The Sun. — London, England, 1841-02-12 00:00:00

""" siollo n an, I tho pro , the °test ntft n the cl .lOO , 1: ,if ' f be :0 41 1 ret i ` oar tho S : of . s' o i mie s e cle r a t 7 i go .._____-IVlOItll/4,TINTC EDITION 1-511;f3tIAL PARLIAMENT. HO In the U.SR OF LORDS, rim. 10. Sfi ian, AFSBU ILY t' "s"N oft h eLord CI -ell^r the Eal of TE Jok his seat on the Woolsack at Fire T he E, EARL OF CARDIGAN. til er Re trl of: SHAFTESBURY brought up a fur (or t h r port of the Committee, and moved for an order th e r attendance of certain witnesses on the trial of at -2tu vl of Cardi gan on T uesday next. His Lardship un atoed for th e atten d ance of the Earl of Cardigan Li his bail at the bar of the House an Tuesday next, t elev en o ' clock;in the forenoon, to take his trial on thectment preferted .against him, and tha t if th e should lat.t taore than one day, the Earl of ',:,ardigan should rentiih. in custody of th e Usher o f the Black Rod dtitint, the trial.—Ord; re (tLord 1111\1 -CANNON gay:: notice that he would o-rnorrovr) move 4 dp , urn to Tuesdav next. '.oe House at its rising should Lord II ' w IRELAND. AR moved f or th e pro d uct i on of eert;n ..,..returns relative to Ireland, the nature of which wetiiotild not icarn.—Ordered. 1 lire Il er l o f DEVON wished to ask of the Kohl ' ,, Marquis (Nortnanb)) whether he had • 1.'..-eived any information respecting the Surveyor r, f the Celtraine Union, in the county of Tip ' Miry, having t ntered to the book from which e official returns were mule against certain erasures ' l l the list, tl.e wor,l " Tory," as he (the Eeri of Devon) had received information that such was the cast' i end he t h oug h t that if the surveyors so far tureot their duty at to indulge in this manner their political feelings, it was a practice much to be deprecated. If the Noble Ma rcia;' had received no information on the subject, he t.lireciaueitstwed4s that hee,s.ew„ould make inquiries, and if h e f oun d express the di sappro b at i on of the Uovernment at the' practice, oftT e e ct, N b o u b t le h E e 5 ,.....a r . The Marquis of NOWeIA NBY said the statement desired ; but I'r I wees the first lie lind'• !heard of the uld certainly make the inquiries he Assist A '3in his knowledge of the character of the ka,.,a,,Qt• _ C ommissioner, he did not I,elieve he could tae ' ' l ' 4o '4 in a manner that would be so contrary to ell':it. of his instructions, ~. I.?rd BROUGHAM presented a petition from a rbite meeting held in Glasgow very numerously at _ended. stating that serious divisions Nif3i'lltisiiited be tic the middl e and working classeeyiand 'Praying as t rn h . best remedy for this evil that ',eta lahonring classes tglit be admitted to a large par deipetion to - the rights of the Constitution—that the. ...elective franchise might s 4 extended to these class Elective the duratiou of t" rhernent might be shor',...„d , qualification should b e r et-,e;led. and that the property Lord I 3 S f JCIALISM. Re d . ROUG r e s AM then pres e nt e d p e ti t i ons f rom of tah e lo ijng, Glasgord., Wand Northampton, from th e mem b ers that thirivers. d. Ai National R e li g i ous S oc i ety, comp l a i n i ng i ngfor an . Jetrines had been misrepresented, and pray to 3, inquiry i n t o t h em . T he N o b le Lord proceeded th ey y That he presented these petitions because pr W ere resp ee tf u il y wor d e d , and because the 'llea complained of misrepresentation. He, there a'ave * seemed it his duty, as the petitions had been /Put into his hands, to submit them to their Lord ttiPst although he was himself unacquainted with , a subject, and totally Iminforeeed whether the coa t ' b,._,ges alluded to wire well rounded or not. He 04°e(1, however, hole more stating tot oto trees that opportunity of their Lordships his firm tireryetion had te °bs ef - a b end %/filth all his experience and dtletl more and more to confirm— bear the if there w".,re any absurdities so great as not to th ere the testirne•Ay of calm inquiry for one instant ; it the - Were e nv , thing so revolting to men's feelings in froex P l a h ei r'''.e; of these parties that all must shrink ead t r T"P- consideration of them with abhorrence lie .ci , ' gust ; if their doctrines were so profligate )i as .. 010 "ea stat e d, no mo d e more effectual to din • 4 the nat ura l a b horrence which these doctrines 'lntbt inspire could be devised than making those prtliels ing tbe the obj ects of persecution and , to ranishmentr.n He entertainc . d . that opinion still r e t_ strongly with regard to political opinions; how ;hat revolting they might be. His belief was k y " Y attempt to p u t d own suc h pr i nc i p l es , Prosecution, and by c h ec ki ng t h e d i scuss i on ,° doct rines which, if l e f t to t h emse l ves, would die ee s r batural d eath, was a course fraught with la as..onveni ence and dan ge r. H e app li e d t h at all doctrines, as well religious as political, and b e , applied it to political heresies of the most ro of.atting kind. He included under it the Repeal il:te Union in Ireland, and his deliberate opinion was, if his Noble Friends behind him had been ill-advised ;* t ueY held euf, as he understood they had, to parties Ita Ireland, that whoever took part in the discussion hesPecting the Re eal of the Union, must no longer ; ak to the countenance or the patronage of her Ma- J4tYa Government in Ireland. He believed that was if. It the way to put down the repeal agitation, but that loateft to itself i t would die, like all others, a natural h, ,VENTILATION OF THE HOUSE. 'lle Marquis of WESTMEATH b egged to ask w hether -it was intended, at the approaching trial, to t conti nue the act i on of the hot air employed in beating e House ? If t h ere was no alternative, he should prefer the cold air ; and it appeared to him that the best , 144 Would be to leave the House to itself. He had felt very great inconvenience from the hot air when the p l j i h nuse w as full, and it would be still more inconvenient 501 q,crowded, as i t wai hkely to be on Tuesday next, vi to the Pe ers wearin e ,cr their robes. Inett:re°;bUnuttDUNCANNON would inquire into the he und ers t oo d t h e N o bl e L or d h a d com - Vitined of the cold air last year. piaThe Marquis of WESTMEATH had merely cm , ned of the ventilation, and an alteration had in con .eq4er, i cc been made in one of the windows. 4dinurne.l. Th H OUSE OF COMMONS, FEL e SPEAKER took the Chair at the usual hour. f 'le Ea r l o f Lts i owEL took the oaths and his se at °r St. Alban's. Lord EASTNOR tookthe oaths a n d hi s sca t f or R e i ga t e . :Ie harsh The eriff s of L on d on an d Mi ddlesex appeared at n l Lo a the House , and presented a petition from e Lord Mayor and ' Common Council of the Oity non, pr ay i ng for leave to bring in a Bill for the Sir WProvernent of th e approaches to London-bridge. E. KNATWIBULL presented , a petition from t ag for ondon and Greenwich Railway C o mp a ny, pray leave to bring in a Bill to amend their Acts. Th PRIVATE BILLS. s t , Committee On P r i va t e Bill s reporte d t h at t h e ict n ulng Orders had been complied with by several lease Companies an d ot h er public Companies, and was accordingly g i ven t h em to b ring in Bills. ir Y . • BULLER presented a petition from Tot very of r°3 smalll.7ll for leav e t o esta bli sh a Court fq the reco debts. MEDICAL REFORM. t Mr • STANDISH BARRY presented several peti jols fro m medi ca l practitioners in the county of Cork xavour of m e di ca l reform PITZSTEPHEN ' s fr FRENCH presented ) peti t Com places i n t h e counties of Mayo and Sligo to sa me effect. Al. IMPROVEMENT OF GAOLS. a' G REEN an d turn E pre sen t ed a pet i t i on from undergaolers ju-t" t o d uce keys, p ray i ng that in any Bill which might be d for the improvement of aols, a provisi 1'5°14 be made for the superannuation g of the officers.o n m T HE MONMOUTH RIOTS. th e ' 4 4 M. PH ILLIPS pater presented a petition from M tli„, r ' Praying f or a Committee to i nqu i re into V ilF.lro urnst anees connected with the case o f Frost, 'Fill' and J unes. He supported the petition. ,NEWSP APER STAMP DUTIES . - . Pr o T. DUNCOMBE pr e sent e d a petition from W htehs of aperiodical prietor tn s of tl ta name was not heard in the gallery, StampsCommilsioncrs i in aitl'"ghng th e pu b lication to the duty upon newspapers, Pa t. heY did not publish as much news as other WereMr, exempt from the tax. kid i4 . 1 ' FER presented a petition from the North extensr.odalld_iirvay Company, praying for a Bill for the A . of their powers. 411(11:7 HODGES presented petitions from Bramley Lill re other parishes in the County of Kent, against the °r t • he continuance of the powers of the Poor-law oter u i Mr, I,ioners. from • Sergeant T kLFOURD presented a petition 1 31. Gi usgow, in favour of the Copyright of Designs . Pr ay i ng a nd also a petition from the Socialists of Reading, 1 4 1 :g for an iuquiry into their doctrines. r 4t „ ' V. SMITH presented a petition from certain 44;e1Yers of 'Northampton, aga i ns t t h e P oor -l aw utenE Act. \r r IET ROPOLIT AN IMPROVEMENTS. certo: DUNCOMBE presented a p e titi on f rom Pro.o inha b4 ants of Cl er k enwell, in favour of the jeetei im provr?ments in that parish. % rti I.* H EXTENSION OF T HE SUFFRAGE 9;,.UME pr stinted a pet ad a public praying t" nt notiabituts of tne ition borati g go ree of to Anderston, sta f or an extension of the suffrage. The petition (lc tt the situatio n of the people was at present very dl:..)t;u4:o,and that throu..ii want of work, low wages; and :Uod, and were suering great privation. These tatio Eat 1U to the defective state of the represen the 11, and conclud e d b y praying for the extension of suffr age eluded to lie upon the table. SrT:eLEcTioN COMMITTEES. oEatecit read the list of Members who are Present sorve upon Election Committees during the t ilt r ent sessi o n, Several Members were excused on gr ound or their b ,. sixty years of age. ,ang l . O, 1 - N ung a ore . tdmersten was excused on the ground of his one of her M:ijesty's principal Sect etaries of State. ri,',2rd John Russell was excused on the same ground. Was Chancehor of the Exchequer, Mr. F. Baring, th 4 u 3 t e:ffiettees.ed from serving on the ground of his hoking Lord NOT ICES OF MOTION. rtiftrY 18E, heLIOT gave notice that on Thursday, Feb should call the attention of the House to the Report of tire Cott-ilssioners appo'nted to consider tlic method of preventin g ships being, struck by lightn'ng. POOR-LAW. Sir EARDLEY WILMOT tat , hatke that in the Committee on the Poon.hov big ho should move an arneedment on the opprenticeship clause, requiring the ['lavers of apprentices to produco the paupers in their empoyment before the Guardians every half year, in order that their condition tn:ght be inquired hitt). Colonel WOOD gate notice that on the Och clAuse of the Poor-lt,v Bill being discussed it Cnmtnittce, be should ''..".ev3 that all cottage; the annual rental of which did s.iot exceed V., should be exempt from Poor-rates. Air. WHITE, Lord GRANi , ILLE SOMERSET, and Mr. DAltßy also give notice of their intencion of proposing amendments in the Committee on the New Poor•law Mr. 'WALLACE gave some notice on the subject of the County Courts' Bill. Toe Hon. Gentleman also gave notice of his intention of bringing forward a mo tion en the subject of the expense of conveying mails by RETURNS OF THE POOR-LAW COM. MISSIONERS. Lord GRANVILLE SOMERSET wished to ask the Hon. Under-Secretery of the Home Department when it was probable that certain Returns relating to the Poor-law Commissioners, for which he had moved, would be laid on the table. Mr. FOX MAULS would make inquiries on the subject ; he should see the Commissioners to-morrow, and would ascertain when it would be probable the returns in question would be made. LORD KEANE. Lord J. RUSSELL gave notc-2, that to-morrow he should move a Committee of the whole House to con sider her Majesty's Gracious Message relative to Lord Keane. Mr. HUME gave notice that on that occasion he should take the sense of the House against the proposi tion of the NoHe Lord. THE NIGER EXPEDITION. Lord INGESTRIE said he had been given to un derstand that a great delay had taken place in the sailing of the Niger Expedition, and that it would not start for a month or six weeks. In such case it was likely to arrivo at its destination in that unhealthy climate in a most unhealthy season of the year. He wished to ask the Noble Lord whether he had been correctly- informed. Lord J. RUSSELL said that the delay had arisen from the circumstatietof' the last steam-vessel that went up the Niger rhaVingibren detained in consequence of the river not being high enough. It had conse quently been deemed expedient that the vessels should not enter the river until the end of June. He should, however, make inquiries on the subject. Mr. HU iNIE wished to aik whether the Noble Lord had any objection to lay before the House a copy of the instructions under which the expedition was to sail. Lord J. RUSSELL believed the different objects of the expedition had barn 'stated in a letter which had been laid before Parliament by the Colonial Office in the last Session of Parliament. He was not prepared to state what the precise instructions were. Lord INGESTRIE said that June or July was the most unhealthy part of the year, and what he wanted to know was, whether the expedition would go out at that season or not ? Lord J. RUSSELL said that doubts now arose as to what was the fittest tune for entering the river. The matter under consideration at the present time, was what might be the most h'eathful season for entering the river. CONSTA BUL A RY. Sir EDWARD KNA.TCHBULL moved for leave to bring in a Bill to provide for the appointment and payment of parish constables in England and Wales. Mr. F. MAULE would not object to the intro duction of the Bill, although he should reserve to himself the right of objecting to it upon its future stages.• He hoped, however, that it would not have the effect of resuscitating the old system' of consta• bulary in England. After a fey . ; words from Mr. L. HODGES and Sir E. KNATCHBULL, leave was given to bring in the PORTUGUESE CLAIMS. Viscount SA NDON rose and said he was very sorry to be obliged again to trouble the House with a question which had - already too often occupied its attention. He had hoped from what tran spired last Session, that the claims of British subjects upon the Portuguese Government were in a fair way of being adjusted, and would require no further interfer ence on his part. But on his return to London he found that the settlement of the claims of British officers and soldiers upon the Crown of Portugal were exactly in the same position as when the Parliament closed. He faund that there was not one claim settled, and that no step had been taken towards the final adjustment. In order to show the House that he was not needlessly complaining of delay, he would remind them of the state of this question.—( Hear.) In the first place, these claims had naw remained unsettled for the space of six years. In the month of March last year, his Noble Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, announced in that year, that the Portuguese Government had at length agreed to appoint Commissioners for the purpose of settling these claims. In answer to a clues. tion which he (Lord Sandon) put to his Noble Friend, he stated that a Commissioner had been appointed by that Government, and ott the 30th March that a Commissioner had also been appointed by the British Government. In May the Portuguese Commissioner arrived, and in the month of June the claimants applied to the British Commissioner for information how they were to pre med. On the 29th of June he ( Lord Sandon) took the liberty of putting to his Noble Friend farther questions, and the reply was, in a few days the Com missioner would be able to begin the investigation. The first sign of life which the Commissioners publicly gave was an announcement in the month of Novem ber that they were appointed, and even then they did not say that they were prepared to investigate claims. It was not till the month of De cember that they invited the claimants to bring their claims before them. Now he (Lord Sandon) had discovered that up to that very moment there had not :been a single claim investigated. A question still existed, he believed, between the Com missioners, or between the Governments upon what principle these claims were to be adjusted, or what was the contract upon which they would rest. Consider ing that it was stated in the early part of last S ess i on that there was then no question at issue that might not be settled in a few days, and that if the Portuguese Government did not proceed with the matter within fourteen days the British Government were prepared to take the question into their own hands, he was sur prised that the British Government should not have made up their mind earlier what was the contract upon which rested the claims of British subjects ; and if they bad not yet done so, he thought the earliest steps should be taken for the purpose of effectig an adjustment. He was most anxious to call the attention of the House to the condition of the question, and he should therefore take the liberty of moving for the following returns : Copy of the mixed British and Portuguese Commission for investigating and determi n i ng th e Naval and Mili tary Claims on the Government of Portugal, arising out of the late war of restoration ; also a copy of the Con vention between the British and Portuguese Go vernments relating to the issuing of such Commission. Copy of the Instructions and Rules framed for the guidance and direction of the Commissioners. Return of what has been done by the Commissioners, and what progress has been made in the investigation of claims, and the number of claims, if any, which have been investigated and adjudicated ; and, if not any, the causes of the delay. Lord PALMERSTON assured his Noble Friend he much regretted that he Was not able to state that these claims were yet finally settled, but his Noble Friend was much mistaken if he fancied this matter was in the same state as when he (Lord Sandon) had left London late last Session. On the contrary considerable progress had been made, and he hoped that no great length of time would elapse before this matter would be brought at last to a final conclusion. The House was aware there was a long correspondence between the two Govern ments as to the appointment of a Commision At length the Portuguese Government appointed a Commissioner who had served in the English army, and was acquainted with the English language. When the Commissioners met in London, the first object was to draw up rules to guide them in the performence of their duties. This occupied some time, but at length a satis factory code was agreed to. The question of contracts of service was the first difficulty which the Commissioners had to encounter, and it could not be settled in a few days, as his Hon. Friend supposed. In order to prepare for any difference of opinion that might arise, the Commissioners appointed the Belgian Minister as an umpire to decide upon all dis puted points. Tnat functionary accepted the office with great readiness, although it was certainly one of greater labour than pleasure. He was eminently qualified to discharge the duties that he undertook, not only by his habits of business, but by his high character, which save to both parties the fullest confidence in his decisions. The first subject which the Commissioners had to refer to bum was that of the con tract of service, and it was now under his consideration. The argument on the subject had been come to by diplomatic communication, partly written and partly verbal. He would have no objection to lay before the House the papers moved for, with the exception of the two first, which could not then be produced. Lord SA NDON thought there was no reason for refusing the documents ; and he saw no excuse for the delay which had taken place on the subject. Lord PALMERSTON said that it was obvious there could be no use in going into an examination of the details of the claims until they had settled the question of the principle. Sir DE LACY EVANS said that he had reason to believe the 'motet- e , s now in a VPr" fair e settle:ineut ; and he trusted it would be soon brought to a satisfactory conclusion, He wished to observe that E SUN, LONDON, Flap .% y, FRB he felt very strongly at! to tie 'cr't!ndtlet of the Portu , oes° riroiierbinciit ; a n d h e b e li eved i t would pro b a bl y be found that the whole of the delay of six years was attributable to the want of good faith on the part of that Government. He thought it duo to the claimants to make Oat obsOliiation. if the I''.4loble Lord the Secretary for Foreign Attain, shoUld find bt and hie, *hen the investigation WAS PfeEbecled with, that these delao anti. these cruel and arbitrary proceedings towards the claimants were distinctly to be traced to the Por tuguese Government, it was to be hoped that he would support, not the right to an ordinary compensation for the delay and vexation they had suffered, but the most ampt.e compensation for every loss and inconvenience dig had sustained. The papers were then ordered to be granted, with the exception of the two first moved for. DESTITUTION IN THE HIGHLANDS. Mr. HENRY BAILLIE, in rising to bring forward the motion of which he had given notice, for the appoint ment of a Se:ect C4oinmittee to inquire into the condi tion of the population of the Islands and Highlands of S _totland, with a view to affording the people relief by means of emigration, felt the deep responsibility which every ono must incur who brought. forward a motion in which the future happiness of so many of his fellow countrymen must depend, and if he did not feel that the cause itself was so just as not to require any artificial advantages from the manner in which it should be pressed on the attention of the House, he should have hesitated in presenting himself to the House on the pre sent occasion. He was no enthusiast in the cause of emigration ; he was not one of those who thought the Government bound to bring forward an extensive system of emigration for the benefit ofof all the population of the United Kingdom. On the contrary, ho believed that un less an urgent, peculiar, and special case were clearly made out, the Government would not be justified in interfering, and unless he succeeded in making out such a case, he should feel that the House would not be bound to sup port his motion. It was hardly necessary to enter into details regarding the kelp manufactory, as it had existed on all the coasts of the Islands and Highlands of Seot land. That manufactory had existed as far back as the seventeenth century, and hed been fostered and en couraged by a protective system. The encouragement had been withdrawn, the manufatture had declined, and now had nearly ceased altogether, in consequence of the reduction of the duties on salt, sulphur, and be rilla. The duty on sulphur had been reduced, and the tax on salt had been abolished at the close of the last war. A new manufacture from these two articles had been then established, called British alkali, which was found to be in almost all cases an efficient substi tute for kelp. This was the first blow the kelp manufacture had received, still it had continued to exist until the further reduction of the duty on barille, when it ceased to exist altogether as a profita'ole specu lation. It was, however, he believed, still carried on, but only small quantities were menufacturcd, at a great loss to the manufacturer, merely for the purpose of giv ing employment to the destitute population. The con sequences of this reduction had been roost ruinous to the landed proprietors. Some who had vast posses sions had been able to struggle against it, but the smaller proprietors, and those whose estates were burdened with family settlements, had been absolutely and com pletely ruined. He might mention many cases of hard ship, but he did not appear there as the advocate of the landed proprietors ; they did not complain, because they knew that private interests must yield to public good. They called upon the House, in fairness and justice, to assist them in removing the super abundant population from their estates, who, from no fault of their own, but in consequence of the legis lation of that House, had been deprived of all means of subsistence. He was aware that he might be told by some Hon. Member his motion was partial and restrictive, and that it ought to include Ireland ; but be would beg to observe that the distress which existed in Ireland did not arise from the iocapabilities of the soil, but from other sources. The highlanders, how ever, had no expectation that their condition would ever be improved. No influx of capital, no ingenuity of man, could devise means by which the mountains and glens they now inhabited could be made capable of affording sufficient support to the population. In fact, they had merely a choice of two alternatives— either to remain where they were, to perish by those diseases which unhappil; had latterly appeared amongst them, engendered by unwholesome, improper, or in sufficient food, or to remove to some distant country, where, by industry, they might obtain the means of existence. And, painful as might be the alternative of going far from their native country they were prepared and ready to adopt that course ; they would receive it as a boon, and all they asked was that the House would afford them the means of doing so. It was not his intention to occupy the time of the House in reading many of the communi cations he bad received ,on the subject, because such evidence would more properly come before a Committee. There was ono letter, however, from one of the largest manufacturers of kelp in the north of Scotland, which he should read a few passages from to the House. Tire name of that gentleman was Mr. Duncan Shaw. (The Hon. Member here read an extract from the letter, in which it was stated that the people were suffering under the greatest distress, and that the proprietors, having lost two-thirds of their incomes, were unable to assist them out of the coua try.) The only remedy, in his opi nion, was emigration, and the country he proposed to send them to, as being the moot appropriate, was Canada. —(Hear, hear.) First, with regard to expense, it ap peared that they could be sent there for one-fourth the charge of sending them to the remote colony of Australia. He was informed they might be conveyed at the cost of 31. a head by families. According to the best cal culations on the state of the population in the High lands, there were about 40,000 persons inejan utterly destitute conditioe, who must be r emove d In order to afford those who remained a chance of olitainin g sub sistence. The removal of these at 31. a lead, would cost 120,0001., but it might be divided iria period of three years, and 40,0001. a year would cif all he re quired from the Government. In the cond pl ace , though these people were willing to emigre to Canada, it there would be great difficulty to persuade hem t o emi grate to the distant colonies of Australia. In Canada there were many of their relations and blends already settled, whole districts of Highlanders, speaking their own language, and retaining their manners and customs. In that country, their own Church was established by law, and that was a matter of great consideration to them. Lastly, he thought the Government ought net to neglect so favourable an opportunity of infusing into Canada a sound, industrious, British, and, above all, ' loyal population. It should not be forgotten that it was to some Highlanders, from the districts of Glengarry, we were lately indebted for the preservation of that noble province as a portion of our empire. Nor should we neglect the further opportunity of adding strength to that loyal body of men, who on all occasions had come forward so nobly and sacrificed their lives and fortunes to maintain the authority of the British t Crown, and the supremacy of the mother-country. He was aware the Government had stated serious obje c tio ns t o Cana- 1 dian emigration. It had been stated that emigrants sent out from this country to Canada were in the habit of going over in large numbers to the United States, where they found a good market for their labour. But , he contended this obj ec ti o n did no t a pply t o t h ese Hi g h- I landers. It must be remembered that they went out from particular districts, with their wives and families, and those other tics of relationship and clanship which were known to be so' peculiarly binding among High landers ; and he appealed to any in the least acquainted with the character of that people, whether under these circumstances they were likely to forsake those with whom they had left their native country, provided they were able to obtain the means of subsistence ? He wished to remind Hon. Members that those people had peculiar claims on their consideration. He would remind them that in spite of all the misery endured by these people—in spite of all their distress, Hon. Members heard of no outrages—no violence—no Chartism amongst them ; they only heard of the most patient endurance on their part of the worst and most intolerable evils. They were therefore entitled to the most favourable consideration of their case. He had no doubt that the people of England, who sanctioned a vote of 20 millions sterling for the purpose of better ing the social condition of the negroes of the West In dies—he had no doubt that the Government, who only last year obtained a grant of 60,000/, of the public money, to be appropriated to the civilisation of the Afri cans, would not, in the case of a portion of the British people who were enduring the most intolerable hard ships, show themselves opposed to the measure now proposed. Not only the Government but the people of England ought to know that the portion of their countrymen to whom his motion referred had been reduced by the legislation of that House— however necessary—however advantageous that legisla tion might have been to the rest of the country—to a state of misery and destitution far greater than those to whom concessions had been hitherto made. The Hon. Member concluded by expressing a hope that the House would acquicse in his motion. Lord 'FEIGN MOUTH, in seconding the 'notion, observed that if a Committee were granted he was of opinion that such a strong case would be made out respecting the miseries endured by those people as, he had no doubt, would induce the Government to deport from that course of economy which the present state of the revenue seemed to indicate as indispns tbly neces sary. With regard to Canada being selected as the place for emigration, he thought that its climate was far better suited to natives of Scotland than to the hand-loom weavers of England or to the inhabitants of Ireland. He thought a very strong case had been made out, at least for an inquiry into the destitute condition of these unfortunate people. Lord JOHN RUSSELL would be sorry to have it supposed that because he did not ohj , et to the ap pointment of a Committee, that he agreed to the ar guments of the Honourable Gentleman and the Noble Lard. As he had said last year, he did not think the reasons stated made out c ase for t ire grant of a large sum of moue) , for the purpose of soI(LITg the dligli landero to C ana d a , lie did not think it could be made out that the distress which existed was owing en tirely to the change of the duties on barilla. Even if that were the case, be doubted whether Parliament ought to allow a grant of money for the purpose of re lieving those whom the landlords might find a burthen tin their hands: He should be sorry to admit such a ti,sides, it was a question whether, if 12A,600i. w .re granted for the relict of the Highlanders, they would not have claims from the lowlands of Scotland— from districts of England where particular branches of industry were greatly depressed, and from parts of Ire land where distress and famine had been peculiarly painful.—(Hear, hear.) Then there were very grave considerations with respect to sending them to Canada. The question was not a mere transfer of persons from this country to Caned', and it would be difficult to make provision for the infirm and aged and their families without burthening the Canadians. Be sides would it be judicious to follow such a course without the assent of that Assembly which had been just called into existence, and whose opinion upon matters which so deeply concerned them and the fi• nances of their country, ought to he treated with real respect and regard ? Without going any farther into the discussion, he should observe, that it seemed to hint that there wcra many reasons against the conclu sion to which the Hon. Gentleman wished to come ; but, at the same time, lie (Lord J. Russell) should not refuse the proposed Committee of Inquiry. Sir R. H. INGLIS concurred in the general views expressed by the Hon. Mover. Mr. WARBURTON objected to the motion. He thought it would be much more difficult, after the Re pert was made to the House on the state of those indi- „.. viduals—that Report being probably favourable to the grant—be thought it would be more difficult to resist the grant of money in that case, than it would be to reject the motion for inquiry itself. He believed, too, that if an inquiry were to be instituted, it would be much better conducted by a Commission sent to the dis tricts in question than by a Committee sitting in the House. He should certainly object to the inquiry for this farther reason, that it would lead to expectations on the part of the individuals which might not after wards be realized. Sir ROBERT PEEL said, that on the whole he had hoard with satisfaction that it was the intention of the Noble Lord opposite to acquiesce in the motion. He thought that, considering the sufferings of the in dividuals in question, who bad found so fi:ting an advo cate in the Hon. Member—(Hear, hear)—who had in so simple and becoming a manner, stated their ease without misrepresentation or exaggeration. He thought that, considering the extent of those sufferings, and the manner in which they had been borne, it would he her: h on the part of the House to refuse the proposed inquiry. He did not anticipate from that inquiry the result apprehended by the Hon. Gentlemen opposite ( Mr. Warburton). He did not think that expectations would be encouraged by the appointment of the Com mittee which could in any way injure the parties. He felt, however, that there was great difficulty in the way of an extensive scheme of emigra tion, but he thought it would be well to point out. to the parties the nature of the relief, if any, which would be in the power of the House to ex tend to them. Let them see what happened in the case of the handle= weavers, whose distress no one denied, and whose condition he (Sir R. Peel) looked upon much in the same way as he did on that of the inhabitants of the Highlands who had lost their employment in conse quence of fiscal regulations, or of new scientific discove ries. On the appointment of a Committee of the House the first impression of the handloom weavers was that emigration was a ready resource for their griev ances. They thought that nothing could be more just or advantageous than that the State should interfere to pro vide for their emigration ; but they had afterwards been in some measure disabused of that opinion. Tne fact was, that when they showed the artisan or the labourer that his condition, when transferred to a distant colony without capital, would be one of a very precarious na ture, he would be more ready to acquiesce in the deci sion of the Legislature than he would before any inquiry had been instituted. He thought tha:., the inquiry would show that the sum proposed would be insufficient. They might undoubtedly transport the parties to Canada, hut they might thereby b't doing very little for them. He be lieved that if they could prove to those individuals that they would have to struggle with any great dif fleulties in Canada in consequence of the want cf ca pital, and the competition they would have to contend with, as well as of the severity of the winter, they would give much more satisfaction to the sufferers than it they were at once to reject an investigation into their case. He should observe that emigration, in order to be beneficial to the emigrants, should be conducted on the most cautious principle. He was not quite sure but that a Committee of the House of Commons was a preferable means of inquiry to a mere local Commission. The Right Hon. Baronet concluded with expressing his admiration of the character of th os e people, and his sympathy with their sufferings. Mr. HUME thought that a Commission would be the best means of inquiry. If a Committee of the House of Commons were appointed it would hold out an inducement to various localities to send up persons to prove the existence of distress. If no other person opposed the motion, be would do. so, on the ground that, if agreed to, it would be taken as a pledge that public money should be advanced for the purpose of emigration in Scotland alone.—(Hear.) When there should be a settled Government in Canada, he admitted there would be a fine field for emigration, but until this were the case he thought it would be an useless expenditure of public money. He thought if there was great distress in Scotland there .was also great distress in England, and that if a grant : of public money were made for the purpose of emigtation it should be a general grant for the whole kiN.,vdorn. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHWIER said the observations of hie Hon. Friend- with kekAence to the wordieg of this resolution were-vverthyof4tention. He thought i ns t ea d o f sa yi ng " w ith th e view-of afford ing relief by means of emigration," it would be better 'to say " to ascertain the practicability of affording re lief."—(blear, hear.) He should not have risen but for the obiervations of his Hon. Friend with 'reference to sending an officer to Scotland to afford assistance in cases of great distress. The course which had been adapted, and which on the whole had been found the best, was not to come down to Parliament in such cases for a vote of money, but to send an officer in whom they had confidence, with power to give relief at discre tion out of the public funds. The present distress in Scotland was not temporary, but of long duration, and had been borne patiently. On these grounds the Go vernment did not oppose the motion for a Committee, but it must not be thence inferred that the Govern ment would be prepared to afford this relief should the Committee recommend it. Mr. S. O'BRIEN altogether denied and repudiated the statements respecting the removal of Canadian emigrants to the United States. Of 25,000 who emi grated last year, if a few went over at least an equal nu:nber returned to Canada. Should a Committee be granted, and that Committee recommend to Parlia ment a grant of public money for this purpose, he should cheerfully contribute his vote in support of that propo. sition. All he regretted was that the principle was not carried farther.--(Hear, hear.) It was his intention to bring forward a motion every Session for the pro motion of emigration, not to one colony, or from one diitrict alone, but to all our colonies, and from the United Kingdom in general.—(Hear, bear.) Mr. MARK PHILLIPS cordially agreed with tho motion, if the judicious alteration in the wording pro posed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer were made. Tau result of the investigation would he looked to with great interest by another class, to whom feeling allusion had been made by the Right Hon. Member for Tam worth—he meant the handloom weavers. He had been frequently solicited by the handloom weavers to bring forward some motion of this sort in their behalf, and in answer to such solicitation he desired them to wait until the Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry should be published, to see if they would not recommend some such plan of relief. With regard to the expense, he trusted that the House would never let a matter of pounds shillings and pence stand betw een th em an d an attempt to procure some alleviation of such extensive distress.—(Hear, hear.) He agreed wi t h th e H on. Member for Bridport in thinking that a C omm itt ee was not the best mode of investigatin g the subject. But if the Committee s hould . find any difficulty on account o f the number of the witnesses, or the distanc e a t w hi c h they resided, in p ro p erl y investigating th e su bj ect , t h en he hoped the Government would issue a Commi ss i on o f Inquiry. The Committee on the subject of the hand. loom weavers had experienced that difficulty, an d t h e Government had ve r y p r op e r l y issued a C omm i ss i on. He cordiallylLLlE su pported the motion. M ed r e . to A the ,in reply, st a t e d hi s willingness to cc a lteration proposed by the Ch ance ll or o f a the Exchequer; a nd the motion, so a lt ere d, was B agreed. to. ELECTION PETITIONS. Sir GEORGE CLERK, with a view of obviating h pLiy u e se r , of t : l a ie n ) - p • the technical difficulty which bad arisen, in the ease of the Ludlow election be p a e t d i n t i l o it n te l t a i s a t s y a ra p r, ar p ty ro t p o os d e e d fe t n h de afonly lowing resolution :—" That on or before the day on Which any elect i on petition, or any petition praying that election petition, etitioner do lodge in the office for election petitions the name of the agent or any other person upon whom, an d the place where, may be served the notices required to he served on the :I l i t i i ,:t n u petitionerrbne, presentedto may opposeto thet le P etitioner by the General Committee of Elections, pur suant to the Act passed in the third year of the reign of her present Majesty, intituled, ' An Act to amend the Jurisdiction 4 the trial of Election Petitions.''' He had had twodffesolutions on the paper, but it had been suggested to him that the one resolution, with the alteration he had made in it, would effectually accent. pli:di the object he had in view. Mr. HUME considered it was the duty of the House to remove every merely tech n i ca l o bj ection. He thought, however , that the better way would be to rcfcr the resolution to the Committee on Standing Orders. Mr. GRELNEaaid that the subject had already been VARY 1.2, 1841 ! under the consideration of the officer of the House, and he had decided that it was not within the scope of that Committee. Too resolution WPS then agreed to. ORDNANCE SURVEY. S — r HUSSEY VIVIAN then rose to move for leave to bring in a Bill for executing the ordnance survey of England and of Scotland, on a scale to be specified, After a few words, which were inaudible in the gallery, the Hon. Baronet proceeded to state, that in 1825 a surrey was made in Ireland on a scale of six inches to the mile. That scale had been found most advantsgeous, and it had long been a source of regret that the English surveys were not conducted on the same scale. Great inconveniences had been suffered which would have bees avoided by adoptieg such a scale, and many representations had been sent from public bodies in its favour. The Hon. Baronet then read some statements made by persons whose opinions, he said, were entitled to great weight, recommending the adoption of the Irish scale of survey. Mr. Dawson, of the Royal Engineers, in a letter to the Tithe Cern . missioners, stated that a scale of six inches would be highly beneficial, end supply to the Legislature the means of judging as to the propriety of encouraging railroad speculations, instead of being imp .sod upon, us was often the case at present, by the representations of inter( sted parties. Mr. Chadwick, the Secretary of the Poor-la wCommissioners,hadgiven his testimony dechiesily in favour of the propesedscale. The testimony of the Pui losopli cal Society of Manchester had also been given most unequivocally in its favour. These opinions having been forwarded to her M ijesty's Government were forwarded by them to that distinguished individual, whose opinion upon every subject was entitled to so much weight, namely, the Dukc of Wellington ; and ho had stated most distinctly that he thought the survey in this coun try ought to he carried on upon a similar principle to the survey of Ireland. He (Sir Hussey Vivian) was quite certain that if the scale of six inches to the nide were adopted great benefit would result. In Ireland, a henever any new rules were laid down they could be easily added to the ordnance maps, which the House would see was a great advantage. He should be sorry to propose any increase of the public expendi ture unless there was an equivalent for it. Ha hoped Hen, Members would see that the present was not a demaad of the public money for warlike preparations, but one that was essentially necessary, and which would be not only beneficial to the present generation but to posterity, and would promote the welfare of the 1 inch owner, the manufacturer, and the merchant. Under these circumstances he trusted that no objection would be given to his motion for leave to bring in the Mr. WARBURTON had great pleasure in second ing the motion, and he bad no doubt from the rapid sale of maps upon that extended scale, and the recent discoveries which had been effected by the electrotype, that the cost would shortly repay itself. It MIS well known that by the recent improvements that had been made that exact copies could be taken of the plates at any sage, and in that manner they Might be applied to tithe composition, or any other subject that might re quire it. Mr. SHAW bore testimony to the great benefits that had been conferred on Ireland by the manner in which the Ordnance survey had been conducted in that country. Mr, HUME was ready to acknowledge the courtesy of the Right Hon. Gentleman in having considerably reduced the price of the maps to the public, and he had no doubt the result of the recent discoveries to which his Hon. Friend had alluded would reduce the price to one-third or one-fourth the present cost. Mr. MARK PHILIPS said, that he expected great benefit would arise from the passing of the Bill now sought to be introduced—the more so as the po pulation was so rapidly increasing, and the construc tion of railways, and the operations of canals, carried on to such an extent. Leave was then given to bring in the 13'11. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then moved the re-appointment of the following Com mittee on Banks of Issue :—Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Hume, Mr. Lsbou chere, Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Mark Philips, Mr. O'Con nell, Sir James Graham, Mr. Clay, Mr. Gisborne, Sir John Rae Reid, Mr. Oswald, Mr. Charles Wood, Mr. Rickford, Mr. Warburton, Mr. Pattison, Mr. Herries, Mr. Ellice, Mr. Sergeant Jackson, Mr. Hector, Mr. Grote, Sir Tnomas Fremantle, Mr. - John Abel Salith, Mr. Strw, Mr. Matthias Attwood, and Mr. Morison. Mr. HUME wished to ask the Right Hon, Gen tleman what were the objects of that Committee. He (Mr. Hume) was perfectly unaware of what were its objects; however, he understood that the Right Hon. Gentleman was not prepared to make a statement of that nature, and though he (Mr. Hume) did not think the question premature, he would not press it. He hoped, however, that the Right Hon. Gentleman would take the first opportunity of bringing the matter before the public when it would be in iris power to do so.—Motion passed. IRISH TURNPIKE ACTS Mr. PIGOTT moved for leave to bring in a Bill to continue the Irish Turnpike Act, expiring at the end of or during this or tire next Session of Parliament. —Granted. COURT OF EXCHEQUER (IRELAND) BILL. On the motion of Mr. PIGOTT the Court of Ex chequer (Ireland) Bill was read a second time and or dered to be committed. TITHE COMPOSITION (IRELAND) BILL. Mr. PIGOTT moved the second reading of the Tithe Composition (Ireland) Bill. After a few words from Mr. SHAW, the Bill was read a second time and ordered to he conenitted. Tho House adjourned at a Quarter past Eight o'Cock. CHURCH PATIWNAGU (SCOT LAND). On the motion of Mr. Fox Maule, a return has been laid before the House of Commons, of presentations by patrons to parishes a ithin the Church of Scotland, and of cases in which the veto has been .aexercised between August 1834 and April 1840. The veto had been exer cised in about thirty instances, creating in some parishes violent disputes, and leading to tedious and expenlive pro ceedings in the Ecclesiastical and Law Courts. The de tails arc interesting, as showing the working of the Veto Act, and the extremely small numbers that are entitled to vote under the Church-law, made by the men who say no candidate shall be appointed in opposition to the will of the people. The largest number of communicants given in any of the returns is 86 for the parish of Abernethy, containing, according to a census made ten years ago, a population of 2,092. Of these 18 refused to sign the call, and 28 signed it, thus only 46 persons out of 2092 came forward to exercise the veto. In the parish of Glenelg, containing a population of 2,874, only 40 arc entitled to vote, and of these but 6 exercised the veto. Tons in a parish containing, at a moderate calculation, about 800 heads of families and males above twenty-one years of age, but 40 were allowed to vote, and of these 6 usurped the patronage. Can there be a greater mockery of what is called by the hypocrites " the popular voice ?" In the parish of Inch, with a population of 1338, the roll of communi cants contains twenty-three names, only twelve of whom were present at the moderation of the call, six signed the call, and six declined ; the first six, according to the veto act, carried the election. In the parish of Daviot (where the presentee was rejected about two years ago, the dispute still remaining unsettled) there are just five communicants for a population of 1788 I The Presbytery Clerk of Alford, thetefure, might well reply in answer to the,question, " For what reason was the veto exercised?" " Reason 1 the veto is neither founded on reason, nor does it admit of reasons." The Presbytery Clerk of Langholm, in reference to the veto being exercised, but without effect, on the presentation made by the Duke of Buccleuch for Eskdalcmuir, writes in a similar strain. " The veto was exercised for no reason, but from a perverse, turbulent spirit and hatred to patronage ; any presentee, there is reason to believe, would have been vetoed unless an absolute choice had been given, and in that case the very man so unjustly opposed would in all probability have been proposed in preference to any other. The presentee is now exceedingly well liked in the parish." The Presbytery Clerk of Mull makes this return. " The veto was not exercised in any of those cases, but all were contested to an extent which caused heats and animosities," So much for the famous specific of Dr. Chalmers. CHURCH HOURS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SU?v. Sta,—During ti.e past five years I have frequently been inconvenienced on Sundays by not being enabled to learn at the hotels the hours of Divine service at the several places of worship in towns where I stayed. I have no doubt that many persons similarly engaged have been equally annoyed, and yet a very simple remedy might be adopted, which would prevent many questions being asked the waiter or boots on Sundays. Let there be placed over the chimney piece in e very commercial room, each Sunday morning, a card con taining the name and situation of every church and Dis senting chapel in the town, and the hours when public worship commences at each ; the card might be removed in the evening, and if kept clean would last a long while. The necessary information could be readily obtained. "1 . he wide circulation of your valuable paper in com mercial rooms induces me to hope that you will spare a corner for this letter. I further hope th.it the proprietors of commercial hotels may accommodate some of their customers by adopting the suggestion of__ Yours respectfully, A COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. Feb. 9, 1811. DEATH OF SIR WILLIAM JOHNSTONE, BART.—Died at his residence, 32, l3rvanston-square, Sir William Johnstone, Bart., in the 76th year of his age, of Gilford Hall, Downsbire, Ireland. He was descended from the House of Annadale, and succeeded his father, the late Sir Richard Johnstone, the 231 of April, 179. Sir William dying without issue, the Barone!cyibecomesextire:. We have again received complaints of the great delay and inconvenience experienced by passengers at Calais. Both the mail and passengers arc constantly de layed, by the Post-office .authorities at Calais neglecting to keep a steamer in readineis for the arrival of the Times. COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL. Yesterday a Court was held for the dispatch of public business. ThE VICTORIES IN SYRIA. Mr. WIRE, who made his appearance in Court for the first time since his return from the Je . wish mission to Damascus, and was heartily greeted by the members, gate notice of the following motion :—" That the thanks of this Court be given to Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, to Commodore Sir Charles Napier, Knight Commander of the Order of the 13 itit, and to the.several captains, officers, seamen, and Royal Ma rines under command of Sir Robert Stopford, for the zeal and bravery displayed by them during the operations on the coast of Syria, terminating in the brilliant and decisive attack on the foatress of Acre, on the 3d of November, 1840. Also, that the thanks of the Court be given to Major-General Sir Chas. Frederick Smith, and to the officers and detachment of the Royal Artil lery and Engineers and Royal Sappers and Miners, who served under his command in the fleet employed in the important operations on the coast of Syria. That the freedom of this city, with a sword of the value of 200 guineas, be presented to Sir Robert Stopford, as a tes timony of the admiration this Court entertains for the zeal, talent, and bravery displayed by him during his services on the coact of Syria ; and that the freedom of this city, and swords of the value of 100 guineas each, be presented to Commodore Napier and to Sir C. F. Smith in testimony of their services."—( Hear.) BILL IN PARLIAMENT AFFECTING TIIE CITY OF LONDON. The REMEMBRANCER having signified to the Court, according to custom, that several measures likely to affect the interests of the City were to be brought into Parliament, Mr. R. L. JONES, the Chairman of the London bridge Committee, took occasion to observe, that there were Clauses in the Bid for Draining Buildings, which would be exceedingly injurious to the City of London, and interfere most materially with the existing arrange ments. He suggested, under such circumstances, the propriety of requesting a conference with the Marquis of Normanby on the subject. Mr. STEVENS said that the Commissioners of Sewers entertained the opinion expressed by Mr. Jones. A deputation was then appointed to request a confe rence with the Secretary for the Home Department on the subject. Mr. ASHURST asked the Remembrancer whether the measure about to be brought into Parliament relative to County Courts, was calculated to affect the interests of the citizens of London ? The REMEMBRANCER replied that the County Courts Bill would, as far as he was able to learn, ride over the City as well as other places. The subject of the County Courts' Bill was then re ferred to the Parliamentary Committee. SUPPLY OF WATER TO Tries METROPOLIS. Deputy CORNEY asked whether any application had been made to Parliament by parties who proposed to supply the metropolis with water from the vicinity of the Colne? The subject was one which affected the citizens of London as to the navigation of the River names, which was indebted to the Colne and other tributary streams in that neighbourhood in no slight degree. The REMEMBRANCER said that there had not as yet been any application made to Parliament en the subject. Deputy GURNEY said that a great deal had been men tioned about the instituting a new Water Company, and he apprehended that if their object succeeded, one of the mischiefs would be injury to the na vigation of the Thames, to say nothing of the other evils which would spring from the speculation. He begged to call the notice of the Remembrancer to the subject if it should be mentioned in Parliament. The REMEMBRANCER intimated that he should com municate any information he should receive to the Court as soon as possible. Mr. STEVENS presented a petition for assistance to an institution for teaching the Blind to read. It was an institution, be said, possessing powerful claims upon the humanity of the Court. On the motion of Mr. Stevens, the petition was referred to the Coal, Corn, and Finance Committee. ELIGIBILITY OF JEWS TO CORPORATE oFricF.s. Mr. ASHURST presented the following petition from Mr. David Salomons " The humble petition of David Salomons, to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Coun cilmen. " Showeth,—That your petitioner had the honour of serving the office of Sheriff of London and Middlesex, in the years 1835-6, and received the unanimous thanks of his fellow-citizens for the zealous discharge of his official duties. That your petitioner was also elected an Alderman of one of the wards of the City, but was not admitted to the office in consequence of his being unwilling to make the declaration contained in the 9,11 Geo. IV. cap. 17, prior to his being sworn into cflice. That although your petitioner has occupied, and still holds many important stations of honour and authority, yet he is debarred from corporate office unless lie subscribe the above declaration prior to his acceptance of such office. That your pe titioner would readily afford every guarantee for his maintaining all the institutions of the country on acceptance of office, but he humbly submits that he should be permitted to do this without in any manner infringing on any religious or conscientious scruples he may entertain, or leaving himself exposed to the sus picion of hording office by the practice of any evasion. That your petition would readily subscribe the declara tion contained in the Act passed in the Ist and :.?el year of the reign of her present Majesty, and solicits the in terference of your Honourable Court to obtain such a modification of that Act as may include your petitioner amongst those classes who are allowed to subscribe the declaration contained in the statute." Mr. Salomons, Mr. Ashurst, and Mr. Per:tress ad dressed the Court, when the petition was agreed to, there being but one hand held up against it. GRAND IMPROVEMENT AT ST PAUL'S. Sir MATTHEW WOOD rose IO move " That. it be re ferred to a Committee to consider the plan of improve ment at the west end of Clieepside, with power to confer with the Postmaster-General or any branch of her Ma jesty's Government. It was, he said, necessary to come to some arrangement as soon as possible with respect to the ground at the west end of Cheapside, where an improvement calculated to do honour to the age could be effected with the assistance of Government. He merely meant at that moment to ask fur the reference of the subject to a Cornmitee, as until that point could he accomplished he could not consistently ask for a con ference with any officer of the Government.—( Hear, hear.) He had been told that Lord Litchfield and others of the Government could be conferred with speedily upon the reference to the Committee. Mr. HALL seconded the motion. Mr. HOLT expressed a wish to know the particulars of Sir Matthew Wood's plan. Mr. R. L. JONES spoke in favour of the motion. Sir M. 'Wool) said that when he first brought forward the plan of the Post-office, he had a plan, and a most splendid plan it was, for throwing open the space be tween the two building, but the caprice of one person by some means or other, completely frustrated it. '['he object in the present instance was to ascertain whether the Government were willing to adopt anyimprove ment, and if they were a pan would soon be forthcom ing.—( Hear, hear.) After a few observations from Mr. Anderton, Deputy Hicks, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Lott, Sir Matthew Wood's motion was agreed to, and the reference was made to the Loudon Bridge Committee.—Adjourned. /'-' NIGER. EXPEDITION. (FROM A CORRESPONDENT.) It is a fact established by long experience that dew exerts a most injurious influence on the human frame, and in degree proportioned to its amount. But its most deadly effects appear when contaminated with the miasma of marshy tropical regions. Under suc h circum stances expcsure is generally fatal. The conducting power of damp air to that of dry being often, in these cases, as that of f3OO to SO, the functions of the air cells of the lungs become deranged, and the tempera ture is thereby reduced. These consequences are justly attributable to a surcharge of electricity. According to Farraday, not even the lightning flash contains more electricity than the gem-like drop of dew. Now it has baen ascertained by experiment that a silk covering of the common texture possesses the peculiar property of resisting the noxious influence of malaria, and of neutralising its effects. If, as is sup posed, the poisonous matter is received through the lungs, it may not be difficult to account for the action of this simple preventive. Silk is a powerful non-con ductor, ductor, and in the form of a gauze veil;:nyy prove con_ a sufficient impediment to the transmissi o e outh. It is n M delete rious particles in their passage to i e other therefore respectfully s u g ge a s r te e dth :r t i t am precautions adopted by Gram insuret ' to ongth the health of the enterprising Niger Expedition, a supply individuals of engaged in respirators,the constructed of silk, be included, wh ich ma y be cost ; and, should the trial lives my produceabe preserved, and th e procured at a trifling the results anti c i- Wed, many valuab le risks incurred from insalubrity of climate materially diminished. It I mould seem that the proposed egiueta,dlitsoattiloienionf: the duties on East and West hd p ia ro ß boa u ft ni yi i r s iti a s t i t i ra c e a t p in it g al th ine which has taken mcr Company, cea.sb vestment attention considerablei t,; ao d amount ma)' There e l l : s r:i t a le me C n ° t n atlY pang, Itohdei Indiaa n c r u i l t t i ilation a and commerce. I t i h oetie st e a s rt i a t r a id pp is ea a r l s rea ti d n y t in th t e h i e r fic i l i d in of Incorporation is a!- ready before the House of Cernmoris and in train for be ing passed.—Mod niag Paper. — on Wednesday, the 10th inst., a General As sembly of the Academicians of the Royal Academy of Arts was held at their apartments in Trafalgar-square, When Philip Hardwick, D av i d Roberts, and John JaniFs Chalon, Esqrs., were duly elected Royal Academicians in the room of William Hilton, Esq., Sir Jeffry Wyatville, and 'Dimas Daniell, Evi., deceased. MORNING EDITION. REPRESENTATIVE GO VERN_ NIENT. SIR VALENTINE BLAKE'S SIXTH LETTER. TO TIIE EDITOR OF TIIE SUN. am firmly, but respectfully, of opinion, that it would not be illegal or unconstitutional (although it would be an unpopular attempt), to agitate for the purpose of petitioning Parliament to subvert the Mo narchy ; end I am satisfied that every Constitutional lawyer will admit that it is perfectly legal to agitate the propriety of the repeal of the 2d Article of the Union, by which the Stuart Family are for ever excluded, and the present Royal Family appointed to the hereditary possession of the Imperial Crown of Great Britain aac Ireland ; and in illustration of my impression, I beg leave to remind you of the Act of the Scottish Parlia ment to vest the power of nominating a successor to the Crown of Scotland, after the death of Queen Anne, in the Lords and Commons of Scotland ; to which Act her Majesty gave the Royal Assent in 170, and you will recollect that it was this Act that produced the overwhelming necessity for the Union which followed in two years after, as the only available mode of pre venting the otherwise inevitable and Cmstiltitional se paration of the two Crowns. Yet notwithstanding the inevitable dismemberment of the empire, which nothing but the Union could have averted, a motion was made by the Earl of Findlator, in 1714, in the House of Lords of Great 13-itain, for leave to introduce a all to repeal the Act of Union, which motion was negatived in a very full House, by a majo rity of four only—all the rank Tories having voted for the repeal. Will the Hon. Baronet who displaced Sir Robert Peel in the representation of the University of Oxford, as a reward for his tested religious bigotry, allege or assert in his place, that the predecessors of the Tory Lords of the present day were all traitors and agitators for the purposes of anarchy and confusion, for having strenuously and constitutionally opposed the enact ment, and ntxt for having as strenuous!) , supported the repeal of the Scotch Union ; and yet, if he will deny the constitutional right of any portion of the people to agitate for the repeal of the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland, or for any other repeal or reform, he, in effect, by the same allegation, affixes the stain of disloyalty, and a d , _sire to produce by illegal means a dismemberment of the empire, upon the lordly predecessors of his present aristocratic supporters. My object in alluding to those historical facts, is first to vindicate the Government in which her Aljesty places her confidence, front the absurd charge of nut having denounced the Repeal agitators in Ireland, in the recent Speech front the Throne, which, if they I)4d done, they would have exposed themselves to the last degree of mental and constitutional incapasiny and ignorance. - I will do Mr. O'Connell the justice to say, that I think his motives upright, and his conduct and constitutional. But I differ entirely with him in the policy he has .adopted, of ostensibly eppcaring with a divided force, to agitate for and to prefer a specific form of separate legislature in Ireland, which in prac tice (since the repeal of Poyning's law) would be inde pendent of the Crown, although nominally connected with it ; when he might, by holding up his finger, create a general combination, not alone of the Reformers of Ireland, but of the whole united Empire, in favour of an object which would place Ireland in a far more dig nified, influential, and commanding position than she evjoys at present, or than the simple restoration of the Constitution of 1782 would confer upon her. I rather think that Mr. O'Connell would be happy to see realised eve❑ a subordinate Parlia ment, / itred, and that he supposes that he ought to canvass publicly for nothing save an independent Parliament. His experience (of Tory Government), no doubt, tells bins that all political ameliorations are com promises ; and, in this course, that he would have something to relinquish, or give up in the way of bar gain or contract ; and he may be also impressed with an idea, that more should be asked for than would satisfy, because such was the usage during the prolonged and dismal existence of an unreformed Parliament and a Tory Administration. gut, in my humble judgment, it may now bet!er ac cord with the altered position of public men, and popu lar feeling and iiifluencc, to ask that which would amply satisfy, and to ask no more. I confess that, actuated by those feelings, I warmly advocated the acceptance by Mr. O'Connell of Mr. Sharman Crawford's offered co-operation ; but, on more mature deliberation, I now abjure the principle of a subordinate Parliament, unless as the nest best alterna tive, in the event of intended scheme being rejected, for the sole cud and purpose of its nominating delegates to the Imperial Parliament, in analogy to the elective portion of the peerage ; but as for any-.ether ptirpose, a subordinate Parliament would be a body vithout power, and by reasons of its locality more liable' to be thwarted than a Canadian Parliament,—ln fact,ta subordinate Parliament would be an endless source orfuture discon tent—a mere mockery—and on empty name. It is quite manifest to all experienced R4ormers, that any legislative mitigation of Tory n:anufacturcd or contemplated restraints upon the liberties of the people, must, of necessity, emanate from the loud, uniform, energetic, and repeated expression of public opinion. It was e•Ycr the invariable practice of the Torios to dictate to the Parliament such measures only as origi nate with themselves. It is not, however, for a popu lar Government to adopt " this inverted order of things ;" it cannot presume to lead, or to offer ; its state of procedure must be to follow i❑ accordance with tho expressed voice of the people, but this voice, to be effec tual, as in a musical exhibition by many performers, must accord in time and lone in order to produce har mony. Ju stoso,thiay folded, so as to i whenl tlshadesofdifre n r t e e n r e ce e pt whieh are nosythe genial influence of the SUN of Reform, arc dissipated. When the rays of that celestid orb are wholly condensed and concentrated on one object, from whence the temple of the Constitution may he re novated, and restored in all its proportions, no think ing man cvn for a moment doubt the glorious result. What that one achievement is that will produce una nimity and concert, and, if adopted, give ample security for a further and more effectual instalment of justice, not only to Ireland, but to each division of the Refor mersef the misrepresented population of the United Em pire, is the very important question which, with great respect, 1 am now about to allude to, and which will be best explained by the production of a voluminous cor respondence which I had the honour to hold with her Majesty's Government, chiefly through the extremely courteous medium of the Noble Lord who is Secretary of State for Ireland How far I may act discreetly, by at once publi3l,ing this important correspordcnce, I am somewhat doubtful, but I may be permitted to say, that the result of my fecb!c effort is creditable and honourable to the Go vernment in the highest degree ; and I would be glad if some Hon. Member would move for its production. - I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obliged and most obedient servant, VALENTINE BLAKE. TIIE FINSBURY OPERATIVE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. Sin—lslington is well known as a very quid and M . espect able portion of the suburbs of London, and it was doubtless on this account the Committee of the Finsbury Operative Protestant Association fixed upon the School Rooms in Church-street to hold their annual meeting ; but whatev e r we re their motives in creeping into that out- o f-th e - wa y place, a meeting they have .is to know your opinion respecting their held there this ev en i ng , an d my object in n proceedings. by Tno meeting was called placard, and the chair hole wr iti ng and corner ou Plumptre, Esq., M.P. taken at eight o'clock each ticket there was a sen tencepAoti I n n t e i Admission o h t n oau l e : e s the at various places, and on e, holderpledged i tr. t that the . himself to some two or of the Chairman• At the ap pointed by the decision grantedc by Plumptre, tickets, which were to be h a d roo t m o ic w il, h a ie n i d i t m )y a) a ' n l Cl o l l ) d y the speakers three hundred) beg an made ap pearance on the platform. Aft er a very l m so rt of introduction from the Ch a i rman, the Report impatience moved to be adopt e d, an d seconded (great was shown du r i ng near l y the whole time by a majority of the persons p resent ) , when a very i e , droves}' r their,oyvva was r ead, y respectably dressed person rose, and in the most respect ful and gentlemanly manner requested permission of the Chairman to move an amendment, to which the Chair man replied, that however painful it might be to him, he should feel it his duty to act upon the regulation no tified on the cards of admission, and he could not, there fore, permit the proceedings to be interrupted, and should any individuals continue to do so, he must re quest the policemen (there were several in the room) to take them out I This answer was met as it deserved, with loud exe crations and continued hissing and uproar in all parts of the room, and when it had subsided, the individual already mentioned, in spite of the Chairman's threats, moved an amendment that " the meeting ccmidered the report illiberal and unchristian," whereupon two policemen advanced, collared him, and dragged him out. This unchristian proceeding caused tremendous excitement and uproar, and it soon became evident that a good many Chartists were present, for a cheer was proposed for the Charter, which was loudly responded to, and they afterwards gave nine cheers for the same, and not another speaker was heard during the evening. The Chairman and other gentlemen on the platform soon disappeared amid yells and confusion, leaving one or two, however, who gave orders to the police to clear the room. The individual that moved the amendment was neither, I believe, a Roman Catholic. nor a Chartist, but the unjustifiable conduct displayed towards him soon made the Chartists and all of a Liberal mind show themselves. But what is your opinion Mr. Editor ? I am, Sir, your's respectfully, Jan. 15, 1840. J. T. / 7 7 0•1 It of .toP, j 459 4 ~ tSt ( re9' ISsi° " 0 1; OS° o u ch ,. .;0011 /11