The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-08 00:00:00

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7 51 f ern
4 1,,V,

IMPERIAL PA It LIA MME NT T.

(THIS DAY.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
INDIAN CORN.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition.)
Mr. P. SCROPE said he quite agreed in the sentiments
of the Hon. Member who had just sat down. If this House
had any chance cf passing this Coercion Bill with the same
expedition as that which marked its progress through the
House of Lords, then there might be some reason for thus
pressing it on ; but when the Government saw that the
discussion which had been raised upon the first reading of
that Bill was, in fact, a discussion upon the principle of the
Bill, and upon its merits, they must have seen also that
theyconidnotescapea protracted discussion upon it. From the
mriincnt then that the Government had ascertained that fact
all the responsibility cf the delay of the Corn Bill rested en-
tirely up,nt them—(Hear, hear)—and if that discussion
should be followed up after the recess, he did think the public
-would be impressed with the Lea that the Government had
soma unexplained and inconceivable reason for protracting
the Corn Bill, and forciilg on this Coercion Bill instead
of it.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir J. GRAHAM said he had explained that twice before.
Mr. P. SCROPE said he had heard the explanation
only the day before yesterday.
Sir J. GRAHAM said he had given the explanation
long heLre.
Captain HARRIS said be could very well understand the
reason why the Coercion Bill had been brought on at that
particular period, and he should protest against the two ques-
tions being mixed up as they had been.
Mr. FORSTER would appeal to the farmers' friends them-
selves, and ask them why they persevered in delaying the
Corn Bill ? He could assure them that their long speeches
would not have the effect of changing a single vote in that
House.—(Hear hear.)
Sir J. GRAHAM, in answer to some question from Mr.
Christie, said that those questions were questions of which
he had giN ea no notice, and therefore he could not
give them any answer, and he should here observe that
it was extre.rely inconvenient that such a course should be
adopted. In reference to the Wootton Basset union, he
begged to say that it was not in the power of the Commis-
sioners to censure the guardians, but they might point out to
them the manner in which the law should be carried out.
He communicated with the Poor-law Commissioners to know
what steps they had taken, and on the sth of February they
addressed the letter to the board of guardians from which he
kad read the extract. If it were required he would lay the
letter itself on the table.

Sir IL PRICE regretted that the Government should per-
sist in forcing the first reading of the Coercion Bill upon the
House, and he equally regretted the opposition which was 1.0
pertinaciously given by the Irish Members. Neither of them
appeared willing to give way, and the consequence was,
that the business of the country stood still, and that a mea-
sure intended to benefit Ireland in no small degree was de-
layed.
Mr. FITZGERALD begged to cornet an expression which
had been made by the Hon. Member for Elversham, and
which was calculated to lead to misapprehension of the real
state of Ireland. The Hon. Member had alluded to the im-
portation of potatoes into Wales, and he inferred from that
that there was a surplus over the quantity required. He
could AS: urs the Hon. Member that iu this he was perfectly
mistaken. The tact was that the prevalent disease was on
the increase, and they were glad to dispose of their potatoes
before they would be utterly ruined. He gave the Right
Hon. Baronet credit for the measures he had introduced for
the purpose of giving relief to Ireland ; and with regard to
the Coercion Bill, he could assure the Right Hon. Baronet
that the opposition given to it by Irish Members did not
arise from any desire to throw impediments in the way of
the Corn Bill, but solely because they considered the
Coercion Bill ill-timed and uncalled for. He found that,
during the last assizes in Tipperary there had been no
capital conviction, and that in the north crime had also
diminished.
Mr. `NYSE thought the conduct of the Irish Members in
offering every opposition to this measure could not be im-
pugned. They felt bound to do so in compliance with the
wishes of their constituents, and because they considered the
Bill an odious and unjust one. The Government had it in
their power to adjourn the measure, and thus they would
secure the good wishes and hearty co-operation of the Irish
Members in the future stages of the Corn Bill.
Colonel SIBTHORP said be fully agreed with the Hon.
Members who had just sat down. He gave the Irish Mem-
bers all credit for the open, manly, and straightforward,
and he would also say the consistent manner in which they
had opposed the Coercion Bill.—(Hear, hear.) He wished
the present measure of her Majesty's Government was one
calculated to conciliate the people of Ireland. He wished to
see the people of that country prosperous, and he was
compelled to say that the measures brought tor-
ward for the last twenty years in that House
were trot calculated t• promote the welfare of
the country.—(Hear, hear.) The Government should
introduce a measure that by its beneficial results,
would restore peace and plenty to the peasantry of Ireland.
—(Hear, hear.) Such a measure would always meet with
his (Colonel Sibthorp's) concurrence and hearty support,
for he considered it would be more adapted to the condi-
tion of the country than the Coercion Act proposed by her
Majesty's Ministers.
The papers were then ordered to lie on the table.
THE ART-UNIONS BILL

On the question of the orders of the day for the House going
into Committee on this Bill being put,
Mr. WYSE said he wished to know from her Majesty's
Ministers the nature of their opposition to the measure.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the op-
position to the Bill was grounded upon the fact of tha
power sought to be given to the Government, namely, that
of being empowered to declare the Art-Unions legal. Now
this was in amount reviving the system of lotteries, for the
Art-Un:ons were founded upon such principles, and to de-
clare them legal would be most impolitic.
Mr. WYSE would, after this explanation, postpone the
consideration of the measure till that day fortnight.
THE RAILWAY DEPOSITS BILL.

The House then went into Committee on this Bill.
The whole of the clauses were agreed to, and the House
having resumed the Chairman reported accordingly.'
Report to be brought up on the 24th of April.
RAIL‘cAY LEGISLATION.

On the question being put for the House going into a Corn-
rniVee of So rply,
Mr. LABOUCHERE rose, and said ha wished to call the
attention of the House and t: e Right Honourable
Baronet opposite to a most important subject. They were
about to separate for the Easter recess; and yet no Bill or re-
solution had been introduced into either House of Parliament
m ill respect to the railway measure the Right Hon. Baronet
alluled to the other night. Now, it was important that
something sllould be known with respect to that Bill imme-
diately, or great loss would ensue to some of those parties
who were engaged in promoting railway schemes, and he
wished to 2.sk the Right Hon. Baronet the First Lord of the

Treasury whether he would put the railway world in posses.
sion of tie principle, if not of the details, of the measure?

-Sir R. PEEL was much obliged to the Hon. Member for
calling attention to this important subject, and he could
assure the Hon. Member aad the House that no time had

been lost by the Government in considering this measure. It
however involved the nice details of the law of partnership,
and it was, therefore' important that the measure should
be considered by the highest legal authorities before it was
introduced to the Legislature. The highest authorities had
accordingly their attention directed to the subject, and no
time would be lost in bringing in the Bill when
it was finally settled. He was strongly, however, in-
clined to think that it was desirable f r the Board
of Trade to issue a circular addressed to the different railway
companies, informing them, without going into the details,
of the general principles which the Government were dis-
posed to agree to in introducing this Bill. He should, there-
fore, advise his Noble Friend the President of the Board of
Trade to give some nubile netitication to that effect.
METROPOLITAN BUILDINGS ACT.
Mr. TUFNELL wiseed to ask the Right Honourable
Barenet the Secretary for the home Department when he
intended to proceed with the Bill.
Sir .1. GRAHAM replied, that it was impossible for him,
in the present state of public business, to give a positive
answer to the question of the Hon. Member. In the first
place, there was the important Bill relating to the law of
settlement, which involved the whole question of removal,
and then There was the High ay Act, and the Militia Act,
all of which had to be disposed of, as well as the third read-
mg of the Corn Bill, befere this measure could be brought
forward. He did not, however, despair of tieing able to pro-
ceed with the Bill in the course of the present session.
Mr. M. GIBSON hoped that the third reading of the Gcrn
Bill would ,be got through before they pro-
cesdcd wi.h the other measures sanctioned by
the Kg'at Honourable Baronet. Government might
re,y easily have had the hill read a third time
before the Irish Coercion Bill came on, had they resisted the
e. ercive policy of the protectionist party.—(Hear, hear.)
He for one :tie.ngly objected to Honourable Members being
placed under duress in this way—compelled, as they were,
to dispose of one Bill before they could proceed with an-
other.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir W. JOLLIFFF, said, that as he had been alluded to in
this discussion, he felt himself compelled to deny that he
had offered any obstruction to the progress of public busi-
ness. Ile certainly had stated that he would offer his de-
cided opposition to the Turnpikes Bill, which he coecsived
would be highly detrimental to the public if it were allowed
to pass in its present shape.
Sir R. PEEL, in answer to what bad fallen from the Hon.
Member for Manchester (Mr. M. Gibson), denied that there
hal been any understanding whatever between the Govern-
meat and Hon. Members on his side of the House
with regard to the Corn and Coercion Bills.—(Hear,
hear.) He might state that it was the intention of her
Majesty's Government to proceed with the Corn Bill, and
not to introduce any Government business of any kind
whatever, until the s_lnse of the House should have been
taken with r,spect, to the passing of that measure.—(Hear.)
If the arrangement to which the Hon. Member for Man-
chester had alluded had been entered into by the Govern-
ment, it would have been a mo,t unworthy proceeding on
their part.—(Hear, hear.) But there had been no such en-
gagement—(Hear)—and be believed that the Noble Lord,
the Member for Lynn, (Lord G. Bentinck) had distinctly
stated the other night, that there had not been any such
arrangement entered into between the protectionists and the
Government.
Mr. M. GIBSON.--I did not say that there had been any
arrangement.—(Hear.) I stated that I had seen in the
public papers that there had been such arrangement.
METROPOLITAN BUILDINGS BILL.
Mr. B. HAWES said he must complain of the delay
which the Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary of State for the
Home Department had occasioned with respect to this mea-
sure. When the first Bill on this subject had passed this
session, that Right Hon. Baronet stated that there was an-
other araended Bill which he should introduce at a very
early period during the present session, and it was with that
understanding that he (Mr. Hawes) had voted for the former
Bill.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM b-gged to assure the Hon. Mem-
ber that every exertion was being m:.de to mature the Bill in
question, and he promised that it should be introduced inn an
early day after the EaEtn recess.
Mr. JOHN O'CONNELL said that as he had been up to
that moment engaged in a railway Covomittee, he was not
aware of the proceedings that had taken place during his ab-
sence ; but he wished to take that opportunity bef,re the '
House rose of once more repeating, on the part of himself
and those Irish Members who sat on his side of the
House, who were opposed to the passing of the Irish
Coercion Bill, that while they were determined to perse-
vere to the last and the very uttermost in their opposition
to that:: measure, they were at the same anxious not
to cause any delay to the progress of the public business of
the House, and they were therefore willing to withdraw any
notices of motion which they had for such days as might be
fixed for the discussion of the Corn Bill, to which as he and
they had already stated they were prepared to give their
cordial assent. They were prepared to support the repeal of
the core;-lags, but they felt it to be their imperative duty to

oppose, is every stage, the progress of the Irish Coercion
Bill.
• • • . •

Mr. P. SCROPE gave notice that 1:e would, on an early day
after the recess, ask her Majesty's Government whether, it
the tenantF, cf land in Ulster refused to quit the farms which

the rented at the bidding of their landlords, under circum-
stances similar to those which occurred in the other pro-
\ inces of In land, it would be lawful for the proprietors of the
land to call in the aid of the military to comp-21 a surrender
of the property. The Right Honourable Baronet the Secre-
tary of State for the Home Department had the other
night stated that the sanguinary doings which took
place in the southern parts of Ireland did not take
place in the northern, although the law with regard
to landlord and tenant was the same over the whole of Ire-
land, Now he ( Ur. Scrope) believed that although the
strict letter of the law was the same, there was still a custom
or ussge in the northern parts which did not thus sanction
summary eviction of tenantry which occurred in those parts
of that Country, of the sanguinary doings of which the House
had heard so much ; and he was of opinion that it was in
consequence of that custom, or usage, that so much peace
prevailed in Ulster.—(Hear, hear.) He would, after the re-
cess, ask the Government 'whether the law sanctioned such a
custom, or whether it would enforce the arbitrary righ's of
the landlord in Ulster in the same manner as it did in the
other more unfortuate parts of Ireland 7::(llear,,.hear.)