The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-16 00:00:00

INFANTRY FIELD ALLOWANCE.

Major Knox asked whether the Government intended to
lay on the table any correspondence that took place between
the Secretary of State for War, and the other authorities
at home, and Sir J. Penn ,father, on die sobj-ct of field
allowance claimed by the 51st light infantry, the Italian
legion, and other troops s'ationed at AlAlta during the
late wsr.

Sir J. Rarnslen said, that the matter to which the
question referred, had already been disp i,ed of in strict
accordance with the regulations of the War Office, and,
therefore, the S;eretary of State was not di•posed to lay
the papers before Parliament.

PROSECUTION OP THE BRITISH BANK DIRECTORS

Jo reply to Mr. Cunningh tm,
The Attorne)-General said, that the pros..eution of the
directors of the Royal Briish Bank would, if found
expedient, be greatly delayed eceordiog to the act of
Parliament, which provided that the papers must come
through the Board of Trade at the close of the elimina-
tion, for the consideration of the At'orney..General. He
proposed, however, in this case, before the examinations
closed, to consider the papers laid before him by Mr.
Litsklater ; but the elasticity and doubt in banking cases
rendered it difficult to decide cases of an -ninality.

PARLIAMENTARY OATHS-TEE JEW BILL,

The house having gone int,) a committee of the whole
house,

Viscount Palmerston, after apologising to Lord John
Russell for taking out of his bands a question which bad
occupied his attention so long; but he had bee❑ told by
those who were anxious for the measure, that its chance of
passing into a law would be very much increased by its
being brought forward as a Government measure. It ap-
peared to him that if ever there was a moment favourable
fir taking the subject of oaths in consideration, the present
time was particularly so, because honourable members
must bear fresh in their recollection, the oaths that
they bad so recently been called upon to take. (Hear,
hear.) Nothing, he apprehended, ccerld be more solemn
that the taking of an oath. It was an invocation by a
man to his Creator, to sanction an engagement he
entered into, and thereby pledged the future well-being
of that man to the performance of that engagement.
There were duties- in life of such importance, that
those who had to discharge them might properly hind
themselves to their due and conscientious performance,
by the solemnization_ of an oath. There were words in
the oaths now taken which, no (lout'', were fitting to be
used in times long by, but which were inapplicable to the
present time, and to the peesans by whom these oaths
were taken, and were rev,lting to the mind of
every reasonable man. (Hear, hea•.) The change
which he wars about to propose did not apply to the oaths
taken by the Roman Catholics, b it were co fined solely to
the oaths taken by those persocs who were not Roman
Catholics. (Hear, hear.) Tne object of the bill was two-
fold. It was intended, in the first place, to relieve
Christians from the necessity of teeing oaths which were
repugnant to their reason and th it feelings; and, in the
next place, by so doing lie proposed to put an end to the
only remaining remnant of former prejudice and exclusion
—(cheers)---for the change which he was about to propose
would not ()Ely relieve Christians from oaths which a
Christian ought not to be called upon to take,
bet would a!so sweep away that portion of one
of these oaths which was the only obstacle to the
reception o' Jews into parliament. (Cheers ) He proposed
to abolish in ,all cases in which an oath was required to
be t ken, the oath of allegiance as it now stood, the oath of
suprem icy, and the oath of abjuration, and to subs'itute
for those three oaths one single oath which would contain
the oath of alllegiance, and that which saes requisite in the
other oaths, but which would leave out a portion of the
oaths which he did not consider it fit or proper to retain,
The oath of alleeiance would stand with such additions
as he had mentioned. Bat the beginning of the oath of
supremacy, " I declare that I do from my heart forswear,
abjure, &a., that detainable doctrine propagated by the Church
of Rome, that princes excommunicated by the Church may
be murdered by their subjects," what was the use of calling
on members to take such an oath as that ? It was calling upon
them to abjure that which no one believed. No Protestant
ever did belie►e, and he ventured to say that no Roman
Catholic of the present day believed, though it might
be true that at one time it was the doctrine of some part
of the Catholic church, but it was utterly hostile to
the feeling of the present day. There was no one who
would not blush if he were told it was necessary he should
take an oath to restrain him from such an act. (Hear,
hear.) Then the oath went on to deny that any foreign
prince, prelate, state, or poteetate had authority, ecclesias-
tical or spiritual, in this realm. That declaration he
would leave as it stood. Next came the oath of abjuration,
" I testify, eze., that Queen Victoria is the rightful queen
of this realm, and all other of her Majesty's dominions.
That was a very proper declaration. Then followed—

And I do solemnly and sincerely declare that I do on my
conscience believe that none of the descendants of the
person who called himself and pretended to be Prince of
Vales in the time of the late King James IL, essuming,
the title of King James 111 , Sac„ has any right or title to
the croWn of these realms, and I hereby solemnly re-
110U11C3 all allegiance or obedience to him, &c. These words
he proposed to sweep away. It was abeet as reasonable to
abjure allegiatme to the Heptarcby in these days as to
the son and descendants of James 11. (Cheers.) Next
as to the declaratiora whrchsuce eded,of allegiance to Queen
Vtctoria, that was provided fee in the oath of allegiance.
Then came the declaration to defend her Majesty, her heirs,
and s cceirora against all traitors to her crown and person,
and to expose treasons. That was a very proper engage-
ment which no member of that house would refuse.
(Cheers) Next came the declaration to maintain the
succession in the heirs of the Princess Sophia of Hanover,
and that, in substance, he proposed to retain until he came
to 'he last sentence. All these things I faithfully acknow-
ledge, aeeoreling to the words expres,ed, ae-d in the
common seeee understanding or them, without qualification
or any s,Cret reserve, &c. Ile proposed to emit that part
of his, which referred to mental rescraation, and those
other things which do not now apply to those who was
c died upon to take those oaths, and he proposed to omit
also the last words in this oath—and all this I steadfastly
declare on the tree -faith cf a ehristian, which were the
words that precluded Jeees from sitting in
that ho use. The noble lord then read the terms
of the oath as it would stand nearly to
the following effect :—I do solemnly promise to swear that
I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her Majesty
Queen Victoria, and defend her to the utmost of my power
against conspiracies and traitorous attempts against her
person, crown, and dynasty, and that I will use my utmost
Endeavours to disclose and make known all traitorous
attempts and conspiracies-that may be formed against her,
&c., and faithfully to maintain, support and defend, to the
utmost of my power the successi m of the crown as it now
stands by the Act of Parliament In the person of the
Princess Sophia of Hanover, her heirs, dec. It then pro-
eeeds.to declare. that no foreign prince, prelate, or po-
tentate has jurisdiction or authority in these realms. It
concludes by an affirmation, emrnifting the words
on the true faith of a Christian. He apprehended
that nobody could object to that proposal so far
as it applied to the object of simplifying the oaths,
but he did expect, not on the present occasie n, but at a
future stage of the measure, that he ghoul.' have to
encounter opposition from those who were adverse to the
admission of Jews into the B shish parliament. (Hear,
hear.) He had never heard any reason that appeared to
him to have the least force in anew( ring the question why
a British subject, being a Jew, should net be permitted, if
elected, to sit and vete in that house, The mail argument
:that he had adduced against the preposition was, that this
was a Christian assembly—that it was en assembly com-
posed exclusively of men professing the Christian religion,
and that to admit Jews would be to alter its Christian
character. That argument, he meat say, savoured to
some extent of an amount of prejudice and intolerance
which formed no part of the principles of Christianity—
(cheers) —and was certainly not consonant .with the com-
mand to "do unto others as we would they should d unto
us. 6 It could not he obj, eted that tha Jewawere deficient
in intellect, and would be therefore less useful members of
that hove than Christians. Every one knew that the
very reverse was the tact, and that such Jew; as would
aspire to the distinction of sitting in that house were
mainly distinguished by .those high intellocUiel q talities
which would peculiarly fit them to sit there. (Cheers.)
Then it was objected that the Jews had no stake in the
country, and that therefore they would be heedless of
' maintaining laws for the protection of property. They
all knew that they were men generally of great wealth,
and possessing a large stake in. the country. Since he had
'been in the office he now he'd, eircuEnstances had accurred
that made him ashamed of the present state of •the laws.
It had hirppened to him and to his right honourable friend
the Ch:- needier of the Fxchequer, while the country was
engaged in a war, to require large sums of money for the
purpose of carrying on the business of the country. It
was their good fortune to meet with great capitalists, who
came forward to supply the wants of the public service and
to provide for the necessities of the state, and when they
entered within the walls of the Muse of Commons, they
found these very men who had so aided the government
and the country in its need, were excluded by an arbitrary
and unjust law from sit ing there. The House d swept
away all those unjust enactments which placed the dis-
senters in an unjust and degraded position, and the exclu-
sion of the Jews was almest the last ray of prejudice
that now remained. (Hear, hear, and cheers.)
Now, what were the opponents of the measure
afraid of ? Were they afraid that the admission of
the Jews would shake the Christian religion He
hod heard of m :Tit, a Jew urning Christian, hot he
hod never yet heard o a Curietian b: coming a Jew.
(ulbeers.) No one could reasonably suppose, that the
introduction of a few persons of the Jewish persuasion into
Parliament, would change the Christian constitution of this
country. (Cheers.) Jesus, if in Parliament, would, by
their great intelt.igenee•and knowledge, materially assist in
its deliberations, and besides, a finishing stroke would be
put to that system of religious liberty and liberal legisla-
tion, which had of recent years male such rapid progress
(Cheers.) These were many, not members, who were unv
fitted by former pledges, who were free to act on the Eaton-
, tancous impulses of their -own judgments, and he wished
the measure could be carried by a large majority, and if
that should be the case, be .could not but indulge
in the sanguine expectatien that the obstacles
which had elsewhere impeded its progr Sc, would give way
to the wishes of the .new House of Commons, and that the
finishing stroke would be pit to a work which had been
far too tong delayed. (Loud cheers.)
On the question being put that leave be given to bring
in the bill, _ _ _

Sir P. Thesiger said it was not his intention to oppose
the introduction of the bill, but as his seetim-nts respect-
ing the admission of the Jews into parliament had under_
gone no change, he should, in its next stage, give it his
mcst d, tided opposition. (Cheers from the Opnositien
benches.) This was evidently a portion of the great qiiestion
of reform which was to be postponed until the next session,
ani as other portions of that question were not to be
pressed forward now, he did not see why the Jewish part
of it should form an exception. Had the demands of the
Jews upon the noble lord recently been so very urgent thw,
ha could not resist them ? (Lem' laughter.) He could
not help thinking that there had been some pressure on
the noble lord to force him into such a prominent p ‘sition
on the present occasion. (Cheers and laughter.) Previous
to the election the noble lord was asked to make the Jewish
question a government question, and he biieved the
reluctance of the noble lord had mit been unservice-
able to the noble lord the member for the City in
the appeal which he made to the constituency. (Loud
cheers.) The noble lord was now, however, committed
to this measure. If he looked behind him he could see
no possibility of retreat. He well knew the perseverance
of the noble lord when he once made up his mind, and
he could 'not disguise ;the formidable :task which he had
undertaken, in opposing a measure which was to be sup-
ported: lay/tlie noble lord:,with the whole weight of his
authority. The noble lord had now the opportunity of
taking advantage of what had passed in former years, and
had no doubt done so. The hon. and learned gentleman
then proceeded to recapitulate the different measures
which, during a long course of years, had been introduced
into Parliament. Having done so, he said he had not wit-
nessed:any reluctanceon the part of new members to take
the oaths, and did not believe that. any strong objection was
entertained to them. He admitted that it was desirable
to remove one part of the oath of abjuration. (Cheers.)
But he thought the best course to pursue for the accom-
plishment of that object would he to remove the obsolete
part of the oath, leaving the admission of the Jews as a
distinct question to stand on its own grounds. (Cheers.)
He thought the opponents of the measure might be spared
the charges of prejudice and intolerance which were
brought against them. Many persons objected to the
admission of the Jews on conscientious grounds, and
however prejudiced they might be, they ought not to be
charged with intolerance. I had been said that this was
a question of civil and religious liberty. Now, in his
opinion it was not a question of liberty at all. It was a
question of power. (Hear, hear.) The question
was, whether persons woo did not profess Christianity
were to possees a portion of the supreme power
which belonged to a Christian nation. (Cheers.) He
wished whatever views honourable members might enter-
tale respecting the admission of the Jews, they would take
care not to allow any alteration of the oaths which would
(Cheers.)
trench
Lord o
Jno thhne
us tsisteutit,i osnos
roafrthfreocmoufinitlrdyin. g
fault with the
noble lord at the head of the Goverment, for bringing
the subject before the house, thought that he had acted
most wisely in following the advice of those who had
recommended him to give such a measure the influ-
ence of his weight and position. (C leers.) With regard
to the sent which he had the honour to occupy as the
representative7of the City of London, he obtained that seat
in 184 l when Baron Rothschild was not a candid de, and
he was re-elected in leel when Baron Rothschild was a
candidate, and when the Baron was co-operating with
other candidates.' (Cheers and laughter.) He had
never heard any sound or good reason for
refusing to admit Jews into Parliament. The hon.
and learned gentleman (Sir F. Thesiger) said this was
not a question of civil liberty. The hon. and learned
gentleman was not under the ban of exclusion, and not
being a member of the Jewish community he could talk
quite at his ease. (Cheers and laughter.) Now, if some
hon. member were to propose the exclusion of the gentle-
men of the long robe, and many plausible reasons might
be suggested tor the adoption of such a course (laughter),
the hon. and .learned gentleman would loudly protest
against such exclusion. Ile did not want to hurt the
feelings of the hon and learned gentleman, but he would
just ask him to place himself in the situatlen of the Jew
for a moment (laughter), and then he would find himself

in a most anomalous position, for whilst he might hold
the position of Lord Mayor of London, and many other
offices, he would find himself excluded from civil offices
and from a seat in Parliament. (Cheers.)
Mr. Newdegate said the christian feelings of the large
majority of the people of this country were opposed to
the admission of the Jews into Parliament.. He was con-
vinced that those who had supported the House of Lords
in rejecting former bills would do so again if they fohov ed
a similar course. _ _

After a few words from Mr. Locke King,
Lord Palmerston thought that he ought not to fix a clay
earlier than immediately after Whitsuntide.
The [notion was thou agrdul to, and the house resumed.