The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-20 00:00:00

GOVERNMENT ANNUITIES BILL.

Mr. SHERIDAN asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Whether it was his intention to proceed with the Govern-
ment Annuities Bill this evening ; and whether, considering
that the title of the bill does not fully convey the real ob•
jecta of the bill, and that the bill hitherto has passed through
two stages, without being fully understood, and, further,
considering the great interests affected by the proposed
alteration of the law, ho would have any objection to post-
pone for a short time the further consideration of the
measure,

The CHANCELLOP of th
had no objection to postpone fotreaEXCHEQUER said he
short time the further
h
consideration of the measure,
objects of which ho re-
gretted had not been perfectly wade,
-pone the committee until Monday understood.
Ho would post-
THE MURDER OF melt:
kGRAY,
Mr. S. FITZGERALD wished to
AmericanciC know what
what was the
American Government
date of the despatch addressed to the
the
with reference to the wurder of Mr.
time he would ask another question. (tray. on
Friday At same
r
had moved for papers relating to the case of the Margaret
last he
an t 3 Jessie and other vessels, but the Government
eto produced them. Since then the noble lord at the head
dof
the Foreign-office had consented to the production of these
despatches. (Hear.) He wished to know whether they
would be laid on the table of this house also. With regard
to the Saxon, he might state that ho referred to the murder,
not to the capture of the prize.
Mr. LAYARD said the first information was received
by her Majesty's Government towards the end of Decem-
b T, but the depositions were not received from New York
until about tho 20th of January. They were imme-
diately sent to the law officers of the Crown. Their re-
port was received on the 30th, and the same afternoon

instructions were sent to Lord Lyons to ask for such re-
dress as we were entitled to from the American Govern-
ment : but before the receipt of any instructions Lord
Lyons had communicated with Mr. Seward, ~o on the
30th of January, ordered an inquiry to be m tde into what
had taken plane. The last information received was that
that investigation was going on, With regard to the second
question, the hon. gentleman was slightly ;n, error as to
what Earl Russell promised to give the other night. He
promised that a certain list of claims should be laid upon
the table of the house. There was no objection on the part
of the Government to give a list of all the claims ; but they
were naturally anxious not to do anything which might in-
terfere with the interests of any persons who had claims
against the Government of the United States. Of course,
the papers laid before the other home would be laid before
this house also.

BANK ACTS (SCOTLAND) BILL.
Sir E, COLEBROOK asked the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer whether he intended to proceed with the second
reading of the Bank Acts (Scotland) Bill this evening.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied in
thee affirmative; but there would be a committee on the
bill, when a further discussion might take place.

EXPLANATION.
Mr. AYTOUN was understood to offer an explanation
to the house with regard to an expression he had made use
of in the discussion on Kagosima. With reference to the
conduct of Mr. Moss, he had used the word "crime," but
he had received a letter from that gentleman stating that
in the course of the affair spoken of, the gun had been dis-
charged by accident, and not by order. He therefore re-
gretted having used the word crime," which was not a
suitable word under the circumstances.

THE CHARITY COMMISSIONERS.
Mr. FERRAND hoped he might be allowed to move the
adjournment of the house, in order to defend himself against
the attack which had been made upon him by the right
hon. gentleman opposite (Mr. Lowe). What he (Mr. Fer-
rand) said was that the light hon. gentleman had told a
member of the house that ho (Mr. Ferrand) had been right
in opposing the proceedings of the Charity Commissioners
in his own neighbourhood; that the commissioners were
wrong ; and that the Government were about to introduce
a bill to put a stop to the fraud of which he complained.
Having made this statement, ho begged to withdraw the
motion. (Laughter.)
THE DANISH PAPERS.
Lord J. MANNERS asked when it was probable that
the Danish papers would be presented

- - Mr. LAYARD said not a moment's time was being lost.
He believed the papers would run to between 690 or 700
folio pages, but he would do his best to get them out as soon
as possible.
Lord J.MANNERS reminded the hon. gentleman of his
promise to give the papers by instalments. (A laugh.)

WEST RIDING ASSIZES.
On the order cf the day for going into committee of
supply.
Sir J, HAY moved that an honourable address be pro-
sented to her Majesty, representing to her Majesty the town
of Wakefield, the capital of the West Riding of Yorkshire,
as the place suggested by a large majority of the magis-
trates of the %Vest Riding as the best for holding an assize ;
that Wakefield, containing as it does the West Riding
Prison, the head-quarters of the West Riding Constabulary,
the West Riding register-office, and the West Riding pro-
bate-office, is also geographically the central town of the
West Riding, and possesses every convenience in courts,
railway communication, and hotel accommodation for the
purpose; and praying that her majesty will be graciously
pleased to nominate the town of Wakefield as the assize
town for the West Riding of Yorkshire. The hon. and
gallant member, in support of his motion, stated that 191
magistrates of the West Riding expressed an opinion that
Wakefield should be the assize town, whereas only 59 were
in favour of Leeds.
Mr. LEATHAM seconded the motion, and in a very
humorous speech pointed out the great superiority of
Wakefield to Leeds, both as regarded population and the
convenience of the bar and the bench.

Sir G. GREY, having complimented the hon. member
who had just sat down on having made a very amusing
and a very talented speech, proceeded to quote the sec-
tions of the Act of Parliament under which the order in
council had been made. He stated that the Lord Chan-
cellor, Lord Wensleydale,:Lord Cranworth, end Earl De
Grey and Ripon, were members of the committee to
whom the decision of the question had been relegated;
and that ho himself had invariably replied to applications
end memorials from every quarter that he could not form
any opinion until the whole case was before him. The
committee, too, considered the subject carefully, and had
coma to the conclusion, having regard to no private in-
terests and no reference to political feeling, but guided by
the objects of the cheap, speedy, and effective administration
of justice, that Leeds bad the preferable claim, and that it
would be moat conducive to those objects that the assizes
should be held at Leeds.

Mr. BEECROFT supported the claims of Leeds on the
grounds of its large population, great amount of assize
business, and on account of the hotel accommodation sad
railway facilities afforded in that town.
Sir G. GREY begged to correct an omission, and to state
that neither Lord Wensleydale nor the Secretary of State
for India attended the Council; but they had sent in their
written opinions to the chairman.
Mr. ROEBUCK said the Privy Council had determined
and said that the assizes should be removed from York to
the West Riding, and also that they would recommend to
her Majesty's Government that Leeds should be the town.
Parliament had said that the Privy Council was the best to
decide on that matter ; and the house having passed an Act
of Parliament giving that power to the Privy Council, he
wanted now to ask the house why they interfered with the
decision of the Privy Council. (Hoar, hear.)
Colonel SMYTH was of opinion that the assizes ought
not to be removed from York ; but if there was to be a
change, he would say that Wakefield was the most fitting
place. _ _ _

Mr. BAINES deprecated any interference by the House
of Commons in a question which had been settled by the
authority to which it had been delegated by ,Parliament
itself. The Privy Council had considered the matter by
the aid of all the lights it could obtain, and by the aid of
the most important tribunal that could be devised, and the
consequence of attempting to appeal from that decision
would be endless confusion. The intention of the old law
was that the assize should be held in the most important
town of the county. That principle had been followed out
in recent times—such, for example, as in the case of
Lancashire, in which the assizes had been moved from
Lancaster, first to Liverpool, and then to Manchester.
Now, Wakefield could not be considered the chief town
of the West Riding, for, as compared with Leeds, it was but
a fourth or fifth rate town. The hon. member impugned the
figures which had been quoted to show that Wakefield was
more eligibly situated as regarded the population in the
registration district of Halifax, and his belief that there was
not a shadow of reason for attempting to disturb the deci-
sion of the Privy Council.
Sir J. PAKINGTON had been a member of the Royal
commission in 1857 to consider the question. They had
come to an unanimous decision against transferring the
West Riding assizes to the town of Leeds, the majority
being in favour of retaining the assizes at York. At the
same time a minority had come to the opinion that a case
had been made out for the West Riding having a separate
assize, and it was his firm belief that, if the question had
been between Leeds and Wakefield, the commission would
have decided in favour of the latter. For that reason he
should, if the question went to a division, vote for the
amendment of the hon. member for Wakefield.
Mr. HADFIELD said that at an influential meeting held
in Sheffield it had been decided that Leeds ought to be the
assize town for the West Riding; but at the same time they
had an intention ultimately to ask for a division, which
would make Sheffield also an assize town.
The house then divided—
For the original motion l3B
For the amendment
Majority —l9
Sir J. D. Hay's motion was therefore lost.
THE LAW OF SETTLEMENT.

On the motion that the Speaker do leave the chair being
put,
Mr. WARNER, who had a motion on the paper calling
attention to the operation of the law of settlement on the
condition of the working classes, said that he had, since
giving notice, had an opportunity to some extent of ex-
plaining his opinions to the house. He had also ascer-
tained that those feelings ware gaining ground, for the
President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Milner Gibson) had
publicly declared his opinion that the question of union
rating was only a question of time, and that the law of
settlement must go when they came to union rating, He
(Mr. Warner) was satisfied with that declaration, and
thought he should best serve the cause in which he was in-
terested by leaving the subject to be discussed by the com-
mittee on the poor laws, which he understood would be
reappointed. He begged therefore to withdraw his motion,
GENERAL GOUGH.

Col. BARTTELOT asked the Under Secretary for War
on what principle Lieutenant-General Gough, C. 8., had
been appointed to the 2d Dragoons ; and moved an address
for papers. The hon. gentleman laid great stress on the
circumstance that General Gough had never served in a
cavalry regiment, for, though ho had been for some time in
the 3d Light Dragoons, he never did a single day's duty
with that gallant corps.
Col. DICKSON would not say one word either for or
against the appointment of General Gough, but ho consi-
dered that discussions in that house on military appoint.
mento were very much to be deprecated. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. B. OSBORNE said General Gough's services almost
comprised the history of the successful campaigns of this
country during the last 42 years. During 40 years of that
period, indeed, he had been engaged in active service abroad,
and his appointment to the 2d Dragoons did equal honour
to the Horse Guards and to the general himself. (Cheers.)
Mr. P. DAWSON expressed his approval of the ap-
pointment.
The Marquis of HARTINGTON observed that, after
what had fallen from the hon. member for Li.keard (Mr. B.
Osborne) it would be unnecesary for him to trouble the
house by enumerating the eminent services which General
Gough had rendered to the country. As for the rule sup-
posed to exist to the effect that infantry officers could not
be appointed colonels of cavalry regiments, he could state