The Sun. — London, England, 1847-02-16 00:00:00

IniTITIONS ON PRIVATE BILLS ROUSE OF COMMONS. (Room 22, before Mr. Examiner SMrrn.) UNOPPOSED LIST. In the two following unopposed cases the customary formal proofs were put. In, and the standing orders complied with : Liverpqol Oorporation Waterworks. Eastern Union and Bury St. Edmund's Railway Amalga ntation. OPPOSED LIST. BLANDFORD AND BURTON. This adjourned case was then resumed. It occupied the whale of the day, but the allegations sustained were not of any great importance. (Room 13, before Mr. Examiner MAT.) USOPPOSED LIST. In the following unopposed cases the formal proofs were com pleted:— Great Northern Lailway—lfertford, Hatfield, and S t . Al ban's Branch. Great Northern Railway—Deviation between Grantham and York. Boston, Stamford, and Birmingham Railway—Branch to Wisbech Harbour, and \Visbech Harbour Improvement. Boston, Stamford, and Birmingham Railway—from Wis bech to Sutton Bridge, with Branch therefrom to Sutton St. Mary, and Improvement at Sutton Bridge. OPPOSED LIST. EDINBURGH, LEITH, AND GRANTON RAILWAY— LEITH AND GRANTON JUNCTION. In this opposed case it was decided that the - standing orders had not been complied with in one or two instances. EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY—ILFORD TO TIL BURY FORT AND SOUTHEND, WITH A BRANCH. In this case the opposition was withdrawn, and the custo mary formal proofs having been put in, the standing orders were declared to have been complied with. GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY—DEVIATIONS BE TWEEN PETERBOROUGH, BOSTON, AND DON CASTER. In this case also the opposition was withdrawn, and the standing orders complied with. Adjourned till to-morrow. ROYSTON AND HITCHIN RAIL WAY. The half-yearly general meeting of the shareholders of this company was held yesterday, at Radley's Hotel, New Bridge street, Blackfriars ; Lord Dacre in the chair. After the usual preliminaries, The CIIMAXAN .said—Before calling on the secretary to read the report, he thought it necessary to say that the num ber of shareholders present was not to be taken as an evi dence of the amount of shares held, for they far exceeded the number required to constitute a meeting. The SECRETARY then read the report, which stated that the directors, in accordance with the powers given them at the last half-yearly meeting of the proprietors, had concluded arrangements with the Great Northern Railway Company, and that in consequence of the abridgement of the line by Parliament, the capital to be called up for the purpose of constructing that portion of the railway then sanctioned would amount to 200,0004, being 6/. ss. per share. The agreement with the Great Northern Company provided for an application to Parliament for powers to lease the railway to them, the company (this being obtained) to execute a lease in perpetuity at an annual rent of 12,0001., being six per cent. on the capital before stated, the rent to commence on the opening of the Great Northern Railway from London to Hitchin, or on the 16th of July, 1849, the interest of five per cent. to be paid on the deposit and calls in the interim. The agreement also provided for an appli cation to Parliament for an extension of the line from Roy ston to Cambridge. The agreement contained a clause giving power to the Great Northern Company, on giving three months' notice to redeem, the annual rent or dividends at 50 per cent. premium on the share capital. The report, after congratulating the meeting on the arrangement that had been made with the great Northern Company, and alluding to the death of one of the directors, P. M. Stewart, Esq., M.P., in whose place had been elected Francis Parker, Esq., of Manchester, recommended that the number of directors should be in creased from fourteen to eighteen. The report concluded by stating that the directors were proceeding with the purchase of land for the construction of the railway, which would be completed by the Ist of May, 1849. An abstract of the receipts and payments of the company, since its formation, was then submitted to the meeting, Prom which it appeared that the expenditure was 23,1211. 18s. 5d., which left a balance in the banker's hands of 2,7681. 16s. 11d. The CUAIaMAN said it appeared to him that the report was so detailed, clear, and circumstantial, as to render any remarks from him quite unnecessary. But he was quite ready to elucidate any point that might require explanation. He would, therefore, move the adoption of the report. Dr. Ssow seconded the resolution, which was carried una nimously. M. J. Underwood was re-elected as auditor, and Messrs ' J. Arbouin, W. S. Boyd, T. Pym, and Captain J. M. Laws R.N., were elected directors in conformity with the recom mendation of the board. A special meeting was then held to consider the agreement made with the Great Northern Company. The SECRETARY read the agreement together with the draft of the two Bills. The agreement was unanimously sanctioned. Mr. LEECH proposed and Mr. UNDEawoon seconded a vote of thanks to the chairman and the other directors, which was also carried unanimously. The meeting then separated. MEDICAL CIIARITIES in IRELAND. MEETING OF' THE IRISH PARTY. A meeting of the members of the Irish party was held at the office of the Great Munster Railway Company, Parlia ment-street, at two o'clock, yesterday; Lord Monteagle in the chair. The following noblemen and gentlemen were in attend ance :—Marquis of Sligo, Earl of Mountcashel, Lord Massa rene, Viscount Bernard, M.P., Sir Arthur Brooke, M.P., W. S. O'Brien, M.P., P. S. Butler, M.P., W. Bunbury, M.P., A. Lefroy, M.P., H. Tuite, M.P., J. Martin, M.P., J. H. Hamilton, M.P., Sir E. Haves, Bart., M.P., G. A. Hamiltcn, M.P., and E. Grogan, After a lengtheried discussion on the medical charities in Ireland, the following resolutions were agreed to : "That whatever be the future system for the relief of the sick poor, it is our opinion that it is essentially necessary to provide by law for a strict and complete inspection of all the medical charities in Ireland." "That the Chairman be requested to communicate this resolution to Mr. Labouchere." The Landed Property Improvement Bill was then dis cussed, and suggestions made for alterations in several of its clauses; atter which the meeting adjourned. The future meetings of the members of the Irish party are to be held at 16, King-street, St. James's. LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF Q UEEN'S BEACH, Feb. 15. FISIIER V. ASIIWKLL. Only two special jurors answered to their names. The Clerk of the Court inquired if a tales were prayed ? Mr. KNOWLES, who led for the plaintiff, said he did not wish to pray a tales. He apprehended that, as the cause had been arranged, there w as no nee d o f comp l e ti ng th e jury. Lord DENMAN—If you want a verdict, you can't have it without a jury. Mr. KNOWLES hinted at the desirability of saving expense. Lord DENNIAN—That is all very well in its proper place; but there is another consideration. Parties have been sum moned to attend here, and have come day by day, probably at great inconvenience. I don't like to deprive them of the little advantage that they are entitled to. A tales was then prayed. and the number of twelve having been completed by common jurors, Mr. KNowrxs said that this was an action brought by the plaintiff against one of the directors of the Staffordshire Potteries and Liverpool and Manchester Direct Junction Railway to recover a sum of money paid upon shares. Since the commencement of the action the matter in dispute had been arranged. The plaintiff was now satisfied by explana tions given that there was no cause of action against the defendant, and it was agreed that a verdict should be taken for the latter, the plaintiff making a public acknowledgment in Court that there was no imputation. A nominal verdict was taken for the defendant. COURT OF EXCHEQUER.--Feh. 15. (Sittings at Nisi Prins before the LORD CLUE? BARON and Special Juries.) Several cases were disposed of during the day, none of which, however, presented any features of public interest. The Court of Exchequer commence their sittings in London tomorrow. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Feb. 15. (Sittings at Guildhall, before Mr. Justice COLTMAN). CRIV. 01N.-11AWKES r. MOORE. This was an action brought by the plaintiff, the landlord of the Jolly Butchers public-house, Newport-market, St. Martin's-lane, against Mr. Moore, a print seller, in the same locality, for damages for the seduction of his wife. Mr. Sergeant :Bytes and Mr. Bramwell appeared for the plaintiff; and Mr. Cockburn and Mr. Pigot for the defence. Mr. Sergeant Bvt.cs opened the case for the plaintiff, going over the evidence he intended t o a dd uce. Ile stated, that in 1833, the mariage of the plaintiff t o hi s wife took place, and that they lived together for many years in a comfortable state. A short time ago he took the Jolly Butchers public-house, and then commenced the intimacy which had led to the present action. The defendant had been in the habit of attending the, house, and the result was an estrangement of the wife's affec tions, which ended in the neglect of her child, and her ulti mate elopement with the defendant. The result was, the plaintiff neglected his business, and acquired habits of in toxication, so affected bad he been by the conduct of his wife, and now the oniy course left him was to recover damages for the injury done in a court of law. Several witnesses were called to prove the marriage of the parties, and that they had for some time lived together in a comfortabie manner. . _ vv Catherine Ryan was the first material witness called. She had been servant at the Jolly Butchers, and deposed that the defendant was in the practice of attending the public house, and that she had noticed several acts of intimacy between plaintiff's wife and the defendant. She further stated that various quarrels took place between them, which ended in their separation about Christmas, 1845. In cross-examination, the witness stated that the plaintiff often struck his wife, and was in the habit of getting repeat edly drunk. John Ceoke, a butcher, in Newport-market, who had been in the practice of attending the Jolly Butchers, gave evidence to a similar effect; and further, that on one occasion, in December, 1845, he had late at night seen the defendant and plaintiff's wife come out of a house of ill fame together. J_oseph Bates, a nurseryman, near Oxford, stated that he had assisted she plaintiff in getting up the case. He had done s() because he had been in town on business, and had known the plaintiff before. When the plaintiff's wife left, the plaintiff did not know where she had gone to, and wit ness endeavoured to find her out. After isome difficulty he traced her to a house in Islington, w he re s h e w as li v i ng w i t h the defendant under the name of Mrs. Moore. stated Harriet Willis tell that she lived at 35, Charl o tt e -t er . rice, Islington. She the first floor of her h ouse a b ou t Christmas, 1845, toa lad who called herself M rs . M oore . Mr. A gentleman named Moore came oft en th ere an d s l ept with Mrs. Moore. Th ey p d as man and w if e . Th e defen dant had that morning been po i nted out to h er ou t s id e o f the wart, and it was the sam e Moore at her apartments. g e ntleman as lived w ith M rs. 's proved having Mr. Kingdom, the plaintiff the previous wit pointed out the defendant that morning to ness, in order to identify him. This was the case for the plaintiff. COCKBLAIN, for the defence, said that after the evidence Of the witness, Mrs. Willis, he had no intention of opposin g a verdict for the plaintiff, but the question to which he would address himself, would be that of damages, which, he submitted, should be only nominal. Though he admitted that Mrs. Hawkes had lived under the protection ofithe defendant after she had been turned off, yet be was instructed to repudiate the evidence of the witness Cooke, and to deny that any criminal intercourse had ever taken place while under her husband's roof. The Learned Gentleman then went on to show that the plaintiff, up to the time of his wife leaving, though he was in the habit of continually ill-using her, he never imputed anYttillg wrong to tho defendant. Lie would further prove that not only - up till the period of Mrs. Hawkes leaving, but for many months after, he was in the habit of continually receiving loans of money from the defendant ; and that not till after Mr. Moore had refused further sums, was there a word about the present action. At the very time, therefore, that he was stated to be droop ing away and withering on a ccoun t o f hi s w if e ' s faithless ness, the injured husband was drawing continually from the seducer's exchequer, and only when the latter would bleed no more, did he think of recovering damages in a court of law. The ill-usage of the plaintiff to his wife before she left could not, therefore, arise from his belief that the de fendant had seduced her, or, if it did, then he was the most crawling wretch upon the face of the earth to coin money, as he must have done, out of the seduction of his wife. Several witness were called in support of those allegations, proving that for many years, and before he took the Jolly Butchers, he had been in the habit of getting drunk and ill using his wife, and also on the other points relating to ad vances of money by the defendant to the plaintiff. The former had received sums of money from the defendant so late as in Jnne last, and about six months after plaintiff 'a wife had left, and placed herself under the protection of the defendant. Mr. •Justice COLTMAN summed up, and the jury raturned a verdict for the plaintiff—damages, 1001. EXECUTION OF A POLISH CON SPIRATOR AT POSEN. PosEs, FEE. 2.—Our paper of to-day contains the follow ing warning advertisement : " On the 9th of January this year, the mounted gendarme Komorkiewicz, from Rogasen, met in the village of Stud zeniec, about a mile from the former place, an unknown man, dressed as a peasant, who was smoking his pipe on the road. The gendarme followed the stranger to the public house in the village, in order to call hint to account, and, as his suspicions were awakened, took this opportunity of ask ing for his passport. The stranger delivered up a parcel of papers, which the gendarme declared unsatisfactory, inti mating to him, at the same time, that if he were not able to give a better account of himself, he would have him trans ported to Rogasen. The stranger, who was walking up and down the room behind the gendarme, who was examining the papers, then drew out a pistol and fired it at him. The police servant, struck by the shot, fell slowly to the ground, while the culprit, tiring a second pistol at some peasants who rushed into the room on hearing the report, fled across the fields towards a neighbouring wood. After having destroyed some papers which he had kept back from the gendarme, and having in vain sought to defend himself with a pistol in one hand and a dagger in the other, he was ultimately seized by the peasants, and transported to Rogasen. The gendarme, Komorkiewicz, died on the 17th of January from the effects of the wound. The culprit, who, according to his own ac count, was a Polish emigrant from Warsaw, by the name of Anton von Babinski, and a member of the Democratical So ciety of Paris, and who had sojourned in the Grand Duchy of Posen since the 4th of January this year, with a view of promoting the objects of this society, relative to the restora tion of Poland, was, in accordance with the royal decree of 7th March, 1846, by order of the undersigned General, placed before a court-martial on the 30th of January, by which he was unanimously condemned to be shot, for having, with arms in his hands, made a murderous assault upon the person of an officer of justice. The sentence having been confirmed by the undersigned General-in-Command, was publicly carried into execution this day, Feb. 1, 1847. (Signed) "V. COLOMB, " The General Commanding the Fifth Corps of the Army." POSEN, FEB. I. (From a Private Communication.) — During the execution which took place here this day (see article above) all the troops of the garrison formed an open square towards the cannon shed. The prisoner was led out in front of this building, and a section of infantry, consisting of twelve men, having been ordered forward, took up their position at a distance of five feet from him. His eyes were then bandaged, and he had hardly knelt down before his breast was pierced by twelve balls. lie fell without a groan. During the trial Babinski seems to have revealed very little, so that it is not yet decided whether the name put forward is the true one. He took all blame upon himself, without incriminating any one by his confessions. It is, therefore, not probable that the arrest of Mr. V. B. is at all connected with the fate of the executed prisoner, unless the rumour be true that he had sojourned some time in the house of that gentleman. Towards evening yesterday the president of our police, llerr Munstoli, paid a visit to V. 8., who is said to have told him that his name was well known to the Propaganda in Paris, and that they generally attri buted the failure of their projected conspiracy to his vigi lance, and that he (Von B.) had in consequence set out with the determination of murdering him, in order to remove so formidable an obstacle to the restoration of Poland. The prisoner died without having betrayed the least weakness; on the contrary, he repeatedly saluted the people who fol lowed the procession to the Kanonenplatze. THE SUN, LONDON, TTJEgDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 16, 1847 introduced at the present moment for the purpose of meeting what was supposed to be a temporary exigency, not for the purpose of creating a precedent, but intro duced upon its own grounds, and he had a confident belief that it would be found most beneficial. It un doubtedly would have given him more satisfaction to have introduced to the consideration of their Lordships a measure which had for its object to stimulate employ ment in Ireland. 'lt was his duty to press upon their Lordships the necessity of passing the measure with the least possible delay. The Noble Marquis concluded by moving the second reading of the Bill. Lord BROUGHAM wished to offer a few observa tions on the first of the series of measures which the Government intended to bring forward with respect to Ireland, now that it was practically before them. He felt deeply for the lamentable distress, accounts of which arrived by every post, not only from the sister kingdom, but from Scotland and the north of England. But there was one fact on which the eye reposed with out the least discomfort—namely, the good feeling which generally prevailed on the subject of distress throughout the country, and the absence of all indul gence in splenetic feeling, of all violent invective, by Members of either House of Parliament. He hardly knew what part of the Bill to commence with ; but in the outset, he could not help repeating the opinion which he shadowed forth at the beginning of the session (and he said it in no offensive spirit), that they ought to have assembled earlier in the year.—(Hear, hear.) That was not the time at which they ought to have been called upon to discuss the measure. He was most decidedly of opinion that their Lordships ought to have been called together in the month of November. It might be said, however, that it was better not to bring the Irish Members and landlords over to this country, but to leave them in Ireland. If it was for the good of Ireland that the Irish landlords should remain in Ireland in the month of November, it was equally urgent for them to bo there now.—(Hear, hear.) It was doubtful even whether the landlords would do the more good by remaining in Ireland or coming over to this country, especially when it was considered that upon the estate of one nobleman 4,000 ejectments had been issued, and that, too, in the middle of one of the most severe winters, and in a season of unparalleled scarcity. He held it as his most decided opinion that it was no part of the duty of any Government to feed the people of any country, or to provide food, or wages, or labour for the people; but it was the duty of a Government to secure the rights of property, never to interfere upon any pre text with either the one right or the other, to remove every obstacle, to relieve the people from every impedi ment to their progress, either of law or of violence, the iniquity of man or of the courts, by improving the laws, or amending the laws, by improving the Legislature, but not to interpose anything in the way of every man dealing with his property and employing his la bour as he thought fit and might feel inclined. The Go vernment had no vocation or obligation imposed upon it by the relative situations of ruler and subject to provide either food or labour for the people. This principle should be deeply imprinted upon the minds of every Government—it was a principle which should never be de parted from except upon cases of the most urgent ne cessity. The proof of this emergency rested upon those who claimed this exception. Another proof which he required in his proposition was, that they could so apply the funds entrusted to their care as to grant the relief in question. It was also a part of the proposition, and a necessary essential condition, that the State had no vocation to give any relief whatever ; all the funds which they voted away was solely and entirely the property of others. There were certain positions in which it was more difficult to stand still even when persons knew that if they moved it was at their highest peril. It was more difficult sometimes to do nothing even when they were convinced that it was their duty to do nothing. The next position was, that the Government must take especial care in the present emergency that what they did did not tend to make things worse, and thereby do harm instead of good. It might not, perhaps, be considered as too bold of him to say that it was hardly possible to devise any remedy but would create more harm than the relief it gave or pro fessed to have given. It was not according to nature that it should be so, or in accordance with the rules and structure of society. All the measures adopted by Government had gone upon an entirely different prin ciple. The Government sent over money to Ireland. called upon the people to come to work, they found the work for them, paid them for the work, and who could doubt but that was the cause of great mischief. Their Lordships had had a lesson already of the ill effects of such a course of proceeding in the evil results which had followed the Labour-rate Act passed last session. The Government were now attempting to remedy that mistake; but it was too late, the effects would still re main ; they had got into a slough, and worse than that, their feet were caught so that they could not get back again, for having spoiled all the roads throughout the country, it was but fair that the Government should accede to the request of the people of Ireland at least to put the roads in the same state as they found thetn.—(Laughter.) He looked upon the present measure with some degree of suspicion; he thought that its effects would be felt even after the famine had passed over; but they had diverted the labour of the country. and thereby caused great mischief. The present 8 , 11 was certainly a little more disguised than the former one. In a letter written by Sir G. Grey to the Lord Lieutenant, he stated that relief should only be given in food, to be purchased out of the funds placed at the - disposal of the committees from the three sources—assessment for the relief of the peer, charitable subscriptions and donations, and Government help. Then the letter went on to say that there would be a gratuitous distribution of food on a large scale, but the corn or flour meal was never to he sold at less than cost price. An ordinary reader would learn such a re solution with horror —he (Lord Brougham) did not mean a political economist, that much maligned indivi dual—he meant such a reader as could count ten upon his fingers. The food, then, was not to be sold at less than cost price ; but the very next sentence went on to ,ay that the food was to be given for—nothing ! The Marquis of LANSDOWNE—To those who are starving. Lord BROUGHAM continued to say, that whether the buyer was starving or not, the extreme conditions on which the Government were to let him have food were cost price, or nothing.—( Laughter.) Supposing a person had fourpence, but the cost price of the corn was a shilling, the Government however, would absolutely refuse to take the fourpence, and would rather give away the flour and meal for nothing. He asked them why they wou'd not take what the poor people could give ; there were many degrees between want and wealth ; why, he asked them, would they not take the man's groat ? He did not wish to be understood as slighting, by anything he said, the difficulty of dealing with the subject— ( Hear, hear, had objecto u ght g forletterwhich agreed, amore th a t this clear been en and m sensible than it was; indeed it was too clear.—(La ug ht er .) B ut the letter proceeded, " It is of great importance," i n t h at h e (Lord ' kept ßre in egharn) quiteu view, namely, the preservation of th e re l at i ons between o there the the labourer and the landowner." But he (Lord Brougham con tended that the measure before their Lordship s had just tendency to prevent that. The letter adds that th e relief must be applied in a way which should not tend to encourage idleness, The encouragement of idleness would just be the effect p ro du?ed, for between t he two p a rties in the market, the labourer and the a griculturalist, a third party interfered, and offered the labourer, in case he could not purchase at a certain price, a full su pply of his wants for nothing ; the effect which that " would have upon the la bour market could not b e th that it would prove a labour," e Right Hon. Secretary h a d i t . Such a men sure stimulus t o a matter of doubt w ith an y on e , at least no one, he thought as tche could could ldppo letterof prove no stimulus to labour in a country where the people were certainly not characterised by the industry of the Eng lishman er the pride of the Scotchrean—th e pride which would not suffer him to beg, if the severest struggles could maintain h i s self-dependence ; nay. the Scotchman—and praise and ho nour be to him for it—would rather starve and lie down and die quietly en his own hill-side rather than be obliged to ask alms of another and betake himself to begging for his support. That was actually the case at the present moment in that country; he revered the people there for that trait, which did them honour, t h e i r feeling no doubt being that of the Italian poet, when he said of his own case that he had been under the notes. city of standing and receiving alms, but that was an act that made him tremble at every fibre of his frame with shame and indignation. Yet the Government appeared to think that the present measure would pro ve a stimulus to labou r. The letter to which he had already s o often alluded p roceeded wi th its in structions to the Government agents, who were directed never to give food, dour, meal, or soup for nothing, to any individual, Inrifahipx littantinn this.—oleh o-rory aiuglr case without in each ease — he ( Lord Brou g ham ) be gg e d their would necessarily be different from another—yet the distribu tion of food for nothing was not to be made without in each case being convinced that the person could not find labour in order to obtain wages with which to pay for the food. Why, the case supposed was that of a person starving, about whom this eircuitoua inquiry was to be made and satisfied before re lief could be administered. In fact it was an instruction that could not be carried into effect ; it was utterly impossible to carry it out. But not the least painful part of the whole case was to have to make the remarks which he felt it his duty to make on behalf of the interests of the country at large, on be half of Englishmen, and of all who could support themselves, whether English or Irish. The measure would not end with the present year in all the evil consequences which would cer tainly follow upon its operation in draining labour from the pursuits of agriculture, but even, supposing the crops should improve next ye a r, and that the disease in the potato should be cured, still the effect would be seriously felt on the labour market. The Noble Lord then proceeded to eulogise one little district in Ireland where the poor had contributed)of 176/., and where they could not give money others contri in money to the amount buted labour in relief of the distressed and necessitous ; it was altogether a case, he said, worthy to be exhibited as an honour able, a noble exemplar. But he was sorry to add , that i rthesame district where the poor people had acted in so noble a manner, and contributed 1761., besides labour , the rich land lords had contributed 401. The Noble Lord then referred to the case of the Misses Gaskell, who had gone to Ireland to d live upon their estates, for the purpose of superintending the of their charity, and in order that their charity —which he deprecated being misunderstood to speak against— in order that their charity might be free from abase. H e could refer to other noble cases, and among the others that of Lady Carberry, who had actually reduced herself to the mere necessaries of life that she might minister to the necessi ties of the neighbourhood. But that was a noble and a useful example, and such had been exhibited by the Misses Gaskell ; they had been able to effect great good on behalf of the really necessitous. These ladies reported that at least one third of the Government money was received by those who had really no claim on the benevolent. That showed the good which would result from these benevolent ladies super• intending the distribution of their own charity, and it evinced the evil arising from the efforts of the Government, well meant, perhaps, but ill-directed. Yet these were evils which would spread and take deeper root, and throw a more dismal shadow over the whole of the land. He hoped, at the same time, that his observations would not be misunderstood by the persons across St. George's Channel, who were accustomed to think that the union had much to do witi the evils which were at present existing in that country—persons who were accustomed to look back to their golden age m the period when a body existed not a bow-shot from the Cdlege, or College-green--a body so pure, the most upright and honourable since the days of the Spartans, the most distinguished for Lacedzernonian purity while it existed. Bat it would be found that even in these days there were evils prevailing. The Noble Lord then referred to a letter from Lord Chancellor Jocelyn to Lord Chancellor Hardwick. , It 04W that in Ireland goy were that in a very raelaneholy FLANDERS MAIL. BRUSSELS, FEB. 11.-A letter from Berlin, of the Sth, says—" Yesterday public prayers were offered up in all the churches of the capital for the recovery of the Queen." The Cologne Gazette publishes a long correspondence, from Berlin, on the state of the relations of England and of Franco with Spain. It says that Germany ought to take advantage of this moment to renew the amicable connexion which existed between Germany and Spain, and whick seemed advantageous to the commerce and manufactures of both countries. BERLIN, FEB. 11.—The bulletins respecting the herath of her Majesty the Qurea continue to give more satis factory accounts, and we trust that we may confidently expect her entire restoration, though her recovery will dcubtless be gradual. The following bulletia was issued yesterday morning:— " Ilor Majesty the Queen slept the greater part of the night; the lever has abated a little. (Signed) " Dr. SCIIONLEIN. " Dr. VON sTAscii. " Dr. GRIMON. " Berlin, Feb. 10, A...m." 1 GALWAY ELECTION. (From the Dublin Erening Post.) GALWAY, FRWAY, FEB. 12.—The high sheriff, Michael Browne, Esq., of Gurtcullen, opened the Court this day at eleven o'clock, and read her Majesty's writ, and called upon the electors to propose a fit and proper person to represent them in Parliament. Anmun IRELAND, Esq., proposed Anthony O'Flaherty, Esq., of Knockbane ; JOHN GUNNING, Esq., seconded the nomination. LACIILAN MACLACHLAN, Esq., proposed James Henry Monahan, Esq.. her Majesty's Solicitor-General; the norni nation was seconded by RH:nano LYNCH. Esq. JAMES STEPHENS, Esq., proposed Richard O'Gorman, jun., Esq., who was seconded by Tptorny MURRAY, Esq. The several candidates essayed to address the electors, but so great was the uproar that not a syllable could be heard. It was agreed between all parties that the Court should adjourn, and the polling commence to-morrow (Saturday) at ten o'clock. Messrs. Steele, Broderick, Fitzpatrick, Clements, Martin Crean, and John A. Quigley, are here from the Conciliation hall, to assist in Mr. O'Flahertv's return; and Messrs. R. O'Gorman, jun., M. J. Barry, John Mitchell, J. F. Meag her, John Dillon, Edward O'Flaberty, and O'llara, from the " Young Ireland Confederation," are here for the same purpose. FIRE AT Runt MILLS, NEAR NORTHAMPTON.-A fearful lire broke out on the above premises on Wednesday morning last, about half-past two, causing a destruction of property to a serious amount. The alarm was first given by the unusually loud and irregula r w hi s tli ng from the mall train from l'eterborough, which ordinarily arrives at North ampton at the thus above stated. On the manager, Mr. G. W. Hayes, being aroused by the whistle, and looking out of his bed-room window, he discovered the west side of the mill a complete body of flame. He arose and instantly dispatched a messenger for the engine, but the man met the County Fire Office engine about half a mile from the spot, the engine driver of the mail train having, immediately on his arrival at the station, apprised the fire-engine superintendent of the outbreak. Iu about ten minutes afterwards another engine arrived, which was closely followed by a third. Through the admirable exertions of the firemen, under the direction of Mr. C. Smith, the superintendent of the engines, the pro gress of the lire was stopped by four o'clock, and at seven it was completely subdued. The dwelling-house (which was only seven feet from the part of the mill where the fire was raging most furiously), rag house, and part of the northern end of the mill, were saved. The manager of the mill went round the premises at half past ten the preceding night; at that time everything was apparently safe, and the boiler fire, which was the only one in the mill, backed up in the usual way, and having its ordinary appearance. The origin of the fire must be left to conjecture. Several causes may be as signed for it, but nothing positive can be ascertained, though it is evident it originated near the steam boiler.— Northamp ton Herald. LOST AND FOUND —Last Tuesday the bellman went through Newport crying a reward for the discovery of the body of a workman at the factory, supposed to be buried in the snow, and in a short time after a large body of the factory workmen, with besoms on shoulder, a la militaire, were seen marching in steady order, having in the midst the heavy wet body of their lost and found brother, whom they bad discovered after a long absence, rioting in the pleasures of Bacchus, just to keep out the cold, and were now carrying home in triumph. This public mode of pu nishing " absence without leave" from work, and intoxica tion, seamed to have even a better effect upon the poor fellow than the punishment of the police-court.—Monmouthshire DEATH IN AN OMNIBUS.—On Saturday Mr. T. Wakley, M.P., held an inquest at the Nag's Head, New Compton-street, Soho, on the body of Mr. William King, aged seventy-one. The evidence proved that the deceased, who was a native of Oxford, had for some time past resided in London, and carried on the business of a printer. He had formerly been a compositor, and was, for some weeks pre vious to his demise, sojourning at the Cross Keys Tavern, Endell-street, Holborn. On Thursday last he went out about ten in the morning, and got into a Paddington om nibus, when he was suddenly taken in a fit, and the rest of the passengers becoming alarmed, the vehicle was stopped, but before the deceased could be conveyed to a surgeon's life was totally extinct. A post .mortem examination proved death to have been the result of apoplexy. Verdict, "Natural death.' _ DEATH IN THE SNOVI.—The snow storm, which has affected the whole country nearly, has been most severely felt in the vicinity of Bath and Bristol, in which neighbour hoods the snow drifts have in many places been very deep and extensive. In many parts the drifts have been more than five or six feet in depth. On Thursday, as some persons were passing up Brentree-hill, in the neighbourhood of Westbnry-on-Trym, and within two miles of the city of Bristol, they discovered the body of an aged man, an agricul tural labourer, residing in the neighbourhood, nearly buried in the snow. The body was quite cold and stiff, and he had evidently been dead for some hours. A loaf of bread was found under his arm, from which it is conjectured that on the previous night he must have been making his way up the hill, and haring been probably overcome with fatigue, and lost his way, the unfortunate man sank in the snow. and perished from the inclemency of the weather. FOREIGN SUPPLIES.—The traffic to and from Rot terdam has been open during the past week, even for the large steamers trading from London to that port, and se veral arrivals of cattle and provisions have taken place, as avlosorrtinfr the e other Dutch ports, the produce of Holland. No arrivals • have taken pl ace f rom H o ll an d a t th e por t of hull a past week ; neithe r h ave an y t a k en pl ace a t th a t a m tc io e in t e r t o ni pns continuation l a i tt s iico f x r o o m rotf b l te l hi a en m gt b hs u at r iN g lvl b i , An, the navigation to p an ed a n e a d c te from The , have op ene d the Elbe for navigaboleualdspt,uarittpeooswefsaibebexyui the frost again setting the increased severity, will pre clude the possibilityof e same taking place f or th e p resen t. s S —The Sp ea k er w ill h o ld two TH le ig ree S s P o l3 n A l 4 y E ( a lu ' rin g the present session—.the first on Saturday, the 20th, and th e second on Satu rday, iebruary, at tea y'dgck. the 27th of IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 13. Their Lordships met at the usual hour. POOR REMOVAL ACT. Lord PORTMAN presented a petition from the inha bitants of Blandford, in the county of Dorset, in vestry assembled, praying their Lordships to amend the law passed last session relating to the removal of the poor. Lord MONTEAGLE moved for a reprint of the re port of the Poor-law Commissioners of 1834 relative to out-door relief ; also for a reprint of the report of the Irish Poor-law Commissioners on the same subject. Ordered. CROWN LANDS IN IRELAND. The Marquis of WESTMEATH moved for various returns relative to Crown lands in Ireland. Ho had urged upon the Commissioners of Woods and Forests the propriety of bringing in a Bill to regulate the abuses connected with these estates, but to the present time nothing had been done. He now moved for a copy of all communications that had passed during the last five years between the Commissioners of Woods and Forests and the agents and solicitor of the Crown lands in Kilglass, county Roscommon. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE requested the Noble Lord to give notice of the motion, which he had not done, and he would then, to-morrow evening, see if he could grant the information which he desired. Lord WESTMEATII acquiesced in the suggestion of the Noble Lord. Lord VIVIAN presented apetition cn the subject of the Bishoprics of St. Asaph and Bangor. REFORAI IN TIIE"CIIURCH. Earl FITZ WILLIAM presented a petition from J. Jordan, vicar of Ensham, in Oxford: the principal objects of the petition were, that an increase should take place in the number of those engaged in the ministry, and that the Bishops should be relieved of all legislative duties in their Lordships' House. He (Earl Fitzwilliam) did not concur in the last sugges tion. The petitioner stated that there ought to be fonr provinces and fifty-two dioceses, and that each diocese should not exceed 500,000 souls, and when extended over a large surface, not more than 300,000. The peti tion well deserved the attention of their Lordships. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that he was sure the Noble Lord was aware that there were many subjects in that petition which did not properly come within the scope of their discussion. lie would, in a day or so, lay upon the table of the House a report from a Commission appointed by her Majesty to inquire into the state of the bishoprics in the United Kingdom. The subject was one which deserved the serious consideration of their Lordships. RAMWAYS—STATE OF THE CURRENCY. Lord ASHBURTON rose to move for the following returns :—Capital stock authorised to be raised by rail way companies which have received the sanction of Parliament during the last two sessions ; the amount raised, laid out, and remaining unpaid ; sums autho rised and borrowed by the various railway companies from their commencement to the present time, distin guishing the amount borrowed each year, and the rate of interest paid by them. He said it was necessary that their Lordships should be furnished with such a return in order that they might be made acquainted with the exact condition of the circulation of the country. It ap peared that there had been a great drain of bullion on the banks of England for some few months past ; and although he did not say that there was any cause for alarm in the country, yet he could not help stating that a greater drain than ordinary was being made upon the finances of the country. The Government would be compelled to borrow large sums of money on Exchequer-bills to relieve the distresses of Ireland, and if this drain took place for railway purposes, they could not fail to have much difficulty in doing so. Last year the Par liament advised that no railway projects should be en couraged save those required by the wants of the country; but this year he thought they would do well, and prevent the derangement of the currency of the country, by confining their legislation during the present year to such Bills as were necessary for the purpose of remedying any defects or gaps in the Bills already passed, instead of entertaining any new projects. The great drain upon the Bank of England by railways prevented the Govern ment from obtaining money so easily on Exchequer-bills as heretofore; and as money was required for more urgent purposes, it was not right that they should derange the finances of the country, and prevent them from being pro perly applied to a more legitimate and pressing purpose. The Noble Lord said he would further move for a return of the Public Securities held by the Bank of England, and of the amount of capital paid into the Bank of England on behalf of railways, the rate of interest paid on it, and the periods at which it was re spectively paid in and drawn out. The Earl of CLARENDON said he regretted that his Noble Friend who had just moved for certain returns had departed from a very useful custom observed by their Lordships, in not having given due notice of the re turns which he intended to move for. He believed his Noble Friend had moved for returns of a very important and comprehensive nature, and the Noble Lord had ac companied his mention of them with some very important and useful remarks. Although he (Earl Cla rendon) had no objection to some of the returns which had been moved for, yet another part of the mo tion of the Noble Lord seemed to him to affect most intimately the great public financial interests of the country, and as far as the returns bore upon these he could not assent to their being granted with out due notice. Ile hoped the Noble Lord would post pone his motion to a future day. Lord MONTEAGLE questioned very much the ex pediency of some of the returns moved for by the Noble Lord being granted. He did not think the same ob jection lay against another part of the Noble Lord's motion, such as a return for the amount of capital which the different railway companies were authorised to raise, the amount which they had raised, the amount which they were empowered to borrow, and the amount of borrowing power which they retained still unexbausted ; these were returns to which there could be no possible objection, for the companies themselves were obliged by their own Acts to furnish these details to their shareholders. But n hen the Noble Lord moved for returns which would bear upon the rela tion existing between the Government and the Bank of England—when he moved for a state ment of the transactions between the Government and the Bank—he did not think it was quite expedient to grant such a return. He knew nothing more delicate at a critical period, although the present was not, in his opinion, such a time, yet, at a critical period, he knew nothing more delicate than to move for the amount and extent of the public securities at present in the possession of the Bank of England. This was not, he admitted, one of those critical periods which he had alluded to ; but the motion of the Noble Lord would establish a precedent. Let their Lordships only suppose a time when the exchanges should be against this country, and let them suppose a motion made for re turns either of the amount of Exchequer-bills cr of stock, they must see that the effect of that would be to communicate to persons buying and selling stock out of doors, what were the opera tions of the Bank of England, and these leery persona might take steps to neutralise these operations. Lord BROUGHAM fully agreed with the Noble Lord who had just spoken, that it was not expedient to move for returns as to the public securities. As far as the motion bore upon railway stock, the case stood very diffe rent, and he thought the returns might be granted without injury. The great press of railway business was now over; next year there would be no railways brought before the House, and now that the steed was stolen the Government were very carefully manufac turing a lock and key in order to prevent any others from being stolen. Lord ASHBURTON then consented to postpone his motion until Thursday next. It was not his intention to create the slightest alarm in the country; his object was only to obtain information upon an important subject. The real gist of the question was, how far the Bank of England had been compelled to reduce its general issues in consequence of the present drain upon the circulation, thereby preventing its being able to take up the Exche quer-bills as formerly. He did not think that the Bank of England would have any objection to grant the re turns he had moved for. DISTILLATION FROM SUGAR BILL. Messengers from the Commons brought up the Dis tillation from Sugar Bill. INFLUX OF IRISH PAUPERS INTO LIVERPOOL. Earl FITZWILLIAM moved for a return of the number of Irish paupers that had lately arrived in Liverpool. On the 7th of February, 2,585 had arrived in one day, and the total number from the 13th of Jan. to the 11th of Feb., was 27,012. It appeared that in one day, the 26th of Jan., 25,529 had received relief ; on the 27th, 23,313 ; on the 28th, 24,000 • and on the 29th, 24,000. Duri ng th e l as t ten d ays the number had considerably decreased—there had been only 6,000, 7,000, or 8,000 each day. Lord BROUGHAM—The average influx lately had been 900 a day. The Marquis of WESTMEATH thought it would be desirable to know how many of these were emigrants. Earl FITZ WILLIAM thought it would be impos. sible to ascertain that. Lord STANLEY thought that the number of those who were emigrants must be exceedingly small. The middle or end of March was the period of emigration. The Duke of WELLINGTON said it would be de sirable to have as much information as possible on the subject. Earl GREY agreed with the Noble Lord that in ordi nary years such was the period of emigration, but this year was an exception. There had been 6,00 0 or 7,000 emigrants this year to the United States. A NOBLE LORD would also move for Si return of th e number of emigrants into Newport, in Wales, and other seaports. Earl GREY thought, that though it might be pos sible to get the number that arrived in Liverpo o l, i t would be difficult to ascertain the number into other places. The motion was then agreed to. SUGAR DISTILLERIES BILL AND SUGAR BREWERIES BILL. Lord CL ARENDON said that ho proposed that these Bills should receive a second reading upon Friday next, and that no discussion should arise until the Bills went into Committee. POOR-LAW AMENDMENT. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE presented a petition from Mount Mellick, in the Queen's county, praying for union settlements. IRISH DESTITUTE RELIEF BILL. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said, in rising to move the second reading of this Bill, ho did not intend to detain the House, but merely to state the general principles of the Bill; and ho would first state that the Bill was limited in its character, and temporary in its duration, and it was a Bill which, ho considered, was only justified by the present state of Ireland. The Bill empowered the Lord-Lieutenant to appoint a relief commission, sitting in Dublin, who were empowered to relieve destitution. The Noble Lord then read the main provisions of the Bill. He had tile Pleaeure of stating that the Dill was solely condition, on account of the previous two hard winters ; for the people, accustomed to mild and temperate seasons, had not laid up provisions in sufficient quantity. Disease and fever then prevailed, and crime increased so much that they were obliged to send three judges on the assizes to Munster and Leinster. One of the judges had died of the gaol fever, and the Attorney-General, who had volunteered, for a benevolent purpose, to go on the same circuit, had died alto. The same letter stated that the judges were offended daily with the most miserable spectacles of expiring wretches, and the most noisome effluvia. The Noble Lord continued to say that much had been referred to the power of law, but he doubted whether it could ever re-create any near approach to an Irish Parliament. The position in which the people of England were at present placed was, that though straitened themselves, they were called upon for an advance of money which it was said would be_repaid. He would not question that the people of Ireland might really wish to repay, but what he had doubt of was, whether they would ever be able. But he had another reason for speaking as he had done ; he saw that notwithstanding all the clamoured necessity the Irish gentlemen still contrived to live in luxury with liveried servants and their French wines ; and one thing he would put to them was, how was it they did not pay so many taxes as the English people? They were at least free from those which pressed heavily on this country. There was the income-tax, which was very heavy in its operations, though not quite so heavy as it once was ; there were the cess-taxes, and, he believed, the land-taxes, which they were not subject to. (Lord Lansdowne—They pay quit rents.) Well, at least they were free from the payment of the income and cess- taxes, amount ing to four millions and a half, which this c untry had to pay. The land in Ireland did not maintain its own poor, as it did in England. Nevertheless he admitted that something must be done to prevent the painful state of distress iu the west of Ire land, for they had heard that 27,000 had come over to Liver pool in one month. It was quite a mistake to say that persons who came over at the rate of nine hundred a day were emi grants, intending to make their way to other parts of the world. They were professional beggars, who came there to obtain food, and to stay until they were removed. He was told that persons in Ireland who occupied an inferior position in life kept servants and carriages, which a similar class in this country would not dream of doing ; they were parties who were fit to pay a higher tax than th e y did. There were very few mort gages in France ; but in Ireland, reckoning the value of the rent of the land et 14,000,0001. a year, 5,000,0001. or 6,000,000/. went to the mortgagee annually. This was a great exascerbation of the evil under which they laboured, for the mortgagee did not care for the famine or failure of the potato crop.—( Hear, hear.) He was sorry to have felt it his duty to utter these unpalatable truths ; but he was not in the position of an individual who was bestowing his own charity— he was a law-giver and a law-maker; he was not giving away his own money, but the money of the public, one of whose trustees he was. The money was for the relief of the em ployer as well as the employed, and would in his opinion be injurious in the end to both. Lord LUCAN wished to ask the Noble and Learned Lord from whom he derived his information that as many as 4,000 ejectments had been made in a short time in one part of Ireland ? Lord BROUGHAM said the statement was made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the course of his address to the House of Commons on Friday last, and that it was not gainsaid by any one who heard it. Lord LUCAN said it was stated at the last sessions at Belli. oar 6,000 processes were issued ; now he was correct in saying that 400 had not been issued, and they were issued at the instance of middlemen for conacre, because no ejectment could be made on such a process. When the Noble Lord talked about wishing to discuss the question with great feeling, he could not help thinking that the speech which the Noble and Learned Lord had just delivered was more acri monious than any speech he had ever heard. He did not believe one word of the statement with respect to the eject ments. Lord BROUGHAM said it was stated that out of 6,200 cases 4,000 were processes, with this addition, that this accounted for the immense number which had emigrated to Liverpool. He naturally thought they were ejectments and not mere processes; for what could induce persons to come over in such large numbers, except that they had been ejected from their holdings ? The Marquis of WESTMEATH explained that the pro cesses were simply for debt, and not for ejectment. Lord STANLEY did not wish to offer any factious oppo sition to the passing of the measure, but was content to take it as a temporary measure—as one, however, which in his esti mation violated all the principles of political economy, and all the rules of common sense. It was a Bill which, if it had been submitted to him except for the purpose of meeting a temporary calamity, and one which they all thought would lead to the preservation of large masses of the population on the point of perishing from famine, would have encountered his determined opposition ; and he was satisfied that so far from receiving the unanimous sanction of that or the other House of Parliament, it would have been found exceedingly difficult to have found any Member in either House to take the responsibility of introducing it.— ( Hear, hear.) He wished in the first instance to address himself to some of the provisions of the 8 , 11, for the purpose of showing their Lordships, mere especially after the speech which had been delivered by his Noble and Learned Friend, in which he thought he threw too severe a censure on the conduct of Irish landlords, the almost irresponsible power which it would place in the hands of the Government and of the local committees till applied under the Act. He wished their Lordships and the country to understand, and to have placed before them the way in which Irish landlords had voluntarily consented to be taxed for the relief of the indigent in their own neighbourhoods, and how they had consented to have that relief dispensed. He did not think there was an instance in which so much power was sought to be placed in the hands of any Government as was sought by this hill. There was the power of local taxation to an almost unlimited amount, and of issuing money from the Treasury without the control of the Executive qovernment of the country. It appeared that the Lord-Lieutenant was author iced to appoint a certain number of persons to act in the capacity of relief commissioners, who had unlimited power of appointing as many officers, and with as large salaries as might be required by the exigencies of the case. First of all, the Lord-Lieutenant was to issue orders, that in any electoral district, or any division of it, which he might think fit to constitute, a committee should be constituted as a relief committee, which, with the exception that the resi dent justices within that district, and the elected guardians. must be guardians of it, was to be constituted by the sole will and pleasure of the Lord-Lieutenant. The inspector was also to be a member of it. This power of the Lord-Lieutenant might lead to the exclusion of the landed proprietors of the district. Mere committees had to frame lists containing the names of those whom they considered fit recipients of relief, with unlimited poser to select these in dividuals, and with unlimited power as to the number who were to be placed on the lists, and receive relief; and this committee, so constituted, was authorised to expend certain sums of money which they and the Lord-Lieutenant might think fit for the relief of those individuals. It might be said that there was a check put upon any undue expenditure by the finance com mittee. It was a check, but the check was only upon the local authorities, and not upon the Government. It was true the Lord-Lieutenant had the power of altering or amending the expenditure of those committees ; but he might amend the expenditure by increasing it—at least there was nothing in the Act to prevent him from doing so. The expenditure was, therefore, at the option of the three or four persons who con stituted the committee, one of whom was the Government inspector, and who were appointed at the will and pleasure Ed the Lord-Lieutenant, to incur what expenses they thought proper-there was no restriction. It was just possible that they might consist of parties who were not responsible for one farthing of the expenditure they incurred ; and let it be borne in mind—let it be in the recollection of their Lordships, that the measure had re ceived the consent of the Irish Members of Parliament, and of Irish Peers in that House, so deep was their sense of the pre sent calamity, so anxious was their desire to do all in their power to meet an appalling emergency. He did not say that their conduct was reckless ; but he said so simply to show the great lengths they were prepared to go rather than allow the people to die from famine. It showed that Irish proprietors were dis posed to entrust unlimited power of taxing the whole property they possessed in the hands of those corn mittees.—(Hear, hear.) He would say that they had con sented to place their whole property in the kends of an irre sponsible tribunal. The way in which, without distinction of party or political feeling, they had rendered the control of their whole property, or rather the taxation of their whole property, into the hands of the Government, and ot the Lord- Lieutenant, not only for the relief of those on their own pro perty, but those in their immediate neighbourhood, showed that at that moment the Irish landowner did not deserve to have imputed to him that he was indifferent to the sufferings of the people, and that they were unwilling to take upon their own shoulders the burden of supporting the people.— ( Hear, hear.) Then with regard to the British people, this Bill gave, for the first time, most extraordinary powers, because power was granted to the Executive to dispose of British money for the relief of distress in Ireland.—(Hear, hear.) It was true the Bill stated that the loans for this pur pose s h ou ld be limited to 30 0 ,0 0 0/. ; but unless he misunderstood the Bill, it gave, over and above, powers, with regard to which no limit was placed, as it gave the Commis sioners of the Treasury power to make grants of whatever sum they might think proper in aid of the subscription raised in various parts of Ireland in aid of alleviating the prevailing dis tress. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE—Sums voted for that pur pose—sums granted from time to time for that purpose by Parliament. Lord STANLEY admitted that so far he was in error ; but of the definite sums they had nu means of judging. The Bill, as he had said, was no doubt of a most orancptioual I..itatcu,tor, aunt r iultatrit every principle ot political economy. It might leave, as his Learned Friend had said, be hind it some evil, though it might do some immediate good. It would lead the people to an habitual dependence upon the people of this country for support when their country was afflicted by any similar calamity. Were their Lordships pre. pared to overlook them ? The other House had overlooked them before the prominent consideration that the people of Ireland should not be allowed to starve. There were no other considerations which could have justified the introduction of the Bill. The powers granted by it with regard to many public measures were almost unlimited, and with regard to the local taxation of Ireland absolutely unlimited. It was to the credit of the Irish proprietors of land, that not one word of complaint had been offered as to the extent in which the whole property was to be encumbered by taxation by irresponsible authorities. That was one of the provisions of this Bill, and which, perhaps, he should say, was more objectionable than any of the others. It was a greater power than was ever before vested in any irresponsible body—that not only they should fix the amount of taxation for particular districts, but that they should declare, according to their will and pleasure, who were the persons who were to b e ca l led upon to pay it. That pro vision, strong as it was, was, in his opinion, infinitely less objectionable and dangerous than the one which was to be given to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, who was not only to have the power of saying that A should pay for A's poor, and B for B's poor, or A and B together should pay for their poor, but the power of saying that A, B, and C, being together, should pay conjointly for the district which they occupied, and for which C might not be responsible for the inhabitancy of a single poor person. The power was unlimited. He did not doubt that it would be wisely and properly exercised, but it was an enormous power to vest in any single person..fi was, es than He was not going, as he sa id b e f ore , objectionable as sug gest any alteration ; he would rather was left with her Majesty's Government, that any attempt should be made to alter or ma thtahte the rpon t s o i bifityterially amend the Bili. He would rather it should a t once b e passed. This was a great national emer gency, and these powers the Govfiedence, rnment deemed indispens able. p en able. They asked for their con given to them to the fullest and most ' nd unlimitedus that there were some provisions of this Bill which ought to be amended , y et, und er these pe bd pass eing a a t s em pi p op era o r s y edy on:, and it extent; ougt to and, be although he was conscious the Government, than that their L o rd s h i ps should attempt to amend that which in all its p rovisions was s o exceptional, i e t u l w i a o r nl d circumstances, h e bette r that and t t h h e e B as that it would be difficult to interfere with it. That far which measure s u h r o e ul he rose principally was to express his earnest hope that on this proposition—considering the readiness which the Irish Members and proprietors in the other House of Parliament had shown to meet the views of Government, in legislating for an immediate remedy for a temporary but most formidable emergency, the Government would be cautious how they ap proached the subject of a more permanent relief.—( Hear, hear.) The esil which might be done by improv,ueut legis lation for the next eight months might be inconsiderable, but the evil which it would do if they introduce] and forced upon Ireland measures of permanent relief end pro vision for th • people—which would increase the evil--would be aaverse to the opinion, and condemned by the judgment of the educated and intellectual classes of Irelend, and on whom the burden of taxation was about to tail. .Nothins,s could be more fatal than the passing by a British Parliament of a mea sure of poor-law relief condemned by the principal representa tives of the country. He trusted, although the question was not then before their Lordships, he might be permitted, in no spirit of hostility, but rather with the view of making some suggestion, as he thought there were suggestions to be made on points which should be regarded with the gravest con sideration—he would suggest to their Lordships on three or four provisions much which ought to be borne in mind, and which it appeared to him was not borne in mind in providing a permanent poor-law for Ireland. They were about to frame a poor-law for that country. They were about for the first time to confer an absolute right of relief unless some alteration had been made in the first clause of the Bill as it was now submitted to Parliament. By the Bill as it stood at pre sent, boards of guardians of the different unions of Ireland were not only authorised and empowered, but authorised and required to make some provision for all persons permanently disabled, infirm, and so forth, either within or without the workhouse, as it might seem to them fit. The present law gave to the board of guardians permission to relieve but in the workhouse only. The Bill they were about to introduce re quired the guardians to relieve either within or without the workhouse. lie thought he was not wrong in what he said with regard to the aged, to the permanently disabled, the aged and infirm. They ought to confer the right of relief on them, but they ought not at present to go fu Cher. Ile believed on his part, that although many heavy burdens were borne by the resources of Ireland, the provision seas not a judicious one. They were, however, going further, for it appeared that a pro vision was to be made for the able•bodied, either within or in certain cases without the doors of the workhouse. They were authorising the Poor-law Commission-•rs to require the board of guardians in certain cases to provide fur the able-bodied out of the workhouse. The provision might be a neces,ary one, but it was one from which he completely dissented. It might be one for which there was the greatest possible occasion, but it was a power which had a tendency more than any other to extend and increase indefinitely not only the pressure of the poor-rate itself, but also had a ten dency to create a desire in the minds of the Irish people to desert their labour.—(Hear, hear. The point to which he wished to call their Lordships' attention was this, they were about to lay every burden upon the land of Ireland—they were about to require the land of Ireland to support, the great body of destitute persons. It was not unworthy of their Lordships' consideration, and he trusted that it might not be lost sight of by the Government, whether this provision under which a limited amount of relief was now granted, and which might have been found wise and effective enough with regard to the present constitution of boards of guardians, might be found equally wise and safe when they came to grant a more ex tended and a greater measure ; and he was sure that they would find and impose on Ireland the full amount of burden which England was called upon to bear, and they were bound in fairness and candour •to see that the property affected by the measure was justly applied, and to grant a protection to it at least equal to the protection granted in England. There were two other points. He was not about to discuss them then, but he trusted that he was not improperly occupying their Lordships' time by making some suggestions.—( Hear, hear.) The condition of things, with regard to the poor.law in England and Leland, was different, because society in Ire land was very much divided into very high and very low, and that fact formed a most important consideration. With refer ence to the formation of boards of guardians, the boards of guardians in England, the middling farmers were almost gene rally the persons called upon to officiate, but that was the very class which was most deficient in Ireland, and from which it would be impossible to form boards of guardians. The tenure of the power devolved in Ireland in a great measure on very much lower and poorer classes than it did in England—on classes little above the labourers themselves. It might be well for their Lordships to consider that, if this were the case, there should be interposed between the guardians of that class of persons and property some security that it should not be wasted, and that there should not be less security in Ireland between the guardians and property than could be obtained in England from the present system, and yet the law as it now stood limited the amount of ev officio guardians to the number ordinarily allowed in England. Those upon whom the pres sure of the Irish pc-or-law would fall in the first instance would be the landlord rather than the occupier. It might be said that the landlord was the proper person to bear it, arid was the person upon whom the pressure ought to be made to fall ; and therefore it would be better, when they were about to make a provision for out-door relief, to provide able-bodied persons from the funds of the parish, that those persons on whose pro perty the taxation would fall should have a preponderating voice in the framing of that taxation ; and if they should have the board constituted of small farmers, paying one-third of the amount of taxation, while two-thirds fell upon the landlords, re was afraid that in many cases there would be a great temp tation to an improper extension of the rate, and the mis management would be greater as the amount of parochial rates levied upon themselves became smaller. The great object they had in view was to raise this class of farmers to be themselves employers of labour. They ought to compel them to employ labour ; for to tell him that the landlord could supply labour to the extent required was to tell him that his property would be confiscated, and therefore employment should be provided by the farmer. If they relieved the farmer from this obligation they would induce them to throw their labourers out of work, and trust to the chance of obtaining labour at a cheaper rate out of those sup ported by the poor-sates. No measure could be more indis pensable than this, for where the rates fell directly on the far mer himself, the pressure was the most wholesome and only safe mode to prevent the improvident expenditure which a different system of poor-laws would introduce into Ireland. Whatever might be said against the Irish landlord, he (Lord Stanley) was satisfied that there was more justice and more good sense in England than to make a provision by which, he believed, that the farmer could impose duties and burdens which could not be borne by the landlords of England ; and to say that they should have no voice in the assessing of rates ; that they should have them assessed on those who were the persons to pay by small farmers, who were altogether exempt from payments—who had not the means of employ ing labour— who had not the inducement to employ labour, but who voted for the relief of persons from burdened estates, which would be in a great measure confiscated by him. Ile ( Lord Stanley) was satisfied that in England, where this class of farmers were more respectable in point of property—he did not say of cha racter—that if they had the control, and only one-third of the payment fell upon them, much dissatisfaction would he caused. There were two other points, which, as he was on his legs, he would venture to suggest to the consideration of her Majesty's Government, and there was one which he considered as all important, if they meant really to rut a check upon profligate expenditure, and that was the question as to whether the rates should be levied upon the townlands or the electoral districts. He knew that proposals had been made to throw the burden of taxation on the tovvnlands. He considered that impracticable, because they were too small, some of them coming as low as forty or fifty acres, and an assessment on so small a scale was impossible. On the other hand, he was rather inclined to think that the electoral division, as they were at nresent con stituted, did not err on the side of being too small; they were too large to give scope, or sufficient scope, to individual responsibility for the management of property—rather for the prevention than the payment of rates. He was sure that if they still further taxed the liability of proprietors, and from the electoral divisions threw the burden of taxation upon the unions of Ireland, instead of the electo• al divisions, from that moment there was an end to all inducement to the landed proprietors to take the smallest part or in'erest in the management of their own property. He felt in some degree interested on this ques tion. Their Lordships must make all due allowance for that matter in the weight they attached to his observations; but when he said that he was an Irish proprietor, he said that it was contingent upon the decision come to upon this matter whether he should or should not continue so. He had one more point to which, if they would forgive him, he would urge upon the consideration of the House, and he thought it was one of sufficient importance to be introduced at this early period, although it would be discussed when they came to con sider the provisions of the more permanent measure. It was this—a declaration—a legislative declaration—which in Eng land would appear to be uncalled for, because he believed that the public sense of every board of guardians would have carried it into effect. Under the provision made it was stated that no man could be allowed to be destitute or entitled to relief when, at the time, he was the occupier, or in possession of land. He did not mean, when he said teed. sufficient for a garden, about a quarter or half of an acre ; but when he made the following observation, he should have the concurrence of nine out of ten men acquainted with Ireland. It would be tin ruin of the country if they at once sanctioned the union in one person, the two characters of pauper and land occupier. There were a great many small occupiers in Ireland, who were quite in as much distress as other classes, and the board of guardians would say that he should have relief, so that half of the year he would be a land occupier and the other half a pauper, de teriorating in value the parish from wh.ch he derived his relief. Unless all these considerations were taken into consideration, no measure could be introduced at all calculated to reduce the distress of the country, without leaving behind it evils worse than those it was intended to cure.—( Hear, hear.) The Earl of MOUNTCASHEL complained that the effect of this measure would be to impose a burden on certain of the classes in Ireland which they were altogether unable to bear. The number of rate-payers who would be registered amounted to 195,017, but out of this number not more than 50 or 51 would be able to pay. The Noble and Learned Lord (Lord Brougham), whom he did not then see in his place (Lord Brougham here returned to his seat)—Oh, the Noble Lord was present—the Noble and Learned Lord, in his tirade against the Irish people, said that labour on the roads had di minished the number of agricultural labourers. The fact was that a portion of the Irish farmers had never been in the habit of paying their labourers in money ; they paid them with a patch of potato ground. They could now pay the labourers with neither, and, therefore, they were compelled to resort to the roads. The Noble and Learned Lord had re marked that the Irish poor were not ashamed to beg, and, therefore, they cared not to be employed. He (Lord Mount eashel) would instance the case of the Irish labourer in Eng land and in London. When in this country they were employed in English labour, and paid with English money, theywere He as anxious as the labourers of any country t o be at work. in Ireland —(Great only wished that the Noble Lord resided_ h „ laughter, much increased by Lord Broug am s e tsture of feigned dismay)—he would then have been better able to de scribe the feelings and habits of the Irish people. Earl FITZ WILLIAM said that it was not for the purpose of adding anything to wha t had fallen from the Noble Lord op posite (Lord Stanley) that he rose at that time to address a few observations to the House. He thought that every one would agree with him that they ought to be grateful t o th e Noble Lord, and it was principally for the purpose of recording his acquiescence in the views advanced by the Noble Lord with reference to a measure not yet before their Lordships, he (Earl Fitewilliam) wished to say one word in exemplification of what he had before stated with regard to the relief com mittees, and the power vested in the persons elected to form the board of guardians. He was of opinion that there ought to be provisions introduced in the measure, limiting these powers. When he was in Ireland last, he attended the sittings of the relief committee, and the first person who came forward for relief was a man in possession of some 30 or 40 acres of land. He must do the committee the justice to say, that they almost generally acquiesced in the propriety of not admitting that person to relief; and that was after a touch ing appeal being made by the priest, who stated that the man was in as great distress as any person who could apply to them. He (Earl Fitz william) had no doubt of the truth of that state ment. Ile was grateful to the Noble Lord for the explanation he had given; and his only object in rising was, that no doubt might exist as to his opinion on this subject. Lord MONTEAGLE wished, with his Noble Friend who had last spoken, to return his thanks to the Noble Lord opposite fir the course he had pursued. It was most im portant that they, as Irish proprietors, as well as Members of the Imperial Parliament - , should be ready to make any per sonal sacrifices, and any pressure to which they might be sub jected, if such sacrifices or the endurance of such pressure could be found beneficial to Ireland. But he powerfully wished to draw his Noble Friend's attention to one or two points in the present Bill. • The first of these did not so much arise out of ;he Bill itself, as out of the constitution of the board of com- misaioners in whom these extraordinary powers were to be vested. That board was constituted of five members, namely, Sir John Burgoyne, Mr. Twisieton, the head of the board of works, the head of the constabulary, and the hear! -1 the eertnit'atie.t Nor, to :AT one 2. , ,:quaintett with Ireland, or who had passed a half-hour in the office of ether of these official departments, it Tao aomethipg amounting to a farce to think that these . I gentlemen, having superadded to their present the additional duties of this Bill, could undertake the business which would be imposed upon them. The late Mr. Drummond, than whops no mai, was more able to cope with the cork of the country if they were to tell the late Mr. Drummond that he was to undertake the whole of the administration of the poor law in Irelaed, to administer to twenty-two thousand and twenty electoral divisions, he (Lord 3lonteagle) would be bound to say that Mr. Drummond would have said, '° I will not under take this duty." Then, as respected the head of the constabulary for Ireland, why the House admitted last session that the con stabuary was in itself a great organised army, and could they believe that the head of this great force could attend to the duty they were casting upon him? A better selection than Sir John Bureoyne could not be made, or better fitted to inspire more confidence in the Irish people with respect to the future administration of this law. But with the exception of Sit Jonn Burgoyne and Sir Randolph Routh they had nn man ot whom they could depend for the well working of this Bill. Ile wiseed also to refer to a matter Connected with the constitu tion of the 8.11. The letter of Sir George Grey and the Act itself admitted the fact of large contributions being - expected ' in aid of the funds, and the privilege of such contributors no minating certain persons to the attention of the relief com mittee. It was true that by the admission of this patronage they might calculate en the assistance of some who would have otherwise remained neuter, but still it was reasonable that the persons who contributed somewhat liberally should have in seine degree the power of distributing the funds they had created. There had been much discussion in Ireland on this point, and the general opinion was that the subscribers of twenty guineas and upwards should become cx-ggicio members of the fund committees. With reference to the principle of enforcing a rate with the wants of each electoral division, he thought that such a principle was calculated to throw Ireland int ° a state of irretrievable confusion ; they would require to iss ue warrant upon warrant, and thus they would lie adding difficulties to what was in the first instance far more eileP, A Noble Lord had drawn a contrast between the people °: Ireland and of Scotland. He desc r ib e d th e l a tt er as a proud and independent people, who would rather die than submit t° beg. He recognised in that speech the characteristic of th e country. He (Lord Monteagle) would at once admit the superiority of the Scottish people, but he would ask, wha t had been the effect of out-deer reli e f on p rou d and inn': pendent Scotland, where the people were so independent thet they would rather die than beg for food ? Thcy had the re sults before them. The House would remember that, se cording to the hypothesis of the No ,le Lord, they were 511 inferior race on whom they were to try this new expetiline nt t i and, therefore, if with a country like Scotland the measure ha failed, what security had they for c a lculating on Ireland ? He was about to read from the report of the Poor-law Con!' missioners, and there, in a letter from a mutual friend of hie own and the Noble Lord's, h e mean t Si r G eorge Sinclair, tha t , gentlemen stated, as the result o f th e fi rs t year's experience 0' the poor-law in Caithness, that the rate exceeded SOO/. Per annum, and that incendi ar i es were b us il y at wor k , i nc i t i n g th e paupers not to take s i x p ence p er d ay f or t h e i r labour, whiee' was a larger amount than they h a d ever b e f ore earned, an d ee concluded that, in a few years, unless some plan were adopte d to prevent the spread of the evil, the greater part of the lande d rental would be absorbed for the mere maintenance of t he paupers in the district. Here were the Scotti s h peasantry so proud, so independent, so unwilling to beg from i n dividuals ' reduced to beg from the public. He (Lord Monteagle) would throw no impediment in the way of this Bill; 0 ' he hoped the measure would not be pressed until ,theft Lordships had well considered its provisions. Lord BROUGHM was apprehensive lest, by g. l ; right to a claim of outdoor relief, it would destroy the Iv/ foundation of industry in the country, because many eel who would be ashamed to beg would nut be ash ame d to go s u claim relief at their parish. Lord CAMPBELL would not institute a comparison be tween the poor of any country ; he thought that, all over tbe, world, people would rather be idle than work. The offer gratuitous relief was, he believed, universally dem ora lising• r i c e t hoped, however, that the results of passing this measure wou l d not be so dangerous as the Noble Lora (Lord Montea,gle) h e supposed. He did not think that the applications to the Ve r ; law guardians would be so frequent as seemed t o haunt to° imagination of his Noble Friend. The Marcetis of LANSDOWNE, in reply, said that h e , begged their Lordships to remember that when he i n troduce this measure, he stated, in the strongest terms, that he O r ceived the measure to be objectionable—as a permanent tre e ' sure, utterly objectionable. Principles like those contained in the Bill often crept into the Government without i t/ being at first aware of the evil. The measure w e : called for only for a short time, and under the most distressing circumstances, such as he was not prepared to co n templa t e : without making some effort to relieve. He was quite repo to admit that many abuses had arisen under the lat e Poor fl e a lief Act, but he believed, that if that measure had e a be e passed by the Legislature, there would have been, by a l ., a time, at least half a million of persons who vi'n e have perished for want, and of whose eiisteete their Lordships, the other House, and the Govern ment, would have been accountable. It could y e a be denied that a considerable amount of good had been effet te a under that measure ; those works which had been conside re d as useless and unproductive were only exceptional cases, ° l e ', not the rule. He quite concurred in many of th e observatil l i t , which fell from the Noble Lord opposite (Lord Stanley). see thought, however, that questio ns re f err i ng t o th e b e tter se t , rity of property, and the imp rove d cons tit u ti on of strive boards of union guardians would requi r e th e mo st str'v e - 1 consideration of their Lordships previou s t o th e i n t ro duction a poor-law for Ireland. He thought also tl.at it would he, and " great benefit to reduce the number of small tenements, et, should be happy if, by the passing of a measure to that off e i e tt : the tenants were driven from their small and precarious he. ' 4 , ings to a more certain and safer mode of obtaining their once. He thought that under all the circumstances of the r i ; the present Bill was the hest that could be introduced, an d . 0 hoped that their Lordships would not refuse their sanction 6 the second reading of the Bill. The Bill was then read a second time. Their Lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS, Feb. 15. The SPEAKER t,ok the Cnair at Four o'clock. WOLVERHAMPTON RATES BILL. On the motion of Mr. BROTHERTON, this Bill 11115 read a second time. WOLVERHAMPTON GAS On the motion of the same Hov. MEMBER, this Bill was also read a second time. On the motion of an HoN. ME3IIIER, the Sheffie!d M rliets Bill was read a second time. LEITH HARBOUR DOCKS DUES. This Bill was also read a second time. SII.6'FFIELD CANAL BILL. Mr, PARKER moved the second reading of this Big; Lord MORPETH was of opinion that this Bill ghoul' not be proceeded with any further. In the year 0 1 3 the Sheffield Canal Company purchased the lands se tenements of the river Dunn navigation, subject to Of expense of repairing the roads in the district. Ia the year 1836 a similar all to the present wits introduced, which was negatived, on a division en the stc , ,nd reading, by a maj o rity of 36. I be Bill was afterward, thrown out in another session by the recommendation ~ f a Committee appointed t° inquire into the subject. He thought it was hard tba! the townships should be called upon periodically to oppose this Bill. Re would. therefore, request a i r House not to allow the Bill to pals through any furtbe stage. Mr. PARKER said that clauses might be introduc ed in Committee on the Bill for the protection of the tO ..hips referred to by the Noble Lord. so Mr. B. DENION said that there was a strong for refusing to read the Bill a second time. A nail; company had DOS' purchased the canal company, with all its responsibilities, and they now sought for a C ° ' - ; mitt, e, in order to throw off themselves the obligatiO o they had entered into with their eyes open. Mr. BRO . FEERTON thought there were aroP groulid. for this Bill g.iing into Committee. Cal taro E lERTON said that he had been ve r 4 ‘trongly can%assed to come down to the house to stIPI"„ the second readin g of t h e Bill, an d a statemen t had be,'„'" pit into his hand, a rru,al of which had induced b"" • coine .1 wit and kesolwely to oppwe the further Pc ° ' ‘2;res.3 of this Bill. Mr. S. WOlt FLEY said, that in consequence of th s Li•uri.ed Cionisel who had charge of the interests of 0 1 promoters of the Bill, not having been able to 3.!te°,„ oetore the Committee, an I the conduct of the case be ol9 left to a junior, it was no wonder that the Commit se : should not be able to understand th e na t ure o f the Bi' and that it was summarily dismissed He hoped tb ° the House would allow the Bill to be read a second tiro r Mr. STRUTT thought th a t th e Bill oug h t to be I ! . e. lowed to be read a seco n d ti me , on t h e groun d t hat tu e Bill did not receive a full perfect hearing befor e the Committee upon th e occas i on w h en i t was referre d to them. Mr. STANSFIELD opposed the further progress ° the Bill. Mr. WARD hoped that, after the speech of his Righ t Hon Fiend (Mr. Strutt), they would allow the Bilt to be read a fecund time. The points under discussio n !night be considered in Committee. Mr. E. DENISON thought that this would be a fees , unu-ual step. He would oppose the further progress 0) :he Bill. Lord MORPETH would press the matter to a divi sion; even after the speech of his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Smut). The Hou,e then divided, when there appeared, Fur the second reading 3B Against it Majority against the second reading —5 The Bill was consequently lost. SECOND READINGS. The following Bills were read a second time:— , Birkenhead Improvement (Waterworks and Purchased Birkenhead and •ilaugliton Waterworks). Bristol end Clifton Oil Gas Company. British Exchange Company. Caledonian Railway (Edinburgh Station and Brancheg , to Granton, &c.) Eastern Counties Railway Extension (Cambridge t ° Bedford, &c.) Eastern Counties Railway (Cambridge, Royston, and Ware line, &c.) Glasgkiw, Paisley, and Greenock Railway (Branches al Port Glasgow, and to the Caledonian Railway and Diversion of Canal). Leeds, Wakefield, and Midland Junction Railway. a London and North-Western Railway (Bescot a n Wolverhampton Branch, &c.) London and North-Western Railway (Orm.sl.tirk an d Rainford Branch, &c.) Plymouth and Tavistock Turnpike Road. Salisbury and Yeovil Railway. Whiteburn and Kelso and Lauder and Kelso Roads. Tavistock Turnpike Road. RAILWAYS IN IRELAND. Mr. B. OSBORNE gave notice, that in the event of the Bill to stimulate the profitable employment of the Poor in Ireland on Railway s , i n t ro d uce d b y L or d Geor g e Bentinck, being throw n ou t, h e s h ou ld move the fut lowing resolution—" That is the opinion of this Hong that one of the real means of promoting the profit able employment of the people, and of developing the resources of Ireland, is fur th e G overnme nt to mak e advances to such railways in Ireland as shall, i n th© judgment of the Railway Cornink,ioners, be worts likely to be of permanent utility, and calculated to en tail no lasting burden upon the country. Dr. BOWRING moved that the petition from Malts , dated the 12th of February, he printed with the Votes. CASTLEBAR UNION. Lord DUNCAN said that, seeing the Right lion. qeutleman the Secretary for the Hony Department 0) hi he r; - .; to z.li littUatikiii lkiapeuLlllg al° Castlebar union. From a report published in 'the papas this day, it appeared that the .Lord-Lieu-, CO fo] ti 0 P t;