The Express.
London, England, 1850-03-16 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—FRIDAT, HAscri 16.
The house rut at five o'clock. L,,d Luroorma at u
speaker.
RAILWAY RETURNS.
Eel GRANVILLE romplalud that certain raaway n-
tures whien had been presented were sot properly signed,
the 'Armatures of the ehairasa sad seerstary hevlng been

Atter a short convenatioa a Mt. Nash was ordered to ap-
pear at the bar on Monday Rest.
APPELLATE( JURISDICTION OF THE ROUSE.
Lord BROUGHAM postponed hie resolution on this sub-
ject until Moseley.
AFFAIRS OF GREECE.
The Marquis ot LANSDOWNE did not wish to go Into
any discus-tan on the general subject, but he would put it to
the noble lord who hadli notice on the paper with reference to
the attain of Greece, Whether he thought it would be at-
tenehd with any benefit to enter into a discussion pending
negotiations 1" Wien he stated that there was every reason
to hope that shortly the results of the negotiations would be
made known, the noble lord, he thought, would be of
opinion that it could not answrr any public purpose
that there should be • dircussion over that table of mitten
which M. Tessvesel, Mr. Wyse, and the Greek minister
were now dioniesieg over another table, with the hops of
writhe( at • satisfactory conclusion.
Lord STANLEY said that it was imossible that
he Gould be inseasible to the force of the appeal
made M the noble marquis, to the yossible injury to
thri:riar service. and to the amicable settlement of the
linnet,' which a dismission of the whole question
might accaatin—disputes which, beginning from slight and
trivial causes, had been permitted to arrive at a state which
seriously threatened the peace of Europe. Whim hi
put • question 'o the goverment terly in the
session upon the affairs of Greece, he was told that the
French government had tendered their " good offices "
he must not say "mediation" —(laughter by the Earl of
Aberdeen)—and that her Majesty'• government had se,
cepted them. From the mom. nt of the acceptance of that
mediation, hostilitie.," or, if he must not so tall them,
nteseurn 'of aggre,eion " on the part of her Melisty's
fleet should have ceased. He understood from the noble
marquis oa that occasion, that the acts of revised
were strictly limited to vessels of war in the ser-
vice of Greve. He had learned since, that every petty
fi.bing-boat and all kinds of MC* craft had been placed
wider strict surveillance. But the noble marquis had stated
and it was so understood by the French and Russian govern-
ments, that from the moment of the acceptance of the
mediation of France hastiliiin should cease. It ap
by the public papas, la • litter dated from Athens. trattno!
the i.b ot February • communication had passed between
th.. French mini-ter in this country and Lord Palmerston,
in which the latter promised that instructions should be
instantly sent to suspend coercive measures. It was stated
in a letter from neonatal to M. Londos that, cm
receiving the news from Athens of the position taken by
the British S e', the French government despatched M.
Drotlyn de Mils to London ; and after the acceptance of
the good Alen of France the noble lord the Minister for
Tornio Affairs communicated to OM. Eh L Hitte, the actual
text of the instructions to be despatched to Mr. Wyse.
Tale was dated the 21st of February. On the 19th of that
month there snivel at Athens a clutter, bringing a private
liter from Lerd Peleferven, announcing the acceptance of
the pool Alms cf France, and stating that instructions
would oh, rtly ha lint to Mr.,Wyee. Oa the following day
deepetches arriving from the French and English govern-
ments, that of the latter being dated on the Bth ot February,
pursuant to the declaration of the noble marquis, of the
ratement by Lord Palmentoa to the French Minister, and
of the e mmunication subsequently made by Lord Nonaanhy
to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Perim, it was only to
be ezpeted that, as the letter of the Sch aonoassed the
acceptance of the good offices of France, the despatch of the
Bth would have contained instructions to put an
end to hostilities ; but it was cot so. (Hear,
bear.) The despatch from Lord Palmerston stated that
the government approved the courts which had been taken
by Mr. Wy'e, but made no reference to the acceptance of
the gord offices of France, and tha consequence had been
that from that period—the 19 h February—up to the lot
of March, the British fleet bad been ergs/red in obstructing
the trade and commerce of a weak but maritime state. The
correspondent of the Timm newspaper, in a communication
dated th, 29 h Feb., said :
In the mealtime, the Greek government show no disposition to
mke any a losneer towards • settlement. ISsahrrs of Greek ships
have hoisted the Brandin flag which tLey are allowed to do by the
ClICAlli• of the Cam Tr.de, however, has been courtly parelyeM
by the blockade, and the prior of provision. Wall the seaports, and
here at Athena, has rive to a heiOt hitherto unknown. There see
few tambants deny wealth at Athena or the l'ineus, bat the was-
ter et shirwners is eonsiderable; end even on met the humbler
trines their thief mewls of livelihood to derived from chores In
®dl sorting vessels. Upon these latter, and even upon the Asher.
men, the blockade h fallen beeriest. Si/I'M the 16th of last Jan.,
the:r me.-ze of cii.ten 'e have failed, and some of them are *heady
suffering severe privations. Tod his risen to famine prices, and
death from starvatim thirties, the poor, whilst the ruin of the
better climes seems imminent.

This was the Mate of things, contrary to the pinkies awn-
Mon of the noble marquis, the Secretary of State ter
Fore Oa Affairs, and the noble lord the British Minister at
Paris, and contrary en the expectation of the French govern-
nt. Tole was a state of things which bad been 'rowed to
go on for 10 or 11 days, daring which time noun-emery
and erns' hardships had been indicted, because the noble
lord at the head of the foreign department would not tithe
the trouble to write a despatch. This he thought required
exslustion. (Hear, bear.) He must also cell attention
to an alleged deepateb, not on the table of the house, coin-
=managed by Baron Brunow, as having been received from
Count Nerelroda, written is a conciliatory tote, hot with-
out withdrawing any port of the despatch of the pre-
vious day; and he must beg the nobl3 marquis
to bear In mind that such despatch was written
in a more conciliatory tone, in consequence of the
toad offices of Fiance having been accepted by this
gout .ry, and the supposition that extreme measures would
be at once relaxcl. It was clear that France and Russia ex-
pected the immediate eland .assent of these moue linos. He
would now 7•IL the mottle marquis if ho could furnish any
Information as to the unforturade and incomprehensible
delay is sending the ceder to suspend hostilitits ; and he
would postpone the general question to another period, re.
serving to himself • discretion ea to whether he would again
bring the euhloct under the notice of their lordships. (Hear.)
The Maiquis of LANSDOWNE was bound to acknow-
ledge that which he had certainly expteted from the noble
lord, namely, the readiness with which ho had admitted the
inezpeibeacy of enteric,: at large into the discussion of •
questkm which was still pending. From the momect
there appeared • proseen from any quarter end by any
means of putting an end to proceedings on the coat of
Greece, which whether they were necessary or justifiable he
would int then eiseass—(hear, hear)—but which all men
must agree it was desirable to terminate u early as possible,
froth that moment not a day er an hour was lost in taking
the most effectual means for that purpose. (Hear, hear.)
He would state the dates of the prooeed:ners which had been
adopted, and with regard to which the noble lord had been
semewhat misinformed. It was true that the first informa-
tion which 'nis noble frond at the head of the foreign de-
p,rtment had received of the willingness of France to offer
her modiation was in a conversation on the sth February ;
but that was not a formal communication. Oa the con-
trary, when he was asked, 0-neral de la Hitt* said
he was not authorised to woke it in form, and
he could not do so until he had received a fur-
ther communication from his government. His noble
friend might have objected to suspend operations : he might
have considered that the offer would be made ia terms open
to objection, and have waited to see the term in which it
yolk! be presented: but so 'coleus was he to put an end to
these proceedings, that upon this mere intimation, unarcon.
roiled by any land pupate, on that very day, the 6th of
February, his noble friend wrote • private lever to Mr.
Wyse, tall nghim that he had reason to expect there would
be such an interference, and that it would be successful.
(these, hear.) Oa the 7.h the French government made a
formal oast, and upon its being received, a day did not
elapse without (mod instructions being sent to Ms. Wyse—
(hossj—so that neither in the one case or the other were 24
hours lost in tranunittirg the mannannication and instructions
first of a privets, ar.d then of a public, oaten, which it was
an desirable Mr. Wyse should (Hear, hear.) Nay,
more : when those instra tints came to be sent—the official
aocepoinee was dated oa the 12th February—and on the
15:h and lthh, while this communication was being made, it
was necessary to draw up the formal approbate to of her Ma-
jesty ; and an sun as that had been ootalned, and the in.
stemmata could be prepared, lest them shoul b' any unne-
cessary delay, they ware seat out, not by one, but by two
different channels of communication, to take the chance sf
which would arrive first. One communication was sent by
way of Naples on the 15th, and another through Paris and
Marseilles, on the 16:11, and it did se happen, owing to the
accidents often attendant on such jouracys, that the latter
despatch arrived first; but they had both arrived in time
to have the whole of the instructions carried into effect on
the Ant of this month. So that twenty-three days only
elapsed from the time of the intimation from the French
government before all hostile proceedings were suspended.
(Hear, hear.) In the meantime, however, Mr. Wyse had
acted on the private letter which he hod received without
waiting for farther iostrutions, sad he found by a despatch
on the 24th ?obesity, that Sir William Parker bad maned
to make reprisals, and on the first of March
he had discontinued the embargo. The statements
of Y. Thouvenel were sot inconsistent with the facts as he had
now stated them to the house ; and he hoped their lordships
you'd be satiafied thet no time whatever WWI lost in Klein
effect to the instructions to suspend hostilities. The repel-
sale to have been taken were limited to the amount required
to settle the demand. He was sorry that the commerce of
Greece ihould have been interfered with, but no mercantile
vermeil had been taken, until it was found that the government
vessels were not sufficient. With referents to the documents to
which the noble lord had alluded, they were not on the table
of the house, and bow they came to be made public Le could
not explain. It could only have occurred in consequence of
the unpardonable negligence oe oonoivance of s:rne fuec-
tionary, but he did nut know who he was. It would cer-
tainly he the subject of rioid inquiry; the publication cf
such a document, pending the negotiation, was most unpar-
donable. (Hear, bear.)
Lord STANLEY understood the noble marquis to say
that the official communication from Vrance was received
on the 7th of February, and being meat down for her
Majesty's approval, a delay took place uetil the 15th, at
othiels period instructiou were seat out. The private letter
of noble lord the Soeretary far Foreign AJfairs was dated
the 6th, and a despatch was sent out on the Bth. The noble
marquis had not stated weather that despatch had any
reference to the n.nntiations. It appeared to Lava been re.
envied on the 19:h and 20th, and then the noble marquis
weal on to my that on the 24th the sus; erasion of hostilities
Not pkw Me found by the eortespondiace in the public

papers, dated the 28th February, that the blockade ors-
dossed had with as much rigour se ever.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE and that Admiral Parker
wrote ea the 24th Yebrnuy, Mathis that from tbo 19th he
had missed to take reprisals' but the embargo did not tar.
esthete until the Ist of Marsh.
After a few words Irma Lord Bel /Guam, the selejset
, dierted•
THE PASSENGERS ACT.
The Had of MOUNTCANIELL moved " That there be
bid Whom Ws hence, return of all the penalties imposed
nod Isoki id owners, warn, esptales, and others, ice
hmonshie Of Om we of 6 & 6 Vie., kaowa by the name of
' The Pmeengsoo Act,' sines the said est mane into force ;
wee
::511404 immenat 1.", the yen when ilia rasitY
the period whoa paid, how such penalty wee
the name or the ship, the name of
the elionder, and the offense he committed ; to.
gather with the name of the port where the party
was convicted, and the officer who enforced it
On a former occasion he postponed, at the *sprees desire of
the noble earl at the head of the Colonial office, the motion
whisk he was then abort to submit to their lordahipe. He
should say that he entirely amourred with the noble earl Is
Making that it was right on that occasion to postpone the
main : and he was the more obliged for his s
bonus is the interval that elapsed he (the But ofugiaei:ntt-
euhtil) had examined various documents referring to the
rnatear, owl had added consequently to hie previous stock of
inhematisa. He felt it to be his dutg to bring before that
hemeletke abuse which not ossuimally, but continually sad
systemadcally, occurred on board emigrant vessels teethe last
ten years; sad it wee astounding to dad what an
unease of wickedness and profligacy, as well as muffeting
of various triads, the emigrants were exposed to. (Hear.)
He should state that his sources of information were an-
seereas, comprising "blue books," pamphlets, and letters,
as well as the authority of many captains sad ship supine;
sad he therefore cocsisiered himself competent to bring the
matter fully before them. Under the existing system the
emigrant female from the time she left her Katie* land
until she arrived at her destination, &and, in the majority
of cases, neither safety nor protection. The emigrants
generally, on leaving home, had to proceed to some out-
put, where considerable
in delay occurred before the vessel
sailed. In the lodging-houses these autocue' they were
exposed to imposition sad extortion invariably prac-
tised by the proprietors of low lodging-houses,
which practices he hoped the noble earl at
Me heed of the Colonial °film would inquire into.
(Sat, hear.) In these place" the youthful female mai,: rust
mie the first risk of being bedewed from the path of virtue :
I undoubtedly was the first step hi the caner of danger to
wbl* they were exposed. (Hear, hear.) When placed on
board ship—although the printed regulations were *dual-
rable—in nine eases out of every ten their comforts, their
wants, and, he might say, their safety, was not attencted to.
When the emigrant arrived at his or her destination the
agent tame on board, and questioned them in presence of the
captain, surgeon, efficen, end crew as to whether they had
any complaint or charge to prefer. But the emigrant well
knew that he was too much at the mercy of them parties,
who stela retained control over the scanty stock of luggage
possessed by him, and of course he remained silent.
Now, he (the Earlofffionntcashell) felt convinced that, but for
that system of Went intimidation, the emigrant could speak
a great deal of his sufferings, his wrongs, and his bad treat-
ment in general. The emigration agent, who took them in
sharp on landing, generally felt favourably disposed to the
eaptsin and officers, who, in the majority el instance., were
acquaintances of his, and whose misdoinp he consequently
wished to screen and slur over ; for the emigrants, whom
be might river see "gain, he felt little concern or interest.
Such was the state of things which the emigrant to Aus-
trans tad to encounter; but the truth of which seldom
came out. However, there was sufficient evidence to prove
the existence of melt practices, He wished them to refer to
a very important matter connected with emigration, namely.
ili:riovisioss supplied during the voyage, and in the list he
in
Ilia water. (Hear, hear.) It was no uncommon
Wel Iser einuels to be supplied with impure water, which,
est far hem being of use on beard, was only adapted to
produce disease. As an instance of the impure nature of the
water supplied, he b-gged to say that, on a late oxasion, a
barge on the Thames, laden with barrels, was brought
alongside an *migrant vessel, and water was apparently
pumped as if from the barrels in the barge to those in the
emigrant vessel. However, on the men engaged going to
dinner on shore, the barge sunk, when on being raised, there
was found a large leak in the bottom, through which the
filthy and impure water of the Thames was pumped
into the casks of the emigrant vessel, ucder pre-
tence that they were being supplied with pure water
from the casks with which the barge was laden. (Laughter.)
Ho neat begged to come to the subject of meat, an immense
quantity of which of the very worst quality was shipped in
emigrant vessels. It was a notorious fact that these vessels
were. largely supplied with wet not tel fcr human food.
eke emigration agent, when pins or board a vessel,
contented himself with examining a few casks cf
water and provisions—indeed, he sh-'uld admit that all
could mot be ermined witliout injury occurring to them—
and took it for granted that all were tipsily unobjectionable.
It frequently happened also that captains used the casks of
meat and bread in the subsequent voyage which they had
left owe and above after the preceding one; and the result in
many cases was a great amount of sickness. He had a list of
eases, which reflected anything but credit on the parties
charged with the control of emigrants. The passengers in the
ships Ala sad John Mann, loudly complained of the swearing,
drunkenness, gambliuse, open sale of spirits and smoking be-
tween decks, permitted by the captain on the voyage, es
also of the use of firearms, as a pastime on deck. These
were facts, and matt n thu should be rectified ; end as long
as he (the End of Montcashell) lived, he would trot Math to
persist in holding them up to public execration, until the
atrocities should be put a stop to. (Hear, hear.) He would
next proceed to the case of the surgeon engaged is these
vessels, who should not alone be interested for the physical
well-being of the emigrants, but should also be
protectors of these (Hear, hear.) He regretted to
say, that the Colonial Office appeared to pay
little attention to the character of the men entrusted
with the responsible duties of surgeon on board emigrant
semcle. It was true the emigration Commissioners required
to see their testimonials; but thee being produced, they
seemed to care for little else. (Hear, hear.) He was sure
the government would be able to account for the appoint-
ment of a madman, a short time sine', to an emigrant vessel
as surgeon. (Laughter.) At page 117 of the Blue Book, the
surgeon of the Earl Grey—(laughter) —was charged with
want of discretion and judgment, the officers and crew
being permitted to have intercourse with some Irish female
emigrants, without the interference of the surgeon. Now,
when these unfortunate girls landed they were immediately
branded and stigmatised as improper characters; conse-
qaently justice was not done the poor creatures, neither was
it done the guardians in Ireland who furnished them with
the means of emigration. (Hear.) As regarded those Irish
girls that were designated the " Belfast girls," he believed
that four out of sixty-four were immoral characters. Yet
they were all branded as of the same class. At page
136 they had the improper conduct of the surgeon on board
the Bobreon set forth; and at page 163, the surgeon of the
James Gibbs was reported as having connived at the inter-
course of the officers and crew with some female emigrants.
At page 193 the conduct of the mingle, surgeon, matron, and
officers of the ship, Inconstant, as regarded Irish female
emigrants, was strongly censured, and the surgeon de.
clued to be incompetent, by reason of such im-
propriety, to be again employed. (Hear, hear.)
He now came to a very serious matter. He referred to
page 123, in which there was a stiremeet that six of the
females who went to Port Phillip in an emigrant ship, the
Manchester, had been hired by the brothel keepers. It was
disgraceful to the government that such things should be
tolerated, sad he called the noble lord's attention particu-
larly to this point. In another ship women had been
Begged by the surgeon. The rules and regulations
were not efficient, and were not likely to answer
their objects. These thinrs most be put a step to. Hay
int alluded to other cases of a similar eaten, he trusted that
he had stated strong grounds for bringing the nutter before
the hoots, and for moving for the first return. They had
never yet hed a return of this kind, and until they had they
never would be able to forma judgment of the real efficiency
or activity of emigration agents. He could not ascertain to
what extent these penalties had been imposed and he,
therefore, now moved the Int resolution, and postponed the
snood till Monday.
Earl GREY said he thought all their lordship would
sires with him that the noble lord bad stated
quite enough to show that be had no grounds
whatever for the sweeping charges he had made u
to the meaner in which Australian emigration
had been conducted. What had really been stated by the
noble earl ? He had divided his facts into two points ; Bret
se to the quality of the provisions served out to the emi-
grants In ships bound to Australia, and next as to the
general conduct of the superintendent himself. As to any
abuse with regard to the supply of provisions, he understood
the noble earl to mention only one individual ease, and he
was carmine:ad that, with the papers on tne table, be should
he able to answer that case. The nob:a lord could produce
no ens single cue, except In a newspaper arrived overlay
from India, before any official intern:mace could be received,
and before the complaint could be investigated.
Lord 111101JETCASHELL said that he heel est. reed the
noble lord to one particular page in the blue-book on the
table, mad be stated that it was a gross case.
Earl GREY said that the noble lord had found one case
where the ship was reported to have been sickly, but the re-
port in that case stated that the provisions were good. What
was the other cam ? It was a mere newspaper report that
35 out of 260 who were embarked had complained of the
quality of the provisions which they had between Gravesend
and Plymouth. That wet not a government ship ; but he
Area bound in justice to the respectable shipowners by whom
these ships were conducted to say that he did not (hist there
was any difference between their ships and those of the
government. lie had himself seen papers stuck up in the,
cabin of a ship, stating that if there was any cemplaint to
make there was an emigration offieer at Plymouth to whom
it might be made, and there were also those who bad char-
tered the ship. It speared that the complaint was very
much with those people who had never beau at sca beers.
If the noble lord had painted out one single cam of
abase, he (Earl Grey) should have been prepay, d to meet
Na ; but, when he made only a general satement, he
only met it by a general stateneat. Then came
the esse of the surgeon superintendents. The
noble lord said that the surgeon auperintendehts had habitu-
ally eniscoaducted themselves. [Eal Moun.cathell—" Nut
at all."); Its had said that good conduct was the excep:ien.
He lad thought it his duty, eine**. noble earl bad `-rought
this subject forward, to look at the rapers of the ships which
I bad arrived since emigration bad taken Meer, and see what
had been the conduct of the surgeons. He held in his hands
the result of these repro, end he found that the whole num-
ber of ships from which we had already reports was 124. Of'
124 surgeons to these shipa, it was repealed that 70 very effi-
ciently performed their duty. They were 4of whom there
Wen nnfarourabla repot% and some 6or 6 wore described