The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-14 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, May 13.
The Earl of SHAFTESBURY took his seat on the Wo
sack at at Five o'Clock.

Messengers from the Co ninon; brought tip the Ex-
chequer Bills 13111 and the Excise Duties Bill, th<• 11:an
and Chapters' Buildings Bill, the St. Pancras Pav►ng Bill,
and the Kidderminster Poor-rates

The Earl of ERROL presented a petition from Aber-
deen against lay patronage in Scotland ; also a li tition
from the same place against the present system o► bank-
ing in Scotland.
Viscount DUNCANNON presented a petition from
Newport against Church-rates.
Petitions against the repeal of the Corn-laws were
presented by the Marquis of Aylesbury, from Northamp-
tonshire ; by Lord 11:autnont, from places in Yorkshire;
by Lord Prudhoe, from Kent and Sussex ; and by the
Earl of Delawar, from Cumberland.
The Earl of SHREWSBURY presented petitions from
Arbroath and another place in Scotland, against any
alteration in the law of banking in that country.
The Duke of ARGYLL presented petitions against
lay patronage in Scotland, and a petition against any
further grant to the College of Maynooth.
Earl FITZWILLIAM presented petitions from Leeds
and other places against Church-rates. •
The Earl of HADDINGTON presented a petition
from Lambeth, praying the toll might be taken off the
Metropolitan Bridges.
The Earl of WINCHILSEA presented petitions
against the Local Assessment Bill, and from Blackburn
against any further grant to the College of Maynooth.
The Bishop of LICHFIELD presented several peti-
tions from Staffordshire against Sunday traffic on railways.
Lord SUDELEY presented a petition against Metro-
politan Bridge Tolls, from a place in Surrey.
The Marquis of LANSDO WNE presented a petition
from the Mayor and Corporation of Coventry, in favour
of the proposed alteration of the Import Duties.
.The Dublin Wide Streets Bill passed through Com-
mittee. . ,

The Arms' Bill (Ireland) also went through Com-
mittee ; to be read a third time to-morrow.

The Slaves' Compensation Bill was passed through a
Committee.

The Court of Exchequer Bill (Ireland) was read a
third time and passed.
. _ _

The Sir Walter Scott's Monument Bill was read a
second time and was ordered to be committed.

The Earl of FITZWILLJAM presented a petition
from the weavers of Cupar, for a repeal of the Corn-
laws ; .also a petition to the same effect from woollen
manuacturers of Yorkshire. The Noble Earl presented
a great number of petitions to the same effect from the
female operatives of the West Biding of York, and from
Tar'ous other parts of the kingdoin. In a petition from
ii.t.ifax, it was stated to .he the opinion of the petition-
en; that it was very unjust to pass a law to keep up the
rent of land, whilst the Legislature acknowledged its in-
ability to make any laws for keeping up the price of
labour.—(Hear, hear.) _ _ _ .

The Easrl of 'WARWICK said he seldom looked into
the petitions presented by the other side of ihe House.
But on looking into some of the petitions professedly
gaging from female operatives, he found in one of them,
said to be the petition of the females of East Arrowby,
the names only of five ladies without crosses— (Cheers
and laughter)—and these were all written by the same
hand. —( Laugh ter.)
The Earl of FITZWILLIAM had yet to learn that
persons who were not in the situation of the Noble
Earl—who had not the advantage of education
—who were obliged to trust to others to write their
names—(Loud cheers)—were to be deprived of the
right of expressing their opinions.—(CheerB.) It may
be very well (said the Noble Earl) for your Lordships
who stand in a superior station of life to scrutinise the
petitions of less fortunate people. It may be very well
for you to look upon them with a scornful and con-
temptuous eye—(Cheers, and cries of " Oh, oh")—
but, my Lords, I must tell you, with all the respect
which I feel for your Lordships, as a member of this
House, that there is little political wisdom
in the observations of the Noble Earl, and,
if possible, less in the temper in which you, received
them.—(Cheers, and laughter.) • My Lords, I say
there is little political wisdom in such criticism as has so
much amused you.—(Cheers.) Those people, my Lords,
have grievous evils to complain of.—(Cheers.) Many of
them they lay at your Lordships door, and I do not know
but the ignorance you scoff at is the most grievous.—
(Much cheering.) 11Iy Lords, you are responsible for
their incapacity. My Lords, you have the means of pro-
viding for their better instruction, and you have made no
provision, and you will make no provision.—(Cheers, and
cries of " Oh!") My Lords, you ought to pity those people—
you ought to rescue them from such observations as have
fallen from the Noble Earl opposite.—(Cries of "Oh, oh !"
and laughter.) My Lords, I regret to be compelled to
make these observations upon the language of the Noble
Earl.

Lord HARDWICK—He said nothing like it.—
(Loud cheers, and cries of " No, no.")
Earl FITZ WILLIAM—You mean to say, my Lords,
not that I have misrepresented the observations of the
Noble Earl, but that I have put his intentions wrongly.
—(Cheers.) Oh, my Lords, I know very well that you
do not like my observations. I know, my Lords, you
have no relish for petitions of this kind.—(Cheers.)
I know you don't like them.—(Renewed cheering.) The
ignorance of those people is not their crime. I say, my
Lords, it is your's.—(Cheers.)
The Earl of WARWICIC—My Lords, in answer
to the allusion which Ole Noble Earl has. thought proper
to make to me in his very dictatorial lecture, I can only
say that I could not know anything of the people
who signed their petitions without looking at their
names.—(Hear.) I find a great number of names with
crosses opposite to them. But whole strings of them are
written in one hand. When people cannot write their
names I can believe what they say in writing through
the means of other people, but I expect to see a witness
to the cross.—(Hear, hear.) But these crosses have no
witnesses, and I think the petitions very dubious and very
doubtful.

Lord HARDWICK was desirous of congratulating
the Noble Earl upon the opportunity which he
had so happily devised of making a sort of a
pompous and clap-trap speech—(Cheers)— which would
go about the country and make the people believe that
the Noble Earl was a friend of the poor.—(Cheers.) It
was not at all irregular that a Noble Lord should look into
petitions, and see from what classes of the people they
came. The Noble Earl had, for some time past, been
taking opportunities of making speeches, calculated
to give people a notion that he was a very liberal man,
and of placing his own case in a better position. After
all the people ought to know that the Noble Earl's object
was merely to substitute a fixed duty for a sliding scale.
Earl CLARE presented a number of petitions from
the county of Wicklow in favour of the Corn-laws.
Lord STRADBROICE presented 20 petitions from
Suffolk to the same effect.

Earl MOUNTCASHEL presented a petition from
Cork to the same effect. The petitioners stated that so
far from the exportation of wheat from Ireland having
decreased it had greatly increased.
Earl RADNOR maintained that the statement made
by him a few evenings ago was quite correct, for he had
taken his data from official papers which were on the
table of the House. . .

The Duke of CLEVELAND presented a petition
from the Corporation of Durham, and one from Barnard
Castle, praying for a repeal of the Corn-laws.
The Earl of WARWICK presented petitions from
several Boards of Guardians, praying for some alterations
in the Poor-laws. Also one from the Strand, praying
that the three bridges across the Thames might be
thrown open.
Lord PORTMAN presented a petition against the
abolition of Church-rates, and one against the repeal of
the Corn-laws.

Earl RADNOR then rose to move for a return of the
names of all persons who hav received compensation for
slaves from the fund provided for that purpose by Par-
liament, together with a return of the names of all per-
sons whose claims upon that fund were still under consi-
deration. The information was before thg House already,
but in a form that was most inconvenient, and not
easily understood. His object was to get them in such
a form as to be of service in giving their Lordships all
the information desired at a glance.
After a few words from the Earls of HAREWOOD
and MOUNTCASHEL, the returns were ordered.
Their Lordships then adjourned.