The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-29 00:00:00

less to go into details. (Hear, hear.) The right rev.
prelate concluded by moving for the papers he referred
to :—" A return of the gross and net amount of the
annual income received by the Bishop of Salisbury in
respect of his see, for the years 1851 and 1852 ; and of
all payments made by him to the ecclesiastical commis-
sioaers, or received from them, during that time ; also
a return of all sums received in the way of fines upon
renewal of leases for lives during the incumbency of the
present bishop, distinguishing the years in which such
fines were received ; also a return of the average
amount of fines or renewals of leases for lives, from 1837
to 1850 inclusive ; also a like average from 1844 to 1850
inclusive ; also a return of leases for lives on which,
lives are now vacant, the age of the lives in such leases
respectively, and of the amount of fines received on the
last occasion of the renewal of the same ; and also a
return of the leases for years of the gee of Salisbury,
distinguishing the years in which the same will be re-
newable respectively, and the amount of the fine re-
ceived on the last occasion when each lease was re-

newed."
The Earl of CHICHESTER said, as a member of the
ecclesiastical commission, he had not only no objection
to the production of those returns, but should rejoice at
their production, being persuaded that they would con-
vince any ftir-minded man that the insinuations thrown
out .against the right rev. prelate had bei-li unfounded.
At the time of the arrangement alluded t he tithe Earl
of Chichester) had been fully ,atistied that it would be
fur the benefit, not of the bishop, but. of the board ; and
he was also convinced that the right rev. prelate irimt
have anticipated that such would be the case, and that
a. larger income would be received from the see during
the present septennial period than the preceding period.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said he felt it his duty
to declare, in justice to the right rev. prelate, that the
law on the subject had been very much misunderstood
and misrepresented. It was formerly proposed that the
bishops should take the sees with the option of paying the
ecclesiastical commissioners a certain fixed sum out of
the income of the same. But that arrangement was
made to operate during the whole incumbency of the
bishop ; and whether it was for his benefit or not, he
had no power to alter it once it was accepted. What
impressed this fact the more strongly on his (the Lord
Chancellor's) mind was the appointment of Dr. Allen to
the see of Ely, which for the first and second year
yielded him nothing, and which he remonstrated about,
but which he was told could not be remedied. He (the
Lord Chancellor) thought that was a most unsatisfactory
footing on which to place the revenue of the hierarchy ;
but, on the other hand, he was bound to say that the
prelates had no choice in the matter, the ecclesiastical
commissioners fixing the sum to be paid—honestly no
doubt—and the bishop had nothing to do but to receive
the income. Two years since, however, the law had
been altered, and things, he was happy to say, were
now placed on a better footing. If any facts, however,
were necessary to prove the unsatisfactory nature of the
former arrangement, they were furnished by the state-
ment of the right rev. prelate.
The returns were then ordered.
PRIVATE BILLS.
Lord BEAUMONT then rose to call attention to the
state of private business then before the house. Several
bills had reached that house at so late a period that
they would be lost if the sessional order, which decreed
that no private bill should be read a second time after
12th July, was enforced. Many of those bills were de-
layed by the regulations respecting railways in the
other house, more by the difficulty of obtaining mem-
bers for select committees, in consequence of the great
number of election petitions this session. These were
circumstances over which the parties interested in these
bills had no control ; and he thought it only reasonable
therefore that the present sessional order should be re-
laxed in their instance. He therefore appealed to the
house to afford them the opportunity of being read a
second time, as to throw them over to the next session
would entail great loss upon the promoters.
Lord REDESDALE said. he would willingly receive
the directions of the house on the subject ; but he re-
minded their lordships that the maintenance of the ses-
sional order in question as a general rule was of the
greatest importance to the dispatch of business in Par-
liament ; inasmuch as agents would, once they knew it
was relaxed, abate in their exertions. At the same time
he admitted that there were many bills before the house
which had been delayed by no fault of the promoters ;
but as far as he was concerned he was bound to be ex-
tremely cautions in recommending bills for relaxation of
the sessional order, if he would avoid the imputation of
partiality. Some hills he had strongly recommended ;
others he would be happy to receive the directions of the
house upon. But as regarded railway and other bills
of that nature, lie should be slow to act unless where it
could be shown that extreme diligence had been used by
the promoters.
The Duke of NEWCASTLE agreed that the sessional
order should not be slightly relaxed, but he also be-
lieved that there were many bills which afforded decided
reasons for giving relief to the parties, seeing that they
had been delayed by circumstances over which they had
no control. With respect to the future he had seen
with pain and annoyance his noble friend the chairman
of the committee compelled to go about from bench to
bench begging to get members for select committees ; it
was a position in which his noble friend should not be
placed, and which was not honourable to the house. He
thought, therefore, that before the clese of the session,
or early in the next, those noble lords who were in the
habit of attending committees should meet aid discuss
the question of attendance, with a view to its better
distribution among their lordships. As regarded the
subject before the house, he suggested that the Standing
orders should be generously and liberally interpreted in
the case of bills unavoidably delayed, and that the noble
lord should be relieved from responsibility in the matter.
He proposed, therefore, that those bills should be allowed
to proceed against which no broad grounds of objection
on the score of delay should be urged.
After a few words from Lord STANLEY of Alderley,
Earl Powts, and the Earl of WicKLow,
Lord REDESDALE said, with regard to several of
the bills he hoped he should he able to express an opi-
nion to-morrow. It was a more difficult matter to com-
pel the attendance of peers on committees than it was
members of the other house; but, at the same time, he
had great doubts whether any general compulsion of
peers would be satisfactory. He confessed he did not
see his way clearly in the matter ; and if noble lords
would turn their attention to the subject during the re-
cess, he should be glad to give them every assistance.
The conversation then dropped.
Earl WALDEGRAVE wished to ask the noble lord
the Secretary for Foreign Affairs the question of which
he had given notice—namely, whether the reduction of
the naval forces on the African coast was temporary or
not ?

The Earl of CLARENDON said that the inquiry
made by the noble earl was a legitimate one after the
information which he had received. If any impression
existed abroad that the Government were less anxious
than formerly about the suppression of the slave trade,
or that the number of the fleet had been reduced, lie
could only say that he was exceedingly obliged to the
noble earl for making the inquiry, because it gave him
an opportunity of saying that there was not the least
intention on the part of Government to reduce the num-
ber of the fleet, or to render it less efficient. In con-
sequence of the notice given by the noble earl, he had
had some communication with his right honourable
friend at the head of the Admiralty, and he had in-
formed him that no ships whatever had been withdrawn
from the fleet of Admiral Bruce, except those which re-
quired repair or were not fit for active service. But since
his right hon. friend had been at the head of the Admiralty
only one ship of war had been withdrawn from the African
coast, and he had commissioned two in their place, and a
third, and perhaps a fourth, would be sent out in the
course of a week or ten days. He thought, therefore that
the noble earl would admit that his right hon. friend
was fully alive to the importance of the subject. The
noble earl would recollect that his right hon. friend
had only a naval peace establishment at his disposal,
and if the noble earl would also recollect, the fleet
at Spithead—the fleet at the Dardanelles—the forces
necessary to guard the fisheries in America—to
watch the coast of Cuba and Brazil, and also the
ships of war at Rangoon and China—he thought
he might appeal to the professional knowledge and ex-
perience of the noble earl, whether his right lion. friend
had not made a, judicious distribution of the force at his
command for the different emergencies of the service,
and for the protection of British interests in every
quarter of the world. (lean)
The Bishop of OXFORD expressed his great satisfac-
tion at the answer of the noble earl, and was glad, with
many others, that the work which the country had
undertaken to do was being done with the vigour and
efficiency which so eminently characterised his right
hon. friend at the head of the Board of Admiralty.
Their lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(YESTERDAY.)
SOUTH SEA ANNUITIES DISSENTIENTS.
The house then went into committee upon this bill.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER proposed
the following resolutions :
" 1. That provision be made out of the Consolidated
Fund of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire-
land, for paying off the proprietors of the capital stocks of
Old South Sea Annuities, New South Sea Annuities, Bank
Annuities (1726), and 31. per Centum Annuities (1751),
mentioned in an act of the present session, chapter 23, in
respect of which assents to commute shall not have been
signified according to the said act, and also for paying to
the South Sea Company a principal sum equal to the
amount of the trading or capital stock of the said company,
or the part thereof the interest or annuity on which shall
not have been commuted or exchanged, according to the
said act, or any act to be passed in the present session of
Parliament.

"2. That the South Sea Company shall be permitted to
commute, within a time to be limited, all or any part of
the annuity or interest on their trading or capital stock,
payable in respect of shares in such stock standing in the
names of the Accountant-General of the Courts of Chancery
of England and Ireland, respectively, and of the Account-
ant in Bankruptcy in England, and in the names of trus-
tees and others disabled. from voting in the General Court
of Proprietors of the said company, into or for any one or
more of the stocks and securities authorised to be created
and issued by the act of the present session, chap. 23, and
the 31. ss. per Centum Annuities, and New 3/. per Centum
Annuities, created under the acts of the seventh year of
her Majestey, chapters 4 and 5, commonly called and
known as 31. 55. per Centum Annuities (1814), such com•
mutation into or for the said stocks and securities autho-
rised to be created and issued by the said act of the pres3nt
session, to be upon the terms and subject to the conditions
upon and subject to which the like commutation was
authorised under the said act, and such commutation into
or for the said 3/. ss. per Centum Annuities (1844), to be
upon such terms and subject to such conditions a the Com-
missioners of her Majesty's Treasury may see fit to offer,
provided that the assent of the said company to any such
commutation shall be signified to the said Commissioners
of the Treasury within such time as may be limited by such
commissioners for that purpose.
"3. That the South Sea CompanY shall also be Permitted,