The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-14 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS. -(YESTERDAY .)

men F To
fE
eS IBe
rUk Re
nYw e
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the wool-
sackfro Tmb
The
htEefiawvrelo
rouk'fci
nlisgmEikA.
mea-
sures in aid of emigration. pilr,esented a petition
Viscount DUNGANNON gave noticepratyhiantgofnoTr hmnerafil
day next he should ask of the Lord. President of the
Council 'whether the Home-office had made any arrange-
ments for the examination of persons who might be ap-
pointed to the office of chief constable.
CHINA.
The Earl of DERBY gave notice that when the
papers relative to• China wen' laid upon 'the table of
the house, he should make a substantive motion
thereon. Of course, until the papers were produced,
be could not state the nature of stfah motion.
THE BANK CHARTER.
The Noble EARL also expressed his regret at hear-
ing that the Government intended proposing a mea-
sure for the.renewal of the Bank Charter: He supposed
it was not intended to move the appointment of a com-
mittee of that house to inquire into the subject, nor was
he' disposed to ask them to do so. In the years 1848-9
a committee sat upon the subject of the commercial dis-
tress that then existed, and made a valuable report,
which was still in the possession of the house. If it was
not the intention of her Majesty's Governmentto appoint
a committee of that house previous to the consideration
of the renewal of the Bank chatter,'he wished 'to know
li-
mitedwhe numbertherthere of copieswould of thatbeany report
ol,jectionr'nrtot'bjie seruinting a
81
lOi rgdhStt o
lordships.
Earl GR,ANVILLE said there would not bofeththeier
objection to reprinting the report to which the
noble earl alluded.
ENCUMBERED ESTATES COURT.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE asked the inten-.
Lions of her Majesty 'e Government respecting the En-
cumbered Estates Court in. Ireland ; and also moved
for a return of the number of abstracts, ofi title in the
office of the late Chief Cominissioner of the said
court not investigated. at the time of the retirement
from that office of the learned baron ; and of the
number of cases in which estates had been sold, but the
proceeds of "the sale not distributed at-the same date ;
also, for a copy of a late communication from the com-
missioners to her Majesty's Governaierie upon the state,
of business in their court.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said the Vacancy caused
by the appointment
.of Baron Richards to• a superior
office would no doubt be filled up. - It was at first
thought that two commissioners would be sufficient
for the business of the '-eourti but that being found
not to be the case a new commissioner would be imme-
diately appointed. He bad already expressed his opinion
that the Encumbered Estates Court ought to be a per-
manent establishment. -A coMmission, consisting partly
of English, and Irish members, had been appointed to
inquire into the subject, who recommended that the Court
should be connected in some way with that unpopular
court the Court of Chancery. All he could say on the
present occasion was that Government would give their
serious attention to the subject, with a view to apply a
remedy to the evils of which the noble marquis corn-
plained.
The returns were then ordered.
• PROPERTY OF MARRIED WOMEN.
Lord BROUGHAM, in rising to call the attention of
the house to the rights of property of married women,
said that he could not abstaiii from expressing his great,
and, indeed, hardly to be expressed, gratifiCation at an
important event which had taken place in the House of
Commons since he bad last addressed their lordships. In.
the House of Commons a unanimous resolution had been
agreed to in favour of the establishment of a department
of public justice—a step about which he had never felt
any difficulty, although he knew that many persons bad.
He had for years been urging upon Parliament in every
possible shape the absolute necessity for no longer being
without the inestimable benefit of such a department. In
adopting that resolution the House of Commons had acted
upon the recommendation of Lord Bacon, and he was glad
to hear that'the house had been unanimous and hearty in
its approval of a department of justice. It might be said
that now there,,wae e.very hope of so desirable-a, consum-
mation being carried into effect by the Government, he
might withdravk from the position which, according to
a jocular remark of a noble, and learned friend, he (Lord
Brougham) bad so king filled as " Chargi d'Affaires" of
that department.
Lord CAMPBELL was understood to suggest that
the noble and learned lord might be the First Minister
of Justice.

Lord BROUGHAM said the duties of such an officer
would be so onerous, so important, that, even were he
not determined never to take any office at his mature
age, he would not venture to assume the responsibilities
of such a department: Happily, all difficulty would give
way to the acknowledged importance of the subject, and
he had little doubt that they would soon see the creation
of that department. However, until the arrival of a
Minister of Justice, his own duties as Charg4 d'Affaires
of that department could not be said to be entirely
abolished. He would proceed to the special subject
which he had to bring under their lordships'
notice that evening—the grievances of married
women, especially in respect to their property. He
bad presented a petition signed by 2,000 of their fellow
countrywomen, of all classes—some earning wages by
daily work, some with property, the gift of frielads or
deceased relatives, and some. earning incomes, often
large, by the exercise of industry, of admirable genitis
as authoresses, artists in painting and sculpture, and the
names of several such distinguished personsegave weight
to the prayer-ei +h.+. petition.' It-moon-n.s,sasm.sa.ared
that by.tbe law as it- atoou • present those earnings
might be entirely abstracted from those whose labours
had procured them, and were capable of being vested,
without a moment's delay or one word of warning, in their
husbands, that the earnings would be—not the wife's who
by her labour, skill, or genius had gained them, but her
husband's—he who had no share in earning them, and
who might be as worthless as she who had worked
for them was undoubtedly meritorious. That was the
law of England. To show the grievous hardships which
might and did occur, he would mention a case which
he had heard from a noble lord in the house, of a
woman industrious, and he was assured a good woman,
who had married a good-for-nothing fellow. She sepa-
rated from [him and took to shoemaking, in which, by
her industry and frugality, she managed to scrape to-
gether 201. or 301., when her husband, who had not
only deserted her, but lived with another woman, hear-
ing that his wife had saved money, for a moment quitted
his paramour, rushed upon the capital his wife had ac-
cumulated, and not only took that, but also collected all
the debts due to her, and then, leaving her again to
starve, returned to his mistress. Then there was a case
which had come to his own knowledge, in which he had .
heard the statement of the party, had made inquiries,
and was perfectly convinced of the accuracy of the
statement. A gentlewoman had been deserted by ber
husband, who .went to the gold 03:nes of Australia with
another woman, and left the wife totally unprovided
for. • Being well educated, she kept a school, and
succeeded, after a year or two, in
establishing a
nourishing seminary, and he was informed that
no one could better merit success than she did. In

the meantime, however, the husband's mining specu
lations having proved unsuccessful, he returned to this
country, instantly rushed upon that other mine which his
wife had opened, and not only seiwd the gold which she
had accumulated, but broke up the school by sell,ng
the
furniture and collecting the debts; having done which
he left his wife again and returned to his paramour. It
was not to be denied that such cases were extreme cases,
but nevertheless they were such as might happen to
any one. 4e could refer to cases which were of more
frequent occurrence. It would be observed that those
grievances chiefly affected the middle and humbler
classes. The husband's right to defraud his wife, for
fraud it must be called, might not always be carried to
the extent as in the cases which he had mentioned, but
the common case was of a woman married to a drunken,
great manufacturing
factidle good-for-nothing, who, not choosing to workdeTheiruring
hioirmsehlif
ps had only to
preferredtolive a
go
into t hiso any wife's expense.
town in Lancashire in order to see the consequence of
the law as it at present stood. He was told that there
would be found besieging the door where the workwonsen
were receiving their weekly wages the husbands of these
women, who were obtaining, not by soft violence, but in
many cases by severe pressure,lthe money which they
had just received at the pay-table. It was said that an
alteration of the law would have a tendency to beget
quarrels, but those who would go to Oldham, to which
toy,. Ma information more particularly applied, and there
see the husbands lying in wait fdr the money of their
wives, would see that the present law was far from ex-
empting married couples from the incident of quarrels. I
At a meeting of the Law Amendment Society in June,
presided over by that most honourable and useful public
man, Sir J. Paking ton, a detailed statement was made
by a manufacturer (Mr. Musgrave, as we understood)
employing a large number of work women, earning from
20s. to 40:. a-week, many of whom, he said, were sought
in marriage by men who designed to live idle upon the
wages earned by their wives. This manufacturer gave
ten different instances of the truth of his state-
ment, and added that the women whose wages were
thus taken from them were suffered to go disreputably
ragged, while their children were miserably provided for.
The evil being apparent, the question was as to the
remedy. The testimony of these poor women was de-
cisive as to the existence of the evil, although they might
not all agree as to the remedy, or be the best judges of
what ought to be done for their relief. The general
opinion was in favour of doing for those women who
married without settlements what the law did for per-
sons who died without a will. If a man died intestate
the law made a will for him, and so It was suggested
that when parties married without making a marriage
settlement, the law, following the analogy of wills, should
make a settlement for them. If parties chose to make a
settlement for themselves before marriage, and to tie up
their property, then the law need not interfere.
Otherwise let the woman obtain her property as a
feme sole, with the provision that the husband should
not be liable to her debts either before marriage or
during coverture, arid following in all respects the
analogy of the feme sole. (A Noble Lord.—The
children !3 The children should be maintained by both
husband and wife, the wife being equally liable with the
husband. This was the law in the greater part of the
United States. Both lawyers and laymen agreed that it
had answered perfectly, and they laughed at the idea of
its tending to produce quarrels. There was some little
doubt as to a wife's right to her own earnings in France; ,
but there was no doubt as to her right to her real pro-
perty, and there was no material difference with regard
to the rights enjoyed by a wife between the French and
English law. But the remedies given to the wife in
France were much superior to those given to her in this
• eountry.• Not only had she a right to apply for a Mae