The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-17 00:00:00

DUTIES ON CORN.

Lord G. BENTLNCK asked whether the Noble Lord
(Lord J. Russell) had any objection to lay on the table
of the House the minute under which the remission of
duties on corn had taken place. He also wished to
know, assuming that the course taken by the Govern-
ment in remitting those duties was illegal and un-
constitutional, whether it was the intention of the
Noble Lord to ask the House to pass a Bill oflndemnity.
Lord J. RUSSELL replied that he had no objection
to lay the minute in question before the House. He did
not consider that the course taken by the Government
was either illegal or unconstitutional, and, therefore, it
was not his intention to bring in any Bill of Indemnity.
THE SPIRIT DEALERS' WAREHOUSING BILL.
In reply to a question,

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER stated
that he proposed to take this Bill as it stood on the paper,
but merely pro forma, in order that the suggestions that
had been received from various parts of the country, and
which had been embodied in it, might be printed ; the
Bill would then come before the 'louse in an amended
state, in which he hoped it would be adopted.
ARTERIAL DRAINAGE (IRELAND).
In reply to another question,
The RIGHT HON. BARONET stated that the whole of
the information on this sui)ject would be contained in
the general report of the Board of Works. It was in the
hands of the printer, and would be laid before the House
with as little delay as possible.
THE BUSINESS OF THE SESSION.

Lord J. RUSSELL then rose and said—Mr. Speaker,
in answer to a question from the Right Hon. Baronet the
Member for Ripon (Sir J. Graham) I stated that
I would on this day follow in the usual course which
has been adopted of late years, and state to the
House what Bills the Government purpose pro-
ceeding with during the present session, and those
which they intend to abandon. I can only state
their intentions with respect to the principal
Bills, those only which are of great importance; it is
not necessary, I think, for the Government to go into
any statement with respect to the Bills which are of
minor importance, with the details of which it is unneces-
sary for me to trouble the House. With regard to
these Bills, the first that I shall mention is the
Public Health Bill, which has passed through if this
House. It has been read a second time in the
House of Lords and now stands for a third read-
ing. 'With respect to that Bill, the Government in-
tend to press for the definite opinion of Parliament
upon it during the present session. We hope to place
that Bill in a position to enable it to receive the royal
assent during the present session. The next Bill I have
to mention is the Incumbered Estates (Ireland)
Bill. That Bill has come down from the House
of Lords ; many amendments have been intro-
duced into it by this House, and it has gone
through Committee with the general assent of the House.
I shall press on that Bill, and endeavour to receive
the assent of the House of Lords to the ameudmends made
in order that it may pass into a law during the
present session. I think that is a Bill of the
greatest importance, and one which ought speedily to be
passed into a law. There is a Bill which I. introduced
the other night, and which .1 propse shall be read a se-
cond time on Thursday next-1 allude to the Bill
relating to corrupt practices at the :elections for
buroughs.—(Heat.) Tnat is a Bill likewise or great
importance, as it refers to inquiries into the practices,
into the conduct of the electors of such boroughs with
regard to which the House has heard much during the
present session. I think that that Bill is of too important
a character to allow that it should be postponed. I shall
therefore proceed with that Bill on Thursday next.
There is another Bill with respect to which many ques-
tions have been frequently asked—the Diplomatic Re-
lations with Rome Bill. That Bill has come
from the other House of Parliament ; it is in
the hands of the Secretary of State fur
Foreign Affairs, and he will, on the first open day,
move that it be read a second time, with the view of
proceeding with it in the present session. I come now,
Sir, to a Bill of the utmost importance, founded

on a recommendation of a Committee on the navi-
gation.laws, and on which various debates have
taken place. Owing to the debates that have taken
place on the propriety of increasing the force of the army
and navy, and on the expediency of the renewal of
the income-tax, we were prevented from intro-
ducing that measure early in the session. I mean
the resolutions on which we intended to frame a Bill for
an alteration of the navigation-laws. Since the mea-
sure was introduced in May, another measure has like-
wise been proposed with respect to sugar,
on which long debates have taken place. We
have, therefore, been disappointed in the hope which
we entertained that we should be enabled to go on con-
tinuously with that Bill as soon as it was introduced.
As matters stand now, considering the late period of the
session to which we have arrived, the great importance
of the qnestion, and that it cannot for some time go up
to the House of Lords, we have come very reluctantly to
the opinion that we cannot proceed with that Bill
during the present session.—(Surpriste) Having stated
that we shall not proceed with this Bill during the pre-
sent session, I trust there will be no objection
on the part of the House to go into Com
mittee on the Bill with the view of assenting
to propositions of my Right Honourable Friend,
so 'that the nature of its provisions, and the de-
bate upon them may be placed before the country
for consideration before the ensuing session. Sir
I feel that while this measure has been the sub-
ject of great discussion in this country, that the failure
of its passing in the present session will be a great
disappointment in some of our most important
colonies.—(Hear, hear.) I think it my duty, however,
to declare that, without blaming any one, or without im-
puting delay to any one, that the Government will pro-
pose to introduce the measure at the very earliest
period next session, and after the discussion it has
received, and the approbation of the principle ex-
pressed by a large majority of the House, that the
important province of Canada, and the foreign powers
to whom we have held out the prospect that the Naviga-
tion-laws would be repealed, will feel confident
that' next session a measure will be passed taking
away the restrictions on navigation—(Hear, hear)—and
that they will entertain no doubt that such a measure will
receive the assent of Parliament. It is also, as a conse-
quence upon that, the intention of the Government to
withdraw the Merchant Seamen's Service Bill. There
is another measure which I consider of very great im •
portance with respect to Ireland, namely, the Bill with
respect to the Elective Franchise of Counties in
Ireland. That is a most important measure ; but lam
not disposed at this time to begin a measure of such im-
portance, and I, therefore, propose to postpone that mea-
sure to another session. There is another mea-
sure of great importance with regard to Ireland—
the Landlords and Tenants Bill—which we shall
endeavour to obtain the assent of the House
to in the course of the present session. There are
various other Bills of minor importance in the long list
of to-day, many of which the Government have no-
thing to do with. I have, however, now stated
the intentions of the Government with regard to the
principal Bills, and I shall now conclude by proposing
that the order of the day for the second reading of the
Merchant Seamen's Fund Bill should be now read for
the purpose of its being discharged.
Mr. GO ULBURN said the repeal of the navigation-
laws was held out to the House as being calculated to
confer immense benefit upon the West India colonies,
and ho therefore wished to ask the Noble Lord
whether, in abandoning the navigation-laws, he
had any other measure in contemplation to compensate
the West Indies for the loss of the benefit that would
have been conferred upon them by the repeal of the
navigation-laws.
Mr. BERRIES entirely concurred in the course the
Noble Lord proposed to pursue with respect to the
navigation-laws, and he could state that his party would
offer no obstacle to the preliminary step the Noble Lord
proposed to take this session in reference to their repeal;
but it was not to be understood by this concession that
the protectionist party had at all changed their views
upon the:subject, or that they would not as strenuously
oppose the repeal next session as they had this.—(dear..)
Mr. BRIGHT considered this was a fitting oppor-
tunity to make one or two observations with respect to the
progress of business this session, and with regard to what
he considered to be the unfortunate course Government
had pursued.—(Hear, hear.) He was not going to
enter into a discussion of the merits of navigation.
laws, but he was certain that they were mentioned
in the Queen's speech, and the great manufacturing and
and commercial, and shipping towns were in favour
of their abolition.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
the Noble Lord had introduced the Bill on the Naviga-
tion Laws in May last, but he (Mr. Bright) confessed it
was his opinion that the Government did not appear to
be very anxious to have it passed. He knew
not what was the reason of postponing it, but no
doubt they were afraid of the hostility which the
measure would encounter from lion. Gentlemen oppo-
site. He now thought it necessary to call the attention
of the House to one or two facts which were calculated
to create in the minds of the people out of
doors the conviction that during this session their
representatives had- not attended to the duty which had
been committed to their charge. The House met before
Christmas for the express purpose of considering the
Bank Charter Act, and also the afflicting state of Ireland;
but the only measure of importance which was then
passed was one avowed for the protection of the rights
of property in Ireland, but in reality to disarm
a certain portion or the Trish people. Atter Christmas
another Irish question was brought before the House
and he begged to observe that Irish questions had always
afforded a constant dish for discussion within the recol-
lection of the oldest • Member.—(Laughter.) Measures
had been passed, with the unanimously concurrence of
the House, for the purpose of putting down apprehended
or existing disturbances in Ireland, and it was with re-
ference to Ireland that his Observations were chiefly intend-
ed to:apply. There was also another Bill which had been
introduce, of great importance for facilitating the sale
of encumbered estates in Ireland. The Bill for extend-
ing the franchise in Ireland, and for improving the re-
gistration, was not to be proceeded with this session.
Thu session was now about to terminate, and
the Government had given no information as
to what they intended to do with that country.
It was the duty of the Government to have considered
the question of the Church. The day was rapidly
coming when the Irish Church must sink, and if he
were an English churchman, he should be one of the
first to get rid of the Irish Church question. If
they were to believe the newspapers, they were
on the eve of an insurrection in Ireland, and
Government ought to allow Parliament to
separate till steps had been taken to convince the Irish
people, who were not anxious for insurrection, some hope
for the future.—(Hear, hear.) The Irish representation
was a fraud and a delusion, and having warned the House
of what his opinions were with regard to Ireland, he
must wash his hands of all responsibility for the evils
that were commencing in Ireland.—(Oh, oh.)
After a few words from Mr. J. YOUNG,
Mr. VERNON SMITH said he did not think Govern-
ment was open to the censure which the Honourable
Member for Manchester had cast upon them for not
proceeding more rapidly with the business of the session.
It had always been the custom to bring in a
number of measures at the commencement of the session,
and to throw over many of them towards the close of
the session; but he confessed he thought there were
less Bills thrown over this session than he remembered
to have been thrown over at former periods.—(Hear,
hear.) He should, however, have been more satisfied
with the termination had 'the Poor-law Settlement and
the Emigration questions been disposed of.
(LEFT SITTING.)

DOVER REFUGE HARBOUR.—This great national
work is now progressing with much spirit, and begins
to show symptoms of What it will be, The first por-
tion, as our readers are aware, 800 feet of a massive
sea wall, has been contracted fur by the Messrs. Lee, of
London; and the works are carried on under the super-
intendence of their active agent, Mr. Scott. The plan is,
we believe, that of J. Walker, Esq., the eminent engi-
neer; and the execution of the engineering department
also devolves on him and his partner, Mr. Burgess. The
works now extend 130 feet into the sea, and the curve
to the eastward has been commenced. One diving bell
was put into requisition on Monday last, in the process
of levelling the rocks for the foundation, and another
will be brought into use next week. Of the immense
quantity of stone (8,500 tons) which has been landed
here within a few months, nearly one-half has already
been put down.—Dover Chronicle.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
OXFORD ClRCUlT.—Abingdon, July 15.
James IVeybury, aged 33, Was indicted for the man-
slaughter of Edwin Wiltshire, valet to General Sir
Alexander Mackenzie. _ _

The catastio2l-e oat of which the ground of indict-
ment arose occurred at the Shrivenham station of the
Great Western Railway, on the afternoon of the 10th of
May, when the up express train came into fearful colli-
sion with a horse box and cattle truck, which had been
put on to the main line from a sliding at the above-
mentioned place. Eight passengers were killed, amongst
whom were Captain Blair, 8.N., the inspecting com-
mander of the Ccast Guard at Penzance, Rev. Mr.
Phillips, and Rev. Mr. Sandys.
Mr. Carrington, with Mr. Skinner, conducted the pro-
secution, and Mr. Williams defended.
The whole facts having been so recently before the
public it is not necessary to repeat them. We may
state, however, that Weybury, with Willoughby, a
labourer, placed the horse box and cattle truck partly
on the main line, in order to get another truck under a
crane, in order to unload it. Whilst so employed, the
express train, which was twenty-one minutes behind its
time, came up, and the station signal being all clear, it
went on to the station, and came in fearful collison with
the obstruction. The train was travelling at sixty miles
an hour, and some idea may therefore be formed
of the violence of the shock. Weybury had been eight
years in the service of the company. It was shown
that he was perfectly aware of the signals, and that he
ought not to have placed the trucks on the line when
the signal indicated all clear, or, at least, he should have
communicated with the signal-keeper (a policeman) to
have put it on. On the other hand, it was stated that
the policeman could have seen the obstruction, and
ought to have put on the signal. In the course of a
quarter of an hour another train would have followed
the express. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of
" Manslaughter" against Weybury and Willoughby, but
the grand jury ignored the bill as regards the latter,
consequently Weybury was tried alone.
Mr. Williams then made a plwerful address to the
jury on behalf of the prisoner. To convict him it must
be proved that he had exhibited a felonious amount of
neglect. They had heard that the express was twenty-
one minutes late. The prisoner believed that it had
passed, and knowing that another train would follow it
in the course of a quarter of an hour considered that
the signal " clear" bad reference to the latter train, and
knowing that he would have time to move the trucks,