The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-20 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS, May 19.
The Lord Chancellor not having taken his seat on the Wool-
sack at a Quarter past Five,
Lord CAMPBELL said that, in the absence of the Lord
Chancellor their Lordships had the power within themselves of
appointing a Speaker, and it being then a quarter past five, he
considered it was time they should go on with public business.
He should, therefore, move that a Speaker be elected, and he
was sure their Lordships coulel not make a better choice than by
appointing the Noble and Learned Lord.—(Laugkter, occa-
sioned by Lord Brougham inadvertently progressing towards the
Woolsack.) Ho proposed that Lord Brougham be appointed
Speaker.
Lord Brougham was on the point of t.king his seat, when
the Lord Chancellor entered the House, and amidst con-
siderable laughter occupied the Woolsack.
LUNATIC ASYLUMS.
The Duke of RICHMOND presented a petition from the
Poor-law Guardians of the Union of Lewes, in the coney of
Sussex, complaining of the heavy charges under which they
were placed by the Act of Parliament which had been passed
last session, compelling them to support the lunatic asylum for
that county. They considered, and he (the Duke of Rich-
mond) perfectly agreed with them, that the support of the
lunatics of the county should be imposed on the public funds,
and he was glad to find that the Committee on Local Burdens
had recommended that such should be the case.
CORN LAWS.
The DUKE of RICHMOND presented petitions
from Ross and Cromartie, ponying that the free trade
measures introduced by the Government should not
receive the sanction of their Lordships. The Noble
Duke then presented several petitions to the same
effect from the counties of Norfolk, Salop, Sussex, Essex, and
Stafford, and from seven] places in Scotland.
MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Messengers from the House of Commons brought up several
Bills, which were ordered to be laid on the table.
CORN-LAWS.
Lord WARWICK presented one hundred petitions froSe
the southern division of Warwickshire against any alteration in
the corn-laws. These petitions had been most intmerously
signed, and were most carefully got up. There was not a
single name attached to one of them the was fictitious.
,The
petitioners prayed that if the duty was taken off corn, it night
also be taken off everything else.—(Hear, hear.)
FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
Lord CAMPBELL presented a considerable number
'0 lof petitions from members of the Free Church (scot-
land), complaining of the difficulties which they ex'
perienced in obtaining sites for their churches. Be
regretted exceedingly that it was nece.sary to bring the
subject before the attention of the House. but in some parts of
Scotland the members of the Free Church were compelled to
worship God on the hill-tops or the highways. Now he need not
tell their Lordships that this was persecution. The petitioners had
come before their Lordships in a most proper spirit. They
admitted, that they had experienced some kindness from land-
lords, and only complained of the refusal to give a site for a
church.

EDUCATION IN WALES.
The Bishop of ST. DAVID'S presented a petition from the
Common Council and other inhabitacts of Cardigan, praying
their Lordships to adopt measures to affo.rd a better system of
education to the poorer inhabitants of the principality than
that which now existed. He earnestly supperted the prayer
of the petition, and trusted that its imp lrtance would
be an excuse for his troubling their Lordships
with a few remarks in this respect. The petitioners
deeply regretted the want of education among the poor is
Wales, which they attributed to the want of funds to educate
them in the English language; that the ignorance of that lane
guage prevented the working of many laws and institutions,
and restricted the natives to those scanty sources of information
which their language afforded; and concluded by praying
their Lordships to take steps for the industrial training
of the poor. In the month of March an inquiry
into the state of education in Wales was accede,l to by the Go-
vernment on the motion of an Hon. Member rioted for his
humanity, which he feared however would be surrfinouss
the ignorance which prevailed was too well known. ,t.! national
system of education had been successful in England, and hor .saw n°,
reason why;it should not be equally successful if applied to W,•`, eis
at any rate the inquiry might lead to some practical roso.t'.
Nothing could be done without the assistance of the Govern'
ment, and he thought that that was a case in which they could
claim with some degree of propriety pecuniary assistance for the
purpose to which he had adverted. There was another point
on which he weuld venture to make a remark. He was afraid
that the anticipations expressed by the petitioners were doomed
to be disappointed ; he did not think that a Government, however
strongly disposed to concur in the wishes of the petitioner',
could guarantee all the results which they expected. There
were numerous districts then in Wales • where schools hal"
been long established, and where tuition had been given in the
English language to the children, but where, notwithe
standing, the language was still very barely understood.
He was of opinion that if a measure of education had been
carried out in Wales they would not have been at the present
time labouring under the burdens they now experienced. They
would not have required soldiers and police to maintain tran-
quillity, nor have been saddled with an enormous expense-
The resources thus applied might have been used with great
advantage in carrying out an efficient system of moral and in-
tellectual education.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE agreed in the suggestions
which had been offered by the Right Hon. Prelate, and thought
something should be done to meet the present alarming defi-
ciency in education. While he agreed with him in that, be a;
the same time thought there had been ample information laid;
the table of the House in order to form a correctjudgem ent. ,
result of the inquiry into the Rebecca riots showeddm
.
in the districts where the disturbances principal;;'
oc-
curred there was an entire want of education amongst
the people.—( Hear, hear.) He considered something Was
absolutely necessary to be done to meet the deficiency'
There had been every year, since Government had undertaken
to maintain the system of education, an increased demand for as-
sistance from the Government, and so much so that the in"'
spectors were unable to inspect with anything liko
proper attention. He considered that they were not called
upon to adopt a different principle of national education
in Wales from that adopted in England, which he considered
was a sound principle, and he hoped it would never be departed
from. There should be a number of districts apportioned, in
which the utmost latitude should be allowed, in order to effect
a great moral revolution.
The Bishop of ST. DAVID'S observed that the Noble Lord
had completely mistaken his meaning—he was as much grati-
fied as the Noble Lord with the national systtrrs of education.
Lord BROUGHAM was glad that the subject of education
in Wales had been brought under the notice of their Lordship!,
for he believed that in no part of the country seas there re-
quired more assistance from the education fund than in some
of the Welsh districts. But he agreed with his Noble Friend
who was sitting beside him, that no grant ought to be given
for the support of any local scheme, unless they
sent a certain contribution, a certain proportion of
aid from the local funds. Without this aid they would Gniy
be weakening the cause of education in the districts wilier'
most wanted their assistance. Charity-schools would never
et
prosper in any locality that did not itself materially suPPa
them. pecmniary
The Duke of BUCCLEUCH said, with respect to the state
of Wales, that subject had received the attention of her Mass_
jesty's Government, and was then nnder the consideration of
the Council. With regard to the condition coy schools at the
present time, and the inability of the inspector to look after
them all, he must say that their numbers had la L'ely greatly
increased, so that the work upon the inspectors was Fiore tbas
they were originally expected to undertake. •
CORN-LA WS.
the re
Earl DUCIE presented a petition in favour of
I of
the corn-laws from the town of Southampton.ready

CUSTOMS' DUTIES BILL.
Messengers from the Commons brought up this Bill.
The Duke of BUCCLEUCH moved the first reading of dim
Bill.

The Duke of RICHMOND said he could not even allow the
Bill to be read a first time—(Cheers and laughter)—without
expressing his opinion that it was adding positively insult to in-
jury, because they were called upon to consider two Bills taking
away protection to the agriculturalinterest ; and he must say
that as far as he was concerned, it was a very unusual course,
and extremely hard to the agricultural interest, for those Bills
to be brought into that House before the others had been read
a second time in the House of Commons. He considered that
the provision for lending money for the improvement of lan.d.
would be of some service, but he thought it was as bad a Bill
as it was possible to conceive, because it was inconsistent, b7only applying the principle f free trade to some articles and
not to others. There was no reduction on their cottons from
India, for instance. The duties on some monufactures were
to be reduced, but there was not tree track, altogetbrr•
He saw no reduction in the Bill of the duty on cotton fr IA
India. He was opposed to free-trade altogether, vet if a
scheme of tl.is kind was to be proposed, it ought to &1 con-
sistent, which the present Bill was not. It was Leis
pression that this measure, would be of great injury to the
working population of this country; especially would it overate
injuriously to the silk weavers. Let the measure pass, A:1
Spitalfields would become a mass of pauperism. There were
other points in the Bill that were equally obnoxious. Th*
Government talked of free-trade, but they did not carry .
out. There was nothing said in the measure against dif-
ferential duties. In regard to the Canadas, why should they
not be allowed to buy in the cheapest market ? If that were
conceded, they would go entirely into the Americanf
market. Already had the Americans beat this country taut °
the South American ports, and they were likely in a short tielee
to lose the Chinese market. He was justified in this view °L
the cotton trade by the evidence of Mr. Gregg, a free trader.
He (the Duke of Richmond) must protest against this, an
.u.
the other Bill brought under the consideration of theiferfo_
Lord
ships. He considered they ought not to have been pushed
that the best course
Lord MONTEAGLE considered
mwaeradsuwreisthoofuttheatGotvheernsmamenet.time proceeding with the other-
the Bill in their hands. Nor
dwiodu
he
de be to
kw
theait nt
speechuntil t hoefy
the Noble Lord Baas. very conclu-
sive,p r i
inducen cf oi pr et
fsuotfua
rafeor epedt
car audsisen. .'n agriculture
manufacture;
Certain duties wh iell
woudforno
but this would beion. The only
adopting onpectiensgs a
rtihl
ye
_all parties. His Noble
b nch
Nwooubllde
nFereizsdariiniythbee doctrine,
that they
.could ge,t their
ow those duties then,
Friendexpressaesd perfectly wmgFueroeirneseetn money with ni
still
they
opr
et the
shheear dvl
cross-bench,
drat
os.ost matterscolinees
dd_inconvenienceie.
dr,n os was,
pt
cknow
nehtooowowf
tu stood,
rLeoftrrhibmßeu
existence
shAet eepunriineidcooiapNfgl reTeoefthose
stahi with
de duties
tliahi
tariff.
ai
frt
tending to what had fallen from -his No;blaaFd
with his
the case in the following manner. His No
consistent with, and in
ctaoknefonrmbyityhiwsconsidered
Friend,
leedhFa
wrtdhi
ehebiedensaid,stated
at course
that they had a Bill now before them, wehichr ehnad' been read a first time, and which Bill overturned the principle of proti ' tion. He objected to the principle of the Bill, for its adop-
tion must be in direct opposition to protecti, ri. The House
should consider carefulll, the new Bill, which came to them
on a totally different principle, and should take the Corn Bill
into consideration first, and afterwards the present measure,
which merely embraced the question of revenue duties. If
his Noble Friend would act in any way wasistently with his
principles, he would draw the distinction between the Bills,•
and take the one into careful consideration before at all enter-
ing into the discussion of the other. But let him put what-
ever interpretation he might upon free-trade, the country had
but one interpretation for it, and that was the interpretation
put upon it by the League—namely, to consider free-trade as
the absence of all taxation. The custom-house would not long

survive the bonding warehouse, if the impres'ion was general&
to gain ground that free-trade and freedom from taxation were

synonymous terms. They were even running the risk of as-
similating in people's minds duties that were for protection
and duties for revenue ; and let them take care that the cos-

toms' duties were not the next point assailed, and eventually
annihilated.

Lord BROUGHAM thought it of no use to bring on a
discussion on the question at present. He rose merely for the
purpose of protesting against the doctrine laid down by the
Noble Lord, that because he supported the principles of free-
trade, he must necessarily be committed to the removal of all

duties which were imposed for revenue. The duties on corn
could not, however, be considered in that category.
Earl GREY thought it very inconvenient that any discussion
should take place on the Bill at present. For his own part, he
had to express his thanks to her Majesty's Government for
having introduced such a measure ; and instead of complaining
of their having done so much, he was desirous they should have
done more. He wasof opinion that it could not be called a free-
trade measure. He only took it as an instalment of free-trade•