The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-20 00:00:00

THU: SUN, LONDON,j THURSDAY MORN_ING, MAY 20, 1847.

finished their earthly career; but Curtis sprang up, and with
one of his jaws shattered, and hanging down upon his
breast, presented a horrid spectacle. Every one seemed to
be electrified, the Provost-Marshal excerted ; he, I suppose,
was well accustomed to such sights, for without any cere-
mony, he walked up to Curtis, and with the most perfect
composure levelled a huge instrument (in size between a
horse-pistol and blunderbuss) at his head, which blew it
nearly off his shoulders, and he fell upon the bodies of the
Germans without moving a muscle.
"The ceremony over, the division defiled rourd the grave,
and as each company passed it, the word Eyes right' was
given by the officer in command, by which means every
man had a clear view of the corpses as they lay in a heap.
This is a good and wholesome practice, for nothing so much
awakes in the mind of the soldier, endowed with proper
feeling, the dishonour of committing an action which is
almost certain to bring him to a disgraceful end, while it
deters the bad man from doing that which will cost him all
that he has to lose—for such persons have no character—his
life. It was ten o'clock before the parade broke up, and we
returned to our quarters, leaving to the Provost-Marshal and
his guard the task of filling up the grave. Several Portu-
guese peasants crowded near the fatal spot, and so soon as
all danger was past, they flocked to witness the interment,
making, all the time, divers appeals to the Virgin Mary;
but whether they were intended for the preservation of the
souls departed, or their own bodies corporate, I neither knew
nor inquired.
" Mangin, the man who had received his pardon, was still in
a state of stupor; after the lapse of an hour or so his captain
went to see him ; but the shock he had received was too se-
vere; he had not nerve to bear up against it; he replied in
an incoherent manner, soon fell asleep, and awoke an idiot !
Every effort that could be made by the medical men, and
every assurance of favour from his captain, proved vain—
he became a palpable, irreclaimable idiot, and shortly after-
wards died of convulsions."
In justice to the officers and soldiers who partook in our
Peninsular victories and campaigns, and whose services
have been so long and shamefully unacknowledged, we
transcribe two passages from these volumes. The Duke
of Wellington would evince no little anxiety to ingra-
tiate posterity with his character did he but take a hint
from what follows. The author has just mentioned
Wellington's applications to the Duke of York and to
Earl Bathurst respecting the Waterloo medals, when he
proceeds—
"Now, is there any disinterested man to be found who
cannot, at a glance, discover the cause, the mainspring►, of
this wonderful solicitude—this maiden effort of the Duke of

Wellington, to obtain a badge of honour for his army, nine-
tenths of which he had never seen before that day, and who,
as a matter of course, had never laid eyes on him ? Is it to
be supposed that he who could, and did, quietly accept the
immense riches, honours, and titles that were showered on
him, and gained for him by the best blood of his Peninsular
army, without once raising his voice in favour of a medal for
his old and tried veterans,—his companions during six years'

terrible war, and victorious in every battle 1 the men who
had carried him, it may be truly said, on their very shoul-
ders, and placed him in the exalted position he now occupies ;
is it, I say, to be supposed he felt, or could feel,
any interest in an army that he had but just
seen, and an army that had fought under his
command for little more than as many hours as his Penin-
sular soldiers had fought for years, except for the gratifica-
tion of his own personal vanity? If not this—but who can
doubt it ?—why did he write to the Duke of York on the
subject? Why! because he had beaten the great man in
person, and he was determined that Wellington' and
' Waterloo' should be banded about on the breast of his
hundred thousand soldiers, more than a half of whom had
never seen a shot fired before that day, and many of whom
were not only not in the battle, but knew nothing about it
for a day afterwards; yet all these men—absentees included
—got a medal ! I therefore ask what interest—except to
gratify his own ambition—could he take in this Waterloo
army, or any other army the world could produce, when he
forgot the services, and trampled under his feet the applica-
tion of an army that made him what he now is? But having
written to the Duke of York, as his dispatches avow he did,
why did he not say so in his reply to the Duke of Richmond ?
Does he not, in point of fact, deny in his speech that which
we have, printed by his own authority, in his book of dis-
patches? and his assertion that since the battle of Waterloo
'not a shot has been tired in Europe' is perfectly contemptible
when adduced as a reason for granting a medal for that
battle, and refusing one for the Peninsula. Why has there
not been a shot (an hostile one we presume the Duke
meant) fired in Europe since then? Because Napoleon was
properly secured after Waterloo, and had he been so secured
after Toulouse Waterloo would never have been fought. But
how did the Duke of Wellington know (for I put the good
and amiable Duke of York out of the question, as also the
Ministers), that there would be no more fighting in Europe?
He knew not, nor could he know any such thing; but in a
few months after his beating Napoleon (this was the hobby !)
we find his Waterloo army with their medals dangling at
their breasts."
" Had the Duke told the House of Lords," he continues,

" and told the army that he had suggested to the Duke of
York the expediency of granting this medal to his Waterloo
army, he would have told that which a great number of
people had never heard before; and he might have added,
with the most perfect safety, that if be had asked the same
favour for his Peninsular army, it would have been as freely
granted as his Waterloo suggestion,—and, his Peninsular
army will add for him, that it would be granted even now
but for the heartless opposition he gives it. But the whole
secret has been already told : Napoleon, the greatest general
of this, or perhaps of any other age, was beaten in person;
and it would seem that this all-absorbing thought
haunted the Duke of Wellington so early as the night
of the battle, for Captain Sherer tells us, in his history, that
on the night of the battle, when at supper, Wellington re-
peatedly leaned back in his chair. and, rubbing his hands
convulsively, exclaimed aloud—" Thank God I have met
him! thank God I have met him."' How different were
Nelson's meek but fervid words after his great victory at
Trafalgar ! The dying hero's last words were—' I thank
God I have done my duty —I hope my country will be satis-
fiel that I have done my duty But the Duke of Welling-
ton, according to Captain Sherer, was thinking much more
of himself and his beaten adversary than of his country.
However, he did not forget his army, for, as has been seen,
in ten days after the battle, he begged leave to suggest'
(in plain English, he asked the Duke of York to give the
medal, ar:d it was given,) the expediency of giving this
medal to his army."

Mr. Grattan records a multitude of the most inte-
resting and diversified adventures, savouring sometimes
of the romantic, sometimes of the horrible, and always
of the remarkable. We scarcely know whether to him
the flavour of mulled wines, the smell of gunpowder,
the stein of the green herbage, the vermillion
lips of a donna, the elastic amble of a horse,
or the cheers and rush of a forlorn hope
are preferable. Everywhere and in everything he finds
matter for disquisition, and he either "points" an
episode with an Irish witticism, or •" colours" it, with an
English pleasantry. As a decoction of all sorts of ad-
venture Mr. Grattan has imparted the raciest taste
imaginable to the outpourings of his memory ; and he
has nobly fulfilled a duty incumbent upon an officer
who oan write so well—a duty honourable to his soldier's
heart and his soldier's intellect.

PRIVATE BILLS-HOUSE OF

LORDS.

The following important resolutions were on Saturday
issued in a printed form, by order of the Lords, xelative
to private Bills and business of the House :-
1. 'That the amount of private Bills yearly b rought
into Parlia•nent has been continually increasing till the
consideration of them has come to form a large propor-
tion of the business transacted each session, mare than
two hundred in one session having sometimes been
passed,
construction of railwayssthrownoutat hasvar t various stages.
2 .
i h
a atn
11 further
and more rapidly increased this amount, F 0 Ow the ave-
raged m
the any
others
of private and local and personal Acts passed dur-
the three sessions 1840, 1841, 1842, having 'aeon 178,
there were 171 Railway Bill; brought in durinT the ses-
sion' 1845, besides common private Bills; and during the
present session there have been 212 other Bills and 482
Railway Bills; and in the session of 1845, 241 private
Acts were passed, containing 43,624 sections or schedules
besides bills brought in and thrown out at different
stages.
3. That such private Bills have dealt with an immense
amount of property, and with the most important rights
and interests of the community.
4. That most of such Bills give the power or com-
pelling landowners and other proprietors to part ss ith
their property, or otherwise suffer it to be interfitred
with; many of them inflict great hardships on i adi-
viduala ; and all of them suspend or abrogate the of
the land in particular instances and for special purposes.
All of them, therefore, authorise the doing of acts
wholly illegal by the ordinary course of the common
and statute law, and most of them authorise acts to bo
done wholly inconsistent with all natural right.
5. That while the most trifling question arising be-
tween parties on the state of disputed facts, or the appli-
cation of known laws to these facts, must in this, and
indeed in every country enjoying the blessings of regular
Governments, come before tribunals qualified by the
learning, skill, and experience of the judges com-
posing them to deal with such comparatively
easy questions, the oftentimes much more import-
ant and much more difficult questions raised by the
consideration of private Bills only come before Commit-
tees of both Houses, on which professional and ex-
perienced men hardly ever sit, and which are wholly
composed of persons who can have no experience to guide
them, inasmuch as each can only sit on one or two cases
in the course of a session.

6. That the individual responsibility of the judges who
compose the ordinary tribunals of this and all well
governed states affords a security eminently necessary
for enforcing the due administration of justice,
and for giving the community full confidence
in their decisions—a security held to be necessary,
altheugh it is much more difficult for a judge deal-
ing with the known and fixed rules of the law to swerve
from his duty and pervert the law to the purposes of
injustice, than it is for men who are called upon to
decide on the provisions of a Bill professedly creating
exceptions to the law for particular purposes, and arbi-
trarily dealing
with rights according to no known and
fixed rules or principles whatsoever.
7. That in Committees of the two Houses, and dealing
with interests oftentimes incomparably more important
than ever come before Courts of Justice, the Members,
guided by no fixed rules, changed in each case, un-
know to the community, not acting in the eyes either
of a watchful public or a jealous profession, wit almost
wholly without any individual responsibility; nor can be I
prevented, as judges are, at least in this country, from
privately seeing psrties behind each others' backs, and
proceeding upon information, and listening to reasons,
and yielding to motives of a private and personal nature.
8. That the great and increasing mass of private Bill
business renders it still more difficult for the two Houses
of Parliament to transact such business in a manner at
all satisfactory, and that the attempt to transact it
proves highly prejudicial to the general political and
legislative business of the country.
9. That the delay, vexation, and expense unavoidable
in the present mode of transacting or endeavouring to
transact such private business lays a heavy burden upon
the parties applying for private Acts, and on the parties
opposing them.

_ .
10. That it is nevertheless inexpedient, in a constitu-
tional point of view, for Parliament, or either of the
!louses thereof, to abdicate its functions and privileges
in respect of private legislation ; but, on the contrary,
that both the Houses ought jealously to retain their un-
doubted power of deciding upon every proposed enact-
ment, and of assenting to or dissenting from such pro-
posal.
11. That it is highly expedient that the said Houses
should obtain the aid of some other tribunal, which may
enable them to transact the private Bill business, both
more exped►tiou>ly, more economically, and more satis-
factorily, without at all infringing upon the undoubted
privileges of Parliament, or parting at all with the con-
trol of each House over each enactment.

12. That, with this view, it is expedient to form a
Court or Board apart from and independent of the High
Court of Parliament, except as regards the removal of
its members by a joint address of both Houses.
13. That this Court or Board should consist of five
Members appointed by the Crown, and SD paid for their
services that the Crown may always obtain the aid of
the most respectable members of the legal profession in
constituting such Board.
14. That until it be seen how far the said number of
commissioners may suffice, or may prove too great, it is
expedient, in the first instance, to appoint as two of the
members of such Court or Board either Masters in
Chancery or Commissioners of Bankruptcy, in order
that, if it be found possible, the three permanently ap-
pointed should continue alone to cause an expense to the
country.
15. That each House, upon receiving any Bill, and
giving it a first reading, may refer it to the Court before
whom parties shall be heard, and which shall have the
powers of a Court of Record with respect to oaths,
process, and commitment, and the power of deciding all
questions of law subject to an opinion of one of the
Four Courts of Westminster Hall, in case it shall think
fit, and of calling in the aid of a jury on any disputed
fact, provided both pa:ties shall agree in asking such
issue, and provided the Court shall think fit to grant it.
16. That each member of the Court shall have power
to try all matters, and go through the whole considera-
tion of any Bill, so as aforesaid referred by tither House
of Parliament, and to reserve, if either party require it,
and he think fit, any question for the opinion of the
whole Court, three whereof to be a quorum for this
purpose, including the referring member of the Court ;
and that any question being raised on receiving or re-
jecting evidence, such member may proceed to dispose
of it himself, saving, if he think fit, the objection, as
above provided, for the opinion of the Court.
17. That juries, if an issue be required and allowed as
aforesaid, shall be taken from the special jury lists for
the county of Middlesex, in such manner and subject to
such challenge as in matters before the three Courts of
Law of Westminster Hall. _ _ _

IS. That each member of the Board or Court shall have
the power of giving costs to or against any party at his
discretion, and that no review of his order on this matter
shall be permitted.
19. That each member of the said Board or Court
shall, at his discretion, and with the consent of all parties,
issue a commission for the purpose of taking evidence as
to any disputed matter of fact involved in any Bill brought
before such member, and that the whole expense of such
commission shall be defrayed by the parties, under the
direction of the member aforesaid.

20. That the Bill, having been fully examined by such
Court, or any member thereof, shall be reported to the
House of Parliament by which it had been referred,
together with such alterations or additions as may have
been determined upon as just, fitting, or expedient ; and
that the said House shall then proceed with the conside-
ration of the Bill so reported, and deal with it as such
House shall think fit, either adopting the report, or re-
jecting it, or varying it, as to the wisdom of such House
shall seem meet.

21. That the only stage to be omitted by such House
on passing such reported Bill shall be the committee and
the report.

h eithera t i fmanin
sye,piatrtT
shallsh ablel opposeinthe psouwcehr roefp.tohretsidi
House
before
before which such opposition shall be offered to award the
costs of resisting such opposition, to be paid by such op-
posing
2 3. Thatpartyft t,ohtatitie otherbe aw pfuwirrrotrho parties.co ur
Court or Board, by
a majority of the members, to make rules and regula-
tions
for its proceedings, a copy whereof shall be laid be-
fore both Houses ofrerliament, within one week after their
being framed, or, if in vacation time, within one week
after the commencement of the ensuing session, and that
such rules and regulations shall bo deemed and taken to
be valid for guiding its proce-dings, unless either House
of Parliament shall make any res,lution against them
or any part thereof, which resolution shall be imperative
on the said Court or Board, and new rules shall be
made by it in compliance with such resolution ; the
new rules to be laid before both Houses, as before,
within one week after they are framed; and these new
rules shall be valid to regulate the proceedings of the
said Court or Board, unless and until a resolution of
the other House shall disapprove thereof in whole or
in part.
24. That the Court or Board shall have the requisite
number of registers and clerks ti assist its members,
under the superintendence of the Lcrds Commissioners
of the Treasury.

SALE OF THE METROPOLIS ROADS.—On Tuesday
the annual sale by auction of the metropolis roads, north of
the Thames, took place before the Commissioners of Turnpike
Roads, at ieir office, No. 2, Whitehall-place, the Earl of
Lonsdale in the chair, when there was a full attendance of
lessees, from all parts of the country. They were to be let
from the Ist of July next, for the term of one year, subject
to such conditions as the Commissioners produced at the
meeting, one month being paid in advance of the rent crotch
lot, as a deposit. The following are the prices which the
several lots fetched :—The Tyburn and Uxbridge-roads, put
up at 8,5101., were sold for 8,5501.; the Kilburn and Edg-
ware-roads, offered at 3,263/. 17s. 6d., bought for 3,2731.
17s. 6d. ; the llighgate and Hampstead-roads knocked down
for 17,540/., the sum asked was 17,5301., and one bar to be
taken off; the City-road, the price demanded 3,050/., disposed
of for 3,060/. ' • the Hackney and Lea-bridge-roads purchased
for 5,720/., and 5,710/. was the sum named by the Commis-
sioners. The following were among the lots, but there was
no offer for them :—The Kensington, Brentford, and lsleworth
roads, 16,170/., being the Commissioners' price; the Stam-
ford-hill, upper and lower division, the Green Lanes and
Seven Sisters- roads, the sum proposed for them being 10,200/.;
and the harrow-roads, the tolls of which the Noble Chairman
said, in consequence of certain circumstances which had
come under the notice of the Commissioners, would be re-
duced one-half, and which were valued at 1,110/. The lots
were bought by Mr. Levy, and there was competition but for
one of them
We have much pleasure in stating that Lord
Clarendon has been prevailed upon to accept the Lord-
Lieutenancy of Ireland, vacant by the lamented decease of
Lord Besborough. It is rumoured that lie will be succeeded
as President of the Board of Trade by Mr. Labouchere, at
present Secretary for Ireland. Lord Clarendon will be for-
mally appointed at the Council to be held at Buckingham
Palace to-morrow.—Times.

- ARE THE COLONIES WORTHY
OF REPRESENTATIOv, BY DELEGATES TO
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ?
(From the Australian Journal.)
The talented and benevolent Cowper, in one of his
poems, gives vent to his amiable feelings in behalf of
his native country, in describing her defects, in these
words, " 0 England ! with all thy faults I love thee
still !"
If England were worthy of this eulogy at such a
time, how much more worthy is she in the present
day of such a testimony, after having passed such
laws as the Slavery Emancipation Bill, with its self-
imposed fine, for former injustice, of twenty millions
sterling ; the Catholic Emancipation Bill ; the aboli-
tion of the Test Act Bill; the Reform Bill ; the Irish
Education Bill ; the Irish Colleges Bill ; and last,
but not least, the Corn-law Abolition Bill ? Look
'gain at its magnanimous forbearance towards insult-
ing France, domineering America, and towards the
prostrate conquered city of Lahore !
Conduct like this, a series of magnificent legis-
lative and executive Acts like these have not been
known before in any land. They are acts perfectly
novel in the history of Governments, either ancient or
modern. And they encourage us to hope that justice,
in an important point, will yet be done to the colo-
nies of England, as the Irish nation are at last calling
for the same with a prospect of success ; which call,
nevertheless, seven years ago, only created derision ;
just as seven years ago the "League," on its first
germination, was met with reproaches and ridicule
by the landed interest of England, a majority of
which has, however, now granted almost all that was
asked, and more than the League expected.
Why then shall it be thought a wild project to pro-
pose to form a "League" of the Legislatures of all
the British colonies, and presenting a petition en
masse, signed by the Speakers of each respectively,
and to be presented to Parliament by a well-selected
member in each House, with another, of similar im-
port, to the Queen ? Or why should not a separate
petition be passed by each Legislature, and being
signed by its Speaker, sent to London, to arrive
there in the same month (the month to be previously
agreed upon, say January, 1848 or 1849, to meet the
new Parliament, which will be more " liberal" than
the last), each Legislature appointing its own favourite
members to present their petitions, but requesting
them to act in conjunction with the others so far, as
that the petitions may all be presented on the same
day.
But what should be the prayer of these petitions ?
We answer, that the House of Commons shall alter
the constitution, as it did in passing the Reform ail!,
by admitting to its councils henceforth as many
members, to be elected, not by the legislatures of the
colonies, but by the elective constituencies of the co-
lonies, as the latter may have chosen to represent
them in the lower branch of the British Legislature.
There are in the Southern Hemisphere eight colo-
nies, which require a voice in the House of Commons,
viz., Ceylon, Singapore, Hong-Kong, New South
Wales, South Australia, Port Philip, Van Diemen's
Land, and New Zealand. There are many islands in
the West Indies ; the smaller might be joined in twos
and threes if too small to claim a whole member to
themselves. Jamaica and Barbadoes should be al-
lowed to send two each, and Canada four. Then there
are the other North-American colonies. In all, we
imagine it would require an addition to the House of
Commons of some forty Members.
But first let us inquire, as far as the Home Govern-
ment is concerned, and the House of Commons itself,
as to the inconvenience such a change in the Constitu-
tion of the United Kingdom might bring with it to
the Imperial Government :
1. It will be said, that the Irish Members are al-
ready a faction, a tail of Mr. O'Connell, which is
continually embarrassing the Government, and ob-
structing the passage through Parliament of useful
measures ; and that the colonial tail, thus proposed
to be introduced, will add to this inconvenience.
2. That it is a change in the Constitution not justi-
fied by its importance, like the Catholic Emancipa-
tion Bill, the Slavery Emancipation Bill, the Corn-
law Bill, ice. &c.
3. That the present large number of Members of
which the House of Commons consists has long been
found inconvenient to the dispatch of business ; and
that the addition of some forty Members would render
the carrying on the national business as intolerable as
Dr. Reid's new ventilating apparatus is found, in
February and March, to be destructive to the
comfort and health of all Members except
those of an iron constitution, like Colonel Sibthorp
and Sir James Graham in the Lower House, and the
" iron" Duke in the Upper, who fortifies himself
against Dr. Reid's terrible set of bellows by taking a
cold bath all through the previous winter.
To these objections we shall only give one general
answer. That a religious tail, backed by the reli-
gious world of England, produced the Slavery Eman-
cipation Bill ; that the Radical tail, backed by the
people of England, produced the Reform Bill; that
an Irish tail, backed by the Repeal Association, pro-
duced the Catholic Emancipation Bill and the Irish
Colleges Bill, &c. ; and that, last of all, the Man-
chester, and Birmingham, and Glasgow tail, backed
by tha merchants, manufacturers, and shopkeepers of
England and Scotland, produced the abolition of the
corn-laws. Now we do not dispute the very
if
abitle
great inconvenience that Ministers, one set
after another, were put to before they proposed
these measures, and also after they proposed them.
eos
But we have this apology to make for such inconve-
nience,that had not, previously
nenxiisstteerds,
could
dldthnant
to an cinsufferable
longer stand it, any more than the unjust judge could
bear
the boring applications of the poor widow, none
of these laws would have been passed ; and we should
stil be jogging on in the
cen u
good old system of the seven-
teenth and eighteens') t • lries—name y, with C-
atholic slavery, Negro slavery, Iri▪
sh local oppression
and educational darkness, rotten boroughs, and some
hundreds of protect'vness,duties in addition to the mother
of them all, the dearl breade
protective duty.
Therefore we argue,that
as the i▪
nconvenience suf-
fered by D 7 misters by the House, however annoy-
ing and repulsive to the good old
prejudices of 1601
and 1701, have nevertheless terminated in measures
which are considered
at this present moment, now that
they are the law of
the land, e and, the glory of England,
and the admiration of surrounding nations; besides
preserving that transcendent blessing, peace—peace
with France and America, never perhaps to be dis-
turbed more : so
are justifiedwe
eaelen sayinga d
prophesying, that the increasedpopulation,
prosperity, content, and loyalty oft) the British colo-
nies, in both hemispheres, are likely to be so much
increased by the proposal of a " colonial" tail of some
forty Members, and that solely through the inconve-
nience which its talkative propensities, alias informa-
tion, will bring to the House of Commons as at pre-
sent constituted, that it is worth while to put up with
the new " tail" we propose.
Laughter and tears are not incompatible with each
other. Whoever reads the debates in Parliament
when the Australian colonies are before it, if the
subject be a vital one (such as the abolition of trans-
portation, or the raising the price of waste land), or
peruses the evidence of those roving colonists and
others taken upon these and other deeply-important
subjects, will be apt to burst out into tears, and then
laughter; and in another minute into laughter and
then tears. Such is the fatal nature of the twaddle,
the gross ignorance, the venal misrepresentation with
which these debates and this evidence too often teem.
But still the Cabinet of London will say, "No doubt
some little inconvenience to the colonies arises from
these mistakes; but for us to be bored by the speeches
of forty new colonial orators, fresh front Jamaica, Que-
bec, and Botany Bay, would bei9tolerahle. No. We must
go on in the old way. The wisdom of our ancestors
never tolerated such an innovation on the privileges
and conveniences of this House. One of these con-
veniences is, and that not a little one, that at the end
of a weary, worrying session, Ministers can dispatch
colonial affairs by the aid of a few honest whippers-in,
whom we can keep in town for the express purpose.
We used to treat Ireland in this comfortable way, and
what is the consequence of the new movement in its
favour ? Why, that presently we shall have to com-
mence in December, and sit to September. And if
we admit fifty new colonial orators, we shall positively
have to sit all the year round ! NO, it won't do. The
colonies must be contented with our doing the best we
can for them with our present muchiuery." Such will
be the answer not doubt of Lord Melborne, Sir It,
Peel, Lord J. Russell, Earl Grey, or Lord Stanley,
whenever our proposal shall be rnade to them. For
it will be, and that before ten years are gone overn ouraa
heads, though we see no objection to set about organ-
ising a " League ' of Colonial Legislatures at the
present moment. It may be begun by our Sydney
Legislative Council appointing a Committee tod
draw
up two documents :
Ist.—An address to all and every Colonial L •
egisla-
I ture in both hemispheres.
2d.—A petition to the Queen, Lords, and Com-
mons respectively, to be signed by the Speaker.
Copies of these may be sent in triplicate, to every
British Colony, addressed to the Speaker of the Le-
gislative Assembly thereof, with a request to lay it
before the House.
A memorandum should be made of the month and
year in which it is
shall be presented to the Queen
and both Houses of Parliament. And the time thus
fixed on, should be at a date sufficiently distant, to
give the colonies in both hemispheres, ample time to
imitate our example, so that petitions from all the
colonies may be presented to Parliament simultane-
ously.
'Would there be anything preposterous in laying
down as part of the British Constitution, henceforth.
that every new colony, after its free population shall
amount to 50,00 inhabitants and upwards, shall
be invested with the same privilege as a
borough town of England, and allowed to
send one Member to Parliament ? What have the
inhabitants of the colonies done in expatriating them-

' selves, that is to say, what is there in crossing the '
sea to one of the numerous British counties beyond
the confines of Europe, which should disfranchise the
voyager ? Is not a colony as much a part of the
Queen's dominions as the extreme northern counties
of Scotland or the extreme western counties of
Ireland ? Are not the colonists of New South
\Vales, New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land, and
South Australia, less intelligent, and less English
than they ? And what would render expatriation to
be felt no longer such in so great a degree as
it is, as to consider a removal from Cork, or London,
or Portsmouth to a colony, to be nothing more, in a
political view, than a removal to another county ; the
new county lying in the West Indies, or the Northern
Atlantic, or the South-Western Pacific Ocean, in lieu
of Scotland or Ireland ? You cross the sea to go to
the latter, and very often to go to the former. You
do no more in going to America or Australia; the
only difference is, you are weeks on your passage in
lieu of days. But when at last you disembark, there
is the same Monarch in the distant British county ;
the same laws fundamentally ; the same Constitution
controlling them ; with a Colonial Legislature so
called, but which bears a strong analogy to the Cor-
poration of the English, Scotch, or Irish borough
you have just left behind.
Since the above was published in our last number,
it occurred to us, in order to avoid the obvious incon-
venience of adding some forty Members to the present
very numerous House of Commons, how far the peti-
tions of the Colonial Legislatures for the representa-
tion of their constituencies in that House, might, in
its final prayer, petition, that in case the Queen and
Parliament should refuse their being represented by
additional Members, to allow their constituencies to
elect from among the Members of the Commons (each
Legislature one) representative for the colonies; the
Queen and Parliament recognising the double elec-
tion of such Members so chosen, by recognising their
title and standing in the House as Members as well
for the county or town in the United Kingdom,
which elected them, as for the colony which also
elected them. And so allowing such Memb?rs, by
reason of such double election, a double vote; such
double votes to be received on all questions in the
debates, and also on all laws which were not re-
stricted to the United Kingdom. But on laws re-
stricted in their operation to the United Kingdom,
then, when the question came to be put, " that this
Bill be read the first time," (also the second time,
and finally the third time,) and then only, such co-
lonial-elected Members should have but one vote.

PARLIAMENTARY LEGISLATION
ON THE KENT RAILWAY PROJECTS.
SESSION, 1847.
We recur to this subject again in order to put on
record toe circumstances under which it has been the
fate of the people of Kent to have their long-cherished
independence endangered a second time by the partial
decision of a short Committee of the House of Commons.
The Committee had to elect between two lines—the
one direct, the other circuitous. The cost of construct.
ing each was the same. Instead of selecting such por-
tions of either scheme which obviously offered superior
public advantages of the greatest possible importance,
' the Committee have entirely thrown overboard all con-
siderations of a public nature, without exhibiting, in any
of their decisions, the slightest regard to local feeling or
general accommodation.
The conduct of the Committee is the more reprehen-
sible, inasmuch as they have granted extraordinary
powers to the South-Eastern Company for charging,
higher fares than were allowed last year in the amalga-
mation Bills of the London and North-Western, the
London and York, the North Staffordshire, and other
great companies; and higher also than the scale pro-
posed this year by the Brighton and South Coast Com-
pany, in the following proportions.—
Express trains, 10 per cent. higher.
First class, 12} per cent, higher.
Second class, 10 per cent. higher.
Third class, the same for both Bills.
The people of Kent ask for a public inquiry.
They are aware, from the evidence submitted upon
the question of coal, direction, and population, that all
these points have been shown to be greatly in favour of
the scheme of the South Coast Company, and inasmuch
as it is found that the claim to superior gradients set up
by the South-Eastern Company cannot be established,
they demand, naturally enough, to know how it was
that a Committee of the House of Commons should have
so decided against the direct and approved line, and in
favour of an inferior line, which altogether leaves the
local population.
The people of Kent believe that Mr. Stanley's judg-
ment has been improperly biassed by the opinions of
Mr. Stephenson, from the circumstance that Mr. Stanley '
is a director, while Mr. Stephenson is the engineer to
the Chester and Holyhead Company. They consider
their having interests in common with respect to the
Chester and Holyhead Company, is sufficient to ac-
count for Mr. Stanley's undue leaning towards the opi-
nions of Mr. Stephenson, in regard to the Kent lines.
This is a very natural conclusion.
An inquiry, however, into the whole question, must
take place in the House of Lords, and on the fare ques-
tion particularly. A. thorough sifting of the evidence
must there be resorted to, in order to expose fully the
delusive and deceptive evidence of Mr. Macgregor on
this subject. The evidence of Mr. Macgregor was no-
thing more than a juggle—a bold and unscrupulous
attempt to impose upon Parliament, and to obtain,
through its excited sympathies, further arbitrary powers
to exact unjustly from the public. The attempt was as
unwise as it was unworthy of a great company to resort
to, and it must, therefore, be dealt with accordingly.—
Canterbury Journal.