The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-06 00:00:00

AFFAIRS OF INDIA.

Mr. OTWAY inquired if the right hon. the President of
the Board of Control would fix a day for the discussion of
the affairs of India ? There had been a most flagrant case of
torture reported in the Bombay papers to have taken place,
and he was anxious to bring that question before the house.
Mr. V. SMITEI replied that in consequence of the
great mass of business Wore tip house he could not fix a
time at phsent, but as soon 33 an opportunity occurred he
should consult with his noble friend at the head of the
Government, and fix a clay.

TENANTS' IMPROVEMENTS COMPENSATION
(IRELAND) SILL.

The house went into committee on this bill, and resumed
the discussion after the 10th clause.

Clauses 11, 12, and 13 were postponed, on the motion of
Mr. Horsmar, without remark.
On clause 14,
Mr. HORSHAN moved the insertion in line 4, after the
word " time," of the words "within 20 years."
Mr. V. SCULLY and Colonel GREVILLE objected, and the
committee at once divided.
For the insertion of the Ns orris
- Against it
Majority
-104
Mr. GI OGAN then moved that the Chairman report
progresi, on the ground that the Government had stolen a
march upon the house, and that many members who in-
tended to discuss this question wero absent, believing that
the preceding clauses would have been considered in
debate. •
This gave rise to a long and acrimonious discussion, in
which Mr. Ilorsman denied that he intended to gain any
advantage, and that ho wished to consult the convenience
of those Irish members who were obliged to attend the
assizes in that country, and wished to discuss the principle
of retrospective legislation before they went. At last, on
the suggestion of Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Grogan withdrew his
amendment, and the committee proceeded to discuss the
clause.

§everal amendments were made on verbal q,z.Ltionsaiiztcl

divisions were taken on them. On one of them a question
arose whether Sir George Grey bad a right to vote, as he
wrs in the room behind the Speaker's chair when the
question was put. It was contended that this room was
not within the precincts of the house, and therefore that
righ. t gentleman had no right to vote.
Mr. MALL S moved that the Chairman report pro-
:,T
gress, in order to havb the Speaker's opinion on the matter,
and that be ask leave to sit again forthwith.
Lord PALMERSTON objected. to the progress of the
business being interrupted.
After some discussion, Lord PALMBASTON and Mr. WAL-
POLE both stated it to be the opinion of the Spe deer, as
ascertained privately, that the proper course would be to
report this difficulty to him when the house resumed, when
he would state his opinion, and that it-was competent to
strike off votes'improperly given at any time.
On this explanation, Mr MALINS withdrew his motion,
and the business of the committee proc,eded.
On the question that the clause as amended stand part
of the bill,
Mr. J. G. PHILLIMOII, moved that it be omitted, and
argued that the principle- of retroactive legislation was
essentially unjust, and had never been admitted in the code
either of foreign legislatures or their own.
Mr. POLLARD-URQUHART did not contest the
soundness of the hon. gentleman's principles, but he con-
tended that the improvements of the tenant were his pro-
perty, of which he ought not to be deprived.
Mr. MALINS contended that the clause was opposed to
every principle of justice, and was fraught with danger to
the rights of property both in Ireland and in England.
Property had changed hands within the last few years to a
very great extent, and if this bill should pass it would im-
port into every lease a new obligatioh on the landlord.
(Hear, hear.) If a tenant built a house, or made great
improvements without the consent of the landlord, he had
no claim upon the landlord. Did the noble lord at the
head of the Government mean to sanction the principle
that there was to bo placed on every landlord in the
United Kingdom this obligation into which he had never
entered, and which had he contemplated, he would in all
probability never have granted a lease? He wished to im-
press on the minds of the English landlords that if they
thought one principle was to be acted upon in Ireland and
another in England, they would have themselves to blame
if next year a bill should be brought in throwing the same
obligation on English landlords which they were now aiding
in throwing upon the landlords of Ireland. (Hear.)
Mr. C. FORTESCUE supported the clause, whicl had
been passed in 1853 with the greatest ease, the hon. and
learned member who had just spoken never having made
the least objection to it. (Hear.) He should vote in favour
of the clause, even in its modified form. He believed that
this law, if carried into effect, would in reality do no more
than was now done by every just landlord in Ireland.
Mr. M`CANN supported the clause.
Mr. NAPIER objected to the proviso at the end of the
clause, the effect of which would be to throw the entire of
Ireland into litigation, and while this proviso remained
he should feel it his duty to oppose the clause.
Mr. FITZGERALD expressed great surprise at the
statement of the hon. and learned member, that he should
oppose this clause, and at his attempt to " wriggle" out of
support to a clause which was much more favourable and
just to the landlord than the clause originally proposed by
the hon. and learned gentleman himself in tbq bill which
he had introduced and supported in a former session. , He
trusted that the committee would consent to the chase, or
he considered that without this clause the bill would be of
comparatively little value. _

11fr. CAIRNS said he should vote for the clause. If it
was a violation of principle or a departure from justice,
then the fixture clause in the Landlord and Tenant Bill of
1853, which had received the assent of both houses, must
have been a greater violation of principle, and a greater de-
parture from justice. So far from the clause being a vio-
lation of contract, ho held that it acted on what was con-
sidered to,ba the contract between the parties.
Mr. S. FITZGERALD strongly opposed the clause. It
applied not to landlords alone, but to every species of con-
tract, and was therefore of the last importance. It was most
unjust to induce people, as the Government had done, to
buy large estates in Ireland at 25 years purchase, and then
to come down upon them with a bill like the present, to
oblige them to give four years more.
The committee divided on the question that clause 14 as
amended stand part of the bill.

For the clause
Against it... I3S
Majority against the clause -36
The announcement of the division was received with
great cheering by the opponents of the- bill.
Mr. Sergeant SHEE put it to the noble lord whether he
would go on further with the bill ? He did not believe the
noble lord ever intended to pass it; and it was certain the
people of Ireland would not accept it without a retrospec-
tive clause.

Lord PALMERSTON asked whether the learned gen-
tleman wished to have this question settled, or to keep it
as material for a hustings' speech, where he might appear
as the champion of the distressed tenants ?
Mr. Sergeant SHEE said the noble lord, who had been
in place for forty years, and who had stooped to retain
'place to courses which few gentlemen would have done,
had had the presumption to charge him with wishing to
keep up a hustings' cry. He would tell the noble lord that
he had lost much of his popularity in Ireland by sub-
mitting to the amendments of the Government. He
charged the noble lord with having opposed the principle
of this- clause in committee in 1853, though whon it was
carried against him he had not the manliness to throw up
his place and oppose it.

Vs:Word PALIfgRSTON said ho would be guilty of what
the learned gentleman called presumption in commenting
upon him whenever he, pleased. It was true he was not
favourable to the abstract principle of retrospective legis-
lation, though from regard to the circumstances of Ireland
he did not oppose it ; and he would again put it to the
house whether it would not be better to have this question
settled during the present session if possible.
The Chairman then left the chair, and on the house re•
sliming, the SPEAKER gave hie opinion with respect to the
right of members voting, which was raised at an earlier
period. He said that if a member was outside thelolding
doors of the house, he must be considered as not in the
house, and, consequently, as not entitled to vote.
The Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Bill went
through committee.
The Endowed School (Ireland) Bill, as amended, was
considered and agreed to.
The Burial of Poor Persons Bill passed through com-
mittee. •

The West Indies Relief Loans Arrangement Bill passed
through committee.
The Union of Contiguous Benefices Bill was read a second
time.

The Commons Inclosura (No. 2) Bill was also read a se-
cond time.

The Militia Officers' Qualification Bill was road a second
time.

STAGE CARRIAGES, DITTIES, &c.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER proposed in
committee to reduce the duty from lid. to id. a mile, and
to reduce the supplementary licences to is.
The resolutions were ngeed to, and the house resumed.
The Lunatic Asvludts and ilogulations Acts Amend-
ment Bill was read a second time. _ _ _

Tho Public Libraries and Museums Bill passed through
committee.

BILIS OF EXCHANGE AND PROMISSORY
NOTES BILL.

Mr. KEATING moved that the amendments be consi•
tiered; with a view that the bill be read a third time on
Monday next. _ _

Mr. VANCE moved, as an amendment, that the bill be
read a third time that day three months.
The house divided—
For the third reading on Monday .. 55
Against it
Majority
Mr. COWPER obtained leave to bring in a bill to con-
tinue certain turnpike acts in Gre It Britain ; and also a
bill in respect to turnpike trusts arrangements.
The house adjourned at. twpato to three o'clock.

A Russi.lN EMISSARY.-1G has ben ascertained that
M. Peteissen, the Russian Secretary of Legation at
Lisbon, went to France with the King of Portugal,
crosser? over to England, and left Southampton for
Lisbon in the Tagus mail paeliet, on the 17th of last
month. This ii the-third time M. Peterssen has visited
England since the war with Russia. The object of these
visits to England is to get saltpetre shipped from Dig-
land to some German port via Lisbon. M. Ozeroff, the
Russian ambassador at Lisbon since the war, went to
Lisbon from England in a British steamer,, with an
Austrian passport.

. .
POLICE WORK.—The Commissioners of the Metropo-
litan Police have recently superannuated a policy con-
stable of the name of William Jones, who was long at-
tached to the D or Marylebone division, after an ardu-
ous service of nearly 26 years. What renders this man's
services the more extraordinary is the fact that while he
was in the force he apprehended the unprecedented num-
ber of 3,522 persons for various offences, and that from
March, 1845, to March, 1855, he had no le,s than
1,533 persons committed for trial ; while during the
same period be apprehended 523 area sneaks—the most
dangerous class of persons that infest the metropolis.
Jones was much respected by his superiors in the force,
and is now superannuated on a pension of, we believe,
351. per annum.
THE IRISH POLITICAL EXILES.—Mr. John 73. Dillon,
barrister-at- law, one of the " leaders" in the insurrec-
tionary movement of '4B, and not the least among the
able but dangerous press contributors of that insane
period, has arrived in Dublin from the land of Know-
nothings, where be has, it seems, been eminently suc-
cessful in his professional capacity. With creditable good
taste, Mr. Dillon, since his temporary return to this
country, is living in the strictest privacy at the seaside,
eschewing all the vanities of " popular" notoriety, and
not even permitting his arrival to be noticed or men-
tioned in the journals devoted to the "cause" which led
to his exile.

The Diet of Frankfort held a sitting on the 28th'.
Count Recbberg communicated a note from Sir A.
Malet, the British lanvoy, relative to the blockade of
all the Russian ports in the Gulf of Finland. He after-
wards announced the approaching return to his post of
Field-Marshal Baron Prokesch Osten, the Austrian
Envoy, President of the Diet. A repult having been
presented on the Administration in 1854 and the Budget
of 1855 of the federal fortress of Rastadt, the Assembly
decided that a vote should be come to in three weeks on
the subject. Baron Prokesh Osten arrived at Frankfort
on the 29th ult.
DiPAIUMENTAL RAILWAY COMPANY OF FRANCE.
A prespectus has been published of this company, with
a capital of 1,000,000 t., of which half is,to be subscribed
in England. The object of the company is to execute
the various sections necessary to complete the network
of French railways, by laying down cheap connecting
lines on the track of existing roads. Whatever may he
the prospects of the enterprise, the readiness of English
capitalists to embark in it hi likely to be diminished by
the recent proceedings in connection with ' the Western
of France Railway for removing as many of the English
directors as possible.

ELLAND.—A row fields of grass have been cut during
the past week in the neighbourhood. The crop aP,"
pears heavy, and we shall have plenty of grass. though
rather later than usual. The corn &so
looks very
healthy. a Thera is every
• appearance of a plentiful har-
vest, the present fine weather bringing it fast on,—llali-
/um Courier.'
The present beautiful fine weather
the completion of the works of sheep-shearing and the
beginning of hay harvest. It must also have a most
salutary effect upon the growing cereal crops, stiffening
the straw and forwarding its progress towards maturity.
We hear unusually numerous complaints of damage
done in this locality to the turnip crop by the fly.
Potatoes appear luxuriant, and will soon be Abundant--
7 Watertt Flyisg