The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-24 00:00:00

The report also stated that
" Under the terms of the above agreement, it had become
necessary to consider, in conjunction with the Great Western
Company, how far it would be attended with advantage to
their mutual interests that some assistance should be given
to carry out the undertakings sanctioned by Parliament in
the last session, by contributing to the Vale of Neath, the
Llynvi Valley, the Tenby and Saundersfoot, the Cork and
Waterford, and the Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow and
Dublin Railways.
" All those measures were of importance to the traffic of
the South Wales Railway, and it had been considered by
both companies most desirable to support them by taking a
limited number of tha, and holding them so long as might
be necessary to secureihe accomplishment of their objects,
and the guaranteed rate of interest by the Great Western Com-
panyiwould consequently extend over any sum which might be
found necessary for those shares, or for any difference when
they were disposed of, over and above the cost of construct-
ing the South Wales Railway, as provided for in the original
agreement sanctioned by the recent extraordinary meeting.
"The purchase of a portion of line in the Swansea Valley
partially constructed had been also agreed for, with a view to
make an extension of it, as a valuable feeder, to bring the
mineral traffic from that district to the South Wales line.
The owners of the Swansea Valley line were to receive the
sum of 70,0001. in a certain number of South Wales shares,
to be created for that purpose, if Parliament should sanction
the undertaking as a portion of the South Wales line ; and
the shares so to be created for, and to be taken by, the
owners of the Swansea Valley line, would, when all the calls
should have been made on them, be adequate to pay, not
only the agreed purchase money, but to defray the addi-
tional cost of the portion of the line which was proposed in
extension of it to the other works up the same valley, viz.,
to the Ystalyfera and Yniscedwyn works, and a short branch
to join the Cumtwrch Railway."
The receipts of the company up to the 31st of December,
1846, were 301,5031. 18s. 9d., and the payments up to the
same period, 277,659/. 7s. 3d., leaving a balance of
73,8441. I ls. 6d.
The report was then received.
The retiring directors on this occasion were—D. A Saun-
ders Davies, Esq. M.P., David Lewis. Esq., David Morris,
Esq. M.P., John H. Vivian, Esq. M.P., but they were re-
elected without opposition.
B. Dobree, Esq. retired from the auditorship, but was re-
elected.

(Room 23, before Mr. Examiner MAY.)
UNOPPOSED LIST.
_ _

and prejudices of the Roman Catholics. They formed only a
minority of her Majesty's subjects, while the Protes-
tants constituted an immense majority. It was well
known that the Jesuits had proselytised great num-
bers of the Protestants around Stoneyhurst ; and
with respect to the tendency of Jesuitical principles,
he need only refer the House to an able criticism in Rauke's
history by one of the ablest writers of that country—he
meant the Right Hon. Member for Edinburgh. He was
vibe convinced that if these monastic orders were allowed
to exist without any restrictions he need not inform them
that it would lead to the greatest inconvenience. He could
only say for himself that he should be willing to
tolerate every church in existence with the single exception
of the Church of Rome.—(Laughter.) But, if the principle
of the Hon. and Learned Member were to be conceded, they
would have a something like free trade in religion. They
had, at present, no religious liberty in Spain, in Austria,
n Portugal, or in Rome, and he thought that they, in
England, could not fairly be charged with intolerance, until
Rome set them the example of religious liberty.
Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN, in supporting the Bill said, although
the penal statutes were considered obsolete, they produced
an impression of the mod unfavourable kind on the minds of
those who were liable to be affected by them. Ile trusted
that the Roman Catholics of England and Ireland would
never rest satisfied until these objectionable laws were
repealed.
Mr. SPOONER said it had not been his intention to trouble
the House, but after the personal remark which the Right
Honourable the Paymaster of the Forces had made,
he considered that he was justified in claiming
the attention of the House. That Right Hon. Gentleman
had completely misrepresented the words which he had made
use of in the opinions which he held, and the arguments he
had adduced, and he would take the liberty of reading from
the reports which bad taken place on the Committee to which
the Right Hon. the Paymaster of the Forces had referred.
He challenged the Right Hon. Gentlemen to prove the asser-
tion he had made, or substantiate the charge with which he
had been stigmatised. He believed the present measure
would be another inroad upon the constitution of the country.
The Hon. Member for Limerick said that he would not rest
till the Chancellor of Ireland and the Lord-Lieutenant
of that country were eligible to be chosen from
among the Roman Catholics. Only give up those points, and
nothing would remain to prevent the annihilation of the
monarchy and; the Protestant succession to the Throne. He
believed that it was the fearful spread of the Roman Catholic
religion which had produced the present disastrous condition
of, and called the judgment of Heaven down, upon this coun-
try.—(Cries of "06, oh.")
Mr. MACAULAY said that if he had done:the smallest in-
justice to the Hon Member by anything he had said, he
begged most fully to withdraw it, and to apoligise for the
same, but his statement seemed to be fully borne out by the
authority to which the Hon. Member had himself referred.
The Hon. Member for Birmingham said, upon the occasion
alluded to, that he would not divide the House upon the
question, but contented himself with protesting against it.
After a few words from Mr. SPOONER and Mr.FAcatteav
again in reply,
Mr. J. O'CONNELL said that he would not enter into the
controversial discussion set up by the Hon. idember for
Birmingham. It might, be possible that a strong argument
might be brought forward for the Catholics. He thought it
better to proceed at once to the removal of pains and penal-
ties, which were admitted by all to be utterly powerless, and
which tended only to aggravate the feelings of their Roman
Catholic fellow-subjects. It was a stigma to the character
of the House to debate for four or five hours the question
whether those laws, which were admitted to be inoperative,
and which were universally disregarded, should or should
not be repealed and struck out of the statute book.
Mr. NEWDEGATE thought that those persons who pro-
fessed the Roman Catholic religion were not at present suffer-
ing from the operation of any penal statutes or disabilities.
If such were the case, he would be one of the first to repeal them,
for he hated persecution, and considered that a fair tolerance
was due to all classes. He would, however, oppose a mea-
sure which proposed to remove all the bulwarks of the con-
stitution, and to re-erect nothing in their place. He opposed
the present Bill mainly because it would go to set up alle-
giance to a foreign potentate in place of that which was due
to the Sovereign of these realms. There was another por-
tion of the Bill for which he could see no reason. He meant
that which did away with the oaths at present
taken by banisters of the Roman Catholic faith. This
was a provision which did not exist in the Bill of last year,
and one for which the Hon. and Learned Gentleman who in-
troduced the Bill had not given any reason. With regard to
the outcry about the hardship of the oath of supremacy, he
could not see it. The oath at present merely declared that
the Pope had no civil or temporal authority in this country, a
declaration which he was sure there could be no objection
whatever to. If, then, the declaration only maintained a
constitutional truth, there was no necessity fur the provision
of the Bill before the House. With regard to processions,
it had been admitted that they ought not to be allowed in
the way in which they took place on the Continent, and
that they would, if permitted, be the cause of much
disturbance. He confessed he would much rather have the
law as it at present stood in this country against such pro-
cessions, than trust to the Lynch law which the repre-
sentatives of the people resorted to on the other side of the
Atlantic. Further, he thought the toleration of the Jesuits in the
country would be most dangerous. They were the enemies of li•-
liberty everywhere, and so inimical had they proved themselves
to the interests of nations, that in nearly every country in
Europe they had, as a religious order, been suppressed.
For these reasons he must oppose the second reading of the
Bill.

In the following unopposed cases the customary formal
proofs were completed:—
Charing-cross Bridge (heretofore the Hungerford and
Lambeth Suspension loot-bridge).
York and North Midland Railway (Hull Station and
Branches).
York and North Midland Railway (Harrogate Branch,
Eistension, and Terminus).
Newcastle and Berwick Railway (East Coast Line, Blyth,
Seaton Sluice, and other Branches).
Newcastle and Berwick Railway (Cramlington and Percy
Main, and Killingworth and other Branches).
Vale of Neath Railway Branches and Amendment.
Cambridge, St. Neot's• and Bedford Junction Railway.
Blackburn Improvement, Market, &c.
Tunstall Paving, Lighting, Cleansing, Watching, Improve-
ment, and Market.
Ayr Harbour Improvement.
Rutherglen and Strathbungo Turnpike-road.
Swansea Valley Line and Branches.
Waterford Turnpike.
Dublin Consumers' Gas.
Grand Canal Amendment of Acts Railway Amalgamation.

OPPOSED CASE.
Manchester and Southampton Railway (Line from South-
ampton to Cheltenham, to join the Midland Railway, with
connecting lines, to join the proposed London. Oxford, and
Cheltenham Railway, the Great Western Railway, and the
Basingstoke and Salisbury and Bishopatoke, and Salisbury
Branches of the London and South-Western Railway, with
power to purchase the Andover Canal, with power to the
Midland Railway Company and the London and South-
Western Railway Company to subscribe towards, or to take
or use the undertaking.)
This opposed case was then resumed. At the close of the
inquiry the Examiner decided that the standing orders had
not been complied with.
Adjourned till to-morrow.

IMPERIAL, PARLIAMENT.

(THIS DAY.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL.
Mr. WATSON (in continuation from our Afternoon Edi-
tion) said—He now came to the clause which respected the
safeguards of the regular clergy. But what were these safe-
guards, or how this Act provided such, he could not con-
ceive. The Act of Parliament of the 10th George IV., for the
gradual suppression of Jesuits and other religious orders,
bound by monastery vows, provided that those persons,
whether British-born subjects or not, should be pro-
ceeded against by common law, and if convicted
transported for life. He knew, that when the word
"Jesuit" was mentioned on the hustings of Birmingham,
it frightened all the old ladies of that town into convulsions,
but they had had many of the persons connected with mo-
nastic orders most learned and intelligent, abounding in
works of love and charity, diligent searchers into history
and philosophy; and if it was said that the Jesuits had done
some evil, it must also be admitted that they had done much
good. The Legislature had already, in the Acts which had
passed the House, removed many of those bigoted and penal
enactments, and he now asked the House to finish the good
work by repealing all that remained of them. It was
argued that those Acts were now obsolete; but that was no
argument, or, if one at all, it was in favour of the abrogation
of them. He asked their repeal, not as a concession to the
Catholics, but as justice to the Protestants, who boasted
themselves the friends of toleration and of liberal measures.
To them he would appeal on this question, and he hoped,
that in support of their principles, they would give their
consent to the second reading of this Bill.
Sir R. H. INGLIS admitted that the Hon. and Learned
Member had claims upon the attention of the House as a
sound lawyer, but he thought he could lay no claims to
the character of an accurate historian. He asserted that
penal laws arose with the Reformation, but he forgot that it
was not till long after that many of these laws passed. But
the Hon. Member was also inconsistent with himself, for, by
the terms of the Act of Elizabeth, if the supremacy of the
Crown over matters ecclesiastical were based on the common
law of the country, the Protestant as well as Catholic subjects
of the Crown would be equally liable to punishment. The
Hon. and Learned Member was obliged to go back to the
early part of the reign of Elizabeth foran instance in which the
rigour of this law was pressed against a Catholic subject, and
he was very certain that if the Hon. and Learned Member
had had a later illustration he would have given it. The Hon.
and Learned Member had greatly depreciated the securities
which were given to the Established Church in the Act of
Emancipation, but, however slightly even he (Sir R. H.
Inglis) might view them, they were tendered and accepted as
securities, and therefore the Hon. and Learned Member
should not have alluded to them in terms so unfitting. He
contended that there was no country in Christian Europe
into which the Jesuits were admitted without a direct law
being passed subjugating them in numbers, resi-
dences, and objects, to the powers at the time
being. The Jesuits had greatly increased in this
country since the first inundation of their establish-
ment at Stoneyhurst, and in Ireland ; and, therefore, he
thought that, instead of removing these securities, they should
rather strengthen the hands of Government, to enable them
to suppress any further extension of their dangerous opinions.
The present Bill prohibited any Catholic subject from assum-
ing the title of Archbishop of Canterbury or Bishop of Lon-
don, which made it less objectionable than former Bills
brought in by the Hon. and Learned Member; but still so
much remained in the measure as to render it objectionable.
He objected to it on principle—the Church of England
was the Established Church of the realm. In Ireland
the members of the Protestant Church were prohibited from
processions, and it would be most unfair to allow to a hostile
church that which was denied to their own Protestant
Church. Was the Hon. Member prepared to see the pro-
cession of the Host through the streets of London ? If such
scenes were to be introduced into this country it would be
great cause of regret to the passers of • such a measure.
The Hon. Member for Cork (Mr. O'Connell) said
that he would not allow the procession of the
Host to be paraded through the streets of London, it was a
subject of too much veneration. It was then for the House
to prevent the public exhibition of this ceremony, and not to
leave it to the will of the Catholic priesthood to adopt it if
they thought proper. If the present measure were to pass,
it would make this country the only one in the world where
Jesuits were allowed to carry on their profession without some
restraint. He regretted to see that a law prohibiting the in
troduction of bulls and rescripts had been already repealed. In
no country in the world was any bull of a foreign potentate, as
was the Pope, allowed to be introduced without the previous
consent of the Government of such country. It was his in-
tention to support the great cause of Protestantism in the
country; and he begged to move that the Bill be read a
second time this day six months.
Colonel SIBTHORP seconded the amendment.
Mr. B. ESCOTT said that the Hon. Member for the Uni-
versity of Oxford (Sir R. H. Inglis) did not ground his op
position to the Bill in the last session upon the necessity of
these so-called securities. What was then the real cause of
the opposition, and the great cause which the Right Hon.
Member was determined to maintain ? What
was the use of these pains and penalties ?
They brought no mouey into the Exchequer,
or into the Church. He believed the only reason they were
desired to be kept on the statute-book was to gratify the
pride of some persons who were never happy except when
they were teazing or aggravating their fellow-creatures. He
did not believe that one man in a hundred, out of doors, could be
found to standup for a continuance of these pains and penalties.
But it had been said that these enactments were securities
to the Established Church ; but the Right Hon. Baronet had
not shown it to the House how it was that these penalties
acted as securities. It had been further said that these were
preserved in the great Act of 1829, and ought to be now
preserved. He (Mr. B. Ewen) thought that the Emancipa-
tion Act of 1829 was a great measure of justice, and he looked
with pleasure to the good that Act had done, rather than
to that which it had left undone. Let the Right Hun. Ba-
ronet look to the Sovereign who now filled the chair of St.
Peter's, who was setting an example to all the other Sove-
reigns of Europe by his liberal and enlightened principles.
He hoped the Noble Lord at the head of the Government,
the members of the late Government, and also the Noble
Lord the Member for Lynn, who he believed was considerably
ahead of his party, and whom he had ne doubt would be a
Peel of 1847, would all give their support to the Bill, and be
resolved to give no quarter to these penal enactments.
Mr. SHAW said the Hon. and Learned Gentleman had
stated that these statutes had done no good, and that they
had brought no money into the Exchequer. Now he (Mr.
Shaw) could not agree with the Hon. and Learned Gentle-
man in the conclusions he had come to, and he would
shortly state the reasons for so thinking. The Bill
under consideration had his decided objection, because
it unsettled the arrangement come to in 1829. He
would not go into the policy or impolicy of the settlement
then made, but he would certainly oppose any attempt to
disturb it in the manner which the Bill before the House
would do. He thought the reservations of the Catholic
Emancipation Act should be maintained as the safe-guards
of the Established Church.—(Hear.) He would, therefore,
support the amendment for the rejection of the BilL—(Hear.)
Mr. MACAULAY could not allow the discussion to pass
over without expressing his opinion on the merits of the
Bill before the House. He confessed he had not heard suffi-
cient to reject the second reading of the BilL—(Hear. )
The first portion of the Bill provided for the repeal
of enactments which at present gave the power of im-
prisoning and fining every
Now
who owned the
least allegiance to the Pope. Now he asked the House
would they sanction the principle that any Roman Catholic
might be fined or imprisoned for his religious opinions? for
that was the real question. He maintained that there was
no Roman Catholic who admitted the spiritual authority
of the hierarchy of his Church but who was liable
to punishment. There was not a priest nor bishop but who,
in the essential teaching of his religion, might be proceeded
against, and fined and imprisoned. The spiritual authority
of the bishops of the Roman Catholic religion was a leading
element of the Catholic religion ; so all who acted on that
view of the faith were liable to the oppression of these
statutes.—( Hear, hear.) Now, he put it to the House
whether they would consent to the carrying out of such
laws. Would they agree to the justice of the principle,
and were they prepared to give it effect? If they would not,
and he believed not one of them would, why then retain
them on the statute-book ?By the Emancipation Bill the
oath of supremacy, as it regarded Roman Catholics, had been
altered to another, and yet they retained this penal enact-
ment about the recognition of the supremacy:of the Crown. Was
not this proceeding most absurd and contradictory ? He en-
tertained similar objections to the existing statute against the
importation of bulls. It was admitted that these were perfectly
innocent ; for whatever their instructions might be, they
could not be carried into effect. The law against them
should not therefore be retained. With regard to the other
laws referred to, he considered they should also be repealed ;
but with respect to processions, however, he could not
consent to their celebration. He did not think that
decency or public order could allow of these public
processions ; nay, he was sure that if such a pro-
cession as was often seen on the Continent was to pass
up Fleet-street or the Strand, there would be every proba-
bility of some disturbance taking place. He would, there-
fore, give his consent to a stringent law in regard to such
restrictions h
processions.
t But,
wreegaridminpgesJeed nsueits,thheem. H
could not
couldsupport not
see
the
any reason why the Franciscan should not be allowed to
practice his system of worship the same as any other party.
He was against any secret proceedings on the part of the
Jesuits, which the present state of the law encouraged, but he
would, under proper regulations, as it regarded registration
and publicity, give them the same civil and religious privi-
leges as any other party of Christians. On these grounds he
would support the second reading of the Bill.—(Cheers.)
Mr. FINCH said that it was in consequence of the great
veneration in which the Reformers held the Nicene Church,
who originated persecution, that a system of persecution
was continued in the Protestant Church. He was quite in
favour of a fair system of toleration for all classes. They
came then to what was called the rights and cere-
monies of the Roman Catholic Church, and here
he perfectly agreed with what had been said by the
Right lion. Gentleman who had just sat down. He thought
tiott when an Hon. and Leadttud. Gentleman introduced a Bill

After some further conversation, a vote of thanks having
been given to the Chairman, the meeting separated.

THE BUCKINGHAMSHIRE RAIL-
WAYS.—(THIS DAY.)
The usual half-yearly general meeting of the proprietors
of the Buckinghamshire Railways (Oxford and Bletchley,
and Buckingham and Brackley Junction Companies) was
held this afternoon, at the Euston-square Station of the
London and North-Western Railway ; Sir Harry Verney,
chairman of the board of directors, in the chair.
The report stated that the directors had to announce that
they had let their works of both the Oxford and Bletchley
and Buckingham and Brackley lines on satisfactory terms to
Mr. Brassey. The shares of the company, on which 2/. 2s.
had been paid, had, in consequence of the proceedings
in Parliament last year, necessarily been reduced in registra-
tion in the proportion of 1 to 2 each registered share.
After such reduction was credited with 41. 45., as paid, and
including the 2/. call received on the Ist of March, 6/. 4s.
per share would thus have been paid on each share of 17/.
10s. each. The directors had determined to confine their
southern extension to a line from Claydou to Aylesbury (a
distance of ten miles). It was also proposed to extend the
line northwards from Brackley to Banbury. A Bill had been
introduced into Parliament for power to construct the ex-
tension lines, and in this Bill would be comprised powers to
consolidate the two companies into one. The total receipts
np to the present time amounted to 169,359/. 125., and the
expenditure to 35,544/. 4s. 6d.
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, the report was adopted,
and the retiring directors and auditors re-elected. A resolu-
tion was then passed, placing 300/. at the disposal of the di-
rectors for providing moral and religious instruction for the
men engaged upon the works. This closed the business of
the half-yearly meeting.
SPECIAL MEETING.
The proprietors then resolved themselves into a special
meeting for the purpose of considering and approving of the
Bill authorising the amalgamation and extensions.
The CHAIRMAN stated that the extensions would consi-
derably enhance the undertaking, inasmuch as one of them
would place them in direct communication with the metro-
polis, through the medium of the proposed London, Oxford,
and Cheltenham line, while the other would give
them access with the Herefordshire districts. Buck-
inghamshire was famed for the fattening of Herefordshire
cattle, and, of course, a line which gave them a direct com-
munication with that country, must, of necessity, prove of
immense value both to themselves and the districts through
which the line would pass. Besides these advantages, the
construction of the Bedford line and its extension would
open up to them Cambridge and Norwich, and the Norfolk
districts.
A PROPRIETOR wished to know how it was proposed to
raise the capital?
The CHAIRMAN replied that all the shares which had been
rejected by the proprietors had been taken up by the London
and North-Western Company, and that was the means by
which the capital would be raised. All the shares were
offered to the proprietors in the first instance, but only 3,000
were accepted by them out of 20,000.
A PROPRIETOR asked what the capital would be, and the
length of the extensions.
The CHAIRMAN replied that the capital would be 450,0001.
anti the length of each extension about ten miles.
The Bill was then approved, and the meeting terminated,
with the customany vote of thanks to the chairman and
directors.

Lord GEORGE BENTINCK supported the second read-
ing of the Bill, because he had always opposed the disabili-
ties imposed on the Roman Catholics. If the laws that ex-
sted were obsolete, and of no practical application, then that
was a sufficient reason for their repeal. But he did not
think they were so, but that in their operation they
exercised still a serious injury over the professors of
the Roman Catholic faith. Even so late as 1837
a law suit had been decided before Lord Langdale, which
practically took away a large amount of property left to the
professors of the Roman Catholic faith. So hard, indeed,
was the case, that the Right Hon. Baronet, the
late Prime Minister, interfered and had the griev-
ance in this particular case remedied. But there
were many other hardships to which he could call the atten-
tion of the House. Was it not a hardship that Roman
Catholics could not perform the rite of burial with their own
clergymen, and according to their own formula ? He would
also call their attention to the fact that when the
H )n. and Learned Member for Cork (Mr. O'Connell) was
Lord Mayor of Dublin he had to put off his robes of office
on entering the Roman Catholic church, because the law
would not allow him, in his corporate capacity, to wear them
wi-thin their precincts. Such was the state of the law, that
Father Mathew, notwithstanding all the good he had done,
might be banished, and if he returned he could be trans-
ported for life. These were a few of the hardships which
were now proposed to be removed.
Sir R. PEEL said that the Bill which stood for the second
reading that night, contemplated the rescinding of several
clauses in the Act of 1829, and it further proposed to abrogate
laws which were now considered obsolete, and so far as this
latter part of this measure went, it had his fullest approba-
tion. The first part of the Bill professed to supply certain
omissions in former Acts. The Hon. and Learned Member
asserted that there was at present an Act in force,
notwithstanding the statistics of 1844 and 1846, enacting
that if the Boman Catholic subject wilfully upheld the autho-
rity of a foreign Prince, would be subject to fine and impri-
sonment. The Hon. Member for Warwickshire said that
malice would require to be proved; but he (Sir R. Peel)
imagined that, in the eye of the law, advisedly upholding the
ecclesiastical authority of the Pope would be considered
malicious upholding of his authority. Now he (Sir Robert
Peel) did not consider the principle a proper one which
would subject the Roman Catholic in this case to fine and
imprisonment.—(Hear, bear.) With regarn to the other
portion of the Bill he must express his decided dissent.
He must contend for the preservation of the conditions of
the Act of 1829. The Hon. Gentleman said he was not
prepared to repeal that portion of the Act which refused to
the Catholic Prelate the name of any particular fiely. He
said, also, that he was quite content that the Roman Catholic
should not appear iu public in the distinguishing dress of his
particular order. He said that he conceeded so much in
accordance with the prejudices of the English Protestant
subject. But surely this condition was based on the same
compact, and should not be divided from the other condi-
tions. With regard to the religious orders, he thought t hat
some relaxation might be made in this particular—he thought
that the extreme punishment might
be avoided ;
but he was not prepared to repeal the enactment alto-
gether. He was bound to say that while he was willing
to rectify some clauses in the Bills of 1844 and 1846, he was
not prepared to accede to that portion of the measure which
had reference to the Act of 1829. He would support the
second reading, reserving to himself the right of dissenting
from certain portions of the Bill in a future stage.
After a few words from Mr.eLadiAnlgV., in which he stated that
he would oppose the second reading.
Lord ARUNDEL thanked the Hon. and Learned Member
for the introduction of this measure, and the Right Hon.
the Member for Edinburgh for his able support of it.
Mr. GOULBURN would vote against the second reading.
He would have no hesitation in assenting to a portion of the
Mr. WATSON trusted that in Committee he should fully
satisfy both the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) and the
mßileal,anbruetthneitcaopulrdesennottahcoanpce.ede the propriety of passing the
Right Hon. the Paymaster of the Forces.
jiSetrheetrheeanpopoedaerreedd_
F to withdraw, and the House
divided,tzeappeared—
For
twe
hr hn
es w
original motion lO2
For the amendment
Majority in favour of the second reading... —3
TENANT RIGHT BILL.
e

NORTHERN COUNTIES' RAIL-
WAY.—(THIS DAY.)
The ordinary half-yearly meeting of the shareholders in
this railway wes held to-day at the London Tavern, Bishops-
gate-street ; Major Beresfoß in the chair.
The SECRETARY, having read the advertisement calling
the meeting, submitted the report of the directors, from
which we make the following extracts:—
" At the meeting held last month your directors reported
to you fully on the position of the company, and on the pro-
gress made towards carrying out the resolutions of the first
general meeting; they have now to add, that the Deviation
Bill then authorised is proceeding in the House of Commons;
and your directors look forward with confidence, after the
strong expression of the shareholders in its favour, to the
sanction of Parliament being given to the measure.
"Your directors have made the necessary arrangements for
commencing active operations in the spring on the portion of
the line from Wath up Wensleydale, and from Tebay to the
junction of the main line. Your directors deem it advisable
to execute the line from Watt' to Leyburn (which is of easy
construction) without delay, that advantage may be taken
of the opening of the Leeds and Thirsk line, to secure the
traffic from the district of Wensleydale to Leeds and the
south, which your directors confidently trust will of itself
afford you an early and remunerative return for the outlay.
" To commence this part of the undertaking a call on the
shareholders will be necessary, which your directors now
propose at the rate of 1/. 10s. per share, payable on the 17th
of April.

"The general Act requires that one-third of the directors
should retire by ballot, and the names ballotted out are—
W. Beresford, Esq., M.P., IL Pease, Esq., W. R. Collett,
Esq., M.P., Christopher Other, Esq., John Whitwell, Esq., J.
Middleton, Esq.
" Those who retire are, however, eligible, and the board
recommend their re-election.
" One of the auditors elected at the first meeting having
also to retire by rotation, Richard Dutton, Esq., retires, but
the Board recommend his re-election.
" The deputation appointed at the last meeting to treat
with the Liverpool, Manchester, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Junction Railway Company have made their report on the
subject of the amalgamation, which the Board recommend
yonr consideration.

"-The balance-sheet of the company shows a balance of
cash in hand of 55,5101. is. Bd."

The Cu ItcuAN having commented on some of the points
referred to in the above report, concluded by moving that it
should be received, adopted, and circulated among the sub-
scribers. If any one had any questions to ask, he would be
happy to answer them.
A SHAREHOLDER then asked when the:report of the deputa-
tion appointed at the last meeting to treat with the Liverpwl,
Manchester, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne Junction Railway
Company, would be submitted to them?
The CHAIRMAN intimated, that if the proprietors pleased,
that should be done before the motion for the adoption of the
report was put to the meeting, and then proceeded to read
the report of the deputation as to the amalgamation.
Several other questions having been proposed and satit-
factorily answered, the motion was then unanimously
adopted.

Mr. S. CRAWFORD postponed till to-morrow the intro-
duction of his measure on the subject.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the
House adjourned at Six o'clock.

STATE OF TRADE.
MANCHESTER, TUESDAY, FEB. 23.—The slight indi-
cations of improvement in the market, to which we re-
ferred on Wednesday last, have become rather more
manifest and decided during the last few days ; and a
better feeling has prevailed upon the exchange to-day
than for several weeks past. In prices there is
no perceptible change for the better •, but the inqui-
ries, both for goods and yarn, have been very exten-
sive ; and in cases where spinners and manufacturers
have been willing to accept the low rates current last
week, they have little difficulty
in making sales. The
drooping and uncertain state of the cotton market, how.
ever, still induces great caution on the past of buyers,
and exercises an injurious influence upon prices. We
are glad to learn that the accounts received this week
from the United States, by the packet-ship Oxford, con-
tinue to be favourable. English manufactures were
selling readily, in considerable quantities, and at very
satisfactory rates. The mail from Brazil received by
the Peterel packet, brings to our merchants a further and
considerable amount of bills drawn on American account,
for the purchase of coffee and other Brazilian produce.
As the exports of coffee to the United States during the
last twelve months amounted to no less than 1,500,000
bags—being about 400,000 bags more than in any pre-
view year—and as these exports must be paid for, in
great measure, by bills on England, remittances of this
nature are likely to be large for some time to come.
ROCHDALE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22. —There has been
a better attendance of buyers to-day than last Monday,
but the business transacted has been very limited.
Wool remains firm, at last week's prices.
HALIFAX, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20.—We could not
observe any change for the better in the piece ball t-
day, nor does there seem to be any prospect of a speedy
improvement. The manufacturers, however continue to
run their machinery full time, which, as heavy stocks
are accumulating, they will not be able to do should the
pt.( sent depression remain unabated much longer. With
r,sp et t. yarti, f,,r low numb- rs the demand is
611 t qUeiltit for Ahirphig,
th,, rtirt)ci. impro.:o; N•rtNin w.thr:ilt
alteration. The sales of long wool continue very limited;
and the turn of the market is rather in favour of the

t this kind he should do it in a morn complete shape than
the present Bill presented. It was not consistent that the
Hon. and Learned Gentleman sh,.uld consult only the wishes

THE SUN, _LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRITARV 24, 1847

buyer. Short wools are somewhat more active, and are
a little easier to buy.
LEEDS, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23.—The busineess
done at our cloth halls to day, has been equally trifling
with that of last week. We hear, however, that the
manufacturers are rather better employed to ord r,
and that a brisker demand is anticipated next month
in various descriptions of woollens for the United States
markets."—Manchester Guardian.

UNIVERSITY REFORM.
(From the forthcoming Oxford Magatine).

"As water, whether it be the dew of heaven or the springs
of the earth, doth scatter and lose itself in the ground, ex-
cept it be collected into some receptacle, where it may by
union comfort and sustain itself; and, for that cause, the in-
dustry of man hath framed and made spring-heads, conduits,
cisterns, and pools; which men have accustomed likewise to
beautify and adorn with accomplishments of magnificence
and state, as well as of use and necessity. So knowledge,
whether it descend from divine inspiration or spring from
human sense, would soon perish and vanish to oblivion, if it
were not preserved in books, traditions, conferences, and
places appointed, as Universities, Colleges, and Schools for
the receipt and comforting the same."

The trusty squire of Don Quixote bad no misgivings what-
ever, touching his capacity for governing the island, whxl,
the all-conquering knight of La Mancha was, in due course,
to confer upon him. In this respect
worthy Sancho is no bad
representative of many hopeful and well-meaning men of
these days. They think reform is "as easy as lying" to the
liar. The best men are often most open to these delusions.
Honest themselves, and desirous of conforming everything
to the rule of right, they think, that it is only necessary to
show that an evil exists, in order to secure the application of
a remedy.
Experience, however, has shown how visionary such plea-
sant expectations are. Wrongs are rarely, perhaps never,
redressed by logic. Moral force is not yet so irresistible as
amiable enthusiasts would have us hope and believe. If this
be so in respect to the reform of glaring and notorious evils,
much more is it so with the less obtrusive, but more dan-
gerous ills which affect the vitality of nations.
Injustice and exactions, which press upon the millions,
after being long endured and struggled against, are thrown
off by convulsive throes and a dangerous crisis.
Wrongs which affect the moneyed interests, the commer-
cial enterprise of wealthy classes, are comparatively short-
lived. But evils against which the excited passions of the
wronged many, or the resentment of a powerful class cannot
be pointedly directed, are long-lived.
And of this class are the evils of our public schools and
universities. Parliament may be reformed, and being re-
formed, may be argued and coerced into the repeal of a law
hateful as the sanction cf a bread tax. University reform—
public and grammar-school reform, is quite a different mat-
ter. Amidst all the talk of " education," the meaning of
the word is not yet understood. What education can, and
what it cannot do for the moral elevation of a people is by no
means strictly defined. It is not yet felt., that the nation
cannot live on bread alone, or what is required for its perfect
development. It is not fat that both the heart and the brain
of the nation require nutriment in order to give vital force to
the body politic, and, that the mere husks of educational
forms are insufficient.

But though there is not a distinct appreciation of what
education is, and what it is not, yet the confirmed dis-
cussion of the subject renders the present time most
favourable to a movement fur university reform ; and a
well-constituted royal commhsion would be hailed with de-
light. The public ear is open to any who shall address it in
clear tones, with lofty aims, with an appreciation of the diffi-
culties to be overcome, as well as the glorious object to be
attained.

The difficulties are neither few nor small. The public
mind is but partially enlightened on the subject. A large
majority of our legislators view public schools and univer-
sities, through a false medium. They see the school co
university at which their youth was spent through an at-
mosphere of poetry. To them it is scarcely less than irre-
verence to think of defect either in the constitution or the
working of institutions which, by a mischievous deluiive
figure, is personified to them as a mother.
Then there is little to be hoped for from within the
universities. It is not surprising that with possession, a
feeling of absolute, personal, exclusive right should grow up
in the minds of the few who have, and the larger number who
expect to have, wealth, honours, and social distinctions under
this exclusive system.
There is also the further disadvantage, that the sense of
responsibility, political and religious (using the terms in then
largest sense and as almost synonymous), is deadened, if not
lust, in men who are associated as a privileged body : so that
it has come to be a proverb, that corporations have neither
bodies to be kicked, nor souls to be damned.
Yet, as we have said, the times are favourable to the great
and holy enterprise of making the universities and public
schools national institutions in truth and reality, part of
the national life, and working to the more perfect develop.
ment of the national mind.

A great preparatory work has been done, and that uncon-
sciously. Within a recent period the heriditary, instinctive
confidence of the nation in the universities has been broken
by painful revelations. The nation has been compelled t,
believe, what once it would fain have rejected, as a mon
strous libel. The nation has been compelled to accept as a
fact, that for years the universities have been the seat of a
dangerous, and too successful conspiracy against the faith of
which they were supposed to be the bulwarks. Everywhere
throughout the land a newly-ordained graduate is received
with well-founded distrust; all the while no correcting or
opposing influence is seen in operation; and the faithfulness
and the power of academical rulers is alike doubted. The
conviction has spread that there is not health enough left in
the system to throw off the fatal and pervading taint. The
public is prepared to hear, and to assent to the declaration,
that the leprous house must be taken down.
This on purely religious grounds: but the idea of univer-
sity reform must be both comprehensive and minute. Organic
principles must be broadly laid down, and all details be
worked out in accordance with them.
It cannot be suffered that statutes of founders, which
time may have repealed, should sometimes be held to be
binding by fellows of societies, and other times at their ca-
price held to be naught, to the deadening of moral feeling.
It cannot be, that instead of a university, we should have a
mere collection of classical and mathematical schools, carried
on for the advantage of the separate societies which hold
these establishments. Professorial chairs cannot remain un-
tenanted, even by the ghosts of the past. Revealed religion
and natural science cannot be for ever banished from Oxford.
The universities wait for reform. The intellect and the
piety, and the patriotism of the nation say, Reform ! and
there must, there will be reform, and perhaps the larger and
more complete for being deferred. We can afford to wait.
There is a great work to be done, and it cannot be that
men will be wanting for the glorious labour.

PUBLIC INCOME AND EXPENDI

TUBE.
An account of the total amount of the public revenue
received into and expended from the Exchequer, and
the balances remaining at the close of each year from 1836
to 1846 inclusive, was ordered by the House of Commons to
be printed on the 19th instant.
It appears that in 1836 there was a surplus of income
amounting to 2,130,0921., after which year, up to 1843, whet,
Sir R. Peel's financial reforms had begun to take effe. t, there
was a regular annual deficiency of income, amounting alto-
gether to the sum of 10,188,6571.
Since 1843 there has Seen an equally regular surplus of
income, which at present amounts in the gross to the sum of
11,463,3601. ; so that the former deficiency is now completely
covered, and a balance left in favour of the Exchequer of
1,274,7031.
The total amount of income received into the Exchequei
during the past year, 1846, was 53,790,1351., and the total
expenditure therefrom, 50,943,830/., including 28,077,987/.
for the annual charge on the funded and unfunded debt;
2,736,807/. for other charges on the Consolidated Fund ;
16,864,697/. for the army, navy, and ordnance services; and
3,264,339/. for miscellaneous services, leaving a surplus of
income amounting to 2,846,308/. In 1845 the excess of in-
come was 3,817,6421., the receipts having amounted to
53,060,354 L, and the expenditure to 49,242,712/.
The gross total estimated amount of the taxes repealed of
reduced during the above-mentioned decennial period it
10,042,4141.; the principal items being pepper, sugar, paper
spirits, licenses, newspaper stamps, postage, coffee, timber,
export duties, Customs duties, Irish spirits, marine in-
sarances, cotton• wool, coals (export duty), glass, auctions,
corn, and provisions, &c.
The total amount of the new taxes concurrently imposed,
is 7,940,993/., the principal items being the income tax,
which alone contributes 5,100,000/., and the increase of 5
per cent. on the Customs and Excise proposed in 1840 by
Mr. Baring.
The capital of the funded and unfunded debt now attount,
to 782,918,984/.—viz., 764,608,284/. for the funded, and
18,310,700/. for the unfunded, debt.
The balance in the Exchequer at the close of the year
(1846) amounted to the sum of 9,131,282/. Such are the
interesting particulars which have been gleaned from this
return.

SUDDEN AND AFFECTING DEATH.—The sudden
and affecting death of Mr. Charles Thornton Cunningham,
Lieutenant-Governor of St. Christopher's and of the Lee-
ward Islands, is announced in the West Indian papers which
have just arrived. It appears that this gentleman had
driven in from the countrylo Basseterre, the seat of Govern-
ment, in apparently vigorous health and cheerful spirits, to
open the newly-elected Houses of Legislature. After trans-
acting, some business with his private secretary, and
dispatching a note to invite some officers in a French ship
of war just come into port to luncheon at Government-
house, he rode down to the mail-office, to meet his let-
ters, and a box containing a picture of a much-beloved
sister, recently deceased in England. He had stated to
more than one person, that his earnest desire to possess
the picture was not unmixed with fear as to the effect
the sight of it might produce upon him. So strongly
had this apprehension fastened itself on his mind, that,
on the arrival of the box at the Government-house,
he sent a servant in quest of a friend who might be with
him when the box was opened. Having failed in find-
ing him, he proceeded to open the box His butler, who was
present, reports that he looked at the countenance earnestly,
turned pale, whispered a few words to himself, walked
hastily up to his own room, was heard almost instantly to
fall as he entered it, and his servants following upstairs
found him stretched on the floor a corpse. The St. Christo-
pher's Gazette, as well as many other public and private
communications, bear the strongest testimony to the ability,
vigour, and high moral character of this gentleman, and to
the tenderness and munificence with which at all times, and
especially under a recent heavy visitation of Island fever, he
had ministered to the wants and sorrows of the negro popula-
tion. The Houses of Assembly met immediately after his
death, and passed an unanimous vote for a funeral at the
public expense, to testify, as they expressed it, at once their
respect for his official rank and the high esteem in which he
was held by all classes of the community. On the next day
he was followed to the grave by all the public authorities,
the members of the two llouses, the most distinguished per-
sons in the colony, and by thousands of grateful and mourn
-
ing Legroes, to whose welfare he bad largely contributed.esin
Mr. Cunningham assumed the Government of St. K
May, 1839, and fell a victim, as his physician states, partly
"to the exhausting influence of tropical climatesou the
nervous powers," and partly to the intensity of brotherly
affection, in the 36th year of his age.
MONEY MARKET.—The premium on gold at Paris is
10 per mille, which, at the English Mint,es
apnri
ecexchange of 3/. 175.0 f
1014 d. per ounce for standard gold,
Lt
25.40; and the exchange at Parisondon at short being
25.27 i, it follows that gold is 0.49 per cent. dearer in Paris
than in London. By advices from Hamburgh the price of gold
is 431 per mark, which, at the English Mint price of 31. 17s.
1014 d. per ounce for standard gold,. gives an exchange of
13.8; and the exchange at Hamburgh on London at short
being 13.6, it follows that gold is 0.93 per cent. dearer in
Hamburgh than in London. The course of exchange at New
York on London is 101 i per cent., and the par cf exchange
• • IQ', T •
1;;T:71.1. , ,
r!,; 7! . - ti;. ,!Lz,is.st
.1 : hi, .2yew iolh being for
bills at 60 days' sight, the interest must be deducted from
the above difference.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
NaIi7'HERN ClRCUlT.—Carlisie, Feb. 22.
The assizes for the county of Cumberland commenced
here this morning. Their Lordships sat at ten o'clock. Mr.
Baron Alderson presided in the Crown Court, and Mr. Baron
Rolfe on the Civil aide. There are nine causes enter( d fur
trial. The calendar contains the names of twenty prisoners.
Of these one stands charged with murder, four with bur•
glary, one with forgery, and one with cutting and wounding.
The other offences in the calendar are cases of petty theft.
(Before Mr. Baron ALDEnsox.)
His Lordship during the day disposed of a large number
of the minor cases; which presented no point of public in-
terest.

Francis Wardrop was indicted for stabbing James Wright,
at Longtown, with intent to do him some grievous bodily
harm.

➢lr. Fawcett conducted the prosecution ; Mr. James ap
peared for the defence.

It appeared that on the night when the occurrence took
place, which resulted in this indictment, a nephew of the
prisoner was at a late hour in the streets of Longtown, and
a scuffle arose between him and the prosecutor. While the
affray was going on, some one ran to the prisoner's house,
and told him of what was taking place. He was just about
retiring to bed, having fastened up his house for the night.
On hearing the alarm, however, he immediately came down
stairs, and ran along the street to the spot where the prose-
cutor was. He called out, " Where's Wright?" and upon
IViight answering, the prisoner said, " Are you a man? I'm
prepared for you." Wright said he would have a turn with
him; and, after some high words, both squared for the pur-
pose of fighting. In the first round the prosecutor had the
advantage, and the prisoner was knocked down. He ruse up
again, and the fight recommenced. Daring the second round
the prosecutor received a blow on the left breast, which was
accompanied by a sharp pain as if he were wounded. Hi
continued the fight, however, and again felt a similar sense.
tioti on his side, and, as he turned round, received a similar
blow on the back. He gave the alarm that the prisoner had
a knife, and some of the bystanders interfering, a fork with-
out a handle was taken from the prisoner's hand. It was
then bent nearly at right angles. On the prosecutor being
examined by a surgeon, it was found he had been stabbed
with such an instrument on the breast, in the side, and near
the spine.
Mr. JAMES addressed the jury for the defence, and stated
he would call witnesses to show that the fork in question was
used by the prisoner for the purpose of fastening his door.
He urged that, being suddenly called from his house by the
alarm of his nephew's danger, he had hastily withdrawn
this instrument from the latch, and ran to the place where
the affray was taking place, when he had joined in the con-
test without recollecting what he had in his hand.
Verdict—Guilty of a common assault.
To be imprisoned one week.
Elizabeth APBurnie was indicted for having broken into the
dwelling house of Francis Lawry, at Maryport, and stolen
therein 30 sovereigns and one W. note.
Mr. Gregg and Mi. James for the prosecution; Mr. Rum-
shay for the defence.
According to the case for the prosecution, the prisoner and
the prosecutor both resided in King-street, in the town of
Maryport, within three doors of each other. Mr. Lawry was
the master of a vessel called the Ben Brace, a collier, plying
from Maryport to Belfast. The prisoner's husband was a
sailor on board that vessel. and she herself was frequently in
Mr. Lawry's house, and had opportunities of being well ac-
quainted with the localities. In the course of November last
she was in the kitchen at Mr. Lawry's when he handed Mrs.
Lawry the money in question belonging to the ship, and she
heard Mrs. Lawry direct her daughter (by a former husband,
and who resided with them) to take it up stairs and put it in
the drawers in her room. In January last Mr. Lawry and
his wife both sailed in the Ben Brace on a voyage to Belfast,
leaving the house in charge of Miss Mounsey, the only other
inmate being a young child about six years of age. On Sun-
day, the 17th of January, Miss Mounsey went to church at
the usual hour. Before going, she went up to the drawer
where she bad put the money, for the purpose of getting her
prayer-book.- She lifted, up a glove box in which the money
was deposited, and by its weight was aware that the money
was then in it. In the same drawer was a savings' bank box,
containing some money, and that also was safe. On her
return from church all seemed to be as she had left
it, and she retired to bed about nine o'clock.
The following day she had occasion again to go to the
Irawer for the purpose of getting some of the savings'
bank monev, aud, on applying . the key, she found
he lock had been forced off and was lying in the
'hewer. The lid was off the glove box, and the money gone.
.-ihe immediately ran into the prisoner's house, crying out
hat she was robbed, on which the prisoner Immediately
said, " Oh, is it the ship money?" The prisoner returned
with Miss Mounsey to the house, and, by her request, went
for a policeman. Oa his coining, some discussion took place
unong the women who by this time had assembled, at the
house, on which the prisoner took the policeman aside,
end told him that he had better look after some sus-
picious characters at Mooney's, a house in the neigh-
bourhood, where trampers were in the habit of lodging. She
:ssigned, however, no reason for her suspicion. The next
day she called on Miss Mounsey, and told her she had not
been able to sleep all night. iOn the evening of Wednesday,
about six o'clock, Miss Mounsey's aunt called upon her and
`emained with her till half-past seven, in company with Miss
-3nowden, an acquaintance. While they were sitting together
hey heard the latch of the back door lifted, but no olie
came in, and after some delay, caused by their feeling same
alarm, Miss Mounsey and Miss Snowden went to the door.
There was no one there, but on looking out into the yard
they saw a small bundle lying near the door, and on exa-
al Legit they found, wrapped up in some rags and a piece
of cheamis leather, twenty-five sovereigns and the missing
note. While they were looking over the money a person of
the name of Waddington came in and remained a few
minutes, and while she was leaving the house a person of the
name of Benn came in, the bearer of a message from the
prisoner, to inquire if it was true that the money was found,
here baying, as it was alleged, been in the interval no
means by which she could legitimately become possessed of
the knowledge.
The further evidence against the prisoner went to show
that she had been seen, just about the hour when the money
was found, walking backwards and forwards, opposite the pas-
sage leading to Mr. Lawry's back door; that she had entered
the yard, remained there but a few seconds, not sufficient to
enable her to enter the house, and then hastily went away.
The person, however, who deposed to this fact, stated, that
the prisoner had on a light-coloured gown, hut it appeared
from other testimony that the gown she had on that evening
was of a dark colour.

Mr. RAMSHAY addressed the jury for the defence, and
called witnesses to show that the fact of the money having
been found had transpilvd, and was known to several parties,
before the time when the prisoner sent the message by Been.
One of these, a person by the name of Hodgson, had in-
formed her of it, having heard it from some of the persons
who had been in ➢lr. Lawry's house.
The prisoner was Acquitted.

MUNIFICENCE OF THE MILLOCRACY.—" Proud of
of my heritage indeed ;I am more—l love it, I reverence it
with the fondest affection, and bless the accident that made
file a Manchester man. In less than three years the noble-
,pirited inhabitants of Manchester—a mere provincial town
—have given away, out of their own earnings, upwards of
three hundred thousand pounds! Oh! how hard-hearted,
selfish, and grasping are the cottonocracy. What ducal
country can vie with such a town? Whei ever I may dwell,
I shall always look back with the fondest remembrance to
illy native town, raised, as it has been, by the gigantic
efforts of the sons of toil to the honourable position of the
first commercial town in Europe."—From John Easby's :Vents
STOCK OF CORN IN DUBLIN.-8o unusually large
is the stock of corn at present in the Custom-house Stores in
Dublin that no room exists for a further supply, nor can
here be any more warehoused there until a new loft in one
of the large stores, which is at prerent being erected, shall
have been completed.—Pilot.
PROVISIONS FROM THE UNITED STATES.—The
Oxford and Orphan, from New York, Richard Anderson
from Baltimore, Defence and Radius from Charleston, and
Larne from New Orleans, which were reported at Liverpool
on the 22d inst., bring 8,091 barrels of flour, 8,608 bags and
and 36,474 bushels of Indian corn, 2,108 barrels of Indian
corn meal, 657 tierces of rice, and 209 boxes of biscuit.

'IMPERIAL PA LIA iIEN T.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 23.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack at
Five o'clock.
DESTITUTE PERSONS (IRELAND) BILL.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE moved the order of the
day for the third reading of the Destitute Persons (Ireland)
Bill.

Lord BROUGHAM said that he had already stated what
he conceived would be the nece,sery consequences of this
measure. Among the other objections that might be urged to
this measure was, that there were three official bodies con-
stituted to carry out the details of it. The relief commission
was the one to which he wished to call the attention
of the House. There was no power given under the
provisions of the Act to appoint one of the commissioners
a member of the committee. It only said that it should be
lawful fer the Lord-Lieutenant to nominate certain parties. It
only gave power to the Lord-Lieutenant to specify by a general
or special order applicable to the cave of the parties, but it
did not make it imperative upon him to say what the number
should be.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY complained of the
attacks which the Noble and Learned Lord who had jest sat
down was in the habit of making against the Irish landlords,
for a more kirid-hearted, more just, or more beneficient body
of individuals did not exist in the empire. Their gene-
rosity at the present emergency could not be described, and
he would not venture to assert that the assistance they
had given had contributed much to alleviate the calamity.
If the Noble and Learned Lord was so adverse to persons
spending their money abroad, why did he not carry out his wn
argument and not spend his money in France.—( Hear, hear.)
He repeated that the Irish landlords were a most beneficent
class of persons. He admitted that: the want of resident
country However,
if I
orsin Ireland caiuishsed
imanudeihnrds were
of thedep
unhappinessreented ininththaet
wttydtihdeyenhnasdidbereetnh,
atthtehiresetentnaenetssurwesouldigbhetcohmayee
beendissatismfioedre.
Hs
maturely weighed. By these frequent animadversions the
Irish tenants were taught to look unfavourably upon their
landlords. He considered that the Noble Lord should not
have undertaken the Government vrithout re-enacting the
Arms Registration Act. At the present moment the pea-
santry were parading the country in large bodies with arms.
He was satisfied that they must now extend the poor-law
system to Ireland, for the guardians appointed under it were the
wisest and best protectors both of poverty and property. He
was obliged to the House for their ottention to him on this
subject. It was one on which he felt very anxious, and he had
felt it his duty to state to the House his opinion that the
measure was one calculated to benefit Ireland.
Lord BROUGHAM begged leave to set the NoWe Marquis
right. The Noble Marquis had totally mistaken him, if he
was under the impression that he had meant any attack upon
the Irish people, or to run down the Irish, he could
assure the Noble marquis that he had no objection to the
measure as applied to the Irish in particular. He should have
the same objection to the measure if it were applied to the
Irish or Scotch. His objection had nothing to do with any
national peculiarity ; what he was averse to was the
system. He had no doubt that many of the measures
adopted were very munificent charities ; but his objection
applied to a great public measure. He had no objection to
Ireland, although he had not resided there any more than he
had ever pursued the diversion of bear hunting on the Con-
tinent.—( Laughter. )
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY said that, although
he was not present, he understoood that the Noble Lord had
attacked the Irish landlords. He objected to their habits, of
horses, equipages, servants, and wine—(A laugh)—and said
that they ought not to indulge in them. The Noble Lord
himself could go to France, and do as he pleased in
that respect, but there was no necessity for him to run down
the Irish proprietors.
Lord BROUGHAM could assure the Noble Marquis that
he never ran down an Irish proprietor any more than he ever
ran down—
°'A 4'+'e+'f.,,rn the 'Ministerial bench —" A ,T.

The Marsqui, of LANSDOWNE here tnvtie sow,- ,01 vu-
Lions, but in so low a tone of voice that they did not teach the
gallery.) With respect to the amendment that had been sug-
gested by his /Coble Friend opposite, it was one to which no