The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-18 00:00:00

which must make it I.(at least so far) highly acceptable
to the Dissenters— -they are not required to come at
all into contact wit' a the Church, or any of its autho-

rities or funetit war ies.

We are glad". to observe, too, that Sir 11. PEEL
has invited the suggestions of the Dissenters, in order
that the measui r may be rendered as perfect and satis-
factory as may be practicable, before it passes into
a law.

The Duke of: BUCKINGHAM presented a petition
last night in the :House of Lords, from the inhabitants
of Stoke Poges, i ►► the county of Buckingham, against
the manner in vhich the Poor Law Commissioners
proposed to act i n the administration of the poor laws
with respect to that parish. His Grace indulged in

a lengthy tirade 'm the occasion ; but as he seemed to
have no very lefinite idea of what he was talking
about, the Du' ae of WELLINGTON very properly ad-
vised that the p( nition should be postponed fora few days,
when he fully of ected to be provided with information
sufficient to justify the Commissioners. This brought
forward Lord B,ROUGIIA Nr, who insisted that there
was not the sFghtest occasion for postponing the
petition. His Lordship then entered minutely into
the nature of the charges that had been alleged against
the Commissionters, and showed that there was not
the slightest g:)und of complaint ; that so far from
the parish of Stoke Poges being in the prospe-
rous condition -which the Noble Duke had de-
scribed it to be in, the case was diametri-
cally the reverses for in it was to be found, in the
highest degree of exacerbation, that " very worst
all the worst, consequences of the mal-administra-
tion of the Poor Laws--the scale system." The-
Noble Lord's observations were, in every respect, sa-
tisfactory. One by one, he demolished all the fine
array of grievances, behind which his Grace of.
BUCKINGHAM had entrenched himself. It seldom
falls to the lot of a statesman to cut so sorry a figure
as the Noble Duke did last night. He had scarcely
a word to say for himself, in reply to the cogent re-
marks of Lord BROUGHAM. We suppose it will be
some time before he ventures on the discovery of
another mare's nest.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM brought in, last night, two
Bills, to encourage the voluntary enlistment of seamen,
to improve the regulations for effectually manning the
Royal Navy, to amend and consolidate the laws relat-
ing to Merchant Seamen, and to establish a register
of the men in that service. The chief provisions of
the Bills were stated by Sir JAMES to be these.

To protect the men against the caprice or mercenary
motives of their masters, all Merchant Seamen are to
serve under written engagements, specifying the nature
and duration of their service ; and, to protect masters,
there will be a provision against harbouring de-
serters. The number of apprentices in merchant vessels
is to be limited, and, as a check, vessels are to be
visited by an officer on their return from foreign coun-
tries. There will be a clause against leaving seamen
in foreign countries without sufficient cause—an in-
famous practice which has become very prevalent,
either to defraud them of their wages, or to get the
ship navigated home on cheaper terms by other sea-
men. A registration of all seamen in the merchant
service is to be established, by means of returns taken
on board merchant ships on their arrival at the Custom-
house. The Crown is to have the same right to call for
the service of seamen by proclamation, as it has that of
the land force; but that compulsory service will be limited
to five years, which duration of it will for ever free a
man from being again called upon. A certain time
will be allowed
,after the Proclamation before com-
pulsory service shall be resorted to, to enable the men
to tender their voluntary service, in which case they
will receive a bounty of 101., instead of 51., as at pre-
sent. One year of voluntary service during war is to
count for two during peace, or by compulsion, in en-
titling a man to his pension ; and if the war last more
than five years, a second bounty shall be paid to those
who will serve a second term of engagement. Twenty
years' service will entitle a man to his pension
as well as his wages. The power of impressment is
still to be retained by the Crown ; but with such pro-
visions as those now proposed, it was thought that it
would seldom or never become necessary to have re-

course to it.
The outline which Sir JAMES GRAHAM gave o

his Bills elicited the warmest expressions of approba-
tion from Members of all parties, and we are glad to
find, from the remarks of Mr. BARING, that they
will have the sanction of the Government. We are
sure that these measures will be hailed with joy and
gratitude, not only by the numerous and valuable class
of men whose persons and interests they are intended
to protect, but also by every friend to humanity, and
by every man who abhors so barbarous a prac-
tice, and one so repugnant to British feelings
and principles, as that of impressment, and
who desires to increase the efficiency of our Navy, as
well as to remove the national stain which has too

long polluted its otherwise proud name. The provi-
sions of Sir JAMES GRAHAM'S Bills seem well cal-
culated to attain these important objects, by holding
out every inducement to voluntary service in the Royal
Navy, and by limiting the duration of service to five
years ; and we have no doubt that, under such cir-
cumstances, it will never be found necessary to resort
to impressment. We quite agree—notwithstanding Sir
P. DURHAM'S sentiments—with the opinion of Ad-
miral ADAM, that "one volunteer is worth two piessed
men ;" and we trust that it will soon cease to be said,
that such is the service in the British Navy, that it
can only be manned by impressment. Britons, surely,
do not possess less national feeling than other nations ;
but they abhor tyranny, and all that is necessary to
induce men to serve cheerfully in our Navy, is to sub-
stitute encouragement for brute coercion.

The Paris papers of Monday, morning and evening,
have been received ; the latter containing the close of
the debate in the Chamber of Deputies on the late
changes in the Cabinet. In the course of the Minis-
terial explanations no new fact was elicited ; and it
may be said of the entire debate that it decided no-

thing, although it has given rise to some very angry
feelings in the Chamber. The Ministers denied the
squabblings among themselves with which they
were repeatedly charged by the Opposition ; and M.
MAUGUIN and his party, wearied with repeating
questions which Ministers were too shrewd to answer,
retired from the wordy strife with the avowed deter-
mination to " bide their time."

An official notice appears in the Moniteur of Mon-
day, apprising the various " Departments" with intel-
ligence of the re-composition of the Cabinet. Marshal
MA isiziN has virtually accepted the Portfolio of the
War Department, being already on his way from
Vienna to the French Capital. He is to be suc-
ceeded at the Imperial Court by M. de St. AULAIRE.
who is charged with instructions in direct accordance