The Sun.
London, England, 1835-07-02 00:00:00

ziT) e C 1111+

LONDON,
THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 2, 1835.

The Corporation Reform Bill got on last night to
the 36th clause, and we are glad to see that there is
every chance of its soon getting through the Commit-
tee. Lord JOHN RUSSELL stated that he meant to
propose that the House should sit at twelve o'clock on
Tuesdays and Thursdays, for the purpose of expedit-
ing its progress.

The provisions of the Bill which were principally
the subjects of discussion last night, were those which
relate to the annual renewal of the third part of the
Council, the mode of voting at the elections, and the
division of certain towns into wards.- On the first of
these clauses Mr. C.BULLER moved, as an amendment,
that the whole council should be elected annually, in
which he was supported by Mr. GROTE, Mr. EWART,
Mr. WILLIAMS the Member for Coventry, and Sir
WILLIAM MOLES WORTH. The amendment was op-
posed by Lord JOHN RUSSELL and the ATTORNEY-
GENERAL. We agree with the Learned Gentleman
in thinking that an annual renewal of a third part of the
Council will answer all the purposes of good government,
and that inconvenience might arise from a sudden and
total change of a governing body having to discharge
duties, sometimes of a very complicated and difficult
nature.

When the 24th clause came on, Mr. GROTE moved
that a majority of the Council should have the power
of directing that the election of members of Council
and auditors shall be by ballot. The Hon. Gentleman
also detailed the plan which he proposed for balloting,
so as to secure secrecy. -

A division took place on the 27th clause, which
gives to the Mayor the power of selecting from those
Councilmen who may have an equal number of votes,
the person whom he thinks fittest for the office. The
original clause was carried.

LORD STANLEY, never backward in lending his
assistance to give the Bill as aristocratic a tendency as
possible, moved, on the reading of the 27th clause,
that all boroughs having 10,000 inhabitants (the Bill
fixes the number at 25,000), should be divided into
wards—the number of wards to be in proportion to
the population. The Noble Lord postponed his amend-
ment until the bringing up of the Report ; Lord JoitN
RUSSELL consenting to take it into consideration in
the mean time.

Sir 'WILLIAM RAE'S motion for referring the peti-
tions in favour of a grant of public money, to be applied
to the building and endowing of additional Churches
in Scotland, the adjourned debate on which was to
have been resumed last night, was withdrawn, and
the following Resolution, (which is little more than
an amplification of the LORD ADVOCATE'S amend-
ment) substituted by Lord Jon N RussELL____,, That.
an humble Address be presented to his MAJESTY,
praying that his MAJESTY may be graciously pleased
to appoint a Commission, to inquire into the oppor-
tunities of religious worship and the means of re-
ligious instruction, and the pastoral superintendence
afforded to the people of Scotland, and how far these
are available for the religious and moral improvement
of the poor and working classes ; with a view to ob-
tain information with respect to the state of their at-
' tendance on places of worship, and their actual con-
nexion with any religious denomination ; to inquire
what funds are, or may hereafter he, available for the
purposes of the Established Church of Scotland, and
report from time to time, in order that such remedies
tnay be applied to any existing evil as Parliament
may think fit."

Sir ROBERT PEEL suggested that. the words " by
the Established Church of Scotland" should be in-
-serted after the word " afforded," This amendment,

which was intended as a sort of recognition of
the Establishment in the Northern part of the
Kingdom, was, we arc happy to say, not per-
sisted in by the Right Hon. Rtronet. It was quire
uncalled for, as no one entertains the least doubt that
the Presbyterian Church is as lawfully and, we may
add, as firmly established in Scotland as the Epis-
copal Church is in England. It would besides have
had the effect of imposing upon the Commissioners a
restriction inimical to the very purpose for which the
' inquiry is instituted.
In the course of the debate Mr. C. BRUCE took oc-
casion to launch out against the "voluntary principle."
We think this injudicious. We arc sure it is not good
policy on the part of those who are friendly to the
Establishment, to decry the efforts made by the Dis-
senters, in extending the blessings of religion to the
poor. If, as Mr. BRUCE, and those who advocate
this grant to the Church of Scotland argue, there
be so many thousands and tens of thousands,
without the means of receiving religious instruc-
tion from the ministers of the Established Church,
what would have been the numbers thus left
destitute of that inestimable benefit had not
the " voluntary principle 1' been resorted to ? But
we will not enlarge on this topic. We highly
approve of the course adopted by the Government on
this occasion. Where there exists such a difference
of opinion between the Members of the Established
Church and the Dissenters in Scotland, as to the ne-
cessity of providing, out of the public purse, for the
extension of religion in that country, a Commission of
Inquiry seems to us a necessary preliminary to a legis-
lative measure. We trust the Commissioners will be
men who are well acquainted with the machinery of
the Scottish Church, and whose minds are unbiassed
either by sectarian or political partialities.

We quote the following from a Morning Contempo-
rary :—" Much interest was excited in the House of
Commons last night, by the circumstance of Lord
STALEY and Sir J. GRAHAM having removed from
the seats which they, have occupied during the present
session on the Ministerial side of the House, to the
front Opposition bench." We are glad that the Noble
Lord and the Right Hon. Baronet have at length seen
the expediency of shifting their quarters. They must
have been very uneasy in their old position, but will
now feel quite at home. Indeed, their only proper
seat is on a Tory bench ; and long may they flourish
there, and rival even Sir R. PEEL himself in the gene-
rous warmth of their hostility to Irish Church Reform I
Their secession, direct and open as it is, can do no in-
jury to Government, for, luckily, their capacity to work
mischief is in an inverse ratio to their inclination.

The importance of Australia to the United King-
dom is yearly becoming more manifest. Favoured as
that rapidly rising Colony is by climate, and by its
-position in the Archipelago of the great Eastern sea,
it produces already all the necessaries of life, and also
many of its luxuries. Not very far removed from the
continent of India, and from the.coast of China, and
almost in the midst of numberless rich and populous
Islands, its commerce is rapidly on the increase, and
in a few years, under a paternal Government, it must
exceed anything which can at present be contemplated,
for in its sources it is almost boundless. From the
neighbouring fisheries also, it possesses all the means
not only of rearing seamen of the best description, but
also of providing them with abundance of productive
labour of the most interesting nature. In fact, it is
the most valuable Colony in its prospects which ever
belonged to any commercial Empire ; and the British
Ministers, whatever now may be, or may have been,
their political sentiments, have, during the last ten
years, by their acts, duly estimated its advantages to
the Mother Country. As a favourable settlement for
the surplus of our population, it has latterly been
highly estimated, and much encouragement has been
given to emigrants possessed of industrious habits. The
present Secretary of State, Lord GLENELG, seems to
be perfectly aware of its importance in this respect ; and
so late as the 6th of June inmt., his Lordship caused it
to be officially notified that the twenty pounds, hereto.
fore advanced as a loan to emigrants, is in future
to be converted into a grant to mechanics, and. to
agricultural labourers. Every person must approve of
this most benevolent alteration, for it will enable many
honest, although unfortunate families, to raise their
condition in life in a country wherein industry is the
real, if not the only, wealth, at the same time that it
will considerably relieve the people at home from the
grievous burden of the poor's-rate.
It would much facilitate the rising eminence of this
colony, however, if some inducements were held out
to a higher description of emigrants than mechanics
and agricultural labourers. No doubt the man of
capital can purchase land cheap there, and can
become a ship-owner, or embark his property in
commercial pursuits ; but still to emigrants of this •
description, worldly prosperity in a distant land can
produce no real happiness. Accustomed at home
to live under the liberal and protecting laws of their
native country, they feel doubly the deprivation of
them in Australia, which, although containing more
than double the free population of any one of our other
colonies, possessing local legislatures, is, to this day,
deprived of a Representative Assembly. That the
inhabitants of Australia are deserving of this great
boon from our liberal administration, is proved by their
present -internal situation. Already they have one
hundred and twenty Magistrates, and a great number
of highly respectable and wealthy Colonists, who are
perfectly qualified to act as Magistrates, and out of
whom an efficient House of Assembly could most
easily be selected. Be it also remembered that these
gentlemen have a deep interest in the prosperity of
their adopted country. Their public establishments
for benevolence, trade, and education, would do honour

to a far older society. They arc already possessed of
their banks, colleges, and hospitals, but they are not
permitted to have a house of Representatives, in which
they may state their own interests in their own
Colony, and consequently have some control over
their public expenditure.
They have sent home a highly eloquent memorial

to the British House of Commons on this subject,
and, as their representations are founded on truths,
and their claims on justice, no doubt can be enter-
tained of their -receiving due attention from our le-
formed House of Commons, and from his MAJESTY'S
present liberal Ministers. This is the only thing
now wanted by these colonists to complete their inter-
nal institutions, to promote their prosperity, and to
render them a valuable portion of the British empire.
The British nation can have no interest in withholding
from these distant settlers, the rights, which they
would have possessed, had they remained at home,
perhaps a burden in their native land. Fourteen colo-

nies in the West Indies, with a population amongst
them of 65,135 inhabitants, have each a House 'of
Representatives, whilst Australia, with a population
of 60,794 inhabitants, is still deprived of this great
colonial advantage. In the petition, however, of the
Australians to the British House of Commons their
claims are powerfully stated, and we feel sure that
their complaints will be duly attended to by the Re-
presentatives of the British people, and by the Minis-
tds of their KING.

The petition
which we insert in our columns of this
day will be presented by Mr. H. L. BULIVERI ,he