The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-05-28 00:00:00

PERIAL PARLIAMENT.

In the Hons. of Lords, May 23. the Earl of Carnarvon rose
to ietinire f her Majestl's Government what measures they
were prepated ,I 1 at to ideate redress from the Greek
Government for the recent awrtlee In the ininied 'ate re nth-
bony-heed f Athens and the b,e bar., mem, of Eaelio,
subject, tinder Cirenrnstances of grave sta7picion atta •h-
-lug to the (11,ek C wwoment and vend., Var mrsons
both in and out of effice In that eoentry. The last, he said.
was obe of rlttlicuPy, and doubly pendia to him on
liCConnt of the Minna affections wideil he felt, but in
whatever he said he would not press any argument to an Un-
fair conclusion. This Home was a high court of appeal and
he appealed to tie ir I .rdshies and the country In a spirit,
not of paasiom.te or intitactiminate sena...new het of Jo-
and riedenes iedigievion (hear, hear, When he read the
last too-hire letter, from thwe wh. acre ie, more, it seemed
to him th..t then were a charge which Parlament could not
neglect The .doorl .4 the s seemed to he cryieg fern
the gr •nml. lii. ierd,hit. teen minutely detailed the circum-
Lances connected with the dreadful tragedy.
Lord Clare, don. admit.ing the unexceptionahle tone and
temper of Lord enriervon's epeet h, and declaring his
readiness to give any explauation as to the recent occurrences,
deprecated the coetinutuce of a discussion which could
not at preseet lead to any pmctical public good.
Until the It tinier vow being institoted was completed,
tier ltiejedy's Government could not come to a deci-
sion as to the steps which It would he their duty to
take. lle &deeded the advice he hail given to the
Greek floverement in respect to the amnesty. and
said that the diplomatic chartmier of two of the captives
Was wholly ledependeet of that advice. With regard to the
inquiry epon which the Goverunient hail insisted, he ex.
pressed his., r. ere, at the unwillineitess of the Greek Govern-
ment to admit the co-operati,n of the English Goverment,
bet stated that thin reluctance was Ovine way and that every
precaution would be taken to prevent a failure of justice.
After remarks from Lord Malmmitury, Lord Stratford de
Redcliffc, anti Lord Si shitry,
Lord Shaftesbury expressed hie confidence, which he was
sure was shared by their lordships, in Lord Clarendon's
conduct of the negotiations, and hoped he would persevere
In the same course

The Attoneys and Solicitors' Remuneration 1:1111 was read
a second time, after stew observations from Lord Cairns and
Lord Chancellor

The Peor Belief (Metropolis) Bill passed through Com-
mittee, and their lordships adjourned.
In the House of Comm sns, several private bills were read a
third time, and passed_ _
. .

Mr Bonverie asked the First Lord of the Treasury what
arrangements he proposed to make relative to public busi-
ness before the Whitsuntide holidays and also when the
holidys would commerce and ter TTT T iate
Mr Gladstone said after the second reeding of the Fairer-
itity Tests Bill, no further step would be taken with that bill
before Whitsuntide, and it was necessary that the Irish Land
Bill should he nest taken. Further progress w. mid have
to be made with the estimates, eapeeially with the nary
estimates, in which there were several voles really urgent,
and progress would have also to be made with the prin-
cipal propositions of the Chancellor of the Erchequer in the
budget before the r.,cess. the llouse wt aid meet after the
recess on Thur-d ay ieter Whim,rnitlle, hut he could not say
upon what day it would be practical to adjourn. He con-
curred in the view of the hon. member that it would be pre-
ferable to adjrurn it. fr re the jot of ,/une, if possible, but he
hoped the matter would be left in the hands of the Gover-
ment

—fo; Solicitor Gereral moved the second reading of the
Univer-ity Tests Rill, ilpiutsi g that it differed from the
hill of last }ear oily by being in a compulaury form, which,
though he hail former). ipysi ii, he now justified as the most
efficacious and haro.iiiiius settienient. Its denied that the
measure ol es roy it the securities for religions teach!, g at the
Univer.ities, toil whether it would impair the con-
nexion between the ehnrch and the Universities, it would
certainly leave the Church to rely on her own rePources, of
which he had not the smallest fear but the novernment,
he said, brought the bill for ward as a clatter of justice with.
outfreference ti theconsr quences. As to the att ark on the rights
of property, he maintained that. l'arliannent had :dwaya eler-
cis...4 the right of deltic,: eith this kind of property, sad
he mentioned, in eoncliiion, that the hill would not tcuch
future endowments, and that the heads if houses would be
exempted from it.
.• .

who moved the rejection of the bill, argued
that it went unnecessarily far, and gave the Diseenters more
than they had ever asked It not merely abolished tests,
but It absolutely dt-stroyed the coalesion between the
Church and the Utove,i let. It was, In feet, the fir.t.tep
towards the.disestsliltsrment of the Cmreh.

Lord E ritrmaurice made a soirited and succegsful speech
In favour of the 111. %riming that Parliament had is right to
deal with this roortmato property, who.ottuly r.nolerniting
all religi us tests and e•-chstaatieril suoremary The bill
was also .noported be Mr -Sartori., and op,g,ag,i liv Mr.
;Wks. as a serulvrizdion of pnmerty intended for religious
purposes : and le Ste Mossbray. sto.o d Intel MI the 'Onto h.°
of contiscatit.g the proverty of the Universitit s, anti the
inexpedleLey of divorcing religion from acatiemical educa-
tion.

Mr. Olviatone replied that though the object of the bill
was to make religious teaching free at the Vmversirtes, is
ill,' not follow this it would cease to he ,'etinite, and that the
best security for the Church's linensce there was the main-
tenance of her position in the affectlcns of the people. As
to the change hi the hilt, though it whtened Its scope, it had
not changed It, reuse, and i: was bladed more aces-
able to the Universittes an a compulsory than a per-
missive measure. 11,col1 /no to Mr. Walpole's criti-
clime, he denied that endowments given to the Colleges at
a time when but crie religion Weil. recognised were private,
and the rentaihder wall ne foiled to he very small indeed.
From the generol tone, however, of Mr. Walpole he augured
that a settlement i.ould not he so difficult of attainment, hut
he warned the oppocents of the bill that they could not take
their stand at a worse point than the endowments
Mr hardy canyawed the clauses of the hill (of the com-
pulsory fern of which he aopenveil), maintaining that it
would destroy dtstinctive teaching. hereafter it would he
impossible to ex.-lode even professed infidels front Fellow-
ships—if their intelletual attainments only came up to the
standard Speaking for the Universities, he was ready to
give the Dissenters everything they could ,iegir, in the way
of bolt. UM emoluments, Ac ;It was on the principle solely
of maintAning deff nits. religious t.chlng that the contro-
versy was prolonged. Mr hard, concluded wih a vigorous
protest against the bill as a step towargs the subordination
o religion to teaching.

Mr Newlegde dMr Beresford Dope spoke against the
Mil, and Mr. Denman supported it.

On s division, the second reading was carried by 191 to
68.

--The next three hours were occupied in finishing off the
Committee on the IriAt Land NM At twenty minutes to
one the Chairman was ordered ..to report the hill whit
amendments to the T1C.11..." and the ternduation of a teak,
which has laste.l smogs Mart 28, was hailed with loud cheer.
/DP. The report WA. toed h.r Tliurs‘hy
The F. iinhurgh Annuity Tax Aboli.ion Act Amendment
Bill was read a PPCOII,/ time

lhe Gas and V. ater acilitles BM was read a third time
and pseeed.
The Attorney.Cenersl bronkht in hill to amend the law
relating to tie extradition of criminal., nod the Solicitor-
General for Irel.ri hrought In a bin to thcfranchiau Sago
and Cache!, and the llor.se adjourned.

It the House of Loris, 1.1.7 25, Lord Liff ard called the
attentkn of their lordships to the petition which were
presented to the Muse acainst the C .ntaginua D.seaass Act.
Many of the aignatures he observed were those of women
and children, who could know nothing of the operation of
the legisitelon ”1 which they oomplaised He also com-
plained of the u trnthfulinas of the statements contained in
a petition which was circulated ty the Ladies' National
Association.

Lord Kimberley moved the second reading of the Railway
(Powers and Construction) Bill.
The bill was read a second time without opposition.
The Lord Chancel er mow d the tecond reading of the
Norwich Voters Disfrunchistment B 11. which was agreed to.
Lord Redesdale moved the second reading of the Irieh
Church Act ,I 869 Amendment toll—s measure which le in-
tended to supply an orhasion in the Act passed last year.
After a brief conversation, in which Ein Granville and
Lord Cairns ppo(ed the bill, tiaras withdrawn.
The Poor Relief (Metropolis; hill was read a third time and
passed.
In reply to the Err! of Devon,
Lord Dufferin mid that since the Ist of May magistrates in
Lancaehlre had been and would continue to be made by the
Chancellor of the Duchy on the recommendation of the Lord
Lieutenant of the county, which was only reverting to what
used to be the practices.
Their lordships then aO,l mrr ed.

In the llnuse of Commons several private bills were reed
• third time and passed.
Mr. lianbury-Tracy asked the Secretary of the Treasury if
his attention had been called to the circurnstancta that 61
farmers, who were carting materials gratuitously for the
rebuilding of the Trefeglwys chapel, have been forced by the
Excise Office to take out licences for their horse., amounting
lit .11 to £3O 10• 1. . _ .

--Mr. 'Lowe mu of opinion that In this instance the Excise
officers were in error in making such a charge. The criterion
In deciding whether the kecping of a horse required a licence
mu the purpose Sr which it was kept. If a farmer made
money by hiring his horse he was liable to pay for it ; but if
he used it for the carriage of materiale with a charitable
object, or for the conveyance of persona to church, without
receiving any payment, he was entitled to his exemption.
Replying to Mr. Leathern,
Mr. Gladstone stated that he was unable to fix a day after
Whitsuntide for the second reading of the Parliamentary
Elections Bill. The Government considered it their duty to
press forward immediately after the Land Bill the Elementary
Education Bill, and the University Tests Bill and the Parlia-
mentary Elections Bill would follow.
. .

------, ....
Sir Watkin Witliawa brought forward his lor g.pending re-
solution calling for the disestahlishment and 4lisendnisquent
of the Church in Wales, and the application of the ecclesias-
tical funds to educational perposes. At the outset be dis-
claimed all idea of placing the Welsh Church on the same
footing as the Irish Church. for it was not "an alien
Church," nor "a badge of conquest," nor did the people re-
gard it with the same disaffection. But it was a practical
failure, and in the Clillses of its failure lay the overpowering
reasons for its disestablishment. In dealing with the pre-
liminary objection that the Church in Wales cannot be
dealt with alone, Mr. Williams entered into a long his-
torical Mee uisition on the history of the Welsh Church, illus-
trated by otu,tations from Bede, Chaucer, Thierry, and other
authorities., mamtainitig that in its beginning it was not
only a distinct Church, lint a purer Church, and that it had
been united to the Church of England by fraud and violence.
But, going beyond this, Mr. Williams saw no difficulty in
what .as afterwards called piecemeal disestahlishment,"
and was just as ready to disesta.li eh the Church in London,
in Cornwall, or in Yorkshire as in Wales Next, to prove
that the Church had failed and Dissent had succeeded .
in Wales, ho went into a careful atatistical compari-
son of the present condition of the ten bodies asaignlng to the
Church, on a moderate calculation, one sixth of the population.
Mr. Williams did not pretend that the Welsh people were
eager for disestablishment, and he himself neither expected
to carry hie Resolution nor washe very intent on forcing It
Na 3 DiVlNioll. Ills only (Neer was to call the attention of
Parliament to the facts, and thus to prepare the way for
future legislation.
Mr. Gladstone Commenced by pointing out that though the
'Welsh and Irish Eatabliahments might resemble each other
in some points, there was no sulissantil identity between
them, awl, above all things there au no such severance be-
tween Diem. nt and the Church ii, Wales as between the
Church and Roman catholhism in Ireland. As to the cause
of Dissent in Wales, Mr. Williams had failed entirely to
prove his assertion that the Welsh had deduced their
Imatility to Establishments from the study of Scripture As
• matter of fact, Nonconformity existed in Wale,
before the controversy as to Establishments began. Ile
preferred to refer it to the nepotism and conniption
which had marked the exercise of Church patronage
In Wales since the Revolution, for before that period, when
no attempts were made to Anglicanise the Church, Wales
we. the stronghold if the Establishment. But even now
• Gladstone maintained that there was a complete
in6torical, legal. and constitutional identity between thetwO
f,hurchen, and it was practically impossible to separate the
case of England and Wales. lie tee 'Mil the motion, there-
lore, as one for the disestablishmentof the FAA-dished Church
in England, and Mr. Gladstone went on to state in the most
explicit and emphatic language that the Government wan
not prepared to enter on any crusade for that purpose.
Putting abstract considerations aside, and dealing with abso-
lute facts, lie was not prepared to say that the Establish-
ment was not the Church of the great majority. Looking
to the strength of the building and the depths of Its! da-
tion. the attempt to destroy the Church, even if were as Un-
fit 111 he believed it to be lit, was one front which the hddest
man might recoil. A move in that direction the Government
would be no party to; it would boa national mischief, and
be met the motion, therefore, with a direct negative.
Mr. 0. Morgan maintained that the Welsh Church was the
most anomalous ecclesiastical Establishment in the world,
but, having n faith in piecemeal disestablahment, advised
Mr. Williams to wait for the comprehensive solution which
was iheAtabie. Mr. ekourthild deprecated the motion as
likely to have an initatieg effuct on the peaceable relations
of both parties.
The motion, on a Division, was then rejected by 209 to 45
The next busieess on the Paper was a motion by Nlr. W.
Fowler for leuve to bring in a bill to repeal the Contagious
Dimities Acts of I seal and 18€9 Before the debate com-
menced, a Member called attention to the fact that
"strangers" were present, and thereupon, after a moment s
hesitation. the Speaker ordered the galleries, including the
Reporters' Gallery, to be cleared.
'lke House deb ded the queation in airtent for exactly
four hours and at the end it was understood an adjournment
for a month was carried on a Division by 229 to 88.
Dm Reporters, who were loudly cheered by the House on
their re-appearance in the Gallery, found
Mr. Hughes on his legs moving for) leave to bring in a bill
go amend the laws relating to horse racing. The necessity

for tegialatioll Oil MO utter failure of the Jude/
Club to deal with the es i a of bettlog and the deterioration
tho breed of bor.tu by premature racing, and he proposed
t-, ahtliih two year-old racing alto:ether, that no horttes
miller four year tad. ihould win Queen's Plates, and that
Persons tuktiig tieutsits of llll.ney for bets should be liable to
. , .

the penalties of the Betting At ---
alter remarks fr m sever.,l bon. members Mr. truce, on
It log .b so, that tbe Jot-key Club could better
deal with raeirg, but pr mised to give what assists.° he
Colliri tor the ..111.11.rr 5.0 h of bet' i ; nod, on a Division
bellig called. leave wit, given to grieg in tho bill b) 132 to 44.
Tie other business was disposed of, and the House ad-
journed.

In the Ifome of Commons. May 25, Mr. iiibbert, in moving
the second reading of the Clerical Dimibtlities Bill, said he
would have preferred that the Goverment should have taken
it ii bane It I eyelet to reeeal it great grievance of long
standing which affi.eted a comthlerable section of her
Majesty's subjests. Under the 711th onlon Mel the Act of
r a deno luau wi-liest to retire from his calling, certain
disabilities were imposed upon hint. The present bill pro-
Stine that a clergyman retiring fi mu his profession ihould
be placed upon an equal footing with other laymen,
and it also p:utatiled a proviso .hat if he wished to
resume his profession he must do so with the con-
sent of the bishop or archbahop. The f °nothing of
the two lioust• of Parliament were not so dissimilar as
ts, render It expedient to allow a person in holy orders to
sit ill one house a Mist he would be disqualided Mom taking
Iris seat in the other ; and he ,Nlir Ilibtfert, should not object
to see all clerg)nien, unattached, and having no benefice or
cure of souls, en.ibled to bscs.me members if the House of
Conmons. Clergymen were also precluded from being elected
to municipal etileim whilst no such lusability was imposed
Up a the Nonconformist minister. The bill would remove
'ids restriction, Mid also the prohibition against clergymen
being called to the bar, which wan now practically ignored
by the Ines of Court Its effect would be to remove a great
grievance and to strengthen the Church of England ; and
wouid he a great blessing both to those allowed to go and
those who remain.
_

Mr. J. Lewis seconded the motion and urged that the re-
moval of the exhtillg disauilities would induce many
ittieg men to enter the ministry who would not now do so,
After a discussion in which Mr ti Walpole, :Air Lawrence
Palk, Mr. lieresf,rd. [lope, Mr. Bouverle, Mr.Newdegate,
ats, Mr. Henley took part,
Mr Bruce said that he thought the opinicn of the House
was in favour of the bill, and after comparing it with the
scheme of the right hon, meinher for Cambtidre (Mr Wal-
pole', he should on the part of the Goverrmeut assent to
the second reading. Ile erlll4l lee no objection to the relief
proposed being extended to Colonial bishops and others
but as to It mati Catholic priests the inesti.en must be
considered carefully, regard being had to the feelings
of the Roman Catholic community, as expressed by their
members.

Sir -Croft and Mr. R. A. Crosa opposed the bill, and the
House divided,

For the second reading of the bill, 137; agalnit bd;
majority, SI.
The hill was then read a seconit time.

_ .....
Mr. P. Taylor. In moving the sec .nil reading of the Game
Laws Abolition Bill, dwelt at great length upon the enormous
loss of food entailed upon the country by the maintenance of
the Game Laws, a hich he estimated at the value of h millions
per annum, the existing law gave rise to considerable
dissension between landlord and tenant, and materially
affected their relations to each other ; and also caused
a constant war to be kept up between poachers and game-
keepers, great loss of life annually resulting from this state of
things. It had also entailid great loss upon tenant farmers,
who suffered that by having to feed the game, and afterwar Is
in prosecuting poachers and maintaining their famihes
whilst they were undergoing imprisonment. It was the
re 'lsle of the country who had to suffer front the game laws
by the increased prices if food and the filling of the prisons,
whilst the landlords enj led not only sport but derived profit
front it. The bill whien he proposed on the one hand would
not interfere with legitimate sport, whilst on the other hand
it would put a stop to excessive preserving, and would re-
move all inducements for trespassing and the demoralising
practice of poaching.
Mr 111.;kinson seconded the motion, and contended that
the Game Laws were au interb•rence with private rights iu
order to protect the sports of the wealthy.
Mr. Mardeastle objec ed to the bill ; and expressed a hope
that Government would consider the matter seriously
instead ofieaving It in the hands of a private member. lie
moved the previous lineation.
After some observations from Mr. Shirt, Mr. M'Combie,
General Forester, end Mr. lii'Ltgati, the bill was talked out
The Admiralty District Il.,gustrars Bill was read a second
time; and the crier for the second reading of the Adultera..
Mon of Fond or Drink Act ,1,150; Amendment Bill was dis-
chygeil and the Mil withdrawn.

...
Leave was granted to Mr Henry B. Sheridan to bring In
a hill to facilitate compromises and arrangements between
creditors Aliti companies of j•int-Irt. 4:1.: companies in Minh's-
tion ; and to the Ma, olia or liartiugton, a bill to extend
the Tel's:mph Acts, MS, 1869, to the Caannel Islands; and
the Home adjourned.