The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-19 00:00:00

THE BRAZILS.

The Earl of MALMESBURY rose for the purpose of
calling the attention of their lordships to the state of our
relations with Brazil, and also to move an humble address
to her Majesty for copies of any papers show-
ing on what ground the reduced demand for, com-
pensation from the Government of Brazils was assessed
at the sum of £3,200 ; also for a copy of the despatch al-
luded to by Mr. Christie as having been written to the
Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the wreck of the
Prince of Wales, and not publishei in the Brazilian papers.
The noble earl said it appeared to him that this
country could not at the present time allow
an ambassador to withdraw from it with the
plea that he had been unjustly treated, and it behoved the
noble earl opposite to give some explanation of the cause of
the circumstance in justification of the course pursued by
her Majesty's Government. He had four charges to
bring against the noble earl. The first was for
making no allowance for the peculiar state of the
country in which the event took place. Secondly, for
having given such instructions, dictated by his own judg-
ment and his own responsibility, to his subordinates in
Brazil ; thirdly, with not having exerted himself personally
to settle the question, but leaving it entirely to be dis3ussed
by means of cold official correspondence, and, fourthly,
he charged the noble earl with ordering these reprisals,
which, if justified, the manner in which they were exe-
cuted could not for a moment be supported.
[LEFT SPEAKING.]

HOUSE OF COMMONS.--This Day.
The SPEAKER took the chair at a quarter after twelve
o'clock.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The following bills were read a third time and passed :
Great Eastern Railway (Additional Powers) and Great
Northern Railway (Cheshire Lines).
ALKALI WORKS REGISTRATION BILL.

The house went into committee on this bill.
Mr. BRUCE entered into an explanation of the various
provisions of the measure. The object of the bill is to compel
the wore effectual condensation of muriatic acid gas in
alkali works, which it appears from the general opinion of
practical chemists, is eliminated in immense bodies from
these works, and has provei most injurious to human life
and destructive to vegetation of all kinds. An eminent
inspector and sub-inspectors were proposed to be appoiLted
to visit works, and manufacturers not complying with the
behests of the bill would be prosecuted at quarter sessions,
and heavy penalties imposed on proprietors and workmen as
well. The bill, it may be recollected, originated with the
Earl of Derby, and has already received the approbation of
the House of Lords.

Mr. VIVIAN explained the large interests identified
with the production of alkali and the various manufactures
with which it was interested, and trusted all parties would
be permitted ample means of appeal against what they
might consider unjust prosecutions.
Mr. BOUVERIE deprecated the interference with trade
proposed by the bill, and believed it would have been better
to have strengthened the common law, which he considered
ample for every purpose. Besides, the manufacturers had
of their own option adopted every means which science
could suggest for mitigating the evils incidental to their
pursuits. At a future stage he should propose that the
operation of the bill be limited to a certain number of years,
so that it might soon come again under the review of the
house.
Lord STANLEY said the owners of land in the neigh-
bourhood of large manufacturing towns had great reason to
complain, because the vegetation was being destroyed to
a greater extent every year. The law was not, at present,
equal to the emergency.
Mr. HEADL AM intimated that the great body of the
manufacturers, to their credit, were not opposed to the bill,
and thus all their reasonable requirements should be ac-
ceded to.
Mr. HENLEY considered quarter sessions the very
worst court to decide in such cases.
Lord STANLEY said probably it would be well to sub-
stitute county courts for quarter sessions.
The various clauses were then proceeded with, and seve-
ral verbal amendments introduced.
Mr. PULLER proposed an addition to clause 4 to the
effect that masters would not be responsible for ithe un-
authorised and unjustifiable acts of their workmen, who
should be alone responsible.
Mr. VIVIAN said he had placed in the paper making
the owner of mills liable in the first instance.
Mr. BRUCE recommended the hon. member to with-
draw the amendment, so that its purpose might be embo-
died in a special clause.
This was accordingly done and the clause adopted.
On the motion of Mr. P ULLEN, the following insertion
in clause 5 was agred to :—" And if any alkali work is
carried on in contravention of this section, the owner
thereof shall, on conviction, be deemed guilty of an offence
against this act, and shall be subject to a penalty of not
more than five pounds for every day during which such
work shall have been so carried on."
Clauses up to 11 were agreed to with amendments.
On clause 12, which relates to prosecutions being taken
to the quarter sessions, it was suggested by Mr. BOUGHT
that the county courts should be instituted, and he moved
that the chairman report progress in order to give the Go-
vernment time to consider the subject.
Mr. COBDEN said unless the amendments proposed by
the trade, so as to make the bill palatable, were adopted,
the bill would have to encounter severe opposition.
Sir G. GREY intimated a desire on the part of the
Government to meet all the reasonable requirements of the
trade. There would be no objection on the part of the Go-
vernment to assent to the right of appeal.
Mr. BRIGHT withdrew his amendment.
Ultimately the committee divided on the clause, when
there appeared—
For the clause II l
Against
Majority —44
The clause was therefore adopted.

On clause 13,
Mr. VIVIAN proposed an addition to the effect that
owners of mills should be liable, in the first instance, pre-
liminary to the punishment of culpable wcrkpeople. The
clause was copied verbatim from the Factory Act.
Mr. PULLER declared that the proposition would be
inoperative.
Mr. BRUCE supported the clause.
The committee divided on the proposed clause, when there
appeared
For the clause ......................
.. 6 87_1
Against ..........................
—2G
.
Mr. BOUVERIE moved that the act be limited to the
The clause wasMcoanjseorqituyen.t.fy.a.a.d ed. . the bill.
Ist of July, 1866.—Agreed to.
ordered to report progress. The
The CHAIRmAN Was
house resumed.
The sitting was suspended at 4 o'clock.

The house resumed at 6LEFT o'clock,
SITTING and 1
was
[,

18.51 AND 1862.—The number of foreign exhibi-
tors I
was 6,566, and in 1862, 16,456, an
increase n
eple of more than 150 per cent. The number of letters
which passed between England and Franca in 1851, was
2,495,375, and in 1862, 6,175,181, an increase in eleven
years of 14S per cent ; and the increased number of
foreigners who visited London, but of which there is no
official record, may be estimated by the numbers who
visited the Dockyard and Arsenal at Woolwich, which
were 437 only in 1851, and 9,295 in 1862.
PROGRESS OF POPULATION IN ENGLAND.—In
the year 1862, the excess of births over deaths in
Great Britain amounted to 315,156. The deaths were rather
.more than 50i1,000 ; the births exceeJed 800,000. Bat
when emigration has been allowed for, the registrars
estimate the actual population—which in April, 1861,
was 23,128,518—at no more than 23,417,000 in the mid-
dle of the year 1862.