The Press.
London, England, 1858-03-27 00:00:00

THE REOULATIOSS OF THE ORANGE SOCIETY.

Mr. B. OSBORNE claimed the indulgence of the
house in order to correct a statement he had made to
the disadvantage of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland,
formerly a member of that house. He had stated
that that learned gentleman had drawn up the rules
and regulations of the Orange Society, but he was
bound to say that it appeared from a letter Ile bad
received that that statement was not correct. The
rules and regulations of the Orange Society were
placed before the learned gentleman in his capacity
as barrister, and he gave an opinion on them as to
their legality; but lie had never seen the rules pre-
viously, and he (Mr. Osborne) had fallen into an
error, for which he was sincerely sorry. (Hear,
hear.)

0 1TIL; BILL.

On the order br considering :the Oaths Bill, as
amended,

Mr. Cocas moved to amend the preamble by
adding to the words " whereas it is expedient that
one oath should be substituted for the Oaths of
Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration now re-
quired by law," the words "and instead of the oath
now taken by Roman Catholics under the MI
George IV., cap. 7." His object was so to frame the
bill that there should be only one ,oath to be taken
by all members.
Mr. WALPOLE and Lord J. RUSSELL objected to
this amendment, which was supported by Mr.
COLLINS.
Mr. M. GIBSON, although he concurred in the
object of Mr. Cogan, thought it would be better to
postpone the consideration of the itoman Cathoiic
oath.

Some further discussion ensued, in which Mr.
Palk, Mr. J. D. Fitzgerald, Mr. Horsman, Lord Pal-
merston, and other members, took part ; the house
divided :
For the amendment
Against

The debate then turned upon the latter words of
the oath, " and I do declare that no foreign prince,
person, prelate, State, or potentate whatsoever, bath,
or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority,
pre-eminence, or authority, ecciesiastical or spiritual,
directly or indirectly, within these realms." Mr.
STEWART moved to insert the word " rightfully "
after "potentate." A considerable discussion en•
sued, when Sir R. BETHELL and Mr. WHITESIDE
having explained that the amendment was super-
fluous, it was withdrawn. _

Mr. NEWDEGATE then moved the omission of the
sth clause, providing that, whenever a person pro-
fessing the Jewish religion should be required to
take the oath, the words " and I make this declara-
tion upon the true faith of a Christian " shall be
omitted. Drawing a very unfavonrable picture of
modern Judaism, which was based, he said, upon
the Talmud, denouncing its doctrines as immoral,
anti-social, and anti-national, he asked whether this
was a religion which the house ought to declare by
this bill to be, equal with Christianity, a qualifica-
tionfor a seat in Parliament.

Mr. GILPIN and Mr. BYNG opposed the amend-
ment.

Mr. DRUMMOND admitted the political propriety
of the measure which admitted Jews to Parliament,
but believed that it was altogether incompatible
with a maintenance of the union of Church and
State.

Lrrd 11. CECIL insisted that the functions of Par-
liament were to a great extent connected with the
discussion of religious questions. On this ground
he argued that no one was fit to be a legislator who
did not profess the national religion.

Mr. HUGIIESSEN opposed the amendment.
Mr. C. FORTESCUE contended that the clause it
was proposed to cancel was the best and most im-
portant feature in the bill.
Mr. WALPOLE, paying the highest compliment to
the modern Jess, whose social and moral conduct
was unimpeachable, whose benevolence and charity
was unbounded, whose religious faith was sincere,
and who in fact were the most loyal and well-conducted
subjects, stated thesole ground upon which he opposed
the admission of the Jews to Parliament. His opinion
was that it was not owing to the words in the oath,
hut in consequence of the inability inherent in thn
Jews themselves of amalgamating with the people of
this country. They were not excluded by positive
enactment, it being taken for granted as an indis-
putable fact that Jews were inadmissible. He dis.
cussed the question of the asserted right of the Jews
to be eligible to a seat in Parliament. He showed
that certain classes were excluded for specific reason,,
and Jews, he said, were excluded because the whole
of our laws were founded upon Christianity, and be
causelin altering or framing laws every person con-
cerned in legislation ought to be a Christian. If a
Jew had a right to be admitted, it must be derived
either from the constituency electing him, but it was
their duty to elect only those who were eligible by
law ; or the right must be in the person elected, but
Baron Rothschild could not maintain that r'ght on
the ground of civil or religious liberty, according to
the true definition of the terms. Then it only re-
mained to consider whether it was expedient to alter
the law. He adhered to his opinion that it was not
expedient to make a change in our institutions that
would alarm the Christian mind of the country. In
conclusion, Mr. Walpole said he trusted he should
never be called upon again to speak upon this sub
ject. He hoped this was the "last time." (Lud-
cheers.)
Mr. ROEBUCK and Mr. MAGUIRE opposed the
amendment.

Sir R. BETHEL'. observed that the admission of
Mr. Walpole, that the exclusion of the Jews was no
a consequence of the words of the oath, proved that
as far as the oath was concerned the Jews had been
deprived of their birthright by a fraudulent abuse of
those words. This fraudulent application affected,
not the eligibility of the person, for Baron Rothschild
had been elected, and if this bill were rejected, he
would give the house an opportunity (unless Lord
J. Russell took that course) before the session ter-
minated of declaring that it was not only empowered
to determine, but justified in determining this ques-
tion, affecting its own privileges, by its own authority.

Mr. WIGIUM maintained that the Jewi were ex-
cluded, not by any fraud, but by Act of Parliament.
Lord J. RUSSELL admitted, with i%lr. Walpole,

that

could elect only those persons
_ _

who were eligible by law; but the city of London, he
contended, had a right to say, " Unless you show a
fair reason for excluding Jews, you ought to take the
person we have elected." The only reason shown by
Mr. Walpole was that all our laws were founded upon
Christianity. In like manner, the exclusion of the
Roman Catholics had been justified on the ground
that our laws were founded upon Protestantism.
All this religious intolerance, however, was gone as
a basis of public policy. He believed that the feel-
ing of the country was that the time was come for
the settlement of this question, and that, so far front
the admission of Jews being contrary to Christianity,
by admitting them a nearer approach would be made
to its spirit.
Upon a division, Mr. Newdegate's amendment was
negatived by 207 to 144.

CONSULAR SELVICE.

Mr. S. FITZGERALD moved for the appo►ntment Of
a select committee to inquire into the consular ser•
vice and consular appointments, suggesting various
subjects which ►t was intended to bring under the
consideration of the committee, the object of the
Government being, he said, to obtain the earliest
information. _ . .

Lord PALMERSTON said it was quite fitting that a
sifting inquiry should take place into these subjects.
The motion was agreed to, after some brief obser-
vations by Mr. WISE, Mr. J. ENVART, and Mr. WHITE.
On the motion of Ger*ral PEEL, a committee WB3
appointed to inquire into the operation of the present
system for the billeting of troops.
The house adjourned at ten minutes to one o'clock.

HOUSE OF LORDS--TUESDAY.
The Earl of SHAFTEmmy moved that a copy of
the evidence taken on the trial of the King of Win
be laid upon the table, which was agreed to.

AFRICAN TROOPS.

The Earl of ELLENBOROUGEI, alluding to the ques-
tion put by Lord Brougham on the previous evening,
respecting the enlistment of negroes on the coast of
Africa for military service in India, stated it was
quite true a plan had been entertained for enlisting
Kroomen of the western coast for such service :
He had wished to employ them as an experiment; bat
they could not be enlisted without such an alteration of
the Mutiny Act as could not be made on the third reading,
and the plan therefore could not be carried out.

Lord lialuottAx was glad to hear that the plan
was abandoned for the present, as he viewed it with
great suspicion. The house was bound to discourage
all emigration from the coast of Africa that would
tend, directly or indirectly, to promote the slave
trade.
Lord DERBY protested against this view taken by
Lord Brougham. It was notorious that the Kroo-
men were perfectly free men. For years they had
been regularly employed by us on board our African
squadron. He could not think that Lord Brougham
really entertained the beli4 that her Majesty's Go.
vernment would do anything to revive the slave
trade.
The Transfer of Land Bill and Tenants for Life
Trustee Bill were, after some discussion, read a
second time, and referred to a select committee.
Lord BROUGHAM postponed his Imprisonment for
Debt Abolition Bill until the measure of the Govern•
ment dealing with the same subject should be
brought in.
The Consolidated Fund Bills (10,000,0001. and
500,0001.), the Cambridge University Matricula-
tion and Degrees Bill, and the Mutiny Bill wero t•ead
a second time; the Militia Act Continuance Bill was
read a third time, and the Marine Mutiny Bill and
the Commons Enclosure Bill went through com-
mittee.
Their lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-TUEIDAT.

THE DECENT PROCEEDINGS IN THE CASE OF MR. BUTT.

Sir J. GRAHAM, in reply to Sir J. Trelawny, said
that as chairman of the committee to which the lion.
baronet referred, he had to state that he had no in-
structions on their part to make any proposition to
the house. With regard to the future, he had in-
dividually nu such intention. Most members of the
house had, probably, read the evidence, and it would
be open to any member to submit any propositior
which he might think to be desirable, and which
might conduce to the honour of the house and the
observance of its rules. (Hear, hear.)