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

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 bills 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, he 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 be 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 and 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 Pow's, and the Earl of Wieinow,
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, he
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 hon. 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. (Hear.)
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.)

The house resumed at 6 o'clock.
Mr. V. BROWN put a question to the Secretary to the
Treasury with reference to the conveyance of mails be-
tween Mallow and Killarney, observing that it would be a

great convience to have them by the railway, which was
now opened.
Mr. WILSON said, that previous to the opening of the
railway the Post-office authorities had entered into a con-
tract to have the mails conveyed for one year by cart.

When the contract expired the Post-office would, avail
itself of the facilities offered by the railway..
Mr. HORSFALL said that there existed some appre-

hension that at that period of the session GovernMent
would withdraw that excellent measure, the Customs Bill,
and he should be glad to hear whether or not they had any

such intention ?

Mr. WILSON said, that in reference to this very im-
portant bill, he was glad to have the opportunity of stating
that the Government had no intention of withdrawing it,
and it was almost impossible from the state of the arrange-
ments made at the Custom-house with reference to the bill

that it could be postponed till another year.. He had gone
over the bill very carefully out of doors with those who
were most interested in its provisions, and such a close
accordance of views had been attained that he thought the
bill would be passed with comparatively little discussion
or loss of time. He proposed to commit the bill pro forrad
that night, with the view of inserting a great many altera-
tions which had been agreed on, after which the bill would
be reprinted, and he hoped early next week to obtain a
morning sitting for its discussion.
Mr. HORSFALL next inquired, whether the First Lord
of the Admiralty had received any communication com-
plaininc, of great irregularity in the delivery of letters by
the African mail contract steamers, and whether any
measures were being taken to prevent a recurrence of the
same ? Probably, the right hon, gentleman was aware
that the last steamer neglected to call at two principal
trading ports, as it should have done according to con-
tract.

Sir J. GRAHAM had not heard at the Board of Admi-
ralty of any special complaint of failure in respect to time
on the part of these particular steamers, but the Board of
Admiralty had given general notice to all parties under
contract that they would enforce the special contract in
regard to the observance of time, with more rigour than
hitherto. No representation had been forwarded to the
Admiralty that the last African mail steamer had not
touched at all the proper places.
THE CASE OF SAMUEL JAMES.

Sir 11. L. EVANS inquired which of the two sentences
passed on Samuel James that convict was undergoing ;
these sentences—namely, of 10 years, and of 15 years,
being stated to have been pronounced in the Middlesex
Assistant-Judge's Court on the 22d day of June, 1852 ?
Lord PALMERSTON replied, that he was afraid it

would occupy too much of the time of the house if he were
to read the report he had received on the case ; but he
should shortly state what was the effect of it. In the first
place, the culprit was undergoing the more extended sen-
tence—the reason for pronouncing which was, that the pri-
soner after conviction, being in the dock, tookl out a stone
of sufficient size to be a formidable missile, and, uttering
words of revenge against the judge, threw it with all his
eight, and with a considerably dexterous aim, at the judge.
It just missed his eye; and even in its rebound there was
danger. The consequence of hitting the judge would have
been most serious. The decision of the judge was not
given on the spot, but on cool deliberation, that the pri-
soner should be adjudged to a longer term of transporta-
tion, being one to which he might by law be sentenced.
He (Lord Palmerston) thought the course pursued by the
Court on that occasion was perfectly right. (Hear.) If he
were appealed to as an adviser of the Crown whether any
part of that sentence should be remitted, he should feel it
his duty to recommend that not a single day should be re-
mitted. If judges in the courts of law, and if judges at the
assizes were to perform their duties under fear of personal
danger— if they wero threatened with death in consequence
of discharging their dutios—we might as well repeal our
laws, dissolve our courts, let every man go armed, and let
every one shoot down ruffians of that kind as they would
mad dogs.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA BILL.

On the consideration of the Government of India Bill,
as amended,
Sir J. PAKINGTON moved the insertion of a clause in
the bill, enacting that the salt monopoly should cease, and
that the manufacture and sale of salt in India shall be ab-
solutely free, subject only to excise or other duty. The
case he undertook to prove was that in all countries salt
was one of the first necessaries of life ; that it was more
especially so in India, 'where it is an indispensable condi-
ment, as the food was rice ; that in India, nevertheless, it
was scarce, and the price exorbitantly high. As salt was
cheap and abundant in England, why was it, he asked,
that the commercial law of supply and demand did not
operate in this case, so that the plenty in England might
relieve the penury of India ? He answered, that it was
the monopoly of the East India Company, which ex-
acted a duty of from 300 to 400 per cent. upon the
article, whether manufactured in India or imported from
abroad. He described the mode in which the bad
Indian salt was manufactured, and the condition of
the producers, and he insisted upon the injury
which the monopoly inflicted upon the health of the
people of India and upon the trade of both countries, the
Company's Government, so far from relaxing their mono-
poly, was even now struggling to increase its stringency, al-
though, in some cases, they manufactured salt at a loss.
This was the case to which he asked Parliament, in the
name of the people of India, to apply a remedy, and he
could hardly believe, he said, that ho was appealing to the
advocates of commercial freedom to put an end to a mono-
poly which was fatal to the welfare, the health, nay, the
lives of the population of India, and highly injurious to
the shipping interest of this country.
Sir C. WOOD, in resisting the motion, observed that
Sir John had got hold of the word " monopoly," of which
he had made repeated use ; but he had not understood
the word in its ordinary sense. By monopoly was meant
the enhancing by artificial regulations the price of an arti-
cle to the consumer; yet, when the Governor-General of
India endeavoured to reduce the price of native salt to the
consumer, from 80 rupees per 100 maunds to 65 rupees,
Sir John termed this "monopoly." What he wanted (Sir
Charles observed) was to estalitlish a real monopolyp
favour of the exporters of salt from this country. The;le
people of India paid but a single tax, and that was
duty on salt, from which article alarge
collected in the cheapest and most con revenue was
convenient form,
imposing a charge upon the labouring class in India,
according to the best authorities, of no more than
Bd. or 9cl. per head per annum, every other article
of consumption being free. In spite of duty the highly.