The Sun. — London, England, 1845-04-08 00:00:00

THEATRES. f IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. DR CI I 1 e'II.AA.E. ! 11(31.1.5E OE LORDS, April 7. This house was crowded to the ceiling last evening The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Wool long before the rising of the curtain. It was the first sack shortly efter Five o'clock. appearance this season of Dupree ;no wonder then that Lord KENYON presented petitions from bath, and all the lovers of music in London congregated together several other places, against the grant to the College of withi n the walls of Old Drury to do him henour. The Mavnooth. opera was Guillaume Tell, ant Dupree sustained his The Earl of RADNOR begged to enter upon the original character of Arnidd—that character in which Journals of the lleuse his protest against the proceed ne was first introduced to a British audienee, his earliest iegs of Saturd a y, an d t h a t l eave s h ou ld b e g i ven to Character, p er h aps his greatest and his best. Ile was N-ble Lords to sign that protest before the risin of the superb l ast even ging. The s w ee t ness o f some o f his t o n es H ouse. catinor be surpassed, and so exquisite is his expression The Bishop of WORCESTER presented petitions nelti th at he completely, carries away his auditors—now from Stourpoint in favour of the observance of the eg the m to tears b y his ietp:lssiened tenderness— Lore's-day. The Ri g ht R ev . P re l ate a l so presented ow rousine; them by his martial enthusiasm. The last petitions praying for the establishment of uniformity in scene is th e crowning triumph of the opera, and never Divine worship, and an alteration of the Rubric. The Was Dupree greater. Ile was called for at the conclu- Right Rev. Prelate trusted that the pastoral letter of the la‘linins and loudly appl au d e d. Th e n t h ere was a ca l l for Archbishop of Canterbury would be productive of the 14,4,:(14 Romer, whe, as Matild a , h a d sung an d acte d d e - b est effects. 0"" ; and after a s h ort t i me s h e appeare d , l e d on The Earl of POWIS presented several petitions from by 1J uprez. The opera, which was very wtll put upon different parts of the country against the union of the B e scage, was follow e d by the, ba?let of Robe; t and sees of St. Asaph and Baneor. ei 'and. .... ~. SCOTCH BANKING. Lord CAMPBELL presented a petition from the pro vost, magistrates, and council of Aberdeen, against any change in the system of Scotch Banking. He trusted that the Noble Duke would give sufficient notice to the parties most materially concerned, of the time at which the subject would be brought forward, and what the in tentions of her Majesty's Government Pere. The Duke of WELLINGTON could not state the time at which the subject would be brought forward, but he would take care that the parties should have full op portunities of considering it. The Bishop of DURHAM presented several petitions praying that Parliament would adopt some plan to pre vent the use of intoxicating liquors. Lord BROUGHAM presented several petitions against the grant to the College of Maynooth. The Noble Lord could not agree to the prayer of those petitions. RAILWAYS. The NOBLE and LEARNED LORD then moved for the following returns with respect to railways, on which he said it was his intention to found a motion, provided the information which he expected to receive should be given him : First—The number of railway Bills passed in the last ten sessions, distinguishing those passed in each session. Of course to this, observed the Noble Lord, there will be no objection.—(A laugh.) Secondly—The number of railway Bills now pending in Parliament. To this there could be no objection, Thirdly—The number of railway Bills upon which the Board of Trade had reported favourably. To this there could be no objection.—(A laugh.) Fourthly—The amount paid by the subscribers on the shares of the railway Bills that had passed. To this there could be no objection.—(A laugh.) Fifthly and lastly—The amount of the sums divided in shares authorised by Act of Parliament. His reason for calling attention to these circumstances was that he was one of those who regarded with the greatest possible alarm, the present frenzy into which the c ,mmunity, as well those with capital and credit as those inspired with the love of gambling in shares, had fallen. The effect of this was likely to prove exceedingly alarm ing to the credit as well as the resources of this country, and when he looked back to what happened in the OLYMPIC. years 1825 and 1826, the only period in our history , si. nevs tragedy, translated from the French by Miss thein his opinion which could at all be compared with present, when the then Government, through the daftiliev_e.nport, and entitled the Duchess of Gui e, was o- a ao here last evening with complete succr ss.Earl of Liverpool, feeling impr•ssed with some alarm , Ce lle is laid at the Court of Henry'Thir d o f 1' the Duchess The. at what aas then goieg forward, deemed it to be a 0 ,..., v _ of Guise (Miss Davenport), the Court their public duty, through the Noble Earl in his to lu e L. e has . been to consult Ruggieri, the astrologer, as place in Parliament, to warn the OormuU • nity and boonneredestiny; while there the Count de a (grim is an- their fell .w-subjects against the course in which . they were then hsedlesily entering upon. The warning learners. d " approaching —sh e retires alai the Count which the Noble Earl gave concluded with this notice, He has seen and loved her, hut knows not AI ..hich he bad no doubt whatever the present Govern tie m e a , r ried, and Ruggieri shoes her to him as in a dream, ment were equally prepsred to give—" That come 31s .s narice she has left her toindkerchief in the sepals .l,..er's chamber, The Duke, her husband (Mr. Denvil), what might, result of these speculations, the speculators were it: Comes to consult the astrologer. He has seen to look to their own resources, and not to h e ' !A-lint there, and on. entering the apartment look to any assistance, or any relief whatever, from !ads his wife's handkerchief there, and be- the existing Government, and of this they now gave '1,4,7 immediately the victim of the most them a fair and timely warning," When the crash came, geese s. it'alousy. There is a most powerfully -wrought In the which happened in March,' 1826, the Noble Earl th e /1 .. , second clot, in which the Duke compels referring to what he had said in the previous year, re t;th„ purposefor of drawing him into a snare. This scene was timely warning —which he hadgiven them; and the Noble e"wtlfaully acted by Miss Davenport, who, throughout, . Earl at that time stated that there was no wonder that a tem ~_, wan Intensity into the part of the . Countess which pecuniary crisis—that a mercantile convulsion had taken e‘afasirably. The Count keeps his appointment, is place, when it was known that in consequence of these se o j l !! e l . , by assassins hired by the Duke, severely Joint-stock companies in the year before, namely in %ill € l , and only saved from death . by the . opp irtune 1825, there had been withdrawn no less a sum than aidpor,vat of the King, who rescues him. Miss Daven- seventeen millions sterling from the ordinary sources of aas the heroine, was vary fine. It is, perhaps, her te s t a chin ester. She was called for at the conclusion, speculation, and the ordinary sources of commercial employment of the country. Now, he (Lord post her with Mr. Denvil, who as the Duke had sup- Brougham) had lately seen a calculation from one of the throughout, and was put upon the stage in a manner that whose name he should decline to mention though it would th `geet s the highest credit upon the mana . gement of this give •great credit to his calculation, but' he declined to 4 setre.lt was followed by a new farce entitled Humbug, mention it, because his calculation might be deemed in a,,ll e xcellent piece of drollery, full of good hits at all the vidious by the speculators, and thus lay him open to It a e i v ,alling humbugs of the day—Flydropathy,ParesPills, opprobrium. But his statement was, that if after the %11,7 w aY's Ointment, et hoc genus omne, came in for their 240 Railway Bills which were now in Parliament were p r - re of the satire of our author. H. Bedford, as the agreed to, only in the course of three years' time instead of h4l'fessor, was first-rate. He has all the rich unctious seventeen millions sterling being withdrawn from the r o i gl et _n;lr of his Uncle Paul, without his sameness. If we ordinary sources of commercial employment, . there t om altriot the day is not far distant when Henry Bed- would be required for the purposes of these railways ki ss Will hold a distinguished position on the stage, no less a sum than 130 millions sterling. He need not wi t h Kate Howard, as a Somersetshire lass, acted hid_ ° great remind their Lordships that .he was opposed to any undue gusto, and Miss Martineau, as the young .Y t . th e • Parliamentary interference with the employment of the !TryAir. Cra, Piece, looked very pretty and interesting. capital, or the labour of the country . ; but it was quite a gn o r , as a tetchy common councilman, was also different thing in the case of these railways. It was zilli on I Would we could say as much for Mr. F. quite a different thing when Government held out enema k)f hi s Par II the first place, he did not know a word ragem( nts to this spirit of speculation by granting Acts of of t- e(the voice of the prompter was frequently Parliament to confer the most extraordinary powers upon ale f ver the house)—and in the next place his b e ;,.. 0 ct i n , the must speculators, and without which powers none of these was most absurmy outra that could. speculations would probably be undertaken. When he !I , a 4.atZi_nied.." Perhaps he abs at originality,---if se, mentioned to their Lordships some occurrences which had " Will have s..ltcneded. It is to be hoped, however, that lately taken place in the country, he thought Np4v few imitators. The house was crowded. their Lordships would agree with him that these 0br ,.... powers were really extraordinary. In the case of a gen "' I i•L N II GIN TELLIGENCE. tleman who occupied a very ancient mansion, a railway N 'rh e hettin T g ii.T rI T ERSALL'S, YESTERD . AY. , Company five acres of his ground, wished to take to w het arket inn the Two Thousand Guineas Stakes and and when the gentleman asked the Company what cep for reticle, P was of itself of sufficient importance t"peatcy r more fl, they intended to give him for the land, he was told 11141.118 event s to a return of the prices ; and on the come off tCh t and Epsom, our re-would learn after the • that he dill be maybe confined to a sel select Chester rof favourites. tes. It Bill. The gentleman then replied that he should with aornio.aesn, that Cataract Obscurity, eeiaum and e Semiseria le ft off hold his consent from the railway, but the promoters n eat ' ll araa y sv at a p ar ; it should be observed, however, that t o ld him that they did not want his consent, as the 4 ( 4; 4 as backed heavily at 9and 10 to , land is , 1 'l ee had been fa.veurably reported upon by the th el'e ( " I c all of Ob ' .1_ was a spirited scuray, Upon whom, nevertheless, Board of Trade, and it ... weeld be the worse for him. In take mare mare outlay, at 10 to 1. The advance of Mr. another case, where a gentleman, whose . family had held eto I. was the consequence of two or three offers to estate from the time of Elizabeth, remonstrated Poin te 0 "" .f- We did not hear a bet laid. Portraitthe same rose . ten railway going within a certain to b ack a n the last London quotation and .a strongdisposition with the promoters of a th if or r ou e eilleen of the Tyne and Trueboy was swdials three distance of his house, he was threatenedhis kitchen he objected on r quarters should pass through his kitchen garden. b t he Derb to it the railway y have little to say lacked freely at 12 We o with o Forth's lot was Under the se circumstances he deemed it his duty to , ; Clear.th tl, Kedger with some spirit at 14 to bring the matter before the House. He deprecated any -4 a. way for at least 400/. at 17 and 18 1 • thing 1 k discussion, but still he thought from the is colt in two or three places at 22 to 1 to ,th e ie ; -yenta , and 1 000 to rnt of capital engaged, and the immensity of poz, a, at 30 to 1 (the takers rather a ~, am el that it should be brought under 4 , rs, at 50 to 1; the layers refusing to sweet) and the interests involved, . mentioned. The following were the go on. Ides was the notice of their Lordships. He was not . inclined to zunviuititzr }LA ND closing Prices : find fault with the Board of Trade ; their business was sto 1 agst Lord G. Bentinck' lc" ' schemes—the had only to decide on the 7to 1 agst Mr. Newton's Ma sroton Oil —t and aft off not to selects . . railway and another, and as 9to 1 agst Mr. Dri ' ld' V ;life respective merits of one lO mut s 01-au-V to conduce to the certain which was likely most to 1 agst Col. Peel 'e I-am -not ent—taken 10 to 1 s - aware—agave_ • public convenience. But he did think that this la to east Dake of Richmond's Strath taken shares ought to have u 1 a fist M spey gambling in railway - , _. to 1 a r. Shatto's Porto Bello—tsa - w had taken this eofi..o_, agst Mr. H. Stebbins's Celeste ell some check. The French, he . kne , of railways which had been sate is e , matter, and out of a number ex it at Newmarket this da taken • ,ti they selected the small TSVo THOU y- propesed for their discussir , ,0 1 . SAND GUINEAS STAKS. lye for the jurisdiction of 1 0 i. asst Colonelradbroke's Idat—ta.ken number of only eight or tese s to 1 a i '' t Anson's Kedger— taken their Legislature. He did not wish to oppose railway 6 to _ gst Colonel Peel's Cobweb coltthe commercial con schemes, air his object was not only _ . 20 to f i . agst Mr. Gully's 'Weatherbit—taken for its venience of the country, but he had also a regard 4O to i agst Ides winning 2,000 guineas and D rby t pecuniary Lordships interests. Be, therefore, hoped their agst Cob we b colt f or th e tw o even taken.e— w ou ld not oppose the returns for which he had moved. 9 to 1 THE CHESTER CUP, The Earl of DALHOUSIE said that with respect to , to 1 agst Mr. W. Scott's Cataract —taken the number of the schemes which had been sub -9 to i agst Mr. A Johnstone's Obscurity ratted to the Board of Trade, and the number of 16 to 1 agst Mr. Jaques's Semiseria a o to 1 agst Mr. W. H. Johnstone's The Era —take which the Board had made upon them, reports . 20 to i agst aer. Bell's Winesourand Learned 0 Noble Era —taken he was quite ready to satisfy his 30 to . 1, agst Mr. Isaac Day's Portrait— talstheof shares and the a Friend ; but with regard to prices l en and aft on. °O to 1 a gst Lord G. Bentinck's Pug. - amount of dividends which had been paid on the severe a o to 1 agst Mr. Cuthbert's Queen of Te t k lines, he was not quite so ready to throw light upon 3 3 to 1 agst Mr. Davies's Yheomun-ac-Knocktaken t en k the subject. These could doubtless be obtained, a en 33 t o 1 a gst Mr. Irwin's Pride of Kildare and if their Lordships pressed for them, he should liale 43 to 1 agst Mr. Hutchinson's Ratan feel it his duty to lay them before the House, ssis t o - a gst Alr. AI 'kl ' T b 20 00 1 0 ass ., ,•.. ei am . s rue. oy—taken as perfectly as the circumstances would admit. With to 20 a 4 s alr. Hesselane's Fazallen—taken respect to the amount of capital likely to be engaged in agst Lord Eglinton's Aristides —taken. these schemes, he thought the informant of his Noble 1 2 to 1 DERBY. Friend had far outrun the amount. There bad been to . 1. a gst Mr. Forth's lot—taken I t ) to 1 aget Lord Exeter's lot—taken schemes submitte 1 to their consideration for the sanction le to agst Mr. Gre 'll ' of Parliament to the extent of 7,490 miles, requiring 7 I as ,. a , , vi e s Alarm capital to the amount of 140,000,0001 to 150,000,0001. 1 8 to 1 ai i 2t ",as ol • Anson's hedger—taken to y —taken But it was not to be suppcsed that these would all be artist Lord Chesterfield's Pam—take carried into effect. He knew that much deception, 2 0 t o l offered n and after a'st whe entional or not was not for for him to say, aft ''' Lord Chesterfi Id' N and carried on by the Provisional Committees ; and as s a ta , srwards offered a a .i. ewsmonger—taken was as tov ` asst Colonel ' one rather singular instance, a gentleman with whom 40 to I agst m_Pe,els Cobweb colt—taken he was acquainted had been requested to act on the tio to 1 agst ]s i r r : ga s ilY s Weatherbit—take 25 to 1 Provisional Committee of a Railway. The shares were 40 to 1 , agst Mr, a o tyn's Pantasa—taken not quite at a premium, and he thought it better one 40 to 4 ag st k • m- Paul's Alentor s o4 _ 1 ag s t ,r• Gully's Old England taken day to go to the office to ascertain whether the `o l a 4 -mke of Richmond' • ' line had been surveyed. He learned that they in to 1 gat AIL Ford's Fuzbo s Laird o Cockpen—t. had surveyed one end of the line, and the other .k - i; ) to lo agst XL Hesseltine's siittzten end of the line, but the intermediate part had never 4 tv rn 13,__agSt Lord G. Bentinck' N en had been looked at at all. But in the portion which aarkorsee through Londons s ereus—taken yesterday he foundthat the 1 . passed within en mete for been surveyed, me ''.; to i forty yards of a certain place, and upon a little inquiry Th e Wai t agst m r °Alcs. he learned that that house was his own. laia. w/ca. Newton'saa Sister to Ma Tie—taken He should remind his Noble Friend, that with a ir 1 l Staaeot‘ot,,PaßlNG MEETING.—Momeev. regard to compensation the landowners had the gh A. and f our _ -", scars. each, with 50 added, for three- 0 •of la • th • adjudication made either by a Lot a , - ~, ta w Yr olds. One mile. (4 Subs ) lion aving ea* a le fa t js. C ° 11 s4weetnieat, 3 yes, 75t..,,,,,,, one thought jury or by arbitrators, so that if any p!iirwiek,:ll Rodney, 3 yrs, 7st .. ... (Arthur) 2 1 that a member of the jury for voting the value of his t he totold's be s,noebu e i t, 3 Yes, 3 6st 12Ib ....................... 3 land was a railway proprietor, he could choose an arbi two 1441. eavvtorney, 3 yrs 73 t- .. ***************** . - trator whom -he knew had no interest in any such ~,Nll ag t j ° eetmeat-2 1 *** A....................... - 4 il i _ kl l Inst th e p• to agst —ttorney-3 to lon concerns. e %Out, eod •. . Field. Sweetmeat made Strong • Lord ASHBURTON said that he thought it was ne arme, :wort by nearly two length running . 444;a1l each s uite Riot Stakes of 5 sous.''.cessary that this gambling in railway shares should be (111 am% antlers sib , at t ra. 2 • President of the each, llst 71b put an end to. His Noble Friend the if _ 1 ‘• It s ' ° Wth, ' r ° ll sabo o , miles. (9 Subs.) Board of Trade, had reminded them that the i ah_ l aei tea s a ilean o ,,,___...... ***** .• • .............. .(0 Own 1 140.000 0001 or 150,000;000/ should be necessary to ;_it tl _, 4 f o h o 7 .fls e Ea ,s e a, aged, ••• ........................... ... 2 make :1,1 those railways, it would not be called for ,v eti a , ag aig4................ ............................. 3 . . f r Yet, notwithstanding, al ett •l ii aenab oad '" alerted, but • Neere not placed •—Mr, in less than three or ou . . years. ' ll t' • ° Net-s,'r aged—Ur• 13, •• .4 , T• , • 'it would occasion such a call for iron as would increase e la tt ctal M r sraar• Laurel n - ci 1. , : i. nai , s ne 1 age 'Mr. . V k oi, i No, B ennett' inbassy—Mr. Sheldong's its value fully 3001. per cent., and materially affect P . A . a l l'e `Cwi t tl l ancli caP of 15 Martingale.. the general commercial requirements for that metal, if t n.ll a . tF, , 40 added. soN s.. each, 10 ft, and 5 only not cause a very serious inconvenience to the country at al li,Job o ,',.' l 8 Salopian Two Mies. (11 Subs. 3 paid.) large. ?,, l 'he s' ll 'arisO n 'a -Velue ,3 yrs. sst 61b ......(J. Tacker) 1 The question was then put that the motion be agreed -, i i -11,, - .•.'s Th e Ai ', 6 Yrs, 7st Illb ..... ell l b; wine ule, 4 yrs, 7st ......... 3 to, ......... 2 which was carried. 1 ot or.rt ifri also .. ran :--al r ......... .. ........... • INCOME-TAX. t , he I les r' r * r• Atki ' , Raworth's Schoolboy, 6 vrs, The Marquis of NORMANDY stated it was s a t ‘Nli 'ale Re es wer nsons VVotton,4 yre, 6st 71b - a f ., a .ef m r e.bot run when the train * his intention, at a future t.me, to move for leave 4 Rn „ r ea sed • aea.mnbo, - to bring in a Bill to give the right of voting s e guin eas , 00/. ! One lot of fi v e ' Ito all persons paying the income-tax. He did this, be ,,, Its ! , and anothe r th.'ti lit r4 b of four couples and a half, . 'telling that now the income-tax would become per se, '...Al ti , na. - .._ . ' ' tual Ile should lay this Bill on the table of the 1 pe • In la, Ine s k ..' IinE RGA - V7 --------- 7-- 1 Horse in the course of the present session, and should t so i i Y , oliv e ~e a h aalNir.—lS e reeeret to learn ,b e guided by circumstances in taking further steps. a l se 4 'IOUs i n 4. e ed town conve •" • nit,kt(4l.4, !attack alsPosition IX ti ' 3 ing intelligence of l JUSTICES AND CORONERS. . .41,4 5,, u, aPoplegr ,ia Earl of A.bergavenny, i The .NOJ3LE MARQUIS gave notice et his intention, on -t 4,his ill I ,_ N„,_eon Tuesday last, at his seat, : r... i i some of theNobleLords Thursda - st . n to a, to ket a (pi rn " Y. obi Earl is atteaded by several i opposite its a e o le israaarit state of practice with refer- L YCL UJI. du ced On Dia l/ i s the titl e o f a phasing two-act trifle pro as at this theatre last evening. Keeley is "on d u ty" a certain Corporal Fritz, of the local militia of some Place in Germany, and while on duty he makes a dis covery that Henrietta (Miss Villars), to whom he is affianced, i s i n love with Count Frederick Lowen s t ein (I'. V ining). Stich being th e s t a t e o f a ff a i rs, t h e rest May be eas il y imagined—Keeley gets into all sorts of absurd situations ; among others he stands upon a pe destal in a garden as a Dutch painted statue, in order to discover the faithlessness of his Henrietta—and is the most ludicrously ill-used individual upon earth. How-- Oyer, finding Henrietta is inclined to jilt him, he solaces In niself with the charms of Madame Danielle (Mrs. Woo h lliilge), a widow who has been long anxious to catch "im, and Henrietta becomes Countess of Lowen stein. The character of Henrietta was very nicely playtd by Miss Villars, who introduced a song, which she gave very Prettily, and in which she was deservedly oziored. P. Mathews, as a frivolous, stupid, dancing tebßaron, with a young wife, was very funny, and con to be to the success of the piece, which . we not will be On Dmiy at the Lyceum fur some time to mire. PI LE A .uer iv i !ije SH PLAYS —ST. JAMES'S THEATRE. s and P r i nce Alb ert h onoure d this theatre with their presenc e last evening. The performances epeamenced with Casimir Delavigne's comedy L'Ecole desVieillards, almost the last of the comedies of the legi timate and classical school of France. Mademoiselle ilessy, as Madame Danville, was admirable. She s eemed to feel that it was a great occasion. and to put fo rth all her powers, and never did she exert them more Pffectively than sbe did last evening. Cartigny, as Bon- Il krd, was excellent, and M. Paseal, as the Due, was ex -9,llisitt ; he is certa i nly one of the best dressers on the bastage— quite a French Mario. Oudinot, as Monsieur " •! - de, was also very good. Her Msjt.sty seemed muc h Pleased with the manner in which this admirable finepniedy was p ro d uced. It was followed by La Gayeure i n the Prelve, in w hi c h Mademoiselle Plessy again appeared, character of Madame de Clairville. Toe house was crowd e d to excess, by one of the most fashionable audiences of the season. THE e SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 8, 1845. ence to prisoners committed for trial, relative to the pro ccelings to be taken by the coroner when his inquisition was depending at the time the prisoner was committed ; and as to whether or not the party charged should be brought before him ; and he wished to know whethei the Government had any measure to propose, in order to put an end to the great scandal that existed on the subject, in consequence of the differences that had taken place latterly between the coroner and the magistrates on I,his subject? not make that the condition of Colonel Macgregor's ac cepting office. He was quite ready to assent to the pro• priety of the Inspector-General having full control over the infericr officers of the constabulary, but this he cer tainly did say, that in an office so important as that of Deputy-Inspector-General, it was absolutely essential that the Lerd-Lieutenant should not be precluded from exercising his fair prerogative, even if it should not happen to be in consonance with the opinion of the In spector General. It was obviously the interest of the Lord-Lieutenant to promote the efficiency of the force, and he must be anxious to give its due weight to the re commendation of the Inspector-General in certain cases; but with regard to the higher offices he was justified in retaining the right of exercising his own judgment. In filling up those offices he might refer to Major Priestly, who had been appointed to the office of Deputy- Inspector- General by Lord Heytesbury.—(The Noble Lord then referred to the services of the Gallant Major.) He would not object to granting the motion which the Noble Lord moved for, provided he would embrece the higher ap pointments, and order it from the Ist of May, 1836, in stead ~f 1838. The Marquis of NORMANBY rose to reply, and hesitated a few moments whether be should do so. He had waited for the pupate of seeing whether or not the Noble Duke would speak. The Dnke of WELLINGTON then rose. He could assure the Noble Marquis that nothing had been farther from his intention than to misrepresent any part of his conduct. He certainly thought be had done everything in his power to avoid discussing the question upon the former occasion, for, at that time, he happened to be in a situation in which it was impossible for him to attend. His friend the President of the Council and the Neb'e Lord the Secretary for the Colonies had stated their readiness to undertake the task if the Noble Marquis persisted in his motion. He had, in fact, paid no attention to the suhject, till two or three days before the discussien came on, and when the Noble Marquis had stated his determination to bring it forward, and after what he had heard to-night, he (the Noble Duke) thought the Noble Marquis would regret that he had not delayed the motion till he had given the opportunity of looking into the subject. He had, as he said before, not the smallest intention of mis representing any part of the conduct of the Noble Mar quis. He had certainly stated that the Lord• Lieut enant, under the Act of Parliament, had certain rights and duties to perform ; and that he was to estimate those rights, and to look to the performance of his duties to the provisions of the Act of Parliament, and not to any arrangement made by his predecessors in office, and most particularly when his former prede cessor entertained views not in accordance with arrange ments to be made by the existing Government. He (the Duke of Wellington) had quoted the course pursued by the Noble Marquis himself in the appointment of us specters, and he had stated that after the Noble Marquis had informed Colonel Macgregor that he should have the recommendation of all the chief constables, that he should have their appointments, and that he then turned round, took away two-thirds of them, stating that the right of appointment should be one in three. He thought he was borne out in these statements by the ev!dence taken before their Lordships' Committee. If he had made any misrepresentation of the intentions of the Noble Marquis, it had been forced upon him, and he thought it would be acknowledged by their Lord ships, that no man had tried more to avoid discussion on the question than he had.—(Hear.) Earl ST. GERMANS thought the Noble Marquis would, upon consideration, find that upon no ground had the appeintne nt of head-constables taken place without the approbation of' the inspector-general. The Marquis of NORMANBY, in replying, stated that he had no objection to the extended form of the motion, as suggested by the Noble Lord the Secretary of State for the Colonies. He considered that the claims of Major Brownrigg had been shown on all sides, and that those of Major Priestly bore no comparison to them. The Noble Marquis then proceeded to taunt Ministers with not bringing on their Irish Registration Bill, which he asserted they dare not do, and declaimed against their conduct in appointing such a man as Mr. Howley as first sergeant, in preference to a man of such high talents as Mr. Sergeant Warren, for the mere pur pose of having it said they had appointed a Catholic in preference to a Protestant and an old tried Conservative supporter. Mr. Attorney-General Smith, at a meeting held at the Mansion-house in Dublin, was reported to have stated that he did net think that a Roman Catholic was to be believed on his oath, and a man who could make such a statement as that was not fit to fill the office of Attorney-General for Ireland. And when the Right Hon. Gentleman was ac cused of this in his place in Parliament, what a n swer did he make to it ? Why, he did not say that he bad not made such a statement, but that he had see n a . correc t e d report of his spe e ch, in which the objecti ona bl e wor d s were omitted. With reference to the returns, he hal no objection to amend his motion in the manner the Noble Lord wished. He was only anxious to have such infor mation as was limited to the particular point to which he wi hed to direct the attention of the Noble Duke, from which it would be seen that the Noble Duke had sup- posed something had been taken from the Inspector- General which never belonged to him, The Duke of WELLINGTON wished to explain. fle certainly did not understand that he had on the former occasion made the statement which the Noble Lord said he did, because he was perfectly aware of the difference bet xecn the head constable and the chief con stable. lie perfectly knew what were those gradations. A chief constable was of the rank of a commissioned officer, and the head constable of the rank of a non commissioned officer. He knew nothing about the rank of a sub-inspector ; it was a new name to him. The Marquis of NORMANBY said, perhaps the Noble Duke would state what was the charge he meant to make against him—what was the supposed right he had taken away ? The Duke of WELLINGTON replied that what he did say was, having given over the appointment to the chief constable, the Inspector-General was deprived of two-thirds of these appointments, he having been told that he was only to have one of the appointments. The Marquis of NORMANBY said such was not the fact. The Noble Duke misunderstood the case. The Inspector-General was never toll that be was to have any of the appointments, with the exception of one, and that was the power of recommending promotions from the ranks. As to his having ever exercised any further power the Noble Duke, when he saw the return, would see that such was not the case. The Duke of WELLINGTON made some remark across the table which did not reach the gallery. The Earl of ST. GERMANS b egge d t h e i r Lordship? pardon fur being guilty o f an i rregular i ty i n speaking a second time in a debate, but a charge had been brought against a Right Hon. Friend of his by the Noble Marquis opposite, which he could not suffer to pass un noticed. The Noble M arqu i s b e cou ld not h e lp remark ing was hardly justifi e d in mak i ng a charge against a gentleman who was not present to defend himself. The Noble Marquis had stated that the Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman, the Attorney-General for Ireland, was reported to have declared at a public meeting held in Dublin that the Roman Catholics were not to be be lieved on their oaths. Now his Right Hon. and Learned Friend, within two days after the report of that meeting, published a correct report of his speech, in which no such expressions were used. Besides the Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman distinctly denied the accusation at the time to which the Noble Marquis had just referred. The Marquis of NORMANBY told their Lordships that it so happened he, heard all that was said on the oc casion referred to, and he did not think it was consi dered by any person who was present at the time, and certainly not by himself, that the Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman had made any denial of the charge ; but what he did say w as , t h at he had seen a correct re port of his speech, with these words left out. The return was then agreed to. COMMON LAW PROCESS BILL. On the motion of Lord CAMPBELL, the Common Law Process Bill was read a third time, and passed. _ SUGAR DUTIES' BILL. On the motion of the Earl of DALHOUSIE, the Sugar Dud( s' Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be eommitted to•mnrrow. Lord MONTEAGLE moved for certain papers relat ing to the entry of sugar.—Agreed . to. Their Lordship then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS, April 7. The House sat to-day at Four o'elock. RAILWAYS. Several petitions on private Bills having been pre sented, Mr. LOCKHART presented a large number of pe titions, including those from the following places, i n favour of the Caledonian Railway: — From the t own Bh councils of Greenock, Port Glasgow, Montrose, Peter head,rbiff'taEn t i s gi o P Elgin, Nairn, Naoirrtn, Dingwall, and L anark —from the in Glasgow, Inverne ss , M ontrose, Brechen, Forfar, Banff, Stonehaven, Laureneekirk, and Forres—from the Chamber of Commerce of Greenock— and from the inhabitants of the following parishes in Lanarkshire and Dumfriesshire through which the li ne will pass: Biggen, Crawford, Covington, Carlisle, Car stairs, Lamington, Symington, Libberton, Wiston, Craw ford-John, Carmichael, Pitman , Moffat, Dry fesdale, Johnstone, A pplegarth, Fundergarth, St. Alungo, Hod dam, A nnan, Kirkpatrick Fleming , Middlebie, wftenphray, Kirkpatrick Juxta, and Gretna. CALEDONIAN RAILWAY. Mr. MACAULAY presented a petition, signed by upwards of 25,000 of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, in favour of the Caledonian Railway.- GREENWICH COLLIERY RAILWAY . Mr. HODGSON HINDE said he had to intreat the attention of the House to a few observations he had to make in reference to this Bill. He would endeavour to explain in as few words as possible the great inj ury and injustice that would be done to a great many parties if this Bill should be suffered to pass through the Home without attention being called to many circumstances connected with it. He wished to be understood as now reserving what he had to say upon the subject to the time when the Bill should come when he would bring before the House, a charge against one of the Commissioners of Green wich Hospital, for having interfered in a man ner that he (Mr. H. Ilinde) did not think h e was warranted in doing. He held in his hand a very volumi nous correspondence on the subject, that had passed between the Commissioner's solicitor and Mr. Richards. He did not mean to trouble the House by reading the whole of it; but he would just read one letter that had been written to one of the landowners who was Opposing the line, and it would be then for the House to say whether the order for the second reading should be discharged. The Hon. Member then read the letter; it alluded to an engagement which the Comp any h a d entered into with Mr. Bizkripll, and wiiieb Mr. 13i c k ne 11 alleged had been broken on their part,. Uncle:. those, circumstances, he (Mr. H. Hinde) thought the House ought not to proceed with the Bill until the Company had either performed or been released from their agreement. Mr. CHARLES HOPE explained, but in so low a tone of voice as to be quite inaudible in the gallery. Mr. FOSTER said it had been quite impossible for any Hon. Member in that House to have heard the cor respondence which had been read by the Hon. Member (Mr. H. Hinde)—(Laughter)—and ho thought it should be printed, so that the House might know what it all meant.—(Continued laughter.) The Bill was of a most anomalous character, and gave extraordinary powers to the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital. He was op posed to the second reading. On the question that the Bill be read a second time, Mr. H. HINDE presented petitions, signed by all the landholders on the intended line of railway, against the Bill. Mr. FOSTER presented petitions from the Mayor and corporation of the town of Berwick, against the Bill. Mr. H. HINDE said that if the Honourable Gentle man who had charge of this Bill, or the Noble Lord the Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, would give him an assurance that this Bill should be :postponed until after the correspondence had been printed, he would abstain from moving that the Bill be read a second time that day six months. This Bill if passed would be a public injustice. Had there been other than public rights concerned he never would have intruded this matter on the House of Com mons, but unless, since the Bill had been presented to the House, any new informati on h a d b een given, he could not assent to the second reading of this Bill. He could not see why, for the sake of one farthing a lift, which was all for the Greenwich Hospital, they should inflict a grievous injury on the public. The Greenwich Colliery ought not to be placed in any position which was more exclusive than that of any • other colliery; and if five collieries out of six united to outpost a sixth, they were all subject to the same rules of competition, and there ought to be no favour shown by the Legislature to interfere with this competition. The question was then put for the second reading. Mr. HOPE supported the Bill, and presented petitions in its favour. The Hon. Gentlemen read several ex tracts from the evidence of a civil engineer, in favour of the Bill, and said that the landowners were in favour of it. Mr. WARBURTON looked upon this measure as a public one, and he thought that nothing could be more reasonable than to put off the second reading of the Bill for a week, to give the House an opportunity of being acquainted with the documents which had been read. He should support the motion of his Hon Friend before him, that the second reading should be postponed fur a week, and that in the mean time the papers just read be printed. Lord LINCOLN would oppose the motion for the postponement, and also the proposition for printing the papers. He thought it highly inexpedient for the House to publish the correspondence which had passed between the opposing agents. He thought it was perfectly unnecessary to publish the correspondence, as he did not think it would induce the House to take any other course than that which he trusted the House would take on the present occasion— namely, to send the Bill to a Committee of that House. The gentleman who held the office of solicitor to the Commissioners of Green wich Hospital had held the office for upwards of thirty years, and he had never had such a charge made against him before. He (Lord Lincoln) conceived that the charge could only be properly investigated in the Committee to which the Bill would be referred, end if the Committee should find that the charge had been proved, their duty would be to throw out the Bill. Lord HO WICK said he did not concur with the Hon. and Learned Member behind him, that the reason he had assigned for postponing the second reading of this Bill for a week was sufficient. It appeared to him (Lard Howick) that this was a private Bill, brought in by the Government for local purposes, and that therefore the proper place for discussing its merits was not in that House, but before a Committee, for if it were to be discussed before the House, means of course would be taken to insure its being carried ; but if brought before a Committee it would be fully and fairly discussed, for there alone would a full examination of all the details be gone into. If this be a Govern ment proposition, he could see no good grounds assigned why, for that reason merely, this Bill should be taken out of the regular course to which all such Bills were subjected. Therefore he did think it would be a great waste of public time and of public money to print this correspondence ; for he could not see what that correspondence had to do with the Bill itself. He looked upon these letters as the result of a mere private squabble between a respectable solicitor and some other party. It did seem to him to be a very strange course, indeed, if the Government were to determine upon throwing out this Bill on the second reading, without at first send ing it before a Committee. He knew something of its merits, and though he was aware that it was a local Bill, and for local purposes, he knew no grounds upon which it could be, or ought to be opposed; but, on the contrary, he knew that it possessed a great many local advantages, and he was also aware that there were a great number of persons, in the vicinity of the town through which it was to pass, who were in favour of it. On the whole, he did hope that the Bill would be sent to a Committee ; but he would oppose the printing of the correspondence. Mr. BELL said a few words, after which' the gallery was cleared for a division, but none took place. The Bill was then read a second time. The Anderston Police Bill was also read a second time. Mr. GROGAN presented a petition from the noble men and gentlemen of Carlow in favour of the Dublin and Carlow Railway Bill. Mr. GROGAN also presented a petition from noble men and gentlemen in Meath and Westmeath against the Drogheda and Dublin Railway Extension Bill. The Manchester Court of Record Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed. On the motion of Mr. COLLETT, the Great Southern and Western (Ireland) Railway Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed. Sir JOHN YARDE BULLER presented a petition against the Nottin g h am R a il way, an d also against the Cornwall Railway. Mr. HUME presented a petition against the Berwick Railway. Sir THOMAS ESMONDE presented a petition in favour of the Carlow, Wexford, and Dublin Railway. Mr. H. HINDE gave notice that he would, to morrow, move for copies of the correspondence between the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital and Mr. Dixon relative to the Greenwich Colliery Railway Bill, and also that if the Bill passed the Committee, he would take the sense of the House on bringing up the report. Mr. WAWN wished to know from the Right Hon. Gentleman, the Vice-President of the Board of Trade. when it was the intention of the Government to introduce a measure relative to merchant seamen ? Sir G. CLERK was understood to say that he would move for leave to bring in a Bill on the subject on Tuesday. _ CUSTOMS.—REVENUE. Mr. E. BULLER begged leave to ask the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite, when (as we understood) there would be an opportunity of bringing forward the several motions of which notice had been given, respecting the Customs' Amendment Act ? Sir R. PEEL (who was also imperfectly heard) was understood to say that he was not at present able to name a day, but he would take an early opportunity of doing so. Mr. PARKER would postpone his notice on the sub ject until the Right Hon. Baronet appointed a day. Mr. HAWES wished to ask the Right Hon. Gentle man the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he pro posed to lay before the House the last report of the Com missioners of Revenue Inquiry ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that the report laid by the Commissioners before the Treasury in December last was confidential, and there had not been time to decide whether it should be pub lished for the use of Hon. Members. THE PAPER TRADE. Mr. GISBORNE, who was almost inaudible, put a question to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject of certain applications made some time since to the Commissioners of Excise by the paper trade. The question he wished to ask the Right Hon. Gentle man was, whether the Board of Excise had yet come to a decision on this subject, and if so, what that decision was ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he had had a deputation from the paper-makers a short time ago on this particular subject, and in consequence the Board of Excise had taken the matter into their consideration. It was, however, necessary t h at the Commissioners sho u ld have a report from the different districts in which paper was manufactured; and as those reports had not yet been received, the Commissioners had not been able to come to a judgment on the subject. As soon as this judgment was come to, he would com municate it to the Hon. Gentleman. THE FISHERIES. Lord PALMERSTON said, I wish, Sir, to put a qßes tion to the Right Hon. Gentleman, of which I have given him notice. It is stated in the newspapers that the French Minister, M. Guizot, has announced to the Chambers that he is about to propose a Bill for the purpose of carrying into effect certain modifications, which the British Government had consented to, in the treaty which was concluded in 1839, between the two Governments, for regulating the fisheries in the narrow seas. I wish to ask the Right Hon. Gentleman what these modifications are ? Sir R. PEEL—I think there must be some mistake with respect to the report to which the Noble Lord refers. The Noble Lord and the House will probably recollect that a convention was entered into in 1839 between this country and France with respect to the fisheries on the coasts of the two countries. By the eleventh article, I think it was, certain regulations were to be made by Commissioners appointed by the two countries, for the purpose of giving effect to that treaty. Those regulations were made, and embodied in an Act of Parliament, which passed both branches of the Legis lature, and received the royal assent in 1843. By the convention powers were expressly reserved to each of the two countries to pass the necessary legislative mea- sures for carrying the said regulations into execution. We acted on those powers. We passed a law enabling us by the regular tribunals of the country to inflict pe nalties on those subjects of France who contravened the regulations of the treaty. That law is now in force. France did not pass any such law, but I apprehend that all the French Government now propose to do, is to pass a law enabling them to take measures for giving effect to the convention. There are no modifications whatever. Lord PALMERSTON wished to know if there had been no modifications or alterations of the regulations? Sir It. PEEL said there might have been some alteration in the regplatious ; but these regulations were Ilow pontaiped !n thg Apt, E ` ncl he (Sir 1 4. Peel) believed there had been no modification whivtever of m them since, flowerer, it might he that th e F rench Government were now about to pass a law upon the subject. Captain PECHELL said he 11461'44A that the French I Government were about to pass a lqw which would very The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that after the able exposition made by the First Lord of the Treasury in his financial statement of the grounds on which he intended to remit „certain taxes—after the detailed explanation he had given of the evil conse quences of these taxes on the commerce of the country, he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) did not think it would have been considered necessary for him to trouble the House again on the same subject. He should have thought that it would have been the general, he might say the unanimous feeling of the House, that it would be expedient to remit them, but he found that the Hon. Member for Dorsetshire (Mr. Bankes) had determined to take the sense of the House on the remission of the auction duty. He would have wished that the Honourable Member, before placing his noti ce u p on th e paper, h a d read the report furnished by the Commissioners on this subject. He might then hare been prepared perhaps to coincide in their recommendation that the very first duties to which the attention of Parliament should be directed with the view of repealing them, should be the auction duties, because their character, in a com mercial country, was most obnoxious, as all taxes upon the transfer of property must necessarily be. Not only did this general objection exist, but they were also objectionable as being partial, as they did not affect all species of property. Only one particular class of pro perty was liable to these duties, that which was sold by auction. They were liable to another objection, thus applied to the transfer of property, which above all things ought to be entitled to indulgence. The party selling had no option as to the coursa he should pursue in selling. He need only refer to what was not an uncommon instance, a cue' of recent occurrence which fell under his own particular notice. Two estates had been lately sold equally redeemable. They were each sold for 100,0001. The proprietor of one had contracted an amount of debt, and it became necessary for him to submit it to sale by auction ; the consequence was, that when the property was sold, 90,0001. was paid by that individual, and out of the residue, 10,0002, he had to pay 3,0001. the amount of duties. The other person, whose property was subject to no in cumbrance, for he was not liable to debt, sold his pro perty by private contract, and thereby avoided the duty. The whole of the property last year which was put up for sale by auction was of the value of 45,000,000/., while the amount of it which was subjected to the auc tion duty was short of a million. The exemptions from the auctioc-duty had been carried to a great extent. Generally speaking, Parliament hsd been in the habit,• when particular interests pressed upon them, of exempt ing those interests from the auction duty. There were no less than forty-five different classes of sales which were exempted from auction duty by Act of Parliament. The duty did not press upon those classes, therefore it pressed as a hardship with very great severity on those who were subjected to it. But it was not to be supposed that those who were exempt from duty were altogether exempt from charge. Far from ft. It was true that they were exempt from the payment of the auction duty, but they were still subject to all those restrictions on sales which applied to every other soft of property. The auctioneer had the same notice to give, the same catalogues to draw up, the same bonds to enter into with the Excise, and, as he had to collect the duty, he had ts pay himself by making additional charges, which those parties had to pay, although they paid no addi tional auction duty to the State. The expense of col lecting that duty was also great. It was not easy to state exactly the amount of the charges upon the Ex cise for the collection of that duty, but of the 300,0001. annually collected, the whole by no means went into the coffers of the State; and he thought he was within the mark in estimating the expense of the collection at 20,0001. The House would see, therefore, that among the other evils of this duty, was the immense expense of its collection.—(Hear, hear.) But in consequence of the amount of the duty, and its pressure upon particular kinds of property, parties resorted to all sorts of devices to avoid selling by auction. And sometimes, to evade the payment of the duty, the seller bought in the property, and disposed of it by private contract. In a great majority of cases, the intention of the law was entirely defeated. The anomalies of the tax were equally burthensome upon trade, manufactures and other pro perty. In the case of the importers of some kinds of foreign goods, the first importer had no duty to pay if lie sold withi n a li m it e d per i od, but the purchaser from him would have the whole burtben of the auction duty to pay, when he was obliged to sell. Nor was the auction duty less offensive with regard to the agricul tural interest, with regard to which his Hon. Friend (Mr. Bankes) had a motion upon which he proposed to take the sense of the House. It was perfectly true that the larger farmers who had such a quantity of stock to dispose of, to the sale of which it would be de sirable to attract a great number of persons, might not feel the hardship of the present system, but it operated most oppressively upon the farmers who had only a small stock to dispose of, to the sale of which a large number of persons was not expected. But, even with regard to the large farmers, he knew instances where persons having a large stock to dispose of, and wishing for the ad vantage of as great a number of buyers as possible, drove their cattle to the neighbourhood of a large town, where they were viewed. They were afterwards driven back and sold. In many cases of this kind, also, disputes arose as to the bona fide nature of the sale. Then, with regard to timber, when it was sold standing there was no duty, but when it was cut down, and the person wished to sell the bark or other parts of the tree by auction, the whole duty had to be paid. There were some general instances of the continued fraudulent evasion of the law en this subject, which were continually being practised. Ile might state many more; but he feared he would be wearying the House by doing so. The great objection to the tax was, that it was a tax upon the transfer of property, operating partially and unequally, and particularly upon those on whom it should not be inflicted at all ; and even upon those whose duty it was to collect it, an amount of labour and ex pense more than they could aftbrd ; in short it was a tax that had operated so unequally, that i t was resolved upon that it should be the very first tax proposed to be re pealed. Some modification of it had been recommended by the Commissioners, but then it had been considered that the expense of collecting it in a reduced form would be just as much as if it was at the full amount, and that therefore it would be better to abolish it altogether,— (Hear.) There was only one point more to which he wished to call attention, namely the proposition that auc tioneers should pay a licenceof 15/. ; at present they paid only 54, but then they had to pay in addition whenever they were called upon to sell any excisable article. It might, and in some instances did, so happen that an individual, in addition to selling ordinary property, sold wine, or beer or spirits or plate, and in all these cases a separate licence must be had before the party could sell them. There were cases in which an auctioneer did pay the whole of that additional duty, thereby incurringan annual charge of 301., th e amount of all those particular duties. In fixing the duty at half that amount peered to him th a t i t was not an unfair m, .tt ap ts . o extreme rights. A s t h e Bill would stand, c pr t o l m e ' p s a e r t o y having a li cence f or 15/. would be at liberty to sell every species of p roperty without any addititional licence. up There would be a great increase of property really pet to sale and actually disposed of by this mode of transfer. The auctioneer, therefore, would have a very large increase of business, arising from the simple circumstance of his being released from heavy restrictions. But in addition to paying the present duty the auctioneers had to furnish an annual bond to the Excise for the purpose of securing the payment of th e d u t y w hi c h m i g h t pass through their hands. Those were annual expenses on the auc tioneer. He had various other burdens to bear. He 110 to provide two sureties, with a view of preventing fraud, and he was also coospelled to keep a complicated set of books f ur t h e satisfa.otida of the Excise et sioners, Those were the around. to the Hous e t o sem o did net s,ommis .„, which he proposed duty on auctions, and as be what objections could possibly be urged against it, as he had not been able to form any objection in his own mind, he could not anticipate what might be urged by Hon. Members. He had only, therefore, the materially affect the regulations of the excellent Act drawn up by the Noble Lord, for the protection of the deep sea fisheries belonging to this country ; and, in fact, petitions were pouring in every day from the fishers all along the cosst of Normandy against the regulations of the English Act, for the French people complained of being restricted to a limit of three miles, within which they could not encroach towards the English coast, and that therefore they were unable to catch the herrings beyond that limit. It was true that no alteration had been made in the English Act passed in 1843 ; but the French people complained of it as an evil requiring a 'remedy, and that remedy he found had been proposed by a very active member of the Chamber of Deputies, and addressed to M. Guizot. In fact, the French Government had been bullied and badgered upon the subject ; and he held in his hand an extract from one of the petitions sent in, which he would read. (The Hon. and Gallant Member then read the extract, in French, amidst loud and continued laughter from all parts of the House.) He said the meaning of the petition was, that French fishermen complained of the restrictions of the English Act. What had fallen from the Right Hon. Baronet would, Sowever, allay the apprehensions entertained by our own subjects. Sir R. PEEL thought it would be unwise for him to enter into the question any further—it was not for them to canvass the debates on petitions which were presented in the French Chamber. The fisheries between the two countries were regulated by convention. There had been no change in the convention, and no change was in con templation. SCOTCH AND IRISH BANKS. Mr. BOUVERIE put a question to the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel), which was but imperfectly heard in the gallery, but which we understood to be, when the question of the Scotch and Irish banks would be brought under the notice of the House, and what the nature of the measure would be ? Sir R. PEEL said that from the press of other and more important business he could not name the particular period at which he would bring the subject under the consideration of the House. Mr. HUME said it would be desirable that the Right Hon. Baronet should mention the nature of the measure. Mr. ELLICE said it was extremely desirable that in a matter of so much importance the Scotch people should be made aware of the objects and nature of the proposed change. Mr. FOX MAULE said, that if no explanation were given by the Government, he would, when the measure was brought forward, consider himself at liberty to give it all the opposition in his power. MEDICAL BILLS. In reply to a question from Mr. HAWES, Sir JAMES GRAHAM said he did not think it would be possible for him to bring forward the Medical Bills that night, and therefore he should at once propose to take them upon that day week. EXCISE ACTS. The House then went into Committee on the Excise Acts. power of answering any objections that might be raised by-Hon. Members. • Mr. HAWES said that the Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer had said that he intended to levy a duty of la upon auctioneers, in lieu of several duties to which they were at the present liable. Perhaps the Right Hon. Gentleman was not aware that, in several parts of the country, it was the custom for one of the partners to take out an auction licence. He wished to know whether, by this arrangement, it would be impe rative upon three partners in a firm to take out the li cence, which, in such a case, would be a gain to Go vernment of 45/. instead of 15/. The CIIANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that a member of a firm, on behalf of the firm, would not be obliged to take out more than one licence for a particular sale. Every individual who sold by auction was liable to pay auction duty. In answer to a question from Mr. ROSS, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER stated that there would be some exception to the Bill—excep tions which at present existed, such as auctions at the Court of Requests in Scotland for small sums—auction duty would not, of course in such cases be enforced. The house then went into Committtee, whereupon The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved the repeal of the auction duty. Mr. G. BANKES, in accordance with his motion, said he would take the sense of the House on the subject. Ile did not think he was called upon to show that no good would be effect' d by the removal of the tax — that would ensue from the remission of that tax ; but what he was called , upon to prove was that greater good would result from the application of the surplus revenue to other purposes then those proposed by the Govern ment. There were other burdens which would affect the agricultural interest, and which were in the contempla tioa of the Government. For instance, the new :nee :etre for the regulation of Justices Clerk?, and the Paro chial Settlement Bill, both of which would be thrown on the county rates. It was not denied that great distress existed in the agricultural districts, and yet those addi tional burdens were about to be thrown upon it. With respect to the first measure, he would not deny that there was a great deal of injustice in the present system of fees to justices clerks, and he would further say that he thought the great measure was based on a sound and useful principle, but what he did say was that when these fresh burdens were about to be thrown on an already much depressed class of persons, they should share the benefit of some of the relief which the financial state of the country allowed the Government to propose. Another measure was the Parochial Settlement Bill— that, he could not but consider, as a most unwise and impolitic measure, and one which would have the effect of materially increasing the al ready enormous amount of the county rates. He would give it all the opposition in his power. Another great burden on the late-payers would be the establishment of lunatic asylums. Even the "smoke" measure of the lion. Member for Leamington, and the proposed museums, would entail expense on the agri culturists—the payment of inspectors and officers would fall upon the rate-payers. The lion. Member then read a letter from the board of guardians at Dorchester, in which the burden of poor-rates was complained of, as pressing with great severity on persons of the humbler class, some of whom, though proprietors of small patches of ground, were not earning more than ss. a-week. He thought the charges of gaolers, and expenses after con viction, were burdens of which the public ought to bear a fair proportion. He thought, also, that on this question he might reasonably expect to have the support of the Gentlemen in the House who avowed themselves to be connected with the Ants-Corn law League. Those Gentlemen declared, and he believed with truth, that they were not disposed to injure the agriculturists ; and they were aware that with the in terests of the latter class, their own were to a great ex tent woven up.—(Hear.) They admitted that they were dependant to a great extent upon the prosperity of the home market. To show this, he (Mr. G. Bankes) would read an extract from the last trade circular of Manches ter, which ran to the effect, that in the beginning of the previous month, the trade of that town had been in a prosperous condition, but that there bad since been a considerable falling off', in consequence of the depressed state of the agricultural districts. He trusted, therefore, that for their own interest, if not from a higher motive, the manufacturing gentlemen in the House would give him their assistance.—(Hear.) He had heard with regret his Right lion. Friend the Secretary of State say, that the county accounts were kept very inaccurately. But he would call the attention of the Hon. Member for Montrose—(A laugh)—to those a :- counts, and he would be happy to receive any sugges tion from him how to improve the mode of keeping them. He had now offered to the consideration of the Rouse a proposition for suspending the remission of a duty which yielded about 300,000/. But there would be other funds at the disposal of the Right lion, Gen tleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and if his Right Hon. Friend kept this money in his pocket for the present, the next time he put his hands there he would find some more in it, which could be applied to a further relief of the county-rates. He did not ask for the relief upon the ground of distress or destitution, but he claimed it on the ground that the aviculturists were fully entitled teat, after so many bonuses had been given to other elitsMS who were less in want of it. But the repeal of the auction-duties was no boon to any one. He had received letters from a vast number of auctioneers in all parts of' the country, stating that they would bee-some said almost—others entirely—reined, as their business would not enable them to pay the increased duty of 151. for their licenses. His 'Right lion. - Friend said that the remission of the auction duties was a boon to the agriculturist; beceuse they would be allowed to sell stock by auction of their pre mises. And was it a boon to the agriculturists ti take elf the duty on the sale of imported corn, flour, and malt? The report of Sir Henry Parnell, recommending the abolition of the auction duties, was only part of a grand scheme which that financier had in his head to abolish the Excise altop;ether. He would show, however, that it was the opinion of that great statesman Lord North, who introduced this impost in the first instance, that there were reasons more important than mere considera tions of finance, which induced hint to propose the auc tion duty ; amongst which some of the most important were, that great increase of auctions led to great inter ference with fair trade, and gave rise to much fraud and cheating.—(The Hon. Gentleman then read an ex tract from the speech of Lord North, recommending the importance of the auction duties on those grounds.)— His Right lion. Friend will see that when there wag, no duty there were frauds. There were then auctioneers who made groat fortunes. The auctioneers what de scried this measure were men of high character and dis tinction, but if their humble brethren Lad no right to consideration on their part, they had, a right to the con sideration of her Majesty's Minie'cers'; 300,000 persons were a portion of her Majesty's subjects who were worth considering. They would find every one of these against the measure, who 'would then pay 15/. instead of 301. This would be fr e e result of that measure which would as he had stelld gratify p ersons of considerable means and of Mgh rank and station in life, but who would not require their pecuniary aid, and would injure a large and inestimable body of men and would not do any benefit to the agriculturist. His Right Hon. Friend in his arguments said that taxes were obnoxious because there were so many objections. He did not see the force of that argument. He seemed also to urge that it was objectionable on account of the amount of trouble which •it gave ; he would ask his lion. Friend to read the report over again. It was quite clear that if those duties belonged to the Customs, in stead of the Excise, all these evils which were objected to would be remedied. With respect to the sale of landed estates, they were not sold generally in this man ner, though auction was sometimes made use of, to as eertain the prices of them. It would be easy to exempt landed estates from the duty, and to substitute in its stead a stamp duty, which would secure the pay ment of the duty, without any complaint or any diffie culty. There were remedies there pointed out which were not acted upon, because it was desirable that the Excise should be done away with altogether. He thought that a great many would be injured by the proposal which was made. He would venture to hope that his Hon. Friend would think it worth the re-consideration of the Government ; and for the purpose of giving them time to re-consider it, he would take the sense of the House upon it. Mr. XL GIBSON said that he differed from some of the remarks of his Honourable Friend. The Honour able Gentleman came forward asking for relief to the agricultural interests of the country, n e called the proposal a small one, and also a modest one. What was the agricultural interest? Was it the interest of the labourer, the farmer, or the landed proprietor? If he meant the agricultural labourer, he was at a loss to understand how any remission of local t - tion can benefit him. His distress is a chro n n we ic sesu d ol i f sti o e i ss d. , t a h n e d o i t f h a e n r 3 e •t a h s i e ng in , hceonisseaciushenacdee b e e f tt t e h r e th e a h n ea h p d e n asn-oeunitdorpeplrieevsesiotnhethearlig agricultural u l n a d b e o r u , re h r e s w fro ou m id t go he permanent dt uctoiredsiaellsy,tteuyt towteerlel,hitmhethettetunbtyryle,avvete'nigc t w h i e th auction hi nnos benefit by it , and that it would bettor the agr i cu l tura l I labourer, was urgi ng him to have a doubt of the Hon. Gentleman's infallibility. 'With regard to the farmers, he himself was an agriculturist and a justice of the peace, and he ought to know something about the county-rat es . Ile kne w w h en b odies were aske d for the representation of their interest for the levying of these rates that it was often said that they did not pay the county-rates, that the county-rate came out of the rent. If the Hon. Gen tleman took the trouble to read the report on local taxa tion, • tion, he would fi n d t h at t h e C ommiss i oners told them that the poor-rates, county-rates, and rates for lunatic asylums, all these burdens were merely portions of the rent inter cepted befere it found its way from the pocket of the tenant to the pocket of the owner of land. What be nefit could it bo to him ? With regard to the third class, the landed proprietor, he would make it his own case. When the Hon. Gentleman came forward and asked them to take off a tax which put money into the pockets of the landed proprietors, lie must say that it was not a modest proposal. lie would tell them that when this proposal to benefit the farmer, by adding to the rents, was understood, it would throw discredit ma the heads of the landed proprietors, to which class he himself belonged. They imposed a larger portion of • those county rates on the town populations than they did on the landed proprietors. But lie would not enter into that matter, as it did not form part of the dia. , cussion. lle attributed that movement of the lion. Gentleman to a pressure from without that he could not withstand. They had heard the other day of Honourable Gentinsen allowing the " grease and lard" slipping ti ." ;sugh their fingers, He supposed now they ..sre tryieg to recover some of what they had already lost t the farmers would They would not Ma jesty's Government was be lieve that the lion. Gentle manfin e d ot tiia also at the head of this movement. He believed that t he at the head of' her Hon Gentlemen were now suffering from having tampered with their country bonstituencies—of having premised what they never in tended to carry out. Ile read passages in a speech of SANITARY CONDITION OF TOWNS. In answer to a question froM . the NOBLE hIARQUIs, The Duke of BUCCLEUGH sta:ed that the subject of the sanitary condition of towns had been much considered by her Majesty's Govern ment, and he considered that they would in a short time be able to lay on the table of the House a Bill upon the subject. With reference to the petition the Noble Lord had presented from Limerick, praying that the operations of the measure might be extended to Ire land, he could assure the Noble Marquis that there would be no objection on the part of the Government to extend its operations either to the sister kingdom or to Scotland.—(Hear, hear.) IkPRiSONAIENT FOR DEBT. Lord CAMPBELL presented petitions from different parts of Gloucestershire, complaining of the law pre venting imprisonment for debt under 201., and praying for its repeal. The Noble and Learned Lord readily presented the petition, but could not consent to its prayer. Lord COTTENHAM presented a petition from the debtors of Lancashire, praying for the repeal of the im. prisonment for debt. Lord DENMAN presented a petition from 400 per sons, praying that some course should be adopted for putting an end to the necessity of taking certain oaths in cases of bankruptcy, and other cases, in order to ob tain their release ; and as an instance of the s ff,ct of the present law, they stated that one individual, whom they knew to be an honourable man, was entirely presented from obtaining his discharge, and almost reduced to istP.rvation, in consequence of his religious scruples to take the oaths required. lie trusted the subject would receive the consideration of his Noble Friend on the Woolsack. IRISH CONSTABULARY. The Marquis of NORMANBY then rose, pursuant o notice, to move for returns of all the appointments as head constable in the Irish constabulary, from the Ist of May, 1838, to the present time ; distinguishing whether made upon the recommendation of the Inspector-General or not, and also a similar return of all the promotions from head-constable to the higher grades, in the same form, also distinguishing whether made upon the recommendation of the Inspector- General. When this subject was before the House on a former occasion, the Noble Duke asked what had become of the alleged understanding. The Noble Duke asserted that none had ever existed ; but, if there ever was any, he (the Marquis of Normauby) was the first to break through it. Now had this been the case he should not have felt jus tified in again calling their Lordships' attention to the subject ; but he could not help thinking that the Noble Duke must have been misinformed by some person or other. or he would not have ventured to make such a statement. What were the facts of the case? Why, the constabulary force was divided into non-commissioned and commissioned officers. The first were taken from the peasantry and the last from the gentry. The only appointments which were invested in tbe Lord-Lieutenant were those appointments of officers, who bore a resem blance to Ensigns in the army. Now when he was in office he told Colonel Macgregor that he would not strictly exercise this privilege, but whenever Colonel Macgregor wished to promote any deserving private, he should be glad to take that gallant gentleman's recom mendation. With respect to all the appointments re lating to high constables, they, according to an under standing, rested entirely with Mr. Macgregor. The Noble Duke must therefore be misinformed, or he could not have made the statement to which he had alluded. He still felt strongly that Mr. Brownrigg had been harshly treated, inasmuch as his recommendation had been slighted, while, on two former occasions, the recommendation of the Inspector- General had been adopted by the Lord-Lieutenant. He had had no communication with Col. Macgregor or Mr. Brownrigg, but he believed, from information he had re ceived, that the recommendation was re jected by the ad vice of the late Lord- Lieutenant, Earl de Grey, which was afterwards acted upon by Sir James Graham. For his part he thought it highly improper of the Noble Earl to give such a recommendation, and no less im proper for Sir James Graham to agree to it. The result of the late debate on this subject bad produced a bad im pression in Ireland, for, at the last assizes for the County of Armagh, a dinner was given by the High Sheriff to the Grand Jury, at which there were many guests be sides three of the constabulary force. The usual toast to the " glorious, pious, and immortal memory" was given and drunk by one of these constabulary officers standing up in his uniform, and cheer ing it most lustily—notwithstanding it was strictly prohibited by Colonel Macgregor and Colonel Shaw Kennedy. This was the result of a debate which had taken place in that House, and he felt that the determination of the Government not to abide by the former understanding was likely to prov e mos t mischievous. But he might be told that the future measures of the Government would create a different feeling in Ireland. Whenever those measures came up, he should give them his most anxious and zealous sup port, no matter from what quarter they might emanate; but he did not think they would have a tendency to alter the present state of things. The fact was, the system and principle of the Government was radically wrong. Their present Chief Secretary was a stranger to Ire land, and most of their other officers of State were par tisans of the ascendancy principle. It was this that they would find the cause of the present discontent in Ireland. He did not mean to find fault with any portions of the conduct of Mr. Sergeant Jackson, but it was a remarkable circumstance that Mr. Sergeant Jack son had brought into the House of Commons a Bill for the extinction of Maynooth. Happily a vacancy had been found on the bench, or he believed that the Presi dent of the Board of Trade would not have been a soli tary instance of resignations to the present Govern ment. He did not wish to make any complaint of the conduct of Mr. Sergeant Jackson since his elevation to the bench, but he believed it would have been a very awkward circumstance for him had he remained a Member of the other House of Le gislature; if he had come with a Bill in one pocket for the extinction of Maynooth, and the Government Bill in the other, for its support. By the census of 1841 it was ascertained that there were only 28,000 persons in all Ireland who were net natives of the country ; and it was believed by competent authorities that at least one-half of that number' were children born of Irish parents, who had been only temporarily absent from the country. Now it was well known that there were ge nerally not less than 60,000 individuals, natives and sub jects of the British empire resident at Paris. With the character of Lord Heytesbury it was not his intention to interfere ; but he might say, with all his knowledge of strange countries, he knew, like most Englishmen, very little of Ireland. He begged, therefore, to move for a return of all the appointments which had been made in the constabulary force of Ireland since the Ist of May, 1838, distinguishing those which had been made with the knowledge of the Inspector-General, and those which were not. Lord STANLEY said that the Noble Marquis had entered into much discursive statement upon 'this ques tion, with a view to show that her Majesty's Government had made the appointments in Ireland from party or personal motive. Now he would venture to assert that, in all the appointments which had been made, a greater liberality of policy, a greater freedom from theological or political bias, had never been shown by any Govern ment. With the Noble Marquis's observations, or rather style of observations, he had much fault to find, but to the return he had no objection, with one exception— that was,_ that the date of th e report s h ou ld b e from the Ist of May, 1836, instead of the Ist of May, 1838, for he thought it but fair that the proceedings of both Go vernments should be compared with each other. The Noble Marquis lost, in the year 1838, some two months previous to the period at which be had fixed this return, the services of Colonel Shaw Kennedy, mainly on the ground that he did not attend to that officer's recommen dations in the filling up of the vacant offices. The:Act re. v:sing the former Constabulary Act was introduced in 1836, and the number of the constabulary was then in creased from 5,000 to 8,000. On introducieg the Bill into the lower House, the main reason for removing the patronage from the hands of the local magistracy, and placing it in the hands of Government, was declared to be for the purpose of discouraging party influences. But the power which the magistracy possessed had never extended beyond the filling up of constables and sub constables. The power was, by the Act, nominally vested in the Lord-Lieutenant, but peculiarly in the Inspector- General. How had the practice been carried out by the Noble Marquis ? He thought there were 140 offices to be filled up from 5001. a year downwards. There were also offices not immediately connected with the police, there were fifty or sixty stipendiary magistrates ap pointed by Government. Let them see how the Noble Marquis had acted. Of eighteen appointments to the office of paymaster, and he (Lord Stanley) would not say that Colonel Shaw Kennedy had not had an exagge rated view of the patronage to which he was entitled— but of the eighteen appointments to the situation of pay master, he recommended six. To the vacant offices of sti pendiary magistrate he recommended only seven from the sub-inspectors, not one of which recommendations were adopted. Junior officers were placed over them, and these appointments made the Inspector-General ap pear in one of two lights, either as not doing justice to the officers, or as leaving a total blank in the administra tion of the affairs of the constabulary of the country. And the result of the recommendations made by the In spector-General—(Hear, hear, and laughter) —was this, that only two of these recommendations were adopted. The Duke of WELLINGTON—Two only adopted out of all the recommendations adopted?—(Laughter.) The Marquis of NORMANBY—Oh, no. Lord STANLEY—The Noble Marquis said, "Olt, no." Ho (Lord Stanley) said that in the promotions made in the years 1836 to 1839, only two officers had been appointed at the instigation of Colonel Shaw Kennedy, the others were all promoted by the Noble Marquis. He would take the declaration of Lord Morpeth on the 23d of March, when the question upon this subject, after the resienation of Colonel Shaw Kennedy, in consequence of the Noble Marquis' refusing to accede to his recom mendations, was brought before the other House. The Noble Lord said he was prepared to state that all the appointments made since the period of the passing of the Act were made by the Inspector-General, with the ex ception of chief-constables alone, which his Excellency This wag the stat ement made retained in his own gift. by the Chief Secretary for Ireland, in defenpe of the Government. On that ground they lost the benefit of Colonel Shaw Kennedy's- services.; - and yet the Noble Marquis told them that they had violated this very principle which he had afterwards en tered into with Colonel . Shaw Kennedy's suc cessor, Colonel Macgregor. The Noble Marquis did