The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-29 00:00:00

for I would venture to point out the consequences of a rejec- / MANCHESTER AND BIRMINGHAM CONTINUA-
tion
of this measure, and the evils which would arise from TION AND WELSH JUNCTION RAILWAY.
such a course. You must not misunderstand me, \ On the motion of Mr. GREENE, the order of the 13th of
to appeal to your fears, for I know well that fear is the March was discharged, and the Bill withdrawn.
to wish
passion
of the 13
human heart, which would in any degree in- ; RONISG e OVE IMPROVEMENT (No. 2) BILL.
it
last
.e
ncethe decision of the House of Peers. I appeal to your On the motion of Mr. GREENE, the Committee on this
prudence and your justice. I appeal to your prudence that Bill was directed to be appointed for to-morrow.
• e• without the most solemn and sufficient SUNDAY TRADING.
eayoraa W.ll not,
viction, reject a measure of the importance as the ' Sir DE LACY EVANS presented a petition from the
at present before your Lordships.—( Hear, hear, and Cheers.) parishioners of St. Margaret's, Westminster, praying that the
I, continued the Noble Earl, appeal to your good sense, to your . House would take into its consideration some measure for the
a j ' tice not to adopt the recommeudation which has been put suppression of unnecessary Sunday trade.
to you of a different character, and that which I have been re- : NATIONAL EDUCATION.
latiag to you, and by which you will declare yourselves fixedly ' Mr. WILLIAMS presented a petition from the mayor and
resolved to maintain a particular commercial and fiscal corporation of Aberystwith, praying that the House would
policy, the effect of which is, say what you will, take into consideration some measure for the better education of
and must always be to impoee burdens upon the the working classes.
many for the benefit of the few.—(Loud cheers ) REGULAR CLERGY OF IRELAND.
I do adjure your Lordships to search closely your hearts before'
you come to a decision upon this great question ;I do adjure Lord MORPETH presented a petition from the clergy of.
Dublin in favour of the restoration of the regular clergy t
your Lordships, in considering it, to blot out from the inner-
most recesses of your hearts every lurking feeling Ireland who were excluded from any participation in the.oCeand-
tholic Relief Bill of 1829 to the rights and immunities
of self-interest; I do implore you to dismiss from your
minds every lurking prejudice, and satisfy yourselves that your to
oy
thethe israfme fellow eewffecol et rfg, ye
from
eont.h e
rHyea
reties on
fp presented
are sincerely and purely anxious for sscuring the common CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.
naotedd. severalapeentiltiOns
petition from the Belfast
good.—( Cheers.) If your Lordships adopt that course, I can The Noble Lord also presented a
anticipate with confidence the result; and I do fully believe
that if your Lordships pass this measure you will ere long look ' tioners stated that the town of Belfast was much
wasnoy .by
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.uoh
ao Todhepeatiie-
carried on
back with alarm to the time when you doubted what could barbarous amusement of cockfighting,ied thwat there
be its effect, and certainly look back with satin-aheehytinsota within the was
a 1"a
faction to the `day when you gave your ' Act prohibiting any coc ,
was stilltown, but
th
n of the powers given in the local Act
sanction to it —(Cheers.) You will look back upon it with near it to some extent.o
outside the town the. practicecarried. on, and they
satisfaction, because you will then be able to feel and to cot - prayed for an extension
template that you have done all that in you lies to remove ,to enable them a toNMDBRIrem the
lf? iTNION.
- reproach upon the legirlature of this country; that you have O ractiee.—GE
done all that in you lies to sympatise with the pour in their rug- I Captain PECHELL presented a petition,
signed by Mr.
Red pa'h through life; that you have done all that in you lies 1 King, a_ schoolmastera_ in Woodbridge, in Suffolk, stating that
neglect against the authoritiescarges of Woodbridge
extreme c ruuneil .0
union
to mitigate the primeval cause—that you have done a.ll that in be had preferred certain h
and that he was compelled to forego the investi-
you lies to soften the hard fate of. those wh(oTsheeloNt
eihtieisEtoarelaerent
haonodse,
their bread by the sweat of their brow.—
I gation of the most important. charges (tampered of some
down amidst tremendous cheering.)
been basely with, and
further proceedinagws,
that the Poor-1
The Deke"of BEAUFORT apologised for obotfrutdhiengmborimoisoeglf, of his witnesses having
Cooomlemssistshioenyerswewreoulfdoronioshtedallowwithanya
upon their Losdships at that advanced hourt
but he felt it to be his duty to
.s ate the course
i list of witnesses, which gave the accused party an opportunity
he intended to pursue upon this
t o grounds, first, 1 of .
asure on w
most important occasion.
tampering with them again, as the petitioner was denied
He objected to the present me
becaused it was unjust. I access to those witnesses, who were inmates of the
because obviously impolitic;
it left the country dee i •
He considered it impolitic, bseeccaounse,
forelgn countries. Had i union workhouse, while the accused had the means of
seeing them. The petitioner also stated that he was able
pendent for the supply of food up
foornward by Noble Lords i
the measure been brought t
have felt so strong an Ito prove that the decision of the Commissioners
opposite, he would
objected to the tariff wizen that ,measure was extremely unjust ; and he therefore prayed the House to
objection to it. lie
came a proper inquiry into the conduct of the Poor-law
1 Commissioners, that injured ;innocence might be protected
was brought forward, bet he was told at that time that he • • • r .
knew nothing at all about it, told him to have patience, and ' and crime might meet its just reward.
hewould get his boots and gloves and every thing else cheaper; POOR-LAW COMMISSIONERS.
that the rents would be the aame, and that corn would remain The Hon. Member also gave notice that he should postpone
untouched. There was one case where this Bill would ope- his motion with respect to the conduct of the Poorelaw Com-
rate most unfavourably. He had an estate in one part of the missioners concerning the case of Great Faires, in Somerset-
country which brought him in 5,0001. a year. His tenants shire, in consequence of the communication of the Poor-law
were all small farmers, and he could not turn them off. One Commissioners from the rate-payers of that parish.
,amily heel been for three hundred years on that POOR-LAWS (IRELAND).
estate, and the other had been for four hundred Mr. POULETT SCROPE
gave notice, that he should
years. He felt prouder of those tenants than of any postpone his motion on the Irish Poor-laws till this day fortnight.
ancestral hoaours be could toast of, and he would rather cut FRENCH CLAIMS.
his arm off than part with one of them.—(Cheers.) The On the motion of Mr. BARRY BALDWIN, it was
Noble and Learned Lord, who spoke on the other evening, ordered that returns of all suits of money now in the hands of
said that the tenant farmers were perfectly indifferent in this the Paymaster of Civil Services, on account of French claims.
matter. The Noale and Learned Lord was a great authority should be made; also, of ail sums of money that have come
on most questions, and he (the Duke of meauford) was into the hands of the Paymaster of Civil Service;, on account
always very evilline to concede to his opinion ; but of French claims, since the sth day of August, 1840, with the
in this irmtaece "he must dissent from him. They respective dates when the same were received, and
prove 1 that they were in carries in the Sauth Nottingham the source from whence they arose; of all sums of money
electiota. 'e once they formed themselves into a Committee paid by the Paymaster of Civil Services on account of
and reti,r,.' • :h:3 Hon. and Gallant Member who now repre- French claims, since the fifth day of August, 1840, with the
sented them, tree of ail expenses, and most bitterly did he respective dates when such payments were made, and to whom
lament that the name which would go down as the brightest of and for what account the same were made respectively ; of
that age would. be msociated with a measure which he be- the names and description of the present officers of the French
lieved would inflict irrepres-ible ruin to the country. Claims Establishment, with the dates of their respective ap-
The DUKE of WELLINGTON.—I cannot allow my pointments and the amount of their respective salaries, and
Lords ihat this question should be put from the Woolsack with- up to what time such salaries have been paid.
out addressing a few words upon the vote which- you are about to RAILWAY COMPANIES BILL.
give. I address you under many disadvantages under On the motion of Mr. HUDSON, this Bill was read a se-
that of appearing before you as a Al inister of cond time.
the Crown pressiog this measure on your adoption, which CORRESPONDENCE SOCIETIES.
I know to be disagreeable to all with whom I have been living The Bill was read a third time.
in terms of personal intimacy and friendship. But I felt
SUPPLY.
myself bound in duty to my Sovereign not to with- The report of the Committee was brought up.
hold my support, upon an occasion like the present.
PUBLIC WORKS IN IRELAND.
But I have, taken part with my Right Hon. Friend in this The Earl of LINCOLN made some observations in reference
measure, becamse I was aware it was one which be was re.
, to the mode of giving employment in Ireland, in order to meet
so'vrd to (mt. It is not necessary that I should enter further the distress occasioned by the failure of the potato crop, but the
tintion. o a d
Itail efknew. the:
that circ I umtahces connected with this transac- Noble Lord spoke in so low a tone, owing to his late indisposition,
. - rise here to-night with a that he was almost inaudible in the gallery. He was understood
con dderalsle degree of prejudice against me ; be to say that, owing to the failure of the potato crop, and the
that as it, may, I beg to tell your Lordships distress consequent thereon, it had been resolved upon by the
that the same course which I then pursued I would again Government to give grants of money to promote public works,
pursue if the same thing was to be done over again, and it is a such as should be presented by the grand juries ; but it so
course which I conceive I, in gratitude to her Majesty, in happened that means had not been taken by the presentment
wcose servicel have the honour to be, am bound to take. It sessions to enable the Government to do this. Under those
may he true, and perhaps it is true, that I ought circumstances, he would propose to introduce a short Act, by
to have I'm relation with party in this House, which to meet this difficulty, by giving the Lord-Lieutenant
and that party ought to have no relation power'to re-assemble the grand juries for the purpose of grant-
wi'll me. 'That, my Lords, is just as you may think proper, ing money for public works. He would propose the second
but I feel satiefied with the justice of the motives by which I reading of the Bill to-morrow week.
have been actuated ; and I would be sorry to think they caused NEW MEMBERS.
any dissatisfaction in your minds. I know I have no claim upon . Mr. J. O'CONNELL said he would postpone, until after
you for the eonfidence you have reposed in me for many years the holidays, his motion that two additional Members be
past—a confidence which enabled me to transact the bvsiness of granted to Cork.
this House, that has been intrusted to me from time to time. COLLEGE TENURES.
But, my Lords, I will not omit even on this night, possibly the Mr. M. J. O'CONNELL said he would postpone until
last cn which I shall ever venture to address to you any advice Monday week his motion that the House consider the petition
again-1 will not omit giving you my counsel as to the from tenants under Trinity College, and others interested in
vote which you should give on this occasion. My Lords, land in the barony of Irraghticonnor, in the county of Kerry,
my Noble Friend, whose absence this night I lament, and praying the House forthwith to carry into effect the recom-
who addre.sed you a few nights ago, urged you in mendations of Lord Devon's Commission, so far as regards the
the strongest manlier to vote against the measure, conversion of College tenures into perpetuities.
and told you in terms which I cannot imitate that it was your ANDOVER UNION.
duty to step in and protect the public from rash and ineonside- Lord COURTENAY moved that the Select Committee on
rate measures which might be passed by the other House of the Andover Union have leave to report the minutes of evi-
Parliament, and which should in your opinions be inconsistent dence taken before them from time to time.
with the views and opinions of the public. My Ler. s, there Sir J. GRAHAM said he wished to know upon what
is no doubt, whatever, that it is your duty well to grounds the Committee had refused to report the minutes of
consider all measures that brought before yon, and the evidence in that Committee.
that you should give your vote upon them as you Lord COURTENAY said that he gave his casting vote
think proper, and most particularly to vote against those which against publishing the evidence when the question came to a
appear to me rash and inconsiderate. But I beg leave to point division. But the Committee was an open one and the public
out so your Lordships that it is your duty to consider well the had free access to it • and the consequence was that incorrect
cons"quences of any vote which you may give upon any sub- reports of the proceedings had gone to the public. However,
jest in this House, and to consider well the situation in which he now made this motion, in compliance with the wishes of the
you place this House by the votes which you give. My Committee, though he was still of the same opinion he ori-
Lords, this has been the practice of the House on ginally entertained upon the subject.
previous occasions, and I have myself more than once pre- %Ir. BOUVERIE opposed the motion. He thought that
veiled upon the House to vote for measures upon which the the character of others might be affected in the course of inves-
Members of the other House have pronounced positive tigation without their having the power of making any defence,
opinions. Now, my Lords, I beg you to look a little at and on these grounds he should oppose the motion.
the measure upon which you are going to give your vote, Sir JAMES GRAHAM would object to it as being en-
and look at the manner in which this measure has come tirely inconsistent with former precedents.
before you, and that the consequence which are likely Captain PECHELL said that the subject had been can-
to follow from your rejection of it.—( Hear, hear.) vassed over and over again, and he hoped the House would
It should be recellected that this measure was recommended support the views of the Committee.
in the Queen's speech, that it had been passed by a large maja- Mr. PAKING T9N concurred in the motion, as he thought
rity of the House of Commons, that majority comprising more further investigation would put an end to such disgraceful
than one-half of the whole of the House of Commons. This is scenes.
the more . valuable, because it does not interfere in Mr. T. DUNCOMBE felt that the publication of evidence
any way with her Majesty's prerogative. Noble Lords such as had been laid before that Committee might be
might say that in consequence of this decision- of attended with great injury and injustice to individuals.
the House of Commons, the Government might be in One witness had been examined before that Committee who
be in danger. But that was not the subject of consideration charged several of the others with perjury. Now if
and it mattered little whether this fact was proved by the re- the newspapers were to publish that, those who
suit or not, and the real consideration was whether this House were affected by it could have a remedy, but when the House
would approve o, the decision or not. It should be recollected published the same evidence they had no remedy. The cases
that decision came from the recommendation of the Crown, of 1836 and 1837, which had been quoted, appeared to him to
that the Bill was unopposed, and that it came on upon the re- bear no analogy to the present instance.
commendation of the other branch of the Legislature. The Lord COURTENAY felt that he must take the opinion of
House of Lords stands alone, and I think that in the considera- the House on the subject.
Lion of this question that deference ought to be paid to public Strangers were accordingly ordered to withdraw, and the
opinion. If the Lords refuse to take the course of the Com- House divided, when there appeared—.
mane the effect would be to reduce the power
e of the constitu- For the motion
tion. Let U 3 take the effect of the rejection of this Against it Bl
Bill. I believe that the results of the rejection of Majority against the motion .. ......
Vie measure will be infinitely useful in bringing Oa our n r dmission to the gallery we found
on the opinions of the other Horse of Legislature. Captain PECHELL on his legs, asking information as to
I must conclude in. that ease that another Government woul Ibe what had been done in respect of the provision for retiring
formed, but whether there was another Government or not, , pensions for officers in the navy ?
this measure would again be brought before you Sir G. COCKBURN said, the subject was under the
(luring the next Administration. What would you do in consideration of the Board of Admiralty. When all the esti-
that case? would you reject it a second time ? Do you mean mates could be got forward, the decision of the Government
to go on that way, discussing the measure in another would be made known. Ti'l then, he could say nothing of it.
Parliament three or four months longer. But the Noble BRIDPORT ELECTION.
Lord (Lord Stanley). and the Noble Duke ( the Duke of Mr. HANDLEY said, that at the last consideration of this
Richmond) have said that Parliament should be dissolved,- matter, a somewhat unusual course had been taken, for the de-
(Loud cries ,of " Hear, hear," from the cross benches) —in bate had terminated by passing the latter part of the resolu-
order to see whether the constituencies that re- tion, and negativing the firm. Induced by this consideration,
turned another House of Commons agreed to the he thought it was hell worth while to take the decision of the
msaeure.—( Hear.) If the Noble Lord; have really House upon the question. It should be recollected that the
so much confidence in the results of another election, and think question now under discussion was to be ruled by the Act of
public opinion is as ' • much in their favour, why should they not the Noble Lord, the Member for London ; and as it appeared
rely on the election which in the ordinary course of the law to him, that the opinion of this House should should he taken,
will take place in a little more than twelve months. You must he deemed it his duty to ascertain the power which this House
test the principle of the law which will not come posses ed of investigating the validity of elections where there
into operation till after three years —in 1849. was any allegation of bribery. From what he was able to see,
that Parliament can take into consieeration this measure, with- there was much reason to believe that the decision of the
out interfering with the prerogative of the Crown, or calling Committee which sat on the election for Bridport was one of
You comjmoncim. There was before that Committee a strong elle-
on the Crown to eissolve Parliament immediately.
hrve before you two alternatives. You may dissolve ga'ion of bribery, but the proof did not seem to come up in
Parliament, and have the Bill again brought up before the course of the inquiry to the extent required
you, or passing the Bill now. You ?hail have by the Act of the Noble Lord the Member for Loudon. On
an election before it comes into operation,—when will be the • these grounds he conceived that the matter ought to be
proper time to appeal to Parliament to prevent the provisions brought under the consideration of the House. He thought
of the measure coming into operation at the end of three that on a consideration of the case no man of common sense
years.—(Cheers,. could come to any other conclusion than that a compromise
ge
Stran
, rs were then ordered to withdraw, and their Lord- had been come to. Another reason was, that the party who
ships divided, when there appeared, had presided over that Committee—although he was ready to
Contents Present
Proxies ~ .................. ... 73 competent to give a right decision. A further reason was,
—2ll that the allegation now made against the character of a gen-
Non Contents present .
Proxies ......................................... 126
tleman, who, although he was not now a Member, yet was as
.............................. 38 anxious as if he were. The Hon. Member for Weymouth had
Majority for the second reading . —164 appealed to this House, and he thought there was sufficient
The Bill was then ordered to be committeil . ei; 47
reason ration that appeal in the
betasfac, at the result of the
the 11th of consid 6 "
June • of that decision would abstraction of the
jnriadiction of these
Their Lordships then adjourned at live o'clock to the 4th ccn,eived
lobe
Committees from the House. This he
of June. 1-louse would reviseir egil, and he trusted, therefore, the
1 dectsion upon t clause in the Noble Lord's Act wb: h he subjeet. The only
with the exception of the Slat,
wase ttte all
4laffected the case,
decreed that no punishment could be inflictedtl unless ich it was
amounted to one for extensive bribery and corruption. charge
should be recollected that no such charge had beenrl7ruc; It
against Mr. Romilly, and the case, therefore, could not clearly
t receive lany fair consideration at the hands of the Committee;
and the more so as no body of electors had power to make a
11 case after fourteen days had elapsed from the of
closing the
Committee. SO that the only means of coming to a fair de-
cision was again to try the matter before the House.
Mr. BANK ES said that the original motion ru p posed by
him was, that Mr. William Rockett should be heard at the bar
of the House for the better investigation of the whole matter.
Ile thought it was for the honour and dignity of the House,
that this jobbing of votes should be put a stop to, and he would
vote for the amendment.
RA L would oppose The SOLICITOR-GENERAL e the amend-
ment. There was a law known as Lord John Russell's, which
applied to such cases ; and whenever an elector petitioned that
House usually appointed a Com-
mittee,House alleging bribery, the ....
investigate amid report to that House
which was bound to inve ,
The
out in the investigation. law
where bribery was brought
was clear upon the matter, and for that reason he should op-
pose the amendment.
Mr. 'l'. DUNCOMBE said that the question of a Com-
mittee was settled by the consent of the Right Hon. Baronet
to the appoin'ment of one, and it now only remainer, to B
know
whether it would not be better to extend that inquiry further,
as it applied to the vote of Mr. Rockett. The House was com-
petent to appoint a Committee to make any inquiry they con-
sidered necessary under such circumstances. Api ima facie
case had been made out of gross bribery and treating, and it
was the duty of the House to appoint a Committee, and he
should, therefore, give his vote for the motion.
Sir W. JAMES was of opinion that these Committees,
involving in their nature the character of a judge with that of
inquisitor, were not strictly unbiassed tribunals. He should
vote in favour of her Majesty's Government.
Sir DE LACY EVANS believed that this was the third
time in which the borough of Bridport had had charges of
bribery brought against it. Under the present circumstances,
to meet the motion for an inquiry by a mere technicality of
law was giving protection to abuses. It was a serious
inquiry.
Sir ROBERT PEEL was unwilling to* throw any obstacle
in the way of preventing any inquiry where a charge o: bribery
was brought before the House. The question was whether or
no a Select Committee was to be appointed to inquire into th
barge
of bribery at the late Bridport election. The only con

HOUSE OF edit! MON 3, May 2i3.
The SeEAKE& took the Chair at Four o'clock.
MIDLAND, (ittEAT WESTERN OF IRELAND (LIFFY
BRANCH AND LONGFORD DEVIATION) RAIL-
WA Y.
This Bill es• read a second time, and ordered to be reported.
DUNDEE AND ARBROATH RAILWAY
EXTENSIONS.
This Bill was read a third time and passed.
THIRD READINGS.
The Dundee and Perth Railway Amendment, Salford Hun-
dred Court, Edinburgh and Northern Railway (Pettycur and
Perth Harbour Branches and Deviations), and Edinburgh and
Northern Railway (Danieriadinc Branch) Bills, were read a
third time an I passed.:.
LONDON AND BRIGHTON RAILWAY (WANDS-
__

WORTH BRANCH.)
This Bill was read a third time and passed, as also the Gollon
Inelosure Bid.