The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-11 00:00:00

Lord BROUGHAM proceeded to n ove his amendments.
The first was the omission of the first clause.

Agreed to.
Lord BROUGHAM then moved, in clause 2, the insertion
of the words, " which was intended for ttle security of the
province," instead of the words " which way so much for the
service of the public;" and after,the words " acting in obedi-
ence to the same," the insertion of the words " as regards the

iending certain persons to Bermuda."
Both these amendments were agreed to.
Lor.l BROUGHAM then moved the addition of a clause
.o provide for the proclamation throughout the province of
:ha proposed Act immediately upon the receipt of a copy

. .
thereof by the Governor-General.
Agreed to.
Viscount ME LB 0 URN E then moved the following clause:
—" And whereas by an Act of her present Majesty, entitled
An Act to make temporary provision for the government of
Lower Canada,' it is provided that it shall not be lawful by
any law or ordinance made by the Governor in Council to
repeal, suspend, or alter any provision of any Act of the
Imperial Parliament of Great Britain, or of any Act of the
Legislature of Lower Canada, as now constituted, repealing
or altering any such Act of the Imperial Parliament ; and
whereas doubts have arisen as to the meaning of this proviso,
be it enacted, that nothing in the Act shall be construed to
extend to prevent the Governor and Special Council from
passing such laws and ordinances as may be deemed necessary
for the safety of the province, or from providing for the trial
and punishment of, and for detaining in custody, persons
who have been or may be engaged in conspiracies against the
Crown."
Lord: E LLENBORO UGH trusted the House would not
agree to this clause. The latter part of it went far beyond any
power now in the hands of the Governor- General.—( Hear.)
Lord BROUG HAM said he certainly for one could not
think of agreeing to it.
The Earl of WICKLOW thoUght it would be sufficient
to declare that nothing in the Act should take from the. Go-
vernor-General the powers exercised by former Governors of

Canada.
The Earl of MANSFIELD suggested that if the Noble
Viscount thought it necessary to ask for such a declaration as
this, his best way wbuldbe to draw up a short Bill for the pur.
pose, though he (Lord Mansfield) had strong doubts whether
the Noble Viscount would find the majority of that House dis.
posed. to give the Governor-General such very extensive
powers as these.—( Hear, hear.)
After a few words from Lord BROUGHAM,
Viscount ME LB OURNE consented to withdraw the clause.

The Earl of HARRO WBY thought it desirable that be-
fore the Bill passed, some step should be taken in order to
show that the House did not concur in the construction put by
the Noble Viscount on the proviso in the Act.
Lord E L ENB ORO UG II conceived that some clear ex-
planation of the law on the subject should be laid down for the
guidance of the Governor-General. He did not think that a
merely declaratory Act enabled the Governor to suspend the
Habeas Corpus Act. He did not think that a local Legis-
lature so near the mother country as that of Canada was
should have the power of attainder ; though, under the exist-
ing circumstances, he did not see the same objection to
giving them the power of suspending the Habeas Corpus
Act. It appeared to him that in the present case the suspension
of the Habeas Corpus Act would have been a far preferable
proceeding to that of declaring martial law.—(Hear, hear.)
Constitute, however, as the present special Council was,
there might be strong objections to investing it with this
power of suspending the Habeas Corpus Act. The special
Council entrusted with such a power ought to be a real special
Council, and not one which was united with him, and which he
was enabled by the conduct of Ministers to absorb.—( Hear.)
The Duke of WELLINGTON observed, that it would be
absolutely impossible to open the whole ef this subject with-
out commencing a new Session, and the present - Session
would last but for three or four days more.--( Hear, hear.) He,
therefore, hoped the House would acquiesce in the wise and
judicious offer of the Noble Viscount to withdraw his clause.
—(Hear.) He wished to make but one observation fur-
ther. A proposition was made last night for a declaratory
Bill: this had resolved itself that evening into a Bill of
Indemnity as to one part of the subject. The public would,
therefore, have before them no act of the Legislature except
a mere Indemnity Bill, as applicable to one part of the subject,
on the illegality involved in which no doubt was entertained.
In the course of the discussion last night, various opinions had
been delivered by legal authorities as to the import of certain
clauses of the Canada Government Bill. The Noble and
Learned Lord opposite was of one opinion, the Noble and
Learned Lord on the Woolsack was of another, and his Noble
and Learned Friend behind him had not delivered any opinion
whatever on the point. Under all the circumstances, he con-
sidered it would be most inexpedient for the House to enter
upon a revision of the whole powers, and policy, and proceed-
ings of the Governor-General, or to attempt to make any new
laws on the subject. His Grace concluded by suggesting that
the Bill, with the Noble and Learned Lord's amendments,
should be printed previous to the third reading.
The Marquis of LAN SDOW N E thought that, under the
circumstances, the course proposed by the Noble Duke was the
most convenient. He could not, however, refrain from express-

ing his opinion that many inconveniences were likely to arise
from the doubts which, in the course of the discussion on this
subject, had been raised as to the power of the Governor-Gene-
ral. It was of the utmost importance that persons in the situa-
tion of Sir J. Colborne should not be led to believe that they
had no power to act as that officer had done. If, therefore, he
agreed-to this Bill, it was because doubts had arisen, and. it
was desirable to remove them, and also that the attention of
tir, House had been caled to the proclamation and act of at-
t tinder passed by Sir John Colborne, and no Noble and
Learned Lord bad suggested that it was necessary to pass an
act of indemnity to Sir John Coihorce. He, therefore, as-
sumed, as it was the duty of Parliament to administer a remedy
in case of necessity, that in the case of Sir John Colborne it
was clear that no remedy was necessary. If it was thought
that Sir John Colborne had committed an illegal act, it was
doing a great injustice to that Gallant Officer not to pass a
811 of indemnity. As he had not heard that this act required
an Act of indemnity, he trusted that if that Bill went forth to
Canada, that the attention of the House had been called to the
Act of attainder passed by Sir John Colborne, and that it
was not the opinion of any one Noble Lord that that Gallant
Offices required an act of indemnity. Under these circum.
stances be thought, if the Bill passed, that it would not be
attended with such serious inconvenience as would otherwise
I be the case.
Lord BROUGHAM thought that it was hard that the
Noble Marquis attempted to feel the pulse o the House by
throwing out such hints. Sir John Colborne was acting on
his own responsibility, and the attention of the House had
not yet been called to his acts or proceedings, and they knew
nothing about them. For his one part he had not read those
papers, nor did he believe that his Noble and Learned Friend
opposite had done so.—(" Hear, hear," from Lord Lyndhurst.)
So he thought; and therefore, neither his Noble and Learned
Friend nor himself had given any opinion on the subject. If,
therefore, Sir John Colborne had acted lawfully, he did not
require their opinion ; and if he had acted illegally, an indi-
vidual opinion was no; worth anything. If the proposition of
the Noble Viscount were to be adopted, it was of too impor-
tant a nature not to require a separate Bill. He therefore
thought that the best course to take would be to pass the Bill
of indemnity at once ; and if it should, on reflection, appear
advisable to the Noble Viscount, he would either to-morrow or
Monday propose such a Bill as had been described.
Aker a few words from the Earl of WICKLOW, the Bill
was ordered to he read a third time on Monday.
COURT OF •SESSION (SCOTLAND) BILL.
Lord BROUGHAM proposed fie third reading of this Bill.
The Earl of HADDINGTON moved thet the proviso at
the end of the 34th clause should be omitted, by which
either House of Parliament could rescind acts of sederunt
of the Court of Session.
A lengthened conversation took place on this motion. The
House eevided—
For the amendment
Against it
Majority
The Bill then passed.
SHERIFF'S COURT (SCOTLAND) BILL.
Oa the motion that the Commons' amendments to this Bill
should be considered,
The Earl 'of HADDINGTON proposed the re-insertion of
four clauses which had been struck out by the House of Com-
mons, and which conferred on the Court of Session the power
of making certain rules and regulations in reference to their
proceedings. He thought that the Court of Session must be
admitted to be far more competent to make such regulations
than Parliament, because they knew better in what way they
were required.
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Courts in Westminster Hall.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said that the clauses bad
been fully discussed in Committee in the House of Com-
mons, and it was agreed unanimously that they should be
expunged from the Bill.
After some further discussion, we understood that the pro-.
position of the Noble Earl was agreed to, end that a Com-
mittee was appointed to frame reasons for disagreeing to the
amendments of the House of Commons.
PRISONS (SCOTLAND) BILL.
This Bill was read a third time, on the motion of Lord
BROUGHAM. Clause 10 having been struck out,
On the question that the Bill do pass,
The Earl of MANSFIELD said that he had very strong
objections to this Bill, for although it had emanated from a
Select Committee, -yet it was in many respects imperfect,
and he must say opposed to the opinions of many of the
Members of the Committee. At the same time that he
allowed that the measure had been fully discussed before the
Select Committee, however, he must express his surprise
that it had received so little consideration at the hands of
that House.

Contents ll
Non-contents .
Majority against the question
Lord BROUGHAM then said that he would not press the
Bill further, although he might have done so.
REGISTRATION Ofs'ELECTORS BILL.
On the Report of this Bill being brought up,
Viscount MELBOURNE moved tore-insert the clause de-
clring how the di;tance should be measured.
Lord LYNDHURST persisted in his amendment, because
a judicial decision had been given upon the question in the
Youghal case, and the principle of the law bad been to extend
the franchise as much as possible.
The reinsertion was then negatived withoura division.
Viscount MELBOURNE next moved to strike out the