The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-20 00:00:00

GROUP XXXVIII.

LEEDS, DEWSBURY, AND MANCHESTER,
(wastErrELD EXTENSION).
The Committee met at the usual hoar; Mr. Divett, chairman.
Several witnesses were examined in this case with reference to
the traffic, and evidence of other general nature was taken.
The Committee rose at four o'clock

1111PERJAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS, June 19.

The Ea-1 of SHAFTESBURY, in the absence of the Lord
Chancellor, took his seat on the Woolsack at Five o'clock.
On the motion of Lord BROUGHAM, the Southwark
Drainage Bill was read a third time.
LUNATIC ASYLUMS ACT.

The Duke of RICHMOND presented a petition from the
inhabitants of Whitchurch, Herefordshire, praying for the re-
peal of that part of the Act making it binding on justices of the
peace to build county lunatic asylums.
Messengers from the Wuse of Commons brought up several
Bills, and prayed their Lordships' concurrence to them.
FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

Lord CAMPBELL presented several petitions from Dundee,
Greenock, Dumfries, and other places in Scotland, in favour of
the Bill for procuring sites for the Free Church of Scotland.
The petitioners did not wish to interfere with the rights of
property; all they claimed was the liberty of worshipping God
according to the dictates of their consciences, and for that pur-
pose wished to have the means of doing so.
LAW OF DEBTOR AND CREDITOR.

Lord BROUG HA N.' laid on the table a Bill for the better
regulation of the law of debtor and creditor. The Noble Lord
said he would not press the Bill forward till he had an oppor-
tunity of consulting the Noble and Learned Lorl en the Wool-
sack, and the Noble Lord behind him ( Lord Campbell).
The Bill was read a first time, and ordered to he printed.
The Bishop of NORWICH presented a petition, very nu-
merously signed, against the sale of intoxicating liquors on the
Lord's day.
SEES OF ST. ASAPH AND BANGOR.

The Earl of FITZ WILLIAM presented a petition from the
Rev. Mr. Gordon, a rector in the county of Oxford, against
the union of the sees of St. Asaph and Bangor. He agreed
with the petitioner, that instead of diminishing the number of
bishops, there ought to be a large increase of them. He was
favourable to a diminution of the income of individual bishops,
but not to the extent that petitioner went.
The Bishop of EXETER heard the sentiments ex-
pressed by the Noble Earl with great pleasure. He said that
the cry throughout the country for an increase of the number
of bishops in the Church was a loud and earnest one, and he
hoped it would be attended to. He was of opinion that there
was no necessity for an increase to their salaries,
but he thought there ought to be an adequate
number of bishops for the spiritual wants of the country. The
question as to whether the new bishops should have a: seat in
the House of Lords was a secondary question, though, for his
own part, he thought that the dignitaries of the Church ought
to have a seat in that House, alongside the aristocracy of
the country.
T.nrd RROTTG HAM said that this one wnicn
affected the constitution of the country, and ought to have the
most serious consideration before any determination was come
to respecting it.
After a few words from Earl FITZWILLIAM,

The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH thought it an extremely
inconveni,nt course for any discussion to take place on such a
subject without previous notice.
The petition was then ordered to lie on the table.
CANADIAN DISPATCH.

Lord LYTTELTON said he was not in the House when the
Noble Duke on the cross-benches referred, a few evenings ago,
to the dispach to Lord Cathcart. He rose to say that the dis-
patch was not sent to the newspapers, but laid upon the table
of that House.

The Dukc of RICHMOND said that he was not aware he
had anything to explain. All he said was, that if he were
Governor-General of Canada, he would have felt indignant
that his dispatches, before they reached him, were previously
published in the papers of the mother count"►
SUPERINTENDENCE OF CONVICTS BILL.
_ _

The Duke of RICHMOND wished to call the attention of
the House to what he considered to be a great evil. He wanted
one improved state of discipline throughout the goals of this
country. Formerly the inspectors of prisons were fully
efficient in number to perform their duties, but since the limi-
tation of their number those gentlemen were unable to per-
form all the arduous duties of their offices. He had no °lvo-
tion to their salaries being increa.ed, but he was opposed to
their being appointed to the performance of duties which did
not come within their province. He should move, as an
amendment, that inspectors of prisons should not be eligible
to serve as superintendents of convict•.
After a few words from Lord LYTTELTON the gallery
was cleared for a division.

On our re-admission to the gallery, the numbers were—
Content .
Non-Content ... 21
Majority against the amendment —2
The House then resolved itself into Committee on the
CORN IMPORTATION BILL.

The Duke of RICHMOND said if he knew anything of
the high-minded yeomanry of the country, he felt satisfied that
they could be ashamed to ask anything of Sir Robert Peel,
who had cruelly deceived the country. He respectfully de-
manded that the House should adopt the clauses he was about
to propose as an act of justice to the farmers. He conceived
that they were not !going to legislate like those cold-blooded
capitalists,.-who openly confessed that they would screw every
possible shilling out of the tenants' pockets. Surely they could
not compel men to pay 50s. a quarter for wheat, when in the
market it was selling for 40s. He contended that they must
not throw the tenant tied hand and foot to the tender mercies of
the Anti-Corn-law League. He proposed that every tenant'
should have the power twelvemonths after the passing of that
Act, to give his landlord six months' notice of his intention to
quit ; and then he proposed by arbitration to settle the claims
of the tenants for compensation ; and the arbitrators were to
be the Commissioners of the commons and wastes of this
country. The Noble Duke concluded by moving the addition
of the clause, which he read, to the Bill.

Earl of RIPON—So entirely did he agree with the obser-
vations of kis Noble Friend with respect to the worthy class
he had eulogised that he would vote with him, if he did not
think that there would be no end to litigation in all parts of the
country, if the clauses proposed were adopted with the Bill.
He could:not see the necessity of going out of their way to do
that which on every principle was objectionable. He knew
that a more generous landlord than his Noble Friend did not
exist in the country, and he felt sure that if any of his tenants
were to wish to be relieved from any pressure that might result
from the passing of the measure, his Noble Friend would im-
mediately release him. He certainly could not consent to the
introduction of the clause.

Lord MADIESBURY thought that the introduction of the
clause was only one of the many difficulties which they would
have to encounter in dealing with the Bill. The law would
put the tenants completely under the power of the landlords.
They had been made to sow under one law, and were now com-
pelled to reap under another law. He was not ready to place
the tenant entirely at the mercy of the landlords, and he should
therefore, support the amendment.
Earl of MORNINGTON said, that having resided abroad
for several years, he was much surprised when arriving in Eng-
land, at the change that had occurred in the social order amongst
the yeomanry. He found them a greatly improved class of
people, and intelligence had greatly increased among them. He
had served 110 notices on his tenants, who rented land at a
very small amount, and he wished to show to those of their
Lordships who opposed the Bill from their fear of finding no
tenants to occupy their farms, that the inferior order of tenants
would be succeeded by a superior class. There was one instance
on his estate of a place called Rochford Farm, the birth-place of
Anna Boleyn, which he bad undertaken to let at 1,4001. a year,
and within a week afterwards he had an offer from another man
of 1,8001. a year for the same farm, which of course he could
not aceept. He had conversed with many farmers • and one,
whom he had seen scarcely two hours ago, in alluding to the
proposed measure, said that he began to think that Sir Robert
Peel was going right at last. He had heard all the speeches of
the Opposition in the House, and they did not contain one
single new argument or one new fact ; they were all attuned to
the same cry, " The tenants will be ruined."—( A laugh.) He
had been to many auctioneers, and had asked them whether
they had any difficulty in finding purchasers for land, and they
replied, " Not the least. He doubted not but that the price
of land would be raised every day after the pas.ing of the mea-
sure, and that opinion would be confirmed before long by the
farmers of England. They had already established the prin-
ciple of reciprocity, which was more than ;lir. Huskisson had
ever done, and let them not shrink from proceeding with the
great work which they had so nobly begun, and which had
already allayed the irritated feelings of foreigners to the Eng-
lish. Mr. Pitt had attempted those things, but in consequence
of foreign war had never been able to accomplish the change.
The newspapers on the continent were a much better exponent of
public feeling and opinion than the newspapers in this country,
and the differetice in the tone of the foreign public journals to-
wards this country was very great. until very recently they
abused the policy of England, and now they were extolling it
to the utmost. He felt satisfied that the measure would not
be injurious to the tenant-farmers or to the landlords, but he
saw so many bright prospects to come from it that he could not
consent to have any portion of it mutilated, nor interfered
with in any way. He thought that the amendment proposed
by the Noble Duke ( Richmond) had no necessary connexion
with the measure, and he should certainly oppose it.
Lord ABING DON believed he was a protectionist, a great
protectionist • r.ay, more, an exalted protectionist.—
( Laughter.) The farmers had strong constitu-
tions, and a strong feeling of attachment and
loyalty to their Sovereign. If there were no protection their
would be no woolsacks.—(Laughter )—( Here the Lord Chan-
eellor left his seat. ) He had always been a constant supporter
of a Conservative Government and now regretted that all his
cherished principles were be thrown overboard. It he were
accustomed to speak heshould detain the House at much greater
length. In early youth he had served I. is country,
and had been brought up, not under a bishop, but under a
Gallant Duke. He had been appointed chief drummer in the
band—( Roars of laughter)—and subsequently he had been ap-
pointed Speaker to that House, and he proved that he could
perform the duties of the latter office as easily as he transacted
the duties of the former office.

Lord STANHOPE did not mean to make a reply to a
speech which was totally irrelevant to the question before the
Howe. He said the Noble Earl (Mornington ) called on them
to defend protection; and, though defeated, they assuredly
would defend it while breath were in their bodies. They con-
tended that the measure proposed was opposed to the best inte-
rests of the country. He had only to refer to the general and
unsolicited movement among the farmers from one end of the
country to the other. About three years ago there was a ge-
neral movement, unsolicited by landlords, against the reduction
of duty. But here was a measure which proposed to reduce
the duty from 165., as it was at present, to 4s. a quarter.
Then they ought to look at the rents at which farms were let.
Why, the reduction of 10s. a quarter on wheat in
the market, he said, would annihilate the rent of the corn land
where such wheat had grown. He was not speaking at ran-
dom when he referred to such a reduction. He could quote
the speeches of Sir Robert Peel, who had promised uni-
versal cheapness to the whole community. But at
whose cost, he asked, was this cheapness to come
about? But turning from these merely introductory re-
marks, he would confine his attention to the amendment
of the Noble Duke. And, as to that, he differed so far from
the President of the Board of Control that he thought no
amendment was ever more founded on the pure principles of
eternal justice. That amendment was the more necessary in
these days of political experiment and chimerical notions, to
save the tenantry from coming ruin. The Noble Earl had
said it would produce confusion. He (Earl Stanhope) did
not see that such a power given to the tenant was any
more than existed already in the case of the tenant-at-will.
The Noble Earl had said that the amendment had no connexion
with the Bill, but it was certainly his opinion that it proposed
what was due from even-handed justice as it affected the
tenant.
The Earl of MORNINOTON rose to explain what he said
concerning Alr.yitt, that he was a free-trader; and read from
involvedhad inF
not France,
war.ce,
beena n
allo and of
America,He
a speech by Mr. Pitt, which the Noble Earl said fully proved
what he had averred, if their Lordships would take into ac-
count
(the
they proposed.
rre circumstancess whicheooupf
were
or
n in gj ot
f o the)
just before country,fsoaried he of
his time at home
,• he had been much abroad, and knew
what, but for that; he would not have known, and he was
deec
even
firmetd e
certain that they could never avail themselves of the advantages
they would gain from the Continent, till they were prepared, ha
thevu the
the
hmwesapoyof
lwhichceyc reciprocity
otthey
ey
n. twerehHi
this
cohowaudnt
tamrki
met with
dt ot
hmeet
manyto who
ehnetmi
nonnct
on
such liberal principles, and they invyariably said they could
that
the
pnot make those on the Continent believe they were sincere in
what
Now, he (the Earl of 11Iornineton) was
sure that such a measure as the
present would greatly extend
their moral power on the Continent ; and he was sure also
h
tc*t measuree was perfectly
in the spirit of Mr.
Pitt' s policy.

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 20, 1846