The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-29 00:00:00

BILL.

The second reading of this Bill was postponed till
Friday.
ELECTION RECOGNIZANCES BILL.

On the motion of Mr. STUART WORTLEY,
the House then went into Committee on this Bill.
On the first clause being read,
Mr. STUART WORTLEY proposed to leave out
certain words and to substitute others. _

Mr. NAPIER objected to the words proposed to
be omitted, upon which
The Committee divided, when there appeared—
For the amendment .59

Against it . 4O
_ .

Majority for the amendment —l9
Mr. S. WORTLEY proposed the insertion of a
clause giving power to a Committee of the House to
reject or receive recognizances in the place of the
examin©r of recognizances.
After a short discussion, in which Sir George
Grey, Mr. S. Wortley, the Attorney-General,
Sir F. Thesiger, and Mr. Greene took part,
Mr. HAYTER said that he should oppose the

insertion of the clause on the ground that it gave to
the Committee the power of deciding whether the
recognizances were legal, thus giving them
judicial powers; it then proposed to give to
the Committee the powers of a jury, and
to decide whether there had been any fault whatever
attributable to either of the parties, such as would
warrant the rejection of the recogniaances ; and the
third power proposed by the clause to be conferred
upon the Committee was that of counsel, to advise to
what extent the fault or neglect of either parties
should affect the recognizance.
After a few words from Mr. NAPIER,
Strangers were ordered to withdraw, when there
appeared—
For the insertion of the clause.. 90
Against it ••. .. 51
Majority for the clause..... —39
The clause as amended was then agreed to, as were
also the remaining clauses of the Bill.
Mr. S. \VORTLEY here proposed the addition of a
clause, giving to the Committee the pov er of deciding
that in the cases of any recognizances which should
prove vGid or invalid, but which invalidity was not
owing to the Inches or neglect of the parties, or in
the cases of recognizances which were not clearly
void, then that such recognizances should be allowed
to be received.

(LEFT SITTING.)

CANADIAN WINTER.-WONDERFUL PRESERVATION

—On the 10th of February last, at one in the morning,
as the sleigh four horse stage coach from Upper Canada
was proceeding down to Montreal, with passengers and
the mail, the roads being glazed over with ice, at a de-
clivity on the road, about 16 miles from Montreal, the
sleigh with its passengers was precipitated down into the
rapid stream of the river St. Lawrence, dragging the
four horses along with it. The passengers all managed
to scramble out but one, a Mr. Russel, from Stirling, in
Scotland, who managed only to get on the top of the
coach, which getting disentangled from the horses,
floated down the dark freezing stream. Mr. Russel's
life was given up as lost, for the wind blew very strong,
and the frost was extremely severe. However, at day-
light the following morning the sleigh was discovered
three miles below where the catastrophe happened,
slowly floating down the stream, and a party of boat-
men with canoes were sent in search of
sthe mail; and
on making up to the coach their attention was drawn to
a large piece of ice resting on the top of the vehicle,
which they began to think might contain something
within it, so they began to chip off the ice with their
axes, when lo I to their utter consternation, they dis-
covered poor Mr. Ruisel perfectly encased within the
ice. Their first impression was that he had been frozen
to death, but on clearing him of the icy covering they
thought they discovered motion in his lips, and had him
immediately conveyed to a house not very far off, where
he soon acquired perfect consciousness. He was eight
hours pelted with spray and water, which froze as soon
as it touched him, and so completely cased him in.
There are hopes of his life being saved, but both of his
hands and one of his legs will require to be amputated.
Mr. Russel is a native of Stirlingshire, from whence he
emigrated some years ago, and by a successful course of
industry has accumulated a large fortune as a road and
land contractor. He is much respected by his country-
men in Canada, and his misfortune is deeply deplored.
SOUTHAMPTON TUESDAY. The barque Broad
Oak, Captain M`drath, from Pernambuco, arrived off
Cowes this morning for orders ; she has a freight of
5,600 bags of Brazilian sugar. She brings papers dated
Pernambuco, the 7th of February.
AMERICA.—The Ocean Monarch, Captain Mur-
doch, arrived at the port of Liverpool on Monday night,
having left Boston on the evening of the 11th, up to
which time Captain Murdoch states no intelligence had
reached Boston of the ratification of the treaty with
Mexico.
REFORM OF THE LAW Of LUNICY.—A. public
meeting, " for the purpose of promoting the reform of
the law of lunacy," was held at the British Coffee•house,
Cockspur-street, last night. The meeting was called by
the Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society, and the chair was
taken by B. B. Cabbell, Esq., M.P. Mr. Luke Hansard
proposed, and Mr. Percival seconded, the following reso-
lution, viz.:—" That the present laws of lunacy are ac-
knowledged on all hands to be highly defective, and
contrary to every pianciple of constitutional freedom
and justice, and that acts of the greatest oppression and
cruelty have been committed iu lunatic asylums, in
consequeece of the imperfect system in superintending
the same." Several gentlemen addressed the meeting,
and it was resolved to petition Parliament for an in-
, quiry into the subject-
TriE GAME NUlSANCE.—Nottinghamshire is noto-
rious for game preserving (it may be called the hot-bed),
and ferocious keepers and their bull-dog men using flails
to beat poachers with. At the past assizes for that
county a host of those gentry swore so monstrously in-
consistent against some men charged with night poach-
ing, that the judge and the jury would not give credence
to their testimony. One of those worthies swore he did
not know what a " flail " is! The amount of perjury
which has been committed by gamekeepers and their
underlings is truly shocking. To please the game
mania, noblemen, squires, and gentlemen, they must
have cases ; and, having got them, :swear roundly to
carry conviction. Game preserving and game-laws have
been the root of all this dreadful sin, and for which the
promoters themselves must account.—From a Corre-
spondent.
DIVISION OF DENBIGHSHIRE —The Gazette of
last night contains an order in council directing the
sub-division of the county of Denbigh, under the new
County Coroners' Act, into the Wrexham and Deabigh
districts.:
From Marseilles we learn that Messrs. Rolland
lluflio, and Co., have been enabled to resume business
by the receipt of remittances from the Levant.
GLASGOW, Mallen 28.—Last night a very nume-
rously attended meeting of the Irish residents in Glas-
gow, and others friendly to the cause of Irish nationality
was held in the Lyceum Rooms, Nelson-street, for the
purpose of co-operating with the United Irishmen in
Ireland. The meeting was conducted in an orderly
manner, and separated peaceably.
REPRESENTATION OF AYLESBURY.---Mi. Miller
has retired from the contest. The contest now lies
between Mr. Dick and Mr. Houghton. The polling
commenced this morning at eight o'clock.