The Sun.
London, England, 1825-02-24 00:00:00

thought it was too much to describe the House to be so con-
structed, that when such Bills came before them, their consi-
deration should be referred to &separate tribunal, instead of
being decided on by tfic Members generally. By adopting
such a plan, they would be controuled in: minor points, whilSt
all the great business of the empire would '.be left to their honour

and integrity.
Mr. BRIGHT agreed with the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Cal-
craft) that it would be wrong to allow business of this nature to
be decided by any other tribunal. But he was not of the opi-
nion of the Hon. Gentleman when he said that the private
business of that House was conducted with perfect purity.
That he must deny. Decisions were very often made by per-
sons who knew nothing about the business on which they voted.
This spewed that the private business was not carried on in
such a way to give satisfaction to the country and the suitor.
The Hon. Gentleman said, that if any injustice were done,
parties might conic to the House and have the obnoxious Bill
repealed. This was not altogether so certain ; besides, they
could not lose sight of the expence which it entailed upon the
aggrieved parties. The Hon. Member for Worcester had ob-
served—" We are sent here to represent particular persons,
whose interests we are bound to protect. He (..Mr. Bright)
would say—" Protect their interests by all means ; hut in this
House neglect your own a little." Surely they could support
the interests of their clients without holding shares in any of
these companies; and if so, let those who had shares give them
up, and do their duty impartially.—(Hear!)—there were
many ways in which this evil might be remedied. One of these
was to elect' Committees by ballot. He hoped the Hon. Al em-
ber for Aberdeen would introduce some measure to put an end
to the existing system ; and that, in the mean time, a stop
would be put to the meeting of the Committee of the Bill out
of which this discussion had grown.

Mr..HUME gave notice that he world on Friday submit a
motion to determine how far the custom of Parliament allowed
the admissibility of the votes of Members on bills in the success
of which they were interested. He bad no hesitation in saying, .
that the practice of Parliament hitherto was sufficient for every
purpose of the due regulation of voting in that House ; and the
rules formerly laid down would, in his opinion, prevent indivi-
duals from voting on measures which affected their own in-
terests. Another point of great importance must also be de-
cided—namely, whether individuals, whose particular interests
were hostile to a bill, ought to be allowed to oppose it. The
question was altogether one of very serious importance.
Sir M. W. RIDLEY said, that, theoretically speaking, the
present mode of voting on private bills seemed to be a had plan ;
but, practically speaking, attending to experience, no mischief
appeared to have arisen from the way in which the private busi-
ness was conducted.—( Hear, hear !)—lt would be found ex.
ceedingly hard to deal with this question. Direct interest might
easily be made out ; but very great difficulty would be found
in proving an indirect interest that ought to prevent a Member
from voting on any particular question.—(Hear, hear!)—The
Committee of last year took very great pains to sift the subject ;
and the Learned Gentleman below him (Mr. Brougham) was
exceedingly anxious that the system of ballot should be intro-
duced ; but so many objections were urged against it, that it
was refused. The best mode was, he thought, to leave the
matter to the honourable feelings of gentlemen themselves.
Ile had in his possession letters addressed to Members of Par-
liament, by persons connected with private bills, which, if • lie
were to read, would shame their measures out of the House.
They were of such a nature, that if disclosed, they would, to
use a homely expression, blow the parties out of the House at
once. It depended on circumstances whether he should ever
state those cases to the House. It was astonishing that indivi-
duals should so far lose their feelings as men, and make such
applications to Members of Parliament as those to which he had
alluded.
Nere the discussion terminated.
Leave was given to bring in a bill to allow the Atlantic and
Pacific Canal Company to sue and be sued in the name of their
secretary.
Colonel WHITE presented a petition from ,the Roman Ca-
tholics of the parishesof St. Peter and St. Mary, Dublin, against
the bill for the suppression of the Catholic Associations.—Laid