The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-08 00:00:00

Lord deliver us." When the Irish Municipal Bill had
been sent down to the Commons, so altered as to conveY
an insult rather than a boon to the people of Ireland, it
was at once kicked out, and many of the members present
would have been well pleased to have trampled- it, literally
under their feet. In fact it was evident that every mea-
sure calculated to benefit Ireland would be rejected b 3, their
Lordships, unless some change were made in the composi-
tion of their House. The insulting taunt of Lord Lynd-
hurst spoke volumes, not only to Irishmen, but also to
Scotsmen. Should the Tory V Lords be suffered to pro-
ceed much longer in their present course, those whom he
now addressed might in their turn be denominated " aliens."
—(Cheers.) The bills which he had enumerated were
certain to be re-introduced next session, and if they were
thrown out by the Lords as unceremoniously as they had
already been, he really could not foretell what might be the
result. Violence ought to be deprecated by every good
citizen, and therefore it was the duty of all to exert them-
selves in a constitutional way, to remove those obstacles to
good government which had a tendency to produce an in-
fringement of the peace.—(Cheers.) There had been
some talk of an elective Peerage. The Scots Peers, who
sat in the House of Lords, were already subject to election.
But the election in their case was what he was sure no
one there would advocate—namely, self.election.—( Laugh-
ter and cheers.) They were sent, to Parliament by members
of their own body. Were they subjected to a truly popular
election, he felt certain, and doubtless they would agree
with him, that not one of the 16 would ever go to Parlia-
ment.—(Cheers.) He would now come to the business of
the House. For himself he would never forget that the
first time they had done him the honour of choosing him for
their representative, lie had come under pledges to serve
them as they wished to be served, or to resign his trust into
their hands. He had also pledged himself
on a number of
particular points, and now that he was again among them,
lie could boldly say that not one of these had he broken.
—(Great cheering.) They had all been fulfilled to the
very letter.—(Cheers.) There were many abuses in the
mode of conducting business in the House of Commons,
which called loudly for a remedy, and to these he had di-
rected much of his attention. In the Committees particu-
larly, business was wretchedly conducted. No person could
expect to obtain justice in a Parliamentary Committee, but
at a ruinous expense. The system of canvassing, of run-
ning about from one member of Committee to another,
begging support, was utterly disgraceful, and was felt by
many representatives as so degrading, that on all occasions,
when it was practicable, they paired off, and thus es-
caped from attendance. The mariner in which the divi-
sions of the House were taken, had been long a grievance,
generally felt and acknowledged. This had been so far
remedied in respect to the House itself, but nothing
had as yet been done to introduce a like reform into
the mode of taking divisions in Committees, though
it was evident that such reform was as necessary in the
one case as in the other. There was a practice which he
could not help reprobating, on every occasion on which it
came under notice—that which was denominated counting
out the House. When questions came which were distaste-
ful to particulat individuals or parties, and when the atten-
dence of members was so thin as to afford a prospeet of the
plan succeeding, these parties were to be seen standing at
the door of the House, endeavouring to prevail on members
not to come in, and thus much business important to the
nation was often obstructed. Those who resorted to such
plans ought, said Mr. Wallace, to be well watched, as they
had generally some undue purpose to serve. For his part,
he had often seen more good done in a thin House than in a
full one. He would advert to another practice which was
detrimental to the furtherance of business—that of calling
for an adjournment of the House at a specific hour. The
duties of a Member of Parliament, who really wished to
exercise faithfully the trust reposed is him, were very ar-
duous. He must be at the House by at least half-past
eleven in the morning, and, what with Committees and
other business, lie had not an interval of leisure, till the
House fairly sat down in the evening to public discus-
sion. Now, it often occurred that some subject came on
for discussion at a late hour ; and was it not absurd to
put a stop to that discussion before any conclusion could
be come to, and thus to entail upon themselves the
necessity of going through all the Parliamentary forms
a second time, when, perhaps, a practical conclusion
might be attained in less than an hour ? If gentlemen
could not stand fatigue, they should not enter upon such a
situation as that of a representative of the people in Par-
liament ; should they find, after they have been returned,
that such is the case, they should at once return to their
constituents and tell them so, and then bid them good-bye.
But there was another evil attending this practice which he
ought not to overlook. It enabled the Tories to stop the
progress of beneficial legislation, when they would not
otherwise be able to do so. Often had lie witnessed some
of these gentry watching anxiously the hand of the clock.
The more important the business before the House, and the
more advantageous for the people that it should be brought
to a close, the more intensely did they fix their eyes upon
that from which their only hope was derived, and when the
hand came within the five minutes to twelve, their anxiety
was absolutely painful to themselves, and to all who wit-
nessed it. Their general aspect on such occasions reminded
him of that of a hen turkey in a poultry yard, sitting on
an addled egg. Having now gone over much of what
might be called public affairs, he would say something on
matters which, if not more strongly, yet more peculiarly,
related to Greenock and its neighbourhood. And first as
to bonded warehouses. A great stride had been made to-
wards the bestowal of justice ; but the measure which they
had obtained was not perfect, and he would advise them to
continue the struggle till they wero put on a footing of per-
fect equality with London. As to their Railway, he had
carefully considered the various undertakings of a like na-
ture which had been laid before Parliament, and he knew
none more likely to be productive of good results than that
which they had in view. He saw no difficulty in obtaining
for it the sanction of Parliament, without any great ex-
pense. It would connect both the east and west seas. A
railway had been prepared to join the Union Canal ; but
when speaking on this subject to an individual who favoured
the project, be had simply remarked that such a railway
would take the passengers twenty-four miles only to plump
them into the canal, and this observation had the desired
effect. It was quite well understood by him to whom
it was addressed. Mr. Wallace then adverted to the
Greenock Mechanics' Institution. It had, he said, his
highest approbation, as every institution had, the object of
which was the universal diffusion of education. A me-
morial had been presented to him requesting that he should
lend his aid in obtaining a grant of public money for the
school devoted to the instruction of poor Highlanders. He
well knew the destitution to which many Highland fa-
milies were exposed from the enlargement of farms, and he
had forwarded the memorial to the Treasury, marking
his opinion of the cause for which it pled, by giving his
mite for its advancement. This was two years ago, and
since then he (Mr. Wallace) had heard no more on the
subject. The plan of the school had, however, been
with, and the foundation of the building
had been laid. Some fears had, however, arisen, lest the
in
a
public
mannermoney
notwhichconsistent
had beenw hobtainedtiie equaln
Dissenters, and those who were connected with the Esta-
blished Church. But he had to observe on this point that
itligh l:tighbtes applied
of
the

would
the ea
sgee t
of snore
Greenockof th
the money was given to communities—not to churches.
Whoever subscribed most of themselves would receive the
so happened that the
greatest amount from the Treasury. If the Churchmen
raised a greater sum among themselves for the purpose of
schoole
6pedouuobellj'aethli
an(c)dona came than
to itibeudes Dissenters,vociblcitieeafli tnv' eerisaa:ni(llelyjiti
conducted by members of the
establishment ; but let Dissenters put down pound for
pound, and they would meet with the same assistance.—
(There was some slight mark of disapprobation here, the
only thing of the kind that was manifested during the pro-
ceedings.) The fact was, however, continued Mr. Wal-
lace, that these grants were of old standing, and were not
given directly by Parliament. They were likely, therefore,
to be continued till complaints were made to the Treasury,
or rather to the House of Commons, the proper purse-
keepers.
Mr. MusitET here rose and asked leave to put a qucs-
tiou. He said he handed in a letter, at the commence-
ment of the proceodings, to be given to Mr. Wallace.
It related to the Post-Office, and he now wished an
answer.

Mr. WALLACE, who appeared not to know of any such
letter, made a search among some papers and soon found
it. He then read it. The question contained in it was,
whether letter-carriers in town had a right to demand pay-
ment for delivering newspapers, or more for letters than the
post-mark bore. Mr. Wallace said the question which was
here put was perfectly proper. It was to answer such
questions that be came there that night, not merely to make
a speech. The meeting was, in fact, altogether one of
business ; and the topic to which the letter referred was
precisely of that business kind to which they ought, at the
present, to direct their attention. He would then say in
answer, that letter-carriers had no right to demand pay-
ment for the delivery of newspapers. But if the publishers
sent them to the Post-cffice, the Postmaster might refuse
to take them at all, as the publishers were bound to deliver
them in town themselves.
Mr. Mustier said the papers to which ho referred were
not published in Greenock, but came from Glasgow, Stir-
ling, and Dublin.
—l4\aVs ta 8
Sa
this Mr. turddaoynenilgahtetl.y ?
I‘WiuAsLILIEATc_e
Mr. WALLACE---'then I have no hesitation in saying
that it was an illegal act. If they had come through a
penny post, then it must have been admitted, that the
very extraordinary blunder which had been fidlen into by
the framers of the present act, would have stfojected them
to payment ; but coming as they had done through the ge-