The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-04 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

ROUSE OF LORDS, Arm]. 3.

IRISH MUNICIPAL CORPORATION BILL.

The Marquis of WESTMEATHpostponed TciTre-
sentation, of which he had given notice, of a petition from
Dublin. against the Irish Municipal Corporation Bill.
The Noble Marquis then presented several petitions
against the Bill from parishes in Dublin, and from inhabi-
tants of the city of Drogheda. The Noble Marquis pro-
ceeded to say there never was a time in the history of this
kingdom in which it more became the Ministers of the
Crown to look attentively to the nature of that Bill, and the
effects it was likely to produce on the peace of the empire
at large. He was satisfied that the Bill never had its
origin in a calm, dispassionatc,edisetiminating, or states-
mae-like consideration of all the bearings of the question.
If the Bill, as it was at present constituted, was passed
into a law, the connexion'between Great Britain and Ire-
land would be :weakened, if not destroyed, and the com-
mercial prosperity of Ireland rusted up.
The Earl of GALLOWAY presented petitions from
Wigtown, and two places in Wiltshire, against any altera-
tion in the Cora-la :s. It was not his intention to say
one word upon the Corn-laws, but he felt bound to say that
those who were agitating the country to such a frightful
degree upon this subject were revolutionising it at the ex-
pense of the landed interest.—(Hear, hear.) lie had
been informed that it was intended to F:et up an Associa-
tion, to be called the Land Redemption Society. The
parties who proposed it had quoted several verses from
Genesis to show that land was given by the Almighty to
to the people in common, and that they ought to resume
Hear, hoar.) And it was further proposed, as he
understood, that when they possessed themselves of the
land it was to be placed in the hands of Commissioners for
national purposes.—( Hear, hear.) This, in his opinicu,
showed that a spirit was abroad which required, what they
had not got, a united Ministry to put down.—( Hear.)
The Noble Earl concluded by expressing a hope that the
Government would elinquish the present course of cring-
ing to Radicals, and act on their independent opinions.
Lord MELBOURNE presented several petitions for a
repeal of the Corn-laws.
Their Lordships adjourned at Half-past Six.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, APRIL 3. •
The SPEAKER took the chair at five minutes before four
o'clock.

The Report of the Committee on the Birmingham
Canal Navigation Bill.

Mr. GREENE brcaght up the report on the Dublin
and Drogheda Railway. Parties were at liberty to pro-
ceed with the Bill.

Mr. M. PHILLIPS presented petitions against the
Corr-taws.

N:r. TlLESlGERpresentedpetitions from Nova Scotia
complaining of the alienation of Church lands in the colo-

nics of North America.
Mr. GREY presented several petitions praying for the
total and immediate repeal of the Corn-laws.
Mr. VIL LIERS presented similar petitions from Read-
ing, Lancaster, Grasmere, Wolverhampton, Birmingham,
Ulverston, Dunfermline, Stewarttown, Dundas. a congre-
gation of Protestant Dissenters, Worcester Baptist Cun-
t, negation, Stafford, Newcastle-on-Tyne, various classes
of artizans, and several bodies of Sunday-school teachers.
Forty-eight petitions in all.
Mr. DIVE.TT presented a petition from the Blackwell
Railway Company complaining of the mode of taxation on
railways, stating that the first-class passengers paid less
duty than second.class.
Mr. THORNE L Y presented a petition from Liverpool
praying the [louse not to sanction the removal of Hill
Coolies from Hindostan to the Mauritius. Also a petition
from Wolverhampton against any grant of money for the
purposes of Church Extension.
Mr. COD RI N GTo N presented a petition from Stroud
against any alteration ;n the Corn-laws.
Mr. ELLIOT presented a petition from Roxburgh
against intrusion of ministers.
Mi. T. DUNCOM BE presented three petitions from
diffirent places in Essex, complaining of the treatment of
John Thorogood, and praying for his release.
Lord ELIOT presented petitions from several parishes
in Cornwall against any alteration in the Corn-laws.
Mr. PA KINGTON presented petitions from parishes
in Durham, i.raying for Church Extension in Canada.
Mr. SANFORD presented a petition from: a parish
in Somerset, praying the [louse to adopt some measures
for the suppression of the Opium Trade in China.
C;pt. PECHELL presented a petition from a parish in
Sussex, praying for the appointment of a Select Com-
mittee to inquire into the operation of the Corn-laws.
Lord SANDON presented a petition from the Corpo-
ration of Liverpool, praying the House to take into its
consideration the laws affecting the importation of corn,
with a view to their alteration.—( Hear, hear.) Also a
peti ion from Kingston, in favour of Church Extension.
Mr. DASH WOOD presented a petition from a 'dace
in Buckinghamshire, in favour of a repeal of the Corn-
laws.

NIL. BARNEBY presented a potition from a place in
Worcester in favour of Church Extension.

Mr. BENETT presented a petition from a Poor-
law Union against the principle of assersing stocks-in-
trade for the poor-rate.
Sir CHARLES MURRAY presented a petition from
Dumfries against the principle of interfering on the
Chutch question in Scotland.

. .
Nlr. HU M E presented a number of petitions from the
parish of Covent Garden, and from places in Devon,
signed by agricultural labourers, praying for a repeal of
the present Corn-laws.
Lurd ASHLEY brought up the report from tie Corn-
mitt, e on Factories, and proposed that that Committee
should have leave to report from time to time.
Mr. FERGUSON presented a petition from the Pres-
bytery of D negal against the intrusion of Ministers to
the Church of Scotland.

Mr. HAWES presented thirty petitions in favour
of a repeal cf the Co..n-laws, from a parish in Glou-
cestershire, from parishes in Lincolnshire, Cheshire, and
other places.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL presented a petition
from Nottingham, signed by 2,997 persons, in favour of a
repeal of the Corn-laws.
Mr. BARRY presented a petition from a place in Cork
against a repeal of the Corn-laws.
Mr. EDWARD BULL E R presented several petitions
from places in Stafford, Leicester, and Derby, in favour of
a repeal of the Corn-laws.
Sir WM. FOLLETT presented petitions from the
Dean and Chapter and Archdeacon of Exeter, praying the
House not to adopt all the recommendations in the Report
of the Church Commissioners. _ . .

Mr. A. Smut! and Mr. E. ELLIS presented petitions
against the Corn-laws.
Mr. WOOD brouzlit up the Report on Public Petitions.
Mr. GISBORNE presented petitions praying fir
Church Extension.
CLERGY RESERVES.

Mr. PAKINGTON begged to ask the Noble Lord,
the Secretary for the Colonies, whether he had applied to

the Lax Officers of the Crown for their opinion, as to
whether the 30 days required by the Constitutional Act
of Canada, during which the Clergy Reserves Bill should
remain on the table of both Houses of Parliament, would
include the time during which both Houses were ad-
journed for the holidays.
Lord JO HN RUSSELL confessed that he had refrained
from putting the question to the Law Officers of the Crown,
because he considered it of a general and constitutional
nature ; and also, because he understood that it was intended
in the House of Lords to have the Bill referred for the
opinion of her Majesty's Judges.
Mr. PAKINGTON—Nut upon this point.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL—Whether or no he did not
think the question one which it was advisable to ask
of the law etlicers of the Crown. He had no hesitation
in saying that the opinion of the Government was
that the thirty days comprised any time during which the
House might be sitting, or might be adjourned by a reso-
lution of the House themselves. If the Parliament were
prorogued, of course that would not include thJ thirty
days, but, as lie had already stated on a former oc-
casion, he did not wish to take any advantage of the
period of time, or to advise the Crown to assent to the Bill
immediately after the thirty days had elapsed. He intended
to allow the fortnight during which it was probable the
House might be adjourned and also the thirty days required
by the Act, and then to take the opinion of the Law Offi-
cers of the Crown before he advised the Crown to give its
assent to the Bill.
Mr. PAKINGTON said he had another question to
put relative to a different subject. He wished to know
whether the Government was in possession of any further
information with regard to the ordinance of the
Governor-General of Canada, for which he had called a

Special Council on the 11 th November, with respect to the
incorporation of the Monks oLSaclte Sulpice, and whether
that ordinance would receive:Abe assent of the Imperial
Parliament. lie wished to. know whether memorials had
not been presented by the Landowners, in and about Mon-
treal, in opposition to the proposed arrangement.
Lord J. RUSSELL wished the Hnn. Gentleman had
given him notice of the question, as ho would have been
better prepared to answer it.
Mr. PAKINGTON said he had sent him a letter
that morning.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL had not received it. With
regard to that part of the question which related to the
ordinance passed by the Special Council under the pre-
sent Governor-General, he would remind the lion. Mem-
ber that there was a difference between that ordinance and
that of Sir J. Colborne, because when Sir J. Colborne's
ordinance arrived it was found he had exceeded his powers.
Thu present Governor-General had acted under the pro.
visions of the Act of Parliament, in which there was in-
troduced an express provision with regard to the reignorial
rights possessed by ecclesiastical bodies.—('The Noble
Lord then read the clause alluded to.) That provision had
been inserted in the Bill by the House of Lorda. The
Bill had passed the House of Commons with a general
provision only ; the House of Lords had inserted this special
provision, and the present Governor-General had acted
under the provisions of that Act of Parliament.
In answer to further questions from Mr. PA K ING-
TON, it was stated by Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
that, with regard to the subject being brought before
Parliament, the Governor-General had acted under the
power of the Parliament, in consequence of an express
provision introduced into the Act of Parliament by the
House of Lords.
Lord SANDON wished to know with regard to the
ordinance if it were intended that it should be allowed or
disallowed by her Nl2jesty's Government..
Lord J. RUSSELL said that the subject had not yet
been made matter of consideration, but he believed there
was no objection to the present ordinance.
ECCLESIASTICAL DUTIES AND REVENUES
BILL.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that if the debate on the
Corn-law Question closed to-night, be should on Monday
move the second reading of the Ecclesiastical Duties and
Revenues Bill.
MR. SHERIFF EVANS,
Lord J. RUSSELL. moved that the Order of the Day
for the attend•ence of Mr. Sheriff' Evans, on the Gth of
April, be now read.
The Order having been read,