The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-04 00:00:00

HOME OF COMMONS.-FRIDAY. MAY 3.

IN the Horse of Coemoss, Mr. flanker pre-
sented a petition, which he stated was signed
by thirteen gentlemen of education and posi-
tion, attributing the Fenian outbreak in Ireland
to the chronic state of discontent which pre-
vails in that country, praying that the prisoners
accused of Fenianism may have fair trials, and for
a review of the sentences already passed upon the
prisoners who have been tried. The hon. member,
who said he concurred in it, read the petition
amid much interruption from the government side
of the house, and

On the SPEAKER putting the usual motion,
" That the petition do lie on the table,"
Major KNOX moved that the petition should not
be allowed to lie on the table.

Mr. NEwimGsre opposed the motion. They
ought not to refuse to receive a petition in which
there was nothing disrespectful to the house.

After some conversation the motion was with-
drawn, and the petition was ordered to lie on the
table.

Lord Nsss, in reply to a question from Mr.
Blake, stated that in consequence of the report of
the medical °nicer of the Mountjay convict prison,
that the health of the untried prisoners was suf-
fering, there had been an amelioration of the
rules.

The subject was subsequently renewed by Mr.
MAGI: IRE, who called attention to certain state-
ments which have appeared in the Irishman, news-
paper, purporting to be extracts from the diary of a
political prisoner, giving details of degrading and
cruel treatment of prisoners undergoing penal ser-
vitude for political offences.

The O'Donoghue, Mr. O'Beirne, Mr. Synan, and
Sir J. Gray followed, insisting on the propriety
and justice of a more humane treatment of the po-
litical prisoners.
Lord NAAS said he had been at some pains to
investigate the statements in question, and be-
lieved them to be grossly exaggerated. In the
prisons for the management of which he was re-
sponsible nothing approaching to ill-treatment
was ever perpetrated upon prisoners.
Mr. WaLeote, in reply to Sir C. Russell, stated
that his attention had been called to a resolution
passed at a meeting of the Reform League held in
the Sussex-hall on Wednesday night, by which it was
determined to hold a public meeting in Hyde-park
on Monday next, notwithstanding the notification
issued by him that the meeting would not be
permitted ; that he had received, in common with
other members of the house, a list of the members
of the Reform League, in which the names of Mr.
Thomas Hughes, Mr. T. B. Potter, Mr. P. A.
Taylor, and the O'Donoghue, all members of the
helm, were published as vice-presidents, but he
did not suppose that those gentlemen would ever
be guilty of an infraction of the law. He had
been in communication with the vestries and other
persons with respect to their being sworn in as
special constables to preserve the peace on Mon-
, day.
Mr. BRIGHT deprecated the employment of special
constables to prevent the meeting. Nothing was
more likely to create an ill-feeling between them
and other classes. He asked if the special constables
were to be drawn up in line to prevent the meet-
ing.
Mr. WALPOLE said no such thing was intended.
On the order of the day for going into committee
of supply being read,
The CHANCELLOR of the Excitgetza took the
opportunity of stating the views of the govern-
ment in reference to the vote of the pre-
vious night in committee on the Reform
Bill, reducing the residence required of the
voter from two years to one. That provision,
he said, was intended to insure the locality of the
voter. The government, however, did not think it
inconsistent with their duty to defer to the opinion
of the house. In reply to a question which had
been put by Mr. W. E. Forster, he stated that
he intended to propose a clause repealing the
third section of Sir W. Clay's Act, relating to corn-
pounders.
It was an act vicious in principle, and
limited in application, and the repeal of the sec-
tion in question would remove the objection which
had been expressed to there being any difference
with regard to compounding between the two
classes of voters.

Mr. Hoasga...e read the circular issued by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer just previous to the
bringing forward of Mr. Gladstone's amendment,
stating that certain amendments, among which he
enumerated the reduction of the period of residence,
were vital points, the carrying of which would
cause the government to withdraw the bill, and he
asked fur information as to what the government
regarded as vital points.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCREQUER said the
circumstances when that circular was issued were
different from the present. Those amendments
were intended to substitute for the policy of the
government another policy, and since then the
house had on one great point affirmed the policy of
the government.
Mr. BRIGHT then rose to call attention to the
proposed interference with the public meeting an-
nounced to be held in Hyde-park on Monday next.
Assuming that the government had a right to close
the park on any day or any occasion, he submitted
that that right ought to be exercised, as many other
rights were, in accordance with the public interest
and public good. He ridiculed the fears enter-
tained by members of disturbances and riot at the
proposed meeting, and stated that riots and dis-
turbances never did ensue from political meetings,
pointing, in proof of this assertion, to the immense
meetings which had recently taken place in Bir-
mingham, the West Riding, Glasgow, and Edin-
burgh. He held it to be the duty of the govern-
ment to offer no kind of opposition to the peace-
able entrance of the people into the park, and when
they were in the park to take no part in endeavour-
ing to prevent the intended proceedings of the
day.
Mr. NESTS urged the Home Secretary to pursue
the course he had already adopted in forbidding
the meeting in the park. Nothing could be more
unprovoked than the character which the reform
agitation had assumed of late. There was no legal
right in the public to go into the parks except for
the purpose of passing through them. It was
necessary to prevent this meeting being held lest
future leaders of the people should not, like Mr.
Bright, have the inclination as well as the power
to dissuade the people from mischief. He moved
a resolution affirming that the government, in
refusing the use of Hyde-park for the purpose of
holding a public meeting, have asserted the legal
right of the crown, and deserve the support of the
house in so doing.
Mr. D. BROMLEY seconded the motion. A friend
of his residing near Buckingham-gate had told him
that many of his windows and a great part of his
furniture were broken on the last occasion that a
meeting was attempted to be held in Hyde-park,
and that he did not look forward to the meeting on
Monday with satisfaction.

Mr. T. Hvoum stated that some eighteen
months ago, at the request of some working men
whom he much respected, he subscribed to the
funds of the Reform League, and he was made one
of the vice-presidents. He held it to be true
that the concessions of the government on the
subject of reform were due to the agitation on the
subject. It would be cowardice in him to recede
from his position as vice-president of the Reform
League, in consequence of any pressure put upon
him by political opponents, and he accepted the
responsibility of that position. He was not afraid
of the meeting in Hyde-park. He believed that
no property would have been destroyed on the last
occasion if the people had been allowed to enter
the park.
Mr. WALPOLE denied that the government had
any intention to deprecate public meetings of a