The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-24 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS-FRIDAY.
NEW WRIT.

On the motion of Mr. HAYTER a new writ was
ordered for the borough of Lichfield, in the room of
Lord Waterpark, who has accepted the Chiltern
Hundreds.

SUFFRAGAN BISHOPS.
The Marquis of BLANDFORD inquired whether, in
consequence of the state of health of several pre
lates of the church, who were unfortunately disabled
from attending to their dioceses, it was the intention 01
Government to take any steps to put in force the act
of Henry VIII., providing for the appointment of
suffragan bishops, and, if not, whether the subject
had occupied the attention of the Government, with
a view to provide a suitable remedy.
Lord PALMERSTON said that the subject was one
of great importance, and had for somo time been
under the consideration of the Government. It was
also doubtless beset with difficulties, but the Govern
ment would endeavour to find a remedy for the evil
complained of.

THE CRIME AND OUTRAGE ACT.

Replying to Mr. I. Butt,
Mr. HoaSMAN stated that it was not intended to
renew the Crime and Outrage (Ireland) Act, which
was about to expire, but he had a new bill in resdi
ness which would re-enact all that it was desirable to
retain in that measure.

OATH OF

The house having gone into committee on this
bill,
Sir F. MERGER proceeded to move an amendment
of which he had given notice, the object being to
remove from the oath all the clauses that were ob-
solete or ajectionable, but to retain the formula by
which non Christians were prevented from sitting in
Parliament.

This amendment was opposed by Mr. MILNER
GrnsoN, and ultimately withdrawn by Sir Frederick
Thesiger.
Lord Rum RUSSELL then moved his amendment,
by which the abjuration portion of the oa•.h was
cancelled and the customary judicial formula " So
help me God "substituted for the words" On the true
faith of a Christian." By this change every obstacle
was removed to the admission of members of any
faith to seats in the house.

Nr. NAPIER opposed the amendment as being cal-
culated to unchristianise the Legislature.
Mr. ROEBUCK said the attempt to limit the repre-
sentation of the people in that house to Christians
was " a sham."
Mr. NEWDEGATE repudiated the allegation that
there was anything like a "sham " on the part of the
opposers of the bill.
Mr. DRUMMOND contended that the promoters of
the measure were guilty of shamming, and recom
mended Lord John Russell to turn his attention to
the propriety of altering the oppressive Royal Mar-
riage Act.
Lord PALMERSTON said he entirely approved of the
omission of the words which precluded Jews from
entering Parliament, and he would therefore sup
port the amendment of Lord J. Russell.
Mr. NAPIER having observed that he should prefer
taking a division upon the whole question on the
third reading of the bill,

The amendment was adopted, and the bill thus
modified went through committee.

BUSINESS.

The Police (Counties and Boroughs) B;11 was
considered, as amended in committee, and some
clauses added.

The Annuities (No. 2.) Bill was read a second

time.
The Grand Jury Assessments (Ireland) Bill was
passed through committee after a protracted discus-
sion on points of detail.
The house adjourned at half-past one o'clock.

CIIYSTAL PALACE.—Return of admissions for six
days ending _Friday, May 23, 1856. Number ad.
tatted, including season ticket holders, 21,288.

&mut,

Irelaitlf.

TIIE TIPPERARY BANK.—Master Murphy gave
judgment on Thursday against the claims for ex.
emption put forward on behalf of the English
shareholders. The Master referred to several cases
adjudicated upon in England, and delivered his opi.
nions at great length, in a clear and comprehensive
manner. On looking to the law and the facts of the
ea e, and having a vigilant regard, to the best of his
ability, to the able arguments he had heard, he
arrived at the conclusion that there was nothing in
the case to justify mm in removing the names of the
English shareholders from the list. There they
would remain as shareholders, and be held account.
able. Mr. Murphy, on Monday, also decided against
the claims of Mr. Vincent Scully and Mr. Wilson
Kennedy to be removed from the list of persons
iahle. The Shareholders, it is believed, will appeal
to Parliament.

Mr. W. Smith O'Brien is already mentioned as a
probable Parliamentary representative at an early
opportunity. The county of Clare is reported as
desirous of returning him.
The trial of Mr. Knighting for the railway forge-
ries will take place on the 18th of June betore Mr.
Justice Moore and Mr. Justice Keogh.
The steamer Nimrod, just arrived at Cork from
Liverpool, burst her boilers on Monday and killed
six men.

The notorious " Pat Bannon," one of the actual
murderers of M►ss Hinds, is believed to have been
arrested at Drogheda. The other two men, Dunn
and Murphy, were executed last Friday.
The legality of the Irish peerage conferred last
year upon Mr. Burke Roche, was decided against on
Monday by the judges in the House of Lords.
L'he second peerage necessary to be extinct before
the creation of a new. peer, according to the act, was
declared not to have expired. Mr. Baron Bramwell
and Mr. Justice Willes held that the Crown had a
tight to make a new peer on the extinction of
three dignities, such dignities being in the same per-
son, but descendible under different limitations.

MAY 24, 1856.

fittraturt.

SIR ROBERT PEEL.
I, Memoirs of Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P.
Published by the Trustees of his Papers,
Earl Stanhope and Right Hon. E. Card-
well, M.P. Part I.—The Roman Catholic
Question. London : Murray.
2. The Political Life of Sir Robert Peel. An
Analytical Biography. By Thomas Double•
day, Esq. Two Vols. London : Smith,
Elder, and Co.

Is we were asked to say in what period the
greatest Ministerial mistakes had been made
in the Cabinet of England since the American
War, we should point to the years between the
death of the Earl of Liverpool, and the intro-
duction of the Reform Bill. For the acts of
that time, both of omission and commission,
Sir Robert Peel incurred a grave historical
responsibility, and, recollecting how momen-
tous were the results of the extraordinary
course taken by that eminent person, we turn
with interest to his papers, in order to see his
private justification of his conduct. Before
noticing it, let us remind our readers of what
occurred after the death of Lord Liverpool.
In those days, the Catholic question was a
leading subject in domestic and Parliamentary
circles. The country, like the Cabinet, was
divided on it, and England had been governed
by Lord Liverpool's Cabinet from 1812 to 1827
on the principle of leaving that question
" open." Mr. Canning was made Prime Minis-
ter, and he proposed that the Catholic question
should remain in state quo. A grave charge
still lies over the memory of Sir Robert Peel
in relation to this matter, and we shall be pre-
cise in stating how it originated, and upon
what facts it is based. Mr. Canning, in telling
the Duke of Wellington of the King'e com-
mands, thus wrote :—" In executing these
" commands it will he as much my own wish, as
" it is my duty to his Majesty, to adhere to the
" principles on which Lord Liverpool's Govern-
ment has so long acted together in Parlia-
ment."* But Sir Robert Peel was then so in-
tense a Protestant in his politics, that he
thought the fact of a Premier being favorable
to the Catholics would render such a proposal
on the part of Mr. Canning quite impracticable
Sir R. Peel therefore left Mr. Canning solely
because he thought the concession of the Ca-
tholic claims was so excessively dangerous,
and the fact of Mr. Canning being placed at
the head of the Cabinet was so alarming that
he could not act with him. " The Catholic
" question, and my position with respect to it,"
said Sir Robert Peel in 1827, " constituted my
" only objection to embark under his (Mr.
Canning's) pilotage."—(" Mr. Peel's Exposi-
tion," May 1, 1827 ; Hansard, N.S., vol. xvii.,
p. 408.)

Let us mark what followed. Sir R. Peel
left Mr. Canning, who was driven into a
coalition with the Whigs. Like every other
Coalition—" a name that England does not
love,"—it failed. Mr. Canning died—Lord
Goderich succeeded, then succumbed, and a
Cabinet was farmed of those who seceded from
Mr. Canning. In the next Ministry Sir Robert
Peel gained the object of his ambition—he led
the House of Commons, and in that capacity he
yielded in fear more to the Catholics than
their most zealous champion, Grattan, had
thought prudent. Emancipation without securi-
ties was conceded to the Catholics, and by
the very man who led the seceders from Mr.
Canning!
During his life Sir Robert Peel often tried,
as we think fruitlessly, to vindicate his con-
duct. His account of his conduct in his
" Papers" is, as we shall prove to our readers,
one of the most contradictory documents ever
published. He defends himself from his ex-
travagant inconsistency by saying he feared a
rebellion in Ireland ; but in every one of his
aisertions he answers himself. He says, in
o rcumlocutory style, that he dreaded lest
the army in Ireland would have joined the
Agitators

41 *0 Lake chose word* Irom We original copy of We Duke of
*dims Von's explanation in 1827. (flatebard and Son.)