The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-12 00:00:00

ROUSE OF LORDS, FEB. 11.

Lord WYNFORD presented a petition from Becken-
ham (we understood) against the Poor-law Bill, and also a
petition against the Beer Bill.
The Bishop of LONDON moved that an ad-
dress should be forwarded to her Majesty, request-
ing copies of all memorials which had been forwarded
to the Lords of the Treasury on the subject of letters
being transmitted though the General Post-office on
the Lord's day, should be laid before that House. The
subject was one of considerable importance to the public
mind, and he thought it of great importance that satis-
faction should be felt on the subject. It was also his
intention to move that an address should be pre-
sented to her Majesty that all information which had
been received through the Court of the Directors of the
East India Company from the Indian Government, with
respect to the idolatrous practices there carried on, should
be laid upon the table of that House.
The Earl of RIPON wished to ask a question of his
Noble Friend Lord Melbourne, whether the Government
had entered into any understanding with the Pacha
of Egypt with respect to his performance of
his part of the Treaty. It might perhaps be consi-
dered that the Pacha was a dependant Prince on the
Porte, but it was equally true that he was in the condi-
tion of an independent Prince. It might be the intention
of that eminent person to act in variance with that
treaty. It was of the greatest consequence to
know whether any application had been made to the Porte
to coerce the Pacha of Fgypt, should he be refractory, or
whether to obtain any redress this country should be com-
pelled to take up the matter of coercion. It was of great
interest to know how the matter stood.
Lord MELBOURNE informed the Noble Lord that the
Pacha of Egypt had signified to the resident Consul his in-
tention of complying with the conditions of the treaty.
BOROUGH ACCOUNTS.
_ _

Lord L YNDH URST said—that by the provisions of
the Reform Act, accounts were ordered to be kept of the
borough funds; those accounts were to be audited, each ac-
count was to be transmitted to the Secretary of State,
abstracts of them were required to be made by the Secre-
tary of State, and laid before that House. Four years had
now passed since the Reform Bill came into operation, and
notwithstanding all the inquiries he had been enabled to make
on the subject he had not been able to see a single abstract
yet. He wished to know, therefore whether it :was the
intention of the Noble Lord opposite to produce those ab-
stracts or not?

Lord MELBOURNE said, that as he had stated last
Session, there had been some delay about these accounts,
but that now means Were taken to have them audited,
which should be done as soon as possible, and then the ab-
stracts should be laid on the table.
Lord L YNDHURST said that four years had now
passed away without the production of any of the abstracts,
although they were required to be laid on the table before
the Ist of March in each year.
Lord M ELBOUR NE—I really had forgotten them.—
( Laughter.)

CORN-LAWS.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition, very nu-
merously signed, from Borrowstowness (as we understood),
praying for a total repeal of the Corn-laws. The
Noble and Learned Lord said that he found it would
be more convenient for some of his Noble Friends, who
had always taken a great interest in the subject of
the Corn-laws, that he should make his motion
on Monday, rather than on Friday next ; and as
he was always very desirous of accommodating his
Noble Friends he should postpone his notice till Monday,
guarding himself, however, against that day being the same
day on which that subject was to be brought on in the
House of Commons.
PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE.
Lord BROUGHAM said it was always painful to
him to allude to anything that passed elsewhere, and he
should not have done so on the present occasion,
but that he had seen a disposition to persist in the
untruth, as he had stated the other night, of their
Lordships' House having been guilty of a breach
of privilege in suffering him to take notice on Tuesday last
of what had passed in the other House of Parliament. It
was in their Lordships' recollection that he had purposely
abstained from saying any one thing respecting anything
whatever that had passed in the other House.—( Hear.) A
speech in Ireland was not something that had passed in the
other House.--( Hear.) A letter written to Birmingham was
not something that had passed in the other House. But
notwithstanding he had distinctly stated that on Friday last
he had not done so, he found it stated yesterday, in a Sun-
day paper, that the Speaker of that House had pronounced
sentence on his conduct as having infringed the privileges
that House, by alluding in] their 'Lordships' House to
what had passed there. He would again say that he could
not believe that that distinguished individual said any such
thing ; but if he did say any such things he (the Noble
and Learned Lord) was bound to add—not that that dis-
tinguished individual told an untruth, which he was utterly
incapable of, but that somebody bad told him what he
knew to be untrue--( Hear, hear)—and had made that dis-
tinguished individual the medium of conveying it to the
House. He (Lord B.) should not have taken the trouble
of having noticed it again, had the untruth not been put
into the Speaker's mouth.
Lord MELBOURNE said that there was no founda-
tion for the observation that the highest authority in the
House of Commons had made such an assertion as the No.
ble Lord had stated he was represented to have made.
He was sure that that ,Right Hon. Gentleman was the
last person who would have said anything approaching to it.
Lord BROUGHAM agreed with the Noble Viscount
that the Right Hon. Gentleman could not have said so ;
but the Government print of yesterday had stated, that he
had said so. The subject then dropped.
The Earl of MINT() and Viscount DCNCANNON laid cer-
tain Returns on the table.
LORD DURHAM—CANADA.

Lord MELBOURNE said that he now rose to lay
upon the table the papers of which he had given notice
last week, upon the subject to which her Majesty had
called the attention of Parliament in her Speech from the
Throne, and also the Report made by the Noble Earl the
late Governor-General and High Commissioner of
her Majesty in Canada. It was quite unnecsssary
for him to say any thing to enforce upon their Lord-
ships the great importance of these documents and
the matters to which they referred, but he must
say one word for the purpose of expressing the feel-
ings of her Majesty's servants with respect to the ur-
gency of the question, and the necessity that existed
of laying some measure before Parliament to enable
them to put an end to the unfortunate state in which
the two provinces of the Canadas were at the present
moment. They had found it impossible to make up their
minds as to what course they should pursue until they were
in possession of the views of the Noble Earl who had filled
the office of Governor-General; but now that they were
in possession of those views, they would lose no time
in taking them into their consideration ; and he was
in hopes that before the Easter recess they should be
enabled to introduce a measure for the purpose of putting
a speedy end to the discontents that existed in Canada.
Lord WHARNCLIFFE could not but feel asto-
nished that the Noble Viscount and the Noble Earl
had expressed their surprise and concerned the
other day at observing that part of the Report had
appeared in one of the public journals. He
thought that that surprise and concern had been
completely thrown away, for knowing as he did the
great vigilance and desire that public newspapers always
manifested to obtain all the information in their power, it was
ludicrous to suppose that they would not obtain by some
means or other the possession of a document, of which a
great number of copies had been printed. He must say,
after having read the report, that if ever there was a paper—
if ever there was any subject under the direction of the
Government that should have been kept from the
eyes of the public until it had been laid before Parliament,
that document was the one. In that Report, more espe-
cially the part referring to Upper Canada, there were cir-
cumstances that required the greatest consideration. He
hoped the House would have some explanation
as to how that Report came out and was published,
before it was laid on the table of that House. It appeared
to him that a more improper proceeding had seldom taken
place, or one more likely to produce public mischief.
Lord DURHAM—I presume that the observations
of the Noble Earl are directed towards myself. If that
be the case, I beg to tell him with the greatest deference,
and with the greatest courtesy, but with the greatest
determination, that they are quite destitute of founda-
tion. In the first place, I beg to state that I don't
know what are the intentions or what are the motives of
the Noble Lord, but he has entirely misrepresented
what I stated to your Lordships on a previous evening.
I never expressed my surprise that the report had been
published, but I did express my regret that a portion, and
only the latter portion, had appeared before the public.
How did this matter stand ? I was urged by her Majesty's
Government to lay this Report before them previous to the
meeting of Parliament, but what with my anxiety of
mind and my limited: means of assistance in get-
ting the manuscript copy ready for the printer, I
was unable to have them ready at that time.
Every thing was prepared as quickly as possible
on my part, and the proof sheets were sent
to her Majesty's Ministers on the Thursday previous
to the meeting of Parliament, and all was prepared
and printed, and the official copies sent on Saturday night
and laid before her Majesty in that shape on Mon-
day, as I was informed, and truly believe, by a communi-
cation from the Colonial Office. This report was intended
to be laid upon the tables of both Houses, on the meeting of
Parliament, and for this purpose upwards of 2,000 copies