The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-15 00:00:00

riously in this manner. The measure was divided into
two parts. The one part was to repeal old laws
inflicting penalties on Roman Catholics, and was no-
thing more than giving full effect to the Act
of Emancipation passed in 1829. He denied, therefore,
that his bringing it forward was a violation of any
compact entered into in 1829, as alleged by the
Right Hon. Member for the University of Oxford.
The Commissioners, who had made inquiry
into the operation of these statutes, had shown in
their report the inutility; of , such penal statutes.
It was to csrry out the recommendasion of the Commis-
sioners that he had introduced this Bill. But the
penalty being taken away the misdemeanour still re •
mained. In the Bill of R ghts, the Ist of William 111,
expressly stated thst the Sovereign, on coming to th,
throne should declare his aTherence to the Protestant
religion, and if they repealed the Act ot Charles 11. they
would in no way touch the Bill of Rights. The latter
touched only the sovereign, while the former affected
the subject. He had shown on previous occasions thst
the supremacy was a part of the common law of
England, and the Act of the Ist of E izabeth was
not passed to declare that supremacy, but to
provide tor the punishment of individuals who in any
way assisted in supporting the authority of the Pope
in this country ; but the Act did not, for it could not.
create the supremacy of the Sovereign. That had
already been established. This was the first part of the
Bill, and he regretted the necessity of going so fully
into the matter at this period of the debate.—
(Hear, hear.) Then he came to the 10th
Geo. IV., which had been called the safeguard of the
country. Now, he did not propose to interfere with
that Bill except in one respect. No person could have
greater dislike to those public processions in the streets,
which were likely to affect the minds of weak per-
sons. He objected to all these processions, whether
they were made by Protestants, Catholics, or
Dissenters ; but he thought that there was no objection
repeal that portion of the 10th George IV., which pre-
vented the Catholic priest from performing the rites of
his Church in a private chamber at the burial of the dead.
He thought that the Right Hon. B tronet the Member
for the Uoiversity of Oxford had misstated the circum-
stances, when he said that it was customary to elevate
the host at the burial of the members of the Roman Ca-
tholic communion.

Sir R. IL INGLIS expressed his dissent.
Mr. WATSON bad credibly been informed that
such an occurrence never took place.; and at any
rate there was no power to enforce these laws.
There were at present between five and six htindred
parochial priests in Ireland, against whom the laws could
not be enforced, and it was -a maxim in criminal law
that when a law was not in unison with the feeliLgs of
the people, the better way was at once to abrogate
it. The Right Hon. Member for the University
of Oxford had said that this measure was
both harmless :and dangerous. He could not
conceive how this measure be liable to both of these
charges. The Hon. Member for Birmingham said that
the Roman Catholics were anxious about the success of
this measure—that was surely no matter of surprise to
the House. The Hon. and Learned Member then went
on to argue that the present measure was abso-
lutely necessary, and he asked the House, in the
name of everything that was just and liberal, to allow
the measure to go into Committee, when the House
would have an opportunity of altering or modifying any
of the clauses.
Strangers were then ordered to withdraw.

The House then divided, when there appeared—
For the amendment l5B
Against it
Majority — 39
The Bill is consv quentiy lost.
EXCHEQUER BILLS BILL.
_.

The report from the Committee on the Exchequer•
bills (16310,7000 Bill was brought up and received.
The other orders of the day were then disposed ot,
and the House adjourned at Six o'clock.

RAILWAY C()M %lITTEES.

(YESTER)AY.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
GROUP No. I.

The Select Committee, appointed to consider the merits of
the Bills comprised in this group, re-a-sembled in Room 30,
at the usual hour this morning; Lord Granville Somerset in
the chair.
THE SOUTS-EASTERN SCHEMES.

Mr. G R EGORY w a heard on behalf of Lady Spencer, who
complained that the Mid Kent line would seriously injure
her properta at Mereworth.
In the e -.mei of Mr. Cotton, Sir Percy Dyke. and Captain
Ryder Burton, the company had made terms with the
opposing parties.
Mr. TALBOT called upon
,his friend wbo appeared for the
South-Eastern Company to disclose the terms which had
been come to with Sir Percy Dyke.
Mr. Avails had nn difficulty whatever in acceding to the
request, ab hough to do so was irregular. The agreement
was that they should not make the Parliamentary line with-
out the consent of Sir Per. y Dske ; hut he must tell the
Committee, at the same time, that they would have power
to make the deviated line laid d. wn on their Wang. He
intended to propose the insertion of a clause on this subject,
and when that time arrived he should be prepared to prove
the assents of the landholders to the deviated line.

This closed the South-Eastern case.
THE ERIGHTON SCHEMES.
Mr. TALBOT then proceeded to oven the case for the
Brighton Company. He commenced his address by declaring,
that it this contest were to be decided, not by the re-
sults to be drawn from the map, but upon the principle
of " vested rights," it would be necessary for him to go
largely into retrospective matters hearing upon the case.
Now, in the very onset he must pronounce the views of his
opponents with regard to their pre-occupancy of the district
in question to be altogether fallacious, and when the proper
tune arrived he should be prepared with evidence to sub-
stantiate this statement. Having touched upon this pre-
liminary point, he would now go into the prima tacit case
of his clients. The Committee were aware that
he hod the honour to represent a company which consisted
of two partners—first, the Linden and Brighton, and,
secondly, the London and Croydon. Now the line of the
latter company was laid out and constructed at an enormous
expense, no less indeed than 100,0001. per mile, not
so much with the view of accommodating London
and Croydon traffic, but the preamble of the original
Croydon Act would show that the Legislature intended that
the• line should be made the leading avenue of all railways
coming from the Kentish districts to the metropolis. But it
was urged by the South-Eastern Company that the
Croydon line stood in the position of an expensive
tell-gate, through which they were compelled to
pass. No doubt it was a toll-gate; but it was one
over which they had the power of regulating the toll to be
paid, and if they carried a passenger from London to Dover
at 3d. per mile, all they would have to pay to the Croydon,
for toll, would be 3d. per mile for each passenger, minus the
cost of working ten miles; or it they choe to convey the pas-
senger for ld. a mile. they would have to pay the Croydon no
more ; so that in point of fact the South- Eastern had absolute
control over the toll to be paid to the Croydon Company.
He disposed of the allegation that the six miles of the South-
Eastern line from Reigate to. Croydon would be rendered
useless by the passing of a Mid Kent line, by directing the
attention of the Committee to tne fact that those six miles
might be made available for the Reading, Guildford,
and Reigate line, and then proceeded to state that
the South-Eastern had never come forward to supply
the wants of the public till they were forced to do so
by the Brighton Company. For instance. they did not
propose a line for Hastings until the Brighton C m-
pany had brought forward a coast line from Brighton
threugh Lewes to Hastings. He then came to the
consideration of the merits of the two schemes
before the Committee. The Learned Gentleman having oc-
cupied a considerable time in discussing the tnerits of compe-
titton as applied to railways, and impressing upon the minds
of the Committee the importance and magnitude of the ques-
tion they had to decide, which could not be viewed in the
light of a local. but al ..an European question, and, according
to tome, as an Asiatic question ; for it was said by one ot his
Learned Friends, Mr. Hildyard, he believed, that these lines
had "the metropolis at one end, and the world at the
other"—went on to implore the Committee not to
hand over the county of Kent to the tender mercies of one
(tat i grantartet. thrießbrifshedtonhislincelasimantdo infuseniake
this
newedboelimm)°dpalaiindn3t-o9ubtphi:etnt the Commotee ou the ground that, in
so far as the itrightoe mid Kent line, as between
Maidstone and London, and Laudon and Tunbridge,
were somewhat shorter in disiance than the com-
peting scheme of the South-Eastern Company, k
,reuld better accommodate the population of the districts
through which it passed; iraleed the Brgliton Mid Kent
line accommodated a considerably larger popwation than the
South Eastern. It would pass through all the large towns
on the route. while the South-Eastern linealtogether avoided
them, in the same way t hat their existing line did. It was true
the works on the Brighton line were heavy, but not so heavy as
to be insurmountable, while the cost of the Brighton line from
Locdon to Tunbridge would fall far short of that of the
South-Eastern, as between Lewisham and Oxford the ex-
cess of coat on the South-Eastern line, he repr.isented, would
be 130,0001. The earth works on the South-Eastern line
would be 2,550,000 yards; on the Brighton it would be
1,500,000 yards. The tunnelling on the South-Eastern
would
bebe 9n6,3an)y-arvdisact;
uoetsn theon t
hl Brighton igohut 'hit -
the Brighton line.
The Committee at this point of the Learned Counsel's ad-
E2altny,abrdus; noTnheeorne
ad-
dress determined to adjourn-till tO•tiViefow (to-day).

REGISTRY of BIRTHS and DEATHS
DURING THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 10.
Deaths registered in the week. Births registered in the meek.
Males ... ... ... 527 Males ... ... ... 776
Females ... ... 524 Females ... ... 713

Total . . 1.051

Total ... 1,489

TUB LATE GALES.—On. Tuesday forenoon it com-
menced to blow very freshly from the westward, and to-
wards the afternoon increased to s hurricane. The usual
decapitation of chimuies, the unroofing of slates and
tiles, and consequent danger to street passengers, was as
great as has been witnessed in the city for a long time.
Many persons were thrown down by the violence of the
gale, and some very narrow escapes made during its
continuance. In Leith Roads some of the vessels drugged
their anchors a considerable distance, and in the dock
the mast of a Greenock trader snapped close by the deck.
and went over alongside. One of the steam-tugs, em-
ployed in towing out the boats used in cleaning the har-
bour was unable to make Leith Pier again, and had to
run for it before the wind. It is understood the crew
found safety in one of the harbours on the Fife coast.
It is earnestly to be hoped that the effects of the gale at
sea will not prove to be of a disastrous description.—
Edinburgh Evening Post.
LUTON.—UNEX.PECTED APPROPRIATION.—A few
days ago a tureen of soup disappeared from the premises
of Mr. Williamson, the clerk to the justices, in a some-
what mysterious manner. The cook prepared a quantity
of rich soup and set it on the pump to cool down.
Directly afterwards a police-man brought a vagrant into
the yard to be examined upon some charge ; they
noticed the smt-lcing bowl, and the prisoner, being very
cold and hungry, thought he might be allowed to taste a
little of the "pot liquor." The policeman saw no objec-
tion, and the man forthwith "I eked the platter clean."
The astonishment of both may be imagined when they
learned from the angry ceok that they had actually
cheated a lawyer out of his own dinner, and that took
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