The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-07 00:00:00

THE, SUN, LONDON, WEDNESD,AY EVENING, MAY 7, 1856.

UNES

L,.;I;ASSI) z•f FIXED

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The clergy who suffered most from the injustice com-
plained of would not derive much relief from the deduc-
tion of the land tax ; and as regarded curates' stipend
but few were kept in the rural districts, and the relief
would be but email, and the same applied to the
relief the deductions of the payments to Queen
Anne's bounty would give the clergy, and besides that
would be an additional injustice to many, a por-
tion of the clergy only having to pay towards
the bounty. The fourth clause. for deducting rates and
taxes imposed after the c..)mmotation of the titheß, he
could not approve of, and he denied the proposition
of the hon. and learned gentleman on this point. There
was one point the hon. and learned gentleman
had not mentioned—viz., that the charge for the main-
tenance of the poor throughout the kingdom had been
redaced 1,500,0001., and to that extent the clergy had
been relieved with which to meet any increase of taxa-
tion that had since taken place. With regard to the
present mode of appeal be saw nothing objectionable in
it, or that a clergyman should not avail himself of it as
well as a layman. He (Slr. Bouverie) objected
to the clause making it compulsory on the Justice
to see the rate was properly made. He should not
oppose the second reading of the bill, but should rece►ve
his opposition till the house went into committee on the
bill.

RAE& RAID,

La tetra

Clioin,
this daT.

.trAiness
this lay,

95 97
94 b 8

11 - 13
132 131
4/

104 _ 166

121 -- 131
lib -7: iis

21 - 2i

Sir J. PAKINGTON, in addressing the house, asked,
"Where is the Chancellor of the Exchequer ?" (laughter)
—seeing that he had not been present at any time dur•
ing the morning. No doubt the Speaker would answer
he did not know, but considering the high
authority the Chancellor of the • Exchequer was on this
question, he should have been present. He (Sir J. Pak-
ington) was glad to find the Government would not
oppose the second reading of the bill, and he regretted
that from the tone of the hon. member's speech
(Mr. Bouverie's) led them to believe that the
Government would resist the bill in committee. (The
right hon. baronet was proceeding to address the house
on the great injustice of the present system, when the
Chancellor of the Exchequer entered the house amidst
much laughter.) He supported the bill, and said that the
house and the country were much indebted to the hon. and
learned member for Tavistock for attempting to remedy
the evils complained of. The Government was only
asked to do an act of justice to the clergy.
Mr. HENLEY was glad the bill was to be read a
second time, because it was an admission on all hands
tc, at an evil and an injustice really existed. The real
question at issue had nothing to do with the pecuniary
position of the parties interested, but resolved itself
into whether an inequality existed or not. He, how-
ever, was afraid C: at the present bill would remedy the
admitted grievance ti7.:at existed.
Sir W. HEATHCOTE also addressed the house on
the necessity of au alteration in the present mode of
assessing rent charges.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER after
stating that his absence in the early part of the
day was occasioned by his attendance on one of
the Committees, said that the clerical tithe had a real
and substantial grievance to complain of in the
rating of his tithe from the simple fact of the
assessor who makes the rate in each pariah being a
farmer, and, consequently he assessed those of his own
class somewhat below their full value, whilst the mount
of the rent charge being an ascertained fact, the full
amount was entered on the rate, and the clergyman had
to pay on the full assessment. Tithes had always been
considered as property and not as an income. Toe right
hon. baronet having stated his objections to many of the
clauses of the bill, and the deductions proposed to be
made, said that he considered the deduction for
the payment towards Queen Anne's bounty was
tenable. The clergyman was only a tenant
for life, and occupied his house as an official
residence, which was different from that of an ordinary
tenant for life, and therefore ho thought it a fair ques-
tion for consideration, whether the clergymen should he
a►lowed to deduct that amount from the asse-snient.
Mr. GLADSTONE said it was gratifying to him to
find, from the general tone of the discussion, that there
was a desire on the part of the house to relieve the clergy
of the inequality and injustice of which they com.
plained. The admission of the grievance on this occa-
sion had been universal, and so emphatic that he thought
it not altogether creditable to the house to allow small
dificulties of detail and small differences of opinion
to interfere between it and the proposed cure
of the grievance. Let them not fold their arms
and idly stand by and not attempt a remedy for a griev-
ance that was plain, palpable, and even scandalous.
It would be better to apply a remedy to which there
might be some objections (though not of a vital charac-
ter) than to allow the grievance complained of to
remain in that neglected state in which it had
already too long rested. As the feelings of the house
was so universal in admitting the grievance, he hoped
the bill would not be lost from any difference of
opinion as to the remedy, and therefore he sug-
gested that the bill should be referred to a select com-
mittee, not to take evidence, but for that committee to
closely and carefully consider the various modes of re-
medy proposed in juxtaposition to each other, and re-
port thereon to the house.

P 43 - 94
i - $p
56 - 58

45 - 47

1.-32 - 134

'4 :id

iii 1 iii

- Mr. HADFIELD condemned the present power of
appeal against assessments to poor's rates.
After a short discussion the bill was read a second
time and ordered to be referred to a select committee.
AGGR I.VATED ASSAULTS BILL.
Mr. DILL WYN moved the second reading of this
bill, which was one he thought was well calculated
to repress those fearful cases of assault upon women,
which so frequently appeared in the public newspapers.
The clauses of the bill propesed the infliction of corpo-
real punishment, which he thought was . the only
thing calculated to do so. It bad been sug•
Bested that solitary imprisonment should be in-
flicted. He thought that solitary imprisonment,
and a longer term of it, would be good in some cases,
but he maintained that solitary imprisonment was not
calculated to act sufficiently active on the mind
of man to prevent him, through fear, from com-
mitting those brutal assaults upun defenceless wo-
men, which was a disgrace to the country. There had
been also a suggestion that a cheap law of divorce should
be passed. (Hear, hear.) He would go heart and
hand to obtain a cheap law of divorce, but
he did not wish to mix the law of divorce up with this
measure, and, under all the circumstances, he thought
that the only way by which the evil would be abated
was by the infliction of corporal punishment. When a
man committed a robbery, he, generally speaking,
weighed well the consequences of the act if d.-
tected ; but, in the case of wife beating, such
was not the case. But if the knowledge that
corporal punishment would surely be administered,
the hand of the savage would be stopped by the
dread of receiving suchpuniehmen., for it was generally
found that the greater the bully the greater the coward.
It had been said that such a mode of punishment as
was proposed to be inflicted by this bill would degrade
man. He believed a man who habitually assaulted his
wile could tot be degraded for he was a brute, and a
brute could not be degraded, but he ought to be pre-
vented from repeating aggravated assaults. The hon.
gentleman having referred to the meeting lately held at
Leicester, hoped the Government would not oppose the
second reading of the bill.
Sir G. GREY said every person must wish to see the
cases of aggravated assaults diminished, yet be
thought the bill of the hon. gentleman ought not to be
agreed to. The present law had bean very beneficial
and it had worked mush good. He believed the punish-
ment of the existing law was much more calculated
to effect an improvement in the conduct of
the man than the infliction of corporeal punishment.
When a man was sent to prison his wife generally
interested herself and obtained his discharge, and
be went home again under circumstances more
calculated to make him act in a kinder and
better manner towards the woman, whom he was
bound by all the ties of honour and affection to protect.
He thought that a law liberating from prison after four-
teen days solitary confinement, and a smarting
back, was not half so likely to effect an im-
provement in the behaviour of the man as the present
law. He thought the act which had been lately passed
was not a failure, and for these and other reasons he
must object to the second reading of the bill.
Mr. DIGBY SEYMOUR thought that it was
going back in civilisation to inflict corporeal punishment
for cases of assault. The present law had not been a
failure, and, therefore, he should oppose the bill.
After a short discussion, in which Mr. Whitbread, Mr.
Bentinck, and Mr. Barrow took part,
Captain SCOBELL said the house was arguing this
question on a very narrow ground. By the present bill,
if any member of this house met a saucy boy in the street
and corrected him, he was liable to fourteen days' im-
prisonment and to be flogged. Flegsfing in the navy
had greatly diminished, and the consequence was we
had a superior class of men in the service. He agreed
with some of the suggestions that had been made during
the debate. Compel a man to do any sort of
dirty work, to any sort of degradation, but
don't flog him. He believed that if the wife
knew her husband was to be flogged as a punishment,
for an assault committed upon her she would not come
forward to prosecute him.

Mr. MUNTZ thought that a cheap law of divorce
was the best measure that could be adopted.
Mr. S. WORTLEY opposed the bill as it would tend
to increase the repugnance cf wives coining forward to
prosecute their husbands for habitual ill-usage.
The house then divided, when tberc appeared—
For the second reading
Against it • 135
Majority against the bill —33
The bill was consequently lost. .
SLEEPING STATUTES BILL.

This bill was read a second time.
SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY SOCIETIES
BILL

This bill WAS also read a s:clnd time.
The second reading of the Maynooth College Bill was
understood to be postponed till t,:-morrow.
The house then adjourned till 2 o'clock to-morrow.

TEE ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION.—We are requested
to state that the name of the artist who has exhibited a
work of sculpture entitled "Love," in the Exhibition, is
Woolner, not Woolmer, as printed in the index of the
official catalogue.
WIFE BEATING.—At the Clerkenwell police-court,
yesterday, William Catharn was committed to prison
for six months for brutally assaulting his wife. The
magistrate informed the fellow that at the expiration
of his term of imprisonment he should require him to
End bail for his future good behaviour for another six
months.
REPRESENTATION OF LANCASTER. The Lancaster
Guardian states that Mr. Robert Baynes Armstrong
has expressed his intention of appea,ing to the suffrages
of the electors at the first opportunity. Mr. Armstrong,
who comes for Ward on the liberal iutersst, will be op-
pesed, as has been already intimated, by Mr. Robert
Gladstone, of Manchester.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, TUESDAY MoitNlNa.

TIIE MURDER OF MRS. KELLY.

The informations in the case of Mr. George Stre •
rens, who standa charged with being accessory to
the murder of Mrs. Sarah Kelly, having been re-
, turned, his counsel will apply to-morrow to the
Cuurt of Queen's Bench to admit the prisoner to
bail. It is understood, however, that the applica-
tion will be :strenuously resisted by the Crown, on
the ground that the evidence already obtained is
sufficiently strong to warrant Mr. Strevens' further
detention in custody. As yet the public are in
complete darkness as to the nature of this evidence,
the press having been excluded—perhaps properly
so—during the two days' magisterial investigation
at Moate ; but it is thought probable that the
secrecy which has been so far observed will be
partially broken by the proceedings in the Queen's
Bench on Wednesday.

THE MURDERERS OF MISS HINDS.
The Attorney-General has refused to give his
fiat for the bringing of a writ of error in the case
of the convict Duane, convicted at the last special
commission of Cavan for inciting and hiring others
to murder Miss Hinds. The objection, it may be
recollected, meant to be relied on was that, when
one of the jurors became unwell, after the prisoner
had exercised his right of challenge, and another
was sworn in his place without objection and before
any evidence was gone into, the prisoner should
have been again put to his challenge, as if it were
a completely new jury, even though he did not
object to the substituted juror. Th© law will,
therefore, take its course, and the two convicts will
be executed on Friday, the 16th inst., at Cavan.