCHEQUER said that it was very inconvenient th at these questions should be put without notice. He was r tat prepared to answer it. Mr. OSBORNE gave notice. that he should call the attention of the House to the anbject early after Whit suntide. AYNO 0 TH. Mr. REYNOLDS said the adjourned debate on the Maynooth grant stood No. 23 .on the paper for to-night, and he wished to know if the, Hon. Member for North W arieickshire had come to airy understanding with the Government as to fixing a day for resuming it? Mr. SPOONEft said he lime had no communication with the Government upon the subject, but as for fixing a day, that must depend upon what took place when the debate again came on. MILITIA BILL. Colonel SIBTIIORP wished to know if the Alilttia Bill would be reprinted before the third reading? Mr. WALPOLE said that very little alteration had been made in the report, and. there would be no neces sity to reprint the Biil. PUBLIC BUSINESS. Mr. HlNDLEYsaidruniens some arrangement were come to for resuming the adjourned debate on the May nooth question, he should move that the order of the day bo reed for the purpose of being discharged. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that he would take the opportunity of moving that the House, at its rising, do adjourn till Thursday next, in order that be might be enabled to state what course ho thought it best to take to expedite the progress of public business.—(Hear, hear.) He should still adhere to the original arrangement of proceeding with the Committee on the Militia Bill on Thursday next, but with regard to other Bills, he had placed certain resolu tions upon the paper, for the purpose of making their morning sittings more efficient, which would enable them to dispose of several important questions, and which he therefore hoped would receive the assent of the House. Those resolutions wore;—" That whenever the House shall sit, for dispatch of business, at twelve o'clock on any day except Wednesday and Saturday, if such business be disposed of not later than three o'clock, the House will resume its sitting at five o'clock; and if such business be disposed of after three o'clock apd before four o'clock, the House will resume its sit ting at six o'clock. That when such business has not been disposed of at four o'clock, Mr. Speaker (or the Chairman, in ease the House shall be in Committee) do leave the chair, and the House will resume its sitting at -six o'clock, when the orders of the day not disposed of at the morning sitting, and any motion which was under discussion at four o'clock, shall be set down in the Order Book after the other orders of the day. That when in Committee at four o'clock, regress when the House re tehvee ever Chairmantls do e shallrepo repo rt e p re sumes its sitting. That all dropped orders of the day be set down in the Order Book, after the orders of the day for the next day on which the House shall sit." These resolutions, if t h ey were adopted, would render the morning sittings far more satisfactory than they had hitherto been, and if they were passed, he should feel himself at liberty to avail himself of the privilege im mediately after the holidays.—(Hear, hear.) He did not intend to interfere with the Tuesday sitting, which was devoted to independent Members, but looking to the present state of.public business, and the advanced period of the session, it would be necessary for him to appeal to the forbearance of Honourable Gentleman even on that day.-- (rea- r , hear.) If those reso lutions were assented to, he should propose, that on Thursday they should go into Committee upen the New Zealand Bill, and that on the M o nd a y and T u e s d a y followingtropolitan they should meet at twe l ve o ' clock to discuss Interments Bill, and the Metropolitan the Me Buildings ste Bill.-- -- s—ear.) With regard to the question to which several Gentlemen had referred is the course place, it was expedi ent t h at the Maynooth debate i of the evening , it was his opinion that after all that had be brought to a n i ssue, an d w i th that view he proposed that it should b e cont i nue d thi s d ay wee k at twelve o'clock, but i t would b e only on the taken should understanding that t h ere would be a determination on both sides of the House to bring the question to a close on that night. — (llear, hoar.) It now only re mained for him to move, that the House at its rising do adjourn till Thursday next. He should take the supply after the New Zealand debate on Friday. Mr. MILES hoped, as the Government had given way Maynooth question to an issue, if a s m to adjourn the debate beyond iri diay Fri day, order ttiheen pw to u eb b rl r ei i e n gmwatohdueel would y. Mr. LA.O be convinced that Hon. Members oppos ite were dispos e d to take a factious course for t h e purpose preventin g of ßo e a E an inuir RE y heard with deep regret the annou ncement of th e Ch ancellor of the Exchequer. The proceedings upon the M aynoot h quest i on were ut t er ly ir reconcileable with th e di gnity and integrity of the H ous e, and he considered that to institute an inquiry within a fortnight of the end of the session was a farce and a mockery. Mr. SPOONER admitted that in the present session the inquiry could not b e b rought to a sat i s f ac tory con clusion, but the H ouse ought to show the country that it was not unwilli ng to entertain an i nqu i ry . that he had done anything to injure the character of the House, though he considered Hon. Members opposite had done so by the factious course they bad adopted. Mr. GOULBURN thought an inquiry was un avoidable after What had happened; but as Mr. Spooner had admitted that an • - .f. could not be properly in y made this session the Government , he suggested that should at on institute- • • on their own Mall number of once an investigation next n meat. T h erespo nsibility,oGopt and report the result to the House --MAN MAHON proposed that the the should sit to id continuously with - morrow, and prooee debate from day • it terminated. Mr. TIP try to day until d the practice of a --, ‘eDEGATE deprecate Pdaernliiead tious course , and endeavouring to coerce the majority. Mr. RUME thought the Government might put an jury to Protestantism end to all dispute by appointing a Commission to con. duct the inquiry. e nti b s e m rs in in the House taking a fact would do more ins discussion had been conducted University of Mr ' it HERBERT said spirit in which the colleges of ' Maynooth in twenty years. If the Hon. Member for North Warwickshire really wished for in thelreland than ten quiry, an d if the Government desired to support him, the Right Honourable Member for the Cambridge (Mr. Goulburn) had pointed out a course which w ould fully accom plish the d es i red en d. H e believed, however, that the p roposal for inqu i r y was a mere sham and de lusion, th e o bj ect of whic h w as to get up a cry for the hustiners. gn--(Che ) After a few Sir B. HALL hoe d •f• the Government were sincere, they would t e ' Isuggestion of Mr. Goulburn words from Mr carry out the . for the appointment of a Commission. and liberality, itMembers who that said if onth this ahe inquiry Housewere charac terlessthatimpossiblewould b e could only, sit for two or three weeks, and then the subject the tomb of all the Capulets.. They invited and courted inquiry, but they we'" not consent to a division until they dispelled the cloud that had been thrown before the indepsndent electors of the country. subject was t hn orderedbe bettor. r t . () b l o t The ;Hon. *Member for Peeblesshire, one of the Under- Seorettates, bad gone so t h e grelit emporium M A Y 2 91 1852. been anxious that the debate should not be prolonged. He had expressed his opinion as to the conduct of the debate —he hsd not wished to prolong it, and last Tuesday ho had medo an appeal to the Noble Lord op posite and other Hon. Members on the subject, and had his advice been followed a division would have been taken on Tuesday. There' was one duty of a leader of that House which ought never to be omitted—'he duty of consulting the feelings of the House on the conduct of affairs and dobetes.—(Hear.) Re would not allude to what was fresh in the recollection of the House—he would only say that taunts, repeated taunts, had been addressed to her Majesty's Government because they would not give a day—because Government wou7d not come forward and assist to obtain a decision for which the House waited. It was only a few nights ago that Government were denounced by the Hon. Gentlemen opposite for not doing that for which they were now de nounced for doing.—(Bear,) Government were re proached for wishing to proceed with the debate because inquiry was impossible. Why, the inquiry was not more imposible now than it was when the Hen. Gen tleman opposite was so anxious to have a decision on the question—were anxious to have, as they said, an inquiry. They all knew that the vote meant the House should express an opinion as to the propriety of having an inquiry into the system pursued at Maynooth ; and a mockery and a delusion as to the man ner when he heard such language as that it was in which the debate was coeducted. It would, he con ceived, be much more a farce and a mockery if the House did not endeavour to arrive at a vote on the ques tion. With regard to the exprotrion of the Hon. and Learned Member insinuating, and more than insinuating, that be attempted to use this subject to promote party interests, he felt perfectly conscious ho was quite inno cent of any such intention.—(Hear.) If that charge had been correct he might have adopted a differont tone; but he was satisfied no one could accuse him of intro ducing into the discussion expressions of acerbity calcu lated to wound any one. Ho had, without reserve, ex ,pressed the ground on which he voted for an inquiry, 'and the came ground had been more ably expressed by the Bight Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Walpole). That ground was, consideriug the question had so occupied the public mind and inflamed public passions, it was highly expedient and politic to ascertain if the national objects for which the grant was made had been fulfilled. They might enter into that inquiry, he considered, without at all prejudging the question. As to the question of the Right Hon. Gen tlemen (Mr. Goulbouru), relative to a Royal Commis sion, that was not a novel suggestion; it had already been made by the Noble Lord (Lord John Russell). He had expressed his objeotion, and he would again repeat it. Au inquiry by a Royal Commission, which could compel the attendance of no witnesses, would not ho a satisfactory course to pursue in the present state of the public mind. No inquiry during the recess would be satisfactory, unless it was u n it e d with those powers which Government only could confer. What chance was there of gaining those powers?—(hear, hear.) If the Hen. Member for North Warwickshire found a difficulty in currying on the discussion for a Committee of Inquiry, what chance read her Majesty's Government of carrying a law to enable the Commission to exercise powers winch were indispensable? Every one must feel it was impossible. If Government could not do that, would it be well to adopt the suggestion of the Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Goulburn)? He would state the broad grounds why it would be ob jectionable. Was there a better chance, if the plan wes adopted, of making the inquiry effective? And when they heard of mockery and farces, nothing was more calculated to disgust the people than to take important questions from the popular arcs, and to introduce them hitt) the Cabinet, for the purpose of providing a scheme of investigation which could not produce arty result.— (Rear, hear.) This was the important ground on which Government opposed a Commission of Inquiry. He would say, iu his own vindic dims, that until he received expressions of opinion from Gentlemen on both sides of the House, and belonging to all parties, he was unwil ling, in the present state of public business, to give a day. It had been mentioned that he gave a Govern ment day; but it must be recollected, whether Govern ment had fixed Friday or Tuesday, the result would be exactly the same. It was because on the whole, alter the discussion which had taken place, and after so much pub lic feeling had been expressed, and a general under standing prevailed that it was necessary and expedient to give the House of Commons an opportunity of ex• pressing the opinion whether an inquiry should take place into the College of Maynooth, that he felt it to be his duty to take such a course as would facilitate that object. He had no object but to fulfil his duty, and the consciousness of having done his duty would sus tain him under the attacks to which he bad been ex posed.—(Cheers,) Friday was then agreed to. THE CASE OF MR. MURRAY. Lord D. STUART rose and said ho thought the House and the country had a right to ask for informa tion respecting the circumstances which led to the im prisonment and the passing of sentence of death on an English subject. No matter how mean the condition of any British subject, in such a case he was deserving the attention of the House; but Mr. Murray, the unfortu nate person in question, was most respectably connected, and his father, grandfather, and many others of his family, had served in the British army. It appeared that Mr. Murray, who had been tiavelting in Italy with his father, entered the service a the Roman Govern ment. of the day in 1848, and was employed first in the army and afterwards in the police, but that, having been suspected of being implicated in the murder of some partisans of the Papal Government, be had been arrested and sent to Rome, where he was tried, acquitted, and set at liberty. Re afterwards proceeded to Ancona; but the Pope having been restored to his dominions subsequently, the unfortunate man was again arrested for the offence of which it had been rumoured he was guilty, and of which ho had been acquitted, and was thrown into prison. There he remained for nearly three years, and Hon. Members who knew what Italian prisons were, either from having seen, as he had, those places of misery and torture, or from having read the eloquent description of the Right Hon. Member for the University of Oxford, would have some conception of what he— their fellow -subject—endured during this lengthened period, without being brought to trial. There was no one who could wish that, if guilty of the crime which rumour bad connected with his name—for he (Lord D. Stuart) had not yet heard distinctly the charge brought against him by the Roman Government—Mr. Murray should escape justice, whether their fellow-countryman or not; but what interested the House and the country was, whether he was really guilty or not; whether he had had the advantage of a fair and open trial; and whether those who represented this country, from the head of the Foreign-office down to the Consuls at Ancona and Rome, bad done their duty in seeking justice for an English subject. From the statement of the Noble Lord in another place, and from information received from other quarters, it appeared to him the un fortunate gentleman had not had the advantage of a fair trial. He had not imputed to Mr. Murray, as was supposed, tre Elting him said was that the Papal Government, by a political offence; but what h e of advantages to as guilty of a which h ica h l e w off oo ei l t d ce o , th h e a r d d wise ep h r a iv v e o d b h e i e m o h b o e v e e n o o t oi r e e a twe within n s guilty d o . f a in pol h it e ica fi l ra c t ffe p n l c a e c , e' he he mu h s a t d t G h e teaamthoelstt o y m is e s , ue b d ut at h 'te e r w t a h s e o r o e t to to rn olo o d f ed th — e n P ei o ti p l e er f rom ohoet thetried advantagebythet o tribunal an appeal, alat pal Ancona,e to which andtherhee would e o h u a i d d have been entitled in the ordinary counsel; neither had he liberty to choose a counsel, but the Papal Government had appointed him in that capacity a person whose i duty it was to draw up an official summary of the cases, and it was very easy to understand that, in a country like Rome, where the courts of law were notoriously ill-managed, and justice did not prevail, the counsel appointed by Government were not likely to do that justice to a pri soner which might be expected in other quarters. He must say it did not appear to him the Consuls had done their duty in seeing Mr. Murray had fair play, because the result of what the Noble Lord said was, that in formation had been sent from the Consul at Ancona to the Consul at Rome of Mr. Murray's arrest, and that the latter at once did that which was highly becoming, so far as it went, namely, represented the case to the Papal Government on behalf of the unfortunate prisoner; but Mr. Freeborn ne vertheless did not send information of what had occurred till about February in thus year; that was not till nearly three years after the unfortunate man had been arrested. Mr. Freeborn was, no doubt, an active and intelligent and able officer, but his long silence was altogether surprising, and required explanation. Whether Mr. Moore, the Consul at Ancona, did not send Mr. Freeborn information of Mr. Murray's arrest, or, having done so, the latter had not informed the Govern ment at home, he could not say; but in either case it was a neglect of duty. He was aware of the peculiar state —anomalous and objectionable as it was—of the rela tions between this country and Rome, but the fault of that lay with the party now in power—it was the act of the Noble Lord now in Dublin Castle, and there seemed to be a sort of poetical justice in the present ease. Had anything been done to insure a proper trial of Mr, Mur ray, and to give him the advantage of counsel? Ho wished to ask a question also with regard to Mr. Ma ther, who had been most shamefully treated by Austrian officers in Tuscany. Earl Granville had intimated to the father of Mr. Mather that, as soon as the affair was concluded it was his intention to lay all the correspon dence before Parliament. Now that the negotiation was brought to a close, he wished to ask the Noble Lord whether there would be any objection to lay the papers on the table of the House? Lord STANLEY was astonishe g d e t a li g at ai t n h s e te N htha o ed bl pe e le L a o r r ly d should find in the proceeding upon Mr. Murray's any ground for preferring a char resent Government.—(Hear, hear.) He thought the h Noble Lord explained on the previous evening, brought this subject before the as the Government heard that the life I,,eueray lay under ject was in peril, and that la d i . u h o s e e t a , atoh Englisha tas soon sub ject the British Consuls in sen tence of death, they direct ll e of England to procure a r p Ancona and Rome to use a previous imprisonment .t t h e e i o n f fl u t h e o n c s e e a n n t d o o r e . t h o T r i h t y e It was true he had been ao Noble c ci L u o i r t d t a h l od f xi s p r o . k e Murray. s t - h l e imprisoned before on p i tills t ed c a h r a t err r gi g aat t e rli , hlr butatdrGi trial, as lake era nun regarded gel has had d h. e a d :M h hn i reo s . " acquittal," that Republican Government, theb a t y n h y o s and again arrested y o . f wa s k n owing leas t e h db a y t m M e u a r n r Noble Lord said Mr. Kerrey ought to have been re:- lamed under the amnesty, but his offence could not be called a political offence. Political' feeling had certainly been much mixed up with it, but the specific charge ag ainst Mr. Murray was, that he, holding the situation of lospeceoh of Police at Ancona, heel connived at the minder at I ntictneti city. Mr. Free born wrote in February of the present year that the ar rest of Mr. Murray had taken place, but the case was not iu his district; and i; did no; appear that Mr. Moore, the British consul at Ancona, had reported the of Ice' Sine , the dispatches of Mr. Freeborn bed put the (. re vernmenc in possession of the existing circumstanc they had t xcrted therns9lves to the utmost to prevt z'' any injustice being done to a British subject. One r 9 " monstrance was immediately put in by Mr. FreoborL and two more had been since addressed to the Papal Go• • vernment—one in April and the other in the beginning of May. He did not think there was the slightest rea son to impute any slackness in the discharge of his duties to Mr. Freeborn from the time the matter cause within his power to interfere. He did not know why. Mr. Moore had not reported the case earlier, but the feet of the Government having interfered proved that the sentence was not one in their opinion upon which the life of a British subject should depend. With re gard to the publication of the papers, the Government must follow the usual course of withholding the papers until the negotiations were at an end. Lord PALMERSTON, during the time he was at the head of the Foreign-office, had received no information on the subject of this case. Undoubtedly, it a pp e ared to require explanation why Mr. Moore, if the affair originated at Ancona, or Mr. Froeboro, if it were trans ferred to Rome, did not make a communication to the Foreign-office; and also why th friends of Mr. Murray' in England did net make application to him (Lord Pale merstoc) when ho wee at the head of the Foreign-office. With regard to Mr. Moore and Mr. Freeborn, howe ver, it was only right to say that it was impossible to base two public servants who had shown more zeal and dis cretion in the duties imposed upon them, and it must be supposed there were reasons which led them think that the case of Murray did not require immediate represen a tations to the Government of Ur ea '. Britain. Certainly , if he (Lord P a l mers t on ) were i n f orme d t h at a British subjectwere placed in confinement for trial for a grave and country s erious offence against the crimin a l l a w of the in which ho resided, he should have in structed the Consul or Minister of the place to take care that he was provided with a good legal defence and professional advice for defending taw self against the accusation. Of course, if tisa first information the Government obtained of the case was that the trial had been concluded and the sentence passed, that preliminary proceeding could not take plea. He agreed with what had been said with regard to the before vernment the and pa s etihhagt of t f t he Rome. Ae Roman inconvenience of the non -i ntercourse between this Act empowering Theß to enter into diplomatic n ego ti at i ons w i th Rome, ha d e x' an the Government;crowh pressed a great desire to have diplomatic negotiations with Great Britain. It o was true that the clause which was inserted during the passing of the Bill through th e House of Lords, and which prevented the Roman Go . vet nenent from sending as their representative here an ecclesiastic, did give offence to the Roman Court. ll e thought that they ought rot to have taken offence at that clause, for it only placed by la w th e di p l oma tic ia" tercourse etween RAM and England on the same foot ing as the diplomatic intercourse of the Court of Rome had been placed with Russia and Prussia by the deciefoos of the Courts of St. Petersburgh and Berlin—decision a in which the Court of Rome had implicitly acquiesced. ' The Pope bad had Ministers from Russia and Prussia resident at Rome, and whereas the Russian and Prussian Governments had refused to receive ecclesiastics as the representatives of the Papal Court, the Pope had so far acquiesced in that decision that he bed abstained from ; sending ecclesiastics to those Courts. He therefore held that the Pope was not justified in objecting to k r e ; ; ceive a British Minister, after th e p as sing of tu l Act, because we were only restrained by law from re' ceicing an ecclesiastic as the representative of the Ce l t! of Rome, in the same manner that the two Courts le , had mentioned wore prevented by the decisions of their respective Governments from doing the sa me thing. ga t . 1 „ he did not, in fact, understand that any suc h refusal t o send a representative here had ever been made by t he Roman Government. What they said was, that in con' ; sequence of the law they could not re ce iv e a permane nt mission; but there was not any reason for not receiving a temporary mission; and if such a mission were se!" from time to time, as occasions might arise to req uire , them, that would answer all the purposes that could be d ; be arrived at by a permanent m i ss i on . An d h e holier . there was nothing in the present disposition of the Re; man Court to prevent our Government from order'l ; our Minister at Florence, o r e l sew h ere, from g oing , Rome to settle any question between the two Govern ments. He wished to cor rec t w h at appeare d to bite misconception as to the e ff ect o f t h e c l ause i n t he DiPio_ matic Relations with Rome Act, and the notion that ! ho 1 on Court of Rome had ref use d t o enter i nto any negctiatle with the Govern men t o f G reat B r i ta i n, w h er eas tb y only said they co u ld no t rece i ve a permane nt mill Bloo, and could only receive a temporary mission. w oe Lord D. STUART, th en gave not i ce that he or e move on Thursday next for th e p ro d u ction of the 0 respondence in Mr. Mather's case. The matter then ended. CONDUCT OF GENERAL THOMAS. e Mr. S. CRAWFORD said he had given notice of question with reference to the alleged conduct of Gen e ' ral Thomas and other miliiary officers at Entilelf. the in attempting to exercise an undue influence elector o f vote of Sergeant Miiinley, a pensioner, and 01,, the said borough. From a statement in the Nort her m Whig newspaper it appeared that on the 1901_ 0 % 11 ;1 last General Thomas inspected the local penslul„ er e, Enniskillen, and had presented to thirteen of so , of tw o r who had served in the 27th Regiment, a stun if , h y vereigus, telling the sergeant (eiliinley) that t sapper !1' them bad votes ho expected they would and wh en Whiteside. Mtliinley had refused to do this, ral Th e " the pensioners passed out of the barraclohis a n ,,, e t he was' mac shook his fist at the sergeant, and seen. vo i ye d the a disgrace to his comrades. The questi°n a tter, an d be freedom of the subject in an im hoped the Noble Lord would Pertaat Ina ation with regard to it. to The Lord NAAS thought he had some reason no goy. of the course adopted by the Hon. seriously affect. Member had given notice of a question eractor ing the character of an officer of as high d a h reduced no any man in her Majesty's service, and had P amens better grounds for his statement than an give some inform not even the Gallant allowed him time to communicate with under these •and of course letter in a newspaper . The Hon. Member had General on the subject, noes cir cumstances of the Gal' tion. From his knowledge of the character he could not say t he believed he lant Genera! he must, however, say, derogatory the derogatory te would never General , found committing an anything as to the tra re atitherativ e brought the question forward on mo mind to grounds, ho could not considerhimself b the character of an officer. Unless the Hon. Member notice it. he did not believe that au officer of the character of G e nera to the subject, and thoug h l Thomas would ev er s that referred to, be Colonel RAWDON said his attention had b e en cane! be guilty of such an indiscretion a thought inquiry called for. S. Mr. CRAWFORD said he had received a private l e tt er corroborating the statement in the newspaper. Major BERESFORD could never refuse ing o t ./ when good grounds were shown for it. The 1 10 2 : A Member had produced no ether authority for his mu went than an anonymous letter to a newspaper. After a few words from Sir H. VER,NEY, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER did net , think that inquiry should be granted on a llegations an anonymous letter in a newspaper. He did not thr, it was the duty of the Government to grant an ins 7, on such grounds. Nay, more, he did not think It wog. the duty of a Member to pre:er charges on such grohlahups —(Elsar, hear.) He could not believe that the Gal l : ye General bad acted as he had been reptesented CO n. 7 ,0 done. If the charge was made in an a uthoritat is manner, he would be prepared to mcs; Sir F. T. BARING din not take the • same view ae o f the Right Hon. Gentleman had done of the duty' Government in cases like this. Ile was rather t o (dined to agree with the opinion expressed hi n l e d late Sir Robert Peel with reference to the rule su s ' co on by the Duke of York, that inquiry should be In oo ye into every complaint, even to those made en 6 . ° , 68 mous authority. He had never yet heard that 1 1 _ 100 not the duty of a Government to make inquiry they found a paragraph in a newspaper imputing an conduct to public officers. Ho had himself more' once once made such inquiries. He reed not say that . .. l3 l e jo no wish to cast imputations on the Gallant Ct u :ond question; but when a Member of that House rots .. 00 , stated that an interf erence h a d b ee n alleged to_f co t taken place with the fr ee d om of election, it W h 7 o ino satisfactorf to be told th a t it was not deserving ili a ti estice s Mr. HUME said he looked upon that 53 a l o gs a l of considerable importance, If such procee tot those which were alleged to have taken Plec e , ni t here instance were to pass unnoticed and uncheckedan could be nothing like independent elections in this 'iota try. In his opinion his Hon. Friend had done t he right in bringing the matter under the not w s 0 0 _ 1 1 A i s . House; and he hoped that the Government Oh quire i n to t he case, and that if they should find twhigory steps for preventing its recurrence. M etie r/ ed to drop, and the t _ a s an abuse had occurred they would take, the net The subject was then allow till Thursday me lt agreed to. ordered 10 b e i The adjourned debate on Maynooth was of the adjournment of the House resumed at twelve o'clock on Friday next. THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE. i n to On the order of the day being moved for going Committee on the Civil Service Estimates, at- Mr. E WART rose for the purpose of calling i„-,, at i a g examinations and a test of the competency of canr oit ted tendon of the House to the expediency of in dila tes for situations in the diplomatic service. He au s n er• that it would be abturb to subject to examinations sons sent to represent this country as foreign aim 7 00 . dors. But he believed that we might, w i t h great a .. . 1 w tage, require young men entering the dipl om atic e_c h t hni te to undergo proper examinations. A system of 7 t ee nation was a present established in this country i t i i h dits Excise, the Customs, the navy, and the Ea", boa Company's service; and the Duke of Welling.tto reo ntly, with very much to his own honour, ellet7 eo ps, very enlightened regard to the efficiency of our sr‘ h „, e established examinations for ung offoera in the s „ l i r g lit He though that the time had cum° when the . f__4oll also to subject to examinations candidates for_st 13 _ '7 l - 0 0. in our diplomatic service. He hoped the Rips Gentleman the Chancellor of the or tz. v,%° 00 hold out to him some hope that that reform w ow:D in: ca n The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER see be effscted, if, indeed, it Lai not been alreadYie adm itted had brought under the attention of . the s . s ti e b li t bed e form of examination was o though no precis the importance of the subject which the 14%11 ; 7 A t. o f th o that it was exempted from the tendency the pose ducatiou and mental cultivation' of t ee to improved c for the diplomatic service, it would be an error the age d arraagetce n public service. For a considerable . period fluetico o f w hich was felt in ull hsr departmen ts . ant s . e es of the whale s f the , ce improve the diplomatic sell' ;lad exi-7,ted, and were in operation, with re 5 P .• ei which was to rofeasie° The effort* a sno 1,49 rd the Member t country and to give it the character o f zyugtOP