The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-19 00:00:00

. ,
IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, March I.S.
The Housz• sat t.-riav shortly lipt,in• Five

ROYAL ASSENT. The royal assent was given to•da), by commission,
it°B,;he Consolidat.d Fund Bill the Irish Loan
"'AWOL) Bill, the Labouring B;or (Ireland) Bill,
the Protestant Dissenters and General Lite and Fire
iuserance Company's Bill.
The Lords Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor,
%e
Zsrl of Minto, and Lord Campbell.
The Lord CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack
u
few minutes aftel. Five o'clock.
THE LAW OF SETTLEMENT.
Lord PORTMAN presented a petition from the
touutd,_ e
f guardians of Bradford, praying their Lordships
": Into consideration the law of settlement, in order
„Ipeal it and establish a national rate.
tt:he Duke of RICHMOND presented a petition from
pr-rungton complaining of the Poor Removal Bill, and
h.,:_Yulg their Lordships to take into pnsideration the
711 s of establishing a system of union, rating.
11C0BLE LORD, whose name we could not learn, pre-
a petition from Letford against the law of settle-
le-
,

EDUCATION.
e 0,1411 BROUGHAM presented a petition from the
oregation of Independents in Norfolk, complaining
%Jae Government interference with religion-and
on by milking, grants.
-re4DINBURGII AND ABERDEEN MAIL.
wirkrti CAMPBELL rose to present a petition, to
he begged leave to call the attention of his Noble
red.(the Marquis of atnricarde). It was a petition
Ourrplatning of a contemplated grievance in the alteration
si the mail from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, and was
iilo,led by many of the noblemen, gentlemen, and other
tioaential inhabitants of the county of Fife. The peti-
ole stated that for the last ten years the mail had run
trt°2,gh Fifeshire, by way of Cupar and Perth, to the
as., advantage of the inhabitants of the county; but it
1404 e, proposed to alter the route, so as to forward the
bet; te Perth by way of Queensberry. He did not
kite'a‘'e that any public advantage would result from this
43 ration, while it would lead to the inconvenience and
4041114leintment of a most influential and respectable
Y of men.
LANDLORD AND TENANT.
Il4e NOBLE LORD also presented a petition from
eghshane, in Ireland for a law to improve the re-
-41 between landlord and tenant.

THE WELLINGTON STATUE.
4:44 Marquis of LONDONDERRY wished to call
4e
Ittention of the House to something that had fallen
t the Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests
g„,.. another place, which he must say displayed
iTiderahle ignorance of the m itter in question.
wil(s statement had reference to the Wellington statue,
..tit it was stated was to be removed, and placed in
;Tther site. The attention of the committee had been
e
d to the matter, and at a meeting of the sub-com-
tee that day, he had been requested to state to
of Rouse thal, they had not come to the decision
tki.1414614),' the statue in another place, but had
only to take it down. To prevent any
fi7o%alte he was requested to read the following letter
the% the chairman of I the sub-committer, embodying
lets committee's views. (The Noble Marquis read the
th which stated that the Committee would only be at
e
expense of taking the statue down, but would not be
sit possible for its being placed in any other
situation.) They did not think that any other
oftleZtion would suit t unless it were
ftl 'a same elevation andmass' as the present arch, and
Nun.
. they were of opinion that no better or more
tinglble site than the present one could be found. The
I,ol)e„unse of a sufficiently el• vated pedestal for the statue
to thy"'" be such as the sub-conmi te) were not prepared
--".4 upon themselves, and wale the Government to
toY the expense, it would in all probability lead
a contentious discussion about taking the public
ItilleY to which they would not be a party.
commit eet were of opinion that the duties of the
the
i enrernittee were terminated by the taking down of
ratue ; they believed that then the statue would be
be left by Government, and that the subscribers would
to make the best terms with them that they could.
That'4
th 7 was the statement he was requested to make to
',tt! Lorthhtps' House.
t'ebe Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that he wasth
officially acquainted with what had pissed b ,tween
sodB b con Forests =Wee and the Commi.sioners of the Woods
, and he had no reason to doubt that the state-
.ttiu the letter read by his Noble Friend was correct,
when the sub-committee in that letter alluded to this
v,..ele being made the subject of a contentious discussion,
tqleh it would be advisable to avoid, he (Marquis
rrisdowre) felt himself bound to state that he was
, aware of any cont ntion that had arisen on this
tentlic. nn°f unless it were, indeed, a laudable con-
to who should do the greatest honour
tp. the. Duke of Wellington, by placing:the statue in a
tuatur which, while conspicuous enough, would also
econformablern.lable to the dictates of public taste, in con-
formity with the wishes of both Houses of Parliament,
in I the country.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY said that he fully
agre:?.d in what had fallen from:the Noble Marquis;; all
he desired to impress upon the House was, that the
f‘ab•committee could do no more than remove the statue
rtsin the top of the arch, and that there their duty
"titled.

„, PUBLIC WORKS, &c. (IRELAND).
die Marquis of LANSDOWNE laid upon the table
itatu papers, moved for, from the Commissariat De-
rrtment in Ireland. These papers were brought
w4wil to the latest ri
shout I period. In a few days he
lay upon the table a report from the Board of
or ,4 ,8. which would place their Lordships in possession
: that had been done to relieve the distr.( as existing
Ireland.
CONCILIATION HALL.
t 1143„ 111 BROUGHAM called the attention of their Lord-
eti:,,,re,to a circular which had lately emanate” from Con-
-1;"',1011 Hall, urging upon the people of Ireland (and
5,,,,,k,L0rd Brougham) had no doubt that its request
4eged be urged by the priesthood from the altar) the
till:Pity, the absolute necessity, of raising what tens
hut', the minimum subscription to the repeal
Now he (Lord Brougham) hoped that mea-
Fres be taken to prevent any portion
kmthe millions of money which was received from Eng-
tand Scotland—he trust( d that means would:be taken
trterent one farthing of that money getting its way
;the coffers of Conciliation Hall.
110 ,nhe Marquis of LANSDOWNE said there could be
It, "'opinions upon that subject. He had not, how-
l', seen the circular refers d to by the Noble Lord.
Tb NATIONAL FAST.
tf t," Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that the 24th
fix'ls month having, by command of her Majesty, b( en
teed- for a general fast, he begged leave to move that
th Bishop of Sr. Asaph (who was present) should on
telltlay preach b.fore their Lordships House, in West-
-4ter Abb y.
LAW OF MARRIAGE.
htThe Earl of CLARENDON presented a petition
Some bankers, merchants, &c , of the borough of
vAJollport, praying' for an alteration in the law
thgleh regulated marriages. The petitioners complained
kwitt many irregularities had arisen from the, operation
to this law, and they thought that it might he extended
tE degree that would embrace the sister of a deceased
and others as remotely connected. The Noble
%IL, presented a petition t.) the same effect from the
of ?oration of the borough. He agreed with the prayer
nth petitions.
• opin:11 CAMPBELL said that, notwithstanding the
pw-len of the Noble Earl, which was entitled to great
th-iget, he felt hi,nself bound to come forward and say
ti_at he entirely dissented from the prayer of the peti
1,94, and from the opinion expressed by the Noble Earl.
thonght that any alteration of this law would
Nett great blow to domestic happiness, and he
'd
it not help aying hi
that, in s own mind, the
"Lie of incest would be well applied to
4 Marriage between
mig a man andno the sister of his
tleeased wife. It ht be true en that inconve-
tbeanes had arisen from the operation of this law, but he
Ought that even greater inconveniences would arise from
tl.nY alteration of it. He entirelyapproved of the law brought
b
IL Y his Noble Friend (Lord Brougham) last session.
was a most mischievous state of the law, and he
thought the state of things necessitated that incestuous
klarriagcs should be rendered null and void. He thought
that this was a great improvement in the law, and he
should certainly support its continuance.
The Earl o ELLENBOROUGH said that the ques-
tion really was, what were the prohibited degrees?
Lord CAMPBELL—That was not the question.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH begged the Noble
Lord's pardon, for that really was a question which had
excited much comment and great doubts in the minds
Persons perfectly competent to form an opinion. If
tits matter were to be discussed, they had no alternative
hat to go to Scripture ; for, if the Noble Lord were to
state
all his reasons for opposing the repeal of the law,
and if others were to do the same for carrying such a
measure, the debate would last till midnight; and it was
a Matter on which even lawyers differed.
Lord CAMPBELL said that there was not a lawyer
itl the kingdom who doubted that it was necessary to
make laws within the prohibited degrees null and void.
I,Lord BROUHAM entirely agreed with his Noble
:lend that this was a most important question, and he
quite ready to allow that in one part of the Act a
eient distinction had not been drawn to show
b: objects of the Act. The promoters had cer-
of til7 no desire to interfere with the marriage
reations, but only to prevent those between certain
:Pees of affinity, and it was certainly very desirable
,41.1 t the question of the marriage law shouldl be
productive
as in its present state of uncertainty it was
"netive of great mischief. The marriage between first
proteins was prehibittd by the canon law, although not
ob"",,bited by our law. The marriage between an
le-w.c'e Land niece was also prohibited by the canon
dis' but the Pope could, and frequently did, grant
4-If:lnflations for such marriages, and taking the
Principle, that "per icyem loci contractus," the
eat,. of the place justified and confirmed the
man with
he did not see how the marriage of
br—an with the sister of a deceased wife, when cele-
sated abroad, could be dissolved in this country. At
r'e'y rate it was very desirable to settle the law with
sZet to marriage.
he subject then dropped.
SECOND READINGS.
The
to Earl of CLARENDON moved the second read•
R.,01 the following Bills :
;airs and Markets Clauses Bill.
Waterworks
Works Clauses Bill.
Clauses Bill.
Commissioners Clauses Bill.
bee " Duke of RICHMOND said he had several times
sr411:11 Committees upon unopposed waterworks Bills,
e felt the want of some clause to regulated the
oWo`e!I to be charged for the water, so that the poor
to 1 not pay more for it than the rich. Heged
tide called the attention of the Government to this(on-
rittion.