The Sun.
London, England, 1835-08-01 00:00:00

IM PER IA I, PAli LTA IE NT.

THIS DAY, SATURDAY, AUL 1.

110 USE OF LORDS.

The Earl of Sit Al' T Seurvsat.asDeptity- Speaker at one otelpek.
The Dundee Water-Works Bill, and other frivate Bills, were.
read a third time. - •

'The Earl of FALMOITTII presented a petition from the Corpo-
ration of Pcnrvn, in which the petitioners denied that any 'charge
could be substantiated against them, and they prayed the House not
to pass the Corporation Reform Bill. He (the Earl of Falmouth)
had lo.)ked into the Report of Mr. Rushton, the Commissioner, with
respect to Penryn, and he found that there was,no _charge against
them; yet this Mr. Rushton,who never was in Penryn in hislife before,
the two days he visited it sets himself up to say, against the opinion
of twenty gentlemen who were born in the place, that the funds of
the Corporation might be better maraged.uncler a popular control—
they having a surplus of 100/. from a very small income. Surely
these gentle Men were better informed upon the subject' than- Mr.
Ittishtcn could be.

•
Lord BRO UG II AM rcise to defend the character of Aft- Rushton.
The. Earl of FALMOUTH—You •will have plenty of time
hereafter.

Lord BROUGHAM was not anxious then to enter into a
discussion upon the matter, but the Noble Earl must not expect to
have it all his own way. Had he not attacked his (Lord B.'s)
Learned Friend Mr. ituAiton, he would not have had a reply, but
the attack having been made, he felt bound-to repel it, and say that
the gentleman alluded to was a man of talent, experience, and of
considerable standing at the bar.
The Earl of FALMOUTH did not mean to attack Mi. Rush
ton personally: • •
- The subject then dropped'.
Lord GRANTLEY presented a petition from Guildford against
the Bill.

On the motion of Lord MELBOURNE, the order of the (lay
for hearing Counsel upon the Corporation Bill vas read, and the
Counsel called in.

Mr. KNIGHT then resumed his address. When he was inter-
rupted last night, he was bringing under the notice Of the House
some of the objectionable clauses of the Bill, and he would then
pursue that line of argument to its close. The clause to which he
' Would then proceed was the Boundary Clause. It, in his opinion,
was one of the most unjust nature. It gave a power by
the exercise of which men in certain parts were bound to
become corporators against their own will ; which was clearly
at variance with the Common Law of the land. There was
an appearance of mitigation in the clause, as it was pro-
vided that where the borough was in debt, that portion of the
' county which might be added to it should not suffer or be charged
with any portion of it ; but where there was no debt, there was
not the slightest mitigation of the injustice. There the proprietors
of land whose'rates' were comparatively: light, might be forcibly,
added to the borough, subject to all its rates and liabilities.
In going through the clauses of this Bill he was anxious to draw
attention to the 14th clause, and to the • 121st section. This
clause abolished all exclusive rights of trading. Without reference
to the circumstances under which the considerations for which
these fights may have been originally granted, or new exist, with
out reference to the position of society which private
~indi% iduars,
may have taken-Linduced and. influenced by, the state of the law
upon this subject, without inquiry, without investigation either as
to the circumstati6es of the rommunity, 'or the situation' of
indiViduals, without compensation, and without qualification?
these rights were by this Bill universally abolished, The
Bill carried with it the appearance of abolishing every thing
bearing the cause or appearance of privilege. If he understood the
subject, there were and must be privileges in every well-regulated
community. These privileges must be respected or compensated
for. It was impossible to foresee the magnitude of private and
local mischief which these clauses, specious to the shallow and un-
informed, must of necessity carry with them. The Bill also took
away those local and particular exemptions from serving upon
juries--exemptions which, like exclusive trading, may have induced
particular persons to become proprietors of property in particular
places. These exemptions were as much the law of the land with
respect to these individuals; as it was the, law of the land that their
Lordships, as Peers, enjoyed exemption from arrest 'in civil 'ac-
tions. But these exemptions were to be abolished, and after the
passing of this Act no person was to be exempted from serving
upon juries by virtue of any charter. The power of licensing
public-ho Uses had been already observed upon
,by his Learned
Friend. The Council of every borough, or a Committee of the
Council, were to have thii power. He' was not certain
that any number of Counsellors was prescribed, or whe-
ther it must consist of more than two or not: Considering
the class of persons which was likely to preponderate in the elec-
tion of the Council—the class from whom the Council' was to come
—the circumstances belonging of necessity to the subject matter
of the regulations in this clause—when all this was considered, it
appeared to him that giving a power of this description--
especially after the discussion upon this subject in that and other
important assemblies from some of the first persons of the day—
it did appear to him most extraordinary, after all the discussion
and investigation which this subject had received, that a clause of
this description should have found a place in this Bill The Learned
Gentleman then referred to the appuatment of borough magiStrates,
and contended that the construction of section ninety-six rendered
the clause compulsory upon the crown with respect to the
appointment of Magistrates. The Crown was only to
have the power of selecting from • a certain ' number of
persons to be tendered to him by the Town Council.
This had a tendency to limit the jurisdiction of the Crown.
Another point which had struck him as deserving of sotne attention,
was with respect to the 76th section., That section contained, cer-
tainly, most general and extraordinary paWers. It runs thus—,
" And Whereas it may be expedient that the powers now
vested in the trustees, appointed under sundry Acts of Par-
liament, should be' transferred and rested in the Council of such
boroughs respectively, be it enacted, that the trustees may,
if it seems to them expedient, transfer in writing under their
hand the powers vested in them as Trustees to the Body Corporate
of the Borough." The extent to which this section might go, or
the confusion it might create, no man could tell. The new
River Company, or some other persons totally unconnected
with the Borough, might become Trustees, or the powers
and functions of the new River Company might be transferred
to the Town Council of Islington or Finsbury. In fact it
was to be at the option of the Trustees, without reference
to the communities or interests for which they were trus-
tees, to declare that they would be no longer trustees; and to trans-
fer their power to the pauper council of the town. They were to
be not only universal governors of these boroughs, self-elected in
the strongest sense of the term, as far as they were 'magistrates ;
but they were to be universal trustees 'for all public purposes,
and all charities, without the necessity of possessing a single
shilling, and without any other qualification ;than that of making
a fluent speech in the back parlour of an ale-house. As to the
officers of this omnipotent assemblage of the people, they were
placed in that situation by this un-English Bill, in which any of
his Majesty's subjects were never placed before. 'He alluded to
the 54th section, by which it was enacted that every towns
clerk, treasurer, or- 'other officer appointed by the Council,
should, at the time during their continuance in office, and
according to the manner the Council shall direct, deliver
to the Council all the accounts, and if they should refuse to do so
then upon complaint by the Council, thereupon being In'ought
-before two magistrates, those magistrates'were required to adjudi-
tate upon their case in a summary way, and punish them: as they
thought proper.

We will give the conclusion in a Seccnl Edition.

THE FUNDS.-(THIS DAY.)

CITY, 7'IVELVE- O'CLOCK.
We have bat one foreign arrival this morning—a French mail,
with sue arrival of ship-letters, from Lima ; consequently there is
a great dearth of information in the eity,.at.present.
His Majesty's excursion to Greenwich, this morning, will, no
doubt deprive the Stock Exchange of a 'number of its members,
particularly as little business will be doing until after the bidding
for the loan, on Monday next. The great City Capitalist now
stands undisputed in the field, and Ministers have no other choice.
Money they must have, and he is the only person that can furnish
them with it ;- therefore, we presume they will make the best terms
they can for the public.