The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-12 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.--(YESTERDAY.)

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the wooliack
at five o'clock. _

Lord DE FREYNE took the oaths and his seat upon
his elevation to the peerage. The noble lord was intro-
duced by the Earl of Enniskillen and Lord Monteagle.
The Earl of ALBEMARLE presented a petition
from the civil servants of the Crown at the port of
Southampton against the system under which the super-
annuation allowances were at present provided.
The Earl of FORTESCUE presented a petition from
the civil servants of the Crown at-Dartmouth to the
same effect.

Lord CAREW presented a similar petition from the
civil servants of the Crown at the port of Wexford.
Lord EGLINTON presented a similar petition from
Ayr.

ANSWER TO THE ADDRESS.
The Marquis of BREADALBANE brought up the
answer of her Majesty to the address of their lordships
on the occasion of the opening of Parliament. It was
as follows :

" I thank you for your loyal and dutiful address, and
for your lordships' assurances that you will take into your
earnest consideration the measures that will be proposed
to you.

You may rely on my hearty desire to co-operate with
you in promoting the happiness of my people."

CHINA.

The Earl !of CARNARVON gave notice that on
an early day he would call the attention of their lordships
to the trial of Allam, the baker of Canton.

SALE OF POISONS.

Lord CAMPBELL called the attention of; the house
to the circumstance that last session he had urged upon
the house the importance of passing some law with a view
of restricting the sale of poisons. There was a subject
which was of far more importance than the sale of either
prussic acid, strychnine, or arsenic—the sale of infamous
publications. He trusted that if the law was not strong
enough to redress the evil, their lordships would take
the subject into their serious consideration, with a view
to providing a remedy to put an end to such a base and
noxious trade. In respect to the sale of poisons,
he believed that the Secretary of State
had collected a mass of very valuable information, and
was about to bring forward a bill this session for the
suppression of the sale of poisons. He trusted that the
subject he had referred to, would be taken into the seri-
ous consideration of the Government.

The LORD CHANCELLOR said, he believed that
the law, as it stood, was sufficiently strong to meet
the evil the noble and learned lord complained of—viz.,
the sale of immoral and infamous publications. If it
was found to be deficient for the purpose, he had no
hesitation in saying the Government would immediately
adopt more stringent measures. With regard to
the sale of poisons, he begged to inform his noble
and learned friend that the Government had not only
given their serious attention to the subject, but that a
bill had been already framed, and would speedily be in-
troduced into Parliament to put down the evil. The
subject was one of great difficulty, and it was next to
impossible to define what was poison and what was
medicine. Immediately they enumerated a dozen
poisons the ingenuity of chemistry would be employed to
change their nature and characters.