The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-02 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 1t541.

-LONDON AND WESTMINSTER
BANK.
Notice is hereby given that the ANNUAL GENERAL
MEETING of the PROPRIETORS of this Company,
will be held at the Bank in Lothbury, on WEDNESDAY, the
3d of March next, at One o'Clock precisely, to DECLARE
a DIVIDEND, and for other purposes.
At this meeting three Directors, viz., Sir Thomas Fre-
mantle, Bart., William Haigh, Esq., and Joseph Esdaile, Esq ,
retire by rotation, but being elegible for re-election -.offer
themselves accordingly. 13y order of the LI mrd,
JAMES W. GIL BART, General Manager.
Lothlntry, Jan. 19, 1841.
The Books will be clo,ed to prepa e for the Dividend from
the 20th of February to the 10th of March.

ECONOMIC LIFE ASSURANCE
SOCIETY,
34, BRIDGE-STREET, BLACKFRIARS, LONDON.
Established 162.3.
Empowered b) Act of Parliament, 3 William IV.
LOWER RATES of PREMIUM than those at any other
Office that entitle the Assured to participate in the Profits, as
follow:

15 2l 25 130 40 1451 50

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, MARCH 1.

Their Lordships met at Five o'clock.
ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS—CASE OF

MR. BAINES.

Lord MONTEAGLE presented a petition from
Leicester for the liberation of Mr. W. Baines, and for an
alteration of the laws relating te)
The Marquis of NORMANBY laid on the table
the last Report of the Poor-law Commissioners.
The Bishop of EXETER presented a petition from
Carlow, against the Parliamentary gra-st to the Col-
lege of Maynooth.
The Earl of RIPON beamed to ask his Noble
Friend the Secretary• for the Home Department
whether there was any objection to lay on the table
of the House papers relating to the condition
of a new colony, known :by the name of
South Australia. That colony, es he understood,
had been formed on a new principle, and was to have
supported itself, but the managers of it had contrived
to incur a debt of upwards of 30,000/., which they had
no means on earth of paying. It was said that they in-
tended to call upon the pabhc to pay it ; and if that
was their intention, he (Lord Ripon) thought it desir-
able that their Lordships should hays some information
on the subject in the mean time.
The Marquis of NORNIANBY said that if his
Noble Friend would put his question in a definite form,
he would endeavour to lay the information desired
before the House.

Messr.E. Dugdale and Co., ealico•printers, Manchester,
in favour of the B.l', for the Extension of Copyright De-

signs.
Mr. HODGES presented a similar petition from Kent.
Sir R. PEEL presented a petition from a place in
StafTordAire in favour of Church Extension.
Mr. SOMERS presented a petition from Sligo in
favour of the Government Registration Bid.
Mr. HAWES presented a petition from Cambridge
against the power of the Poor-law Commissioners t,
comic' the appointment of Episcopal Chaplains to the
unions.

Sir G. SINCLAIR presented petitions from Scot-
land, praying for the abolition of Church Patronage
in that country.
CANTERBURY ELECTION.
The SPEAKER informed the House that one of the
sureties on the Canterbury petition was unobjectionable.
POOR LAWS.
Lord ELIOT gave notice that in Committee on
the Poor-law B It, he should move a clause that the
landlords of tenement; rated under 51. should be rated
to the Poor-laws instead of the occupiers, and certain
other clauses.
Sir E. KNATCHBULL begged to ask the Noble
Lord the Secretary for the Colonies, whether it was his
intention to bring on the Poor-law Continuance Bill on
Monday next, on which day it was fixed in the order
book. If it was not meant to bring it on on that day,
it would be convenient if the Noble Lord would state
what day it would be discussed ?
Sir J. RUSSELL did not propose to bring it on on
that day, but he would on Friday or Monday next state
on what day he would proceed with the Bill. The Noble
Lord was proceeding to address the House on another
subject, when he was interrupted by—
Sir JAS. GRAHAM, who said it would be more
convenient if the Noble Lord would answer a question
whictielie meant to put to him in the first instance.
The ?rouse Vsould recollect that in the year 1539
his Hon. and Learned Friend the Member for the Uni-
versity of Oxford, and an Hon. and Learned Gentleman,
the Member for the city of Oxford asked the Noble
Lord whether it. was the intention of the Government
to grant any pension to Lieutenant M'Cormick, of the
Royal Navy ; and the Noble Lord stated that the Go-
vernment had come to no resolution on the subject.
Now he found, by the Navy Estimates, which were
about to be referred to a Committee of Supply
that night, that a pension lea•I been granted to Lieute-
nant M'Cormick for wounds received in the servic •.
He wished to ask the Noble Lord what particular ser-
vice was it in which the wounds were received for
which the pension vs as granted, what was the date of
the Order in Council granting it, and whether be had
any objection to lay a copy of it on the table of the
House ?
Lcrd JOHN RUSSELL said that he would answer
the questions of the Right Honourable Gentleman as
precisely as he could. The services on .account
of which Lieutenant M‘Cormick had been recom-
mended for a pension to the Lords of the Admiralty
were performed by him under the command of the
superior Colonial authorities, in the capture of the
Caroline.—( Hear, lie ar.) That recommendatioa had
been made to the Lords of the Admiralty at the corn-
mencemeot of the last year. With regard to the Order
in Council, he was not sure of the date, but he would
have no objection to lay it before the House.
REGISTRATION OF VOTERS (IRELAND.)
Lord JOHN RUSSELL then rose, and said—He
was about to state the kteetions of her Majesty's Go-
vernment with respect to the Bid of his Noble
Friend the Cilia' Secretary for Irele.nd. He
had thought that subject t equired some further
consideration, and he was not prepared on the night
of the last division to state the intentions of the Go-
vernment. As the matter was one of so much import-
ance the House would allow him to explain in a les
words the reasons for the motion which he was going
to make to the House. The first consideration rel rted
to the general business of the House ; and on that
subject he had considered that they were now
arrived at the first day of March, and that the esti-
mates had not been yet voted, nor had the House gone
into a Committee of Supply. It was impossible to say
how long the discussions on going into Committee of
Supply and the debate on the estimates might occupy
the time of the House. It was likewise tes be con-
sidered that it would be very inconvenient to fix the
Committee for a Bill of the nature referred
to for some day on which it could not be conveniently
brought forward, in consequence of the E-Aiinates not
having been previously introduced. It would likewise,
continued the Noble Lord, be very inconvenient to
many Members to be summoned to a very full attend-
ance immediately preceding Easter, when very few
would be disposed to attend the House, and when any
debate in Committee could only lead to farther
postponemeot. These arc considerations effecting
the general business of the House as relates to the
present Bill ; but there are other considerations relating
to the Bill itself. If I were to consider merely the di-
vision which had taken place on Friday morning last,
and the 296 Members who were present to sore against
the second reading of my Noble Friend's I3:11, I should
be disposed to consider, were I to look to that
circumstance alone, that the measure was one
which could not in its subsequent stages obtain the
assent of the house. But the discussion on that
second reading would lead me to a very different con-
clusion. There were several Members who in stating
their determination to vote against the second reading
of the Bill did not dissent from what I consider the
general principle on which it is founded, v:z., its being
advisable to endeavour to fix the franchise for Ireland
by some clear and simple method, and at the same
time to amend the registration laws in that country.
The Duke of Wellington and Lord Lyndhurst had
both stated in the House of Peers that they considered
the rating test the best possible test of qualification
under the Municipal Corporations Act. I think, there-
fore, that it would likewise form the best criterion
of the test of the right of voting for Mem-
bers of Parliament. With respect, therefore, to the
adoption of this general principle, I see no rea-
son to delay the further consideration of this Bill; but
in order to fix the amount of the franchise, it is desir-
able that there should be, before the House proceeds
to further deliberation, further information as to the
valuation.—(Cheers and laughter front the Opposition.)
I am surprised at the feeling and sentiment which this
announcement seems to create in Hon. Gentlemen op-
posite,because I see on the benches opposite several Hon.
Gentlemen who spoke during the late discussion, a id
who made it the gist of their argument that, before they
could agree to the 101 test, it was absolutely necessary
that they should have further
.information as t r the
valuation. 'Therefore, when I stated that I proposed
to gratify the appetite for information, I cannot but be
surprised at the manner in which that announcement
was received.—(Loud cheers from the Ministerial
benches.) However that may be, I thick, in
common with my Honourable Friend the Secre-
tary for Ireland, that it would be desirable that
we should endeavour to obtain some further information
as to the manner in which the valuations have been made,
so as to ascertain, at least to a great extent, the propor-
tion per cent. which the valuation bears to the real value.
I do not think it will be necessary to defer the Bill to
any very long time to obtain this valuation. But I
think likewise that it is of the utmost importance
that the House should come to a calm and deliberate
consideration of the subject. I think that the forcing
on the part of the Government the assent of the House
to that peculiar qualification which they think best, or
on the other side a peremptory and abrupt rejection of
it, would be equally impol tie, and with regard to a Bill
likewho e this,verbears
concerningtire blamethe
of
whole
pl
roionntegriensgt ofin lirereLllanndei
unnecessarily the state of excitement which at present
exists there, would be deeply responsible to Ireland
and the country. I do not therefore propose to
delay the proceeding with this Bill beyond the
period when it can be fully considered. It is
of importance that it should go into Committee in
sufficient time for the Bill to pass this Session.
I should propose therefore to take the discussion in
Committee in the first week after the Easter holidays
—(Murmurs on the Conservative side, :and Ministe•
rial cheers)—and I propose that the Order of the
Day be now read, for the purpose of its being postponed,
And I should propose to postpone it till Friday, the
23d.—(Renewed murmurs.) I see the Hight Hon.
Gentleman, the Member for Montgomery, and some
others, seem to think that an unreasonable postpone-
ment, but my own opinion is, that to force on the dis-
cussion of this question without due consideration would
disappoint the feelings of the country.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord STANLEY immediately rose, and said—Sir,
I must confess that I share largely in the surprise—
(Tremendous cheering)—which has been expressed by
my Hon. Friends around and behind me, at the propo-
sition which has been made by the Noble Lord, and the
course which it is intended to pursue on the part of the
Government.—(Renewed cheering.) Not that we do
not think—for we have avowed it and declared it—
that the information on which the Noble Lord in-
tended to proceed with his Bill was so meagre and so
inconclusive as to be wholly insufficient for the foundio
tion of a measure of such importance—(Cheers)—not
that we do not think that the information, so far as it
ssee.t in its meagreness itse:f, would tend to destroy
the principle and the proportions of the Bill of the
Noble Lord ; but I at least do feel astonishment that
upon a subject of this immense importance, when
the Noble Lord himself presses upon us the
importance of the greatest consideration, the
greatest deliberation, and the greatest caution, at
the commencement of the Session, and before any