The Express.
London, England, 1851-08-04 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

110USF. 01 LOllllS.—SvrvaDAT, Acct si 2.
Their Lordships nut at 12 &clods.
On the motion of the Earl of C YELINLE the 31ctrope..:-
tan Sewers Act was reed a second tune.
.iced
The flatterers Pub Amendment Bill pared through
committer and was re to the house.
The Inverness Br' (No. 2) Bill, the Customs Bill, the
Sheep and Contagious :soeders Prevention Bill, the Com-
missioners of Blaney; Repeal Bill, the Land's ClAlees'
Consolidation (Ireland) Bill, and the Steam Navigation
Bill, severally ',lvied through committee aad were reported
to the house.
On the motion of the Earl of Catmints the report of
the New Forest Deer Removal Bill was received.
The C^3lwhil'lrrs (l'ort of London) Bill was :cad a
wend time uu the motion of Lord STANLEY of
A1.1,1111.1.1.V.
On the motion of Lord STANLEY of ALPERLTY the
Iderearitile Marine Act Amendment Bill was nail a
third time and passed.
On the motion of Lord Iluovouto• the Lunatics
(India) Bill w.,, read a second time.
Their lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COIINIONA.—S.VITRD.IT, ACGCeT 2
The See:earn took the choir at 12 o'clock.
Sir E. N. BUXTON presented a petition from the C.ey
of London, pro) ing that some measure might he take a to ,
prevent slavesigroon sugar coining into competition with
the prealute of the British colonies.
Mr. BROTH ERTON presented a petition from the Rev.
Minuet Andrew, late master of the Ordnance School, pray-
ing fur inquiry ; also petitions to the same effect from
'Lure, 11.pilinin, and I.a.keiid.
On the motion of Lord J. ItraaELL the order of the
eta) upun the Charitable Trusts Bill was read, and dis-
charged, as it was not his intention to proceed further with
the :mason: this session.
01.1) HOCSE OF COMMONS.
Air E. N BUXTON asked the noble lord whether it was
We intention of the government to order the pre:cent build-
ing to be pulled down during the reeese
Lord J. RUSSELL said that when the right hon. baronet
had first asked him the question he stated that in come-
que-nce of the uneertainty which resisted in respect to the
condition of the new blouse of Commons it was nut consi-
dered prudent to allow the present house tot* pulled down.
From the experience which they lead since had of the new
budding, they were of opinion that the experiment was so
aatisfaetory that they might feel certain of being able to
occupy that house permanently from the next session. The
goverourent hod therefore Valle to the decision to allow tins
leuehleng to be pulled down in the mesa, in order to carry
out the architectural arrangements. (lieu.)
CASE OF ROBERT ERSKINE.
Sir E. N. BUXTON wished to ask the hon. 1 7neler Se-
cretary her the Colonies a question respecting the OW of It.
Erskine, on the coast eel Atrica, towards whom great cruelty
had been practised. The young man was accuse el of robbery,
awl was cruelly tortured, as it was alleged, by the orders of
two (dicers in leer Majesty's service, named Murray. and
Stewart, for the purpose ut making him conks'. Ile wohcel
to ask he, lion. friend whether he would inform the house
of the nature of the correspondence that hail paswel between
the. Colonial Olive and the commander-in-chief in respect
to this matter?'
Mr. HAWES said that if the hon. barooet would TaerTC
for the eserrespondeare lee would be willing to assent to its
produrtion. The cast was one no doubt of great atrocity,
but la Mfg committed by inebeiduals not in the strike of the
local gncrument, it, unfortunately, did not come within the
operation of the statute for the punishment of ace t com-
mune/ in the colony. The case was brought subs, tine Mly
under the eonunonelepinechief, and he (Mr. Hawes) would
read to the house the concluding paragraph of a letter which
he had received from Lord Fitzroy Somerset, conveying the
Duke of Wellington's Ileee•laa un the subject "In reply,
I have to acquaint you that his grace also feels that impute-
honor great seriatim.; are raised, and supported by a cons
microbic body oferidence, against officers in leer Mojcity's
service; hut laving considered the whole matter with must
saunas attention, and beina advised that the officers en
qwestion cannot be tried or punished by court martial, for an
offence committed now three years ago, his grace is at a lees
to suggest to Earl tiny what further proctedino should he
taken against them"
Itym,lmus.—The following 1411 s were 01 verally
Mad a third time and pried —The Metropolitan Inter-
ment Hell, the Attorney and Solicitors Regulation Act
Amendment Bill, the General Beard of Health (No. 2)
Bill, the- Church Bailing Art Amendment Hill, the
Petty Sessions (Ireland) Bell, the SaMaiara Jurisdiction
(Ire land) Bill, and the Constabulary Force (Ireland) Bill.
1 he rein orders on the paper were tin u udrioiced a
stage-
the the motion of Mr. U. A. Ilestitvos, the Lords'
ainenelments tee the Church, and Chapel.. (Ireland), and to
the Ecclesiastical Residences (Ireland) Bill were tennis
dared and agreed to.
CAME OF CAPTAIN WATSON.
Mr. HAW ES, in laying upon the table certain papers
relating to Ceylon, took the opportunity of stating that,
after a fan inquiry into all the circumstances connected
with the ease of Captain Watson, the court there had ele.
holy and kono-urafely acquitted that gentleman of hoeing
monied the papers with which his name knot been connected.
Captain Watson was an officer of great experience and
reputation, and no sort of reflection r imputation could
now attach to his character. (Hear, hear.)
ANN HICKS AND TILE CRYSTAL PALACE.
Colonel SIDTHORP gave notice of his intention em
Tuesday next to bring forward the- Cale of Ann Hicks, and
to ask the government whether it was truo that on the
Sibbatli doy cortain articles we-re taken out at the Crystal
Palace- for thee purpose of teeing topkd
The house thou allikalelled, at a quarter 'Not cue o'clock,
until triche on Monday.

A clot
SUITABLE PRESENT TOR
la TO NO 11.11.*SEK EEPERS.
HOMEalp hound h p irz
TRUTHS for HOME PEACE • a
ProCLIEIII Inquiry Into what thk.d. mart or Dointatle
Lifer a...lrttool to li.atn4 Boaato utat
Llll4thata Bloat. patilatter. IL Royal Eiebano.

lighting, comfort, and order, could not be secured
without the imposition by vote of their inhabitants
of local rates, end as local rates sooner or later tend
to diminish rant, it was not for the interest of rent-
owners geuevally, and more especially those holding
property in testi'', that the " Improvement of Towns
sho4d pais. Whereon, after a feeble show
'(desire to carry its provisions into law, govern-
ment meekly consented to throw it overboard. •
A still worse fate befell the only other proposition
of a law tending to ameliorate the condition of the
industrious classes in Ireland. In a country so cir-
cum/danced, the means of administering medical
relief are of the greatest value and importance.
Two descriptions of institutions for this purpose have
for many years existedsustained to a great extent
by private benevolence, and subjected to no gene-
ral supervision or control. To both of these
--namely the county infirmaries and the district
dispensaries—the reforming bill of the government
affected to apply ; but inasmuch as the former have
always been nearly altogether at the disposal of the
squirearchy, while the latter have been less conve-
nient or manageable for purposes of favouritism and
1 jobbing, that portion of the measure which pro-
posed to subject the dispensaries to control, manage-
ment, and inspection was permitted to pass, while
the portion which affected the infirmaries was, with-
out a syllable of discussion, discarded and aban-
doned.
In the line of law reform the exploits of the Irish
department have been characterised by the same
careful concern for the interests of landlordism and
reckless disregard of the prejudices and feelings of
the vulgar mass of the population. A bill to extend
the jurisdiction of the Irish County Courts was
brought in very early in the session, and, so far as it
resembled the English County Courts Extension Bill,
no disposition to frustrate its peaceful progress
appeared in any quarter. But a similar law would
not satisfy the original genius of the right hon. mem- 1
ber for Windsor. Many discrepancies between the'
statute laws of England and of Ireland, as is well
known, exist with reference to the subject of land-
lord and tenant, unfavourable in nearly every in-
stance to the occupier of the soil. To this catalogue ,
Mr. IiATCHELL was ambitious to add certain others,
and he has succeeded. in vain Mr. CuAweinin,
I Mr. 3l'Cutt.sou, and Mr. REYNOLDS, remon- I
stratcd against the inconsistency and injustice
of refusing to an Irish defendant in ejectment
under :iO/. the right of appealing to the verdict of a
jury, which every English tenant, no matter what
the value of his holding, has enjoyed from time imme-
morial. In vain were protests offered and amend-
ments moved against another innovation, whereby
the light of yearly tenants to be served with a
notice to quit as in England was wantonly taken
away. Sir W. SOMERVILLE and his legal ally, sus- ,
tained by every good old tory in the house, persisted
in drawing new lines of demarcation between the
civil condition of the two countries, and digging new ,
trenches of hatred and suspicion between the many
and the few.
As a fit supplement to the foregoing, a still more
dangerous attempt was made during the last week
to pass a bill which under the semblance of being
merely a consolidation of the statutes respecting
courts of petty sessions and the sununary '
jurisdiction of the unpaid justices of the peace,
actually proposed to enable any one magis-
trate sitting alone to try, sentence, and imprison
for twelve months any individual who might be
charged before him ff any genet whatever short of
felony! Nay, this unparalleled attempt to strip the
humbler classes of the Irish people of even the mise-
rable protection which the presence of a second ma-
gistrate on the bench now affords them, was actually
affirmed on the first da)'s discussion, by a majority of
three to one. On the following day, however,
this scandalous departure from all semblance
of what is considered justice in England was
again vehemently impugned by the Irish liberal
members sustained by Messrs. OSBORNE, WAKLEY,
Seinieci., and to his credit be it said Mr. Ilexi.EY ;
and in the end the CHANCELLOR of the Exclieritse,
getting thoroughly ashamed of the clause, consented
on the port of the government, to have it struck out
of the bill.
Finally, there stands for this evening an appree
1 prime sequel,—the Leasehold Conversion Amend-
meat Bill, which has passed the upper house,
ander the sanction of the LORD CHANCELLOR, and
which will, we presume, be defended with their
usual eloquence by his faithful colleagues in the Com-
mons. Its purpose is simply this. Certain leases in
Ireland which were renewable on payment of a fine,
have been rendered convertible into perpetuities at
the option of the tenants by an act passed some years
ago, at a fixed rate of commutation. On certain
estates the tine stipulated for was only a pepper-
corn ; but the obtaining of renewals when the lives
in each lease dropped. was a source of anxiety and ex-
pense. Upon the plea that the tenants who have only
to commute their peppercorn fines arc saved from the
exaction of conveyancers fees, their most noble
landlords coolly propose that parliament should
amend the recent statute so as to enable them to
exact a given sum of money from each tenant in lien
of the inappreciably valueless fine ! This, however,
is only a private job, and it may consequently enlist ,
less general sympathy. It is possible, therefore, that
this little JONAH may be sacrificed to the storm of
popular indignation which the course of legislation
ter Ireland during the present session has naturally
evoked in that unhappy country.
the