The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-27 00:00:00

SUN,

LONDON,

Mr. KEOGH presented a petition from a place in
Ireland against the Charitable Trusts Bill.
Mr. T. M. GIBSON presented four petitions, from
various parts of the metropolis, in favour of retaining
the Crystal Palace.
Mr. W. BROWN presented petitions from Lancashire
against the Militia Bill.
Mr. F. SCOTT presented two petitions from Scot-
land against the grant to Maynooth.
Mr. FORBES presented a petition from a place in
Scotland against the Bill for the abolition of university
tests.

THE ARMY.
Major-General REID gave notice that on Monday
next he should ask the Secretary at War whether the
Government has any intention of proposing to Parlia-
ment an increase in the strength of the regular troops

serving in great Britain and Ireland.—(Hear.)
ADMISSION OF JEWS INTO PARLIAMENT.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL gave notice that on an early
day h 3 should move a Committee of the whole House, to
take into consideration the oaths taken by Members of

Parliament.
ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS.
Mr. HORSMAN wished to ask the Secretary of State
for the Home Department, whether her Majesty's Mi-
nisters contemplate the introduction of any measure for
the reform of the Ecclesiastical Courts?
Mr. Secretary WALPOLE said, the Queen's Ad-
vocate having paid great attention to the subject, had,
at length, submitted a Billl to the consideration of the
Home-office with reference to the reform of these courts,
but whether the Government could undertake to adopt
this or any other measure, it was quite impossible for
him to say at the present moment, as the subject was of
a complicated nature, and required long and careful con-

sideraiion.—(Hear, hoar.)
HE REV. AIR. BENNETT.

Col. BOYLE, in pursuance of a notice which he gave
yesterday, wished to put a question to the Right Hon.
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the subject of the
recent appointment to the vicarage of Frame. He found
in Barnstaple's " Roman Catholic Register," an entry to
the effect, that on a certain day the Rev. Mr. Bennett
was received into the Roman Catholic Church, and the
question he wished to put was whether the Right Hon.
Gentleman was prepared to state to the House what
steps Government had taken for prosecuting a searching
inquiry into this matter.—(Hear.)
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said her
Majesty s Government had lost no time in addressing
certain inquiries with respect to the law affecting this
case to the Crown Officers, and the replies of those
Learned Gentlemen had reached him only
within the last few minutes. He should
like, certainly, to consider those replies before
he spoke more in detail, and he would only say at pre-
sent that the subject engaged the earnest attention of
Government.—(Hear.)
Mr. lIORSMAN wished to know whether it was true
that three beneficed clergymen made the certificate to
which he referred the other night, and whether the
Bishop of London countersigned it?—(Hear.)
The CHANCELLOR of the EYCHEQUER said the
House would perceive that a bond fide inquiry
was being
pursued by the Government, and therefore information
in detail could not be satisfactorily given until it was
brought to a close.—(Hear, hear.)
THE "DUNDALK DEMOCRAT."
Mr. CAMPBELL wished to ask the Attorney-General
for Ireland if he was prepared to state tho reasons
which had induced the Government to abandon the
prosecuDundalktionDemocrat?instituted against the editor and publisher
of the
Mr. NAPIER said when be came into office he found
that the indictment which had been preferred at the
assizes had been removed into the Court of Queen's
Bench is Dublin, and be and his Learned Colleague
the Solicitor-General were consulted as to the
course which ought to be taken is reference
to it. Now he and his Learned Colleague
were of opinion, that before any prosecution of the
public upon the part of the Government should be en-
tered upon, there should be clear grounds for it, as well
as a case of urgent necessity; but he found that in this
case the publication complained of had been published
as far back as the month of November, and although the
publication waa,very bad, two whole terms were allowed
to intervene before any notice was taken of it. Under
those circumstances, and considering the case could not
have been tried till July next, which would have ren-
dered the whole matter stale, it had been thought advis-
able to forego the prosecution, and a letter had been
written to the editor accordingly, with an intimation
that it was hoped that the paper would be hereafter con-
ducted in such a manner as to render the interference of
the Attorney- General wholly unnecessary —(Hear.)
Mr. HATCHELL explained that the reason of the
delay bad been that the publication did not come to his
knowledge till some time after its appearance; and as a
very aggravated murder had been committed in the dis-
trict where it had been published, the late Government
thought that some notice ought to be taken of it. It
was also felt that the more constitutional mode of pro-
ceeding was by an indictment at the assizes and not by
an ex officio ineormation.—(Hear hear.)
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.
Mr. L. KING then rose to ask for leave to bring in a
Bill to make the franchise and the procedure at elections
in the counties in England and Wales the same as in the
boroughs, by giving the right of voting to all occupiers
of tenements of the annual value of ten pounds; by limit-
ing the time of taking the poll to one day; and by limit-
ing the time of proceeding to elections to eight days.
The Honourable Member observed that when he brought
in his Bill last year, many Members voted against it, not
because they objected to its principle,'but solely on the
ground that Lord .John Russell had promised to intro-
duce a measure of reform early in the present session.
The Noble Lord had fulfilled his promise, but his Bill
bad fallen to the ground. Therefore no plan of reform
was at present before the House. He rejoiced
that he was not in any way fettered by the
promise of one. He regretted that the Noble
Lord made a promise; and the more so, that the plan
he proposed was so different to that which he contem-
plated when he made the promise. He also regretted
that the course the Noble Lord took had led to a divi-
sion in, the Liberal party. and allowed the government
of the country to pars into the hands of the
party of which ho was so much afraid. The
principle of the Bill he now proposed had been often
discussed, but no one had ever ventured to assail the
class of persons whom it proposed to enfranchise. The
Noble Lord (Lord J. Russell) did not object to this pro-
posed extension of the franchise to occupiers in counties,
though it was true that in his Reform Bill he did net go the
length of a 101. qualification, but he introduced the 201.
qualification, no doubt with the view of ultimately re-
ducing it. The Right Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor
of the Exchequer himself said he was not opposed to the
extension of the county franchise, which he claimed
as the invention of the party of whom he was
the distinguished ornament, but some how or other he
voted against the proposition. The Hon. Member then
gave some statistical reasons for the Bill, and ex-
pressed a hope that Honourable Members opposite
would not object to the extension of a prin-
ciple which they claim to have introduced, and which
if carried out would enfranchise a large class of the
people who were at present deprived of a vote. It was
a singular circumstance that whilst the population as
well as the intelligence and comforts of the people
had increased—whilst science and skill had ad-
vanced, labour been augmented, and crime and
poverty diminished the number of electors in
counties had greatly diminished. Formerly the repre-
sentation was a much more democratic basis, and he
hoped that those who were so wedded to the customs of
the past ages, would not hesitate to place the
franchise on its original basis. Unjust dis-
tinctions ought not to be made in different
districts, and between one class of persons and another.
He trusted, in conclusion, that the large and influential
body of the people whom he intended by the Bill to en.
franchise, would not be refused their most reasonabt
and just rights.
Mr. CAMPBELL deprecated proceeding with" a Bi

of this nature in the pei)sent session, on this grould tha,
while there was no chance of its ever passing a third read.
ing, it would give rise to party animosities in the House.
considering that sufficient inquiry had not been insti-
tuted prior to the proposal before the House being
brought forward, should give his vote in opposition.
Mr. HUME, amid load cries of " Divide," rose and
said—That the silence on the Government benches was
very ominous indeed. The electors of counties under the
existing system were slaves instead of freemen, and the
time would come when a change was imperatively called
for.—(Hear.) The Noble Lord the Member for the
city of London had already expressly himself in favour
of the extension of the franchise, and he should be glad
to know if his motion should have the benefit of bis
vote.—(Hear, hear.) Those who were knocking at the
door to get into the Constitution ought to be admitted
at once, for the people were not so fairly represented
as to have a fair voice in that House; and he called
upon the Government to say aye or no to this motion,
then the country woulti know what they bad to expect.
—(Hear, hear.) If they were determined to resist all
reform, let the public know it ; and he really did hope
that the House would insist upon having a declaration
from Ministers upon this subject.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord J./ MANMERS said the Government had no
difficulty whatever in saying no to this motion, and as
the opposition wanted an immediate dissolution he weald
advise them to abstain from bringing forward motions
of this character.—(Hear, hear.) If this motion were
curried it would have the effect of revolutionising
the county franchise.—(Hear, hoar.) What did
the moiion propose ? Why to assimilate the
county franchise with that borough, but though there
were two ways of accomplishing that assimulation the
Government thought the existing franchise had worked
well, end had fuleilled the intention of the Reform Bill,
which was to take care that the owners and occupiers of
land should be fairly represented.—(Hear: hear.) The
county franchise had produced less controversy and less
corruption than the franchise which prevailed in bo-
roughs, and if an assimulation were necessary why
should they not change the borough to the county sys-
tere.—(oh, ch.) No doubt there were defects in the
present county system; but on the whole it had worked
well, and he hoped the House would not allow the busi-
ness of the country to be obstructed motions of this
sort which ought to be left for the consideration of a
new Parliament.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord ROBERT GROSVENOR said ho agreed with
much that had fallen from the Noble Lord. Perhaps
this
was not a fittieg opportunity for introducing
this motion, but there was one part of the
present proposal, namely, th 3 latter part of
it, which was wholly unobjectionable, and he
hoped the douse
would allow it to be introduced
(Hear,
hear.) He alluded to the part which proposed
to shorten the duration of the polling at elections for
counties, and when he remembered that a Bill
had been brought in to mulct county Mem-
bers of refreshments for the electors ev
least the House ought to enable him to meet that
expense by rendering a second day's poll unnecessary.—