The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-12 00:00:00

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE HOUSE.

Colonel TRENCH brought forward the subject of en-
larging, ventilating, and otherwise improving the interim'
of the House of Commons. He said the extreme heat
and want of air when the House was fully attended by
Members was generally admitted to arise from the bad
construction of the House. Under these circumstances
be had turned his attention to the memo of well airing
and enlarging. the interior of the House without its being
attended with any great expense. He consulted an archi-
tect, and found it could he done for about 3,0001, The Hon.
Member gave a general outline of his plan which had been
approved of 1)7 the Committee as a means not only of af-
fording better accommodation, hut of enabling Member.,
in every part of the House to hear more distinctly
than at pm sent. Tie Hon. Member concluded by moving
that two other Members be added to the Committee.

Lord NIORPETH said that it wax expedient to refrain
1,-om discussing this subject until the Committee nilde ti eir

re?ort.
To a question front an Mos. MimsEa,
Colonel TRENCH said his plan would give incr. ca..-ed
accommodation to strangers.

Mr. HUNT agreed in the propo,ed plan.
The two Members being added to the Committee, the
subject was dropped for the present.
Lord KILLEEN presentel a petition from certain Ho-
man Catholics against the Parlia,neutary grant to the Kd-
dare-street Society.

Captain GORDON would take th it opportunity to set
himself right with the House in reference to one of the
most atrocious breaches of privilege and libels upon
any Honourable Member he had ever heard of.
It was not his intention to follow up his notice of the sub.
ject by any specific motion; but he could not avoid a re-
ference to the subject in consistency with the duties he owed
to himself, to the House, and to the puhlie. In a
public print of the lowest and most scurrilous description
(we do not mention its name, but it should attract unde-
served public notice), there was a reference to what he
had said upon the subject of blasphemous and seditious
and infamous publications on a former occasion in that
Rouse. And after commenting upon it the writer concluded
by asserting that he (Captain Gordon) who had com-
plained of the blasphemous publications, " the foster-
parent of those contribut,r to those lmblications
a go-hetween the Tories, &e., and then rave two letters
which were gross forgeries, purporting to be addressed by bin;
(Captain Gordon) to the editor of that low sod worthless
penny publication. It had also designated Mr. Hunt (and
I e would call the attention of that Hon. Member to the
language) by several very opprobtmus epithets. Ile would
take a snore effecto sl method of justifying himself from
those libel ous charges than by any motion on the subject.
11Ir. HUNT trould assure the Hon Member for Dundalk
and the Honse, that I.e was quite regardless of what
tile Press said about him—amt nineteen-twentieths of the
people of the country were of the same. opinion—it WAS a
proutulgayr of falsehoods. Whoever bad attended to the
progress of the Reform Bill could not but be aware of that ;
he had, therefore, become quite regardless of its 11-I,er•
1111111, It his Majesty's Minister', however, had ! et,o
Fresent, he would have taken that opportunity of telling

them bow nitwit blame aley 'kill incurred in having fallen
'older the dispteas'Are of the editor of the Times.
Mr. R‘Jrt-IVEN deprecated any allusion to such prints
is that to which the Hon. Member for Dundalk had called
the attention of the House. It did not at all accomplish
the object of Him. Members, while the attention of the
public was thereby mile!? to 'Arat was alike disereditabre
and injurimee,
Ltd KILLEEN Also nuiVed for a return of the names
of all stipendiary Magistrates in irela'nal, with the dates of
their appointMent, the k-i.i.ines of the counties in which they
'erve, Sr';:if‘':i4,t the amount of their salaries and their other
eantaauments, and the sources from which there payments
were made. The Noble Lord also moved for t. ttf.irii of
the amount of all superannuatiors to the consta-
• ul ry police in Irelane',
Sir G. CLNIN 11-ought up the Bill for amouling the
tornfOr'e?ftarls in Scotland.
Mr. DICKSON said two clauses had been introduced in
Committee, the principle and operation of which would
be extremely injurious in respect to steam.carriiges ; and,
therefore, he would object to its reception.
Sir G CLERK said the clauses bad been introduced
at the suggestion of Mr. 13crney, the inventor of steam
carriages, arid the to'l It was quite equitable.—
There was, indecd) a Committee sitting of enquiry
'Tr the subject of steam carriages ; but they, how-
ever, had gone to such an extent with their in-
vestigations, that it might not he improper to wait
f..r the result to which they might come. 11e would move
that the Bill be reprinted for the ittformation of the House
as to the newly inserted r.Ums, and that it should he re-
committed en .sriday next.
Mr. DICKSON explained, and after some further obser-
eaaions Sir George Cleak's motion was agreed to.
Sir G. CLERK, as Chairman of the Committee that
had been appointed to try the pttition against the return
of Mr. Stewart fir the ledburgh district of Royal Burghs,
stated that; the Committee found that there had been
gross disturbance in the burgh of Lauder, from which one
.if the town councillors preferred a charge ;against one of
the individuals connected with this outrage.
The LORD ADVOCATE said indictments bad been
preferred against four or rive individuals concerned in this
'ransaction ; their trials had been appointed for the 2d or
3d of this mouth, but iu consequence of the unavoidable
absence of some persons they had been abdicated in order
that Mr. Stewart's election might be secured.
Sir G. CLERK intended to have brought it before the
Rouse, but he had heard it was the intention of the Lord
Advocate to institute a prosecution. He wished now
to inquire of the Lord Advocate if the indictments had been
postponed. The trials would be proceeded with, with all
passible dispatch.
Sir G. CLERK said, that under those circumstances,
should refrain from pressing the subject upon the atten-
aion t,f the Ilouse.

Sir R. MUSGRAVE presented teveral petitions relating
to education in Ireland.

Mr. SINCLAIR pre'ented a petition from the General
S'yncifl of Sutherland, for the abolition of ahtvery in the
West Indies.

Mr. GILLON presented a peiition from the inhabitants
of the royal burgh of Linlithgo.e, praying the House to
pass the Reform Bill with as much despatch as tie forms
of the House would permit.
The SPEAKER, upon looking over the petition, asked •
if the Hon. Member cool(' accvunt for the erasures in it?
Mr. GILLON felt it his duty to add that there had
bsen certain lines in the petition which he conceived to be
of too strong a nature, and not being cognisant of the
forms of the House, he had consulted another Hon.
Members who inform him that it was not unparliamentary
to strike out the lines.—(Loud laughter.)
The SPEAKER slid the Hon. Member would, under
those circumstance, perceive that it was not the petition
of the parties. If it had been couched in proper language,
it was the duly of the Hon. Member to pr sent it ; but it
was not competent to him to alter the language, or
erase any part of it.
Mr. GILLON said as it could not now be called the
petition of the parties he would withdraw it.—(Hear,
hear.) At the same time he begged to state that from
iris daily communication from various parts of Scot-
land, he kneW that very numerous petitions would be
sent upon this subject. He stated this in order to remove
the impression arising from the assertion that there was a
lukewarmness in Scotland upon the Reform question.—
That assertion only corresponded with the other assertion,
that Ministers had adopted unconstitutional measures.—
(Cries of " Hear, hear," and " Order.") They were
wholly frivolous ; for he could state that the strongest
feeling prevailed in the country upon this question.
The SPEAKER interrupted the Hon. Member, oh-
serving that there was no question before the House.
The petition was then withdrawn.
Sir W. W. WYNNE presented a petition from the
High sheriff and Grand Jury of the sonny of Denbigh,
Against the use of molasses in distilleries, which the
peti-
tioners said would be highly detrimental to the agricultu-
ral interests. _ .

Orflured to lie on the table, awl to be referred to the
Committee.
Mr. CALVERT presented a petition from the msltstrrs
of Ware to the same effect.
CORN LAWS,

Mr. HUNT bad three petitions to present for the re-
peal of the corn laws, but he scarcely knew whether he
should present them, or not, until he bad ascertained whe-
the Noble Lord opposite would, or would not, object to
their being received.—(Hear, bear, and laughter.) One
of the petitions stated, that the petitioners were of opinion
that it was high time to repeal an Act that disgraced the
statute book—an Act called by those who suffered by it,
" the Starvation Act"—politely called the Calm Bill—aßill
passed at the point of the bayonet, ;n 1815, and which
enabled the laudower to extort extravagant rents front the
farmer. This, the Hoa. Member, thought was strong
language, but not tyrannical. His own opinion was, that the
Act; was moat unjust and inhuman. There was no
doubt of its having been passed at the point of the bay-
onet, for when passed London was filled with military,
and those who voted in its favour were escorted by soldiers
to the Mouse. The petition was signed by three or four
thousand of his constituent,, and he felt himself bound to
present it.
Sir R. INGLIS considered that the Hon. Member was
doing his utmost to degrade the institutions of the country.
No other inference could be drawn from his conduct in pre-
senting a petition like the present. He had introduced peti.
tions into the House containing much more disgraceful
dinguage than any Hon. Member who had ever sat in it,
and he would ask the Noble Lord opposite, whether per-
mitting a petition now to be brought forward, stating that
a certain Act hail been passed at the point of the
bayonet, would be consulting the dignity of the House.
Mr. CREEPS was of opinion, that presenting such a
petition was highly objectionable. lie agreed with the Hon.
Member for Oxlord, that it was time to notice petitions like
that present, and to in:irk them with disapprobation. Had
the Hon. Member been in the House when the Corn Bill
was passed, - he would have known that it received every
possible attention at every stage, a❑d that it was discussed
almost as much as the Reortn Bill.

Sir M. W. ItIDLEY thought the petition improperly
and absurdly worded, but still not so disrespectfully as that
the House ought to reject it. His object in rising was to
call attention to the delay and inconvenience which must
necessarily attend the presenting of such petitions, and
:!elates taking place at this particular period.
Lord ALTHORP did not object to the petition, but did
not agree with the Honourable Member for Preston, that
he had read the strongest part of the petition. The
Noble Lot d read certain passages which complained of the
inhumanity of the House, conjured it not to refuse
to take their complaint into consideration, and
avowing that the British lion was roused, and that the
productive classes neither could nor would submit quietly
longer to be treated as they had been. He would leave it
to the House to say whether the petition ought to be
received or not.
Mr. HUNT said be should eettainly persist in present-
ing the petition ; he regretted that his colleague was not
in the House to second it. If it fell to the ground in con-
sequence of there being no one to second it, it would not
he his fault.
An noir. MEMBER. (whose name:we could not learn,)
felt it his duty to rise to second the motion, to bring up
the petition.
Mr. I'iIABERLY objected to the terms of the petition.
lie did not mean to say the petitioners ought not to be
beard if they had any cause of complaint, but then it was
imperative that in approaching it they should use re-
spectful language. lie consi,lered the disrespect shewn to the
House by the presenting of such petitions as tl is as resting
not so much in the petitioners as in the lion. Members
who took upon themselves to present such petitions ne-
cessarily knowing what language they coned
The gallery was then cleared, when there appeared,
That the petition be brought up—
Ayes 6
On our re-admission to the
tgi:eilliqoyussse•e; thoitsind,
Noes
Mr. CROKER addressing object he said
was to ask certain explanations of the general course
pursued by Ministers of late in that House. He could not
postpone the motion he was about to make, under the eir-
eumsteati,tes of the case, to which be would refer, in justice
,o the character of Alinisters of this country, or indeed the
general representation of Europe. His object was such as

involved no risk to the public interests, nor any objects
ofgeneral policy. He would recall to the recollection of the
House the circumstances that had lately occurred in a cer-
tain discussion in that Howe on the Mclgic onestion. The
Howe avelld moth rt on tlo. bth bf August a question
had lken r.at; :dative to the time when the letter was
Coietn,:inlcated to his Noble Friend by the Dutch Ambassa-
dor. This country was much surprised by an announcement,
that the Kiwi: of the Netherlands had entered the new
kingdom of Belgium with an armed force, and an Hon.
Batt. at the House on that day enluired of the Chancellor
the Exchequer, t'-:hether it were true that the Dutch
!coorS had thus hostilely entered the Belgian territory
Now the Noble Lord stated in reply to the question whic!.
had been put, that Government had received inform:ition
from their Minister at The Hague, Sir C. Bagot, that or-
ders for the breaking of the armistice wire given, and he
id no doubt it had been broken. Fairness, justice, the
natural claims of humanity and courtesy of nation,
secured to imply that Holland ought not to have taken
so decided a step without announcing it to Ministers
He had taken the liberty of asking it the Dutch authori-
ties had given notice to Goverowent. The Noble Lord
had given him an answer, which was like all the answers
he ever heard from him, full of propriety, prudence,
and caution, that the reply to his question would lead into
furthe rdetall than he felt himself prepared to go into. Awl if
the matter had ended there, he should have been the last
to compkin.

LEFT SPEAKING.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.

The LORD CAANCELLOR did not take his seat on the
Niroolsack till a Quarter past Five. -
The Earl of ELDON presented a petition from Les-
keard, against the Church-building Bill.
Mr. BERNAL and other Members of the House of Com-
mons, brought up the Disembodied Militia Bill, together
with two private Bills.
Lord TEYNHAM moved for the number of Magistrates
dismissed from time Commission of the Peace in Ireland
within the last four years.
After a few words from Lotd PLUNKETT the mntiun
was agreed to.