The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-15 00:00:00

THE REFORM BILL.

Mr. FOSTER asked when it was proposed to proceed
with the committee on this bill.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said be
intended to pcoceed with the committee on the Represen-
tation of the People Bill on Thursday next, if he could do
so at a reasonable hour. There was, however, important
business on the paper for that evening which could not
be delayed. At all events he should proceed with the
committee on Monday if he could not do so before that
day.
THE MILT TAX.

Colonel BARTTELOT moved for a select committee
to inquire into the operation of the malt tax. Ile said it
was of the utmost importance that such a committee
should be appointed, because it proposed to deal with as
article which entered largely into consumption, and one
which was of the greatest importance to the working
classes. If the duty was reduced it would enable the
brewers to provide the labouring population with an ar-
ticle which would be beneficial to them, and throw
out of consumption that disgraceful stuff which was
sold in small country public-houses, and which
was called beer. It was a compound formed of the most
deleterious articles, and one which if hon. members only
once tasted it they would never wish to do so again. It
would also be but an act of justice to the farmer that some-
thing should be done to enable them to discharge the
heavy burdens which were now pressing upon them.
Mr. READ seconded the motion, and his reason for
doing so was that the English farmer might be enabled to
compete with the foreigner, who had cheap land, cheap
labour, and light taxation. He believed that the strong
argument against the repeal of the malt tax was, that
the Chancellor of the Exchequer could not afford to lose
the product of the tax; but he thought that if the right hon
gentleman could not give the whole he might at least make
such a reduction as would prove acceptable to the far-
mer and advantageous to the working population. It
had been stated that the strengthening and greater pro-
duction of beer would lead to an increase of drunkenness,
but he did not believe that, because it was well known that
in wine-producing countries drunkenness was not as pre-
valent as it was in places where the facility of obtaining
wine was not so great. The effect of the existing malt-
tax had been most pernicious, because malting and brew-
ing had been a complete monopoly, and therefore on that.
ground alone the operations of the tax ought to be strictly
inquired into.

Mr. GLADSTONE said he believed it was the inten-
tion of the Government not to offer any opposition to the
motion of the hon. and gallant gentleman opposite. It
was a subject that might be well inquired into by a se-
lect committee, because he believed many misapprehen-
sions that existed on the subject would be cleared away,
and he should also be glad if certain inquiries were made
into the operation of the two acts passed last year, viz.,
the one for levying the duty by weight, and the other for
the application of malt for the feeding of cattle. He hoped
the inquiry would not give rise out of doors to an impres-
sion that any future Chancellor of the Exchequer could
part with the revenue derived from malt or from the con-
version of barley into beer.
The motion was supported by Mr. Henniker-Major, Mr.
Beach, Mr. Surtees, Lord E. Cavendish, Mr. Corrange, and
Mr. G. More, who all strongly condemned the tax, and by
Mr. Greene, who expressed some doubt whether inquiry
would not show other taxes to be more oppressive to the
farmer.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER assented to
the committee, believing it to be expedient and useful, con-
sidering the long time which had elapsed since the inci-
dence of the tax had been inquired into, the various unsuc-
cessful motions which had been made on the subject, and
the extravagant views entertained on both sides.

After some observations from Mr. Dodson and Colonel
Bartellot, who declined to include au inquiry into the
spirit Dutiesas suggested by Mr. Gladstone, the committee
was agreed to.
Lord HOTHAM moved for a select committee to inquire
into the sources from which ihe Military Reserve Funds
are derived, and the objects to which they are applied ;
and Sir John Pakington, on behalf of the War-office, offer-
ing no objection, but acknowledging that there was much
mystery about the subject which it was desirable to dispel,

The committee was agreed to.
Bills were brought in by Mr. Neate to facilitate the en-
closure and improvement of Commons ; by Mr. Fawcett,
to provide for the education of children employed in agri-
culture; by Mr. Pim, to extend the powers of limited
owners of land in Ireland; and by Lord Naas to provide
for the custody of the Irish Records.

On the second reading of the bill for repealing the Eccle-
siastical Titles Act, Mr. M'Evoy announced that as the
Government had consented to refer the operation of this
act to a select committee, he should defer the bill for a fort-
night, and on Thursday he would move the appointment
of a select committee.

Mr. NEWDEGATE, who had given notice of a mo-
tion to reject the bill, reluctantly acquiesced in the pro-
posed course, in the hope that the inquiry would open the
eyes of the people to the continued existence of the aggres-
sive policy against which the Ecclesiastical Titles Act was
directed.

After somo observations from Mr. WHALLEY, the second
reading was deferred for a fortnight.
The Offices and Oaths and the Transubstantiation, &c.,
Declaration Abolition Bills were read a third time and
passed.
The Bunhill• fields Burial-ground Bill passed through
committee.

Some other orders wore forwarded a stage, and the
house adjourned at five minutes to nine o'clock.

Agricultural Prospects.

Last Monday proved the hottest day of the sea-
son. The thermometer, at 60 degrees in the morn-
ing, touched 76 in the afternoon, and much field-
work was accomplished in fine order, the change to
summer-like weather being most beneficial to the
crops. Our advices were as under. From Lincoln-
shire, in the neighbourhood of Spalding : " There
is about the usual amount of wheat sown in this
neighbourhood ; but in many places the plant is thin
on the ground, owing to much wet in the winter,
and wireworm in the cold spring. Against this there
are some very excellent crops. I cannot bring my
mind to the conclusion that we have an average
crop ; but much will depend on the weather. Oats
in their present stage look well on the average ; but
our growth of this corn has fallen off much of late
years. Beans are coming up very well, but at pre-
sent it is too soon to form an opinion of thetn."
Tuesday was a fine bright day, but not so oppres-
sively hot as the previous one, and field work was
going on extensively in all the late districts. From
Lancashire : " With a moderate fall of rain and a
higher temperature, vegetation is making a sudden
and marked progress; at the same time much agri-
cultural work remains to be done, particularly in
the northern parts of the kingdom, and a favour-
able season will be required to bring the period of
harvest within the average time of the year." Wed-
nesday was fine and warm, not so clear and sunny,
but a splendid day for the country, and field work
was going on rapidly and most favourably. Thurs-
day proved fine, and slightly cloudy in the after-
noon, but altogether a splendid day for the farmers.
From `Warwickshire : " Weather is now most fa-
vourable, and the appearance of the country has
I changed wonderfully during the last few days.
Grass lands denote every prospect of an abundant
crop." From Suffolk, near the coast : " We have
at last most brilliant and warm summer weather,
with south-westerly wind and steady barometer."
From the same couaty in the interior : " Since our
last report there has been a complete change in the
weather, and we have had a succession of fine bright
days, bringing forward vegetation very rapidly."
Friday morning was thick and threatening, with
slight rain, but it cleared off and held up, though
still heavy showers were reported to have fallen in
some parts. At Maidenhead the rain was heavy,
and in the evening smart showers fell, with thunder
at a distance. From Lincolnshire our advices
stated : " We have had magnificent weather of late
and vegetation is making rapid progress. Wheat
looks well and forward on dry soils, but on the clay
land it is yellow and unpromising, though with a
continuance of fine weather a great improvement
will be perceptible. Barley comes up well and looks
strong and vigorous. An early harvest in prospect."
From the West Riding of Yorkshire : " Since
Tuesday the weather has been fine and forcing. We
have large supplies of both sheep and cattle, show-

ing that keep is finished as far as regards winter
stores, but we shall soon have plenty of herbage.'
From the East Riding it was stated : " The weather
is all at once hot and forcing, the growing crops
have made rapid progress since our last, and at
present prospects on the ground are very favourable
for the coming crops." Early on Saturday morn-
ing a violent thunder-storm was experienced, with
a deluge of rain. The day, however, turned out
sunny and fine.—Mark-lane Express of yesterday.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, May 14.

The Court of Criminal Appeal sat yesterday I
morning for hearing arguments on the points re-
served i❑ the case of M'Afferty. Ten Judges were
present, including the three chiefs—namely, the
Lord Chief Justice, the Chief Justice of the Com-
mon Pleas, the Chief Baron, Mr. Justice O'Brien,
Mr. Justice Keogh, Mr. Justice Fitzgerald, Baron
Hughes, Baron Deasy, Mr. Justice O'Hagan, and
Mr. Justice George. The Attorney-General, the
Solicitor-General, Messrs. Macdonogh, Q.C., Long-
field, Q.C., Murphy, Q.C., Hamilton, and Bey-
tagh appeared on the part of the Crown. Messrs.
Butt, Q.C., Dowse, Q.C., O'Loghlen,
,and Molloy
were counsel for the prisoner.
Mr. Butt opened the arguments, contending that
the conviction could not be maintained. There was
not, perhaps, he said in the whole range of State
trials a single case which involved, he would not
say so many intricate questions, but questions going
so directly to the root of the law of high treason.
The venue was laid in the county of Dublin. It
had been admitted that the prisoner was an alien.
Sufficient evidence• had been given on the part of
the Crown that in and since the year 1862 down to
and after March, 1867, a treasonable conspiracy
existed in the kingdom of Great Britain and Ire-
land, as well as in the United States of America,for
the several unlawful purposes stated in the course of
the trial. Sufficient evidence had also been given
that the prisoner, some time ab iut the month of
March, 1865, became in America an active mem-
ber of the association ; but, being an alien, that
was not evidence that could be acted upon. In
that month he left America for Ireland, and was
arrested at Queenstown, brought to trial, and
acquitted by the presiding judge, there being no
proof of any overt act against him in this coun-
try. APAfferty went again to America after
his acquittal, and returned to this country in
1866, and sufficient evidence bad been given to prove
that after his return to America he continued to
belong to that treasonable conspiracy. Sufficient
evidence had also been given to show that a meeting
of confederates had been heldin New York, at which
the prisoner was said to have been present, and in
the proceedings of which he was said to have taken
part. After his return to Ireland in 1867 nothing
whatever had been proved against M'Afferty—
nothing to convict him of the overt act specified in
the indictment, save a portion of the evidence of
Corydon, an approver.
The Lord Chief Justice asked if there was not evi-
dence to connect him with the transactions at Chester.

Mr. Butt, in reply, said that the prisoner might
have gone there for the purpose of witnessing a prize
fight. There was nothing to prove his connexion
with the affair at Chester except the testimony of
Corydon. The learned counsel cited the case off-lardy
in support of his proposition that APAfferty was not
responsible for any acts committed, even by his co-
conspirators, after his arrest. He argued that al-
though his client might have been a party to a gene-
ral insurrection, rebellion, or conspiracy in Liverpool,
unless there was evidence to prove that he had aided
and abetted in the tre.isonab.e design or outbreak in
the county of Dublin, he could not be considered as
an accessory before the fact, 'or made amenable for
the particular overt act specially set forth in the in-
dictment. The overt act was the charge which the
prisoner had to meet, and if he displaced the overt
act he displaced the offence. Mr. Butt referred at
considerable length to the law as it affected princi-
pal and accessory. To connect M'Afferty he should
be made an accessory to the identical act of levying
war in the county of Dublin, and not to any treason
generally. M'Afferty was charged with levying war
in the county of Dublin, and they must acquit him
unless he was actually there, or unless it was proved
that he was accessory to that particular act. Cory-
don was the only witness, and it would be render-
ing the statutes nugatory if a number of wit-
nesses having proved general acts of insurrection,
one witness were to be permitted to connect
the prisoner with those general acts. Upon
this as well as upon the ground which he had pre-
viously urged, he contended that the conviction
could not be maintained.

The Attorney-General said that, in addition to
the two questions submitted to their lordships,
another had been submitted by Mr. Butt, though it
did not, properly speaking, arise upon the case ;
but, of course, he made no objection. The ques-
tions upon which the judgment .of the Court was
now required would be these—Whether the judges
were right in receiving against the defendant evi-
dence of the transactions of the sth of March, which
would depend upon whether the Court were justi-
fied in receiving in evidence the transactions in re-
ference to the outbreak which occurred after the
prisoner had been arrested on the 23d of February ;
secondly, whether there was sufficient evidence of
acts done within the venue to sustain the indict-
ment ; and, thirdly, the question which had been
added by his learned friend, Mr. Butt, whether
there was sufficient evidence—the legal evidence—
within the statutes of treason to warrant the convic-
tion of the prisoner. The direction given to the jury was
hypothetical, and the fact of their Eluding the pri-
soner guilty upon that direction was a finding by
the jury that a certain state of facts existed; and he
was entitled to meet this case as one in which the
jury had, in point of fact, found that the prisoner
had committed acts of insurrection, and was in the
county of Dublin on the sth of March ; that they
were the result of a command and incitent of the
directory or other governing body, of which the pri-
soner was a member, which command and incitent
were given by him prior to his arrest. There had been
a finding by the jury, that what took place on the
night of the sth March was the result of the com-
mand of the body of which the defendant was a
member, which command was given before he was
arrested, and that was clearly sustained by the evi-
dence in the case. It had been said that there was
sousetmhaegaircr,:rtmofyastpeerriosouns
,inrefllueaesnecde
him
ni cfhr
osmu suddenly,
rl
ey
upons
itspo nesoi bn islei ofqtyue n
evve•lsl t
nhiea
thtaedr p:rchvaito utshlyeydomnei,gahiti d
bael 1.
alsaacande
ground The m aat
ste
if nirti tzwh
et r
es taa ncidu
esetxi
oanc exactly opnr
ntehi
pe
satciclle,ssaonrdy. B
es
tabul
its
itlheed lawele
aorfly treason p
and
absuoslhuetdeli further
yt
there-
sponsibility
bye thever law
every
aetdoofnterebay-
sthohonewoi fltohane ngr 'cb'one nfojoined
a
conspirators,
joined
prisoner
nonel conspiracy,loder matter tfmoter how
r:g
might
be
go
invge
na after or
evi-
dence v_
v.A tßt oerrnneayr nwe rhai
el
hq quoted
Orsini upon the life of
theden
se o f against
the h 1, Queen
by by
pthoertForfenhchis Em as
from the consequences
t that
t strongthe prisoner authority
wasin sup-
port
exempt by his imprisonment-
of acts doneof
gsivaeftnervyhehiwmaswahrrueeshteedh,
aidn pur-
suancebbeen directionsby t her
at a quarter-past 5 o'clock,
a free agent. He had not conwelhuednedthhiescaorguurtmaendt-
journed to this morning at 10.

On Sunday evening the Lord-Lieutenant sent a
special messenger to liilmainham Prison with a
communication to the Governor informing him that
the sentence of death passed on Patrick Doran,
convicted at the Special Commission for high trea-
son, had been commuted to penal servitude for life.

The Limerick Chronicle states that out of 17 pri-
soners in the county gaol charged with being en-
gaged in the recent rising, no less than 13 have
volunteered to inform against their comrades. The
Crown has selected six of the volunteers, who will
have the privilege of acting as witnesses at the Com-
mission for Limerick.

Fourteen Fenian prisoners, confined at Ennis, in
the county gaol, have been released on their own
recognizances, and it is understood that the Crown

will forego the prosecutions, except in a few cases.
Mr. George Peabody arrived on Sunday evening