The Sun. — London, England, 1846-04-07 00:00:00

amount of railway undertakings which bad sprung up, and which were absorbing the capital of the country.. It had been proposed that Parliament should not pro ceed with the railway Bills before it without hav ing a meeting of the shareholders of the various lines, so that no Bill should be gone on with till the sanction of the great majority of the shareholders was obtained. He would propose that no sanction should be given to any railway Poill where, after a meet ing of the shareholders, the House was petitioned by a majority of that meeting, not to allow such Bill to proceed. This would prevent many of the schemes which were not likely to turn out good speculations, from being paased. lie hoped her Majesty's Govern ment would give this important matter their fullest con sideration. Sir R. PEEL said there were few persons in that House who could not at first have seen that many of the railways which were sought to Lie sanctioned were not profitable speculations. There had been a spirit of spe culation for some time past, but he,thought it could not be checked by that House. The speculation in railways was the same as the speculation in South American Bonds, and the interference: with one would be an interference with the other. The experien,:e of time would prevent [ these railway speculations from being too largely indulged in. He thought that there was no greater right to interfere with this question than in the ordinary commercial speculations, for he went on the principle that every person was the best judge of his ow:. concerns, and was best competent to manage his own affairs., At the same time, consider ing the extensive powers the House had in railway spe culations, it was in some measure a party to them. Speculations of this kind differed from the ordinary run of speculation in the respect that the Legislature was called upon to take away and interfere with private property for public purposes, and it ap peared to him that the House might, therefore, inter pose with respect to that specie's of speculation. As far as the individuals themselves were concerned, he had no pity for them, for this sort of speculation would never he corrected except from the per sonal suffering of the party—(Hear, hear)—for many of the speculators diverted their money from their ordinary courses, and from the trade from which they derived their subsistence. At the commence ment he, on the part of her )Majesty's Governmet, gave it as his opinion that it might be possible to interfere with this habit by putting a check upon some of the railway Bills. He spoke with considerable hesitation on this subject, as it might be unwise for the Howe to in'adere on this subject. His Hon. Friend the Member for Liver pool called the attention of the House to this subject. It would be for the House to consider whether it had the power to interfere indirectly in putting a stop to those railway speculations. It would be in the recollection of the House that a vast number of Bills were projected last year, but after they had been prepared a great change of circumstances took place; for instance, the amount of capital became greater than had been anticipated. It appeared that the profits were not likely to be what had been anticipated ; the difficulty of pro curing money had been increased. The hope was entertained during the railway fever that money could be had at two and a half per cent. ; but when it came to be applied for it was found impossible to be had even at five per cent. ; and all these circumstances had acted very powerfully to deter many from engaging further in railway speculation.—( Hear.) As the law now stood in reference Sc railways, he apprehended the case to be put thus :—a railway was projected—parties took shares and held scrip, and they appointed a provisional com mittee and directors. Well, a great change took place, such a change as made it desirable on the part of the subscribers to dissolve the company ; and if it was found that the line would not be a profitable one, or that it would not be for the benefit of the public to make it, he could not see wh7 there should not be a power in the legislature to dissolve it. In such a case he would ask what test should the House apply in order to ascertain that it was desirable to dissolve the company ? He should say the test would be the feelings of the subscribers.— ( Hear.) If a majority of the subscribers were of opinion that the company should be dissolved, he could not see why this House should not lend its sanction to such a proceeding. He was aware of some Scotch companies in which the shareholders were a good deal alarmed, when they had heard that their Bills had poised the Standing Orders' Committee, and they came to the res o l u ti on to di sso l ve t h e company.—( Hear, hear.) He knew another case in which 100,000/. had been subscribed, 10,0001. of which• had been expended in preliminary proceed ings, so that 90,000/. remained vested in Exchequer-bills ; but the directors and subscribers having become convinced that the line would not be a profitable one, they came to a resolu tion to dissolve the company ; but then there was 90,0001. still invested, and in the meantime a few of the subscribe rs o bj ecte d to the dissolution of the company. Even supposing the Bill were to fail in the present session, the directors would not be relieved from their obligation to do all their p ower to tit the sche me sanc ti one d b y t h e L eg i s l ature . He was not aware that the directors had power to dissolve the company, or the shareholders the power to absolve the directors from their obligations, even supposing the Bill had failed to pass the Standing Orders' Committee; and yet it was mani festly for the advantage of the public that such a company should be broken up, and the balance of their subscription divided among the shareholders but a single shareholder Might file a Bill in Chancery, and prevent this course being adopted. Now he thought the House ought, with a , little delay as possible, to pass a Bill enabling the majority of the shareholders to dissolve the company in the event of their ascertaining that the scheme would not, in the end, prove a profitable undertaking. He should propose, however, that the liability of the directors and the parties to the original agree ment should still remain, and they should become j ,intly liable for the debt of any creditor of the compoay. It might be necessary to have some kind of an official assignee, to see if the balance of the funds were properly appropriated, and the claims of creditors fairly and honourably liquidated. If the House would sanction a bill of this principle, they woald en able the majority of the shareholders to break up the company, and prevent the public from 'new-ring the inconvenience of establishing undertakings which held out us prospect of public advantage, or of yielding any profit to the parties promoting the undertaking, and prevent the majority ..f the shareholders falling a sacrifice to a few surveyors, solicitors, and engineers, and be at the same time of incalculable advantage. He thought they ought to make some provision that a majority of sub scribers in point of number, and in point of amount of shares held by them, should be taken as a fair and full representation of the opinion of the subscribers at large, and he thought that the parties ought to be allowed to present a petition to Parlia ment, expressing their willingness to withdraw the concern ; and he thought also that Parliament should give the power to the parties to make that representa tion. There would be no principle of selection or interference, and he believed that if they were to pass such a Bill, it would effectually relieve the money market. He hoped that in the course of to-morrow a full explanation would be given with respect to the subject. Mr. LABOUCHERE had always been of opinion that this Matter should be taken up by the Government, and he had felt great disappointment, when the Committee upon this sub ject was appointed at the commencement of the session, that some prop osal _ was not made by th e G overnmen t t o th at Com mittee. He regretted very much that the question had not been taken up before by the Government, as an earlier interference would have been more effectual than an interference now. As far as giving facilities to those parties who had embarked in these undertakings to get rid of them, he would have no ob jection, and he thought such a measure would give universal approbation, bust if they attempted to go further then they would pursue a course full of embarrassment. It seemed to him that if. they rejected a Bill on the ground that it was not right the capital should be so applied, it would be an interference with capital which he thought objectionable. He would not, however, be so wadded to abstract principle as not to consider the subject, on good cause being shown to that effect. He thought that something was required to be done, but he was of opinion that the scheme proposed by the First Lord of the Treasury was not calculated to have the effect intended by the Right lion. Baronet. Sir G. CLERK said, with resp ect to the Committee appointed by t h e House to fixthe amount of capital, that Committee was Bills to not authorised to limit the number of railway taken this session. The Right Honeurable Baronet had interfere in properly said that it would be very impolitic to in degree with the applica tion of capital, and that nothing any , ttnestion of the greatest necessity would justify the Governm ent an interfeeence. He coulikassure the Right Hon. Baronet ,inatell:otmhemmit;tebea; hef had re ttbaissheo eeived any encouragement from before the m should have been prepared to put this case b , however, was re ceived no encouragement, he did not think it worth hisades to raise any discussion on the subject. The case that .som e now in a different position, for in various parts of the ee , j „ tr a y s especially in Liverpool, there was a strong feeling facility should be given to persons who, in the course of l ast autumn, had embarked in those schemes, and who were now convineed of their folly, of withdrawing tram them, care bring taken that all agreements entered into by them, and all ex penses incurred, should be discharged. He trusted that the measure alluded to by the Right Hon. Baronet would . be of such a nature as to csrry out the object the petition h a t in view, while no injustice would he done to the promoters of any of those schemes who might have been actuated by a wish to further the publia good. Mr. WARD said that he thought that the Right Hdn. Ba ronet hadtaken the right view of the subject, and, with all due deference to his Hon. Friend near him, it WiS material ii. the present state of the public mind,' that the option should be given to the majority' of the shisreholders, that on their applica tion the Committee should not proceed wi•h their thtl. His Hon. Friend had spoke n of provisional directors. lie (, Ir. Ward) did not believe that in three years such an animal as a live provisional o director would Pilot in the three kingdoms. The Committees of the House would be willing to act on the wishes of the shareholders, when a majority of them expressed th e i r o pi n i ons th a t the Bill should not be proceeded with, and he thought that it would have a happy effect on all those large classes of witnesses now connected with the railway interest. , Mr. W. PATTEN said that he agreed with the Hon. . Gen tlemane w h o h ad j ust spoken, but it must be recollected hat the Measure would only give power to the company majority of to dissolve itself on th e vote o f its shareholders. A gr eat these Bills were under consideration, or in the course of being committed, and an enormous amount of expense was incu rred without any power on the part of the shareholders to pr ev ent it The prop osa l o f the Right Hon. Baronet was well wor thy of the attention of the House. He thought it of great importance that it should he known to the country, that any petitio n presented to th e H ouse requesting the withdrawal of Bills would be referred to the Committee on the Bill ; and it would then have its due weight on the consideration whether the Bill should be proceeded with or not, and that if the share holders wished to withdraw a Mil a petition to that end would have due effeet. Mr. P. BTEW ART said that the only consideration was, that althou g h it had b een suggested that it should be compul sory cn scrip holders to report their opinion of the lines with which they were concerned law to th e construction of t he before permission wasiiven by e scheme, the proceeding would and compared, i t would r be attended w i t h dif fi eulty. If these opinions were gathered sibility, and a l so tend elieve Parliament of a great respon veronsiderably to re move a weig h t from the money market y c Mr. BA RING should feel very strongly di s posed to hesitate, unless a very strong reason indeed were t;iven, before he con sented to limit the capital for railways. ' Mr. B. DENISON was of opinion that, were the share holders resided in different parts of the country, the introdtte- tion of the clause would occasion great inconvenience ; for instance in the case of the London and York line, the share- holders were spread all over the kingdom, and it Would be pre posterous to call them together at a meetin g in order that they might give in their opinion that the Bill ought to be pro ceeded with. It would be the interest of existing railways for the promoters of them to induceparties who had taken up with new lines from going on with them. Mr. BERNAL was of opinion that it was perfectly possible for any shareholder to vote by proxy. The shareholders might go before a magistrate and make an affidavit, in any distant part, and it might be transmitted as his vote to any place, how ever distant, where the meeting should be held. After a few words from Mr. HODGSON, who briefly ex plained the manner in which the affairs of railway companies were wound up, sir It PEEL observed that he was before unacquainted with the mysteries of winding up. He would defy any man to 'Peal with any confidence at this lament of what ought to be adopted with respect to railway affairs; and the .Government incurred no blame in acting in the combined manner they did with respect to these subjects. It would not be wise to inter fere too early, or before the fever had abated. What he pro posed was, that the original shareholders, and those who had sold their interest, should have no voice whatever in the choos ing whether this scheme should be proceeded with or not. He was of opinion, that if a certain number of share holders should present a petition to Parliament set ting forth that it was their opinion that the scheme, if carried out, would not be beneficial to the public ; in that case he should think it advisable that proceedings in that House with respect to the Bill ought not to be carried any fur ther. It should, however, be clearly understood, that the peti tion so presented should receive the signature of the majority of the shareholders ; and that, at whatever stage of the Bill the petition should be presented, all further proceedings should be immediately stopped, so that it would be unnecessary the Bill should be read a third time. Of course, the original share holders, who had parted with their shares, would not be allowed to have a voice in the matter. It must be observed that the directors of the company had no certain knowledge who the shareholders of the company were, and therefore, to a great extent, any collision between them would be prevented, and each would act as'a check upon the other. It appeared to him that all parties would carefully look after their own in terest. They would also have a lucus peniteatia, by which they would be enabled, if they thought proper, to be relieved of their responsibility of carrying the project to a termination. He should be very sorry to express any objection against the principle of the clause; but some restrictions with respect to the regalation of the majority of shareholders should be introduced. Mr. Eaaxs and the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQIIF:R made some observations. but in so low a tone that they were quite inaudible in the gallery. Mr. COLLETT eorsidered that it was incumbent bn the Government to lay down some definite plan by which railway affairs might be regulated. The same difficulty l , ad occurred with reference to gauges, and no distinct plan had been decided on. An important Commission had been investigating this matter upwards of three months, and their report had not yet been produced. He thought that it was highly desirable that Hon. Members should have an opp o rtunity o f perusing that report during the Easter recess, and hoped that it would be very shortly laid upon the table. He was very glad that the Right Hon. Baronet had drawn a proper line between shareholders and scripholders. He looked forward to this as a measure which would afford great relief to a considerable ,portion of the public, and 14 trusted it would prove to be such. It would also be very important if it afforded relief from responsibility to those who had signed the deed of register ; of course, after due regard being had to all the just claims of creditors. Lord MORPETH said, he looked upon this Bill as a most prudent and proper measure ; but it would be well that care should be taken, in all cases where companies were to be dissevered, that the scrip holders had expressed a wish to that effect. Mr. RUTIIERFORD said he quite agreed with the Right Honourable Baronet that this was a very necessary measure, but he thought it would be defective unless it contained a clause protecting all parties who had fair and just claims on the Com pany, and to take care that those claims were satisfied before the company could be dissolved. There was also another point of importance to which he would wish to call attention ; it was this—suppose that while a Bill was under investigation before a Committee a number of shareholders should send in a petition praying that the proceedings should not go en any further, what difficulty could this House have in declaring in favour of that petition, before this Bill had passed? This course might be adopted without affecting the liabilities of the parties. Lord GRANVILLE SOMERSET gave notice that he would postpone the third reading of all railway Bills until after Easter. Mr. RICARDO hoped the Bill would provide against men of straw signing the deed of register, and thereby prevent a great deal of fraud. Mr. C. BULLER said be hoped that the House, before it broke op, would adopt a resolution by which the public would be made aware that it was the intention of the Government to propose such a measure as this, in order that parties might be prepared to act upon it. In reply to an observation made by Mr. JOHN ABEL SMITH, which was inaudible in the gallery, Sir R. PEEL said it would be better to abstain from en tering into those details at present ; but it would be advisable to have a clause in the Bill, empowering the Standing Orders' Committee to dissolve a company under the circumstances already stated ; and also a clause requiring that a meeting should be held, at which a majority of the shareholders should declare in favour of dissolving the company. Lord SANDON hoped that no delay would be given to the measure. Mr. J. O'CONNELL would wish to observe, that in refe rence to Irish railway Bills, though a great desire had been manifested to facilitate the passing of them, with a view to giving employment, yet many Bills had been passed towards the carrying out of which not a single step had been taken. He, therefore, hoped that some measure would be introducesl by which parties would be compelled to complete a line in a given time after the Bill had been passed.—( Hear, hear.) The motion was then agreed to. Lord SANDON presented a petition from the merchants, bankers, and brokers, in Liverpool, praying the House not to encourage the great excess of railway speculation which had arisen this year. He also presented, on the part of one •f the Members for the city of London, a petition signed by every member of the Stock-Exzhange praying that, with a view of benefiting the general commercial state of the country, those persons who had embarked in railway speculation should have facilities afforded to them of withdrawing from the schemes. NOTICES OF MOTION.—ECCLESIASTICAL RE VENUES IN IRELAND. Mr. ELLIS gave notice of his intentioi to ask the Right Hun. Baronet the Secretary of State for the Home Depart ment, whether it was the intention of Government to take any steps to restrain the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of Ireland from expending the capital of sums of money arising from the ecclesiastical revenues derived from land in that country. Mr. W. COLLETT (who was very imperfectly heard) gave notice that it was his intention, on going into Committee on the Protection to Life Ireland Bill, he would move for a clause to give compensation to the tenant farmers who might be injured by the passing of the Bill. Mr. S. O'BRIEN said that he would postpone his motion for a Select Committee to inquire into the organisation and admi nistration of the coestabulary force in Ireland, and of the Dublin police ; and also his motion for a Bill to amend the laws relating to grand juries in Ireland. He also gave notice of his intention of moving, after Easter, that an humble address be presented to her Majesty, urging on her consideration that not one of her Majesty's advisers or Ministers of State. was, by a re sidence in the country or in auy other way, acquainted with the Irish people, and also that the executive ()facers of the local Government of Ireland were perfect strangers is Ireland, and - yet held situations of the highest responsibility. And under these circumstances it was not surprising that it should be found that in the conduct of those officers there was a disre gard of Irish interest and of Irish feeling ; and also a total want of confidence in those officers on the part of the people. He also gave notic , of his intention to move on Thursday next that, with aview to diminish the expense of the railway projects of Ireland, all inquiries into the merits of Irish railways, which had hitherto taken place in this country, should after the present session be allowed to take place in Ireland. PROTECTION TO LIFE IN IRELAND. Sir R. PEEL said that he did not know what probability there was of the House coming to a division that evening, on the first reading of the Bill for the protection of life in Ireland, but supposing that it did net, he would ask of those Hon. Members who had notices for to-morrow to allow the debate to proceed. He did not wish to interfere with the full discussion of the measure, but if the House would allow him to take the discussion on the Corn Bill, a considerable amount of good for the nation might be effected, and if Hon. Members could con. elude the discussion that evening, and permit the discussion of the Corn Bill to be proceeded with to-morrow, they would render the nation a most essential service. Mr. S. O'BRIEN said that he could assure the Right Honourable Baronet that every one of the Members on his side of the House felt as deeply as he did the inconvenience suffered by the country from the course taken in the conduct of these Bills. The Right Hon. Baronet, however, had it in his power to move the adjournment of the debate till after Easter, and to continue the discussion on the Corn Bill. As far as he himself was concerned, he would give way to the discussion on the Corn Bill, bnt would not in any way facilitate the discussion on the Coercion Bill. The SPEAKER said that the Hon. Gentleman should de fer his speech until after the motion for the readiug of the order of the day. On the motion that the order of the day he read. Mr. S. O'BRIEN said he did not wish to adopt any con cealment in the course he was about to take. It was the bounden duty of the Irish Members to take care that. the dis.• cussion on the Coercion Bill should be a discussion in which the misgovernment of Ireland should be fully canvassed, and that every opportunity should be given for the exposition of the wron ti gs il o l f the country, and for the suggestion of such measures as would conduce to the removal of those evils which the op posite Party so utterly denied. Nl' R. t P o E h E a t. re s a a d id a that in permitting, after due!discussion, of the Right Hon, the hwa:setrta.ini:. opportunity( ~ of fi r s tspeaking n t g im o e n , i t t h i e n tl it o s n . su G b e s n eg tl u e subsequent would stages. as r lt epo a r t question tha tit NBEarosaniedt. that . a H t e he ha w d is h h e e a d rd to a Gough from India, of the Government to recall Sir Hugh litheatwh°euiddi d w n i nt know know v, o f a whether n y such u c h such repo r a t report was true? • t as the Sir o i n t. e aPilEudEeLd s ai d tobLt Hon. M. mber. He had just ad visedproceeding would not show any inten tion a peerage on Sir 1 ugh her Bough, u ‘ g l stY and t t' that ti° a n t o r. f Jre.-o"'iChnogNhNin'ELL s aid th t . h .. at li W n it u h ur re gar d to the Coercion it was a measure which he believed would be injudiciou s for the ends it was inters'ed to answer ; it would increase these the d Irish ple,t.pwleasalal B e t h ! l a n which outrages which it proposed t o put would banish from the minds o f o". any feeling for any sympathy which had been show e 'n , to them. This Bill would never reconcile the differences b t w o countries, but would produce re..ults of a most ("ties'asutru the na ture to the people of Ireland. The people of Ir e l an d saw that during the seven centuries of the connexion b.stween of fouoludr Government. e l r o n t en b t a . ck t t any but a was time that the rbthiissesb c ti o ae u tve l o i otisietienrgtahsteioysnhould be changed. He believed that the interest of the two countries was bound up in the connexion between them, and in the wish to preserve that connexion he would rather that this measure were postponed ; and he did not believe that the Government wou ld lose an y thing by the delay, Had the Special Commission s ent out by Government f ailed, fthoer was there anything to encourage anything like a renew al o experiment? Any expense was better tha n increasing the bad feeling of the country. If the Government proceeded with the Corn Bill, and adjourned the present measure, they would be able to try the force of their hands. When the Government at some future period could say that it had tried every remedial measure, and that they had failed, it would find a support from his (Mr. O'Connell's) side of the House that it had never calculated on. He was sorry that an accusation had been made agaiost the opponents of the Coercion Bill by a leading journal of that morning, as having offended public opinion. Whatever accusation might be made against them, a great heat of feeling had arisen and would continue, throughout the course of this debate, and he had himself been betrayed into some warmth on the question. He certainly could not consent to give up this measure so as to facilitate the Gum Bill. It was his country to which he had to look, and it was for the welfare not of one but of both countries, if this Bill were well considered before it was allowed to pass. Sir R. PEEL said that ho was not aware that, on any occa sion, he had been betrayed into any heat on the subject. He had asked the Hon. Members on the other side of the House to allow the orders of the day to have precedence, and had re ceived an answer. He hoped Hon. Gentlemen would proceed to the orders of the day without further delay. Mr. COLLETT would ask the Right Hon. Baronet to what period the House would adjourn for Easter? The state of the public business required that such an adjournment should be for as short a period as possible. Sir DE LACY EVANS said that he thought that the perti nacity of the Members for Ireland was excusable. Considering the extraordinary nature of the Bill, it was wished to bring inbeforeethe House, he thought that Hon. Gentlemen had not his Hon. Friends on this side of the House, _, ad i t clear what the determination of the House was as to e emir, e to be pursued. According to the sure under determination beitbertbemeao! at all.discussion, nor the Corn Bill, would be advanced After a few words from Mr, C. POW ELL, which did no' reach the gallery, Lord MORPETH said, that while this subject was before the House, he could not refrain from reading a letter which be had received from York. It did not bear immediately on the question, but it related to it in some degree. It stated, that pending the decision on the Corn Bill and tariff, trade and commerce were in a state of extreme depression, and that a large body of operatives of a respectable class were in a state of destitution, and depending on charity, The question of priority of discussion was not in the least interfered with in this measure ; but he must say, that on the other hand, he ho debate. pedthat ample means would be given for the t ermination of the Sir R. PEEL said that be would inform the House of the length of time for which he would adjourn the House, from Tursday next, to-morrow (this day). Mr. P. SCROPE could not see any reason' why the Coer cion Bill should be proceeded with at once, and the Corn Bill adjourned over Easter. Sir Pt. PEEL said that it was clear that the House would make no progress if it took the Corn Bill to-morrow; it would be of great advantage to the nation if it was proceeded with at once. He had asked Hon. Gentlemen to pospone their motion for that purpose, and he had received his answer—he did not wish to press the question further. Sir J. GRAHAM said,that he had offered to Hon. Members that the Bill should be read a first time as a mere matter of courtesy to the other House. Mr. WARD said that the Right Hon. Baronet was under a misconception as to the words be had used, for he had said that he did not ask this first reading as a matter of courtesy between the two Houses of Legislature, but the time was arrived when it was necessary that the opinion of the House should 'decide what was to to done on this question. Sir J. GRAHAM said that it had been remarked that he had wished the first reading of the Bill under protest, but he thought that such a precedent was one from which considerable inconvenience and disorder was likely to arise, and he could not encourage such a principle. Sir W. SOMERVILLE said, if the determination was come to to adjourn the debate, it should be adjourned till some time after Easter. They might then go on with the Commit tee on the Corn Bill to-morrow night. In such a case, they would get through with that Bill before the holidays. If the Government would go on that night, on them rested the re sponsibility. After a few worts from Mr. BROWN, in concurrence, Colonel RAWDON suggested that if her Majesty's Govern ment would go on with the Corn Bill, and if Hon. Members who had motions for to-morrow night would give way, as he had no doubt they would, there would be no difficulty in going on. They would then have a free stage before them. If they would persist in going on, he would move the order of the day for the adjourned debate be read that day three months. Mr. C. POWELL inquired whether certain returns, re lating to the outrages committed in the disturbed districts of Ireland, had been received, and were ready for production? Slr J. GRAHAM said he had not yet received all the re turns. Colonel RAWDON said he would move that which he be- Keyed was more regular than that he intimated to do. He begged leave to move that the other orders of the day be pro ceeded with Lord 111ORPETH hoped the Hon. and Gallant Member would not press his motion, but would allow the debate to pro ceed. Mr. B. ESCOTT said, though opposed to the measure, he could not consent to meet it in such a factious and unusual manner. If the Bill was not taken new, the Corn Bill would not be proceeded with that night, and the evening would be lost. He hoped they would proceed with the debate at once. Mr. J. COLLETT said he should wish to hear the case of the Hon. Gentlemen opposite. It must be a bad one else they would not seek to meet the Bill in this unbecoming and left handed manner. Sir R. PEEL was not to be provoked by the course taken. There had been a full understanding on all sides that they should that night proceed with the discussion of the Irish Pro tection of Life Bill. He did hope therefore they would be allowed to proceed with the adjourned debate at once. Colonel RAWDON, in deference to the feelings expresssed by Hon. Members, would withdraw his amendment. On the order of the day being then read, Mr. CHRISTIE asked a question of the Home Secretary about the poor-laws, the purport of which did not reach the gallery. Sir JAMES GRAHAM replied that he had not heard of the matter referred to, and could not give any answer about it. If notice of motion was given, then ha would be prepared to meet it. Mr. M'CARTHY presented a petition from the city of Cork against the Irish Coercion Bill. It was agreed to at a meeting presided over by the Mayor, and signed by about 3,000%m05t respectable persons. It deplored the state of Ireland, but attributed the outrages that prevailed to agrarian causes and the social condition of Ireland, especially the law relating to landlord and tenant. As the petition was one of great importance, he would give notice that to-morrow he would move that it be printed with the votes. ADJOURNED DEBATE. The adjourned debate was then resumed. Mr. CAREW proceeded to address the House. He did not intend to consume much of their time in stating the reasons why he opposed the present Bill. Had her Majesty's Govern ment come. to the •House with remedial measures, while they proposed the present measure, they would have had a much stronger case to rely on than the prsent ; the result would have been of a more satisfactory and consistent character. The measures hitherto brought forward, instead of being of an healing character, had been, generally speaking, coercive and oppressive. It could not be denied that a good landlord and tenant law was much wanted for Ireland ; as for a long time the process of dispossessing tenants had been going for ward to a great extent. Evidence had been produced, showing the deplorable results which had followed from this system of clearing land, and the want of security that accordingly ex isted. The Hon. Member here read a number of extracts and documents in illustration of these proceedings in various counties in Ireland, showing that outrages, threatening notices, and all the heartburings that for some time past had charac terised the relationship between landlord and tenant, flowed from the system of eviction. To expect anything like peace and order under such a system was impossible. The state of Ireland in 1839 had been well described in the report of a Commission then at pointed to inquire into it, and yet, though sixteen years had passed away, the case of Ireland was as bad as ever.—( Hear, hear.) The recent report of Lord Devon's Commission amply established this. It had been clearly proved that party had nothing to do with these outrages, but they were entirely of an agrarian character. A Bill to change this system would be of far more effect in healing the evils of Ire land, and in removing outrage, than any number of Bills they could introduce and pass of a coercive character. But this ought not to be all. The religious inequality that prevailed in I: eland should also be done away with. Did they ever know any other country where the religion of a minority was the es tablished religion, while the faith of the great body of the people was proscribed, and its votaries called on to support the establishment of the minority. The longer the equitable set tlement of this question was delayed, the greater would he the difficulties of the country. They had in Ireland 6,400,000 Catholics, while the Established Church did not number above 800,000, and the other dissenting bodies about as many more. It was not therefore for a moment to be barne that the great body of the people should be treated thus. As Mr. Burke truly said, the Church of Ireland was one Which the people of the country would not ask the assistance of, either living or eying. That Church had also got to be very unpopular with the people of Ireland, because its bishops had opposed the measure for the national system of education in Ireland. If the present had been the first Bill on the subject, he might have been disposed to consider it. But it was not so. Not less than seventeen Bills of a similar character had been introduced since the llnion.—( Hear, hear.) He would conclude generally by say ing that he did not think the Government were proceeding in th• right way to conciliate Ireland, or to command its confi dence. They had departed from the impartiality that charac terised the Marquis of Normanby's Government, and as such, had failed in all they had done to tranquillise that country. The - O'CONOR DON said, that after the able and tempe rate speech of the Hon. and Learned Member for Cork (Mr. O'Connell) none could doubt but that the measure was of a most unconstitutional and arbitrary character. Neither had it been shown that the measure had any real connexion with the crimes sought to be suppressed. The Right Hon. Gentle man, the Secretary-at-War, had stated that the Bill was mainly a Bill for the protection of the poor, who were subject to be attacked at' night, while the rich were shot during the day. From what he (the•O'Conor Don) knew of Ireland, the Bill, instead of being a boon, would be looked on as a curse, and operate most injuriously.—(Hear, hear.) A great num ber of markets in Ireland were held till a lite hour in the day ; and people, if they attended them, could not avoid travelling home after dark. But if this Bill was carried out, it would be impossible for them to attend to their business at all.—( Hear, hear.) The result would be, that the attacks against parties would be directed in another way than they were at present. In July last he had sat on the grand jury of the county of Ros common, when the state of Ireland was discussed, and a motion made for a petition to the Legislature in favour of a Coercion Bill. He opposed the ',resolution then, and it was stated that the Government would not support a Bill of that kind. In that, it seems, he had been mistaken, as the present Bill would show. He opposed the Bill, because he be lieved it would be the means of aggravating, instead of healing the evils of Ireland. Other resources might be easily Proposed that would be afar more effectual ; but now, as ever before, Ireland had been the victim of tardy legislation. What ever measures of a healing character the Government had to eropose, the sooner it slid so the better, especially the Land lord and Tenant Bill. It was an astonishing, yet a melancholy fact, that whenever Ireland was alluded to from the throne, it was in regard to its evils and distress, and not to its prosperity. —( Hear, hear ) It would be much more satisfactory and useful to consider the resources of Ireland, and how to develop and apply them in the best manner, than in proposing en rcive and irritative measures like the one before them. —( Hear. ) Mr. M. MILNES said that in the observations be was ahout to make he would confine himself strietly to the question, and not launch into the sea of Irish politics. He looked on the Bill before the House as a measure of police merely. and he hoped a very temporary measure of police. And while it was, he thought, required in the present state of Ireland, he hoped other measures for the advancement of the social and moral condition of the country would not be lost sight of. He believed that the Government would be ready to receive any suggestions from Hon. Gentlemen opposite calculated to make thi s 13111 more effective. This spirit had been shown during the progress of the Bill through the other Heuse of Par liament. /le fully concurred in the sentiment of the Right Honourable Gentleman the Secretary at. War, when he stated that he would never cotur . t to make Ireland again the battle fieldthat t o h f ia p ß ar i t l y l it would not be allowed to go forth . had li b e ee h n oP b e rou forward as an insult to Ireland. The bitterest enemy of the brought e ment must admit that they condition of that country. ameliorate e r l e i o d r u a c t i e n g the Theyhad d o h t ed succeededm uch too party which for merlym." of f his support to this continuance forc of which exited in Ireland. He th a s hht. Bill, as a measure of policy, he hoped would be but temporary. It mustrecollected ra that the measure was intended mainly to meet the out were committed at the night time. These outra g g e e s s w w h l ch the most difficult to meet, and, therefore, an extraordinary e remedy was required. He did not mean to say that they could eradicate those evils which had their foundation in the relation which atpresent existedbetween landlord and tenant. To do that a general change in the law must be effected.—(Cheers.) The object of this Bill was to meet certain evils, which required stringent powers for their suppression. He trusted, however, that her Majesty's Government would not use any undue severity in this matter. There were modifications which might be made in the Bill, in the introduction of which he should be ready to co-operate. He hoped, however, that:this measure would be followed by extensive remedial measures. No English Government could go on without such measures. No matter what Government was in power, the next year would be a most important one with respect to the prosperity of Ire land, and he trusted that much time would not elapse before, with the blessing of Providence, they were enabled to wipe away that great stain which rested upon this country with re spect to the past Government of Ireland.—(Cheers.) Mr. D. BROWNE. expressed the gratification which he felt at the moderate tone, and • the conciliatory spirit which had been exhibited by the Hon. Gentleman who had just sat down, and he trusted that her Majesty's Government would follow the example of the Honourable Gentleman, and that they would adopt the course which had been recom mended to them. He (Mr. Browne) belie`tred that the re dress of grievances would be the best remedy and preven tion of that crime which they all so much deplored. The poor man's home, by this Bill, would be rendered a prison, and compared to which the convict's dwelling was a pleasant home. Th. poor man would never be enabled to return to his home without fearing that he would be subjected to the espionage which. this Bill would give emissaries of the law the power of practising. There was a great deal of predial ex citement in Ireland, and this bad arisen from the system of Go vernment adopted toward; that country, and they could never expect that excitement to abate until they removed its cause. The legislation with respect to Ireland, from the time of the union, had been for classes, and not for the people. The different Governments had ranged Protestant against Catholic; and such was the rancour of the contending parties, that they appeared to forget that they had a country. One of the implied eng a g emen t s at t h e t i me of t h e un i on was, that Catholic Emancipatio n s h ou ld b e grante d ; an d yet, for nine and twenty years, the Catholics were excluded from political rights. The enormities of the monster grievance of Ireland —the State Church—had been continued without any attempt at reformation. He said, while theywere advancingscience of every description in thi s country, t h ey we re allowing the science of .legislation in Ireland to remain stationery. He now came to another branch of the subject, namely, the Coercive Acts passed against 'reknit from the time of the union to the period of Catholic Emancipation. For sixteen or seventeen years Ireland was under the restraint of coercive laws—large powers were given to the Lord Lieutenant for the purpose of keeping the people in forceable subjection, and many offences, which had previously been looked at in the light of misde meanours, were made criminal and transportable offences. The system, however, proved unsuccessful, and, discontent still continuing, Catholic Emancipation was,tatdily conceded, but years I elapsed before even that measure was fully carried into , effect--( Hear, hear)—while other grievances of a no less exten s i ve an d oppress i ve character were still permitted to exist. The law of landlord and tenant, for instance, was no new source of discontent. It existed in the time of Lord Castlereagh ; and even then the people were driven to acts of lawless outrage and desperation to protect themselves from the tyr anny o f t h e l an dl or d , or the cruelty of his agent. A lawless combination, even at this early period, was formed amongst the people, not to oppose or procure the downfal of an; existing form of religion or legislation, but to produce a social revolution in the country. It was instituted for the purpose of compelling the landlords of Ireland to adopt one particular principle in the letting of their lands. This grievance, occasioned by the law of landlord end tenant, then, was of no modern creation ; on the contrary, it had existed for years; and yet, up to the present day, the English Government had taken no steps, nor evinced any disposition to apply any remedial measure to this baneful and cruel system. There was no mercy and security for the tenantry of Ireland. The landlord was all powerful, and enuld cru.h his humble t enant i n a s i ng l e m oment. This was acknowledged by th e a bl est an d l ar gest circulat ing journal in England, and he for one asked the House whether it was not high time that some remedial mea sures should be applied to this system. The Government answered that they intended to bring forward remedial measures, but refused, when called upon, to say what these remedial measures were.—( Hear, hear.) Well. then, he could tell them that this Coercion Bill would fail to have the desired effect. It would in no way stop or reduce the extent of murder in Ireland; and, like all former measures of a coercive tendency, they might rely upon it this Protection for Life Bill, as it was called, would turn out to be utterly useless in abolishing the system it was directed against. If they wanted to insure peace and contentment in Ireland, let them base their Government upon justice, and not attempt to ad minister it through coercive measures. That policy had never succeeded and never would, and Ireland could only be effectu ally governed by laws that were strictly in accordance with the spirit of equity and justice.—( Hear, hear.) There was an other diabolieal system existing in Ireland, which ought to be done away with—he alluded to the abominable spy system which existed to a greater extent in Ireland than in any other country in Europe.—( Hear.) It was well known that some of the Government spies had concealed ribbon documents about the persons of unsuspecting individuals, whom they decoyed away from their homes, and by this means succeeded in procuring their conviction for offences which they never committed, and for which they were punished with transpor tation. Again, these spies often resorted to the detestable devices of concealing arms in or about the premises of inno cent and unoffending persons, and afterwards laying informa tions against them for unlawfully having arms in their posses sion.—( Hear, hear.) Nay, similar devices were often resorted to to procure the conviction of innocent parties who were un justly accused of the crime arson, robbery, or murder.— ( Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord, the Member for Lynn (Lord G. Bentinck), had the other night turned up the white of his eyes in pious horror when a statement was made of the mur ders in Ireland, but what bad that Noble. Lord to say in de fence of the innumerable and cold-blooded murders that had been recently committed in England? The Hon. Member then proceeded to read a list of the murders that had been com mitted in England during the. year 1845, one of which was the murder of an old woman by her son, a species of murder which the Hon. Member remarked was not very prevalent in Ireland. —( Hear ' hear.) The total number of murders committed in England during the present year was about forty, And yet that year was, according to English journals, a year of unex ampled prosperity. He did not wish to speak offensively of the. English people; he was only . enswering the statements of the Noble Lord.the Member. for..Lynn.—(Hear, hear.) But what would have been the number of murders in England during the past year, if, instead of having been one of unex ampled prosperity, the people had Been reduced to the same depths of poverty and misery as were the Irish people at the present moment ?—( Hear, hear.) During even the past three months of the present year, 1846, there had been a long list of the' most diabolical murders eommitted in England, but if the list was read in full, he doubted whether Hon. Gentleman op posite would appear so horree-stricken as they appeared to be the other night.— ( Hear, hear.) Perhaps that arose from their being accustomed to the. thing.—( Hear, hear.) Perhaps, like the grave-digger in Hamlet, who said madness was so common amongst those beside him that it did not excite any wonder, murder was so common in England that the English were not surprised at its alarming prevalence in their own land. But, as he said before, he did not intend to use any language of this sort for the pur pose of hurting the feelings of the people of this country. Let the Government give the Irish people institu tions equally to those enjoyed by Englishmen and Scotchmen. Let the Right Hon. Baronet at the bead of the Govern ment come down to the House and tell the Irish Members that he would give them equal franchises.—( Hear, hear.) Let him came down to the House and tell them that he would not tolerate the difference which at present existed between Ireland and England with regard to the church revenues—let him come down and say, that he would no longer suffer (if he could possibly prevent it) the monstrous anomally which ex isted in Ireland of all the ecclesiastical revenues of the country being handed over to the church of the minority.. While in England arid Scotland those revenues were appropriated by the church of the majority.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") He would entreat the Right Hou. Baronet—and he addressed him with diffidence and with the greatest respect, and never had he used either in that House or elsewhere, as Hon. Members on his side of the House would attest--( Hear)—any but the most respectful language concerning the political conduct of that Right Hon. Gentleman—he would ask him to look to the state of Ireland, and reflect within his own mind whether coercive measures would tend to tranquillise Ireland ?—( Hear. hear.) Let him look to the anomalous condition of her peo ple, whose history was unexampled in the history of any coun try, while the abundant contents of her granaries were ex ported to this country.—(Hear, hear.) Let him look to the enormous rents which were extorted from the people for the purpose of swelling the absentee tribute, whilst the people were in a state of starvation for want of • food and employment. Let him look to the houses of her nobility, which had been desecrated to mean and lowly purposes, her streets deserted, her shopk ee p ers - b an k rupt, h er custom -house a depot far English merc h an di se —( H ear , hear)—her exchange a delusion—he r b an k a monopo ly and her very Castle, under the pre sen t s t ate o f th i ngs, a place of despotism. —( Hear, hear.) He would repeat, , l et t h e Right Hon Baronet ' look at this state of things, and let him ask himself whether, by passing this measure, he was doing what was bes t calcu lated to maintain inviolate the legislative union of England and Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) Let him, if he wished to bring peace to Ireland, pursue an opposite course ; let him, like a great statesman, increase the prosperity rather than irritate the feelings of the people for whom he was appointed to legislate. Let him encourage the introduction of such measures as would form the basis of the peace and prosperity of Ireland. Let him —to use the expression which he had heard used in that House on another occasion—let him unite the philosophy of Watt with the policy of the son of Chatham, and make a Tweed of the Irish Channel. Let him do that, and he would add another laurel to those which already graced his brow.—(Cheers.) Lord MORPETH said that he had listened with consider. able attention to those Hon. Gentlemen who had taken part in this debate, and he was. prompted to do so because he had been, on a-former occasion, called• upon to take a part in the public business of Ireland.; and he would, perhaps, be excused, if he interposed, for a very short time, in the .debate now be fore the House,—(Hear, hear.) He would 'say for a very short time for many reasons. Idthe first place , he bad no wish to say anything with 'respect to the general policy which he should wish to see pursued to• wards Ireland. In the next place, the present state of pablic business would make him wish to avoid any responsi bility for unnecessarily :protracting its further progress. ( Hear, hear.) But, most of all, the reason which induced him to speak at all on this question was, that he had previously expressed • himself. most favourably of the Irish character. From his own recollections, he was too sensible of the great difficulties of those who had to administer the government of Ireland, and the heavy responsibilities under which they lay with regard to that country ; and he, therefore, naturally shrunk trom impeding the measures which the executive au thoritt at any time, backed by evidence of undeniable effects, might allege to be necessary for the purpose of furthering the peace of her people. Het could not but depict to himself the horror which must have possessed the member's of the then Government when intelligence reached them of the murder of Lord Norbury. He did net state that case for the purpose of arguing that the rank of the murdered person should make a diff•rence in our sympathies, bet beeitiie it happened at a par ticular time, and when he held office under Government. He was quite willing, and quite anxious, to limit the period and the penalties of the present measure, and he would always contend that such measures as these should be strictly in accordance with the exigencies, but he must say that ho could not con scientiously object to this Bill in toto. He was ready to admi , that it would have been preferable if measures of permanent redress and conciliation had been brought in, either antecedently to, or concomitant with, He measures of harthimself .hness and °ppright m of a full discussion of the details of thi s measure when it had reached Committee; but h e would not take u p on himself to reserved the sion.---t Hear, hear. ) hear.) Upon former o ccas i ons h e h a d his testinemy to wh a t h e cons id ered human life.—(Hear. l r i e m fu tt s e e d , least, in Q en u t e e e r n tain ,sG th o e ver p n rrpo m i en si t tim s r om t e o a ge, fora very t iv ieastef those they alleged to he n ecessary for the safety of powers which not refrained from bearing representatives ,inpatience, He v,a in of many shining qualitie s in the Irish character-- ( Hear, hear.) He had riot even refrained , when it was even calculated to nisen called w ituhr then to give offence — when it differed altogether from the opi n i ons o f many of his own countryme n, and even w hen he had felt him 'elfjoi viewsn and ef vote seve several ao theay which w as not in s ti the Iri s h p e ople—when he fat himsylf called upon to speak in inhonesty f terms de dealing gh e between character rn man n f the and m lris h an p e ople. quite as ready, and more ready, to allow that in many point s— resignation almost intolerable, in want and -riva t p ion—(Hear, hear)—there was a pre-eminence of Irish virtue, p be yond that of any other nation on the face of the ea Irhobabli:l hear. ) And further, his Hon. Friend who had • r ear, his speech, had dwelt upon the number andust concluded crimes committed in England—( Hear ).....ana atr ocity of the peth) went with him, and he was willing to admit . that Mor be quite easy to pick out crimes in England equally t h it might their details to those which had been committed in Le l and in and he would go further, and say that ther e i.° and ; in the Irish murders an absence of that wantonnesswas which characterised the murders committed in this count ry.__ ( Hear, hear ) There appeared to be in the murders r co Y.— mitted in England an absence of that strong impulse which would seem to excite the generality of the unhappy individ uals that committed murders in Ireland.—( Hear,i hear.) But it was not the number or the g uilt of th e Irish crimes, so-much • as the system of th e Irish cri mes, and the consequences they entailed, and the general insecurity which they had to deal with in legislating for Ireland. In connexion with this part of the subject, he could not fail to be struck with what had been impressively stated by the flight Hon. Gentleman the Secre tary-at. War, that what should have most weight with the House in the consideration of this measure was the number of threatening notices, which had increased in Ireland during the last eighteen months to 2.320. Why what were those notices which stood. hanging over the life of a man? They were notices of terror, and made his whole existence a fear and a misery.— ( Hear, hear.) It might be asked where the details of this Bill calculated to effect their cud? He had great doubt h th w e er some of them were so.—( Hear, hear,) But he would say let them consider them, for in such a state of things he dare not refuse the proposal to legislate altogether.—(Hear. ) With respect to the general policy upon which the Government of Ireland ought to be based, he was willing to go as far as most men he believed. He was a party to the introduction ,of the memorable appropriation clause— (Hear, hear )—and he stated at the time his opinion that its rejection would be an injustice to the great bulk of the people of Ireland.—(Hear, hear.) ,At the same time he frankly stated, that that , measure of itself was not calculated to give permanent satisfaction to the Irish people.—( Hear, hear.) Whilst he was in office he proposed, in conjunction with his Noble Friend the Member for London, to increase the franchise to the Irish people, and to make them equal in that respect to English and Scotehinen. They also proposed an adjustment of Irish property, and Irish poverty, and it seemed to him that what Ireland wanted in a great degree was the improvement of the law of landlord and tenant. And most cordially did he hope that the measure which was contemplated by the Government would, when produced, be found to be formed in a wise and equitable spirit, and that the enactments would be calculated to meet the desired end.— (Hear, hear.) Upon this point he could not dissemble his opinions but that the waste lands and bogs of Ireland might be made more valuable for augmenting the resources of the untenanted When, present upon the nd uon e n o w hand, troked , country and improving the conditi on o f th e peop l e .—( H ear , hear.) It was t rue th e Ministry of, which he formed a part did a s uc h e the i a other o hand,aa o o f f when land e. net propose any measure th emse l ves o f t h at nature, nor was h e at tsuggesthaenyh upo n the d dals r plans r e they had such immense masses of the people without the means of turning to profitable use the bands and the strength which God had given them, he thought it might be possible, either by the wisdom or kindness of man to devise some means of turning the present state into the ele ments of future benefit to the country.—(Hear, hear.) One more word with reference to the Bill then before the House. Whenever the time should come at which the Bill should arrive at its first reading, as a matter of course a considerable time must elapse before it can reach or pass through its subse quent stages. If in that interval any improvement in the state of crime should take place, from any cause which might be brought into operation, or the exercise of the ordinary powers of the law, or the exertion of the military and the police— not, I hope, always henceforth to be employed, as they had heard in some of the speeches of Hon. Members—when the verdicts of justice are given fearlessly and righteously— and he saw that the two men who were charged with the murder of Mr. Clarke had been recently ap prehended—(Hear)—if the softened and tempered tone of the discussion in this House—the unanimous language of warrants in which these cowardly assassinations had been branded, not only by the organs of her Majesty's Government, and by the ministers of the gospel, but by the favourites and leaders of the popular mind of Ireland ; if, above all, the beneficient and overtaking hand of Providence shall have checked in any way the career of Irish crime, and shall have restored comparative security to property and life in that country, he then hoped that her Majesty's Government would not consider it at variance with their dignity or their sense of duty to meet this improved manifestation in a corresponding spirit, and to dis pense either with the whole or partial provisions of the Bill now under discusssion.—( Hear, hear.) If otherwise, he could wily bow to the necessity of the ease. He was, however, convinced that for the government of Ireland there was a better way than that.—(Cheers.) He remembered, in the first speech he made within the walls of the then Parliament—he was sorry he could not quote a better authority— it was on the subject of the Repeal of the Catholic Disabilities Bill. He said upon that occasion, " We have made England great, we should now study to make Ireland happy."—(Loud cheers.) Since that period the greatness of England had gone on ad vancing, it perhaps never culminated to a higher point than at present.* All parties will be inclined to agree with him that there still remained a vast amount of indebtedness to us to make Ireland happy.—( Prolonged cheering.) • Mr. P. SCROPE was not surprised that an Irish discussion should be so discursive as the present had been. He deplored that so mnch attention had been paid to political subjects, which had no connexion whatever with the matter in hand. The attention of the House should be directed to the prevention of crime, and the preservation of life and property in Ireland. The Hon. Member proceeded to read same extracts from minutes of evidence given before the Poor-law Commissioners of Ire land, as tending to illustrate the frightful state of society in that country with reference to agrarian crimes. The lion. Member then went on to remark upon the anomalous state of Ireland—the inhabitants of that country were remarkable for their social and hospitable feelings—they would share there last potato with their distressed neighbours, but they always sheltered and protected the murderer, they looked upon him as a martyr, and considered it their duty to support his surviving relatives. They thought themselves entitled to resist the law of the land, which they considered their enemy rather than their friend. What he urged was, that the law protected property while it abandoned those who lived on the property. The system of extermination—of removing the people off the face of the land—must be put an end to. He wished to know where was to be the limits of that system ? In the present state of the law, if the landowners of an entire county chose to eject the tenants from their respective properties, the law of the land must come to their assistance, though a wide-spread rebellion should be the consequence. He wished, therefore, to see the introduction of a remedy. The Coercion Bill before the House, could not surely be considered a remedy. The Right Hon. the Secretary-at-War said, a few evenings ago what startled him. He said that this Bill would eradicate the evil. Now, in his (Mr. Scrope's) opinion this did not show the Right Hon. Gentleman to be very well ver sant with the evil which he proposed to remedy. He (Mr. Scrope) always had resisted similar measures. In 1835, when a Bill of a like nature was brought forward, he proposed an amendment, and would not consent to its becoming law unless some measure of a conciliatory kind were to accompany it. The Secretary-at-War had also said that bold and ample mea sures were in contemplation for Ireland. He confessed that he did not place much confidence in these promises, and he warned them that the social state of Ireland was in a perilous condition, and every exertion should be made to prevent the smouldering elements from exploding with the most destructive violence. What he would ask, became of those individuals who were ejected? They had no resources, but to perish from want, or from fever, the consequence of want. One point he would wish to add— he denied that these outrages were all connected with land. They were, in his opinion, as much connected with want of employment. Give the people employment—let them secure to them the means of living, and if they did, they would have no grounds whatever for passing Coercion Bills, but they would bind the people by the strongest ties to the Government of the country. How had they altered the condition of the country by the Poor-law Commission ? They had done a little by the temporary relief, but nothing was done to alter the condition of the country—nothing was done to do away with the cause of agrarian disturbance which the present measure was sought to affect. The remedy of the Government would, however, fall short of the intended result.—(Cries of "Hear, hear.") The duty of the Government was to adopt such a measure as would allow the tenantry to live out of the land which they' toiled to bring into cultivation, and render profitable to the landed proprietor.—( Hear, hear.) What caused this agrarian outrage?—( Hear, hear.) It was caused by the dread of desti tution which the tenantry had of being turned out of their land by the proprietors of the soil at their will and pleasure, and until this was remedied there could be no hope for the . peace and prosperity of Ireland.—(Hekr, hear.) In the reign of Henry VIII. coercion was tried, and it was an historical fact, that about 70,000 persons were hanged. Did this:change the state of things ? Ever since that period the landed tenure of Ireland had been the cause of more commotion than any other evil with which the country had been afflicted. ( Hear, hear.) He called upon the House to look at the state of Ireland—to judge of the 11.- 1 medies which were called for—and, as they valued the prospe rity of that country, to apply themselves to the real remedy of the state of society in that country. What was it that caused the French revolution? Was it not the encroachments of the nobles, the tyranny of the landed proprietors, backed and for tified by the coercive laws, that paved the way to all the scenes that resulted ?—( Hear, hear.) He warned the House that this state of things could not continue. These coercion Bills could not always repress the just aspirations of a people. In their own day they had revolutions in Prussia, Austria, the n9rlh of Poland, and indeed over the whale of the north of turope. The peasants had been raised from a state of serfdom to the blessings of freedom, and (lid they think that Irishmen would for ever shut their eyes to these facts? It was impossible for any one to look at the Irish who existed in England, without being convinced of their industry, and he would add their perseverence ; and it was only the system which prevailed in Ireland that repressed these virtues. If they had had a fair modicum of justice from their landlords—if the land tenure had been different—then the writers who were so' ready to detail the idlenesses and the apathy of Irishmen would have Lad a different tale to tell. It should be the endeavour of Government to pass measures which would give peace to that country. The Hon. Member then read extracts, exhi biting the state of Ireland at present. and arguing that it was a doubtful question whether the Whiteboyism that unhinged society, or the exterminating system of the landlord, were the greater evil. If they took from the Irish peasantry their plea of poverty, the necessity of dying in ditches as on the estate of Gerrard, from that moment they would secure the alle giance of the Irish people. If they wished to put down agrarian outrages, they had only to give them the means of living. Lord GEORGE I3ENTINCK said that he did not wish to express any sympathy with, or any palliation of, the long cata logue of crimes detailed to the House. The difference be tween crime in England and crime in Ireland was, that in England, when crimes were committed, the sympathy of the Engli,h people did not go with the criminals. —( Hear, hear.) The crimes upon which they had to decide were crimes with which the people of Ireland had shown great sympathy, and it was because of the difficulty in detecting these crimes, and bringing the perpetrators to justice, that this . difference existed. It appeared to him that her Majesty , in calling the attention of that House to consider of and devise measures fur increasing the security to life in Ireland, and the more easily bringing to justice the perpetrators of these crimes of desperate assassination, informed the House that the had, with deep re gret, of the , to support first reading of this Hill, the more unconditional it was made ; mut it was because he thought that in this measur e th e H ouse ,ec, rs observed onee in th th a a t t co theseun country. crimes He had w a of prepared late become would slims mercy, not only to the 4andlord and to the magis trate, but to the tenantry of Ireland, that he was disposed to support it. When they were charged, and himself in particular charged by the Hon. Gentleman the Member for Wickham, who spoke second in that debate on Friday night last, with coming down to the House with only superficial information, and hasty statements, gathered from tw o or t h ree s li ps cut out from news papers, he begged leave to say, that in the first instance he re ferred to her Majesty's speech from the throne, and he might also have referred to the answer to that speech from that House, in which they (the Commons of England), humbly assured her Majesty, that they, together with herself, had eliserved with deep regret the commission of crimes of deliberate assassination in Ireland, and promised obedience to her gall.. mantis, when she told the House it was their duty to consider some measure for the more effectual preservation of life, and the more surely bringing to justice the perpetrators of these crimes. They did promise to her Majesty to give their com sideration to a measure of that description, and he conceived that the honour and good faith of the House of Commons was therefore pledged to a measure of that description. He did not for one consider that either the party around him or he him eel were in any way bound to support all the clauses that were retained in this measure. lie assured the Hon. Gentle- man the Member for Wickham, in answer to the charge he (the Member for Wickham) had brought against him, that he would not have been so anxious to support this measure had it not been that the consideration that it was connected with the corn.laws induced him to do so. He was able, both for his:friends around him and himself, to refer to the conduct of their . whole lives to prove that they had supported those measures when Government called upon them to do so. He supported the measure of the Government of 1833, of a description similar to the one now before • the House, and the measure then introduced, and which he then supported, was stronger than the measure then before the House. And he took leave to say that he thought that that measure was more effectual for its purpose than the one then under the consideration of the House. He believed the measure then introduced, on the 29th January, passed both Houses of Parliament, and received the royal consent. He must say that he did not think it was urging on the House to pass a measure of too great haste, it wss announced from the throne 411 the 22d January, and they had now reached the 6th April, and still had not read the Bill a first time. He should not go again into a detail of all the crimes committed in Ireland, Hon.Gen to u s e h m o a ck n thhaedteLltinaielesdoftothtahte H H o o u u lt e w . hicHhetie thought ßight I whet* he eaw all the great leaders of party aupportipg the measure elsewhere, it was hardly just to the House, that those on his side of the House should not support the measure of her Majesty's Ministers. His Hon. Friend, the Member for the West Riding of Yorkshire had referred to other remedial measures which he thought should be introduced into that House. He had referred to measures for the extension of municipal franchise, and - of Parliamentary franchise in Ireland, and had expressed a desire to . see the other franchises in Ireland put on the same footing with the franchises in England. For himself, he confessed he could not see in what way the extension of political franchise of any description in Ireland would be at all any remedy for the evils proposed to be relieved by this measure. But when his Hon. Friend referred to other matters and said that he thought that the relations between poverty and property in , Ireland required some new arrangement, he cordially concurred with his Hon. Friend, when he saw that Ireland, with eight millions of population, re ceived poor relief but to the amount of 256,000/. with annum —( Hear, hear.) Whilst in England, which with :Wales, _contained - sixteen millions, ,nearly five millions was spent in succour to the country. He must confess that he cordially concurred with his Hon. Friend in thinking that the relation between poverty and property in Ireland required some new arrangement; he believed that some better provision must be made for the people of Ireland. There was another point immediately connected with this, to which he would take leave to refer, and that was to the system of absenteeism in Ireland. He could not disguise his firm and lawful conviction, that many of the evils of Ireland arose from the system of absent land lords receiving their rents and spending them in another country. He was well aware, that in alluding to these doc trines he was not subscribing to the doctrines of political economy. He was well aware, that according to Mr. M'Cullock, it made no difference to Ireland whether the landlord spent his money in Dublin, in Bath, or in London, but he confessed he had always been at a loss to understand such doctrine. He believed that the first ingredient in the happiness of a country was, that the gentry, who received the rents, should spend their fortunes amongst the people. He could nothelp thinking that some arrangements might be made, connected with the levying of the poor-rates in Ireland, in which absenteeism might be made more liable. There was an arrangement in respect to tithes, by which two tithes were levied—the one was the ordina r y tithe, and the other was only levied as long as the land remained cultivated. He thought that such an arrangement might be applied to the poor-rates in Ireland, and also to all per sons, being land lords,w h o absented themselves from that country. He was well aware that another remedial measure might be proposed, which, notwithstanding what had been imputed to him by the Right lion. Baronet, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, namely, that he was treading upon dangerous ground, and that what he was now saying might be written in letters of blood in Ireland—notwithstanding all this, still he would say, that a measure m i ght be introduced of a nature very different from that which was now before the House, and which would be much more likely to have the desired effect in that country.—(Hear, from the Opposition.) The Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary of State for the Home Department had, in his (Lord G. Bentinck's) opinion, in in troducing this measure, propounded doctrines which he (Lord G. Bentinck) conceived much more likely, if carried out, to be written in letters of blood in Ireland ; because the Right Hon. Baronet had stated that unless he should succeed in carrying his measure for the reduction of the protection upon food, there would be an equal want of protection for life in that country, which was, in tact, saying in other words that unless they had free trade in corn there should be free trade in assassination. And what did this argument amount to after all but to this, that crime in Ireland was deemed of such small amount that it was made dependent upon the price of food. He had taken the trouble to examine minutely into the state of crime in the five counties in Ireland which the Right Hon. Baronet had already adduced, and he had found that the amount of crime in those counties in the three months preceding the month of August—a period when provisions were cheap and plentiful—was greater than that which existed during the alleged period of the potato famine. In fact be had foetid that the number of crimes in those five counties, in the three months preceding the month of August, amounted to 1180, while those committed during the famine period did not exceed 806. What then, he would ask, had the state of crime in Ireland to do with the potato famine, or what justification for Ministers was it to say that unless this House agreed to pass a measure for the repeal of the corn-laws it woul4 be of no use to pass the present Bill. When he saw that such men as Sir David Roche could not re fuse to eject the widow of one of his tenants while her husband was lying dead in the house to gratify a lawless band ; when he found that men who were the best landlords, . and who were distinguished for their attachment to the tenants of Ireland, such as the Hoe. Member for Meath, could not walk over their estates without being armed, he thought he and his party were justified in supporting the measure. The Arms Bill of 1534 had been productive of beneficial effects, and this fact alone would have justified their support of the measure. These were the reasons which induced his Hon. Friends around him to support the measure whilst they were free and open to im prove the details. They did not deem that they were enter taining any measure that would prove tyranical towards the people of Ireland, nor did they deem that in support ing the measare it would be inflicting injury on the Irish people, but they rather thought the measure was absolutely necessary in order to protect Irish improvements of every description, and in order that the hand of industry might not be arrested by the hand, of the assassin, and it was for these reasons that he and his Honourable Friends around him supported this measure.—( Cheers. ) Mr. J. O'BRIEN moved the adjournment of the debate. Upon this motion the House divided, when there appeared— For the adjournment Against it Majority against the adjournment .........-46 On our return to the gallery, we found Sir R. PEEL addressing the House. We understood the Right Hon. Gentleman to consent to the adjournment till this day. Sir W. SOMERVILLE would make one more appeal to the Government to reconsider this Bill. It was quite clear, from the determination of the Irish Members, that they would not relinquish their pr.vilege of taking their notice before the order of the day. That would put off this measure and the Corn Bill until after Easter, and when they met upon it after Easter there would be a• further delay of three or four weeks. He thought that the best way was at once to propose that the adjournment be to that day three weeks. The measure would lose nothing by the postponement. Sir R. PEEL said he had already stated that it was his wish that the debate should be adjourned till to-day, and he would this evening announce on what day he should move that it be resumed, and he hoped that the House would then support him.—( Hear.) He was quite aware of the great power pos sessed by a minority in opposing a measure, but be considered I himself responsible for the delay which might be occasioned by Honourable Gentlemen on the other side of the House. He was not disposed to put an end to the discussion, but he cer tainly should give the Hon. Baronet his decided opposition. Sir W. SOMERVILLE could assure the House that since he had first occupied the House on this question, he had a bona fide wish to save, not to waste, the time of the House—( Hear, hear) —and he must therefore deny the rigkt of the Right Hon. Baronet to make use of the expressions which he had concern ing his conduct, both on this and a previous evening. in the course of this debate.—( Cheers.) The Right Hon. Baronet had made use of expressions which he (Sir Wm. Somerville) did not deservc.—(Hear, hear.) If it was the wish of the House, he would at present withdraw the amendment, reserv ing to himself, however, the right to renew it, if he should think fit, this evening.—( Hear, hear.) The amendment was accordingly withdrawn, and the debate adjourned until this evening. COAL WHIPPERS (PORT OF LONDON) BILL. This Bill then went through Committee. Report to morrow. INSOLVENT DEBTORS' (INDIA) BILL. On the motion of Lord MAHON this Bill was read a second time. He hoped the Right Hon. Baronet would be prepared for the production of the budget, not later than to-morrow. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER wished he could give the Gallant Member as satisfactory a statement of the period when the budget would be brought forward, as he could of the state of the revenue. The Government had an ticipated a surplus revenue of 90,0001., whereas the actual surplus revenue was 1,750,0001. COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY. • A vote of 187385,200 Exchequer Bills was then agreed to. BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY LAWS. Mr. HAWES moved that the further consideration of the Bill to amend the laws relating to Bankruptcy and Insolvency be postponed until after Easter. METROPOLITAN RAILWAYS' TERMINI. Mr. PROTHEROE moved for a copy of the Commission, and Instructions to the Commissioners, on Railroads having or proposing to make stations in the metropolis. He also wished to ask Sir Robert Peel a question on the extent of the powers of the Commissioners on Railroads having stations in the me troplis, with a view of ascertaining whether the Commis• sioners will take cognizance of, or interfere with the Bills now before Select Committees of the House of Commons, and espe cially the North Kent Railroad Bill. Sir H. PEEL apprehended that the Commissioners would have no power to interfere with any other part of the railways than those which came within the bounds of the city of Lon don. They would confine themselves exclusively to railway termini within the metropolitan districts. One of the schemes contemplated the removal within the city of London of more houses than was destroyed by the great fire of Lon den. He thought it was a subject, therefore, which called for some supervision on the part of the Commissioners. He considered that it would be better for the Select Com mittee to say whether or not they would recommend that part the scheme to be gone into. It certainly was better to ad here to the spirit of the resolution, and not to the letter, as a mistake had crept in. Mr. HAWES thought that that part of the Bill which affected the borough of Southwark should be considered by the Committee, before they made their report. After a few words front Sir Da LACY EVANS and Mr. MAsTettsrAN, the motion was agreed to. Sir DE LACY EVANS brought up a Bill to regulate the times of payment of rates and taxes by Parliamentary electors, and to abolish the stamp-duty, on the admission of freemen. The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the House adjourned at One o'clock. At a moment when famine, and its terrible attendant Festilence, are threatening the poor of Ireland, and when the irst Minister of the Crown, as well as every individual ac quainted with that country, is fully sensible of the fact that no relief which Parliament can extend to its people can be effective or permanent without the co-operation of the large landed proprietors, and when such just complaints are made of the apathy of these lords of the soil, who fail not to en force their rights, while they lamentably neglect those duties which they owe to the people whom Providence has com mitted to their care, it is to us a most gratifying task to record the exertions of one nobleman to give employment, and spread comfort among the humbler classes around hint. That nobleman is Lord De Freyne, who, to alleviate the distress of tenants and dependents, gives, and has given for the last year, constant employment to no less than 550 men daily in the farther improvement of his beautiful and ex tensive demesne of French Park, in the county of Ro.som mon. should other landlords follow the example of this most estimable nobleman we should hear little of local suf fering or agrarian outrages. He will reap his reward in the blessings of a grateful population, and in the comfort and happiness which pervade his estates. May his noble ex ample stimulate others to like acts of judicious benevolence. —Observer. We regret to learn that Sir George Murray, Master- General of the Ordnance, still continuos much indisposed. FALL Or A RAILWAY BItIDGE.—On Tuesday morn tag last, about six o'clock, the principal pillar of the stone bridge across the CaMew, near the Long Island, belonging to the _Newcas tle and Carlisle Railway, anti which leads to the Canal Basin. gave way, sinking nearly two feet—the ventro arch and roadway sinking to the same extent. The foundation was raised upon plies, witch had probably not been driven "home" to the rock, and the gravel having been washed from beneath, the fall became inevitable. The bridge will have to be entirely taken down ; but by using a tempo rary rilwa fixed upon planks, the coal waggons have been of the canal has been but little impeded.—Carlia'e J,uraal. EA DVE RTISEMENT.]—A BAD LEG OF SEVERAL YE 11 A!t2i . STANDING CuBYD BY HOLLOWAY'S OINT MENT AND 11, . Tub' ill t'rowee, Itichmon Widcombe, Bath d Cottage, t 'been has !whoring Icelara:ton to thefollowin"e effect —" That lie d with f o urteen for more than five years with an ulcerated li wounds, and that he had 1 con a P.d the sulphur itient at, Bath Pir three or four year, anti that he II to no purpos., but that Hospital et bath every other day for six months, andil ^ ler means bad fated. and he is now perfecely cured after King, chemist, by the use of Ifolloway's O i n tment i 'V eztraor di na ry case.—Sold by Bath, will vouch for the tratP of . all chemists and at l'yetessor t 4vllowny 4 L ' stablisialitut, 244, Strand, Louden. RAIL-WAY , SHARE MARKET' • • MANCHESTER, Aran; 4. STOCK EXCHANGE.-The sales are-Derby and Cron!, 1 1 p. Eastern Counties, Perpetual (No. 2), 7-East Lancashire, No. S. % p.-Grand Union, 185. dis.-Lancashire and North Yorkshirer, Ingtnll-011 -Leeds, Dewsbury, and Maeehester, 1 p.-Live Manchester, and Southport, 193.6 d. dis.-Manchester, Buxton, and 1 4 rpool, Wari Matlock, Is. p.-Manchester and ,Birmingham, 75-Ditto, Quarters (II), 6% p.-Ditto, Quarters (Cy, 51‘ p.-Matichester and Birming ham Continuation and Welsh Junction, ji dia.-Manchester and Leeds, Fifths. tale p.-North Staffordshire, 4 p. e.-Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction, 1 4 dis.-South Eastern and Dover, Halves No. 4, 6-16-West Riding Union, 24s p. LEEDS. Arnie 4. STOCK EXCHANOE.-The share markets continued to Improve in the early part of the week, and a further impetus was given to the 4§ade by the receipt of the intelligence of the triumph of the British atins in India, but the higher prices realised for a day or twO caused sellers to come forward, and on Thursday and Friday it became appa rent that tireffect extensive sales lower rates must be accepted. To day, however, appearances are rather more flivourable, although the small amount erg busineas doing makes it difficult to give an opinion with confidendie - yerle as is believed, the increased demand of the early part of the week was chiefly met and supplied by Bear transac tions, the close of those speculations Independent of other einem staneev, will tend to enhance prices for the Account. The American news is looked for with much anxiety, and if of a pacific. character as is strongly hoped-will no doubt exercise a beneficial influence on the markets. We are glad to observe that the holders of scrip in un successful schemes are evincing a detenninatiou to have the balance of deposits returned to them. The abandonment of a mass of these "undertakings will liberate a large amount of money among a class of holders by whom the money pressure is most severely felt, and will no doubt relieve the markets in a degree ; and if the number of Bilis for new railways obtainable this session should prove to be but few (and we apprehend time number at present possessing a prospect of success will be very 'materially lessened), tile general relief from this cause also will aid in producing a better and more healthy state of things in which sound old lines, which are so unduly depressed, may value.rail T h yandb e sa ea l g es ain are _ ena E b as led teri t o i Countie s , reach something like four per cent. York Extension, 115. 6d. p. -Manchester and Leeds Extensions, 218 p.-East Lancashire, No. 2 (lateAccringten), 10s. p. - /ludderefield and Manchester, 10s. die. -Huddersfield and Sheffield, 2 p.-Leeds and Bradford, 21 p.- Leeds and Dewsbury. 255. p.-Leeds and Thirsk, 90s. dis.-Liver` pool and Bury, 5 p.-Londou and York, 31s. dis.-Liverpool, Orms kirk, and Preston, 10s. p.-West Riding Union, 3%-Pradford Wake field, and Midland, 225. Gd. dis.-Grand Union, l7'. 6J. dig.- Leeds and Liverpool Direct, Gs. die-Leeds, Wakefield and Mid land, 17s. Gd. dis.-Leicester and Bedford, 15s. die-Northumber laud and Lancashire Junction, 255. dis.-North Staffordshire, 11. 13s. 6d.-North Western. 2s. bd. die. BULL, Aran, 4. STOCK EXCHANGE.-The disinclination to abandon evinced by several of the Committees promoting new schemes, has caused less demand for scrip ; it is, however, hoped the Legislature will inter fere and prevent the reckless expenditure of money upon schemes, the subscription contracts of which, were the Committees to take the trouble of examining, would easily show the impossibility of suffi cient funds being raised to carry them out ; and finless in some of the best lines few holders of scrip will permit their names to be put on the register in the event of the lines passing. The sales are- North British, Carlisle, 325. 6d.-Boston, Newark, and Sheffield, 255.- East Coast, 155.-Grand Union, 9s. 6d.-Great North and South Wales and Worcester, Bs. clipped scrip-Hull and Barnsley Junction. 255,-London and: -Manchester (Rein.), 195.-North Staffordshire. 3/. 19s. 6d.-West Riding Union, 31. 3s. SCIEFFIELD, APRIL 4. STOOK EXCUANGE.—The sales are—Eastern Countioa,2l—Grimsby and Sheffield, Extension, 11. Is.—London and York, Extension, If. 48 . — Atatichester and Lincoln Union and Canal, 14—Sheffield and Lincolnshire, 23 s.—SheifieM, Buxton, Leek, Potteries, and Crewe, 1 is. STOCK ExertaNGE._ The Yo .l lt e. K, ...15 r eaLLLondon and York, 1-Man chester, Buxton, Matloek, and Midland, 2/. 2s. - Newcastle and Ber wick, 16 -North British, Carlisle Extension, 1/. 125.-Welsh Mid land, 1-West Riding Union, -York and North Midland, New (East and West Riding), 7%. EDINBURGH, APRIL 3. STOCK EXCKAKOE.-Tbe sales are-Aberdeen, 31.--Aberdeen, Ilanff, and Elgin, 1/. 10s. -Airdrie and Bathgate, 2/. U.-Arbroath and Forfar, 271.-Ditto, Half Shares, 15/. 10s.-Armagh and Port ru,l6los.-Ayr and Galloway, U. 12s. 6d.-Ayrshire and Bridge of ' Weir, 11. Ss. bd.-Banffshire, 11.-lielfact and County Down, 21.-Bri tish and Irish CM" 1/. 13s. Cl.-Caledonian, ex new, 71. 10s.- Ditto, New, IL 10.i.--Caledonian Extension, 11. 7e. and Dumbarton, 1/. 10s.--Cladcmian and Northern Direct, 1/. Carnwath end West Linton, U. 25.-Chelmsford and Bury, 155.- Clydesdale Junction, 13/.-Cornwall and Devon Central, 11.75. 6d.- . -Dublin and Deeside Railway, 4 1 . 45.--Direct Northern, 1/. 125. 6d. Enniskillen, 31. 10s.-Dundee and Arbroath, 391. U.-Ditto, New, 221.-Dundee and Forfar Junction, 11. 165.-Dundee , and berth, 101. •• tern Counties 10s.-Ditto, Kinross Extension, 21. 2s. bd.-Eastern Exten ' shell, I!. 2s. 6t1.-East Indian Railway, Ss. 34.-East of Fife, 11. let.-- East Lothian Central and Tyne Valley Junction, 1/. Ss.-Edinburgh and Bathgate, 21.-Edinburgh and Glasgow, 726-Ditto, Half Shares, EV. - Ditto, Quarters, 17/. 10s.-Ditto, ditto, New, li/. 106.-Edln burgh, Glasgow, and Dumbarton- las. -Edinburgh and Leith Atmospheric, 1/. 55.-Edinburgh, Leith, and Granton, 171.-Ditto, Preference, 191.-Edinburgh and Northern, 2/455-Ditto, Newport, 9s. 6c1.-Ditto, Lochgelly, I2s. 6d.-Edinburgh and Peebles, 11.25. 6d. Edinburgh and Perth, 2/. 75.6d.-Edinburgh, Portobello, and m as" 1" burgh, 11. 10s.-Forth and Clyde Junction, 11. 13s. -Glasgow and Ayrshire, 701. 10L-Ditto, New Stock, 241.-Ditto, Quarter shares. 171. 10s.--Glasgow Belfast Union, 11.-Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle, 11. 7s. bd. -Glasgow and Dundee Junction, 11. 1516-Glasgow and Garnkirk, 40!. IN.-Glasgow and Greenock, 191.-Ditto, New Stock, la-Ditto, Preference, U. 155.-Glasgow Harbour Grand Junction, 11. 10s.- Glasgow Harbour Mineral, 11. 155.-Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and Ardrossan, 11. lbs.-Glasgow, Strathaven, and Lestualiagow, 11. 125.-Grantou Junction, 11.-Great County Down, U. 10a-Great North of Scotland, U. 1016-Great North and South Wales, Ss. 10d. -Inverness and Elgin, 175.-Lanark and Lothians, 11. 195.- Lame, Belfast, and Ballymena, 11. Ss. --London and Hounslow, 11.- London and Manchester (Rastrick), 2/. 155.-London and Manches ter (Rein.), 1/. 2s. 0.-London and York, 11. 15a-Ditto, Half Shares, 21.--Alidland and Eastern Counties, 11. U.-Morayshire, 21.-Newcastle and Berwick, 191. 10s.-Newry and Londonderry, I/. 75.-North British 241. 2s. 6d.-Ditte, Halves, V.-Ditto, Ex tension to Carlisle, 11. 135.-Ditto, Extension to Dalkeith, 61.- North Wales Mineral, 131.-Ditto, New, 31. U.-Perth and Crieff Direct, 1/. 12s. 6d. -Perth and Inverness, 1/. 55.-Scottish Central, 131. 105.-Ditto, New, bl. 65.-Sciatish Central and Caledonian Junc tion, I/. 61 -Scottish Aran.' Junction, 11.-Scottish Midland, 6/. -Scottish Southern, IL 435. 6d.-Shrewsbury and Hereford, I.os. -Shrewsbury, Oswestry, and Chester, 31.-South Midland, 16s -- Stirling and Dunfermline, 11. 55.-Stirling and Midland, 21. 45.- Stratliern Junction, 11. 2s. 0.-Surrey Grand Junction, 55.-Teau and Dove Valley, 155.-Wlshaw and Coltness, 471. 10s. GLASGOW, Ar&IL 4 STOCK Exctuaos.—The sales are British and Irish Union, 375. —Caledonian, 7'4—Caledonian Direct Northern, 40s.—Carnwath and West Linton, 23s.—East Indian Railway, 7s.—Glasgow General Ter minus, 9U—Glasgow and Belfast Union, 225. 6d.—Glasgow, Dum fries. and Carlisle, 21s, 6d.—Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and Ardrossan. 235. 6d.—Glasgow and Dundee Junction, 34s.—Great North and South Wales, IN.—Kilmarnock and Ayr Direct, 28s.—Lesmahagow. 335. Perth and Inverness, 25s.—Scottish Central, IPA —Scottish Southern, 335. 6d.—South Midland, 365. 6d.—Stirling and Dunferm line, 23s.—Wishaw and Coltncss, 47%. HAMBURGH and FLANDERS MAIL. BRUSSELS, Arum 3.—A letter from Hamburgh of the 27th of March says, the modifications in the English tariff permitting the importation of cattle and of all kinds of meat into Great Britain free of duty, have had an effect on our market. The prices of meat have risen in Hamburgh and its environs to such a degree that the middle classes feel the effects, and the poor can scarcely make any purchases. Merchants engaged in the transatlantic trade also experience the consequences of this rise, for the price of salt meat is 30 per cent. higher than last year. HAMBURGIL—Hamburgh exported to England between 6,000 and 7,000 horned cattle. The departure of 11 Van de Weyer for London will take place, as we are assured, before the meeting of the Chambers, consequently he will not be present 'when the explanations respecting the Ministerial crisis will be given. Yesterday . the King received at Lacken, Mr. John Barnes, the Pres ident; S. J. Capper, Vice- President; and the other directors of the iron railway, from Louvain to the Sambre. His Majesty had a long confer ence with them, and complimented them on the activity with which they had commenced the work, the great improve ments which they had introduced in their plan, and the great advantages which Belgium and the company might expect. BRESSELS, APRIL 4.—The very large supplies of potatoes, beans, peas, of every description, have had the satisfactory effect of causing an unlooked-fer reduction in the prices, so that the difference in the prices of some kinds of pulse is 40 per cent. BELGIAN FUNDS.—BaussaLs, APRIL 4 Actual Debt, 2% per Cent • .•••• • .• .• - Rothschild's Loan, Five per Cent •• • • Loan of Thirty Millions, Four per Cent • • • . Ditto Three per Cent Ditto Thirty-seven Millions, ditto • • • • • • Ditto, ditto, 1841 Ditto;clitto, 1642 Ditto, 1844... Ditto, 1836... • • .. • Ditto, 1838 . • • •• Ditto of the City, 1832 • • • Ditto, 1843 ...... •••• .• • . • • 100% Bank of Belgium • •• • .• • • 902 —Brussels Papers. April 4. lIAMBURGII BORSENIIALLE. Arm 3. Bills. Money, 4 .us triaa 5 per Cents • • 113 Bank shares •• • • • Angio-Russiatt Loan •••••••• • • • • • • • • 107 % Russian 5 per Cont., !lamb. Certificate. 102% Ditto let series Inscription •••••• • • • • • • Ditto, Hops and Co., 3d and 4th series• • 96 Ditto, in Certificate ........ •• . • .. New 4 per Cent., Hope and Co. ••• • • • 89% Ditto Stieglitz • Spanish New per Cent .• • ...... ••• • • 17 17 Ditto 3 per Cent •. • • Angio-Portuenese Loan, 2 per Cent • • Dutch Actual Debt, 2% per Cent. ••• • • SS , Ditto 3 per Cent.. •••.•••• • • • • • • • Polish New 4 per Cent. Loan, 1844.• 91 ..kngio-Danit•li Loas, 3 per Cent National Bank Shares •••••••• • • • • • • • • AUSTRIAN FUNDS.—VIENNA, SLiscn 96. 5 per Cent. Metalliques• • • • • • • • • • 112 5-16 4 per Cent. ditto•• • • • • • • • • • • • • 101% 3 per Cent. ditt0...... -- - - Lean, 1834 Ditto, 1839 . ...... ..... Bank Shares •• • •• • ...... • •• • • Ilsterhazy's Loan • • ••• • .• ..... • ••••• RAILWAYS. The Northern. or Ferdinand •••• • • .• •• c(; Gloggnitz .. Vienna—Milan •• ..... • 1,0010271.• • ...... 113% Pesti' .• ...... ...... 104 Grosetto • • • • • 96 1 ,i ?with Bridge • ...... • • • —.lllTemeine Zeittuig, Mareh:,3l. DUTCH FUNDS.—AX6TERDAM, APRIL 3. Money. Bills. Actual Debt, 2% per Cent.... .. ..... 605 60% Ititto, 3 per Cent ••.•••.• . • • . • • .. 75 , 7854 Ditto, 4 per Cent •••• • • • ...... •• • 94% 955( Amort Syndic, 4% per Cent • • • • • • 99% 99% Ditto, 3% per Cent.• .• •••••• • • • • • • 59% 90% Commercial Company, 4% per Cent • . 167% 1663 e East India Loan, 4 per Cent ••••• • • • •• 94% 94% Exchange on London, at sight Tire months..• ••••• • • On Ltamburgh, at sight .• 35 75 Two months.•..• • • • • 75 43 —Dutch Papers. April 4. PRUSSIAN FUNDS.—Baltitt4, APRIL 2. Bills. 98% 96% .. ..... ........ 105 9914 /54 1224 • 1570 St. Sebald Sch., 3% per Cent •••• • • • • Pruss. English Bonds, 1838, 4 per Ceut. • • • • • Foreign Exchanges • • • • • Exchange on London, XI Sterling, 3 Months. 6 254 6 24% Hamburgh, 300 Marks, 2 Months. 149% Paris, 300 fr., 2 Month s ......... 80 1-12 79 11-12 On Paris ••••• • • • • • •"• " Twomonths. • • .• • • • • • . • . • • 'Mversal Prussian Gazette. April 3. —..._.. SERIOUS ACCIDENT TO MR. HERAP.ATILWe regret to state that on Wednesday evening, our respected fellow-citizen Mr. lierapath, the celebrated analytical chemist, met with n severeaccl; dent, which threatened to be of a very dangerous eharacter, whitr. pursuing some chemical experimenta in his laboratory. „ I n t . s o l i,e pe ni a t. that at about seven o'clock in the evening, Mr. lierapath ~, ~,,,,,d of log upon some fulminating silver, which is a detonating c , ? I ..,,, t le i r.lntroesrtadpaatursrfoaucsecvhearryacst:,%rewilyie_n ge:ruadtii,e,giilyth:7xi:lirai. jcixvilcalidrmirr_: of the left eye, and also injuring the right eye ;th would be deprived serious that fora time It was feared Mr. llc e r t ir p . n ic p however, to learn of the sight of the left eye at least. We a , r , . ,uta that the pupil of the ~. vouratt y . that Mr. iferapatn is progressin-ereanfldent hopes 410 entertained that eye toeing found to be uniejurest. 0.444/0„...i. the sight will not bo destroyed ETERS.—The annual general SoCIETY OF SCHOOL:, I:Society was held on Saturday after meeting of the 41041traS of i ; n th G e re ß a e t v it . D ui r ;0 11! It'r;cle,.dfilifin'sofol ; c r . : : : ic s ro rY otrol presided, el r ilepe ro t el n g, s I ,.em A I II :a l o r ol i , d l e o I p r: t a s r i i e l t i supported ev.s b p y y er th e . en and gentlemen. Mr. noot 1 , p a r t . tlilleuso:cLesn:f r a satisfactory account of se is I I thee.jo s r tr . trees . i RT3iet.Rt 0 : . t 1., the Re v " F. swami report, which gave ltlewirt read mim e t h e condition of the Society. It appeared that the receipts of the soc i e ty, incluillair a donation of 50 guineas from her Majesty the ( T i e ; King Trench, a y n r o e un nch ti , ng we te re Que en, and 6( q. from his Majestytiii 5971. 145. The expenditure, 2781 Its., 1141 I ta n 1051. 4e. The report was unanimously adopted. This Society, which has been in existence many years, was en** bUshed on the principle of lite assurance, for the benefit of subscrib ing members, helve," masters of endowed or hoarding schools, with their widows and orphans. .. THE Nlintulia OF A FEMALE IN COUNWALL. — Her Majesty's Government have offered a reward of 1001. for the Nowa hen.ion of the murderer or murderers of a young female named homers .t. Ann, who was found dead iu a pool of water in the 11111189 Of Trequillen, near Iledruln. THE SU Al N Dr.o/141 TM'ikS D A Y:MORNING,