The Sun.
London, England, 1836-07-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, J 836.

ther to be attended to. Supposing a soldier was to say the
morning a battle was going to be fought that his scruples
of conscience forbade him to fight—that he bad turned
Quaker—what would you say to his scruples of conscience,
except that be had entered into the army knowing that he
would be obliged to fight, and that he must abide by his
own decision ? For this reason the Quakers did not enter
the army. He then should be loth to place the positive
control of a vote upon the discretion of the Government ;
but he meant to express a strong feeling as to the caution
with which that discretion should be exercised, in the care
•.vhich should be equally taken to offend as little as pos-
sible the feelings of the Colonial subject on the one hand,
1 and of the British soldier on the other.

Mr. A. JOHNSTONE approved highly of the senti-
ments expressed upon this occasion by the Hon. Member
for the city of Waterford.
Lord HO WICK trusted the House would not carry an

address to the Crown which would prevent commanding
officers from having a discretion in offerirr, or withholding
a mark of respect to the people amongst whom they might
be placed.
Sir C. BURRELL considered the case of Captain
Aitcheson an extremely hard one. He wished that it was
taken into the merciful consideration of the Crown. _

Sir J. BECKETT remarked that Captain Aitchesou
had been tried by a court-martial of 17 officers, and there
was no difference of opinion amongst them that he was
guilt• of a flagrant disobedience of orders. The finding of
that court-martial was submitted to the Duke of Welling-
ton and the Duke of York, and their opinions coincided
with those of the court-martial, that there had been a
flagrant disobedience of military command. It was the
orders of the Duke of Wellington, when the English army
were in Spain, that the soldiers should present arms at the
procession of the Host. In every country the English
army was found to respect the religious feelings of the
people of that country.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE supported the motion.
Mr. O'CONNELL stated, if the motion were pressed
to a division, he should feel it to be his duty to vote for it.
A man could not be a worse soldier from having a strong
sense of religion.

The Earl of DARLINGTON supported the-motion.
Dr. BOWRING said the question of military discipline
ought by no means to weigh down the higher claims of
conscience.—(Hear, hear.) Had the address involved an
approval of the conduct of Captain Aitcheson, he certainly
could not, after the statement of the Right Hon. Member
for Leeds, have concurred in it. But the motion proclaimed
a true, a generous, a philanthropic, and a Christian prin-
ciple.—(Hear.) He thanked the Hon. Member for
bringing forward the motion.
Colonel THOMPSON hoped the Hon. Mover would
press his motion to a division.

The House then divided—
For the motion 3B
Against it 44
Majority against the motion 6
_ _

On the reading of the Order of the Day,
Mr. W. S. O'BRIEN rose for the purpose of moving
certain resolutions of which be had given notice, expres-
sive of the regret experienced by the House at the con-
duct of the House of Lords, in rejecting the Bill for the
Reform of the Municipal Corporations in Ireland. He
thought it highly incumbent upon every Irish Member to
express the indignation with which they had viewed these
proceedings.
Mr. R. WASON interrupted the Hon. Member, and
urged him not to press his motion.
Mr. O'CONNELL, although as sensible as any one
could be to the indignity offered to Ireland by the House
of Lords, did not think that the course proposed by the
Hon. Member would be the right one to give expression
to that feeling.
Mr. W. S. O'BRIEN said, if the general feeling of the
House was against the course he was about to pursue, he
would consent to withdraw his motion.

The motion was accordingly withdrawn.
Mr. AGLIONBY said that the Report of the Criminal
Commission having been on the table some time, he wished
to know from the Noble Lord the Secretary for the Home
Department, whether it was the intention of his Majesty's
Government to introduce any measure with a view to
carry into effect any of the recommendations of that Com-
mission ?
Lord JOHN RUSSELL was understood to say that
the Report in question was of a description to require a
great deal of consideration, and that he did not think it ad-
visable to propose any measure on the subject just now.
Mr. FOWELL BUXTON, in order to save the time
of the House, desired to know if the President of the
Board of Control had any objections to the praluction of
a copy of the dispatch of the Court of Directors of the
East India Company, dated 20th February, 1833, and
transmitted to the Government at Calcutta, respecting the
tribute collected from the idolatrous temples and their
worshippers ?
Sir 3. HOBHOUSE did object at present to the pro-
duction of this despatch. He.believed it now lay on the
table of the Court of Directors ; but if it should appear that
the instructions which it contained were not folio Ned out
by the authorities in India, he would, at the meeting of the
next session of Parliament make no objection to the pro-
duction of that despatch ; and in that event he would be
ready to afford every explanation to his Hon. Friond as to
the disposition of the Government to have the instructions
carried into effect.
CHURCH OF IRELAND BILL.

,The remaining clauses of the Bill were agreed to, with
the exception of clauses 47 to 80, which were omitted, as
they were intended to form the subject of a separate measure.
Clause 42, which had on a previous occasion been post-
poned, was also, as we understood, agreed to.
Some new clauses were added, and also a proviso for
the purpose of constituting privy councillors of Ireland ex
officio members of the Ecclesiastical Commission.
The preamble to the Bill was then agreed upon, and tae
Bill was reported to the House, and the report ordered to
be received on Thursday.
MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS ACT AMEND-
MENT BILL.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the Order of
the Day for the consideration of the Lords' Amendments
upon this Bill. He had very great satisfaction in stating,
that in respect to this Bill he did not anticipate any dis-
union between the two Houses on the ground of the
amendments which the House of Lords had thought pro-
per to make in it. The first point related to the course of
proceedings to be adopted in boroughs, where, owing to the
town councillors having been equally divided in the choice
of the mayor and aldermen, no election of those func-
tionaries took place. The Bill originally proposed that in
cases of this kind the choice of the aldermen and mayor
should be referred to the general voice of the constituent
body, which seemed to him to be the fairest course that
could be adopted under such an emergency. By the
amendment introduced by the House of Lords, however,
it was proposed to refer the matter to mere chance, so that
the question whether the Conservative or Reforming par-
ties should be successful, was made to depend not upon the
sentiments of the constituent rate-payers, but upon mere
accident. Now what he had to propose with respect to this
amendment was, that it should be agreed to so -far as the
election of the president by lot ; but he could not agree
that he should be allowed to have a second vote in that ca-
pacity. In cases, therefore, where the town-councillors
were still unable to come to a majority, in order to decide
the election of the mayor and aldermen, he should propose
that the original provision of the Bill ha recurred te, And
that the election be made by the constituent body. The
other point upon which he disagreed in the Lords' amend-
ments was that relating to the trustees of the charitable
funds of the Corporations. It would be recollected that a
clause had been introduced into the Bill of last year by
the House of Lords, constituting the old Corporations
temporarily the trustees of these charities : the House
of Lords now introduced a clause in the present Bill
for the purpose of extending the trust of the old cor-
porations for, another twelvemonth ; and in that amend-
ment he could not concur. He was more particularly
averse to this arrangement, because a Bill had been already
introduced into that House by his Hon. Friend the
Member for Northampton, for the purpose of arranging
those charitable trusts upon a new, and, he thought, a
fair and impartial footing. That Bill had passed through
the Committee, and stood for report on an early day ; and
in a very few days it would probably be sent up to the
House of Lords. The other House might perhaps not
have been aware of the existence of that Bill at the time they
framed this amendment, which, under such circumstances,
it appeared to him to be highly inconvenient for the House
to agree to. Another point upon which he had to remark
in the amendments of the House of Lords was cne relating
to thesmaller courts of the different boroughs, in which
it walk' proposed by the Lords that the recorder should
preside. As it was deemed expedient, however, in many
cases that these courts should sit oftener than the re-
corder usually attended, it was now about to be pro-
posed that the recorder should have the power of ap-
pointinga deputy to sit in his stead, under certain cir-
cumstances
of the kind. There was another minor point,
relating to the little disputes between the " Town and
Gown" partiest as they were called, at Cambridge, which,
Has the Right O! Member Nr Cambridge was not in his
place jest now, lnc would not enter upqn at present:
ThO Triplion of the Attorney-General wag then agreed
to ; and on the last Ow Ileing proposed, it was agreed to
defer the further consideration erlt.
PAPER DUTIES D1T.11.4,
On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EX-
CHEQUER, the Howe re;;Qlved itself into Committee
on this Bill.
Mr. PEASE was anxious to know whether it was the
intention of the Right Hon. Gentleman, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, to continue the existence of the drawback
allowed to the 'King's printer and the two Vniversities,

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied
tat it was his intention to let these drawbacks remain as

they now were.
Mr. HUME did not consider the present a fit opportu-
nity for discussing this question. He hoped next Session
that the subject would be brought before the House. What
he now rose to call the attention of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer to was, whether it was intended to accede to the
proposition for an allowance on the stock of paper in hand,
when the reduction of the duty was carried into effect.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said,
whenever a reduction in duty was made, and at whatever
period it commenced, it was clear, without making some
legislative arrangements, those who held stocks on hand
at the time the reduction was effected, would meet
those who laid in stocks which were subject only to
the new and reduced duty with some disadvantage.—
(Hear, hear, hear.) Various modes had been acted upon
for counteracting this evil, and amongst them was
the obvious and mechanical one now advocated by his Hon.
Friend the Member for Middlesex, namely, to make a re-
duction or allowonce on the total amount of stock there
might be on hand when the reduction came into effect. If
that could be attained without inconvenience to the public,
it followed that all traders would start on an equality, and
enter into a competition on fair terms. Amongst the at-
tempts made to adopt this proposal was that which took
place when a reduction was made in the duty on silk. A
drawback was then allowed on the amount of the stock in
hand, and the consequence was that the Government had
to pay back a much larger amount of duty than was ascer-
tained to be paid by the silk proprietors. This, besides
being productive of an enormous burden to the country,
and fraud on the revenue, had this effect also, that, where-
ever a fraud was committed, and there existed an amount
in the stock which had not paid duty, the parties claiming
the drawback were benefited by receiving not only a sum
for duty which had never been paid, but by being enabled
to enter into competition with their honest rivals in trade
on unfair terms.—(Hear, hear.) It should also be re-
collected, that when at past periods the duty on paper
had been raised, it was never levied on the stock in
hand ; so that, when the rise in price took place—
(which followed from the imposition of the additional
duty) the trader received a considerable benefit ; and the
reduction in duty being now proposed, whatever were the
disadvantages under which the trader was placed by it, they
formed but a counterbalance to the benefit which he had
received by former measures. Now, he should endeavour
to explain in a very few words what it was his intention to
effect by the present Bill. He must, in the first place, say
that he did not object to the principle of a drawback, if

fraud could be guarded against. by it. The plan which he
had devised would effect its object without giving an oppor-
tunity for the commission of fraud, and be should explain
it in as short a time as possible. First, he intended, under
the provisions of this Bill, to postpone the commencement
of the repeal of the duty to the 10th of October. The
effect of that would be to allow parties to work off their
existing stocks before the alteration was effected. This
period
he thought would be fully sufficient for the purpose
which he had mentioned, particularly when it was con-
sidered that these parties had quite sufficient notice of the
intention of Government—first by the Report presented by
his Right Hon. Friend Sir H. Parnell ; next by the discussion
which took place when the Noble Lord the Member for
South Lancashire (Lord Egerton) presented a petition on
the subject, and finally by his (the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer's) notice of it on the Budget speech. But it
might be said, that if things were left in that state, no pur-
chase would be made from the manufacturer. Now to ob-
viate that objection, he contended that it should be open
to parties to take from the mill paper to any extent they
pleased, which should bear not only the Excise mark, but
be so identified and distinguished as to exclude all attempts
at fraud. They might take this paper into their stock;
and on every portion of it that remained on hand on the
10th of October, a drawback would be allowed, and return
made of the amount of duty upon it.. That was the way
in which he proposed that relief should be afforded ; and he
did not think it would be just or expedient to go further.
Mr. HUME thought that all attempts at fraud might
be perfectly guarded against, by appointing to each town
some one place and one day where an examination should
take place for the purpose of preventing any forgeries.
The Hon. Member concluded, by intimating that he would
persist in his proposition.
' After a few words from Mr. Brotherton, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, Mr. Robinson, Mr. F. Baring, Mr. G.
F. Young, and Mr. Baines—
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied
that, up to the 10th of October next, the present arrange-
ment should continue in force, but that after that date the
class of paper alluded to would be charged three-half-pence
duty. This arrangement would be rendered necessary by
the impossibility of making a distinction between the seve-
ral classes of paper after the passing of the Act.
The resolution Was then agreed to ; thy House vv.s u--
sumed, and the Report was ordered to be received to-
morrow.

GRAND JURIES (IRELAND) BILL.
On the motion of Lord MORPETH, the House re-
solved itself into a Committee on the Grand Juries (Ire-
land) Bill.
Mr. W. SMITH O'BRIEN proposed that a system
of fiscal representation should be adopted with reference to
parishes and baronies, for the purpose of checking the evil.
The Hon. Gentleman moved an amendment to that effect,
which we understood was negatived.
The clauses of the Bill to clause 6 were agreed to.
On clause 7 a proviso was moved, we believe by Mr.
FRENCH, to the effect of increasing the number of rate-
payers who were entitled to vote at sessions.
After some discussion the Committee divided—

For the proviso
Against it
Majority —26
On clause 7 (enacting that each surgeon of a dispensary,
under this Act, should reside within five miles of the dis-
pensary) being put,
Mr. WALKER proposed that the clause should not
have a retropective effect.
After some discussion, the Committee divided—
For the amendment.
Against it.
Majority —33
The clause was then agreed to.
The House then resumed, and the Chairman reported
progress. The other orders of the day were then disposed
of, and the House adjourned at one o'clock.

... 45

The Author of " Peter Simple" is said to be en-
gaged upon a new work of fiction, the subject of which is ad-
mirably calculated for his humourous and witty pen. The pro-
ductions of this author now would form a library of most
entertaining writing ; they consist of " Japhet in Search of a
Father," " The King's Own," " The Pacha of Many Tales,"
" Jacob Faithful," and the inimitable " Peter Simple."

Among the railroads projected by the Company, the
chief office of which is at Rome, is one from Naples to Otranto,
a distance of 180 miles, which will be divided into three
stages, and will have branches to towns of lesser importance.
It is said that one is also to be carried from Naples to Reggio.
A very great number of the shares of the Company have been
taken by the English.

An artist residing near Compiegne, having lived in
a state of adultery with a woman, who was the mother of
several legitimate children, determined with his guilty asso-
ciate to commit a double suicide, and took the following extra-
ordinary means :—They shut themselves up in a small out-
house, in which they had collected a pile, of faggots, and hav-
ing covered their bodies with essence of turpentine, lay down
on the heap and then set fire to it. The flames were soon
seen, but not till too late; for both the bodies were found half
consumed. It is said that two pistols were found, one on each
side of these victims.—French Paper.

The Posthumous Memoirs of Sir William Wraxall,
just published, involve more of what may be called the
Private History of England for the last fifty years than can be
found in any other work extant. One of the prominent fea-
tures in that eventful period was the trial of Warren Hastings,
the Governor-General of India, the secret motives of which
are fully disclosed by our modern Clarendon, who draws into
full light the manoeuvres of Pitt, Burke, Sheridan, Windham,
&c., on that memorable occasion. The real history of this
great impeachment has never before been given to the public.
INTREPID CONDUCT OF AN OLD MAN.--
On the side of the bridge at Kidderminster, is a small iron
wicket to some steps leading to the river Stour, which is
usually kept locked. On Friday week this happened not to be
the case, when a child of the name of Griffiths, about five years
old, was playing near, and the gate opening, the little fellow
fell down the steps into the river, and was carried down the
stream. An old man, John Slowman, nearly 70 years of age,
jumped from the top of the bridge into the water and rescued
him, and the child is doing well.

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.--We were happy
to hear, on inquiry yesterday morning at Apsley House, that
the Duke of Wellington had passed a quiet night, and was so
far recovered from his recent accident that the only incon.
venicnce his Grace now suffers is from a slight stiffness in the
knee-joint.

MURDER.—Two Jews or Oran, named Mouchi and
Aaron, were lately tried for the robbery and murder of a
French woman named Beaufils, who from 1834 has carried on
business there not of a most respectable character, They en.
tered her house uudor the preteneo of drinking, and at about
11 &clock at night wangled her, and took possesslon of her
money, which she kept tied up in an old black stocking. The
noise made in the struggle alarmed the neighbourhood ; the
armed force arrived; the murderers were seized with the booty
in their hands, and the woman was found dead, having been
strangled with a rope, and her skull fractured by a blow from
a large stone, The men were both convicted ; Mouchi was
condemned to death, and Aaron, in whose favour there were
some extenuating circumstances, was sentenced to hard labour
at the hulks for life. They appealed to the superior court at
Algiers, which confirmed the judgment against Mouchi, and
reduced that of Aaron to 20 years. They have made a further
appeal to the C;octrt Qf cass;tion.—.ogiiricini's Messenger.