The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-16 00:00:00

;i-G, APRIL 16, 1858.

If that were the case the foreign oak lets would have great
difficulty in ascertaining the grieuineness of passports
granted elsewhere than at the Fofeign-office, and English
travellers would be detained till the doubts of the Atria's
had been removed. Trios, foreign officials are well ac-
quainted with the arms. of, the queen, and the signature
of the Foreign Secretary for the time soon beeomes fa-
smiliae to them. I therefore thought it was of the utmost
importance to Euglish travellers that their passports
should be issued from the Foreign-Ace. In order that
parsons may not be under the obligation of repairing to
London to get a passport, her Majesty's Government
hays appointed agents at Dover, Folkestone, Southamp•
ton, and Liverpool, for the purpose of delivering Foreign-
office paesports, and others• may be appointed if it be
fried necessary. Perstns who wish to travel, therefore,
will only have to take the certificate of identity which I
have described; either to theForeigioffice or to the, agent
at the port where they mean to embark, and a Foreign-
office passport will be delivered t 4 them which will be
bythe consul of the French Golernment at that port;
or, if they do not wish to take the nertificate themselves,
they may send it a day or two beforeband to the Foreign-
office, or to one of the agente, withta request that a pass-
port may be ready-for them by such a day and such an
hour, or that it may be forwarded -to them by post.
Under these cirournatances I cannot see that the
slightest inconvenience will be buil ained by any person
wishing to obtein a purport. We have further thought
it right to lower tbe duty upon tiresespaseporte. (Hear,
hear.) The stamp duty is at present tse.e•eendthsre Iva
fee of ls. for Foreign-office expenses.
_We peoporte to
reduce the stamp duty to is., and teritairr tiao-14. fee;
so that the cost will be 21. It is only fair to the poorer
classes of travellers—persons who go abroad in search
of employment—that the cost should be as loin as pos-
sible. I do not think we can do more than I have
stated to facilitate the acquisition of passports. 1 have
made this statement, hoping that it4vill " be well under-
stood and eirculated throe& `the_citintry4n—theasual.
coarse, because one of the great reasons why so much
inconvenience has been experienced is that the regula-
tions laid down by the late Foreign Secretary have not
been properly understood. I will only add this recom-
mendation to all likely travellers, and eretecially to that
clays on whose behalf there have been so mane hypothe•
tical corn plainte in the papers—prsons residing on the
coast of this country, whose families reside on the coast
of France, and who are liable to be called abroad sud••
denly en account of illness in their families—that as a
passport will now only cost 24., every man might as well
furnish himself with one at once, just as he would with
a Bradshaw or an almanac. If that is done no one who
has to go abroad will suffer any inconvenience on this
side of the Channel, and from the liberal conduct of the
French Government I think I may say that they are not
likely to meet with any on t,':e other. (Hear, hear.)

The'Earl of CLARENDON—I have listened
great satisfaction to the statement of my noble friend,'
and I have no doubt, from the liberal arrangements
which have been made by the French Government, and
especially from the exten led facilities which are to be
given in this country for obtaining passports, that the
object in view will be attained. The arrangement
which I ma-le after the French Governreent hal deter-
mined not to allow their consuls in thi, country to grant
passports to any but their own countrymen was merely
provisional and adopted to meet an emergency, although
there
itwen
it is much the same as that which was adopted three
years ago in order to enable artisans and others that
class to vit.it the Paris Exhibition. I always felt that
inconven of
iecn ocu.
the system was capable of great enlargement after there
hadi e been
of
s
eiama
hgfeeonr
ot
there
oe
r:yes isdwt
eearr
faa, inolent. d
omlnnt wasnoht
ttrhaadopted
,t aattnh d
though a
me
reheaseombeeeri
per;
o g
o ns r
ewaiti alwayslon
the s
wholeu ff suffer a s whenh
a
advantage in
in and travellers in
being furnished
been supposed. The change proposed will no doubt be
great benefit to the poorer classes of travellers who vs()
abroadgeneral inwu find i seanrdchof
great e
madPvioyne
with a passport from their own Government instead
of with one granted by a foreign consul. But the
whole system of passports is a great mistake.
(Cheers.) It gives no protection to foreign Govern-
ments in respect to those very persons against whom
they wish to guard themselves, because they always take
good cars to have their papers en regle, and it is the in-
nocent and ignorant travellers who suffer annoyance from
some unintentional omission. (Hear, hear.) I know
that this is the opinion of the Emperor of the French.
Some years ago he wishedto get rid of the passport
sys-
tem, but be was fairly beaten by the objections raised
against him by his own officials. It was represented to
him that pagloorts were in some way necessary for the
proper carrying out of that system of strict surveillance
which is deemed necessary.

The Earl of MA.L NIESBURY—There is a great pass-
port interest, in fact.
The Earl of CLA.RE'NDON—Juet so. But things
are not so bad in this respect as they used to be some
}ears an. In Austria, where the regulations were
more vexatious and were carried coat vvithgreater
strictness than on any part ofthe continent, a great
change has been made within the last twelvemonths
in the passport system, and I believe there is no
country in Europe where a traveller can go about with
greater ease. But, however, we cannot impose our
notions upon foreign countries ; all we can do is to afford
all the facilities in our power to our own countrymen,
and I think my noble friend has shown his readiness to
do that. I heard with great pleasure that he intends to
reduce the cost of the passport, though Ido not under-
stand exactly how he means to do it. When I reduced
the cost, some time ago, from Gd. to 6 it was'by
twheitti Cha'the c
betlalmorp
cutting down the fee of the Foreign-office from Gd.
to Is., which I found would be quite sufficient to pay
all expenses, without leaving any profit. But when I
odfuttyh,eitEwxcalisefqoaanerd toondincioatveliaryy
that this bad been imposed by Act of Parliament, and
of course could only be abolished by Act of Parliament.
altogetherpliapplied
t o
The Etrl of NIALMESBURY—I ought to have said
that we intend to brine in a bill for the purpose.
The Earl of CLARENDON—That of course explains
the difficulty, bat I thick while they are about it, the
Government, having made up their minds to sacrifice
45., may as well get rid of all the duty, which will leave
the cost of the passport just ls. as far as the English
Government is concerned. Teat would be the most
satisfactory course, and I am sure it will be a great
boon to all interested in this mater.
In answer to a noble lord,
Tee Earl of MA LMESBURY said, that as regarded
Britisb-born subjects there was no limit of time to
Foreign-office passports. As regarded naturalised sub-
jects it had been the custom to grant them only for one
year.
Earl GREY said, there could be no greater proof
of the absurdity of the passport system than the regu-
lations proposed by the English Government and
sanctioned by the French Government. If the Foreign.
office was to deliver passports to any one who brought
a certificate from the various persons whom the noble
earl had named, of the authenticity of which the
Foreign-office could have no proof, be saw no reason
why all the mayors and magistrates in the king-
dom should not be furnished with blank Foreign-
office passports, which they could fill up and
deliver to applicants without any further formality.
There was no pretence of investigation to prevent any,
one not a British subject getting a passport, nor any se-
curity against a British subject handing over his pa-sport
the next moment to a foreigner. When the noble earl
had gone so far he did not see why he should not go far-
ther, and supply passports ready filled up to competent
authorities in the different towns to deliver them on their
own responsibtlity at once to any applicant. (Hear.)
The Eail of MALINIESBURY—I am not here to de-
fend the system of pacsporte. There is not a man in this
house who thinks more contemptuously of them than I
do. (Hear.) But I thought that I had made myself
clear when I gave the reason why I did not send these
Foreign-office passports to the towns, or allow any others
to be distributed by the mayors or magistrates. It is
because they would not be obliged to deliver them.
Some magistrates might choose only to distribute them
between 12 and 2, others only in the evening, and,
again, others might refuse to distribute them at
all. People must be obliged to do it, and paid to
do it, and when they are paid they are obliged to do it.
If it is to be a self supporting establishment, it must be
conducted economically. The more agents there are,
the more agents must be paid, and if each of a large
number of agents distributes a small number of pass-
ports, the payment
which would be sufficient for a small
number of agents distributing a large number of pass-
ports would not be enough for their trouble. We know
pretty well how many passports well be demanded, and
we calculate that with only six or seven agents, who
will be obliged to deliver them at any time of the day or
night, the system will be self-supporting at a eel tele
charge. That is my answer to the proposition of the
noble earl—a proposition which has often been submitted
before ; but if he can tell me bow I am to oblige magis-
trates in towns or counties to deliver Passports it will be
a seme what different matter. (Hear.)
Earl GREY said he could not understand why there
should not be a concurrent local de'ivery where parties
were willing to undertake the trouble. He —e quite agreed
that it was highly inexpedient to attempt to compel
parties to deliver passports, or to have too many agents.
Earl GRANVILLE said the country ought to be
grateful to the noble earl the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs for the pains he had taken to increase
the facilities of obtaining passports, but at the same time
the suggestion of the te
,L,IT earl (Gn'y) was worthy of
attention. The whole thing turned upon whether the
French Government had assented to this plan, because,
if they had; there was nothing more to be said. He
wished to know whether the new system applied solely
to France or to other countries?
The Earl of MALMESBURY—No country has ever
objected to any passport signed by theeS:cretary q State
for Foreign Affairs. They bave al ways trusted that the
passport has been signed upon his being satisfied that it
Was the bona fide passport of the applicant, and I have
never heard of a Fcreign-office passport being questioned
in any way.
The subject then dropped.
ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION.

The Duke of MARLBOROUGH asked the First Lord
of the Treasury whether it was the intention of her
Majesty's government to proceed with the bill introduced
last sestion by the late Government into the House of

Common', embodying the recommendations of the select
committee of that home, 1856, upon the Ecclesiastical
Commission 7 He said that a committee of the other
house had looked into the subject, and had made many
important sugge4ion.. A bill was introduced into the
other house, founded on that report ; but coming to their
lordships' house at a late period, it was not passed. He
wished to know whether it would be re-introduced, or
any similar bill. -
The Earl of DERBY said that the best answer he
could give to his noble friend was to lay on the table,
and ask-their lordships to give a first reading to the bill
to which he referred. He should have done so on Mon-
day las', but was anxious to obtain the sanction of the
Archbishop 'of Canterbury ; and in cpassquence of • the
right rev. prelate not being in town 'he did not receive
his answer until Wednesday morning. He would now
lay the bill on the table in precisely the same shape in
which it came from the other house last session, and
move its first reading. He would propose the second
reading on Tuesday, and give a statement of its pro-
VS-sons.

Tab bill was read a first time.
The Duke of MARLBOROUGH said that if the bill
di' not contain any provision relating to capitular
estates, he should take an early opportunity of introduc-
ing a bill on that subject.
Their lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—(YESTERDAY.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at 4 o'clock.
PRIVATE BILLS.
The fidlowlng bills were read a third time and passed :
—Bury and Radcliffe Water, Eden Valley Railway,
Haslingden and Rawtenstall Water, Madras Irrigation
and Canal, -Malvern Improvement, Sculcoates and
Singston-upowitull,Gas ; Staffordshire Potteries Gas ;
Stoke Fenton and tgoolgton Gas ; and Ely V.illey
The following bills :were ooaeidered, and ordered tote
read a third time :—Folkestone Water 8.11 ;
and Looe Union Canal Company's Railway Bill ; Selkirk
and Galasbiels Railway Bill.
EDUCATION OF SOLDIERS' CHILDREN.

Mr. DE A.SY gave notice that he should, on Tuesday,
the 4th of June, call the attention of the house to
the inadequate provision made for the religious wants of
Roman Catholic soldiers, and the education of their chil-
dren, and move an humble address to her Majesty pray-
ing her Majesty thereon.
_ _