The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-28 00:00:00

RAILWAYS.

Mr. PE ASE rose to move for a Select Committee to in-
quire and consider how far it might be expedient to take mea-
sures for securing that all public lines of railway be laid, and
hereafter maintained, at one and the same standard ; and to
report thereon to the House.
Sir H. VERNEY moved as an amendment, that an address
be presented to his Majesty, that he would be graciously pleased
to appoint a Royal Commission to consider and report on all
proposals for railroads or canals which might be submitted to
that House. He complained that that House was often called on
to adopt a line of railway without having had sufficient opportunity
of ascertaining which line would be most advantageous to the
public generally. When the enormous expenses of these rail-
ways was considered, the House ought to adopt some efficient
means of protecting the public by soliciting the best line. He
would not refuse his assent to the motion of his Hon. Friend
( Mr. Pease). but in his opinion the object they had both in
view would be best answered by adopting his amendment. He
had no wish that that House should delegate its power,
hut, at the same time, he thought that it was the boun-
den duty of the House to attain every information in
their power that could possibly be advantageous to the public.
Mr. WA RBURTON did not think that the Committee
moved for by the Hon. Member for Durham ( Mr. Pease)
could attain the object he had in view. He would oppose both
the original motion and the Amendment.

Mr. GIL LON would support the amendment.
Sir J. STRICKL AND was opposed to the appointment of
any Royal Commission which should ride over the specula-
tions of private individuals in the management of their own
concerns.

Mr. P. THOMSON was very sorry to say that he could
not agree with either proposition.--( Hear, hear.) With re-
gard to the amendment which had been supported by
the Honouonble Member for Falkirk, he must say
that .he thought that that Hon. Meml..r could not have
read the Report of the Railroad Committee of last year, or at
least have attached very little importance to that Report. It
was well known that the subject of a general survey by a Royal
Commission was very closely investigated by that Committee.
Ire owned that he himself went into that Committee with a
very strong desire -to see if it were not possible to introduce
something of the kind ; but the examination of several engineers,
who were acquainted with the subject, and the discussions
which had taken place, convinced him that it was utterly im-
possible, with benefit, to introduce such a plan, and he con-
sented-with very great pleasure tothe report of that Committee,
a part of which, instead of a speech, he would take
the liberty of reading to the House- The Right lion. Gen-
tleman then read an extract from the Report of the Committee,
in which they stated that they bad been led to inquire ivto the
subject of a survey by a Royal Commission, for the purpose
of !finding the judgment of Committees on the merits of.com-
peting, lines of Railway, and a close examination convinced
them that it would be attended with no practical good, and they
were decidedly of opinion that railways, like other undertakings,
should be left to the judgment of-those who were willing to
advance them capital..., In every word of that Report
he concurred, and he believed that every member of that
COi-nmittee concurred in that recommendation, and he sincerely
hoped that the House, upon this occasion,' would set the seal
of their approbation upon that Report by rejecting both the
motion and the amendment.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.
ENGLISH CORPORATION ACT.
The Atterney-General and several :Members of the House

of Coutinqn Ilrell-ht Up Cerpbration Amet
Act.
Lord ti ions from the in-
haT'illants cf Brcaciway and ,Stockdale, a6ainst the abolition of
(Thureh-raLs. . . .
The Duke of WE LL INGTOSidircslteck
the inha,)itants of parishes in 'Devon, from.
't,f4l-..-.'l4..niy of Sam2rset, from Walmer, and se-
',7l,,asties in Kent, against the abolition of Church-rates.
he Noble Duke also presented a petition from the guardians
~f the pour of the Union of the Island of ThaneA, ag,dost ttny
alteration tho rltif
Lord L V. ND ft URST preSented a petition trciin the' NiayOri
Aldermen, and Connell of 1116 borough of Poole, praying that
h,,,•ir Lordships *cold maintain the Church as by law esta-
hlislA, and also that they would maintain the privilegei of
heir Lord ;hips' House.
The Bishop of LONDON presented petitions from 90
iiirishes in favour of Church-rates ; in one of those parishes the
total assessment was 1,9421., and of this the signatures of
payers to the amount of 1,52:31. was attached to the petition,
praying: that they might be allowed to continue the payment
of these rates. The petitions were from parishes in Essex,
llertford, Surrey, Gloucester, Wilts, and one from Suffolk ;
almost every paris'a in Essex had petitioned to this effect, and
twenty of them were from Gloucestershire.

Lord STRAFFQRD presented petitions from East Lear-
mouth and Great Yarmouth, for the abolition of Church-rates.
Lord AL BENIARLE presented a petition from Bury St.
Edmund's, against Church-rates.
A NOBLE LORD 0-resented petitions from Danbury and Great
Wickford, in favour of Church-rates. _ _ _

The Marquis of SALISBURY preiented a petition from
East Barnet and Chipping Barnet against the abolition of
Church-rates.

The Bishop of LINCOLN presented petitions from various
parishes in the county of Lincoln to the same effect.
Lord BRO UG I-IAM presented a petition signed by upwards
of 19,000 of the inhabitant rate-payers of Birmingham, praying
that their Lordships would give their support to sonic measure
for the total abolition of Church-rates as speedily as possible.
Not only was this petition respectable in point of number, and
in point of property, but the Noble Lord would venture to say
that he was quite sure it represented the sense of the great
majority of the inhabitants of that town. At the last vestry,
at which the question of a Church-rate was brought into con-
sideration, there was a poll taken, by which it appeared, •all
the 'various classes of voters having voted, that in to
say, those having one, two, three, four, five, and six votes
under the Vestry Act, the only classes not in the majority
against the rate were classes five and six ; and their majority
was' very small—the total votes being somewhere about
1,100, and those in the majority amounting to upwards of 1,000.
The Noble and Learned Lord then presented petitions from
Bridport, Bridgewater, Plymouth, Devonport, and several pa-
rishes in the county of Somerset, to the same effect.
ECCLESIASTIC-AL REPORT.

Earl RIPON wished to ask the Noble Lord at the head of
his Msjesty'a Government if the last report of the Ecclesiasti-
cal Commissioners of Ireland had been received from the
. Lord Lieutenant ? If it had, as he apprehendbd it ought,
he certainly expected it would have hem laid on the table
ere now.

Lord MELBOURNE said it had been received,, and
should be forthwith laid on the table.

The Marquis of SALISBURY postponed his motion with
respect to the Standing Orders till Monday, amid cries of
" Order of the day."
The Earl of WICKLOW said, before the House proceeded
to the Order of the Day, he wished to present a petition of some
importance relative to the subject to be discussed that night. It
was a petition from a vast number of the clergy of the united
Diocese of Derry and Raphoe. The meeting at which the pe-
tition was got up was most numerous, and all were unanimous
in agreeing to it. The petition was signed by the Bishop of
the Diocese on behalf of the petitioners, and the prayer of it
was that the House would do what he trusted was their inten-
tion to do on the motion of the Noble Viscount opposite,
viz :—appoint a Committee for the purpose of investi-
gating the mode in which the system of education in
Ireland was carried on ; and that such a system of educa-
tion would be provided as would be agreeable to the views of
all persuasions. —( Hear, hear.) A correspondence had been
carried on with some of the petitioners and the clergy of -Ire-
land, and the petitioners set forth a valuable address to the
clergy of Ireland for that purpose. Whether the proposal
they made in the petition should be favourably received by
the House or not,—whatever might be the impression on the
minds of others, he was sure the petitioners deserved the sincere
thanks of the people of Ireland for the anxious endeavours
they had made to smooth the way to so desirable an object.
He would not now occupy the House further upon the sub-
ject, as he should no doubt have an opportunity, in the course
of the discussion, of more fully entering into it. The petition
was then read and laid on the table.

The petition having been read at length,
The Bishop of EXETER said it was his misfortune to
have to present a petition of a directly opposite nature, from
many of the clergy of the united dioceses of Derry and
Raphoe, who did not agree in the petition just laid on the
table. He regretted that the petition presented by the Noble
Earl ( Wicklow)_ was in that form that it could not be received
in any other light than as that of the Bishop only by whom it
was signed. He lamented that the Right Rev. Prelate had
adopted such a course, for he had hoped his Lordship's acquaint-
ance with the forms of the House would enable him to know that
it could not be received as the petition of the clergy on whose be-
half it was stated to be signed. The petition which was in his
(the Bishop of Exeter's) hands, was signed by the Dean of
Derry, by the Archdeacon, by the Vicar-General, and by 40 or
50 clergymen of the united dioceses, a larger body than those
who concurred in that of an opposite tendency. The peti-
tioners did not address any violent remonstrance to that House—
they simply prayed their Lordships to give to the case their
earnest and best attention, and to found a system of education
for the people based on the Word of God.—Tho petition was
ordered to lie on the table.

The Right Rev. PRELATE next presented petitions, with a
similar prayer, from the Bishop of Down and Connor, from
the Bishop and Clergy of the diocese of Meath, from the
Bishop and Clergy of the united dioceses of Cashel and.
Emly, of Waterford and Lismore, and of Cloyne and Ross.
He wished to remark, that many, of the Clergy who signed the
petitions had, at the first establishment of the Ncw Board, ap-
plied for its assistance in founding schools, and he now ad-
duced the fact, not from any wish to throw discredit upon them
for having done so, but to show that men eager and anxious to
avail themselves of the assistance of the Bo :rd, were now,
after an experience of its working, desirous to withdraw from
all connection with it. The petitions also prayed that the
grant to the National Board of Education should in future be
discontinued.

ME SUN, LON-DON, TUESDAY, FEBIttJAItY 28, 1837.

I.tliptiit it re
t iii di COtti-se,bc thoa,;t
the
staieu nis intention to renew is übtion—i then to
hope that when the Right Rev. Prelate brought it fOrward, that
Sate diSti*lY; Mid gi,`,-s us some. retire 130-Ore-hand,
in ciriVr %i 4, t4l brOphred tsi aniwd• the skeige
cases brought forward, and to know what these cases r,e;t,
because, considering what their nature was, it was perfectly
impossible for us to be prepared fur them at the moment.
The Noble Duke opposite objected to the course I took on that
occasion. 1k said it tttts riot l'ArNiVetitztry, }lot it was a breach
thd pritilegcs of Members of Parliament to ask a Ndlite Lord
td Stitt° the 4rotinds be.fOreliand whieli he Meant to fotind
a rat:Alain Parlifirtiet4taril; .speaiting; the Noble Unite was
unquestionably right in that respect ; therefefe, cansideritT
the nature of what the charges were which were brought
against this system—considering their minute character, and
the local character of the part of the country to which
they- referred—in my opinion it is far better that the
investigatim of them should be referred to a Select Commit-
tee, than that they should be discussed in this H ,use, which
would only lead to an expression of opposite opinions, and to
the bringing forward of conflicting authorities. This Board
of Commissioners have made three Reports, which are before
your Lordships, in which they have stated the progress
they have made, the number of schools they have insti-
tuted, the number of schools they have given assistance to,
the course ;hey mean to pursue in future ; and, above all,
the'evtension which they think it is expedient your Lordships
ought to give to this system. My Lords, I do not mean to
pledge myself to the accuracy of the second report; but,
seeing that this system is working well for the coantry, I
think that is another reason, and a strong reason,
if any' additional reason were wanted, to show
it that the system should be gone on with,
These are the grounds, My Lords, on which I found the mo-
•tion I have the honour of submitting to your Lordships.
Moreover, if it were necessary, there is yet one ground stronger
than them all, and which I am sure I need not mention—it is
the grand and paramount importance of the subject.—( Hear,
hear, hear)—the great and paramount importance of it to
that part of the country where so many and so great
difficulties to its progress—the great objects to be obtained
to that part of the countryin the first place, by communicating
the blessings of education to the inhabitants of that part of
the country ; and if education is to be communicated to them,
surely it is the duty of your Lordships to take care that that.
education should be of a pure and wholesome character. My
Lords, I beg to move that a Select Committee be appointed
to inquire into the progress of the new plan of Education in
Ireland, and to report thereon to the House.

The Bishop of EXETER. then rose. He would not tres-
pass at any length on the time of their Lordships if the pre-
sent aas an ordinary case, Their Lordships he was sure
would he aware from the motion of the Noble Viscount that
he bad moved for the appointment of a similar Com-
mittee to that which he (the Bishop of Exeter) had moved
for last vear, and on that ground it must be supposed that there
was no longer any occasion for further discussion, but that the
House should go immediately into the Committee, where all
inquiries into the merits of the case might be gone into. It would
doubtless be in the recollection of their Lordships that the case
now was not so smple as it was last year. in consequence of
what had occurred since. He had been most seriously attacked,
and as an injured man he threw himself upon the indul-
gencee of the House, while he defended himself against the
charges that had been brought against him. A Noble Lord
it would he in the recollection of the House, had also attacked
him ; besides this, upon his giving notice of his intention
to bring the subject before the House upon motion, a
Noble Lord had the boldness to state that he (the
Bishop of Exeter) would not come forward and make
the intention of which he had given notice. The case, how-
ever, did not remain there, for the same Noble Lord had
said that he had never known a case which had met with so
complete an answer as that which he had brought forward
against the Commissioners. He wished to let that Noble Lord
see that be intended to keep his word.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

THE LONDON GAZETTE

THIS EVENING.

DOWNING-STREET, FEB. 24, 1837.
The King has been graciously pleased to nominate and appoint
Admiral Sir Lawrence William Halsted, Knight Commander of
the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath; to be a Knight
Grand Cross of the said Order, in the room of Lord De Saumarez,
deceased.

DOWNING-STREET, FEB. 28.
The King has been pleased to appoint Vice-Admiral Ross Don-
nelly to he a Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Military
Order of the Bath, in the room of Admiral Sir Lawrence William
Haisted.

• His Majesty has further been pleased to appoint Rear-Admiral
Francis William Austen, and Rear-Admiral George Mundy,
Companions of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath,
to be Knights Commanders of the said Order.

CROWN-OFFICE, FEB. 28, 1837.
lIIEMRER RETURNED TO SERVE IN THIS PRESENT PARLIAMENT.

COUNTY OF ANOLESEY.-William Owen Stanley, of Penrhos,
in the said county of Anglesey, Esq., in the room of Sir Richard
Bulkeley Williams Bulkeley, Bart., who has accepted the Chiltern
Hundreds.

DECLARATIONS OF INSOLVENCY.
JOAN AUSTIN, builder, Hastings.
JOHN HAMILTON, merchant, Liverpool.
EDWARD ALL WRIGHT, eheesemonger, Little Newport-
street,' Newport-market.

BANKRUPTCY SUPERSEDED.
EDMUND DOWLING, grocer, King-street, Tower-hill.