The Sun. — London, England, 1846-05-02 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS, May 1. Their Lordships assembled at Five o'clock. CHARITABLE TRUSTS BILL. Lord DENMAN' presented a petition from the London Missionary Society, praying to be exempted from the opera tions of the Charitable Trusts Bill. DEODANDS BILL. Lord CAMPBELL moved the order of the day for going into Committee on this BilL Lord DENMAN expressed his approbation of the Bill in its present state. Lord BROUGHAM also expressed his concurrence with the object of the Bill. He thought that if an officer like the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland was instituted in England, it would be a great means of forwarding criminal justice. Lord LYTTELTON supported the Bill. The LORD CHANCELLOR was in favour of the Bill, which had been utanimously agreed to in Committee up stairs as a measure very desirable. Their Lordships then went into Committee on the Bill, and the several clauses were agreed to. IRISH GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY. Lord REDESDALE presented a petition against the Irish Great Western Railway, viz., the line from Portarlington to Galway. He said it was signed by a large number of share holders, at least the parties signing it purported to be such, and to represent 121,0001. He would recommend the peti tion to the attention of the House. The Marquis of CLANRICARDE said he had heard of a . great many s h are h o ld ers i n t h e I r i s h pro j ec t who were just as anxious th a t th e li ne s h ou ld be forwarded. This petition h a d b een go t up b y a person whost yl ed himself a secretary to a rival company. The s h ares were now selling a t 2/. discount ; if any _ person purchased these shar es th e y wou ld be entitled to receive 31. per share when the affairs of the this y wereivegreat we couenndu t il Their Lordships would see that w ould ragement to gambling speculation in railways. He p resented a petition from the chairman and direc tors, praying t heir Lord ships to pass the Bill. Lord BROUGHAM wished to lay some information be. fore the House which he had received on the subject of rail way speculation. He had received a letter from a sharebroker, which stated that his business made him acquainted with th e opinions of other brokers on the state of that specul a ti on , an d thee/ co i n cided in his own sentiments, which were thus stated in the letter:— I beg to call your Lordships' attention to the fact that within the last few days the mania of railway speculation has been revived with all its former fury. Established are at from 20/. to 301. per cent, premium, and the scrip of lines which are of a doubtful character have gone from a discount to a pre mium. The consequences will be more serious than is gene rally imagined. First, it will enable new companies to get a majority of three-fifths in favour of carrying them on, and se curely cloak interested parties and the frauds of others ; and last not /east, we shall have another panic." This showed the necessity of adopting some effectual measures to meet the im pending evil of undue speculation, during the continuance of which the gambler made his harvest.—( Hear. ) After a few words from the Marquis of SALISBURY, which were inaudible in the gallery, Lord MONTEAGLE was of opinion that all the Bills on the table of the House should be suspended until the opinions of the shareholders could be obtained respecting them. He, saw considerable injustice in suspending the test respecting some Bills and applying it with great severity to others. There never was a year, in his opinion, in which a more ex traordinary and extravagant proposition had been made to either House of Parliament. He agreed with the Noble Mar quis behind him, that they ought to make one rule govern all. On these grounds he had taken the liberty of stating so much, because, having originally opposed this Bill, he felt himself now precluded, and he should consider himself acting not in a very unjust manner in refusing the passing of this Bill. He did not know whether his Noble Friend had moved the third reading of that Bill, and he would now move that the Bill be read a third time. Lord REDESDALE explained the grounds which he had taken with respect to this Bill on a former occasion. There was no doubt that the petition which he formerly pre sented, embodying, as it did, so large a body of wealthy andowners was deserving of considerable attention. That pe tition represented the wi.dies of the oweers of 5,000 shares, or 211,0001. out of 800,00:1/., which was two-thirds of the esti mated cost. He thought that, after all that 'had been stated, i. would be better to let this Bill go on. At all events, after what he had stated to their Lordships, he should decline to offer any opposition to the third reading. The LORD CHANCELLOR then put the motion, that the Bill be read a third time, which was unanimously agreed to. IVILILLINGAR AND GALWAY RAILWAY BILL. On the motion of Lord SIONTEAGLE, this Bill was read a first time. RAILWAY DEPOSITS BILL. Lord lIIONTEA GLE then said that he rose for the pur pose of moving that the Railway Companies' Dissolution Bill ba read a second time.---(Oh, oh, and laughter.) He begged their Lordships' pardon, he meant the Railway Deposits Bill, to which motion he hoped there would be no opposition. In the early part of this session their Lordships' attention was called to the fact of thevery great inconveniencevvhieh might be produced, and which he believed ought to be produced, upon the money market with respect to the law on railway depcsits. Ile was glad to find that•this Bill passed in the other House of Parliament without opposition. He believed that BB was one which would serve the public interest, though it was thought at the time that it would give railway companies very great influence ; that, however, was not the case, and he trusted it would now be read a second time. The Duke of BEA'6FORT said, that as several Nable Lords who took a great interest in the measure were ab-ent, lie thought it advisable to postpone the second reading till his Noble Friends had an opportunity of expressing their opinions. The second reading of the Bill was then postponed. 'the BISHOP of EXETER wished to know from his Noble arid Learned Friend on the Woolsack, when the House would go into Committee on the Bill (the Religious Opinions Relief Bill), which was read a second time on the pre vious evening ? The LORD CHANCELLOR feared that the Right Rev. Prelate judged his powers of exi)editing matters according to his own character for facilitating things. He might depend on it there would be no unnecessary delay, but the precise time ha could not say. The Bishop of EXETER said, there had been no hurry it appeared in puling forward the Bill. It had been intro duced in the beAinning of February, and for three montbs it had been before the House ere the second reading was taken. And then but little intimation had been given of the intention of taking the second reading. He hoped, therefore, they should have accurate infcrmation of the day of the Committee en the Biil, as there were many nice points to be considered. There were two points which he intended more especially to oppose, unless _they were .Itered. The one was, that pro posing to repeal the prohibition against the extolling of Papal supremacy ; and the other, the restriction on the circulation of Papal bulls. Except these were amended, he should certainly divide the House. RAILWAYS O The Earl of D ALH OUSIE DISSOLUT moved t l hat N the BILL. House resolve itself on this Bill. Earl RADNOR rose to offer a few observations before going into Committee. He could not consent to the Bill passing without considerable modifications. If it were agreed to in its present shape, many good schemes would be put a stop to by very unfair means.—( Hoar, hear.) This was confirmed by a letter he had received that morning, from a gentleman, from which he would read an exti act. ( The Noble Lord then read the extract, which was to the effect that he had taken up shares in some of the best railway pro jects—in the South \Vales, the Waterford and Kilkenny, and other lines.) He had taken up the shares as a bond fide in vestment, with the intention of paying up the instalments; but in the present Bill a power was given to parties to break up those companies by improper means. This gentleman's position, as he stated, was a very hard one ; because it was well known that a deal of gambling had taken place in shares, for the purpose of putting an end to schemes, for the purpose of realising a profit out of the sharing of the deposits This was a great hard s hip upon t h ose who had embarked in good schmes, and very general injustice would result from the pro posed measure. There would be many cases of hardship under the operation of the proposed measure. He thought t!lat by a little management such hardships might be averted. It ap.. peared to him that there would be no great deal of difficulty in carrying out an arrangement by which, when a majority of the shareholders were in favour of a dissolution of the com pany, the minority should have the power of putting in a claim to continue the company. The Earl of DALHOUSIE—They would then get off their liabilities. Earl RADNOR—Their deposits would be returned out of the money in the hands of the company, or which was de posited with the .Accountant-General. He did think that some clauses should be introduced to meet this state of things, and that it should be postponed for a day or two for that purpose. If the House did not do this, the result would be great injustice to the parties, and great injury to the public. Earl DALHOUSIE said, that as some clauses were to be proposed by the Noble Lord oppo4ite to the effect suggested by the Noble Lord who had just sat down, perhaps it would be as well that he (Earl Dalhousie) should reserve what he hod to say upon the subject until those amendments should be pro posed, as by that means the House would be saved the neces suy rl havinGßEg Y thessaar he should gone over a secon d t i me. Ea postp oned on account of should object to the measure being amendments vrhich he might have to propose, because the nature ; of those amendments might de pend upon what the natuai:eur measure should be. He ap prehended that great ife vsilosinaeniad„,ktLineiscmhiefis would arise from this Bill as it now stood, ents shatad not be intr o _ doted. He considered that theensudbject ought to be isnstpc,ned for a few days in order that the Government 'a matter more mature consideration. They f; td the w ever, to call on the Government to state- thhe.liravrieLvvhst'olillothe subject. The Earl of DALHOUSIE said if the Noble Lord ub mitted his amendm en t t o t h e H ouse he should feel it his sdt; to do all in his power to induce their Lordshtips to If 0-- _ re i j a ect s if the Noble Earl had been in hi s p l ace i n the eirlier s the Bill, he wo u ld h a ve k nown t h at h e (Lord Dielbousie)ge , b e te in introducing it and in the second readi ng , disci) used the p o i nts advised by th e Noble Earl. These poit is had also been considered by her Majesty's Government, who had constantly endeavoured to avert the evil of undue speculation, but they thought let impossible to provide a remedy for the evils of which he complained. The Noble Eafl complained that gambling had recten going on in shares for a double nurpose—namely, gambling: for the pur pose of making a profit on shares, and gambling for the pur pose of influencing the proceedings of companies by purchasing a quantity of their stock, and so obtaining a majority of votes. Naw, he had thrice admitted, and he now admitted, that gambling had been going on in the stock market, btzt that could not be urged as an objection to this measure, neither woulo' their rejection of it. But if they did reject it, they would render many companies fifty times worse than they were at the present moment, because they would leave them without the means of dissolution, thus leaving them to speculate from month to month whenever there was the least semblance of a chance of snaking any money by their shares. Scrip passed 80 constantly from hand to hand that it was almost impos sible to trace those who originally held it—in fact, they were like a bank -note. The object of the present Bill was to en Able any company which had not come before Parliament, or which were not before the House, in consequence of having failed to Co mply, , with th e stend i ng orders, to wind up their i session. 1,200 reg i stered companies at the commencereent of e Hou '" Th ere are now in actual progress before the se not more th an 430, and the whole of the others are from ascertaining tif,ao:itly.condition utterly incapacitated what was the liability of eteli person. the object of the Bill he held in hit band. A Noble Lortr on ini . nority ,hould have the power."ooqt.i.tic:ozsaiiitt,ieitan,lsii,idztuhigdegcbeoesatsc.epd,attre existeece; and that the propert them. He objected to such a i pro posit who were retiring from the ' c t ;; ) , " as b uni'lst. tiete o d to the property of the co.nPanY, for ocieorni she 17 : ;° were the only property which could be saved? ' a"1-4,aernx,,'"' n. etetlipg up the plans was of course entirely f that :lye, ten, or fifteen persons, who chooselutsot. the company to go on, should be (edit', d to all the provr.l4; when the company was wound up? All the property should ProNLa::ltn7zios by sold, and if the minority de,ired, 1,..t them purchase the plan s , and then fo r 51. t h ey c , u l,l put themselves in the condition. ~f newly-registered company. By such means they would be creating a nucleus of a new company, with a capital consisting of the stock of an abandoned concern of a worthless comp any, with a nominal capital to trade upon. They would be creating a nest egg upon which the lowest kind of speculators would in cubate; neat year they would have a brood of these I . Lord ASHBURTON wished to rectify the impression that this 13:11 was the only thing that was going to be done to do away with the mischief and the confusion into which the country had been thrown by this railway speculation ; for he was quite true that they would entail upon the country the greatest possible injury, if they went no further. Wherever there were the materials of gambling there would be gam bling; and whilst these materials remained it would be quite useless to stop the evil by legislation. He thought the bette plan would be to prey nt the issue of scrip at all until the seve ral Bills reached a certain stage before the Houses of Parliament. To save the evil, also, they might give to the shareholders wha remained the power of buying out those who wished to secede. One thing he wished particularly to ingress upon their Lord ships_one thing which he had particularly alluded to en all the Committees of that House—and that was, that it would be highly impToi,er to suffer these Bills to leave the House in the shape of laws, without a sufficient assurance that their object, would be carried into effect. Earl FITZ WILLIA 114 proved of the Bill, but he feared that it might have the effect of destroying many good schem es and supporting many bad ones, for the goodness or the badness of the schemes were in no way to be judged of by the positions and characters of the promoters. With respect to the plan, he wished that the best mode to he adopted would be for the Go vernment to take l ossession of them on behalf of the public ; and that he conceived would be a very good gitid Iry epto for the right to wind up the affairs of the several companies. He was anxious for this, for he hoped some day that the whole of these railway projects would be in the hands of the Govern ment. He was especially opposed to the sale of the plans, be cause he conceived that they would be bought up by the great companies, and be hereafter wade use of most mischievously. Lord REDESDA LE explained that the books of the sur veyors were only intelligible to themselves, and as to the plans they were all lithographed, and, therefore, easily attainable anywhere. With respect to the winding up, he believed that those companies which might be di,solved would be very honestly wound up. And with regard to the state of railway 1 egisl2- tion, he intended next week to ask their Lordships to accede to a resolution that they would not take any opposed railway Bill into Committee after some late day, say the •20th July. Their doing this would have the effect of saving a great many Bills from cooling up from the other House of Parliament, and iend , the business much more controlable than it apparently was at present. / . The Marquis of CLANRICARDE supported the Bill, but thought that the Earl of Dalhousie had not met the objections of his Noble Friend (the Earl of Radnor) and his proposition that persons should make a declaration of the time at which they came into possession of the shares before they were allowed to vote. He thought that was a proposition well worthy of consideration, and which ought to be thought of before the report was brought up. The fl , ;use then went into Committee on the Bill, when The Earl of DALHOUSIE said he was quite ready to con sider the objections of any Noble Lord. Earl GREY suggested that the practice of the other House be adopted which was to commit the Bill pro firma, ha} e it printed, and then fully consider it in Committee or have it re-committed afterwards. This was necessary, as it appeared there was almost as much writing as print on the Bill. The Earl of DALHOUSIE objected to the Noble Earl drawing any inference from his bird's eye view of the paper he held in his hand. There was no alteration whatever in the principle of the Bill, and he then went through the alterations to show that such was not the case. After a few words from Lord NIONTEAGLE, Earl GREY proposed to impose a penalty of 51. for each vote given not according to the provisions of the Act, both on the scripholder and the proxy who might vote for him. A conversation ensued on this point, in which Earl Grey, Lord Monteagle, the Earl of Dalhousie, and Lord Redesdale participated, the last nobleman objecting to the date of the Ist of March being fixed as a day posterior to which the sale of scrip should invalidate the right of voting. A provision was also inserted for obtaining a fair decision at the meeting for dissolving the company, the rule being, that the minutes should be signed by the chairman, aad countersigned by two of the scrutineers, and any attempt to falsify them should render the , party guilty of a misdemeanour. The authority to dissolve was to be obtained by a majority of the whole of the scrip, or of at least three-fifths of that which was actually issued. The Bill passed through Committee, several Bills were ad vanced a stage, and the House adjourned. ? f HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 1. The SrEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock. NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE RAILWAY. .Sir C. LEMON moved that it be an instruction to the Corn mitt ee (Group 27), to which the North Staffordshire Railway ( Hart Ncastle to Sandbach), North Staffordshire Railway ( Chur net Y in 'lley Line), North Staffordshire Railway (Potteries Line), a.ro . referred, that they h ave l eave to consolidate the three Bill s ' into one Bill. The motion was agreed to. EDINBURGH, LEITH, AND GRANTON RAILWAY. Mr. RICARDO moved that the Committee on Group (No. 8) of Railway Bills have leave to sit and proceed on Mondaay next on the .Edinburgh, Leith, and Granton (exten sion and branches) Bill, notwithstanding that seven clear days' notice of the sitting of the Committee on that Bill had not been given at the Private Bill-office, After a few words from Mr. GREENE, the motion was withdrawn. Mr. WARD moved that the . IMPROVEMENT Cambridge for Mon d ay, was given Bill, CAMBRIDGE notice of the second reading of which the 27th of April l as t, b e rea d a secon d time, notwithstanding the period li m it e d b y t h e reso l ut i ons of t h e H ouse had expired. The motion was agreed to. GOLLON INCLOSURE BILL. Mr. GRMENE moved " That the order referring the pe tition of blajor-General Sir James Fullerton Dundas, Baronet, against the Gal lolon Incloanre Bill, to the Commute on the Bill, and (amuse rde, be read- That the said petition being against the whole Bill, and not against the preamble or clauses, and not praying for the petition er to be heard, by himself, counsel, or agents, cannot, according to the practio:t of this Rouse, be :referred to the Committee t—that, therefore, the said order le discharged." The motion was agreed to. LOUGH S WILLY AND LOUGH FOYLE DRAINING AND EMBANKING. This Bill was read a sec o n d ti m e , time, and ordered to be cone mitted. REPORTS. The following reports were brought up , the amendments and alterations agreed to, and the Bills ordered to be en grossed :—Helensburgh Extension and Police, llelensburgh Harbour, Glasgow Union Arcade, Boston, Stamford, and Birmingham Railway (Stamford to NVisbech), Stowmarket Navigation. GLASGOW WATERWORKS BILL. The Lords' Amendments on this Bill were re,'d and agreed to. _ LAW OF SETTLEMENT. Sir . JOHN TYRELL presented petitions from the palish o f Kenni'Dgton and other places, praying for a revision of the law of setts ement, more especially with respect to pauper lunatics. The t letition was ordered to lie on the table. iROAIAN CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL. Mr. S. TARfIIAN CRAWFORD presented a petition from the Roman'. Catholics of Rochdale in favour of the Roman Ca tholic Reli of The peti tior, was ordered to be laid on the table. Pass. Tz7NVER-DUTY PAID BY RAILWAY COMPANIES. Mr. BRO"THENTON moved fora return of the amount of moneys leviPd and p..kid annually by each railway company in England wait Wales, under the head of d u ty on passengers, made up to the sth day of January in each year from 1841 to 1846. Also,, a similar retti,"n for Scotland. Also, a similar return for Le land.— Agreed to. miserable speculations let loose upon society. It might be very well if there was no remedy for the evil. But they have nothing to do but to purchase the plans and go down to Ser jeant's:lnn, pay 51., and they would be again a registered company. These were the grounds on which be should object to the mo tion of the Noble Earl. Lord MONTEAGLE thought that his Noble Friend, who had just sat down, had made a very strong case in one part of the subject, but he must contend that though the parties wem highly to blame, the Legislature were most in fault. The e Government might be ex onera t e d f rom one port i on o f the blame to which they were liable, but still he should contend that they were d ee pl y respons ib le for not having taken mea sur es foa. the avoidance o f th e ev il an d now, w h en it had ac c rued they dealt with it i n a sma ll an d p i t if u l manner , insteador a fS y piing with thi s i mmense speculat i on i n a large and masterly way. On th e 31 s t M arc h t h ey h a d g i ven noti c e to the parties engaged in rail wa y s , i n or d er that they might prepare them selves for th e a lt ere d s t a t e o f the mar kets. had been some time The principle the u which was adopted by the Bank and nit t t he inthe possession of stock, was thEe one that ought to have been ast India Directors, of not allowing individuals to vote proposed nin th th a e t n p o ess o e n s ! should be allowed to vote had become un a bona fide possessor, before adoped. He (Lord Monteag le le ss ) he had had b sion of the stock, and • N o w, speculation had been raised since the creased, and mischievous_ quite sure that such would the 31st March. would any one deny that a new, an in- The 13th clause of the Bill allowed any persons be the case the possession of shares were to be entitled to vote. But declaration of the stock. He was ini this w as highly detrimental, for under it any two persons might go into a meeting to vote, transfer their shares, and then again re-transfer them, voting all the while, and this might be done ten thousand times over.—( Hear, hear.) Let those parties who refuse to acquiesce in the dissolution of the company, purchase the plans, and then re-register, while those who seceded from the company would be reimbursed for their out lay. He thought that the original proprietors ought to be in titled to a pre-emption. He had no desire to throw difficulties in the way, but he was desirous of seeing it made as useful as possible. Lord BROUGHAM quite agreed with his Noble Friend who had just sat down, but it appeared that though he was friendly to the measure he had spoken against it. When they were favourable to a measure it was usual on this side of the British Channel to support it by a speech or a vote, but it seemed such was not the rule everywhere, for his Learned Friend went on the principle of looking one way and rowing another. He quite regretted that a fuller measure had not been introduced, but be hoped that such would be the case with respect to all private Bills, although he was aware that great difficulty laid in the way of any great change being made at once. That it was necessary was evident from the almost convulsion in the money market which we had just escaped, and which was nearly as mischievous as the panic of 1807, 1812, and in much larger wayi n 1825-6. Thank God, under the firmnes of those at the head of affairs, and through the admirable management of the directors of the Bank , th e c l ou d h a d passed without bursting. But the danger in the future remained, and he should like to have time to consider any alteration, as any one false step might be productive of a great deal of mishief. As to the voting, there appeared to have been a slip in the draft which was to be amended. He approved of the Bill, but it must be understood that he said this as not at once condemn ing the alterations of his Noble Frier.d (the Earl of Radnor) without the opportunity of considering them before going into Committee. But he still hoped for a more enlarged Bill, for it ought not to be forgotten that all the courts in England, Scotland, and Ireland, could not dis pose in ten years of the pecuniary and other interests of the private Bill legislation —a legislation which was conducted as badly as possble, and which gave what the Master of the Rolls called a transcendental power to take men's property at will —not in compliance with their wish, but against it, and contrary to all law. And he aheuld return (rem his political life, whenever that time came, he shoat feel it a consolation to reflect that he had always been the strenuous advocate of what he could not but feel a most un constitutional and mischievous power. Lord MONTEAGLE and the Earl of DALHOUSIE ex. plained. PUNISIIMENT" OF DEATH. Mr. WATI.D preented a petition from a public meeting recently held in Exeter ILII, i , g.tiatt the punishnient of death. Mr. ACV:SW . OIITH presented c. petitioa in favour of the Lancaster rai d North Yorkshire Raillisay. THE LAW OF SETTLEMENT. B!...;NKES presented a petition from the poor of :ardepeo,:utt; nion against certain amendments in the law of settlement theTtri CPLANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved that at its rising should adjourn to Monday next.— W ILLIAM SMITH O'BRIEN. appeared Frien d that his Honourable rn sre th Member f or Li merick considered that he had been ipre ;e2 ited in what he (Mr. Roche) stated to the House last nigh 4, He therefore hoped that the House would per- mit him to read a letter frqm the Hon. Member without an y comment:— " House of Commons Prison, "May 1, 1846. "My dear Roche,—l shall feel much obliged if you will explain to the House, this evening, that you were under a misconception when you stated yesterday that I complained that no opportunity had been afforded to me of speaking in my own defence. " On the contrary, I 'cheerfully acknowledge that such an opportunity was offered, and that I declined to avail myself of it. " I was very anxious to have spoken yesterday, because I do st not think my ca se was f a i r l y stated to the House by the Chair :rens t o o f t t h h e e C c o o r m i i t t t t e e e e, of as Selection . atiog the I groundsreferred o t p o oo my wh l i e c t h - I had refused to serve upon Committees on Scotch and English railway Bills. If those letters had been read in extenso I should have been contented to abide the opinion of the House upon them, but the Chairman of the Committee of Selection read only such portions of them as tended to produce an im pression on the House unfavourable to my conduct. " I wish it also to be known, that until the closing sentence of Mr. Estcourt's speech reached me, I did not knew what was the nature of the motion which he intended to submit ; so that I was unprepared to form an opinion as to the course which it would be most advisable for me to adopt. I did not know whether I was to be imprisoned or reprimanded, or whether a Committee might not be appointed to take the case into consideration before any final motion should be proposed to the House. As mine is a new ease arising out of resolu tions adopted without notice, without discussion, riot founded on long-established practice, not supported by any authority derived from statute or from prescr;p tion, it seemed to me that the appointment of a Committee to deliberate upon the subject, was not only the wisest and most natural mode of dealing with the case, but also that which would have been most conformable to former precedents. I need not say that my de cision with respect to the propriety of addressing the House on my owe behalf; or of remaining silent, might have been affected by a knowledge of the motion which was to be proposed to the House. Undoubtedly, if I had foreseen that my views would have been so much misrepresented in debate as they have been, I should not have declined to state them fully to the House. " In all proceedings in Parliament it is customary to give due notice to the parties affected by such proceedings--such notice, therefore, may be considered as a 'right' rather than as a courtesy.' With reference to the preliminary motion made on Monday night, I was left in such entire ignorance of the terms of that motion, that I absolutely mistook the question when put from the chair, and imagined that it was an order to attend the House on Tuesday, whereas I afterwards learned that it was an order to attend the Committee. "On last Friday I stated to *Mr. Estcourt, in private, that I should feel much obliged to him if he would intimate to me the terms of the motion which he intended to make in reference to my case, as soon as his own determination was formed. I sub sequently received no communication from him. " I do not wish yeu to reveal to the House what an Irish man thinks of such a mode of proceeding. Suffering from the injustice of the British House of Commons, I expect nothing from its generosity. " I shall make no further appeal to the House. Yesterday I was extremely anxious to have been allowed to speak on my own behalf before my committal to prison as a culprit. I shall not again condescend to solicit even this trifling favour. "In concluding, I beg most anxiously and earnestly to re quest you to inform the House that 1 am no party to any motion for my disdiarge. " I remain, my dear Roche, very sincerely yours, " WILLIAM S. O'BRIEN, " E. B. Roche, Esq., M.P." SOUTH NOTTINGHAMSHIRE ELECTION. Mr. GISBORNE wished to ask the Hon. Member for South Nottinghamshire, whether a correspondence, which had appeared in the local and London newspapers between T. B. Hildyard, Esq., Al. P., and T. Herbert, Esq., mayor of Not tingham, relating to the late election in South Nottingham shire, was authentic ? and, in case the answer should be in the affirmative, whether the Honourable Mem ber was now prepared to pr ove t h at t h e free trade committee at Nottingham, for promoting Lord Lincoln's election, offered 23/. to two voters, who had promised their votes to the Honourable Member, in ease they would vote for Lord Lincoln. Mr. STAFFORD O'BRIEN rose to a point of order, He wished to know whether it was incumbent upon his Honour able F: it rid to answer such questions ?—( Hear.) The SPEAKER replied that the Hon. Member ter Not tinghamshire must exercise his own discretion, but according to the practice of the House it was customary for Hon. Mem bers to answer questions that were continually put to them, whether those questions related to the business of the House or not. Mr. GISBORNE made some observations which were scarcely audible in the gallery. He was understood, how ever, to say that it was a fit subject for that House to in quire into, and as the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Hildyard) had made the statement in question, he thought that the House should give him an opportunity of affirming or denying it. It the Hnn. Member would affirm it, he would move for a Select Committee to give him an opportunity of proving the state ment. He thought that the Hon. Member had no reason to complain about his being asked such a question, as he had given two days' notice of his intention to ask it. The subject then dropped. MR. SMITH O'BRIEN. Mr. O'CONNELL gave notice that he would postpone hi: motion relative to the discharge of Mr. Smith O'Brien from the custody of the Sergeant -at-Arm s till Honda? next. CONSUMPTION OF SMOKE. Sir. J. GRAHAM, in reply to a question from Mr. Peter Borthwick, said that it was not the intention of the Government to introduce any measure this session with regard to the con runiption of smoke. He had entertained great apprehensions last session as to the working of the plans which had been adopted for that purpose, and far from these apprehensions being now removed, they were more and more confirmed. ADJOURNED DEBATE. On the motion that the order of the day, the Protection to Life (Ireland) Bill, be read, Mr. P. SOMERS rose and proceeded to address the House, but in consequence of the law tone in which he spoke, and the confusion that prevailed at the bar of the House, he was for some time utterly inaudible. It must be evident to the Right Honourable Baronet that it was not by such a Bill as the pres en t t h e state of Ireland was to be altered. Let the Government, instead of persisting in this odious measure, introduce some measure for the purpose of giving greater security to the tenant, the improvement of waste lands, and such other remedial measures, and they would produce more peace in Ireland than a constabulary force ten times greater than the present could de. The distress in Ireland had been denied. The existence of the potato failure had been eorsidered an exaggeration. Gentle men could, with an easy self-indulgence, pursue their specu lations, and theorise ; but nothing real or substantial was the result. Ireland was still left to drag nut a miserable existence, through misrule. Neither he nor the Irish Members could approve of the spirit of the measure. Mr. M. O'CONNELL did not intend to follow the example which had just been set of introducing matter which was quite irrelevant to the purpose. He thought sufficient had al ready been said on that topic, and he believed that suffi cient matter already remained for another debate of equal length with that which had already transpired. He had certainly been much struck at the moment by the stateraent of the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of the Government, respecting the state of Ireland now arid what it had been in former years. The Right Hon. Baronet compared the state of Ireland in 1843 with its present condition, and had asked whether there were any measures taken at all for the repression of crime during that period. Now, any one would suppore from such an inquiry as that, that during the last two yea's the Government had done absolutely nothing. But %hat had been the case with regard to Ireland since 1843? F.er his part, he might ask whether the Government had been by any means idle du r i ng t h at per i od ? Why, they had dismissed as many as twenty-two magistrates, and on application from the country, the replies from Dublin had confirmed the replies of the authorities. This was their first step. What had been the course of the Government during the last few years? Their first step was to pass that most ridiculous el all measures—the Arms Act, while there still existed an effect ive Bill of the same kind. Their next step was to issue a prod t mation against the Clontarf meeting, then to prosecute the leaders of the Repeal Association; next to imprison therm most unjustly, and now they were going to pass this most obnoxious and unnecessary measure.—(Hear, hear.) They had carried all these measures intd effect, as far as they were able to carry them, and what was the result ? By their dismissal of the magistrates they had added numbers to the ranks of repeal, and had taken away from the bench those pet- Mil in whom the people had confidence, and to whom they would have come, and were in the habit of coming with infor mation, and left those persons who seemed to be opposed to the interests of the people. By the Arms Act—as he had said—. they established the fact that there were in the hands of tLe peasantry of Ireland, on the very first registry, 90,000 stand oe arms. These arms were in part taken away, and if the number of robberies of arms in Ireland were increased, they might thank themselves for the increase. Having passed all these measures, were they to be surprised that the people against whom those measures were levelled should have some contempt for a Government who had brought forward measures of such i inutility? Could they for a moment imagine that repeated wmae f ras sa d l u: l ell asking stillth the y more powersahad important progeo 1 end reiterated failure in all these measures' had not inspired tt.1.1,e e!eo.plethwriothugthhe? bel r i r e h f ey tha h t:e te G at o e v n er t n h m em en se t l m ve u s st o c n on e ti v n e u ry e ymeodnde,asures? Had it not been the and the theyl _4onfowittncrat,sseheaforro same all :re - to e people of IrelandW h a What d towardsid they thethink r i s h w o ri u l l e d m h be e L., the if f theye el i e ni thew t h causereg a r h d antelfhly t e o n hat pchlpherdraeec Courts sb a n :tryiuon d ruont ? Rfs hncortfa It t liehna w nowe a i irt s cehas n i enni o idnn t , trust with such powers a Government which hadetroeeentteireeiry merely bungled i n i n theireve r y efforts measure in that they had failed, but it was in every effort which they had b rChe e al n arnitd m a,h a la k et in ßt g heeg a ny t ees r rty e s c ß o m n iol c lm i , l t i e a nn tio tre n wg . u h l e a n i t e ' equity had declared that the Catholics were free to exercise their power in that respect, just as they pleased. When all the old sytem of restriction was gone, they brought forward this seteasure, restricting and confining them again. The promises which were given in 1835, for the purpose of inducing them to gi ve up the repeal agitation, had never been fulfilled. F m the meemen; the present Government had come into office,till the prey ent time, nothing had been done a single h - rieeanze under which the Irish to remove people la boured ; ana as fir as could be judged by their intentions, nothing s s 'entiel be done. What W 39 the presentstatof Ireland since the prezen'!: by, Governme n t Came into office, and since the M arqu i s of NonnaC h who w as j ustly considered one of the best E ng li s h men that O're'" governed in Ireland, had ceased to rule in that country? 61 , tr:ages had been on the in crease, and the social condition of ths i country was b ecoming more disorganised. Wh at was the re..study propsed f or this - state of things novo ? They p roposed the .7•0 erciun Rill, which had been tried over and over again, but sele ct , ;'_ , ad never yet , in any one instance succeeded in suppressing tin h ee outrages against which it was directed. That was the Duly panacea which was proposed for the evils welt.. were partly created by themselves.—(Hear, hear. ) The county of Clare was more disturbed than any county i n Ireland. 11e remembered the county of Clare when every gentleman's house was a garrison. Whenever you went up to a door you were challenged, the same as a military station. They had shells and balls prepared, and stones piled upon the window-sills, to repel an assailant. And this was the case in that county for three or four years. The cause of the insur rection was the same as that of the insurrection now—namely, the want of the potato crop. Several attempts had been made to put down this disturbance, but without effect, until it was proposed that they should give up their arms. He mentioned this, because it included the case of Bryan Seery. Many gen. lemen had interested themselves in this case, and an endea vour was made to induce the people to give up their arms. The Lord-Lieutenant—the Marquis of Anglesey—had been applied to, to give permission for the reception of the arms, but he declined. The .insurrectionist s th en state d t h at t h ey would deliver their arms if the party who had not been ex pressly engaged in the offence were allowed to go free. This was agreed to, and what was the consequence? Why, not less than 500 stand of arms was delivered up in one night to the Hon. Member for Cork, who went down to receive them. And how many people did they think these arms were taken from ? Not more than forty-five individuals, after whom, during those three years, not less than between 5,000 and 6,000 military, and between 2,000 and 3,000 police had been in constant pursuit. Some of these men stated, that if the gentry had resisted them, the disturbances would never be at an end, and he be lieved in the present instance that had the gentry of the dis turbed districts shown front against those who were organ ising the disturbances, instead of calling for Coercion Bills, their counties would have been resorted to peace. Thanking the House for the indulgence they had shown him, he concluded by declaring his intention of continuing his most decided op position to this measure. Mr. COLQUHOUN wished to state in a few words the grounds for his vote on the present occasion. He thought the description given by the Hon. Member for Meath, of the state of Ireland was, if there were no other, a sufficient justification fur their passing this measure. The Hen. Member described the state of the country in a remarkably emphatic word. He de scribed certain counties as being in a state of insurrection. Mr. MORRIS O'CONNELL—Agrarian insurrection. Mr. COLQUHOUN—WeII, in a state of agrarian insurrec tion ; and how had the Hon. Member described a particular county while on a former occasion it was in this condition ? Why, he told them that houses had to be barricaded, and pass words given before a gentleman's house could be approached, and then he went on to tell them, that in certain districts there existed this agrarian insurrection. Now, could the Govern ment urge a stronger reason th an this for the House passing the Bill ?—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.) Hon. Gentlemen might say that threatening letters were nothing; but when those letters were followed by actual deeds, some notice should be taken of them. Let them look to a recent case, in which, immediately on the arrival of Lord Orkney at his estate, his steward, a man of estimable character, was shot at in open day. This case was not solitary. A landlord could not attempt to remove a tenant, even from one farm to another, without fear of attack. The case of Lord Orkney's steward was a most flagrant one. The murderous act was committed in front of the steward's house in the broad daylight. They took out the unfortunate man and placed him upon his knees in the presence of twenty persons, and they tell him he must say his prayers as his days were numbered ; and when the non-resident landlord, 'after visiting his Irish estates, returned from his morning excursions among his tenantry, whom he wished to serve, he found the front of the house stained with the blood of the murdered man. He found not a single individual would give evidence of the ferocious crime, and yet Hon. Members had told him (Mr. Colquhoun) that that was the state of the country which the people of England and the Legislature ought to tolerate.— (Cries of " Oh, oh.") Well, then, he was glad to here that admission, that that state of the country was intolerable, and which they ought to redress.—( Opposition cheers.) Yes, the first step which they ought to take was to introduce powerful measures, but he did not mean to say that they should be coer cive as these.—( Opposition cheers.) At all events Hon. Members opposite admitted that the ordinary law was power less.—( Cries of " No, no.") At all events it was a con dition of things intolerable, and which they ought not to overlook, and he earnestly asked for their support to some effective measures which would put down this state of things. Well, new, had there been any exaggeration with regard to the statements made in support of the Bill. They had the cases of Westmeath and Clare. He had read the papers, and the statement to which he would refer had been credited by the name of a most respectable individual ; and the gentle man to whom it related, he believed it would be admitted was a most worthy individual; indeed his worth was proved by the address he had recently received from his tenants, thank ing him for the exertion he had made on their behalf ; and yet this resident landlord, in the county of Westmeath, had been de nounced, whilst in the discharge of his duty to his tenants, and his life was threatened, and it was in answer to that de nunciation that his tenantry had addressed him. He had stated one case in Westmeath, the cave of Sir Francis Hop king. But wculd the House allow him to dispense with these individual illustrations, becaus it alight be said that they were calculated to mislead the House. He would take the case of the county of Westmeath, as a friend of his had sent a return of the police inspectors of that county, for the last six weeks. These returns made a full statement of the various outrages for that period ; their total number amounted to 197 cases. It was stated that many of these uutrages were owing to the severity of the landlord upon the tenant, but he had consulted these returns, and found that only 13 of these outrages were on gentlemen ; 38 of them were connected with the righta of property ; 88 were connected with laud, but were directed against farmers, and the gentlemen and stewards who usually exercised the more severe rights of property did not interfere at all ; and 38 of those outrages were on labourers without any reference at all to land. He would not enter into all these eases, but he would only state, that an attack was wade en one man, because he was generally disliked, on another be cause the aggressor wished to drive him from the country ; a third wss because the man told stories to his employer ; and the remainder were various prosecutions for debt, theft, &c. A considerable cause of these grave acts was the wi.h of the farmers to tyranni,e in their own districts, and to have their will executed implicitly—the law of wrong being placed in defiance of the law of right. —( Hear.) What they wished to do was to punish others who contravene aod oppose their law. If the law of the land was riot sufficient to put down those crimes, the law of the land must Le strengthened so as to overpower and prevent those crimes. What could prevent the coneocters of these crimes from meeting during the day, and committing those crimes they had con cocted during the day ? In this Bill increased rewards were offered for evidence, but these rewards were a perfect delusion. —(Hear, hear.) Why, the police stations were covered with rewards, from 101. to 1001., for any person who would come forward and give evidence. The only provision that could be made to ensure the attendance of witnesses was to provide for their safety. The remedy proposed by the Bill would, to some extent, do good; but he doubted whether it would be attended with those results which were anticipated. Here was a con flict, delaying their discussions and retarding the progress of the Cern Bill.—( Hear.) Now that conflict might be well worthy of being carried on if the remedy were equal to the evil. The measure had been limited to three years; now was there a man of sane mind in that House who would tell him that hi three years the peace of Ireland would be re stored. He thought the measure detective, because it was not sufficiently stringent. It did not interfere with those men who in a district were known by the police and others as dis turbers of the districts. Nothing was so bad as giving a blow which provoked those desperate charaeters, and yet making that blow so feebly it only gave an advantage to the criminal. It would be proved in this ease, as in the Arms Bill, that the remedy was not equal to the evil. Mr. HAWES explained that all his statistical statements were exclusively derived from the documents which had been laid on the table. Mr. J. O'BRIEN objected to the measure, because he was convinced that it would tail in the object for which it was in tended. He felt sure the result of the measure would cause life to be much more precarious than it was at present. ( Hear, hear.) He asked what impunity could be expected when whole families were turned out of their holdings on to the high road, and were left to seek shelter in the bogs or churchyards, and to die in ditches. Can peace or tranquillity be expected hile that state of things was allowed to exist. Coercion Bills were of no use, and would only tend to increase crime in the country. He would tell the House an anecdote that would tend to illustrate the effects of a measure similar to the present. He recollected the time which was when the country was under what was called Algerine law. A farmer held a large quantity of land, and was careful to avoid the least opportunity of giving offence to the law. A neighbouring clergyman, however, had a great antipathy to the man, because he was a Roman Catholic, and sought every means to ruin him. What did he do P Why, he brought a sergeant's guard down to his house, under the pretence of searching it for arms, and while there, he concealed some powder and balls. The sergeant was then ordered to take the farmer into custody for the supposed Whiteboy act. On the trial, the sergeant, who was a Scotchman, in reply to the question whether he found any ammunition in the house, re plied that he did not know , but his Ho n ou r w ho w a s on the Bench knew all about it, as he saw him put the powder there. The magistrate, when asked, admitted the charge, and said that the man was a desperate character, and he knew no other means of causin g him to be removed from the neighbourhood. That man was a reverend, an honourable, and a magistrate ; he was a priest of the Established Church, and a Lord's brother. He would not, however, mention his name, as two years after the occurrence he (Mr. J. O'Brien) men tioned had occurred, he was compelled t o leave the country, and he believed that he was now dead. Such was the set I, the people of Ireland had bee treated If this system of c:learance went on the whole country would be in a blaze. He was also certain that if this Coercion Bill was passed, before twelvemonths, instead of having five coun ties in a state of disturbance, they would have fifteen.—( Hear, hear.) It was a . dangerous and most impolitic measure. For these reasons ho would vote against the first reading of the Bill. Mr. BELLE W said he was as anxious about the progress of the Coercion Bill as any Hon. Member. But it must be kept in view that the .Irish Members had not been to blame in de 'eying that measure, having been acting on the defensive in regard to it. N o doubt the Corn Bill was an Irish as well as English measurt !. He was satisfied that after this night the Hon. Member for Stockport would have no reason to complain of the progress o n that question. Still, he must claim for the Irish Members i he right under the circumstances of inter fering with its pr ogress to the extent they had done. He, con sidering the char aster of the Coercion Bill, opposed the Bill on two grounds- First, because it would not be effective in putting down agrarian outrage ; and, second, because it was not accompanied with remedial measures. In opposing the Bill, he attached little importance to the comparison of the amount of trig ne in Ireland and England, as the great point Was not the account of crime, but the sympathy with which it was regarded, and the efficiency of the present Bill to repress that sympathy and put an end to that crime.—( Hear, hear. ) That the Bill 'would not effect this object, he must refer them to the fact the t the other day a gentleman in the town of Kil lived on rush had beers shot at in the middle of the day, and no one in terfered with 'the assassin. No curfew law could affect such crimes as the se.—(Hear, hear.) Neither would the Bill be effective in p t •otecting witnesses and securing proper evidence in courts of ju s Lice, of which so much had been said. In fact, I t o h p e u l s a o t 0.. ion In nf England n g Ireland. land t h n T s e h They but one no measure of this kind could be effective in the present state f the unlike E ' °Zane I, seven eights of the inhabitants of Ireland half. soli also, the proprietors were much smaller, and the tenants ()co spied much lessportions of land. One-half of y n t m he us l .t and eo w n 'er id e e b r all the farms Isere under five acres each, and it had been shown that th e great body of these tenants were without skill erercapital, an d lived in miserable cabins. (The Hon. Mem tbhalciere read an extract from the evidence of a Roman Ca tholic clergyee an, showing the miserable state of the great tinil y , : the ag wicultural population in Ireland.) Such (con • with the Ho,', . Memb er ) was t h e state o f t h e i n h a bi tants regard t o t h e i r condition. Now, with respect to the evictions that h -ad taken place. Not less than 150,000 notices of evi ction , hail been served during the last five years. The Hon. Member lit re read an extract from the report of Lord Devon's Corn ssion on this head, showing the extensive system of evictlx a that had been carried out. This was the condition of Irels nd—a disgrace to England for allowing it to continue as it was . The power and influence of England was known thr oug h oa t the world, an d co-existent with it was the knowledge of ill e degradation of Ireland. It might be said there were fa t eat difficulties in meeting the case, but he would tell the .Right Hon. B arone t, no great achievement was teyer yet acetify shed without encountering difficulty. Let c*im.s‘et manfull sod ene rge ti ca lly to work, and success would e rtain.—(h t•ar, hear.) The Right Hon. Baronet was Viando s d to - on em: +thi ng t o meet the state o f I re l an d. I n theappoint g Devon C I z - omission, and in what had been done in the 'eindlord and Tet. `ant Commission, he had given a pledge that some 1,,.:ns would ; ?e taken to relieve the distress of Ireland. In this .ses t .'eet the resent Government differed with their pre decessors, lei they. /lasi said they could do nothing.—( Hear, hear.) 'l:hn Hon. Baronet, then, was the last man who should get up ti.j , that the landlords of Ireland ought to meet the case thtac helves. He (Ms. Buller) admitted the landlords of Ireland i 'sd not done their duty ; still, after the issuing of the Lasidlor ausi Tenants Cotniniaiints, the Ri g ht Hon. Baronet was bour dto bring for ward some of the measures which the member s o I that Commission had recommended. He maintained that it was perfectly consistent to oppose this measure, because no ben, fcial m easure wet connected with it, The Irish Member endeavoured to benefit Ireland in many ways, but they had been prevented in many ways. He would support their Bill as cordially as any Member in that House, if he thought it would effect the object it had in view, or was accompanied by any other measure, but as it was, he felt it to be his painful duty to oppose it. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, that although the present subject must be nearly worn out, yet, in the position in which he stood, he was expected to make a few observations on it. He had to regret the very unusual course which had been adopted in opposing the first reading of the Bill ; but, as the Members who opposed it, were interested for their country, he did not blame them for their opposition, but hoped that the future stages of the Bill, if the House should by a majority declare itself in its favour, would be less marked by opposition. He deeply regretted the language that had been adopted by one Hon. Member, and hoped that the f ee li ng w hi c h th at lan guage conveyed was not general among his countrymen in that House. The Hen. Member for Limerick had stated that he felt it to be the duty of the Members for Ireland to oppose the first reading of the Bill with all their power, and by all means which Parliamentary usages afforded. He trusted that such an expression was inadvertent, and if it were not, he hoped that the Hon. Members to whom it was addressed would not listen to or act on it, and give any unusual opposition to the Present measure at the commencement of the debate on this question, which seemed so remote, that he could hardly believe that it belonged to the present discussion. The Hon. Member for the city of London had found fault with his (the Attorney-General's) Right Hon. Friend Sir J. Graham, for having, in the very temperate speech in which he opened this case to the House, omitted one very important point in the measure. He complained that in a former measure, which had been passed, it was accompanied by remedial measures, but in the present measure no such remedial measures were adopted, and that formed a grand point of objection to the present measure. Was not the House aware that in Ireland, where a sympathy existed in favour of the criminals, that they were emboldened and encouraged by that sympathy, and was it not for the Government at once to adopt such measures as would remove such a state of things? His Hon. Friend, the Member for Newcastle-under-Line, gave the House a long list of outrages committed in the open day, and stated that not one single person would come forward to give evidence against them. Under those circum stances he (the Attorney-General) would like to know how his Hon. Friend would carry into execution his plan of seizing these men and imprisoning them, when he admitted the existence of an evil which would prevent such a course. The Hon. Member had also asked whether the present measure would drive people from combination by night and combi nation by day—he hoped that by an extended police, and an increased amount of vigilance, this evil would be prevented. He was rather surprised to hear the Noble Lord the Member for the city of London, complain of the indiscriminate nature of this law, and still more su r p r i se d t o h ear hi m recommend the Act called the Black Act, which was framed to punish a series of outrages committed in Waltham Forest by persons in disguise. The Noble Lord did not remember that the Black Act was a measure of punishment and not of prevention, and that in the majority of these outrages in Ire land, the disguise which was necessary for a con viction under that Act was totally wanting. In Ireland at the present moment there were families who were living in every sense of security, and were not con scious of having offended any one, exposed to the sentence of death, which was only conveyed to them by a written message. It was natural that endeavour, should be made to prevent this state of things, and that a restraint upon liberty should be the consequence of measures taken for that purpose. In the dis tricts in which these outrages prevailed there was hardly any thing like liberty, for all security and all freedom of action were gone. Although the measure might have the effect of producing some inconvenience in the proclaimed district, yet he could not believe that the orderly, peaceable, and well dis posed could' have any real objection to it.—(Hear, hear.) He could, without unnecessarily carrying back the House to dis tant periods, show the House that the principle of this Bill was by no means novel, but was acknowledged by the early statute law of the country. In the reign of Edward the Third, the inhabitants of particular parts cf the country were made liable for lawless acts and robberies com mitted in their districts; and in the subsequent reign of Eliza beth the same principle was carried out in the Hue and Cry Act. This was, he thought, sufficient to refute th e s t a t ement of the Hon. and Learned Member for Cork, that they were ap plying a new law to Ireland which had never been tried in this country. It was objected by some Hon. Members that the Bill was intendeu as a stigma upon certain classes in Ireland, but he need only refer them, in answer to this objection, to the statement of his Right Hon. Friend, that it was in no way directed against any class or party, but. really and truly intended to suppress that dreadful thirst for murder and bloodshed which unfortunately prevailed to so alarming an extent in the sister kingdom. This being the object, then, of the measure, those who urged this objection against it ought rather to join with the Government in attempting to put down this terrible spirit. —( Hear, hear.) It would have heen impossible for them to sit quietly looking on with their arms folded without taking some steps to put down this thirst for murder, but nevertheless this measure was not introduced till after it had undergone the most careful and attentive con sideration.---( Hear, hear.) With every good and kindly feel ing for Ireland, then, he did hope most sincerely that it would have the effect of restoring tranquillity and pace, wi:hout which it was impossible the country could prosper, and at the same time prepare the people and soil for those seeds of im provement which Government were prepared to scatter amongst them with a free and bountiful hand.— (Cheers.) Mr. H. GRATTAN admitted that all outrages of a law less and murderous character ought to be put down, not only in Ireland but wherever they happened to be perpetrated, but he questioned whether the Government were taking the proper steps for effecting this prupose. The Honourable and Learned Gentleman who had just sat down was wrong when he said Government could not sit looking quietly on with their arms folded during six months, while these outrages were being perpetrated. They did not stir a step to suppress them. And what he complained of was, not so much of their endeavouring to restore peace and tranquillity in Ireland, as of the delay they had allowed to take place before making the effort to effect that object.— ( Hear, hear.) Many of the evils complained of he could trace to the landlords themselves, and the landlord and tenant system, which had so long disgraced, and convulsed Ireland ; and Government might depend upon it, an improvement di rected that way would produce more peace and tranquillity than a thousand Coercion Bills,— ( Hear, hear.) He denied that the Irish party had formed a compact with the protec tionists ; and trusted, after this denial, they would not lose a single vote of any Hon. Member on their own side of the House, in resisting what they considered an unjust and tyran nical measure.—( Hear, hear.) Would the House believe it that in one of the parts of the country, that was, in not more than three baronies, there were, he believed, 174 magistrates, 32 deputy-lieutenants, and 4 of the heads of the Government, making an army of upwards of 220 men, and, with the assist ance of the police, that army was increased to 600 men. A Noble Lord, whom Le did not then see in his place, had gone back to the history of Ireland, to show the state of that country in the year 1737. Now he would not go so far back as that, he would refer to the year 1807, in which year two coercive Acts were passed against that country. Those Acts he remembered well. He believed that Lord Monteagle had said in his speech in the House of Lords that those Acts were more stringent than the present measure, but he did not agree with his Lordship. Cases occurred in the county of Tip perary in the year 1808, when those Acts were passed, which were very similar to those that were now enacted in 1846. Shepherds were abruptly discharged from their employ, and the labouring classes combined together for the purpose of pre venting the intrusion of labourers from distant places ; and to destroy the effect of that and similar combinations those coer cive had H h e ; wouldengiven v a e s n k , by had the witnesses th e Ministers a at followed Lord Devon's Commission for the removal of the evils with measures the advice passed . which Ireland was at present afflicted ?—( Hear, hear.) Th e i r wereth at system only tended to produce police'spies and informers, an d the lowest characters. Instead of attending to the wan t s o f the people, they had created an army of 10,090 police. The Noble Lord Donoughmore was not afraid of doing his duty to his Irish tenants, and he had not asked for any such Bill as the present, because he knew it would not effect its aim. That Noble Lord was a popular character, and lie believed that t uss)e. d l alldefiohinmee completely wler ea,a t read but let ie byaturhta. hises)at strongest. portion t a urL n on e d nd g a oet t hts he had not a shutter to his house. Himself and his family went about the country without the slightest fear, and they itoi. e efm i rt g .h l a t neadll guineas ddas r pursue rresrauici crime that were never molested by the tenantry. And why was that so ? e Because he gave something more to the poor fellow that toiled He ßu w t ou h l e d w a o s u k ld th d e o similar conduct. He flung back in the teeth of the utterers dy(oßeeni Because cierhdasai decided hd le e e h s we t s a h ahh t r e oo e . the libel that Ireland was nothing but a land of assassination. that had been committed in this country within the last few no such thing. He would grapple with the Bill and with the Right Honourable Baronet opposite until the House Right Hon. Baronet this—how many countries wer e at present in the deplorabl e state described by him y in introducing this Bill? It would appear thatthere wove only five out of thirty two. And did the Right Hon. Baronet hof baronie s i n t h ose five counties that m w e e n r t e un .n n t a e d i n s t u u m r b b e e state ? Why, there were twelve baronies in Limerick, and yet it would appear from the reports that only three out of those were in a state of disturbance. In the county of Clare, there were sine baronies and only two disturbed; in the county of Westmeath there were but three of the baronies in that condition ; in the county of Cavan one; and in Meath three, which made a total of fifteen. And would they feel themselves justified in depriving the people of Ireland of their liberties because fifteen baronies out of five counties happened to be in a disturbed state? If they did, what inducement would they give to the honest and industrious to observe the laws of their country? Let them adopt just measures, and hang those that talked of fear that the peasantry would not obey the laws. He would ask the Right Hon. Baronet how many of the gentlemen who had been referred to in Ireland for ther opinion as to this measure, had recommended its adoption ? A few of those gentlemen —namely, Gen. Johnson, Gen. Egerton, Col. Burke, Major Warburton, Major Wilcox, and others, he was well acquainted with. These gentlemen, including Mr. Blackburn, Serg. How ley, the Clerks of the Peace and others had unanimously stated that they were not in favour of this Bill. On the contrary they had expressed themselves as decidedly opposed to it. And first of all he would quote the opinion of Mr. Sergeant Howley, an individual who was beyond all cavil.--( Hear, hear.) Ser geant Howley said, whilst he was in the very county of Tip perary, " I do believe that a large amount of the present violence and outrage is traceable to the low physical condition of the people."—(Hear, hear.) That was the opinion of Sergeant Howley, when he was trying a number of unfortu nate individuals for the commission of offences brought about by the harsh conduct of their landlords.— ( Hear, hear.) He also said that they were deprived of the necessary amount of employment—that they lived on a food that was the lowest in the scale of human con gumption, even of which they haa not sufficient —that they were ill-clad—they lived in hou se s that scarcely des erved nasne.—( Hear, hear.) Such being the condi tion of the large amount of the population of Ireland, he ask how could it be expected that that people could be either order ly or tranquil ? Sergeant Howley had further delivered himself of words, the seditious character of which had never yet been equalled by the greatest agitators that had yet appeared on behalf of Ire land, not excepting even the lion. and Learned Member for Cork, and the Hon. Member for Limerick, whose " pale and ineffectual fire" had been far outshone by the language of that learned individual. And it was yet the language that had been uttered by one of her Majesty's judges, who had said that the lowest animals would not endure to be starved, and much less could it be expected that man could suffer to be starved to death. Major Wilcox, in his reply to the Right Hon. Baro net's inquiries, had said that " he was of opinion that the pea santry of Ireland 'could never be peaceable whilst they were in a state of starvation and oppression." He had stated too that " the present measure would sever all connexion between land. lord and tenant." - Mr. Blackwell had said that recently, in his own neighbourhood, one landlord had ejected 40 families, another 50, another 20, another 20, another 3, another 60, another 19, another 55, and another 31, In Tipperary also 86, 96, 95, 76, 28, and 97 several families had been severally ejected. No less than 230 families, including 1,200 individuals, had been turned out, and those poor creatures were wandering about the country; and to put the climax to all this, he was sorry to see that two indi duals who lived in his own county, Mr. and Mrs. Gerard, had recently ejected 27t individuals from the lands, to fatten bul locks upon it. Would such a state of things be tolerated in any other country than Ireland ? When the Right Hon. Baro net brought forward this Bill, which had been called for by moderate men, nobody could doubt that the Noble Lord had committed a grievous mistake, because, when the Noble Lord had stated that crime had increased, he must have been ignorant of the contents of the Blue Book, that had been placed upon the table of the House immediately afterwards; that within the last ten years there had been a de crease of no less than 10,000 in the amount of crimes. In the year 1835 there were 36,300, and in the last year there had been but 16,000. Now, when the Right Hon. Baronet oppo site attempted, on the introduction of this measure, to paint an Irish picture, unfortunately, all the colours that he used were dark ; and he thought that the Right Hon. Baronet might hereafter be called the Salvator Rosa of the Treasury bench ; nay, he even made use of all the dark horrors of that artist, without introducing any of his light colours.—( Hear, and laughter.) He would now draw attention to another important point. He saw by the return made to Government, that in one year no less than 3,538 Bills had been ignored by the grand juries of Ireland, and 2,089 prosecutions had been withdrawn. Would such a state of things be permitted in England ? Would they permit 5,638 to be unjustly charged, arrested, and imprisoned, and then let out without trial ? And yet - Hon. Gentlemen stood up, and boast-- fully said that crime in Ireland had increased to such an alarm ing extent, as to call for the suspension of the constitution. Government were misinformed by the police—they maligned the people of the country, and the result was that such Bills as these were passed by that House for Ireland. Government ought•not to leave the people of Ireland in the hands of such persons as these. The Hon. Member proceeded to refer to a number of cases of misconduct of the police-officers and spies of Ireland. In one instance the police had concealed some arms in a poor woman's house; they then went to the in former, brought him to the spot, and they took away the arms, and concealed them a second time, and then had the audacity to claim the rewards of the Government for the discovery of arms they had twice concealed documents of the Ribbon Society had been put in the pockets of persons, and they were then prosecuted by these spies and perambulatory police, for the purpose of obtaining the reward of their diabolical treachery. He hoped Government did not allow the money, wrung so hardly from the people of this country, to be expended in this manner. If the laws were not properly administered let them live in a state of primeval originalty. Leave them to themselves, and they would soon send those assassins to the right about.—( Hear, hear.) Never was a more unjust charge made against any people than had been made in the course of the debate, that the Irish people shielded the assassin from justice. The Hon. Member for Pomfret, who had belonged to the New England school, had called this measure a mere police regulation. He did not agree with his Hion. Friend's New England doctrines—he preferred the Old England constitution, and he hoped that the Honourable Member would soon have to leave Pomfret, in dire disgrace, with his New England theories. Mr. W. COLLETT considered that the infusion of capital in Ireland would not remove the disposition to commit outrage, and prevent crime. He would state a few facts to the House, and in doing so he would not be accused of egot ism. In 1838, after having visited the four quarters of the globe, he pro ceeded to Ireland, which he found in a very bad state. He thought that capital being introduced there might effect some good, and he therefore chose that part of Ireland as the very best adapted to prove the experiment—the wilds of Tipperary. He employed eight hundred men in some mines there, and in vested 50,0001. In carrying out his projects, he had no consi deration for religion or politics, he employed all equally, and he chose six gentlemen to superintend the works, three Catholics and three Protestants ; two of whom had been murdered, and not on any pretence of harsh usage or difference as connected with land. The first of them was murdered in a very barbarous manner, by having a stone thrown on his back, of which he lingered for some time before he died. There was another, a Roman Catholic steward, a very bold man, who said that if they chose to attack him, let them do it in the day, This steward was shot at and missed. He was shot at again and struck in the side. The assassin was afterwards appre hended, tried, and punished for the offence, but the un fortunate steward has since been obliged to be under the pro tection of the police. These outrages proved the necessity for such a Bill at the present. If they could only exterminate these armed assassins—and the number of them was not very great —peace and tranquillity would be restored. He believed that he himself would be shut at for so small a consideration as a bottle of whiskey.—( Cries of "Ohl oh 1") While this sys tem of outrage was going on he thought it high time that life should be protected, and they were not asking too much power in trying to pass the Bill. If this Bill were passed he would guarantee that the system of outrage would receive a check, and the country would be restored to a state of tranquillity. The police in Ireland were a fine, efficient body of men, well organised, and well adapted, from their local knowledge, for the state of things which existed there. For his own part, he could say that, as far as he was concerned, he would have the satisfaction of having done his duty to his tenants, though he might fail in producing the results which he desired. He wished the Bill to be brought into operation at once, and if it was, a new state of things would shortly arise, and Tipperary would become —what it was not at present—a habitable country. The con duct of the Government throughout the State trials was such as to excite his warmest respect, and he sincerely hoped that the same efficiency would characterise their present and future measures for the peace and amelioration of that unhappy country, and that they might be able to say of it, as of the Thames— " Though deep yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull; Strong without rage—without o erflowing, full." Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD said, that in speaking on the question before the House, he would confine himself, as nearly as possible, to the amendments proposed by the Hon. and Learned Member for Cork. He agreed with the Hon. Member, that instead of outrage being put down by the Go vernment measure, it would but promote crime. He felt that instead of Ireland receiving anything like justice from this country, there was not a measure brought forward but such as operated to the interest of the wealthier classes and to the injury of the poor. They gave a poor-law to Ireland, hut what was the relief afforded ? It was matter of complaint that the relief given by the Irish poor-law was not as liberal as in this country.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.) He would now conclude by again repeating his assertion that he had always opposed those Coercion Bills, even when pro posed by the Whigs while in office; and, therefore, he could not be supposed to be influenced by any interested or party motives in opposing this Bill. If the House should go into Committee upon it, he would there also oppose it, and he trusted he would never see it the law of the land. Mr. FITZ NI AURICE said that, as an Irish Member, he should say that, in his opinion, many of the crimes committed in Ireland were owing to the wholesale system of eviction of tenants, which he should say was a system that was a disgrace to any civilised country. The Hon. Gentleman then entered into a detail of various outrages that had occurred within his own knowledge in Ireland. His own brother had been sub jected to them. His brother never visited his estate without receiving threatening letters of the most violent character. On one occasion he went down to his property; and on arriving there he found that one of his tenants was over head and ears in debt, and had paid no rent. He forgave the man his rent, and offered him 30/. to go into another and a smaller farm, when the man declared he was very ill used, and that on the first time he met his landlord he would settle ac counts with him, and every body knew what that meant. If Ireland wished to be glorious let her be glorious in her in dustry, and not notorious in her crime. He very much re gretted the statement of the Hon. Gentleman opposite, that English Members were eareless about the state of 'eland. He did not think it fair or generous for the Irish Members to taunt the English people with indifference. He felt bound to say that one man with a thousand a sear living in Ireland did more good than another possessing ten thousand a year who re sided out of the country. The Hon. Gentleman concluded by thanking the House for their kind attention to his statements. Mr. ROCHE had no doubt whatever that what the Hon. Gentleman opposite had stated was quite true. He had no doubt that he was well inclined towards Ireland. In the course of the present discussion they had not to confine themselves to the paltry and miserable Coercion Bill—the whole state of the Irish question was to be canvassed. The condition of the Irish people was an undoubted stain upon the British pride and honour.—(Hear.) It laid upon that House to do something for the Irish nation—that was a result which had been arrived at after a discussion of six weeks. He believed that no man now thought that the present condition of Ireland ought to continue. Every one admitted that Ireland required some remedy. He must say that he had never listened with so great a feeling of despondency as he bad done to the speech of the Right Hon. Baronet opposite on a previous occasion. He did not think that the Right Hon. Baronet had made out a case for the Bill. He thought, however, that he had made out a strong case for the national party in Ireland. The year of all others in which agrarian crime was least, and the people more peaceful and quiet, was in 1843. That was the year in which the Govern ment had military possession of the country, and they (the repealers) had the hearts of the people. It was the repeal year, and the effects of their government was manifest in the increased content which was spread among the people. '1 he Right Hon. Baronet, in dealing with the question, had not been candid with the House. He went into the statistics of crime in 1843, 1844, and 1845, but he had not gone into 1846, and had failed in showing that there had been any ma terial progressive increase of crime in those years. The Right Hon. Baronet had referred to the case of Hogan, who was shot notwithstanding' the vigilance of the police ; but he had not shown how this crime would have been avoided had the Coercion Bill been in existence. He had referred to other cases that were equally inopportune to support the case. In fact he had been endeavouring to delude the people of England, in regard to this measure. A great deal had been said about combination and ribandism, but these he (Mr. Roche) maintained had been introduced from England, and could easily be met by the existing law. He said, there fore, there had been no case made out for coercion, or for this illegal and unconstitutional measure. He would tell them the Bill, as it at present stood, never should pass that House. If they took it into Committee, on them would be the responsi bility of bringing over the Irish Members to oppose its pro gress ; and he was sure it never would be carried unless it was preceded by remedial measures. The sense of the people of England, out of doors, was against it, and all Ireland, as well as its representatives, had declared against it. They talked of the work of the agitators of Ireland, but in answer to that he would ask, who made the griev. antes ? England had made these grievances, and these had made the agitators.---( Hear, hear.) They had made hi m an agitator, and while those grievances existed he would continue an agitator.—( Hear, hear.) He would ask, w h o were to govern Ireland, and how were they to govern it? The Right Hon. Baronet says, by coercion. The leader of the voting party says the same thing ; and this was also echoed by the Noble Lord on the other side (Lord George Bentinck). But the division list would show who supported coercion, and who did not; and he would take care that the people of Ireland should see it. It was said that a kind of coalition existed be tween the Noble Lord opposite (Lord George Bentinck) and his Hon. Friend who was in confinement—( A laugh)—but he would tell them there could be no coalition with any one that would vote for the coercion of 141 and. He (Mr. Roche) complimented that Noble Lord for sentiments that were anything but coercive on the evening the alleged coalition was suggested. Having settled that matter, he would again revert to the ques tion of coercion. Now, he asked the Right Horn Baronet why he did not introduce with this Bill some measure for re lieving the sufferings of Ireland? Did he listen to the heart. rending disclosures of the Hon. Member for Cashel ? He thought he did, for he observed that the statements of the Hon. Member for Cashel made a great impression upon the Right lion. Baronet, and he wished to know if the Right Hon Baronet had nothi ng e l se but paltry advice t o Irish laudlords. to remove this dismal, this sad and lamentable state of things "? But, he was asked, what could be done for removing the mire ries and for producing peace and tranqedlity for Ireland ? Well, he would tell them. They must make Itelar d happy the same w a y th at other countries were made happy, by l l e p tt y in i g n P them be governed by their own )enle tid their own country men . Th at was the only means which could te' restore peace and happiness to his unfortunate and misgoverned country ; and until these means were resorted to, there would eni be moral v i ctor i es achieved in Ireland.—( Cheer,.) Let them, however, d o j ust i ce to that unfortunate country, and their vie: tory would be more brilliant than any that had been achieved on the banks of the Sullej. Capt. LAYARD said, representing an Irish town, he could not give a silent vote on the present occasion. He could pre diet most con fid ently that this Bill, to which he intended to give his decided opposition, would prove a failue. This was the eighteenth time a coercive Bill had been resorted to for Ireland. It had always failed, and this instance, the House might rely upon it, would prove no exception to the rule. If Government wished to remove agitation and the cry for repeal in Ireland, let them do justice to the people and the coun try. They had now an excellent opportunity of doing this, and improving the condition of the people, b 7 giving them employment. They had some admirab railway schemes before them, and if three- and-a-half per cent. were guaranteed to the proprietors they would certainly be carried out, and afford ample employment for the people. Now, it was quite clear these railways would ultimately become immense good remunerative u n d er t a ki ngs , an d , see i ng the good they would do to the country, he thought Golernment could not do better than guarantee three-anel.a-half per cent. There was an opportunity now of granting a poor-law to Ire land, and he trusted that it would not be allowed to pass by. Now was the time for the Government vigorously to a ct. A poor-law was one of the modes of pacifying Ireland. Let the Government not let slip the present opportunity of doing good for Ireland. Look at the protectionists now. Five years ago they were offered an eight shilling duty on corn, and they refused it. Would they not now be glad to get that eight shilling duty. Let the Government take advantage of that example. It was absolutely necessary that some steps should be taken with respect to the tenant rights in Ireland. Let the Government turn its attention to the cultivation of the waste lands in Ireland. There were millions of acres in that country that were not in a state of cultivation. How could they talk of over population in Ireland while so much land was out of cultivation ? The Hon. and Gallant Officer had given a very strong argu ment for supporting the Bill, for he said that as the people of Ireland had even at present very little liberty, this Bill, which would deprive them of that liberty, should have his support He hoped that the Government would, instead of pressing this measure, bring in some conciliatory measures for the miserabl people of Ireland, and withdraw this measure at once. Major BERESFORD felt it his duty to support the Bill connected as he was with Ireland and her people, although he considered it as an inefficient and useless Bill.—( Grea laughter and cheers from the Opposition benches.) He asked if the Bill met the present evils of Ireland. The great and crying crimes of Ireland were not committed in the darkness of night, but in the open day, in the presence of numerous people, who laughed at the assassination of Irish landlords, whom they felt to be obnoxious.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") The murderer who walked at noon-day, and having committed the bloody deed, would not be detected by this Bill.—( Hee?, hoar.) The Bill was one which would bring great irritation to the minds of the Irish people, because it was not accom panied with a remedial measure. He hoped, however, that after it had passed, the Government would immediately set about the passing of the necessary remedial measures to which the peasants of Ireland were fairly entitled.--( Hear, hear.) He had no hesitation in saying that this Bill confounded the innocent with the guilty. The Honourable Member for Cashel had said that a clergyman of the Church of England had privately put some gunpowder in a peasant's cottage in Ireland, anti afterwards sent a policeman to search that House. Now, he happened to be particularly acquainted with the case, and he could say that the statement was not based on truth.-- ( Hear, hear.) The Honourable Member concluded by hoping that those Honourable Gentlemen who sat on the same side of the House with him (the Ministerial side), would join with him in voting for the first reading of the Bill.—(Cries of " Hear, hear," and " Divide.") Colonel R A WDON opposed the Bill, and proceeded to de fend the course of conduct pursued by the Irish Members, in opposing the first reading of the Bill, and hoped that they would succeed upon a second reading. ( The Hon. Member proceeded in his remarks, and was interrupted by the cries of " Divide, divide," from all parts of the House. ) Now much of the Irish character has been misrepresented. The people were kind and warm. Yotf cannot judge of their misery. How can you judge of it when you are not able to es timate it ? He thought that this Bill was at variance with the present temper of Ireland. There has been a certain sti mulent administered to the people by a newspaper against the spirit of the Bill. That newspaper had found its way to the fireside of every cottager in Ireland. He had said that the framer of the Bill was ignorant of the temper of Ireland—its provisions proved it, and it would not be acceptable to any class. Would the law irradicate the excited feelings of the Irish—. would it even soothe them ? He was confident then that it would not. There was but one opinion of it in Ireland, and that was not in its favour. He implored them then to record their votes in favour of the amendment of the Member for Cork. If they travelled through Ireland—if they went into, the huts and cottages of the peasantry—and if they were aware of the misery which existed there —many of their dens of misery, if he might be allowed to use the expression, most of them only ten feet square—the abode of animals—they would hesitate to shut them up from sun-set to sun-rise.—( Hear. ) Colonel SIBTHORPE said, he would not oppose the hill, but at the same time he could not support it. The present Government had shown itself so weak, so vaccinated with po litical cowardice, that he could not repose any trust in them, for he did believe that they were men who would truckle to any thing, provided they by so doing were able to maintain their own seats —( Loud laughter.) Lord INGESTRE rose, amid cries of "Divide, divide." He denied there was ever anything like coalition between Lord Bentinck and Mr. S. O'Brien.—(Loud cries of " divide." A state of crime and destitution unparalleled in any' country prevailed in Ireland. The murderer walked abroad in noon day, and no one attempted to arrest bins. He escaped in fact with impunity. It was incumbent, therefore, that the Government should interfere to put an end to such a disgraceful state of things. He would conclude by again denying that there was any thing like coalition referred to between the Hon. Member for Limerick and the lion. Member for Lynn.— (Loud cries of " Divide, divide.") Lord GEORGE BENTINCK moved for the adjournment of the debate to enable him to have an opportunity of denying the statement made by— The SPEAKER interrupted the Noble Lord, and said that it was not competent for any Member of the House, after he had spoken on any question, either to propose the adjournment of the debate afterwards, or to make any observations a second time.—(Loud cries of " Divide, divide.") Mr. P. BORTH WICK, amid loud cries of divide, thee proposed the adjournment of the debate. Lord G. BENTINCK seconded the motion, and embraced the opportunity which his doing so afforded him to deny the charge which had been made, and he hoped the House would, though at that late period of the evening, permit him to occupy its attention for a few minutes while he did se. To. enable him the more effectually to meet the case, he had sent home for the letters which had passed relative to that staCe ment—(Laughter)—and he hoped they would arrive to edible him to refute the charge the more effectually,—(Cries of " Divide, divide. ") If that correspondence were road to the House, it would at once be shown that the statement was unfounded in fact—that there were not the slightest grounds for it whatever. It had been stated by a Cabinet Minister, the Secretary for Ireland, that the coalition was a fact. He (Lord G. Bentinck) had not had time to consult his Hon. Friends upon the matter, for Hon. Members would bear husk out that it wanted but twenty minutes to five o'clock when his attention was drawn to the subject. Where them was the coalition which was tried to be made such a handle of—which was made a point of at a public hustings, ty Cabinet Minister of the Crown ?—(Cries of " Divide.") Strangers were then ordered to withdraw. The divided, when there app eare d— . 1 ouse then For the first reading .................. 274 Against it ..................................... 125 Majority in favour o f first re a di ng —149 On our return to the gallery, we found Sir R. PEEL stating that he w ou ld take the second reading of this Bill on Monday, thee - 25th of May. Mr. O'CONNELL gave notice that, on that occasion, he should move for a Select Committee to inquire into agrarian offences in Ireland, with a view to provide some means for their prevention—(as we understood the Hon. and Learvel Member, but he spoke in so 1 ow a tone of voice, as to be scarcely audible in the gallery.) • POLLING PLACES (IRELAND) BILL. The adjourned debate upon the first reading of this Bill was resumed by ' sh C si Alr hilt t i. nT the Ye hands ha no.d who isdo e ntf o hof n terth t o e pßen He d l ; e lz d huaets t nhe h d.: t matteri t s pr o f v u r i s i t o h n e s r w but e r e very lea A v l e r i e h Me e e presentde clar declared l t i h n a g t s n y o s t e ins e r . n i G e n it e Oe wasGA N experienced oppos ed in Ireland. It worked well, and he for one could see no reason why it should be altered. It was true, in Ireland, there was only one p o lli ng b ooth, but it must be remembered that the poll was not like it was in this country. It was kept open for five days. This measure was a partial partisan Bill, and he hoped the House would throw it out. Sir W. SOMERVILLE said the opposition of the Hon. Member to this Bill was most extraordinary. It was quite im possible under the present system that all bona fide voters could record their votes for the want of sufficient accommdation, and he for one cordially approved of this Bill. Mr. ROSS said that he knew an instance which occurred in Belfast, in which 305 of the best men of that town were ex cluded from the polling-booth at an election because they happened to be a few minutes late. He would give his vote in support of the Cheers. ) Mr. ROEBUCK replied to some observations which had fallen from thel Hon. Member for Dublin (Mr. Grogan)* He thought the Bill a necessary one, and he would therefore upport it. Mr. PIGOT said that in the year 1841 he had introduced A measure similar to the present. The present law relating t° policy in Ireland was in a most defective state. The Hon. Member entered into some particulars for the purpose of show ing the deficiency in the existing law. The proposition now' before the House would not, however, effect much more than the present law. There were many scandalous practices at elections in Ireland against which the measure would not pro-. vide.—(Hear, hear.) If voters presented themselves at the booths, who it was known would vote in favour of that candi date who was the favourite of the pall clerks, the oath ws° administered to them very rapidly, and every facility was given to thq , reception of their votes; if, on the contrary, the voters were on the opposite side, the oath was administered very lazily; and the effect, in one instance with which he was acquainted, was that one hundred votes were left unpolled consequence of the conduct of the poll clerks.--(Cries of " Divide, divide.") The SOLICITOR-GENERAL considered that the duty of the Government was to afford facilities, and to allow per sons to exercise their elective franchise. Mr. O'CONNELL thought that some alterations proposed by the Solicitor-General would meet all objections to the Bill' Lord MOE(PETH thought that the constituency of Dublin, and other I r i s h towns should have the opportunity afforded them of returning the representative of their choice. After a few words from Mr. APCA TH Y, Mr. GREGORY withdrew his amendment, and the deba te on the Bill was adjourned till Monday next. After a few wor d s from Messrs. SPOONER and HAWES, t h e Friendly Societies Bill was read a third time. The othe r or d ers of the day were then disposed of, and li' House adjourned at a Quarter past Two o'clock. 'to The G. 1e .-eneral Steam Navigation Corniany,a favnurit' mail packet Caledonia, Captain 11. W. Gibbs, arrived at WI Ili ? burgh on M on d ay morning last, after a beautiful passag e a 47 hours. LETTERS OF THE KINGS OF :ENGLAND.— Edited, prlth Notes, by J. 0. lIALLiwELL. &c.—lt is a cir c tio stance not a little remarkable, that while so many W° l ; e n containing l e tt ers o f em i nent personages have been gi to the world, no atteml,t has hitherto been made to lay of fore the public, in a collected form, those of the King e ol. Et,gland, reveal;.;ig as they do, the thoughts, feeling habits, and recording the adventures and misadvent ure~ the trials and vicissitudes, related by themselves, °in the ~v erei2s n s who have reigned over this country, 0 ° , hr oirt history of which these royal reliques also serve t os t a very c ons id era bl e li ght. Such precious documents. be deemed recor d s of extraordinary interest and curlosi h' not only by the lover of historic lore, but by every g o t° man, and the present work will doubtless find its way a s it the library of the gentleman, and the scholar, forming does, an ess en ti a l compan i on to every History of Enbf....l_„o On the 30th tilt., at Hornsey, the lady of Henry Trore" Or it $Oll. On the Ist lo s t., a t Westbourne-terrace, Hyde-park-13'0d e° ' the wile of Charles Mare, Esq., of a sou, On the Ist m i st., i n Ch arles-street, Berkeley-square , the 1.3 Dalineny, of a daughter. MARIE. st On the 30th ult., at St. Pancras C R hnrc D h, Sir George Duckett, S rt '' to Mrs. Saxe, fn Gloucester Lodge, Regent's Park. , boil On the 3MII it, at Trinity Clioirch, IN'i, 'month, Will.a — C th- Metcalfe, Esq., Commander, R.N., to Ifele E. D, late 'William Ross, Esq., of Sheldon, Berbice. _____-..------- Ross, relict 0 DIED. On the 30th ult., at Esher, Surrey, 311 ms Frances Burdet t, s late r Of the late Sir French Burdett, Bert. No' 112 London: Printed and Publi s h e d by MIIRDO TaUNG, of Pre6 ll _,c Strand, Printer, at The Sun (Vice, No. 112, Strand, in th JD/ of the Savoy, In the county of Middlesex, ttl'a tur ' - ' ; 1846. THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING-, MAY 2, 1846.