The Sun. — London, England, 1837-12-19 00:00:00

under the Poor-law Act, and sanctioning the same cold-blooded and cruel system towards the parties ,who received pensions. It was net the fault of the most of them who were on the Pension List, that they were there—the fault lay with those who placed them on it. He, for one, never would subject such persons to the searching and cruel examinations which some Members of that House appeared to think would be in stituted.—( Hear.) Reference had been made to the conduct of the Hon. Member for Southwark on the Poor-law Com mittee. He must say of that conduct that he had never seen anything more fair, more honourable, nor more intrepid. The Hon. Member had, with respect to the publications corn. plained of, declared himself their author.—( Hear.) The Honourable Member had said, " If you believe that I am violating the privileges of the House, take the sense of the House upon it.—( Hear, hear.) Carry the question before the House, and I shall not tell you at present what I mean to do after you have a resolution of the House."—( Hear, hear.) In giving these publications the Honourable Member had made the poor of the kingdom, and the friends of the poor, acquainted with what was passing in the Committee, and he said to them —" If you have complaints to make, let them be made now, for here is a Committee sitting."—( Hear, hear, hear.) Was it not, he asked of them, a farce to be so nice about a breach of their privileges when within a few yards of them they be held their privileges violated daily ? Was it not a violation of their privileges to publish their debates, and yet were they not published daily, and would the people of England submit to it if they were not published daily ?—( Hear, hear.) He was glad that the people would be able to see how a man was treated in that House who stood up for popular rights, a man whose talents were an honour and dignity to that assembly, and who shed a lustre upon every subject that he discussed. It was a disgrace to that House to have permitted him to be so long and so violently persecuted. As to the inquiry respect ing the Woods and Forests, the Hon. Member had been ex cluded from it : neither was he permitted to be on the in quiry into Charities, when twenty unknown persons were placed on the Commission. He had seen enough of that House to know that if a man there steed up for popular tights, he must always calculate upon violent persecution. Mr. E. L. Mlle WER having served on Committees of that House with the Hon. and Learned Member for South. wark, could state that he had always known the Hon. and Learned Gentleman to have sincerely and conscientiously dis charged his duty.—( Hear, hear.) He had always said that the Hon. and Learned Member for Southwark was an ill-used and injured man.---( Hear, hear.) Before, however, he ap proached the subject before the Honse he must state that the Hon. Member for Finsbury (Mr. Wakley) began his speech with the most extraordinary misstatement possible. That Hon. Member had put into the mouth of the Right lion. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer the sentiments which had fallen from the Right Hon. Baronet, the Member for Tamworth.—(Cries of " Hear, hear!" and " No, no !") His Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer had not uttered a single sentence respecting the opinions of the lion. and Learned Gentleman the Member for Southwark upon the analogy he had drawn between the Poor-laws and Pensions. The Hon. Member for Finsbury had also mis stated the sentiments of the Noble Lord the Member for Northumberland. That Noble Lord (Lord ilowick) did not say that there was anything in the sentiments of the lion, and Learned Member for Southwark which should preclude him from serving on this Committee ; but he did say that there was something in his ( Mr. Harvey's) sentiments which ought to make them feel doubly the responsibility of entrustirg the lion. and Learned Member with discretionary poa en—(lean ) lie approached this question with great reluctance. He cer tainly did think that the Committee would not be satisfactory if the name of the Hon. and Learned Member for Southwark were omitted —( Hear. ) But he considered this, whether it was not the greater evil of the two, that they should suffer one Man, however able and influential, openly to disregard and disdain an express resolution of that House.—( Hear, hear. ) The Honourable Member for Oxford ( Mr. Maclean) and other Honourable Members who had spoken on this question, ap peared to think that punishment was better than prevention.— ( Hear, hear.) Instead cf endeavouring to prevent the con sequences that would occur to the Honourable and Learned Gentleman if he persisted in committing a breach of privilege, those Honourable Members seemed to exult in the prospect of the Honourable and Learned Member being brought to the bar of that House. What would the house do in that case, supposing the Honourable and Learned Gentleman the Member for Southwark persisted in his publication? Would they send for the publisher or printer of the True Sun, and send him to Newgate, or would they vote for the expulsion of the Hon. and Learned Member? There might be resolu tions of the House of which it was very desirable that the in fringement should be punished, but some of those resolutions might be strained too hardly. Besides, they had a duty to do towards the pensioners. They would not look for just - lee from the Committee if they saw one member intrusted with power, which none of the other Members had, and that man, too, the most clorent, the most inveterate, and the most consistent of their enemies.—( Hear, hear.) Under all the circumstances, what had Government to do ? They never said—end let it go forth to the people, and be rightly under stood—they never said, cr proposed to say, that the Hon. and Learned Member for Southwark ought not to be placed an the Committee. He clearly understood them not so to have said. On the contrary, they carne forward and did justice to his talerts and services, and incited him to become a member cf the Com mittee. They stated that they fully appreciated the services which the Hon. and Learned Gentleman had rendered, but that if compelled to form a choice, they would prefer even to his assistance. valuable though it might be, the certainty of fair play towards all part ies.—( Hear, hear.) 'limy preferred also, as men standing up for the dignity of the House, the de clared resolution of the House to the opinion of an individual Member, and they preferred rather to prevent a breach of pri vilege than to punish it after it was commi:tad. Ile would only say further, that, having invariably voted with the Hon. and Learned mber for Southwark on all his motions for in quiry, he thought it but fair and manly in the present instance to state that it was with a feeling of regret he was compelled to vote against him ' n the present occasion. Mr. P. BORTHWICK wculd like to know whether the Right Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer had gone to she other t weaty-oae members of the Committee, and put to them questions such as he had put to the Hon. and Learned Member for Southwark ?—( ilear.) lie would sup port the motion of the Hon. Baronet the Member for Caithness. Mr. AG LION B Y regretted to be compelled on this occa sion to differ from the course taken by the Government. He thought that the course Government was taking would be un popular and deservedly unpopular in the country.--( Hear, hear.) If they rejected the Hon. and Learned Member, the country, which had for many years seen that Hon. and Learned Member call for an investigation into the Pension Lis! . — which had seen that call at length attended to, and the ques tion taken out of the Hon and Learned Member's hands— the country, he would repeat, would not place much confi dence in the report of a Committee on the Pension List if the Hon. and Learned Member for Southwark were excluded from the Committee. Sir A. DA L RY\IPLE would follow the course chalked out by the Right lion Baronet the Member for Tamworth. Mr. D. W. fl ARVE Y could not forogo the pleasure of offering the thanks of a grateful and generous heart to his Hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr. E. L. Bulwer), and also to the Hon. Baronet the Member for Caithness, for his noble and manly and kind hearted expressions of opinion arising from a long sad disinterested attention to the investi gation in which he ( Mr. Harvey) had been so deeply in. terested ; he could not help also stating his hope and belief, as he was not one of those who disconnected the destinies of man with higher justice, that the time was not remote when men, forgetting the low and grovelling con flicts of party, would not be the less inclined to believe him because it had been his misfortune to have suffered one of the most severe, the most relentless courses of persecution ever inflicted by an irresponsible despotism. Having said thus much, he would conic to the question. He could not con cede to the Chancellor of the Exchequer the truth of his anxiety to place him on this Committee. The pretension was falsified on three palpable grounds. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had stated that he originally proposed that the Civil List Committee upon which his (Mr. Harvey's) name did not appear, should be the only Committee to which the inquiry into pensions should be committed. What, then, did the Chancellor of the Exchequer mean by telling the House,land through him the country, that from the beginning he thought hins.(s , lr. Harvey) one of the first who ought ta be ap pointed? The Chancellor of the Exchequer had himself stated that the same Committee should inquire into the Pension List that had carried through the Civil List Reform. Ho would then come to the letter which the Chancellor of the Exchequer had written. He would say nothing which should challenge the right of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, from his official position, to send letters to Members of that House which any other Member of that House would not have ven tured to have written. But he should like to know by what right the Chancellor of the Exchequer called a Member of that House into Downing-street to ask him what he would do, or what he would not do. But when the Chancellor of the Exchequer had done so, though his ( Mr. Harvey's) letter was written in a hurry, he would venture to say that, if the correspondence were placed on the votes of the House, and subjected to the deliberate and calm consideration of its Mem bers, it would be at once ascertained that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had come to a conclusion that was untenable. What was his (Mr. Harvey's) reply? Whilst on the one hand he spurned the indignity attempted to be put upon him, by leading him into an unworthy contract, lie said be would indeed be disqualified from holding a seat in that House, or to associate in any way with gentlemen, if he had consented to any agreement of the kind, and that he would not for a moment consent that a great public right should, in his humble person, be prejudiced by making contemptible con ditions in order to get placed on a hard-working Commit tee. He did also say, and he unfeignedly repeated it, that there might be circumstances in which it would be not only undesirable, but highly unjust to publish evidence in the way alluded to. At the same time he (Mr. Harvey) was not now a new Member—he was of twenty years' standing in that Houle, and he appealed to those who had known him during that period, to witness in justification of his statement, that his course had implied, not only an upright judgment, but a generous and kindly feeling. Although the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his letter disclaimed giving an opinion upon his (Mr. Harvey's) conduct on the Poor-law Committee, the Noble Lord ( Lord Howick) his colleague, had not done so, as what the Chancellor of the Exchequer had disclaimed, that Noble Lord had taken up as a most prominent ground of objection. The Noble Lord ia referring to his conduct on the Poor-law Committee, had made a great mistake es to the • facts. First of all he might be allowed to call the attention Tee* Lord the Secretary for the Home Department NfVc sell) to what had passed iii the Committee, and ,-----.. --litilionaitTab Friend the Member for Kilkenny (Mr. <2;;T:: -- --"Jf j unre) . iii I ' atigable Member of that Committee, would q 1 ....r 713eaileatinioti' the truth of his statements. The paper 11.- . . i.. : ' Ai: t h‘ y ibt o jii Mr. Harvey) was connected, was not the' , Zi P' a . \73: .. 4A . ' i ) 47 t a ! 0 -'- ' 7 %- ,_ 7''t ', (..... ~,.....,...:"..,...„.:;„:_y A a 9 THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1837. first to publish the proceedings of that Committee. Another Newspaper had been produced before the Committee to which their attention was called, and he was one of the first to say that he sanctioned the condemnation passed by the Chair miin publicly in the Committee, that whoever ventured to publish garbled statements ought to be exposed to the oppro brium not only of the Committee but of the House.—( Hear.) In the progress of the inquiry peculiar circumstances arose which rendered the course he took indispensable. Out of the twenty-four Gentlemen composing the Committee, twenty were avowedly opposed to the course which the minority deemed it their duty to pursue. But what was it which led to the course which he bad taken, and which he was proud of having taken ? He saw seated at the bar of the Committee two or three of the Commissioners connected with the Poor law Inquiry ; he saw their intelligent secretary—he saw their short-hand writer—he saw all the appliances of the powers of office—he saw them not only taking down what was passing in the Committee, but writing directly into the country to make inquiries into the truth of the statements given in evi dence--crowding the Committee with witnesses to control and counteract and reject the evidence which was previously adduced ; and he (Mr. Harvey) immediately pointed it out to the Noble Lord (Lord John Russell) and said that it was not a candid or honourable inquiry, if on the one hand they saw this great institution, the Poor-law Commission, with all their agents and appliances, and the succour of the Committee, making inquiries throughout the whole country against a class of people who, poor of themselves, had no means whatever of summoning witnesses at their own expense, or obtaining the necessary communications ; he pointed out also that there was scarcely any sympathy between them and the Committee, and that unless the evidence were published from day to day, and the truth were known, he said dis tinctly that the inquiry would become a matter not only of hypocrisy, but of the grossest insult and injustice towards those whom it was intended to protect. That course he had taken, and when the subject was brought forward whether the conduct of his Paper should be brought under the consi deration of the House, did he riot say that he would scorn to shelter himself behind the printer, or any other species of ser yant who was earning a few shillings a week ?—did he not take upon himself the whole responsibility, and say that if they went to Somerset-house they would find him registered as sole proprietor of the paper ? Did he not state that he was pre pared to encounter whatever penalty the law directed ? And did he not add that it was absurd to have a law without the power of causing its infringement to be prevented ? And what did the Noble Lord ( Lord John Russell) do to assert the integrity of the orders and regulations of the House ? The Noble Lord came down to the Committee, and after communications with the Committee and himself (Mr. Harvey) as to the course which ought to be pursued, proposed an express motion that the evidence which was recsised from day to day should be published. But, said the Noble Lord, the Member for Northumberland, " Was any body at liberty to publish the evidence in whatever shape he pleased—would the House sanction garbled statements and evidence given in such a way I" He defied the Noble Lord to produce any portion of the evidence he had published that was not verba tim the evidence that was given before the Committee, and which, with the consent of the Committee, and the support of the Noble Lord the Secretary of State for the Home Depart ment, was allowed from day to day to be published. He would then come to the third point, as his object was to show to the House the hollowness of the pretexts on which the Govern meat had objected to him. In the former part of the evening he had alluded to the eagerness with which they seized Godsends, their everlasting floundering in mischief, and the readiness with which they caught at straws which the cur rent bore past them. With what eagerness did they seize on the ungenerous suggestion of the Right Hon. Baronet the Member for Tamworth. That Right Hon. Baronet said that certainly he had his sentiments with respect to the pub lication of evidence, but he said that it was not his iiitentiess to oppose the motion upon that ground; oh, no, the Right Hon. Baronet said that his reason for supporting the Chan cellor of the exchequer was, " that he (Mr. Harvey) was a gentleman much given to indulge in sarcasms, that he was in the habit of coining forward and making contrasts between the poor and the rich ; that he had ventured to say that all persons who received the public money ought to be opened to inquiry, and that he would subject them to the same sort of test as the poor old widow be (Mr. Harvey) was so fond of alluding to ; that he remembered very well that allusion and the allusions of the Hon. Nlember for Southwark to the bas tardy clauses of the Poor law Bill ; that he drew distinctions between the unfortunate poor and the offspring of the illegi timate connections of sonic high p.'rsons ; that such sarcastic remarks were indecent and rendered the author of them unfit to be a member of the Committee." If dullness was to be the qualification that fitted lion. Gentlemee for Committees, he congratulated the Treasury bench that they would hale their hands full.—( Laughter.) He would say, then, on those three grounds, that he discredited the assertion which had been made by the Right Honourable the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that he really was solicitous that he should be on the Committee. He begged to ask the Right Honourable Gentleman whence it was that after receiving his reply, with respect to which he wished the House to come to the same conclusion as himself, that it was impos sible to read it without perceiving that the writer intended to set the rules of the House at defiance—if that were so, whence was it—and did it not appear most extraordinary—that he did not make some communication to him informing him that such was his impression ? Surely he might have expected to base heard from the Right Honourable Gentleman, sAnewhet in this form :—" The Chancellor of tl e Exchequer presents his compliments to Mr. Harvey, and begs to acknowledge the re ceipt of his letter, which, howcver he regrets to say is so far unsatisfactory that until lie In ars further from -him, lie cannot consent to place him on the Committee." Did the Right Honourable Gentleman pursue that course? No. He resew ::d his reply, and he ( Mr. Harvey) heard nothing from him on the subject till to-night, ewe, t, indeed a communication made to him by en Honourable Friend of his, the nature of which he would state to the House ; but he would net give his Honourable Friend's name, because he was not now.pre sent. That Honourable Gentlemen came to him and said, I am authorised to inform you that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is satisfied with your letter, and your name will be on the Committee ; but do not be surprised if somebody, not connected with the Government, asks you whether you mean to publish the evidence or not ; so far as the Chancel lor of the Exchequer is concerned he will raise no objection." —( Much laughter, and cries of " Hear.") If he was chal lenged as to the truth of that statement, when the Honourable Member appeared in that House he would bring him face to face with the Right Honourable Gentleman.—(Hear, hear.) His Honourable Friend inquired of him whether he would give that assurance, and his answer was " No ;" for no earthly consideration would ho consent to be placed in such a degraded position.—( Hear, hear.) Having thus answered the per sonal part of the matter, there was one other remark that he wished to make to show how irrelevant was this attack on him, as it applied to him personally. It would be in the recollection of this House that, in the spirit which he believed engendered this opposition, some four or five years back a resolution was passed which was aimed directly at him as a Member of this House concerned in pri vate business.—( Hear, hear.) Had they found him—could any Man get up in his place and say—could any professional man, in or out of this House, say that they had found him, by any means, directly or indirectly, endeavouring to controvert or evade that resolution, which was a harsh and cruel resolu tion as regarded its effect on his private fortune ?—( Hear, hear.) Ile bowed obedience to that resolution, as he would to any other deliberately passed by the House.—L( Cheers.) Did he allow his interests as a private individual to govern him ? No ; he was superior to all these considerations. What he esteemed as the rightful rules of Parliament while he was a Member of that Assembly he would observe ; and he would take care well to weigh the solidity of his opinions before he presumed in any case to disregard its rules. If he had been on this Committee—and he would not swerve a syllable, he would not breathe a word, to induce any Gentle man to suppose that he was in the least relenting with a view to conciliating one vote, or to calm a single apprehen sion—but he would say that, if he had been on this Commit tee, and his conduct would be the same on any Committee, he never would violate a rule of this House if, in so doing, he found himself in a situation of individual opposition.— ( Hear, hen.) But many of his Hon. Friends on the former Committee, to which so much reference had been made, thought that the evidence ought to be published, and finding his views so supported, he stepped forward, and did that which he considered it his duty to do, hazarding all the consequences. —( Hear, hear, hear.) He shrunk not from encountering the difficulties which then presented themselves, his ex press purpose being that of vindicating what he considered the rights of the community. As to the appeal that was made to him. he would ask the Honourable Gentlemen whom he had the honour of addressing not to regard this as a personal question. What appertained to himself could be of no moment, and, as a fleeting shadow, the House should pass it over. But be did ask them to look at this question as it regarded themselves.--( Cheers.) He did ask them to con sider well if the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whoever he might be for the time being, was allowed to call on any Gentleman he pleased to forego his judgment as to the course he would pursue on a Committee, which, in all probability, would be the next step, would it not be that their Committees, instead of being composed of independent men, would be made up of the mere slaves of the Government?—(Cheers.) He had heard it asserted, and could fancy and believe it to be true, that some gentlemen the Civil List Committee received an intimation before they were put there, before they had the honour of being placed on that Committee, which had no power to send for " papers, persons, or records"—( A laugh) —and with respect to which it was said the intention was that it should be a powerless Committee, one that could do no mischief—(Laughter)—he repeated, he could fancy and be lieve it to be true that some Honourable Gentlemen, before they were placed on that Committee, were asked, though they might conscientiously differ from the Ministerial proposition, to say nothing about the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancas ter. Ha could fancy the Government addressing gentlem en thus before they were placed on the Committee " Your in tentions may be honest ; but they may be at variance with our views, and we wish to know what you intend to do? ' A more slavish principle it would be impossible to act upon. Surely no one who valued his reputation as a man of judgment, or as a man of integrity, and who wished to stand well with the people of his country, would, for any consideration, allow himself to be employed in such a degrading service. He was not aware that there was anything left for him to say. The Right Hon. Gentleman in the chair claimed for them at the foot of the throne at the commencement of every Par liament that they should have liberty of speech. It ap peared now that they were not to have liberty of speech. It was said that the liberties of this country could not be over thrown but by the corruption of Parliament; so he would say, that the liberty of speaking could not be narrowed but by their own narro w v i es s .—(Ch eers. ) If, accor di ng t o the Right Hon. Baronet, because an Hon. Member ven tured cn the utterance of a sarcasm, or indulged in any little playfulness of fancy, and thus enlivened the dulness which had of late so remarkably characterized their de bates, ho was to be marked down as a person unfit to serve on their Committees, they would soon be fit for nothing else but Committees of which dulness was to be the principal quali fication. He wished to say further, that of all things he should like not to be on a Committee such as the pre sent, as it would necessarily occupy a great deal of his time, which would put him to much inconvenience by its interference with his unprofitable engagements ; but if the House thought that he could be of service there, if it were believed that he possessed eny peculiar know ledge or information that could be advantageously brought to: bear on this question, he should place his time and ex ertions at their disposal.—( Hear, hear, hear.) He would ask the independent portion of the House—and when he said so he considered he was addressing himself to the whole House—he would ask them by their vote this night to show that they were not participators in thss slavish requisition of the Government. Ile would call on them to vindicate their independence, and not allow it to be sup posed that in acting on Committees they consented to act entirely under the direction of the authority which com posed them, or that the condition of their being placed on them was that they were to sit in fettters, not being at liberty to exercise their judgment as to the course they ought to pur sue. In conclusion, he would say that he would not accede to the requisition of the Right lion. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer for any advantage which it might be in the power of his official station to afford him. He begged to re mind the Right Hon. Gentleman that a man might be poor in circumstances, and yet rich in the feelings of personal nide pendence.—( Cheers. ) The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the Hon. and Learned Gentleman had intimated that there was no great danger of his entering into any competition with him on the score of sarcasm. Unfortunately there was none. Nor was there any danger either of his entering into competition with him on the score of misrepresentation, be cause misrepresentation was never more complete than was that which he had endeavoured to palm on the House in re ference to what had fallen from him (the Chancellor of the Exchequer.) Many Honourable Gentlemen who had heard his speech would imagine that he had presumed, by reason of his official situation, to put him in fetters, or to curtail the free exercise of his Parliamentary privileges . He denied that such was the fact. As he had already stated to him, the very reverse was the case. His application to him was not to be considered an official applicarion at all ; but in moving the Committee he had addressed him in precisely the same way as he should have addressed him had he been a private Mem ber of Parliament.—(llesr. ) Did he ask him to comply a ith any fancy of his, or to give up any fancy of his own ? What he had asked him simply to give up was that which had been declared by a resolution of the House to be the right of the House. If the House took a just view of the matter, that which was claimed by the Hon. and Learned Gentleman was not his, but a violation of the privileges of Parliament. He begged to take the earliest opportunity of contradicting in the most distinct manner in which it could be contradicted, that he ever gave authority to any Member of the House to make " a proposition to the Hon. and Learned Member. He gave no such authority to any Member of this House, nor to anybody out of the House. Many Hon. Gentlemen had appealed to him—it was a matter of common notoriety that many Hon. Gentlemen had appealed to him—on the subject of the Hon. and Learned Member's name being put on the Committee, and is reply he stated frankly and unreservedly to them that which he stated now, viz., that his objection was not to him perso nally. He contended that he had offered the best test ho could of his sincerity, the test he offered to-night when he told him that if he would state that he would conform to the Orders of the House, be would be the first person to move that his name be added to the Committee. Was there then, the shadow of a pretence for charging him with insinterity ? He Legged Hon. Gentlemen also to bear in mind he had asked him to give the pledge required not to him, but to the House itself. Ile said that he felt great difficulty in having a Special Com mittee for a special purpose of inquiry ; and, therefore, he named another Committee already in existence to inquire into the subject ; but when he found that that Committee did not attend he was obliged to name a new one, and the very first name that suggested itself to him was that of the Hon. Mem ber for Southwark.—( Hear, hear.) The Hon. Member for Southwark said that he would not be a party to the publication of g odsled reports. Now, he found in a copy of the True Sun which he held in his hand, the following observations, intro ductory to one of that Paper's Reports:of the Poor-law Com mittee's inquiry :—" The great length to which the evidence extends precludes us from giving it entire, but ec give such portions of it as appear to us to bear on the practical question of the operation of the Poor-laws."—( Hear, hear.) If the House was in favour of placing the Hon. Member on the Committee, he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) would not be responsible for any inconvenience which might result; if any charge was made on Saturday which might be satisfactorily answered on Monday, but which by being published on Saturday evening might lead to incalculable inconveliiences and misunderstanding,—and if in the end all the House should be invoiced in a contest of privilege—the responsibility would rest on others, not on him. Above all, one word to Honourable Gentlemen opposite. It might suit well with their views, being opposed to the present Commit the from the outset, to render it as distasteful to the public as possible, and thereby inoperative for the purpose of justice ; but let them beware that in gratifying their private feelings in this instance they might be destroying public reliance generally in Committees of this House. Ile had now no more to say. He had dis charged a painful duty, in the course of which it had been his lot to engage in a contest with a gentleman for whom he had aleraj a euterteined the kindest feelings of respect and regard ; but whatever might be the sacrifice which he would have to submit to, whether the sarcasm of the Hon. Gen tleman himself, or that of lion. Gentlemen on the opposite side of the House, the responsibility of whatever might fol low would rest with the others, not with him.—(Hear. ) The gallery was then cleared for a division— For the motion Against it Majority against the insertion of Mr Harvey's name Mr. C. BUL LE R moved that further time be given for completing the recognizances of the sureties to the petition , against the return for Sligo, a clerical error having been committed in them, by which the name of one of the peti tioners was substituted for that of one of the sureties. Colonel PE RCE VAL contended that the recognizances ssere void at twelve o'clock. He should rest satisfied with an appeal to the justice of the House. Mr. COOPER (as we understood) concurred in the view taken by the Elea. Member who had just addressed the House. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL was of opinion that the Parliamentary day had not expired at twelve o'clock, and that it was quite competent to any Hon. Member to make the mo tion which had been proposed. Sir T. FREMANTLE said he must once again rise, to call on the House to adhere to the strict rule. The Act of Parliament was express, that the recognizances should be per fected within fourteen days, and no one, lie thought, could deny that, in point of law, the duration of a day was from twelve o'clock to twelve o'clock. Mr. P. TIIOMSON observed that the application in Gom pertz's case was made after one o'clock, and it was not con sistent on the part of those who supported that application now to resist this. Mr. H. HINDE must deny the law to be as the Hon. and Learned Gentleman (the Attorney- General) had laid it down. The votes in that House made a clear distinction be. tween the business done previous to twelve o'clock and that done afterwards. The business taken after twelve o'clock was entered, not only in the votes, but in the journals of the House under a separate date. Sir T. FREMANTLE said that the Right Hon. Gen tleman, the President of the Board of Trade was mistaken with respect to the Gompertz case. The petition in that case was not presented until the 4th, so that, in point of fact, the time had not expired. Mr. R. STE U ART thought that the application ought to be granted, as in a similar case in which he was a party in 1831, the House adopted a similar course. Mr. ELLIS denied that the House had power to act con trary to the provisions of the Act of Parliament, which stated that if the sureties were not perfected before twelve o'clock on the fourteenth day, the petition fell to the ground. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL could not concur with his Hon. and Learned Friend (the Attorney-General), that the recognizances were void because of this mistake,—( A laugh.) The condition of the reeognizanees was, not that the parties should prosecute the petition, but that if the costs and and expenses were not !paid by the petitioner the instrument should be void. It was true that if three or four parties were bound, and that any one of them paid, that was all that could be required. There was nothing in the Act which limited the duration of the day to twelve o'clock, a n d hi s o pi n i on was that, if the petition were presented at five o'cl oc k i n t h e evening, the parties would be entitled to count from that hour.—( Cries of " No, no, there can be no fraction of a day in law.") At all events, the application was quite in time, if made before the adjournment of the House.—( A laugh.) Mr. GODSON said that the qu es ti on w hi c h th e y were called on to decide was one of very great importance, and was whether a Parliamentary day differed from the legal defi nition of a day. He was, he mu s t say, sur p r i se d a t w h at h e had heard from his Hon. and Learned Friends. According to their view, if that House were t o s it till seven o ' c l oc k i n the morning, the Parliamentary day would endure seven hours after midnight ; but he must say that no lawyer, that no man of common sense in the country, would agree with the con struction which they had put upon this Act.—( Hear, hear.) Suppose that these recognizances were now to be received, and that the Fetitiod turned out to be " frivolous and vexa tious," what would be the consequence ? Why, that when they were attempted to be enforced the parties would snap their fingers and laugh at them, denying their validity, because they had not been perfected within the period of fourteen days limited by the Act. (Hear, hear.) Mr. CO URTENAY said that, accustomed as he was to Courts of Law, he had never heard worse law th an h a d t h at night been prop oun ded by the Solicitor-General. There was no person conversant with the practice of Quarter Sessions who did not know that whatever form an Act of Phrliament directs must be followed. The Hon. and Learned Gentleman had spoken of the fraction of a day, but there was r.o tyro at the bar who did not know that there was no such thing known to the law as the fraction of a day. As a constitu tional lawyer, he was surprised at the doctrine that had been put forward that they might dispense with an Act of Parlia ment. Why, what were the charges against the Stuarts, or against the Long Parliament, but this, that one part of the Legislature dared to take on itself to dispense with an Act of Parliament, and that House was now asked to exercisticeatrh.a; dispensing power which every writer on constitutional law con curred in describing as the greatest act of tyranny ?__( Mr. C. BULL ER said that there was no' neglect in this case, as happened in the Ipswich case, for as soon as the ob jection became known the petition was presented. The Hon. Member for Cavan seemed to mistake the object of his (Mr. Buller's) motion. He did not mean to ask the House to pass any resolution about the validity of the recognizances, he only asked them to enlarge the time. A great deal had been said about the strictness of the law, but the same law gave them the power to extend the time for entering into the re cognizances, and if they were to be precluded from exercising that power what was the use of possessing it at all ? The Hon. Member here referred to the words of the Act of Par liament, which provide that where the recognizances shall not have been entered into within fourteen days the Speaker shall report the same to the House, and the order for taking the petition into consideration shall be discharged forthwith, un less on special cause shown, or unless matters shall be specially stated, on oath, as shall give the House reason to see that the time ought to be enlarged. Now, it would be competent for him, when the Speaker announced that the recognizances had not been properly entered into, and when it should be moved that the order be discharged, to get up and move that the order should not be discharged until witnesses had first been called to the bar to prove certain facts that would en able him to show the House a sufficient case for the exercise of this indulgence. According to the opinions of the Attor ney and Solicitor-General, the recognizances were good, but it was held by others that they were bad. Now, he did not want a decision on this point ; all he asked was that the House should enlarge the time. Mr. AG L lONBT could not think, as at present advised, that the House had any power to enlarge the time. He wished that some Learned Friend could convince him that he was mistaken in his construction of the Act. What he felt a doubt upon was that the application for the enlarge ment of the time ought to be made before the expiration of the fourteen days. He thought the words, "if the time shall not have been previously enlarged," &c., were to be un derstood as requiring the application for the extension of the time should have been made before the expiration of the four teen days. Mr. MAULE said that the Act of Porliament, which re gulated their proceedings, ought to be so construed as to enable substantial justice to be effected. He would not en gage in the discussion of the difficult question whether they should cull the present time to-day or to-morrow.—( A laugh. ) He would suggest to the Hon. Member for Liskeard to take the question upon the moti on th a t th e o r der for taking the petition into consideration be discharged. Mr. C. BULLER would adopt the suggestion, and take the discussion on the report of the Speaker. It seemed that lii3 mistake was that he had applied not too late but too soon. He would move that the petition be printed with the votes. After a few worils from Mr. FR SII FIE L Colonel PE RC E VAL was at a loss to know in what posi tion the House stood. Mr. C. BULLER—There would be nothing conclusive in having tho petition printed. Colonel PERC E VAL understood that the name Patrick Nelson had been substituted in the recognizances for that of John Gallagher. According to the Act of Parliament it was necessary that three days' notice should be given, and that the parties should justify the sureties before the proper officers of the House. The petition only reached town to-day, so that of course the notice had not been given of the substitution of the name of the surety, nor could it now be given within suffi cient time. Mr. C. BULLER had merely moved that the petition should be printed. He wished it to be printed in courtesy to the Hon. Gentlemen opposite. If they felt disinclined to make use of it he had no wish that it should be printed. Sir R. PEEL said the question would to-morrow be in the same position in which it appeared to have been some time since. The Speaker would make a report to the House, and on that report the House would be called on to decide what was to be done. The question that the petition be printed was then put from the Chair, and agreed to. DUCHESS OF KENT'S ANNUITY BILL. Colonel SIBTHORP gave notice that he would more, in a future stage of this Bill, that the annuity granted to the Duchess of Kent should be .22,0001. instead of the proposed grant of 30,0001., and that in case her Royal Highness shall marry without the consent of Parliament, or in case she shall reside out of Great Britain for more than twelve months at any one period, or IA ithout an interval of at least six months' residence in this country, such grant shall, in any such case, become void. The Report of the Duchess of Kent's Annuities was pre sented to the House by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and agreed to. The Houses of Parliament Bill was read a third time, and passed. The second reading of the Municipal Corporations (Ire land) Bill was fixed for this day. The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of, and at Half-past Two o'Clock the house adjourned, to Twelve o'Clock this day. PARLIAMENTARY DI VISION. PENSIONS. (From the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons. MONDAY, DEC. 18 - - , - Order for nominating Committee read ; Motion made, and Ques tion proposed,—" That the Committee do consist of twenty-one Members :" Amendment proposed to leave out the words " twenty-one," in order to Insert the words " twenty-two," in stead thereof :—Question proposed, " That the words 'twenty-one' stand part of the Question :"--The House divided : MAJORITY—AYES, 122. Adam, Sir C.—Clackmannaushire Labouchere, Right Hon. Henry— An,fint, Colonel—Stoke-upon-Trent Taunton liakcr, Edward—Wilton Lambton, H.—North Durham Ball, Nieho!as—Cloninell I.efevre, C. Shaw—North Hants Baring, F. Thornhill—Portsmouth Lemon, Sir Charles—West Cornwall !laniard, E. G. —Greenwich Loch, James—Kirkwall Bin ington, Lord —Berksh re Lock l.art, s. M —Lan,rkshisc Beaniish, F. B —Cork Mackenzie, Thomas—Ress-hire Belfast, Earl of—Belf , st M`Leod, B.—lnverness Bernal, Ralph —ltoeloster Macnamara, W.—Clore Co. Illackett,C.—South Northumberlandi Maher, John—Wexford Co. Bridgeman, Hewitt—Ennis IMaide, W. H.—Carlow lir,ekle:iiirst, J.— Vaecles held Melgund, Viscount —Hythe Bryan, John—Kilkenny Co. Mildinay, P. St. John —Winchester isuliver, E. L.—Lincoln Morpetb, Lord—Yorkshire Byng, George—Middlesex Morris, D.—Carmarthen callaglian, D.—Cork City Murray, Right Hon. J. A.—Leith Campbell, Sir John—Edinburgh Muskett, George A.—St. Alban s Clements, Vise.—Leitrim Co. O'Connell, M. J.—Kerry Give, Edward B.—Hereford Ossuiston, Lord—N. Northumber. Courteous., P.—ltridgew , , ft •• - er land Costlier, HNV on. W. F._lie tford Paget, Frederick—Beaumaris Crawford, W.—London Palmer, Charles Fyshe—Reading Dalrymple, Sir A.—Brighton Palmerston, Viscount—Tiverton Denison, W. J.—West Surrey P4rker, John—Shetlield Divett, Edward—Exeter Peel, Right Hon. sir 11.—Tamworth Duncan, Lord--Southampton l'hillp-itts, John—l lou ester Dundas, Frederick—Orkney iPonsonby, Hon. John—Herby Ebrington, Vise.—North Devon !Price, Sir R.—Herefordshire Eliot, Hon. J. C.—Roxburgi , shire Relington, 'l'. N.—Dundalk Ellice, Capt. A.—Harwich Reid, Sir J. Rae—Dover Ells, John—Newry Rice, Right Hon. T. S.—Cambridge Eric, Win.—'oxford Rich, H.—Knaresborough Fazi:kerley, .1 . N.—Peterhorough Richards, Richard—Merionethshii e Fergusson, Right Hon. R. C —Kirk- Rolfe, Sir B- M.—Penrhyn cudbriglit Rose, Sir George—Christchurch Fitzalan, Lord—Arundel Rumbold, C. E.—Yarmouth Fitzroy, Lord C.—Bury St. Edm. Russell, Lord John —Stroud Fleetwood, I'. IL—Premon Russell, Lord—Tavistock Fremantle, Sir T.-11iickinham Sheppard, Thomas--Fromo Freslifield, J. W.—Penryn Smith, J. A.—Chichester Glai'stone, W. E.—Newark-on-Trent Somers, J. P.—Sligo ' Goddard, Ambrose —Cricklade Stanley, E. John—North Cheshire Gordon, Robert—Windsor Steuart, Robert —Haddington Greene, T. G.—Lancashire Stewart, James—lloniton Grey, Sir George—Devonport Strangways, Hon. John—Dorset Hallyburton, Lord D.—Forfarshire Style, Sir Charles—Scarborough Hastie, Archibald—Paisley Surrey, Earl of—West Sussex Hay, Sir A. L.—Elgin Tattered, H. W.—Banbury Hayter, \V G.—Wells Thomson, Right Hon. C. P.—Man. Henniker, Lord—East Suffolk chester Hebhouse, Right Hon. Sir J. Cam Tracy, Henry H.—Bridgenorth Nottingham Tufnell, Henry—lpswich Hobhouse, T. B.—Roehester Verney, Sir H.—BuckinghamHodgson, tt.—Be. wick Wall, C. Baring—Guildford Hollond, Robert—Hastings White, Andrew—Sunderland Holmes, Wm.—Berwick Wilshcre, William—Yarmouth Hope, G. W.—Weymouth Wood, Charles—Halitax Hoskins, K.—Herefordshtre Worsley, Lord—Lincolnshire Howick, Visc.—Northumberland Woulfe, Mr. Serjeant—Cashel Hutton, Robert—Dublin Yates, J. Ashton—Carlow Inglis, Sir It. It—Oxford University Young, John—Cavan Irving, John—Antrim Co. TELLERS. Kirk, Peter—Carrickfergus Seymour, Lord—Totness Knight, H. G.—Nottinghamshire Smith, It. Vernon—Northampton MINORITY- Aglionby, H. A.—Cockcrmouth Abager, Captain—Surrey Atwood, W.—Grcenw;ch Attwood, Thos.—Birmingham Bentinck, Lord G.—Lynn Borth wick, Peter—Evesham Broadwood, henry—Bridgwater Brotherton, J.—Salford Browne, IL:D.—Mayo Brownrigg, J. S.—Boston Buller, Charles—Liskeard Castlereagh, Vise.—Down Chalmers, Patrick—lnverbervie Clay, W.—Tower Hamlets Codringten. Sir E.—Devonport Copeland, W. T.—Stoke.upon-Trent Craig, W. G.—Edinburghshize Denistoun, J.—Glasgow Dick, Quintin—Maldon D'lsraeli, B.—Maidstone Douglas, .I.ir C.—Warwick Duckworth, Samuel—Leicester Duke, Sir James—Boston buncombe, Thomas—Finsbury Easthope, J.—Leicester Etwali, Ralph—Andover Belden ' John—Oldham Finch, F.—Walsall Gaskell, Jas. M.—Wenlock Gibson, J.—Belfast Gibson, Thomas—lyswich Godson, R.—Kidderminster Gore, Ormsby—Salop grimsditch, T.—Macclesfield Grote, George—London Hall, Benjamin—Marylebona Hawkins, J. H.—Newport, I. Wight Hindley, Charles—Ashton —NOES, 71. Hinde, John Hodgson—Newcastle upon-Tyne Howard, P. H.—Carlisle Hughes, W. B.—Carnarvon Hume, Joseph—Kilkenny Humphery, John—Southwark Jervis, J.—Chester Jervis, S. - Bridport Leader, John T.—Westminster Lennox, Lord J. G.—West Sussex Lushington, Charles—Ashburton Maclean, Donald—Oxford Marshall, W.—Carlisle Molesworth, Sir William—Leeds Parke, R. T.—Preston Pattison, James—London Pechell, Captain—Brighton Philips, Mark—Manchester Polhill, Frederick—Bedford Protheroe, Edward—Halifax Pryme, George—Cambridge Round, John—Maldon Salwey, Colonel—Ludlow Sibthorp, Colonel—Lincoln Stewart, John—Lymington Stuart, Lord J.—Ayr Talfourd, Mr. Serjeant —Reading Thompson, Ald.—Sunderlan3 Tollemache, Hon. F. G.—Grantham Vigors, N . A.—Carlow Co. Warburton, H.—Bridport Whalley, Sir S.—Marylelome Williams, William—Coventry Young, Geo. Fred.—Tynemouth TELLERS. Sinclair, Sir G.--Caithness-shire Wakley, Thomas-. Finsbury THE BENCH AND THE BAR.—One of the most intrinsically valuable portions of this work is that which exhi bits the origin, constitution, and peculiar powers of the various courts, and from which much useful professional information may be obtained; but the volumes will be as much read for their amusing nature as for their utility ; for, notwithstanding that the law itself is considered barren of popular attraction, yet both those who administer and those who practise it, afford rich materials for the exercise of the writer's descrip tive powers, of which he has availed himself with his usual tact and dexterity. Among the numerous portraitures of ju dicial characters, those of Lords Lyndhurst and Denman are perhaps the best. These sketches are, indeed, very interest ing specimens of the author's observant talents and power of characteristic delineation, relieved by anecdotes of the most sparkling kind. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH HOLT, the celebrated Irish Rebel General, will be published by Mr. Colburn, of Great Marlborough -street, in the course of the present week. The manuscript of these volumes, we under stand, was procured by Sir W. Betham, from Joseph Harrison Holt, the son of the writer, not long after his father's death, when young Holt sold his little property at Kingstown, and proceeded with his family to New South Wales, to join his elder brother. It was written in 1818, and revised by Holt in the course of the following year. POST-OFFICE REFORM. PETITION presented to the HOUSE of COMMONS, by Mr. WALLACE, on WEDNESDAY, the 13th December, 1837. To the Honourable the Comment of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, The humble Petition of the undersigned Printers, Booksellers, and Publishers, Sheweth, That the trade in which your Petitioners are engaged, requires every facility of making known aid describing to the Public, the books, literary predictions, and works of art, which it is their business to dispose of, and that by the present great expense of Postage they are debarred from the means they would otherwise adopt of addressing themselves by letter to the particular quarters for which works are calculated, in addition to advertising them in the public papers. That if the law for the support of the post did not prevent it, the communication by steam-vessels would enable your petitioners to forward letters to Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Hull, and many other towns on the coast, and in the neighbour hood, at the rate of one shilling per thousand, and with a dispatch nearly equal to the mail-coach ; and that, after the three principal lines of Railroad are completed, an equally cheap mode would be opened to your petitioners for communicating with Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Waterford, Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bir mingham, Bristol, Southampton, and all the principal towns of the United Kingdom. _ _ That many London periodical publications are now sold with a profit, and delivered with punctuality and dispatch in all parts of the United Kingdom at the rate of one penny and three-halfpence each. That notwithstanding a newspaper weighs more than six average letters, it is found that the penny stamp enables Government to forward it even to Edinburgh with a considerable profit, while for six single letters received from any part of Scotland your Peti tioners have to pay no less than six shillings and ninepence. That the present exorbitant charge for the conveyance of letters prevents the sending of orders by the pest for single publications, and by postponing the demand often prevents the sale ; and your Petitioners beg to state to your Honourable House, that, i■ many eases, the postage of an order would amount to from five to ten per cent. on the cost of a book. That many of your Petitioners would in the regular course of their business circulate from twenty to fifty thousand letters per annum more than they send at present, if the charge for postage were considerably reduced ; and your Petitioners are of opinion that other traders would, under those circumstances, find it their interest also to avail themselves of so secure and prompt a means of delivering letters as the post. That the rate of profit on all trades and manufactures is exceed ingly redliced of late years, which makes every charge on trade a more important consideration. That, in the opinion of your Petitioners, the reduction of postage to a reasonable charge would prevent the forwarding of letters by parcels, and would so mueh promote intercourse by letter, that the revenue would not suffer eventually any material abatement. Your Petitioners therefore pray, that your Honourable House will sanction a very considerable reduction of charge, in both the General and Twopenny Posts ; and they have no doubt that, owing to the increase of education, the extension of commerce, and the rapidity of intercourse resulting amount of postage received will s from modern improvements, the eedily be restored to its present standard. Longman, Orme, and Co. John Murray T. and W. Boone John Andrews John Hatchard and Son Samuel Highley Bradbury and Evans C. Roworth and Sons C. Wisittingham, jun. Shaw and Sons Nuttall aid Hodgson Vizetelly and Co. Charles Tilt Charles Wood John Hill Stewart and Murray Chapman and Hall Ackermann and Co. John Hearne John Bohn James Moyes Horatio Rodd F. De Porquet and Cooper William Wuod Richard Watts S. Sweet J. Holmes John Rider J. and C. Adlard Richard Baynes John Snow Jonathan Bagster Jos. Capes William Smith Baynes and Son E. Palmer and Son James Dinnis Thomas Jones W. Houlston Thomas Tegg and Son Relic and Fletcher W. H. Allen and Co. Smith, Elder, and Co. Harrison and Sons J. Chappell G. and A. Greenland W. Walker T. Richardson and Son J. Cumberland Thomas Dykes Jos. Smith J. L. Cox and Sons Gilbert and flivington H. J. Warren Giles Balne Ann Eccles Darton and Harvey J. S. Hodson Darton and Clark J. G. and F. Rivington James Duncan Simpkin Marshall, and Co. James Ridgway Jos. Rickerby Henry Butterworth Andrew Spottiswoode R. H. Laurie L. and G. Seeley Seeley and Burnside Jos. Bonsor William Lake Cunningham and Salmon Thomas lbotson C. J. Stewart M. A. Naftali John Leslie James Bohn Robson, Levey, and Co. Jos. Lilly Black and Armstrong R. J. Kennett W. Wilcockson Rayner and Hodges E. C. Wilson P. P. Thorns Sherwood and Co. E. Grattan John Van Voorst Ward and Trego George Wightman W. Strange B. Steill Remnant and Edmonds J. W. Parker Pelham Richardson J. and A. Arch H. Leggatt and Co. John Richardson John Brooks S. Cornish John Haddon Arthur Taylor T. Teape Charles Woodfall James Dennett William Watson E. B. and G. Clarke Samuel Hutchins Dewick and Son Henry Wiz T. C. Johns Alex. Maxwell John Limbird Jos. Harding John Lepard James Bain Saunders and Otley Benjamin Fellowes Charles Knight and Co. LAMBETH REFORM MEETING. Last evening a public meeting of the Reformers of the Borough of Lambeth was held at the Horns' Tavern, Ken nington, for the purpose of coasidering the propriety of peti tioning the House of Commons fur an Extension of the Fran chise, Vote by Ballot, and short Parliaments. At seven o'clock Mr. TaNN was called to the Chair. The CHAIRNIAN then proceeded to read the resolutions, hich were received with loud cheers. Mr. CITEEt , EMAN, in rising to propose the first resolution, to the effect that it was unwise and unjust to legislate for a particular class of the community, and that a preponderance of the landed interest in the Legislature was ruinous to the hap piness and permanent prosperity of the country, said, that however incompetent to the task which had been assigned to him, he would endeavour to acquit himself of the duty as well as possible. He agreed with the Chairman, that every one should be prepared to do his part in shaking off the trammels which they had too long worn, and which had been forged upon them by the two great parties in the State.— ( Cheers.) They had met there to express their gratitude to two gentlemen who had done great service to the cause of Reform—he meant Lord John Russell and Mr. Wakley.—(Cheers and laughter.) He for one did not par take of the gloom which Lord John's declaration had im parted to many, as it would excite such a whirlwind as would blow away every agreement that had been made to render the Reform Bill a final measure.—(Cheers.) As for Mr. Wakley, he had done more than any other physician of the present day ; in fact he had per formed a miracle.—( Laughter. ) Lord John Russell had said that Mr. Wakley had adminis tered three doses to him.—( Hear, hear.) So he had ; the first made him uneasy on his seat ' • the second rendered him still more so ; and the third excited him to such a state of in dignation, that he arose and spoke the truth.—( Cheers and laughter.) They had been told that if they agitated at pre sent they would endanger the safety of the Reform Ministry. This might be very well for those who had friends in power, but he would ask, what connection was there between the Whigs and the great body of Reformers ?—( Loud cheers. ) Every Reformer must admit that Vote by Ballot, Extension of the Suffrage, and short Parliaments, were indispensable in obtaining good government, and if the present Government objected to these measures, he would ask what sort of Re. formers must they be? In his opinion they were not Re formers at Hear, hear, and cheers.) Mr. WaBBER briefly seconded the resolution, which being put, was carried unanimously. Mr. WELLFORO proposed the second resolution, to which, when about to be put by the Chairman, Mr. NORTHOUSI rose to move an amendment, to the effect that, whilst the meeting were determined to support Reform, they deprecated all divisions among Reformers, and therefore instructed the representatives of Lambeth to pursue the course they had hitherto followed in behalf of the people. Mr. Northhouse had heard, upon good authority, that it was the intention of the Government to support Vote by Ballot, Extension of the Suffrage, and the shortening the duration of Parliaments, although it was not their intention to bring forward those measures.—( Hear, hear.) Mr. CLUB seconded the amendment. Mr. Northouse's amendment was then put, when there ap peared but few hands in favour of it. The original resolu tion was then agreed to by a very great majority. Mr. NPLEOD then proposed the third resolution. Mr. FALL seconded the resolution. Mr. GOLDSMITH moved an amendment on the resolution, that the words " Universal Suffrage" should be substituted for an extension of the elective franchise." Mr. CARVER supported the amendment, which being put by the Chairman, was carried by a large majority. The resolution, as amended, was, " That a petition, signed by the Chairman for and on beha lf of the meeting, prayi ng for Universal Suffrage, Triennial Parliaments, and the Vote by Ballot, he presented to the House of Commons ; an d t h at our representatives, Benjamin Hawes, Esq. be r equeste d to present it, and the Right Hon. Charles Tennyson D'Eyncourt to support it."—Carried as amended. Mr. AiTocao propose d the foll owing resolution That as the present crisis demands prompt and c ont i nuous exer tions on the part of the people, it is expedient to appoint a Committee of the Inhabitants of the Borough of Lambeth, to co-operate with any other of the metrop o lit an c iti es or bo roughs in forming aßritish Gene ra l A ssoc i at i on, h av i ng f or its object to obtain efficient Parliamentary Reform, with power to add to their numbers," which being seconded by Mr. WELFORD, Mr. HAWEs presented himself to the meeting. He would not be the follower of any Ministry, but was he on that -- ...------s account to be precluded from suppor tin g a MiejarY when it was right. He thought not. Why , he wo uld ask It , they now suddenly turn round upon the Sio 4tr f ? and was said that there was no difference betwe en the me ih Whigs Tories; he was not of that opinion. Had not and had for the last 28 years fought the battle of fr eedorne Wiiigs not the Tories opposed every measure of improve:net/I.'? , Th e Whigs, with all their faults, were better than the To. 11 : 15-- (No, no.) He was favourable to the amendment ch 'NIT; Northouse, and he considered that the adoption of it wk.'ulu co ntribute more to the advancement of the measures sr:Lo cated by Mr. Welford than its rejection. Mr. TENNYSON D'EYNCOURT then ca me forward, an d said that with regard to the declaration of Lord John Russell, for his ber thought too much importance had been at tached to it; o rs part, it excited no surprise in his mind. He bad found L J. Russell always voting against those meas ures, and how could he be surprised at his recent declarati on a g ainst them? It was an act of indiscreet frankness ; bu t he repudiated the notion that it was the declaration of the Min istr y; his Lord ship never stated that it was the opini on of the Ministry collectively. Many members of the Cabine t were favourable to all the measures which they proposed to p etition Parlia ment for. He had beard it said that evening that there we, no difference betwem Whigs and Tories. He n ever was a Whig—he had opposed Lord Grey's Government upon t Not- e question of the Irish Coercion Bill.—( th Hear, hear.) withstanding, much was due to the Whigs. It was under tbe h operation of the Reform Bill that be stood there as eir representative, which had been brought forward by the Whig i g. rr The resolution being seconded, was then put and carriea ; and a vote of thanks having been proposed to the Chain Any which was seconded by Mr. D'Eyncourt, and agreed to, the meeting separated, BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK—L OBn JOHN RUSSELL'S DECLARATION. . _ Last evening a meeting of Members of this A ssociatt." f , took place at the London-bridge Tavern, for the pu rpose . I c t i i taking into consideration the propriety of caning a Tovill-°,_ Meeting to petition Parliament in favour of the Ballot, !nt Extension of the Suffrage, and the shortening of the d uration cf Parliament. Mr. PAUL was sailed to the Chair. • - The CHAIRMAN stated that the object of the Mect was inb to take into consideration the declaration lately m ade by Lord John Rusell, in opposition to the vote by Ballot, the Extension of the Suffrage, and the shortening of the duration of Parliament. Mr. RUSHTON, the Secretary to the Association, retta.! series of resolutions declaratory of the feeling of the peop le" ; wasrespect to the three questions alluded to. They also a wa s that the confidence of that Association in the Ministry shaken, and that it was now time for the people to bestir th e° !. selves, in order that they might be able to obtain the objeoa for which they were so anxious. Aft Mr. SATERLIT suggested that the general meeting 0 0 not to be called until shortly before the re-assembling of Par liament. Mr. MARTIN was decidedly opposed to the extensive demands made upon the Legislature in the resolutions submitted t o t h e meeting. meeting. Ho was an old Reformer, and he w as ofo that it was extremely unwise to ask for too much._( Cties " No, no.") Mr. RUSHTON rose to press the several resolutions read 1)1 him upon the attention of the meeting. Mr. BARNES thought that it was premature to call the prat posed Town-hall meeting ; and he, therefore, suggested t ha that meeting should adjourn until the Bth of January. Mr. DAY urged strongly the necessity of calling the Town' hall meeting as early as possible. After a few words from Mr. SATERLIT an amendment on Mr. Rushton's motion was put from the Chair, to the e ffect that the consideration of the subject now before the meeting be adjourned, to the next general meeting of the Association, which would take place oil the Bth of January. The amendment was lost, and all the resolutions prop osed by Mr. Rushton were carried. The meeting then separated' SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. TATT.ERSALL'S—Yssrmiaer. THE MPUBT. In anticipation of the Christmas vacation, the subscriber* mustered in considerable numbers, and got through more but; ness than has been done on any three days since the close 01 the racing season. 91 to 1 were offered, and 10 to 1 tak: . freely about D'Egville ; a point more against the C o web colt finding acceptance in two or three quarters. Gr e i Momus was baced freely at 16 to 1 ; and the odds taken to vat ious amounts about several outsiders, till now strangers to the market. The quotations below will show that the after' noon's transactions were more extensive than important :--- 19 to 2 agst Lord G. Bentinck's D'Egville—take 10 to 1 11 to 1 agst Lord Jersey's Cobweb colt—taken 16 to 1 agst Mr. E. Peel's The Early Bird—taken and Afte r ' wards offered 16 to 1 agst Mr. Bowes's Grey Momus--taken freely 20 to 1 agst Mr. Armitage's Nonplus dam—offered 21 to 1 agst Mr. Coombes's Cobham—offered 22 to 1 agst Mr. Bland's Young Rowton—offered 25 to 1 agst Sir J. Mills's Volunteer—offered 30 to 1 agst Mr. A. Smith's Craeker—take 33 to 1 1000 to 30 agst Lord Chesterfield's e. out of Tranby's dam—take 1000 to 25 agst Mr. J. Day's Bullion—offered 1000 to 20 agst Mr. Richardson's Monc Adam—taken 2000 to 25 agst Mr. Gurney's Surprise colt—taken 1000 to 15 agst Lord Westminster's Richard Roe—taken 2000 to 30 agst Mr. Bowes's Brother to Aleppo—taken 5500 to 110 as Mr. J. Day's brother ao Muley Meloch—take n 3000 to 45 agst Mr. Osbaldiston's brother to Ebberston—taken 500 to 10 agst Mr. V. Corbet's Hannibal—taken THE OATLANDS.-Lord Exeter's Adrian, 4 yrs, was had!' capped at 6st. 121 b. Hybiscus, who was not named, was acci dentally inserted in his place. Hampton Court Coursing Meeting finishes on Thursday nest' LLOYD'S SHIPPING.-(THIS DAY•) DEAL, Dre. 18.—Wind W. S.W., blowinc , hard.--Arrived the Coromandel, Chesser, from Calcutta ; President, Chadwick, fro° New York ; Secret, Gates, from Fayal ; and Belle, Morrison, fro Charente. The outward bound, as per last, remain. POIITSMOHTII, DEC. 19.—Wind S.W. to W., hazy and squal l ,l' blowing hard, with rain.—Arrived the Sophia, Langlois, fr o " . Seville. Sailed her Majesty's ship Melville, for Spithead. be Pixmotyrff, DEC. 11.—Wind has been blowing a gale for t last forty-eight hours from S.S.W., and now continues ft° W. S.W.—Arrived the Abeona, Porrea, from Lisbon. al ' es , FALMOUTH, DEC. 18.—Wind S.S.W. to S., strong t with rain and thick weather.—Arrived the Mayflower, ° from Zante ; Amelia, Gorard, from Malaga ; and Hiram, Gibson' from Liverpool, bound to Lisbon, leaky. BRISTOL, DLe. 19.—Arrived the Duke of Clarenee fr° °l St. Petersburgh. Gr.oucEsTEß, Dcc. 19.—Arrived the Tam O'Shanter, fr ° Fuente Ventura. LIMERICK, DEC. 17.—Arrived the Thomas, Armstrong, fr o° Terceira ; and Heart of Oak, Evans, from London. LIVERPOOL, Doe. 19.—Arrived the Algonquin, TurnleY, from Ph WESTP iladelhiaSuperior, Sk ß erries, fro Tira. p ORT, Dre. 16.—The etsey Davies erce arrived at this El t from London, was driven from her moorings at the Quay , 00 i l ia morning of the 14th instant, and on the opposite • after discha r g_ fig the portion of the cargo which remained on board, she was got THE FUNDS.-(THIS DAY.) CI 7' Y 7' TY EL VE 0' CL Or; er , The Consul Market had not a bright appearance during 31 3 0 day, and closed, at a decline from the morning price, at 93j to the for the opening, with little or no basiness doing. Opened at above price. r dal' Money on the . Stock Exchange was very scarce during yel'e d t he and was done at 5 per cent. Exchequer Bills 45 premium, ae„„„ i ds New Bills, at tw o p ence per cont . per d ay, 42 to 44 ; I n dia '- 28 ; Bank Stock 206 ; India Stock, for the Opening, 268. 09.1, In the Foreig n M ar k e t P ortuguese St oc k c l ose d h e avy 51 ' t the opened at the same ; and the Th ree - per -C en t s 194, opened Iritiog same ; Spanish Active also at a d ec li ne , 19E, opene d this In O " ec i at at the same ; Dutch Two-and-a-Half per Cents 53k, °P e° 7.9 i, the same ; Brazil Stock also closed heavy, at a declinet_. opened at the same ; Colombian 25* ; Mexican improved to HALF-PAST ONE O'CLO C „ ' {o r Consols have rem a i ne d s t ea d y d ur i ng t h e morn i ng at 9 3, E ;dot the epening, with nothing doing, and not a feature in the ° o pt worth notice. Exchequer Bills, 2id., 45 47; Exchequer 2d., 41 43 ; Bank Stock, 205} 306* ; India Stock shut. , ow ing In the Foreign Market Spanish Active rather improved, to a report that Government was going to withdraw them ~n i sh from Spain, but little credit is due to the above report. ',. 1 5 the Active, 19E 20* ; Passive, 4* ; Deferred, 7*- ; Yortu same as in the morning, 29i 30 ; Three per Cents., 191 14, 54; zilian, 79i 80; Dutch Two-and-a-Half per Cents., ,Sl n deti Mexican, 274 28* ; Columbian, 241 25*. Brighton an Shares heavy, at 3* 'l. CX' TM.REE 0' CL ors, Consols for the Account, g i, THE FUNDS.—CLOSING PRICES' BRITISIt FUNDS. • linik Stock 26N Onunum ..... ~... ~./ 3 per Cent. Red 024,,, Inija Stock ........ ......."„ .... " 3 per Cent. Coils Ditto Ponds ....... ............. _.. 5 3Y. per Cent. ..., 3Y4 per Cent. Red. .....• 1M Ditto Ditto Old Annuities ..."......1 ~,,, New .IX, per Cent. — Ditto New Annuitics.l' 4 0 V_. i per Cent. Assented Dissented Long Annuities to eip:re Ditto 500/ .................... OA Jan. let3l) Oct. 18.50 l4 "-16 Bank Stock for OF - g• •••• . • India Stock For Ara. ...... **: .. : . Be Austrian j .,e a r. n i n l , Bl , j ;° , 5 p ( p r e r cen t Foi, E -10 t l c ' t o o j r il t slllps u s e fo ;o r Bonds, ...............•. e) 132ur.e.zni,,li,anAyli;iLd,s cent...Olt. --I4 6 per coat Chilian, 6 ,3 l ,l i } e :: r err c c e ec n enn t tt. ' ..... . ..... •••••• 101% Ditto, New Ditto. ...• _, Colombian, 6 per cent G i. Ditto, .eex Danis h e i Greek Bonds, ati 13 0 2 . 1 18, - —B-0 Prussian.Dß u i rto i a n ISI e t oS a n l Pe l d i c:" ............................................... ...... 1 CO : 7° Ditto, 6 per ce i n 6- ;: 5 ,. .... s 21 r cent. ...... ..... ini Peruvian. 1t425, 6 per t Ditto. S per cent.......... ...... .... Iv 1582pe::::: ;11:-53:!4 IFSlF:ixilie;tnnc:chia'sh,:6;s. p:le):ll.ir:.c.ea.ett.i:"ltt 1...........:::',................::::1. 54:..,c...:. r eer. • ~,. - --. --___-------_ LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET, ~,~9TERD"•~,,~ The demand , a , es 1 ‘ for cotton on Saturday was very s teadyt o a na ous t° jo i n v r e r re sold at previous rates, including 300 Surats n 51 0 _ 0 0 o-day there was a very good demand, and 4,000 bsgsrnao, sold rather hi g her prices for the better description of Arne i' and full prices for other kinds. Two works of extraordinary• interest are to aPP ea d r corn - during the present week—we allude to the private c . rn _ o f ence o f the celebrated Duchess of Marlborough, of the ti e Queen A nne , an d t h a t of the late Queen Caroline, the co ntg r. t of George IV. Both these works are to be published by DI Colburn of Great Marlborougstrect. ohizoNT .A. L FLAT WATGH 71 Tit}, acc urately finished jewelled movements, Warranted, 11 . ; er cases, price Five Guineas each ;or in Gold cases, pri. I: e Guineas each, at T. COX SAVORY'S, Watchinalier, Jew" ler, and Silversmith, 47, Cornhill, London. N.B.—Second-hand Watches purchased in exchange. London: rrtnted and Pubhalted by 11URDO YOUNG, °I 112, Strand, at The Sun Office, No. 112, Strand, in the of Middlesex.—Tur.sday, December 19, 1837. eougg