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

METEORIC SHOWER OF NOVEM- IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. BER, 1837. HOUSE OF LORDS.-DRC. 18. The following extract imparts to our Tuesday's scien tific paper on the Asteroids the character of a prediction : (From a New York Paper.) The fact of an occurrence of an extraordinary exhibition of meteors, or shooting stars, on the morning of the 13th of November, every year for six years past, afforded a suf ficient reason, independently of every theoretical considera tion, for watching the heavens attentively on the night of the recent anniversary. The result has justified our anti cipations ; and we are able to say that the annual me teoric shower of November has been repeated the present year. The scale, indeed, was vastly inferior to those of some ether years, but still the phenomenon was marked by such distinctive peculiarities with respect to the number origin, direction, and trains of the meteors, as to leave no doubt of its identity with them: In order that every part of the firmament might receive its due share of attention, the four quarters of the heavens were parcelled out amongst eight persons, two to each quarter, one to observe and one to record. The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack al Five o'Clock. Lord DUNCANNON laid on the table the Annual Re. port of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of Ireland. On the motion of the same Nonut LORD, the Report was ordered to be printed. POST OFFICE. Lotd BROUGHAM said he was sorry not to observe his Noble Friend the Postmaster-General in his place, particu larly as he had given notice of the petitions he was now about to present. He was, however, under the necessity of pre senting at any rate one o f t h em w i t h out f urt h er d elay ; and that was a petition from the Mayor, Aldermen, and Corporation of the City of London, agreed to in Common Council assembled ; and they certainly- were, of any body of her Majesty's subjects, the most likely persons to be regarded as having a right to deal with the im portant subject of the Post-office. No persons had a deeper interest in the good regulations of that great esta blishment than the citizens of this great city, whom the petitioners represented ; and no part of her Majesty's do minions was more directly interested in the improvement of the Post-office establishment than the City of London. The Corporation of the City of London had deemed it their duty to take this subject into consideration, and after giving it their best attention they had adopted the present petition. They stated that a swift communication by post tended greatly to the improvement of the commerce, manufactures, and agri culture of this country; and was also highly important for the collection and diffusion of information, by which the edu cation of the people would be greatly accelerated, as well as friendly intercourse forwarded. The mercantile part of the City of London had turned their attention to this subject ; they had very fully gone into the details : they had themselves very extensive experience on the question; they had the capacity beyond most men of examining the particulars and principles of any plan which might be adopted for its improvement ; therefore their opinion was en titled to operate by way of testimony in reference to any plan, and they gave it in favour of Mr. R. Hill's plan. They did not specify that plan in particular in its details as the plan to which they gave their approval, or which they called upon the Le g i s l a t u r e t o ad o pt, b u t it was clearly to that plan they pointed, because they applied them selves to the Ninth Repprt of the Commissioners upon the Post-office inquiry, and prayed particularly for the adoption of that communication which was to try the plan by the two penny post. He (Lord B.) was happy to observe that his Noble Friend ( Lord Lichfield) was now in his place. Having stated so much, lie need hardly remind their Lord ships that upon such a subject there was no authority so high as that of the trading classes of the community ; and connected with that subject, there was perhaps no per son of higher authority among mercantile men than a Noble Friend of his, and a Member of their Lord ship's House (Lord Ashburton), who had more than once called their attention to the subject. Without precisely pledging himself to the whole of that measure, his Noble Friend had come to the opinion that the conveyance of letters was not of itself, and in itself, in its own nature, due regard being had to the convenience of the public, a proper subject of taxation for the purpose of revenue. That no doubt the diffi culty might be great of retracing their steps, after having for so long a period made it the subject of taxation ; and that when an important branch of revenue had risen up under the system, it might raise very great difficulty, his Noble Friend did not deny, nor did he (Lord Brougham), but if it were to be a question whether a greater mercantile country ought to make the postage or conveyance of letters a subject of revenue or a mat-er of taxation—if such a proposition were made, he thought the answer of his Noble Friend would be in the negative, as well as the enamor which he (Lord Brougham) himself would give. He ventured to appeal to their Lordships, who had heard that subject dis cussed in that place more than once; he would now take it that after a larger revenue had grown up upon wrong principles by raising money for the public service by taxing the communications by post, he would take it that even after so large a revenue as a million and a half had been collected and received, eves if the alteration were attended with a very considerable present diminution of that income—even if it tended generally to lower that revenue, it would in the end not only compensate itself, and raise the revenue to its former pitch, but would even greatly increase that revenue. Such was the proposition which, as soon as the question came before their Lordships in a more fit shape to decide, he ( Lord B) for one was prepar. d to maintain. He would not merely allude to the reduction of postage alone, for the purpose of raising Ws argument—he did not refer to the taking off of the 121 d., as some contended for—the 9d. as others thought would be necessary, or the 61 which others again made their calculation from—he would go at once to the taking off the whole—of going at once to the one penny per ounce, or half ounce, which was the proposition of Mr. Hill. He (Lord B.) did not mean to _assert that such a diminution of the postage would so largely increase the number of letters so as to bring up the gross revenue to its present amount. He would go farther. He looked forward to the reat boon which it would confer upon the whole mercantile world in this country—the vast increase which it would give to the great trading interests of the country, by which all sourer s of revenue in the country—by which the revenue in every branch must be greatly and wonderfully increased. That was an opinion in which he concurred with his Noble Friend ( Lord Ashburton). He rejoiced at the presence of his' Noble Friend the Postmaster- General, because be wisLed much to tell him that he ( Lord Lich field) had failed to satisfy his (Lord Brougham's) mind that the plan suggested by Mr. Hill was so totally im practicable as he had stated it to he. He conceived that the whola of his Noble Friend's calculations was founded upon the statements which had r f course been prepared fur him—a statement that the total number of letters now was between 42 aid 43 millions. Now any one hearing his Noble Friend make Cow statement would suppose that they were itni , put,cl facts, and that his calculation. were built upon such certain fmtidatior3, as, when u-god against Mr. Hill's plan, would rei.der it perfectly impracticele and impossible to bring into effect. He did not rightly understand his Noble Fiend, whether in his calculations he had included the twopenny and threepenny post, or confined himself exclusively to the general post The early part of the evening of the 12th afforded some signals of promise. A copious rain which fell on the pre vious night, attended by an easterly wind, had given place to a serene sky, with the wind at the west ; from the set ting sun diverged large columns of a peculiar rose-coloured vapour ; and before six o'clock, an auroral pillar, of a crim son hue, presented itself in the north-west ; but before seven o'clock every unusual appearance bad vanished, and left an unclouded sky. The full moon, however, shone with so strong a light as almost to hide the stars, permitting none to be seen below the third magnitude ; of course no meteors but those of un usual brightness could be visible. No shooting stars were observed until five minutes past one o'clock, when they began to appear at considerable in tervals, emanating as usual from the bead of Leo, which constellation was then ascending the eastern sky. The meteors gradually increased in number and brightness until daylight. Nearly all, as they darted forth, left visible traces of their paths. Some of these were brilliant, and all must have had a high degree of brightness to have over come so strong a moon'ight. Indeed, in such a state of the sky, it is rare on common evenings to see shooting stars at all. These traces were in most cases to be regarded not as trains arising from the deposit of luminous matter, but as mere lines of Ight, 4:ming to the velocity of meteors, which was so great that a continued impression was left on the eye, like that of a stick ignited at the end, and whirled in the air. Trains remaining after the extinction of the meteors (which made a conspicuous figure in the meteoric shower of 1833) are rarely luminous enough to be visible in full moonlight. Only two were observed on the present occasion. The whole number counted during the night was 226. Of these, all but ten or twelve either radiated from a point in the bead of Leo, or moved in lines which, if continued, would have pawed through that point. The position of the radient was at first near the Lion's eye (at the star Mu Leonis), but afterwards moved southward and eastward a little, and soon after three o'clock became stationary, near Epsilon Leonis (right ascension 146 deg., declination 24 deg. 30 min.), within half a degree of its position in 1826. The various meterological instruments were attentively inspected during the night, but nothing remarkable was observed, Yale College, Nov. 14. In noticing the shower which occurred on the 13th of November a year ago, in connexion with others which had occurred on the same night of the year for five years pre vious in succession, Professor 0. stated the following as among the characteristics of the phenomenon : `• 1. The number of meteors, though exceedingly va riable, is much greater than usu .1, especially of the larger and brighter kinds. " 2. An uncommonly large preport;on leave lumineus trains. " 3. The metecr3, with few exceptions, all appear to proceed from a common centre, the position of which has been in nearly the same point in the heavens—viz., in some part of the constellation Lco. " The principal exhibiticn has at all times and at all places cccurred between midnight and sunrise, and the incuintrini from three to four o'clock. " In all these partieu7ars the meteoric showers of 1834, 1835, and 1836, have resembled that of 1833 ; while no person, so far as I have heard, has observed the sonic com bination of circumstances on any other occasion within the same period." The Censeur cle L . yon has the following statement : Mo-sieur de 13-, one of the superior attaches of the office of Public Instruction, has lately been guilty of the embezzle ment of public property to the amount of 200,000 francs, and forgeries arc said to be connected with the act of embezzle meut. Being arrested by a warrant on Monday evening by the officers of police., he requested leave to take some refresh ment at an hotel, whiell was permitted. After the repast he adroitly availed himself of a circumstance, which he is sup posed to have been f:imiliar with, in order to make his escape. An exit door was masked by a large placard, and through this lie contrived to evade the watchfulness of his disappointed cepturcrs. A description is given of his peri , ,rt, and a reward is advert'sed for his apprehension. On Thursday a public meeting of the inhabitant householders of the populous parishes of St. Giles and St. George, Bloomsbury, was held, pursuant to announcement, at the Angel Inn, High-street, for the purpose of considering the propriety of peti.inoing Parliament for the Ballet, House hold Suffrrsge, and Triennial Parliaments, and to take such other steps to obtain the same a 3 they might deem necessary. Mr. Jame; White presided. - Mr. M'Larcn, jun., then read a petition which had been drawn up for the approbation of the meeting, praying that the Legislature would pa ss i n t o a l aw the measures above referred to. After some discussion the pe tition was adopted, and a vote of thanks having been passed to the Chairman, the meeting separated at a late hour. The Bill vs hich has been brought into Parliament 1, by Lord J Russell and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to regulate the times of payment of rates and taxes by Parlia mentary electors, and to abolish the stamp-duty on the ad mission of freemen, enacts, " That after the passing of this • act, no person ‘these name is or shall be upon the register f;:r the time being. es entiderl to vote in the election of a member or members to serve in Parliament for any city, town, or bo rough in England, shall be required, in order to entitle him to have his name inserted in any list of such voters for that city, town, or borough for the following ve.r, to have paid any poor-rates or ass- ssed taxes, except such as shall have be come payable from him previously to the 11th day of Octo • ber in the preceding year; and that after the passing of this act no stamp-duty shall be chargeable on the admission of any freemen in any city, town, or borough in England, returning a member or members to servo in Parliament." The Reform Cl u b h ave set an example to all similar institutions who have it in their power to encourage competition in the fine arts. They have.received designs and plans for a new club-house from the -most eminent architects, and hung them up in their Committee-room for the inspection of members. A premium of 5001. was offered for the suc cessful design, and the Committee, having given the preference to Mr. C. Barry's design in the bold and massive style of Florentine architecture, called a general meeting of the Club for the purpose of finally deciding between that and the other deaigns.• • The meeting was very'nurnerously attended, and confirmed the selection of the Committee. The whole of the ground between the Travellers' and the open space facing the Carbon is intended to be occupied by the new building, which will surpass in magnificence, if erected on the scale now planned, any edifice in London devoted to similar purposes. The Royal Irish Academy has just done itself the honour of electing the celebrated Professor Sir William Hamil ton to the President's Chair, vacant by the death of the late Provost. The Provost-Elect Saddlier, if he may. be so called, had only one vote I The Archbishop of Dublin Professor Lloyd 36 Sir William Betham Sir William Hamilton HERRING FISIIERY.—The following table shows the quantity of herrings caught on the coasts of Caithness and Orkney, during the seasons 1336-7 _ . _ 1836. 1837. Wick Thurso Lybster lielmsdale O_•kncy 114,600 170,500 On this side the Moray Frith the total number of herrings caught, in 1836, was 120,000 crans, but this year, the returns show little more than 100,000. It appears, then, from these statements, that the total number caught in 1836, exclusive of the Shetland fishery, was about 234,000 erans. In 1837, about 270,000, being an increase of 36,000. But if we take in the returns for Shetland, which will be considerably less than last year, the quantity caught will appear much about the same as in 1836. Upon the whole, the returns are considera bly below an average fishing.—Aberdeen Journal. Friday night, the Bth instant, at 15 minutes past 11, an earthquake was distinctly felt at Stamford, as well as at several places in the neighbourhood, extending as far west ward as Hambleton, in Rutland, where the shock was rather severely experienced. From Wansford, and other towns within twenty miles, we have received accounts of the alarm occasioned by the visitation ; many persons were roused from their sleep.—Stan fbrd Mercury. On Friday night a Mr. Davies, living in Store street, Bloomsbury, while sitting in his parlour with his fa mily, was alarmed by a smell of fire. On catering the pas sage they observed the first floor apparently in flares:s. 11 0 and his son rushed up stairs, when, on entering the front rreen en the first floor, they found a widow lady, of the name of Campbell, who is of advanced age, lying on the floor, en veloped in flames, which were extinguished by a carpet being flung over her. In the back room the bed was also found in flames. Dr. Vance, of Gower-street, was sent for, but the unfortunate lady was so severely burnt that she died in a few hours. The deceased was not able to give an ac count of the accident. She was a very eccentric character, and lived alone. Lord LICHFIELD—The general post alone. Lord BROUGHAM had expected so, and would assume the fact, but there the author of the plan, Mr. Hill, and the authorities of the Post-office were at direct issue. It was a matter of estimate and calculotion on both sides.—(Heir.) That was the very point in dispute between the pa-ties. Mr. Hill calculated the letters going through the Post-office at 791 millions—in round number eighty millions.— There they were at direct issue in their assumptions.—( Hear, hear, hear.) He believed—this was a fact—a fact beyond disptee, that 221 millions passed through the Pest-office in London in a year. Ten millions of those went through the general post, w hile twelve and-a-half went through the two penny or threepenny. In the calculations therefore they were to deduct the ten millions from the twenty-two and-a half millions. His Noble Friend had taken those ten mil lions, and made his calculation for the whole country. He found theca yielded 460,0001., and then ho found the whole of the General Post letters for the United Kingdom yield-d about four times that sum. This proceeded on the assumption that the average value of the country letters to the revenue was, previously, the same as the ave rage value or the letters in the London district ; the average of each letter in the London district was calcu lated at 121 d. Every one knew that the amount of postage in London was larger than in the country, because the London letters included large packages of foreign letters, which went to swell the amount o f th e p ostage rece i ve d , and to increase the average value of the letters, and might raise it to 121 d. in the London district. But in the country districts therc were no such circumstances, because very few foreign packages were sent into the country. He happened to have the means of knowing what the amount was for one town in a midland County—a quarter of a million of letters passing through that town in a year—and he believed the average value of those letters was rot 12id. but 7i-d. or ad.—certainly not more than 9d. That made a material difference. Now as to Mr. Hill's plan. It was not correct, nor anything like correct, to state that Mr. Hill's plan made no provision for any increased expense in the Post-office Department, in consequence of the increased number of letters and the amount of business to be attended to ; the reverse was the fact, because he allowed 225,0001. for the additional expense of working his pl2n. He would state now, as he had stated to a former Postmaster-General, that an igncrant and humble individual like himself ought to be very careful how they came into con tact with the authorities of aay department under Government. No doubt great weight was due to their opinions, and great authority was necessarily ascribed to their statements. Very ample drafts were made on, he would not say credulity, but credit of Parliament, when any thing was said to impeach their authority by statements that individuals knew nothing of the matter, that those who were beyond the walls of the establishment could have little information, and their alarms were expressed at any change in a de partment which yielded a great proportion of the re venue. Great praise was bestowed on the department and those who conducted it, and he had no reason to doubt much of that praise was well earned by that department—he meant by those who acted under what he took to be a wrong system ; but that was not their fault.—( Hear, hear.) He had been very much put to it to find out how it was all those praises of that department which they hall heard of late occasions was bestowed, and that those—he would not say vituperations, but somewhat contemptuous expressions of all who were beyond it—bad been indulged in. The imprac ticability was- another grand objection to this plan ; there was nothing new in that objection. Indeed the word had often been used in that House and elsewhere as establishing an insuperable objection to all plans for the improvement of the Post office. He could refresh the memory of their Lo:dships by re ferring to the places and occasions when this word had been used as reasonably, and quite as positively as it was now used. Their Lordships would recollect that, in the year 1784, a gen tleman named Palmer recommended the adoption of a system of mail-coach carriages, when at that time the mails were carried at the rate of three miles-and-a-half an hour. Mr. Palmer was of opinion that they could be carried at the rate of seven miles an hour, if not more. Did not their Lordships recollect the alarm which the announcement of this proposition spread through every department of the Post-office ?_( Hear, hear, hear, and laughter.) Did they recollect the indignation— the absolute contempt—the scornful contempt with which it was received by the all the officials of the Post Office ?—.( A laugh.) A contempt equalled only by the loud chorus of ap. plause which they rung in the ears of Parliament in praise of every one man —every one rule —every one regulation, in any way connected with any one department of that most per fect establishment, the Post Office of 1784, with its safe, sure, and steady mails of 3} m il es an h our !—(Great laughter.) THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1837 The Committee of the House of Commons in its report upon this subject in 1797, declared that " the more we con sider the plans of Mr. Palmer, the more are we Con vinced of the insuperable difficulty in attempting to bring them into operation.--( A laugh.) The officers of the Post-office, whom we regard as the best judges of the question, have been examined before us, and are unanimously of opinion that the thing is totally impracticable." Another Committee reporting on the same subject said, "We have examined the oldest and ablest officers of the Post-office." (It was al ways the oldest and ablest, for the Committees considered the term synonimoua,) " and the oldest and ablest officers had no confidence whatever in the plan." Indeed in looking over these reports he found that it was always the oldest and ablest who had the greatest contempt for im provement, and that the older an officer was the greater con tempt be had for the officer who was less older than himself.— ( Laughter.) They were all, however, both young and old, positively of opinion that the plan of Mr. Palmer was not only impracticable, buts dangerous to commerce and finance. It was frightful for their Lordships to tbiok of the dangers which the commerce and finance of the country had escaped since that period. They had been exposed not only to the dangers of the French war and the Orders in Council, but they had likewise escaped the dangers incurred by the melancholy and awful change of the speed of the mails from 31 miles to 7 miles an hour. But that was not all ; the finances of the country had an escape possibly greater. When Mr. Palmer in 1784 laid his reck less hand on the pace of the Post-office'borses, the revenue in that department was 150,0001. a year; and it had since that time fallen to one million and a half.—(Great laughter.) Notwithstanding all that had been done to accelerate its fall —(laughter)—by increasing the speed of mails—(renewed laughter)—and although the Bath mail, instead of taking 18 hours on its journey arrived now in thirteen or fourteen, then another old and able officer said, " Why should letters go so much quicker than any other thing." It was the tor toise they meant to imitate at the Post-office. They could entertain no notion of the propriety of expediting com munications. Their Lordships would have supposed that it was a very simple proposition that the passengers and property which went by the mail would be the more safe, from their being a guard to each coach. One would have thought that that was next to a truism ; but not so the old and able officers of the Post-office—they did not think so. They said it was a great fallacy to think that that increasd their safety. They.said, moreover, that t 6 :only way to avoid dan ger in case of robbery was to hare no guard, because in case of an attempt to rob the mail resistance would be productive of murder. They went on to say, that the only way to prevent rob bery was to cut the bank-notes and bills, which were proposed to be sent by the mail. Send the ono half at one tine, and then wait till the party sending the money was informed of the safe arrival of that half before they sent the other. They said there was no other way to prevent robberies of mails than this, because it bad been proved that the strongest carts that could be made, lined and bound with iron, was soon broken open by a robber who had made an attempt to rob one of the mails !—( Much laughter.) He (Lord B.) begged their Lordships' pardon for giving them a little spe cimen of the wisdom of their ancestors. They, however, bad interrupted the progress of Mr. Palmer's plan in every possible way ; they had cast cold water on it for months and years ; and yet no sooner was it established than all approved of it, and all felt the benefit of it except the Postmasters, who,'for eighteen months afterwards said it was dangerous and detrimental. They all agreed that it was chemerical and visionary. They brought forward all the vituperations against it which are usually brought forward against any plar. But all their chimera, visions, and groundlessness, we e not in the plan—were not in the data on which the plan was formed, but in the objections and in the alarms of those who had nothing but fears and alarms to guide their perverted and easily pervertable minds—which were bent upon any thing that was calculated to obstruct the progress and aid the putting down of this ingenious improvement. The present petitions prayed the House to put the plan in opera ti to by way of trial, according to the Ninth Report of the Commissioners. Had he( Lord Brougham) presented this peti. tien the other night. he shoule, as he intended, have asked his Noll Friend whether it" was the intention of her Majesty's Government to make a trial of the plan in this way, but that question had now been answered, and he was sorry to say an swered in a very unsatisfactory manner. He knew his Noble Friend too well to suppose him capable of holding out any ex pectations for which he had not good grounds. Very sanguine expectations had been entertained, but contrary to those expectations the hopes of himself, of many others, and amongst these he believed his Noble Friend himself, had been greatly disappointed. Instead of carrying into execution the plan according to the Ninth Report another plan was to be carried into execution totally different in its nature, and which might fail over and over aaain without the possibility of even a Post-office speculator pretending that it was a failure af Mr. Rowland Hill's plan, because it was to be con fined now to the twopenny postage. Mr. Hill's plan was not that the postage should be reduced to two pence—it was that the postage should be reduced to a penny—the twopenny and threepenny postage to a penny for all letters, and to try the plan in the twopenny and threepenny post alone. Instead of this the plan proposed to be tried, was not the reduction of the postage to a penny, but the reduction to twopence, which, if it failed, either in re ference to revenue or in any other respect, would be no kind of test whatever of the merits or goodness of Mr. 11ill'a plan, but mould be a plan under the pretence of tryieg Mr. Hill's Wan utterly inconsistent with it.—( Hear. ) Viscount DUNCANNON said that Mr. Hill's plan had been maturely considered, but it had been found inexpedient to try the experiment to the full extent recommended. According to the Ninth Report of the Commissioners, . . _ _ thelgoble Lord who had just sat down; what Mr. Rowland Hill had a right to complain of was, that so much of his plan only had been taken as would ensure its failure. The expe riment was whether the public would adopt a plan of envelopes which they were to pay for before hand • he knew that it was difficult to get the public out of an old track, and he was afraid such would 1:;e the case with the present experiment. Another objection was that there would be a manifest loss in manufacturing the envelope, some of which he had seen and he must confess they were very beautiful, but they were to be manufactured by most intricate machinery, which would require a very great outlay for its construction. He thought it must be evident to every one that if Mr. Rowland Hill's plan were partially adopted there would be a very great increase of letters. He had pre sented a petition from the Booksellers of London on Friday night last, in which it was stated that if the taxa tion was reduced their correspondence would increase to the extent of twenty thousand, and in some cases fifty thousand letters a year. There would certainly be a necessity for a considerable extension of the Post-office, and the employment of a greater number of sorting clerks; but Mr. IL Hill had pointed out a mode by which a great saving might be effected in another department, that of the accountants. He pro tested against the slighting and disingenuous manner in which Mr. Hill's plan was treated. The Duke of WELLINGTON said nothing could be more fatal than a sudden and great reduction of the revenue, and more particularly if it should be found here after to be impracticable to carry the plan into effect. The revenue of the said Post-office at present was (he un derstood) at least 60,000/. a-year ; and he thought that the Government had acted wisely in not hazarding thesacrifice of that revenue on one experiment. Lord BROUGHAM wished to disabuse the House on this sub ject. It was a mistake to suppose the plan of the Government was to be an experiment of Mr. Hill's plan. It had just enough of resemblance to Mr. Hill's plan to make the public suppose that the plan had a trial, aid in the event of a failure to enable the opponents of the plan to say that it had failed It was not even an experiment of degrees. In no one way could it be said that it was a step towards carrying out the details of Mr. Hill's plan. It bore, to be sure, a resem blance to it, but he denied it carried with it its important fea tures. He denied that Mr. R. Hill's plan included general and second post letters ; and he was satisfied that enquiry would prove that his calculation of 80 millions was right. The Noble Lord had asserted that Mr. Hill had made no allowance for the increased expense, but their Lordships would find that he had allowed nearly 230,0001 for that purpose ; the remaining sum required to be obtained by an improved management. He had another petition to the same effect from the merchants, bankers, and other respectable inhabitants of Wolverhampton, and one from the Coinmission ers of Police of Gorbals. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE presented a petition from the Society of Friends, representing tL•e Quakers of England and Wales against the Municipal Offices Declaration Bill, on the ground that it did not reach their case. _ _ _ in whicl Mr. Hill's sugge . stions tvre embodied, it nas recommended that stamp corers should be is sued by the Post-office one penny to carry everything under an ounce weight not only for the short distances of three milts, but for - twelve miles round the environs of London. MUNICIPAL, OFFICERS' DECLARATION BILL. On the motion of the Marquis of LANSDOWNE the House went into Committee on this Bill. Lord BROUGHAM had a very material amendment to propose, which would affect the title of the Bill ; briefly, it was that the measure ought not to be confined to the Quakers, Moravians, and Separatists; there were various other sects, who must be excluded from many civil offices unless they chose to run the risk of a Bill of Indemnity not being passed. As the law at present stood, it appeared as though they made, laws merely for the purpose of having them broken, or 4 at least with the certainty that they would be broken, and with the in tention of making up the breach by passing yearly a Bill of Indemnity for those who may have broken the laws. The re lief proposed to be given was applicable to all who had similar conscientious scruples, and lae knew no reason why the Quakers, Moravians, or Separatists, should have been se lected to receive that relief. But that was not the worst; the law required men to take upon them certain offices ; so that with one hand it compelled them to discharge du ties, whilst, with the other, it prevented them, under heavy penalties, from undertaking them. He might be answered that it was better to provide for those classes in a sepa late Bill. For his own part, he could see no reason why all Dissenters having similar conscientious scruples should not be included in one Bill ; but if the object were to draw any distinction would it not be better to say at once, " You must not entertain any hope ; here our toleration stops—we admit Quakers, Moravians, Separatists : bat we exclude Jews, Cameronians, and others ? " There seemed, however, to be a sort of feverish anxiety to get a Bill of some kind hur ried through. It mattered not whether it were well framed ; wheiter it went as far as it ought or not ; but a Bill they must have. Was it not, however, consulting more the dignity of their Lordships as legislators to give out at once a full and satisfactory measure of relief, instead of doling it out by de grees, as the case might seem more urgent? The Noble Lord concluded by moving that, after the words " Quakers, Moravians, Separatists," the words " and others" be added ; and that certain words at the commencement of the declara tion be omitted, for the purpose of inserting " Every person having conscientious scruples against taking an oath, or a de claraticn in the nature of an oath." The Earl of SHAFTESBURY doubted whether they could agree to that amendment, because it was'not their own BM. Lord BROUGHAM entertained no doubt as to the right of the House to extend or increase the Bill as much as they thought proper. Lord HOLLAND thought that, although he was in favour of the amendment, they must krr enough in the Bill not to be considered as wandering altog her out of the scope of the measures sent up by the Commons. He believed, as far as it went, the Bi:1 was founded on benevolent and just inten tions ; at the same time, he felt, with his Noble and Learned Friend, that the 13i1l did not go far enough. He should, however, be disposed to accept the Bill if the) could not get anything better. He would much rather have that Bill passed, confined as it was to the description of Quakers, Me ravians, and Separatists, than no Bill at all. Still he enter tained a great objection to calling on men to declare what was their religious faith—calling upon them to give nicknames to their own sects. A man was called upon to declare him self a Quaker or a Separatist. How could they tell that he was in reality a Quaker ? They could not, he supposoi, bring any overt act of quaking.—(Laughter.) As to tke Separatists, he knew no reason why a Jew might not call himself a Separatist ; at any rate, these were Separatists who, having belonged to the Established Church, afterwards left it. He therefore supportod the amendment of his Noble and Learned Friend. The other part of the plan was, that there should be a stamp cover for twopence to carry any weight not exceeding sir °tine( s, and that suggestion was founded on the re presentations of the London publishers, who wished to have this means of transmitting pamphlets and other light publica tions to the country.'llis R;ght Hon. Fr the Chancellor of the Exchequer, did not intend to carry these suggestions into effect in the way proposed, hut he intended to issue: penny stamp covers for the short distances, and to reduce the four penny post to twopence. The Noble Lord said in conclusion that he was ready to admit that this was a departure from Mr. Hill's plan, but he thought that the safer way of making the experiment. Lord LICHFIELD would certainly have been better pre pared if the Noble and Learned Lord bad given notice of his intention to have made such statements, to have met them by counter-statemonts. There were one or two points in the Noble and Learned Lord's calculations which w, re in same degree incorrect, and which he could have set right if he had brought down the returns which had been prepared on the subject. What he (Lord Lichfield) had stated, was that forty-two millions of chargeable letters passed through the General Post-office ; and the way of ascertaining that was not according to the mode stated by his Noble and Learned Friend, which was, in reality, Mr. Row land Hill's plan. The way is which Mr. Hill calculated was, that about ten millions of letters passed through the General ?ost, which, being multiplied by four, the calcu lated increase would amount to forty millions. He then took ten millions of Twopenny Post letters, which he had multi plied by four, and that made the eighty-eight millions of letters; but their Lordships must be aware that there was no Twopenny Post throughout the country, and Mr. Hill had no right to multiply the Twopenny Post circulation four times. If Mr Hill went to bring his plan to a fair test, he had no right to join the Twopenny and General Post together. They were distinct Departments, and therefore the Revenue derived from the Post Office being so much, and the Post-let ters being so many, according to that statement, the expense of transmitting letters by the Establishment, amounted to about one Shilling on the conveyance of ea c h l e tt er . M r . Rowland Hill stated that the expense of conveyance was, only a penny 1-16th, and he calculated upon 136 millions of news papers and letters passing through the Gcneral Post. Take away the newspapers, and then the calculations of Mr. Hill came very near those of the Post office. Mr. Hill had not provided for any increase in the establishment, which would be rendered absolutely necessary by the great increase in the bulk. In titan» the charge on the Post-office by the rail- ways would be by weight, and there was no hope that the charge for transmission by such conveyance would be at all reduced. The transmission of letters now cost the Post-office 100,0001., that was about the amount for mail-coach contracts and horsing—that was for the conveyance of 40 millions of charge able letters, That was the fallacy of Mr. Hill's plan, these chargeable letters paid for the transmission of all those which went free. He had seen a statement made by his Noble and Learned Friend a few nights ago, in which it appeared !o have been triumphantly asked, as the news papers were in such numbers, now conveyed at the charge of a penny, why cannot tho whole correspondence of the country be conveyed at as c h ea p a rate ? Hi s N o b le and Learned Friend, as well as Mr. Hill, appeared to have forgot that his forty millions of chargeable letters paid for the transmission of all franked letters and newspapers, but he had not calculated the great increase which must take place in consequence of the great increase i n bulk, n ' in weight. They would have to carry twelve as much in we i g ht, an d, there fore, the charge for transmission, instead of 100,0001. as acb consequently, times ent e seqly now, must be twelve times that amount. Neither was there the slightest chance of any decrease in the number of clerks in the Post-office. Thirty thousand letters passing though the Post-office on one night was now heavy, along with fifty thousand or sixty thousand newspapers, and all came in within a few hours of being transmitted ; but if they were increased to ten times the number which they would require to be if reduced to a penny, they would require sorters able to sort 300,000, in place of 30,000, within two or three hours within tho post leaving. Besides, supposing the plan carried into effect, and such an increase had taken place, the present establishment would not be large enough. He (the Earl of Litchfield) had always stated his opinion to be that a very considerable reduction of rates might take place without serious injury to the revenue ; but, at the same time, he certainly thought, that if the peril of Mr. Hill's plan were departed from, you must surely depart from his principle, because his principle was based on one uniform rate of postage being adopted, and that must be a very low rate, so as to satisfy all parties from one end of the kingdom to the other, the posta g e at the same time being paid beforehand. With regard to what his Noble and Learned Friend stated with respect to Mr. Rowland Hill's plan, this was no trial. (Hear, hear.) Where the rate was the same, it could be no trial of a plan proposing to reduce the rate to ono penny. He had never had any other object in attempting to prove the erroneous calculations of Mr. Hill, further than that he was satisfied the revenue would lose very largely by it. The Earl of RADNOR agreed with what had fallen from The Bishop of LONDON said that there was no sacrifice of principle by permitting people to make a declaration in stead of an oath. But if either of the amendments that night propcsed should be adopted the principle of the requisite pro fession of Christianity was given up at once.—( Hear, hear.) They were no other than propositions to do away with all dis tinctions whatever in making declarations. He had no objec tion to admit the Quaker or Moravian to the privilege the Bill proposed to give th , m ; but he did object, at this period of the Session, to the a , tempt now made to introduce by a sidewind such an alteration in the law relating to municipal 'offices— ( Hear, hear)—and he hoped that their Lordships would post pone the point, or at all events abstain from giving any assent to either of the propositions of the Noble Lord who had just addressed the House. He would only observe that, with re ference to the observations of the Noble Baron (Lord Holland) as to the word" Quaker," that that word might be omitted, and the words " Society of Friends" substituted in its place. As to Separatists, he was not aware that there were more than one or two descriptions of them in England. They were chiefly to be found in Ireland. The Marquis of BUTE expressed his intention of 'giving his support to the amendment of the Noble and Learned Lord. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that the Bill was not brought in by her Majesty's Government ; it had been in troduced in the House of Commons for the purpose of re moving to a certain degree the evil of excluding particular persons from voting at Municipal Elections owing to their conscientious scruples. , In many of the largo towns there were numbers of persons practically excluded from voting upon those occasions. There had always been a difficulty upon this subject with respect to persons whose precise per suasion it was not easy to fix ; but he hoped our laws would never be construed so strictly as to affect such persons. He did not wish to exclude any set of Separatists fr om any benefit such a Bill as the present might give them, and would be happy to concur with the Noble Marquis or the Noble and Learned Lord in any remedies they might think fit to bring forward with reference to other parties than those included in the present Bill ; but would not go so far as to say that such remedies ought to form part of a Bill sent up from the House of Commons, of which the object was to relieve a particular class of individuals.—( Hear, hear.) With these observa tions, and under these circumstances, he should find himself compelled to oppose the amendment of the Noble and Learned Lord. Lord BROUGHAM said his Noble Friend had argued in favour of his (Lord Brougham's) view of the case, and yet said he would' vote against him. He had dashed the cup from his lips just as be was about to taste it. He saw no va'id reason for resisting his proposition, and yet he would vote against it. In his (Lord Brougham's) opinion, great mischief bad been done with reference to this question by separating and distinguishing the classes to whom such relief as this Bill conferred was due ; and he must confess that if he were a Jew or Cameronian he should consider himself greatly ill_ treated by the Legislature making this invidious distinction in relieving one class of Separatists and refusing the same relief to another. He should consider himself worse off by this Bill than be was before. He did not consider the Bill in -its present shape worth the parchment on which it was about to be engrossed, for even those for whose relief it was intended would not take advantage of it--( Hear, hear)—for Quakers and Moravians would have as many objections to it as they had to the system at present prevailing. Again, the persons whom it included in its provisions were of limited numbers, whereas those classes excluded from its operation were spread all over the country and were very n umerous . The Marquis of L A NSD 0 WNE explained. Lord HOLLAND considered that the course adopted by his Noble Friend was the one most likely to insure the passing of this measure. The Bishop of LONDON said that so long as the union between the Christian religion and civil policy should exist, the principle ought to be maintained which was comprised in all declarations, viz. that of asking individuals making such declarations whether they believed in the Christian religion. The' amendment of Lord Brougham was then put and ne gatived without a division. The Bill passed through a Committee, and the Report was ordered to be received to-morrow (this day.) Lord BROUGHAM then gave notice that he should to morrow put some questions to the Node Lord at the head of the Colonial Department. The LORD CHANCELLOR remained on the Woolsack to a quarter past 8, expecting, it was understopd, the arrival of the Civil List Bill and other Bills from the Commons. Lord Melbourne, Lord Holland, and other Lords also remained in the House. The expected Bills, however, not having arrived, their Lordships adjourned at a Quarter past Eight. HOUSE OF GOMMONS.-DEr. 18 HIGHWAY ACT. Mr. ORMSBY GORE presented a petition from some parish in Suffolk against the Highway Act. THE BALLOT. Mr. PHILPOTTS presented a petition from the city of Gloucester, signed by 1,100 persons, and which therefore, as the population of the city was only 1,500, might be con sidered as speaking the sentiments of the majority of the inhabitants. The petitioners stated that prac- tices now prevailed at elections for Members of Parlia ment, which were quite subversive of the Constitution— for that a large portion of the constituent body were pre vented from exercising their franchise in accordance with their own opinions, by undue influence and intimidation prac tised by conflicting political partisans; and that many were induced, by corrupt and unworthy motives, to give their suf frages. And the petitioners earnestly prayed of that House to remedy these crying evils by granting them the protection of the Ballot.—( Hear.) Mr. LA MBTON presented a petition from South Shields, in the county of Durham, signed by 2,000 persons, complain ing that at the last general election a universal system of bribery and intimidation was carried into operation through out the entire country, and had been al4o resorted to in an alarming degree at the election for North Durham. The petitioners stated that they saw workmen com pelled by their masters to vote against their consciences, the tradesmen by their customers, and farmers by their land lords. The petitioners stated that by these means the franchise had been rendered inefficient, and even injurious, 2nd that they believed the. Ballot to be the only effectual remedy for such evils. The petition was ordered to be laid on the table. HARBOUR OF FISHGUARD. Mr. Alderman THOMPSON presented a petition from the Shipowners and Merchants of Sunderland, complaining of a clause in the Bill which passed last Session relative to the har bour of Fishguard. By this clause toll was levied on all ships which navigated St. George's Channel, whetherthey entered the harbour or not. The petitioners stated that the effect of such a provision as tliis:was most injurious to the interests of commerce, and oppressive to the public. They prayed that the House would adopt some means to relieve them from its pressure ; and the Hon. Gentleman expressed a hope in addit;on, that the Right Hon. the President of the Board of Trade would not allow the Session to pass without bringing in a Bill to repeal the clause. Mr. G. F. YOUNG said that he had a petition to the same effect to present to the House from the merchants and ship owners of Wexford. The petitioners stated that tbey had not only to pay a. heavy passing toll, but that they bad also to pay toll on all goods landed in the harbour of Wexford, for the sup port of the harbour of Fishguard. The petitioners stated that the clause was ruinous in its effects to commerce, and prayed that the House would adopt some measure to relieve them from the operation of it. He had a question to put to the President of the Board of Trade on this subject, as soon as he should see the Right Hon. Gentleman come into the House. Sir C. STYLE supported the petition, and expressed his belief that the House must have passed the Billin utter igno rau'eis that it contained the clause complained of. CASE OF MR. ROWLAND MILNER. Sir E. CODRINGTON said he had a petition to present to which he begged to call the attention of the House, as it was important to the whole of the profession to which he be longed. The petitioner, Mr. Rowland Milner, stated, that in 1821, be was a Lieutenant in the Navy, and received a letter from the Admiralty stating that he had in the year 1810 committed an act of which be had never heard a word be fore. He begged of Hon. Gentlemen to give him their patience, as it' was a matter of great importance, and in volved something which they had heard so mueh of the other night, the " eternal principles of justice."—(Hear, hear, hear.) It appeared that Mr. R. Milner had given a power of attorney and an affidavit to a person to receive his half-pay. There was a form laid down, by which there could be no difficulty in proving the fact, because no half-pay officer could empower an agent to receive his pay without an affidavit. On receipt of that affidavit, and referring to the book - for the name of the officer, the money was paid, and if the man personally receive - d his halt pay, he must sign his name in a book at the Pay office. Nothing, therefore, could be more simple or easy of detection. The petitioner was charged with receiving his pay himself: and giving a power of attorney to another to receive it in his stead. It appears that the affidavit was dated July, 1810, at which period this officer was on full pay. There fore the affidavit included a part of the time, amounting to ninety-six days when he was on full pay. Anybody looking at the A ffidavit would at once have ascertained that it was a for gera. It was well known that offi cer s cou ld no t b e ca ll e d on t o account for their conduct by court martial after the expiration of three years, if serving in England, or four years if serving abroad: He was called on by the Admiralty to account for this, and in answer he stated that he had never heard of the man nor of the transaction. What could he, or what could any innocent man, say more ? A second letter was sent from the Admiralty requiring further explanation, and his reply was to the same effect as the former. Mr. Milner was immediately struck off the list ; he was not brought face to face with his opponent, but was at once deprived of his half pay. He then wrote to the Admiralty demanding a court-martial, but the answer was, that the time limited for such investiga tion had expired. But it would appear that the time had not expired for exercising a meat arbitrary discre tion. . Mr. Milner had then called upon the Admiralty to prosecute this person in a court of justice. They said it was no part of their duty to do so ; but as they had taken away the means of Mr. Milner, there was no other party. There were many particulars is the case which he would not trouble the House with, and he would not state any thing which he did not believe to be true. He fully believed that the man was as innocent as he ( Sir Edward Codring ton).—(Hear bear, hear.) He had no interest in the matter further than to see justice done. He had been very unfortunate in bringing these cases before the House. He had been now occupied for three years in attempting to lay the cases fairly before the public, and as yet had not been able to obtain a decision. All he wanted on the present oc casion was that the petitioner might be proved guilty or acanitted.—( Hear, hear.) The proof was in the hands of the Admiralty, and he called upon them to bring it forward. Their answer might be, that they could not now bring for ward the accuser—he knew they could not. Since the case bad been in his hands, Mr. Milner had made enquiries respect ing him, and found that he was dead ; but he ( Sir Ed law d Codrington) had then letters in his pocket from that party, acknowledging that he never knew Mr. Milner, that he had forged the affidavit which he enclosed, and begging merely that it might be used against him in a court of justice. The charge against Mr. Milner was made by the Solicitor to the Navy, and it was that Mr. Milner went abroad and sent for his half-pay ; the alleged ground was that he had received an accommodation of 121.—( Hear.) The fact was, that if he had taken his affidavit to any of the Dock-yards, he would have received an advance of 451. upon it. Mr. Milner did go abroad in 1810, but the fact was that he had received no half-pay till 1811; and had the alleged affidavit been given by him, he would have lost 96 days half-pay. He had called upon the Admiralty to produce the affidavit upon which the charge against Mr. Milner was made, but they could not do so, for it was in his ( Sir Edward Cod riogton's) pocket, with an acknowledgment of its being a forgery, in the handwriting o f Mr. Milner's a ccuser . The whole case was an error from beginning to end ; how that error had taken place he could not say ; but of this he was certain, that it was most disgraceful to the Bo ar d. Now, to show that th e d ocument he had alluded to was a forgery, he bad in his hand the instance of a surgeon's assistant, in which there bad come a bill signed by him nomi nally, which, on being presented at the Navy Office, was paid. That bill was not a genuine bill, and when the bill which had been really signed by the man was presented, it was found that a bill, purporting to have his name had been paid, and the three proper officers had declared that the real bill was a for gery. Captain Milner had declared that the statements in the petition were true, and he was ready to attend at the bar of the House and make oath to it. All that the petitioner asked, was, that the House would take into consideration the situation in which he was placed, and would give him such redress as the justice of the case deserved. The Gallant Admiral considered that the petition was well worthy the consideration of the House. The SPEAKER inquired whether the petitioner asked for a remuneration in money ? Sir E. CODRINGTON said that he did not : all he asked for was that the House would restore him to his just rights. Ho trusted the House would award him that sum of which he had been deprived, and do him all the justice they could. He had the papers in his pocket, and would be very glad to show them to any gentleman who might wish to look at them. Colonel SIBTHORP made an observation that was not beard in the gallery, and the petition was ordered to lie on the table. THE BALLOT. A NOBLE LORD presented a petition from Leamington and its vicinity, in favour of the vote by Ballot. NATIONAL EDUCATION. Lord SANDON presented a petition, signed by 3,500 in habitants of Sheffield, with the residences of the petitioners, praying that care might be taken that any system of national education which might be adopted should be founded on Scrip tural principles. Mr. DENISON presented a petition from the Dorking Union in Surrey, praying that the owners of houses under Br. a-year might be rated instead of the occupiers. POOR LAWS (IRELAND). Lord MORPETH presented a petition . from the inhabi tants of the town and county of Galway, in favour of a system of Poor Laws for Ireland, founded on the principles laid down in Mr. Nicholl's Report. TITHES (IRELAND.) The same Nouns Lotto presented also a petition from the inhabitants of Nenagh and other parishes in the county of An trim, praying for the extinction of Tithes in Ireland. MEDICAL EDUCATION. The NOBLE LORD also presented a petition. from (as we un derstood) the College of Surgeons in Dublin, praying for the interference of the Legislature to effect an improved system of Medical Education in the United Kingdom. DUTIES ON WOOL AND WOOLLEN CLOTHS. The NoBLE Loan presented a petition from Belfast, praying for a repeal of the import duties upon wool and olive oil, and of the export duties upon woollen cloths from Ireland. _ _ NEW POOR LAW. Mr. COURTENAY gave notice that to-morrow he would move for some returns relative to the new Poor-law—regard inv., we believe, the workhouse regulations of tho Com missioners. DUDLEY ELECTION PETITION. o f Mr. Mr. PRYME moved, in the matter of the petition • William Merryweather Turner, which he had obtain, ed leave the other evening to have printed with t he votes, that time be given to complete his recognizances in th e case of the Dudley_ Election Petition. It appeared that the petitioner's broil ter h ad given in his name as Wm. Mcrryweather ago he had obtained his Majesty's permission to adoptth he anal" s of Turner. His brother gave in the nam e as that by which vit' usually known, and the recognizance was rejected• The peti tioner had received his commission as captain in the Noe , b Glou cestershire Militia in that name, and it was decided Oat a Mar riage contracted under the name he was usuall y Yana Ano was a valid one, and in cases of indictme nt it Ives , e Under that mistake the petitioner's broth er had acted, tala (Mr. Pry me) now moved that the time fur perfecting.l h e re cogn:zances be extended seven days from t hat date. •tber Sir THOMAS FREMANTLE begged to ask the Hon. Member was prepared with any e v i dence to °stay's that fact. Lord STANLEY—Then lam to understand that the Hon. Member is not prepared with any evidence. Mr. PRYME moved that the debate be adjournod t ill to: morrow. —(No, no.) Then he was prepared to go into evi dence now. William Merryweather Turner then appeared at the bar,ster h °I and in answer to the Speaker stated that he was a. barri. at law, and was the petitioning candidate for the boroug Dudley. By Mr. PRYME—He gave in the name of hi s n brother, as one of the sureties for prosecuting that petitio: His name was Montague John Merryweather; he bad obtained his Majesty's licence to take in addition the nam e of Turrierci but be was always known as Captain Merrvvreathe r. si g ne his name as John Merryweather. He had seen h im G a z ette three times as 'a captain in the Gloucestershire 'Militia, Lase Captain John Merryssenther. Witness had given in T o name by which ho usually went, as he connidered if had given his name Turner, the parties would bare had mile' difficult) in finding him out. He had never assumed the name of Turner, except in some proceedings in Chancery. By Sir T. FREM ANT LE—Hi s brother lived at se Over bury. Court, near Tewkesburr, with. his • father, whe, name was Merryweather. He had newer kn own h'.°l he a c s i s hi u la m nu edre t yr h , e vavnh n di a c m hh e e l, e o didwf asTsoTurner becauseede x tto , eeapypt apply, in ye,r (tu t c b s , c ),uns nepertcohteeeedendoai. r he a t of w Turner. By Sir H. HARDINGE—His brother signed his W ee sometimessM. J. Turner, as in the proceedings in Chanc el ''' . On his card he had M. J. Merryweather, and was known as Captain Merryweather. He admitted that his brother ha' signed his name in three different wane could not tellis why his brother in the present instance h: id not signed h !lame in a similar manner to that which he (VA in all pro ceed' ings in Chancery, as he bad not bad any communication with him since he had done so. By Mr. PRYME—The signature was not the same He that which he adopted in the proceedings in Chancery. i' there signed his rime Montague J. Turner. t he By Sir THOS. FREMAN.TLE--ne effect of r Ro3 al grant was to enable him to take the name of T urtle instead of that of Merryweather. By an Hon'. MEMBER—His brother took - property under ta d will upon the condition of taking the name of Turner ' n o t e° of that of Merryweather within twt lve montlki after his attaining the age of twenty-one. His brother was no t a housekeeper; and he had no property except that which he took O de the will, and he was nut to enjoy that u nless he sub' stituted the name of Turner for that of .Merrywea tker• By Mr. AGLIONBY—He was bound to take the ea'''e_ of Turner, or not enjoy the property. On ait occa sious where he had to sign his name to affidavits in C,hancery , ba invariably signed that of Turner. He always use d the nan 3° of Turner in all legal proceedings,. The witness then withdrew. Mr. PRYME—As he was prevented from submitting that the recognizances were sufficient, he would move that sev en days further time should be given to the petitioner to conl° plete his recognizances. Sir T. FREMANTLE said that he had witnesses etl i t d* side, living in the neighbourhood of Over bury, who vf (l ',. give a different account of the habit of Capta in Merrywcatt in signing his name, from that which had bee u given by t he last witness. Mr. John Wilson Capcwell was then called it , , and in a ll. swer to questions from Sir T. Fremantle, he ate ted that be lived at Dudley, near Overbury, in Worcestershire, and was surveyor of reads. Although he made inquiries, he could o°''_ find a place call e d Ove r bu r y C ourt . H e ma d e i nqu i r y' whethe r there was a family at Overbury village of the name of Merl weather, and found them by the name of Turner. Question.—Was there any person connected with that fienilf who went by the name of Captain Turner? in Answer.—l was given to u nd ers t an d b y severa l p e ..B 0;; the village that a Captain Turner, a Mrs. Turner, a Mr. Tu ner and a Miss Turner lived there.—( A laugh.) By Sir T. FREMANTLE—Did y ou h ear o f a ny p e llen besides of the name of Turner ? Witness—l think I heard that there was a Captain M err)' weather Turner there, who had come from Cheltenham- „ Question—Did you go there to i n qui re i n t o th e sufficien o of Captain Turner ? Answer—l went to ascertain if be was there. If Iba abaci ) , there to ascertain, his sufficiency, I could not form any no tion (34 his property. I found no person to answer to the doscie".ptir of Montague Merryoreealnr. I cannot sa y w h e th er Ca put! Turner has a hous e o f hi s o w n , b u t I k now t h at h e i s oa t t he tenant of the house in which he lives. I found that th e fa l mily resided in Orerbury-house, near Overbury village. could find no place by the name of Overbury Cow h hare not said just now that C a pt a i n T urner lived ol t , his father.—(Laughter, and loud cries of " No, ne..l I heard of no one of the name of Mcrryweather. I hart' se' l that they were all called Turner.—( Laughter. ) Mr. STANLEY here said that the witness hart RI, ready stated that Captain T urner was k nown by name of Captain Merry w eath er T urner , th e w i tness being t° terrogated, denied that he had said so. He was ordea,e" withdraw, and a short-hand writer's notes being re fer red to, gave his ans wer t o th e ques ti on —" Did ye ti h ear of any person named Captain Merryweather? " I think I heard that a Captain Merryweather Turner ° as there, and that he had come from Cheltenham." es The witness being rec a ll e d, th e s h or t hand writer's lie . a were read to him, when h e said th a t t o hi s k now l e d ge be ha not stated that he bad heard of Captain Merryweather Tarn Examined by Mr. AGLIONBY—I went to make there enquiries partly at my own suggestion and partly at the edir ee i tion of some gentlemen residing at Dudley, where I live• do not think it proper to state the names of those ge ntle nte ll i Examined by Mr. JER V IS—I c a me to l e arn i lia this family went by th e name o f T urner , bec a m e s o I could not find them by th e name o f M err y wea th er ; and tu e „j were known by the name of Turner. (C r i es o f " H ea r, beer; I went to inquire who lived in Overbury House, and I was formed it was Mr. Merryweathe:. The person from I made these inquiries told me that Captain Tti ra- n i lived with his father. I cannot tell what the nennte Captain Turner's father is, further than from what I be t a ', where I inquired. Mad e all th e i nqu i r i es I cou ld i n land l , h l ; as I knew that I should b e exam i ne d b e f ore t hi s H ouse 00 '— subject. To Mr. FERGUSON—I could not find, by the naive of Merryweather, the person whom I inquired after. tit To Sir THOMAS FREMANTLE—WhiIe I ‘ lll5 i i ., Overbury, th e p ostman h appene d to b e t h ere, and on entl—r, ing from hi m , h o to ld me t h at l etters were d i rected to Or r bury House to Captain Turner, and to Mr. Turner. The witness wr.s then ordered to withdraw. Mr. Philpotts said that he happened to know the father t! ,11 0 1 son, and recollected being asked by the father to dine V , i t it h , T r y. while he was living at Cheltenham by the name of tv' e ' t ho weather, and he was on that occasion also introduced 5 0 son as Captain Turner. Mr. HUME s a id th a t h e h a d a t h ome a l e tt e r front i th ; father of th e gent l eman , w h o was t h e l ate can did ate for Dud e and it was signed " Merryweather." lett er An. HON. MEMBER wished to know whether the t he alluded to by the lion. Member for Kilkenny related to present inquiry ? • • _ . Mr. HUMS said that it related to the last election. , in , Mr. Merryweather Turner was re-called, and stated .in ; e r swer to questions by fir. Pryme, that his father ha d vc acr used the name of Turner, and that he had no interest tia the will. 1 i 0 The SOLICITOR-GENERAL—There was a s u ' - taCht the Bi Overbu=y vi c ees e mr r ibr y bu eTr d ry e t if p oc e or n o A ,udTiri Tewkesbury. ,w g slw( u e p hsF o ibe n iuhtr t Eyw h .m e a ssAu Witness'stbNijl e Te t p o cr f o .p— t bfearetlith:viesiorlfl father. m r. parent c si ded t. i, for it. When in the country he resided there wi P th a t l i gt p la o t n b a c o r t; He had no other residence in the country. When il l , over- By Mr. AGLIONBY.—There was no he resided in Charles-street. His father had lived a ' bury-court rather more than six months. post-offic e or i ot- ing-house at Overbury. Fr e- By Sir T. FREMANTLE—His brother was at the ,- sent time residing with his father at Overbury Court. The witness thn withdrew. i n to Mr. PRYME then moved that the time for entering the the required recognizanees should be extended to Tais ti3 Y 26th of December. ti of Sir T. E a FREMANTL did not see how thei: e xte nsio n o f the time could meet the e, as it was an entire change name. to il a l a r c . er A ta G ia L t l h O a N y lls i u ty gg o e f st t e h d e th a a u t re t t h i e ca, H a o n us d o fraudulent, to grant the indulgence re s the r' Sir T. FREMANTLE observed that unles be better to diction of the House was entirely changed, it would° the discre„ take the question out of the House, and to trust t tier, of the examiners. I d found the ell' etlilteceupon t e R as quired. isfhonuoldtgfla: And his °P all wo M . r..PR YME remarked that he often ia 11 coo t at a 15." l'av°rith the evidence vdaetnicceattoofg.Q_ua(kielersar,verhyeapru.r)e and honest, In 4 s.ciamett_T:: v tbat the evidence of Mr. Capewell %ler sistent either with his on h of of of the other witnesses. He thought that, House might safely grant XCHEQUER said it se t C h a a p i t a a d i n o l g M e e n r c r a y vi t - h e a a t th w e a r ' s s a b s r k ti o c t d l e i . e v r i d , The CHANCELLOR of the E . jmcde of dispol matters. But he thought there w0.. , ;, rd that was by cnintg:inr.. of this case without Any substitution of this Captain Mer.t. unfortunate that this House had no eqiialtanbalvve 'urisdiction in the the Solvent . y , n time.---( Hear de bate. o in the n.ea f the the= might be examined int _ , tn ent 0 . ut le ted an acuourn thing b Lord SANDON sugges . the K arst` anY r ty 0 ° t tl a i a e u t y im a e l , lo fo vr r e b d y , zddoing dtliifflecuubtl.e.ution of the nalu e vg r a i !,,cll.. Mr. COITRTENAY thought , °l ' ; c aw bi condition that he would=s the ) questions w matter of feint. Courtenay q occasions. Now ho ( A geatiernan handanolob, arliltu'erndera Pr°Pll legal