The Sun.
London, England, 1834-04-19 00:00:00

IRISH JUDGMENTS BILL.

Lord WYNFORD moved the second reading of this bill.
The Marquis of WESTMEATH rose to oppose it.
He thought that the measure ought to be submitted
to a committee, as there were many parts of it highly
objectionable. He considered it would be productive
of mischief, inasmuch as it did not provide for the
possibility of persons sued under it obtaining testi-
mony either in this country or Ireland. If it passed
into a law, a person might follow another from this coun-
try, and take process out against him, from which he would
not be able to defend himself. The noble marquis then
alluded to a speech made some time since by Lord Wyn-
ford, and concluded by stating his determination to oppose
the bill.

Lord WYNFORD said that the noble marquis had al-
luded to a speech of his that had been published, but he
oould only say that he never saw a speech of his in print that
went within eleven points of what he had actually said ;
and he spoke within the hearing of those who took down
what he said there. With respect to any amendment that
the noble marquis might wish to introduce, he should be happy
to consent to any amendment, but he thought that very few of
the points which the noble marquis had stated, bore at all
upon the present bill.
The house then resolved itself into a committee upon
the bill.

The Marquis of WESTMEATH proposed a clause,
to the effect that all judgments, upon which no pro-
ceedings had been taken for the last twenty years, should
not take effect.

After a few observations from Lord WYNFORD, op-
posing the introduction of the clause, the gallery was
cleared for a division, but none took place.
The house went into a committee upon the bill.
One amendment was proposed by Lord WYNFORD,
and adopted.
Another was proposed by the Alarquis of WEST-
MEATH, and rejected.
The Marquis of STAFFORD presented a petition from
the dissenters of Stoke-upon-Trent, complaining of the
disabilities under which they laboured.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE presented the report of
the select committee on parliamentary offices ; and gave
notice, that on Tuesday next he should propose certain re-
solutions connected with it.

The Marquis of WESTMEATH presented a petition
on the subject of the burning of lands in Ireland.—Referred
to the select committee.
SMUGGLING ACTS' AMENDMENT BILL.

Lord AUCKLAND moved the second reading of this Bill.
The Earl of MALMESBURY said, that in his opinion
there could be nothing worse than sending offenders of this
description to associate with our sailors and soldiers, and
therefore he hailed this bill with much satisfaction ; but he
certainly did not like the idea of throwing any additional
burden upon the maritime counties. Those counties, he
supposed, would be charged with the support of these offen-
ders. (No, no, from the Ministerial benches.) He
found, then, he was wrong ; but he had still another ob-
jection to urge, or rather, he had a suggestion to make.
It was, that persons guilty of the offence of smuggling
should be separated from other criminals.
Lord AUCKLAND said the practice had hitherto been,
for the customs to pay 44d. per day for the maintenance of
each offender against the customs' laws ; how far that was
sufficient he could not tell. The Government was, how-
ever, willing that the customs should pay whatever more
was necessary.
Lord STRANGFORD objected to the principle of the
bill, because it gave to ministers the power of making a
difference in the punishment of the rich and poor offender.
The rich offender, who was frequently the more guilty of
the two, might get off with a pecuniary fine, which the
poor criminal—he who by want was goaded on to break
the laws—would for a second offence be subjected to twelve
months' imprisonment with hard labour. While on this
subject, he must express his astonishment at the continued
forbearance of his Majesty's government toward the French
government, which so openly permitted its subjects to carry
on an extensive smuggling trade in eight of their ports from
Boulogne to Havre, to the great detriment of the fair
trader in this country. In those eight privileged ports the
trade was mainly in the hands of the smugglers, and to the
inherent protection which the French executive extended
to them, his Majesty's ministers never ventured even so far
as a remonstrance. This, however, was hardly to be won-
dered at, when it was evident they were determined to
maintain their union with our dear and intimate friend and
ally at any expense, even that of our honour and interest.
From the reign of Charles the Second, down to this, our
own pre-eminently glorious period, England had never
derived either honour or advantage by any connection with
France.

Lord AUCKLAND said the only effectual way of di-
minishing the amount of smuggling was by reducing the
custom duties as low as possible, so that it should not be
worth a man's while to incur the risk of detection.

Lord WYNFORD and the Duke of WELLINGTON said a
few words which were not heard in the gallery.
Earl GREY said he looked with great satisfaction to
the intimate and confidential union which existed at that
moment between England and France, and on its conti-
nuance, he did not hesitate to say, the peace of Europe
depended, and he, from his heart, hoped that it would re-
main uninterrupted; but to sacrifice the honour and interests
of his country, even to so desirable an object as that which
he had stated, he was, he begged leave to say, quite as in-
capable of doing as the noble baron himself. , Why did not
the noble baron come manfully forward, and produce his
charge—why did he not produce his facts ? Let the noble
baron do this any time he liked, and he would meet him
and his charge, and answer and, as he thought, refute it.
The noble baron had spoken as if this smuggling trade had
only commenced since he (Earl Grey) took office.
Lord STRANGFORD said something across the table.

Earl GREY—I say no. Again the noble baron says,
yes ; and again I say, no. Well, so it stands, his yes and
my no. But he (Earl Grey) asked, was it peculiar to the
French ? was it not a natural desire with them, as with
every other people under the sun, to produce as much as
they could, and to export as much as they could ?
If the noble baron would state anything specific, he
would at once grapple with the charge ; but he would
say no more on the subject now—seeing how easy it
was to make general sweeping assertions, how difficult pro-
perly to repel them—than that his Majesty's Government
had never on this or on any other subject—no matter what
—shown any backwardness to express their opinions to the
French government in a becoming and suitable manner,
and that whenever it had been necessary to remonstrate on
this particular subject they had immediately done so, and
at once been attended to. He repeated that he was sin-
cerely anxious for the continuance of this union, which the
noble baron so much decried ; because, in his conscience,
he believed it fraught with good to this and to every other

;ti movecoufttrjr-gubecause; all, he thought it an honourable
guarantee of peace ; but that union should not be main-
tamedl4k
fo moment longer by him if it was to be at the
expenet es r of the interests or the honour of his country.
LorßTs NGFORD explained.
The bill was then read a second time, and ordered to be
committed on Monday.—Adjourned.