The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-17 00:00:00

PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The Fochabers and Garmouth Railway, and Cork and
Kinsale Junction Railway bills were read a third time and
passed.

ALKALI WORKS REGULATION BILL.

Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY moved the second
reading of this bill, the objct of which was to make it
compulsory on the part of owners of such works to take
steps and make such arrangements as would prevent the
escape of muriatic gas which created such injurious effects
to property and the inhabitants situated in its vicinity.
The bill made it compulsory on all owners of such works
to effect such alterations as would be deemed satisfactory
to an inspector to be appointed by Government, whose duty
it would be to see that the injurious gas was condensed at
95 per cent. In the event of non-compliance, the measure
laid very heavy restrictions on the owners, and also a fine
of £2 per day for every day that the nuisance was
allowed to exist after conviction before a magistrate.
The works were also to be subject to visitation by the Go-
vernment inspectors both day and night. He hoped the
house would agree to the present bill ; and if it was thought
proper to deal with other works, that it would be done by a
separate measure.
The Earl of DEBBY said the bill to a certain extent
embodied the recommendations of the committee which had
lately investigated the subject, but he should have much
wished that, in addition to alkali works for the manufac-
ture of sulphuric acid and ammonia alum should have been
included. He should not oppose the second reading,
although he thought there would be a great deal of danger
in applying it as a remedy for so great an evil. (Hear.)
He approved of the appointment of inspectors, because
although the evil might be mitigated during the day when
it would be palpable, during the night the noxious vapours
might be emitted, and thus defeat the intentions of the
Government. lHe should like to know whether
the inspectors were to be the only parties entitled
to sue for penalties, because, in the event of that
being so, and the district of each inspector being of great
extent, it would ba impossible for them properly to execute
their duties, because it could not be expected that they
should be present at more than one place at a
time. The committee to which he had alluded re-
corded that any person might sue for the
penalties, and he thought that course a much better one
than that proposed in the measure at present before them.
The penalties he considered rather peculiar, for the
first offence the owner of the works to be fined £5O;
for the second £2O; and for every day the
nuisance was continued after conviction £2 a day.
He thought that the penalty for a second conviction
was generally larger than the first ; and as to the infliction
of £2 a day, he thought it would be found that some of the
manufacturers would submit to the infliction rather than
go to the expense of making extensive alterations.
Earl GREY said what was urgently required was some
general law which would enable persons who suffera d
from nuisances of every description to proceed against
the parties by whom he had been injured. He did
not object to the present bill, but he should have been
pleased if the measure had been more extensive.

Lord WODEHOUSE, as a member of the committee,
defended the course pursued by the Government with re-
g 'rd to the bill.

Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY promised to consider
the various suggestions, and try to make the measure more
perfect in committee.

After afew words from Lord CHELMSFORD,

The bill was read a second time.

COURTS OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND BILL.
Lord HAMILTON moved the second reading of this bill.
The Earl of DALHOUSIE offered several objections,
after which the bill was read a second time.
THE MUTINY BILL.

On the-motion of Earl DE GREY and RIPON, this
bill was read a third time and passed.

MARINE MUTINY BILL.

1
n4h yrs e. In Sc' h .4,t 0 0 1511311700 MIT, ti r, till
was read a third time and passed.

GR BECE.

The Earl of MALMESBURY rose to inquire of her
Majesty's Government what was the present state of the
negotiations respecting the crown of Greece and the c -s-
-sion of the island and fortress of Corfu in that country.
He said it was time their lordships should receive some
information upon those subjects. He thought the conduct
of her Majesty's Government had been most disrespect-
ful towards the Crown and the nation in making use of
Prince Alfred's name as a means of checking the candi-
dature of the Prince of Leuehtenberg. They had, in
fact, made use of Prince Alfred as a " dummy," or man
of straw, which was disrespectful to the Prince, to the
Queen, and to the country. (" Hear, hear," from the
Opposition, and ironical laughter from the Ministerial
benches.) Two other Royal personages had been sub-
sequently put forward—the Prince of Saxe Coburg and
the King of Portugal—both of whom had, it seemed, been
proposed to the Greeks by her Majesty's Government,
without ascertaining whether they would accept the crown
if it were offered to them. This was treating the Greeks
badly. The Greeks had not acted with proper fore-
thought. They had not followed the example of their great
masters in the art of revolution—the French—who, in all
their violent changes of government, had the man ready be.
forehand who was to supersede the rejected ruler. The
Greeks had, on the contrary, depreciated themselves. They
had no man of their own nation to put forward, and they
looked to other countries to supply them with a king. After
the Duke of Saxe-Coburg had refused the crown, the noble
earl—who seemed to have stood at the door of the Foreign
Office with the Almanack de Gotha in his hand—selected
the Prince William of Denmark, second son of Prince Chris-
tian. And he wanted to know whether the noble earl had
obtained the consent of the Princes and of the King of Den-
mark before he proposed the Prince William to the Greeks.
The great Powers who had signed the treaty of 1852 settling
the succession to the throne of Denmark had a right to be
consulted in the matter, seeing that the King of Greece
should at least consent to have his children brought up in
the faith of the Greek Church, which would bar their suc-
cession to the Danish throne. His first question therefore
was, whether or not the noble earl had proposed to Prince
Christian that his son should be recommended to the Greeks
as their king; and whether he had also consulted the Danish
Government, and whether they had approved of the mea-
sure before the Greeks had been called upon to elect Prince
William of Denmark as their king. His second question re-
lated to the cession of Corfu to the Greek Government.
The present state of Greece was most dismal. Industry was
paralysed, commerce was degenerating every day. The
country required peace to establish itself, and the best course
for it would be to he a neutralised state. It otrzht not to
have either armror navy. In that case it might obtain
mo; ey; but the possession of Corfu, which was a military
fortress, would give it the appearance of an aggres,ive power.
He therefore asked, did her Majesty's GovernMent propose
to give up Corfu to the Greeks ?

Earl RUSSELL said that, with regard to matters still
under consideration, he could not reply to the questions put
ro him ; but he would answer as plainly as possible to the
rent of the noble earl's inquiries. He could not assent to
the censure passed upon the Greeks. He thought they
had acted with great prudence. They could not live any
longer under under King Otho's Government, and they re•
moved him. With that no one had any right to interfere or
complain. Her Majesty's Government had warned King
Otho's Government that such a catastrophe would be litely
to occur unless the system was changed. The people of
Greece were very much blamed by the noble earl. They
wore said not to have shown the wibdom which the French
had exhibited—but, remembering the history of the French
revolutions, and especially that of 1848—when a King
whose faults it would not be very easy to point out was
overthrown—he (Earl Russell) could not agree with the
noble earl. The Greeks wanted a King and a constitutional
monarchy. He thought they had shown much wisdom.
(Hear.) They had chosen Prince Alfred. and it might have
thrown them into a state of anarchy if the Prince had been
at once refused to them. By giving them a little they had
consolidated public opinion, and when the proper time ar-
rived the protecting Powers informed them that none of
the Royal families of those Powers were eligible. He
agreLd that it was necessary that Greece should be a peace-
able State. As to Prince Christian's son, he had directed
the British envoy at Copenhagen io ascertain from the
King whether his Majesty would have any objection to the
acceptance of the Crown of Greece by Prince William, and
he had received an answer that the King would have no
objection. When the proper time arrived he would lay
before the house all the correspondence upon the subject,
and their lordships would then see whether or not he
had done anything undignified or unbecoming a member
of her Majesty's Government and a Minister of a free
country. (Hear, hear.) He communicated with the
British envoy ha Greece. The Greek Govern-
ment communicated the name of Prince William to
the Assembly, and they at once unanimously
and by acclamation elected him King. The claim of Prince
William was cordially supported by the Emperor of the
French, and they expected no opposition from Russia, so
that he had the assent of the three protecting powers. As
to the question of the lonian Islands, the noble earl had

gone into it as a person who was not so well informed miEht
be expected to have done. The noble earl knew very well
that in 1815 the protectorate of Great Britain over the islands
had been constituted. The islands themselves were consti-
tuted a republic, free, and only under the protection of Eng-
land. Count Capo d'lstra was most:anxious that he should
represent Greece. there being no other representative of
Greece at that tine. In no sense were the islands the pro-
perty of Great Britain, or in posseEseion of her Majesty's
Government; and it would not be becoming in the Govern.
ment to refuse the Icnians if they expressed a wish to be
joined to the newly organised kingdom of Greece. As to
Corfu, of course, it would go with the other islands. There
was no right in her Majesty's Government to keep it as a
British possession. He felt that by thin cession and the
course they had pursued her Majesty's Government would
contribute largely to the future happiness of Greece. The
Greek people had great talents, and if they exercised them
under increased advantages, and became prosperous, her
Majesty's Government would have reason to rejoice,
The Earl of DERBY said that the noble earl had avoided
the question pressed upon him by his noble friend. The
question was, whether the noble earl had ascertained, before
he proposed Prince William to the Greeks, that the Prince,
with his father, and the King of Denmark, were willing to
accept the offer of the crown'? As to the lonian Islands,
more than the wish of the lonians would be necessary to
justify the cession. The consent of the great powers shculd
be obtained.

Earl RUSSELL--That i 4 what 1 have said myself.

The Earl of DERBY—But, then, hai the noble earl
taken measures to obtain their consent ? In another
place it had been stated that the Austrian Government
had protested against the measure. He (Earl Derby)
thought it would be a dangerous experiment, and that her
Majesty's Government had acted with great rashness with
regard to the nomination of the Sovereign of Greece and
the cession of the lonian Islands.
Earl GRANVILLE defended the conduct of the Govern-
ment and of the Greek people, upon whom, he thought, the
two noble earls opposite had cast most undeserved stigmas.
As to the French revolutionists, they had no one ready at
the first great revolution ; and at that of 1848 the very last
thing that entered the minds of the movers of it was, that
tho present Emperor would ever be at the head of affairs.
(Hear, hear.) The noble earl (Russell) had received the
consent of the King of Denmark before the name of Prince
William was submitted to the Greeks.

After a few brief remarks and explanations between the
Earl of MALMESBURY and Earl RUSSELL, the subject
dropped.

THE LTJDGATE-HILL RAILWAY.
Lord CAMPBELL asked the intentions of the Govern-
ment with regard to the Ludgate-hill Railway.
Earl GRANVILLE said that the question would be
answered by the motion he was about to make. He then
moved for the appointment of a select committee to inquire
whether any, and if any, which of the schemes now before
Parliament for the construction of lines of railway within
the limits of the metropolis could be proceeded with in the
present session without the risk of interfering with the
future adoption of a comprehensive plan of metropoli-
tan railway communication, and to consider what pro-
vision could be made for the securing such a compre-
hensive system, with the greatest advantage to the
public and the least inconvenience to the local arrange •
ments of the metropolis.

After a brief discussion, the motion was agreed to.
Their lordships ajourned at ten minutes before eigh
o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—Last Evening.
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
THIRD READINGS.

The following bills were read a third time :—Bala and
Dolgelley Railway—Caledonian Railway (Improvement
&c.)—Flint, Holywell, and Mostyn Roads—Great Wes-
tern and West Midland Railways Amalgams•
tion—Great Western, West Midland, and Soutb
Wales Railway Companies Amalgamation--Guild-
ford and Leatherhead Railway—London, Brighton,
and South Coast Railway (Dorking to Leatherhead)— Lon-
don, Brighton, and South Coast Railway (South London,
Tooting, &c., Junction Railways)—Maidstone Water—
Manchester Corporation Water—Mercantile Marine Ser-
vice Association, Liverpool—Ogmore Valley Railways --
Peterborough Cattle Markets—Saint Luke's (Middlesex)
Workhouse and Vestry Hall—Southampton Port, Har-
bour and Pier.

The following bills were considered and ordered to be
read a third time :—Evesham and Redditch Railway—
Farness and Midland Railway.
LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY