The Express.
London, England, 1851-07-23 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 23, 1851.

object en the part of the grimmest, (Rear, hear.) But
as the matter stood at prrand, he did not see thin a gm-
mittee was necessary, an d M Aid not think it was BM silk
of the house that one a?Aoidit be appointed. (near awe.)
Sir B. lIALL said , that if the hon. merabwr
Srass-
wich, after voting '...nree times, and bran
as a member, ad',pted the coons of eating lfs suss et the
bar of the /am se, he would he this • salwerldh 41801.0
and would, eery much Wyse_ the peillisa be had Ohl=
(Hear, hear.) But Is grit dews was another pay
which was entitled to be heard at the bar of the bans
and that party was the lames which the US.
ir stleman represented. , hear.) He
that the debate a be adjourned, in sunup
that they. might have time to present a pct.
tion, praying the house to be heard. (Hear, hear.)
Ile thought the suggestion of the appolatmeat of a sow
mittee was a very wise one, for though • imeillee
before fur the purpose of collecting the ash eyethemeat.
and the precedents which here on the oasts Me dretlm.
stances of the case were much altered sines then. It was
never coutemplated last year that the house would allow a
man to come forward and be sworn as a Jew, and then ask
him to repeat the words, on the true faith of a Christian."
(Hear, hear.) The noble lord had not taken the man
mune es the present occasion, that he had taken is the
eels etßaron Rothschild, for he had not now gives am
pledge that he would introduce a bill on the subject msky
semsession. (Hear, hear.) The noble lord requingssut
his resolution, that the hon. member for Greenwich
take the oath "in the form appointed by law." What
law ? (Hear, hear.) Was it the law of the Attramer
General, who went out into one lobby, or that of the
Solicitor-General, who went into another ? (Hear, hear.)
Was it the law of the hon. and learned member for
Aylesbury, or the law of the hon. and learned member
fur Abingdon ? (Hear, hear.) Was it the law of the hon.
member who usually sat behind the Treasury bench (Mr.
Crowder), or the law of the hon. and learned member who
sat near him (Mr. Evans, we presume) ? (Hear, hear.)
There were three lawyers who said that the law was one
way, and three others who said it was another way. (Hear.)
Why, it was the law of the noble lord himself and of no-
body else. (Hear.) Why did not the noble lord adopt the
manly, open, straightforward course proposed by the hon.
and learned member for Abingdon, and move for a new
writ? (Hear.) The noble lord could then ascertain the
opinions of the constituency of Greenwich, who would
again return the lion. member to that house. (Hear.)
Mr. G. THOMPSON, amidst calls for a division and con•
tinned interruption, observed that the noble lord might
have taken three courses in this matter. Ile might have is-
sued a new writ fur the borough, he might have prosecuted
for the penalties for sitting without taking the oath, or he
might have given the hon. member into the custody of the
sergeant-at-arms. His having done none of these things
showed that he did not believe in the soundness of his own
arguments, and that he was not prepared to redeem the
pledge which he had given to the house. He should support
the motion.
Mr. ANSTEY enumerated several points on which the
house required the kind of information which a committee
alone could elicit.
The house divided—
For the adjournment
Against it
Mr. G. THOMPSON then moved, as an amendment, to
add the following words to the original resolution:—" And
that this hou4e, having regard to the religious scruples of
the hon. member fur Greenwich, will exercise its un-
doubttd privilege in that behalf, and proceed forthwith to
cause such alterations to be made in the form and mode or
administering the said oath as shall enable the hon. mem-
ber to take and subscribe the same."
Mr. J. A. SMITH would appeal to the noble lord (Lord
J. Rumen) to consent to the adjournment of the debate.
(No, no.) He was informed that on Thursday next a peti-
tion would be presented to that house from the electors of
Greenwich, praying to be heard at the bar of the house in
support of the member whom they had returned to repre-
sent them in parliament. (Cheers.)
Mr. REYNOLDS said th it he objected to the word
"abjuration" as a standing libel against his creed. Ile
should be glad to know what had kept Loid Cloncarty
from taking his scat in the House of Lords ? It was
simply because he could not swear the oath of supremacy.
His lordship knew it to be untrue, because he had under his
own eye an establishment which derived all its spiritual
authority from the church of Rome. It never had been a
doctrine of Rome that princes excommunicated by the l'opo
could be murdered by their subjects. (A laugh.)
The house was now declaring war against the eleo-
tors of London and of Greenwich ; but whenever
it came into contact with the people, it came off
second best. The house was becoming a second edi-
tion of Exeter Hall, and was far more inconsistent
than the House of Lords, for while the one had forged
chains for the Roman eatholics, and sought to emancipate
the Jews, the other hail evinced its willingness to enslave
both. lie thought the best way would be to compel a
Jewish candidate to take the oaths on the hustings, and
nut to force him, after he had spent all his money, to take
an oath on the true faith of a Christian. ' The oath of
supremacy he (Mr. Reynolds) bad taken. lie had swam
to bear true allegiance to King James 111. and his rules
tions. (Laughter.) The relations were all dead—they
were in the tomb of all the Capulets—with the
exception of one of them, a madman, who was
is America. Surely such children's play us this ought
asi lo be retained. (Hear, hear.) Then he was made ta
swear true allegiance to the descendants of the Princess
Sophia of Hungary ; but how was he to trace all the de-
seendants of the Princess Sophia ? (Loud laughter.)
Mr. ANSTEY rose amid loud cries of " 0h,01i," to move
the adjournment of the debate. It was impossible, he
thought, in the present temper of the house, and with the
studied silence preserved by her Majesty's ministers, to dis-
cuss the subject at any further length. (Oh, oh.) It would
be the height of absurdity to adopt the noble lord's resolu-
tion without the amendment. (Oh, oh.)
Mr. BRIGHT said the question asked of the noble lord
deserved a frank answer. (Hear, hear.) The consti-
eney of Greenwich proposed ilto present a petition
praying the house to suspend its judgment until
their case was argued at the bar. If that petition :was
presented, would the house
.presume—(oh, oh)—to go to
an immediate and hasty decision, and at a time too when
great interests were involved ? Let them be decent in their
Judgment, and not shut out any single aTument or fact
which would furnish elucidation. He hod the greatest
confidence that the noble lord would not refuse to grant
the reasonable request of the Greenwich electors. (Hear.)
Lord J. RUSSELL said that in the early part of the
evening the question had been deliberately, fairly, and
learnedly discussed. His resolution implied certainly,
though not in direct terms, that the hon. member for Green,
which was not entitled to sit without taking the oath of ab-
juration in the usual form. The hon. member fur Ayles-
bury proposed a counter-resolution' namely, that the lion.
members for London and Greenwich having complied with
all the law required, were entitled to sit and vote in that
house. The hon. member for Aylesbury was answered by
the Attorney-General, and the debate was conducted in a
al er worthy of such an occasion. Instead of continuing
the diesemion of the law, which, after all, was the real
' twit% there had been nothing but denunciation of that
beam fie going against a liberal body of consti-
goats and fur not proceeding at once to affix the
sew and mode in which the oath was to be taken. Them
had been denunciations also of his (Lord J. Russell's) con-
duct, both by the hon. member for Manchester, and also
by the hon. member for the Tower Hamlets, the latter of
whets was, while the admission of the Jews was being pro-
I pee in parliament, lecturing or travelling on the other
ids of the Atlantic. (Laughter.) He was opposed te
any straining of the law with tho view of promoting the
cause of civil and religious liberty. He believed that dot
MUM was not to be promoted by such means. Whim the
nee e 4 the Roman catholic' had been brought fore=
Pees Grattan, Canning, and Plunkett, they never
to admit them by changing the oaths which the house WY
bound by law to administer; and he (Lord J. Russell) felt
t so doubt that he was now pursuing the right course in
I =Staining the law. He had been asked to postpone this
in= until the electors of Greenwich presented their
t psi Whemser that petition was presented, may-
; to be bawd by counsel at the bar, it would be the
et the boas to look at precedents, and the justice
of the ease. But, there was no reason, so far as the
ease now stood, why the house should not upon its
own authority decide the question now before it, as to
. whether or no Mr. Alderman Salomon" was entitled to
sit without taking the oath of abjuration in the form ap-
• pointed by law. The house was fully competent to decide that
question for itself and was bound to decide it. (Hear.) Ile
had been asked why he had not proposed a resolution that
the house would proceed next session to repeal the laws
which inflicted disabilities on the Jews. He could say that
it would be his duty to bring in some measure to relieve
them of some of their disabilities. It would be he sanakle-
• ration whether such a bill should be exactly in the shape of
. the bill this year—whether it should not affect other oaths
besides those relating to the Jews, such, for instance, as the
• oaths alluded to by the hon. member for Dublin. (Hear.)
• He meant to persevere with the emancipation of the Jews,
connected as that was with the great cause of religious
liberty, believing that if such a bill were strongly supported
by the house and the country they would not have to wait
Leg, judging from past expenence, before it was passed
by She House of Lords. He would do all in his power to
°beat the peeling of such a bill, but this he would not do:
he wevid not vote that to be Law which be believed was
contrary to law. (Cheers.)
Mr. BBIIIELL said the adoption of the resolution of
the sone lord would render the hews eilladowe in the
eyes ef the country. It wee a weighed Ina= The yew-
=Aka sows@ of the saes had had acme ben bear
=ithat ow his amok= he ha bad be it ee
deal& She whale gain= Ho bad hie attomme,
gleam' es lie right Meg =gbh sellelhoileemeidalie hit
--era dilheins from the elhm—as hewbegry weed the
noble hue be, rLf Vother deer dream was • ."
leash.) Tie llMlSilment lusubinaseelia Ibusihis
It was Ns lawatitm to have eideithe the the Fees=
be postponed. (Cries at Raid. red )
tom to submit to the noble lee, Y aliatir= a re-
soled= " whores se he aye OM David falemsee,
Eat.. is we entitle is weer miff he skied Ye Wm &-
dangles, that it be rehired to a seise eammllese lo mow
tar sad report to the bowie la what formula web • pies
ought to be admitted." Theycould arrive at the mph
ascoached= unless they arms =thee by some switaddlilan
thin
Oa the !notice the the beset shoed adjourn, the hour I
divided. and the sonees were—
lee the eileeneseat 6O
iipsioet it 207-148
Oa am morn to the plkry,
Km Mein thought the noble heed might, without
an man el his own conestency,:consett to the motion,
and it angill be the means of bringing the hose to a wiser
determinants of this question than they were likely to
arrive at without it.