The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-07 00:00:00

UVITTiII 1
Atilt

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1846.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack at
Five o'clock.
The Indemnity Bill was read a third time and passed.
Various petitizna were presented.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE then rose, and, after passing
a high eulogium on the officers and troops engaged in the
late glorious war in India, asked if it was intended to lay
before the House the proclamation issued by the Governor-
General after the battle of Sobtaon, and also the preliminaries
for a treaty of peace with the Seikhs on the 17th of February.
lie thought the moderation of the Governor-General did
honour to the country. Although he had hoped that some
communication would have been made on the subject of the
rewards to be conferred on the most meritorious servants her
MAJESTY ever had for their services, he would not press that
subject.
The Earl of RIPON replied, that the substance of all the
information received bad been published. The preliminaries
with the Durbar of Lahore had not yet been reduced to the
form of a treaty, and until it should be in possession of the
Government in a regular form it would be impossible to lay
them- before their Lordships. He was not authorised to
state anything on the subject of rewards to the officers, but
he could say that her MAJESTY had not had the dispatches
in her possession half an hour before she gave directions that
patents of nobility should be made out for Sir H. Goeort and
Sir H. HARDING&

Lord BitaumoNT, after a most vituperative speech against
Austria, asked if it was true that the Austrian authorities
had instigated a servile war against the landed aristocracy
in Galicia, and had rewarded the peasantry for killing the
nobles by paying a sum of money for the head of every
noble, and if any means had been taken by the Government of
this country to express its disapprobation of such conduct?
The Earl of ABERDEEN replied that the subject was one
not affecting Uritish interests, and that the statements
on the subject were so contradictory that it was almost im-
possible to ascertain the truth. From his knowledge of
Prins° MErrakusien, he felt that it was as impossible
for him to adopt the course alluded to
as it would be for any of their Lordships.
Certainly since Gallicia had been under the Austrian Govern-
ment the condition of the peasantry had been much ame-
liorated, and it was therefore natural that they should be
actuated by feelings of loyalty towards Austria. He did
not think it his duty to interfere in the matter.,
The accounts he had received from the British Charge
d'Affaires in Austria gave a very different account of the.
transaction, and represented that the nobility had failed in
their attempt at coercing their peasantry to take part in th. ere-
, hellioix which they so strenuously and successfully resisted.
Now, in all this he saw nothing but what was praiseworthy.
But he had received no further information on the subject,
and he could not state how much of the published accounts
were true or false.
After a few words from Lord KINNATAD, the subject
dropped.
Lord ?ERMAN presented a petition from Mr. Joseph Toni-
min Smith, complaining of the conduct of Excise officers in
breakinginto his house in search of an illicit still, they acting
on anonymous information ; and praying for an alteration in
the law on the subject.
The Earl of DALHousiE rose and defended the superior
officers of the, Excise for the attack made upon them in the
petition. The conduct of the officer who entered the house
was blameable, and he had been punished for it.
The petition was ordered to be laid on the table, and the
House adjourned.

Want of space compels us to omit our usual summary of
the debate in the House of Commons.

The House of Commons has only two nights for
discussion previous to the Easter holidays, so that both
the Corn-law Bill and the Bill for the better Protection
of Life and Property in Ireland must be stopped in their
course for at least a fortnight. Parliament has now
been sitting for ten weeks, to a late hour every business
night, with a very few exceptions. There has been more
talk during that time than during any previous session
for years ; the two questions have been fully debated;
and though the great majority of the public have made
up their minds on both, and are most anxious for a speedy
decision, they are obliged to wait still longer, in
the most intense anxiety, for a deliverance from their
present doubts and difficulties. Trade is paralysed ;
the labouring classes already begin to feel the effect, and