The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-18 00:00:00

BRIBERY AT ELECTIONS BILL.

The Marquis of NORMANBY having moved that the
House should resolve itself into a Committee upon this Bill,
Lord BROUGHAM said he thought some measures
should be taken to abolish that detestable practice, which
bid fair to destroy the elective franchise of the country—
he meant the system of wholesale bribery at elections ;
but he did not think that the present Bill was calculated
to produce the desired effect. He confessed that he did
not see any objection to the last clause of the Bill.
Lord ABINGER said that many attempts had been
made in the House of Commons, to put an end to the
practice of bribery at elections. He could not but think.
from the very history of the subject, that the measure
was one of that nature that demanded the most delibe-
rate consideration, which could not be given on this, the
last day of the Session but one. He could not think that
the framers of the Bill ever intended that it should pass.
He would, however, in consequence of what had fallen
from the Noble and Learned Lord opposite (Lord
Brougham), abandon his original intention of moving
that the Bill be committed that day three months.
The Marquis of NORMANBY repudiated in the
strongest manner the idea of the framers of the measure
never intending that the Bill should pass. Their Lord-
ships might dissent from the introduction of a novel
principle in the law of evidence ; but he could not for a
moment imagine that the framers of the Bill never in-
tended that it should pass.
The Bill then passed through Committee, on the un-
derstanding that it should be amended on the third
reading.
The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of,
and the House adjourned at Eight o'Clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 17

The SPEAKER took the chair at the usual hour.

Sir MONTAGUE CHAPMAN presented a petition
from a place in the county of Westmeath against the
repeal of the Corn-laws.
Lord BARRINGTON presented two petitions from
Brighton and another place, against the proposed mea-
sures of her Majesty's Ministers for the alteration of the
duties on timber, sugar, and corn.
Sir C. BURRELL presented two petitions from
places in Sussex against any alteration in the Corn-laws.
Mr. MACAULAY presented a petition from Edin-
burgh against Church patronage in Scotland.
Mr. IfAYTER presented several petitions from va
rious districts in the metropolis, praying for the abolition
of the Corn-laws. _ _

Mr. WYSE presented several petitions from the Tower
Hamlets, Camden Town, and other parts of the metro-
polis, to the same effect.
Mr. A. CIIAPM-A.N presented a petition from the
Chamber of Commerce of Greenock against the timber
duties. _

Mr. BAINES presented a petition from Leeds, pray-
ing for the abolition of the Corn-laws.
Mr. VILLIERS presented petitions for the repeal of
the Corn-laws from the following places,:—Thame,
Oxfordshire ; Great Marlow ; Woburn ; Leighton
Buzzard ; Wolverton ; Maids Moreton ; Thornborough;
Foscott ; Chesham ; Stowe ; Westbury ; Stoke Ha-
mond (2) ; Great Hampden ; Loughton ' • Brickhill ;
'
Buckingham ; Missenden • High Wycombe ; West Wy-
combe ; Taplow ; Fifehead Magdalen, Dorset ; Mayor
and inhabitants, South 31olton ; Hatters, at Stockport ;
five frOm Methodists, Teetotallers, and Females, from
Northwich, in Cheshire ; Baptist Congregation in
Walsall ; from the town and parish of Cricklade,
(Wilts) ; Wellington, in the county of Somerset ;
from Tibscheff, in Derbyshire ; from Bailey, in York-
shire ; three from Newcastle-under-Lyne ; forty-one
from workmen and others in the neighbourhood and
manufactories in Rochdale, not included in a petition
before presented, signed by 12,000 persons ; twenty-
two from different districts in and about London ;
from Lossiemouth, Scotland ; from the Stewarton mem-
bers of Kirk Session, in Kirrimuir ; from Kirkaldy ;
two from Kilmarnock ; from Bervie and New Marnock.
Wyatt's Divorce Bill, Hall's Divorce Bill, Dutton's
Estate Bill, the Abingdon Glebe Estate Bill, and Lord
Glamis' (Earl of Strathmore's Trust) Estate Bill, were
severally read a third time and passed.
The Bills of Exchange Bill, and the Loan Societies
Bill, were severally read a second time, and ordered to
be committed to-morrow.

The Highway Rates Bill was read a third time and
passed.
Sir W. FOLLETT presented a petition from the
Solicitors of Exeter, praying the House to take measures
to remove the inconveniences attendant upon the present
Courts of Law at Westminster. _ _

Colonel PERCEVAL presented a petition from the
landowners of the Barony of Erris, county Mayo, against
the repeal of the Corn-laws. Also a petition from Cork
to the same effect.

On the motion of the ATTORNEY-GENERAL the
Order of the Day for the Committee on Offences against
the Person Bill was read for the purpose of being dis-
charged. The Hon. and Learned Gentleman stated that
the enactments in the Bill were embodied in another
measure, which bad previously passed the House.—The
Order was then discharged.
FOREIGN FACTORIES.
Mr. WODEHOUSE moved "That an humble Address
be presented to her Majesty', praying that she will be gra-
ciously pleased to give directions, that there be laid be-
fore Parliament, through the medium of her Ambassadors
or other Diplomatic Residents abroad, copies of all re-
gulations established in foreign factories, together with
such explanations in detail as the nature of the cases will
admit ; describing the character of the food used therein,
the wages paid therein, whether in specie or in kind, &c.
&c., in order to enable Parliament to form a judgment
as to the degree in which the usages of other countries
are at variance with the tastes, habits, and enjoyments
of the manufacturing population of Great Britain."
The Hon. Member said that he had, a few days ago,
called upon the Noble Lord, the Secretary for the Colo-
nies, to press upon his attention the advantages which
would result from the proposed inquiry ; and he had
understood that the Noble Lord would not oppose the
motion.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER did not
wish that the motion should be agreed to in the absence
of his Right Hon. Friend, who had, he believed, some
suggestions to make upon the subject. He was anxious
that the motion should be postponed until the usual time
for public business, as had been just done in the case of
the Court of Chancery Bill.
Mr. BAINES did not wish that the question should
be carried at that early period of the evening,
in the absence of his Hon. Friend the Member for Kil-
kenny, who had a motion upon the paper upon the same
subject.
Sir E. KNATCHBULL said that he had not wished
that the Court of Chancery Bill should be proceeded
with in the absence of his Right Hon. Friend the Mem-
ber for Ripon, but as he had understood his Right lion.
Friend did not disapprove of the measure, he should not
any longer oppose its committal.
COURT OF CHANCERY BILL!
On the motion of the ATTORNEY-GENERAL this
Bill went through Committee, was reported without
amendments, and was 'ordered to be read a third time to-
morrow.

PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND.
Mr. HUME presented a petition from the Speaker of
the House of Assembly of Prince Edward's Island. It
referred to certain printed documents which accompanied
it, but which of course could not be laid before the
House, but only before a Committee. He should
move that it be printed, and he hoped that
the new Parliament would cause inquiry to be made into
the grievances complained of by the Assembly of Prince
Edward's Island. One of the principal grievances of
which they complained related to the tenure of lands.
They contended that the persons to whom the lands had
been originally granted had not fulfilled the conditions of
the grant, and that consequently the lands ought to be es-
cheated, and the cultivators enabled to cultivate them in
such a manner as should be most beneficial. He had pre-
dented a petition on a similar subject two years ago. The
Government had investigated the subject, and had sent out
instructions to the island in consequence ; those instruc-
tions, although they had been excepted by the Council,
had been rejected by .the Assembly, so that there was at
present a difference on the subject between the two
branches of the Colonial Legislatiire. The petition under
these circumstances prayed the interference of theliouse.
He hoped her Majesty's Ministers would take the subject
into their serious consideration. The petition was signed