The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-11 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

It was anticipated yesterday afternoon that the
House of Lords would experienoesome difficulty in
dealing with the amendment which Mr. 11'Learen
introduced into the Scotch Reform Bill the other
evening; and those who have derived amusement
from the recent scenes in the Chamber of Peers,
expected a still more striking display of the angry
pasmons which have recently excited the minds of
their lordships. The anticipations of these mis-
chievously disposed individuals were, however,
doomed to disappointment, and the amendment of
the lon. member for Edinburgh was rejected with
an unanimity as complete as that which
characterised the adoption of the address
assuring her Majesty of the readiness of their
lordships to concur in the grant of a pension to
Sir R. Napier. The greater part of a protracted
sittin was oecapied by the euemon of a rather
• us list of orders. The Artisans and
Labourers' Dwellings Bill passed a stage ; but as
it appeared that the select oommittee of the House
of fu.&htive mostmaterially. altered thoprovisions
of the measure, it is doubtful whether this can be
regarded se a step towards the passing of this bill
during the present session. Towards the close of
the sitting there was an animated debate upon the
misconduct of some volunteer regiments after the
late Windsor review ; but little more information
was elicited, either as to the faults of the volun-
teers, or as to the intentions of the authorities at
the War-office, than has already been communi-
cated to the public through the proceedings
in the House of Commons. Lord Spencer (who in-
troduced the subject) and Lord Truro, as com-
manders of volunteer corps, pressed for full
inquiry and adequate punishment ; and the views
of the military authorities, present and past, were
expressed by Lord Longford, Lord De Grey, and
the Duke of Cambridge. The Commander-in-
Chief did not seem disposed to exaggerate the
faults of our " civilian soldiery," but he pointed
out in plain and strong language the incon-
venience which had been occasioned, both at the
Windsor review and on other occasions, by the
practice of men and officers leaving the ranks
without permission ; and declared that the COM-
maiition of such an offence ought to be punished
by dismissal from the regiment. His royal
highness commented unfavourably upon the
arrangements of the railway companies, and
expressed a hope that they, as well as other
people, would derive instruction from the lemon
taught by the ocicurrences at Windsor. After
this discussion was concluded some half-dozen
seders; remained to be considered: and after they
had been disposed of their lordships adjourned.
The debate- - in committee -u}sm the Election
Petitions Bill, to which nearly the whole of the
early sitting of the House of Commons was de-
voted, was both animated and important. As soon
as the Speaker left the chair, hon. members found
themselves called upon to grapple with the details
of the scheme which Mr. Disraeli had devised to
meet the wish of the house, that the duty of trying
election petitions should be discharged by the
whole body of the judges. This scheme was
very minutely considered, and was made
the subjixt of several amendments. These were
generally unsuccessful, and, with the exception
that the necessity for any interference on the
part of the Secretary of State was removed, the
plan was ultimately adopted pretty nearly in the
form in which it was originally proposed. The
discussion which led to these results, though in
the main sober and practical enough, was diversi-
fied by two or three rather amusing incidents. At
the outset, Serjeant Gaselee distinguished himself
by several displays of ingenuous egotism, and
ultimately excited very general laughter by ejacu-
lating, after the manner of the late Sir C. Napier
(slightly modified), " God bless my soul, Mr.
Speaker !" Mr. Bouverie, more than once, ex-
pressed his anxiety lest judges who had recently
sat in that house should, when called
upon to try election petitions, be suspected
of political partizanship, and a thrill of
horror shook the frames of not a few hon. gentle-
men when Mr. Roebuck maliciously suggested to
the member for Kilmarnock that if he really anti-
cipated such a consequence he had better move
that in future no member of that house should be
promoted to the judicial bench. This was not
the only, or imbed the most effective interposition
of the hon. and learned member for Sheffield,
whose voice bus for some time been missed from
the debates. Upon clause 14, Mr. Ayrton started
the question of the propriety of giving the judge
who has to try election petitions the assistance of
a jury; and enforced his opinions in a speech of
such length as to excite frequent cries of
" Divide !" Mr. Roebuck offered little answer
to the arguments of the member for the Tower
Hamlets ; hut a sarcastic remark, "In a multitude
of words there is not much wisdom," was re-
spend's] to by so loud a cheer as pretty plainly to
indicate that no answer was needed. The last
topic which engaged the attention of the com-
mittee was the issuing of bribery commissions.
Mr. Sandford proposed that such commissions
should 1* issued in all came in which a member
had been unseated for corrupt practices, and that
the cost should be defrayed by the county or
borough incriminated. There was much differ-
ence of opinion as to the probable effect of this
provision, and being opposed by the government
it was defeated by a majority of 54-126 to 72.
One of the points most forcibly pressed by those
who supported this proposal was, that unless such
a clause was insesrGd in the bill there might be no
commissions, because there would be no one upon
whom the duty of moving them would be cast. After
the division, Mr. Bouverie pressed the Premier to
state whose would be the duty to move an address
to the crown for the issue of such a commission ;
and Mr. Disraeli, with characteristic evasiveness,
replied that he saw no reason to grudge any gen-
tleman the privilege of making such a motion.
Only 16 clauses of the bill had been agreed to
when the sitting was suspended.
When the house re-assembled Mr. Blake ap
behelpealed to the sympathies of the Irish Secretary on
of the stomachs of the inmates of work-
houses in Ireland; but Lord Mayo appeared to
have no difficulty in satisfying the hon. gentle-
Mall that paupers on the other side of St. George's
Channel are better fed than he had imagined, and
the member for Waterford did not press a motion
of which he had given notice. In a long and
vigorous speech Mr. Layard brought under the no-
tice of the house the abuses and inconveniences at-
tending the systemoftheconsularcourtsmaintained
by European powers in Turkeyand Egypt, and was
.supported by Mr.Labouchere, but; although Lord
Stanley in great part admitted the justice of the
eomplainta which had been addressed to him, he
declined to commit himself to any definite line of
action upon the subject. The debate was con-
tinued• by three or four hon. members, and Mr.
Ayrton, who indulged in a liberal condemna-
tion of the government of t, assured the
',house that if he told all that he ew about that
.country, the hairs of his auditors would stand up-
night on their heads. The motion of Mr. Fawcett
-open the-subject of the opening of Trinity College,
Ilrmdin,'bo Roman catholics and presbyterians, led
Ati no result. After the hon. member for Brighton
hied opened a question in an elaborate
S J. ]['Henna moved an amendment, and Mr.'
Sy %an delivered a protracted oration, which em-
brewed nearly every festwe of the question, and in
the cruise of which be observed that the govern-
men t bluing scratched " The Catholic University,"
were running "No Popery" in its dead. When
the lc et-waned hon. gentleman resumed his seat at
half-s met 12 o'clock, Mr. Disraeli appealed to the
mem& w far Brighton not to allow this subject to
stand in the way of the other business.
Mr. 11S wroett promptly seceded to this re-
quest, a, ad despite the remonstrances of some
members an the ministerial side of the house, who
were sem, ass to sexiness opinions opposed to those
of both M. Faweeet and the government, the
motion was withdrawn. The grant of 2,0001. a
year to Sir R. Naples was moved by Mr. Disraeli
m a few apt. toPriate xeutences, m the course
of which he co. antunicated to the house the in-
tention of her It tie.ty to elevate General Napier to
the peerage by ti to title of Lord Napier of Meg-
dais, and was, of course, agreed to without a
dissentient voice. slut of regard for the period
of the session, and t.'se state of public business,