The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-12 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOTJSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY).
The Lel, AD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'cl
.ock.

THE lONIAN ISLANDS.
Earl (TREY said, in consequence of a cbmmunication
he had received from the noble earl opposite (Derby), he
should withdraw his motion upon the subject of the lonian
Islands. His opinionremained the same, although the noble
earl said that injury would be done to the public service
by a discussion of the subject.
The Earl of DERBY—I must express my sincere ac-
knowledgments to the noble earl for the very frank manner
in which he has acquiesced in the suggestion I took the
liberty of making to him; and I am the more indebted to
him, because he has taken this course in opposition to his
Own judgment. I hope it is unnecessary for me to assure
your lordships that in offering that suggestion I was actu-
ated by nothing but a sense of what was really for the in-
terest of the public service. Since the noble earl
first placed this motion on the paper, I have been
examining carefully the voluminous documents con-
nected with the recent history of the lonian Islands,
and while I felt that this discussion could not have been
adequately conducted without a full knowledge of those
voluminous documents, of the events which led to Mr.
Gladstone's mission, and of the results which attended it, I
found from an examination of those papers that it was
almost impossible to give extracts from them, and equally
impossible to lay the whole of the correspondence before
your lordships, especially those parts relating to some of
the proposed resolutions, without producing a vast number
of documents which would have involved recurrence to facts
which had much better be buried in oblivion, and which
could have but cast considerable censure on some persons
who would not be in a position to give any answer. I took
upon myself the liberty of requesting the noble earl to
forego the exercise of his own judgment in bringing for-
ward this motion, but I assure your lordships that I would
not have taken that course if I had not been very strongly
confirmed in my views by a conversation which I have had
with Mr. Gladstone since his return, and also by the strong
expression of Sir H. Storks, who, in writing, has stated the
great anxiety with which he looked to the probable effect
of any discussion whatever in Parliament on the minds of
the lonian people. I think I should not do justice to my
own opinion if I abstained from taking this opportunity of
expressing my strong sense of the public spirit and patrio-
tism which induced Mr. Gladstone, at great personal incon-
venience, to undertake a very laborious, a very invidious,
and a very thankless task, and to expose himself, as he
naturally must, to much misrepresentation and misunder-
standing. (Hear, hear.) I think it right to take this
opportunity of saying with regard to Mr.
.. Gladstone that
not only did he undertake that task at the request of a
Government with which he had no connexion whatever,
but that one condition attended the acceptance of the office,
and that he made a sine qua non—namely, that beyond the
payment of his actual expenses he should receive no remu-
neration in any shape or manner for his services. (Hear,
hear.) Mr. Gladstone's mission has had no positive results,
but I cannot say that I regret it, for, although it has not
led to any changes by legislation, whether desirable or not,
it has had the effect of "placing this country with regard to
the lonian Islands in a right position. It has shown to the
lonian Islands, to Europe, and to the world at large, that
she is not the oppressor, but the protectress of those islands,
and that she is perfectly prepared to give them an ample
measure of free institutions—larger, perhaps, than some
persons think desirable, yet, at all events, so large as bona
fide to constitute them that free and independent Republic
,
under the protectorate of this country, which was declared
by the treaty assigning the protectorate. I have only again
to return my thanks to the noble earl for having acquiesced
in the request which I ventured to make to him. I am sure
in so doing he will best consult the public interests, and
give great satisfaction to the present High Commissioner,
whose position is one of considerable difficulty, and to whom
in such a position it must be the wish of your lordships to
show every consideration and afford every moral support
in your power. (Cheers.)
_ THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES

In reply to a question from Earl ST.GERWAXs,
The Earl of MALMESBURY said he had no official
information respectingcertain.proclamationsreferring to the
Hospodar of Wallacha which had appeared in the public
prints. A conference would shortly sit at Paris on the
subject, and the subject would be taken into the fullest
consideration.
DEBTOR AND CREDITOR BILL.

On bringing up the report of the amendments to this bill,
The LORD CHANCELLOR said he had prepared one
or two clauses which he felt it necessary to introduce in this
bill. As the right of imprisoning a debtor was to be taken
away, he had prepared a penal clause, having reference to
judgment debtors who kept out of the way, and applying
also to cases of concealment of property, to fraudulent and
fictitious losses, and making false representations. By one

of the elausesfii the Bankr-upt Act ti.landlord was entitled

to receive twelve months' rent out of the estate of his bank-
rapt creditor. In the bill before the house that term was
altered to six months. Objections had, however, been made
to that change, and he proposed to continue the landlord's
right to•twelve months' rent.
Lord WENSLEYDALE was of opinion that a case which
had lately come before one of the courts showed the neces-
sity for a clause such as he had proposed in committee, to
guard against the fraudulent transfer of property by an in-
solvent to his wife or daughter.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said that he presumed the
case alluded to by his noble and learned friend was that of
" Steevens v. The Eastern Banking Corporation ;" but his
noble and learned friend seemed to be misinformed as to
the facts of the case. The party who made the settlement
did so at a time when there was no reason to suspect that
he would be an insolvent. Afterwards the trust money
was dealt with in transactions with the bank; and on the
insolvency of the bank the creditors_ filed a bill to make

the trust Property available for their debts. It was decided
by the Court of Chancery that, though there was an im-
proper dealing with the trust money, that could not affect
the trust settlement, the validity of which the Court up-
held. He did not know of any cases of grievance that
called for such a clause as his noble and learned friend pro-
posed. _ _

Lord ST. LEONARDS observed that several clergymen
were in the habit of contracting debts and sequestrating
the income of the parish, and also effecting insurances on
their lives as security for the repayment of the loan. The
incumbent of Camberwell had done so, and left the
country to avoid the payment of his debts, leaving a
curate at a small stipend to perform his duties. He (Lord
St. Leonards) wished to introduce a clause in the bill which
'would have the effect of enabling the bishop of the diocese
(in cases where the clergyman's conduct did not render him
unworthy of occupying the put pit) to allow him the same
income that he, if absent, would pay a curate for perform-
ing Divine service, and appropriate the remainder of his
income to the discharge of his pecuniary liabilities.
The Bishop of LONDON said he did not rise to oppose
the clause, but it appeared to him and his right rev. bre-
thren, that there was something rotten in principle in
it. Theyl thought that the spiritual .interests of the cure
were the objects that should be specially attended to. If
the bishop of the diocese were to be empowered to assign
a stipend to the indebted clergyman, it should be such a
one as would be adequate for the decent maintenance of
his family. Now, as the object of giving this power to the
bishop—although that was not distinctly brought out
by the noble and learned lord—was to enable him to provide
for the spiritual good of the people of the parish, it would
be better that the bishop should have the power of assign-
ing such portion of the revenues of the parish to a person
who would perform the duties, whether that person was the
incumbent or not. The state of the parish alluded to by
the noble and learned lord might not be paralleled, but he
(the Bishop of London) feared there were many cases of a
similar character, and he thought it desirable that some
legislative measure should be introduced to remedy the evil.
It was hardly wise, however, to do anything that would
have the effect of encouraging a young clergyman to con-
sider that he was not liable to the same responsibility for
the payment of his debts as other people. He hoped the
noble and learned lord would bring forward such a measure
as would settle the whole question.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said his bill was for a
totally different object, and he therefore must object to the
introduction of the clause. If, however, the noble and
learned lord brought in a bill on the subject, he (the Lord
Chancellor) would give it his best consideration.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH said he should support
his noble and learned friend, if he pressed his amendment
to a division, conceiving that it was far better, when a cler-
gyman fell into difficulties, that his property should be
divided fairly between the honest creditors in the parish,
than that it should be shared by two or three rogues.
The house then divided, and there appeared
Contents (for the clause)
Non-contents ..............
Majority, non content
The amendment was therefore lost, and the house imme-
diately agreed to the report.
The bill was then ordered to be read a third time on
Thursday.
OCCASIONAL FORMS OF PRAYER.
This bill was read a third time and passed.
CHURCH RATES.
The Duke of MARLBOROUGH moved for leave to
bring in a bill to amend the law relating to church rates.
The proposal of the bill was, that every person who already
had a
place of worship should, upon making a declaration
to that effect, be exempted from payment of church rates.
The motion was agreed to, and the bill was brought in
and read a first time.
The house then adjourned shortly after six o'clock. •