The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-21 00:00:00

should therefore move that the House do agree to the
resolution of the Committe, as follows :
" That the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means do examine all private Bills, whether opposed or
unopposed, and do call the attention of the House to all
parts relating thereto which may appear to his to re-
quire it.
" That there be furnished to the Chairman of the
Committee of Ways and Means, by the agents, copies
of all private Bills, copies of all amendments intended to
be introduced in Committee, copies of all Bills as
amended in Committee, and l►kewise copies of all amend-
ments made in the House of Lords, and of all amend-
ments to the Lords' amendments intended to be proposed
in the House of Commons.
" That the counsel to the Speaker, with such assist-
ance as may be found requisite, do aid the Chairman of
the Committee of Ways and Means in the discharge of
the above-mentioned duties." _

Sir R. INGLIS considered that when the subject
was brought before the Committee upon a former
occasion it was thought necessary to appoint a
second officer. He did not think that any one
person would be able to perform the duties thrown
upon him by the private business of the House.
He could not but regret that the Committee had not
taken into its favourable consideration the suggestion
which he had before made to the House.
It would be a great accommodation to the House
if breviates of all public as well as private Bills were
placed in the hands of Members. The only objec-
tion which he thought could result from such a
course would be that of placing too much reliance
upon the officer employed to make these breviates, and it
might also be alleged that Hon. Members might neg-
lect to perform that duty for which they were re-
sponsible, namely, to read through the Bills at
least before they gave their sanction to them. There
was another point which he wished to impress upon
the House, which was the necessity which he thought
existed for the appointment of a Deputy Speaker, who
might supply the place of ,the Hon. Speaker in cases
of sudden emergency, arising from indisposition and
other causes.
The resolutions were then unanimously agreed to.
JEWISH DISABILITIES.
Sir R. INGLIS presented several petitions against
the removal of the Jewish disabilities.
DENUNCIATIONS FROM THE ALTAR.
The Earl of ARUNDEL and SURREY presented
a petition from the borough of Arundel, praying the
House to adopt some measures to put an end to the
practice of denouncing persons from the altars by
Roman Catholic priests.
JEWISH DISABILITIES.

Colonel THOMPSON presented a petition in
avour of the removal of Jewish disabilities.
THE PRACTICE OP WAR.

An HON. MEMBER presented a petition from a
town in Norfolk against the practice of war.
RETURN FOR CARLOW.
Colonel DUNNE presented a petition praying the
House not to receive the petition presented by Captain
Layard against the return of Mr. Sadleir, for the
borough of Carlow, on the ground of several infor-
malities in the petition. One of the grounds of
informality was, that the petition did not set forth
that it was sworn " within the jurisdiction of the
magistrate" before whom it was sworn ; and another,
that the date of the petition was "the year of our
Lord 184."
COMMERCIAL DISTRESS.

Mr. SPOONER presented, in the absence of his
Hon. Colleague (Mr. Muntz), a petition agreed to at
a recent meeting held in the town of Birmingham,
which was chiefly attended by the working classes,
and at which a committee was appointed to carry
out the views enunciated at it. The petition com-
plained that great distress prevailed in the manufac-
turing districts, in consequence of the want of
employment, and expressing the fears of the
petitioners that the distress, in consequence,
was likely to increase, instead of diminish. They at-
tributed this to two causes—first, the sudden change
in our commercial policy, which repeated majorities
of that House during a long series of years
had declared to be sound. They did not
object to free trade in the abstract ;
but the sudden establishment of the prin-

ciple had led, they contended, to much of the evil of
which they complained. But they complained of a
still greater evil—viz., our unsound monetary sys-
tem. The immense number of bankruptcies had arisen
as much from a deficiency of capital as from the
defective state of the currency, and the large
exportation of bullion to purchase corn. As
the Committee on Commercial Distress would
be unable to report before some time could
elapse, the petitioners prayed the House to devise
some immediate remedies, such as passing a tempo-
rary measure, for the relief of the prevailing distress.
ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL.
Mr. C. ANSTEY presented a petition from
Youghal in favour of this Bill.
CHURCH-RATES.

Lord NU GENT presented a petition from a place
in Buckinghamshire, complaining that a person had
been committed to Aylesbury gaol for the non-pay-
ment ofsd., charged for church-rates. The petitioners
knew that the House could afford them no remedy
as they might offer bail ; but as this would not agree
with their conscientious scruples, they prayed the
House to repeal the laws under which church-rates
were collected.