The Sun. — London, England, 1845-02-06 00:00:00

.--- rA.Y. impanY Bosov een at, the (1 1 cess a`: r heroic le u rn ! xisting Len relit' tors at 0 us m es. . 5 o f tbe pr tIP °II 00 e Alll3° )unt s re re alf ahoy 7deciared Per cot' f rß - - + b e rT 5 ' - er c' le °rile° i sev e r 4 irrn n ° f t . 11 of . 3a °I ed ; 0 rtak'regre jag 3 I n t be [7.oer roW O ' i s . h Chr f (), •1 5 gar' gobert r e t": 1A Y 04113 r the a reel° rec e " ed etors' f tb 4 a 0 a nt 13° o1' : - -114 a 1t 00 010 be of too, I, hi the -p 1 10 a ,tddo .eSF ne l l C. O the or " ao the th a ,03. 0 001 et r e' y_ )10 ;, i ,ice9 , for them tei gri° ter t 1315 t g e ._ „ p , 9 odor n aro.: ff . ot iop 00a t" J' l‘l3 ' „ r ail!' I . CO'ibe efti% Ot en 1 ,4 ° IO C tbet 4, E• 10g' ° , etv'' I tri, ona alect e rro t t , 1 . 1 10 o, f fha Ole s, clk 10 18 41 th e SeP7 c ,3. .PO6 a O r e a l ° ri'' te e ° o . o3 l n fcr'l pa 0 ": A fe• o c`; 'f 0 0. :f il er Dee • 1. 0 .0 c. ,0 r e fro) PAlitotf o clV ) f lic „ tjnOtio "01,P"oi tS 9 l ' n le d es ol° lo ° P cC 4 ae Ge°oo4' co' foll° •tr i Th . ,oo# ae e i e ot e f 31 1 ke ° t 1 lerrj r, rtit o pt; lig e. v . r i 00 °S. O' i r ,l tig l4 'eVP 0 o .r I P / 0 , t oy , `gibt 01 d t ro ° g o up.a 1.15 ,ans,setel ip 00 /3 f iag ti.iol 4 ofe e ol; Sit 0 6 t sna Tro or 4,r id 'I , th e lons. ott ,41 0 e •!' c,ibr ail!: o r ii tt• 15 1 • e rcu .. g t . re uct 0 0. 1 . 4 1 3t il e r e') „I l 4 ge i• On' IMPERI ....‘ ..e........., MEN T. ROUSE OF CO Chair N Feb. 5. The SPEAKE R took the O hartsly befcre Four o'clock. CALEDONI RAILWA Y. lar. 11. JOHNSTON AN E presented a petition in favour of the Caledonian Railway Bill. PONTEFRACT AND GOOLE RAILWAY. Lord POLLINGTON presented a petition in f avour of the Pontefract and Goole Railway Bill. A great number of petitions for new railway Bills were presented, but the petitions were read so indis tinctly that the designation of not one of them could be correctly ascertained in the gallery. SLAVERY. Mr. SPOO NER presented a petition from the Anti Slav ery S oc i ety, signed by the chairman, against the importation of Coolies into the West Indies, an expedient which had been tried in the Mauritius, and altogether failed there. The Hon. Gentleman pre sented another petition from the same Association a gainst the employment of an arined force on the , to ,a`- 1 of Afric a t o 'suppress the . slave trade—an object 41 ' 10 ), in the opinion of the petitioners, could not be ° fretted by means of war. PUB LIC- HOUSES. Mr, BRIGHT presented a petition from Durham against the extension of public-houses, and for the restriction of the sale of int , xicutiog liquors on Sa turdty. THE BLEACHING TRADE. Mr. NVALLACE preFented a petition from e P e rativeble lic h ers of Lanark. Renfrew, and Stirl:ln e n Plaining of th e oppressive nature of thir occuNi- L n t and, as w e unfierstood, praying ibr legit tiv.' m~ at i"ns• The Hon. Member gave notice th:lt to: rr ov he would move that thepetitioned i :riia p i tb the votes, MEDICAL REFORM .;ILL. e •Esv o r T p „ sente d a ptiiit.oti from ;l a P r actitioner:. of HAmpshire eglioit the BO intlTy liced by her Al ljestv's Ministry. Ir. TROOPS FOR THE COLONIES. HUME pre,=enteA a petition frool Readhig (o 5 the u nderstood), praying the iietre Lot to .s action We re emba r k at i on o f all y troops to t . h na colonies which R e re dest ruct i ve o f B r i t i s h const i tut i ons. H e (M r. pet il i t n ti 2 • could not agree to the wh.4e prayer of the UNEQUAL TAXATION. , • HUME also presented a petition from the ost and Town Council of 'Montrose ' complaining p ri : ll . l just and u nequa l t a x a tion in the borough, and Ping the House to institute an inquiry into the tletance, with the view of getting it removed. It LISLE, DUMFRIES, AND GLASGOW RAILWAY. t Mr. EWART presented a rtition in favour of the t 4lBl e_, Dumfries, and Glasgow Railway. (311 UES OF MOTION.—THE GAME-LAWS. th ,7 1 . 1 % WAKLEY gave notice that he would move, 1 83 11 3 a future day, for a return for the years 1832, ti and 1834, respectively, of the names, occupa and"s ages of all persons accused, convicted, and 4 nished for breaches of the game-laws ; distinguish eig w h o were marr i e d f rom th ose w h o were li ,j l e, and stating, in cases where the punishment t a jraprisonment, whether the families of the bus or the father, were supported out of the poor tes. AMERICAN CORN. tet k u r• MILES gave notice that he would move for -I'us 4),„ stating the amount of American corn imported ""e the passing of the Act. FOREIGN SUGAR. 4 tr• P. BARING gave notice of his intention to I , o ° Le for returns of the quantity of foreign sugar im "ka into the United Kingdom during the past year. SCOTCH BANKS. k 4r . MACAULAY gave notice that he would ask k question of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to 41.°Nly, relative to the law as affecting Scotch banks. RAILWAYS. q,, ll „ jr . WALLACE wished to ask a question of the D t d,e,roment relative to the accommodation of the ~",c on railways; but having understood that the strulent of the Board of Trade had resigned his 'eh," Within the last few days, he did not know to sea to address the question. Perhaps the Chan (hr of the Exchequer would be able to answer the 111 , 1„ eati en. ism s CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER the'.Perhaps the Hon. Member would better obtain reth'ufurniation he required by moving for a specitio gn on th e su bj ec t. te % „ r • WALLACE, seeing the Right Hon. Gentle -I)iii`,t,lle Member for Nevvcastl- in his place, he would Is tin , l ne question to him. He wished to know how pr o the railway compaidea caning within the "Ils of tt7;'. Act of lest ses s i o n hs l complied with illi v i„N'alations laid dual, is'the sixth clau , e. ns to es li - cg seats and i‘rotection firm the a.eather . for the e Yanee of third-class passeegers; and iitso how nad faired so t-) conapl . F ? tia ll e t ' W. E. GLADSTONE sahi that es this qu9s tape a reference to the proviioris of the law rela raiiroads that had 11:,6,1:(i somC months laii: e uld endeavour to answer the question. The visi o ' h ll Y companies which now came within the pro -014, -8 of that Act were quite satisfied 'ail, the tV° cf one penny per mile for tee h passenger; to bad stri c tly complied with that claire ; the per Plaints on the part of the passengers were tlP_ f ew, and the differeet companies had tt e -1- ed their entire satisfaction with the Act 44 1 4 " i not trouble the House with reciting the A et es c of the c om p a nies who had complied with the Ivith ° ` l3 -st session, because they had all complied 4% 4 ' 1 1 with the exception of one or two. The li Nt 4 of Trade had required, in all cakes, sfr ou . zu third-class carriages, and likewise that , o k i rl iv e protection should be supplied ; and the U'sa of Trade considered that such protection , supplied, as those carriages might be 1 11 p e 'Y closed when the weather was severe. tht le -ve rY case the companies had complied with V l / 4 1 regulations, and the House would be 'ast s hear that the result of the Act of to Persons of b een t o a ff or d i ncrease d accommo d a ti on • N ev . iss aus of the poorer classes who travelled by rail hr,lidn tie had on ly th a t m o r n i ng r e cei ve d a memo :011 -41 of a report agreed to at a meeting of the to wh. °unction Railway Company, from a Director, ,lar e it was said that the writer felt much plea 'he e i stating, that by the Act of last session plea 'he C" without much injury to their receipts, Persa ) ," l e to afford accommodation to 2,500 poor an a l ~.."8 ,_Who could not otherwise be accommodated, /,itil u rco could not afford to pay the price pre -411,1Y charged. lie would mention also that the 1 1 114 1 ; and Birmingham Company, during the late had carried about 48,895 passengers thilep-cla.ss carriages, at the rate of a penny per b t he p oi. each person, being about 193,000 persons in 43 / 4 )l,if:ar more than ' the London and Birmingham 1, to n a y carried before the law of last session came `uirdle, ration. In previous years the number of n9 3 ' e d ., 448 passengers conveyed was 65,000, instead qtcl ia r°o) showing that the number of passengers trebled.—(Hear, hear.) as e i f ) ALLACE gave notice that he would avail Zkeh e ,,,, of the suggestion of the Chancellor of the igarr e l" e r ; and gave notice that he would move to "'d cod for a return, showing not only what companies ee ti l l Plied with the regulations prescribed by the ex e . alt Year, hut also those companies who formed - 0• Lon to the rule. kr. -r SESSION IL ORDERS. -4 se • "u NG having moved the order of the day ttessAtnal orders h' c ' e N YART . rose ' to . bring forward the motion of hs The 0 ." given notice ; but Noe ,- t h I°4 h a t. ci E 11 . E R said that the Hon. Gentleman's t reference rather to the standing orders I t he sessional orders. "II led `"VART sa id he would t h en bring forward ePend 71, 1- to t eut motion on the subject to-m or r ow . He know whethe r th e H on . G en tl eman , t h e ts, , for 4, 1 ,e0 t0 ,„. a Oxford, intended, as a me m b er o f one o f t Op t t. t ees of the House, tiebring forward the t r ite he did so , h e (M r . E war t) wou ld co a),suriug it " him, but if not, he would f ee l b oun d forward the subject in a separate motion to- th e SCOTCH PRISONS. ..t motion for the order of the day for readi g kreBs,..ional orders B e ret ritri'ME asked the Right Hon. Baronet the licl ar Y of State for the Home Department whether thtiqtr Prepared to institute an inquiry into the p Si r t he Scotch Prisons Act ? 41 0414 G.R, ARAM was understood to say that he nstitute such an inquiry. ttp MEDICAL REFORM. -t AliLFYreminded the Right Honourable ..°1 (1 41 4 „,. et .. e Secr 4 etar Secretary of that he, last evening, Lo state to-night when he should be able to tl ll; e l i 4 .e„ of the House to introduce the Madical Re t I I ". " 411 o GRAHAM said he intended to bring in the tirtl Tuesday sennight. t4el; AXLE'? asked if the Bill would be pre ""e same as that of last session ? pre the 4 . GI/A .4414, HAAT said there would be some amend lat, • 'roduced into it and on moving for leave to N tio'r iii it 14 ) he should state precisely what those alte- Were. Vt, SESSIONAL ORDERS. ivittsio;, ILLIAMS said, at this period of the last t-h"ta.ag-ele,,,lad called the attention of the House to the 1/ 0 "" Anomalous state of the sessional orders of Aire Ils e. One of them he believed to be in Itras 4jootradiction to the law of the land. He tilloTrY that ne i t h er the Attorney-General nor fillito r- General were in their places, or he 4tai th 'ecl 44 44 Put th e question to them ; and if he re assurance that th e or d er was not contrary 111 , 4 t. he would not press his objection. The . r atili o Neoted to was this :—" That no Peer 44 4 ' etc to such as may be Peers of Ireland for ' l ngt who 6411 not have decli ned THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY __MORNING, FEBRUARY 6 1845 I to serve as a Peer of Ireland, hath any right to vot in the election of any Member of Parliament " He (Mr. Williams) believed this was a point that had been disputed by Peers. Another order was to the effect that "it is a high infringement of the liberties and privileges of the Commons of the United Kingdom, for any Peer or Prelate, not being a Peer of Ireland, to interfere himself in any election for a Member of Parliament." These orders, if they could be enforced, would be most salutary ; but were they not violated daily ? It was well known that a large portion of the Members of that House were returned by Peers of the realm, in direct violation of those standing orders. He should like to know if a case were distinctly proved against a Peer of a violation of that sessional order, how it could be enforced ? What power—what means had they of enforcing it? None. No Hon. Gentleman would venture to say that they had any power of enforcing it. What use was it, then, for the House to main tain orders of this showy sort, declaring their independence of Peers, which every man in the country knew did not exist. Let them deal honestly and plainly with the country, and admit the existence of that which they had net the power to avoid. Let them place Peers in the same position as other indi viduals, so as to be enabled to prosecute them when they violated the law of the Lind by commit ting bribery. He had drawn the attention of the House to this subject last ses.ien, and he hoped her MejetAy's Go.-ernment would take this question into their consideration, and make se.-sional orders more in accordance with the real position or the House. It was not creditable to them to continue these orders. They were not like these laws which bed passed in bygone, egos, and had bee- come obsolete; but these orders were passed annually, and therefore they ought to be drawn lip in such a manner as to give the Id fuse the power of enforcing them. He did not intend 'o submit 'any motion on the subject, bet should cont'nt himself with having called the attention of the House to it. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER did not consider that the members of the Government were more interested in this question than any other Member of the House. These privileges were the privileges not of the House only, but of the whole people of the realm. The right of deciding on the return of Members was vested in that House, and there was no other legally appointed tribunal for the decision of th ose ques t ones. As Members of that House, they had the right of deciding if the persons whose names appeared upon the poll were proper voters or not, and from the earliest times it had been decided that Peers were not admitted to vote for Members o Parliament ; and, although not a lawyer himself, he would venture to say that it was contrary to the law of the land for any Peer to do so. As regarded the elections of Members of Parliament, and the decisions upon them, that House was the sole judge ; and he would take it upon himself to say, that if a Peer should claim the right to vote at an election for a Member of that House, the House had the undoubted right of rejecting the vote. It was the privilege of the House to prevent any interference on the part of Peers with the election of its Members ; and fur his part he should be very sorry to see any alteration made in the resolution to which the Hon. Gentleman referred. He believed that any altera tion would be an abandonment of the privileges of the House, and of that control which it ought to exer cise over the election of its Members. Mr. WILLIAMS said, that as the law now stands a Peer goes before the revising barrister, and claims to have his name inserted in the list of voters. The barrister knows nothing of the sessional order of the House of Commons, and he allows the Peer to be re gistered as an elector. Now, what he (Mr. W.) wished to ask was whether, as the House had no power to strike the name out of the registry after it had once been inserted, there was any means by which this privilege could be enforced ? The SPEAKER (no answer being given to Mr. Williams' question) proceeded to read the orders, several of which were agreed to seriatim, when Mr. T. S. DUNCOMiiE said he should take that opportunity of renewing a notice which he had given last session of Parliament, of his intention to move for a Select Committee to inquire whether, in any counties or boroue hs empowered under the Reform Act to send Members to the House of Commons, such Mem bers were returned through the illegal or unconstitu tional interference of Members in the House of Peers? Theßight H. enGentleman the Chancellor of theExche qaer sail he should be extremely sorry if any altera tion were made in the standing resolution, thereby implyiag that nothing would horrify him more than its violation by any Peer of the realm. Why, the Right Hon. Gentlemen must know per fectly well, that there was not a single county Member, and that there were very few berough 'Members sitting either behind or before him, who did not. previous to their election consult some Peer or other for the purpose of obtaining his influence ; either requesting him by letter, or almost by snpplieation on their knees, to concern himself in their election —(Laughter.) He ventured to say that, in the ca'e of some of the vacancies which 1111 occurred recently, Peers had been consulted and requested to concern themselves :n the elections; and if a Peer had not given his consent to . the irdivi,lual s Deeding for the beren.eb, which partly belonged to him, he ventured to Rey that they must have been deprived of the present Secretary for Ireland.—(Laughter.) Yet, the Chancellor of the I:xebec:tier got up in his place, and with a solemn look, and still more solemn voice, declared to that House that he should be sorry to see any alteration made in the existing resolution. He would test the Right Hon. Gentleman's sincerity. When he moved for the Committee, he would under take to prove, as he had said before, that there were very few Members, either for counties or boroughs, in whose election Peers had not concerned themselves. How the Right Hon. Gentleman could maintain his gravity while making such a speech, was to him (Mr. T. Dun combe) utterly inconceivable. If they put the resolu tion in force, three-fourths of the temporal peers, and two-thirds of the bishops must be convicted of an in fringement of the privileges of the House of Corn mons. What a mockery, what an insult was it to pass this resolution unless it were enforced.— (Hear, hear.) The time had arrived when it should be either acted upon or expunged. He himself had, on a former occasion, voted for its being expunged. He would much rather, for his own part, that Peers appeared on the hustings, and voted for Mem bers of Parliament. The more they came in contact with the people, the more would their prejudices be removed. They would find the humble mechanic and others, who- were now deprived of the right of voting for Members of Parliament, possessing as much ability and more patriotism than themselves; they would find men who did not wish to obtain seats in that House for the purpose of acquir ing some dirty star or garter, for the paltry purpose of obtaining a peerage, or for the idiotic purpose of securing a baronetcy. If this resolution were not expunged—if, after this warning, they still adopted it, they need not be sur prised if he called upon the House to act upon it, and he would in that case promise them that he should move fur a Committee of the House to inquire into its operation, and whether its intentions were carried out at the different elections. Mr. HUME said he had frequently appealed to that House upon the same subject, how they could reconcile the spirit of the resolution with the practice observed at many elections. That was not a mere question, as his Hon. Friend (Mr Duncombe) seemed to think it, for the Minister more than for any other. It happened that a Minister frequently sat on those benches, having, perhaps, fifty behind him acting as fuglemen on those occasions. He (Mr. Hume) had again and again, for many years past, warned the House upon the subject ; but to hear common sense appealed to by the Minister was something new, and how, he asked, could this resolution be maintained on that principle ? He recollected a number of in • stances in which inquiries were instituted before that House, and in which it had been shown that Peers had been known to propose the Members, and, in fact, to return them to that House. He agreed with the Hon. Member who had last spoken, that it would be better if peers were to go more among the lower classes—if they were to go to the public hustings, where they would at least learn that which would do them considerable good, namely, the feelings which actuated the lower classes. He was quite prepared to vote for the abolition of the resolution. The gallery was then cleared for a division. None however took place, and the order was agreed to. ADMISSION OF STRANGERS TO THE HOUSE. Mr. CHRISTIE said he believed he was at liberty to state that the amendment he was about to propose was sanctioned by the Speaker. When he moved a similar amendment last session his proposed alteration was resisted by the Right Hon. Baronet opposite, because from its wording it had reference to other parts of the House than the body. His present amend ment, however, had been drawn up in strict accordance with the views of the Hon. Baronet opposite, an it fully met with the concurrence, as he had previously stated, of the Speaker. Under these circumstances it would be unnecessary for him to trouble the House, and he would simply move the following amendment: " That the Sergeant-at-Arms attending this House do, from time to time, take into his custody any stranger whom he may see, or who may be re ported to him to be, in any part of the House or gal lery appropriated to the Members of this House, and also any stranger who, having been admitted into any other part of the House or gallery, shall mis conduct himself, or shall not withdraw when strangers are directed to withdraw, while the House, or any Committee of the whole House, is sitting, and that no person so taken into custody be discharged out of custody without the special order of the House. That no Member of this House do presume to bring any stranger into army part of the House or gallery eappropriated to the Members of this House, while the House, or a Committee of the whole House, is sitting. That the above resolutions be standing orders." Dr. BOWRIN G seconded the amendment. Mr. B. WILLIAMS could see no reason why strangers should not be allowed to enter that House. lie fully admitted the necessity for order and quietude, but at the same time he thought it was unjust not to allow strangers to be present at debates. Lord J. RUSSELL interrupted the Hon. Member, and pointed out to him that the amendment did not exclude strangers. Mr. WILLIAMS, after reading the amendment, continued.—The fact was, he had made a slight mis take.—(A laugh.) He had been so much engaged that day that he had had no opportunity until then of reading the motion paper.---(Laughter.) lie would, therefore, not trouble the House further. Sir R. H. INGLIS wished to put a question to the Speaker, bearing upon the exclusion of strangers. Hitherto it had only been necessary for an Hon. Member to observe that strangers were present, and the Speaker immediately requested their withdrawal without the question being put, as in other instances, to the' vote of the House. Now he %vished to be informed whether, looking at the construction of one of the sessional orders, it was" not necessary that the question should be decided by a majority, and not absolutely by an individual Member. Ought not a debate and a division to take place on the question ? The SPEAKER said that he had previously inti mated to the Right Hon. Baronet that he could have no objection to an amendment to meet the views of the Right Honourable Baronet. But the ques tion, in fact, had nothing whatever to do with the standing erders on the books of the House. The exclusion of strangers did not depend upon the sessional orders. It was a clear right for any Member to call the attention of the Speaker to the fact that strangers were present, and to request that they might be ordered to with draw. It was an inherent right of each individual Member, and rested upon the same principle which gave any Hon. Member the privilege of moving that the House be counted, which was immediately done upon such motion being made; and upon the same principle, the instant any Hon. Member observed to the Speaker that strangers were present it was in cumbent upon him to order them to withdraw. It was open to the Right Hon. Baronet to move an amendment to put an end to the latter privilege. Mr. HUME wished to ask whether any new ar rangement had taken place by which the space allotted for the accommodation of strangers had been altered, as the space already allotted for their accom modation was extremely small. The SPEAKER said he had not given any order on the subject. There was great difficulty in making desirable arrangements regarding the admission of strangers. Mr — . HUMS said that, on behalf of the public, he would impress upon the House the necessity of making arrangements more convenient than the present ones. Those persons who came there to hear the debates were much exposed to cold, and had scarcely any room. The SPEAKER said that every arrangement would be made for the accommodation of the public con sistent with the accommodation of Members of that House. The question «•as then put and agreed to. PRIVATE COMMITTEES. Mr. WALLACE begged to call the attention of the House, especially of Members belonging to Committees of Selection, to the waste of time and money which the present arrangements of private Committees involved. He mentioned last session, that, in the instance of one railway Bill, the expense had reached the enormous amount of 100,0001. He trusted the present session would not pass without some effectual arrangement being made on the subject. He was far from impeaching the conduct of Mem bers on those Committees, who bestowed the greatest pains and labour in endeavouring to keep them in a reasonable condition ; but they had it not in their power to do that which they so much desired. Last session he called the attention of the House to two private Bills ; the first was the Monkland Rail way Bill, the second was the Paisley Gas Bill. Although those Bills came before the Committees on March 25th, on July 25th they were yet in the House. Now this was a fact which could not be contradicted, and he would leave it to the House to say whether it was not its duty to alter such a state of things. He would contend that the House had the power to enable Private Committees to guard against such annoyance. It was n-it right that solicitors sh tul'l have it iii their power to send for counsel after counsel, thus entailing enormous. expense ; but while the solicitors had the power, it would be useless n a - p as ti e s eon,•ernerl in private Bills to expect any curtailment ea' tkese exr rises. Ile Nt quite con vioeed that it would be greatly for the benefit of those private companies, if counsel were prohibited ategether from entering Committee-rooms. He believed that this practice gave a facility to parties rak;n4 wuioh was not permitted by the 'ouse in Committ( es on public business, and which tended materially to increase the expenses, and afford facilities for delay anti procrastination, wLich could not otherwise occur. This was a practice that had brought discredit upon that House, and which discredit would go on increasing if some step were not taken to stop it. The Hon. Member concluded by calling upon such Members of pri vate Committees as were then present, to say whether they agreed with him in part or in the whole of what he had said, and, by moving for a Select Committee, to ascertain whether they could not suggest some mea sure by which to prevent this dillatory mode of pro ceeding with private Bills. Mr. EWART wished to put a question to her Majesty's Government relative to the constitution of Committees of that House upon private Bills. He wished to see the Members of Committees on private Bills free from all personal interest in the ques tions K hich had to be submitted to them. This principle had been recognised with re spect to certain railway Bills; namely, those for competing lines. He had a notice of motion on the paper upon this question for to-morrow evening, that the principle to which he alluded should he extended to all Committees on private Bills ; but he wished to know whether her Majesty's Government would re lieve an individual Member from that responsibility, which he, however, was ready to take upon himself. Sir R. PEEL said he was not prepared to make any announcement on the part of the Government which would relieve the Hon. Gentleman from the duty which he had undertaken. It would be very difficult to define what was the direct interest of con stituents in Railway Bills, and it would be almost impossible to determine what was indirect interest. He hoped the Hon. Gentleman would wait until his motion came on, as he (Sir Robert Peel) did not wish to give an opinion upon the question now. With respect to the observations of the Hon. Gentle man (Mr. Wallace), he could only say that it would be excessively difficult effectually to control counsel with respect to the length of their addresses.— (Laughlpr.) It would be also difficult to carry out the HThi Gentleman's other sug ges ti ons . H e (Sir Robert Peel) believed that, in the course of last session, the sum of 75,000/. was ex p en d e d in the prosecntion of a railway Bill, which was ulti mately thrown out. This Bill, he understood, was to be again brought forward, and there was every pro bability of its succeeding. Lord HO WICK said, he thought there ought to be longer time given for the presentation of petitions for railway Bills than fur those for other private Bills. Unless they adopted that course, great inconvenience and great injustice would ensue, in consequence of the adoption of the system of subjecting all railway Bills to a preliminary examination by the Board of Trade.—(Hear, hear.) The House was aware that great decisions on projected railways had already been arrived at; while the decisions on others were yet unknown. Even with respect to those which were known, the House and the country and the persons interested in those Bills were all left in ignorance of the grounds on which the recommen dations of the Board of Trade were founded. There fore, it would be unjust to call upon those parties to decide at once whether they would abandon the measures in which they were interested or not. If they now fixed the time parties interested in these measures would be forced either at once to take the preliminary steps, and to incur great expense in bringing their Bills before the House, or they would be deprived of the opportunity of submitting such Bills to the fair decision of a Committee. It was not just to call on these parties to take either of these decisions at present—(Hear, hear)—for he believed that if they should find that the reports of the Board of Trade were founded upon good and adequate reasons the parties interested would not commit the mistake of incurring a useless expendi ture of money in bringing their Bills forward. But, on the other hand, it might happen that some of these decisions would not prove satisfactory, and parties before they determined to abandon their scheme, had a right to canvass the grounds of the recommendation of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade.— —(Hear, hear.) He urg e d thi s argumen t on th e pre sumption that the Government and the House did not intend that the decisions of that Board should be final.—(Hear, hear.) When he looked to the report of the Select Committee of last year he found it distinctly laid down that the Board of Trade was not to decide on the merits of Railway Bills, but was merely to investigate the representations made, and to report to the House, stating facts and opinions for the information and guidance of Parliament, and for the purpose o f ass i s ti ng Parliament in coming to its decision. Such had been the decision of the Committee of last year. When the arrangement was recommended to the House by the Right Hon. Gentleman the late President of the Board of Trade, he did not propose it for the purpose of increasing the influence of the Bottl, but for the purpose of aiding and assisting the judgment of the House. There was an order of the House, that if any report from the Board of Trade relating to a Railway Bill be laid before the House, such report should be referred to the Committee on the Bill. It was perfectly clear what was the view of Parliament in agreeing to the arrangement made last year. He hoped the arrange ment would continue ; but he saw symptoms in what was going on out of doors, that an authority was ascribed to these reports of the Board of Trade, which would be attended with great inconvenience, and to which he desired to call the attention of the House. No one was more anxious than he to im prove the system of private legislation, in which he knew great abuses had grown up. He approved of the recommendation of last year, but he thought that the Board of T ra d e s h ou ld b e confined to the preliminary investigation of railway projects, in which they might obtain valuable information for the House, upon measures in which large in terests were concerned. B u t if, i ns t ea d o f b e i ng merely advisers to Parliament, this Board was to have an a u th or it y i n d eterm i n i ng upon Railway Bills—if their reports were to be conclusive as to what Bills should be adopted, and what rejected, that would be th e crea ti on o f a new authority which Parliament never contemplated. Was the House aware what was the amount of the interest involved in these questions between competing lines ? He would give the House one instance, that of the London and York Rail way. In that company the shares were 60,000, and these shares had been the subject of dealing on the Stock Exchange. Bargains were made in them at the rate of 201. premium on each share, conditioned on the report of the Board of Trade—that was to say, that if this report, which was regarded "as con clusive, should prove favourable to the plan, it would add 201. to the value of each of these 60,000 shares. Thus the determination arrived at in an internal department of the Government in the absence of all the parties concerned, would effect the transfer of no less a sum than 1,200,000/. from the pockets ofone set of persons to those of another. Was a judgment involving such sums to be pro.. nounced by such a tribunal as the Board of Trade ? (Hear, hear.) He found no fault with the Board of Trade possessing certain functions ; but such a tribunal was utterly unfitted for pronouncing an opinion on subjects involving such enor mous sums. He could show them a particular instance in which the sum staked was not less than 1,200,0001., and that was only one out of a mul titude of cases; and would it be said that those re ports were to be conclusive on subjects involving the disposition of millions ? They (the Board of Trade) disposed of sums compared with which the sums ad judicated upon by the Lord Chancellor and all the Judges of Westminster Hall sunk into insignificance. But was that department constituted in a manner so that they could say it ought to be intrusted with such enormous responsibility ? What did it consist of ? There was at its head a nobleman of high character and ability, but who possessed little experience, and there were assisting him four gentlemen scarcely of higher official rank than chief clerks in the Public depart ments. One of these gentlemen was, he believed, placed in that department from being private se cretary to the Right Honourable Gentleman op posite. Was a Board, having to dispose of such enormous interests, and thus constituted, the proper tribunal for the purpsoe ?—(Hear, hear). And it was not merely that the tribunal was improperly coustituted. He said that none of their proceedings were such as to make their decisions, if they were to be taken as decisions, in matters of this nature, satisfactory.—(Hear, hear.) He happened to be unwillingly forced into connexion with a railway project, and being concerned in the pro motion of that railway project, he could speak from experience as to the course adopted. - It was this—the promoters of Bills sent in a short statement of the ground on which they proposed their measure; that was followed by depositing with the Board of Trade plans and sections giving full details of the nature of the scheme. Before any decision was pronounced on their case, the case of the oppo nents of the Bill was made known. And after they knew that case, the promoters of the measure put forward a rebutting case. i The case o f th e i r oppo nents was to be put n before the 30th of November, and the favourers of the Bill concluded, that before any decision was pro nounced by the department of the Board of Trade, they would be informed of what the case was which had been sent in by the other side, the allegations of which they would then be prepared to answer. The session of Parliament was coming near : several decisions had been pronounced, and they began to think they would be pronounced upon, after the case of their opponents was known. Accord ingly they applied for an interview with the Board of Trade. He had to acknowledge the extreme courtesy with which he and the other Members of the de putation were, on very short notice, received by the Board They knew nothing of the plans of their opponents, except from the public newspapers and the plans deposited with the clerk of the peace. They stated very shortly the reasons why, in their judgment, their own scheme was entitled to preference, and having done so they retired. Before they did so, however, one of the gentlemen who composed the deputation ob served to the President of the Board of Trade, that he expected that they would have been called upon to answer the case of their oppo nents. The reply of the President of the Board was one of great importance. He said, " That is not our course. There being such a multitude of projects, it would be physically impossible for us to hear the comments of the parties upon the opposing plans." No doubt that wa s per f ect l y true. I t would b e phy sically impossible for the Board of Trade to hear all the arguments in favour of the conflicting schemes. It was physically impo ss ibl e f or H on . G ent l emen t o , scrutinise the plans and surveys laid before them, to look into the estimates of expense, and see whether they were well founded or not, and to ascertain the compara tive advantage o point of economy, and in other re spects, Still he had,no i objecton to the r e p ort o f the Board of Trade being considered as som e thi ng to b e taken i nto account b y t h e Committee; and, n o d ou b t, if t h e reasons allege d b y t h e f the projects in point submitted to them. Board of Trade in favour of or against a particular scheme were strong, they would weigh powerfully with the Committee. But if the decisions of that body were to be considered a s conc l us i ve and f i nal, the case wou ld be materially altered. If these decisions were to be binding on Parliament, in common fairness and in common justice the parties should be brought together, and heard in each other's pres ence . If t h ey t h ought that Parlia ment was incapable of d ea li ng w i t h suc h matters, l et some new tribunal be constituted. He pronounced no opinion as to whethe r th at course was d es i ra bl e or not. But if they did constitute such a tribunal, it should be composed of persons of rank and station, somewhat pro portioned to the immense responsibility imposed upon persons called upon to dispose of property exceeding in value what ordinarily came before a court of law. That being the case, it would follow that they would be deciding questions of property equal in value to that brought before the courts of law. It was a question of the rights of property, and he thought that the par ties should (if such decisions were to be held final), have first been fairly heard before that tribunal. He thought that this was right on all the principles of justice and common honesty, and such decisions, he contended, aught not to be considered binding, if come to in the ab sence of those parties who had promoted them, and who had no opportunity of laying their statements before the tribunal which was to adjudge upon their merits. He said that by this mode of procedure they would be open ing a door to abuse, corruption and weakness, such as the Government of a great country should not be supposed to have to do with. Th ese we re great objections, but he was prepared to go further, and say that his objec tions applied still more forcibly if those decisions were not merely nominal, but in point of fact conclusive. If they said " the Board of Trade has decided the ques tion," and on their report, her Majesty's Government, recommended the House to reject the Bill on the second reading, they . all knew how incompetent that House was, as a collective body, to deal with railway questions. If they disposed of these questions by a vote the House, grounded on the report of the Board of Trade, the result would be that the decision of that board, being known to be conclusive by law and practice, private inducements would be allowed to interfere, and it would, as he had said, be openi ng a d oor t o every evil. By this system decisions would be in the bands of a Board perfectly irresponsible. It would be a fur ther evil if the Executive Government appeared in these matters. He did not impute underhand motives to the Ministry then sitting on the opposite benches, more than he would to the Ministry who had preceded them. His arguments were directed against the system. The system was full of suspicion, and capable of every degree of baseness. It would be breaking in upon what had hitherto been considered a most wholesome rule. Statesmen in England had hitherto borne very honourable characters, and solely because they acted upon the wholesome rule of never interfering in any question which bore upon private speculation. Acting upon this rule, the c onclusion . he had come t o was , th at the decisions of the Board of Trade ought not to have been conclusive, and therefore he hoped the Bills which had been reported against would not be rejected by the House, on the second reading in that House. What he contended for was, that until her Majesty's Government established some tribunal, if such were found absolutely necessary, capable of dealing with this important question, the report of the Board of Trade should be fair subject for the scrutiny of a Com mittee of that House.—(Hear.) It w as perf ec tly clear from the resolution which they had come to last year, and the standing order subsequently framed upon it, that this was the intention the House had, when it gave the Board of Trade its present powers. What were the words ? They were these : "that in cases of Railway Bills, a report made under the au th or ity o f th e Board of Trade upon any Bill, on the objects thereof, shall be laid before the House, and, if necessary, the re port should be afterwards sent to a Committee." Now it was perfectly clear, that when that resolution was passed, the House contemplated that these Bills should go before a Committee, whether the report was favour able or not. In fact, that the report itself should go before the Committee to be scrutinised and considered. Now if that arrangemext, which her Majesty's Govern ment had at first sanctioned, were to be carried out, he had no complaint whatever to make to the course which the Board of Trade had pursued. If that were done, those who were interested in railways disapproved of by the Board of Trade, would have ample opportunity for con sidering the arguments and reasons of the Board of Trade, and afterwards having them fairly discussed in a Committee. He thought it would be a very great object and he did hope this was the line intended to be adopted by her Majesty's Government. He could not help feel ing great anxiety upon the subject, because no man could have watched the railway proceedings of the day with out being aware that a notion, whether ill-founded or not, had very extensively gone abroad that these reports of the Board of Trade were to be looked upon in the light of conclusive decisions. That notion had certainly gone abroad, and already some of those inconveniences to which he had alluded were likely to arise from the Exe cutive Government taking too much part in these mat ters of private interest. Indeed he might say they had already began to be felt. Whispers were beginning to be circulated of a very injurious nature. No one in that House could doubt that they were perfectly unfounded, but these whispers were nevertheless in extensive circu lation, and he was convinced that they would hear too much of it, if such a system were permitted to obtain credence in this country ; he, therefore, did hope that they would hear these reports were not to be regarded in the light of conclusive decisions. He did hope that the wish of the Government was, that the decision of the Board of Trade should merely be taken by Parlia ment as the expression of an opinion made by an un prejudiced party. He said if that were the case all par ties would be satisfied, but not otherwise ; and this brought him to the proposition he wished to make to her Majesty's Government. If they agreed with him in the view he had taken, he thought that a further interval of time ought to be given in order to enable the promoters of railway projects, which had been reported against, to consider whether they should per severe in their measures or submit at once to the unfavourable report of the Board of Trade. Until, then, he knew the grounds on which the Board of Trade were prepared to defend the course ho had been describing (if they still intended to follow it up), he would not be satisfied. If the Board of Trade re ported on two conflicting lines, and that that report ap proved of one line in preference to another, without re. ferring that report to a Committee of that House, he would not be satisfied with such a course of proceeding. It was his impression, and the impression of those with :whom he was engaged in this undertaking,that their line was the best, and that which would be most calculated to promote the public convenience and public good; but, of course, no Committee were to be guided by that opinion, as it was but natural that they should feel favourably towards their own project. But what they did wish for was this, that they should not be expected either to proceed with or abandon their project, until they knew the decision of the Board of Trade. He was of opinion that the Board of Trade should afford oppor tunity to present petitions, in case the project should be disapproved of ; and then, if a Committee should not ap prove of the project, the Company would let it fall to the ground. But if, on the contrary, the Company should see no reason for altering their opinion, they would act upon their own views, and persevere. Though the ex- , penses incurred by these proceedings were considerable, they were of minor and very trifling importance, com pared to the importance attached to the line that is likely to be approved of. Then, again, another question would arise, in the event of the report of the Board of Trade being continued to be held conclusive, and that was—were the Company to submit to such decision and all the expenses attending it, or were they to appeal from the decision of that Board to another tribunal? For these reasons, he would say he was entitled to know the grounds on which the Government were about to proceed on this important subject. These were the grounds on which he recommended to the House to ex tend the time for the presentation of petitions on rail way subjects to Parliament. If the House concurred with him, there would be little difficulty in altering the sessional order they were now discussing, by introducing into it the words ." with the exception of railway Bills." Thus the time for the presentation of petitions would be extended. The Noble Lord concluded by moving the insertion of the words, " with the exception of railway Bills." Sir R. PEEL thought there was much force and jus tice in the observations of the Noble Lord, and at the same time he thought they should not proceed to deter mine upon the sessional order that all railway Bills might be presented. The sessional order was introduced in conformation with the standing order of the House. He had no objection whatever that time should be afforded for the consideration of this important question. The subject was, in every respect, entitled to the full consideration of the House. He concurred with the Noble Lord that it would be right that some delay should take place in coming to a determination with regard to fixing the time for railway Bills. Mr F. BARING hoped the Right Hon. Baronet would state to the House when the reports of the Board of Trade would be presented. Sir R. PEEL must postpone giving his answer to another day. Mr. HUME thought it perfectly right that the post. ponement should take place, more especially after they had been told that whispers were abroad that secrets had not been kept. Sir R. PEEL did not understand the meaning that whispers were abroad, that secrets had not been kept by the Board of Trade. It would be much better that an explicit statement should be made on the subject rather than that these insinuations should be indulged in. What really were the allega tions that were intended to be made ? It would be much fairer to the Board to make some ictel- ligible allegation than to indulge in these insinuations. Lord HO WICK was anxious not to be misunderstood. What the reports which he alluded to were, was known to every person who read the newspapers. In the City article of the Times it had been distinctly alleged that large purchases had been made in the shares of the favoured companies previous to the reports being made. He had stated that ho believed those reports to be groundless, but he objected to the system which, whether well or ill founded, gave occasionto the circulation of such rumours. Mr. BUCK thought that Hon. Members had better delay their observations until the Board of Trade should have published the reasons for their decisions. Mr. VERNON SMITH thought that it was most important, in considering these reports of the Board of Trade, to know whether the Government was prepared to stand by them as official reports, and whether the Ho.ise was to receive them as having the weight and authority of Government advice, thrown in upon one side or the other? He thought his Noble Friend had taken a very proper course in bringing the attention of the House to this subject.—(Hear.) Sir R. PEEL said the House would no doubt remem ber that in this matter it had acted upon the recom mendation of a Select Committee. That Committee had recommended that there should be some intervention to enable the House and the Committees to judge of the comparative merits of competing railway plans. It was in consequence of the report of that Select Committee his Right Hon. Friend the late President of the Board of Trade, much to his credit, devoted considerable time and attention to inquire into the subject, and proposed a plan, which the House approved of, and the Govern. ment had consequently carried into effect. But it never was the intention of the Government—it certainly never was his (Sir R. Peel's) intention—to devolve upon the Board of Trade the power of determining which railway plans should be adopted and which should be rejected. The resolution of the Select Committee said that it was not theirintention that the reportshould be final, but that the Board should apply its inquiry only to the elucidation of facts to assist the Committee of the House in the for mation of their opinions. It was his opinion that the influence of the reports of the Board of Trade upon the decision of the Committees would depend upon the weight of the facts and the value of the information pro duced on the inquiry. It was never his intention —nor would he ever consent to any course, which would in volve the Government in the determination of these questions between competing speculations. He thought it was, becoming the character of the Government and the House that public men should mix themselves as little as possible with private Bills before Parliament.— (Hear, hear.) He could not lay down any definite rule upon the subject, but he would say this much, that in all such questions the Government would act with strict neutrality. After a few words from Mr. FRENCH, Sir R. PEEL said it would be better to adjourn the discussion.—(Hear, hear.) Had his Noble Friend, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, been present, he would have given some information on the subject. Pro bably when the question was again brought forward, his Noble Friend would probably be present, but, if he should not be, some other Member of the Government would take up the subject. Lord HOWICK quite concurred in the propriety of adjourning the discussion, but he thought the Right Hon. Gentleman had said that substantially he agreed with him (Lord Howick) in the justice of giving more time to railway companies. Sir R. PEEL—Yes. Mr. GREENE recommended the Noble Lord to with draw the motion, and he (Mr. Greene) would postpone all those sessional orders which related to time.—(Hear.) The motion was then withdrawn, and the remaining orders were then agreed to. Mr. EWART postponed the following notice of mo tion :—" To submit to the consideration of the House, the expediency of meeting by day instead of by night ; commencing its sittings at the hour of one in the after noon, and adjourning at six (except on especial occa• sions, when it shall seem expedient to the House to pro long the debate beyond that hour); and that all commit tees and public business be held or transacted at propor tionately earlier hours in the morning." LIBRARY OF THE HOUSE. Sir R. INGLIS moved the appointment of the follow ing gentlemen as the standing Committee to assist the Speaker in the direction of the library .—Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord John Russell, Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Baring, Mr. Wil liams Wynn, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Shaw, Viscount Pal merston, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Sergeant Stock, Viscount Mahon, Colonel Fox, Mr. Gaily Knight, Mr. Pendarves, and Mr. Acland : five to be the quorum.—Agreed to. COUNTY COURTS. Mr. HUME said there was no notice in the royal speech of the intention of the Government with respect to the County Courts Bill. He wished to ask whether the Govern.nent meant to proceed with that measure. Sir J. GRAHAM said, that in consequence of the ex tensive changes which took place last session in the law of debtor and creditor, he could not undertake to pro ceed this session with the measure respecting County Courts. He thought it expedient to give more time to allow that great change to be tested by experience. LAW OF SETTLEMENT. Sir G. GREY asked whether it was the intention of st o e nand whether would be the su b st measure anti a ll y o f the last m s a s es e - Biil i Sr J. GRAHAM said he had received many impor tant suggestionS on this Bill, and he should feel it his duty to introduce the measure, including amendments founded on those suggestions, At an early period he should re-introduce the Bill, and state the alterations which he intended to make. Between the. introduction of the Bill and the further progress with it, he should allow some time to intervene, that the House and the country might become acquainted with its provisions. He should ask leave to introduce the measure to-morrow set - thigh t. HARBOURS OF REFUGE. Mr. RICE asked if the Government intended to adopt any of the recommendations contained in the report on the harbours of refuge. Sir R. PEEL said he deeply regretted that reports which were prepared for the confidential information of the Government sometimes were inserted in the public papers, though how they reached the journals he had not the slightest notion. The report in question had occupied the serious attention of the Government, but the expenditure required to carry it out would be enor mous. For instance, the cost for the harbour of Dover alone was estimated at 2,500,0001. But the Govern ment had come to no decision with respect to any har bour except that of Holyhead, where some works would be carried on for facilitating the e )mmunication with that part of the United kingdom ; but before the enormous expenditure requisite was incurred he thought the report ought to receive the f ul!est and most mature considera tion. Some experiments had been carried on at Dover, to ascertain the quantity of matter held in suspension in the water of the harbour, and, till these experiments had made further progress, he thought no expense ought to be incurred. The report itself had been referred to the Lords of the Admiralty, and he could assure the Hon. Gentleman that it would receive their Lordships' best attention. JUDGES OF ASSIZE (IRELAND). Lord CLEMENTS asked if any large increase had lately been made in the salaries o the judges of assize in Ireland ? Sir J. GRAHAM said the Noble Lord should have given him notice of his intention to ask the question. THE ADDRESS. Sir IL PEEL took the opportunity of notifying to the House that her Majtsty would receive the address of the House in answer to her gracious speech, at half-past two o'clock to-morrow (this day.) CHARITIES IN ENGLAND. Mr. HUME asked whether it was the intention of the Government to bring in any measure respecting the cha rities in England. Sir J. GRAHAM said that a measure would be in troduced on the subject, in the course of this session. THE BUDGET. Lord J. RUSSELL asked when the Right Hon. Ba ronet would apprico the House of tho general nature of his financial statement ? Sir R. PEEL said that he had already given notice that he would bring forward his financial statement on Friday se'nnight, and on Friday next he would state ex actly what its purport would be. CLERKS OF THE CIIOWN. _ _ Mr. ESCOTT wished to ask whether a Bill to secure the payment of Clerks of the Crown by salary instead of fees, would be proceeded with on an early day. Sir JAMES GRAHAM said that a Bill on that sub ject would be introduced to-morrow se'nnight. THE ADDRESS. On the motion of the order of the day for the second reading of the Report of the Committee appointed to draw up the address, Mr. HUME said, though he had no objection to the ad dress in general, still there were some points on which he wished to make a few Observations. They congratu lated her Majesty on the state of the public finances, but he regretted there was no prospect of relief for the people. There was to be no relief of taxation, while there was to be a great increase in the naval estimates. He had hoped that they should have received some intima tion of some relief to be granted to commerce by the removal of troublesome and oppressive duties to which it was now subjected. But not one word was stated of any such intention ; lie therefore wished, before he gave his sanction to the continuance of the income-tax, which this address implied, to press on the Government the necessity of affording some compensation for it by a re duction of duties on articles of consumption. The Right Hon. Baronet had complained last night of a fac tious attack being made upon him by the Noble Lord (Russell) on the question of Otaheite. But if that ques tion was made the ground of any factious opposition, he (Mr. Hume) did not belong to that party, for he thought that the manner in which that question had been settled was highly creditable to the moderation of the Govern ment, and had been the means of preserving pease be tween this country and France. Mr. WILLIAMS complained that the speech made no allusion whatever to the destitution of many classes of the people, especially in the manufacturing districts, where great distress and privationvvere still experienced. This was a state of things this country should not en dure. It had been boasted that England was at peace with the world—he was happy to hear it ; but it availed little to the people of England if the expenditure was not reduced.—(Hear, hear.) He trusted that some Member of the Government would give an explanation which would satisfy the people of England that this vast expenditure was necessary ; nothing but dissatisfaction prevailed on the subject. Mr. S. CRAWFORD called the attention of the House to the paragraph in her Majesty's speech relative to the Landlord and Tenant Commission in Ireland, and expressed a sincere and earnest wish t hat the Govern - ment would introduce some measure founded upon it, which would allay the discontent which, he regretted to sayewas so deep and so universally prevalent in Ireland. In fact, he never knew the state of unfortunate Ireland to be so dreadful or alarming as at the present moment. Murders and assassinations were going on, in particular districts, to an immense extent, and it would be found impossible to prevent the continuance of this lawless•vio lence unless some such regulations were established be tween landlord and tenant. On a former occasion he had introduced a measure on this'subject, but, at the request of the Right Hon. Baronet, withdrew it, and he regretted that Right Hon. Gentleman had not himself propounded some measure on the subject. He hoped the Right Hon. Baronet would not allow the session to pass over with out introducing some measure in reference to this matter. Some lien must be given to the tenant in the land on which it was expected he would spend his labour and his capital. The new poor-law must be modified and reformed in many important particulars. Great, and he must say just, discontent prevailed throughout England from the injustice and oppression of many of its provisions. The present system of poor laws took away the right which the labourer had to demand subsistence or employment, and gave him but a very inadequate and harsh remedy against actual desti tution. The loyalty of the people of England had been lauded. He thought there was more justice in the encomium than there ever had been, but if the Govern ment wished to keep them so, they must remodel and mollify the present poor-law. Mr. WALLACE was understood to say that by agreeing to the address he did not pledge himself to vote for the navy estimates. Sir R. PEEL said, though the Hon. Gentleman had voted for the address, he would be at perfect liberty to take what course he thought proper on the estimates. WAKLEY said he did not think a more popular tax than the income-tax could be devised, but he thought that if even the principle of the sliding scale was sanctioned, it should be in this instance. The principle of a sliding scale, if it could be at all con sidered applicable or equitable, should surely be allowed between real property and that precarious description of income derivable from professions and trades.—(Hear.) The Right Hon. Baronet must know that the income tax in this respect was most unpopular. But the circum stance which would most operate on the public mind in favour of this tax, and which could alone render it tole rable, was a reduction in the revenue. If that species of taxation which interfered with trade and commerce were removed—that taxation which was so injurious to the labourer, by interfering with supply—the income-tax would be borne without murmur or discontent. The speech from the throne seemed to infer that no distress prevailed among the people of this country; but he (Mr. Wakley) entirely agreed with the Hon. Member for Co ventry-, that among the unskilled labourers great distress prevailed. It was, in fact, impossible to present an ade quate picture of the sufferings of this class. lie hoped, when the Right Hon. Baronet opposite (Sir J. Graham) brought in a Bill with reference to the law of settlement, a Committee would be appointed to inquire into the con dition of these people. The circumstances under which they were living ought to be made manifest to the House, for the majority of the House knew nothing of the privations to which this mass were exposed. The sufferings of the people under the present law of settle ment were indescribable. A labourer, for instance, goes to a distance from his native place, marries, rears a family and dies ; his wife makes application for relief ; what is the answer to her application ? " We will give you a loaf or two of bread, or a shilling or two, but if you come again, we must give you an order for reception into the house ; and when the time prescribed by law elapses, we will pass you home." Where ? To her husband's settlement—a hundred miles distant, and which he left twenty years ago.—(Hear, hear.) She knew nobody residing there—had no friend—no rela tive—had never seen one of her husband's relatives. But the overseer replies : " All that may be, but I can't help the state of the law."—(Hear, hear.) Sooner than endure all this, she suffers all the misery of prolonged starvation. It was impossible that the present poor law could much longer exist,—(Hear.) Ile would state what came under his own immediate notice on Saturday last. A poor man, a labourer, of good character, 26 years of age, died in the parish of (as we caught it) Royston, in this county. Six months previously him selfh and his wife lived in Iver, in Buckinghamshire. One or both became ill, and chargeable to that parish. 2/. 53. had been incurred for their maintenance during three weeks, but just before the ape expired, fearing they would be passed home to„their nativeplace, of paupers, they tree in the degraded condition took an apartment veiled to Royston themselves, and furnished, if furnished a room could be called, the whole contents of which were not worth 2s. 6el. They were carted to the overseers at Royston, and immediately after that conveyed back to their lodging. The poor man was out of work, his wife ill, and they were in a state of the most miserable destitution. This man said, W e must go to the relieving officer, we mus t h ave re li e f, o r we shall die." See what occurred in conse quence of the size of the union.—(l-lear, hear.) The woman, in extreme suffering, left home without money or food, to go to the relieving officer at Hillingdon, five miles distant, in the depth of winter.—(clear, hear.) She described to•the relieving officer the state of desti tution to which the family was reduced. What • was his answer?—and the man acted in conformity with tho law—" Go to the doctor, and if he gives you an order for relief you shall have it." She went to Dr. Rayner, at Uxbridge, saw him, and returned home to her husband between to elve and one o'clock in the naornieg, without a single thing to afford relief or es-cu hope.—(Hear, hear.) Neither money nor food, after walking eleven miles. And in a few minutes after, in catue the medical gentleman, who, he believed, saidthe family were in want of food. What was she to do? She had already walked eleven miles. She had to go five miles further to the relieving officer, and then what did she receive? Neither money nor goods, but an order on a grocer in Royston for three shillings' worth of goods. Thus this poor woman, worn down by sickness and trouble, had to travel twenty-one miles for three shillings' worth of food.--(Hear, hear.) Was such a state of things to continue ? Could they wonder at outrage and discontent whilst such a state of things lasted? Could the nobility and gentry think their lives and property secure whilst so grievous a law remained on the statute-book—whilst such appalling destitution pervaded the country? The Hon. Member then alluded to the Otaheitan affair, which he thought had been arranged in a manner honourable to the Governments of France and England ; also to the question of slavery, and highly approving of the appointment of Dr. Lush ington on behalf of England, to arrange with France upon this most delicate question. Dr. Lushington had, as the Hon. Mexiber observed, been all his life the con sistent, firm, and able opponent of slavery in all its forms. Ile knew that many felt the right of search to be a ques tion which it would be as well to avoid, and he would therefore do so in a great degree. But it must be con ceded that there c veld be nothing more annoying or ex citinc than for a boat to come alongside of a foreign vessel, and to overhaul what might be going on on board. lie was aetonislied considering how much that right was persisted in, that it had not led to hostilities between themselves and foreign countries. He did sin cerely hope that some m( ans would be adopted to get rid of such an exciting, annoying, and apparently dan gerous practice. The remarks just made by his Hon. Friend the Member fur Rochdale, had called to his mind• what was going on in Ireland. It had been stated in her Majesty's address that all classes of her Majesty's subjects yielded a cheerful obedience to the law. With regard to the grievances of Ireland, he hail no wish to rake up old grievances. for he sincerely believed that the Right Hon. Baronet himself was disposed to give justice to that country, and he hoped his friends would let him. —(Laughter.) Yes, he hoped that the beneficial inten tions of the Right Hon. Baronet would not be thwarted by his supporters.—(Hear, hear.) It did seem some what strange to him that it should be stated in the ad dress, that things were going on in a satisfactory way in Ireland. Why, he found that on a very late day, a resolution was adopted at a repeal meeting, expressing a total want of confidence in that House, and their utter hopelessness of any alleviation of their wrongs from it. The wording of the resolution was this,—That, however desirable it might be that a discussion should take place in the House of Commons on the state of Ireland, that Associa tion, though fully aware of the wrongs under which their country was suffering, would yet not recommend that Irish Members should attend that House. He (Mr. Wakley) agreed with those who passed that resolution, that Ireland was most shamefully used, and he need only refer to the trial which led to the imprisonment of Mr. O'Connell. Why, the impression produced on the minds of the people of England, by the circumstances attending that trial was, that it was most unjustifiable, and yet, before that time, Mr. O'Connell had created in this country a feeling prejudicial to himself, engendered and fostered by the coarse attacks upon the Government, and his language, when speaking of the people of Eng land.—(Hear, hear.) But after the trial and before the decision on the House of Lords, the universal impression —and that had been confirmed by the decision of the House of Lords—had been in that House, that the whole was an unlawful procedure, and that with such an in dictment so framed, so drawn up, it was next to impos sible that the accused party could extract the knowledge of what was charged against him. What was the impression now ?—(Hear.) He could assure the Right Honourable Baronet, from conversations which he had held with many of the most respectable of the middle classes, that the public mind of England was in a feverish state with regard to their relative position with Ireland, they looking on it rather as a source of weakness than as a source of strength. The impression prevailed that Ireland was a persecuted country, and that it did not receive its due share of justice from the English law. There were Irish Members there, and he at the same time had no hesitation in saying that the House had never seen any series of measures for the re lief of their country, which could be placed on the table of their own Parliament, if they had one to-morrow on College-green.—(Hear, hear.) He said, therefore, that Irish Members had not been acting justly by that House, and not wisely by themselves.—(llear, hear.) If they would frame such measures as were demanded for the welfare of Ireland, and submit them to the Imperial Parliament, then, if that Parliament were to reject them, he conscientiously believed that even the people of England would demand repeal, because the love of jus tice was strong in the English mind. They desired to see no portion of the empire in a state of prosecution, and they regarded Irishmen as pro secuted persons, because their country was not placed on an equal line, and because the measures of justice were not meted out to them as to the people of England. To relieve the Houss and himself from their difficulties as regards Ireland, he (Mr. Wakley) would conclude by expressing an earnest hope, that some one of the Irish Members would frame such a measure as he might deem best calculated to give relief to that country; and then, indeed, if that Parliament rejected it, the responsibility would rest upon their heads. The report on the address was then brought up and agreed to. THE BOROUGH OF DARTMOUTH. . A petition was presented from George Moffat against he return of Mr. Somes for the borough of Dartmouth. RICHMOND RAILWAY. Mr. HAWES presented a petition in favour of the Richmond Railway. WEST YORK RAILWAY. A petition was also presented by some Hon. Member. whose name we did not get, in favour of the West York Railway. The House then adjourned at Eight o'clock. BISHOP PHILLPOTTS AND THE TAX GATHERER. (From the Tiregern Times.) Our right reverend and respected diocesan does not like the palace provided for him by the State, and the consequence is that he has been suffering that venerable pile to fall into decay. Ile has removed from it, and taken up his [occasional] abode in the Clarence Hotel, although the 75th canon provides that no ecclesiastical person shall board or lodge in any tavern or ale-house. But he does not mind a canon or two when he's in the vein. Our Tight reverend friend appears to be opposed to the window-tax, and having successfully resisted it be fore the Commissioners " below"—as will be seen by re ferenee to the following extract from the " Judges' cases"— the collector appealed to the Judges, who decided that lie must pay. :Bishop Phillpotts also tried to evade the poor-rate on similar grounds to those which he took for escaping the Queen's taxes. We do not retort upon him, as he did upon the people who kicked against the offer tory, by saying that he is sordid and se.lAsh—but we do think it shows a determination to take care of Number 1, which will prove to his friends that he still enjoys the full use of his mental faculties. We wish that we could have seen the Bishop's name in the list of subscriptions for the roor of Exeter this winter. At a meeting of the Commissioners of Assessed Taxes, held at the Guildhall, Exeter, on the 12th day of Sep tember, 1844, to hear appeals against the first assess.. ments, 1844, the Bishop of Exeter appealed, by his agent, against an assessment made upon him for the duty upon 70 windows in the Palace at Exeter, upon the ground of its being unoccupied and unfurnished. It appeared from evidence taken before the Commis sioners, and also upon a view that the Bishop and his family left the Palace in September, 1842, without any intention of returning ; that the principal part of the furniture and effects have been removed to the Bishop's present residence, at Bishopstow, near Torquay ; that since September, 1842, the Palace has been unfit for occupation by the Bishop, and when he has visited Exeter he has transacted business either at the house of his secretary or at the Clarence Hotel. That some furniture is still left in the Palace ; the drawing-room is entirely unfurnished. In the dining room are some portraits of former Bishops of the See suspended from the walls, and in the library about 200 volumes of books remaining on the shelves, both the dining-room and library are furnished sufficiently for use, but not so com pletely as when the Bishop resided at the Palace. There are also some articles of furniture in the entrance-hall, $ stair-carpet, and some matting in the passage. There is a bedstead and a bed and some articles of furniture in the Bishop's late bed-room, and other bedsteads in other bed•roorns, but no beds or other convenience for sleep ng ; and when the porter slept in the Palace, which he did occasionally between September, 1842, and April, 1843, for the purpose of preventing depredation, he took sheets, blankets, and pillows with him ; that no one of the family has slept in the Palace since 1842 ;. and that the porter ceased to sleep there on the 29th April, 1843. Mr. Adshead, the surveyor, contended that the furni ture above-mentioned being still left in the Pal ace , i t could not be said to be w holl y unfurnished, as required 7a3,but the Commissioners b e i ng of opinion furniture now in the Palace i s l e f t t h ere by G Getoh.ftltV. the, c for safe custody, and not for use; and that the Palace in its present state is unfit for the occupation of the Bishop and his family , re li eved the appellant, with which the surveyor is dissatisfied, requested a case for the opinion of her Majesty's Judges, which we hereby state and sign accordingly. The Commissioners beg to refer to Case No. 1,813. JOHN D. OSBORN, Chairman. ROBERT TAYLOR, CHARLES BRUTTON, Commissioners. SAMUEL DAVIES, 4th December, 1844.—We are of opinion, that the de termination of the Commissioners is wrong. W. H. MAPLE, R. M. ROLFE, C. CRESSWELL, W. ERLE. Although, therefore, the Bishop bath made the Palace too cold to hold him, the Judges decide upon rating him soundly. THE PRICE or BRICKS.—Since the commencement of the year, the price of bricks, at the kiln, has increased almost thirty per cent. A few weeks ago they were at 365. the thousand, and they are now nearly 465. the thousand. The cause of this increase of price is attribated to the late Building Act, in consequence of which double the quanittr of bricks are now used in the construction of houses to what was required before the passing of the Act. WooLwicn, FEB. 3.—A detachment, consisting of fifteen rank and file and one bugler, volunteers of the Royal Sappers and Miners, stationed at Woolwich, marched, headed by the brass band of the corps, this morning, to Mr. Roll's wharf, and proceeded to Blackwall in one of the Wool wich steam-packets. The detachment will embark at the East India Docks this afternoon, in the William Shand freight fhip, for Hong-Kong, and she will be towed down the rivet immediately, to sail for her destination.