The Sun. — London, England, 1844-03-12 00:00:00

MARYLEBONE. • Sir Simon Clarke, Bart., residing at Oak-hill, East Barnet, attended at this Court, before Mr. Rawlinson, at the instance of Mr. May, Secretary to the National Animals' Friend Society, Exeter Hall, and Mark-lane, upon two summonses which had been obtained against him ; one of which was for ill-treating an.l torturing a horse, and the other for assaulting Henry Mender May, an officer belonging to the said Society. Thomas George .Plume (clerk end collector to the Society referred to) stated that on Wednesday last, be tween one and two o'clock, as he was passing along Oxford-street, accompanied by Mr. May, the officer, he saw defendant driving a horse and chaise out of Tollett's stable-yard. Perceiving that there was a wound on the - left shoulder beneath the collar, ho laid hold of the reins, and having stopped the animal, asked the defendant if he was aware of the condition it was in, but nothing more was said to him than " Let go." The poor animal shook as if suffering much pain, and witness perceived another wound ['poll the right shoulder, from which matter was issuing. Defendant afterwards used violence towards Mr. May. Mr. RAWLINSON—What did he do ? Witness—He de sired me to L t go, and I did so, and Mr. May then took hold of the reins ; he also drew his staff from his pocket, saying, "I am a constable." Defendant stood up in his chaise, with his whip in his hand, threatening to cut Mr. May to pieces if he did not loose his hold. I asked him (defendant) for his card, but he stated he had not got one, and he immediately jumped out of his chaise, whet' he collared Mr. May, and laid hold of his wrist. He (de fendant) then went back into the stable-yard, promising to write his address and bring it, but he did not return. Mr. RAWLINSON—Is the horse you have spoken of the same that I saw here last Wednesday ? Witness—Yes, Sir. It may here be remarked that the Baronet's servant was taken into custody as he was in the act of driving off, and brought to this Court ; but as it was considered by the Magistrate that his master, Sir Simon Clarke, was the party to blame, the summonses against him w ere consequently issued. Previously to the summonses being made out, the wounds on the horse were inspected by Mr. Rawlinson and Lord Montfort. Mr. Henry Mander May, who described himself as Assistant Secretary and constable to the National Ani mals' Friend Society corroborated the preceding evi dence, adding that defendant shook him when requested to go to the station-house and give his name and address. Sir Simon Clarke's answer to the charge was that he had committed no violence whatever, and that when asked his name he gave it ; he also offered to give his address if the officer would accompany him down the yard, but that he would not do ; he (Sir Simon Clarke) drove the horse up to Esher on the Monday, and, as its shoulders were galled, ho had the collar altered by his harness maker. The animal had a day's rest in town, and he was about to drive it home with the altered collar when the witnesses stopped him as they had de posed to. Plume said to the other officer, " He's inter fering with your duty ; take out your staff and strike him." Samuel Hardwick, the groom, said he heard the words " take out your staff," but he heard nothing about " strike him." Sir Simon Clarke promised to give his address to one of the officers if ho would go down the yard, but he never made his appearance there. Sir Simon Clarke further said that the horse which he was driving was a high spirited one, and that when the officer laid hold of the reins he was fearful that' by his doing so an accident might have been caused. Sir Simon Clarke was not punished for the assault, but he was fined 40s. for the " cruelty," which amount he immediately paid. WORSHIP-STREET. Charlotte Sinclair, an elegantly-attired elderly person, who was said to be highly connected, was charged before Mr. Broughton with having stolen a pair of kid gloves from the shop of Mr. George Clarke, a haber dasher, &c., in Upper Whitecross-street. The prosecutor stated that between four and five o'clock on Saturday afternoon the prisoner called at his shop, and requested to be shown some kid gloves, a parcel of which he accordingly unfolded, and displayed them before her. After examining the gloves the prisoner said that she wanted them of superior quality, suitable for evening parties, upon which witness re paired to the other end of the shop to procure a better article, and while doing so he observed the prisoner sweep a pair of gloves from the counter into her lap, and she afterwards secreted them underneath her tippet. Without appearing to notice the circumstance, he showed her another packet of gloves, with which she expressed herself dissatisfied, and soon afterwards left the shop. He immediately w h her, ate d and allowed went st after the pri soner , w h om h e met coming back, as a h li a o d w f e o d r forgotten e to n hertak take it umbrella. aw ay He bute returned her closely until he followed saw a policeman, when he gave her into custody. John Parkes, a country passing through Whiteeross-cstarrier, stated that he was reet with his . waggon at the time in question, w h en h e observed the prosecutor proceeding towards his shop in advance of the and he saw the latter pull out a pair of gloves prisoner, oyes from under her tippet, and throw them down on the pavement. He immediately picked up the gloves, which he after wards handed over to the prosecutor. In reply to the charge, Mr. Heritage, who appeared for the defence, said that his client positively denied having feloniously appropriated the gloves, which must have become entangled in some part of her dress and fallen down afterwards without her knowledge. She had not the slightest motive for committing such an act, being a lady of large independent fortune. Mr. BROUGHTON said he nsidered that a clear and deliberate act of shoplifting had been established against the prisoner, and however high her rank might be, the law allowed of no distinction, and he should, therefore, most certainly commit her for trial. The depositions were then in part made out, but the prisoner will be brought up again for their completion on Wednesday next. CLERKENWELL. John Brien was charged with an assault of a very savage character on police-constable 160 E. At twelve o'clock on the previous night the constable was called into the public-house 32, George-street, St. Giles's, in order to remove the prisoner, who was actin g in a very outrageous manner there. When the con stable attempted to remove him, he attacked him, struck him with his clenched fist in the face, so as to produce a severe contusion over the right eye, and kicked him on the legs but the most brutal part of his conduct was in forcing the officer against the bar, and the small of his back having been pushed against the sharpe ledge of the counter was greatly hurt. At length the gaoler E SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 12, 1844. SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. PROM TEE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY. GLOBE.—We alluded a few days since to Lord Woreley's notice ot motion, which stands for to-morrow, for a Select Committee of the House of Commons, to inquire into the amount of fees paid on summary con victions within a given period ; and also, into the ap pointment, duties, and mode of remunerating clerks to the justices in petty sessions. The returns obtained by the Noble Lord last session, with a view to this inquiry, are understood to be of a most astounding character, so far as the heavy fees payable on summary convict ions for trifling offences are concerned. The provincial journals every week record striking instances of the oppressive operation of the existing system ; and by so doing render oonsiderable assistance to its abolition, by directing the attention of the .Legisla ture, and the public generally, to its practical injust ice. The following instance—one of a vast: seri es—w i l l serve to show the magnitude of the evil which Lord Worsley has applied himself to remove. At the Petty Sessions held at Petworth on Saturday last, the Earl of Winterton in the chair, Mary Daughtrey, the wife of a labouring man living at Amberley, pleaded guilty to doing wilful damage, to the amount of threepence, to certain trees, the property of the Hon. R Curzon, of Parham. The defendant was ordered to pay the amount of damage. This she—or rather her hus band—might have done without material inconvenience. But the costs upon conviction were to be added to the penalty, and these amounted to nineteen shillings and sixpence ! The imprisonment of this labourer's wife, as a personal infliction for her husband's inability to pay this heavy amount of costs, was twenty-one days! What an accumulation of mischiefs are concentrated within the above simple narration of facts 1 A labour ing man is deprived of the society of his wife, and his humble home is rendered desolate—his children, if he have any, are left without the fostering care of their mother, and this for three weeks; not because the hus band and father of this now destitute family is unwilling, or unable, to satisfy the damage done by his wife in a moment of thoughtlessness to the Hon. R. Curzon's shrubs, to the extent of threepence, but because the costs conse quent upon conviction for this petty damage are seventy eight times the amount of fine inflicted by the Bench for the offence. Thus far, the woman thus dealt with, and her husband and family, are the immediate sufferers. There are other consequences which necessarily result, in a great variety of instances, from the visitation of heavy costs upon summary convictions in such petty cases, The party, whether man or woman, if previously well disposed, cannot be the tenant of a gaol for several days or weeks, and the associate of such characters as are usually found there, without danger to, if not positive contamination of, their moral habits. The man or woman who has been consigned to a county prison, comes forth with the brand of conscious degradation upon their brow. The self-respect—which is the best incentive to and guardian of virtue—has passed away, perhaps never to return. A disinclination to employ the man who has been in gaol is felt by those who would otherwise employ him. He becomes destitute, and is rendered reckless. Many a poor wretch has been thus plunged into crime, an pursued a course of plunder, until the gallows or the hulks has terminated his career, who would have been preserved to society, but for the sentence which—in default of paying an exor bitant amount of costs upon a summary conviction, for which a fine of threepence, or sixpence, was deemed a sufficient infliction—consigned him to a felon's fate for a considerable period. We again re mind the parochial and county-rate payers that this question is one which peculiarly presses on their pecuniary interests. Let them estimate the immediate and contingent burdens to which the exist ing system subjects the parochial and county-rates, and they will at once perceive that to pay the clerks to the justices in petty sessions by a fixed salary is, even in a pecuniary point of view, to be preferred to the pre sent system of remunerating them for their services by the always objectionable, and in the present instance op pressive mode of paying them by fees. STANDARD.—Most of our readers will have read with pain the report of the disgraceful case tried at the Northampten Assizes, but the pain which the pe rusal of such a case naturally excites, will be found to carry with it some consolation. The traveller who blessed his good fortune when ho discovered a gibbet upon a shore believed to be desolate, had good reason for his self-congratulation : he saw, by whatever melancholy proof, that he bad arrived in the abode of men, and of men also who punished the crimes that unhappily must arise wherever human so ciety exists. The person who occupies the most dis graceful position in the Northampton trial is a clergy man. He is one of fourteen or fifteen thousand minis ters of the Established Church. It can hardly be said that the fall of one or of one hundred of so numerous a body can by its,lf reflect disgrace upon the unsullied and faithful majority ; but though by itself such a lapse of an individual can leave no possible stain upon his brethren, a case may be imagined in which the s'n of even one would extend its foul dis honour to the whole body. Such a case would arise if the clergy used arts to conceal the guilt of the transgressor, or if the habits of the clergy generally were such as to cause the exposed guilt to be regarded as venial. Bow unlike either of these eases is to the state of things exposed at Nor thampton, the simplest must be able to observe. Know ing how impoisible, among creatures so corrupt as mankind, is the existence of a class wholly free from the common vices of our nature, we confess that we look with suspicion, not unmingled with alarm, at the seeming existence of such a class. The ex terior semblance of such perfect purity of thou sands cannot—for nothing can—prove that such perfect purity exists, and therefore it must prove a system of concealment so exquisitely contrived; and so universally supported, as to deceive all the world—a system of con cealment behind which the grossest licentiousness may be, and therefore certainly will be, freely indulged in : of this we may, perhaps, see something in Ireland. In the Roman Catholic coun t r i es o f th e C on ti nen t th e vices of the clergy are scarcely concealed with more decency than the vices of the laity; they are treated lightly, and in the same proportion the clergy are objects of contempt or dislike, or both. Now what is the just inference, as regards the position of the English clergy, to be drawn from the proceeding at North ampton ? A wretched man who, perhaps, may be most charitably described as a sensual idiot, unhappily obtains admission into the orders and the service of the Church. He falls into sin, and " his sin finds him out." One of the comp an i ons o f hi s s i n uses h er k now l e dge of his guilt to extort money from him under a threat of ex posure. Now, in some Roman Catholic countries a priest might smile defiance at such a threat--confiding in the armour of concealment assumed by his order, which would render the threatened imputation incredible ; in other Roman Catholic countries the priest might again smile defiance at the threat, relying upon the indulgence which the public accord to the licentiousness of the clergy. In Protestant England the guilty clergyman has happily neither resource ; his b re th ren w ill not soil themselves by sheltering him, and public opinion, taught by the general pure character of the clergy, will regard him somewhat in the light of a monster ; he has, therefore, no resource but in buying up, if he can afford it, the evidence of his crime ; and this was the course pursued by the wretched man who prosecuted his para mour at Northampton. From first to last he paid her 1,2001. for hush-money; and it was not until her rapacity had outrun his means of satisfying her, that he resorted to that miserable prosecution which has brought the disgraceful history to light. The object of the prosecu tion was probably to frighten her, as a foreigner un acquainted with our laws, int o s il ence , w i t h out carrying the case into Court. If such was the fact the project failed, and the public has certainly no reason (after the first shock) to regret the failure. The lesson is a useful one, not to the clergy—who want no lesson of the kind—but to those who might be disposed to doubt the solid founda tion upon which rests the moral character of our 15,000 ministers of the Gospel, or to fancy that the people of En land will be satisfied with a low standard of morals in their religious teachers. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. (From the Hampshire Telegraph.) PORTSMOUTH, MARCH 9.—The Resistance, troop ship, Commander Patey, sailed on Tuesday, with dethchments of the 2d battalion o f Rifle Brigade, and f the 71st Regiment, on board, for Cork; there to embark a detachment of the 89th Regiment, and then proceed with the whole to Canada. 'The _Prince George, transport,t havingdetach mentmponanbyoarofdthaeßoya a the 20th Regiment, and Artillery. The Dee, steamer, Mr. Driver, master, went out of harbour yeeterday, and sailed for Cork. The Daedalus is to be converted into a flush deck ship, to carry sixteen of the heaviest guns. the Superb, 80, is to be made an advanced ship instead of the ,Kent, 76. The Bonetta is commissioned for the Mediter ranean sur vey ; and the Sparrow, for surveying the Scotch coast. Moorings are prepared in this harbour for the Queen, of 110 guns, and Indus, 78. Both ships will be, therefore, paid off here. The Poictiers and Ann Robertson, Indiamen, sailed on Wednesday, for Calcutta. The Pekin and Serge, packet-ships, for Hong-Kong, ar tivedfrom the River on Thursday, and will proceed to-morrow. In Harbour—St. Vincent, Victory, Excellent, Victoria and .filbert, Dee, Fearless, and Echo steamers; Adventure, tran sit. spo Spithead—Pekin and Serge, East Indiamen. The _Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have issued a elst shallof Areperieilvneexfivt,aoffie shi ll i n gs er sof all ranks dL , ' in g circular, t iirectin d g a t tx ha u t, from secretaries h t their half-pay, in a dditi on to their present secretaries to Admirals a re qu it e i rrespective of s p a e l r aries. diem out °f f the service, we queltion the right of the Admiralty to inter fere in this manner I.•ith the half-pay.) PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS. PROMOTIONS. —Mate--Frederick Robinson (1835), of the Comet, to the rank of Lieutenant. APPOINTME.NTS.—COITIRMIIder—J. S. Brock, to the Bonetta. Lieutenants--Goorge Newcomen (additional), to the Agin court ,J.H. • Veitch, to the Styx ; I. C. Otter, to command the Sparrow. 'Waste John Penn, to the America, vice Mackey, war rant cancelled. itYrnaster and Purser — Jo hn E. Drin g (actin g ) to the La — rne: Assist'Ant-Surgeon—J. B. Lawrence, to the Styx. Chapla. n—Rev. R. Petman, to Chatham Dock-yard, vice 'white:toad, superannuated. Clerks—Ja.lles Tinioson, to be Secretary's Clerk to Rear- Admiral Bowleg, lic4 3 IVinstanleY, to the Victoria and Albert yacht ; J. Rober, to the America; W. A. G. Young, from Sir C. Rowley's SeerCtary'A office, to the St. Vincent ; Au gustus Gilbert, to Ronetta (in charge). Naval Instructor—Mr , F. W. Smith, to quality. Engineers—W. Jeffery (Ist Engineer), and Henry Lee, (2d Engineer), to the Comet. The linendrapers, &c., of Woolwich, Greenwich, and Deptford have agreed to close their shops at early hours, viz., eigfit months at eight o'clock in the evening, except tiaturdays—then at half-past ten ; and in May, June, July, And August at nine; and on Saturdays at eleven. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. (YESTERDAY.) MANSION-HOUSE. Mr. Reed, of Ipswich, the owner of the Colina brig, which was stated to have been wilfully sunk off the coast of Holland, according to the arrangement between him and the captain of that vessel, was yesterday bailed by two gentlemen in the sum of 5001. each, and his own surety to the amount of 1,0001., to appear for re-exa mination at the Mansion-house, when the witnesses shall have arrived. Captain Simpson, who was apprehended by Daniel Forrester, remains in the Compter. The prosecution is at the instance of the Alliance Marine office, whose solicitors are Messrs. Pearce, Bolgar, Phillips, and Winckworth. Henri Smith Evans, was brought up in the custody of Darnel Forrester, charged with having written two letters to Mr. Hutchinson, the Deputy-Chairman of the Stock Exchange, demanding by what authority the com plainant insulted him, and threatening, if satisfaction were not given, to post Mr. Hutchinson as a poltroon and a coward on the Exchange and in the Reform Club. The LORD MAYOR, having read the letters, said he was quite satisfied that there was ground enough for accu sation. The defendant said the dispute was one of a peculiar nature, and that he had been most grievously insulted. Mr. Goodman (the Lord Mayor's clerk) asked Mr. Hutchinson whether he apprehended danger from the defendant. Mr. Hutchinson—Considering the state in which I am, with a disabled arm (his arm was in a sling), I think it probable that he would assault me. The defendant begged to be informed by the Lord Mayor how a man who had been grossly insulted was to obtain satisfaction. Ha was not, he said, a fighting man. He, however, commenced a volley of abuse against the complainant, which convinced every one that, although he might not be a fighting man, his language was well calculated to provoke quarrels. The LORD MAYOR—It is on account of the use of such language as you have just used that it is considered ne cessary to require securities. You must find bail, your self in 2001., and two sureties in 100/. each, to answer the complaint at the sessions. The complainant's solicitor said it was the determina nation of his cließt to proceed by indictment. A well-dressed young man, named John Francis, was charged with having picked the pocket of Sir Archibald Keppel M'Donald, Bart., of the Ist Grenadier Guards, stationed at the Tower, of a cigar -case, containing cigars. Bissett, a private in the Guards, stated that on Friday morning, as he was marching along with the regiment towards the Tower, he saw the prisoner look earnestly in the face of Captain M'Donald, who was commanding. He afterwards observed the prisoner follow the Captain and pick his pocket of something, and he ran after the follow, who immediately fled, throwing away the cigar case, grasped him, • and gave him into the custody of a policeman. Captain M'Donald said that he also followed the pri soner, and he identified the cigar-case. The prisoner, who had a watch and gold guard-chain and some money in his pocket, and who appeared to be about 17 years of age, said it must be a mistake, as he never did such a thing in his life as rob a gentleman. He was committed for trial. A cripple, named John Carver, who shoves himself about in a bowl, with wheels to it, was committed to Bride well for two months, for having assaulted a policeman. The defendant was calling a gentleman a d—d, hard hearted scoundrel, for having refused to give him alms, when the policeman arrived, and expostulated with him. The only answer he condescended to give the policeman was, a " pitch into him, head foremost." The LORD MAyou—You are an incorrigible fellow : the last time you were here you were sent to prison for a month. Defendant—Not a bit of it. I never was here afore. The LORD MAYOR—We'II see whether double the quantity of imprisonment will not sharpen your memory. Whitney, the chimney-sweeper, who was charged, a few days ago, with having sent a lad, under 21 years of age, up a chimney, for the purpose of cleaning it, was fined, by Sir Peter Laurie, in the penalty of 54 for the offence. The chimney-sweeper said it was a common practice with sweepers to violate the law in that way, and hoped the fraternity would be looked after. Mr. Stevens, the Secretary to the Anti Climbing society, said ho should be de!ighted to prosecute on every occasion of the kind ; snd Sir Peter declare.' that he would never fail to inflict the penalty. at tho George-street station came to the officer's assis tance, and the prisoner was secured. Inspector Rawley said the constable's right eye was dreadfully swollen when he reached the station, and he still suffered very seriously from the injury to his back, in addition to which he was quite lame. Mr. GREENWOOD sentenced the prisoner to ten days' imprisonment. Frederick Forde, a well-known desperado, was fined 11. for violently assaulting police-constables 54 G and 216 G. _ . - - The issue of bad money has greatly increased in the extensive district over which this Court has jurisdiction. Scarcely a day passes that three or four persons are not brought before the sitting magistrate charged with uttering. Mr. Greenwood observed on the fact yester day, and at the same time remarked that most of the base coin produced were so palpably counterfeit that the exercise of ordinary caution would enable the shop keeper to detect the fraud. The Solicitor of the Mint does not prosecute unless there are extraordinary fea tures of aggravation in the case ; and most of the cul prits, who are generally the most depraved characters, escape with a few days' imprisonment, from the period at which they are arrested until the following Saturday, when the Solicitor for the Mint attends. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS, March 11. The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Wool sack at five minutes after Five. The Earl of RADNOR presented a petition from the county of Somerset, praying for the removal of all duties on the necessaries of life, and that there should be a revision of the whole system of the taxa tion of the country. The petition was agreed to at a meeting presided over by the High Sheriff, and which had been called by a requisition very numerously signed by freeholders. The meeting, he should state, was called for a very different object than that which was the result of it. It was called for the purpose of passing resolutions in favour of what was called pro tection. That was the avowed object of the meeting. A motion was made in support of Legislative protec tion, considerable discussion took place upon it, and an amendment, embodying free-trade principles, was submitted. This was put to the meeting; and, as decided by the High Sheriff, it was lost—the original resolution, in favour of protection, being declared by him to be carried. On this, parties became dissatisfied, and much altercation ensued. The Sheriff was required to put the resolution a second time, and he refused to do so. But in consequence of this, when a petition to Parliament embodying the resolution was brought forward, a petition embodying free trade principles was also brought forward by way of amendment. This amended petition was car ried by a very large majority, and a vote of thanks passed to the Anti-Corn-law League. These were the circumstances as represented to him. In general it happened unfortunately that the protectionist party objected to discussion. Their meetings were select and exclusive. This he could speak to from personal experience ; for only the other day he went to a meet ing called (as the notice said) to discuss this question, but when he got there he received an intimation that it was of a private character, and he consequently withdrew at once. The Anti-Corn-law League had been accused of sending their emissaries through the country for the purpose of creating discord and disunion. Now he denied distinctly and emphatically that the Anti-Corn-law League was at all capable of any such act as promoting any societies that would have a tendency to promote disorder or discord, and he defied any one to show that they had ever, by word or deed, justified such an accusation. Ile thought the subject of free trade was one of such im portance as to call for a distinct expression of opinion on the part of those who were entrusted with the in terests of the country. Lord PORTMAN wished to say a few words upon this matter. His Noble Friend had stated that that petition had emanated from the major ty of the pers.;ns present at the meeting. In any assertions he should make, he did not mean to allude to the Noble Lord's brolher, the High-Sheriff of the county, ho presided upon the occasion, but still he (Lord Portman) thought that a meeting, which was composed of only 3,000 persons (and those mostly town inhabitants), could not be construed into an expre.sion of the opinion of a county containing upwards of half a million of souls. For his own part, he had all along abstained from tak ing part in the proceedings of either the Anti-Corn-law League or the Anti-League Association. For, on the one hand, he thought it dangerous to carry, by a legisla tive enactment, the total, immediate, and unconditional repeal of the corn-laws; and, on the other hand, he thought it equally dangerous to affirm that the present sliding scale should not be interfered with, because it was partially a system of pro hibition. Under these circumstances, he was a sort of amphibious animal, between the two parties. and could take part with neither. He hoped yet to see the day, when both would be disposed to meet upon his view of the question. Lord BROUGHAM wished to explain the circum stances under which he had made the observation re ferred to by his Noble Friend (Lord Radnor). He (Lord Brougham) had not been present at the mectino., but he had received a com munication from a highly respectable gentleman connected with the county of Somerset, who assured him that the account of the proceedings which had been published were altogether erroneous. He (Lord Brougham) differed altogether, upon this question, from the lion. Gentleman, and the latter had thought that on that very account he was a fit person to be applied to to give an impartial version of the conduct of the High She riff (Mr. Bouverie), who seemed to have acted very fairly and justly, according to the way in which such things are done in iiomersetshire.—(A laugh.) The resolution first submitted to the meeting was in opposition to the views of the League. An amendment, in favour of the League, was then proposed, which, after some discussion, the Sheriff properly put to the meeting before the original motion, according to the usages of both Houses of Parliament and well-regulated meetings gene rally. Mr. Bouverie, upon the show of hands, declared the amendment to be lost, and the original re solution carried. A great part of those assem bled then went away, and afterwards the amendment was again put, and declared to be carried by a larger majority than had carried the original reso lutien.—(A laugh.) That was a course of proceeding peculiar to Somersetshire.—(Hear, hear, and a laugh.) But it reminded him of what was once said by an old sergeant-at-law, upon the Western Circuit, that "the H th e at di a d meeting not agre o e f further he went west, the more he wa s conv i nce d t h at w th i e th w h is i e s mseonhlecaFmrieenfdrom Lord t m the east." 3,000 was not adequate to express the sense of a county containing 500,000. He had some experience in county meetings, and thought 3,000 were more adequate to express the sense of the county, and to discuss a ques tion, than 40,000 would be.—(Hear.) He disapproved as much as any one could of the violent charges which were made against the League, that they were inciting the people to capital crimes —(Hear, hear)—but it was to be recollected that there was as great a fault on the other side. A gentleman, lecturing in favour of the League, once asked his auditors, what could they expect from the Iron Duke—meaning his (Lord Brougham's) Noble Friend the Duke of Welling t)isn—who had put to death men, women, and children at the siege of Salamanca ?—(A laugh)—a place at which there was no siege.—(Hear, hear, and a laugh,) It was a very common thing for certain persons to im pute murder to the landowners, because they advocated protection. It was also said, too, that they were blas phemers whenever they read the Lord's prayer. Persons using such language as this did more harm to their cause than they did to their enemies'. Lord RADNOR explained. The Duke of WELLINGTON said, that after what his Noble and Learned Friend had stated, it was hardly necessary for him (the Duke of Wellington) to address their Lordships. He had received a letter from a gentleman in Somersetshire, giving him an account of the meeting which had been held there. That gentleman stated that, after the original resolution was carried, an amendment was moved, and was carried by a considerable majority; but he stated in the strongest terms that that majority consisted, not of the persons by whom the meeting had been called in the first instance, but were persons not capable of deciding such a question. With respect to the speech of an Hon. Member of the other House of Parliament, made at Warwick, and which had been alluded to by the Noble Earl, all he (the Duke of Wellington) could say was, that he had never heard of such a speech. With respect to the language made use of at some of these meetings, (continued the Noble and Gallant Duke) my Noble and Learned friend has sufficiently alluded to that subject. My Lords, we are all abused at these meetings.—(Hear, and a laugh.) It is our fate—we cannot avoid it—we must bear it as well as we can. I can only recommend the Noble Earl to bear it with the same tranquillity as those sitting op posite to him.—(A laugh.) All I can say is, I have not at all changed my opinion on the subject of this petition brought under consideration to-night. I voted for the existing corn-law, and I earnestly recommend your Lordships to leave it as it is. —(Cheers.) That is what I recommend to your Lordships, and to maintain the system which it is the object of that corn-law to carry into execution.—(Cheers.) The Duke of RICHMOND said le was glad this everybody. proved to be e‘ u . discussion had taken place. For the last two or three years the Anti-Corn-law League had been in the habit of t using Y. They Th They were rep repeatedly dt stated a l the country stating things which were as often the farmers of England in continually going were favour of a free trade in corn. The tenantry of England were independent men, and they had now themselves op position to the Anti-Corn-law League, come forward in misfortune to the Anti- corn..aw eague. It was a great in dulged in inflammatory languag e I League that they It was this that had induced him (the Duke of Richmond) protec tion society. He thought the conductotfodioeinAna ti-. Corn law League had been most atrocious from beginning to end. He did not say their motives were e lTd n . e b7t their language was violent, improper, and vulgar to the last degree. It appeared that at the meeting in Somer setshire a lecturer of the League had attendd. de had been in Bridegwater two or three days before, and had organised a set of men to attend the meeting. This was the manner in which the farmers had been treated. lie (the Duke of Richmond) always thought that unbought opinions were the best, always barring, of eourse, the opinion of lawyers. Lord BEAUMONT denied that any attempt was made at the meeting in Yorkshire to impute criminal motives to the Anti-Corn-law League. The fact was, that, at the latter end of that meeting, the persons who came in, and carried the amendments, were the more idle and dissolute portion of the town population. He denied that they could expect so much international traffic as that anticipated by the Noble Lord. When the duty upon American ground corn was reduced to 45., was there any concomitant reduction of the duty upon British manufactured goods ? What had the people of Bir mingham gained by the reduction of that duty? and, by analogy, what might they expect from any further re duction of those protective duties? Earl RADNOR regretted that his Noble Friend had misunderstood him. He (Earl Radnor) did not com plain of any gentleman explaining his views on any sub hect. He did not complain of any gentleman explaining is opinions at a public meeting. He denied the assertion of the Noble Lord, that any mem ber of the League had ever gone about de livering lectures which had the slightest ten dency to inflame the minds or passions of the people. It was with great regret he heard the declaration of the Noble Duke, that there would be no alteration in the corn-laws. It was a declaration for protection at a time when the principle of free trade was making the greatest progress in France, America, and other countries. (The Noble Lord then read an extract from a pamphlet re cently published by Mr. Colquhoun, a candidate for the Presidency, avowing his determination to oppose to the uttermost the principle of protection.) This country (continued Earl Radnor) had been proceeding for the last twenty years upon the principles of free trade. It was absurd to stop short in the progress. They should e loCrHMOND go back.--(H ear .) then presented a petition from G u ildford in favour of th e ex i st i ng corn -l aws . it T he h r e g o iulfdkoferowr ofd forwa rd PRIVY COUNCIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION gave notice that he would present a petition to morrow from the inhabitants of Bermondsey, corn plaining that the Lambeth Water Company supplied foul and unfiltered water, contrary to their Act of Parliament. BILL. Lord BROITHAM, in moving for the appointment of the Select Irommittee to which this Bill should be re ferred, said that he had seen some attacks made upon himself in respeet to it, which could only have emanated from wilful Calumny, or her bastard sister Falsehood, begotten by the Father of Lies, upon the weakness of human nature.—(A laugh.) If he meant, as was said, to make a place for himself—if he became, tainted with the vice of old age, avarice—from which he had been free all his life—he might have taken the place when it was offered to him, three or four times. He brought in this Bill in the first instance, when it could have been carried as a Government measure, because the arrears of appeal business in the House was increasing every year, and could not be kept down by the present arrange• ment. He (Lord Brougham), the Lord Chancellor, and other Lords were occupied six hours a-day, four days of the week, and yet the business could not be gone through. The Noble and Learned Lord then moved, that the names of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Cottenham, Lord Denman, Lord Campbell, Lord Tenterden, and several other Lords should be appointed as the Select Committee to consider the Bill. Lord CAMPBELL said, that in going into Committee, he must say that he was strongly opposed to deputing the apellate jurisdiction of that House to any other body. After a few words from the LORD CHANCELLOR, the motion was agreed to, and the Committee appointed. THE NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. In answer to a question from Lord BROUGHAM, Lord WHARNCLIFFE said 'the new House of Lords was now raised above the ground about 25 feet, and it would be covered in in about two months. The House of Commons was at present only about nine feet above the ground. He had consulted the architect re specting the probability of the new House being ready for their Lordships' accommodation by the next session of Parliament. The architect had stated that it would be ready for their Lordships. provided they would be satisfied with temporary fittings. , Those temporary fittings, of course, would require a sum of money, and it would be for the House of Commons to say whether they would grant that sum. The architect said it would not be safe to fit up the new House with permanent fit tings by the next•session of Parliament. Lord BROUGHAM said temporary fittings would cost very little, and he had no doubt the House of Com mons would willingly make a grant to defray the ex pense. Lord CAMPBELL thought every effort ought to be made to get into the new House as soon as possible. Lord SUDELEY thought there was ample time before the next session of Parliament to get the new House permanently ready. He thought the architect's plans ought to be laid on the table of the library, so that every Noble Lord might have an opportunity of inspect ing them. Lord COLBORNE thought it would be most impolitie to hurry on the building. The Marquis of CLANRICARDE thought it would be better to go into the new House in the next session of Parliament, even if they had temporary fittings. Lord BROUGHAM said his Noble Friend near him (Lord Colborne) need not warn them of .being in a hurry—(Laughter)—they might as well warn the Court of Chancery nut to be in a hurry.—(Laughter.) It was now ten years since it was promised that the new Houses of Parliament should be completed in seven years. He agreed with his Noble Friend (Lord Sude ley) when he said that the plans of the architect ought to be laid on the table of the library, and he hoped his Noble Friend near him (the Marquis of Clanricarde) would move for the re-appointment of the Committee on this subject. The Marquis - of CLANRICARDE then mored for the re-appointment• of the Committee ; and after a few words from Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Brougham, and the Duke of Wellington, the motion was agreed to. The Duke of BUCCLEUCH presented a petition from Edinburgh, against altering the corn-laws, and took that opportunity of declaring that he had not altered his opinion, which entirely concurred with that of the petitioners. The Duke of RICHMOND presented a similar pe tition from a place in Surrey. EXCLUSION OF CATHOLICS FROM JURIES. Lord CAMOYS presented a petition from " the Ca tholics of England," complaining of the exclusion of Catholics from juries on account of their religious opi nions, and of the unfair manner in which the jury-list was struck on the occasion of the late trials in Ireland. The petition was understood to be that which was agreed to at the great meeting held at the Freemasons' Tavern recently, when the Noble Lord presided. It was signed by 3,740 persons. • THE CASE OF THE REV. MR. MARSH. Lord LILFORD put a questiei to the Bishop of Pe terborough as to what steps had been taken in the case of the Rev. Mr. Marsh, a rector and prebend in the Rev. Prelate's diocese. The Bishop of PETERBOROUGH had not expected that any question would have been put that evening upon that painful subject, which he regretted to say had been made the occasion of some undeserved strictures upon himself. The Church Discipline Act prevented him from punishing any offence committed two years back or out of the diocese. This prevented him from visiting any punishment on the reverend offender, other than to' forbid his performing any service in the diocese. NEW SOUTH WALES. Lord WHARNCLIFFE laid on the table the Report of the Commissioners of New South Wales, and other returns. Their Lordships then Adjourned at Half-past Seven. HOUSE OF COMMONS, March 11. The SPBAXER took the Chair a few minutes be fore Four o'Clock. Returns from the Court of Bankruptcy were brought up. The Padstow Harbour Bill was read a second time. Mr. G. BAN KES presented two petitions against the Canterbury and Ramsgate Railway. SOUTH EASTERN, CANTERBURY, &c., RAILWAY-: On the motion that the South Eastern, Canter bury, Ramsgate, and Margate Railway Bill be read a second time, Mr. G.BANKES strongly objected, on the ground that it unfairly and unnecessarily interfered with private property. He moved that the Bill be post poned for a week. Mr. BRADSHAW considered the Hon. Gentle man was labouring under a mistake and urged the second reading of the Bill. The Bill was then read a second time, on the understanding that the Committee should be post poned for a week The Rochdale Improvement Bill was read a second time. The Liverpool Docks Bill was read a second time. Mr. H. HINDE moved for a copy of the minutes of proceedings and evidence taken before the Com mittee on Railways Bills' classification. Mr. B. BARING objected to the motion, which, after a few w o rd s fr o m Mr. Rice, was withdrawn by consent. Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD presented a peti tion from upwards of 2,000 inhabitants of Rochdale, to the effect that the taking of human life under the power of the law is the most serious and solemn duty which can be performed ; that when executed by arbitration of the sheriffs, as it usually is, it is often done without due decorum or solemnity ; that if this practice is to be continued under the sanction of the religion of the State, it shall be performed in such a manner as to make a solemn and religious impression on the minds of the people. Therefore the petitioners prayed the House to enact that, whenever the taking away of human life is commanded to be done under the laws of the State, it should be performed as a religious ceremony, and by a clergyman of the State Church. The Leeds New Gas Bill, and the Kingston upon-Hull Dock Bill were read a second time. Mr. BRIGHT presented a petition, praying for the repeal of the duty on the importation of foreign wool. Petitions against the Factories Bill were presented by Mr. T. Duncombe (59 petitions, signed by 7,800 persons), and by Mr. Hume, from Yorkshire. Mr. HINDLEY presented 40 petitions from the Peace Societies in several towns in England, Ireland, and Scotland; against any increase in the war estab lishment of the country. Mr. T. DUN COMBE presented a petition from the guardians of the poor in the parish of Islington, praying that their l oca l Act might not be interfered with. RELIGIOUS TESTS. Mr. WALLACE presen ted a petition from Gree nock, against enforcing religious tests on the holders of situations in colleges. NOTICES OF MOTION. Mr. WALLACE gave notice that he should to morrow move for leave to bring in a Bill for extend ing the provisions of the Act of Geo. 111. c. 69 to all roads and highways ; also to move for certain returns connected with railways. The Ron, Member also PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. Dr. BOWRING gave notice that, on moving the Order of the Day for going into Committee on the next Supply night, he would call the attention of the House to the necessity of improving the form, and removing the prominent defects in the present system of keeping the public accounts. LAW OF CONSPIRACY. Mr. O'CONNELL gave notice that on an early day after the recess he would move for leave to bring in a Bill to define the law ofconspiracy.—(Cries of" Hear, hear.") Also, for leave to bring in a Bill to repeal the several statutes and laws relating to landlords and tenants, passed since the union, with the object of abolishing the power of levying under a distress for rent for a less amount than 201., except in cases where there is a lease of 21 years. INCLOSURE OF COMMONS. SHARMAN CRAW FORD gave notice that, on the second reading of the Commons Inclosure Bill, he would move that the Bill be read a second time on that day six months. MAYNOOTH COLLEGE. Mr. WYSE postponed until after :Easter the motion of which he had given notice, respecting the Catholic College of Maynooth, and altered the form of the notice in some respects, which were not dis tinctly understood in the gallery. Mr. B. ESCOTT wished to ask the Hon. Member for Stockport, whether it was his intention to proceed to-morrow with the motion of which he had given notice, for a Select Committee to inquire into the ef fects f protective duties on imports upon the interests of the tenant-farmers and farm-labourers in this country ? Mr. COBDEN said, that thinking it would be in convenient to proceed with the motion to-morrow, it had been his intention to postpone it ; but finding that, if he did so, there would be no chance of its coming on be - for:Easter, he had determined to adhere to the notice. Mr. MONCKTON MILNES gave notice of a motion for a lithographic print of the arch to be erected in front of the British Museum.—(Laughter.) THREE •AND-A-HALF PER CENTS. AN a court-martial for that offence. In looking over the Army List he saw certainly that an officer on the half-pay list had some years ago been struck off, not for fighting a duel, but for fighting with a superior officer. He alluded to the case of Ensign Batty; and the superior was blamed, not for fighting a duel, but for fighting with an inferior officer. But he would give a still stronger proof that an officer wa's not allowed to receve an insult without taking notice of it. He held in his hand a letter of a man of high military , reputation on the subject. It was to this effect:—" Is a gentleman, who happens to be a Minister, to submit to be insulted by any gentleman who thinks proper to impute criminal motives to him in his conduct as an individual? I can not doubt the decision I ought to make upon the question, and I now call upon you to give me that satisfaction which every gentleman has a right to require, and which a gentleman never refuses." That letter was signed Wellington—(Hear)—and that Noble Individual, it was needless for him to say, was now at the head of the Horse-Guards, and that letter was conveyed by the Right Hon. Gentleman who was now Secretary at War.—(Hear.) He would refrain from adducing any other examples of duels that had proved fatal, although he could produce many instances. He would, however, refer to the case of a cavalry officer, who was concerned in an unfortunate duel. The Right Honourable Gentleman had said that there was no instance on record of an officer who bad been cashiered for not fighting a duel. If he would turn back to 1818—he did not mention names for an ob vious reason—he would find an instance of a Lieutenant- General of the Royal Marines, who was brought to a court-martial forneglecting to demand the honourable ad justment of a quarrel, &c. Another instance: an officer was sentenced, for a similar offence, to be suspended for six months ; and in his own regiment he was ac quainted with an officer who refused to fight a duel, and for doing so, he was driven from the regiment. So that, if an officer obeyed the dictates of reason, he must give up his commission; and if he followed those of honour, he was liable to be tried for his life.—(Hear, hear)—and if an officer fell, they car ried their vengeance beyond the grave, and deprived his widow of a pension. He would now say one word with respect to pensions. There was some considerable dif ference of opinion between Members of that House with respect to them. Some Hon. Gentlemen thought an officer's widow was entitled to a pension, but he (Capt. Bernal)believed that in no case could a widow claim'it pen sion; it rested entirely with the Secretary at War. In the present instance, if Lieut.-Colonel Fawcet had sold his commission before his death, the sum of 3,5001. woukl have been at his widow's disposal, but as it is, she lost both the capital and the pension. Now, if he might allude to an unfortunate circumstance that had recently taken place, in connexion with the State prosecutions of Ireland, he must be permitted to say that he did not do so for the purpose of indulging in any unworthy taunt. Whatever difference of opinion there might be in reference to the trial itself, he thought that the manly and spirited ' way in which a certain Right Hon. Gentleman had ex plained away his conduct, was sufficient to obliterate all unkindly feeling, and for his own part he sincerely , hoped that upon this ground the door of legal promotion would not be closed upon him.—(Loud cheers.) At the same time he was at a loss to understand the principle n filch overlooked a practice in one party, and upon the other, a weaker and more defenceless one, visited such heavy punishment. Surely it was anguish enough for this wretched lady, that her husband had fallen by the hand of her brother-in-law—surely that was sufficient punishment ; and now that the seconds in the duel—the more culpable parties by far—(Loud cheers)— , now that they were acquitted and still held their com missions, surely it savoured somewhat of persecution thus to visit upon the wretched woman the consequences of her husband's fault. At the best, it was paltry to visit his sins upon her helplessness. He did not know that unhappy lady, and could have no motive for his conduct, but that which all in the House would partake in common with him ; and he could not but entertain a strong hope that the Honourable and Gallant Officer opposite (Sir Henry Hardinge), whose character for courage was only equalled by his reputation for hu manity, would yet revise his opinion, and agree to the motion he now submitted to the House.—(Loud and general cheers from all parts of the House.) Sir C. NAPIER, seconded the motion. Sir. H. HARDINGE said he should certainly endea vour to follow the Gallant Officer with the same excellent temper and good feeling which he had shown in introducing his motion.—(Hear, hear.) He felt called upon to justify to the House the decision which he, in the exercise of his judgment, had formed, and which had been subsequently confirmed by his Right Honourable Friend. In that decision he was influ enced by special circumstances, and not governed by any direct or general rule. On the contrary, he had been influenced by considerations, that there were circum stances so unjustifiable in this duel that required the Government to show as much discouragement and as marked a displeasure as possible. He would inform the House what had taken place. In September he received a communication from the agent, asking for a pension for Mrs. Fawcett. He sent to the agent a communication, informing him that in his (Sir Henry Hardinge's) opinion it was a case in which a pension could not be recommended by him, but under all the circumstances of the case, he recommended the agent not to press his application at that time. In the course of a month he received a letter withdrawing the first application—he did this in order that the case of Lieut. Munro, who was then understood to be about to take his trial, might not be prejudiced from any record of his that he considered the duel unjust. He did not, therefore, make any record at the time of the reasons which influenced him in withholding the pension, but he had since stated that it was not a case in which, in his opinion, a pension ought to be granted. With regard to what passed between him and his Right Honourable Friend, who wrote to him upon the subject of Mr. Munro, from the country, he begged to state that, in the answer which he wrote to his Right Honourable Friend, he said he understood that expectations were held out by the friends of Mr. Munro that lin a month or two that gentleman would return and take his trial. This was subsequent to his decision upon the case of Mrs. Fawcett. Having the expectation that Mr. Munro would take his trial, he though it would equally prejudice his case if he had been deprived of his commission previous to his trial. His Right Honourable Friend concurred with him in that opinion, and he also concurred with him in the opinion that it was not a case, considering the near relationship of the parties, in which a pension could be granted to Mrs. Fawcett. But, as he said before, the pension was refused on special grounds, and not on any general principle. He would now state what the practice of the War-office was on this subject. The Right Hon. and Gallant Gentleman then referred to a duel which took place in Ceylon in the year 1829. One of the parties was shot, and an application was made for a pension for the widow. He made a minute upon the case to the effect, that it was for public service performed by the husband that a widow was entitled to a pension, and not if he lost his life in any private or personal quarrel. He also stated that due allowance would be made for the force of custom and the usages of society ; and that upon the whole case being known it would be for the discretion of the War-office to say whe ther the circumstances in that case were such as would justify a pension. He received a re port of the case from the General commanding at Ceylon, but his information upon the subject was as scanty as his own. Shortly afterwards Mr. Wynn succeeded him as Secretary-at-War, and he found that Mr. Wynn made a minute on the subject. The minute of Mr. Wynn was to this effect, that as there were no circumstances of palliation in the case, the pen sion must be refused. He now came to a more unfor tunate case than that of Col. Fawcett—he meant the case of the late Capt. Boyle. It appeared in that case that the pistols had been actually 'forced into Capt. Boyle's hand, and in that case the then Government, being of opinion that there were circumstances of pallia tion, determined that the widow of Captain Boyle was entitled to her pension.—(Hear,hear.) The at tention of her Majesty's Government had, during the recess, in consequence of this unfortunate affair of CoL Fawcett's, been directed, in attempting to devise means for the discouragement of duelling. The circumstances of that case had been brought prominently under their attention. The insult had been but trifling. Nothing had passed between the parties beyond a request that one of them would leave the room. Colonel Fawcett was well known as a gallant officer in the service. His cha • ratter was firmly established. There aas no necessity for him to have hurried forth in breathless haste to shoot his brother-in-law in the morning. There was nothing whatever to justify a duel between such near relatives, and under these circumstances he felt that he wasjusti fied in refusing to recommend his widow for a pension. The manner in which pensions to the widows of officers were granted was regulated by circumstances. If an officer were killed in action, his widow had a double pen sion. If the officer was killed in a legal manner the pension was granted, but he did not think that he should have been justified in recommending the widow of Col. Fawcett for a pension, and her Majesty' s G overnment agreed with him in opinion on that subject. He knew that in certain cases pensions had been allowed to the widows of officers killed in duels. Thirty years ago, when our army was serving w ith f ore i gn troops, duels' used to take place consta n tl y — somet i mes as many as four or five a day, in con sequence o f insults offered by foreign officers to the British un if orm . I n those cases the officers were obliged to fight to maintain the honour of their country, and where in such duels British officers had unfortunately fallen, it would have been most un just to have refused pensions to their widows. He had taken his line of conduct in the matter, and to that line he would adhere. As to the case of Lord Londonderry, to which the Gallant Officer had alluded, he was blamed not for fighting with an inferior officer so much as with an officer on half-pay; the distinction between whom and an officer on full pay was known to the Gallant Officer, who was a cqua i nte d w i t h t h e customs o f t h e service. With respect to the case of the Duke of Wellington, to which the Gallant Officer had also referred, that distinguished individual had had a differ ence with a Noble Lord who was not in the army, and it certainly never had been a code of the army that of. ficers should not resent an insult offered by,a party un connected with the army. The Gallant Member had said that no officer had ever been dismissed the army for fighting a duel. General Burton, who had fought a duel on half-pay, had been dismissed on that account. With respect to the ca se o f th e C o l o nel of Marines, that officer had allowed several aspersions to be cast on his conduct, which w ere afterwards renewed by another Lieutenant-Colonel, and gave rise to such rMitnina, tions on both sides, that it was found necessary to re move the parties, and, in consequence, one of them was dismissed the service, and the other was put on half-pay. He was prepared to state to the House the arrangement which had received the sanction of her Majesty, and which would be comprised in a clause to be inserted amongst the Articles of War. That arrangement, he trusted, would have the desired effect of putting a stop to the in ec i to . vous practice of duelling: the clause would be e a e the tory one. (The Right Hon. Gentleman her _ teni . clause, which declared the approbation o f the r i : ti t he ment of the conduct of all offi ce rs who, having . 0 44 misfortune of giving offence,Thr injuring , °r i s s others, should explain, apologise, or off er re e au o f the same ; or, having the misfortune to recetyf el' fence, injury, or insult, should cordially aeeel).t,en; planation, apology, or offer of redress, frankly c is su b if such were refused to be made, should submiftthe tee ject of complaint to the commanding officer o toe d ment, corps, or garrison; and they accordingly se.lig wd of all disgrace all officers and soldiers who, helublltit ling to take such redress, had refused a challeuge2nsidr clause, he had no doubt, would have a very extent rable effect in discouraging. duelling to s dueling $l. They might not be able to eradicate due_ad together ; but he trusted they would suu'lest,) adifying the practice very much.--(Fia ar ' ber gr i When the officers of the army found what r ess o l jesty's sentiments were—sentiments so openly ef..Pos, —they would act in accordance with those tell; lay is disfavour the practice of duelling as much jog their power. There had not been a s ingle du el was 0 regiment for eight years, and he believed tre he st) little duelling in the army as else , A Notwithstanding what the Gallant Officer !` l3, foo there were some cases which defied legisla, ° _, ° r oar was impossible for any Government or any `":",, t at-War to devise articles of war which would Inuc l i s ting case:of duelling. The Articles of War at present cussing foil referred only to officers in full pay, who wer e doers military duty, and did not apply to half-Pa; 0001 who were not in active service. If officers haell. t tliel with private individuals, he would not consent Ttsinisg should not have the same opportunities of ,°societi. satisfaction for an insult as other members °L Ar ticle' To officers on half-pay he had already said the gra nts' of War did not apply, and, unless in a case so flathef 1° to demand the exercise of the Royal prerogatilee,re would be is the same position as civilians. 1 . 5 the not one duel now for fifty heretofore. The Pl e but Gallant Officer called for would be prodder' of could not hold out any hope that the Per' s loao! be granted to Mrs. Fawcett, as there were many ca se c ase' for not acceding to it which might not exist in other his Mr. DUNCOMBE said he did not think 00 1 jesty's sentiments on the subject of duelling l i f r ieo, the effect anticipated by the Gallant Officer. l'i' e co sib e ,' of Lieutenant Munro had done him (Mr. P u L t , the honour of addressing a letter on this subr - k t ies" believed if all the circumstances of the case wer e 0 0' Mr. Munro would be entitled to deep comelisse) Th e , instead of the censure of the public.--0 1e ,h. arg atig li ; Right Hon. Gentleman had stated that the ar',.sigb; have been settled, and ought to have been. t lf s ir b , Hon. Gentleman had a correct statement of the b e t o b e must have known that the most gross languag e , IV: used to Mr. Munro. The quarrel took pla ce tarel!"; day evening, and the parties did not fight till St g o* ° , the Ist of July. The whole, therefore, of t he , , e %teto day (Friday) was passed by the seconds an d Munro in taking the opinions of persons of ,as 0 not in the military life, but in society genera l ) o ' l . o b what ought to be done. Now, Lieutenant 3,..tietiottil., written the letter to him, from which it apPear,'", to opinion of several friends was taken, w ho au to jje ti t agreed that either an apology must be give 9,011 Munro, or he must demand satisfaction; t'"d Munro most deeply deplored the being obligti,t out; that he did all in his power to prevent it, L' co loti. he was told by his second that Lieutella, ° ,. t ne - of,, i/ o ° Fawcett was so obstinate that there was no 111.,7;. the coming to a friendly understanding. )o c liffer e d o letter placed the whole affair in a Ve r ,Y, light to what it had hitherto been. Now, w° B ;, lor t i state of the case ? Why Lieut.-Col. Fawcet t c o0! r was deprived of the pension that would ha ve , e , her if her husband had fallen in any other ea or e 4 0 Right Hon. Gentleman had stated that there were fr iu cial circumstances in the case that precluded P. OO , o) recommending the Crown to grant the R ei t t i t, t be t io (Mr. Duncombe) could easily understand . f aig t y might be such special circumstances not what gas ho d Government to grant the pension. Now, wlie' bad Government simian the case of Mr. Munro ? The Right Hon. Ge ri g raa t t o stated that he should have no objection to r'g• production of the documents asked for. Kean t he o t combe) would like to add to them copies of tiea te .A l ', 4 3, respondence that had taken place between . * -- o ers' Munro and the Horse Guards as to his being s e ' a nd He purchased his commission: that was lostiA to 0 pay from the Ist of July last, though he belo a army up to the end of February in the pres ent a V stopped. he twee Sir HENRY HARDINGE—Of course ; . 4 oo sent without leave. Mr. DUNCOMBE—True ; but then thery o is i' ‘ , the part of the Horse Guards a tacit acquiescenet. bin he absence. But what was the situation ofq-ii eu ce ice` l i o now ? From the touching letter he had re ties 1 ? il found that he was in the most unhappy guearl' e j state could be in, and he (Mr. Duncombe) PettO that blame did not attach to him, for il°,o of fact the duel was forced upon hira' wt a a victim to the horrid and barbarous sY s 'i o r. was allowed to prevail in this e 0 t l ,;;c0/ parties who were really to blame was tY officer—(Loud cheers)—and those othe r , 0 (Cheers)—who told Lieutenant Munro Oa" h is ' de i hazard of his life, he must stand by not oa l l eYoat i , ll- 0 honour, but the honour of his corps.'il I fr° 1) 0 cheers.) If he had not fought, it was very ' v i e t: that he would have been dismissed and scoute d 0 0 ° , 3 0 corps.—(Cheers.) Were Lieutenant Mulula: l on e throw himself on the laws of the country, he ', O tb;i ° s ; S ° ' probably be transported.—(Hear, hear.) r o ` l ,o ll side, having fought, he was liable to tra nsr o. and on the other, if he had not fought, he fro f g' been visited with an ignominious dismis,,su to e corps.—(Loud cheers.) It did behove the Debobwis, a step further than merely denouncing this po te r ie lii practice—it behoved it to declare that any „,°l 3 - e y dulging in it should be held as , degraded._ - "_ - n fse it go through the farce—for farce it would be"„ al) (1 1 ;0 0 to those regulations which her Majesty c os' ri e issue ; but he felt very iure, that even wa'; 01 0 ;0 1 , ing duelling, there was hardly a Member at it d'ie ment in the House who would not resort......o,stirthei supposed an insult had been cast upon hira.,„not',ll and Hear, hear.) But even as to those regn 1`.401'; must go a step further, by punishing half-Pe.' 'fil e full-pay officers taking part in this practice; be to pf lf ject was one of the most delicate that cool t ' do e t r on in that House ; but whoever assisteded t o to t i e with so horrible a practice would be ent iti spect and the gratitude of the country. -- ; ht enron spect Sir CHARLES NAPIER said the lithere, char Gallant Officer (Sir H. Hardinge) sa' dee' special reasons in the circumstances of th l- so n ooti„ precluded the Government from givincf a P e f, acit t 10'; Fawcett; but he had not made the e 'llo u— r tin i tifi° with them. He wished him to state Wh ethe the 614 11' 4 herself had or had not anything to de wi tb he 104,e `1 this duel. He for one did not believe that s'"„ r set'," fully agreed in the heinousness of th e ., o st 1, 5 e,. 1f ; duelling; but this duel .he held to be the "" e% c ./P" to he knew of. There was nothing on e arth to ab, No brothers, or brothers-in-law, ought ev er ot to t ig isie r , would go further, and say, cousins ought 1 ' c his l e ci v i o (A laugh.) They might laugh, but that wa i jus t ' He thought that the general officer was 11° , of ° ' t oci the advice which he had given ; and h e atil elll o" ,° 11 ; that the seconds ought not to have suffe t, h e a d out. If the seconds had refused to 9 , C , 5 11 „ ber answer for it that, when the circurnstareo v t e e fully explained, they would have founder to„ si"'" t v eonds.—(Hear.) The seconds had b e in P o ito v le acquitted, and had not been pul lish i, e- een si feille b r and the Secretary-at-War, m refusing t' e e s,P widow of Col. Fawcett, had punished tile secr e :; l !,'`,r hweis ab of e s t d h r the spndaorbroughtforward t w h o e udl would e b l. e—c effectual. ca h i tn e u e a r nl s e. . w ) . ct e t th Waga that oe ' ri i i 3 O i ; re bet e 0 1 '` I in the army or navy who was not awar e i. s ts, certain persons who were practised duel 1 4 0 0 , were constantly practising with pistols, i i , n m is tol 11 ,0 6 1/ shoot out the eye of a sparrow. Now ft ., 6 01 e e ,2 !to a necessary weapon of defence; it wit A d s d' + , t sionally in the navy, and in the armY " f n o W e i ak' o se by a portion of the cavalry, and it was 0 f greens woo either of the services. It would be t° „ r eve l . t o . , e tage if some regulation were adopted t ° r e ithe oo d Foo professed pistol-shooters from belongT g r ther' a nd 0 1 army or the navy. They should go 'l ke a ro 4o Hfououghset, duels s aw or vent duelling in civil life; but if he lo ° f fice, , w n gli t ,Le m se a n n (Che er t $ The first Minister of the Crown had d n ee tioo i t p t se s tbe ter.) But he should like to see a reg ule a t iel 1:1 ,4 0 4 by which any person who had fough,t_t o , s t ,e r i eo, e rs challenge should be i nca pacitate ``,ll' t y ch i rle so n n g s es h . igh °5 as 'll/V)rce4 Crown either as minister or law-otneeregniattotalcie laughter.) He knew that if such a ()s it e - 13 :JO passed it would thin the benches °PP, oa h Ot ter)—and perhaps there were le an i l e hle t if ' t he of the House who would be i,ll Tried of 0 , their seats there.—(A laugh.) 1 1 ,e,, 1 , 1 `,, 1 depas o 4 rule were adopted, the country woolNjogllcrof services of the Duke of Wellington -- k . ' . doe mander-in-Chief—(Renewed laughter);aoo other eminent men. The best way to r aw thst, sto l 'Ol would be to legalise it—to pass 9 ' , t o ne r e ly ° 0 0 should be fought across a table —toil theiler, should be loaded, and that the survhoedl the 0 , 1 ter .) , ,, be hanged. If they shot one and ( L i stigf e f re r e d effectual stop would be put to duelling. %co 0 10 1 0 Colonel WOOD denied that duelling _ A 100_1,0.4,. • duelling bur ' r"i lent in the army than in civil life. occurre 41; duels in cases `which, had they red ee re, could not have been prevented. his 116° ' in which officers had been called together a d u ie Lord PALMERSTON said, that as i.d a elil l ! ec t. introduced in reference to the subject of eo hj 0i case alluded to he had forgotten, but frol i i ffere d P . , °lv be it incumbent on him to say a few words 01 1 _ , t x1 w hat,...1 0 ,,t il e ?, stated of it, the circumstances entirely , u ed to, ir ea se r ei of the present case. In the case slim- , ese st the P' c oo botr lost his life by his own hand. In Ile to t o' ot aP"oll 5 ",` therefore, that the same rule should n ror t he e , e l 4l O O had fallen by the hand of another. 018' The pension was granted not so much ' as to the tro'pe tion attached to the case of the wldow , _ co lt): the fA the deceased officer had rendered. The sfyotoil his !lob officer had of a pension for his widow P_re de riq o ll',o cessity of sacrificing'a portion of his Pl ott bi lol lo aff; e t and it was pro tanto recompense. H e leg it in this case, disposed to come to adi fferenct bo has ,ilereto the Government. The only circumstafeer'eportsle'ot It; were from the newspapers; end frora t.., a. , the thong if would appear that colonel F aw cett 11e_ e, blame. 'viP challenge was not from n'f t dee ave ,4 seconds were blameable in the n ext, 10 0 , they had exerted ordinary means, theY ":2 e t to e ne,, e With rebr abe p vented the duel which ensued. Articles of War, he thought if the 0 s tros, t ld one' ‘,.egt• be e forced they would have been sufficientis_vid po_ool.7it agreed in the opinion that thP 9Vl 3t s the rie t pected to act differently fTon,t found °oo and, as long as ow pixt.atice favou r it e army could hardl/ be extinguished in th NUITIES ACTS. On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, that the Order of the Day for bringing up the Report on those Acts be read, Mr. HINDLEY asked the Right Hon. Baronet opposite, when he would be prepared to lay the papers respecting Otaheite on the table of the House? Sir R. PEEL said they were in the course of pre paration, and would be laid before the House as soon as possible. The Order of the Day was then read, and Mr. GREENE brought up the Report. On the question that the Report be received„ Mr. HUME said that, as he was not present when this question was brought on, he was anxious to make a few observations connected with it, and which, in his opinion, the House ought to take into considera tion. As far as he was able to judge, the Right Hon. Gentleman had made a very fair arrangement; he had performed the duty which he owed to the public and himself in an excellent manner, and with a kindly feeling to the parties concerned ; but what he wished to press on the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of the Government was this, that the income of a large portion of the , community would be considerably lessened. The situation in which the public would be placed was extremely unsatisfactory. The estimates were kept up to a war establishment, but the means of income to the people was reduced. He thought the public had a right to expect the diminution of taxes that interfere•' with industry. He did not wish to throw any difficulty in the way of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but he was anxious that the public generally should profit by some measure which Govern ment ought to introduce. He took it for granted, as a matter of course, that the. income-tax would be put an end to after next year, and he thought that the estimates might and ought to be reduced to a peace establishment. He felt convinced that unless the House took the course he had pointed out, they would create great dissatisfaction. The resolutions were then read a second time. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose and said, I am anxious to correct a misappre hension which prevails with respect to the conditions made applicals!e to the Three-and-a-Half per Cent. Annuities of the year 1818. I find from those or gans of communication to which we all have access, that I was understood to say that the Government was limited, and that they could only pay off that Fund at 500,0001. at a time, and that in consequence it would take a long series of years before the reduction could take effect. Now, the law does not bear that construction, and it is not what I stated. The construction of the law is, that the Government having given six months' notice, may pay off the whole if they please, but must not pay off at one time a less amount than 500,0001. The resolutions were then agreed to. The CHANCELLOR of - the EXCHEQUER then moved that the Speaker give notice forthwith, that the Three-and-a-Half per Cent. Annuities of the year 1818, created by the 53d of George 111., be paid off and redeemed.—Agreed to. WAYS AND MEANS. The Report of the Committee on Ways and Means was brought up and received. DUELLING. Captain POLHILL wished to put a question to the Hon. Member for Truro, on the subject of the motion of which that Hon. Gentleman had given notice. The Hon. Gentleman had given notice for Thursday of a motion on the subject of duelling. Now, as that question would most probably be dis cussed this evening, he wished to know if the Hon. Gentleman intended to persevere in his motion on Thursday ? _ Mr begged to inform the Hon. Gen tleman that he intended to bring forward his motion on Thursday. SUPPLY. The Report of the Committee of Supply was then brought up, and the votes,- up to that for the pay ment of " Pensions to Officers Widows," were con firmed. DUELLING. On the vote for the "Pensions to the Widows of Officers" being proposed, Captain BERNAL rose to move for a copy of any letter or correspondence which had passed between the Secretary-at-War and the widow of the late Lieutenant-Colonel David Lynar Fawcett, C. 8., re lative to the withholding of her pension. In bring ing forward this motion, he begged to return his thanks to the Secretary-at-War for the cour tesy and kindness which he had received from that Right Hon. and Gallant Gentleman on this occasion, and he would venture to express a hope that the sub ject would be discussed in a spirit of temper and mo deration. It would be necessary to recal to the re membrance of the House the fact that the Hon. Mem ber for Truro had put a question to the First Lord of the Treasury on this subject, and that the Right Hon. Gentleman had, on that occasion, taken great credit to his Government for exerting their legitimate influence for the discouragement of duelling, by refusing a pen sion to the widow of an officer of great military reputation, and who had distinguished himself in the service of his country, but who had unfortunately fallen in a duel. Those, he believed, were the exact words of the Right Hon. Gentleman— no special circumstances had been alleged, beyond the fact of the officer falling in a duel, to justify the refusal of the pension. He must confess that when he heard that voluntary declaration of the Right Hon. Gentleman, the First Lord of the Treasury, he had been astonished, not so much at the manifest in justice of the act, as at the manner in which it had been attempted to be justified. He had been told that precedents might be brought forward to support that act. He had searched diligently for precedents, but had not been able to find a single one. At the time the Noble Lord, the Member for Tiverton, was Se cretary at War, in the year 1817, a pension had been refused to the widow of an officer who had committed suicide ; but he would leave the House to decide whether that could be considered a case in point. It was not his intention now to enter into any general discussion of the question of duelling. He would not do so for this reason. He thought so long as the majority of Members on both sides of that House were so ready to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox in becoming parties to a hostile meeting, that such dis cussions were of no avail, and he would suggest to the Hon. Gentleman who sat below (Mr. Turner), that he would pursue an advisable course in withdrawing the resoluti on o f w hi c h he had given notice ; and if he would turn his attention to the state of the law at present on the subject, and bring in a Bill by which the relations in any case of fatal duel might come upon the survivor for damages— as was the law in France ; and, to come nearer home, Hon. Gentlemen were not perhaps a‘s are that such a law existed in Scotland—it would have greater effect in putting an end to the practice of duelling than any other course of proceeding. The Right Hon. the Secretary at War had coolly told the House the other night that there was a clause in the Mutiny Act, by which all officers, or persons who conveyed challenges to oth ers , were lia,b!e to be tried by court-martial and cashiered. He - would read that clause: it was to the effect, that any officer or soldier who gave, sent, conveyed, or promoted a challenge to another, or upbraided another with not fighting a duel; or, if commanding a guard, should per mit any member of that guard to go out to fight a duel, should be liable, if an o ffi cer, to be cashiered or , suffer any other punishment, according to the nature and degree of the offence as in the judgment of a court-martial should be awarded. He (Captain Bernal) did not scruple to say that that clause was certainly a dead letter. He could state, from his own experience, that no officer could ordinarily re fuse a challenge ; and he knew of no instance where the conveyor or promoter of a challenge was brought to I I I