The Express.
London, England, 1853-04-12 00:00:00

TU cor.s9.BrozioaNts.
lam"' eane-.:aisec the i.nme ewnirife
I. rut:en. .1 ar.t, Ulan, sal re-ta) rigitt, in tir. e

rx. tem,. t MUM C. cnini pslwr.
. tio,serfm.Wzoo, Is Two 0....:0ui1i da

A •
. 40(

1:1011 WATER AT LONDON BRIDOR.
nri• DA s--•!wsl.r. 4.1 ....JP...mm.5. 4 3! 5.
41s. 45 A..........Aftern0w1. sr. um.

L').VDO,-, TUESDAY, APRIL 12.

Ir is very curious to watch how the House ell
Commeus allot the time ut their disposal to the dis-
cussion of the manifold topics which come before
thew. Whiirt at times an hour seems almost grudg-
ingly given to the consideration of things affecting
the comfort and the lives of thousands—any num-
her of whole nights are often devoted to fighting
over and over again ground which the public
regard as little important or interesting, and
the value of which is only . seen when the partisan
relation of the subjects in debate is carefully
scanned. Last nights di-suasion affords an instance
in point, when several valuable hours were wasted
upon a talk fur the tive hundredth time about that
lively topic,— the Canada Clergy Reserves. As long
ago as the days of Fox the real nature of this ques-
tion was put plainly before Parliament, and
ever and anon since that time successive
Houses of Comnions have been indulged with
the pros and cons of the subject until
it is worn as utterly threadbare* as the dreariest
topic that ever added new dulness to the discussion
of an unripe &bating club. 'Vet now that Canada
has grown strong enough to render the longer denial
of justice not only inexpedient, but even dangerous—
now when the friends of liberty and progress in this
country have so far overconte difficulties of all kinds
as to secure the passage of a Bill on this subject even
to a tb' tit reading,—up starts Mr. WALPOLE with an
amendment intended to postpone once more an act of
simple justice, even at the risk of danger to the rela-
tions of the mother country with her most important
American Wetly. The reason, of course, was that Mr.
IVatrote thinks partisan It...lick-II capital is to be
had heat the strife. He thinks that the dccrepid
party who wish is London to set the faith and regu-
late the affairs of the men of Canada will be gratified
by his efforts. He clearly supposes that the Tory party
of which he modestly claims to be a light, are bound
to protest against religious equality on the other side
of the Atlantic—for the opposition to the Canada
Clergy Reserves Bill really amounts to that: It has
been over and over again shown that our American
fellow•subjects are quite able to take care of their
own interests and their own affairs. It has been
demonstrated by successive votes of their Provincial
Parliament that they are fully resolved to have the
control of their own Canadian church lands. What
common sense man can blame them ? Who—remem-

Luling how GEORGE 111. and his htinisters lost the
United States—can on any common sense principles
explain the Destuvrre interference with this act of
justice to Canada? On no rational ground is the Tory
opposition explicable—and, only by supposing that
for party-purposes one section of the House
of Commons are ready to forget everything ,
but party, can we understand tie devotion of still
another night of valuable time to a Parliamentary ,
discussion on the Bill that proposes to let Canada
have the management of her own lands, reserved for
teaching her own people. After the many brilliant
speakers who •have in times heretofore addressed
themselves to the discussion of this subject, no one
will be surprised to learn that Mr. WALPOLE'S ha-
rangue seemed limp, weak, confused, and unne-
cessary. 'The House was for a long time thin and
dull, and a looker-on could well feel how heavy a
penalty men sometimes pay for the privilege of being
ligislators—when their duties include the listening
to such harangues as some of last night.
In the early part of the evening Lord JOHN Res-
mt., in reply to a Tory question, explained that the
"Government had not asked for tho written opinion
of the law officers of the Crown, but he had men the
law officers of the Crown, and they had given their
opinion to him that in the event of the clergy reserves
being secularised by the Legislature of Canada, and
the act receiving the Royal assent, that in that case
there would be no claim on the Consolidated Fund of
this country." Cries of " Hear, hear," greeted this
statement, which doubtless influenced the result.
Lord lona RUSSELL closed the debate in a speech
that dealt with some things which had arisen in the
discussion, and finally the long-wished for division
came about, when 288 were found at their posts to vote
for liberal progress in colonial government and 208
on the other side. This majority of 80 in a House
of 4911 members will, we hope, finally diaper* of
the subject, so far at least as the Commons are con-
cerned. 'The Lords—under the circumstances—are
not likely to disturb the settlement now come to, and
we may now fairly expect to have the time of Parlia-
ment better spent than in any renewal of the long
and weary strife with those intolerant, who would
fain force upon a young and distant colony the cleri-
cal arrangements to which they themselves are
attached, and would have dominant at home. The
division of last night will help to clear the way—to
leave time, and thought, and leisure, for other delibe-
rations now impending. For England, the vote come
to lest night must be good in more ways than one;
to Canada it will afford a new and important
proof of British willingness to do justice to an intel-
ligent colony. With Canada contented we may
before long hope to see the day when she can dis-
perse with many of the English troops now quar-
tered idly within her boundaries. Relieved from the
jealousies and vexations arising from the agitation of
the Clergy Reserves question, she will also
find leisure and energy for other discussions.
With a Free Trade President in the neigh-
bsuring Republic, a portion of that energy may,
and tkubtleas will, be spent on perfectirg the ar-
rangements for the approaching reciprocity of trade
between the States and herself—in hastening the
day when the free navigation of the St. Lawrence
and the canals, and the free interchange of products,
rill be as new bonds of fellowship and peace between
the two great Anglo-Saxon communities across the
Atlantic.

IT is not our intention—the speech of Mr. H.
BatinioND in the House of Commons, and the letter
of an anonymous correspondent of the Times not-
withstanding—to renew the discussion of the quvilio
rernta of Borneo piracy.
But, amii altogether from the questions whether
the Ilyaks of the Serebas and Sakarran are or are
sot pirates -whether the conduct of Sir JAMY.S
Eitookx towards them has been wise and humane or
the reverse—there are considerations connected with
the position of the British in and relating to Borneo,
am imperatively and urgently call for explana-
tion.

In a prriphlet published by Sir 'AYER BROOKE—
idle!' :mum s the form of a letter to Mr. IlEstiv
1113 VV,,N J.ines makes two remarkable
stattnunts. The first relates to the nature of hiA
position in Sarawak :—" Page 13 shows that in
1%14 I wrote that ' I eauld not sport an independent
St 'flsrehy,' and that in 1,452, I declared (the eireuni-
s"arii• being altered), that ' I held my position at
Nair as emanating from the will of a free