The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-18 00:00:00

PETITIONS.

Several petitions were presented against the Highways
Bill ; in favour of and against the Wine Licencing Bill ;
against the Savings' Bank Bill, and Legalising Marriage
with a Deceased Wife's Sister; in favour of the Attorney
and Solicitors Bill ; from the National Schoolmasters of
Antrim, complaining of the inadequacy of their remunera-
tion ; for the omission of the 4th clause in the Attorneys
and Solicitors Bill ; against the abolition of Church-rates ;
praying for the consideration of the situation of the medi-
cal officers of the Poor-law unions ; for the abolition of
Church-rates, &c.
LEAVE OF ABSENCE.
On the motion of Mr. ROEBUCK leave of absence was
granted to Sir F. Smith, on the ground of domestic afflic-
tion.

ACTS OF PARLIAMENT.
Mr. BLACK moved an address for copy of the terms of
the arrangement under which the Queen's printer now
prints acts of Parliament for the public; specifying the
size of the different editions supplied to Government, the
number of copies of each edition supplied, and the price
per copy per sheet; also the price per sheet at which each
such edition is now sold to the public, and amount of re-
duction, if any, as compared with the prices charged pre •
vious to the expiration of the patent of the Queen's printer.
—Ordered.

CONVEYANCE OF VOTERS, &c., BILL.
Mr. COLLIER, in moving the second reading of this
bill, said that the principle of the measure had been affirmed
last session. For some time the question of the payment
of the election expenses of voters had been a vexed ques-
tion. An Act of Parliament had been passed by which
an agent was entitled toay for the conveyance of
voters, provided the money' for that purpose was not
given to the voters. For instance, the money for a rail-
way ticket could not be forwarded to the voter himself, but
might be sent to a friend. That state of things was a gross
absurdity, and should not be permitted to exist any longer,
and it was disgraceful to think that a misdemeanour on the
part of an agent should rest upon so nice a distinction as
the difference between paying a voter for the expense he
might incur in travelling, and paying for that ex-
pense to another party. Reverting to first prin-
ciples, he considered the practice that prevailed
in regard to the payment of voters' expenses was unjustifi-
able, and he contended that such payments should be done
away with altogether. The best test of the fitness of a
party for the electoral privilege was his desire to use it, and
if he did not take some trouble he was not qualified for the
trust reposed in him. The fact was, that the member
should be the representative of the earnestness and in-
telligence, and not the apathy of a constituency. (Hear,
hear. He contended that if a voter was to be paid
for his expenses in exercising a public right, that pay-
ment should be made by the nation and not by an
individual. Ye believed the effect of the present system
would be to throw the representation of many counties into
the hands of manufacturing millionnaires, and he referred
to the 'Wakefield commission to show that the system of
paying expenses was a cloak to all sorts of bribery. He
proposed by his bill to multiply the number of polling places,
and he conoluded by stating that the exercise of the fran-
chise should be the privilege of the voter and not the busi-
ness of the candidate.

Mr. NEWDEGATE considered that the effect of th•
bill would be to disfranchise a number of non-resident
voters, and moved that it be read a second time this day
six months.

Sir G. C. LEWIS deprecated any further discussion on
this bill as a waste of time until after the report of the
committee on the corrupt practices at elections, which had
taken evidence on the subject of this measure.
Mr. HENLEY approved the suggestion of the right
hon. baronet.
Mr. NEWDEGATE—On the condition that that sug-
gestion would be acted on ho would withdraw his amend-
ment.

After some further discussion, in which Messrs. Mellor,
Lewis, Griffith, Sir E. Colebroke, Mr. Smith, Lord H. Vane,
Mr. arrow, Sir C. Douglas, and Sir G. B. Pechell took
part,
Mr. COLLIER reminded the house that this bill was
read a second time last session, but he was quite ready to
accede to a suggestion that had been thrown out, and to
consent that the bill should be read a second time, and then
referred to a select committee. He had no objection to the
other suggestion, namely, that fhe debate be adjourned.
(Cries of " No," " Divide.")
The house then divided on the question that the debate
be adjourned.

The numbers were— .
For the adjournment 94
Against

Majority l3
The debate was thou adjourned until this day month.
ATTORNEYS, SOLICITORS, PROCTORS, AND

CERTIFICATED CONVEYANCERS' BILL

Mr. MURRAY moved the second reading of this bill,
which came from the Lords, and explained the objects of
the measure.

(LEFT SITTING.)

A "SPECIAL" SERVICE AT NE Tv. FORK.

The newspaper announcement that the Rev. Mr.
Corbett, of the Greene•street Methodist church,
would preach a sermon to "thieves and harlots"
last evening, with the assurance of the detectives
that no " professional " of either sex would be
molested upon that occasion, attracted very general
notice, and was the topic of conversation among all
classes yesterday. Mr. Corbett is well known as a
" sensation " methodist preacher, and his sermon to
the firemen of New York, delivered a year or two
ago, may still be remembered. The sensation of
yesterday, however, far surpasses anything at-
tempted in this city, exceeding even the Rev. Mr.
Guinness' mass meeting of sinners at the Academy
of Music, in the interest it excited and the notice
it attracted.

A better location for preaching a sermon to such
persons could hardly have been selected. The Rev.
Mr. Corbett's church is in Greene-street, not far
distant from the most notorious portion of the most
notorious Mercer-street, and in the immediate vici-
nity of the up-town settlements of small thieves. A
walk up Broadway, down canal, and through
Greene-street last evening, would have sufficiently
convinced an ordinary observer that all the "har-
lots" were certainly not in the church. The unusual
crowds of men and boys upon the neighbouring
corners announced that something was " in the
wind," and their noise and laughter was agreeably
relieved by the information imparted by a high,
cracked voice, assisted by an equally loud piano,
from a house opposite, that

" Lulu was our darling pride,
Lulu bright, Lulu gay."

Although our repoiter reached the church long
before the hour announced for the commencement
of the service, he found the house crowded in every
part. The aisles were filled with " standees," and
the rail around the altar was, like a perch, appro-
priately decorated by a number of young men
styling themselves the "Flying Artillery," and who
effectually prevented those occupying the front seats
from getting as much as a glimpse of the preacher.
Inside the altar were packed a number of brethren,
and four persons occupied the pulpit, to the evident
discomfort and inconvenience of the pastor. It is a
well-known fact that congregations, like dreams,
generally go by contraries. An announcement that
a lecture will be delivered to young men, always
atti acts all the young ladies of the place ; and so,
an invitation to thieves and harlots crowded the
church with probably the most respectable audience
ever collected within its walls. The congregation
was composed of most respectable men and women,
such as we see every day upon 'Change, in busi-
ness, or in society. Several theatrical and other
celebrities were present. About half the congre-
gation were ladies, and many of these were
aged. Before the services commenced acquaint-
ances amused themselves by calling each other
by the names of celebrated " professors " of
the fine arts of burglary and swindling, and
outsiders were interested in sudden recognitions of
fathers and daughters, husbands and wives, fol-
lowed by such inquiries as "Why, pa, what are you
doing here ?" " Jane, I thought I told you to stay
at home," and much laughter and conversation.
Our reporter, occupying a position from which he
could s'e the entire audience, and assisted by an
experienced detective, was able to "spot" only four
well known harlots, and if any thieves were pre-
sent they kept themselves very " (lark " and were
not observed. A stranger to the city, reading the
invitation, which included only these two classes,
and seeing the large audience, would have con-
cluded that " thieves and harlots " were the most
respectable-looking and orderly persons whom he
had ever beheld.—Nete York Herald, April 2.

INVOLUNTARY INFANTICIDE.—BottIe and spoon
are the first plagues that the child suffers, from adult
stupidity. or selfishness. Nursing mothers commonly
yield their places once a-day to spoon and bottle because so-
ciety. says to them every evening, " Won't you come out
to-night ?" and because they have not courage to answer
always " No." Society can do without them very well, but
they are not aware of that. Society, in as far as it means
friends, can find them out in their own homes. Why should
they become plagues to their children for society, in as far
as it means fashion ? And then bottle and spoon are made
into double plagues by the ignorance of nurses, who, look-
ing upon milk as a thin fluid, although even cow's milk is
really so heavy as to need dilution, do terrific things with
gruel. The plague of an adult nurse will even pour into the
mouth of a week-old infant gruel, which is to the child's
stomach what gravel might be to her own. Then rhubarb
follows to correct the gruel, as one might correct a meal of
gravel with a dose of pepper ; and the dill-water stands
upon the shelf, and the gray powder—always in half-
mourning for the little ones it has killed.—Dickens's 411
the Year Round.
DEATH OF MR. FULWAR CRAVEN.—We have to
record the death of this gentleman, long known in the
sporting world, and more especially popular in Gloucester-
shire, Wiltshire, and Bucks, at the ripe age of 78. He was
the elder of the two sons of the late Rev. John Craven, of
Chilton House, Wilts, and represented a younger branch of
the family of the Earl of Craven. The deceased gentleman,
who was a magistrate and deputy lieutenant for Berks and
Wilts, and a magistrate for Gloucestershire, married in 1810
Laura, daughter of the late Mr. George Vansittart, of Bisham
Abbey, Berke, by whom he has left issue. liis eldest son,
Mr, George Fulwar Craven, inherits the estates,