The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-06 00:00:00

came down and demanded to have him restored to her.
It happened, that he (the• Earl of Shaftesbury) was pre-
sent, and he was afraid he had not the law on his side,
but he threatened.to prosecute her for deserting the boy,
and in consequence she went away without him. The
boy cried bitterly in his fear that he should be delivered
up to his mother. He was now in a respectable sphere
of life, earning very good wages in Nottingham, and
he had sent for his mother, who lived with him, rrid
conducted herself respectably. One objection he had
heard to this bill was that the workhouse, in which the
children would be placed, partook of the character of a
prison, and another objection was that the number would
be so large that they could not get sufficient work for
them. As regarded the first, it was only as against the
intentions of the parents to get possession of the child-
ren that they would be restrained. With regard to the
second, he thought it would be worth while to rim some
risk. He was convinced, from the most minute in-
quiries, that nothing of the sort would occur. Their
lordships had heard that a large portion of the parents
were perfectly able to maintain their children, and de-
pend upon it the terrors of the law would clear the
streets of nine-tenths of the mendicants. He might
state that he had the concurrence of several of the police
magistrates of London, who had written to him, to state
their views. Amongst them were Mr. Henry, Mr.
Painter, Mr. Corry, Mr. Broderip, Mr. Long, and Mr.
Bingham. The great demand for labour which now
existed had taken away the pretext for begging. The
police were never more active and efficient, and he might
say, in reference to this subject, " Now is the accepted
time, now is the day of salvation." He considered this
measure as entirely one of mercy and of prevention, and
he was sure that if it passed it would anticipate, to a
great degree, the jailer and the hangman.
The house then went into committee on the bill.

The LORD CHANCELLOR said after the interest-
ing speech of the noble earl it might seem very prosy to
come down to the details of the bill, but that was ncce,-
sary. In the first clause the words "any child" were
used. Surely there ought to be some clearer definition
as to the persons who were to be brought under the ope-
ration of the bill.

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY observed that the Va-
grant Act contained no definition whatever.
Lord CAMPBELL also thought there ought to be
some definition. Who could tell what a child was
Why, Childe Harold was a child. (Laughter.) He
earnestly recommended his noble friend to reconsider the
bill, and any assistance that he could render him should
be at his service. He should like to see the object of
the bill carried out; but this was a bill that would not
work.

Lord BROUGHAM, while aggreeing with the obser-
vations of the noble earl, said he thought the best course
would be to withdraw the bill for the purpose of remodel-
ling it.
The Earl of HARROWBY thought the difficulties in
the bill might be surmounted, and suggested that it
should be referred to a select committee.

Lord CAMPBELL said there was a law in Glasgow
which enabled the magistrates to summon before them,
and to imprison for any period, not exceeding sixty days,
the parents or other persons having control of children
who sent them out to beg, and that law, he believed, had
worked well.

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY said he bad brought
forward the measure for the sole purpose of exciting dis-
cussion. He wanted to bring before the public an enor-
mous amount of evil, the length and breadth of which
was not fully understood, in order that it might excite
the attention of the active spirits of the country. He
was now willing, either that the bill should be thrown
out or referred to a select committee.

The bill then passed through committee pro forma.
ENCUMBERED ESTATES (IRELAND) BILL

This bill was read a third time • and on the motion
that the bill do pass, some amendments moved by the
Lord Chancellor were inserted, after which the bill
passed.

PUBLIC WORKS LOAN BILL.
This bill passed through committee.
WHITTLEWOOD, OTHERWISE WHITTLE-
BURY, FOREST BILL.

The amendments to this bill were considered, and
agreed to. t
The other orders of the day were then disposed of,
and the house adjourned at 25 minutes past 7.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-(YESTERDAY.)
MERCHANT SHIPPING BILL.

Clauses up to 28 inclusive were agreed to after several
desultory discussions.
On clause 29, which provides that British vessels may
be navigated wholly by foreigners,
Captain SCOBELL moved the omission of the clause.
Thig, he said, was a national question, and struck
at the root of our maritime power. The right honour-
able gentleman the President of the Board of Trade
might tell them that this clause was the summit or
free trade, but he denied that this bad anything
to do with the question of fcee trade at at all. The
repeal of the Navigation Laws was said to be the summit
of free trade, but when that was passed the Government
did not propose the repeal of these manning clauses.
If this clause passed, and it it were declared allowable
for the master, mates, and men of a British vest el to be
foreigners, he should propose another clause tha L every
morning the crew of every vessel should sing "Rt tie Bri-
tannia," and that the captain should accompany• them
on the French horn, and the mate on the German ;flute.
He IznA.v +l.'4 *hero wolv. nurnhcilt OI Our seamen at the
different ports who had resolved that if this law In seed
they would take their services to the navy of the lTn.ited
States. He was convinced that the operation o .this
clause would be most injurious to the interest of the
shipowners themselves, and he appealed to thaw
not to support it. The circumstances of Europe
just now were not favourable for any step which
tended to destroy or undermine our reserve, of
seamen. The Government was preparing on. all
sides against the dangers which they apprehended,
but if that danger were real, they were by • this
clause undermining the best security of the niat on.
It was downright madness, and as a lunacy bill was pas-
sim," through the house, he hoped a word would be' pro-
vided for the President of the Board of irade, for fhe
really were sincere, and believed he was doing right,
he deserved to be sent there. At the pre-
sent moment, there were numbers of English an men
in the mercantile marine who had obtained Anica ica,n
protections, so that if we issued impressment wart ants
they could not be taken. The whole weight of authority
was against this :clause, and he could go on ,4 'not-
ing all day from the opinions of most eminent- men
professional and otherwise, against the principle. He
believed if this clause were passed it would intict a. -vital
sf- .b to the present general and universal custom.
Mr. LABOUCHERE opposed the clause.
Mr. CARDWELL supported the clause, but. four
o'clock airiving the chairman left the chair and the
house adjourned until six o'clock.
The house resumed at six o'clock.