The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-14 00:00:00

111,6001. He had intended to move that each of the colon,e-ts
should have the power of electieg a representative'
Legislature; but he should content himself at that
late period of the session, if the Government
would, on inquiry, state what measures they intended to
adopt for the better government of the colonies; what they
intended to do for the future to render the colonies valuable t°
this country, instead of a burden, as heretofore, attended with
enormous expense. The time had come, he thought, when th 3
Government ought to take the whole subject into consideratiod.
In Van Diemen's Land there were 35,060 freemen, and there
could be no doubt it wins a colony of the utmost importance, and
could not be properly managed without a representative legisla-
ture. To show the importance of the colony, he might state that
the exports from thiscolonyamounted annually, in round numbers
to seventeen millions and a half. There were 52 colonies cf dif-
ferent kinds belonging to this country, 25 of which had Houses
of Assembly, but the others were regulated by Orders in
Council. He might also state that it was requisite that Orders
in Council, with respect to the colonies, should be pubi,ished im-
mediately aft( r they were issued, in order that the parties whom
they might affect might take measures in accordance with t.'sem,
without unnecessary delay. It was impossible that the aftsiefe
of such large colonies could be properly managed at home, atwts
therefore, the petitioners prayed for a representative Goverts-
me 1. The Hon. Gentleman concluded by presenting the
petition.
11.f.r. HAWES said the Hon. Gentleman hack, in presentil
the petition, entered into much discursive matter, which 1.!„!:,:
little or no relation to the sentiments of the petition, s'""
the informatiost of the Hon. Member, he might state,
that the Governroent considered a representative Governrnews
the best ; that the subject had occupied the attention of the
Noble Lord at the hoed of the Colonial Department (Eap
Grey), and of the Governor-General of Van Die-.
men's Land, and th et in the course of the recess
the whole subject We old be carefully considered. 14'
new Governor-General had been recently appointed,
who would no doubt attend tes the desires of the colonists, tusd
he hoped and trusted that the result of the deliberations of the
Government would meet their Ary Ants. The Government, et
the wish of the colonists, had endeavoured to diminish the
number of convicts, but the experimeiet had proved a failure,
and therefore there many difficulties in ,`he wa„- of adopting the
system pointed out in the petition.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL had no hesitate'on to tell the Hoe.
Gentleman (Mr. Hume) that, generally soaking, be eons
side red that representative institutions ought te
into our lonercoonie—( r,
measure
he could no,t agree with
him that general measure would apply to colonies
•, be introduced
differently situated, and used to different customs.
Many of- our colonies were inhabited principally hOT
the;
Englishmen, who had resided in them for a length ctime;
but many of the inhabitants are Spanish and natives of a ,„ea-
countrieseand by others who only resided in them for a lietth
period ; therefore, he said it would be impossible to apply °t o,
genei al measure to the whole of the colonies belonging to au`
country. He wished to say one word with regard t„
Van Diemen's Land, with respect to what his Hon. Frien°-
(Mr. Hawes) had truly said, that the plan of reducing the
number of tetavicts from year to year had failed. The Go'
vernment were anxious to put an cull to transportation t°
New South Wales ; but they intended to go further:
and to adopt part of the policy recommended, wit'
respect to transportation, by the Archbishop of Dubliset
His (Lord J. Russell's) opinion was that transportation wig"
to be much diminished ; and with that object he intended 2
introduce a measure to abolish transportation for larceny, au"
continue it only with respect to cases were death was core'
mutted to transportation. Thus, instead of 4,000 persons beieg
transported in the course of a year, the number would VI
greatly diminished.—(Hear, hear.)
The subject then dropped.
STATUE TO THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. ~
Mr. C. BERKELEY said he had received a note ft,' r.
the Noble Lord (Lord Morpeth), asking him to postpone 1"
mccion on this subject. He considered this rather unfair, Z,
e had put it off from time to time, at the request of
Government. id 70
Lord MORPETH was understood to say, that he ohou
prepared to answer the Hon. Gentleman cn the subject bet
the termination of the proceedings.
SOLDIERS' KNAPSACKS.
Sir DE LACY EVANS wished to ask the Hen. Gentle;;
man the Secretary-at-War if a better description of knaps46
than that in use was intended to be adopted in the army. lite
one now in use was meet cumbersome, injurious to the hers it
of the soldier, and frequently caused consumption; besidee'ais
could not be put on without assistance. They suffered zutlif
from it during and after a severe march, as it weighed beslts
on their chest. Many officers were also of this opinion. „a,
recommended the attention of the Medical Board to the suNe;
Captain LAYA RD said, a Mr. Barrington had invenee'e
knapsack which obviated the inconveniences of the old 012,.:
in.smuch as they could put it on without assistance, and 'NT,
it with ease, and without injury to their health. The soe%,
one regiment tried it, and ran up and down the stairs withouto.',o
convenience. After trying it in this way they said it
extremely light and easy, but it would not be so If it wit
loaded. Mr. Barrington said, " Look at it—open Itita
is loaded"—and, in truth, the knapsack was as he e`
The French had entirely dispensed with the old krlePseek. so
( Hear, hear.) They used a cross belt, which, lustlidoa4
going over the shoulders, went round the loins. trust
that a medical board would be formed to inquire into
merits of the knapsack. sulP
Sir DE LACY EVANS said they had considered the.
,e
ject, and the French Minister of War had decided upon
us
of a similar aid: 34eC
After a few words from Mr. FOX :MULE, which
the gallery.
ay e.mot, ori
Lord G. BEN TINCK gave notice that, on -the 'teal °f
going into Committee of Supply, he should call .atn
trade
her Majesty's Government to the state of the carrying
tooticst
ife *is° . won
tween this country and the Spanish colonies. his inters ••
opportunity of stating that it Was of the Board. of
to ask his Right Hon. Friend the President of Chief
Centro' a question with respect to the Lord the
Justice at Bombay. He should also ask the to the 'ar
under the
First inister of the Crown a question with respect
',ointment of magistrates by the late Government
Duch
They of Laneaster. c! ANIS
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER stilt,p
tsith
it was not the intention of the Government to proceed
the naval estimates until onday.
Mr. WA KLEY said t Mhat he was glad to hear that the, .ife
cretary-at-War intended to give the knapsack a trial. '
wished to know what sort of a trial ?
Mr. FOX MA ULE said that there would be no objection
receive whatever evidence had been collected on the eolbieei-
NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
On the motion that the Speaker do leave the Chair* to
into Committee of Supply, ale
Mr. HUME moved that, with the view of lessenieK„„e:
temptations to drunkenness and immorality, and of prorn?_7s7,
thereby the welfare of the working classes especially, en,er.u.e
of society generally, it is the duty of a Christian Legisia'_,'`o
to open the British Museum, the National Gallery,. "
wasetrUse;
similar public places calculated to afford innocent and
tive recreation, for the reception of visitors on Sundays sea a
holidays, at such hours after morning service as gielsb°,?, sole
puNlic•houses are open. The Hon. Member said •thsa'sjaing
with :a view of benefiting those who were occupia'usTo the
six days in the week, and who were peculiarly expos'!",aettgbl
temptation of entering these places on Sundays. He • .0 the,
that every possible encouragement should be given twoor
artisan to induce him to avoid one of the most fertile soul la it
evil in this country, namely, drunkenness- He thought 4,00
was a question for the Cabinet to consider, whether the Wiese
might not be prevented or lessened to a great extent. ,
Stet
means which he hod proposed were in some degree caleoluel
to produce that effect, arid he trusted that the House vliale'
consider seriously of the matter. Let all those places 13° jai;
struction he opened, and then the people would be 0400ooete's
proved. In all cases where public institutions had beetle; hae
to the public at reduced rates, a great increase of visittisloe,
taken place; it had been so at the Polytechnic lust"- of
the Tower, and many of the principal exhibition: tee
the metropolis. Similar results had taken place all eved easi
country where the public had been admitted at cheap ar'eoihie
rates to public institutions, and where they had beers ace pro'
on the Sunday. As a means, therefore, of cheekiseg
st 00;
gress of the gin-palaces, and checking drunkenness be
es
relay, be would submit the motion, the terms of whie "
already stated. the
ete
Lord JOHN RUSSELL was quite willing to prou'-iegee
object sought to be carried out by the Hon. Member, in
to opening national institutions to the public, and he, .tort
observe none had done more than himself to forward tliaolei'/
sirable end. He was glad to hear of the great irer°„v,e. P7A
that had taken place throughout the country, as to the Inal-es, Its
attendance at public institutions. With respect, hove:teen
the British Museum, it did not appear even from the 4OP-a
of the Hon. Member himself, that any serious res"s''stie"
existed on the week days ; and the real qui the
they had to deal with was the opening e 4 tet,
institution on Sunday. Regarding garatisYo
would at once say that they ought to be opened on f not
they were a great means of promoting health; but this Petit
hold good of such an institution as the Museum' tiOa
the Hon. Member said the opening of it and the Pa',
Gallery would be a great means of putties
drunkenness and immorality. To that he (Lord J. p-sper'''
would answer, so would the acting of a play of She's-Wed for
Sundays did it follow therefore that the theatres should be °Y;;- t
Sundays ? He did not think it would be egPe"o" tbetlo
the House at least to interfere in this matter, aeris
se-
should leave it to the directors of the Al'lso-at Pew
make such arrangements as they thought best and ny- till:cif--
client. One thing, however, he must say, which wia:o:es ,criens
apprehended no Ganger from the opening of these Po acv they
to the public. He must bear testimony that on
„thy
or.
„th where they had been admitted to such y
had conducted themselves in the most praiselough it
~,' her
The opening of the Museum on Sunday, eciveL•urable
on some of the grounds stated by the asiorneist. St
be desirable, could not be done without °cc wilts
extra labour of a great number of servants,
there.f7l:4
present were at liberty on that day 8100%do of managing
against interfering with the
Museum, as to the opening of pure: gernpublic on Sundai'corni
hof the Noble
favourof .
reason he had given sir' he 'IP
he speec f be
in
tin the motion ° it.,
Mr. WAKLEY thoughiyt
in the main,
Hog. Friend, andf being obliged to employ the servants
....009
was the fact o
asduring the week. IP', dsf
stitutwn agtly be got ov
was decidedly
e the
er,
employing ge seas ellut
euity could e
J., h
• on Sunday, as well
owns. He (Mr. Wakley) was sure
sure there would be plenty of candidates found f°4.
persons of the e -is per "-he Sit
hen year
would not elapse before the Museum would he opet-once•
that 80°,:e'd to the
and
co-operatepublic, andwhiethadhviissebdroththeer Nobletrustle.oersd, toin give waY a effect that
order to
arrangement.
Mr. WILLIAMS briefly supported the 111 unity' the/
comrouni
if o°l
Mr. SHAW thought that, as a Christian
should oppose the opening such institutions on Sunday.
ibte to stop
opened the Museum or, Sunday, it would be lwill"asausernent.
'the opening of the theatres and other places.oncs_
Lie thought the Noble Lord had made a wise distishtwv7) thougr_
gardens and in-door institutions. He (Mr.
that the pacts
it right and expedient, as a matter of healthssr.t,sit mo
oda. .
gardens should be open on Sundays, not so the Id
bog
or the National Gallery. It had
Captain PECHELL supported the raotion:lc cn SundheYa;
said that if the Museum were opened to the pub'
theatre. t,ee
of the
it would lead to the opening
how that would follow, and he, therefore,felt satisfietl
day, but he (Captain Pechell) could not at oeid" not
consider it a tenable argument. Noble Noble
ord at
that
that the question was duly appreciated bygthee
the head of the Government, and he hoped priend (11
Lord would vote for the motion if his floe.
Hume) pressed the House to a division. olitie or
Mr. GOULBURN could not consider it %Es
ooniov, lead
course to grant this motion, which would, in same. time
At the other
to a great desecration of the Sabbath. t ta any f
he would be most ready to give his su "lee the people °f
proper steps which might be taken to human r
_ent bad in-
this country.—( Hear, hear.) The late Gove and he
tended proposing a project, having that objecftthme Government
hoped that the Noble Lord at the bead o
Govern-
would carry it into effect.
suggesSte"
the humane
ment would be very glad to carry out ,
Sir W. CLAY said that he was quite sure that the .
oult urn).
of the Right Gentleman (Mr. G
Dr. BOWRING said that much had 9e vrs one
desecration of the Sabbath, but in his opinion it
Sabbath. Noble
the beet ways of consecrating the
fallen from the hie
Mr. IlUolE sake that alter what hapreSS
Lord at the head of the Government, he IN elm
' en said about thoef

motion at present to a division.
The motion was accordingly withdrawn.
(im arum.)