The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-14 00:00:00

The lion. Member wished to know whether the ancient
laws of Hungary and the Austrian Constitution of 1848
did not secure liberty of conscience to persons of all re-
ligions persuasions, and whether the Governmenw would
not endeavour to obtain ample reparation at the hands

of the Austrian Government ? -
Lord J. RUSSELL said it was true that certE in per-
sons, ministers of the Scottish Free Church. who were
residing in the Austrian territories for the pur pose of
converting the Jews to Christianity, had been t'xpelled
from these territories. They were persons who, never
interfered with the Roman Catholics, or attem peed to
make them proselytes to the Protestant faith. They
certainly never supported any political agitation or dis-
cussion.—(Hear.) When the Hon. Gentleman asked
him whether under the ancient law of Hungary rind the
Constitution of 1848 they ought not to have been
expelled, he could only say the well-known ancient
laws of Hungary were extremely favourable -to re-
ligious freedom (Hear, hear)—so also, lie be-
lieved, was the Austrian Constitution of 1848 ; but
those laws had at present no effect, and th e Aus-
trian Government had thought proper to expel these
' persons. When information on the subj4!ct was
conveyed to Earl Granville, a communication was ad-
dressed to her Majesty's Minister at Vienna,. He
doubted very much whether we could say the proceed-
ings of the Austrian Government were either against
the municipal laws of Austria or the natione►l rights,
but undoubtedly they ought to make reparation
to the parties who had endured the hardship of an ex-
pulsion, and lost besides considerable property.--(Hear.)
TRAGEDY AT HOLMFIRTH.

In reply to Mr. G. SANDARS,
Sir G. GREY said the magistrates of the district
in which the appalling calamity at Holmfirth took
place had sent him a communication requesting that a
Government engineer might be sent down to the spot to
attend the adjourned inquest, to make inquiries into the
nature of the dreadful accident; and that request had
been complied with. He was not prepared to say whe-
ther the Government would propose a grata of money to
the sufferers and their survivors.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT.
Mr. LABOUCHERE then rose to move for leave to
bring in a Bill to carry into effect certain provisions
c.aiitairied in the copyright treaty with France. In 1848
an Act was passed on this subject, which gave the Crown
powwr to make copyright treaties with foreign nations.
This enactment, however, only referred to original
works, and translations were excluded from it. With
the authority of this Act treaties had been made with
several continental countries, and negotiations for other
treaties were now going on. Recently a similar treaty
had been made with France, and this Bill was to

authorise the carrying out of points in that treaty
which were not authorised by the original Act.
The French Government, for instance, had in-
duced the Crown to grant protection to
authorised translations of foreign works; and although
there might be some difference of opinion upon this
branch of the subject, yet on the whole he thought this
rule would work well if it were carried out with certain
limitations; and it we .s therefore proposed to do so. It
was proposed to give the author of an original work the
right to provide for a translation within five years,
provided he specified his intention to do so upon his
title-page. Such were the provisions of the Bill which
he now wished to bring in. Before he sat down he
might state that a clause in the Bill would enable the
Crown to make similar conventions with other countries
besides France.
Lord MAHON thought the thanks of the country
were duo to the Right Hon. Gentleman for having in-
troduced this Bill, as well as to the Noble Lord the
Member fur Tiverton, under whose direction the treaty
with France was negotiated. The Right Hon. Gentle-
man bad taken a just view of the subject of translation,
and he hoped the Bill would ultimately rscsiv
the sanction of the House. He suggested that the Go•e
vernment would do well to come to a good understand-
ing with Belgium and the United States upon this sub-
ject of copyright. He had reason to believe that these
two nations were not indisposed to enter into such con-
ventions, and he should be glad to know if any negotia-
tions for the purpose were going on?
Mr. LABOUCHERE said there were none at pre-
sent, but when the Bill should have become law, it was
proposed to open communication upon the subject with
those two countries, to whom copies of the Bill would he
forwarded.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.
BOARD OF HEALTH.
Lord SEYMOUR obtained leave to bring in a Bill to
confirm certain provisional orders of the General Board
of Health.
NEW REFORM BILL FOR SCOTLAND.
The LORD ADVOCATE then rose to move for
leave to bring in a Bill to extend the right of voting
for Members of Parliament, and the law relating to the
representation of the people of Scotland. The provisions
of this Bill were so much like that introduced for Eng-
land, that it was quite unnecessary for him to detain the
House with any lengthened statement upon the
subject. The Noble Lord, who introduced the
English Bill brought in the first measure of reform some
thirty years ago, but he himself stood in a very different
position. The great and distinguished man who introduced
the first Reform Bill for Scotland had long been no more,
and now nothing was left of him hut the results of his
public labours and the works of his pen, which had
made the name of Francis Jeffrey and the English lan-
guage known throughout the whole world.—(Hear.)
At the time the first Reform Bill was brought in tor
Scotland she stood in a very different position to Eng-
land. England had something like a popular
representation, but Scotland bad none, or
if any it wee only a shadow, for the
right of returning Members for counties was vested in
the Court of Freeholders, who held their property di-
rectly from the Crown, while the privilege of returning
Members for the boroughs was vested in the town coun-
cil, who elected themselves. And yet, notwith-
standing such a system, Scotland flourished,
but nevertheless that did not prove the inuti-
lity of a popular representation, but only
served to show what a nation might do through the
force of its own energies.—(Hear, hear.) The Bill,
however, which was brought in and carried by Jeffrey
vastly extended the influence and improved the charac-
ter of the Scotch people, and though it was
considered at the time only an experiment,
the people soon satisfied the Legislature that
it would succeed, and he could only hope that the
same use would be made of the Bill that was made of
the first, and that the candidate and the voter, the land-
lord and the tenant, the master and the employed, would
still continue V; make it their duty to maintain the national
self-respect, without which popular rights were useless.
Looking
twenty-n
at theyears,
political and moral progress daring the
last
at the increasing general intel-
ligence, and the improved tone of political morality, the
difficulty they would have would not be in saying what
had not been done, but what had been accomplished
in that time. They had been taunted with the fact
that there was not popular excitement on the
subject of reform. That, no doubt, was perfectly true,
but, being true, he considered that the circumstance of
the measure being introduced during a period of peace,
and discussed without excitement, was the greatest ar-
gument in its favour. It was impossible to have a more
expressive tribute to the benefits of the Reform Bill than
this. The absence of that cry for reform, which
resounded through the country from the time of the
Rockingham Administration to that of Earl Grey,
showed that the effect of the Reform Bill was to draw
more close together the cords of sympathy between re-
presentatives and the people. He believed the people
had now more confidence in the House, and that
they considered it was not necessary, as in
former days, to create an agitation out of doors. Under
the existing law in Scotland the county representation
was vested in landed proprietors and holders of long
leases of 101. yearly value, and in the second place
in those who held under leases for nineteen
years, and those who paid 50/. rent. It
was proposed by the present measure to re-
' duce the property and long leasehold qualifications
from 10/. to 5/., and the 60/. rent qualifications to 20/.
With regard to boroughs, the qualification would be the
same as that in the English Bill which had been intro-
duCed by Lord John Russell—the 101. occupancy would
be reduced to 51., and the same provision would
be introduced as to the payment of a certain
amount of direct taxes. The Learned Lord then
entered into a brief statement of the minor details of
the Bill, which he said would effect a considerable im-
provement in the existing law. There would be a
right of appeal from the Registration Courts to
the Scotch Court of Exchequer, which would
decide all points of law arising under the Bill.
He concluded by expressing an opinion that the mea-
sure would tend greatly to promote the happiness of
the people and the prosperity of the country.—(Cheers.)
Mr. CUMMIMG BRUCE • said he cordially con-
curred in the eloquent panegyric uttered by the
Learned Lord, but he could not allow this the first
stage of the Bill to pass without expressing his strong
conviction that it was ill-timed, uncalled for, and in no
direction.—(Laughter and hear.) He did not mean
.to
assert that the persons whom the Bill proposed to enfran-
chise were not as independent and as well qua-
lified to exercise the right as any other portion
of the community, but he conceived that the Bill was an
unnecessary meddling with the basis on which the Con-
stitution rested, and would have a most dangerous and
mischievous tendency. He was one who opposed every
clause of the Reform Act, and he was ready to admit
that the evils he anticipated from it bad not
been realised.—(A laugh, and hear.) But when the
Learned Lord and the Noble Lord at the head of the
Government glorified themselves on the manifold good
which the Reform Bill had produced, he must say that
they had not yet been able to elicit an answer
toothear coquunetsrtyi°,ll which had been put by one
of the most illustrious men in this er any
viz.,
Government
to be carried on?"
of the country been since the passing of that Bill ?
"Hown what is
state the
Qhuadeell the's
For the last few years and, indeed, almost at the
presentovern mmenotmehnatd, thefre y
queexnetricise of the Governmental
functions were nearly at a dead lock. The
G been almost unable to
carry on the business of the country. Knowing this,
Bill,Cordiallysaid themove
presetwere
theu thanked nt
there
thew eer Le emaarnneydpLoionrtds
wfohricihnbtreodhuigehinlyg
Mr. HUME was not surprised the speech of the last
speaker, for he had at .
consistently opposed Parliamentary
Reform ever since he had ;n that House, but
he really was surprised to held a seat however,
which had fallen from the liieson. ar the remarks,
Inerness.
Nevertheless he was not astonished Member for
Bills
being
at these
characterised as peddling measures; and he was at a loss
to understand why the Government had not determined
upon bringing in a thorough reform, for the Noble Lord
at the bead of it was constantly