The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-05 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—Dicc. 4.

The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'Clock.
A number of election petitions were presented, amongst
which were petitions against the returns for Portarlingten,
Sligo, Carrickfergus, Maldon, Limerick, Wicklow, Leicester,
Dudley, and DovvnpD atri
DANISH CLAIMS.
Mr. W. JAMES presented a petition from Hull, praying
for compensation for the property of the petitioners, which had
been seized in 1810 in the ports of Denmark.
ADMINISTRATION OF LAW IN SCOTLAND.
Mr. WALLACE prese:.ted a petition from an individual
named Henry Jones, complaining of the slow progress of
justice in Scotland.

POSTAGE.
Captain PECHELL presented a petition, signed by 248
inhabitants of Brighton, praying for a reduction of postage
duties.
EXHIBITIONS OF PUBLIC CURIOSITIES.
The ATTORNE Y-GENERAL presented a petition from
inhabitants of Edinburgh, complaining of the disgraceful
exactions which are enforced from persons visiting exhibitions of
public curiosity, and instancing, as an illustration of the discredit-
able nature of the abuse, the insult offered to the Turkish
Ambassador, when, on going to see the Scotch regalia, with
an order from the Secretary of State, and in the company of
the Lord Provost, he was refused admittance unless he paid
a fee of one shilliug.
THE BALLOT.
Colonel S I BTH 0R P presented a petition from the city
of Lincoln in favour of the Ballot. He did not concur in the
prayer, but thought the statements of the petitioners were
worthy of consideration. The Hon. Member was proceeding
to discuss the general question (amidst no inconsiderable
laughter), when he was called to order by the SPEAKER.
ELECTION PETITIONS.
Petitions were presented against the returns for Ipswich,
Stirling County, the Eastern Division of the County of York,
Teigumouth, and Great Yarmouth.
PENSION LIST.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave no-
tice that on Thursday next he would move for the appoint-
ment of a Select Committee on the subject of Private Pen-
sions on the Consolidated Fund.
REFORM OF THE REFORM BILL.
Mr. HUME presented a petition from the Brentford Po-
litical Union, praying for the Ballot, an Extension of the
Franchise, and an abridgment of the duration of Parliament.
The HON. MEMBER also presented a petition, praying for
the abolition of admission fees for visiting public monuments.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said he had corresponded on
the subject with the Dean of Westminster, and also with the
Warden of the Tower. Nothing had yet been determined
on ; but if the Hon. Member for Kilkenny wished, he, Lord
J. Russell, would not object to produce the correspondence.
After a few words from Mr. HUME the correspondence
was ordered to be laid on the table.
MUNICIPAL OFFICERS DECLARATION BILL.
On the motion of Mr. BAINES, that the House resolve
itself into a Committee upon the Municipal Officers' Decla-
ration Bill,
Mr. GROTE said that he believed that was the proper time
for him to introduce to the House his proposition that the Bill
should be extended to all classes of her Majesty's subjects, as
well as to the Moravians and Quakers, whose relief the
Honourable Member for Leeds had more immediately in view.
He ( Mr. Grote) believed that when the Roman Catholics were
emancipated and other dissenters relieved from the Test and
Corporations Act, the principle was established, that no British
subject should be deprived of the exercise of any civil
right by reason of a religious regulation.—( Hear.) Nosy
certainly gentlemen could not possibly apprehend any
thing like danger to the Established Church of England
from the admission of Quakers and Moravians to the privi-
leges sought for them ; and certainly if it was fit and light
that the powerful sect of the Roman Catholics should be ad-
mitted to these privileges, it was also fit and right that
Quakers and Moravians should also be admitted. He proposed,
however, to carry the Bill of the lion. Member for Leeds, by the
instruction to the Committee which he should move, to the same
point as that Bill reached which that Hon. Member brought
into this House in 1836, and which, after passing this House,
was carried up to the Lords, where lie believed it was mot
rejected ; but there not being time at that period of the Session
to allow of a full discussion of the principle, it consequently fell,
though the objects embraced by that Bill were precisely the
objects he now had in view.
Sir A. Clifford, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, here
summoned the House to the House of Lords, to hear the Royal
assent granted to several Bills.
On the return of fie SPEAKER, after a short absence,
Mr. GROTE resumed—No one could take objection to the
admission of Jews to the rights and privileges enjoyed by the
rest of their fellow-subjects consistently with the present state
of the law. There was a very strong feeling prevalent
in time constituency which he had the honour to represent in
in favour of the concession of those privileges to the Jews,
as, iedeed, had been shewn that evening in three
Petitions, which had been presented on the subject. There
was a very great feeling of the inconsistency in-
volved in the circumstance that the Jews should be
disqualified front holding the office of mayor or alderman, but
not be disqualified from serving as sheriff. He would have
appealed to the Learned Recorder, the Member for the Uni-
versity of Cambridge, had he seen him in his place, as
to whether those Jews who of late years have acted
as sheriffs, did not discharge the duties of the shriev-
alty with as much honour, credit, and efficiency as any
other Gentlemen. Ile was quite sure that he should have
the voice of that Learned Gentleman in favour of his
motion, for he who had seen so many instances of the fitness
of Jews for the office of Sheriff could not argue against the
admission of Jews to act as Aldermen and eligible to Mayoralty.
He did not know on what ground the Hon. Member for Leeds
ould oppose hie motion. He could not see on what ground
the motion could be opposed, which would not equally apply
to the Bill itself. He thought the time was now arrived
when the last remnant of the penal laws relating to conscience
should be done away with. The Hon. Member concluded by
moving, " That it be an instruction to the Committee on this
Bill to extend the relief afforded by the same to persons of all
religious denominations."
Mr. GORING seconded the motion, and contended that it
was unworthy of this enlig,hteeed age and country to retain
those laws which excluded Jews from civil rights.
Mr. L A NGD AL E was as favourable to the abrogation
of the laws affecting the Jews as the Hon. Member for the
City of London; but he felt satisfied that if his (Mr.
Grote's) proposition were agreed to, it would cause the re-
jection of the Bill in another place ; whereas if it were
sent up there in the form in which the Hon. Member for
',eels proposed to send it to the Committee, it would be cer-

lain to pass.
Sir JAMES DUKE said that he felt bound to do just ice
to the characters of the individuals, one of whom had preceded,e
the ether followed him in the office of Shrievalty—( Hear)
_hy bearing testimony to the worth
fullgentle approhis
low-citizens, the office of Sheriff; avid ho had eariied with
him, into his retirement: the esteem and good wishes of all.—
Loud cheering. ) he other was now
.filling that of-
fice, and he ( Sir James Duke) was satisfied that he
woulond himself as to obtain a similar degree of
approbationd so c.
He uct could assure the House that those gentle-
men had acted in the most liberal manner as regarded contri-
butions to the various institutions of the City without any con-
sideration of religious diffurences.—(knew
.many
gentlemen in the ti
of London of the same persuasion as
those gentlemen who, he was confident, deserved the same
high character. He tiusted, therefore, that the House would
consent to remove the barriers which 9:Tarot° those gentle-
men from the rest of their fellow-subjects, and he begged to
second the motion of the Hon Member.
Sir G EO. STRICKL AND considered that the only mode
of propping up the Church Establishment in this country
consisted in removing those religious distinctions whidi
existed in the imposition of civil dilabilities. He hoped
to see the day when all civil disabilities would be removed,
and whenb
Hon. Gentlemen opposite would be brought to see
that this is the best way for securing the objects
O
which they had in view. Hut lie begged to otl
that it had ever been his maxim if he could rot carry out
fully any principle, then he thought he was bound to take a
smaller measure of that principle in lieu of the whole, and to
take all that he could get when he could not get all that he
could wish. He must therefore oppose the measure of the
Hon, Member for London.
Mr. 1' AT I 151-)N btlpportcd the proposition of his Hon.
Friend and Colleague. lle was stivprised to find opposition made
to such a motion from that (the Liberal) side 'of the Ho4e.i:--
( Hear.) He had a notice of a motion for this night—whiedi
he would not bring on, if the House acceded to that of his