The Sun. — London, England, 1847-03-05 00:00:00

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Wil . ;ravel of the I,rly all La ife IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS, March 4. The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woo] sack at Five o'clock. LIGHT-HOUSES. The Earl of EGLINTON presented a Petition from Aberdeen, praying that the cost of light-houses might be defrayed by the State. JUVENILE COMMITMENT. Lord BROUGHAM moved for a return of the docu ments relating to the commitment of a boy to Tothill fields, on the 19th of February last, for felony. The boy was but five years and two months old, and the present motion was with a view to the removal of the magistrate. Lord CAMPBELL said the only question to be con sidered was as to whether such proceeding should originate in their Lordships' House or elsewhere, be cause the action to which his Noble and Learned Friend referred was monstrous. Lord BROUGHAM said, he had conferred with his friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department, as well as his Noble and Learned Friend the Lord Chancellor, and they agreed with him (Lord Brougham). He agreed with his Noble Friend as to that House not being the proper place for these proceedings: but yet he thought, under the circumstances, they should be granted. The motion was then agreed to. NAVIGATION AND EXPORT RETURNS. The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH moved for the aaviga tion and export returns for the last two years, with a view t o Comparison, as there had been a diminution in some ~of the most impo r ta n t ex p o rts to the extent of 3,329,0001. In sheep's wool there had been a falling off to the amount of 1,500,0001b5. There was a great diminution also in articles that were necessary to the perfecting of manufactures ; in dyes and dye stuffs there was a small increase ; but in cochineal and madder there was a de crease. There was • marked falling off in madder root, snd in indigo to the amount of two-ninths of the w hole usual imports, and in bark to the extent of 97,000 cwts There was likewise considerable decrease in the import of barilla ; in untanned hides to the number of 210,000. In cocoa nut oil there was a s light increase, but in all the other articles there was a serious falling off. There was a diminution in these articles of import, but especially in the raw materials, Lee subject o f our manu f a cturing industry. He had h been making mk ntion of certain diminutions, but he Must say that the trade of Britain appeared Upon the whole, not going back, but stationary ; that seemed to be the result. Perhaps it would not be pro per for him then to raise any inferences upon the details which he had just mentioned. He ought to mention, nowever, that there had been an increase in the export o f machinery and of metals, to be used no doubt in the m anufactures and the railways of other countries. The Noble L or d a dd e d t h at per h aps i t m i g h t b e d es i ra bl e t o have returns, similar to those for which he had moved, Tor the last six months of 1844. The Earl of CLARENDON said there could be no objection to the returns just moved for, as he believed Y would enable them and the country generally better L estimate their prospects and their present condition. The Noble Lord, in moving for the returns, had referred to different details and diminution, but he believed that satisfactory reasons could be given for these diminu tions. Lord ASHBURTON wished to know from the Noble Earl whether it was true that there had been a very great importation of woollen cloths into this country from Belgium, in consequence of the recent reduction of the duties on goods of foreign manufacture, and whether t his importation had interfered with the manufactures of this country? The Earl of CLARENDON had heard of that im portation from Belgium, but he had heard of no com plaints from the woollen manufacturers of this country With reference to it. The motion was then agreed to. LABOURING POOR (IRELAND) BILL. The Earl of CLANRICARDE moved the com mittal of this Bill. Lord MONTEAGLE thought that the Government deserved praise for having attended in this Bill to the suggestions he had thrown out. He cordially approved of the principle of encouraging as much as possible V oluntary contributions, rather than the mode of com pulsory payments, in support of the poor. He Would not throw any obstacle in the way of .the further pr ogress o f th e p resent m easu r e . H e hoped that no consideration would have the effect of causing them to fail in making the present measure as effective as possible. The Marquis of LONDONDERRY said he was quite opposed to any compulsory clause on either land or land lord being introduced into this Bill. It was his con scientious opinion that if such a clause was introduced it would prove pernicious. The Marquis of CLANRICARDE explained that the terms of the Act showed that the objection to the indemnity clause was not justified. It certainly was largely framed, but it was yet sufficiently explicit and defined. Lord BROUGHAM said—lf his Noble Friend had said that this clause was loosely, instead of largely, framed, he was sure that everybody would have agreed with him. The meaning of the Act was to indemnify the Government, and those who acted under the Government, from any evil consequence; but in consequence of Mr. La bouchere's Act this intention was in a degree frustrated. The present measure would give an indemnity to all persons who had acted illegally under the Act, and any presentment made under the Act were to be indemnified from all penalties. He looked with great apprehension nn the measure, which gave powers which he did not think the Government intended to give. The Marquis of LANSDO WNE said that no doubt the words of the Act were capable of a very large inter pretation, but he did not think they were quite so loose as the Noble Lord had supposed. The Act was intended only to afford indemnity to all such persons as had acted under the authority of Mr. Labouchere's letter. Lord BROUGHAM thought that power might be vested in the Lord-Lieutenant to give indemnity to such persons as he thought proper ; if it were not so, persons who had acted with mala fides would be indemnified. Lord CAMPBELL thought that his Noble and Learned Friend need not be under any apprehension that persons acting with mala fides would be indemnified under the second clause of the Act. It would only ap ply to those persons who acted bona fide, or who might are considered that they were acting in a strictly bond fide manner. The House then went into Committee. The various Clauses of the Bill were agreed to, and the report ordered to be bronght up to-morrow (this day). The Marquis of LANSDOWNE laid on the table iapers relating to the state of union workhouses in refund. Their Lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS, March 4. The SPEAKER took the Chair shortly before Four o'clock. Papers from the Accountant-General's office were presented. On the motion of Mr. GREENE, the following resolution was agreed to :—" That in order to give time for the breviate to be laid on the table ono clear day before the second reading, the York and Newcastle Railway (Har tlepool Dock and Railway, and Great North of England, Clarence, and Hartlepool Junction Railway Lease and Purchase) 13111 be read a second time on Friday, notwith standing more than seven clear days will have elapsed since the first reading thereof." E ASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY (ENLARGE MENT OF LONDON AND STRATFORD STATION AND AMENDMENT OF ACTS). On the motion that this Bill be read a second time, Mr. FOSTER said the title of the Bill did not convey .. the exact object of the Bill, which was tor the purpose of raising capital to create a steam-boat company in con nexion w i t h t h e ra i lway; he, therefore, felt it h i s duty 1 0 move that the Bill be postponed until that day fort night, Lord SANDON seconded the motion. jMr, A. HAS LIE said he was not aware of the ob ectionable clause in the Bill, and consented, on the part of the promoters of the Bill, to postpone the second reading for a fortnight. Lord SANDON stigmatised the Bill as one framed for the purpose of deceiving the House, as under its title it sought to vest the railway company with power to raise capital for the purpose of becoming Steam-boat proprietors. It was the incumbent duty of the railway department of the Board of Trade to see that Bills which professed to be simply railway Bills had not another object in view before they came before the House, as it could not be expected that the House could find time to analyse the nature of all the railway Bills which came before it. Lord G. SOMERSET agreed with the Noble Lord that the railway department of the Board of Trade should revise railway Bills before they came under the consideration of the House. The motion was agreed to. P ROTESTANT DISSENTERS AND GENERAL LIFE AND FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. This Bill was read a third time. MANC EIESTEP BUXTON, M ATLOCK, AND MID LAND JUNCTION DEVIATION BILL. • Mr. EGERTON postponed the second reading of this Bill until Tuesday next. GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY (LINCOLN AND GRANHAM). This Bill was rea d a seco T nd time. TEN HOURS' BILL. i S ir A. L. HAY presented a petition from millowners I yiberd een, employ i ng upwar d s o f lo,o o o men , express i ng their alarm at the Ten Hours' Bill, and praying the horse not to consent to any alteration in the present ar ran gements between the employer and the employed, t hey consid ere d th a t an y s uch alteration would be in us to t o both. LIGHT DUES. An Rox. MEMBER presented a petition from Glasgow --m P l ai"ing of the excessive charge of the light dues. Mr. FOSTER presented two petitions to the same effect RAILWAY TRAVEr LIINTG ON SUNDAYS. b Mr. SPOONER presented f i ve pet i t i ons f rom Sh rew s. t u rY, Ips w i c h, and York, regrett i ng t h a t ra il wa y .ct had b een passed al l ow i ng t h e runn i ng o f o r f ujil s on Sunday s ; sett i ng f or th that the running a tr ains on th a t d ay was con t r ary to law ; and Praying the House to repeal *he clauses in the various railway Acts permitting this practice, and not ~Z,,Pass any railway Bill which contained a similar pi o f ""n. Ile should move to-morrow that the petition . r 2n! York be printed with the votes, as it was his in ',_otion to call the attention of the House to the question on a future day. RAILWAY REGULATION BILL. Th.)O N . MEMBER also presented a petition from theagainst . ui rectors of th e Birmingham and Oxford Railway against this Bill. Mr.ANATO VIY ACT. Neat presented two petitions from places 1„ 11 t , 1 2 8 . t Riding of Yorkshire against certain clauses this dim ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL. An MN. MEMBER presented a petition from Wigan against this Bill. RAILWAY LEGISLATION. Mr. ELLICE desired to draw the attention of the House to the dismissal of two Committees, of one of which he was chairman, without any explanation being afforded to the Members. He would, therefore, ask the Chairman of the Committee of Selection, whether, after the appointment of Committees, and after having Bills referred to them, the Committee of Selection would enter into the consideration of complaints preferred against members of those Committees? Sir W. HEATHCOTE called the attention of the House to the standing orders relating to the selection of Members on railway Committees, which provided that no Member should be placed on such Committees who had any private interest himself in any railway Bill to be brought before it; or whose constituents bad a direct interest in the passing of any such Bill. This caused the Committee of Selection last year to proceed with great caution. But it was not for any of the above reasons that the Hon. Member who had asked the ques tion, or the other gentleman selected with him, had been discharged from serving. The Committee on which they had been named to serve was one to deal with lines invoking the broad and narrow gauges, and at that time the question of the gauges excited great interest, not only i❑ the localities through which the lines passed, but in towns remote from the routes of the lines. On this account the Hon. Member, as being the representative for Coventry, which took a great interest in the narrow gauge, and, therefore, without the least imputation on the lion. :Member, but in order that there might not be the least ground for supposing any undue bias, he was discharged from attendance. The same applied to the other Hon. Members, whose services were not re quired. Mr. ELLICE was not satisfied with the explanation given, as he thought, after Members had been selected on a Committee, and had made the declaration, they should not be discharged without some good reason for the same. fie was very glad that his Hon. Friend had no other ob jection to allege than that his constituents were sup posed to be in favour of the narrow gauge, in conse quence of the railway passing through Coventry. It gave him the occasion of again pressing upon the consideration of the House the absolute folly of going on with the pre sent system. In order to show that he was disinterested he would refer to a statement he had already made, hoping that some member of her Majesty's Government would propose a resolution by which all competition between the two gauges should be referred to competent judges. The Committee bad refused to entertain the consideration of the gauges, on the ground that they did not consider themselves competent judges. The parties interested did not themselves consider the Committees impartial on the question, and it was impossible to find any one Committee upon which there could not be found one Member who bad not already formed opinions on the question. 300,0001. had been spent in the discussion of the question before a Committee of that House, and when such sums were expended the losing party would be ready enough to accuse the Committee of not being so pure as they supposed themseles to be. He hoped that the House would find a remedy for such a s}•stem. After a few words from Lord G. SOMERSET, which did not reach the gallery, Mr. STRUTT said that the Railway Commissioners had sent round certain returns to be filled up by the Railway Companies, on this question. Those returns were afterwards to be reported upon by the Commissioners to the House. Very likely early next week this report would be prepared and in the hands of Honourable Members. With regard to his own interpretation of the resolution, he did not know whether his opinion would be of any great im portance, but certainly he understood it to mean that no Bill should be proceeded with till the terms of the reso lution had been carried out. Mr. HOI)GSON said if that were the case no Bills would be proceeded with till after Easter. He con sidered this was most unfair, and the Right Hon. Gen tleman the Member for Coventry was to blame for not having brought forward the subject earlier. Mr. ELLICE said the reason why ho did not bring fcrward this subject earlier than he did was, because he had felt confident that the matter would be taken up by Government, and be believed it would have been taken up by them had it not been for the illness of his Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Ex. chequer. Lord SANDON was understood to say that it would be unwise to proceed with the Bills before the Committees could have the report of the Commissioners before them. Without the reports from the Commissioners, it was impossible for the Select Committees to understand the merits of the several questions that were to come before them. Thus a railway company might be at the ex pense of depositing their plans, bringing up their witnesses, and employing their counsel, and, after all, the report of the Co.umissionere might render all this expense and exertion abortive. Before he sat down, he wished to ask his Right Hon. Friend, the Member for Derby (Mr. Strutt), what course it was intended to pursue with respect to the several Bills now before the Commissioners. There were several Bills now before them, indeed a whole tribe of Bills, apparently for slight deviations from established or granted lines, but which, in reality, involved an immense amount of capital. He wished to know what restriction was to be placed on the employment of railway capital, and on the liability of the several shareholders? For his own part, unless there was to be some special report made to his Right Hon. Friend of the nature of those clauses in the several Bills which might be reported to the House, he would rather leave the whole matter entirely in his hands without troublinir the Commissioners at all. Mr. STRUTT said that this subject had attracted the attention of the Railway Commissioners, and it was intended to adopt the recommendation of his Hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, and have a conside ration of the clauses before they were placed before the Select Committees. With that view it was intended, issteed of calling the Committees together on Monday or Tuesday, to defer their meeting till Thursday, so that the Committees summoned for to-morrow were, it was understood, only to meet, and adjourn till Thursday. Mr. GISI3OHNE considered that the course taken by the Committee of Selection, and complained of by his Hon. Friend, was most objectionable. The House was contented that the gentlemen appointed to act on the Committees should sign a declaration to the effect that they had no personal interest in the matter, and that they were unaware that their constituents were strongly influenced upon the question. The Commit. tee of Selection, however, was not satisfied that it should be left to the discretion of the gentlemen who signed as to their power, but it entered, behind their backs, into investigation as to whether they would be able to sign or not. He did not know that it would have been possible to select five gentlemen in the House, not Irish Members, whose constituents were not interested in the question of the gauges.—(Hear.) He hoped there would be some competent tribunal esta blished, as he confessed he was more afraid of an incom petent than an interested tribunal. Mr. ESTCOURT did not see any grounds in the cases under consideration for blaming the Committee of Selection, as for many years it had been the prac tice to erase the names of Members selected to serve on particular Committees, and substitute others. The motion was agreed to. Sir J. Y. BULLER said, as it appeared to be the desire of the House that these committees should not enter on their duties till Monday next, it would be a saving of expense to the parties concerned in the Bills if the Committee of Selection were instructed to annul their order fur meeting to-morrow, and summon the Committee to meet on Thursday next. He should, therefore, move an instruction accordingly. The motion was agreed to. SECOND READINGS. The following Bills were read a second time, and ordered to be committed : Direct London and Portsmouth, Brighton and Chiches ter, London, Brighton, and South Coast, and London and South-Western Railways. Edinburgh and Northern, and Edinburgh, Leith, and Granton Railways Amalgamation. Great Northern Railway (Deviations between London and Grantham). Newcastle and Berwick Railway (East Coast Line, Blyth, Seaton Sluice, and other Branches). York and North Midland Railway (Hull Station and Branches). York and North Midland Railway (Harrogate Branch Extension and Terminus). York and Newcastle Railway (Wearmouth Dock En largement). York and Newcastle, N ewcast l e and Berwick, and North British Railways Amalgamation. QUARANTINE LAWS. Dr.BOWRING gave notice that, on this day fortnight, he should move for the continuation of the correspon dence on these laws. To-morrow he should put a ques tion to the Hon. Gentleman , the Vice-President of th e Board of Trade (Mr. M. Gibson) on the subject. FACTORIES BILL. Lord EBRINGTON gave notice that whey this Bill was in Committee he should move that clauses should be inserted, appointing medical practitioners, whose business it would be to report on the health of persons employed in factories. Further, that clauses should be in serted requiring the security of drainage and ventilation,just such as th o s e which now were in operation with respect to unguarded machinery. Mr. ROSS gave notice that he should move to except Ireland from the operation of the Act. SMITHFIELD MARKET. Mr. SPOONER, on behalf of the Member for Wor cestershire (Mr.Ormsby G ore ), gave notice that he should p istpone his motion respecting the removal of this market till Thursday, th e 18th when ' instead of mov ing for leave to bring in a he should move for a Select Committee. RIOTS IN THE NORTH. Sir A. LEI rH HAY rose to ask a question of the Learned Lord-Advocate respecting a circumstar,ce which had come to his knowledge through the public press. He understood that in consequence of the delivery of some grain the military had been called out to quell a riot, and that they had fired on the people, and several persons had been seriously injured. He wished to know why the civil authorities had not interfered without call ing out the military ? The LORD-AI)VOCATE said that it was true that a riot had been created in consequence of the delivery of some grain, and that the military were called out and two persons were injured, one slightly and the other severely, but the civil authorities were in no way to blame, for they had tak en a ll necessary precautions the day before in consequence of some in structions which they had received of the probability of a tumult. In the morning of the day the sheriff received in formation that a ve-sel had been attacked in the harbour, and that it would be advisable to unship the corn, as the vessel would be scuttled in the harbour, and that the crew would be thrown overboard. In consequence of that information, the sheriff of the county applied for a strung body of eoldiery, and under their protection the crew THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 5, 1847. `disembarked. In their passage through the town the populace were very violent, and ill-treated them. Looking at all the facts of the case, there was no re flection whatever on the civil officers; and the sheriff, in what he had done—had acted entirely in concurrence with the magistrates of the county. So far from his being likely to act in a harsh and hasty manner, he was well known to be a gentleman of a benevolent and kindly character. CENTRAL RAILWAY TERMINUS, GLASGOW. Mr. BOUVERIE moved that an humble address be presented to her Majesty, that she will be graciously pleased to give directions,' that there be laid before this House a copy of the Report made by the Commissioners appointed to consider and report upon the advantages or otherwise which might be afforded by a central railway terminus in the city of Glasgow. LABOURS ON PUBLIC WORKS IN IRELAND. Mr. E. DENISON had a question to ask the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary for Ireland in relation to the relief granted under the public works. It appeared that, according to his statement on the 19th of January, there were 450,000 persons employed on these works, The time for putting the seed in the ground was come, and was passing away, and he wished to ask his Right Hon. Friend what progress had been made in disbanding the large army of labourers now employed upon unpro ductive works ? He wished to know what number of men were employed, and whether his Right Hon. Friend had any objection to place on the table of the House, weekly, a return of the number of men employed upon these works, so long as the works themselves should con tinue in progress. Mr. L ABOUCHE liE said that he had no objection to give his Honourable Friend the information he re quired, or the weekly return of the number of persons employed upon these public works. With regard to the other question his Hon. Friend had put respecting the number of men now employed upon the public works, he regretted to say that it was found impossible, not only to reduce the number of men, but also to prevent a great increase in that number. He had lately stated the number to be 450,000. His Hon. Friend must recollect that a bill which was to be passed by the House, and which did in a certain degree affect the public works, had not yet come into operation, and it had therefore been impossible to prevent the numbers em ployed from increasing. Distress had been greatly on the increase lately in Ireland, and the number of men employed upon relief works, according to a return for the week ending the 20th of February amounted to 668,000.—(Great sensation.) Lord G. BENTINCK (who was almost inaudible), wished to know the number of applications which had been made for loans to the Lord Lieutenant. Mr. LABOUCHERE was not able to answer the ques tion of the Noble Lord. All that he could say was, that power had been given to the Lord Lieutenant to carry into effect the intentions of the Government in the manner in which he should think most desirable. The Lord Lieu tenant had come to the determination of not ad vancing money but of advancing seed, in small quantities, to be repaid in a short time. There had not been a great number of applications made. The Lord Lieutenant would not advance seed except for wheat, he thought it better to leave the supply of corn seed to come through the ordinary channels, as any in terference would do more harm than good. Lord GEORGE BENTINCK wished to know if the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary for Ireland had any objection to lay upon the table of the House a return distinguishing the different professions of the persons engaged on the public works. Mr.LABOUC HERE said he would give a return,show ing the names of the persons, and distinguishing the dif ferent works upon which they were engaged, but it was quite impossible to give a return, distinguishing the dif ferent professions of the persons employed, in the short time allowed him for making the returns. Lord G. BENTINCK said he would undertake that the information could be collected within a week. Mr. LABOUCHERE said his only wish was to give the fullest information, but it would take a good deal of time to give a return distinguishing the labourer from the small farmer, or the farmer from the mechanic. Major MACNAMARA wished to know whe❑ he might expect the returns he had moved for connected with his Hon. Colleague. Mr. LABOUCHERE said both he and the officers of the Board of Works were anxious that the returns should be made as soon as possible, but sufficient time had not yet elapsed to admit of their preparation. GAME LAWS. Mr. COLLETT wished to inquire of the Hon. Gen- tleman the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government intended to introduce, this session, any Bill with respect to the Game Laws, in a•coadance with the recommendation of the Committee of last session? Sir GEORGE GREY was understood to say, that if the Hon. Gentleman would give him notice of his ques tion, he should lose no time in replying to it. DRAINAGE AMENDMENT BILL. Lord LINCOLN wished to know if the Honourable Gentleman (Sir G. Grey) intended to take the second reading of this Bill before Easter. The reason he asked the question was this, that he was anxious to ascertain the number of applications which had been made for assistance under the Bill, before it was further proceeded with. He understood that a list of the Mem bers who had so applied, would be shortly laid on the table, so that they could have some means of judging. Sir. G. GREY said he intended to move the second reading to-morrow night. It was necessary that the Bill should be proceeded with without delay. POOR-LAW AUDITORS. Sir W. JAMES wished to know whether the Hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Home Department considered that auditors would be justified in refusing to audit accounts submitted to them in their official capacity in accordance with the decision of the law officers of the Crown? Sir GEORGE GREY said an auditor so acting would incur great responsibility, but he was empowered to exercise his discretion as to allowing or disallowing accounts. If the parties were dissatisfied with his de cision, they had the power of appealing to the Poor•law Commissioners. BOARDS OF WORKS. Mr. W. R. COLLETT wished to know whether the House could be furnished with the names and occupations of the 11,000 overseers employed on the productive and unproductive works of Ireland ? Mr. LAI3OUCHERE would be quite ready as soon as the returns of the overseers were received to lay them on the table of the House. These returns would comprise the number of the people employed, together with how many were employed inland, and how many were engaged in the works of piers and harbours. If her Majesty's Government received any further in formation, there would be every disposition to produce it as amply as it was obtained. Mr. J. O'CONNELL gave notice that on the House going into Committee of Supply, he would move that the people now employed on the public works should for the remainder of the term be engaged in the tillage of the land.—(Hear, hear.) E M IGRATION. Mr. VERNON SMITH rose to move..." That, in order to assist and encourage voluntary emigration to the colonies, it is expedient to increase the importance and authority of the Land and Emigration Board, to add to their agency in Great Britain and Ireland, and pro mote their vigilant superintendence of the passage and future location of the emigrants." In putting this motion to the House he was not disposed to go into any long and discursive inquiry into the important subject of emigration from the United Kingdom•, firstly, because at no distant period it had been respectively put before the House by the Hon. Members for Limerick, Sheffield, and Liskeard ; secondly, because he had not the eloquence and information to bring the subject before it which those Hon. Gentlemen had evinced ; and, thirdly, because he hoped to obtain some result by his motion, which those Gentlemen had been unable to achieve. But in the few remarks which he had to offer to the House, he in tended to confine himself to the terms of the motion which he had to submit. This he should do, because it was universally allowed that some system of emigration was necessary, and was in coincidence with the feelings of the public and the House. He believed that any system of national emigration would never be coun tenanced either by the House or the Government but, on the other hand, there was no doubt but that a right system of emigration would be countenanced both by her Majesty's Ministers aad the country. He believed that the present time was the most favourable that could be selected for emigration. If Hon. Members would read the blue books upon their tables, they would find that much disease arose from the over-crowding of the poorer classes in certain districts of their towns and cities. In the agricultural districts the most lamentable instances of destitution occurred from the low rate of wages, and the Irish Secretary of State had also informed them that the'number of destitute, weekly employed by the Boardof Public Works in Ireland, amounted to no less than 668,000 persons. It was his firm impression t t w h a ht a eio t oon t hrh would dho p ou r d o cdoo p alterations lnh o oe s an e vi d echsiaswn obuelsdtnott injurious ia effectth e o s system s thete m of f o transpor tation s pemi grant. By the arrangement of bounties for emi gration to the colonies, the honest working man allowed a Sears of ft the passage a s sa u g p e his family, if he w e o• educate g even rule was that no bount y r s e ho d a e l s d irous of going out to of any of his children under be pnoegsilteiootnedwahnedn t h a e ko g n ot up th f e o r r e ? sona NV e e . h The allowed to those above fifty years of age or below seve And what was his that, at perhaps, the taken into one of the places for reform children of his next-door neighbour,yreformation, had d d been e petty theft, and been out there at the public expense with every v e expectation of mending as well as the children of the honest xpee grant. If that short sketch of the present position of emigration were true, he begged the House to consider what, were the difficulties against any plan to be adopted. The motion of which he had given notice applied more particularly to what was called the Land and Emigration Board. There was a board of that description in operation, however litCe its existence might be known. The commissioners were zealous in the discharge of their ' duties, but they had not the means of properly carrying out their operations. The Member for Liskeard stated, in 1844, that a gentleman from Canada wished to make some inquiries in England with reference to emigration, and although much interested in this question, he was not aware of the existence of that board. When gentlemen applied to him on the subject of emigration, he invariably referred them to this board, but the information given by this board in founder written of this the the country was so scanty that it was hardl y worth commissionhaving haying. The in Noble Lord shortly afterwards, to the members of the commission, he correctly defined t heir duties. Man y of 1840, and a L nd or din w a a s letter he these duties, it was true, had since become obsolete, but although they had not altog e ther expired, they had been very much li m it e d, an d this was one of the reasons which had induced him to bring forward his present motion. Many delusi ve em i gra t or y projects had been suggested from time to time, but few had boon carried out ; but in no instance had the Emigration Board propounded any scheme of sound emigration, though be admitted they had been most useful in preventing unsound emi gration. In fact, the board was nothing more than a mere referee of the Colonial-office, and might as well have its offices at the Colonial-office as in Park-street. Dr. Rolfe, of Canada, who had paid much attention to the subject of emigration, had divided the subject into three parts—the way in which emigrants should be in vited to leave this country ; their treatment during their voyage ; and the manner in which they sheuld be re ceived when they reached their destination ;—all of which were most important questions. In his (Mr. V. Smith's) opinion, the present system was deficient in each of these points. First, no proper information was spread throughout the country with respect to emigra tion, so that those desirous of being informed on the subject had no proper means of obtaining it. It was all very well to say that the Colonial-office was ready to reply to all letters which were received by that depart ment requesting information, but they ought to freely promulgate information on the subject throughout the whole country, so that parties desirous of emigrating might know where to seek it. Private companies wish ing to promote emigration, appointed agents in all the towns in the localities from which parties were likely to emigrate, to afford information. This was what the Government was deficient in. These companies not only afforded the utmost information, but put forward, in addition, the most delusive statements, for the purpose of tempting people to emigrate under their auspices; side by side with which the Government should issue correct information, so that persons might not be deceived. In fact, there was no reason why an agent should not make a circuit through the country for the purpose of ascertaining the parties desirous of emi grating, and for the purpose of affording them ample and correct information ; in addition to whom, he saw no reason why they should not appoint agencies in all the principal towns, for the purpose of dispensing infor mation, which would be attended with but little expense. Lord Sydenham saw the necessity of appointing Go vernment agents, as he was of opinion that a Govern ment agent ought to accompany every emigrant ship going to the north of America, and the present Earl Grey was in favour of erecting villages in Canada for the use of emigrants ; but he revoked his plan, beeause ho found that no private company felt disposed to carry out such a plan. It appeared from the statement of Mr. Hall, that German emigrants were better cared for than those of this country, as they were plentifully provided during their voyage with animal food, bread, beer, lime juice, and other necessaries during their voyages, which were generally longer than those per formed by British vessels. Mr. Mills, who had published a pamphlet _on " Colonization," and who was well conversant with the subject, as he went out to Canada with some of his father's labourers from 'War wickshire, pointed out the great advantage of having agents. There were but ten agents at the outports of this country and Ireland. By a return it appeared that 170 emigrated from Southampton, and 542 from Hull, last year ; but there wa-s no agent at either of these ports. Last year 1,056 emigrated from Galway, 1,108 from Waterford, and 814 from Newcross, near Water ford, yet there was no agent at either of them. Owing to the want of agents, prosecutions for infractions of the passenger laws were continually taking place. Six causes had recently occurred in Canada, and 13 in New Brunswick. Mr. Mills stated that more than four-fifths of the emigrants of this country em barked at Liverpool, yet that town had but one agent, who, even with the aid of a clerk, could not, by any possibility, transact the business that was assigned to him in a proper manner, as it was necessary to attend all the ships that left, and frequently a great number left in one morning. Then a careful superin tendence during the voyage could not fail to conduce to the comfort of the emigrants, and save expense, by prevent ing those infractions to which he had referred. In 1841 the Noble Lord at the head of the Govern ment spoke favourably of affording the utmost facilities and comforts to the emigrants ; he trusted the Noble Lord would adhere to those opinions in 1847. The superintendence ought to be performed by medical officers, who were in the habit of receiving about 2001. a-year for the discharge of duties of a similar nature. The worst part was the reception of Illhe emigrants when they arrived at their destination. In this respect the arrangements of the Government were most deficient. It was acknowledged in Australia that the best mode of dealing with the emigrants on their arrival was to disperse them ; and what was wanted was some person to point out to them what was best to be done, and where it was likely that they would find em ployment, and consequently, a subsistence. 'the want of such an agent entailed much misery on emigrants as they arrived in strange land, almost ignorant of its cus toms, and as to the best way to proceed to turn their labour or their capital to the best advantage. Great advantages would accrue by the establishment of such agents in both Australia and Canada. Great expense would not be thus entailed upon the country by the adop tion of such a plan, as few persons might perform very important offices for a large number. Certainly the three points he had raised were well worthy the most serious consideration of the Emigration Board. The next subject was one of considerable delicacy, but it was a most important one ; he meant female emigration. It would be found that the greatest disparity prevailed in the number of the sexes in many of our colonies. In Van Diemen's Land there were 40,788 males, and but 18,114 females ; and many of the other colonies presented similar results. The lion. Member then read several long extracts to show the very great deficiency of female immigrants in the colonies. Mrs. Chisholme, a lady of great experience upon these points, stated in her evidence that a good n ay to remedy this defect would be the sending of a number of young women, under proper guardianship. He did not see why Government should not appoint a commission to control emigration ; they were appointing commissions upon every other subject—upon the poor laws and upon railways. He did not think that it should he left under the entire control of the emigration board. There was nothing in the scheme which he proposed which, in his opinion, could meet with objectious from the Chancellor of th e E xc h e quer. He did not ask for millions—he only sought a few thousand system of d p ounds te l m n order to establi s h a more com plete and extended - of emigration. He d es ir e d that there should be some method which would ensure to the emigrant the ad vantage of good advice and guidance as to where he should settle. and how devote his labour. Mr. MACKINNON seconded the resolution, in order to be enabled to sa y a f ew wor d s to t h e House. Any pe rson who immediately connected hims e lf w ith a co l on i a l b o ard, became was impressed w ith t h e i dea t h a t emigrat ion bjected to sovereign p anacea f or a ll evils. any interfe rence b y the Government respecting this question. He could not see any advantage which would arise fro a m sm t a h l e i motion of th e Ri g h t H on. Gentleman . Certainly, at expense o f 2,00 0 1 . or 3,000/., his suggestion could if be carried into effect, it wou l d b e of utility to attempt it, but if any g reater sum were re qu i re d, be thought that the less of thepublicmo b ney e which was expended the better ; and he thoug h t it would better that any advance should not be made to encourage emi gration. H e th an k ed the House f or its attention to him while wh he had addr esse d i t, an d althoug h he did nftagur ec hter.it) the principle of th e mot i on he shou ld secon d it.—. Mr. LEFROY. would not detain the House n time, but he was anx i ous to say a f e w words uPeaaogklgensog.bject.th. o f suffering as it He thought it desirable that while Ireland was e which would then was from want of employment, any relieve it from its over-population wouldine beMember's proposi orf benefit. He admitted the principle of the Honourable tion fur encouraging voluntary eductive measures that it would be one of the most emigration; and he thought that could be adopted by the Government.P but rather as a The emigration, if encouraged, would not be felt as a banishmen t , relief and a benefit. He trusted that if the resoolurtt,iotnhsoosftatthee. Hon. Member did not receive any material PP l s cl u go forth to, and ment by which h e h a d accom panied it, would to, the subject ; call the attention o f h e r M a jesty's G "ernmin so that if not immediately adopted, some ulationeasures m to emigrate ight be eventually taken to assist the starving Piot' me nt would be se to a land where good treatment and em p y cured to them. Mr. KERR said that he felt it necessary the th e an n k se ; the fo H r, on in . Member for proposing these resolu tions to H his opinion, they were admirably cnlculatferdomforotvheer.rpeolpieofiaotfiothoe. present want of employment arisio g loy --i ng 665,000 men in The Government were at present em Ireland at an enormous expense , of andPa.ll that burden on the country might be obviated by th e ado p t ' . mea sures as those proposed by the Hon. Member n . so me such Mr. HAWES could assure_ h It he iht Hon. Gentleman who brought forward this motio n, aethiant whic h h ad be n b o a t d on b e rn w ng o b rd t of complaint to urge against the w y it forward. He thought, however, that his R B ig o h ar t d H e o f n E . Friend rather under-estimated the ex ertio ns ef the tion. Its duties were rather to assist than to stimulate emi gration, and he sheuld be enable d. bento ,h e w p w therefeHrmoeudse ably ture stalously by the gentlemen comp g to grant the vote pro posed by the Hon. Me m ber, Posing to say that, even if Parl ia ment it would be almost impossible to „ft, a un less it was employed on the payment of the passages of t h e em ig rants , apply it "cc" - and that was a mode o f us i ng it which the Right Hon. Gentleman would hardly recommend. The House would perhaps consider for a moment with re ference to what the Board bad done, the number of emi grants it had been the means of quietly and piu successfully oroto ha f sending out of the country . t ry. Th ere twheu t system of active superintend ence at embarkation and of landing, that the emigrant might be said to be under a total superintendence during his whole voyage. During the last ten years, the number of emigrants sent to Australia, amounted to 20,000, sent under the management of t h e office, and 28,000 under its imm e di a t e super i ntendence ; m aking a total of 48,000 during the l as t ten years. The mor tality on board of the different vess e l s h a d a l so been decreased 5 f r om the amount of per He cent. in the fi rs t s hi ps, to a half per cent, in the lat est ships. _. would also r e f er to t h e emigration of Coolies to th e West Indies, which had been most actively carried on, and the mortality was considerably decreasing in the first instance . His Right Hon. F r i en d had hardly, there fore, done justice to the labours of the commissioners, con sidering the large returns which he had jest given to the House. Let him also state to the House the enormous extent of voluntary emigrat i on , which had proceeded d ur i ng the last ten years un dere superintendence o f th e commissioners alone. The th account o f voluntary emigrants, from the year 1837 to t h e year 1846 inclusive, amounted to the enormous number of 856,392 persons, of whom 700,000 bad gone to America alone. Now he would venture to say there never was so large a mass of people taken out of this country, with so little inconvenience and expense, under a system of superintendence, as those ha d been under the voluntary system. An Hox. Alzassza. here moved that the House be counted. Strangers were then ordered to withdraw, but there being forty Members present, the House resumed. Mr. HAWES, in continuation of his address, read extracts from several returns of the Colonial-office, showing the great a d van t ag es of the voluntary system o f emigration. With regard to the proceedings of the Emigration Board he believed they had done the best in their power to make the agents under their control as efficient as possible, and to give the greatest protection to those intending to emigrate. The Hon. Member made his motion, it would appear, in reference to the present emergency, and in order to ease it by a more exten sive system of emigration. On that head he (Mr. Hawes) would inform him, that every endeavour would be made to in crease the stream of voluntary emigration, and to effect that, there would be greater efficiency given to the agency at Liver pool and other ports. Respecting any comprehensive scheme of emigration, the Government, he had no doubt, would be prepared to give every consideration to any that might be brought forward which appeared of a practical and useful cha • racter. But whatever was done for the advancement of emigre tion, he would beg leave to observe, that one of the very first things they would have to do, in order to make it successful, would be to give a free constitution—a good system of self government, to every colony they might establish, towards which the recent charter given to New Zealand, he might rstmark, was a step in that direction. There was another point to which he would beg leave to make some observations. The Hon. Member had advised the send ing of agents into every parish in the country, and the cir culating of tracts and publications, to excite a feeling in favour of emigration. That was a course which he (Mr. Hawes) could not consent to, for, independent of the expense of such a plan, it would be a most dangerous and unsatisfactory pro ceeding. He had no desire directly to negative the motion of the Hon. Member, whom he believed to be actuated by the best intentions, and he would, therefore, content himself by moving the previous question. After a few words from Mr. FOSTER, which were inaudible in the gallery, Dr. BOWRING expressed himself that the system of emigration, hitherto carried on with our colonies, was of a most unsatisfactory character. He hoped that in future the Government would give full effect to the expression of the Hon. Member (Mr. Hawes) that free constitutions would be given to the colonies. He would ask the Hon. Member what were the intentions of the Government in this respect? Mr. H A WES excused himself from giving any answer tis the question at present. He would only remark that at the beginning of last session a Noble Lord on the other side of the House explained the plan which was intended to be taken in respect to the colonies, and the first fruits of it was seen in the charter which had been granted to New Zealand. Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN considered the Government had not shown itself hitherto sufficiently impressed with the im portance of emigration, and hence the arrangements made in referense to it were of the most defective character. In the beginning of the session, he called the attention of her Majesty's Government to the necessity of the Emigration Board issuing information in a circular every year, at the be ginning of the season to intending emigrants, with regard to the best places of location, rates of wages, &c. ; but nothing had been done to effect such a desirable object. He quite agreed with the Hon. Member for Northampton, respecting the ap pointment of agents, as he considered there ought not be a single outport without an emigration agent. They were ap proaching a crisis in emigration, and they should be prepared with efficient arrangements for it. Another point to which he wished to direct the attention of the Government was, the greater facilities which might be given to the Board of Guar dians to assist emigration from Ireland, and if agencies could be formed in the colonies to transport emigrants to the places where their labour was required, it would be a great step in the right direction. He thought that this desirable good might be obtained by a Government advance to the same extent as the capital furnished by the emigrant himself. Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that he would endeavour to reply to the observations of the Hon. Member. The Hon. Gentleman had asked, in the first place, whether they could form an estimate of the number of persons who had emigrated into the British North American Colonies. It was impossible to give any estimate of the kind; and It was because they were unable to form this estimate that, after a great deal of consideration, they had thought it unadvisable to undertake the payment of the passage-money for intending emigrants. Under the operation of the former system, the great number of the emigrants arriving in Canada were left destitute in such towns as Montreal ; they endured a vast amount of suffering, and were, therefore, proportionably disappointed, after having crossed the seas to better their condition. There was also this further evil attending the system, that it originated and kept alive an indisposition to emigration among those left at home. It was, therefore, in the opinion of the Government, better that emigration should be carried out by individual exertion, assisted as it might be by voluntary assistance from landlords, and from other private sources. The Hon. Gentleman knew full well that a very large sum —he believed above 200,0001. had been transmitted from persons resident in the colonies to friends in this country, for the purpose of assisting them to emigrate. This was a very satisfactory proof that great exer tions could be made without any aid from Government. But the Honourable Gentleman asked further, whether it was she opinion of the Government that the Emigration tax should be continued. At first sight this tax was an appa rent obstruction to emigration. He did not think, however, that it was a real obstruction, and, therefore, he considered that it should be continued. The object of the tax was a praise worthy one. The House was aware that many emigrants ar rived at Quebec in a most pitiable condition, who were unable to go up into the country either from physical inability, or the want of funds ; while, at the same time, there was a sufficient demand for labour in Western Canada. The tax itself did not exceed ss. a head; and one of its objects was to give assist ance to such individuals ; another object was to provide hospi tals for the sick. The consequence had been, that the emigra tion reports had been very satisfactory. He found that the emigration in the year 1846 into North America was 125,678; into Australia, 2,347 ; into other places, 1,786, making a total of 129,821. The Honour able Member was not perhaps aware that Government voted a small sum annually for the purpose of giving assistance to emigrants who desired to reach the interior of the country. He did not know what the precise amount was, but it was not proposed to diminish the sum this year, and if it should ap pear that emigration would proceed upon a more extended scale than usual, it might be deemed expedient to increase it. He was strongly of opinion that if they created an artificial stimulus in addition to the great national desire that now ex isted for emigration, they would run a risk of so inundating those colonies that the residents,would find it difficult to subsist. He was informed that in the state of New York it was under deliberation whether they should not impose a tax with the view of putting a check on the present tide of emigration. For these reasons he was of opinion that no assistance from Government would be required. Mr. HOPE thought that the Board of Emigration would have been sufficiently active if they had had money enough, and sinless they were to institute some large and extended system of Government emigration, assisted from, and supported by the public funds, they would not carry out their objects to the ex tent so much desired by the Right Hon. Gentleman. Mr. CHARLES BULLER rose to observe that the re marks which he had made on the occasion referred to, was simply that, with reference to the colonisation of North Ame• rica, the association had acted on the hope that they could rectify a great defect, and one which arose out of the fact that its operations had been impeded by the majority of the public lands which had passed from the hands of the Govern ment into the hands of private individuals. His Noble Friend had stated before the commencement of the session, that, in his opinion, it made not one tittle of difference as to how these monies were to be applied, so that they were used for the purposes of the Commission. But a material point arose as to how far this wou!d affect the people of Ireland, and he believed that if these resources had been funded that the system might have succeeded, and that it would be possible to found British colonies in any part of the world. Now, no one was more desirous of promoting colonisation, but he believed, for his own part, that a great mistake was made on this subject. There was at the present moment two great ob stacles to carrying out the plan of colonisation ; the first was, that no sufficient means had been devised by the Legislature for carrying out this system of colonisation, so as to enable emigrants to go out ; the second was, that if they did go out, there was no land fund in existence for providing resources for the emigrants. In Upper Canada, where there was the largest and finest block of fertile land unoccupied in the world—but of that immense block by far the greater part had been granted to absentee props ietors, and out of 17,000,000 acres of the finest land in that province, not more than 6,000 acres remained in the possession of the Crown— all the rest had been jobbed away. Then, again, in Prince Edward's Island, which, from its geographical position, for the fertility of its soil, and for the salubrity of its climate, offered one of the very finest fields in the whole world for extensive colonisation from its insular position as well as its relative position with respect to Great Britain. The United States and Canada offered the best prospects for com mercial intercourse. There were in the hands of the public an extensive tract of upwards of a million of acres of exeellent land which, at the present moment, were only supporting about a population of 12,000 inhabitants, and that 12,000 of the most stagnant, unintellectual, and unprogressive community in the world, and yet this extensive province that had thus been left to stagnate had been granted to a number of people who had never been in America, and who never in tended to go there, and yet it presented the noblest opportunity for colonisation that could possibly be conceived. But if they wished to look at a country which possessed the greatest opportunity for colonisation—one which was boundless in extent, admirably situated for commercial rela tions, and likely in every way to strengthen the relations of the empire, they would turn to the country of which the Cape of Good Hope was the boundary, but they all knew what was the reason which prevented the occupation of that country for the purposes of colonisation, in the proper sense of the word—that was the savage war that was being carried on upon the frontier of the British possessions. Then there were the colonies of Australia and New Zealand, to which the attention of the pre sent commissioners had been so energetically turned, and, could it have been carried out, colonisation and sending out emi grants on a grand plan would have been the rest It. But to this there was now an obstacle. Then the only plan was, to encourage a large em i grat i on to t h e U n i ted States and Canada, and to this matter the commissioners had directed their most earnest attention. He owned that the Commission had been placed in the hands of men who, he did not meau to say had net a full knowlege of our colonial empire, or who were not desirous of promoting the cause of colonisation, or were not aware of its manifest importance, but he would say, that the report of the Emigration Commissioners had not been suffi ciently entertained by the Colonial-office, and that no system had been adopted by the Government worthy of the British colonies—no system worthy of our ancestors, or such as our ancestors had successfully carried into effect, and they must, therefore, look in some other direction. He would, therefore, repeat, that in the very commencement of their system they must proceed in a different way, for they must in the first place provide the means for the emigrant to go out ; and they must in the second, from the disposal of lands, provide the funds for conveying the emigrant to the most distant parts of the wcrld.—( Cheers. ) Sir WALTER JAMES was sorry to hear that the only sum to be voted for the purposes of emigration was the paltry sum of 5,0001., while he saw that the sum of 8,000,0001. had been voted for Ireland during the present year, and 10,000,0001. altogether h a d b een grante d f or the relief of that country. He hoped the Noble Lord only intended to limit the amount of the grant to the present year, for if the people were to obtain a higher description of food, they must at the same time receive a higher set of wages for their work, and to do this he was aware that the expense must be incurred. But would not the funds be a great deal better expended on some system for the removal of the Irish poor. Many pamphlets had been published on the subject, which he could assure the Noble Lord and the House of Commons that some of them detailed many grave and startling facts well worthy of the consideration of both, fer it was his firm belief that one-half of the population will die of famine. Under these circumstances, then, he thought that it would be only wise in the Noble Lord to grant this miserable sum of 5,000/. for the present year, for if he did not it would certainly foster the notion that wasdonuoe al wa l they lre could to relieveadywidelyspread i '- ng that the Government had not the distresses of the Irish population. Mr. HOPE explained that he had only desired to reduce the exppenses of emigration. VERNON the Ssaid ou s that u nor r e would would not h e , occupy much of Htionin reply ofthe H I: t l t l e T u the zealand ability of his under present circumstances, press his motion to a division. He was quite ready to acknowledge Noble Friend, and the attention which he had paid to the objects of the commission, but when the attention of the Muse had been dra wn t o this sub j ect in 1831, and a g ain in 1836, and s ubsequently in 1 84 1 , it certainly was his impression that some effectual steps would be taken for carrying out the opinions ' w hich had been so generally expressed. n. The motion was then withd raven. Mr. HUME rose to move the adoption of the resolutions of which he had g iven notice, via.:-1. That this House, con sidering the faithful observance of the General Act of Congress, or treaty of Vienna, on the 9th day of June, 1815, as the basis of the peace and welfare of Europe views with alarm and indignation the incorporation of the free city of Cracow, and of its territory , into the empire of Austria, by virtue of a con vention entered into at Vienna, on the 6th day of November, 1846, by Russi a, Prussia, and Austria, in manifest violation of the said treaty. 2. That it appears, by returns laid before Parliament, that there has already been paid from the British Treasury towards the principal and for the interest of the debt, called Russo-Dutch Loan, between the years 1816 and 1846, both inclusive, the sum of 40,490,750 florins, equal to 3,374,479/. sterling money ; and that the liquidation of the principal and interest 01 the remaining ptrt of the loan, as / stipulated by the Act 2d and 3d of William the Fourth, cap. 81, will require further annual payments from the Bri tish Treasury until the year 1915, ameunting to 47,006,250 florins, equal to 3,917,187/, sterling money—making then the aggregate payment 7,291,666/. ; and the average, for each of the 100 years, of 72,916/. 3. That the convention of the 16th day of November, 1831, between his Majesty the King of Great Britain and Ireland and the Emperor of all the Russia', was made to explain the stipulations of the treaty between Great Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands, signed at London en the 19th day of May, 1815, and included in the treaty of Vienna ; and by that convention it was agreed by Great Britain "to secure to Russia the payment of a portion of her Dutch debt in consideration of the general arrangements of the Congress of Vienna, to which she had given her adhesion ; arrangements which remain i n f u ll f orce. " 4. That this House is, therefore, of opinion, that Russia having with drawn that adhesion, and those arrangements being, through her act, no longer in force, the payments from this country, on account of that debt, should be henceforth suspended. In moving the adoption of these resolutions, and calling th e at tention of the House to the subje c t o f which he had given notice, he trusted that it would not lose any of its importance by the feebleness of the ability which he had to bring to its support. But yet, though it might in some degree suffer from this cause, he could not consent any longer to postpone ins consideration, and from introducing it to th e H ouse , on t h at account. When towards the close of the last session he drew the attention of the House to the subject of Cracow, it would be recollected that he had stated that at that time that free city was held in military occupation by a Russo-Austrian force, and that it was likely to continue to be so held. And ho had not done this for the mere solitary instance of the occupation of which he spoke, for in 1831 the same violation of treaties had been committed, and military occupation of the city had been retained for years. Again, in 1836, the same circumstance had occurred, and then, also, the occupation had been retained for years ; and yet the Noble Lord at the head of the Foreign Department bad begged the House to give no cre dence to his statements, for that he was in possession of better information than any which he possessed, and bad asserted that the occupation would soon cease. A Noble Duke in another place had also made the assertion that the occupation would be only temporary; but what was the fact? Why, that the first information which reached this country was, that the whole of the treaties had been violated. He had always found that when we were parties to a treaty we always retained our honour and kept our faith, but he found that when the three Powers to whom he referred were parties they seldom either kept honour or good faith. But it might be said that we were now under different circumstances; for, respecting the occu pation of Cracow, they had the assertion in her Majesty's speech at the commencement of the present session, that the occupation of Cracow was a gross violation of the treaty of Vienna, and that the infraction of that treaty was quite un justifiable on the part of Austria, Russia, and Prus sia. He trusted that he should not be met by the answer that he was limited in this inquiry by the position of the foreign department, for here was a plain declaration of the injustice of this annihilation of the free State of Cracow in the speech of her Majesty, and she had ordered the papers and documents respecting it to be placed on the table. He held these papers in his hand, and if Hon. Members had perused these papers as he had done, they would perceive that the first alarm of this iniquity had been created as early as January or February in last year, and that the notice that it was intended to occupy Cracow by a military force had been given shortly afterwards by Mr. Macginnis, and that explanations had been demanded by the British Government. But he did not find that any explanation of this act of injustice had been given by the three Powers, and from Jan. to August no information whatever had been received, although it had been repeatedly called for both by the Earl of Aberdeen and Lord Palmerston, and he did think that some notice ought to have been given of the intention of the three Powers thus to proceed. The letter of Lord Aberdeen bore all the characteristics by which his diplomatic correspondence was usually marked. The one he alluded to was dated on the 25th of June, and it was distin guished by that coolness and caution, and prudence, which were always prominently evident in the Noble Earl's corres pondence. It stated, with his usual caution, that he would come to no sudden decision, bnt that he would suspend his judgment with respect to Cracow, until he had all the diplo matic dispatches before him. He (Mr. Hume) found that the first letter of Lord Palmerston was dated on the 4th of August, and it forcibly declared that this occnprtion of Cracow was clearly a gross - violation of the treaty of Vienna. But these papers were valuable, in so far as they put beyond all doubt the real nature of this transaction, and any Hon. Member who had the patience to read two letters which the papers contained on this subject, must be convinced that the part Prince Metternich had taken reflected little credit upon that nobleman. Prince Metternich, it would seem, had satis fied himself that Cracow was only an atom—a geographical atom. Now when this geographical atom formed the subject of a great negotiation, and occupied four or five articles of the important treaty of Vienna, it did appear to him to be a laxity of mind—a disregard of decorum—to apply such a term to it; and the word of honour of the man who had thus con sented to the annexation of Cracow and its territory was not worth a rash.—( Hear, hear.) It would be remembered that on the 11th of November, the Austrian Government published the declaration to the world. That declaration was to the effect that the State of Cracow, of its own free will and accord, had consented to the annexation. Now there was not one word of truth in all that, and the Noble Lord at the head of the foreign department, had shown it to be false in the able answer he had published upon the subject ; and he must be allowed to repeat, that there was not a man, either within or Outside the walls of that House, who could find one word of truth in the paragraph he had just read. The declaration went on to say that Cracow had moreover violated the conditions upon which its freedom was based. There was in that, also, not one word of truth ; while again, it would be seen in the last page of the return, that the Courts of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, had discovered conspiracies in Cracow, which had never existed. Still the declaration concluded by stating, that the Court, after taking these circumstances into their considera tion, had deliberately, in accordance, as they believed, with all existing treaties, determined to annex Cracow to the empire of Austria. Now the Noble Lord (Lord Palmerston) had, in plain langurge, pointed out how totally erroneous that was. But even supposing that it was dangerous to allow the freedom of Cracow to continue it was not for those, who were only three of the parties to the general treaty, to have annihilated that State. The three courts ought rather to have submitted their reasons for appre hending danger to the other States who were parties to the treaty, and called upon them to sanction the alteration they wished to be effected. Had they pursued that course, and succeeded in pointing out the danger th a would result to Austria Irani the continuance of Cracow as a free State. lie was not totrza a r r e ab d i y bound to m thatthe a make the , alliesalterationwou d not in the tre aty, ave b een morally andbut he was there to say, that they being only three out of the eight or nine Sovereigns to the compact, they were not warranted by any law to be found existing in any civilised nation, to take upon themselves the act of annexation. The Nobl e L or d th e Minister for Foreign Affairs, very properly complained that he was not apprised of the existence of these dangers, while from the power Austria had over the police of Cracow, and over persons going to or from Cracow, it was almost impossible that the danger could be real, and consequently the whole of the measures which had been taken by the three Powers were founded upon the grossest injustice. On one occasion the Noble Lord stated that he considered that the territory of Cracow formed no part of the treaty of Vienna, but he was glad to observe that the Noble Lord in his letter of remonstrance admitted that Cracow was included in the treaty of Vienna. Now he did hope that after that, there would be no attempt made to repeat the allegation that there had been no violation of the treaty of Vienna. It might have been expected that men who owed so much to Great. Britain, who owed so much to her efforts, and to her large expenditure of money—an expenditure amounting to six hundred millions sterling, voluntarily spent—in order to place the con tinent of Europe in a state of security, would have refrained from offering England an insult beyond any thing he had ever read of. When he remembered that nearly every state in Europe owed its independence to the efforts and exer tions of England, it did appear to him to be a strange want of courtesy that all the three Courts should not have taken the least notice of her remonstrance. He asked if the declaration of Ferdinand, dated the 1 Rh of November, did not set aside the whole of the treaty of Vienna ? and he asked if it was not sufficient to urge Government to take some decided steps in the matter. He knew nothing more dishonourable than the proceedings of the three Powers; and in order to show the House the view he took of the question, he was disposed to adopt not a simple protest, which they did not care for, but he would have them show their opinion of the transaction in a stronger manner, and he trusted the British House of Commons would lend their support to the view he took of this matter. He was asked that morning if he wished for war ; his answer was no, he was a man of peace. He was not for war, but having in his power, under a legislative enactment, the disposal of a certain sum of money which England intended to guarantee and pay under certain stipulations, he intended to mai k his displeasure of this Act by withholding that money. The stipulation under which the money was paid had been vio lated, and England being therefore absolved from its payment, he proposed to submit four resolutions to the House, for legalising the forfeiture of the money. The Treaty of Vienna was come to for the purpose of settling the balance of power in Europe, and to effect that object, Great Britain made many sacrifices, plainly showing that she was disinterested in all her proceedings. Therefore, it became important that they should look to the grounds on which the treaty was made, with the view of ascertaining if its stipulations had not been violated. He was one of those who had always objected to the treaty, but he was anxious to see peacerestored, and on that ground he gave his reluctant consent to it. But still there were stipulations in that treaty which he had invariably objected to, and should never cease to think that it was a stain upon the honour of England when she consented to partitions of Poland—he meant the partitions of 1773, 1793, and 1795. He drew up on paper a sketch of the violations of the principles of freedom which were committed in connexion with Poland. In 1773 there was a division of land to the extent of 3,600 miles, con taining a population of 6,360,000 persons. That amount of territory was distributed between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. There was a strong feeling manifest in England against this glaring violation of the principles of independence, and cer tainly the feeling did honour to the country. In the same manner, in 1793, there were 6,850 miles of land taken from Po land, having a population of 7,100,000 persons; while, in 1795, there was another division of 4,592 square miles, with a population of six millions and a half, so that on the whole there were twenty millions of people divided between the three powers, ten millions to Austria, five and a half to Prussia, and four and a half to Russia. That robbery and separation was sanctioned by the assembled powers at Vienna, and when he considered the sacrifice of honour, England made in concurring in the partition, he could not help thinking that if they continued to carry out the guarantee after the stipula tions founded upon it were violated, England would be as Vienna bad as the robbers themselves. The treaty of above all, he thought, to be carried out bythoiesena owht g for whom England had made so many sacrifices, but more particularly Austria, who in the day of her trouble, when she was nearly overwhelmed by Buonaparte, and her exchequer was exhausted, England maintained her army, and advanced a loan of upwards of sixty millions, but now that these three powers had disregarded its provisions, it ought no longer to be respected by this country ; at least so far as the payment of the money alluded to in his resolution was con cerned. Austria had only paid half her debt back again to this country, and after this act of tyranny, followed by the insult to England of disregarding the remonstrance of the British Government against the infraction of the treaty, he thought wherever she made her appearance her features ought to be stamped with shame, and her people ever reproved for sanctioning this act of ingratitude and tyranny. He was anxious not to be met by the statement that no in fraction of the Treaty of Vienna had taken place. When he saw that treaty, bearing the signature of France, Prussia, Portugal, Russia, Sardinia, Sweden, indeed of every state but that of Spain, This country had signed that treaty also, and had, therefore, rendered ourselves parties to the crime. And was this country, then, to allow these parties to violate the treaty, that we are one of the guarantees to ? He hoped the time was come when such would not be the case. Lest there should be any doubt as to the mode in which they were bound to support Cracow, he would call the attention of the House to the treaty signed on the 21st of April, 1815, declaring the independence of the free City of Cracow. The sixth article stated that no person inimical to the peace of Cracow should remain, and if found in the city they should be delivered up on application to the Austrian Government. Now no such person had resided its Cracow, o r if t h ey di d, no such application- had been made, the parties would have been given up by the Senate. The liberty of the person, as well as the Free: of Cracow, were also goarrautood by the Emperor Niclislas, who, upon his accession to the throne in 1825 took an oath, in which he swore and promised before God to maintain and execute to the utmost of his power the constitution of Cracow. Had he performed his oath ? Mem bers of the Diet had been imprisoned for uttering opinions in their official character, and numbers of the inhabitants had also been unjustly imprisoned. The liberty of the press did not exist for a single day after the possession of that city by Russia; the liberty of the press was trodden under foot. The nakedness and unkindness of this mode of procedure ought to be exposed to the public ; this country should learn a lesson by experience, and it should divest itself of all connection with such faithless men, and maintain their honour unsullied instead of being dragged along with them to the commission of such crimes. The right of public representation was to be given, and an annual budget was to be submitted to the people ; but during these last f.fteen years, no budget; had ever been submitted to the people, no representation of the public had been effected. The two charters were to be open to the public. Had this promise been kept? No. The Emperor Nicholas had issued an ordinance, directing the doors of the chambers to be closed. The Russian troops were only to be admitted into Poland under certain circumstances, and then to be supported by Russia. Had that stipulation been attended to ? The first thing done by the Emperor was to send a standing army, which were supported by the inhabitants of Cracow, under every form of oppression and injustice. And )et England stood by and submitted to all this patiently and quietly. In the year 16.32 the constitution of Poland was en• tirely destroyed. Since that time thousands of Polish chil— dren have been taken away, and sent to Russia, for the osten— sible purpose of educating them, but in reality for the purpose of destroying their love for the mother country ; they had ground the people down by oppressive taxation, and universal spoliation, by the suppression of the public universities, and the abolition of the bishoprics. What would the Right Hon. Baronet, the (Member for the University of Oxford say to that ?—( Hear, hea r .) Th e Emperor had also appropri— ated the revenues of the national church, and applied them to the purpose of propagating another and a totally distinct creed. Surely his Right Hon. Friend would support him in his. motion, if for no other reason than the shameful attacks upon the Church of ruined Poland. He (Mr. Hume) was perfectly ignorant of the amount of atrocities inflicted upon the Pole's until he had looked narrowly into the subject, and became im pressed with the utter magnitude' of the violation. No na— tional representation had been granted to the Polish subjects by Russia. Prussia had granted a representative diet to her subjects, including among its members the Polish portion of them. Austria had in some degree done the same. Russia, had alone refused it. The Poles had been forbidden by Russia their own language ; their system of religion had been abolished.—(Hear.) Surely this was a subject calling for interference en the part of the British Government. Lord Castlereagh had said, when speaking of Russia to the Minister of that country, that Russia having penetrated almost to the very heart of Prussia, and having obtained upon the south— east Moldavia, Wallachia, and Pomerania, should be careful not to excite jealousy among the other countries of Europe, end further stated that the whole object of the treaty of Vienna was permanently to settle the peace of Europe. When such conduct in Powers ; who were parti es t o a so l emn treaty was evinced, he asked w hat was the use of having any— thing to do with treaties at all ? Why should not England stand aloof altogether, and thereby keep ourselves free from the calumny which must attend on such violations? But there was now a change—an epoch had occurred ; the legal sanction conferred by the Treaty of Vienna to the division of Poland was gone ; every obligation was destroyed, and every nation in Europe was now free to act, if they thought proper, to restore that country to the people. He knew not why the same law should not prevail on the Rhine and the Danube, and the property of that oppressed people to be restored to its proper owners. When rogues quarrelled, the saying was that honest men got their own.—(Laughter.) He said those rogues had quarrelled—( Great laughter)—and he knew no reason why the kingdom of Poland should not be again set up. He begged to ask whether her Majesty's Ministers had confidence in those contracting Powers ? he asked whether the people of Austria and Prussia had confidence in their Governments. An How. MEMBER near the Hon. Gentlemen (as we un— derstood) asked him whether he advised a revolution in thole countries? M. HOME said he did not advise that ; but, beyond what ee had said already, he went much further. He must say that the people of those countries were absolved from oblige. tion to their Governments, and the day might come when they would be roused probably to resistance. If he could look at the horizon at all, his opinion on these events was, that what had taken place, took away all security from every small state in Europe ; it had made physical force the rule of the day, and if physical force should become the rule, he asked the House to consider what would be the consequences ? The suppression of the independence of Cracow destroyed all pretext for European international law. The faith of treaties was gone. If any man believed otherwise, he called upon him to assert his opinion, and when he had made the assertion, (to prove it.-- ( Hear, hear.) He emphatically said the peace of Europe was gone. He felt he must refer the House to the correspondence which had occurred between one of those powers and Switxera. land. The Hon. Member, after reminding the House of the change which had taken place among the States of Switzerland, read a portion of the letter from the Court of Austria to the Federal Government of Switzerland, in which it was stated that that Court, always respecting international treaties and good faith, would continue to respect her relation with the States of Switzerland, so long as the power of the Federal Government, was not virtually invaded, for that federal Government was recognised and satisfied in the treaty of 1815. The Hon. Member could not conceive how that Court could be so impudent, for he knew no worse word —(Laughter)—by which to characterise her conduct. In his opinion, a less warrantable statement than that which he had just quoted, had never been made before a criminal judge. He must say that proceedings as these were only the commence ment of violations ; it led necessarily to more iminent risk of breach upon the peace of Europe, which was now deprived of all security. Notwithstanding the sacrifices at which that peace had been gained, and security to Poland guaranteed, the vio lations of these had new been such that her Majesty was under the necessity of emphatically marking her opinion of them from the throne. It became this country then to express their abhorence of the deed. The time was now come when matters so serious, must be viewed in a proper light, and he hoped her majesty's Ministers would be moved to exert their utmost power to express their abhorrence of the act; he hoped the house would do the same, and that the blouse had it in their power to exhibit their indignation emphatically, as he hoped to show. Ile must, however, notice in passing the representation givers by the Noble Lord (Lord G. I3entinck) of the situation of Cracow. That Noble Lord stated that the Polish inhabitants of Cracow, on the occasion of the entry of foreign troops into their country, had danced and made bonfires, and exhibited other demonstrations of joy. He knew not what might be the source of the Noble Lord's information, but he (Mr. flume) had a document in his hand, the genuineness of which he did not doubt for a moment, giving a picture the very opposite of that drawn by the Noble Lord; and he must think that the Noble Lord's description applied to the oppressors and not to the oppressed. He said he had yet to show that money had been paid, and was being paid, to one of the contracting powers, which ought not to be paid. By the fourth article of the treaty of Vienna, a treaty between England, Russia, end Holland, was set forth respecting the Russo-Dutch Loan, which was payable on two contingencies. One of these was the allegiance of Belgium to the King of the Netherlands. England bound herself for the interest, 25,000,000 florins, at 1 per cent., payable from the year 1815 to the year 1915, just one hundred years ; and art Act was passed in that House to enable the Government to make that payment. But in 1831 there was a change. Lithe year 1830, Belgium was separated by a revolution from the Crown of Netherlands. England sanctioned the separation, and yet continued to pay the money stipulated in the treaty. He thought they were then paying what they had no right to pay, ar.d he in his place stated then that he thought they were wrong. The Government on that occasion were not convinced, but on second thoughts they afterwards brought in; an Act to sanction the payment. In the year 1831 there was a new convention negotiated between England and Russia, al tering the treaty of 1815 to suit the change of circumstances. and that convention, after stipulating identity of conduct be tween the courts of London and St. Petersburgh, in respect of Belgium, re-organised the treaty of Vienna as binding, and stipulated its observance. An Act ratifying that Convention. was brought in and passed in the 2d and 3d of William IV., c. 81. If such, then, was the express declaration of that Act and that convention, equally binding as was the former Act and treaty, he asked the House now to set aside that Act as they had set aside the treaty of 1815. If he asked them to do that because it was his own opinion, they might consider it of very little value, but a learned civilian, who was very com petent to farm a correct judgment on the subject, said that ill consequence of the infraction of the treaty by Russia the Go vernment of England was absolved from paying the loan for which they had ssipulated. If they continued to pay it another Act of Parliament would be necessary according to this gentleman's views, for they could not do so by the Act under which they paid it now. He was indebted to the Hon. Member for Kinsale for the op i nion that they had no legal right to pay the money. That Hon. Gentleman also put into his hand an extract from Vatel, which was to the effect, thet the several articles composing one treaty could not be consi. tiered as several distinct treaties. There could be no doubt but the treaty of Vienna had been violated, and it was also equally true that while in the ratification of that treaty there were some of the articles agreed to, and there were others objected to. If one part, therefore, of the obligation was broken, there was nothing obligatory i n th e rema i n d er. W e ha d also ex tracts from Grotius and from Martin's " Law of Nations" to support the same view. Let them now see how the payments of the Russian-Dutch loan . had proceeded. From 1816 to 1846 there had been 645,93 31 . o f principal of this loan paid off, and 2,728,000/. n i n t erest, making a total of 3,374,0001. A pretty sum that for a havecoun try which mor e thanthe Chancellor6o,oco asl. of th e surplus Exclteguer revenue sal d for wo t ul he pre_ not the sent year I The Hon. Member then read over the thirtdretso lution which he intended to move, and proceeded to say that he had now progressed, step by step , in unfolding the shown thevarious pro ceedings connected with that convention. He had ' sacrifices which England made from the year 18 15 re — d he y al hact shown that the treaty of Vienna had been cons who were parties to it as the basis of the future national arrangements treaty bad beery agreed to by the contracting parties , that several articles in that of Europe and that the independ ence— he had shown a manifest violation of that the proceedings of Au of Cracow was express s ly tr f a re ua w ra e nteed in it. He had shown: that solemn engagement--he had read shown extracts that r Lo rda from several Palmerston: concurred in this opinion. He had au thorities on thelate Northernw h of treaties, p h who unanimously had ous shown lyschoo thatndemned the proceedings of while Russia had broken her treaties, England had strictly kept here. He did think, therefore, that under these circum.. stances the Ministry ought to have the moral courage to take the course which he proposed to them, and not permit the people of England to be parties to this Russian degradation. At all events ho hoped the House of Commons would not, as far as they were concerned, suffer such an infraction of the most solemn treaties without pronouncing against it their strongest condemnation. The Hon. Member concluded by moving the resolutions, which will be found at the commence... went of this speech. Lord SANDON seconded the motion, and thought himself fully warranted in doing so. The most remarkable part of the transaction :appeared t o hi m to be the undisg uised manner which these P owers carried out their intentions. The Nobles Lord proceeded to draw the attention of the House to the correspondence that passed between the Charge des Affaires of' France, the Earl of Westmorland, and the Minister of Foreign Affaires in Prussia, from the Ist of April, when the movements of the great powers became suspected_ tili the 25th June, when the Earl of Aberdeen wrote his dispatch to the British consul at Warsaw.. After a silence of three months a formidable dispatch ap peared, to which the name of Prince Metternich was attached,. setting forth, first, that Cracow had forfeited all title to be art, independent state ; and, secondly, that no other powers had any right to be consulted as to any proceedings which the three powers might think proper to adopt with respect to it. But to enter into a controversy on all the points, after they had; been so fully dealt with by the Ministers of France and England. would be a work of supererogation, yet it seemed but naturak that the House should express its concurrence in the courser taken by the Government of this country with respect to thee conduct of these powers. He was one of those who utterly repudiated the doctrine, that the question ought to be con.. sidered as a domestic one in which the other powers oh Europe ought not to be consulted ; it was a most extraordinary tho whole proceeding. argument clperhapsClearly the y t h em distinct ostez t tr a a ta o t r tih d p i eu n i a ata r the. thing oll i• tween Austria, Russia, and England was, that El