The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-07 00:00:00

[LEFT SPEAKING.]

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—(THIs EVENING.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The Lords' amendments to the Shrewsbury and Welch-
pool Railway Bill were considered and agreed to, and the
bill was ordered for third reading. The A baystwith and
Welch Coast Railway Bill was read a third time.
The following bills were considered and ordered for third
reading :—Blyth and Tyne Railway, Clitheroe Gas, Cole-
ford, Monmouth, Usk, and Pontypool Railway, Greetwell
District Drainage, Leeds and Ealand Road, Limerick and
Foynes Railway, and Ross and Monmouth Railway.
The Macclesfield Gas and Thames Embankment bills
were read a second time.

PETITIONS.
Several petitions were presented praying that affirmation
may, in certain cases, be substituted for oaths in law courts,
for and . against the repeal of the paper duty; against
the abolition of the church rates, in favour of legis-
lation on the subject• of the Batmen fisheries; against
the Parochial Assessment Bill •; in favour of the- training of
schoolmasters for middle-class schools ; from the inhabi-
tants of the town of Aberdeen againq the bill before the
house relative t,) the subject of fishery. &c.
THE PAPER DUTY.

The CHANCELLOR of theIEXCHEQUER begged to
give notice that instead of including the paper duty in the
financial bill, he would, in order to be more regular, move
the repeal of that duty in a preliminary resolution to-
morrow in committee of ways and means, and thus it would
be compressed in the financial bill.

ARMY AMALGAMATION (INDIA).
In reply to Mr. H. SEYMOUR,
Sir C. WOOThsaid he- was expecting despatches from
India by the next mail relative to the progress of army
amalgamation in India.
ASCENSION THURSDAY.
Mr. S. ESTCOURT asked the noble lord at the head of
the Government whether he intended to bring on the usual
motion for committees of the house not meeting till two
o'clock on Thursday next, being Ascension-day ?
Lord PALMERSTON answered in the affirmative, and
moved a resolution to that effect.

The motion was then agreed to.
THE FORTS AT SPITHEAD.
Sir M. PETO asked the Secretary of &Ate for War if the
GuNernment intended t ) proceed with the forts in the road-
stead of Spithead ?

Mr. BARING said that the works in question would be
)roceeded with, and the papers mc,r.a by the non.
)aronet last week would be Lid shortly on the table.
RAILWAYS IN INDIA.

Sir M. PETO asked the Secretary of State for India
what steps the Government intended to take consequent on
despatch from India, dated the 22d February last, in which
it was stated that " a state of things is possible, or rather
probable, in which, in the event of funds not being sup-
plied from home, in anticipation, to carry on the railway
works, the Government of India would have no alternative
but to order their abrupt and complete suspension?"
Sir C. WOOD said that the apprehensions entertained
relative to this subject were totally unfounded. He had not
the slightest intention to allow the railway works in India
to be stopped. They had been carried on fully last year,
and there had been expended on them that year £8,300,000"
Mr. H. SEYMOUR inquired if the right hoa. gentle-
man (Sir C. Wood) proposed to carry out the railway to
the cotton districts in India.
Sir C. WOOD said that such was his intention.

BELLIGERENT RIGHTS.
Mr. WALPOLE expressed a wish that his hon. friend
the member for Liverpool would postpone the following
motion, which he had on the paper:— That, in the opi-
nion of this house, the subject of belligerent rights at sea
is at present in an unsatisfactory state, and deserving of
the serious attention of her Majesty's Government!'
He considered that after what had been stated by the Go-
vernment it would not be advisable to bring forward this
question at present.
Lord PALMERSTON said he entirely concurred with
the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Walpole) in the view he
had taken of the inexpediency of discussing this question
at the present moment. The house would bear in mind
what the noble lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs stated
last night, namely, that the question involved in this mo-
tion was one of a very grave and complicated character,
and that it was under the consideration of the Government,
and therefore they could not enter on it at the present time.
If the motion was persevered in, it would be impossible to
make any other reply than that the Government could not
afford any information on the subject.
Mr. HORSFALL said that, agreeing entirely in what
had fallen from the right hon. gentleman and the noble
lord, he would postpone his motion t 3 a future occasion.
BARON DE BODE.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL appealed to his ho.
friend (Mr. Denman) to postpone his motion, whic
n
de
was on the paper, for a committeeselectofßaron to
consi-
der the matters alleged in the petition
the consideration
slidt
ewr
aotuiol would bo ef
ntheocessokisareyot.for him to prepare himself for
Mr. DENMAN said that he was very reluctant
to postpone this motion. He considered this sub-
ject could be best considered in a select com-
mittee instead of in a full House of Commons.
He agreed, however, on the personal grounds stated by his
hon. and learned friend, for he admitted that it was neces •
sary that that hon. and learned member should be in a
position to watch carefully anything that he (Mr. Denman)
said on the subject. He would, therefore, Lne
postponement of the motion. ItTrx,---,;;"""
_

Mr. Ti L.. 1 u IRE moved an address for copy of papers
correspondence relative to the mission of the Right
Hon. W. E. Gladstone to the lonian Islands, as Lord High
Commissioner Extraordinary, in Nov., 1858. The learned
member entered into different details relative to the present
political position of the lonian Islands, and con-
demned the conduct pursued by this country towards
these islands. He asserted that the result of
our policy, instead of attaching the people of
these islands to British rule had quite the opposite effect.
He cited different authorities to show that the inhabitants
of these islands were desirous of being annexed to Greece.
He did not believe that the Government of the day had
done anything wrong in sending Mr. Gladstone, as Lord
High Commissioner, to these islands to institute an inquiry
into the state of those islands, and to report thereupon.
What he wanted to know was the character of that inquiry,
the manner in which it had been conducted, the reportthat
was made, and the recommendations which that report
contained. The right hon. gentleman-was hailed with en-
thusiasm by the islanders of all classes. He now
asked, was not the desire for nationality universal
amongst the community F_ That statement had been denied,

and it had been asserted that that feeling was not general
but he referred to the manifestations which had emanated
from the different islands in support of what he alleged
alleged as to the strong feeling that prevailed for the re-
covery of national independence. The hon. member next
adverted to some of the replies of Mr. Gladstone to certain
addresses from the inhabitants of those islands, in which he
rebuked them for their desire for nationality. The right
hon. gentleman objected to the form in which they expressll
that desire, and they then addressed a most respectre
memorial to her Majesty setting forth theirsh
wiesv.ubliic
th
also alluded to a speech attributed to him in 6 -
why
journals.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQTTEE denied
that he had made the speech in question:
the house
u3sleAshOo
ulilldßbEe
rslaaiccledthiant
taken place. possession ea
ans ao di
ad
ot
ft owilj:
al
tr ehaasao
reallyn

LLEFT 3PEAXING•]

BURNS.—Messrs. Put-
tickof Lola er square, have just con-
eluded a sale of autographs and manuscripts which em-
werel°ablitut°eniEghittT songs and other composi-
tions highly interesting articles. Prominent
braced some
4 of
•5 in the ban Robert Burns, which were keenly
tion
,and brought contended
were amongst the most remarkable of the lots :—Lot 79, a
amongst them
Letter of Isaac Watts, £4 ioa. Lot 84, a Letter of Cotton M
Mather, £5 6s. Lot 171, the orig nal S. of Burns' song,
“Scots, wha lute," £35. Lot 203, a Common Place Book
of Burns, 43 pages folio, £36. Lot 201, another Poetical
Commonl Place Book of Durum, Zit). other autograph
coutpueitious or Burns in the catalogue sold at Price°leon
varying. from £1 to £lO. Lot 430, signature of Napo
I. when commandant of artillery, to an order for disarm-
jug the sections) 44 176. 6cle