The Sun. — London, England, 1842-03-09 00:00:00

etthir P"rer long in the p ossess i on o f a po li t i cal c h aracter, and • _elnebCr Ot)ithilel whomtilolse, he alluded was a gen tl eman recen tl y a ent, and a Member o f h er M a j es t y ' s Governs r he would mentio n hi s name . Th e gent l emen to w h om referee was the late Member for Haddington, Mr. Stewart. I.,tsr example, he would not raise any argument for the re-- h'uction of the consular service on the improper appoint- Q in which b a d occurred for a series of years. He thought he e ft , e ' r ight howev er , if h e found that in a branch of the public ;rs ,''sons had b een appo i nte d unworthy of the service, to • : e k t , l 7 tlonse to interfere ; but he found that was unnecessary otsh'i l ed if he should in the course of his address refer to some - •fiemeelPaointments, it would only be in order to illustrate the 'essadoelpme tee , Which h e was anx i ous to establish. If the House o e ,""&nla sincerity on the subject, he was quite ready to place ands of the House all the papers and documents which on 'the subject. He begged now to call the attention Rouse to the case of the new Consul-General of r. Circumsta nces occurred towards the end the r 1841, which rendered it necessary that those who ziedigreat claims on the Government of the day should im ' th e L a telY be attended to. He did not diute Governmentclim of Late 4 ember for Haddington on the ; and Ai "vas quite sure that h e expresse d th e o pi n i ons o f every Itoerawdber on eithe r s id e o f t h e H ouse, w h en h e sa id t h at t h ey thes e. have been gratified t o h ear th a t th e H onoura bl e Gen petenn had obtained a good appointment—if he had been com et th i , t j, i lia he wished the House to observe the conduct fer e Viscount in the appointment of Gentlemen to dif ie, in: situations. Because the Noble Lord felt that the principal sts there were diplomatic, and because he felt that nothing Bond Mbe more absurd than to have two Consuls-at Bogota, the Th e ember w as appo i nte d to the office of Consul-General. ereg mi ght send ou t a grea t N o bl eman as A m b assa d or E xtra- R ead " % 7, hut t o ta k e a person who had not gone through the E e l:* b a the diplomatic hierarchy, and to s end him ou t as a was an extension of power which the Noble Lord fired net attempt. What, then, did the Noble Lord do It tres!l ece ssary to pr ov id e , an d t o prov id e h an d some l y, too, f or sw.i.len. 'Member. Th e N o ble L or d th en rece i ve d th e Con - IN uet teralship of Bogota, at a salary of 1,6001. a-year, with '••tie a PPointment of a Ch arge d'Aff a i res at a sa l ary " guinea a-day. These appointments made it neces eFtto r ecal the Plenipotentiary and the Secretary Van a jtation, and, of course , as that was done, a Vice- Was required, and another political partisan was • tie l e d. He would just call the attention of the House to li c ,24 l tordinary appeintment ef the Noble Viscount. The • 14'7 was aware that a few years ego the Republic of Colom- Ares divided into four districts;—namely, New Grenada, wi e t . ke e i _ , a rla, Bogota, and C..lombia Proper. Recently, a civil . 1 4.1 , ti 'ma broken out in that part of the world, and the tee) iteithe_s! Of of the balance of power between both, and ate, er them being sanguine enough to anticipate a favour civil r esult to themselves, det rmined to terminate the ' ki t e War, and submit t o th e ar bit ra ti on o f th e B r i t i s h , ‘t ister the points of difference. So anxious were tl7 o ,,Y ee t e n refer those points to our Minister, that they had he him in his course, and sent two deputies to lay their ihefere him. Then was the Consul-General thrown into b a l L t i t _tl position, in consequence of the present system we consequence n e''ing a twofold form of Legation in foreign countries. ati eallsequence of the Consul-General not speaking Spanish, th.'b,terpreter was obtained. The House was well aware of e; eaa racteristics of the Dragoman tribe. They were much in all countries ; but they were infinitely worse. in 111 :441 sh America than in any other nation. If any fellow . PPeued to know how to speak English, he was immediately 441„,, a grd, and thus the interests of the two countries were sk e 'r, in the hands o f a man w h o m i g ht no t h ave th e eirtest claims to character. He (Mr. D'l. ) had the highest of‘nority for saying that the Dragoman of the Consul-General Paritsh Americ2 ought not to be trusted with public affairs. th e would ask the Hon. Member for Manchester if it was for joe interest of his constituents that civil war should rage in Co ontbeuse that was the consequence of not having a ro ,, Alnctiona there, of having a political partisan instead of . a • IV:Solar agent? It was a misfortune that he not only occupied tereiffice unprofitably, but the Consul-General was also Minis lenipotentiary, and as such was called upon to fulfil duties efeftpatible with each other. As he was in the neighbourhood th e .raj a ot,Eguator, he would call the attention of the House to cer the 'et' extraordinary proceedings which had taken place in aei ghbourhood in relation to this subject. There was nu V e t e of South America in which England was so interested as aI enezuela. It possessed a vast Atlantic coast. The coun :La' rich and fertile. Sugar and barley were found t eat "Ig in the same field, and what was most re kable, in no State of Spanish America was there Zi e t tr ,‘"eg a feeling in favour of England as in Venezuela. u°w had British interests been managed in that country? Mfr• Canning had established Sir Robert Ker Po-ter as ocrh il leGeneral at Caraccas, the capital of that countr, .nd • 3 , ad also fixed a Consul at Puerto Cabello the principal 41aePort. The Noble Viscount had continued these appoint . . Sir R.. Ker Porter had obtained leave of absence h,:"e earsi since, had left Caraccas, and gone to St. Peters -641.4 shy and t was not expected that he would return to ° ea , . It might have been imagined that our interests h e ° ,Vd have been taken care of by the Consul at Puerto Ca ?,l); but in 1E 1 39 the newspapers had announced the death of pr. ;but at Liverpool, that gentleman being her Majesty's ;eonsta.General at Puerto Cabello. Now, w ith a Consul "enerai at St. Pet ersburgh, and a Consul dying at Liver -111; he sh ou ld lik e to k now when British subjects, residing a Ven ezuela, w ere t o app l y f or pro t ec ti on an d ass i stance. In ber, 1841. the C onsu l f or P uer t o C a b e ll o was ap• 4i t ed; and he f oun d, b y th e G aze tt e , th at t h e persen who ceiv eed thet appointment was a certain Florence O'Leary. i n was greatly ast on i s h e d at that appointment, and he ~.a d e • ulaturies on t h e sue feet, and found that a person of that name M • : liv ing at Venezuela, and was a natural born subject of the L e e , and a ajor-General actually receiving pay. He knew Ito had v ery poten t Parliamentary interest, hut he did -t expect th at he would b e appo i nte d one of her Majesty ' s Gansule in the very country of which he was a subject. ar en - ' 4 might be the consequence of such a state of things ? • to e , ezu ela Was a place where interests of a political nature weree 1 ,2 determined, and in which diplomatic questions arose. They • rt the province of New Granada, and it was the subject of ila,Puiea hounderquestion existing on the subject. It was • situate near the Or y on g oko, and he did not think that a subject ':fVenezuela was the proper person to whom the question nitld be referred. There were some Hon. Gentlemen, he who were indifferent upon such subjects. But it was e. Y fifty yeats ago that they signed an ignorant treaty with bi '•`"v.her State, which was looked on with the same indiffe se.;;nduces but the consequence was that they were obliged to ' 'the a Pecial Envoy of the highest character to America, Riumpal object of whose mission was to try and arrange that tre t b e fn Y, and to settle whether ceitain mountains were to th e " lin n , or whether certain streams belonged to the river or t„,: su e i e Zn a • s ti Great caution should be used in the selection of were often called on to exercise the highest daties. In 1833 the Noble Viscount (Viscount Pal ' ers t°o) was lied to for an appointment for a political par tlsann-he a" • used the word partisan in no reproachful sense, and be th ought partisans had claims on a Government--(Hear, ea r rwh i ( but then they ouht to be appointed to offices for they were fitted. The . gentleman_ for whom the application 'fade was an officer in the army, of the name of Hodges ; th:what Was done for that gentleman ? It was determined f i ; . ' he should receive a Consulship. Mr. Bidwell was sent 1 4,eild a s t h ere was no C onsu l s hi p vacant at t h e t i me, a Con -Beit IP was created, and Mr. Hodges was seat out as Consul to te i ;'e• When Mr. Hodges went to that country he found at first sthc. his duti es were very s li g ht ; b ut po li t i ca l e l ements were Ott ° n to the p rov i nce , as we ll as i n every prov i nce of t h e old b eano4° empire, whi c h m i g ht ca ll f or t h e grea t est k now l e d ge • krPart of a political agent there. Now Mr. Hodges soon ' extremely excited, he threw himself into the heart of po -441 intrigues, and in the course of eighteen months he are a elC, :9 3,,auch a confliction of circumstances, that two Ambassa . the' e. xtraordinary could not put an end to the embarrassments laiYthereated. The Prince, whom Mr. Hodges supported, lost ter,,„,, r . ?e, and his own house was burnt. No Consul was af- Peea,"" e es appointed for a year in Servia, and it might be ex r. that the Noble Viscount would have profited by his expe tee e l , and would not have appointed a Consul in such a coon . 1147 4 0 was not qualified to discharge the duties of the office. alt R, 14 t he memorabl e G aze tte of Sept., 1841, th e C onsu l s hi p lsaatvia was again filled up, and the Consul sent who 10 the ,e,,n recalled some years before, but whose explanation hos 00bleLorci had, he presumed, been satisfactory. He would e he , e tt ier into the circumstances respecting Mr. Fonblanque ; tor e ", ° nid not presume that his explanations were not satisiac- • be h id mit at all events he was sent to Set via, where he belie ved NCI/lever arrived. He believed he was trespassing on the . N et ' (Ile would not, therefore, say any more on the ap ta, (He of the diplomatic Consuls, but he would come to teepes!cend part of the subject, and show that even in a cons east 4 14 Point of view, the consular was the most ineffective eekitaeless service that had ever existed, and his principal t4ll the as before, would be the Noble Viscount. He would e attention of the House to a country which had been 'ati ;7' noticed, which had exercised great influence, and wast°h mixed up with foreign politics. that it was impossible it. p into any iof them with mentionin p ith kie Nobl e Lord at nvestig one ti ation me had his time so out fully occupied Y Z is Pain. France, and Belgium, that he did not be i i'e slightest attention to Syria. But when qtre ed r eade a sort of settlement of the affairs of Europe, he 114 hie h al t his efforts to extricate himself from the consequences telidelerrevious policy. The last few years had been a perpetual 'Yri a. ' ° iir to do away with the effect of the fatal invasion of 'Nati' The Noble Lord found he could not settle the Egyptian le 41,:n without havin recourse to arms, and it was necessary itse accurateknowledge of the population of the country, et 'eve dints , nue, its power of mahatainine fleets and armies, and - tetastane of commerce. The Noble Lord very properly att ed " a report to be furnished, and it was subsequently put in possession of every Member of the House. e bR h,,,'AePort was not prepareu by their Consuls in Egypt. ;Yche ,7 4 a Coital:- neral in Egypt, a Consul in Cairo at 6001. t• h,' o 'ne at Alexand-ia at bOW . a year, altogether the exPense eonsular ff . was 2 800/.. a year, yet all of them It t,Ted '" r,, S ,UPPIY the Noble ' Lord with the information he et) fo e "ne Noble Viscount wished to have clear statistics i L r iais t e- ,,," ° t .. ry which had been invaded. He wished to as -11•17 11;','" was the character of the commerce of Syria, "el P°rt was furnished to supply the required information. ett ei_rPort, however, did not emanate from a Consul. The A lt 'thieh he would refer to was one which was almost • hae,:" i e ee ted in diplomatic annals. The Noble Lord wished .gore n mormation with respect to the island of Candia. A wa ft a ccordingly laid on the table of the House, the uil , et • enee of which was the most extraordinary that he had 41 41 the 17 ith in any similar document. " I was not able," 'Pb ut, earned Commissioner, .‘ to visit the island of Cane eres ! • th°ll l4 I did not land in Candle, I had the asure helaterviews with the Pacha of that island in Syria." in. °' tretb7urnlhis d as ask the House if that did not immediately prove sertion, that the consular establishment was !, 0 Y useles s ? It appeared to him to be the most flatter 'ouleira,Plialent ever paid to a public man that the country ‘,Ccept from him a Report of an island which he had Ad . ter ti i s'"'• That su .11 a Report should be ordered by the Pabli i ltratie . e s ea! , n, printed by Parliament, and paid for by the ti v'erti a - undenieble testimony that the nation appreciated laugh,) There was another place very con -1 bush iiland where there was more than a Consular (,; 4 the e 2 °° , , where there was an Envoy with a salary of . no also a year, with three Consuls and three Vice -7,1,°00.-q.s)::;°e_with large salaries, costing the country nearly a ° Si e ni es "r. , The places to which he alluded wet e Then in regulating the treaty of commerce, fear th at „'lse Laic respect to the sulphur monopo, y. ay -I.business El not go on as usual, so it was T`' thought necessary to send to England for a man 'srlllerfats 1 : 0 settl e the question if possible ; accordingly a le: t ent to lappointed for that purpose, and that gentle man si t Ppe ated le' ly with the title of her Majesty's Commissioner. p o t ler) ; Report was mad bM • M'Greeor (the Commis " h D'l e h t e agry srael) had made an extract from t a . r .ppearect that Mr. INPGregor having arrived for hi lea (-0 .ettle the sulphur monopoly question it was neces • ,eoictsoirelatt.'en.ttoov.;sit the Island of Sicily to ascertain the precise to "le metier, in order to enable him to report the e'ro the k erv p, a nd a lament.. even though there were British ti ttest %tre r , obi r i• ,t. 1141 est,blishment at Naples. The Govern .tt that arose to get a Comm4sioner to settle the first g rite ( ' ae , d-ro-,e there, and even when such an officer was tiiillistatitparutu arrived at hi s destination, he was obliged to visit • est, ei ? m a t o ,?I' s the country to ascertain the facts, to enable p(iiennaroen4 report. Whet then was the use of a con,ular ite tl t t etl, arrived E ven when the Commissioner, who was sp aieet h th a aPlea, ienornt et tbe dipltict they d not know a any w of c the Lets oma con • etc vith t h e di Itul'iett• ele r. sere Th„ que'ti°" which was a b out to b e in itaa e wa s n illustration of the manner in affairs of this count r y were r arried on. There saw tt' Peea r,. who was obliged to aseertain the fact be rime Minist er or his Sicilian Majes! s y. He wrote again, stating that intrigues and such like were at work. Again, he said, of his Majesty's sincere intentions he had no doubt, but he was afraid of the intentions of the Minister of the Interior; he doubted also his Majesty's confessors, and he was alarmed at what was being done by the Duchess de Berri. Here he would ask the House whether, if that were not diplomatic correspondence, what was? Here a man had interviews with the Prime Minister; nay, more, he' had audiences of the Sovereign; he had to frustrate the Ambassadors, to compete with a Royal Duchess ; and he ( Gr. D'lsraeli) must say that this appeared to him to be a diplomatic correspondence. If it were necessary for this man to have interviews with the Prime Minister, to have audiences of the Sovereign, to frustrate confessors and Duchesses, why did they have Plenipotentiaries and Secretaries of Legation there? He believed himself that the transactions which had taken place with reference to the commercial treaties of Naples were transactions which, when better known and understood, would produce a deep impression on the public mind of this country. He was quite sure that when the Noble Lord succeeded to power in 1830, and brought with him unri valled talent, that the great historical knowledge which he pos sessed, in addition to his abilities, were great recommendations to the Noble Lord. He believed that if there were two can didates for public favou •, the aristocrat would immediately be the favourite; he believed that was the general feeling in the country; for example, he read the other day, that the great soldier of the age was not merely a soldier of fortune, but he was the son of an Irith Peer—thee was mentioned. If such a system were maintained—if it were pursued indi vidually, it must I , ad to political disaster ; if pursued on a general scale, it must lead to political calamity. Such was the desire of the late Government to extend this system, that they could not let even the Duchy of Lucca, in Italy, escape. Why might not some member of the Florentine Legation have done the business of a Minister at Lucca? Might not an attache to that Embassy have ridden over the Duchy, and made his statistical report on it in the form of a letter ? Nay, he might have drawn up his Report in a letter to a lady ? ( Hear, and laughter)—and have it presented through the agency of his fair friend at the next ball given by her Majesty? In Switzerland it had been thought necessary to have a report on the state of manufactures in that country, and a special ms ion had been sent out for that purpose. Now the Minister Plenipotentiary had been an old Consul-General, so that the usual excuse that a diplomatic agent was unfit for the execution of commercial duties would he of no avail in that case. The report had been made, but neither the Minister Plenipotentiary nor the Consul-General had furnished any information. In France we had a Consul-General with a salary of 1,000/. a year—a diplomatic establishment costing us 10,0001. a year— end a consular establishment, consisting of 15 full Consuls, costing us 4,000/. a year. In 1831 the Government was de sirous of obtaining information as to the manner in which the public accounts were kept in France. Now of the diplomatic aunts none of the consular body could supply the information. The Finance Report was made, and it stated that from the accurate mannerin which the public accounts were kept in France fraud was impossible, every security being taken against mai versation. The Government was justified in the course it had pu-sued, if they had no confidence in the diplomatic body, or in their consular agents; but possibly the diplomatic and the consular bodies might not share in the confidence of the Government as to the _perfection of the mode in which public accounts were kept in France, and that might account for their want of zeal; and, in justice to those Gentlemen, he should state that the very day the Report was printed, news arrived in Lon don of the defalcation of M. Capiles, one of the public ac countants, who had gone off with something like forty millions of public money. The consular body in these circumstances might have some reason for holding back the information. It was a notorious fact, that when treaties were made, Commis sioners were always appointed. In the year 1831 or 1832 two Commissioners went to Paris for the purpose of making a treaty, which was to be laid on the table after Easter, but it was not yet laid on the table of he House, and he sup posed it was maturing. With regard to the late change in the Government, he was glad that the country was not deprived of the services of a gentleman whose labours were attended with such benefit to the country—he I meant Mr Bulwer—and if the treaty were concluded it would be owing to him, and his considerable powers of diplomacy. With regard to the report of the state of the manufactures of Switzerland no useful information was obtained, in consequence of the age of the Consul there. The same might be said of Bel gium and France. He now came to Austria, where, beside his Excellency and the Secretary of Legation, there was a variety of unpaid attaches—gentlemen who were learning their profession—and he did not see how they could be better employed than in obtaining information on the state of the manufacturers and artisans in the various countries where they resided. The House would perhaps allow him to allude for a moment to the state of our diplomatic establishments in the countries to which the Zolverein extended. He found that in the districts in which that union operated we had five diplomatic establishments, with an expense of 20,0004 a year. Of all those places, the one in which a man of capacity might render the most valuable service to his country was Leipsic. The Noble Viscount opposite had appointed to the Consulship of that city a Mr. Jacob Hart. Now, if the Noble Viscount had searched England over, he could not have found a person more unfitted for the office. He (Mr. D'Lraeli) did not ask who Mr. Hart was, who had recommended him, what might have been his relations with the Noble Lord, or what might have been his original pursuits; but he would sim ply state his belief, that considering everything that appoint ment was a disgrace to the :Minister who had made it. That, however, was only a specimen of the consular system ; and in justice to the Noble Viscount, he felt bound to say that he was not sure that in some other place a similarly disgraceful appoint ment might not have been made, because consular appoint ments seemed to be considered as a refuge for the destitute. All the men of broken reputations were made Consuls.— (Laughter.) There was some unfortunate member of a great Easily who could do nothing, and therefore he was made a Consul. Why did the public treat the consular establish ment with contempt ? Because, although it cost an immense sum of money, and if properly conducted might be of great service to the country, there was no party or faction which was not represented by some member of that establishment. What was there in the stirring streets of Stutgardt, or in the bustle of Munich, to prevent the Consuls from devoting a few moments to the service of their country? Yet what was the position of the Right Hon. Baronet w hen he came into power? The information which he wanted ought to have been found in the archives of the ,embassy; but that information being wanting, Mr. Meek was sent on a rambling, scampering ex pedition for five or six weeks, for the purpose of preparing that Report which had been laid on the table of the House. He thought he had now laid before the House the condition of every country from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, but he Might say more—he thought he had referred to every country from the Nile to the Elbe, and ha believed there was not a sin gle town between these two rivers that had not been visited by the officers of the late Government. There was only one other country to which he intended to call the attention of the House, and that was China, where they had sent an officer to discharge the duties of Plenipotentiary. The officer to whom he alluded was Captain Elliot, and when he (Mr. D'lsraoli) said that of ficer was not competent to discharge the duties imposed upon him, he believed no man would say he spoke with any degree of bitterness against Captain Elliot. It was his (Mr. D'lsraeli's) opinion that Captain Elliot had failed in discharging his duty, but the real secret was not so much the inefficiency of Captain Elliot, as it was the position in which he was placed by the Government. There was a vacilating power between political and commercial interests entrusted to him, and he did not know which of them it was his duty to attend to—it was the divison of duties which brought Captain Elliot into the fatal errors he had committed. The late Government recal'ed Captain El. liot as a species of punishment, but what did they do with him afterwards ? They tni. de him a Consul, they sent him out toTexas as Consul—( Hear, hear)—ho was put in a position of great difficulty ; but the old official habits of the Noble Lord led to the re-appointment of the officer who had committed these errors in China, and amongst the names published in the last September Dispatch of 1641, containing the names of General O'Leary and Mr. Fonblanque, was also the name of Captain Elliot. He thought he had shown the House such facts as would enable them to form some idea as to how our consular establishments were arranged and carried on. There was only one more point on which he thought it his duty to touch. It was said that a Consul must have commercial knowledge. Consuls formerly had the power of examining the registers and cargoes of ships; but since the Consular Act of Canning, a Consul could not examine the register or cargo of a ship ; he hail not, therefore, the power to examine ships' papers. In old days, a Consul used to clear a ship, pay harbour duties, and do a number of other duties which now they did not perform. That, however, did not constitute the duties of a Consul, who was a superintendent of commercial interests. The fact was he performed no com mercial duties whatever, though he had to defend the commer cial interest in the same way as an Ambassador. There was no difference between the duties of a Consul and the duties of an SA • • M `." -- Ambassador, but the diffe rence ~ of degrees . The plan which he (Mr. D'lsraeli) proposed was, that in every metropolis where there should be a diplomatic mission, the consular department should be conducted under one head. Also that every Vice- Consul should bear the relation of an attache to the British Minister in every important place. If the House adopted this resolution it would be found to operate for the benefit of the country at large. He believed it would be the commencement of an era that would lead to the foreign service of this country obtaining a character very different from the one which it had hitherto maintained.—( Hear, hear.) If it were carried out, instead of the present imperfect system, we should see one coniinuoui service, well-regulated, we.l-con dueled, well-educated, and the result would conduce to the houour of the Sovereign and the welfare of her subjects. The Hon. Member concluded by moving the following resolution— " That it appears to this House, that great inconvenience and injury to the public welfare have arisen from the civil affairs of her llajesty it; foreign countries being carried on by two dis tinct services ; and that, with a view of advancing those com mercial interests which at this moment so much occupy our consideration, it is expedi, nt that measures sl ould be forthwith taken to blend the consular with the diplomatic body." Lord C. H AMILTON, in seconding the motion, besought the House to weigh well the plan proposed by his Hon. Friend. In his (Lord C. Hamilton's) opinion it was well calculated to obviate the evils of the present sy tern. In the observations which he was about to make, he would avoid, as much as pos • sible, going into unnecessary detail s , n or wou ld h e i n d u l ge in any personalities, or is any observations on the • appointments made by the Noble Lord opposite, while he was in office. The subject was one of the utmost importance to the merchants of England, and every thing that affected their interests waa worthy of the most anxious attention of the House. When he regarded the and` of the subje c t i n a com mercial, apolitical, and statistical point of view, and the great advantage that must result to the country if a more efficient diplomatic service existed, he hoped he might be allowed to make a few observations.—( Hear, hear.) But More he entered on the subject, he begged to say that he had no apprehension that the Noble Lord, now at the head of the Foreign Department, would make any appointments in the consular service, which would be prejudicial to the public interests. Viewing the ex tent of the commercial transactions of the country, the frame work of their present consular establishment seemed to him to be extremely defective. It was surprising to find how imper fect was the state of our consular establishments. There was no digest of laws to which consuls could refer or which guide them in emergencies. There had been certa'nly a considerable re-modelling of the consular body in the time of Mr. Canning. Merchants had formerly been appointed to the offices of consuls; but the inconvenience of that system had been felt, and a dif. ferent system was a d opte d . Not only were there no rules for guiding the consuls, b u t t h ere were actua ll y no quaLfications for assuming th e office. It was not necessary that there should be any previous commercial knowledge, any acquaintance with the language, habits, and feelings or the people among,t whom they were to reside. The appointment was arbitrary; it was generally conferred upon persons of advanced age, in broken fortune, who were totally unqualified to perform efficiently the duties of their office. Were it otherwise the Government would not be under the necessity of sending out a person to collect information; that expense would be saved to the country. He thought the country had a right to say that if these Gen tlemen were to receive such high salaries they ought to per form the duties well which apinTtained to their dice, or if they did not do that their salaries should be diminished. The arbitary system of promotion which was observed in the con sular establishment naturally tended to p revent young men o f ability and talent from turning their attention to the studies necessary to fit them for the office of Co nsu l . Th ere were now 170 Consuls in the Establishment, at a cost of 100,000/. a year, and he thought it would be desirable so•to arrange that those who acted with ability, and who were of service to the country should be enabled to look forward to promotion. At present, however, it was notorious that the highest con sulships were given to those who had not been brought up so as to be fitted for the duties required of them. H e wou ld now advert to Mr. Wood, of whom mention had already been made by the Hon. Member who receded him. He did not wish in s any way whatever to depreciate the merits and exertions of that gentleman. But what he had to complain of was that a gen tleman's duty should be so vague and undefined; and, that holding no higher rank than that of Vice-Consul he should have to exercise such great powers. What were the functions which this gentleman (Mr. Wood) discharged? He excaed an insurrection in Syria—he headed an army—and.was saluted as chief by two armies in the field. He was the medium of conveying decorations from the Porte; and he had a quantity of blank firmans for the appointment of Emirs, to fill up at his pleasure. He also pardoned crimi nals on his own responsibility ; and interfered with the proceedings of our Gallant Admiral and his officers. He acknowledged that the case was one of a peculiar nature. It was not the ordinary duty of a Consul to directs a province in a state of war. But he wished these peculiar cases to be met in a peculiar manner, and not to be thrown on the Consuls. The ordinary duty of Consuls, if appointed in Europe, were not very arduous, and not of much difficulty. It was merely to make half-yearly reports of the corn trade, forward com mercial information, or anything that bore on European com merce, to relieve distressed seamen, and other duties which were regularly defined. What he found fault with was, that in an inverse ratio, as the sphere of the duties was extended, and as they became more difficult, they were less defined, and the Consuls had less guidance for their course of actionr This was a state of things that it well became the House to inquire into. The position of the Consuls differed very materially, according to where they were placed. His Hon. Friend had alluded so ably, and at such length, to the way in which the Consuls were mixed up with the, diplomatic body, that he should not go farther into it, but should merely allude to the ex traordinary position of their Consuls in the Levant There their duties were perfectly inconsistent ; they were obliged to act as magistrates, as notaries, and as offi cials of the board of health ; and it was for these that instructions and regular orders were wanted. In criminal cases, the Consuls in the East were obliged to withdraw persons from the native jurisdiction,and try them without either counsel or jury. These powers were given by stipulations granted to the Levant Company, and though the Company was extinct yet we still claimed the powers, and it was therefore necessary that very great discretion should be used by the Consuls to prevent the subjects of her Majesty from, in any way, infringing the laws, or exciting animosity in the Turkish authorities, which might possibly lead them to withdraw their protection from us. The duty of Consuls was most extraordinary and general. In all civil cases they adjudicated between British subjects and the subjects of other states. They could fine an individual and imprison him, yet they had generally no legal knowledge; they were obliged to consult the assessors, and the only remedy and safe-guard they had was, either to submit to imprisonment, or to pay the fine inflicted upon them. In criminal cases the Con sul could withdraw the criminal from the operatien of the Local Courts. If he was an Englishman he sent him over to England, and the moment he arrived in England he was at liberty. An examination of the state of the law in Malta and the loni - an Isles would show that, as viva voce examinations were required, encouragement was given to criminals in p ro p or tio n t o th e i r crimes. Surely th e House could not wish such a state of things to continue. He would not trouble the House with many instances of the injurious effects of th.t system as it was at present conducted, but he hoped the House would see that the subject was one that deserved its attention. There was one case to which lie would direct their notice; it was the case of Mr. Larkins, the Consul at Alexandria. He had been Consul there during the Syrian warfare, and for his good conduct he had received the approbation of the Noble Lord atihe head of the Foreign Department. He had ren dered most essential services to that country, for on account of his high character end influence in Egypt he had been enabled at all times to procure access to Mehemet Ali. His health had suffered in consequence of his arduous exertions, and he had applied for leave of absence to come to England on ac count of his health. He had afterwards applied for a further extension of his leave, and the Noble Lord had written in re ply, s-ating that with regard to the reduction in the salary du ring his absence he regretted to say he could not depart from the general rule, and considering it improper that any person engaged in commercial pursuits should hold the office of Consul, he (the Noble Lord) had deemed it advisable to advise her Majesty to cancel his (Mr. Larkins) appointment of Consul at Alexandria, and to nominate Mr. Stoddart as his successor. Mr. Larkins remonstrated, and stated that he had long since ceased to be engaged in commercial transactions. The Noble Lord replied that his being engaged in agricultural pursuits in Egypt would be equally objectionable, and that he (the Noble Lord) was convinced that the change which lie had recom mended was for the benefit of the public service, and that there fore he could not advise her Majesty to make any alteration in it. He had mentioned these cases merely for the purpose of showing the defects of our present system of consular establishments. He had, however, no remedy of hie own to propose ; and he would leave it to the House to deal with the subject as in their wisdom they might think expedient. He hoped that some plan would at length be adopted for effecting an improvement in the system. He concluded by apologizing for having E 0 long detained the House, in seconding the motion. Mae- a considerable pause, and cries of " Question, ques tion," Dr. Bowring rose, and also Lord Palmerston—the former resumed his seat. Lord PALMERSTON said—Sir, I certainly (rd imagine that upon a question affecting a great public establishment, some one of her Majesty's Ministers—( The Speaker here intimated that Dr. Bowring had caught his eye, and accord ingly Lord Palmerston sat down amidst great laughter. ) Dr lit) WRING thought with the Noble Lord that on such a great subject, some Member of her Majesty's Government would express an opinion.—( Hear. ) But as the Hon. Gen tleman the Member for Shrewsbury had done him the honour of following him through the countries into which he had had the privilege of being sent by her Majesty's late Government, he would trouble the House with a few observations. It was of great importance to the comfort and safety of our travellers that they should receive assistance from our consular estab lishment. He thought the pre_en. system required great reform. Bathe (lid not think the Hon. Gentleman or the Noble Lord who followed him had touched at the root of the evil; which he (Dr. Bowring) thought was in the defective education of the gentlemen who filled those departments. They were geneteilly chosen at a time of life when they were not capable of apelying themselves to the acquirement of the knowledge necessary for the efficient discharge of their important duties. It was his conviction that England, instead ef bring worthily represented abroad, was most unworthily and defectively re presented.—( Hear, hear.) Many of the Consuls were wholly ignorant of the language as well as the laws, customs, and commercial interests of the people amongst whom they were sent to represent this great commercial nation, and promote its interests. But he did not think the Noble Lord, the late Secretary- for Foreign Affairs, was to blame more than his predecessors ; for, in fact, he did-not believe that the materials for forming a good consular establishment ex sled. Let the House look to the way in which Consuls were se. lected. Gentlemen who had influence in that House pressed upon the Government the selection of their personal friends. When they were removed into remote regions their corres pondence was almost unknown, and neither Parliament nor the public had the means of forming a correct estimate of these parties. He should wish to see the Consular returns laid re gularly before Parliament, as that would be the only means of knowing who did their duty and who did not. The Noble Lord had referred to the situations of the Consuls in the Levant. It was known that there the) exercised the func tions of Magistrates, and they were Judges, both in civil and criminal matters. There was hardly a single Consul there who knew the language of the country in which he lived. Many were appointed to the office on the decline of life ; and in one instance a Consul was assassinated by his servant because he could not sufficiently explain himself in the language of the country. He would not go over the ground traversed by the Hon. Mem ber for Shrewsbury, but he would make one observation with respect to his (Dr. Bovrring's) Report on Candia, as it had been referred to by the Hon. Member. When he was travel ling in Syria it was his privilege to fall in with Mustapha Pacha, a man of most extraordinary character. The information he had sent :with respect to Candia he found confirmed by this personage, and he therefore added that report as a kind of addendum to the report upon Syria; although it was not neces sary for him to do so, yet he felt assured that with reference to M. Anglais it was of great value. He (Dr. Bowring) had seen that report translated into foreign languages, and he had great pleasure in having received testimony from other coun tries of its value. The lion. Gentleman the Member for Shrewsbury went out of his way to refer to a Report he (Dr. Bowring) had made with respect to the French accountancy. He would say that the French accountancy was the most perfect in existence. The Right Hon. Baronet (Sir James Graham) had applied the principle with great advantage to the accounts of this country. Sir. R. PEEL said he wished to say a few words, not so much with reference to this subject as with reference to the speech of the lion. Member for Shrewsbury, who had brought forward that motion. The Hon. Gentleman had referred to a peculiar appointment in 1830, a period at which he (Sir R. Peel) had nothing to do with public affairs; of course he was unable to speak of the personal qualifications of the gentleman appointed ; be must therefore refer to the general question upon which the Hon. Member grounded the motion he bad brought forward. He alluded to that minion which implied a direct opinion, and which required that House to affirm that opinion —that great inconvenience arid injury had arisen to the public welfare from the civil affairs of her Majesty in foreign countries being carried on by two distinct services ; and that with a view of advancing those commercial interests which at this moment so much occupied their consideration, it was expedient that measures should be forthwith taken to blend the consular with the diplomatic body. That was, that the House should express and opinion without any qualification that the diplomatic and and consular functions ought to be united in the same person. fle (Sir R. Peel) was net prepared to give his assent to that proposition. He was not prepared to affirm, without qualifi cation or reserve, that in all cases the diplomatic and cone ar functions must be in the same person. Questions of this kind should, of course be decided by authority. Now, so far as authority was concerned, he could find no authority which held it to be necessary that these two functions should be united, except the speech of the lion. Member.—( Hear, hear, and a laugh.) Because in the first place he found that in 1825 this very question occupied the attention of the House, and then they were called upon to form an opinion upon the sub ject. if he were asked to name two men who were most calm lated to form a judgment on this question, whether it was desi rable or not that the diplomatic and commercial functions should be united in the same person, he should name Mr. Canning and Mr. Huskisson, and he found that a Bill had been brought in upon this subject by these two men It was quite clear, therefore, that upon consideration •at that tune, their opinion was that the consular and diplomatic functions ought to be disunited. Some years ago a Committee of that House was appointed fully to consider the state of the con sular establishments. It comprised the names of many indivi duals perfectly well qualified to form a judgment on the sub ject. On the Committee were Lord Palmerston, Lord Lowther, eiir J. Graham, Lord Stanley, Sir U. Vivian, Mr. Poulett Thompson, together with a great number of names of com mercial men, Mr. Hutt, Mr. Warburton, Mr. M'Kenzie, the lion. Gentleman Dr. Bowring himself, Mr. Ferguson, Lord Mahon, and a number of others. This Committee was ap pointed acutely to inquire into the consular department. Evi dence was brought before that Committee, and in the course of that evidence the question of whether it was fitting to unite the consular and diplomatic functions was fully gone into. The Report of that Committee was no': in favour of it. The principal inquiry before that Committee appeared to be directed to the question whether or no the Consul should correspond with the Board of Trade, and whether the consular establishment should be under the Board of Trade or under tLe Foreign-office. But the weight of autho rity was against this, and it was consideied that the consular department should be continued under the Foreign -office. The quest ion was duly considered as to the union of the diplomatic and consular functions, and that Committee contained the names of men peifeetly capable of forming a judgment on the subj 'et, arid that opinion was, that the consular and diplomatic functions should be separate. Considering, so far as authority went, the House (.f Commons appointing a portion of its body to consider this subject, there was no one authority in favour of the motion brought forward—viz., in favour of a motion for the consular to be blended with the diplomatic functions. He ( Sir R. Peel) must say the House of Commons ought to be cautious in affirming a resolution in favour of a proeosition of this kind. N av, with respect to the part of the proposi tion which stated that men should be appointed to these offices perfectly calculated to conduct the commercial affairs of the country in the department in which they are placed. There might be circumstances in which it might be perfectly fitting to employ men whose attainments did no t extend to commercial transactions. On that groun d a l so h e should refuse his assent to a universal proposition like that pro p. osed Looking to the reports, he could n o t see h ow t h e pro position could be carried out. He looked at th e diff erent con- fular departments—he found that in Calais, Paris, Havre, Bou logne, Oporto, and many other places, there must be Consuls, and the men ought to be qualified lot the office. If he was told that the men were unqualified, he should readily believe that a British functionary should be employed to watch over the com mercial interests in those qameere, but how could they unite the consular body with it? How could he affirm a resolution that the consular should be blended with the diplomatic body ? It was a universal un qualifledproposition. He would take the case of a great country such as America, where he could show that it was necessary to have a consul where there was no diplomatic functions. Now, if this was so, how could they affirm a proposition uniting the consular with the diplomatic body ? He took the case- of Archangel, Warsaw, and ether places, to which the same argument applied; and this was an other ground why the Houss of Commons should not affirm a proposition that the diplomatic and consular bodies should be blended. At the same time he should be sorry to oppose a pre position that in some cases they should be blended. There were many cases in which, in his opinion, they ought to be blended ; and there were many cases in which they were blend ell; and he thought that in every ease where they could be blende I, and thus save an additional expense, they ought to be united. But it was impossible. to lay down any general or universal rule. He thought it should not be in the discretion of the Executive Government to determine I in what cases those functions ought to be united, but that they should have the power in particular cases, where those func tions could be unit e d ; for lie thought i t wou ld b e a sav i ng o f the public fund. He could not deny, as was stated by the Hon. Gentleman, that one situation disqualified the party for the other (as we understood). It was important to the mer chants and trade of this country that the persons appointed to the office of Consul should be duly qualified. With regard to the question of appointment, this subject would be duly con sidered, and with respect to the union of the two functions he could assure the Hon. Member, that when they could take place they would, and he (Sir R. Peel) was glad to have that opportunity of making that public advertisement to all those who might hereafter apply tohim for appointments—(Cheers)— to say that he would not interfere with consular appointments upon political grounds,and he took that opportunity of stating this for the information of all those who had a disposition to apply, or who expected an appointment.—( Laughter. ) Every ap pointment ought to be inquired into and certificated. No appointment ought to take place except they could be justified on the grounds of commercial knowledge and fitness of the party.—(Hear, hear.) This he hoped would be received as an answer.—( Laughter.) If he could get this thoroughly known, he should be willing to resign any particular advantage as a Minister, and consider himself amply compensated in getting rid of these applicants..-...( Cheers and laughter). He could only state that he was fully conscious of the importance of these appointments, and so far as he could he would see that they were given to persons fully acquainted with commercial affairs. He hoped the Hon. Gentleman would not press the Reuse to affirm a resolution of this kind, as it was contrary to opinions formed upon the fullest inquiry. He hoped the Hon. Gentleman would not press his motion to a division, but if ho did it would be his (Sir R. Peel's) duty, founded on con viction, to give a negative to the proposal. Lord PALMERSTON said le certainly was anxious that theltight Hon. Baronet and some other Members of the Go vernment should state their views of the proposition made by the Hon. Gentleman the Member for Shrewsbury, because the speech of the Hon. Member in bringing forward the motion was ostensibly principally directed to a change in the establishment in which he (Lord Palmerston) was no longer responsible. He agreed with the Right lion. Baronet who had just sat down, that no grounds whatever had been shown by the Hon. Gentleman making this motion for the proposition which he had submitted to the House. He (Lord Pal merston) would say that he never heard a speech which was so little supported by evidence, and which was more sup ported by assertion than by proof, than that by which the motion hal been introduced to the House.—( Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentlema n h a d t o ll th em th at the subject had ' occu pied his attention for several years; and he had particularly considered the appointment of Consuls. He (Lord Palmer ston) was afraid this was but an unprofitable employment, so far as enlarging the mind was concerned.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) If th e H on. G en tl eman h a d taken the trouble to have studied the written law of nations, or any materials which would really throw light. on the subject, he thought he would not have made his motion, or if he had made it, his well known ingenuity and talent would have advanced better grounds than those he had laid before the House. That mo tion was to transfer the consular duties to the diplomatic agents; yet if any thing more strongly fixed in his mind snore than another, flat was that one. Consuls had performed their duties to the satisfaction of all ; and yet the Hon. Member came forward with his usual talent and activity with a new system, which was to unite the consular with that of the diplomatic body. Upon the entire ques tion it was quite manifest that the Honourable Gen tleman opposite had brought forward his proposition for the purpose of enabling him to enter into details and criticisms upon the appointments which he (Lord Palmerston) had made. It was true that every man, no matter what posi tion he was in, thought himself' competent to make ' a good Consul —every man, as the Rtlit Hon. Baronet had said, whether in the army or navy, or pursuing a mercantile life, or in legal pursuits, no matter what, he thought his former course of life fitted him for consular duties. That also would lead persons to look with a little more caution than they would otherwise probably have, and when there was - a great number of candidates, several must be disappointed, and it was not unlikely that those who had been selected should 'be the object of criticism. With regard to the question itself Of con sular appointments, he was surprised that the Hon. Gentleman who had turned his attention to it should not see from the nature of the thing that it was impossible his proposition could be acted upon. The Hon. Gentleman proposed that the Am barsador should perform twofold ditties, that there should be Consuls who should act as Charges d'Affaires, Vice- Consuls who should be Attaches. It was plain that the lion. Gentlemen understood very little about the duties of those offices. Th e d ut i es o f C onsu l s were iu many respects to tal ly different from those of diplomatic agents. 'I he Consul's first duty applied to the adjustment of all shipping affairs, and to the settlement of disputeabs tween the crews of our ships and their masters; to attend to all complaints made by British subjects who went to those places for the purposes of trade. The Consul was charged also with attending to the distress of British subjects, and to supply them with means to enable them to return home, and to pored them against the local authorities. These were the duties which were to be per formed by the Consuls, and in their nature they were wholly different from diplomatic duties. It was true that in places lt m l emuiatinp'isi multiplied where there were no ministers, the Consul would have ditties of a diplomatic nature to discharge. It might be said that then his duties were political, and in some respects that they eme of a diplomatic character. How was it possible that the Government of this country would permit, suppose twenty or thirty diplomatic agents from different foreign countries, to bedispersed throughout this coun tryt those Surely a the agents Englishti s e ii n nst GovernmentGbe o i ntuioogtnhpoiesutretnr thet a theire edo country. ion, o r° u Pt ld h°: lies to send so many agents to this country—it would be a depar ture from international usage. It would either indicate cir cumstances calculated to excite suspicion, or it would show an inconsistency with the arrangements of the country. The diplomatic agents act by letters given to them by the Govern ment who appoint them. They hold their offices durieg the pleasure of the Government which sent them out. They act not only by the letters of credit they had obtained fr o m th e i r twined f own Governme thentf, but also b y the exequatur which they o b- fromforeign Government, which might be with drawn at any time without any reason being assigned. The Honourable Gentleman (Mr. D'lsraeli) had converted all those Consuls into Charges d'Affaires. In the first place, the Honourable Gentleman had been totally in error in attempting to do that, for there was no such thing as a Charge d'Affaires where there was a British Minister, the co-existence then of a Charge d'Aff a i res ,_ and of a Minister in the same place was not c impat i ble according to the nature of the things. But according to the Hon. Gentlemen's pro positions there would be 20 or 30 Charges d'Affaires in a place where there could be no possible communication with the authorities, and the Hon. Gentleman could invest them wi h powers, which they could not possibly exercise. It was plain then, the plan proposed by the lion. Gentleman was so incon sistent, that if the Hon. Gentleman read the report to which lie had referred, he (Lord Palmerston) was sure he would have derived much more information from it than the Hon. Gentleman did by watching the appointments made by the late Government.—(Hear, hear.) It was perfectly true that there were many cases—(and the Hon. Gentleman felt the difficulty of it)—in cases in which the two characters of Consul end diplomatists were combined ; first when there were no diplo matist agents to a place, and secondly from motives of economy. When questions arose upon the local authority, it was the duty of consular agents to interfere. That was the case with the consular service. '1 lie Hon. Gentleman adverted to the manner in which those appointments were made. He (Lord Palmerston) was not then speaking of the Government to which he belonged, but he wished to state that the Executive Government had not been inattentive to the general principle which the Hon. Gentleman wished to be pursued, where that principle could be pursued consistently with the diplomatic cha racter, and that the consular duties could be properly fulfilled first. The Hon. Gentleman said he wished to render a proper tribute of approval to the Consuls in the Levant. He said they had performed the duties of their office with satisfaction, but he ( Lord Palmerston) totally disagreed with the observa tions of the Hon. Gentleman. He said there were two species of duties which those Consuls had to perform, their coasular duties and diplomatic duties. The Hoe. Gentleman said that the consular duties were of an inferior kind, and that inferior per ' sons were appointed to discharge them, hut that the diplomatic duties were of a superior kind, and that a superior class of men were appoints:d for them. - That he (Lord P.) did not at all admit.—( Hear,' hear.) Jr wits - true there existed a great differeneo between the nature of 'both duties. There was this important distinction between them: upon 'the dip lomatic duties depended peace 'or war with the country, whereas, although the other duties were of a serious charac ter, those grave questions of peace or war could not directly arise;; therefore, with regard to the Levant Consuls, he ( Lord Palmerston) did not see that he need do anything else than confirm the expression of approbation of the Honourable Gentleman for the proper discharge of the very mixed duties, which, under the existing circumstances, they were called upon to perform.—( Hear, hear.) Then the Honour- Hon. Gentleman went to America.-1 Laughter.) He admit mi:ted that in 1831 er;lB32—however, he was not quite cor rect as to the dates, because it was not then the arrangements he alluded to had taken place—but he (Mr. D'lsraeli) said that many Consuls were then appointed with the character of Charges d'Affaires. Undoubtedly many Consuls were ap pointed by him (Lord Palmerston) with the auth or i ty or powers of Charges d'Affaires, but it was in many in stances from In South mo tives of economy that was done. r America it was quite true that the political interests o, this country were con cerned in a minor degree in its commercial re l ations with that country, and, consequently, most of the euestions whi c h arose there were of a diplomatic nature ; yet th e y had more er less e eference to the commercial interest of the country ; therefore he (Lord Palinerston) did not feel feel that, with a due regard to the state of South America, it was of importance to have a diplomatic agent th ere, and it was therefore essenti a l to give a diplomatic character to the Consul-General who had the care of the commercial interests of that country.— ( Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman was not exactly lucky in following correctly the facts—( Hear, hear)—or from the information which the 'lon. Gentleman had received from others with regard to the course which he ( Lord Palmer s ton) h a d p u rsued. The Hon • Gentleman Ir.d said that a Minister had been firs: appo:ntecl by the late Go vernment, and then that Minister had been recalled for the purporie of giving, hima (Lord Pahne d rston) an opportunity of appointing some of his political frien . s.—( an and counter cheers.) The Hon. Gentleman admitted that political adher ents should be appointed to offices, but he ( Lord Palmerston) was very sorry the Hon. G en tleman himself s ees an exception to that rule.—( Lau:Ater. ) peobehly, however, b efore ' the determination of the S es i o n the maxim laid t a m . b e y the Hon. Gen . lernan would he practically carried out in his own per son.—( Loud laughter.) Then with regard to Colombia, the Hon. Gentlemen talked of that as if it still existed as a single colony ; if the Hon. Gentleman knew anything of passing events—( Hear, hear)—he must have known the Republic of Colombia was split several years ago into three different States, namely, first New Grenada, Venezuela, and Bogota. The Minister who was at Bogota was allowed to continue. It was not thought fit to do anything harsh by 1,; m, either by re calling him from his place or calling upon him to retire upon a pemion.; H owever, that M inister came home on leave of absence, and after being home for two years, be then intimated his wbh not to return, lola as he was in ill health, that he wished to retire upon a pension. He was aeconlingly allowed to re tre upon a pension, and he was not caled home, as the Hon. Gentleman said, for the purpose of making room for another. , - —(Hear, hear.) Th e same pr i nc i ple w hi ch applied to Bogota epplied to the other States—a Charge d'Affaires 'and a Consul caving been appointed in both. The vacancy created by the restnation of the Consul at Bogota had been filled up without any increase of expense to the country. The Hon. Gentleman said that the individual tie (Lord Palmerston) appointed was net fit for his offiee. The Hon. Gentleman had his opinion upon that subject, and he (Lord Paltnersten) had his own opinion.--( Hear, hear.) He would not have appointed that gentleman if he had not known that his talents and qualifications were such as 'eminently fitted him for the office, and he was perfectly convinced that the duties of the office would be most satisfactorily performed by him.— (Hear, hear.) It was said that he did not understand the Spanish language. If no gentleman could be appointed as Consul who did not perfectly understand the language of the country to which he was t o b e sent, the public would be fre quently deprived of the services of many useful officers. A knowledge of any language could be easily acquired, but, above all others, the Spanish language was the most simple and easily acquired by a gentleman of ordinary attainments; ar.d by this time he was sure his Hon. Friend, who he hoped nad before now arrived at Bogota, in spite of the Hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. D'lsraeli), was now perfeetls able to speak both Spanish and French —( Laughter. ) However, at Bogota the Consul could not be at a loss fora Spanish iuterpreter, because it was quite clear that several persons, even amongst the British merchants there, could be found sufficiently trustworthy to act as interpreters—( Heer. hear)—so that, in that respect, the Hon. Gentleman must have been either grossly deceived by the character he had receives, of the merchants there, or he had only heard of the first act o: the drama, and then, when the curtain was drawn up, the representation was very different. When the curtain was drawn up, the Hon. Gi sitleman found that the Consul-General was sitting in the discharge of his duties with a very respect .ble British merchant acting as his interpreter. He (Lord P.) controverted the proposition of the Hon. Gentleman. He denied that he gave consular duties to those who were as, peinted to act as diplomatists, but he thought that those duties could at least for some years to come be confined to those who had at present been discharging them. Then the Hon. Gentleman, following him (Lord P.) through every region of the earth—(Laughter)—in every part of which he had the misfortune of incurring the Hon. Gentleman's displeasure and disapprobation—(Laughter)— the Hon.- Gentleman next went to Egypt ; there he found a very respectable gentlemen Mr. Parker, who retired very shortly after he (Lord P.) came into office. Col. Campbell, and Col. Hodges were then appointed, and he (Lord Palmerston) might justly say, he was proud of these appointments.—( Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman said that Colonel Hodges commenced his career in Portugal ; true it was he did so--he served for some time in the army which placed Donna Maria upon the throne, and distinguished himself in that service, and he (Lord Palmerston) had yet to learn that intrepidity and great valour, high honour, and such general :conduct as attached a distinguished officer to the men under his command, were to disqualify such a man from holding a respon sible office. Those things should rather have qualified him for the discharge of his duties —(Hear, .hear.) Again, the Hon. Gentleman (Air. D'lsraeli) was totally misinformed with re gard to the affairs of Servia, and he (Lord Palmerston) f It it his duty to contradict the Hon. Gentleman's assertion, when he stated that dissensions or convulsions in that country were fomented by the British Consul there.—( Hear, hear.) Now he would say th a t th e a p po i n t ment of Col. Hodges was , one for which he (Lord Palmerston) took some pride to him self; and he would add, that the able manner in which he performed his duties in Egypt led him to send him to Ham burgh. They had followed the plan proposed by the Hon. Member opposite where it could be done, and he thought that the diplomatic arrangements of Hamburgh might well be left in the bands of those who managed the consular affairs. Now with regard to Mr. Wood, she Hon. Member said that he had not performed his duties. The fact was, that Mr. Wood was not Consul when he first went to Syria, but whilst there he per formed services of great importance to the Government in which he was engaged. Whether the Hon. Gentleman re-- gietted the expulsion of the. Egyptians from Syria, he (Lord Palmerston) did not knew, but those who did consider that as a step of good policy, he was sure would acknowledge that Mr. Wood had rendered great and efficient services to the accom plishment of that object. Again, the Hon. Member spoke in terms, which he (Lord P.) thought might have been spared, with regard to the Consul at Leipsic. That. Consul had some diffe rences with some of the local authorities at Leipsic, but he had reason to believe that those differences were made up ; and he (Lord Palmerston) would say that Mr. Wood had furnished them with some most useful statistical information relative to that place. The Hon. Member then entered into a long statement relative to the system pursued by the late Govern ment in sending Special Commissions to inquire into and re port on matters of a statistical nature. He (Lord Palmerston) must say that he considered that practice most useful and bene ficial. It was all very well to say you'thave Consuls here and Ministers there, and attachees at anoher place, and what do yon want with any other assistance? He (Lord Palmerston) was of opinion that they might have good Ministers, good Consuls, and deserving Attachees, and yet they might not have that detailed information which was fit should be acquired for the benefit of the Government at home. It was possible the greatest industry might not acquire necessary information. Of this the Hon. Member had given them a specimen to-night--he had made them a speech which showed a good deal of indus try in a particular way, and yet be had shown such a la mentable want of information as would not enable him to obtain any support for his motion. But were we the only people who adopted the course which the Hon. Member con demned? They would find that at the time of his (Lord P.'s) lion. Friend's mission to Prussia, with regard to the Com mercial League, France and the United States sent over similar envoys, though they had at the time most able and efficient ministeas at Berlin. Agin, the French sent Special Commissioners here to examine and report on our system of customs. The United States also sent Commissioners to more than one country in Europe to obtain information with regard to the Post-office system. If we were wrong, then, we went wrong in good company. We went wrong in company of the Right Hon. Baronet opposite, and the Governments of France and the United States; and so far from that being any reflec tion on the diplomatic' ministers, or the consular ministers, he thought it was only another proof of the desire of the Government to obtain the most accurate information. Again the Hon. Member was wrung, in thinking -that Consuls did not make reports of important information, both statistical and commercial ; for it was the duty of every Consul regularly to send home reports of this kind to the Government.; and the Hon. Gentleman was wren. theamain when he said th a t th ese reports were not read by wrong Secretary of State. He (Lord Palmerston) would say that when he was Secretary of State, he read every report which arrived, from that furnished by the high es t Consul-General t o th a t sent in by the lowest Assis tant-Consul in the service. —(Hear, hear.) It certainly was very laborious reading, and took up a great deal of; time ; still it was a great mistake to imagine that because there was a Clerk in the Foreign-office who was the Superintendent of the consular branch, that the Secretary of State did not give the same minute attention to those matters whieh it was his duty to give to every point in his office. The Hon. Member then thought that it was unnecessary to have sent the person who was deputed to Naples for the purpose of settling the com mercial tariff of the two countries. Speaking of the Mi n i s t er of Naples, he (Sir R. Peel ) say that he had always per formed his duties with intelligence, integrity, and zeal ; and he ( Lord Palmerston) was one who would not say b 0 if he diii not think so. The censure of the Hon. Member, then, was mis applied ; and it would be, indeed, advisable, if th e lion. Mem ber would make himself better acquainted with the facts before he entered into these questions. Mr. - Macgregor was sent to negotiate some alteration in certain clauses in the tariff; he discussed the question of the treaty, but had gone farther than he was instructed to do, and the genera l arrangement which he had thought sh ou ld be accepted by her Majesty's Go vernment, was one which he (Lord P.) did not think it his duty to sanction ; he believed, in consequence, that the treaty had not to this day been ratified. Again the Hen. Member objected to the seeding of Mr. Macgregor to Sicily. Her Majesty's Government having sent Mr. Maegiegor out to revise that ta riff, and that they might receive the most detailed accounts from him, which could not be contained in written despatches, it was his duty to go to Sicily that he might obtain most per fect information. He (Lord Palmersten) felt it his duty, in in justice to the consular body, who had been much censured, and whom it was the fashion of Gentlemen in that House, who were wholly ignorant of the matter of which they were treating, to censure—to say that though there might be some less per fect than others, yet, taking them as a body, there was not a more able and efficient body in Europe. He (Lord Palmerston) felt much obliged to them fir their assistance, and he th oug h t there could bno doubt that they had rendered the greatest service to the country.--( Hear, hear.) As to the Government being ill-informed, he would say that, during the time of these Consuls, the Government of England had been better informed than any other Goverment iu the world ; that might appear a bold assertion, but. he said it most deliberately.—( Hear, hear.) The motion of the Honourable Member being, he (Lord Palmerston) believed, only an OCCA-• siert on which he might retail the complaintsof those hundreds of disappointed candidates for consulships against the more successful candidates, he need not, perhaps, have gone so much into the matter contained in his speech. He thought, however, that he had shown that that part of the Hon. Mem ber's scheme, which consisted in the very reverse of the words he had made use of, viz., " giving diplomatic power to consu lar agents" had been followed out by the Government as far as possible. It came across him that there were two persons whom the Honourable Momber criti cised of - whom he (Lord Palmerston) had yet said nothing, though it was his duty to do so. The Hon. Member said that we had a Consul-General in Venezuela, but instead of his residing there he was living at St. Petersburgh, and the Consul was dying at LIN', rpool—a very pretty antithesis, but well suited to the rest of the HOn. Gentlemans' speech. What was the fact ? The Consul-General having completed a most important treaty, applied to him (Lord Palmerston) for leave of absence which he obtained, but said the Hon. Member ' he .was living a t St. P eters b urgh ; perhaps, he was, because having his family living there, and taking advantage of hit leave of absence, he went there.—(Hear.) He was an able and most valuable public servant ; he had been a long time at his post, and certainly deserved the leave of absence which - he obtained. But then the Consul at Puerto' Cabello died at Liverpool some time ago, and a Mr. O'Leary had been appointed in his place. Mr. O'Leary was a naturalized subject of America; he spoke the Spanish language, and by a long residence in that country knew something of the people. How could we think of appointing such a man —one who spoke the language, and was well acquainted with the country ? He (Lord Palmerston) must ask the Hon. Gentleman to give up his case either against the Consul at Bogota or at Puerto Cabello. He would give him his choice, but he must g i ve u p one or the other. B u t w h o was General O'Leary ? He was a British subject, though by long residence in South America he had obtained the privileges of a South American subject. They were not very difficult to obtain, for, after living there two years, they gave it to you and said, " you shall be an American subject." General O'Leary became an Ameri can subject, he served with great distinction in the Colombian army, and he (Lord Palmerston) was quite sure that he was perfectly competent to take care of British interests at Puerto Cabello. And he would now give the Hon. Member a piece of information, it was, that this American subject was not acting as Consul-General in the room of Sir It. Porter during, his absence ; here then was a double charge that this person, who understood their language. and was well acquainted with the country, should be appointed to perform the duties of his chief. He (Lord Palmerston), should not trouble the House much farther, he thought he had gone thiough the names of all those whom the Hon. Member meant to make his victims. If he had omitted any he hoped the House would judge of them by those whom he had defended. He could only say that it was fair warfare for Hon. Members on one side of the House to say what they pleased against Gentlemen on the other side; and anything personal lie might have urge d w i t h any against him (L or d P a lmerston) degree of antitheses, or any point of epigram he chose, because as ihe Right Hon. Baronet said, though now out of office, he had aright to defend himself; but he thought' it not very be coming for a Member of that House to draw into the matter per sons who had no connexion with the party persons sensitive of their character, more so perhaps than Hon. Members might suppose—and whose power of serving their country depended much on the weight their characters. bore.—(Hear, hear. ) He would therefore beg of the Hon. Gentleman that while ha eave him the fullest permission to tu rn hi s steel on himself—( A laugh) —while he gave him the amplest liberty to attack him, he would, in behalf of those who were serving the country in official situations, entreat of him to spare their feelings, and that he would take pains to make himself acquainted with the facts on the subject before he stated in that House what would go forth to the public and inflict pain, and perhaps in jury, on the public servants of the country.—(Cheers. ) Mr. SMYTHE said that although it might appear presump tuous in him to rise after the statements made by the :tight lion. Baronet and the Noble Lord, he would beg the indulgence of the House for a few moments. He agreed with the Hon. Member who introduced the motion that improvements might be made in the consular establish ments, and he had no doubt that, if the consular body receiver' larger pay, they would be more inclined to attend to the infor mation which was expected from them. The lion. Member for Bolton might, in sucha case, expect an appointment, and he might exclaim, with the poet : " Oh ! fortunarn natam, me Consule, Romam." (A laugh.) But he could not give his assent to the sweep ing condemnations of his Hon. Friend. The Hon. Member spoke of the appointment of Mr. Wood and the Syrian expedi tion in disparaging terms, but he could not agree with him in that opinion. His Hon. Friend also spoke of the Noble Vis count opposite in a manner to which he (Mr. S.) could not give his assent. He thought that Noble Lord had performed , he duties of his cffiee with great ability, and that in the treaty of London he displayed some of that consummate skill for which his illustrious ancestor, Sir William Temple, was so celebrated, who concluded the treaty of Nimcguen with sue!. ibility in a former period of their history_(liar, hear. ) He (Mr. - S.) was of opinion that the consular es tablishment should be confined within those limits defined bs Mr. Canning, and he thought that the duties of Consul should not be confided to persons engaged in trade. Sonic of the Consuls, he believed, were allowed to trade, and others wen not. The Consul at Venice was refused the liberty, but it was allowed to the Consul of Trieste. The same distinction was observed with regard to the Consuls of St. Petersburgh and Odessa. The leading object of the Consuls was, it had been observed, the procuring of commercial information for the country ; and that being the case, he saw great objectiors migh t exist in the way of affording such information. The info.ma tion was obtained as well for the public as for the Government and it could not be expected --at least it was not wise—that the' private interest of the Consul as a merchant should be at variants, as it was, with the information he was obliged to afford the public on commercial subjects. A Consul engaged in trade was also liable to the accidents cf other persons engaged in trade, and he might become a bankrupt. And, in his opinion, it was not right that the inte rests of a great nation should be placed in the hands of such persons. He threw out the hint for the consideration of the Right Hon. Baronet, who might perhaps be induced to take the matter into his serious consideration. Mr WILLIAMS rose amid cries of " Oh, oh." He would not occupy the House for any length of time. He wished merely to direct the attention of the House to the want of a Consul at Cracow. 'Austria, Russia, and Prussia, had Con suls there, and he believed if the English Government had an agent in that place, it s occupat i on b y fore i gn troops would be r prevented. He had no doubt that the establishment of a Consul at Cracow would be consisiered by the people of Poland as a manifestation of the feeling, towards that' unhappy country, of the people of England. Sir WILLIAM SOMERVILLE did not rise for the pur pose of addressing any lengthened observations to the house, but there was one subject alluded to by the Hon. Gentleman a Inch, in his opinion, did not receive a sufficient answer; he alluded to the unworthy attack made by the Hon. Gentleman upon the Minister at the Court of the Two Sieilies. He (Sir W. Somerville) in a subordinate situation, had the honour of serving under that Minister, and he was bound to state that a better or more able individual was not to be found in the foreign service of the country.—( Hear, hear.) The impression which the Hon. Gentleman sought to make, by his ob erva tions, on the House was, that the individual had been selected by the Noble Viscount (Lord Palmerston) on account of his relationship, and had been placed above others on ac count of the affinity which he bore to him. But the fact was, that he was one of the oldest diplomatic servants in the service of the country, and he made his way up from an humble post to the high position which he now held.—(Hear, hear.) He (Sir W. S) having had the honour to serve under him, and the pleasure of his friendship, could not sit down without offering that tribute to him.—( Cheers. ) Mr. WARD said that he was happy to bear his testimony to what had just fallen from the Hon. Baronet, because he (Mr. Ward) was also connected with the Hon. Mr. Temple in the year 1816. But he would net have alluded to the subject at all if the motion of the lion. Member could have been followed by any practical result. The Right lion. Baronet opposite had given unanswerable reasons why no person could vote for it in its present shape. There was one point to which he wished to call the attention of the House, which was, that when they ..had a diplomatic establishment in the centre of the country, they should not encumber it by having a resident Consul in the capital. The young men attached to the foreign diplo• matic departments might be accustomed to more attention to the commercial intercourse between this country and the country in which they resided, by making the correspondence of the Consuls pass through their hands. In South America a large establishment of Consuls. General had been appointed by Mr. Canning, by means of which the country had derived much advantage. As to what had fallen from the Hon. Member for Shrewsbury, with re gard to the ignorance of the Consul-General of Bogota of the language of the country, it did not appear to him (Mr. Ward) to be at all necessary for the interests of the country that such knowledge should be possessed. One of the mist brilliant diplomatists which this country ever possessed, he meant Lord Hey tesburv, was totally unacquainted with the Spanish language when he was at the Court of Spain, but that did not in the least disqualify him from giving useful directions to the Consuls of the country which he re presented. It was always to be supposed that communications might be easily carried on through the medium of trustworthy persons, as interpreters ; at the sime time it might be desirable that a knowledge of the language of the countries where they were placed should be ob tained by persons entrusted with diplomatic duties. They could never in this country make diplomacy so far a pro fession as to induce persons to adopt it, as they did in other countries. When one Government in this country superseded another, they were obliged to have persons in their own immediate confidence, and therefore per sons were placed over the heads of others, and appointed to situations to which they might not be so well en titled. He was inclined to think that some good might result from the motion of the Hon. Gentleman opposite, but, if he pies ed it to a division, lie (Mr. Ward) should feel it his duty to vote against it. . Mr. LABOUCHERE had a few word; to say in consequence of what had fallen from the Hon. Gentleman. The late Go vernmeut had thought it so inexpedient that there should be a Minister and a Consul-General resident in a fort ign metropolis, that he believed his Noble Friend (Lord Palmerston) abolished the situation of Consul-General where there was a resident English Minister. This was the case In Paris, Madrid, Mexico, Buenos Ayres, and Naples. He believed there were two or three places where there was a British Minister, and a Consnl-General also ; but those places were particularly situated. *iamburgh was one of those places, where the extensive nature of their commercial intercourse required an English Consul. Captain PLUMRIDGE said it was evident that every English Consul ought to understand commercial business. No situation was more difficult than that of a captain of an English man-of. war, when called on, as he frequently was, to act as an English Consul, and to arbitrate between the captains of merchant vessels and their crews. The Consuls had no power to do this, and he hoped whoever had the appointment of Consuls would give them this power. Mr. D'ISR A ELI replied. He said he had to thank the Noble Viscount for his aspirations for his (Mr. D'lsraeli's) political pre ferment, and if he had learned any of the secrets of the Noble Vis count's astonishing career by which he had continued to hold office with every Government for the last twenty-five years— ( Hear, hear)-- - he should think the debate had been productive of some advantage. He dissented entirely from the principle laid down by the Noble Viscount, that they were not to question the personal character of an appointment as Foreign Minister, that the Government was responsible, and If they thought a person who was appointed was not a proper character, they had not the power to question the propriety of that appointment. It had pot been his object to enter into personal details ; if it had been he could have adduced four times the number . of cases he had done ; but he had not instanced any cues of a personal nature, except as illustrative of the principle he advocated. The Noble Lord as.. serted that he wanted knowledge of the subject, that he ought to have read the Report, and have studied the law of nations, and then he would have seen that a Consul required an exequatur. But he might venture to say that he had not erred, as neither the Noble Lord himself, nor any other Hon. Member had denied the principle he wished to enforce. He denied that he had attacked the character of the Hon. Member for Haddington, and said that though -the Right llon. Baronet, the leader of the House, had declured that the responsibility of separating the commercial and diploma. tic duties of Consuls was too great, yet no one had defined what those duties were. It had been said that they had to arbitrate between captains and their crews, and attend to the clearing of vessels, but these were to some extent diplomatic acts. What were these commercial duties ? What was their commercial character? No one had described it. Though the fate of the motion was evi dent*. yet nothing had been elicited during the debate but what must tend to advance his view of the question. The motion was then put and negatived without a division. INTERMENT IN CITIES, Mr. MACKINNON robe to move for a Select Committee, to consider the expediency of framing some Legislative Enactments (due respect being paid to the rights of the clergy) to remedy the evils arising from the interment of bodies within the precincts of large towns, or of places densely peopled. He raid, In bringing forward the motion of which he had given notice, he trusted he should .he excused' for making a few observations on the subject under contemplation. He was first Induced to bring the subject forward front having been a member of the Select Committee, ap pointed the Session before last, to inquire into the state of large towns, and though the object of the Ccaninittee was not precisely the same as the present motion, yet, the subject incidentally came under their view, and he had thought it of such importance that he had been indnced to give it his best consideration. Subsequent to that many persons in the City of London, and several individuals of high character, had mentioned to him their desire that the sub ject should be brought forward. Under these circumstances, there: fore, he trusted be should not be thought presumptuous if he endeat, voured to show the House the necessity of the measure he should sub. mil to their notice. For many centuries they had kept masses of filth and corruption within the walls of large and populous towns, while almost every nation of Europe had adopted the plan of de tached burial-grounds. The object he had in view, had, he believed, the sanction of her Dl:lesty's Government, and of the leading members of the Church, and that object was to prevent the inhumation of the dead-within the walls of large towns and populous cities. How it was possible that such a custom could be so long persisted in in this country, passed his comprehension ; and perhaps the House would be surprised when he informed them that in almost all the nations of the world a different system of things had been as, rued. The ancient Egyptians had the custom of burning their dead ; the Greeks adopted the same custom ; and the Romans followed the same practice. It was one of the laws of the Twelve Tables that nobody should be burned ria, buried within the precincts of a town or city. It was impossible for any practice to be so injuri. ous to health as the practice they now observed. He believed that, setting aside the custom of the ancients, and looking solely at the injunctions of the primitive Church, they would find that the early Christians did not allow the dead to be buried either within their towns, or within the church. The first person who was buried within the walls of a church was the Christian Emperor Constantine, who had been a Pagan.—(Laughter.) Now he would come to the point, by quoting the opinions of two or three medical men on this subject. Mr. Clark stated, that the effluvia caused in churches by the decomposition of the dead buried L-cneath and around was most pernicious to the health of congrega tions and inhabitants. The Lancel contained set eral illustrations of this truth. In short, the inhumation of bodies within towns was universally admitted to be bad. The heads of the Church, and the city of London, had communicated this ft-cling to him. He knew this was the feeling of the public at large, and therefore he felt it his duty to bring forward the subject, convinced that the Legislature would take it up, and with these few uortis he would read the inction.—( Rear, hear.) Dr. BOWRING, in seconding the motion, rejoiced that this country, which was behind every country in Europe in this respect, had at last taken up this important question. The best eflects had already resulted front the interference of the Legislature in burials in France and Spain, and he looked also fur the Lest results from legislative interference here. Mr. WAKLEY was quite grateful to the Government for ae. ceding to the motion. He hoped the Hon Gentleman would take care that no cemetery proprietors should be on the Committee-_ (Hear, hear)—and also that the Committee should inquire into the heavy charges the poor had to pay in some burial grounds. He heard that in a neighbouring cemetery a poor man's grave cost 10s. He would give the name of his authority fur this fact to the Hen. Gentleman. They should take care that no monopoly should result from the proposed measure. Sir J. GRAHAM was decidedly of opinion that the time was THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 9, 1842 come when it was necessary to legislate on this subject.—(Hear, hear.) He thought no one would dispute that the health of the community and the decencies of civilized life required that a space for burying the dead in should be appointed without the walls of cities. Her could not see what danger there was that a monopoly could result from an inquiry, as the Hon. Member for Finshury apprehended, for though an enactment was Lecessary, he (Sir J. Graham) did not pledge himself to adopt the legislative measure which the Report of the Committee might recommend. The measure which might be passed must be first well considered, and it ought to be preceded by inquiry, and he was sure his Hon. i Friend His object w as to ascertain the g ury. done by th e present system, and then what sort of legislative measu re might be ne. rights l.t the eAc b , e clergy, careful NONtiie l fao extent i r u t e ui f i t tis of would i g the Com m itt ee. —(Hear.) i j cessary. - - LAW OF MARRIAGES. Lord FRANCIS EGERTON rose, according to notice, to ask leave to bring in a Bill to amend an Act, intituled an Act to render certain marriages valid, and to alter the law with respect to cer. tain voidable marriages, and to d: fine the prohibited degrees of affinity. If he could think, that after showing the necessity of some measure on this subject, the House would give their sanction :o his luting his Bill on the table, without pinging themselves to its adoption at any future stage, he would be content with that prospect, and would compress his introductory observations as much as possible. But he feared his Bill would not tie allowed to be laid on the table without serious opposition. Therefore, he must beg leave to go back a fitt!e, and he hoped his efforts would direct the attention of Hon. Gentlemen from party conflicts to a measure of the most serious interest, and of most uni versal impot lanes. He must, therefore, carry them back to a period seven years since, as, since that time, three general elections had infused more than an average amount of changes into the compo sition of the House. It would be in the recollection of most Hon.. Gentlemen that, in the year 1835, a most important statute was passed by the House under somewhat peculiar circumstance:, and certainly without that deliberation such a subject demanded, and that that measure affected a material portion of the marriage law of ti e country. A considerableportion of that measure was retrospective. It was with the prospective part of that Act that he came forward to deal; and he should freely confess that if, at the time the mea sure had been passed, lie had been in possession of the knowledge he had since acquired, however much he might have concurred in its general object--that of preventing litigation in families—if he had been in possession of full information on thesubject, he did - not think he should have approved of the measure in the form in Which it had received the sanction of the Legislature- The Act had been passed in tha year 1835, at the latter end of the tnenth of August, without a careful deliberation on all its bearings, and with -an im. plied promise that at an early period of the following Session the attention of Parliament should again be called to the subject. For seven years, however, the question had lain dormant. It might be asked why he now undertook to bring forward such a subject. In replying to such a question, he would pass over any considerations as to whether a person like himself, unlearned in the law, and destitute of influence and authority upon such a mat ter, was entitled to undertake its introduction to Parliament. He would only say that particular circumstances had induced him to accede to the wishes of those who proposed that he should submit the question to the oonsideration of that House.—(Hear, hear.) He would not undertake to say that the House ought to pass the measure, which it was his intention to introduce; but he would say that it was not only discreet, but that it was absolutely neees. sary that the attention of the Legislature should be directed to the subjectin all its bearings. The law of 1835 had not gone forth to the country, with the sanction of a law duly and attentively considered; and it did not therefore carry with it that weight to which it might have otherwise been entitled. It had consequently been evaded by many patties who could not be considered profligate or professed law-breakers. He believed he might say it had been evaded by persons of education, and by persons who had no other moral slur or taint upon their characters than an evasion of a law which they considered enjust and un founded might be expected to leave. That was alone, in his opinion, a sufficient reason for re-considering the subject, in order that the object of the measure might be attained, namely, prevention of much domestic unhappiness, and of expensive litiga. tion in respect to the rights of inheritance. He did not think the proposed object of the Act had been attained. He found that per sons resorted to Scotland in order to evade the law; and he'did not believe that Lau yens were agreed as to whether that evasion should be considered successful or not. He belie. ed that there was no subject upon which such widely different opt. nions prevailed among the highest law authorities in the country. He should, therefore, think that it was desirable the matter should be settled. They should not sit quiet because the subject was a delicate one. He had documents before him, which, however, he should not quote in detail at that late hour, for the purpese of show ing that lawyers of eminence were every day consulted as to the means of evading the present law in some of its • parti. culars. The solicitors of London and •of other towns had petitioned in considerable numbers, not for the Bill which be proposed to introduce, but for -a remedy for the uncer. tainty which now prevailed upon the subject. He thought that the opinions of solicitors were entitled to great con. sideration upon such a question. They were, probably, better acquainted with the course of society, and with the current of the stream of life in thii country than any other body of men, and they might be Considered in some respects as the con fessors of families.—(Hear, hear.) He did not think' that they could be suspected of being Influenced by motives of personal advantage in petitioning Against the existing law, as they were thereby acting directly in the teeth of their professional interest. He remembered a Story of two tbx.hunters who had fallen into a quarry, where they were lying disabled ; upon which ene of them told the other to lie still, and they should soon have mpanions in misfit' tune. Now, that could not be said to be the case with the solicitors in the present instance, because the exist ing law could only tend to produce a plentiful crop of litigation. He ventured to say that such would be the result of the law, and that result it was his object to prevent. Without entering into the details of the measure he proposed to Introduce, he might' state that one of its principal provisions, and the one perhaps moat likely to lead to discussion, was, that a widower should be allowed to marry the sister of his deceased wife. Now that was a very important subject, and one upon which he was aware great difference of opinion might prevail.' It might be looked upon in two points of view—it might be looked upon first in a religious point of view, and secondly in tegard to its social expediency, or what he might call its consequences, upon this side the grave. With regard *to the religious part of the question he felt that he should tread lighly upon such sacred ground in such an assembly as he was then addressing. He would only endeavour to show the House that he had seriously considered' that part of the Matter. • He hoped the House would give him credit for sincerity when he stated, that if he considered he was impeded by the revealed Weird of God, whose authority they all acknowledged, from bringing forward Such a proposal, he should never have said a word 'upon tiie subject.—(Hear) He believed the objections were principally derived from a patti. cular portion- of the Old Tenement, centeinedin the book of Levi ticus. He vowed that, upon carellilly considering that very clifll. cult and abstruse passage, it appeared to him that the taw contained i in that part of the sacred volume was not binding upon them under the Chnstian dispensation, so as to influence their legislation in this matter. That was an opinion which he would be prepared ultimately, if necessary, to defend. He was fortified in it by the circumstance that Protestant communities in general had acted upon the assume. tion that there was nothing in the Word of God to prevent such en alliance. He had no reason to suppose that that body to whose authority he should feel himself obliged to bow, the clergy of the Church of England, would oppose the measure on that ground. Had their opinion been expressed against the proposal, he would have considered himself bound to observe reverential silence upon the subject. He came now to the other question— that of expediency, and of consequences on this side the 'grave. Now his view of that was, that there was nothing In the probabi lities of the case which would entitle them to interfere with the choice of mature age—ti.at liberty which abstractedly every man of mature age and understanding ought to enjoy in so solemn and serious a matter, as that of choosing a partner for life. His opinion was, that the balance of advantages would be in favour of this enactment. It' had been supposed by many that the permission to a - svidower to marry the sister of his deceased wife would interrupt that Intimate intercourse which now existed between parties so Interested. In some cases it might be difficult to calculate the precise effect of the measure.. Some monster might exist who would deliberately attempt to Seduce the sister of hit loving wife, with the idea of marrying - herafter the tatter's death ; and there might also be come wives who would harbour feelings and suspicions of the most injurious character. He con• ceived, however, that it was impossible to legislate for such Anon. strous cases. It had been supposed that a measure of that kind might diminish that sincerity which was now supposed to exist in the sister of the living wife. It appeared to him that there were degrees or shades of turpitude in the most licentious transactions, and he would be the last to diminish those distinctions ; but it appeared to him that they depended upon the same sort of principle on which the law punished a domestic servant, who robbed hip master, with peculiar severity. It appeared to him that they depended upon considerations totally independent of any statute which might-be enacted upon the subject, though he was not disposed to say that for those additional shades of guilt It might not be advisable to provide by penal statute. There was an.. other case which had been mentioned with regard to the inter. course which was supposed to subsist between the sister of the de. ceased's wife and her husband. Take the case of two persons of attraction on either side, who :might be expected to marry if they were enabled by law to do so. If two parties so situated were al lowed to marry they would derive advantage rather than any wee judice from an enactment which gave them that power. But as he had before observed, these were matters which could not be taken into consideration ; when legislating on that subject s Cased, public expediency must be established to entitle the Legislature to In. terfere. He had taken upon himself to state that this statut e had been evaded. and that it did not meet with that respect which was paid to mere ties of consanguinity. He believed that four or five cases of evasion had occurred at Manchester. That would enable non. Members to fOrm some opinion as to the extent to which the law had fai'ed to excite respect in this country. He thought it was snore likely to be evaded in the lower classes than in the upper. It was not always easy to put themselves in a position to consider the cases and feelings of individuals . There was one argument of Bishop Jewel on this subject to which he would advert. It was simply this—" The world is wide, and there are other per. sons from whom you may choose a wife." "The world was all before them where to choose." But what consolation did extent and variety of choice bring to them when they saw the sword of the angel flourishing over the gate which was closed for ever against their return ? Did they not feel that to them the world was a desert ? If in such eases the yoke of Heaven man silent, was it for man to speak out? It was hard to pronounce what change of scene—what length of time might mitigate regard, or deaden the affection of one who was usually of an age when, as Mr. Burke said, "passion had lost half its groisuess but not half Its power "—one - who felt affections which might have been crushed by domestic afflictions, revived and rekindled towards an object, legitimate in his conviction, and worthy of his warmest regard. If they would and must blast the hopes of an individual in a position such as he (Lord F. E.) alluded to—if they conceived it to be demonstated to be socially expedient —still more if they thought that Revelation and the law of God enjoined them to adopt such a course, let them at least spare him their cold and insulting consolation. brt them preach to him; let them reason with him; let them threaten bins. if they would, let them tell him of Basil, Theodosius, and the Coun cils. He might obey their dictates ;he might perhaps submit to their law ; but lie (Lord F. _ Egerton) feared that he would resort to every expedient to evade the law. Such oil and wine as theirs would but fester in the wounds with which he was afflictid. Cases daily occurred to strengthen the view which he (Lord F. Egerton) took of the subject. In a cons. munication which he had received frost an Hon. Friend there was mentioned the case of a gentleman of character and reputation in his profession, who had received from the lips of his dying wife a solemn injunction to commit her six children to the wedded guardianship of the sister whom the !eft behind. If, then, the tase of expediency was not demonstrated entirely to their satis faction, he must say that it was a fright ful responsibility to come between that num to whom he had just referred and the injunction which he had received from the death-bed of his wife. This was a sub ject which ought not to be treated with haste; it called fot mature re. flection and deliberation, avid they were not entitled to legislate upon it in the manner ie, which they had in the year 1835 ; al though at the time it was confessed that the legislation was not'final, but open to consideration on all the bearings of the case, as ho had brought them before the House. He did not think it his duty to go into the history of the Is! , by which prohibitions were enacted against the contracting of such e marriages It was well known th a t , up t o ' the WIN o f the ~ statute of 1835, those p ro hibiti ons rested merely on the author ity of the canons of 1603, w hi c h embraced the pro hibitory decrees Archbishop Parker. The on ly l eg i s l at i on they baldcoz il The Bill Bill the S o y f effect of those canons was th e ena ctment of 1835 . which he (Lord F. E.) proposed wou , li e l li r st em u o l h e the degrees of con. remove wished e t w h i ee e ff d ec o t n of ev t e h r a y t statute, and would set forth in the sanguinity and lineal a ffi nity, • should be his ob jec t to as Ift—by deali ng w i th the make those prohib itions thought that by a c of the stricteit justice, they would st ren gthen careful consideratiO 'naves in a sp ir i t whichnrhich on every ground th ey %vett bound to support. they wished to maintain—they would f or tif y that moral fthval s