The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-18 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1846.

The Lord Chancellor took his seat on the Woolsask
Five o'clock.

Various petitions having been presented,
'f 1 e Earl of CLARENnoN moved for certain papers relating

to Oregon.
The Earl of ABERDEEN objected to go into any discussion
until the negotiations should be concluded, and assured the
House that the Government were disposed to adopt any
conciliators• measure consistent with national honour ; and
if they should he forced into a contest, he trusted the civi-
lised world would do justice to their endeavours to pre.
serve peace.

Lord BaotriaLtn, in common with every Christian, wank,
regret the occurrence of war. It was a thing to be avoided,
but certainly rct to be dreaded. The Noble and Learned
Lord then explained, with regard to the globe, publishec]
by Mr. lisiGnT, to which he alluded on a former occasion,
that Mr. EVERZTT, the Ameiican Minister, was not at at
to bk;me for the publication in question, which was a mere
itiblisher's speculation.
The motion was agreed to.

After a tillort conversation on the sulject of the eXpeaitiouF
manner in which the Bellerophon had been rigged, in thk
course of avh7ch high eulogiurns were passed on the officer.
d men concerned in the operation, the House adjourned.

The SrzAKLE, took the Chair at Four o'clock.
RELLv took the oaths and his seat for Limerick.
Several railway Bills were read a second time and ordered
to La committed.

Mr. LCCIMART then moved, pursuant to notice, that the
Committee on the Glasgow Waterworks Bill be again re-
, ival, and have leave to sit on Thursday at twelve o'clock.
rile lion. Member, in making the motion, said that he
compelled to do so in consequence of Members neg-
F.:ding to attend, and the promoters of the Bill being at
an expense of 400/. a day.

After a short discussion, the motion was agreed to.
Several petiions were presented against the reorganisation
of the Committee.
Mr. LABOUCHERE presented a petition from the Water
mln's Steam-packet Company, complaining of the course
p to them by the authorities of the city of London,
asking the House to institute an inquiry into their jariz.
diction on the river Thames.
Mr. Wyst!.. gave no:ice of his intention, on Tuesday next,
to move for leave to bring in a Bill to promote the extension
of art-unions.
Mr. OVCNNELL gave notice of his intention, on the sec)nd
reading of the Life and Property Protection (Irtland) Bill
to move certain resolutions.
Lord DUNCAN postponed to Tuesdly, the 31st of March,
his motion for the repeal of the window-tax.
On the motion for the further proceeding with the report
on the customs (the tariff) being put,
A
Mr. STFFOiII) O'BLZIEN took occasion to complain that
the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of the Government
had not proceeded with many of the measure that
had been promised at the commencement of the ses-
sion. He thought the House had a right to complain
of the manner in which the Right Hon. Baronet had brought,
or rather neglected to bring, what he called his great
t,cheme before the House. He was anxious to know when
the whole of the scheme was to be brought forward, and he
complained of the absence of the Right Hon. Baronet from
the House.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER raid that the ab-
simee of the Right Hon. Baronet arose from public business.
The measures that had been alluded to were in a state of pre-
paration, and would be brought forward immediately. There
was every disposition on the part of the Government
to put the House in possession of all these measures in order
that it might form its opinion upon them, but it was thought
desirable that the important aubje,tte now under conzidera-

Lion should have the full and undivided attention of the
House.
Sir J. GRAHAM, in answer to a question from Mr. Sane,
stated that ho intended to fix the first order day after the
second reading of the Corn Bill for the first reading of the
Life and Property Protection (Ireland) Bill.
The House then resumed the further consideration of the
report on the Customs Duties (tariff).
On the question that the duty be reduced on the item of
silk-worm gut,
Mr. CATLEY moved that the item be omitted.
After a short discussion,
Mr. CAYLEY withdrew his motion,
On the proposition for the reduction of the duty on for-
reign brandy,
Mr. Alderman THomrsoN moved that the words " spirits
or strong waters" be struck out. He maintained that it
would be much more beneficial to take the excise duty off
soap than do away the great income that was derived from
the duty on brandy.
Mr. EWAIRT supported the reduction, and expressed a
hepe that it would be an inducement to France to meet this
country in a similar spirit.
The Marquis of GRANBY was at a loss to know upon what
ground the reduction of the duty could be supported, and he
should therefore give it his most strenuous opposition.
Mr. CARDWELL supported the Government proposition,-
and after a short discussion the Hcusa divided, when the
original motion for the reduction was declared to be carried
by a majority of ; there being for the motion 64, and for
Alderman Thompson's amendment 35.
Upon the propositi:on fur taking off the duty on oxen,
bulls, &c.,
Mr. W. MILES opposed the motion, and moved as an
amendment the omission of the words oxen, cows, calves,
beef fresh and salted, but not hams; which, on a division,
was lost by a majority of 39.
The articles, foreign bides and linen, were afterwards
agreed to.
On the timber duties being proposed,
Lord G. BENTLNCK suggested that the further consideration
should be postponed till Monday.
On the suggestion of Sir R. PEEL,

Mr. PARKER postponed the consideration of his motion on
railway legislation.

The Coalwhippers' Act was then read a second time, anti
ordered to be comtnilted on Monday.
The other orders cf the day were then disposed of, and the
House adjourned at Twelve o'clock.

The Earls of CLARENDON cad ABERDEEN are men of the
most mild and amiable character, and no two statesmen
perhaps could be chosen to speak on the Oregon question
who could show a more peaceable disposition, or so much
moderation, or such a total absence of every appearance of
hostile feeling even towards the violent war party in America.
Their brief speeches last evening are perfect models in this
respect—they breathe only peace and good will to the mis-
guided men of the west, and even to Mr. Poug. and General
CAss, who have behaved towards England in a way that
might justly have called forth different language. Possibly
this moderation may have a different effect in
America from that intended, and in place of induc-
ing certain parties to follow the good example,
and act like Christians, may lead them, as we
find mild language has hitherto done, to rise in their
demands, and attribute the apparent submissiveness of Eng-
land to fear, or commercial interests, or some other motives
equally unbecoming a great and high-spirited nation. On
the other hand, such a course has its advantages in a moral
point of view, and cannot fail to make a favourable impres-
sion on every Continental Power. England, they must see,
has adopted a system in every respect different from that of
her antagonist. She has used no insulting language, made
no unreasonable demands. She has offered to settle the
dispute by negotiation, or reference to a third Power. She
has, in short, offered everything consistent with her honour.
Looking at the navy of this country, her vast wealth,
her almost inexhaustible resources, and the noble contest
she so long maintained against the most gigantic power
aver seen by Europe—such a peaceful attitude cannot fail to
make the deepest impression iu'favour of her rights, and ex-
hibit her in a light which may well excite the envy of the
world. We only trust that this moderation will not be car-
ried beyond the proper limits, and that Lord ABERDEEN will
not forget that there are bounds beyond which even the most
peaceable of her MAJESTY'S subjects could not be induced to
pass. The rights of the Hudson's Bay Company must be
preserved, the Columbia River cannot be surrendered, nor any
concession made which can interrupt a free communication with
the Pacific ; and it ought never to be forgotten that
by yielding to unreasonable demands we only the more en-
danger the blessings of peace. On these points Lord ABER-
DEEN said nothing—his remarks were all general, and his
hopes of an amicable settlement of the differences much
stronger, we fear, than those entertained by any other person.
" I cannot," he said, " bring myself to believe that any reason-
able doubt remains of our being able to bring this matter to a
satisfactory conclusion." He knows more than the public, and
the public in the mean time may take his word when he
assures them that the conduct of this great transaction will
be forbearing, conciliatory, moderate, and just, without any
sacrifice of honour or of the real interests of the country. We
only hope that he will never forget his own solemn declara-
tion, that "England has rights in the Oregon, and that she
is prepared to maintain them."

The tariff is not yet finished. We had hoped too much,
it appears, of the discretion and even of the humanity of
protectionist legislators. Though the Corn Bill is waiting
for the tariff, and none of the articles included in the tariff—
some of them of prime importance to a people suffering
from scarcity—can be admitted at the proposed reduced du-
ties till the whole report on the tariff has been received—
notwithstanding the appalling accounts of the march of
famine in Ireland, and the authoritative representations of
the injury done to all the commercial interests by the con-
tinuance of delay—the protectionist pop-guns still go on
popping, Lord GEORGE BENTINCK still goes on practising
himself into an orator at the expense of starving millions,
and Sir Joust TYEELL and Colonel Surrnoer making" merry
lescants on a nation's woes." When and how is all this
tomfoolery to end ?
The protectionists, it appears, had made up their mind not
to let the second reading of the Corn Bill pass till n'xt Fri•
day week. Lord G. BENTINCK has made up his book so as
to let the third reading be taken the last day that the House
of Commons will sit before Easter, that the Lords may not
begin a ith it till :after Easter, so as the protectionists can
calk, and will talk, and there is no shame in them.
Sir ROBERT PEEL has lost nothing by allowing the second
reading of the Corn Bill to be postponed till Monday next ; for
whether it comes en next Monday, or had come on last night,
in either case it had been settled by Lord GEORGE BENTINCK,
whose decrees are irrevocable, that the division should take
place on Friday week. And Lord GEORGE Besernscre, who
shows himself every night a great calculator, has calculated
that the debate on timber is to last six hours; so as the
douse were not unnaturally unwilling to sit for six hours,
from eleven o'clock last night, to begin work again at twelve
to-day, and as nothing is lost by letting the six hours' pro-
tectionist mooning on timber come off on Friday, on Friday
it is to come o 11; and then let us hope that the tariff will be
tieished, and the new duties come into operation on Satur-
lay morning.
This morning the Irish Fever Bill has been proceeded
with. The sentiments to which Mr. WAKLEY has given
expression in connexion with this Bill have, we think, been
most unjustly misrepresented, when he is ridiculed as pre-
scribing high diet for fever, and accused of throwing ob-
structions in the way of the cure of fever, by remonstrating
against a previous absence of measures for preventing it.
The frightful returns laid before Parliament, if they show
anything, show that the fever has its origin in want of food.
That is the Government case. It is a case universally
Assented to. The existence of scarcity has been long known,
its production of disease has been long foreseen. " Why,
then," asks Mr. WAKLEY, " have effectual measures not
been taken to supply food to the starving ?" And it is
not too late yet. Why are not effectual measures now taken
for providing every starving man, in whom starvation has
not yet produced disease, with food that may yet be in time
to prevent it? And Mr. WAKLEY lays hold of the defect
of the Irish poor-law system, which does not provide the
means of relieving the destitute immediately, without first
bringing him into the workhouse. Mr. P. SCROPE has also
ably enforced the necessity of making some alteration in the
provision of the Irish poor-law to meet the sad necessity
9f the present moment. This is not the time to cling to
theories, when starvation and death threaten on every
side. This is not the time to wait for the operation
if the measures introduced by the Government with a view to
providing employment, nor even for the distribution of those
supplies of food which the Government have collected, and
bythe collection of which Sir J. GRAHAM is so ready to
justify himself to his country and posterity, by a state of
things such as now exists in Ireland. The means should be
At hand in every parish of providing immediate relief to the
destitute, as it is provided by the relieving officers in Eng-
land. Till these means are given, the Government will not
have done all their duty. This is what Mr. WAKLEY has
urged upon the Government with his usual ability, and with
a benevolence of which one would have thought his public
life had afforded proof enough to protect him from the un-
handsome insinuations in which a Liberal paper has per-
mitted itself to indulge.

We alluded in our columns of yesterday to the promised
motion of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and entirely approved of its
postponement until the all-engrossing, the vitally important
topic of the day, the introduction of cheap food for the many,
shall have been safely carried through its various stages to a
triumphant termination, but we do not the less keenly feel
the
coll ilnperative necessity of an early and attentive investiga-
e
causescdiooounbittntetaolythi.e,rat, so large
a which have hitherto rendered so fair a
y
portionto r nin
h
o ft oure side donof G
in iroenas,t
Britain,
Irelandtinh
te
fer-
tileun-
source of ahembarrassment and difficulty.to the Government,
than (as undoubtedly she
of
eought to be) her great strength
and support. The Ireland have long suffered under
the blighting effects of misgovernmentttsha
hope that
tohpaptreassnieotny ex
n
tended through ages of iniarul
d
a brighter cra is dawning upon both n
abolition of all political distinctions, thetans
a removal
un-
equal and unjust laws, which have hitherto rendered
possessing so many high and noble qualities, so ready to focicoplpeople
and appreciate any kind (we should rather say just) acts,
dissatisfied and insubordinate, will restore it to us wsai;
integral portion of our nation rather than a province.
n d o
fthat a
all the
Never was there,a time when acts of concession, cfjustice on
our part could be rendered with a better grace. The visita-
tion cf PROVIDENCE has unhappily afflicted our Irish brethren
with all the horrors of famine and of pestilence, occasioned
by the deteriorated quality of the scanty provisions retained
for home consumption ; and this, be it remembered, at a
time when they are exporting to oar shores large quantities
of the finest description of esculents. Our Government, with
the emotion and approbation of persons of all

classes, varieties, and shades of politics through-
out the country, are anxiously seeking for and
ready to adopt any means to alleviate their distress—to
extend the warmest sympathy and the most disinterested
friendship to the sufferers—amply sufficient to testify to a
people of such high and generous impulses the true character
of our feelings, towards them—that we do not wish in any re-
spect to enact the part of a superior, but
in all things to make them part and parcel
of ourselves in full and perfect equality—that
we are actuated by a laudable and anxious desire to
remove their grievances and to render them complete justice,
to develope their energies, and to bring their great national
resources into full and perfect operation.
But much remains still to be done before this happy con-
summation can be attained, and gladly do we hail the exist-
ence of an improved spirit amongst our legislators in the
manner in which they discuss the affairs of our sister island.
Men of the highest and most exalted talent, of compre-
hensive intellect, have shaken off many of the antiquated
prejudices which formerly hung around them, and prevented
the free exercise of their faculties; they can now give full
liberty (unrestrained by considerations of party ) to their nobler
feelings; the Government, and many of the most intellectual
of what was formerly termed the Conservative party, have
happily emancipated themselves from the thraldom of the
more bigoted and intolerant of their associates, from the sup-
posed necessity of acting with whom, and keeping them-
selves united as a party, their better feelings were formerly
fettered and enchained. Already a measure has been brought
forward to sweep off the last remnants of the penal cede
which so long disgraced our statute-book, and it
was received with the almost unanimous approbation of the
House. True it is that some little opposition was manifested,
but it was of the faintest description, and appeared to have
been given rather as a protest against the measure than
with any well-grounded hope of resisting it in its progress.
Indeed, we should doubt the efficacy, the justice of any
measure which was not greeted by some such exhibition.
And now that this improved spirit is animating the
national councils we entertain the sanguine expectation
that but a short while will elapse before we shall witness its
happy fruits—that where discontent and anarchy now prevail,
contentment and peace will become their substitutes—where
poverty and its attendant miseries have attained a rank and
spurious growth, wealth and its cheerful adjuncts will supply
their place—where the assassin now lurks, the hardy and
peaceful yeoman will be found. And that Ireland at large,
hitherto writhing beneath the tortures of misrule, will soon
be converted into a thriving and prosperous portion of our
dominions, and in place of reproach, will reflect honour on
the British Legislature.

We have received Madrid journals of the 10th, which left
little doubt that a speedy change of Ministry was certain,
and this event, by no means unexpected, has bees confirmed
by an extraordinary express which reached Paris on Monday
night, announcing that on the 12th all the Ministers had
resigned. This is believed to be the work of CIIRLSTINA and
NARVAEZ ; for the moderation of the latter, ever since the
fall of MARTINEZ DE LA ROSA'S Cabinet, and the acquies-
cence of the QUEEN-M(yrnms in the change, were all feigned,
and displayed for some ulterior object of their plans. The
public absolutely know nothing, but strong and well-founded
suspicions are entertained that souse dark, mysterious scheme
is in operation for the marriage of the QUEEN to one not
acceptable to the Spanish nation. No doubt remains that a
new Cabinet will be formed with NARVAEZ as Chief Mi-
nister.

On the 10th the Three per Cents. closed at 293 at 30 days;
the Five per Cents., at 21i at 30 days; and the Coupons, at
231 at 30 days.

In the French Chamber of Deputies, on Monday, the de-
bate on the motion of M. REMUSAT relative to public func-
tionaries having seats in the Chamber had commenced, but
up to the hour of post it possessed no feature of the slightest
interest. A Committee had been appointed on M. ST.
PRIEST'S Bill for the reduction of the Five per Cent. Stock
Of the Members six are Ministerialists, and consequently in
favour of postponement, and the measure therefore may be
regarded as settled, at least, for this session. A Bill for granting
300,000 f. to the Minister of the Interior, for charitable pur-
poses, had been passed on a previous day almost unani-
mously. The late insurrection in Poland still forms the
principal topic in several of the journals, but the remarks upon
it are without either novelty or interest. The total amount
of subscriptions in Paris up to Saturday, was 43,000 f., and
those in the provinces already known were reckoned at 7,000 f,
making altogether 50,000 f. (2,0001.) We are glad to find
that the accounts received from the United States of the
manner in which the new tariff of Sir ROBERT PEEL was
received at New York and Washington, has given satisfac-
tion at Paris. This is a good sign for the continuation of
peace between England and France. War, even among
men that at one time belonged to the war party, is becoming
unfashionable, and the blessings of peace begin to be
estimated at their real value, The Constitutionnel,
adverting to the accuunts from America, says :—" They
afford an additional argument for the advocates of peace,
and the most powerful that can be urged in an American
assembly, for it is founded on self-interest; but the next ar-
rivals will tell us whether the impressions of the first day
were fugitive, or whether they have remained permanent in
the minds of the American statesmen." The arguments of
the (barrier Francais, a journal not partial to England,
might be put forth by any peace society in England. We
are much pressed for space, but the article is too good to be
abridged :
" It is long since political 'economists have said to their Govern-
ments—grant us commercial liberty, free trade with all nations, and
we in our turn guarantee to you, in the name of the science of which
we are the advocates, that the liberty which you bestow as a gift on
humanity, shall not meet an ungrateful return ; we guarantee that
it shall successively remove all the causes of trouble, disorder, and
antagonism, which it is your duty to combat and destroy ; we gua-
rantee to you that there shall one day reign in the world, that
golden age, which has been placed so mal-apropos in the past, and
which in the future is the golden age of peace. These eco-
nomists have been scarcely listened to, and if they have been,
it has been only with the intention of stigmatising their ideas
as dreams and utopian reveries. The first answer given was ' This
liberty is impossible. Nations have been always imparked within
their frontiers; they are accustomed to be separated, divided, dis-
united ; how then will you accustom them to unite and treat each
other as brothers ?' The economists have not replied to this, they
have done better ; they have allowed facts to speak for them-
selves ; they have shown populations drawn towards each other,
uniting themselves by the bonds of interest and sympathies,
and breaking by degrees those shackles which separated them ;
they have shown secieties formerly scattered, and forming
each a separate world, drawing towards each other in
such a manner as to form a great whole, the parts of which,
though distinct and different, are attached to each other by the In-
dissoluble bond of commercial relations. They have, in fine, pointed
out the conskntly increasing amount of the imports and exports of
each country, and have said, This is what will henceforth secure
peace. War will not take place when one nation depends on another
for its subsistence.' Events that are taking place on all sides prove
the correctness of the opinion of those who have been hitherto
designated as dreamers and utopians. The genius of war re-
coils before that of commercial liberty. We have, for instance,
just received from the United States accounts in which the
political economists will receive an admirable confirmation
of the excellence of their principles, in which they will find the an-
nouncement of a signal victory, which the application of their prin-
ciples is on the point of giving to the cause of peace. After remaining
for a month without any news from England, the Americans re-
ceived by the Cambria tha financial plan proposed by Sir Robert
Peel. This great measure which has put an end to the old system
pursued in England, and inaugurates in the world the era of commer-
cial liberty, has caused a complete revolution both at Washington
and at New York. All warlike ideas, even by the most
ardent adversaries of England, were immediately laid aside.
The language of the press, hitherto so threatening, has become
completely pacific. The Oregon question may be considered
to be, if not arranged, at least in a fair way of settlement. This,
we repeat, is a victory of which the friends of freedom have a just
right to be proud. In England, the accounts from America have
caused general satisfaction, except amongst the old protectionist
party. Fee this party, already half vanquished, and which will to-
morrow have disappeared, the blow is painful. If the news !from
America had not been favourable, the protectionists might perhaps
have succeeded in causing the postponement of the reform of the
corn-laws ; perhaps they might have succeeded in causing its re-
jection by the House of Lords. But how can they now struggle
against a measure which, by giving the people food at a cheap rate,
will secure peace to England? All opposition is henceforth impos-
sible."

The French Funds continued to improve on Monday ; the Three per
Cents. closed at 241. 40c.; the Five per Cents., 120 f. 45c.; the
Orleans Railroad shares, 1,340 f. ; Rotten, I,oBof. ' • Havre, 762 f. 50c.;
Great Northern, 796 f. 25c. ; Avignon, 1,0001.; Yierion, 7571. 50c. ;
Bordeaux, 685 f. ; Basle, 2501. ; Fampoux, 460 f. ; Dieppe, 4801.; Paris
and Strasburg, 5471. 50e. ; Tours and Nantes, 5761. 25e.; Paris and
Lyons, definitive, 6241. ; Spanish Three per Cents., 38.

The following are the quotations for other lines :
Lyons and Avignon Railroad (Talabot). 512 f. 50c. ; ditto (Le-
cointe), 506 f; ditto (Conapagnie 3feridionale), 5041. ; Bordeaux and
Cetta (Mackenzie), 503 f. ; ditto :(Espeleta), 504 f. ; Dijon and Mul-
haussen definitives, 565 f. Charleroi, 496 f. 75e.

LYONS, 31Ancu 14.—Paris and Orleans, 1,315 f..; Rouen, 1,050 f.
Viezrou, 755 f.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS 'AT THE

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, Masan 17.

Bordeaux, Tealouse, and Cette (Espeleta), 2 % —Dendra Volley,
IS —Dutch Rhenish, 6 —fireat Northern of France Constitated, 16
—Louvain and Jemappe, 1 —Js.ma'ca South Midland Junction,
2—Luxembourg, 13i —Namur and Liege, 3%—Rouen and Havre, 30
—tilambre . and Meuse, 4 —Tours and :Nantes Constituted, 7%.

CHANCERY.-(THIS DAY.)
The Lord Chancellor eat in Lincoln's Inn Hall to-day, and
heard appeals.

wiry:. V. nopsor.
The further arguments en this part heard appeal oc(sapied
his Lordship the whole morning.

VICE-CHANCERY.-(THIS DAY,)
(Before the VICE-CHANCELLOR Of ENGLAND.)
DUNCOMBE V. LEWIS AND LEVY.

This case stood on the paper to-day by special arrangement.
Mr. BETHEL!, at the sitting of the Court, stated that, so
far as the defendant Mrs. Levy was concerned, he would not
trouble his friend Mr. Wakefield to address the Court, as the
answer, he was bound to confess, was too strong for him. As
to the other defendant, Lewis, he had not seen his answer,
but he would look into it by to-morrow, and tell his Learned
Friend, Mr. Stuart, what he thought of it.
Mr. STUART thought that his Learned Friend, Mr. Bethell,
would find the answer of Lewis as strong as that put in by
Mrs. Levy.
Mr. WAKEFIELD—Then the order, as far as Mrs. Levy is
concerned, is made absolute?
Mr. BETHELL—Yes, and as to Lewis the case will stand
over till to-morrow.

ANDREWS V. LOCKWOOD.

The remainder of the morning was occupied with the
arguments in this case, which came before the Court upon a
plea to a bill of revival. The question in the case is merely
one relating to the practice of the Court, and presented no
feature cf the least public interest.

VIARLBRO-STREET.—(THIS DAY.)
Wm. Murray, James Smith, Thomas Munroe, Wm. Keefe,
Edward Barker, and Henry Dwyer, were charged with the
following outrage :
Between the hours of three and four o'clock yesterday
afternoon the prisoners, with a mob of about forty or fifty
others—the greater part of them armed with formidable
bludgeons—were parading St. Giles's, stopping every person
they met, and demanding that• money should be given them,
on account of its being " St. Patrick's-day." They also en-
tered several shops and demanded money, and on meeting with
a refusal they attempted to extort it by intimidation, brandish-
ing their bludgeons in a menacing manner, and threatening, if
money was not given to them, to break and destroy the
shop and the goods in it. In Dudley-street the prisoner
Barker struck a poor man who refused to give him a half-
penny. Ultimately the prisoners were secured by the police.
Dir. MALTBY asked if they were known? The police Aid.

they were all bad characters; some of them were convicted
thieves. _ _ _

They were ordered each to find two sureties in 151. for their
appearance at the SEssions, to answer any indictment that
might be preferred against them.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT,
(THIS DAY.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Twelve o'clock.
SUNDERLAND GAS BILL.
Mr. WA.WN moved that the Committee on the Sunder-
land Gas Bill have leave to proceed with two selected Mem-
bers, and to appoint another Chairman.
After considerable discussion amongst several Hon. Mem-
bars the motion was withdrawn.
SUNDERLAND DOCKS BILL.
Mr. BELL moved that the Committee on the Sunderland
Docks (re-committed) Bill have leave to proceed on Thurs-
day, at three o'clock, with two selected Members only.
The motion was agreed to.
SECOND READINGS.

The following Bills were read a second time, and ordered
to be committed, viz. :—Nottingham, Mansfield, ar.d i'did-
land
Junction Railway; Southampton Port and Harbour;
Somersetshire Midland Railway; Newcastle and Darlington
Junction Railway (Pontop and South Shields Railway Pur-
chase).
Captain PECHELL presented a petition praying the I louse
to appoint a select Committee to inquire into the justness of
the claims of the British Legion during the Spanish war.
POOR LAWS (IRELAND).
On the order of the day being read,
Mr. POULETT SCROPE said, perhaps he might be al-
lowed to express a few observations on the Irish poor-laws,
as he had had some experience on the subject. In 1827 the
first provision for the destitute poor of Ireland was first car-
ried into law. The machinery of the poor-law in Ireland
was nearly similar to what it was in England. They had a
regular set of officers—wardens similar to our relieving offi-
cers, and workhouses were attachod to each union. The sub-
stantial difference between the English and the Irish poor-
law consisted in the giving of in-door relief to
the paupers in England, which was not done in Ireland.
He hoped that the House would come to the opinion that the
first resource of the peeple of Ireland, after the failure of the
potato crop, was their crop of oats; and if that crop had
been properly managed, it would have been sufficient to pro-
vide against any emergency. He hoped the encouragement
afforde by Government to the importation of American
corn would be beneficial to Ireland, and that enough corn
would be speedily collected to meet the present necessity.
He had seen with great warm the enormous extent of
exports of oats and other kinds of corn which had taken
place from Ireland since the failure of the potato
croin He found on a reference to the returns, which
would be in the recollection of the House,
that up to the sth of February last the imports
of corn into England from Ireland amounted to 258,000 qrs.
of wheat, 701,000 cwt. of flour, and 82,000 qrs. of barley,
making, on a rough calculation, something worth nearly a
mil:ion of money. Nearly 1,000,000 qrs. of cats had been
exported from Ireland since the failure of the potato crop last
harvest, and that system of exportation was going on still.
We were now in the middle of March, and during the last six
weeks since the production of the returns, the exports had no
doubt been going on in the same ratio. He hoped, however,
that some means had been taken to store up the corn ex-
ported, so that the people of Ireland might still be enabled to
obtain the food they had been most used to. At
the time of the failure of the potato crop, an if it
had been especially ordained by Providence, there was
a most bountiful harvest of oats. Government had under-
taken to be responsible that the people in Ireland should not
starve, but they woule have done better to have left that
responsibility to the local authorities in Ireland. The
House had heard from the Right Hon. Baronet at the head
of the Government that he placed great reliance on the
voluntary subscriptions and assistance of the landowners.
That was a very brittle and frail dependence. He (Mr. I'.
Scrope) knew that in many districts the landlords certainly
did provide for their tenants; but there was a vast number of
districts where the landlords were receiving their full rent,
and would not return one farthing towards the support of their
tenantry. In the northern parts of Europe the first claim to
the pruduce of the soil was admitted to be with the people
who were engaged in producing it. He could not for a mo-
ment rely on the voluntary principle trusted to by the Right
Hon. Baronet, for even during the present state of distress
in Ireland, accounts reached them every day, that the evic-
tion of tenantry was still going on. Their cabins and
houses were levelled, and they themselves turned out to
swell the increasing mass of destitution and misery in the
towos of Ireland. He had just seen a statement of a most
harrowing descripion of what had taken place in Roscom-
mon. It stated the people were continually being turned
out from from their houses. He had himself read, no later
than yesterday, that 447 wretched beings had been ex-
pelled from their homes. In one case a man was lying ill
from a fever, and his entreaty, that the walls
of his hut should be allowed to stand, in erder that he might
have some shelter, was refused. In another cass, a poor
woman, with her child in her arms, was not allowed time to
escape from the hut, but as she was running out the beam
fell, and, as he (Mr. P. Scope) understood, killed her child in
her arms. It was to prevent these cases, and to introduce
the principle of compelling the landlords to take some means
of providing for their tenants that he stirred in the matter;
for while there were hundreds of these cases in progress it
was necessary to act. He would refer them to what took
place in Mullingar, where nineteen families were evicted from
their tenures, and in Mallow forty persons halt been expelled,
and prayers had been offered up in their chapel for patience
to enable them to bear their inflictions.

Sir J. GRAHAM asked where the Hon. Member obtained
his information ?

Mr. P. SCROPE said (as we understood) from the public
journals. He could, had he wished, have referred to num-
bers of blue books to prove the misery that existed, but he
did not think such a course necessary. The system had ex-
isted for years, and it was now time to give the people some
refuge and guarantee against starvation. Otherwise they
had no chance but to increase the number of harrow-
ing cases that had been already brought forward.
That would be the case if boards of guardians were compelled
to maintain their poor, but it was well known that in Ireland
such was not the case. In the report of the Poor-law Com-
missioners for 1845 there was a case of a men who had ap-
plied to the guardians of Carrick-on-Shannon, but was
refused every relief, and the consequence was that the
individual died on the highway, and remained a spectacle
during the whole of the following day (Sundae ). The Com-
missioners had very properly reprimanded the guardians on
that account, but they had not provided any adequate remedy
for the evil, and What he (Mr. Scrope) wished to see was a
compulsory power exercised to oblige the guardians to give
relief. He was aware that the workhouse was opened, but all
the workhouses in Ireland were totally inadequate to the
reception of the numerous applicants who would present
themselves for relief. All the workhouses together in Ireland
would not accommodate more than 9i,000 persons, and he
thought, therefore, that relief should be applied in the shape
of employment. To further such assistance they might bring
in a Bill for recovering the waste lands. net the bog land,
but the large quantity of waste lands which every
part of Ireland presented for cultivation. The
Members for Ireland might talk of confiscation arising
from the poor-rate. But what was it? Why, in Ireland
the poor-rate was enly Gd. in the pound, while in England it
was 2s.—(No, no.) No; why he had known in some in-
stances the poor-rate to amount to 10s., 125., and even 19s.
in one case. Such being the case, he thought the local
authorities ought to be called upon to assess an equal
rate upon all the inhabitants, and thus raise a fund
for providing that employment which, in this emergency,
wsjh.aoGsursladobaabbrneslolbuhsteaelLetndheecineostsathhries matter; but he believed that theyr day talked as if some mystery
. The Right Hon. Baronet (Sir
institution of a sound poor-law would save the necessity for
any such ur.candid proceeding, and would prevent all those
outrages by which the country was at present disgraced. He
did not ask for a permanent measure, but he did wish that
the burden should in the first place be thrown on the local
authorities, and then, according to circumstances, to provide
for the future. He believed that, even under the present
pressure of famine and want, the rate required would not
be more than elevenpence in the pound.
Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD, in seconding the motion,
said he did not rise for the purpose of offering the least
obstruction to the measures that had been introduced by her
Majesty's Ministers, but he felt it necessary on that occasion
to offer a few observations, as being connected with the sub-
ject. The Government had taken upon themselves the re-
sponsibility of providing for the wants and distresses of the
destitute people of Ireland, for which undertaking he gave
them every credit.—(Hear, hear.) They had substantial
proof, however, that the measures introduced by
the Government were not sufficient to meet the
exigencies of the people of that country.—(Hear, hear.)
If they were sufficient, why was it that they had so many
reports laid on the table of that House, all showing that
disease and famine were extending themselves?—(Hear.)
Such, he took for granted, wad a proof that the measures pro-
posed were insufficient. For a number of years past the
measures recommended by Committees and Commissions, in
reference to Ireland, had not been adopted by that House;
and his (Mr. Crawford's) opinion was, had they been attended
to and adopted, there would not exist the misery and distress
that at present prevailed in that country. Therefore, he felt
it was their duty to force on the Government the con-
sideration of those measures that had been suggested,
with a view to remedying those evils.—(Hear, hear.)
The Right Honourable Gentleman at the head of her Ma-
jesty's Government, in introducing his measure, stated that
it would be impossible for him to proceed without the aid of
local support; in fact, that he depended much on voluntary
help. Now, he (Mr. Crawford) did not mean to cast the
slightest imputation on the landlords or gentry of Ireland,
as he was aware that amongst them there were many kind-
hearted and benevolent gentlemen, but he should, at the same
time, say that he had not a doubt that many of them would
not come forward to do their duty by the people; and, there-
fore, it was the Government were called on to make a provi-
sion for such necessity. But be should also observe, if the
landlords were expected to do their duty, they should get
every facility for doing it.—(Hear, hear.) The measures
recommended to that House should be adopted, such as
giving relaxation of entail to tenants fir life, as a compensa-
tion for the improvements made by them.—(Hear. hear.)
For nearly two years the report of the Landlord and Tenant
Commission had be:n lying in abeyance, and nothing had
been done; and though Government had introduced Bills
for the amelioration of Ireland, yet he wanted to see a
power given for the general improvement of the country.—
(Hear.) The Bill at present before the House only pro-
vided for one description of disease (fever); it made no provi-
sion for the various other diseases mentioned in the reports.
There could be no doubt that the ejectments referred to
had also taken place ; and he therefore suggested that the
11 Government should take up the waste lands, which would
afford scope for the exercise of labour and yield ample re-
muneration to the labouring classes. It was necessary that
the Government should assume a bold front, and take upon
themselves the power of making such important alterations
with regard to the titles of land as the nature of the case re-
quired.—(Hear.) As to relieving the poor of Leland by the
application of the present system of poor-laws, it was
impossible; and unless the guardians were permitted to ad-
minister out-door relief under the authority of the Commis-
sioners, in such cases as the circumstances required, the diffi-
culties could never be remedied. He should conclude by
seconding the motion of the Hon. Gentleman who preceded
him.—(Hear, hear. )
Sir J. GRAHAM said that he felt he was labouring under
very many and great disadvantages in replying to the ob-
servations of Hon. Members on the subject of Ireland, in
consequence of the absence of his colleagues who were more
immediately connected with that country, but at the same
time he was anxious to state frankly to the House the opit
nions which he entertained with reference to the important
question which had, he thought, been rather unnecessarily
brought under discussion by the instruction which the Hon.
Member (Mr. P. Scrope) had put upon the paper. He at
the same time believed also that it was barely within the
rules of the House that such an instruction should be allowed
upon this question. This measure was exceedingly limited
in its nature, for although important, it was precise in its ob-
jects. It was for the temporary relief of cases of fever
arising from the present unhappy circumstances of Ireland,
and the construction which they must necessarily put on the
resolution of the lion. Member would rain the potion of ,

relief to not only the afflicted, but:to the able-bodied poor of
Ireland who were out of the union workhouses. His instruc-
tion was to relieve all the destitute poor out of the union
houses who might be in danger of perishing from want. .
Mr. POULETT SCROPE said that if the precise words
of his instructions did not sufficiently convey his meaning, he
had, he thought, sufficiently explained his wishes in the re-
marks he had afterwards made. W hat he wished was, that
the Government relief would be given in. the shape of work,
and not in the form of a bounty. He would be quite willing
to alter the words of his instruction.

Sir J. GRAHAM said that this uncertainty sys one of the
disadvantages of a departure from the rules of the House.
The proper course for the Hon. Member would have been to
have moved for leave to bring in a Bill to meet his wishes.
The Honourable Member, indeed, expressed his willing-
atess to . alter the framing of his instruction but that
would not amend the matter, for they were not that day
met to cansider the propriety of adding to or amending the
poor. law in Ireland, neither were they met to consider an-
other subject of great social importance, he meant the rela-
tions between landlords and tenants; for if they discussed
these questions they would be anticipating the motion of
hich the Noble Lord the Member for London had given
notice for after Easter, namely, the general condition
of the people of Ireland ; and it would be otherwise
imprudent to prematurely discuss these questions, inasmuch
as they lay at the root of all their difficulties respecting
Ireland. The time, he thought,- was unfit for considering
these important subjects, but he could not refrain from com-
menting upon one or two of the observations made by the
last two speekets. The Hon. Member who had introduced
this m-tion complained that the measure under considera-
tion had not been introduced sufficiently early, when they
could have had time to give it their full consideration.
He could only explain the reason why the Bill was not earlier
introduced by referring Hon. Members to the circumstances
which had led to the resignation of her Majesty's Govern-
ment, and its reconstruction in a short time after, and it
was not until the Government, as it at present existed, was
constituted, it was not until the middle of the month of
December that they could even consider what Bills should
be introduced, and surely Hon. Members would allow that
it was a matter of absolute necessity that the Imperial Pare
'lament should not be summoned until the objects which
would be brought under their notice had been carefully con-
sidered and determined upon. He trusted that this expire
nation would be satisfactory to the House and to the Hon.
Member. The Hon. Member laboured under a misappre-
bension when he thought that there existed at present no
law for the relief the poor in Ireland. There existed under
the law introduced by the Noble Lord opposite four .pro-
visions to that effect—first that persons in a state of
destitution and afflicted with disease should be taken into
the workhouses, next that they might be removed to the
fever hospitals; but as these, in some instances, were at
some twenty or thirty miles distance, and as some of their
diseases might be of an epidemic character, he considered
that provision as a very imperfect one. The third provision
was one which enabled the guardians to erect fever hospitals in
thei r vicinities, and the fourth provision was one which enabled
them, in the absence of any temporary erection, to hire build-
ings for the purpose of admitting fever patients. He might
say that, generally speaking, there was no reason to complain
'of any unwillingness on the part of the guardians to give every
assistance to those who were afflicted with fever, but within
the last few weeks Government had received information from
the Executive Government in Ireland reporting that Myer had
very greatly increased in consequence, he supposed, of the
scarcity of foot, and the unwholesome quality of it: .Ap-
prehension had been entertained that the existing law
would be found too limited in its working, and therethre it
was, that Government had thought proper to introduce the
present Bill. The Honourable Member complained that
:he had not taken the trouble of sufficiently explaining the
provisions of the Bill, and the sources from which the funds
necessary for its being carried into effect were to be supplied.
He had, he believed, explained on a former occasion that
the expenses would be 'borne' partly by the public, and
partly by the ratepayers. Power was also given to
the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, on the representation
of the Central Medical Board in Dublin, to require
guardians to erect hospitals or to hire buildings for fever
patients, where they would receive medical attendance and
such medical appliances as their unhappy condition required.
The Hon. Gentleman also complained that Government
should have foreseen the evil and prohibited exportation of
wheat from Ireland, with a view to meet the apprehended
famine.

Mr. P. SCROPE explained that he intended only to say
that Government should have reserve stores of provisions
where the danger of famine was most inconvenient.
Sir J. GRAHAM said the Hon. Member's explanation left
matters as they were. If Government had prehibited•the
exportation of corn from Ireland he apprehended that the con-
dition of the country would not be in any way improved.
It was not to be denied that either proposition of the Hon.
Gentleman would have raised the price of provisions on the
poor man. A more dangerous propositioncould not have been
proposed, and it would have inflicted an evil only second to that
which would have been caused by checking the exportation
of corn from Ireland.—(Hear.) With regard to the general
eviction of tenants in Ireland, it was to be desired that the
landlords in these extremities would exercise more than
usual forbearance to their tenants. The sum of money
already voted by the Government amounted to very nearly
half a • million of money, and it should be applied
without delay in the best possible manner, to afford
the'wished-for relief. He was by no means inclined to differ
with the Right Hon. Gentleman on the question of the im-
provement of waste lands in Ireland, and he would be most
willing to listen to any suggestion he might choose
to offer. But he came now to the most important
question • which could be well considered, whether,
under a pressure of a temporary calamity, it was expedient,
hastily, and without deliberation, to alter the principle of the
existing poor-law. The Hon. Gentleman had observed that
the Government had taken a very serious responsibility upon
themselves by not throwing the . burden of meeting
the calamity on local boards, but rather choosing
to meet it out of the public funds. He (Sir
James Graham) felt the responsibility—but after
having given the measure the most anxious consideration,
he felt that it would not have been consistent with
his sense of duty, to recommend the adoption of any
other course than that which had been adopted. It
was their bounden duty not to legislate for Ireland
with reference to English feeling, and still less with reference
to English law ; but they were bound to legislate with
reference to Irish feeling and to Irish law, end it was hardly
necessary for him to state that the principle of daily
work, as compensation for relief, which had been
established in England since the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
had never been introduced in Ireland. In England no
absolute want of food had far many years been felt; there
had been a want of work experienced, but that was a
calamity easily redressed. In Ireland very different habits
prevailed ; alms giving prevailed more than in any
other country in the world. The Roman Catholic
religion is very prevalent, and the peculiar tenets
of that religion attach the utmost importance to alms
giving, and introduce into the social system a state of things
decidedly in favoui of the poor. Now, circumstances of this
kind ought act to be overlooked; besides, the Roman Ca-
tholic religion possessed an unmarried clergy, who devoted
much of their time to the assistance of the poor.—(Hear.)
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

RAILWAY COMMITITES.

(THIS DAY)

Group IX.
This Committee met to-day at twelve o'clock; Lord Worsley in
the chair. •

The CHAIRMAN wished to know if the counsel had made any ar-
rangement as to the Bills to be considered together in relation to the
application of Mr. Talbot yesterday, respecting the consideration
of the Caledonian (termini and branches) In conjunction with the
otter three Bills.

In answer to this, it was intimated that nothing further was done
in the matter, and that it was understood the Bill referred to would
not be proceeded with.
The Committee then resumed the further consideration of the
MDINSITZZ 1-I J 1.1113 GZASGOW AMEN D.•
11.Zif laktill‘TCZlES.

Mr. Miller was recalled and examined respecting the Queensferry
branch. He said the estimate of cost was 13.5,0001., of which 10.0001.
was for land. The amount of land was sixty-six impenal acres
There was a tunnel 1,556 yards in length, through the coal forma-
tion. The worst gradient was one in sixty, at the Queensferry ter-
mination. This could be easily worked, as similar gradients existed
at the Grand Junction Liverpool station, and at the Euston-square
station;- the latter was one in seventy. 2s.to accidents occurred on
similar gradients. There was at present a considerable passenger
traffic, there being three or four coaches, and P might be much in.
ci eased. The object was to bring the carriages of the train on to the
ferry at a level. By extending the tunnel the gradient could be im-
proved, but the expense would be very great.
The Committee expressed a desire to hear some other engineer on
the practicability of the gradient, and the further consideration of the
Bill was postponed in order to hear Mr. Brunel on the point.
TZIE GETTEIZ.S.X. TRIO/UNITS il-ND GLASGOW