The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 17, 1854.

Charles Lennox Tredcroft, vice Harding ; George William
Holmes, vice Margesson ; John Edward Ruck-Keene, vice
Stewart; Henry Archdall Doyne, vice Street; J. Theophilus
Daubuz, vice Calvert ; Robert Hodson, vice Woolsey ;
Ernest Courtenay Vaughan, vice Drayson ; Frederick Sid-
ney Maude, vice Elgee ; Francis Towry Adeane Law ;
Major Francis Downes ; Albert Charles Hugo Light ;
Francis Henry William Nisbett ; Falkland George Edge•
worth Warren ; Henry Clement Swinnerton Dyer ' • Thos.
Lloyd Still ; Joseph Hanwell; Joshua Frederick Betty ;
Francis Wm. Eveleigh Savage ; John Kelly Holdsworth ;
William Frederick Moore; Maurice Henry Fitzmaurice ;
Wilbraham Digby Milman ; Arthur Richard Robinson ;
Henry Richmond Martin, Feb. 17. _ _

OFFICE OF ORDNANCE, FEB. 16.
Corps of Royal Eno neers—Second Captain Frederick
Edward Chapman to be Captain, vice Frome, placed on
the Seconded List ; First Lieutenant James Frankfort
Manners Browne to be Second Captain, vice Chapman;
Second Lieutenant Wilbraham Oates Lennox to be First
Lieutenant, vice Browne, Jan. 7.
OFFICE OF ORDNANCE, FEB. 17.

Corps of Royal Engineers—To be Colonel Commandant
—Lieutenant General Sir Henry Goldfinch, K.C.B.
To bo Colonels—Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Barry, Bre-
vet-Colonel Sir William Reid, Lieutenant-Colonel Wiliam
Redman Ord.

To be Lieutenant-Colonels.—Bevet-Major Henry Ser-
vante, vice Barry ; Henry Owen Crawley, vice Ord ; John
Twiss, John Walpole, Thomas Aiskevr Larcom, Brevet
Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Vicars ; Brevet-Majors, St.
Aubyn Molesworth, Edward Frome ; Captain Charles
Edmund Wilkinson.

To be Captains.—Second Captains Thomas Fenwick,
vice Servants ; Gother Frederick Mann, vice Crawley ;
Spencer Westmacott, vice Twiss ; Charles Acton Broke,
vice Walpole ; William Collier Menzies, vice Vicars ;
Robert Michael Laffan, vice Molesworth ; Arthur Henry
Freeling, vice Wilkinson ; Harry St. George Ord, David
William Tylee, Hampden Clement Blamire Moody, John
Linton Arabia Simmons, George Archibald Leach ; Brevet-
Major Richard Tylden; Second Captains Philip John
Stapleton Barry, Henry Arthur White, Paul Bernard
Whittingham.
To be Second Captains—First Lieutenants Fitzroy Mo-
lyneux Henry Somerset, vice Fenwick ; Horace Wil-
liam Montagu, vice Mann ; Valentine Thomas Mairis,
vice Westmacott ; Frederick William King, vice
Broke ; Francis Fowke, vice Menzies ; Charles Richard
Binney. vice Laffan; Frederick Henry Rich, vice Freeling;
Francis Rawdon Chesney, vice Ord; Thos. Andrew Lums-
den Murray, vice Tylee ; Herbert Newton Penrice, vice
Moody; Wm. Lawtie Morrison, vice Leach ; Anthony C.
Cooke, vice Tylden; Thomas Inglis, vice Barry; Ben Hay
Martindale, vice White ; Charles Scrope Hutchinson,
vice Whittingham; HenryWray, Chas. Pulley, J. Stokes,
Andrew Clarke ; Francis Dn Cane ; Robert Dundas Kerr ;
John Yerbury Moggridge ; Francis Koe.
To be First Lieutenants—Second Lieutenants Arthur
Leaky, vice Somerset ; Edward Loftus Bland, vice Mon-
tagu ; Charles Edward Stuart Baynes, vice Mains; Charles
Le Gallais, vice King ; Anthony William Durford, vice
Fowke ; Donald Augustus Frazer, vice Binney ; Harry
George Teesdale, vice Rich; Thomas Molyneux Graves,
vice Chesney ; William Christian Anderson, vice Murray ;
Edmund Frederick Du Cane, vice Penrice ; William Cross.
man, vice Morrison ; Willoughby D. Marsh, vice Cooke ;
William ;James Stuart, vice Inglis ; John Clayton Co-
well, vice Martindale ; Robert Hawthorn, vice Hutchinson;
Gerald Graham, vice Wray ; Charles Elwin Harvey, ♦ice
Palley; Robert William Duff, vice Stokes; George Phi-
lips, vice Clarke ; Charles Nassau Martin, vice Du Cane ;
Francis Edward Pratt, vice Kerr ; Alfred George Goodall,
vice Moggridge ; John Mervin Cutliffe Drake, vice Koe ;
Edward Renouard James, William Bailey, Frederick Ed-
ward Blackett Beaumont, Charles George Gordon, Oliver
Haldane Stokes, John Henry Stockman Carter, William
Frederick Gilley, James Bevan Edwards, John Fretchville
Dykes Donnelly, John Edwin Cornes, Thomas Graves
Lowry, William Meredyth Somerville, Alexander De
Conroy Scott, Carew Lewis Augustus O'Grady, Hon. Ca-
meron Wrottesley, Feb. 17.
ADMIRALTY, FEB. 17.

Corps of Royal Marines.—Secoml. Lieutenant James
Conway Travers to be First Lieutenant, vice R. G. Halli-
lay to half-pay.

ADMIRALTY, FEB. 16.
The following promotions, dated the 11th inst., have
this day taken place, consequent on the death, on the
10th inst., of Vice-Admiral of the Red Honourable George
Poulett :

Vice-Admiral of the White Charles James Johnston to be

"Vice-Admiral of the Red.
Vice-Admiral of the Blue Charles Sibthorp John Haw-
tayne to be Vice-Admiral of the White.
Rear-Admiral of the Red Honourable William Gordon to

be Vice-Admiral of the Blue.
Rear-Admiral of the White Sir John Gordon Sinclair,
Bart., to be Rear-Admiral of the Red.
Rear-Admiral of the Blue Henry William Bruce to be
Rear- Admiral of the White.
Captain John Leith to be Rear-Admiral of the Blue.

BANKRUPTCY ANNULLED.
John Edward Loader, builder, Mile-end, Middlesex.

BANKRUPTS.

Henry Erkine Wethered, linen-draper, Pimlico, to sur-
render, March 3, and April 6, at twelve, at the Court of
Bankruptcy. Johnson, official assignee, Basinghall-street.
Depree and Austin, Cheapside.
Benjamin Parfitt, stone mason, Bermondsey, March 3,
and 31, at half-past eleven, at the Court of Bankruptcy.
Carman, official assignee, Aldermanbury ; Butler, Tooley-
street.

Valentine Henry Gay, tailor, Blackfriars-road, March 1,
at two, and March 28, at eleven, at the Court of Bank•
ruptcy. Stansfeld, official assignee ; Greville, Lombard•
street.

John Rodway, victualler, Gloucester, Feb. 28 and March
28, at twelve, at the Bristol District Court. Acraman,
official assignee, Bristol ; Smalridge, Gloucester.
Edward Banks Green, ironmonger, Bilston, Stafford,
March 7, at twelve, at the Birmingham District Court.
Christie, official assignee, Birmingham ; Smith, Wolver-
hampton ; Motteram and Knight, Birmingham.
Henry Whitmore, tailor, Stockport, March 1, at one,
and April 19, at twelve, at the Court of Bankruptcy.
Pennell, official assignee, Basinghall-street ; Tilleard, Son,
and Freeman, Old Jewry.
Thomas Gately, iron merchant, Derby, March 7, at
twelve, and March 30, at eleven, at the Birmingham Dis-
trict Court. Whitmore, official assignee, Birmingham;
East, Birmingham.
Richard Keily, commission agent, Ladbroke -terrace,
March 1, at two, and April 19, at one, at the Court of
Bankruptcy. Pennell, official assignees, Guidhall cham-
bers; Lawrance, Plews, and Boyer, Old Jewry-chambers.
Samuel Bircham Alpe, milliner, Duke-street, Manches-
ter-square, Feb. 20, and April 5, at twelve, at the Court
of Bankruptcy. Nicholson, official assignee, Basinghall-
street; Linklater, Sise-lane.

John otherwise Jonas Bergthiel, merchant, 33, Abchurch
lane, Feb. 22, at one, and March 22, at half-past eleven, at
the Court of Bankruptcy. Nicholson, official assignee,
24, Basinghall-street ; Reyroux and Bromehead, 35, Old
Broad-street.

John Corner Blacklock and Thomas Robinson, drapers,
Cirmingham, March 4, and April 1, at ten, at the Bir-
mingham District Court. Bittleston, official assignee,
Birmingham ; Wills, Birmingham ; Hodgson, Birming-
ham.

SCOTCH SEQUESTRATION.
James Cooper, currier and leather merchant, Aberdeen.

BANK OF ENGLAND.
An Account pursuant to the Act 7th and Bth Victoria, cap. 32, for
the Week ending on Saturday the 11th day of February, 1854.

188173 DEPAZTMINT.

Notes Issued .. • • .... 29,466,190

Government debt.... 11,015,100
Other securities.- 2,984,900
Gold coin and bullion 15,466,910
Silver bu11i0n........ -

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

TATTERSALL'S. -YESTERDA Y.

A scanty attendance, and business very limited.
LIVERPOOL GRAND NATIONAL.—Miss Mowbray was
again buoyant. After Bto 1 had been taken to 351., 7
to 1 was booked to a similar sum, and the taker was
desirous of having the odds laid again in fifties. La
Gazza Ladra was in good demand ; and Maurice Daley
and Trout received some pretty strong support at the
odds quoted. In the City the latter had been backed at
odds varying from 25 to 20 to 1.
CHESTER CIIP.--No change in the positions of the two
leading favourites—both were nominally at 18 to 1.
Two THOUSAND.-3 to 1 was the highest offer against
Ruby ; Bto 1 taken about Phaeton. Boiardo was not
named—in the City, however, he had been backed for
751., at 5 to 1.

MPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY.)

LAW OF TESTAMENTARY JURISDICTION.
The LORD CHANCELLOR then rose to call their
lordships' attention, pursuant to notice, to a measure
for the amendment of law relating to the probate of
wills and the granting of letters of administration. There
were no fewer than 386 distinct tribunals scattered
over the country—commissary courts—archdiaconal,
and peculiar courts—all having appeals to the
diocesan courts, for the purpose of deciding tes-
tamentary matters. Such a number of courts was in
itself a great practical evil. In the first place, owing to
the number of appeals. But that was not all. Very
often there were contentious matters of great delicacy,
difficult and hard to be dealt with even by the
Prerogative and Consistory Courts, and clearly be-
yond the capacity of the functionaries of those little
petty courts in the country. A party dissatisfied
with a decision in the courts of law had now
only one course open to him—to come before their lord-
ships for an appeal. Attempts had been made from time
to time for more than twenty years to remedy this evil.
In July, 1830, at the commencement of the reign of
William the Fourth, a ernmission was issued to inves-
tigate this very subject, both as to the common and the
ecclesiastical law. They rezommended the abolition of
all the ecclesiastical courts as far as wills were con-
cerned, with the exception of toe Prerogative Courts of
Canterbury and York. They made their report in 1833,
and in the session of that year his noble and learned
friend (Brougham), who had always shown so much ac-
tivity and vigour on these subjects, introduced a bill on
the subject, but that being the year of the Reform Bill,
it was no wonder that, amidst the major concerns, the
minor matters of the Ecclesiastical Courts Bill was lost
sight of. (Hear, hear, and a laugh.) In 1834 Sir F.
Pollock introduced a bill to give effect to these recom-
mendations, but it did not pass ; and in 1836 the subject
was again taken up by Lord Cottenham. Neither was
he successful, and it was thought that such were the in-
fluences against any bill on this subject from the number
of persons who were likely to be affected that it was con-
sidered useless to introduce the subject again. However,
on the return of Sir R. Peel to power, a new bill was in-
troduced by Sir J. Nicoll, but it did not pass, and subse-
quent attempts at legislation on this subject were made by
Lord Lyndhurst and Lord Cottenham. His noble and
learned friend behind him (Lord St. Leonard's) laid the
foundation of legislation on this subject. At the end of 1850
his noble and learned friend, Lord Truro, issued a com-
mission to inquire into the state and practice of the Court
of Chancery. They reported in 1852, and the amendments
made in consequence of the report of that commission
constituted now the law of the Court of Chancery. His
noble friend behind him thought it right to refer to the
same commissioners, who had shown themselves so com-
petent, this vexed question, which no one had yet been
able to solve, and he added to the commissioners a num-
ber of individuals who were connected with the ecclesi-
astical courts. These were Sir J. Dodson, Dr.Lushing-
ton, and the Queen's Advocate. These learned men were
engaged the whole of last year in investigating this sub-
ject. He had been much pressed after he received the
great seal to proceed at once to call attention to this
subject, but as there was a commission then sitting, con-
sisting of so many eminent and able men, he thought it the
better and wiser course to wait for their report. They re-
ported in the beginning of the present year, and upon the
receipt of their report he proceeded to frame a bill, not
adhering precisely to their recommendations, but varying
it in some particulars; his reason for doing so he would
state to their lordships. The only dissentient from the
report as a whole amongst the commissioners was the
Queen's Advocate. The commissioners recommended the
abolition of all the existing jurisdiction, and that the whole
jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts as to the probate of
wills and testaments should be vested in a new court, to
be called the Court of Probate. This court was to be
a temporal court, and not an ecclesiastical court, and in
it all power as to wills was to be vested. In the aboli-
tion of the existing courts he quite concurred, but he
did not concur in the creation of a new court. His
opinion was that, subject to some modifications, by far
the safest, easiest, simplest, and cheapest course to
pursue, would be to vest the whole of the conten-
tious jurisdiction in the Court of Chancery, in ac-
cordance with the report of the Real Property
Commission. He ought to say that ninety-nine
hundredths of the business of the Prerogative Court
consisted of business of common form, with which
the Court of Chancery would have nothing to do.
He proposed, therefore, to give the Court of Chancery
jurisdiction in the case of personal as well as real pro-
perty. He doubted if a new tribunal would deal with
this subject as completely and as well as a court which
had been in the habit of dealing with it. Another great
advantage of transferring the jurisdiction to the Court
of Chancery was that the Court of Chancery alone had
the power of construing wills. He proposed, therefore,
that there should be a court of probate connected with
the Court of Chancery. The power of proving and con-
struing wills would therefore be in the same court. It
was not merely for the sake of making things look
square that he proposed this, but from the con-
sideration that every court of probate should be of
the same extent as the court of construing ; and for
this reason, that when a man made his will, and
afterwards appended a codicil thereto, it might be-
come an important question for consideration whether
that codicil did not revoke the will. That could
only be determined from the language used. A court
of probate must constitute a construing court for that
purpose, and it only got out of the difficulty in an awk-
ward way—that was to say, by putting all the docu-
ments together, and leaving the Court of Chancery to
deal with the question. It would be a great advantage,
therefore, that the court of probate and the construing
court would be one and the same, and that when a will
was construed, it was construed once for all. All this
related to the contentious business. With regard to
the common form business, there was great difference
of opinion. He proposed to get rid of the necessity of
proctors in order to prove the will. It had been thought
that the having au intermediate agent between the party
interested in the will and the solicitor directly employed,
greater security was afforded against improper or dis-
honest conduct, the proctors being a limited body,
consisting of eighty practising persons, whose faces
were well known in the Ecclesiastical Court. The
consideration was not entirely without weight,
but it would be a very great misfortune if
they could not relieve the public from the necessity, in-
convenience, and expense of having a double system of
agents to conduct the same bnainess. With regard to
persons dying in the country, leaving a small property
which it was thought might be more cheaply managed
and administered in the country, he proposed to consti-
tute certain district registrars, who would really have to
do little more than to examine the apparent accuracy of
the instruments, which when so examined, whether
proved in London or the country, would have validity
throughout the whole kingdom, whether the property
were large or small. He thanked their lordships for
their kind attention, and trusted that they would give
the bill a first reading.
Lord BROUGHAM conceived that a change must be
made in the present system ; and expressed a hope that
the proposed transfer of the existing jurisdictions to the
Court of Chancery would be approved by their lordships.
Lord ST. LEONARDS approved of the abolition of
the existing courts, but condemned the suggestion for a
new court of probate. He entirely agreed that the
Court of Chancery ought to have the whole jurisdiction
in testamentary matters. The business, too, ought to be
thrown open to the general body of practitioners. But
he objected to real estate being made subject to probate.
Lord CAMPBELL strongly approved of the whole
proposition , • but, unlike his noble and learned friend who
last spoke, thought there ought to be a probate of real
as well as of personal estate. He was disappointed,
however, at finding that the reform of the ecclesiastical
courts was not to be entire and complete, by taking away,
theirjurisdiction in matrimonial causes, slanders, defama-
tions, and brawlings in church.
The LORD CHANCELLOR assured his noble and
learned friend that a bill would be brought in on the
subject of the ecclesiastical courts in the course of the
session.

The bill was then read the first time.
RETURNS.
The Earl of POWIS moved for certain returns relative
to the fees payable upon the obtaining of degrees at the
Universities, which were ordered.
Their lordships adjourned shortly after half-past seven
o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-(YESTERDAY.)
CORRUPT PRACTICES AT ELECTIONS.

Sir FITZROY KELLY moved for leave to bring in
a bill to regulate the practice at the election of members
to serve in Parliament for counties, cities, and boroughs
in England and Wales, to prevent bribery, corruption,
and intimidation, and undue influence at such elections,
and to diminish their expense. The hon. and learned
gentleman argued that experience had shown the in-
crease of the constituent body to be no safeguard against
corruption, and that the ballet would probably prove
as little efficacious. The means to which he looked for
suppressing this great evil were to be considered as re-
garded the candidates, the agents, and the electors.
First, he proposed to appoint a public officer at every
election—a person of character, knowledge, and pro-
bity—to whom all moneys due on account of elec-
tions must be paid over by the candidate, with
the view of preventing any money being paid
through channels for illegal or corrupt purposes,
and who should have the whole management and
control of the expenses of the election. The candidate
would be required to swear that he had made no pay-
ments on account of his election to any other person.
Re proposed that this election officer should be a bar-
rister, appointed by the judges, as the revising barristers
were. If the source were stopped at once and for ever
on the part of the candidate, bribery would soon die out
of itself, and few agents would be found to give their
time and services at elections. The candidate was to
declare to the election officer the names of the agents
employed by him, and no others were to be admissible ;
these agents also must take an oath before the election
officer in conformity with that taken by the candidate,
and which would have the like effect with regard to all
funds placed in their hands, whether proceeding from
clubs, subscriptions, or other sources. Expenditure
for processions, music, and the like was to be pro•
hihited. The bill further contained a series of
provisions for enabling the electors to give their
votes by means of voting papers, accompanied by
safeguards against fabrication, mutilation, and
fraud. This would get rid of all the tumults, agita-
tion, and violence, often attended with danger to human
life, heretofore prevailing ; so that the voter might, if
necessary, give his vote at home. It would further save
the vast sums now expended for the conveyance of
voters, which at county elections often amounted to
4,0001. or 5,000/., and further opened an unlimited door
to treating. The evil of intimidation and undue in-

fluence would in like manner be mitigated, if not alto.
gether remedied, by the machinery he proposed. The
giving of the vote should consist in the act of signing
the voting paper, and the declaration therein contained,
which was then to be delivered to some competent
person for transmission to the returning officer. For
this purpose the magistrates of the county or town
would sit at fixed places for three or four days after the
nomination, to receive and transmit the voting papers.
By this plan even in the most numerous constituencies the
greater part of the votes would be given at an early period
of the election without pressure or inconvenience. The
declaration in the voting papers would consist of—first, as
to the place for which he was entitled to vote ; then, that
he was the person named on the register ; and then the
voting-paper contained a solemn declaration to be made
with all the sanctity, although not in the form of an
oath, that the voter had not received any species of
bribe, reward, or consideration in respect to his vote.
To meet the case of intimidation, he also proposed that,
in addition to solemnly abjuring bribery, the voter should
declare that he gave his vote freely and willingly, ac-
cording to the best of his judgment and conscience, and
without any intimidation, coercion, or undue influence
Such a declaration would, he thought, put an end to a
single word of pressure or intimidation from any one.
He proposed the Queen's printer should print a suffi-
cient number of voting papers, to be transmitted to the
various places in which elections were to take place,
to the election officer, who should have power under this
bill to call around him parish officers and others having
local knowledge in the various places, who would have
the register before them and be attended by others who
had the means of knowing the voters, and, in fact, be
attended by a proper staff of assistants, like those who
now assisted at the polling places. The election officer
would make up from the register and transmit voting
papers to all the voters. In case of miscarriage or mis-
delivery of the voting papers, they might be obtained at
any stationer's shop in the kingdom, where they would
be sold, so that in case a legally qualified voter had
not received one he might purchase it, go before a
magistrate, make a declaration of his title to vote, and
transmit it the same as if the paper had been sent to hi►n.
The election officer would examine by the regis-
ter all the voting papers that were returned, and,
with the aid of check clerks and the assistance,
on behalf of the respective candidates, of those whose
services were usually employed, and on a comparison
of the voting papers the return of the member would be
declared. He did not intend by this bill to prevent any
one from voting openly at the poll. Any one who pre-
ferred the publicity and notoriety of such a step might
take his voting paper before the returning officer or the
magistrate who received it, and there publicly deliver his
vote, as he did now, at the hustings. It was necessary
to reserve to the election officer, in cases of personation,
or forgery, or fraud, the power of laying aside any of the
voting papers which might be objected to by any check
clerk or inspector in regard to any particular vote. If
the return of the candidate were not affected by the num-
ber of such objectionable votes, the papers might merely
be laid aside ; but if the return of the member were af-
fected, then the officer would have power to investigate
the validity of the vote, and, if a charge of personating
a vote had been made which was not true, the voter so
charged could establish the validity of that vote. Under
such circumstances fabrication or fraud would be almost
impracticable, and, if not impracticable altogether, it
would be very difficult. He did not think any person
would be willing to incur the punishment imposed
by this bill and by the common law of England on the
forgery or fabrication of papers of this description, not
only with the great probability of detection, but when
the greatest uncertainty would exist of benefiting the
candidate whom he wished to be returned. Such was
the outline of the measure he proposed to submit to the
house ; but he ought to observe, with respect to the ex-
pense of elections, it was necessary, in order that the
election officer might well discharge his duties, that jus-
tice should be done to those who might have really fair
demands in respect of elections. In order that there
might be no excuse for the dispensing of money to any
other person than the election officer, he proposed that
that officer should be entitled to demand from every candi-
date who was nominated at any election a deposit, ac-
cording to what might be the prospects of a contest, of
a sufficient sum of money, not exceeding, in counties,
the sum of 3001„ and in boroughs 2001. (which latter
suns he trusted would soon become the largest expended
at any election), and that lie should likewise take a bond
of two sufficient sureties, or a deposit, in lieu of
a bond, of 1,0001., to meet the whole expenses of
the election. He had intended, in the event of the
present bill receiving the sanction of the house,
to have proposed, in a separate one, to abolish the
law of property qualification for members of Parliament ;
but he was not sorry to find that that had fallen into
abler hands. The right hon. member for Devonport had
given notice, as he understood, of his intention to bring
that question before the house. Should his bill proceed
he believed sufficient security would be given for the re-
spectability and independence of every candidate for a
seat in this house, and he should be happy to render any
assistance he could to the right hon. gentleman to enable
him to carry his measure. He concluded by saying he
felt he had ♦entured on a task to which his humble
abilities were altogether inadequate, unless he were sup-
ported and encouraged by the assistance and approba-
tion of the house. With that assistance he did not de-
spair of effecting very great good, and of putting an end
to a very great evil in the constitution of this country.
He had brought it forward, animated by no party views,
and had prepared it in all its details without the slightest
reference to party considerations. If it should receive
the sanction of Parliament, and conduce to the great
ends which he had laboured to obtain, he should rejoice
that he had lent his humble assistance in giving freedom
and security to that part of our constitution upon which
the liberties and well-being of the people of this country
depended.

Colonel SIBTHORP denounced the plan as impracti-
cable and futile. He would not, however, oppose the
bill at that stage, but he would see this public officer
far enough before he would take his oath about any
such matter, and would feel inclined to exercise the
argumentunt ad baculum to him, even though he might
be a barrister.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, on the part of the
Government, did not oppose the introduction of the bill.
It contained, he observed, matters which, novel in prin-
ciple, were worthy of consideration, though some parts
were of very doubtful policy, especially that relating to
polling papers, which would tend to renew the evils of
protracted polling and scrutiny of votes.
Mr. HUME said the object of the bill was a good
one ; but, if they wished to meet this evil, why not take
the simplest means ? He was afraid the hon. gentle-
man's bill would add to existing evils. The simple mode
he proposed, and which he had brought before the house
some years ago, was that no candidate should be sub-
jected to any expense whatever, that the counties or
boroughs should defray the expense of electing members,
and that they should come there and declare that they
never bad nor ever would pay a shilling for their elec-
tion. Why should they ? They were public servants,
and it was preposterous that they should pay large sums
of money in order that they should be placed in a posi-
tion to act for the public good. So long as they made
the members pay, bow could they hope to escape vena-
lity ? He hoped the time would shortly come when
common sense would prevail in the house on this sub-
ject.

Mr. H. F. BERKELEY declared his belief that the
bill would stop neither intimidation nor bribery.
Leave was then given to bring in the bill.
THE TRUCK SYSTEM.
Mr. C. FORSTER moved for leave to bring in a bill
to alter and amend the act commonly called the Truck
Act, and in doing so entered into a statement of the
evils which arose from the evasion of the existing act,
and of the necessity of making its provisions more
stringent. He did not object to the masters becoming
shopkeepers, but wished them to descend to the retail
arena on equal terms with our shopkeepers. He and
others, anxious of amending the truck system, were
desirous that the law should enforce a bona fide payment
of wages in money, leaving the workman free to dispose
of it when and where he pleased—merely realising to
himself and the rest of the community the benefit
of full competition. The present act would pro-
hibit shops being attached to the works of em•
ployers. Another alteration he proposed to effect
was in the penalties. As the law stood at pre-
sent, the fine for the first offence was not less
than 51. and not exceeding 10/.; for the second offence,
101. and not exceeding 201.; and the third offence was a
misdemeanour. When they considered that the profits
of the tommy-shopkeepers amounted to hundreds and
often thousands of pounds, it was clear penalties so
small would not have the effect of stopping them in
their career. He therefore proposed that the fine for
the first offence should be 101. and not exceed 201., and
that the second offence should be declared a misdemean-
our. As regarded the time of laying the information,
taking into consideration the difficulty of getting men
to come forward and give evidence, he should adopt the
rule of the Justice Act and extend the time from three
to six months. As to the application of the penalties, he
did not propose to leave the award, as at present, in the
hands of the magistrates, but to give the informer one-half
of the penalty. He knew the law looked upon such appli-
cations with jealousy, but taking into consideration the
present precarious source from which funds for laying
informations were derived—the contributions of shop-
keepers and the workmen—he thought the Legislature
would not object to deal with this matter as they did
with the Excise penalties. These were the principal
provisions of the bill he asked to introduce. Before the
select committee all parties would be able to state their
case, and the house would be put in possession of the
necessary evidence to enable them to legislate on the
question. By doing so, they would give a proof to the
working man that, amid more exciting topics, they were
not neglectful of his interest, and convince him that the
protection of his rights was not to be found in trade-
unions or strikes, but by stating his grievance, which,
when proved, stringent legislation should prevent his
being deprived of his right to receive a fair day's wage
for a fair day's work, the payment for which should be
in the lawful coin of the realm.
Mr. PETO thought there was no great necessity
for the bill being referred to a select committee. A
great deal of attention had been given to this question
and many inquiries made, and he (Mr. Peto) could not
conceive any circumstances under which the payment of
a man's wages should be withheld, or that for such pay-
ment anything else should be substituted for money.
When first he became connected with public works the
payment of money was the exception and not the rule ;
but, from 25 years experience, he could conceive no
reason why there should be a departure from the rule,
that a man's wages should be paid in the current
coin of the realm. The firm with which he was con-
nected had employed in England, Canada, Denmark,
Norway, and variouasici wager w
pwaratasooftreizttimineunitn,
money,3O,ooo
meu, and they never p


and always took care the men had it in sufficient !
time to derive the full benefit from it for their families.
He asked the hon. gentleman and the Government not
to refer the matter to a select committee, but to a com-
mittee of the whole house, and he was certain there
was no hon. member but would say that the proposed
measure sought to secure to the workman his simple and
inalienable right. Let them make the act as stringent
as they might, they could not be doing an injustice, as
it was but right that an obligation should be discharged
in the spirit in which it was incurred—by a proper pay-
ment at the proper time.
Mr. HUMF said all the bills on this subject en-
forcing penalties had invariably failed.
Mr. BRUCE supported the bill.
Lord PAL ME RSTON said he would certainly support
the motion for the introduction of this bill, because it
was in conformity with a pledge he had given at the
conclusion of last session. He brought in a bill last
year similar to that which the hon. member for Wal-
sall had now asked leave to introduce, and he withdrew
it, not in consequence of any change of opinion as to
the principle of the measure, but because the session was
drawing to a close, and because considerable objections
were made to some details of the bill, and it appeared to
him impossible, at that period of the session, to give
those objections the fair consideration to which they were
entitled. He quite agreed that, on general principles, it
was much better to leave classes of men to arrange
I and settle among themselves as they best could all mat-
ters connected with their mutual interests ; but at the
same time, they knew perfectly web that, from the arti-
ficial arrangements of society, cases would arise in which
some of the parties were more or less dependent upon
others, and unable to take proper care of their own inte-
rests and concerns. He thought it could not be disputed
that before the introduction of the truck acts great
abuses were practised. It was a fact perfectly notorious
that at times, when the masters had a pull upon the men
from the state of trade and the labour market, then,
under pain of losing their employment, men were com-
pelled to receive payment of their wages partly in arti-
cles given them at a price far beyond their real value,
and for which they had no use whatever. (Hear, hear.)
He remembered that on one occasion at Sheffield
shovels, tongs, and pokers were given to the workpeople
in part payment of their wages—(a laugh)—and they
were compelled to sell these articles at a price far
below the value for which they had received them. In
principle, he was prepared to say that wages ought to
be paid in money. But then came the difficulty that
had been alluded to, for, although they might compel the
masters to pay their workmen in money, there were
many ways in which that arrangement might afterwards
be evaded and defeated. The workman might be told—
" Here is your money, but there is a particular shop, and
unless you take your money to that shop and leave part
of it there, we shall not employ you any more, and some
other person will be put in your place." Therefore, a
natural provision of the bill was that no shop should he
allowed to be established on premises belonging to the
master. But then, it was stated to him last year,
that in many of the iron districts—for instance, in
South Wales where the works were at a very
considerable distance from towns, a provision of
that sort must clearly interfere with the comfort
and advantage of the men, for, as had been stated by
the hon. member for Merthyr Tydvill, cases might
happen where there were no shops within a reasonable
distarce of the works to which the workpeople could go
and obtain at a fair price the goods which they required.
He thought these difficulties were so completely esta-
blished, that he was induced to withdraw the bill at the
end of the last session, and to enter into an engagement
with his hon. friend that if he (Mr. Forster) would bring
in a bill again this year, he (Lord Palmerston) would
agree to its being read a second time, for the purpose of
being referred to a select committee. That, he thought,
would be the best course the house could pursue, and
with that view he supported the motion, hoping that his
hon. friend would put off the second reading for some
little time, to enable those who were interested to ex-
amine the provisions of the bill, which could then be re-
ferred to a select committee.

Mr. MUNTZ did not wish to oppose the introduction
of the 1).41, but he thought the noble lord had shown that,
with very few exceptions, such laws were totally ineffec-
tual. After 45 years' extensive experience in the em-
ployment of workmen, and never having adopted the
truck system, perhaps he (Mr. Muntz) might be allowed
to give the house a little advice ; and to show them that
all that could be done in the way of legislation would
be disappointing to the parties whom tuey wished to
serve. He remembered that 10 years ago, when Sir R.
Peel was in office, and when Mr. Ferrauti made violent
attacks upon masters for their treatment of their
workpeople, he (Mr. Muntz) ventured to offer to show
the house that all the laws they could pass would
never prevent the system of truck. His statements
at that time convinced the house generally that it
would be quite unavailing to pass laws to put
down that system, and Sir R. Peel said that he (Mr.
Muntz) had perfectly satisfied him that they would be
ineffectual. He (Mr. Muntz) then said that it was not
necessary for any master to have a shop for truck ; it
was not necessary for him even to say that he wished to
truck his men, or to say that they should buy their pro-
visions eta certain shop or place. All that it was neces-
sary for the master to do was this —he could make arrange-
ments with any shopkeeper to allow him so much per an-
num if he sent his men to that person's shop to buy provi -
sions. It was only necessary for the master to recommend
his men to deal at that shop, and if they did not, the conse-
quence would be that there would be no work. Here they
had the truck system without ally power of legal pre-
vention. He thought the present was an unfortunate
time for the introduction of such a measure as this, when
the employed were disputing with their employers.
There were not now half a dozen men running after mas-
ters, but the masters were running after the men. and
any workman of sober and industrious habits might
obtain work at higher wages than he (Mr. Muntz) had
ever known. Under such circumstances how was it
possible that any master could truck ? But let a time
ofpressure arrive, when the men were running after the
masters, and then let them see if they could prevent the
truck system. By the simple plan he had mentioned,
any law might be evaded, and therefore he di, approved
of this bill, which, in his opinion, would deceive the
working classes and the country.
The bill was supported by Sir H. Halford and Mr. J.
G. Phillimore, and opposed by Mr. lUMalion.
Leave was then given to bring in the bill.
TENANT RIGHT (IRELAND) BILL.
Mr. Serjeant SHEE, in moving for leave to bring in
a bill to provide compensation for improvements made
by tenants in Ireland, justified his motives in doing so,
observing that there was no better mode of convincing
the Government and the house than to set before them,
in the shape of clauses, what he thought would be im-
provements in the measure of the Government to come
from the other house. He then explained the provision
of the bill he proposed to introduce, and in what it dif-
fered from the bill which had passed that house last ses-
sion, and to the merits of which he bore testimony ; its
main defects were to be found, he said, in the specifica-
tion of improvements (important classes of improve-
ments being omitted) and in the restrictions upon claims
for compensation.
Mr. P. URQUHART seconded the motion.
After some observations from Mr. GEORGE and Col.
GREVILLE,

Sir J. YOUNG, on the part of the Government, said
he would not object to the first reading of the bill, if no
further steps were to be taken until the bills of the Go-
vernment should be placed upon the table.
Mr. NAPIER enforced the necessity of some decision
upon this subject being come to during the present ses-
sion, as keeping open the question was detrimental to
the value of property in Ireland.
After some observations from Mr. M‘MA.Erox and Mr.
E. B. Rocuz,
Leave was given to bring in the bill.
COMMITTEE OF PRIVILEGES.

On the motion of Mr. BUTT, the Committee of Pri-
vileges, to whom the complaint of the paragraph. in the
Times newspaper is referred, was appointed to consist of
the following members :—Sir John Young, Mr. Solicitor-
General for Ireland, Lord Hotham, Mr. John O'Connell,
Mr. Bright, Mr. George Moore, Mr. Henry Thomas
Liddell, Mr. Ker Seymer, Mr. Macartney, Mr. Muntz,
Mr. George Bentinck, Mr. Napier, and Mr. Dunlop.
That nine be the quorum of the said committee.
The committee was ordered to meet on Monday next.
The house then adjourned at 20 minutes past 11 o'clock.

EMIGRATION.—The Emigration Commissioners have
advertised for two vessels to carry emigrants to New
South Wales and Victoria. One is to be ready, for
Sydney, on the 7th, the other, for Geelong, on the 11th
of April.

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