The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-08 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

_HOUSE OF CORDS, Ablaut 7.
Tilt' Loan UHANCELLOR to :k his seat on the Wool-
sick at Five o'Clock.
Lord KINNOUL presented petitions from severa
places in Perthshire, for Church Extension in Scotland.
Lord REDESDALE pre:,-nte:t plitions from the
Ciy of Yort., Yardley, and other p-Uees, against any
aheration in the Corndaws.
Lord DACRE ptescntA petitions from the Magis-
trates of the of Hertford and Bradford, i:gai ist
the Be•T Bill. It o.;curred to him that n re4ulstino
iLight be introduced, proportioning the number of Beer
Housi!s to the popur.tion of the districts in whii•li they
were to !.7.e established. The Noble Lord presented a
pe'ition front Rutforil, in favour of.cp tiny po,:ta4e.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a pettiiin front
Manehes'er, signed by 71 Ityvercrul Cl r.v i n,
of the Church of Eagland, 8 'Liman Catit.,!ics,
a Scotch, 19 Weslcyln i'dethoih.ts, 1 W..sleyan W,hop,
(an Odicer which the Noble and Learned Lori was niit
a are existed), and 4 Umtarian anl I oriep.,ndents,
praying for the repeal of the P.wer 8.11, whiidi in their
opinion had done more to demaraliz. tie people than aay
inii.sure the LegisLiture had ever passed. 'roe Noble
and Learned Lord would have an opportunity of
stating his opinions lady upon this subject here•
after, and thcref;ire he contented him clt with simply
stating the petition. The Noble and Learned Lord
then presented petition; from the boroughreeve,
churchwardens, and overseers of Manchester ; fi•ont the
:nhabitaats of Newton ; from the Lee Union in Lin-

,oloshicc, which was the largest Union in England ;
from a place in Lancaliiie ; and from the borough of
Leeds ; all praying for the repeat of the Beer Act.
Also petitions from the spinners, sewers, and other
females emp:oyed in the muslin trade in Glasgow ; from
the inhabitants of Warrington ; of Idle, in Yorkshire ;
of th 9 Corporation of the Royal Borough of Duinterm•
line ; the inhabitants of Clackfurd ; of Lougtown ; of
1,t256 female inhabitants of Kilsyth ; a meeting of the
inhabitants of Cupar ; from the inhabitants of St.
Mawes ; a parish in the county of Aberdeen ; and from
lieckmondwike, all praying for a repeal of the Corn-laws.
Also, a petition from the mail and and stage-coach con-
tractors, and principal innkeepers, between London and
Glasgow, praying their Lordships forthwith, to carry
into effect the Report of the Select Committee, as the
House should think fit. AL°, a petition from Oswestry,
praying for the more effectull abolition of oaths.
RAIL WAYS—(IRELAND).

The NOBLE and LEARNED LORD then presented pe-
titions from two places in the county of Tipperary, in
favour of pomoting Railways in Ireland. The Noble
and Learned Lord said, that Laving presented these two
petitions from the respectable persons who had signed
them, it na; but fair for hlui to state, that although he

approved of every facility that could possibly be given
for the construction of Railways in Ireland, yiA, that he
shoukl most decided y oppose any attempt to obtain from

this country a grant of the public money, for, that in-
his opinion, most unjustifiable project—( Hear,
hear, and cheering)—very fit to be carried into effect
without any undue pressure either for or against it.
highly tiara to carry money for it, unnaturally, to a coun-
try to which it would not naturally go—contrary to
every sound principle of legislation—( Hear, hear)—
and, very likely in any country, except Ireland, to be
made the rrp..ns of practices which were called jobs.—
( Much cheering from the Opposition benches.)
Therefore he gave notice, that he should strenuously
oppose any such (Ent, and with a view to enable
him to oppose it more successfully, he gave notice,
tnat he should next week move for certain returns for
-showing what, in an inliaminatory way, was generally
stated to be untrue, namely, the immense sums we got
from Ireland, and the very little we did for it.—( Hear.)
It was too much the practice to make such statements ;
lie did not grudge anything that was done for
Ireland, but he wished to have the truth stated.
The Earl of HARD WICKE wished to tr:,.snms on
the House for a few minutes in consequence of the re-
inarks which had fallen from Noble Earl oppo-
site (Minto), the other night. In the course of the'
debate that Noble Lord stated that be was satis-
fied with the reserve of ili, Navy, atid that lie placed
great telianee on his demonstration ships ; and the Noble
Lord complained of his having stated that which was
untrue with regard to the two points. With regard
Lo the demonstration ships at Portsmouth, in reference
io the Revenge, and with reg...rd to certain. sails ; and
fie stated that certain patties were aggrieved in
consequence of it being stated that these returns
were false. Now, with regard to the Revenge.
It was his duty to acquaint their Lordships
that he was at Portsmouth hiniself, that be went
as a Naval officer to ascertain the state of the dock-

yard, and if anything had been finis-stated the blame
rested entirely with himself. The Revenge was one
of those ships which the Noble Lord stated to be in
readiness for active service, but one of her masts
was not hooped, and he was inforthed that the contract
for the iron-work would not be completed in less than
eleven days. He understood the Noble Lord to say
there were other masts. He (Lord Har.iwicke) never
said there were not, but what number of masts had the
Noble Lord ? The Noble Lord stated that he had

three sets ; he (Lord Hardwicke) would give him
five ; but there were eleven sail-of-the-line dismasted
in the harbour.—(Hear, hear, hear.) The whale
of the ordinary were dismasted. The Noble Lord
would remember that he cLord 11.) said the reserve
was not sufficient, and that he entered into some detail
to prove that. The Noble Lord said, with reference
to life sails at Plymouth, that he (Lord H.) was
at fault, and he was ready to admit that it was so ;
but suppose he granted that, did- it alter his argument
with respect to the condition of the reserve ? The
Noble Lord . said Irt had seven sets of sails.
Was that all the Noble Lord had got ? There
was not a complete suit of sails for a single line
of battle ship in store. The Noble Lord stated that
there were coal-tote suits of sails for three first rates,
but it turned out that on the 31st of January there were
some of these seas deficient. There were three suits of
sails for second-rateJ, with the exception of six fore-top-
sails, six main-topsails, and four mizen-topsails; and there
were three suits of sails for third-rates, with the exception
of two main-topsails and four mizen-topsails. The Noble
Lord seemed to think that all his remarks
were confined to the deficiency of sails and hal
boasted that he had sixt,•six topsails, and he
must have rummaged every hole and corner, and
included sails of all sizes, because he ( Lord Hard-
wieke) had stated that there were no topsails for
a seventy-four or eighty-gun ship. He (Lord
Hardwick) had also stated that at Portsmiuth Dock-
yard there was not a suit of sails fur a frigate,
or sloop, cr brig—there were
.no second-rate of sails in
ore. There were Lye sets of topsails for a fi,st-rwe,
'chiding the Britannia, and on for a third-rite in
These, statements were made for the pur-
se of pointing out . the deficiency in stores
t the present time as compared with the year
8-26. The Noble Lord seemed to-congratulate hirese'iF,

store.

because with twenty-one sail of the line he had, accord-
log to his own showing seven suits of sails, and accord-
ing to his (Lord l-I.'s) three suits. He would now go
to frigates, and it appeared that there were for 4;h
rates one suit, and for sth rates five suits, making
six suits sails for eighteen sail of frigates. The
fact wat, there was not a complete suit of saes in Ply-
mouth dock-yard, for a sloop or brig, except the Acorn.
With respect to rigging, there was ten suits or rigging
for 21 sail of the line, and 11 suits of rigging for
13 sail of frigates. He mentioned these points to beg
their Lordsnips' pardon, for the inaccuracies he had
been led into on a former occasion. Wi:h
regard to the return made to the Admiralty, he
thought there must be some misunderstanding,
or how was it possible with thirty sail of the
ine ready for sea there should be. such a deficiency
of sails and rigging. Did tia, Noble Lord know that
there were no yards in store at Portsmouth or Ply-
mouth? Did he know that far his demonstrathn
ships there was not a single topsail-yard ? lie
ditl not mean to say that the returns were
false, because he was satisfied that the gentlemen con-
nected with these Departments would not state any-
t'..ing incorrect or false ; but he (Lord H.) did impugn
them then, and he did so now, because there was a firm
belief on the part of the country that these vessels were
not in the state of efficiency and readiness that had been
represented. . _

Earl MINTO was extremely sorry that be was not
aware cf the Noble Lord's intention of addressing
the House, or he should have come down prepared
with such documents as would enable him to have
given a more satisfactory reply. On the former night,
he had mere'v stated that the officers of Portsmouth and
Plymouth were 'anxious to state to their Lordsltip's
House, that they would vouch for the accuracy of the
returns. That had been his object in rising, and he
had confined himself strictly to ft. The first point to
which he would refer was the statement with respect
to the lower masts of the Revenge, which it was said
were not hooped, while he(Earf MiAo) had stated that