The Express.
London, England, 1847-06-19 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 19, 1847.

so cetegorkel and positive declaration of war on the part of I
the British governmeat, which would have led the jests to
suppose that any hostile troesediag was intended ; he, how-
ever, admitted that there had been an intimation to the junta
which might have prevented the meals from putting to sea.
He now wished to ask the noble lord whether he had pre-
vailed on the government of Lisboa to send oat a ship for the ,
otbriaging bask the sidles taken to Torres -Videos,
purpose
also wished Whew whether the Spanish forces who
were advancing into Portugal had been commanded to
return ?
Lord PALMERSTON said it seemed that the difference
between the hon. gentleman and his right hon. friend (Mr.
Macaulay) was merely as to words rather than facts, the
only question being, whether the announcement mode tothe
4lntata was sufficient to have convinced any reasonable men
fiat there was danger in going out of the Douro; and be was
of opinion that the notice was complete. He admitted that
Mare had been no formal declaration of war from the three
pewees, and it was not exactly the thing that would come
within a diplomatic communication. (Hear, hear.) On the
15th of May, Col. Wylde and the Marquis d'Espans having
gone to Oporto, in order to propose certain articles with re-
prd to the ,queen, and having received the refusal of the
junta to accede to them, coupled with a demand fur ten other
articles, Col. Wylde made a formal communication to the
junta, of which the following was a part : " I have no alter-
native but to announce to the junta that the British govern-
aunt, in concert with the allies of her most faithful Majesty,
will forthwith take such steps •3 they may think proper he
affording effictuel assistance to the Queen of Portugal, Mil
n-setabliebing tranquillity in her dominions." Teat, ie
thought, was a declaration of hostilities. (Hear, hear.) Cam-
sul Johnston also stated in a letter, which bad been referred
to by the hon. gentleman, that Sir Thomas %Dallied, know-
ing
the probability of the ships of the junta being
stopped in the event of their proceeding to sea and
perceiving that both the junta's vessels off the bar had their
steam up, sent a message to the commander, entreating him
in a friendly way not to proceed to sea, but rather to re-
enter the Douro and remain there until despatches were
received from England; and the reason why that message
was not in writing was, because it was merely a friend!'
communication to prevent consequences which all British
officers were desirous of avoiding. (Hear.) Supposing any
two gentlemen fn private life were at issue about a thing to
be done, and one said to the other, " If you do so and so
there is a great probability that I 'hall knock you down, and
therefore I give you this notice in the most friendly manner
to prevent disagreeable consequences "—(laughter)—if the
gentleman then happened to be knocked down tie surely
would not be able to say ;hat he was acting without some
preparation for the consequence,. (" Hear," and laughter.)
That, he thought, was exactly parallel with the ease
of the seizure of the ships of the junta. (Hear,
bear.) With regard to the questions of the honour-
able member, first, as to a ship being sent to bring
back the exiles—he could only reply, that no such inform.
tier had as yet been received, and ha supposed, in fact, that
when the last despatch left, the Portuguese government
hardly had the means of sending for them. He had, how-
ever, the satisfaction of stating, that he had been informed
in the course of the afternoon, by the minister from Portu-
gal, that he had received isformatioa from Paris, that on the
10th of this month the Portuguese government did issue the
full and complete amnesty, which was one of the conditions
stipulated ice—(hear)—and that had beer, issued at a time
when the Queen's government at Lisbon had not received
the information of the intended submission of the junta
(Hear, hear.) With regard to the Spanish troops, he had
received no information of their having actually entered the
territory of Portugal, with the exception of a small detach-
meat which went into Valencia, and, in connexion with the
garrison of the town, reviewed the guerillas ; but the army
we. not to enter Portugal until the 10th, and no account
had yet been received of their having done so ; indeed, he
should think it probable that if their ads once bad been de-
layed a few days they might hear of the turn which things
had taken and retire. ( Hear.)
EXPLANATION.
Mr. VILLIERS, in allusion to a dispute between himself
and the hon. member for Weymouth (Mr. Christie) last
night, as to a question which he said the honourable
member put to sir F. Lewis on the Andover committee
on his private affair., and which the hon. member
said was untrue, begged to state that he had re-
ceived a letter from Sir F. Lewis, who said the question put
to him was in the following words: " When you ceased to
be a poor-law commissioner, will you inform the committee
whether you ceased on an arrangement being made by you
With your son 1" The hon. gentleman read the ques-
tion In almost the same words from the official report,
and to the same effect, from the report of the Times
on the following day, and proceeded to say that his object
was to show that he had some ground fur the statement
which he had made, and if he had been betrayed into the
use of some hasty expressions in consequence of the abrupt
interruptions of the hon. gentleman, he begged to apologise
to the house. (Hear, hear.)
ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.
Lord J. RUSSELL said that as there seemed to be an oo-
jostion to the house 'Ming on Saturday, be begged to move
Yet the house, atits rising, do adjourn until Monday. (Hear,
bow.) Agreed to.
HEALTH OF TOWNS BILL.
On the order of the day being read fur going into com-
mittee on this bill
Col. SI BTHOItP moved that the house should go into
committee upon it that day six months. He objected to every
clause in the bill, but chiefly to the appointment of commis-
sioners, and above all of two paid commissioners. (Laughter.)
Such appointments would give great patronage to the go-
vernment ; and he looked with jealousy on all governments.
(Much laughter.) He also objected to the bill en account of
the expense it would occasion.
Mr. W. WILLIAMS said that he would oppose the bill
if it did not extend to the metropolis, where it was most
called for. lie did not think the nob'e lord would meet with
any opposition if he included London. That objection twin
removed, he would support it.
Mr. NEWDEGATE objected to the bill because it was
introducing a new principle, which he believed had readied
the name of the tentative principle. He also °Wasted*
the large discretionary powers which it gave to the commis-
sioners, and to the power which it gave of taxing outlying
districts which would receive no benefit therefrom. The bill
gave the orders in council the effect of acts of parliament,
which was most objectionable iu principle. it gave the in-
spectors who were to be appointed the power and the right
of being present at the meetings of the corporation; thereby
introducing a system of government espionage which was
contrary to every principle of the English constitution. He
believed the object was to break up the institutions
of the country, and to introduce the continental system
under pretence of 'providing sanitary regulations for towns.
He believed that the districts which were to be attached to
the boroughs, would be placed under the municipal audio-
I rides and taken from under the jurisdiction of the county
magistrates, which he strongly objected to. For these rea-
sons, he called on the house not to permit the sharp end of
the wedge to be introduced, sad to resort to the intrude.-
con of a principle new to the British constitution.
Mr. ROEBUCK always felt suspicious when appeals to
the pocket or to the feelings were made by gentlemen one-
site. The present bill contained a very impartial per'
ciple, and deserved to be considered without refe-
rence to clap-trap polities or party feelings. (Hew,
bear.) The hon. gentleman seemed to be very much afraid
of the principle of centralisation, but that principle merely
meant that the parties carrying the law into effect were to be
immediately responsible to parliament instead of to small
section of the community. The undigested and contrail.-
eery mass of things which it was the object of the present
bill to reduce into something like order, aroee from the cir-
cumstance of its being rained up piecemeal, sad not on any
certain plan founded on experience ; and the noble lord de-
served the thanks of the community for his boldness in
endeavouring te unite, concoct, and arrange, the
fragments. But the noble lord had omitted the platrZell
others which required his care—namely, that which had St.
Paul's fur its centre. He believed that if he took fifteen
miles on each side of fit. Paul's, it would include 2,000,000
of people. Now, he was ready to join the noble lord in hk
crusade against " filth, stench, and the death-dealing pesti-
lence; " but when the gallant knight came to London he
seemed to be afraid of it as of a phantom. The noble
was ready to deal with Ellosasseter, and no abominations in
Birmingham Wen to milibk interference, hat when be
came to London he shettlisileo and cut—
An note. MENHIR:MI 111.11 L (Loud laughter.)
Mr. ROBBUCK.—The pines was so vernacular that k,
described with perfect rumezelay the ignoble flight of the I
noble lord. He would put !tenths noble lord, what had
to be afraid of ? Ile took Awe to himself thsit the abr
wistarias of the loados empeentlen had np. bee
an end to )dish
801 l was isdlefelitie ''"4 irsrown7W"frilal
blether . (Beer. bras
bar, sad why shrehi the niUTIsoWn.... net net
what the ems via, kr he omiimot sewn Ahem oftbe
membas kr had mew • Ma fist
vlirlsk km di •ve vi* Ns own
postikelthp
keit
llsompt aim tat to int with IP* st, 46.111
, Why should 'LLDlbelk of biro dr ?1
Why should he not ken RR IRIOISi his
sewer and to look I. bk porlips I' WM. Paul's and the
four miles around It Intro In New Zealand he should nay it
was tattooed. He would, therefore, ask again why were the
corruptions of London to be exempt. (Hems, hear.)
Let not the government be deterred by the name of the City
of London. Time was when that city was the centre of all
that was good and noble in this country—when, as in 1840,
it was foremost in the fight of freedom ; but now it was no-
thing more than a MO of congregated individuals, bound
together by trade and the ordinary mercantile transactions of
life; but which, from its density and immensity, required
the taest'seduloes and careful consideration of the Commons
House of Parliament.
Mr. HORS/dAN regretted the delay whichtted attended I
this measure. The noble lord (Morpeth), in introducing it,
while he &hewed that It was a question of humanity, of eco-
nomy, and of'eomfort, showed, also, that it was one amiss I
lag necessity. Fifty *Gunn(' lives, the noble lewd told them,
were sacrified every year this meson was delayed; and in
London eight pears of life, and in Liverpool, eighteen, were I
lost in thelifoof every individual from the, want of proper
sanitary regulations. This, then, was not a mere question of I
comfort, bat of life ; and it was the duty' of govern-
ment to incur any amount of labour—any amount of
risk or responsibility,rather than have cemented to a change
which so mateiielly bateriered with the object of the bill.
What was the nation of the opposition to the meant*?
There had been but 22 petitions against it, with 287 signa-
tures; for altering it, lb petitions only had been resolved,
having 334 'igniter.' ; while, in favgisr of the bill, 104 peti-
tions had been presented, haring 42,000 signatures. (Hear,
hear.) That London espectally required some measure was
proved by the evidence of Mr. Brodie, Mr. Walker, mid
others, who had told them, that in consequence of the over-'
crowded state of the grave-yenta, and of the neglect
sewerage, the air and the water were poisoned, and that t'