The Sun.
London, England, 1833-08-16 00:00:00

PRUSSIAN TARIFF.

Mr. ROBINSON rose in putsuioc, of his novice to
ca I the iateritoin of his Majesty's G ivernment to t•te
~oese nl mom relit policy which had tor some time been
pursued by the King of Prussia. He lielh veil he might
say that that course, if not unprecedented, was at least
utiosu ,I, and that it was the duty of the G tvernment of
Great Britain to take notice of it. He did not wish to
itespasa upon the prtience of the House, fir less was he
tesirous of provoking discussion ; he should therefore
state as briefly as possible the circumstances on which
he founded his motion.—( Hear.) It was g-nerally known
and und-rstood that the Prussian Government con-
tintral to impose most burdensome otriea on Ili itish com-
merce, notwithstanding we had, in many instances, during
the last few years, lowered the duties on Prussian coin -
mere-. But when he told the House that the Prus..ian
Government was endeavouring to embrace, within her
own commercial code, a large portion of Germany, he
thought they would agree with him, that if that G ivern-
ment were allowed to do so, the consequence would be
insist injurious to our commerce and manufactures. The
het was, however, that Prussia had concluded treati a
extending her commircial code with the Grand Duchy of
Hesse--the Elector if Hesse; and that negotiations to the
same effect were pending with Saxony, Bavaria, the Grand
Melly of Mecklenburg, and Wittenberg. The object of
all those proceedings was, if not to exclude, at l, ast to
limit the sale of British manufactures, in that large por-
tion of the European empire. Prussia had undoubtedly a
right to adopt any commercial measures which she might
think conducive to her own interests. Bat when she
endeavoured to engraft her own system on States that
ought to be wholly independent of her, we had a right
to say to her, " You are entitled to do what yon
choose with respect to your own commercial arrange-
ments, but you are not entitled to press on other States
arrangements, the t ffects of which must be injurious
to the commerce of Great Britain." He took it for
granted that the Noble Secretary of State for Fuieign
Affairs was perfectly apprised of all that bad taken place
on the subject. He did not make the motion with any
view adverse to his Alajest)lB Government, but with the
object of impressing on that Government the absolute
necessity of doing all it could to preserve British com-
merce, at a time at which it was exposed (but of that be
did not complain) to the rivalry of so many foreign states.
He was no advocate lor a system of commercial hostility
against Prussia, or any other power. On the contrary,
he wished most sincerely, that all nations would adopt a
system of liberal policy in that respect towards one
another, and he thought it would ill become this country
nut to set an example of such policy. But he was the
more anxious to draw the attention of his Majesty's
Government to the conduct of Prussia, because we had
already lowered the duties on hemp and flax, and if we
contemplated any alteration in the duties on Prussian
timber or grain, we ought to do what all sagacious
Governments would do on similar occasions, and be more
alive to the expediency of obtaining, or at least of endea-
vouring to obtain, an equivalent advantage to our own
produce and manufactures. Let the House Itii Ic at the
heavy duties imposed by Prussia upon our hardware,
upon our woollen goods, upon our refined sugar ;
'mil let them consider that that was not all ; but
that Prussia kept increasing those duties, while
we were decreasing the duties on Prussian produce. Let
;hem also consider, that while Prussia was endeavouring
t.O exclude, or at least to limit the introduction of Brilistk
manufactures into Prussia, or any part of Germany, ';he
evied A duly on the exportation of wont, the raw metert LI
f one of our principal roanu:ac•ures, and that the
oloption of this duty was one of the conditions which she
,vas endeavouring ttl impose on the eviler es. What
;could be the condition of our ma.nuficto;,,,, if 'he „o„,.„,
mum pursued la, Prussia were to he Aupied by the o,her
Stares, including Saxotty ; amt if, as was contemplated,
the existing duty on wool of a p•nny a pun,' was ihnibi-d
04),e the next clipping ? Wna, h:s Alajesty's Government
meant to di, on los so jest he knew not ; but it wis a
question of so much conim rid imporranee to the coon-
,,y, that 11, ortil., eat all ivv the session to close witih•ot
,oticmg it. He believed that one of the objects vviich
;,hrtoila hail in view was c.i force this country to aster the
411 n laws and t'.e timber duties. P ussia said-- En
(xchide. ~ur tmo.er and corn ; liath n wrier
ode of compelling her to admit them than t:3 torn, such
'vague in ern my against her produce mid iiianWactores,
rn y eottiptl t,er our timber stud corn, at th"
i•ast evil." If we yielded to other states any adv,nratres
in point of duties, we were ontitled on a prio,,ple of

vv,,r1,1. America hadr'"""Y alter' d, st (I w:seiy sit
.

French wines ; hut 0 a /1,111 (lane this nn principle• wirlely
different from our.; fer she had told France that she
would not do tin unless France admitted American cotton
on a better fiintine. The eons- (pienee was. that a treaty
was eancluded on that basis. That appeared to him to
be nhvienaly tl e only wise and prudent course for a
commercial nation to pursue ; and any state which did
nt t pursue it. must eventually lose a portion of its com-
merce, and have the mortification of seem' it transfirred
to other countries. It should he remembt red that we
were at present in a great crisis. The whole wild was
in rention—eagerly pursuing commercial advantages.
He felt no alarm whatever on the subject. When he
looked at the immense tesnurree of this country—when
be saw that she was at least half a century in advance of
other nations—wl en he contemplated the kill. the intim'
try. and the perseverance of her people, he did not view
all this foreign competition and riv try with the slightest
alarm. But still it called upon Iris Majesty's Government
to leak about them—not with jealous feelings. or far the
pni.pose of imposing w,ntnn restrictions on the com-
merce of other countries—but in order to see wh -t
fair advantages this country could obtain. Whv
was this esp- daily important at the pet sent moment?
The accent separation of Belgium finial Holland, had
created a new kingdom. He did tint h.lieve that any
treaty h d yet been concluded with Bsleium ; bet it was,
evident. that if peace continued, Belgium was likely to
be a great mantifecturing state, and in that respect our
rival. I. was well known, however, that both America
and France, by their Amhasaadore at Brussels, were en•
de tvouring to make setisf.ctory commercial arransement
with lit leiutn. What he was anxious for was that the
British Government Mundd do the same. He did not
wi-h f r any exclusive privil- pet ; hut, looking at the
part we had tak n in securing the independence of Bal.
gime, we had a right to expect that we should he treated
at leas- on equal terms wit'. Fiance and America. Then
there was a great change which war about to take place,
if it had not already taken place in Portugal. We ought
to take care that if a new Ginstituti -pal Goveinment
were established in that country, we should enjev the
same commercial advantages as other nations. America
(and he by no means stated it with a disparaging inten-
tion) was one of the most enterprising commercial nations
in the world, and was endeavouring to obtain advantages
from Portugal which she could obtain only at the expense
of this country. The same thing was going on at Naples.
America bad pecuniary claims on Naples for tripoli itions
in the time of Murat ; but, finding that the Neapolitan
Government was not inclined or prepared to vay
money, proffered to forego a part of the indemnity,
provided certain commercial privileges were grunted
tier, which she could not obtain exc• pt at the expense of
this country. All these circumstances combined made
him anxious to learn how his Majesty's Government were
diepesed, and whether they might not he induced to aban-
don wit t on a former occasion they had declared was the
policy which they would adopt—namely, to allow the corn
merce of the world to take its free course, and to abstain
from all commercial treaties and other restrictions upon
trade. The Right Hon the Vice-President of the Beard
of Trade had, on a recent occasion, said, there was reason
to Lope that France was about to adopt a more liberal
commercial policy, and had instanced the reduction of
some of the duties on silk. That was a very small step
indeed, and be (Mr. Robinson) confessed, that he could
rot discover in the acts of the French Government any
disposition to meet the liberal policy of the British Go-
vernment. He had before him the speech of the French
Minister of Commerce, M Thiers, which the N ble Lord
opposite had of course read ; and he owned that he could
not discover in that speech any symptom of that ultra-
liberality in commercial matters which was so great a fa-
vourite in this country. The French were undoubtedly re-
moving restrictions on their own manufactures ; but there
was nothing to show a disposition to receive our manu-
factures in return for their wine.. In America, the
alteration in the Tariff was merely a eradual reduction
of the duties to the minimum at which they would
still afford protection to American manufactures. Now
the argument in this country had been. that no
difference should be made in the duties on foreign
articles and on our own. He trusted that our G tverment
would be alive, and feelingly alive, at the piesentjuricture,
to Inking about them in all directions. He was qui e
willing to see them make any rel nation in favour 0,
foreign commerce, provided that relaxation w is not mitt
riot'. to British commerce. But he must protest against
the viol. nt and visionary notion, that arty country could
maintain her institutions and support her burdens under a
system of commercial regulations which gave all the ad
vantages to her neighbours, and retained none for herself.
America bid abandoned many of her duties, because she
required no revenue—but England reqeired a large
rev.nue. He thought the lliaht Hen. the Vice President
of the Board of Trade had lately manifested that he had
some reason to suspect the extravagance of his form.,
opinions tin the e subjects, for the Right Hen. G ntlenian
bed maintained that as long as we retained the West India
Islands, we had a right to the more-poly of tl e home
market for Rug as That was the principle for which ire
(Mr. Robinstie) contended. He hop. d that we never
should with-t tw our protection from the Coloni s, while
they continued to take our manufacture.. The Hen.
Member here I riefly recapittil Ated his statements, arid
concluded by moving " that an humble Address be pre
sented to his Majesty. praying that he would he ariciously
pleased to give directions that there be laid before the
House a copy of the Prussian T cif duties payable in
that kingdom on the principal articles of importation
from this country. anti specifying the alterations which
bad •ak n place in those duties during the last ten yeirs."
I Lord PAL MERST( IN rose, not to ohie t to the mo-
tion, but to m ke a few observations on what hail fallen
from the Hon G ntteman. He could assure the Hon.
Gentlentan and the House. that his Maiesty's Government
had not h-en inattentive to the negotitthins which,
during the last year and a half, Prusaialvid been cart ying
on with all the German stet..., for the purpose of induc
ing them to join in her scinene of commercial policy. It
was perfectly true also, as the Hon. Gentleman had re-
marked, that te extend to the whole of Germany th-
duties paid in Prussia, would he attended wi h great in-
convenience to the cernmerce anti industry of this country.
At the same time, he was not aware that England would
have ant right to complain of the arrangements which in-
dependent States oils ht think proper to m ke on th
atiliject. He did net think that on that grittind we had a
right to interfere. Nor was he inclined to think that the
consequenees to be apprehended from such arrangements
would be ne fatal as the Hon. Member seemed to miter
herd. Nothing could he more evident than that all our
efforts should he directed not to the extinction. for any
ides of that sort mint he hopeless, but to the reduction or
the tariff, and even that reduction might demand sumo
conceeeions on our part. If the Hetote looked to the
whole conduct of Prussia and the German States, i•
would be apparent that we had not so much reason
to complain as might appear at first view, fur let it
not he forgotten that the Prussian Government had wsh-
orawn a duty of ls. per lb. on wed, and it was troll
known, that till within these few year. there h ai exis ea
upon that article a duty that amounted to a prohisition.
He thought also, that it would tie extremely unjust to
cast any censure up. o foreign states merely became. they
had not kept pace with this country in the great work 01
opening the trade of Europe Much allowance must be
mole for the peculiar circumstances of those countries,
and it was not to be overlooked that they were not as
active in enforcing proltitiitairy reeulatiens as this country
bad been until very lately. He had never been of the
number of those who thought that protecting duties were
advantageous; on the contrary, he had been, and still
was, the advocate of free trade; hut if any continental
ceuney adopted the resolution of entering upon fiscal war,
anti imposed nigh duties uprn the coniniodities of this
country, be should say that retaliation would not, in the
end, be the wisest and the most enl rged policy fur
England. It would certainly nut lie the most effectual
way of inducing every country in such a supposed case to
abandon its course of policy; it would be, in his judg-
ineli:„ the best course to let the nations of the continent
discover, by the resuls of their own conduct, that their
favour was not as fully necessary to the prosperity of
England as the commercial liberality of this country, nor
to the continent-1 States. In the sane degree as
they refused to take our commodities. did they deprive
themselves of England taking theirs. Until very lately
all the public men in this country held the doc-
trine that protecting duties were beneficial, arid even to
the present hour there were not wanting those who
held them in high estimation ; it was, therefore, no
matter of surprise that the nations of the continent
shoutd, in tome in-dances, adopt our precepts rather than
our example. It was. really very unfair to take for
gran•ed that the Give. nmenis of Europe were open to
censuie on the ground that had bean taken lip by the Hon.
Member oPiiii'ite• Itcould not have escaped the recol-
lection of the House, that in matters nt conainerci .1 in-
tercourse, France had imitated the example of England;
and to one rental kAle "'We he wished to call the
attention of the House—Ant alluded to the change that
bad taken place in the duty ern raw silk Now that
was a point upon which it was to to expel.ti cl that the
manufacturers would have niterpesed tie most yen us
, t such was
obstacle. to the alteration of that duty, and y
the growing liberality of the people, th et instead of
impeding, they were anxious to prenatte and aia in that
Itlsat step of their government The Hen. Member I ad
Imlverted to the yule (f Bsl6ium, but really he thought

that was a subject which ought to be let alone, for in the
present state of that country, it would be inconsistent
with the character and the acknowledged generosity of
En land, after having ai.h.d in the establishment of the
present order of things in Belgium. that ye should take
advantage of the influence thus acquired to promote our
own selfish objects. As to Portugal, our oirnmerval
relations with that country had not he-n changed by the
political alterations which had recently cone forward there.
and as the establishment of the claims of the Queen of Por-
tugal was r ode ed complete, we need lie under no apprehen-
sion that our commerci intereout. with that nation would
be played upon a worse footing than heretofore, He had
only furthe, to obsi rve, that there did not exist, on the
I watt of the Government, the sl.ghtest intention of aban-
doning the principl.B of tr.de upon which they had
hitherto acted, nr the doctrines which they had always
professed. He wished sincerely that the words protec•-
ing .uties" might he erased from all their proceedings, for
all interference with the direction of industry or capital.
was but a disturbance of the te.vantageous operation of
both. Nothing was more common for Hon. Members in
that House, and for persons elsewhere, than to say that,
however excellent the principles of free trade might be in
the abstract, and how. ver well fitted for practical work-
tog in a new state, yet, that in the artificial condition of
society in which we were now placed, and with our present
load of debt and taxation, it wool i be, to the list degree,
preposterous to to k of our adopting the principles of free
trade. That argument amounts to saying, that because
we had hoidens of one kind to hear, we must further
disable ourselves from enilurim; those burdens by shack-
! ng cur industry, and by interfering with the advanta-
geous and beneficial employment of carit rl. He had now
Illy to add, that he should not object to the mclion of the
Hon M. mber for Worcester.

Culotta 1 ORRENS s.id, that Ministers professed to
be discipl-s of Mr. Husk as•m, but they abandoned alto-
gether the principles of reciprocity, admitting that they
were not pr.-paced to retali ice on those states, who might
meet our commodities with the imposition of high duties,
and to that extent he differed from the N••ble Lord.
Mr. Alderman THOMI-SON thought t at this coun-
try would do well to itnit .te tie United States of America,
and require concessions in return for every commercial
advantage granted by us.

Mr. ROBINSON briefly replied, and the motion was
agreed to.

- On the motion of Mr. R. WALLACE, a return was
ordered, with various minute particulars, of the several
persons employed in the Post-offices of London, Dublin,
and Edinhingh.
Mr. BISH then addressed the House, but was wholly
inaudible. He was understood to conclude with the fol-
lowing motion :—" That a Select Committee be appointed
to inquire into the number of forged notes, with the
amount of each ; of all notes purporting to be of the Bank
of England, which have been tendered at the Bank tor
payment, since the date of the last Charter, or during the
21 years, or of the circulation of .s hich the Governor and
Company of the Bank of England have obtained in-
forma,ion ; what proportion of such notes, if any, have
been paid by the Bank, and what loss has accrued to
the public on account thereof; what prosecutions have
been instituted by the Bank on account of such forgeries,
and the result of such prosecutions, as to the number
of persons who have sufficed the extreme penalty of the
law, or have been otherwise punished or acquitted ?
Whether any, and what steps have been taken by the
Bank to render difficult the execution of such forgeries,
and to protect the public against their circulation ?
Also, to consider the most effectual mode of preventing
such forgeries in future, and to adopt, if possible, some
means of ascertaining the genuineness of such notes as may
hereafter be issued by the Bank of England, or purporting
to be so issued, for as it is now proposed to make such
notes a legal tender, it is therefore of the utmost cone
quence to the public at large, that facilil be given to them
to ascertain whether such notes be genuine."

Mr. HUME ,econded the motion chiefly on the ground
that the hold. is of forced notes were the losers by them.
Mr. Alderman THONIPSON said, that it appeared to
him that the lion. Al.-ether for Alidillessx had given many
excellent arguments why the motion before the House
should not be agreed to. The information sought for
would do no good to the public, aid would only encourage
iialiviouals who %ere engaged in the practice of
forging not a.

Mr. WARBURTON thnueht that the hest note+ that
could be produced were tho-e produced under that Quo.
mittee of which Mr. Gilbeit Davies and SIT W. Congreve
were M mhers. They were almost inimitable, and )et
the Bank engraver produced, a we-lc after, another note
nearly like the o he 1, that ordinary persona could not
see tl.e difference. The notes we had then, at present,
were the very best that could be possibly produced. sti.l
'.et there was not any thing like complete security in
them. It was, however, with them that payments were
to lie made, and tvi,h them debtors and creditors must be
sati-6ed. It no better note could be produced, and I e
thoueht none better could, the tifrct would be that there
would be an many foigetie,, and the pubs c would be liable
to be sit frequently deceived, that the whole scheme of
making bnk notes a 1-gal tender would Ili.- a na'ural death.
Mr. WILKS said a few words in support, as we under
s ood, or the motion.
Mr. BISH then ron.ented en withdraw his motion.
SINECURES.

Mr. HUME said that circumstances had made him
alttr his original intention with r.spect to t' e sinecures
held by L-rd Melville as Privy Seal of Scotland, and Mr
Dund ,s, Keeper of the Signet. He would move an num le
address to his Alajes.y, to he pleased to erd. r an .I,quiry
into these and other sinecures. In doing this he was only
fohowing up a plinciple I itely agreed to by teat House
and by Government. The Hon. Member then stated
several allowances in the Cou is of the King's Bench,
Exile quer, and Admiralty, granted by Lord M..n•ti Id,
who, he c, ntended, had no right to make such a, point-
ments. He egged -o call the attention o, the House to
the Clerk of tie Pat liarn• nts, who, in five years, bail
received 29,000/. and upward. Now. it Government
had die right to regulate one sinecure it had the power to
regulate the whole of them. If it had not, he could not
tind.-rstand how it was that Lord Ellenberough's clerk
had in one year 7,001)1 , and in another 6 0001. ; and it
Government bad the power to reduce this sinecure 14)
1,01)01., he did not see any rea.-on why it should not t Are
the whole of it away. There were two-other sinecures of
which he had spoken on a former occasion, and to which
he again would call the attention of the House. He
meant the two Chief Justices of Eyre, in Scotland. Now
those two sinecures, since their commencement, interest,
:nil cr m pound interest brill:, calculated, had cost the public
49,0001. There were two other sinecures that deserved
pat tiro ar notice; the first was the storekeeper of Dublin,
4.1151. a year ; and the sec.,nd tho craner and wha finger
of the same city. Lord G. Seymour, who had 1.200!.
a year, without any patent showing how or when foie.
Then ti ere was the Keeper of the Great Seal, formerly
2,000/ a year, but now reduced to 991/. ; and the Keep r
of the P. ivy Se..l, Lord Melville, formerly about 4,000/.
a year. hut now reduced to 3,0001. This last appoint-
ment was made by his late Majesty when Prince R gent ;
and he doubted whether he could tnake that appointment,
at any rate he could not extend it beyond his natural life.
There were two commissions made out ; the last was in
1824 when he was l'rince Regent, and when he had no
right at all to make the appointment ; and even when
George the Fourth it was a question whether he ought to
extend the appointment beyond hie life-time, since the
best Scottish Lawyers dottb ed whether the Sovereign could
grant the custody of the Privy Seal beyond the term of
his natural life. The Keeper of toe Signet, held by Mr.
Dlndd9, was anotrer lite appointment by the Crown of
2,7991., and out of that 1,000/, was granted to Lord Mel-
ville. The Register of Stozins was held by the same indi
vidual, and amounted to 5,000/, a year. Pat hauteur had
made reductions in the emoluments of many sinecure offices,
and the same Parliament had the power of doing away with
them altogether if they thought fit ; and he was quite sur-
prised that Government had so long delayed putting an end
to them. 'the Hon. Gentleman then reterred to the Sine-
cure offices of the Governor of the Scotch Mint, the Cl. rk
of the Hanaper, and various others, which amounted to
such an inimeme sum in the aggregate, that he could not
think the House would hesitate in passing the address.
The Hon. Alemb-r concluded by reading his motion,
which was, " That, in accordance with the resolutions
of this House, an humble address be presented to his Ma-
jesty, that he will be pleased to direct an inquiry to be
made into every existing sinecure office, or office ex-cuter
by deputy wholly or in patt, by whatever tenure held,
with the view of abolishing the salaries and einoluniente
of all those where public services have not been performed
to deserve the same, and warrant their continuance or
mortification."

Mr. WARBURTON seconded it.
Lord ALTHORP objetved to the address thus iramed,
as involving a principle which he bad repeatedly itep e-
c,ited—tliat of interfering with vested right., and no fresh
arguments had been brought forward to alter his (Lord
A.'.) 1?. hog on the subject. NOthimg could justity the
Hou‘e in taking places away from persons now in pm's"'
stun of them, whatever might he dune to prevent any auc-
""ing person fruit enjoying them. The emoluments
of
some places had been undoubtedly i reduced, but in the
present case he thought tbac the edvirotagee to be
derived were not commensurate with ihe evil -and in.
justice which would be done to indiv.i oals. He wo
quite aware, however, of the general feeling entertained

against sinecures, and he was perfectly ready to agree
to any motion which should discontinue them be-
yond the present possessors, but he must again protest
against any infringement on vested rights. As to
the expression of holding place during pleasure, whatever
it might appear to mean on the face of it, it virtually
entitled the possessor of such place to hold it during hie
life, except in very few cases, which exceptions had already
been attended to by Parliament. With respect to Lord
Melville's office, Hon. Gentlemen should call to mind, that
however different that Noble Lord's political principles
might be to theits, and to those held by the present Mini.
stem yet that he had performed under another Admini-
stration considerable public eel vices, and was, therefore,
entitled to his reward ; and had he not this office, he
must have had a penai.in of some sort. A man who has
performed publie services, whatever his political creed,
was entitled to pub is reward. Lord Melville's office was
not, therefore, an office for which no public service had
been done. He
(Lord \.) must, therefore, object to the
motion as it rood ; if, however, the Hon. Gentleman
wished tor information on this point, he should be most
'Tatty to lay it before the House,
and for this purpose he
should move, as an amendment on the Hon Gentleman'.
motion—" Th.t an humble Address lie made to his Ma-
jetty, that it might please him .0 direct that there he pre-
pat ed, for the purpose of being laid be ore the House a
return, explaining the nature and extent of all emoluments
derivable from sinecure offices in the United Kingdom."
The amendment being put,
Mr. COBBETT would not vote for the original
question, much less for the amendment. What he wanted
was, to have sinecures done sw y with, without delay of
any description. Out of 658 Members of that House,
there were a full halt who were pledged, at any rate, to
the utter abolition of ad sinecures; and now was come
the test of their sincerity. As to saying the House hat
no power to do it, such an idea was perfectly absurd. If
the House had to pay these sinerurists out of their own
pockets, they wiitai soon find out whether they had
power or nor. But here was an excellent occasion on
which to see of what staff the " Reformed House" was
made. They had considerably sh 'ken their on
credit with the people by rescinding the malt tax ; let
them add to this a refusal to do away with sinecwen, and
their character was gone, completely and for ever. Talk
of their not having power to do this and that ; why
they had power to do anything and every bing. They had
the power sufficient--for it was they, and they alone,
who did these things. It was worse than absurd to at-
tempt to lay the b'ame on their agents. They had power,
he repeated, to thrust no less than one thousand
pers-ns into the gaols, within a very short period, for
°Truces ag ,inst their Excise laws—they had power enough
to ificarcerwe one poor wretch, and fine him 100/. for
smuggling a gallon of hi n ly--(A laugh)—they had
tl e power of collecting fifty-four millions of sovereigns
every year out of the pockets of the people—they had
power to do a I this, y. t some of them talked of having
no power to cut off George Rose's sinecures ; a man who,
with his family, had touched no less than 300 0001.
principal money—public nomey. Talk of having no
power ! They had had power enough to do a vast deal of
evil, and he hoped that they would soon begin to exercise
their power another way—it was time.
Lord J. RUSSELL said there was no doubt as to the
power of the House. The question was, whether, by
complying with the motion of the Hon. Member, they
would be making a good use of it. He (Lord J. Russeil)
thought not; but that. on the contrary, they would be
doing an act of great injustice to individuals. He would
beg the House to remember, that in this matter Govern-
ment were swayed by no personal motives —(Hear, hear.)
On the contrary, the offices moved against now and on
former occasions had all been conterred on the possessors
by a Government politically hostile to the present Adonis
nitration. He could assure the House, however, that
though a feeling of principle induced Ministers to defend
the present possessors of these offices in what they con-
sidered their just rights. yet good care would be taken to
prevent any further sinecure abuses, to effect every possible
reduction, and to consult the best interests of the people
in every respect.
Mr. RU f HVEN thought that, more particularly with
reference to Lord Melville, what public services had been
dine by these sinecurists had been amply repaid by their
salaries, Sze... uri g the period of those services.

Lod ALTHORP said that the only difference between
him arid ihr Hon. Alemberfor Dlid.ilea•a was one of degree.
Afttr a ew word. from Mi. WILKS,

Mr. AGLIONBY thought that the Hon. Member for
Middlesex would do his duty be,tt-r to his count: it he
we'e to withdraw his moti n He (Jr. A.), however,
wir.hed w defend himself against h.ing thought to defend
sinecure,
_ _

111 r. G. SINCLAIR would vote for the motion of the
N. le Lord, although he could not but re,„ret that the
expressions which the Noble Lord had made use
regarding the Hon. Meinbe, for Middlesex, who was the
last man in the House to filch popularity, as he had
enough all vatly.
Alter a few wo,da from Mr. HUME, the gallery was
clear.d tor a division, but none took place, the Hon. Member
having consented to wi'hdraw his m rion.
BISHOPS' LEASES.
_

Mr. O'RElLLl7tiit;edforTtt---.‘ Return of the several
Bishops' leases which have been suffered to exp.re in the
several Sees in Ireland, since the accession of the pr sent
oecupanis, sett ng for h the date, names of the lessee or
lessees, rent anti renewal fine reserved in each respectively;
together with /Idalral of the townlantho or other tienoilitna-
ti..n of land, the palish, barony, and county wherein
situate, and the total nu ober of acres comprised in each
of such dem se- ; distinguishing as fully as can be d one
the acreeble contents of each denomination, whether era
131 e, pastu•e cutaway bog, bog, athi mountain, as fully and
part.cularly as same are set forth in the said demises
respectively. As retro, a return of all demises since made
of the lands aid premises comprised in said expired de-
mi.es respectively, by the several Archbishops and Bishops
in Ireland, and whether resister. d or otherwise ; anti, if
registered, setting forth the date of such registry ; anti
where no new demise has been made of the lands and
tenements comprised in such expired demises, then, and
in each case, a return of the rentals of all such lands anti
premises ; specif iiig the denominations, and acrerrole con-
tents of such denomination ; distinguishing the arable,
pa-tare, cutaway hug, log, anti mountain, in each respec-
tively ; together wiih the names of the occup, ing tenants,
" reed to.
and rents reserved from eqell respettively.Ag