The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-03 00:00:00

RAILWAYS.

Mr. HAWES moved for leave to bring in a Bill to extend
the Great Western Railway. The Hon. Member also moved
for leave to bring in Bills to make two other railways, the
names of which we did not catch.
THE DISSENTERS' MARRIAGES BILL.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL moved for leave to bring in a
Bill to suspend the operation, till the Ist of July, of the two
Acts which had been passed in the last Session of Parliament,
for the regulation of Marriages, Births, &c. The Noble Lord
made a few observations, which, from the noise which prevailed
in the House, we could not hear.
Sir ROBERT INGLIS believed those two Bills had al-
ready been suspended for some time, and that the object with
which they had been originally introduced was to conciliate
the Dissenters, but that object had not been attained.—( Cries
of " No, no.")
Mr. WILKS must be allowed to state as to the opera-
tion of those two Bills in the estimation of Dissenters, that
he believed hundreds of meetings had been held in the
country, in which the Dissenters had expressed their grati-
tude to the House, and also to his Majesty's Ministers, for
the liberality which had been manifested in the introduc-
tion of those Bills.--(Loud cheering.) Although there
might be some few objectionable provisions in the Marriage
Bill, yet they were only like spots in the sun, and those spots
he was sure the intelligence of the House would very speedily
obliterate.

Mr. WLEAN made some remarks, which were in-
audible.

Mr. BRINES had never before heard that these Bills had
not given satisfaction to the Dissenters. He had heard much
of them, hut be had always been informed that the Dissenting
body had been well pleased with them, and felt deeply grate-
ful for them. That some party might have some objection to
parts of the Bills, was likely enough, but in his opinion, as a
whole, no Bills ever passed that House which had given such
general satisfaction to those interested in them.
__

- Mr. POTTER could assure the House that the Unitarians
of Manchester had met expressly for the purpose of thanking
his Majesty for these Bills. No Bills had ever been received
with more gratitude, and he was certain that it would be a
cause of deep disappointment to many who were waiting to
be married—( Laughter)—if the Bills were postponed.
Mr. O'CONNELL had had an interview that morning
with four Prelates of a religion which was much affected
these Bills.. They expressed themselves perfectly satisfied
with the Bills generally, but there were some details which by
being altered would be improved. He alluded to a religion
which he believed was much on the increase in this country-.
the Roman Catholic.

Mr. E WART said, the instance cited by the Hon. Baronet
opposite must be singular indeed, for he bad never heard any
thing but the greatest satisfaction expressed by any Dissenter
with respect to the Bills.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL was glad to hear that the Bills
had given such general satisfaction. He hoped the Hon.
Baronet might long appear as the organ of Oxford; but ho
trusted be would not again see hiin acting as the organ of the
Dissenters.

The motion was then agreed to.
SINECURE LAW OFFICES.

Mr. Sergeat G OULB URN then moved for leave to bring
in a Bill to abolish certain sinecure offices in the Court of
King's Bench, Common Pleas,and Exchequer, and to make a
more effective and uniform establishment of officers in those
Courts. As the B►ll had passed this House last Session, and
did not pass the other House, it was not necessary on the
present occasion to go at length into the reasons that induced
h►m to bring in the measure. He would simply state that
he brought forward this Bill to carry into effect the recom-
mendation of a Commission that had been passed by the
Crown, for the purpose of inquiring into the foes of
the officers of the Courts of Common Law. This
subject had long excited the attention of the two houses of
Parliament, and many attempts had been unsuccessfully made
to correct the evils that prevailed. The house was.jiware
that in the year 1830 the Right Hon. Bart., the Membel- for
Ta►nworth, introduced into that House a Bill for the purpose
of ascertaining the value of all offices held by officers in the
superior courts of common law. He did it as an experiment, for
the purpose, as he stated in his very able speech, of preventing at
any future period the progress of law Reform, by their being
constantly told that the rights of the offi2ers interfered with
legal reform. His (Sir Robert Peel's) Bill, therefore, was to
ascertain,. once for all what at that period was the value of

those offices, in order that in all times to come there should be
a certified value, which should be then paid to the holders of
those offices, intimating to any future holders of those offices
who should be appointed subseqqently, that their rights must
not stand in the way of legal Reform. These offices had
undergone much inquiry—their value had been ascertained,
and the purpose of the Bill which he was then seeking to in-
troduce was to get rid of, and to abolish them. Ile was quite
sure that ,he needed no argument to induce that house to
adopt a measure of such great importance—a measure which
he believed had the sanction of all persons conversant with the
subject. It was time they should net rid of all those offices that
incumbered the Adrnioistration of Government, and that the
Courts should be put on a better regulated system. There
was the greater reason to adopt this course, as the experi-
ment had been tried in the Court of Exchequer by Lord
Lyndhurst, who had introduced a Bill for the better regu-
lation of that Court, and the effect of that experiment had been
of the most advantageous description: The object of the pre-
sent Bill was to carry into effect the report of the Commissioners.
It would not be necessary fur him, on the present occasion, to
dwell at any length upon it, as there would be many other op-
portunities of discussing it. He would, therefore, content
himself with stating the grounds on which it had been rejected
last Session by the other House of Parliament. The House
would recollect that, up to a late period, it was the custom to
pay certain fees to the Judges of the King's Bench, and they
were allowed to dispose of, and make, the subject of family
arrangements certain offices in the Court in which they pre-
sided ; but by a Bill passed in the reign of George IV. fixed
salaries were named somewhat commensurate with the dignity
of the station in which they were placed. In that Act the
rights of certain officers then living were reserved,
and the power of appointing to subordinate situa-
tions was still continued to them. ( Hear.) In the Bill
which he introduced there was a clause still reserving those
rights ; but an Hon. Gentleman objected to it, and proposed,
whenever a vacancy occurred in the offices, compensation
should be made to the persons having the right of ap-
pointment, in such amount as the Lords of the Treasury
might think fit ; and it was settled that the Treasury
should be compelled to give the right of appointment
to those who then held it, or three-fourths of the value of the
offices themselves. On going into the House of Lords, Lord
Ellenborough objected to the clause, as it would place him,
who held the office of Chief Clerk in the King's Bench, in an
invidious position. Owing therefore to his opposition, and to
the absence of Common Law Lords, the Bill was thrown out;
but he had hopes that during the present Session it would
meet with a more favourable reception, as he introduced the
clause as it had originally stood.
Mr. HUME did not rise for the purpose of giving any op-
position to the motion of the Learned Member for Leicester,
but he would avail himself of that opportunity to ask whether
any steps had been taken for the purpose of abolishing the si-
necure office held by the late Lord Rosslyn in the Court of
Chancery in Scotland, as was recommended by the Com-
mittee.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL--The Lords of the Treasury had
taken the opinion of the Lord Advocate upon the law of the
case, and he believed that they had now under their considera-
tion the abolition of that office.—( Hear, hear.)
MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL rose for the purpose of
bringing forward the motion of which he had given notice. He
had to move for leave to bring in a Bill to amend the Muni-
cipal Corporations Act. Ho had endeavoured to bring forward
these amendments last Session but unsuccessfully. Tkere
were certain irregularities in the elections under that Act
which he anxious to remedy, more especially as they were
cases in which the merits of the appointment were not called
in question. There were two boroughs, those of New-
port in the Isle of Wight, and Rochester, in which the
number of votes on either side were equal, and great
litigation had been the consequence in many instances.—
(Hear.) It was his intention also to propose a clause, that
after two hours had elapsed from the election of the municipal
officers, the Court of King's Bench would have no power to
grant a quo warrant° t for these rules had been obtained against
unfortunato councillors after having been a year in office, and
although bound to serve under a penalty. It was not now
necessary to discuss the subject further, and he would there-
fore move for leave to bring in a Bill to Amend the Municipal
Corporations Act.
Sir W. FOLLETT said there was one particular clause to
which he wished to call the attention of his Hon. and Learned
Friend, namely, that making the decisions of the Revising
Barristers final. He hoped if that clause were reintroduced,
the constitution of the Revising Barristers' Court would be
altered.

Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.

Mr. 11,PL EAN moved for a statement of the amount o f
military and naval stores, &c. furnished to the Queen of
Spain, with the amount of payment received for the same by
the Government ; also of the number of vessels of war and
steam boats employed in the co-operation granted by his Ma-
jesty to her Catholic Majesty. The Hon. Gentleman stated
he believed there was no opposition to this motion ; and the
returns were accordingly ordered.