The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-23 00:00:00

PRIVILEGE.

2.ir GEORGE CLERK here rote and said, The
arswzr of t!,l. Nobie Lord opposite was so unsatisfactory in
peewit' to Cockermouth, I be; to give notice that the
sucetion wi!l be repeated on Tuesday, when I hope the
No'c,le Lord will be able to give better information on the
sn at.
Several Members on the Ministerial side—" What guns-

ti on ?"

Sir G. CLERK—Whether Mr. Horsman had not ac-
cepted of N, on Monday, the 18th ?—(Hear )
Lord JOHN RUSSELL—The Hon. Gentleman may
repeat his question.—l have told him all I know about it,
and I very much doubt whether I shall give any other
answer.—(Loud cheers from the Ministerial benches.)
Col. S lETHO RP took the liberty of asking the Right
Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer on whot day he
proposed going into Committee on the Civil Contin-
gencies ?—( A laugh.) Also whether he intended to give a
more satisfactory statement as to Dr. Bowring's expenses?
And further, he wished to give the Right Hon. Gentleman
netice that he ~lauld take the sense of the House against.
proceeding vsith the Budget this evening, as the constitu-
eats of many Members of the House had not had sufficient
netice to enable thorn to communicate their sentiments to
their representatives respecting the increased taxation.
The. CiIANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
that as thi3 aas the dly fiXed for the Budget at the time
when he made his statement, and as his Noble Friend last
niglltstated, that it would come on this evening, he car-
tair.,ly would ric the second reading. As to Dr. Bow-
c.r.peil7e3 ample information arts contained in the
*fore the House, and he had not yet fixed upon a
t attoe the enntinc.neie4.

EZ. AT ING OF STOCK IN TRADE.
Thr? ATTORNEY-GENERAL bcggeri leave to give.
notice tSat ir7;trarl of rna-iing fora el,tune in the Poor. law
Amcniirne!nt as he tad in!cnded; to exempt stock
in twadf.! fr7krn ratir:7 to Ole Poor-ra.'.cs, he would bring in a
BiU for that puror,..e.
Mr. DARBY i ed 1.!-.,e Bill Nrculd 12 ccr.Etted to that
" •

sir i!Ti opject•
ATTORNE G EVER/ L intcr.:lal it should

i;,!

NOilTll-‘,ST PA SS kGE.
L6rd INGE' STU IE ~,gc..(l to ask whether the Go-
vern:l7Pa had n-criynd any despatches frdm the expedition
-tent out to•exp'nre the Nnrth-West Passage?
Admiral ADAM said. there had been some privee
letters, but no official dr?spatch.
ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.
Or; the motion of Lord J. RUSSELL it was ordered
that the llOwe at its rising do adjourn till Tuesday nay.
-REGISTRATION OF VOTERS (IRELAND.)
Lord STANLEY bagged to move the Order of the
Day for the HOLM goit,„fr into Committee on the Regis-
tration of Voters Ireland Bill, for the purpose of postpon-
it.

Lord J. RUSSELL ssid it would be more convenient
if the Noble Lord in the first instance stated what day
be ;wended to postpone it to. The present day was
one usually appropriated to the business brought forward
by the Government, and he (Lord J. Russel!) had already
given notice that the Bill regarding taxes would be
brought forward. It would be the:gore desirable, in the
tirst instance, to state the day, as it triight give rise to some
debate.—( Hear, hear, from the Ministerial benches.)
The Order of the Day having. been read,
Lord STA NL E Ysaid it did not make much diiference
whether he stated it before the Order was rend or after-
wards. He was anxious to take the earliest opportunity
of bringing the subject under the consideration
of the House, believing that there was rone more
dese
(5g g its immediate and serious
consideration.
~ rseVr nestl he could not bring it forward
cti ay next, as the other Orders of the Da
rill
would take precedence. On the follewing. Wednesda);
he• was afraid it was not likely there would be a lre-e
attendance, if any, and therefore the earliest day on which
be could propose to fix it would be the following day,
namely, Thursday, the 4th June.—(Her, hear.)
Lord JOHN R IJSSEL L might as well state the course
he propered to pursue with respect to that subject. It
was as the Noble Lord observed, a very important goes.
tion, and if the question of registration was to be taken
up, of murk it would have a considerable effect with re_
spect to the general business of the Session. He (Lord
fohn Russell) had already proposed that the Thursdays
after the Ist of June should be taken to enable
the Bills to be proceeded with which have been
introduced bq Members of the Government. ana
Some of which were of great importance, more especially
the Bills regarding Canada, the Bill for the continuance
of the Poor-law, and the Bill with regard to Ec:desiosti-
enl Duties and Revenues. These subjects being before the
.House, * certainly was not his (Lord J. RussciP3) infec-
tion to have proceeded so early with
the Registration Bill,
but agreeing with the Noble Lord that it was a very im-
portant subject, if the Noble Lord proposedthat
that matter was to be discussed on Thursday neit—
Lord STANLEY—Thin.ay the 4th of June.
, Lord JOHN RU SSE LL—Thereby taking, as was per-
fectly compet for him to do, a day intended for other
business—(Cr' of " Oh, ob,")—he must consider what
course be would take with regard to that very important
subject. He did not think that it y would be
very convenient to take the subject into considera-
tion, without having before it the proposal the C4ovt.rn-
ment meant to make with regard to registration.—(
ft was, therefore, his intention to lay before the Ho Hearn
Tuesday next, his Bill for the Registration of Wters in
England; and his Hon. and Learned Friend, the Solici.or-
Geoeral for Ireland, would move for leave to bring in a Bill
with regard to the Registration of Voters in Ireland.
n.blged to postpone other Bilk which lie
lie might be
thought were of Wry great importance, in consequence of ;
the Noblo Lord's pregib'ing the subject of Registration before

th 7 Howe. However, h • 4,.-i iot think he had /1 c , i:,! • :in
Ifohrat
the opinion
itioneoffd the hi et wit au
bs
es u withlu:4 Yr
engeacreds staor yt
hhee s'ehtotul el dm': snkt
of the affairs of Canada. It was his duty, of route,
' fiom the present office be held, still more from the deep
impression he had, that the subject should meet with the
• speedy consideration of the House, to see that that was,
not neglected. But certainliihe next subject which-
; be should endeavour to press upon the consideration
1 of the House, were the Bills with respect to the re-
gistration, and to ask the House for its opinion
upon the principles contained in those Bills, and
• the claims they would embody. The House would
then be able to decide fairly upon the question—fur he
did tot think Members had on the last occasion
on which this question was decided, and still less on the
former occasion, an oppertunity of weighing the reasons
that might be given for one set of proposals or the other.
—(Opposition laughter.) But when the Noble Lord
peptised that the House should go into Committee
on Thursday the 4th of June, he should in some way
or other (be would not say in what manner) ask for the
opinion and decision of the House with regard to the vari-
ous *poise's on this subject, which as he conceived did
really involve the queetion whether the House meant
to put a large and lieeral construction upon the
powers o . f the Re Bill, or whether en the
other hand, the House would determine to contract those
powers to the greatest possible extent.-4 Loud cheers
from the Reformers.)
Lord STANLEY wished to know from the Noble
' Lord whether it was his intention to bring for-
ward any motion for the purpose, for the
third time, of offering opposition to going into
Committee upon this Bill.—(Cheers.) With regard to
the comparison between the Bine, which it appeared they
were now to have on the part of her Majesty's Govern-
ment, and that which he had had the honour of sug-
gesting to the House, he could only say that he
would not on his part offer the least opposition
to the Solicitor-General for Ireland introdueing that Bill.
on Tuesday. On the contrary, it would be a great grati-
fication to him to see the plan, and to know the way in
' which the Noble Lord and the Solicitor. General proposed
to carry out their views, but he thought it would have
tended more to a fair diseu,sion of the question if,
after the long notice be had given of his Bill, the Govern-
ment Bills had been introduced at an earlier period be-
fore the House—(Cheers)—and not at a time when they
found they were compelled to introduce them for the pur-
pose of obstructing a Bill that had already received the '
sanction of the House.—( Continued cheers.) With re-
gard to the day he had selected he begged to state he was '
not aware when the House agreed that Orders should take
precedence of Notices en that day, that it was intended
the Government should have three days out of the five
for the purpose of bringing forward Orders exclusively
connected with the Government, but still less did he ex-
pect, when Wednesdays were the only days set apart for
Members unconnected with the Government, that up to
so late as the I eth of June those days were already occu-
pied with Bills brought forward by her Majesty's Govern-
ment.—(Cheers.) He, therefore, could herd:), have sup-
posed it was the intention of the Government to monopes
lite all those days. He, therefore, begged to repeat his
question to the Noble Lord—whether he meant to bring
on his motion as an amendment to the Speaker leaving
the chair on his ( Lord Stanley's) Bill.
Lord J. RUSSELL said he must first state that he. was
not aware the Bills referred to had been fixed for Wednes-
day, the 10th June; he thought they were for the Mon-
day. He would, at all events, say that they should be
no hindrance to the Neble Lord.—( Hear, hear.) There-
fore, the Noble. Lord was wrong in saying that they were
fixed to obstruct his Bill.—(Ministerial cheers.) Now,
as to what the Noble Lard had said, that he would be glad
to see our Bill, I have to state (said Lord John) to the
Noble Lord, that when the Government have so many
Bills before Parliament already, if they had brought for.
ward three or four additional Bills on most important sub-
jects, they would not, in my opinion, have conduced to the
convenience of the business of the House, nor escaped com-
plaints from Gentlemen opposite as to not having time to
consider them altogether.--( Hear, hear.) The Noble
Lord asked me if I should introduce any proposal to ob-
struct his going into Committee? I reply, that without
pledging myself to that course, I shall feel myself at per-
t', et liberty to move any other Bill for registration, in pre-
ference to the Bill of the Noble Lord.—( Hear, hear-)
And I must say I think it rather too much that these de-
nunciations against obstructions should come from him—
(Ministerial cheers)—who was the first person to threaten
the Government with the obstruction of the public busi-
ness.—( Loud cheers.)
Mr. O'CONNELL said he had already intimated, that
on the motion for going into Committee, he should move
that it be awinstruction to define the franchise. iv accord-
ance with the intentions of the framers of the Reform Bill.
Dr. -LE FRO Y, who was for some moments inaudible
from the noise of. Members leaving the House, said he
would not occupy much time, but he had no doubt that on
the subject to which he was about to request the attention
of the House he would have their sympathy, which was
never refused to anygentleman who appealed to the House
in a matter personal to himself and to those connected with
him. In the debate upon the Irish Registration Bill the
Hon. Member for Kerry made statements respecting apart
of his (Dr. Lefroy's) property in the county of Longford,
and said that the leases on that property were invalid—
that the tenants were perjured, and- that the landlord was
accessary to the perjury.--( Hear, hear.) When the Hon.
Member thought fit to make that charge of the gravest
and most offensive kind, he (Dr. Lefroy) hoped the House
would not refuse him au opportunity of answering it.--
( Hear, hear.) He should have expected that the Hon.
Member, in making that grave and serious charge, would
have referred to th most important part of the evidence,
which showed the reasons for introducing the covenant re-
ferred to, but that part of the evidence was withheld alto-
.gether from the House. The covenant was confined to a
few leases which were made under peculiar circumstances,
and at a time when the country was under excessive inti-
midation. He would state to the House briefly what the
circumstances were. At that time a part of his
property being out of lease—the tenants being
principally Roman Catholics, instead of remov-
ing them on account of their political opinions
as had been insinuated, it was determined to retain them,
and give leases to those who were most eligible.
Nor were any removed on account of their political
opinions.—( Cheers from the Opposition.) It was said
that the object of the landlord was to coerce his tenants,
but no charge could be more unfounded. If such was
the desire of the landlord he would have framed the leases
differently, and would have kept the tenant in his power.
Mr. M. J. O'CONNELL contended that these te-
nants bad no title, because the landlord might at any
time eject them on six moniha' notice. He was informed
also, and believed, that one of these very tenants had come
before Mr. Kyle, the Assistant-Barrister for Longford,
and he had refused to register him, and since then he be-
linvtd no appeal had been made to the Jude.—( Hear.)
He complained of the flimsy pretext upon which charges
of perjury were trumped up against the frieze-coated
peasantry of Ireland —( Hear.)
Mr. Sergeant JACKSON said he believed it would
be found that Mr. Kyle had, on subsequent consideration,
declared that the minion he had pronounced was an erro-
neous one —( Opposition cheers.) The accusation against
his Right Hon and Learned Ft iend really came to the
.subornation of perjury. No man was more incapable of
such conduct; and no man was a sounder lawyer, and
• more competent to declare the reality of the freehold.
Sir M. CHAPMAN said he must directly contradict
the Learned Sergeant—.(Loud chcers)_.for Mr. Kyle
had written a letter declaring that he adhered to his deci-
sion.—( Reneeed cheers.)
Mr. Sergeant JACKSON said he would be glad to see
the letter ; for Mr, S:u a member of the Irish Bar,
had stated what he head jest said to have been the fact.
Mr. O'CONN ELL said he was sure Mr. Singley had
not state l anything wilfully untrue., so doubtless it was an
error.--t Hear, hear.)
The Bill was then fixed for the 4th June.
FINANCE

I On the motion for going into Committee on the ems-
itoms Duties Bill,
Mr. HERMES begged to draw the attention of the
House to a subject on which he hop-'d to be able to con-
! vine° the Government that great injustice had been done—
/ a great mistake committed in regard to onr own sub-
jects, and a great neglect of our international engagements.
The matter to which he was about to call the attention of
the House, was one to which public attention had been
much drawn. In the year 1833, a general Act was passed,
by which a duty was imposed on rice, commonly called
rough rice," of 20a. a quarter, when it came from any
foreign country, while a duty of one penny a quarter was
imposed on all rice coming from British settlements.
There were merchants in this country connected with our
trade on the west coast of Africa, which was a settlement

of our own, and who were in the habit of importing rough
rice at the low duty of one penny. It appea:•ed, however,
that impediments were thrown in the way of these parties,
inasmuch as the rice was not produced within the immediate
limits of toe settlement itself, and it therefore became a

question whether such produce came within the letter of
the I tw. They applied to the Treasury, and solicited that
an Act might be passed which would give them the adrac-
tage of the clause, and in compliance with their wishes the
Act was altered. Under that Act rice came not from
America, but from the settlements on the west coast of
Africa. But in 1836, without notice, an Act was intro-

duced whiC;ltmaterially altered the entire effect of• the
previous measure. The consequence was that a Foreign
State, America, was permitted to import its produce at a
reduced duty of one penny, but if one Foreign State was
admitted, all Foreign States who bad treaties with
Great Britain, which gave to them a right of introducing
prothice at the lowest rate of duty, would import rice at the
same duty as America did. The same change was effected
on another article—namely, t)ee's-wax. Tue. stood pee-
cisely upon the same footing as rice, by the Act of 1833;
and, in 1835, no alterations were made with respect to
that article, but, in 1836, the same alteration was made
in the terms of the duty. The Treasury persisted in the
change; and the Board of Trade appeared to agree with
the Treasury on this subject. Seve:al parties interested
in this subject, feeling they could not get redress from the
British Government, applied to the American Mii:iAter,
! and he referred them to the S.'cretary of State for Foreign
Atrdrs• The Secretary of State applied to Lord Pal-
-1 merston, and the answer returned was, that the papers
were before the Lords of the Treasury, and that their
Lordships i:ltended to refer the matter for the opinion of
?net
the a:!_
the 1,,w officers of the Crown. Wha; the law
officers of
the Crown had to do with tite subject, he
i (Mr. Herries)
was at a loss to conceive. They
Englishman or violating
when they refusedbvtoit.
He should be sorry to make a mo-
tion,'vantages secured
assurance was made that justice should
hoped he
be done, he should
feel it
for an explanation ; and if that
but unless some
hid said enough to ca
satisfactory, it would be his duty,
was not given, or not
it his duty to do so. lie
on some future occasion, to take some further step in the

mater._( Hear. hear.)
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER v,„
much surprised that an Hon. Member of so great expe-
rience should bring forward a motion of this kind at the
very time he admitted negotiations were being carried on,
and likely to be speedily and satisfactorily terminated,
between the Governments of the two couutriea. By so