The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-13 00:00:00

THE SYJN,

that passage had not been discovered at all, but what
discoveries had really been !melt, walla be foeni
marked upon the charts and maps. As to whether
there was any intention on the par; of the 'Admiralty
to accept Capcaiu Penny's
_offer of service for the new
expedition, it had been decided by the ;ate board, tor
reasons which had been ccnsidered sufficient by them.
not to employ Captain Penny ; and the Admiralty had
resolved not to reverse the decision come to by their
predecessors in office. With regard to further corres-
pondence on the subject not before Parliatneut, ho was
not aware that there were any such ufficial papers.: •
Mr. ANSTEY said, the papers to which he referred
did not perhaps come strictly under the title of corree
spondence, but consisted, he believed, of memorials and
petitions to the Admiralty, praying that Captain Penny
might be re-employed.
Mr. STAFFORD replied, that it would be very de-
sirable for the Hon. Member to specify
what papers he
really wished to be produced.
Sir It. H. INGLIS feared that the late -Admiralty,
and he almost feared the present board, had forgotten
that once upon a time there existed such a man as Mr.
James Cook, for they really seemed to fancy that her
Majesty's Royal Navy had a right to monopolize all the
discoveries which might be made by private skill and
enterprise.—(Hear, hear.) Eighty or ninety years ago
that was not the doctrine of the then Board of Admiralty,
and the consequence was that they found such individuals
as "Mr." Cook—as some of the officers of the Royal
Navy now-a-days would have presumed to call him—the
master of a whaler, who rendered the name of England
dignified by the discoveries he had made. He did say that
the treatment which Captain Penny had received from
different individuals had not been such as would tend to
encourage in any, except in officers of her Majesty's
navy, that zeal for national discovery which was so ma-
nifested in the middle of the last century.—(Hear, hear.)
But this was not only a question of national discovery,
nor a question of science; it was a question of humanity.
—(llear, hear.) He believed that Captain Penny, whe-;
ther he made the special discovery of the north-western
passage or not, had penetrated further than any other
man; and therefore, when it seemed to be thought
almost a merit in the present and the late Boards of Ad-
miralty that they had given Captain Penny no reward,
they would, in his opinion, have done their duty as well,
and have met the justice of the case far better, if they
had encouraged Captain Penny to continue those disco-
veries which he had commenced, and which he had
prosecuted more satisfactorily than, or at least as
satisfactorily as any other persons employed
in the expedition.—(Bear, hear.) He would ven-
ture further, to express a hope that her Majesty's
present Board of Admiralty would not lose a day in
preparing the expedition upon which their predecessors
in office had resolved.—(Bear.) It might not be neces-
sary that that expedition should sail on the 10th or the
15th of April ' • but he would say, that every day that
it was delayed after the earliest time at which it could
be got ready would be a day lost, not to the cause of dis-
covery, but to the great cause of suffering humanity; and
he was sure the House would readily support the board
in urging forward that expedition.—(Cheers.)
Mr. STAFFORD said that strenuous exertions were
being made to bring the new expedition into a state of
readiness.

Mr. PARKER regretted that the late First Lord of
the Admiralty (Sir F. Baring) was not in his place that
evening to take part in this discussion, and in his ab-
sence he (Mr. Parker) did not know that he could give
any satisfactory explanation on the subject now under
debate. This, however, be could assure the House, that
his Right Hon. Friend had exercised his best discretion
in the decision come to relative to the Arctic Expedi-
tions, in orcta. to attain that object which this House
and the country at large had so much in view,
namely, the recovery, if possible, of Sir John
Franklin and his fellow-explorers, or, at any rate,
the ascertaining what had been their fate. The
late First Lord had taken infinite pains in the matter, he
had left nothing undone, fur he felt that he would be
secure of the support of the House and the approbation
of the people at large in any expenditure. To find fault
in the absence of his Right Hon. Friend with the course
which he had taken did not seem to him to be quite fair.
The choice of officers for such an expedition involved a
delicate discretion, and he doubted whether this House
was a fit place to discuss the merits of officers. He did
not know whether his Riglat, Hon. Friend, had he been
present, would have thought proper to enter into the
reasons which bad induced the board to decline to send
out Captain Penny, and he (Mr. Parker), holding, as be
had done, but a subordinate position in the department,
could not be expected to go into those reasons.
Captain SCOBELL callee, the attention of the Ad-
miralty to the propriety of scattering the ships em-
ployed in the next expedition more than had been done
in the first. Some six or eight vessels appeared to have
been almost within hail of each other, so that they
covered very little surface. Boat expeditions bad, it was
true, been made over the ice, but the result has been
very far from satisfactory. As to Captain Penny, he had,
read with great minuteness everything that had come
before Parliament on the question, and be did think that
the exertions—he might say successful exertions of Cap-
tain Penny had been more prominent or as prominent as
those of any one employed throue bout the whole expe-
dition. It was much to that gentleman's credit that he did
not go to seek promotion, but had joined the expedition,
runniag the same risks as those who went out also from
very noble motives, but who hoped theredy to advance
themselves. The Hon. and Gallant Member concluded by
asking for the production of a return which he had moved
for in the beginning of the session, and which would be
useful to the House when the naval estimates came on
for discussion.
Admiral BERKELEY was prepared to assume his
share of the responsibility of not having appointed Cap-
tain Penny to the Arctic Expedition. That conclusion
had not been come to without due deliberation; it had
not been come to without, in the first place, the consul-
tation of every officer who bad visited those regions, and
he was of opinion that it Captain Penny had been sent
out with the present expedition it would not have been
for the interest of the object in view.
The subject then dropped.
Mr. F. MACKENZIE moved that the House, at its
rising, should adjourn till Monday.—Agreed to.
The dropped orders of the day and notices of motion
were then re-appointed.
PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

On the motion for reading the order of the day re-
lating to the Parliamentary Representation Bill,
Mr. Hume. Mr. Tiiomas buncombe, and Sir Joshua
Walmsley presented petitions in favour of Parliamentary
Reform.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL then stated that as he could
not hope to pass the Bill as a private Member he pro-
posed to abandon it, bat he should not preclude himself
from making a motion on this subject in the course of
the session. Ho should, therefore, move that the order
of the day relating to this Bill, and the Corrupt Prac-
tices at Elections 13i1l be read, for the purpose of being
postponed for three months.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HUME expressed his regret at the announce-
ment, but he hoped the Noble Lord would give
an early notice of his intended motion. He was
sure if the motion was founded upon free aid
liberal principles it would meat with the sanction of the
country.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. W. WILLIAMS also regretted that the Bill was
to be abandoned, but was rejoiced to hear that the
Noble Lord bad not altogether given up the cause of
reform.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. S. DUNCOMBE called upon the Liberal party
to proceed with this Bill in defiance of the Noble Lord,
or insist ripen his_abandoning it at once. He wanted to
know whether it was intended to let Parliamentary
reform stop where it was? And until he obtained some
answer to this question, he could not consent to this
motion.—(Hear, hear.) It appeared to him, how-
ever, that there was little chance of any reform
this year; but the Noble Lord having pledged himself to
take the matter up, he ought to state distinctly what he
intended to do in future now.—(Hear, bear.) He
hoped for nothing from her Majesty's Government, and
he might be prepared on Monday, after hearing
their statement, to give them the compliment
of the session—(A langb)—but delays upon reform in
the past had proved dangerous,—(Hear, hear.) He,
therefore, called upon the Noble Lord to lose no time in
introducing a Bill on the subject, so that the House might
fully discuss it before the general election, which he was
told was not far off.
After a few words from Mr. G. BERKELEY, the
motion for the postponement was agreed to.
SUITORS IN CHANCERY RELIEF BILL.
On the motion that the order of the day relating to

this Bill be read,
Sirby the
W.
P. WOOD
Government.ODloped that the Bill would be taken
up
Mr. WALPOLE said no man was more competent
to manage a Bill for Chancery reform than the
Chancellor, and he was glad to tell the lions° that this
theN obsluebajneedtijp_H
Learned(ear, hear.) With regard to this Bill
Lord was ready and wining to take
and another relating to the Court of Bankruptcy, he
would look into them-
—a
and see - '
d
by the Goverriment ear, hear.)
The order of the
thei
second they couldreaii nbe
gwaadso
then
d
y(tl for
postponed for a week.
The Parliamentary
r i
a m ent
ary Representation (Ireland) Bill, and
the
Representation (Scotland) Bill were
withdrawn.
)
PASSENGERS ACT AMENDMENT BILL.
Sir J. PAKINGTON announced the intention of the
Government to take up this Bill,Gove and fixed the second
rending for Monday week next.
ST.
ALBANS DISFRANCHISEMENT BILL.
Mr. WALPOLE moved the second reading of the
Bill. Bill was Drought in
EY said the
vernment,Sir G. GR
consequence of the report of a Royal Commis-
sion, in d into the system of bribery and cor-
sion, who had inquired
lie hoped the Bill would be perse-
veredruption in the borough.
said thus much, he was prepared to
in ; but having •
of the Right Hon. Gentleman
leave the matter in the hands_
me
Dep
artment.
the Secretary of State for the Bo
11 House and was rc-
Mr. BELL then rose to addre:s t e ' ~
i' " Hear, hear. The
ceived with laughter and cries o
with the view of making
Honourable Gentleman said he rose
an expiring effort to prevent the Bill from passing. The
question of Parliamentary elections was one in which he had
never taken any interest and, in fact, he knew nothing
wha'ever of such mattersuntil he found his name associated
before be
as the author of a system which had existed
long
was born, and which, he had no doubt, would exist long
after he had passed out of this sublunary state.— (Bear,
hear.) To &feud so detestable a praclice as that of which
the borough of St. Albans had been convicted was im-
possible.
No man had greater reason to detest that
system than he had, but he put it to the House whether,
under the present circumstances, it was just and proper
to carry out the extreme sentence of the law on the unfor-
tunate borough of St. Albans. He had several pleas to
offer, and upon them would rest his argument. The first
of those pleas was that when a number of persons were in-
dic:ed for a joint offence, the person who turned Queen's
evidence, and by his testimony secured the conviction of his
accomplices, was invariably pardoned. The present Bill was
only one out of three which had been framed with the view
' of punishing electors who had been found guilty of receiving
',. bribes. The borough of St. attlis had turned Queen's