The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-26 00:00:00

T E SUN,

MILITIA BILL.

Mr. M. GIBSON asked the Secretary for the Home
Department if he would have any objection to print
and circulate copies of the 42d Geo. 111., and the other
Acts :mending the same, which were incorporated or re-
ferred to in the measure now before the House, in
order that Members anal the public might know the
nature of that measure.

Mr. WALPOLE said the Hon. Member was per-
fectly at liberty to make a motion on the subject it be
pleased. The Acts he referred to were to be found in
the statutes at large.—(A laugh.)
THE REV. MR. BENNETT.

Colonel BOYD gave notice that to-morrow he would
ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he was
prepared to state to the House what steps had been taken
by the Government towards instituting the promised
inquiry respecting the appointment of the Rev. Mr. Ben-
nett to the living of Frome.
MILI rn. BILL.

Colonel SIBTHORP gave notice of an amendment to
the Militia Bill for abolishing the qualification formerly
required for officers in the militia, and also for altering
the mode of their appointment.
THE LATE ARCHBISHOP MURRAY. .

Sir W. VERNER had obtained permission to ask
the. Noble Lord the, Member for the city of London a
question, of which he had given the Noble Lord notice.
The House was probably aware, that on a recent occa-
sion a sermon had been preached in Dublin in comme-
moration of the late Archbishop Murray, and the priest
who preached the sermon is reported to have
said that the deceased prelate was solicited by the Go -
vernment cf the day to accept a distinguished post. in
the Privy Council as a reward for his unblemished life,
and the high reputation which he held for wisdom. The
deceased prelate, however, declined the offer, and he
wished now to ask the Noble Lord the Member for the
city of London, if he was aware of any such offer ever
having been made by the late Government?—(Hear.)
Lord JOHN RUSSELL—Sir, I have no hesitation
in stating that the fact asserted by the Rev. Gentleman,
and now repeated by the Hon. Baronet, is substantially
correct; but I should have hesitated making that admis-
sion had I not been called upon formally to avow it.—
(Hear.) It was proposed to the late Archbishop to take a
seat at the Privy Council in Ireland, and the Archbishop
had declined to accept it.—(Hear, hear.) Sir, I can
only say that it gave me great satisfaction to make
that proposal, which I did through Lord Bessborough,
and I much regretted at the time that it was not accepted
by a prelate whose character I esteem and whose memory
I revere.—(Hear, hear.)
LEGAL EDUCATION.
Mr. EWART wished to ask the Attorney-General
whether any further proceedings had taken place, on the
part of the Inns of Court, in promotion of the question of
egal education.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL was much obliged to
the Hon. Gentleman for giving him an opportunity of
stating, for the information of the public, a few facts
11311 a metter of some interest —(Hear.) The benchers
of the four Inns of Court had, for a consideracle time,
devoted the most anxious attention to the subject of legal
education, and they had at length unanimously egged upon
a plan which they believed would be highly beneficial
to the profession and the public.—(Hear, hear.) Pro-
fessorships or readerships Were to be established in the
different societies to be liberally endowed, and lectures
were to be given, and private classes to be formed for
the purpose of instructing students before they were
called to the bar.—(Hear, hear.) It would be
necessary hereafter for a student to obtain a certifi-
cate of having attended a course of three lectures,
or to be in a position to prove that he
had satisfactorily passed a public examination, and,
for the purpose of encouraging they students to sub-
mit themselves to these examinations, testimonials were
to be given to those who were found to be the most
prcficient.—(Hear.) He need not enter into any mi-
nute details of the proposed change in the system, and
he hoped that the explanation he had given would con-
vince the Hon. Gentleman and the public that the
bombers of the Inns of Court were evincing a laudable
desire to promote legal education.
LOSS OF THE BIRKENHEAD.

Mr. DRUMMOND wished to ask a question on the
subject of this ill-f.sted vessel, and in order to make his
question intelligible to the House it would be necessary
for him to mention that her Majesty had power of grant-
ing compensation to the amount of 801. To illustrate
his meaning the Hon. Member stated that an officer
on board the Birkenhead was the son of a very poor
clergyman, who had totally lost everything he possessed,
to tha amount of 3001, and it was quite impossible for
him and his friends to make the same good.—(Hear.")
The question he wished to ask the Secretary at War
was, whether there was any ground for hope that the
Queen's Ministers would recommend to her Majesty to
grant any compensation, by promotion or otherwise, to
the officers who survived in the Birkenhead, for their
heroic conduct and total loss of their property in that
miserable shipwreck?
' Major BERESFORD was happy to have this oppor-
tunity of giving his approbation and that of those who
acted wita him to the conduct displayed by the men
and officers who were present at the loss of this unfor-
tunate vessel, more especially as the troops on board
were not old soldiers, but recent and raw levies, who
were going to join their regiments; and it showed that
that discipline, so Effective on the field, could
he acquired with a long period of drill.--(Hear, hear.)
The question of the Honourable Member seemed to re-
solve itself into two parts, one as regarded promotion,
and one as regards compensation. As regarded the
question of compensation, he had only to say that the
War-office would be at all times ready to distribute com-
pensation upon the most liberal principle according.
to the regulations contained in her Majesty's warrant
all these matters, however, were usually brought before
a board of officers; and although, in the majority of in-
stances, the maximum compensation was restricted to
801., yet in special cases like this the board had power
to go beyond that sum if the circumstances required
it.—(Hear, hear.) He could only say that any funds
placed at his disposal for the purpose should be most
cheerfully distributed. With regard to the question
of promotion, it (lid not rest with the War-office, but
was vested in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief,
who had always evinced a desire to recommend for her
Majesty's consideration all officers who distinguished
themselves on occasions like that referred to by the
Honourable Member, and in four cases of ship-
wreck where officers had distinguished themselves
iu saving life or otherwise they had received regimental
promotion or had been appointed to staff situations.--
(Hear, hear.) In conclusion, he had only to mention
that a subscription had been entered into for the relief
of the widows and orphans of those who perished in
the Birkenhead, and as the name of the highest person-
age in the land stood at the head of the list, he could
only hope that when the proper time arrived the gene-
rosity of the House would be invoked with successin the
same direction.—(Hear, hear.)
GENERAL BOARD OF HEALTH BILL.
Sir GEORGE PECHELL said this Bill stood for
committal to-night, it was number six on the paper, and
he wished to know whether the Noble Lord at the head
of the Woods and Works intended to bring it on, as he
intended to make some objections to its clauses?
Lord JOHN MANNERS said it certainly was his
intention to bring it on, and if the House gave him an
opportunity he should go into Committee on the Bill.
MILITIA BILLS.

Mr. HODGES said, before the adjourned debate was
resumed, he wished to make some explanation as to a
statement which he made on Friday, and which ap-
peared to excite some merriment. The statement
was that five hundred men deserted from a
militia rogiment to which he belonged; and he
certainly fell into a considerable error, for he had
received this morning a letter from the adjutant of the
regiment, from which he learnt that the number
amounted
800 men,
to 881.--(A. laugh.) The battalion consisted
o memro.isiLmoleTnyi,paanjsdi during the time it was in existence
2,044 men had
BILL.—ADJOURNED
to join the regular army.
Bill, admitted ATrLLCADJOURNED DEBATE.
mixed up with '
adeubce n
lalalesdboi2nenenottwroyna;
aideresuming the debate upon this
that it was of too great importance to be
questionn a tion onwoanse partyor questions', or to give rise to crimi-
one
of
fre-crimination on the other. The
before the Rouse. the most vital that could be brought
should have one or Theywerenot to consider whether they
another Militia Bill, but whether the
defences of the country wereth in an efficient state.—
(Hear,sufficient facts before
h a Bill? It wa
hear.) No
them to justify in asking foey
said that people out of doors had
tion of security as to the defences ofe
that was not to be wondered at when it
thew country; bat
nogn
that
had " Hear,neen
for forty years thirteen millions had
annually in maintaining them.—(Cries spent
hear.") The letter of the Duke of Wellington
ref'rred to as a reasoa for the present bill, but the
proposition of that distingui:hed personage was to enrol
not to dmbody, 80,000 of the militia. Where did 11,
t
danger of ar:lnvasion come from? Was it from Prussia,d
n e
.tvletistturrie to h
a' llstisosiwa' or Spain. lie thought no one
would
venture an invasion was to be apprehended
from those quarters. There could be no doubt that
France was the country meant, but if so it was much
h?ver to qicak out if any real danger was apprehended.
Instead of disturbing the economical arrangements of the
couutry, if danger did really menace them, they
ought to increase the navy and make it more
efficient. Our mercantile marine alone was a safe-
guard almost against invasion by the united navies
of the world. Our steam marine was nearly twenty
to one, as compared with that of France.
We had no less than 1,300 steamers, large and small,
which, in case of war breaking out, might be made most
efficient. He did not think any case had been
made out for embodying the militia, and en-
tailing a cost estimated at so large a sum,
upon the country. When the militia was called out in
1804, the expense incurred amounted to no less a sum
1
than 6,000 0001. Ia his opinionvolunteer forces would