The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-19 00:00:00

,11!.- ritilla MI6

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1851.

In the House of Lords last night there was some dis-
cussion on various private Bills.

The Inhabited House-duty Bill was read a second
time, and their Lordships adjourned.
In the Commons,

Mr. Alderman SALomorrs was introduced in the usual
form, and proceeded to the table, where he demanded to
be sworn on the Old Testament. This demand having
been acceded to, the oaths were administered. The lion.
Gentleman refused to repeat the words, "on the true
faith of a Christian" at the conclusion of the oath of
abjuration, and was directed to withdraw; he, however,
took his seat on one of the benches on the Ministerial
side below the gangway, but ultimately withdrew to one
f the seats below the gallery and withoutside the bar,
which are appropriated to the use of Peers and distin-
guished visitors.
Sir B. HALL asked if the Government would direct
the prosecution of Mr. SALOMIONS, in order to enable
him to try his right.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER proposed, in
consequence of the unavoidable absence of the Noble
Lord at the head of the Government, to postpone the
consideration of the question until Monday.
A somewhat animated discussion ensued, in which Sir
F. TH,'SIGER, Mr. T. DUNCOSIBE, Mr. ANSTEY and Mr.
B. OSBORNE took part, which terminated in all parties
acquiescing in the postponement of the consideration of
the question until Monday.
The House then went into Committee of Supply upon
the civil services estimates, the remaining navy esti-
mates, and the militia estimates.

_
The report of the Committee of Supply was brought
up and agreed to.
Certain Bills were put forward their next stages, and,
the other orders and motions having been disposed of,
the House adjourned shortly before Two o'clock.

Yesterday evening, on its being proposed that a
sum of 809,4961. should defray the charge of the Post-
office Packet Service, a brief but interesting discussion
arose among the national representatives. From this
incidental debate in the House of Commons may be
gleaned sundry particulars of importance, illustrative
of the present position and prospects of this department
of the national Administration. According to the
system as it stands at the present moment in the con-
tract packet service, iron steamers are subjected to a
rigid exclusion. Deemed, as they are, utterly un-
suited for war service, it has been decided that iron
boats for this reason alone should be denied ell
employment in the carrying out of the postal
arrangements. It may be asked, wherefore ? Simply
'because it was considered in Committee that the ser-
vice in question should be performed exclusively by
weasels fitted for war. Hence the countless advan-
tages of iron steamers have been altogether foregone
solely on account of this particular inaptitude.
Nothing has tempted the authorities to hesitate in
following this resolution, although offers of the
:most alluring kind have been made for the construc-
tion, for instance, of iron steam-ships of 4,000 tons,
:and capable of going eighteen 'miles an hour. Indeed
-the capacities of vessels built after the fashion here
Intimated have been tolerably well proved of late
I :year;, not merely by experiments, but by actual ex-
perience. As Lord NAAS observed last evening in
she House of Commons, " the Britannia-bridge has
demonstrated that vessels could be built of iron of a
size which a few years ago would have been con-
iidered fabulous." Nevertheless, with all these in-
contestable merits, the notion has been rejected by
those intrusted with the conduct of the contract packet
service, out of a solicitude that the inaptitude of these
iron steamers should be avoided. Admitting the wis-
dom of those who are anxious to surround the vessels
employed in that service with every reasonable
security, considering the extraordinary importance of
their freight, it must at the same time be regretted
ta'sat endeavours have not been made to obviate the
fficulty already indicated, so as to place all the un-
d.ioubted advantages of the iron steam-ships at the
(:c+mmand of the Post-office department. In these
ud vanced stages of engineering science it is to be re-
etted that such very considerable obstacles should
bes permitted to remain in the way of the improvement
of naval architecture. The experiments at Ports-
mouth, unsatisfactory as they were considered to be,
c o•uld not, we conceive, justify any such wide-spread
a. Id obdurate discouragement. Endeavours of another
kixAd should have Leen made, in order that additional
of might have been afforded, so that
of ' the merits of iron as a material in the con-
st ruction of steam-vessels, should have been brought
w ithin reach of those entrusted with the contract pac-
k= tt service. Until supplementary efforts of this
nature shall have been adventured upon we shall re-
m sin doubtful as to the justice done to the public in-
te rest in this important particular.
Another subject alluded to in the course of
latst, night's discussion on this vote of upwards
of 800,000 Z. for the packet service, is, to
ou ,r thinking, not a jot less entitled to our
m oat serious consideration. We allude to the sug-
gt eetion thrown out by the Committee, to the effect
th at her MAJESTY'S Government should give notice
w hen the time for renewing these contracts arrived,
so. that the country might derive as much benefit as
possible from the influence of public competition.
It was satisfactory to learn last evening from the
First Lord of the Admiralty himself that this im-
portant recommendation had been duly considered
by Ministers, and that in consequence of it every
reasonable opportunity will be afforded
for imparting to this branch of the national ser-
vice the manifold advantages of public competition.
After this candid and satisfactory avowal on the part
of Sir FRANCIS BARING, it was not surprising to find
the vote readily agreed to by the House, a new confi-
dence having thereby been excited that the attention
of the Cabinet would henceforth be directed the more
carefully to this remarkable branch of the general
administration.

As to the suggestion thrown out yesterday by Sir
THOMAS ACLAND, to the effect that a line of packets
should be established along the western coast of
Africa as far southwards as Fernando Po, it must be
acknowledged that such a measure would tend of course
very considerably to elevate that extensive track
of country from the degrading position of its pre-
sent barbarism, and to confer, imperceptibly it
might be, but still at the same time inevitably, upon
its inhabitants the inestimable blessings of civiliza-
tion. Nevertheless, while the ulterior aivantages of
such an enterprise as the one here intimated would
necessarily be of the most humane and beneficent
character, they cannot but be viewed under existing
circumstances as marked by a somewhat Utopian
vagueness. It behoves her MAJESTY'S Government
consequently to look first to the development of good
in the packet service as it is at present consti-
tuted, before adventuring upon an extension of its
benefits upon a scale of such indefinite magnitude.
What is principally required from those officials to
whom the management of this portion of the public
service has been confided is the combination of rapi-
dity, se,urity, and regularity in the conduct of the
entire system, a system upon which such vast and
diversified interests are dependent. While anything
remains to be accomplished in regard to the packet
service upon any one of these important considera-
tions, we shall not cease to regard as frivolous every
scheme such as the one here thrown out by the Hon.
Baronet the Member for North Devonshire. Imme-
diately our present lines of intercommunication ap-
pear to us to be in every respect properly cared for
and conducted, then, but not till then, shall we be
prepared to regard with complacency such projects as
those for the social advancement of the Hottentots
and the other members of the African population.

We yesterday pointed out some of the necessary
ingredients of the Reform Bill of 1862, without
which it will be of but little practical utility, and
will bitterly disappoint the reasonable expectations of
reformers. There is another point of considerable
importance on which there can be no doubt, the de-
clarations of the PaEMIER on the subject being as
plain and explicit as can be desired. The " property
qualification" of Members is doomed. It is to be
totally and unconditionally abolished, and no restric-
tion will henceforth be imposed on the freedom of
choice of the constituencies. Considering the object
for which it was imposed, and the gross and palpable