The Sun. — London, England, 1852-06-08 00:00:00

th • e usual application to the Treasury to transfer an .amount to the Poor-law Board. This was an error w hizh he (Sir J. Trollope) would take good care should "lodehaepeu again, for th e check ho had put upon the of paying the accounts rendered its recurrence im- Possible. He mint say, however, that the officer who transacted the business of this department was a very cid %ad valuable servant of the public, having been in the Patella service for about eighteen years without ever making a similar mistake---(Hear, hear)—and he (Sir J. Trollope) really thought it was hardly worth while to trouble the House with such a subject.—(Hear, beer.) — . At all events he believed the House would agree with him that it was not a matter which called for the °ensure of that House upon her Majesty's Govern- In ent----(Hisar, and a laugh.) - THE BRITISH AMERICAN R AILWAY. Sir H. VERNEY wished to ask the Colonial Secre taryL whether the lett e r addressed to him on May 1 by 'ue Ron. 'Mr. Hineks, and which was publi shed in the Times of May 31, was authentic; and, if it was, whether he was able to give to the House any information or ex.. Planation of the eircurastaucee unclet which it was written? Sir J. PAKINGTON—I can assure the Hon Baronet who h as put this question to me, that so far from hay in any objection to ansveer • it, I feel greetly indebted to him for having afforded me an'opportu nit y of g ivin g • the explanati onh he has requested. The letter to which """ Ron. Baronet has adverted is founded entirely upon a mistake. I have no knowledge how that letter found its way into the public prints, and I must sa y I think I have reason to express at least surprise that such a let ters forming part of a series of correspondence, should have been inserted in 'the newspapers of this country Without any of the documents that preceded or followed i t , —(Hear, hear, from the Ministerial benches.) The • r, natural result of the insertion of such a letter in the Papers, without any explanation of what preceded or followed it, has been, that most erroneous inferences . h ave been drawn, sad that very wrong impressions have gained currency with regard to the circumstances which ' Preceded and followed the writing of that letter. It ap- Pears to me that the complaints egeinta the conduct of the Government are three in number. The first corn- Plaint is, that the deputation which came over to this country from Canada on the subject of the proposed railway were left for seven weeks without any answer. . It is next complained, that when an answer was given it was not communicated officially to the gentlemen who formed the deputation to this country, but was obtained by them through a private channel. The third complaint is, that the gentlemen who came here es a deputation from the provinces of Canada and New Brunswick were not treated with that consideration and confidence to which their position in their own country entitled them. Now, if the House will favour me with their attention for a few moments, I think I shall be able to show how far these complaints are well founded. With regard to the first complaint, that the gentlemen forming the deputation were left for seven Weeks without an answer from the Government, I must beg permission to refer to dates. Mr. Hineks ar rived in this country, as a delegate from Canada on this subject, a b out t h e m iddl e of March. Directly after his i arrival I had several interviews with him relative to the proposed railways, and in those inter " li i e ws he c ommun i ca ted to me the views of the pro vWeriee of Canada. He also stated to me that he was on e 11 deputation of three gentlemen, and that the arrival o"'owe Chandler from New Brunswick, and of M r . "'°we from Nova Scotia, might be expected by the next a Paoket. U n d er t h ese c i rcum stances, I considered—and think the House will deem I was justified in consider a`ng—that the negotiation was not to be proceeded with e 7til. the deputation was complete—(Hear, bear)—espe wiatialYthaesmhl r Chandler and Mr. Howe were to bring from Nets Brunswick N B • k and Nova Scotia the A h tt e t that had been passed upon this subject by the Legis e:res of those colonies. I made frequent inquiries m time to time whether those gentlemen had arrived, and I • t. was told that they had not yet reached England, th at So they might be expected by the next packet. M things went on u n til the 20th of April, on which day h e , Chandler called at the Colonial-office. I believe he it, 4q [Arrived some f ew d ays b e f ore, b at I did n ot know hit% Howe, however, had not arrived, and I ought n ot " to mention that the two Acts of the colonies did a lete.rrive until the 28th of April. On the 26th of April at ti s '_ er was written by Mr. Hincks to the Noble Lord for the head of the Government, requesting an interview ea himself and Mr. Chandler upon this subject. I think t,4 1 "ow the House how little the Noble Lord (the of this 9f Derby) was disposed to underrate the importance in deputation by reading to them the memorandum the h andwriting of the Noble Lord at the back of ea_ Rincka'a letter. It is,— O f Give him an early appointment. This matter is one to very great importance, but I should wish, if possible, % u re) together with Mr. Hincks, the representatives in Matter of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia." hteh Noble L or d' s secretar y ma de an appointment for the e ° f April, the first day on which he was a b le to see co ." gentlemen; and on that day the Noble Lord re , of "'ed Mr. Hiucks and Mr. Chandler, and at the request th nIY Nobl e F r i en d I was presen t. At that interview " ol m ot wh 0 au ject was talked over, and on the very next Iw:l4g—te Besof May—Mr. Hincks wrote the letter to aa it the Hon. ronet has referred, and in the early L r r a t, of that letter Mr. Hineks says, alluding to the in vmsr of the previous day— pe: I left hi s Lordship in the confident hope that I shou ld Ike ive an early communication of the intention of her Is t( este.'e Government." 14 . lineks then goes on to say that the arrival of H owe could have no effect on the question of route 7 : fur.‘l one raised by her Majesty's Government. and ?we had not then arrived, and he did not come; tha this leteer of Mr. Hinekie of the Ist of May, was first intimation I received that the two other mem iiZof th e d eputation cons i dere d t h e presence o f Mr. pr eec t ' a u nitnpurtant to the negotiation. I immediately ha to i l ett to act upon that intimation, and at the Ca . Of m a C "'moil held on the following Saturday, the Bth • foreeed).--the matter having previously, of course, Chiverneethe subject of conversation among the ' before - .Liat-e...the whole question was fermally brought deoidathe Cabinet, was fully discussed, and was finally -- " e ". I hope toe statement I have made will r re e e g that the there was no pretext whatever for say the deputation was lett without an answer from any fault o f h er Majesty's Government. It has been questio n that, atter the Cabinet had decided the sigestion no communication was made to the gentlemen te rming the deputation, but that they learned the clod ' ht ° ll of the Government incidentally through a private source. Now, owing to the great pressure of business *e-and I trust the House will make allowance for the erman, pressure of business that did occur in the I ?fliee to Which I have the honour 'to be attached— (llear)-eseveral days elapsed after the Cabinet Council . arrived at their decision before I was at leisure to pre- Pare a dispatch on the subject. In consequetice of that delay, and of subsequent delays dfter the dispatch was draugated; the dispatch was not finally written for sending until the 20th of May. I should say that Mr. Hiacika had previously intimated his intention not to leave England until the 27th of May, and ho did not go until a much later period. On the 20th of May the dispatch was sent to the Governors of the three colonies of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia ; and an the same day, by my directions, official copies • of that, aispateh were communicated to Mr. flincks and Mr. Chandler. In the meantime I had made co communication, public or private, upon ~,71 8 Saint to any party; and if either of these gentle ;B:l_4d - indirectly ascertained the decision of the Go vernment, I cannot say how they got the information. It certainly was not through any act of mine. I hope I hear.) ;aye answered the second allegation.—(Hear, ` now come to the third subject of complaint—that these gentlemen were not treated with the consideration to which their position entitled them. I should be ex tremely sorry if it should be thought that the Govern- Ment were for a moment open to such an imputation. On the arrival of Mr. 'Hacks I had several interviews with him, and I extended to him that courtesy and hospi. tality which I thought were duo to his distinguished station in his own province. I have been told that I ought to have resented his letter. There certainly are expressions in that letter which have the appearance of having been written under some feelings of irritation— expressions which I think are not borne out by the facts—expressions which I read with regret, and which cannot help thinking Mr. Hincks must regret having used. But, Sir, I must say that, looking to the fact that the greater part of these letters were written in a tone perfectly respectful, I have no hesita tion in avowing to the House my feeling, that if unconsciously and unintentionally, under the pressure of business, which really is sometimes almost overwhelming, I had—l am sure lam not aware that I had—been guilty of any omission towards these gentle alien, I thought it more, consistent with my duty to the queen, with my own office, and with the friendly rela tions which I hope will always subsist between the great colony of Canada and the mother country—(Hear, hear) that I should continue to act in the same spirit of Courtesy as before, rather than go out of my way and t ake,,. offence, or make any quarrel on t h e sub j ect.— (Hear, hear.) ' That was the spirit in which I am dis posed to act towards these gentlemen, but it should be r ecollect e d that Mr. Hincks w as not the onlypershoh, concerned.'.. d It would not bo correc t to draw any istic t e i '"tcseen m e . Chandler and Mr. 'Rucks, but yi r. andler hue .written no petulant lett er. Ile is a gen istingulshed by great ability , a man of high ghao ter, and one who, like Mr. M has, Hi nc ks, by the powe r of his own talent, raised himself to the highest Position i n t h e colony. I most rea dily admit that these -" : 11 4t t gentl emen were entitled to every cons id erat ion in this_ trY at the hand s of her Majesty's Governmen t, and 1 , 1 , 1 1 / Opinion is that they received it. I continued, to th e o se of their stay in this country, the same hospitality , 'uo saute courtesy, with which our intercourse com /nee ee and I had reason to believe they were d ac ' e * impressed by the gracious and spontaneous cone s4e ension they received at the hands of her Majesty. t the close of their stay they called at the Colonial °Moe to take leave, and we parted on the most friendly terms, and certainly I had no reason to believe there was 411 Y off 1. have once taken on their part.—(Hear, hear.) I hope said enou h to show that the allegation of delay •`'S tlo the pa r t of the Government is unfounded, and that t „ 44 ' W e were willing to treat these gentlemen with every due cons ideration. In offaring this explanation I have not t ouched on the policy of her Majesty's Government with re spect. t o t h e dec i s i on at w hi c h they arrived. The 41 „ ( In• Memb e r' s quest i on did not refer to that decision, -'llu I tto2 sure the House will feel that the occasion of ans wering a que s ti on i s not the proper moment of re .,. "ring to such a su bj ect .—(H ear , hear.) The answer 7.1, 4) , - . g` en to these gentlemen was given on the responsibi , i tS Of her Majesty's Government, and whenever the p r oper moment arrives I shall be prepared to vindicate 131 y share in it.—(Cheers.) __ m Sir D. .. N ORREYS asked the Secretary of the Ord , mance whether a ny arrang ent had yet been made to enable the publi c to purch e ase copies of tracings of the Unpublished map s of the bor oug h towns of Ireland? , galena' DUNE replied that the Or dnance had no ..61..6 911.16 ohketion to give the maps, but they could only employ those persons who were regularly engaged on the Irish Or Scotch surveys to make the tracing. Tne OrduaLee were now obliged to pay all the money they receive for th3so maps into the Treasury, but, if they re ceived a gum of money for the purpo.se, they would be very happy to supply these maps to the country. THE CAPE.. ADDERLEY rose to aik the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the dispatches just arrived from the Cape announced the passing of the constitution -t-rdinanees-:; including the alterations of the irstochise a gainst which the Attorney-General pro tes t e d ; w h a t inormation bad been received relatihc, to the rumoured advance of Prtetorius against the Zoolas; rend whether treaties were actually entered into with the Kafir chiefs for the termination of the war? The papers and letters just received were full•of the importance of the expres sions of Lord Derby last year, when he said in the de-. bate on the Cape in the House of Lords,— " He might have hesitated to grant so largo a measure of representative geverhment as that now proposed to be granted to the colony, but he would say that, as &itch a proposal had been made on such high authority, and ae it had obtained the sanction of the colony, an 3 the im plies' sanction of the Crown, any danger or risk was to be encountered rather than not to fulfil those expectae Lions; and he would not bate one jot of the popular in stitutions proposed to be confided to the colony, however anxious he might be as to the working of those institu . tions in the first instance." He wished also to know if the Goiternment intended to carry out their legislation. on the subject this session? , Sir J. PAKINGTON said. that the question of.which the Honourable Member had given notion Gmbraced three points, to which he had added a fourth, and, in re plying, he (Sir J. Pakington) would take them seriatim. As the Honourable Member had given notice of the question on Saturday, he prosumed the Honourable Member referred to the accounts which came over a week ago with Sir Harry Smith, and he might pot be aware that a mail had arrived this morning. By the mail of a week ago he (Sir J. Pakington) had received a dispatch from General Cathcart, stating that ho had thought it to be his duty to pass the constitution ordi nances with the alterations made by the council;. and by the mail of this morning he had received the ordinances themselves. As to the second question, he was very happy to be able to state that the rumoured advance of Prmtorius against the Zulas not only remained without foundation, but that by the mail this morning he had re ceived the agreeable information that a convention had been agreed to bAween Prmtorius and her Majesty's Commissioners, and that peaceful relations had been established.—(hear, hear.) As to the third question, whether treaties were entered into with the Kafir chiefs, be regretted to say he had no information that they wale, and he was afraid, from the dispatches received from General Cathcart, there was no reason to believe there would be. With respect to the fourth question, ho did not know till a week ago that the ordinances had, been sanctioned by the new Governor, and as the ordinances had only arrived this morning at the Colonial-office, he thought. the Hon. Member would admit it would be ex tremely premature for him to attempt to state now what were the intentions of her Majesty's Government on this subj ect.—(Hear.) NAVAL RESERVE. Sir G. PECHELL wished to ask what steps had been taken to carry out the reserve of 5,000 men which had been provided for by a vote of the House? Mr. STAFFORD had to state, in reoy, that no steps had been taken to carry out that system, and that, after much consideration and consultation among those best acquainted with the subject, it was considered the scheme was on the whole impracticable. PRUSSIA AND NEUFCHATEL. Lord J. RUSSELL was understood to ask whether any communications had been received by her Majesty's Government respecting a recent conference between the representatives of the great Powers of Europe, with re ference to the claims.of Prussia upon Neufchatel; and, secondly, if the Noble Lerd knew if there would be any objection to lay the papers on the table of the House. Lord STANLEY (who spoke in a still lower tone than Lord John Russell, so that he was very indistinctly heard) was understood to reply that a conference had been held, and a protest signed by the representatives of the four great powers, on the subject of the Prussian claims on Neufchatel. There was no doubt in the mind ot•Government, or, he believed, on the mind of auy per son who had turned his attention to the subject, that Prussia had certain rights over Neufchatel, which rights had been recognised by the treaty of 1815. It might not be altogether irrelevant to observe, as it was a fact of same importance, that this was the first public act by, which .France, under her present ruler, had recognised the settlement of Europe made in 1815. At the pre sent time, at all events, it would be impossible to lay the papers connected with this conference on the table of the House. PUBLIC BUSINESS. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then rose and said,—l promised to-day to state to the House the views of her Majesty's Government with respect to the business that is before the House, and in reference to its ex peditious dispatch. It was my intention originally to have selected this day to express these views. I thought that as soon as we sat after the holidays it would be desirable that we should come to some conclusion on this subject; but the reason why I fixed on this day was that I thought the House 'would be indisposed to have the explanation of the views of Government made on the first day after they met, and that it would be reasonable, instead of taking the fag. end of the week, to select the first Monday after we assembled for business. If It had not been my in tention to fix on this day, it would not have been possible for me to cousider the dispatch of this duty, in consequence of the appeal and memorable spech made by a Right Hon. Gentleman on the re-assembling of the House. That Right Hon. Gentleman is one who necessarily and justly exercises a very great influence over the opinion of this House, and though, indeed, he is listened to with great respect upon all subjects, on none is his opinion more re garded than in the conduct of public business. The statement of that Right Honourable Gentleman was calcu lated very much to arrest public attention, and to produce a very considerable effect in the House, especially among those not very familiar with the details of the subjects the Right Hon. Gentleman spoke upon. Certainly he conveyed an impres sion to the House and to the country that the state of public business was extremely unsatisfactory; that there was a vast accumulation of business, with a very slender prospect of its being disposed of, and that at the end of the present session there would be no possibility of dealing with the ac cumulation before us of business, all of which, as the Right Hon. Gentleman very truly stated, was of a highly important and pressing character. The Right Hon. Gentleman said,' on that, occasion, that be felt deeply on the subject, that he viewed it with great apprehension, and that it was with no ordinary feelings of apprehension and upon no ordinary sub ject that he spoke, because it was not the mere reputation of this particular House which was at stake, in the opinion of the Right Hon. Gentleman—though the reputation even of this House, I think, must be dear to him—but it was really a fear that if we did not take care we should bring represen tative government itself into disrepute.—(Hear, hear.) And, that there may be no mistake on the matter, I will quote the words which the Right Hon. Gentleman repeated that he feared:— " This assembly, which has been the great landmark of representative government and the great example of repre sentative assemblies throughout the world, will be brought into disrepute. And that it will appear we are unable to transact our own business. Now, Sir, it would be—it must be—a most serious state of affairs which could warrant such words from such a man. The Right Honourable Gentleman did not confine himself on that occasion—listened to as he was with becoming attention by the House—to a mere general expression of the apprehensions under which he was suffering. He went into very great detail on the subject; he took a minute re view of the state of the business before the House; he called the attention of the House to the various subjects before them, grouping the several Bills on all-important matters in that clear and perspicuous manner which he always commands; and he laid down the data from which he drew the inference he communicated to us; and which, in his opinion, warranted the apprehensions he felt. Indeed, I read in a very great authority on the day following that it was evidently an herculean task to deal with the business before the House of Commons; and that even to form a catalogue of it, or to enumerate it in detail, required the colossal power of intellect for which we are all willing to give the Right Hon. Gentleman credit.—(Laughter.) Under these circumstances, I felt an unusual responsibility placed upon me in the position, for which I am every day more aware lam not calculated. I felt it was a terrible responsi bility to incur, that under the guidance which I had been able to give to the business of the House, assisted ley the kindness of Honourable Members on both sides of the House, I had brought public business not only to a perilous, but to a disgraceful position.—(Hear, hear.) Well, Sir, under that feeling I have examined, with all the assiduity the circumstances of the case required, the state of the public business before ns. Feeling that I am responsible for its general position, I have endeavoured to see if I could in some degree escape from the consequence of neglect of duty, or from the results of that incapacity with which, though the Right Honourable Gentleman was courteous enough nut to charge me, he must have felt I was liable to be accused of. Under the challenge and appeal of the Right Hon. Gentle man, I will ex am i ne very b r i e fl y the b us i ness now b e f o re us, and the prospects a n d u l t i mate fate o f a ll t h e Bill s t o which he referred. I will follow the evening Gentleman, because it the order taken by the Right Hon. referred t is now familiar to the House. On for legal reform which areoubseefortehetheimmfßtail the i_ Right Hon. Gentleman particu larly impressed on the probably inferior in importancenisceofofthtehire kind Bills House. The Right to no business before the Hon. Gentleman on Thursday, when the House assembled, said, with —first, to the Common Law reference to three of these Bills secondly, to the EquitableeTurisdif fclure Amendment Bill; the Bill for the Abolition of Masters Bill; and, thirdly, to Hon. Gentleman said, to use his own phrase, Chancery —the Right his own language, " Not one step has yet been and to pursue House with regard to any of these three Bills taken In this beyond their introduction." He expressed a hope on Thursday w ould on Monday be able to give some information that I subject, and I have now the pleasure of remindin thentititltst lion. Gentleman, that as to both of the Common { Law Juris diction Bills, and the Bill for the Abolition of Masterships in Chancery, with respect to which not one step had been taken, very i mpo rtant steps have been taken by this time, and a ll three h a ve been read a second time. — (Hear , hear.) But th er e were two other Bills of legal reform beside those t o which the Right Hon. Gentleman also alluded —the S u it o rs in Chancery Relief Bill, and the Bill respect ing alterations in t e l ry e law of making wills. As the Right a uthority upon all subjects but lion. Gentleman, so g reat en on the subject of legal reform, the very highest in this House, said, on Thursday, it was impossible to exaggerate i the magnitude, difficulty, andmportance of those questions. Well, on Monday, I have the pl easu re to inform the Right j l faitude,difficutty, Hon. Gentleman that those two Bille t the us s exceeded, be have and importance of which could not So much for en tirely passed through this House.—(Cheers. ) them having these important hills on legal reform —two of them having entirely passed the House of Commons, three of been read a second time, and no material opp osition being, anticipated to their progress, I think her Marsty's Govern ment are not arrogant or presumptuous in saying that they would pass the Legislature and become law without at all interfering with that termination of Parliament which is now so rife in every one's mouth. Well, the Right Hon. Gentleman then proceeded, with all the clearness which cha racterizes his mature statements, to another group of Bills which were still on the table—those which he de scribed as colonial Bills. On Thursday last, calling on me on Monday to give an account of the intentions of v oyermeu t, with that influence which became his situation, THE, SUN, LONDON, he, reminded the House of the New Zealand Bill, the iinnortance of which was only equalled by the cumber of its clauses, and said he expected that on Monday some idea would be given by Government what their inten tions were with respect to that important Bill, I agree that it is a Bill of the utmost importa nce, and I should -deplore the circumstance that this Bill, which attempts to establish a right principle of colonial administration, under happy auspices, should be defeated by any occurrence con nected with the abrupt termination of Parliament. But, Sir, what is the bulletin of Monday night upon this subject—that night upon which I was called upon to state exactly the intentions of Government with regard to public business? The New Zealand Bill has not only got into Com mittee, but has nearly got through Committee.—(Hear, hear.) In fact I may say, that out of more than 80 clauses, 72 have been disposed of, and, with the exception of some which refer to what may be almost called a private and a local subject, the great , questions connected with this Bill, which is to give a new constitution to an interesting colony, the great questions are all settled in this House; and it is hardly possible to conceive that the state in which the New Zealand Bill is now found could at all justify her Ma jesty's Government in relinquishing the hope of speedily passing this Bill through the House.—(Hear.) Then there is another colonial measure also referred to by the Right Honourable Gentleman-tithe Hereditary , Casual Revenues Bill, which, to use the language of the Right Hon. Gentle man, is a measure of" primary importance." Now, perhaps, the House will allow me toremind them of the nature of this Bdl. The law officers of the Crown. have expressed their doubts, and more than doubts, whether these branches of casual revenue, which now assume very great importance in. the auriferous colonies orAustralia, might not be, by the strict letter of the la*, applicable to the consolidated fund, instead of being applied, as her Majesty's Government wished, to the benefittof the colony in which they were disco vered: No one can doubt but that this is an object to attain which would not excite any very great party feeling, or re ceive any very great• opposition ; and when I mention that the Bill which is to confer this highly beneficial and ad vantageous privilege upon, the colony is composed of only two clauses, it is not a very presumptuous. expectation on the part of her Majesty's Government to hope that they may be as successful with it as they have hitherto been in that foremost Bill with regard to colonial legislation relating to New Zealand:—(Hear, hear.) There are two other Go vernment Bills which the Right IIon: Gentleman referred to as connected with tire colonies, and really, with the excep tion that the word " bishop" does appear in the titles of these Bills—and I know how unfortunate the word sometimes is in exciting debate in this House, and in calling forth the:irre gular energy of the Hon. and Learned Member for Youghal —(A laugh)—l should hardly suppose that there would be any opposition to these two Bills. Oneof there, the Bishopric of Quebec Bill, is in fact only. to take care that iti,the diocese already divided one of the bishops should not retain the whole of the episcopal property, but should divide it with his brother bishop, and I should hardly think that this measure would be opposed, more especially as it consists only of two clauses, and has already passed the other House of Parlia ment.— (Hear, hear.) I think, therefore, it is not rash to suppose that even that Bill may soon pass into law without at all procraetinating the conclusion of the session. There is a fourth Bill, called the Colonial Bishops Bill, and that is a mea sure which is also of very small dimensions, its only object being to relieve the Indian bishops from a disability which, in the case of the other colonial bishops, does, not exist. It is, therefore, a Bill essentially just in its provisions. It is one which I cannot say is of that urgent nature which, generally speaking, all the Bills are which her Majesty's Government have brought forward; but it is a'Bill of a very important character, and yet very slight in its dimensions, and I help° it will receive the sanction of Parliament.— (Hear, hears) I have now gone through two of the most important.groups of projected legislation to which the. Right Hon., Gentleman referred, but the colossal catalogue was not limited to these two groups. The next subject to which the Right Hon. Gen tleman alluded for those proofs of the unsatisfactory state of public business which he adduced, refers to the department which is presided over by my Noble Friend the President of the Board of Works. There are. three Bills on the table of the House which have been placed there by my Noble Friend. The first of these is the Intramural Interment Bill, a Bill which, I believe, has the concurrence of a great majority in this House, and which it is the public wish, as weil as the wish of the majority of this ,House, should past into law.—(Hear, hear..) lam not prepared, I confess, to re nounce the hope, not, only of , passing that Bill, but of pass ing it quickly, and. with but slight opposition. There is also another Bill, the Aletropolitan Water Bill; but re member that that Bill has already been referred to a Select Committee, and it comes down, therefore; to the House w ith the advantage of the criticism of that Select 'Commit tee, and the approbatiOn of 'a tribunal' 'to which the House always looks with 'great respect, and therefore I think I am warranted in believing that it can be passed without post poning the termination of this session. —(Hear.) There is another Bill laid upon. the table. f the House, by my Noble Friend (Lord J. Manners),—the Metropolis Buildings Bill, omney the be pa e r y t e o rl f , s b o e m lm e e ll d o w n. it G b en if t , le a m e e d n ; f e r s om it tb i e s a nd, as there seems such a keen desire to resist legislation f n ea e r ce t s h s a a t ry t i he i y e order to give Hon. Members an opportunity of making any observations in reply, that I' should conclude with some motion, I am prepared to move, at the, proper time, that the order of the day for the second reading of that Bill might be discharged. ..4" Hear," and a laug h.) I have now gone through three of the great di visions which the Right Hon. Gentleman brought to our notice. All our measures of legal reform are fast arriving at that safe harbour to which I believe they are destined. — (Hear.) All our colonial Bills have also made very great progress since the Thursday when the attention of the coun try and of the House was called to the unprecedented posi tion of Parliamentary business; and of the two Bills which are under the charge of my Noble Friend the President of the Board of. Works, one of them has been referred to a Se lect Committee, which, as I befbre said, will tend to make its progress through the House more rapid, and the other has received out of doors and in the Housesuch a degree of favour that I cannot doubt it will in due time pass into a law.— (Hear, hear.) Sir, there were, however, other circum stances in the state of public business on which the Right Hon. Gentleman dilated in terms of impressive solem nity, and which seemed to produce a considerable effect at the moment upon the feelings of the House. The Right Hon. Gentleman cello 1 the attention of the House of Com mons, particularly on Thursday, to the state of the Committee of Supply. He reminded the House that hitherto the expeditious way in which the Committee of Supply had been carried on, the promptitude with which we had passed our estimates, had been, as we are all but too williug to acknowledge, the consequence of the continued forbearance of the House; but the Right Hon. Gentleman gave the House to understand that even now the remaining estimates amounted to millions. On Thursday night he called the attention of the House and of the country to the laughter.) Th a t was the dre adful p ros p ect for the Go y ern impo r tant fact that there were still 200 votes which had not been passed, and that those 200 votes were to be met with 42 recorded - neg a tives of one Lion. Member.—( Hear, hear, and ment at the end of the week s and that was one of the evi dences of the incapacity of her Mejesty's Ministry to conddct that, Monday the business of the House of Commons. It will perhaps 'be some' satisfaction to the Right Hon. Gentleman to know hav i ng co me, I, appearing to give that account which th e "unprecedented, s tate of Parliamentary business was said to call for, can say that some plea of extenuating • circumstances may be alleged; for that now on Monday, instead of 200 votes in supp l y remaining to be passed, there are, I believe, only 19. (Cheers.) And with regard to those 19 votes, I cann ot help thinking that, even with the determined spirit or the Honourable Member - for Youghal, th e Hon. and Learn ed Member may yet find other opportunities enough for t he exercise of his indeftei gable powers--(A laugh)--and th a t perhaps when we •go into Committee sof Supply again with those 19 v nder touch otes we may experience even from him some little te of remorse.--(Laughter.) There were some miscellaneous was the Navy P a y Bill. I have endeav oured to form some can be pas sed, bills also menti one d by t h e Right Bon. pentieman. There but I cannot opinion whether th a t measure gather that there is any opposition to it, and when the state ment is made with respect to it by the Secret a ry to t he Ad miralty, I indulge i n the hope that t hat Bill too will pass. , here is also the P a t ent -L a w Amendment Bill, but I may remind the House that that Bill has already passed the House of Lords, and that we have referred it to a Committee there; as I have before remarked was the case with Bills so referred, it will receive a revision which will enable it to command much more rea dily the general a ttention of the House. I cannot thi n k t h a t l a m yet called upon to sa y that these two laws, whi c h I b e li eve will be advantag eous t o the country, should be 'renounced. Now, Sir , th ere are some other bills, and o ne rat h er l a rge head, to w hic h the Right Hon. Gentle man a l so re f er red. There are two Bills with regard to Ir e l an d. Th ere is, first, the Valuation of Land Bill, and I hear from all sides that this is a good measure.—(Hear, hear.) , Why,. then, should we give it up ? I cannot say that lam prepared to give it up, when we have had only one division upon this measure, and when the numbers, I think, were 80 to 4 in favour of the Bill — (Hear, hear)—and, believing that this is a Bill which is very much to the advantage of the people of Ireland; I certainly think the House will concur in thinking it should pass. There is another Bill connected with Ireland—the Whiteboy Consolidation Bill. lam anxious at this moment that no Bill should pass, that we should proceed with no Bill which is likely, I won't , say to waste, but to occupy the time of the House, unless it is of urgent necessity; .and, as I agree with those who think that a Bill for. the, purppses of con solidation can scarcely come under this head, I am prepared not to press it forevard.—(Hear, hear.) . Then there were the continuance Bills, which is the last class of measures to which .I shill refer. The Poor-law Board Act, which is a continuance Bill, now stands for a third reading; and then there is the Encumbered Estates Act. That is a Bill which must be continued, and I cannot anticipate that any Honourable Gentleman in this Hbuse can wish that that Bill should not pass.—(Hear, hear.) There remains another Bill, which relates to a matter to which the Right Hon. Gentleman said the late Government attached the greatest importance, and which must be renewed—l mean the Prevention of Crime and Outrage Aet in Ireland. — (Hear.) We have had from some Hon. Gentlemen opposite some hints as to the opposition which is to be extended to the renewal of the Crime and Outrage Act. Sir, whatever oPposition is offered to the Bill, as long sti it respects Par-_ liamentary usages, and is conducted ih that courteous spirit which I believe will always distinguish this House, that eic; position in caste of imminent necessity I mast be prepared to meet.—(Hear, hear.) It is the opinion of her Alajesty'ecs-.. vernment that the Act for Preventing Crime and Outrage in Ireland should be renewed—(Hear, hear)—and, inasmuch as that Act consists of only one clause, giving Hon. Gentlemen opposite credit for as energetic patriotism as any body of man possess. even should they put in practice all the resources of their rhetoric, I cannot believe, if they should avail them selves of all the opportunities which the constitutional forms of this House provide them with, they will be able to de feat a measure so necessary to the peace, the tranquillity, and the prosperity of Ireland.—(Cheers.) With very. great respect, therefore, for the opinioes held by those Hon. Gentlemen, we shall attempt to continue that Act, and I tell them I am prepared for their opposition, which, however, I am sure will be conducted according to the spirit and p rac ti ce o f thi s Ho u se. —(Hear, hear.) I have nowthegone th roug h th e w h o l e o f th e co l o ssal catalogue of Right Hon. Gentleman, and I ask the House fairly to decide, is it their e opiniod that the state of public business, is so unsatisfao ) tory i as was Government, measures have e th a a r t e ' that the state anxious desire to ask thebusiness—(Hear, th e e as l not passed, with the most to support nothing which I anxious desire that the laboura of this with the most Parliament should not and inner myself in Austified, with the ex ceptionbe prolonged, 'I do 1 . '1E4 find gnificant instances to 'in recommending s The the withdrawal of wbic 11 0 stvhee referred, e s f i e i r g r h et t i appear m to me to be any of these Hear, hear.) of , themtmost necessary, and they appear to me also to passed consistently .with that termination of satis factory state oft progress, so that allthellaay be ses sion which we all of us anticipate.—(llear, 1)I claim no credit to the Government `for this esatnt of the public business, and I say 'that most uane feignedly. It is a state of the public business, in my op i n ion, satisfactory, but it is due and due only'to the go o d sense and the good temper of the House of Commons.-- (Cheers.) And, Sir, when I heard the highest authority dilate upon the present state of business, and say, with all it TUESDAY r; EVENING, the weight attaching to his name in the senate of his coun try, that if we did not take care we should bring represen tative government itself into di srepu t e , an d that it would _ appear that we could not tran sac t our b us i ne ss, I say that 1 have drawn from the session which is now closing a very different conclusion and a very opposite moral.—(Cheers.) I would rather adduce what has been done in this House and the manner in which it has been done—l would rather ad duce it as an argument in favour of representative govern ment, in favour, at least of the mode in which representa tive government is carried on in this country, than bring it forward as an argument which should lead us to believe that the reputation of representative government is in danger.. —(Cheers.) Sir I will not 'dilate . upon the fact that we have been enabled already to ,pass through the House of Commons 37 Government' measures, '2O of which have al-, ready become law ; but when I recall to House the cir cumstances of the session, that a change of Government took place ; and when-I remind the House of the party feel ings which under such circumstances naturally revived, of the great delay of business which from such circum stancesaimet necessarily occur, and the fact that I and my colleagues only on the 15th of March were enabled to resume our seats in this Haase, think it tells very much (as I said before) for the good sense and good temper of the House of Commons that we h ave b een permitted b y t h e ir aid to carry out to nearly a conc l usion so " many important meisures.—(Cheers.) Si r , I" rem e mber ' som e years a go, when I sat on: the other sid e o f t h e House, un d er the.guid sues and advice of th a t di st i nguished man L or d George 'I Be*tinck, and when took a part i n p u blic affairs, which I wet not, but for the to o great indulgence of my friends , cal - ' culated to occupy, it ,became my duty to sum up the results of the longest session, that I believe the House of Commons ever yet experienceda - session of more than ten continuous months, concluding in the month of September, 1848. There were at that time the same *charges made as ,to the ciencv of the House' of Comtnons. At that time you were told' that the accumulation of ' business was intolerable, aed that it was proved in' a - manner which every one ought to view with alarm that a - representative Government could no longer deal with the affairs of a great community. Sir , it was my duty then, afte r a careful analysis of all, the mo tions and all the measures of that remarkable session—it was my duty, then-to`vindic a t e th e conduct. and charac t er of the House of Commons.—(Hear hear.) It was my duty. also to endeavour to prove that which I gave my , reasons for believing—that it was to weakness of the Ministry, and not to theinefficiencybf the House—l-Meer, hear) -- me that lamentable state of affairs *as (ein In the present in stance, Ido not think it necess ary for to ascribe the• pie sent state of public business either to the weakness of the Ministry or to the inefficiencrof the House of Commons, be cause I maintain that'the position of public business at such a period, and after a session so broke n up and disturbed, never was more satisfactory.—(Cheers.) I said that I claim no credit. for the Ministry for this result, but I can say this most sincerely for them—that we have endeavoured by sedu lous attention to the business which we had to discharge — we have received from the House of Com rades, even from ou r have endeavoured to merit the generous supp or t which we The motion for the discharge of the second reading of the Metropolitan Baildinws Act was the n pia and agreed t o . . 'THE - euLITIA BILL. Mr. L. HEYWORTII presented a petition from 7,595 young men of London, and, two petitions from Rochester and Chatham, against the Militia Bill. Mr. RICH claimed the attention of the House while he replied to the attacks made upon those Hon. Gentlemen Who, having, voted in ' favoue 'of a local 'Militia Bill, had felt it their (lists to oppoielhe general Militia Bill new before the House. A most unfair use bad been made of the charge of opposed the Government measure. the grounds upon which this measure 'had been introduced The --i-Ipine Secretary had its adopecin. The grounds upon which the measure was to the House, ,the meaSdre itself, and abroad, and said that the of co ms th e e ci H nen ou c se is t o o f referred in troducedt were imminentsnarly from. in the event of invasion, and after providing for the safety of our ports and arsenals, only 25,000-men 'would reinain available for the defence of the country. Ti, a: : • ...8 uintissiOnlis it had proceeded had dispelled both allegations. 'The danger had been given up; both - by words - and deeds, the number of men - to be raised hadbeen reduced in number, and ,the Government; had declined to take advantage of the offers, made to them by.volunteer corps. It' w as said the marines could not be counted as available for the defence of the country, because, in the event of attack, they 'would be tame barked on board the fleet. Now, the danger to be guarded . against was from a sudden and unforeseen 'attack upon •our l shores by an enemy . before we were aware of th eir intention to effect a landing. • In such an event it would be the height of imprudence to send•our'Marines from' Woolwich and from our arsenals. and-they - must therefore be included in any estimate of our disposable - force.' The Home Secretary had also excluded -Ireland and the force in • that country; but • Ireland was as much part and parcel of the United Kingdom as Yorkshire or Middlesex, and we were bound to defend it, and Ireland was ' bound ,to come to our defence, in the event of invasion ; Troops had been dispatched from Dublin to our . inanufactureng districts when they were in a disturbed state, and the Hight Ho noura bl e Gen tleman was, therefoie, bound to include Ireland, which, it should be remembered, contained 12,000 constabulary trained to the use of arms, and who were therefore available for the defence of that country. Honourable Members, in dealing with the disposability of our forces, had assumed that we were legislating with regard to a large and comprehene sive invasion of this-country; Such as would imply the com mand of. the Channel fleet, and an amount of preparation on the part of the enemywhich would give us full time, to make counter pre orations . In such 'e case the allo ca ti on o f 10 , 000 men to the Thames, 5,000 to Pertsineuth, and an eqFal. turn ber to Plymouth, would be mere mystificatioft and mthleading. The attack to which:we would' be liable being sudden'and un foreseen, there would be imbecility as well as cowardice in locking up our troops in garrison instead of sending them to meet the'enemy. It had beeniurged that those who opposed this Bill were reckless of the defence of the country; but the best refutation of that imputation was to point to the various alternatives which • had been proposed as substitutes for this measure. The Noble Lord the Member for London had sug gested' a local militia, a measure more i n accor d ance w ith th e constitutional precedent, more comprehensive in its operation, and by which the men would be more easily found. That alternative had, however, been. rejected. So had the recom mendation of the, organization of volunteer corps, and the more important suggestion of those who preferred the addition of 10,000 or 15,000 men to.the regular army. The Honourable and Gallant Member for Westminster (Sir De Lacy Evans) had shown how a force of 4,000 infantry and artillery might bs brought home from the colonies, and made available for the defence of the country; -but the Government refused to of Certainl y adding when they were c o n s ulting about their' milit ary d e f ences , it did appear to him to amount to i n f atuation to attempt to blindly raise a body of men, ho were t o t a l ly incaable of doing the thelis t listen bestt o means him. most important duty they were a b out top entrust to them, and which duty, indeed, they acknowledged they would not give ethem ti me to learn th di scharge, whereas they regular might readil ge tormY, ;the ' and obtdisciplined and easily recruited array,` a • ea „ e effic i en t body of trained soldiers: • Why should 'they co nsolidate and ' not • remodel thnt army of rese rve which they already possessed , for the pension and battalion system did really c onstitute an army of reserve.? For a h e r e : -- ..pension of difficulty, a the :.Government might' without difficulty , raise 10,000: or 15,000 mete from 35 years of, rn 28 to age, w h o had all served ten or twelve years in the regular grmy, n a d thns obtain a • . of prime n efficient force soldiers before the raw levies of the intended militia had mastered the goose-step. 'The h sbe Deco. - gap. that would t n . , sioned in the army could easily 'be fi u b recruiting. It might be said' that this would be - d ad ' . P n the regular army of the best men •; but th e d ' erre' which this xiii, was demanded was -eith or imaginary. for If merely imaginary, it. might be atone e r. ised. If real, to retain a man in England to di ntrely dism al ]. opt important duty of a ,soldier, that of' defenesien discharge the country in the'Ks.: prehension. of danger, could net b g his tude of language be called 'robbing the' army of y , . any lati , e ____;ees. He maintained that by holdiug th e ' a I at man s erv"" f this half pension for half service they Inducement o could f a large and thus onn most efficient difficult of reserve from- the• regular army; , there would be no y wh p; „0 recruits, atever in proea-- becauie the service el:mid easily h e that popular . rendered so dismissal from it, instead °feath er . , re a boon, would be esteemed a punishment: . b s__ lv regard e ed h Gasvernmen't only hoped' to get 30,000 or 40,000 u railiti t • Government first year by the bounty. They would hen to 0 amen in the ballot, and they would find in, the present t t era resort to e h üblic mind that the practical evils of the bce per of t ‘ p not be endured. 1 He had pointed out how they t would obtain _e , tu 000 or 12,000, men at once for an _ could seee ,—(Hear.) Now . there were 30 ,000 pen:irraonrof reserve .-( Hear.) . 16,000 to Hp° of whom ' were ' 'of the - e fi rs rift -class.; Of these : could obtain • from they Ip,oo o 12,00 U under' fifty Ne ars of r age;' and th • ' l° .. ese • added •to the others, would furnish at least 24,000 you ne . ee nd prime soldiers, infinitely preferable to 35,000 or 40:06-0en and militia men. By . the system of halrepensi .linshort service they could obtain 6,000 or 8,000 moree toen ever ons for , v year from tne regulararmy, an d in a few in f " w w o uld get too this couetry. They act they m any P th emigration', e nld, however, most judi ciousiy . e ncourag- • e or ood and'steady soldiers and then' families to . the coloni es. ~ g Thi s - 9no theory, it already hepractice. .Ameas ueeil a wa been adopted was of 'the -Ordnance a already by the Master eta -New.. Zealand' ,lad ' which 'about 2,000 soldiers were gent might raise 100flA". Australia, And North America. We might raise '— or 12 ,000 men in this man andnee for the colonies, which would Pew e - glad to receive e em, we might keep up the small • enabled non. for political reasons. Thus we would be . grclidually to Withdraw our own' troops from the colonies, and to disband them when they arrived in this country. lle had therefor •t d out a mode might -establish an e e porn e by which we reserve composed of prime sOldiers between and 35 yea rs n e ' -if it was thought necessary to maintain a force • so . , age. . amount; and the cost of clothing, arming; and ruling would t t httr i sebstitutes, amongst many, which had been propelled irtatead of this Bill. But the Government chose' to adhere tothe original old militia- iorce of the Country? and sdid that thee -Bil t 1 was a s ep in the right direction. ,Now, the old militia force was essen tially locel in,all respects. It wes raised and drilled tempo itshire, and rarity in each coanty or shire , was ne ver u nless moved out of own county broke ou t, amid th e_Ptlonal circumstances. Waii however, county to county, and from ki ngdom t o . kingdom, and, in tial a second fact,,they beceme *Osten_ _...1)* annye e . so muc h so, that in the year 1808 -the Government of the day formed and organ'is'ed, out' of theold Vblimteer corpe of the year 1793 and 1804, a local classes , militia, composed of all -a sses, and trained them round - their own homes .. T hat local militi a was the true representative of the old militia force of this t . coun , . Now, what would be the efficiency of th e proposedlT militia under the command ofethe .Home -offi ce ? In the case of invasion there were two methods b yvhich the regu l ar troops could be reinforced—either by additional regul ar troops, or by the subordinate co .operation of regularly drilled batta lions, gathered by general volunteenng and levy en masse. Both measures were highly beneficial , an d in case of ewer-' gency highly necessary but they were essentially -distinct. The one forceejoined the regular ermy, acted with it instan taneously, and afforded: time for the other force to be trained disciplined. His objection to this Bill was, e , that it and mum-es, and was, like most of their leg' - founded these two resources, is • vous compromise. It would lation, ainost mischie never fur nishld t ' —lie won no say an army, In such , a a body of troop, several requirements essential • ' ee force there were whichWerethese : that it s to its eiir < ciency ; among t,_ that it should be easily should be fit for garrisonandtiell duty it should have some cortnestld certainly assembled—an d Now, the connexion with the of the country. ' it Of the regular army , he Chancellor spirit hit t't r had told •is cons 1 uents eat the hustings of the Exchemie . . . d militia would be cheapbopular and- efficient. 1 that the pro Pose But would this be so a have ? What would the militi a h in com mon with the r egular troops? , Nothing but • a red coat and discipline. Then, would it be opera tive? military a semblance of told that without the ballot it They were told e, ' .. would- not be popular? Tothis question the very Thee, would it ila was the reply. But,' to go beyond that necessity lei a ballot lee'bade Honourable Members look at ' the petiti ons w hi c h House upon the ' subject. aby the Jed. Of these. had been receive of the , measure, one ; one ; signed-, as ' there Wag; ire - favour `boys • in Derb - ,- by fifteen:there were he understood, • presented that Y ' • " lusive of those . night-IX., against-it--ext them amounting in number to nearly with signatures to a quarter of a million s_ ( Sear, hear.) S o muc h for t h e of which the Chancellor of ate popularity of the measure , Exchequer h i s Buckinghamshire ti - had boasted` to i tuents. lie appealed from Philip in Buckinghamshire to Philip in that Rouse.—(A laugh.) But he passed on to ask, where were these men to he found for the militia? It appeared to him that the demand for 80,00 would in two years most dangerously affect the recruiting of the army, and greatly narrow the surface whence those who constituted our regular forces—our army, navy, and marines —were to be derived. These militiamen were to be quartered in provincial town:, in public-houses. Would not their 2s. a day, subject to the expenses they would necessarily incur, be lower wages practically than those given to a Dorsetshire labourer? They would come once, perhaps, out of curiosity, but it would be found very difficult to catch them a second time. And they were to be drilled for three weeks, and then suffered to roam about the country. Why, before they could be called together again, they would have travelled from one end of the country to the other=perhaps out of the country. They might have got good, permanent, and profitable employment at Liverpool or Manchester, or some where miles away. Would it not be cruel to drag them back from that to their muster-roll for three weeks, so throwing them out of work and losing them their engagements? And what would this three weeks do for them? Would it make them soldiers? Never; never so long as the Government gave them only the discipline and only the Will which by their,Bill they were prepared to do. The Chancellor of the 'Exchequer himself, taking Me common-sense view of the question, had said on the evening of the 6th of May that it would be madness to suppose these men capable of contend ing successfully with the armed legions of Algiers, of the Caucasus. But was it not precisely against such disciplined troops that they would have to contend?—(llear. ) Then what was the use of the measure? Ile had shown that these troops—these militiamen, he would not call them troops— would be with difficulty collected, and when collected would be fit for nothing—totally unfit, as had been confessed, to resist a disciplined foreign invasion. These were the tests to which it ought to be applied. 'But there was still the argument that the militia, though not efficient for itself, was so indirectly, inasmuch as it increased the efficiency of the regular army, The whole of the regular army - we could make available to defend our shores was 25,000, and it was proposed to take 80,000 militiamen to make them more effi cient. He asked was it not monstrous for them to put this country to the expense, the harassment, and the disorgani sation of doing thus,for the army what our present policemen and pensioners, if organised, could do quite as well? He asked, why should they not reject the measure? The neces sary consequence of their doing so would be a most desirable one—that they should have time for calmer reflection. He trusted, therefore, that Honourable Gentlemen =would con sider this, and would not fall into the silly delusion that it was better to do something, anything, no matter what, than not to legislate at all and at once upon the matter. It was against such an error that he wished most especially to guard them when he said that in their haste they might do such wrong as would prevent them from doing right hereafter. He asked them to take time for consideration. Out of the mists of this discussion had already loomed the • plain fact that we possessed 65,000 regular troops within these three kingdoms. That stood ont clear from their dis cussion, and no man could deny it. Then they had 40,000 in dockyard and pensioner battalions ; 40,000 yeomanry and constabulary. They had a navy which had never yet been baffled or discomfited; they had about 1,300 steam-ships capable of bearing guns. He asked, therefore for some pause. He thought the public might sleep in peace (Hear)—and this question be postponed for another year, and for more ample investigation. At all events it ought not to be dis cussed on the eve of a dissolution, and under the auspices of a provisional Government. The question, they must all feel, had been sufficiently before the public to be certain to be taken up in the next Parliament. Was it not reasonable to suppose that it would be much better settled then than at present? The subject of our steam navy, and the reserved forces of our army and navy, bore most materially on this question. On those questions a Committee was to be moved for by his Hon. and Gallant Friend the Member for Westminster, who was most anxious for an inquiry into the condition of our steam navy and marine, and to know how far the latter were applicable, in case of need, for purposes of war. He again asked the •House to deal deliberately and not hastily with this question; to refer it from a pro visional Government to an established one, and from a dying Parliament to a living one. He concluded by moving that the Bill be read that day six months. Mr. MACKINNON seconded the amendment. In the year 1642 this very question was before the House of Com mons, and on that occasion the measure was strongly opposed by Hyde, afterwards Lord Clarendon—a man of high autho rity upon it. With regard to the expediency of this force, he was not aware if any benefit had arisen from calling out the militia. Was it, therefore, wise in the Government of this country to decide upon calling out a militia force of eighty thousand men, the more especially as offers had been made by men who had a stake in the country to enrol them selves as volunteers? If they looked back to the two last revolutions in France, they would find that they had been effected principally by men who had been accustomed to the use of arms. He did not mean to say that they had any reason to be apprehensive of such a result in this country from the embodiment of a militia ; but the fact he had alluded to could not escape observation. If they really apprehended any danger of an invasion, he would ask them why they should not, in preference, increase their army and navy? Suppose a force of forty thousand men invaded their coasts, the invading force would be over half the country before a militiacould be called together. Under all the circumstances, he saw no use in their proceeding with this hasty measure, and he felt that it would be more in accordance with the feel ings of the country, that the further consideration of this Bill should be postponed till that day three months. Lord H. VANE would vote for the third reading, and eventually for the motion of the Hon. Member for Lam beth, to omit the compulsory clauses. He agreed with the mover and seconder of the amendment that this measure had evoked a considerable spirit of hostility throughout the country, but that was not a sufficient reason for negativing it, if that House thought it necessary for the honour and safety of the country. Looking at the fact that the pre ceding Government were pledged to some measure of the kind, and that the present Government had introduced it on their executive responsibility, he could not feel justified in wholly opposing the Bill, but at the same time must ex press his regret that the Government insisted on the ballot tin; clause, which it would be his duty to oppose. Mr. MACGREGOR said that public opinion out of doors was entirely against the Bill, and therefore he wondered at the hardihood of the Government in going to the country on such a measure. In London the people had no apprelien- sion when the funds were beyond par, and when enormous sums of money were leaving every day for investment in the public works of France. He believed that there never was a period in the history of the latter country when they were so desirous of maintaining amicable relations with us, and he knew that the President felt that nothing could be so dangerous to the stability of his own power as any rupture with England. As to the other three great Powers—Russia, Austria, and Prussia—their policy, especially since the death of Prince Schwarzenberg, was one of peace, and of com pact defence, not against the French President, but against the eventualities of another revolution. In such a state of things, he thought that a more impolitic Bill had never been introduced into that house.—(Hear, hear.) If in creased force were necessary, he would willingly consent to the addition of 5,000 men to our marine force, and that would be a much better defence than a body of men who would only be bad soldiers and worse citizens. With these views he felt bound to oppose the further progress of the Bill. ----- Mr..IIEADLAM intended to vote against the third read ing, and hoped that the House would concur with him in rejecting the measure. At the same time he was willing to admit that the Government had some excuse in the public clamour, and in the act of their predecessors, and that in their difficulty they had produced a measure as little objec tionable as poss:ble, but it was only an argument against any measure of the description, that nothing better could be produced. His objection to the voluntary portion of this Bill was that it proposed to raise a regular force on the least economical principle. He was willing to admit that there was some argument for increased defence in the improvement of - modern science and the increased facilities of transit. He did not believe that there was any hostile feeling towards us on the part of France; and if there were, this Bill was so inefficient that it was a mere waste of money. For these reasons he should give his vote against the measure. Mr: EWART said it was a paramount and insurmount able objection to a Ministerial measure that it f was .inefh cient ; and this was so. Let the necessity an increase additional defence be proved, and he would consent He e believed d of the regular army and of the artillery. compared with past wars, future wars—from which II that, defend us—would be infinitely more destructive. He Heaven tended . that a militia force was not suited to the , tin - le e - o w n ; lived in. Adam Smith described it as a most barbarous force ; and if the force was inapplicable to this country in his time, it was much more so now. To constitute the best military force, the principle of division of labour must be acted upon, which was in favour of a standing army. He was also opposed to this Bill, because it had two other Acts engrafted upon it, that of George 111. and the Mutiny nti Act, which would authorise flogging in the militia. llef that enlightened foreigners were disapproving of a militia force in Prussia and Austria, and they said that it would found inapplicable here ; but taking the opinion of military men men in our own country, they were all in favour of an aug mentation of the regular army. Considering that this Bill would give neither a good nor an efficient force, he should vote against it. Sir H. VERNEY said the Bill would be useful as a means of training the population to arms, which was one of the most satisfactory measures of national defence that could be adopted. He hoped the Secretory at War would make such regulations as would prevent the ad mission of persons of bad character into the force. He trusted encouragement would be given to the rifle corps, who would prove most valuable soldiers. It was desirable that the army should be increased by some rifle regiments. He thought the guns formerly mounted in the s manned. t ow ers ought to be replaced there, and tho tower This might be done at a very trifling expense. The aug mentation in eaterl marines and navy was proportion ally much gr than in our own. It was said that ma rines were principally used for the protection of commerce, but it should be remembered that France had very little commerce to protect. There . were means of defence avail able to this country in its mercantile marine force; each vessel might be made to carry one or more swivel guns they and this species of defence might also he applied to all har on the coast. Supposing the opponents of the ill to b e mistaken, a nd that the last and the present Gov9rn ß ment were right in the apprehensions they entertained, it could not be denied that this Bill would conduce to the safety of t h e country. So long as we were assailable , i t was the most imperative duty of the Government to bringe safety of the forward such measu res as they thought necessary for he country; and to neglect to do so would expose them to na tional infamy. The Hon. Member for the West Riding had said the question of national defences ought fo be submitted to a Comm i t tee or, Commission ; and he hoped the - ment would not lose sight of that suggestion. Mr. BERNAL O SBORNE said it appeared as if the Go vernment had abandoned to the Hon. Member for Bedford the defence of this Bill, and the responsibility of passing it into law.—(Hear, hear.) . And he must add that if there were no other reasons for the measure than those that had been adduced by the Lion. Baronet, then the dislike with which the country now regardedi: the measure heard a was mu no re war t likely to be lessene d in future. He had never like speech expressed iu blander terms than that which was just concluded by the Hon. Baronet. Not content with voting for the third reading of this Bill, the Hon. Gentle man called upon the Miuisters . to put the Martell° towers in order —to produce the swivel . guns that had been laid up since the last . war,. and then they might laugh to scorn a French invasion.—(Hear, hear, and laughter ) He had been obliged to refer to what was t,aid argue Hi Hon. Member for Bedford for want of any other ments in favour of the measure ; and, whatever objec tions he might have to the . principle of this Bill, he would j confess at once that he did not found those objections on the v i ew s and principles o f the Peace Societ y . But,at the sa me time, he hoped he would never be found t o under value the exertions or to impeach the motives of that truly benev olent body of men. It was very easy to deride the , e ff or ts and to laugh at the t h eories of those men but he would remind Honourable Gentlemen that they thought so novel and enthusiastic the products of a distempered ima gination were promoted by some of the wis es t andreatest men of ancient times; by no less a person than Plato, passing by the divine founder of our religion and coming ing ,o ia.~`~ociar JUNE 8 ; 1852. down to later times, they found that sovereigns like Henry IV. of France and our own Elizabeth had formed a plan 1)11 general pacification on the same principles; and coming• - down to a still later period, the Spanish statesman Alberoni declared that such a scheme was not unworthy of his consi deration. Far.from deprecating the efforts or the motives of men who not only preached but practised the principles of general benevolence and good-v, ill, he concurred with them in opinion that, whoever reviewed the history of our past continental wars would come to be of opinion with a popu lar writer, that taxes had been raised not to carry on wars, but that war had been raised to carry on taxes—that our greatest glory was earned by an increase of taxation, and that our most expensive luxury was a successful general.— (Hear, hear, and laughter.) But at the same time he drew a distinction between armies raised for the purpose of aggres sion, and armies for the purpose of defence; and he would submit to those Gentlemen—if there were any such—who doubted the lawfulness of defensive war, that in the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, though he depicted a society in all the enjoyment of perennial happiness, detesting war, despising glory, and prohibiting alike lawyers and soldiers—(Laugh tor)—neither allowing Martello towers nor briefs in Chan cery —yet even he did not debar the natives of his happy island from the use of arms, nor from defending them elves when they were attacked. Now, he could not imagine that alaybody, either in that House orout of it, would be more Utopian than the Utopians themselves.—(Great laughter.) He must say, for himself, that he could not look upon satisfaction, filled stat a e ofs it the Cantinent of Europe with andarm armies. It r m ea ig ct h i t ona b r e y rulers was s follow the Honourableveryt the head of these loto3wers, rifles, and Lo uis Nl of Marw-e with gigantic armies through his medley Baronetl thoughthe Member he couldfer Bedford hardly Baroneton— t ( 0 1. a s u a3 g h t t h e a r t ) — h e i t had might Na poleon—(Laughter)—it very well for the Hon. confidence in Louis Napoleon. He (Mr. Osborne) did not wish to s e azanything that would but he couldupon the net feelings t of he the s h a r m e d fastidious Frenchman, the in Hon. Baronet's confidence. He thought it was natural that man who was raised to power by the military order should acta accordance with with military prejudices. And after all, what did Gentleman say? 1 have confidence in Louis for all that double your army—increase your rifle lo eon ' but man your Martello towers—get readyyour swivel u corps—_ still I have great confidence in Louis IN apoleon.—( guns—but It was better to say at once they had no confidence in Louis Napoleon, and they had no right to have confidence in him. is He was surprised that no Honourable Gentleman had ever quoted in the House the revelation which was made by M. Thiers in the Chamber of Deputies, which told heavily against Louis Napoleon, and which would amply justify the Government in seeing that the defences that they had —and which he maintained were amply sufficient—were put in a most efficient state. On the 17th of January, 1851, M. Thiers told the French Chamber that in an interview he had with Louis Napoleon, the President said that it was neces sary to occupy the public mind in France, and that to do that it would be necessary to undertake some enterprise abroad which would captivate the attention of the masses, and attach them to the Government. He thought Govern ment must be blinded indeed if, cfter that, they did not take every precaution to put the defence° of the country in the most efficient state consistent with the large sums of money they voted for that purpose. But in granting that, he thought that Ministers were bound to supply fuller and greater information as to the state of the defences, and of the condition of the army. Had any statement of that kind been made to the House? They had from year to year enormous estimates sobmitted, and vet no satisfactory account was ever given of the manner in which the money was laid out. He was prepared to say that the sums annually voted were quite enough for national defence, without either militia, Martello towers, or ritlemen.—(Hear, hear.) We might take a lesson from the way in which the French estimates were prepared in 1848, from which it would appear that in one sense one Englishman was still worth two Frenchmen, for an English soldier was just double the cost of a French soldier.—(Hear, and a laugh.) He had the French estimates in his hand, and he would read one or two extracts from them to show that our service was managed in the moat extravagant and reckless way, and that we should do well if we took a leaf out of our next door neighbour's book. The English army consisted of 113,287 men, and it cost 9,337,0001., or 821. Bs. 4d. a soldier. The French army in 1848 was composed of 338,653 men, and cost 12,138,0001., or 41/. 12s. Bd. per man.—(Cheers.) But he would go fur ther. What was the number of generals in the English ser vice? We had no less than 117 generals for an army of 113,287 men, while the French army, which in 1848 was treble, and was now quadruple the amount of our force, had but eight marshals and 143 general officers. He would take also the staff of the two armies, and compare the proportion ate expense incurred. In the English army the charge for the effective service was 3,270,0001., or about 38 1 / 4 per cent. upon a total expenditure of 9,337,0001., while the French staff cost but 2,260,0,)0/., which was a charge rather under 19 per cent. on an expenditure of 12,183,000'. Whe n , therefore, Honourable Gentlemen talked of the country not being in a proper state of defence, he would advise them to look a little into these French estimates, and the House would bear in mind that in this comparison no account whatever was taken of the dead weight. He found also that the French soldiers, being clothed on a system of open con tracts, were clothed at 12s. a head less than our own soldiers, though their uniforms were furnished in a country which ought to be the cheapest country in the world for woollen clothing.—(hear, hear.) Another thing which he found was this—that in the French army, trebling our own in amount, military justice was administered at a cost of 8,0004, while in the English army it cost 32,000/. There must be some thing wrong in all this. There must be some great waste somewhere. The money which the House of Commons voted annually for military purposes could not be laid out to the best advantage, or else why was so great a difference observable in the French estimates and our own? It was true that we spent but 22,000/. in powder, while the French outlay in that article quadrupled that amount; and the French soldiers were armed wits.). the Minid rifle, and equipped with every improvement suggested by modern military science, while the English soldier was only supplied with the miser able musket. He repeated that it was evident that some thing wrong was going on, and that the House ought, be fore they agreed to the third reading of the Bill, to insist on some better information being given on the subject of mili tary expenditure than had been afforded. He thought that if an intelligent foreigner had come into the House during the debate on the introduction of the Bill, he would have been I ather surprised to see the Home Secretary, who was very skilful, no doubt, as a Chancery lawyer, coming for ward to propose that 50,000 men should be raised to form a militia. What could the Right Honourable Gentleman know about military matters? In saying this he did not atiribut any blame to - the Minister of the day; what he found fault with was the system. He thought these matters ought to be in the hands of a War Minister, who ought to ha able to ex plain to the House the condition of the army and the nature and extent of our resources. The consequence of the present system was, that the House was about to pass a Bill in a panic, which no one in his heart believed ym e t n o , b a e n o d f a a n ii ,v ei s v e i r . - 7tio ° n f s m , b il e it l a ie r vyed to be inefficient vice, and which the tn e aj x o c r e i lians, with some few for its purpose. He said, "with some few excepti ons ," be caused he had perceived to-day in the papers an address from the Right Honourable Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer to those confiding farmers who were his con stituents in Buckinghamshire. The Right Honourable Gentlemen recounted in that address those rapid acts of statesmanship for which he wished his Government to go down to the admiration of posterity.—(Hear, hear.) The Right Honourable Gentleman plumed himself on one as a measure of internal defence, which it is,believed"—the Right Hon. Gentleman did not state his own opinion on the subject —" will soon prove both pspular, economical, and efficient." Ile (Mr. Osborne) would take leave to parody the words of the Right Hon. Gentleman, and to assert his belief that this " internal defence" would soon become an internal com plaint, which would prove neither economical nor beneficial. He was very much mistaken if even the confiding farmers of Buckinghamshire did not ask the Right Hon. Gentleman some more questions about the origin of this- Bill. He was rather surprised to find that the Right Hon. Gentleman should have assumed the parentage of this measure, but he was prepared to prove that he was only its putative father, and that he really had nothing to do with such a miser able abortion. He could prove that the idea was taken by the Home Secretary from a pamphlet written in 1843, by Mr. Frederick Hill, inspector of prisons, but with the omission of some useful adjuncts to the plan; an omission which would remind the House of two tolerably well-known lines— " Quem recitas meus est, 0 Fidelline, libellas, bed male cum recitas, incipit esse tuns." ....(Hear, hear, and a laugh.) Every Hon. i. recol lected the proposition which the Righttwo years' service; made to give militiamen a vote after sudden fit of Parlia mentaryl Member Geu t lem un and they also remeaibered—the most Gen tleman came down to the House o give them a vote. There repentance on record—when and said that he did not mean togHomn.ouday Right. Hon. Gentleman said that the tendencies of was a great variety of opinion were democratic, others t no Joke at all. He believed that tbe out this movement. Some weighed the proposal, .but had deliberately H knew where the Right the Government that the proposal was a joke of it was Lord Derby's. But it was stole it from. Hon. Gentleman who proposed to induce soldiers Mr. Windham s, in 1805,. He e took it from a speech of to enlist by giving their none of their sergeantsthunder. He a right to shoot Thisgame.— was aßi piecell bore of o p n o its li ti face c ai patchwork, the marks o(fLhaausgthytecromeepdilaethieoenr.sit defence of the country, but for the poli ticalnot intended for the . and ue what ar,b e was itr. its last moments. The country exigencies of a Ministry . in more, it would t b w e a o n f t it, it it u h s use d t onthe beliefco unitnr3i..t: There was a perfect apathy about it out of doors, and no on© out of the House talked about Martello towers. B u t e the e nit was said "Let us have an army of reserve." The Right Honourable Gentleman seemed to think that it was enough to put a man in a red coat and make him shoulder a musket, to make him a soldier. He should have supposed that he had read Mr. Windham with sufficient attention to satisfy himself that mere numbers were not a suffi cient defence of a country. The Right lion. Gentleman proposed to raise the militia by giving a bounty, which it was clear would operate most unequally in different parts of the country. In the rural districts it would deprive the farmer of a great deal of labour, probably when he most wanted it, while in the manufacturing districts, where the bounty would be of no avail, the Government must resort to the ballot, a proceeding contrary to the " genius of the epoch," which no statesman ought to disregard.—(Cheers and laughter.) With regard, however, to this army of re serve, the Right Honourable Gentleman the Secretary for the Home Department told the House with considerable aplomb and confidence, that he proposed to make them effi cient soldiers by drilling them for twenty-onedays. He was really quite astonished at the simplicity of the Right Hon. Gentleman. Where had he been living all his life? Had his briefs been so numerous in the Court of Chancery that he knew nothing of the organization of arms? He defied her Majesty's Ministers themselves, though he admitted that they were active recruits, to acquire a knowledge of their profession in twenty-one days. lie admitted that the Noble Lord at the head of the Government had shown much skill in performing, a rather difficult evolution-- namely, changing his trout in the presence of his adversary. —(Hear, hear, and laughter.) The Chancellor of the Lx chequer was well ve rse d i n light infantry movemeeta_ knew well how t o a d vance and retire on a buds,t, in (Laughter.) The Home Secreta r y was equally expe.r _Ls avoiding the file-living of questions.—(Laughter.) I neighbour the Right Hon. Member for North Es - w U Uld Secretary -at-War) was an experienced soldier, an d soldier, had avoid danger at any quarter ; but the Attorney -General of not been able to get much farther than the rudiments farce which was Qex (the "goose st ep." — (Laughter.) But the f. ,„,, even as proposed to be raised would be a n d cheers.) The an organized hypocrisy.—(Laughtevr u a ld more probably Bill was not worth the paper, and ' men were to be tempt invasion than repel a ggression —e drill, the end of live years, after 121 days such a force would be dismissed to their homes. Why, "- likely to be dangerous (Cheers.) At the no thing but, an irreular horde, to the regular scldiers than ti but he never contain- Pitt was a great advocate for null s Ills idea was that the men plated such a militia as this. kept in an efficient state. Some should be brigaded and toin.thoeraiers, foes.— (Cheers.) Mr. of understanding on these points gentlemen, who resemblet t l amiability and general want a ''o days' drill, but Mr. Pitt the Home Secretary in his —(Laughter)—had propo,._int,ing man w h e th e r it is possible Said, " I beg to ask any "' ; for a volunteer to acquire only the simplest part of a eo)dier's training in 20 days?"—(Cheers.) He (Mr. jßt.te it Osborne).' too, who •!a ° s tli a d ae& nan 'w Pr t4Li esi li dC a n sit t • t a 4 a t Y he tl l li n a d k i i a ng ß oardman—hp , how it was possible to make a man a soldier iaie; expe rience, and might have heard Mr. Pitt speak— gdatver)-- e by the sta fa m b p le i d ng h t er h o e g c r , o f un th d e ; bfaurteeh,e and (Hear, hear.) The Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Walpole) 6 seemed to emulate Pompey the Great, who used to boast.a h m e o r c e ou l likely to t e o an r e resemble would_be obliged to say— " Begone, brave army! don't kick up a row." —(Loud laughter.) The Lill was a trumpery:abortion ; but there was one clause so obnoxious that he could not refrain from making a remark upon it. He was much surprised that a Minister at the eve of an election, and therefore anxi ous, he presumed, to acquire a little popularity, and to consult " the genius of the epoch"—(Laughter)—should have proposed to exempt Peers from serving.—(Cheers. ) He thought that that was a great slur upon the British aristocracy, and he believed that. they felt it as an insult; for, whatever the faults of the aristocracy, they had never shrunk from takings their share in file dangers and difficulties of the public defence.—(Cheers.) He had said that it was impossible to make the militia an army ot reserve. An lion. Gentleman beside him had alluded to the inititia in Anirica; but Wa.shington had always spoken of it with the greatest contempt. In 1776, after the battle of Brooklyn, where the militiamen were repulsed with igno miny, Washington denounced them in the strongest terms, aad said, that the depressed state in which ihe American cause then stood arose from "short enlistments, short drill, and placing too great dependence on the mi litia."—( Hear, hear.) Reference had 'also been made to the National Guard of France, but nothing could be more unfortunate. When a motion was made in the French Chamber for the re-organization of the National Guard, General de Grammont stated—and he begged the attention of the Hon. Gentleman the Member for Glasgow (Mr. Macgregor) to this, for he was fond of statistics—Gen. de Grammont stated, that on the 28th June, 1848, although the National Guard of Paris numbered 237,000, they could only , prevail on 8.000 to come ont from their homes.—(Laugh tete) He (Ur. B. Osborne) had on a recent occasion voted with a Right lion. Gentleman (Mr. Gladstone) against the propos:al of the Ministers for re-allotting the vacant Seats, on the ground that this was merely a provisional Government; but, if it was not right to legislate for the purpose of giving Members to constituencies, he thought they ought not to pass this Bill , whic h, in his conscience, he believed wou ld b e o f no use, at the instigation of lion. Gentlemen who had none of the confidence of - that (the walls, to have an overpowering tOrupeposriotiloicny) o s f id t e h o is t thceouHnoturyse,waand very little of the other. — (Ministerial cries of "Oh!" and coanter-cheering.) If they wanted any army of reserve at all, he believed the • navals to now wooden power could compete with • and to give full scope to volun teer rifle corps, if rifles they But called on the wanted. e House in the words of a statesman now no more, not to be lo fo ok rce to su t c h h e as ir caught by a fear of invasion into the snare of a designing Ministry, not to pass scrambling for a . party and Ameisure propos e d by a Ministry Parliaa,eiat.—e, discussed in the panic of an ex piring Th. SOLICITOR Gallant Member, in his somewhat that the Hon. and quoted the authority of many what humorous Hon. and Pitt, against the present prpopsearrns, from Washington to of (the Solicitor-General) thought that raising a militia. lie i au thorities on the subject, th e present if ll they looked to without support, and instan ce d the opinionwould not stand of the very eminent soldier wh o stood in it s fa vo ur army, and the distinguished office r at the the he a d o f t h e head of the Board of Ordnance. The Governm en t of the late Sir Robert Peel had given instructions for pr e p ar i ng the establishment of a militia, and the late a Bill for Government had brought forward a proposal somewhat similar to that now before the House. It was not, therefore, to be con tended that the authorities were all on the one side, neither could it be maintained that the time had not arrived whea it had become the bounden duty of a Government to bring forward such a measure as the present.—(Hear, hear.) An increase in the regular army had been recom mended by those who were opposed to the present measure, and strangely enough this recommendation had proceeded from the party which boasted of being the Whigs of 1688. - (Hear, hear.) If, however, such a proposal as that of per manently increasing the standing army had been brought forward by the Government, he could imagine the burst of opposition with which it would have been encountered by the same Hon. Members.—(Hear, hear.) The militia which it was proposed to raise had been characterised as a perfectly inefficient body. He did not concur in that opinion, and wished the House to remember that the force proposed to be raised was intended to aid, and not to supersede, the regular tooops. He believed that in the present state of affairs the proposed force was the best adapted to meet the requirements of the case, and the best calculated to afford a guarantee for the contingence of peace.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. PETO considered the increased facilities of commu nication by telegraph and other means as the best guarantee for peace, and as the most efficient security against hostile invasion. The present measure, while it was calculated to disturb the whole industry of the country, would merely produce a force which it was generally believed would be exceedingly ineffective. There existed throughout the country an intensity of feeling against the measure, of which the Government appeared to-be but little conscious, and he thought that the better course would be to increase the standing army rather than have recourse to a measure such as this. -- (Hear.) . The House then divided, When the numbers were— For the amendment e ., 148 aso Against it Majority ... . - —i - ~,5 , .. • .- ••• The Bill was therefore read a third time. Mr. TIIORNELY then moved the addition of the fol lowing proviso to the end of clause 18:—"No member of the senate of the University of London, nor any examiner, professor, tutor, or lecturer of the said university, or of any college, school, or institution connected with the said uni versity, under the provisions of any charter thereof, nor any student of any such college, school, or institution, duly ma triculated in the said university, and actually receiving education in any of the said colleges, schools, or institutions,, nor any resident member of the University of Durham shall be liable to serve or provide a substitute for the militia." Mr. WALPOLE proposed to include within the exemp tion contemplated by the proviso the members of St. David's Co: ege, Ltimpeter. Mr. BRIGHT thought that Owen's College, Manchester, which was in many respects a kindred institution to those which it was sought to exempt from the operation of the ' clause, ought also to be included within the exemption. There was also a large college in the neighbourhood of Manchester, intended for the education of ministers of the Independent body of Nonconformists, as well as several others in different parts of the kingdom. He could not dis cover any reason why those colleges embraced in the proviso of the Hon. Member (Mr. Thornely) should be exempted, and why other colleges of much the same character should be differently treated, especially those where young men were being trained to the Christian ministry. Mr. EWART thought the College of St. Bees stood in the same category with reference to the claim of exemption. Mr. WALPOLE said St. Bees was a school, and not a college. After a remark from Mr. HEYWOOD, ILLIAMS. amid cries of " Oh, oh," and some au Th e proviso was added to the clause. movedS‘ the omission of clause 18, which he consi dered to be one of the most b objectionable in the whole Bill, I rtgihntle W. r. as establishing a system of conscription. Mr. WALPOLE said the clause having been so fully dis cussed in Committee, and the whole Bill having been con sidered both on the second and third readings as one recog nizing the necessity, in some cases, of having recourse to the ballot, he would put it to the Hon. Gentleman whether it was worth while dividing the House. In that claus e there was nothing of a nature which com p elled the Exe cutive Go vernment to put the ballot in force in case the - volunteers s hould fail ; but it was a per missive cl ause, enabling the Crown to put the ba llot in o p eration in case it should be sso leave Laugh outter.) the A proviso ndift at bey the le fto clan endut of anotherse t h e y es m sa us rY t •— al the c l ause , which restrained the Government from putti ng execution the statute of George 111 ., unless they into n e G ra ising the volunteers. failed in The House then divided, when the result was— For the omission of the clause . 14 Against ..•....... ................... Majority ...... ...... ............... I S7 On the motion of Sir DE LACY .i' " ,.V .. ....... S' .---45 clause was inserted after cl ause 3 4 : —,,N -, the following any thing herein contained, the provisions otwithstanding the 44th year of King G eorge ' contained in an Act of 111., to consolidate and amend the ~ c- 54, intitul e d "A n Act relating to corps of yeomanry l°re and volunteers of the several Acts Britain, and to make regulations of Great on in force, so f ar as the s relating th ereto, ' s h a ll con tinuesame corps of applies t o th e enro lment of yeomanry and volunteers which such corps are entitle • and the exemptions to Act." d by virtue of th e l as t-mantioned Sir DE LACY EVANS end of cla use 3 5, to h L then proposed a p r oviso at the effect that it shall not be lawfu l to order the ballot, except in tim e o f actua l wa r or imminent Mr. WALPOLE su pported by Mr. An t opposed the proviso, w hich was sey and M D' Mr. GOULBU - r. RIN • said Eyneourt. amendment at the effect of the am the . end of clause 3_ t the miners in Cornwall from thej would be to exempt Masses would be liable.—(Lauh ballot, whilst all other c The Ilouseter. divided, when there appeare d 82 the• ... 82 proviso •" Against it • "*" . . ... 17896 Majority aga . inst the proviso ••• The Bill was then passed. THE LAW BILLS. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER announced that he proposed to take the Common Law Procedure Bill (Committee), the Masters in Chancery Abolition Bill (Com mittee), and the Improvement of the Jurisdiction of Equity Bill (Committee) on Friday next. NAVY PAY BILL. The House went into Committee on the Navy Pay Bill. PECHELL desired to know if it were in- Sir GEORGE leave three months'pay • in arrear in tended by this Bill to le stead of six months? _,,es. Mr. STAFFORD 1 _.,, . Mr. S. HE RBERT —where is the necessity for any l ii what manner does the present system alteration? work ill? . the Die n, because the system appears unfavourab le Mr. STAFFORD —The present system is unpopular amongst with the practice • wi in the merchant service. Th.) , introduced as a precaution against de • present sertion, but it is now found unnecessary. The whole tone of is so much better that it is not necessary to continue the nay)" • i n Admiral a s sc o tT a i the disqualification. ce was EIVAIAT expressed his approval of the Bill. He .thonght it would be very acceptable to the navy, and would tend to make the service popular. Although they ought never to give up the right of impressment, he hoped they would never have occasion to use it. Captain SCOBELL concurred in thinking the Bill, as far as it went, would make the navy popular. He wished to ask the Secretary of the Admiralty whether it affected seamen of foreign stations, because most of our navy served abroad? Mr. VERNON SMITH also inquired whether it would add to the expense of the country? Mr. STAFFORD replied that it would not occasion one farthing's additional expense; and that the measure would D Elt O F i n te BUSlNESS.nintended on apply to seamen on foreign stations. the order of public business The various clauses were then agreed to, and the Bill passed ir. w t h A ro i u! p h o Cz E m: t i n n it s t t e a e trin g said that the Government Oß Supply at twelve o'clock, and afterwards Thursday to take ' New Zealand Bill. On Friday they to go on with the the Colonial Bishops Bill, then to proposed to begin with o on with the law Bills, and to end with the Interment Bill.—(Laughter.)) POOR-LAW BOARD l'—(Laughter.) CONTINUANCE (IRELAND) BILL This Bill passed through 6 PASSENGERS -A Committee. BILL- The third readi ng CT AMENDMENT of this Bill having been moved, Mr. MACGREGOR the shipping interest t were said that so much oppo se d to this measure, which had taken tht mi by surprise, that he hoped the Government would not pen evere with it during .the present session. If, however, the third i reading was pressed on the present comion, he shoul4 mon