The Sun.
London, England, 1833-02-07 00:00:00

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proposed by the Noble I,6rd might do very •
"t" -•
ho lived in the Iskinity of the House.
"pointed to sit at nine, the plan woe Id he founsl not to answer.
to attend Cosifnittees at nine o'c'ock.
living several miles distant, he (Sir
l
ed it a great tax to es quire of
:TlR,;:hhotibe
eyfartorotrr
mightgnrgegeeneen tnltli)lebee,
able
them to attend Committees at nine o'clock, after having
sat up the previous night to a late hour. To him it was a
matter also of surprise how it could be expected that the Minis.
tees of the Crown could attend Committees from 9 to 12 o'clock,
that they should then come down to the House to hear p
tions till 3 o'clock, and then have two hours, for w' ?
to attend Cabinet meetings! The thing was utterly impossitils.
in his view, at least the business could fluff bs w.l! d ne
when so much was required from every Me nte•.— lie 1.)
Then the attendance of the Ministers of the Cro en in rotation.
would never give, in his opinion, satisfaction. Added to this
it frequently happened that, on the presentation o`pstitions,l c
would not say acrimonious but spirited and interesting discussis n
took place, and to interrupt those discussions exactly as the
clock struck three would be attended with great inconvenience,
and it was ludicrous to suppose that the House, after such an
interruption, would meet again at five. In fact, the separation
of the House at three o'clock woutd-bemost inconvenient, and
would tend to delay, rather than facilitate, the public business.
In a new, and, With all deference, he would say, an inexpe-
rienced House of Commons, the plan of the Noble Lord would
be found greatly inconvenient. He would suggest whether it
would not be desirable to give the House the exl erience of
three or four weeks, by which time they would be able to ascer-
tain the number of petitions that would probably bs pre en ed,
and the House would be a little snore experienced.
Mr. O'CONNELL said, the present was the fi urth Parli I
ment during
Isovie he had the honour of sitting in
that flousli;.a e belieVed he had sat as many hours during
that tinieeny other Member. The inconvenience of the
presentmo e of doing business was perfectly obvious, but he
diti.nOtlisiiiklhai the plan of the Noble Lord would relieve
tattaf,if at all. The inconvenience that had been ex-
; 4forelv hen the House met early to re:eive petition;
waa:thiftlrey were received with empty benches, and if theHouS
,Ffiet again'at a certain hour for no other business but that of pa.
'talons, the same consequence would be the result. He alone
had petitions enough for a fortnight or three weeks. Ile
was strongly opposed to transacting business at night ; there
was no reason why that should be the only house in the
world that did their business by night. It was high time
to make some change, and it was worth considering, whether,
instead of sitting four days a week, as before, for Wednes-
days were not considered business days, they should not
meet three days at ten o'eloek in the morning,
and make an order, that if forty Members were not
then present, all who should be absent without
excuse, should be taken into custody—(Laughter)—they c0u3.4
give two hours for petitions, and from 12 o'clock till Sin the
evening transact all the public and other business. By that
plan the whole business of a Private Bill could be done at one
sitting, and the expense of keeping. persons in town would be
materially reduced. He admitted that by this plan the session
might be prolonged, as some Members might say, to their
great inconvenience ; but no man sent there by the public
had a right to say, that they were inconvenienced. It might
be objected that by this arrangement none of the Ministers
would be able to attend, for as they bad to attend to their offi-
cial business in the day, they could not come down to the
House before the evening ; but on the other hand, they would
have three whole days for their official business, and every
evening after the House adjourned. On the whole, he did
not think the plan of the Noble Lord would answer, and
he thought it would be better to postpone it, !for a
future period. He knew, that early adjournments of the House
would be moved, and before long he should have to move an ai
journment at 9 o'clock. Up to 1792 it appeared by the Journals
that the order of the day was read at 1 o'clock. It was sins e
then that they had got into their present method of doing, or
rather of not doing, the public bussiness. It was now time for
a Reformed House of Commons to put a stop to it, and not pass
from twenty to thirty orders after 12 at night.
Colonel DAVIES did not think that the plan suggested by
the Noble Lord opposite would be found to answer. Ile was
satisfied that nineteen times out of twenty, 40 Members would
not be collected at twelve o'clock. He agreed for the most
part in the suggestions thrown out by the Right Hon. Baronet,
the Member for Tamworth.

Lord ALTHORP said, that, since it apt eared to be the
general feeling of the House that the plan he had prof oiect
was not the best that could be adopted, lie was willing to ad.
journ the debate for a fortnight.
Mr. LITTLETON was of opinion that three weeks would
be better than a fortnight.

After a few words from Sir ROBERT PEEL, Mr. WILK and
Sir T. FaEsiasms:, it was agreed that the question should be
adjourned till this day fortnight.
Lord ALTHORP then moved one of the usual sessional
orders.
Mr. LITTLETON submitted that some arrangement should
be entered into as to the printing of the petitions, as during the
last five years they had cost 12,000/. He suggested that they
should be referred to a select Committee to report at intervals
to the House on their contents.

On the question of the appointment of a Committee of
Religion,

Mr. HUME thought that, if they appointed such a Com-
mittee, it ought to be an effective one. Hitherto he believed
the appointment to have been a dead letter, lie thought, at
the hame time, that the consideration of the question might be
postponed.

Lord ALTHORP agreed with the Hon. Member in thinking
that the resolutions, with respect to the Committee of Religion
and the Courts ofJustice, did not press, and might be postponed ;
but the resolutions with respect to elections were impertant,
and could only be discussed with propriety that evening.
After a few words from Mr. HUME,
Mr. LITTLETON said he had been poring over the Journals
for a portion of the day, and had only found that one instance
of the appointment of such a Committee had been resorted to
since the Restoration.

An HON- INIENIBER, whose name we could not learn, moved
that the whole question be adjourned to this day six months.
After a few words from Mr. O'Connell, Mr. Stanley, Mr.
Wynn, the Solicitor-General, and the Attorney. General, the
question was put and carried.
BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL begged leave to move—
.' That all persons who will question any future return of
Members to serve in Parliament, upon any allegation of bribery
or corruption, and who shall in their petition specifically allege
any payment of money or other reward to have been made by
any Member, or on his account, or with his privity, since the
time of such return, in pursuance or in furtherance of such bri-
bery or corruption, may question the same at any time within
-2S days after the date of such payment ; or, if this House be not
sitting at the expiration of the said .'4 days, then within 14 days
after the day when the House shall next meet."
Mr. R. WASON then moved the following amendment—
. That when a petition against the return of any Member shall
contain an allegation that such return has been effected by bri.
berg and corruption, it is the duty of the Select Committee ap-
pointed to try the merits of such petition, to receive the evidence
which may be ()tiered in suppoi t of such allegation, without re-
quiring the petitioners to prove that such bribery and corruption
was practised by the sitting Member, or his agents."
Mr. WARBL'RTON feared Members of Parliament who
were perfectly innocent might be subjected to annoyance, and,
perhaps, expense, if the amendment were agreed to.
Mr. WASON contended that the Member who had been
guilty of no bribery could not, by the operation of the amend-
ment, be subjected to any penalty, nor could the object of
honest voters be defeated.

Mr. O'CONNELL suggested that it would be well to suffer
the present resolution to pass without opposition. Ile had
himself' several amendments to propose—one was about the
interference of Peers, a second about bribery by unsuccessful
candidates ; for here arose many eases that ought to be rigo.
rously inquired into. He intended to propose a resolution for
a standing Committee, to take questions of bribery into consi-
deration. Meantime he wished to have this resolution passed
ancelnalaeno.
prince'!, that he might have an opportunity of framing his
am
Mr. WYNN bore testimony to the great difficulty ire the
way of a Committee's getting at proof of agency.
An HoN. Mioinitst would support the amendment.
Sir F. ISURDETP trusted the Hon. Member for Ipswich
would withdraw his ameedment for the present. It might be,
at a more fitting time, taken into consideration, together with
the hints thrown forth by the lion. and Learned Member for
Dublin. He had also himself to suggest that it might be cx.
pedient on the same occasion to consider the question of inti.
midation at elections.---(Cheers.) The great object of the Eng.
lish law on the subject was,, that elections should be free--
(ilear, hear)—and he begged tn throw out that it would become
that. House to take the matter_ into their most serious conside.
ration at this period. He would also suggest that, in addition
to the Hon. Member's amendment, there might be a resolution
passed to the effect that each-Member of the House, on taking
ake oaths at the table, should make a declaration that he had
Wilikr, by himself or agents, been guilty of any bribery, nor
,waS'he aware that any money had been paid in bribes on his
peca'unt ; nor would he-at any future time bribe by himself or
others.
• Mr. ROBINSON believed that, while there was such
anxious competition for seats in Parliament, no resolution like
the Noble Lord's or the Hon. Gentleman's would have the effect
of preventing bribery. There appeared to him only one mode
by which the evil could be either prevented, or in any consider-
able degree mitigated. As they might compel the voter to take
an oath that he had received no bribe, why not call upon the
Member to make, not a declaration, but an oath that no act of
bribery or corruption had been committed by himself or agents,
or with his privity.

After a few words from Lord %turnoff?, Dr. BALDWIN, and
Lord J. RUSSELL, the amendment was withdrawn, sod the reo
lution agreed to.

The Sessional Orders respecting arrangements of the Hout
were put and agreed to.

It was ordered that no petition for private ISills shoal be ro
ceived after the t2d of February—no private Bills after tI
2.5 th of March—nereport thereon after the 2Oth of May.

NEGRO SLAVERY.

On the motion for the resumption of the adjourned debate
Mr. F. BUXTON said, that as all allusion to thequestio
of negro slavery, in which so large a portion of the
qn
nity was intensely interested, had been omitted in his Majesty%
speech of yesterday, he had then given notice that he would
introduce a motion on the subject himself, although well. as.
cured that it was a question which would be far better in the
hands of the Government than of an individual.. lie now,
therefore, begged to ask the Noble Lord if Government would
undertake it this session, and proceed with it at an early )e
Hod ? If not, he should feel it his duty to introduce
rion himself to the consideration of the House.

Lord ALTHORP, in reply, stated that Governtu nt had
applied their strenuous endeavours to bring forward a tv easu e
on that subject and he had reason to hope and to btlitv..—