The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-25 00:00:00

_THE SUN,

I Mr. AGLIONBY felt that he was to some extent
pledged to the House to proceed with the Bill, and
therefore he had no other alternative but to go on with it.
Sir G. GREY said, two years ago the Government had
sought to introduce a Bill of this description in the
House of Lords, but the difficulties to its being carried
were so insuperable, that they were obliged to abandon
it. He had to state that it was the intention of the Go-
vernment, early next session, to bring in a Bill relating
to the enfranchisement of copyholds, more limited in its
object than that before the House, the main purpcse
of which would be to encourage facilities for the enfran-
chisement of copyholds, but not to go the length of
making such enfranchisements compulsory.
Mr. AGLIONBY declined to withdraw his Bill on
any such vague intimation of the intentions of the
Government as that which had fallen from the Right
Hon. Baronet (Sir G. Grey). He (Ur. Aglionby) con-
tended that enfranchisement without compulsion would
be wholly illusory.
Mr. HENLEY was of opinion that it • would not be
advisable to proceed further with the Bill at this late
period of the session, and after the intimation which had
fallen from the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir G. Grey), be
(Mr. Henley) would move that Mr. Bernal leave the
chair.

Mr. AGLIONBY would resist the motion of tho. Hon.
Member for Oxfordshire (Mr. Henley) to the last; even
if he (Mr. Aglionby) should be alone he would divide
the House against it, and if he was beaten he would next
session again and again introduce a Bill on the principle
of compulsion.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
After a few words from Mr. SPOONER and Sir GEORGE
GREY,

The House divided, when there appeared—
For the amendment
Against it

... 36
... ,-23

Majority

Tile Bill was accordingly lost.
DEBTORS AND CREDITORS (IRELAND) BILL.
This Bill was rend a second time.
BOROUGH GAOLS BILL.
This Bill was read a third time and passed.
CORONERS' FEES ABOLITION BILL.

Sir B. HALL moved the second reading of this Bill.
Mr. HENLEY said he had no objection to the princi-
ple of the Bill, but he hoped that the Hon. Member,
after taking the second reading, would consent to post-
pone it until next year. The object of the Bill was to
commute the fees now received by coroners into salaries;
and as there would scarcely be time this session to
take the opinion of the great number of persons when
interests would ba affected by the Bill, he trusted the
Hon. Baronet would yield to his suggestion.
Sir G. GREY said he also had no objection to the
principle of the measure, if fair means were adopted to
carry it into effect, but he thought the mode iu which it
was proposed,to fix the salaries was very objectionable.
A few days ago he received a deputation of coroners
with reference to tie Bill, and they alluded particularly
to the very unequal scale on which coroners were
remunerated by the magistrates of the different
counties, and it followed that if their salaries were fixed
on a calculation of the amounts which they had indivi-
dually received for a series of years past, the injustice
which now existed would be perpetuated.—(Hear, hear.)
There was also another point to be considered:
no effectual security was taken for the performance of
the duties of the coroners when the motives arising from
the payment of fees no longer existed. He therefore
appealed to the Hon. Baronet whether it would not
be advisable to postpone the further consideration of the
Bill until next year, seeing that there was not surficient
time this session to discuss these various details.

After a few words from Mr. T. EGERTON,

Sir JOHN PAKINGTON said he agreed with the
principle of this Bill, as the present system worked
badly, but he thought the details were open to alteration
and improvement. It was true some difficulty would
arise about setting the salary, but he hoped the difficulty
would not be such as to prevent the passing of the Bill
this session.

After a few words from Sir B. HALL,
The Bill was read a second time, and ordered to Le
committed on

NAVY PAY BILL.

This Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be
committed on Friday.

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (SCOTLAND) BILL.
This Eill went through Comrar.tee and was r,ported.
On the question that the Bill be read a third time on
Friday,

Colonel SIBTHORP moved that the Bill be not pro•
needed with till this day three nt.lnths.
Sir G. GREY hoped the Hon. and Gallant Colonel
would reserve his amendment for the third leading..
Colonel SIBTLIORP had no objection to take the!
course.

Th© amendment was accordingly withdrawn, aad the
Bill ordered to be read a third time on Friday.
lIIGLIWAY RATES BILL.

This Bill was read a third time and passed, after the
addition of some new clauses.
SHALL TENEMENTS RATING BILL.
ADJOURNED DEBATE.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL proposed the second
reading of a clause the object of which was to give to the
occupiers of small tenements the option of paying
rates, and deducting them from the rent, where the
landlord neglected to do so, in order to qualify those
cccupiers to vote, and so prevent their disfranchisement,
which frequently happened as the law now stood.
, Mr. STANFORD characterised the clause as a sup-
plement to the Reform Bill, and much too important to
be discnisedat that late hour cf the sitting of the House.

Sir H. WILLOUGHBY thought this was an aban.
donment of the principle of the common law.

Sir G. GREY supported the clause, conceiving that
it would only extend the number of municipal voters by
admitting persons to vote who had been excused from
paying rates, which he thought was not objectionable,
seeing that in such cases the rates would be paid in the
shape of rent.

Mr. HENLEY thought there was no ground shown
why the House should depart from the general principle
of the law of paying a tax to be a groun of voting, be-
cause some parties would not take the trouble of getting
a vote by asking for it.
Mr. ELLIS supported the clause, contending that
without it the franchise would be narrowed to an incon-
venient extent.

Mr. P. SCROPE opposed the clause, thinking that
under its operatioli a class of persons who were paupers
would be admitted to exercise the franchise,
Mr. BOIJVERIE supported the clause.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM said there was great dif-
ference between a Parliamentary and a municipal
franchise. He thought that a composition for the
payment of rates, which was admis,,ible with re-
g.Ard to the Parliamentary franchise, resulting from the
occupation of a lot house, was inadmissible with re-
spect to a municipal franchise, where the sole test was
a continuous payment of rates for three years. As at
present advised, he could not think it expedient to sup-
port the clause.
Mr. BAINES, whilst admitting there was consider-
able difficulty iu carrying out the principle involved in
the clause, he was ye; prepared to support it.
After a few words from Mr. SPOONER and Sir Wai.
JOLLIFFE,

The House then divided, when there appeared—
For the second reading cf the clause... 38
Against it 29
Majority —9
On the question being put that the clause be read a
third time, it being now Six o'clock,
The SPEAFFIP, adjourned the House, amid great
laughter.

LONDON,

Mr. ANDREWS then said, that the eff'ct of the Bill
would be to confine and beriper the executioa of the I
will, and deprive those whom the testator roost wished
to benefit of the education which he thought he had se•
cured t,) them. The Learned Counsel had said that the
Inverness Academy had declined, and was not now
able to give a proper education to the Mackintosh boys,
such as was contemplated by the testator, but nearly all
the witnesses whom he (Mr. Andrews) had called had
been educated at the school, and they all agreed that it
was at present in as good a state as when they
were members of it, and that the education
afforded was not only as good as was generally given at
schools, but was sufficient to qualify a youth to enter
the University. The net income arising from the fund
was between 6001. and 7001. a year ; that sum was
likely to be diminished, and it ‘a as proposed by
this Bill to deduct a clear one-third for the general
purposes of the academy, thus depriving the
Mackintosh boys of a great portion of
what was left for their especial benefit;
yet it had not been proved that the boys did not receive
an education which was likely to elevate the clan, or to
qualify them for situations in life such as were contem-
plated by the testator. On the whole, he thought
it would be injudicious for their Lordships
to sanction a Bill of this kind without
the consent of all the trustees, and he entreated them to
preserve intact this property, which had conferred such
valuable benefits on the Mackintosh clan, observing that
any diminution of it would be felt as a heavy loss. not
only by the existing families entitled to participate in it,
but by their descendants for all time to come.
Mr. HOPE having been heard, in reply,
The room was cleared, and, after a short interval, the
parties were re-admitted, when _

The CHAIRMAN announced that the Committee were of
opinion that no sum of money should be contributed out
of the Mackintosh Farr Fund for the purposes of the
academy. The Committee wero also of opinion
that the clauses relating to the management
of the audit, and the supervision of the fund,
and the admission of the bursars, excepting so far
as such clauses directed that any sum of money should
be paid to the directors of the academy, should be
allowed.
The Committee then separated.

'WALKER TESTIMONIAL.
(From the Lancet of July 20.)
It is to a member of the medical profession that the
sole honour is due of having commenced, and carried
on successfully, the righteous agitation against that
most pestiferous of nuisances—interment in large
towns. Air. G. A. Walker commenced his labours
in this cause single-handed and alone, and at a time
when he had giant prejudices to contend with, and al-
most every kind of authority against him. Undeterred
by difficulties which would hive damped the ardour
of most men, and undaunted by the real dangers to
health and life which he daily encountered, he pur-
sued his courageous and honourable career. By the
bed-side of the patient, suffering from the low infec-
tious fever consequent upon graveyard malaria—in
the most wretched hovels of the poor—in the grave-
yard of a crowded neighbourhood, surrounded by
myriads of living beings affected by its atmosphere—
in the danger-vaults of such foci of pollution and
disease as were found beneath Enon Chapel, and
similar burial-holes, was to be found the indefatigable
philanthropist. The results of his inquiries were pub-
lished in his work, entitled " Gatherings from Grave-
yards." The public, at first, were inclined to look
upon the statements in that remarkable work as
highly exaggerated, and painfully overdrawn.
They could scarcely believe that some of the
graveyards of London were so over-crowded,
that the very place of worship was but a den
of infection, and that men were struck dead, as if by
lightning, by the effluvium from an open grave. The
terrible catalogue of evils, however, soon received ad-
ditions, to which the attention of the entire metro-
polis was painfully drawn ;—the catastrophe in Aldgate
Churchyard—the melancholy story connected with
St. Margaret's, Westminster, under the very nose cf
Parliament—startled and alarmed even the most
hardy and sceptical. Then it was, after years of soli-
tary labour, that the cause identified with the name
of Mr. Walker was discussed.at public meetings,
formed the subject of coroners' inquests, and began to
be agitated in Parliament. At length, like a river
having its origin in a solitary mountain-rill; gather-
ing, as it pursued its course, fresh force from
other tributary streams, it became irresisti-
ble, and bore down the mighty barriers
which resisted its course. Such, to use a metaphor,
has been the progress of the sanitary movement in
favour of extra-mural burial. We need not refer to
the discussions on this subject in Parliament, to the
opposition of interested parties, to the introduction
of a Bill by the Government, and the virtual over-
throw of the system. With that Bill, and its
grave and numerous faults, Mr. Walker has had
nothing to do ; but let it not be forgotten, that
to him, and to him only, is due the entire merit of
having directed public attention to the matter.
Ilad he fallen a victim to his philanthropic zeal
in the early days of his inquiries, it is probable that
he might have been remembered only in his private
circle. Few, indeed, are the rewards which Govern-
ment offers to the medical man. Exposed to a foe
more deadly than the enemy in the field of battle,
and more insidious than the midnight assassin ; fight-
ing with death in the dark corners of poverty,
he has nevertheless nothing to look forward to
as a reward, except the mens conscia recti,
and the satisfaction of having done hiS
duty. In free and enlightened England, so profuse
in her decorations to warriors, the great soldier of
medicine has no chance of reward, not even a Cross
of the Legion of Honour, which he would have
obtained hid he been a Frenchman, or the dignity
of the civic crown had he been born a Roman
citizen. We are not surprised then, though we are
disgusted, with the ingratitude of the Government,
when we find that Mr. Walker has as yet had
no notice taken of his labours. Almost the
credit has been snatched from him of having originated
the movement. But the gratitude of his fellow-coun-
trymen will not be stained with so dark a blot as to
allow him to go unrewarded. We are delighted to
perceive by the newspapers that a public meeting has
been held, at which was a numerous attendance of
Members of Parliament and persons of influence, for the
purpose of forming a fund to preent Mr. Walker with
"a testimonial of the public sense entertained by the
community of his energetic, unwearied, and success-
ful labours in the cause of sanitary reform, and of the
removal of the dead from the centre of the homes of
the living." The names of the committee formed at
that meeting sufficiently guarantee that the testimo-
nial will be a noble one ; and sincerely shall we re-
joice to see the valuable labours of a member of our
own profession appropriately and honourably re-
warded.

[The following appeared in our Third Edition of
ast night:—]

FRANCE.

At the sitting of the Assembly yesterday a ballot
took place for the nomination of the remaining ten
members of the Council of Prorogative.
M. Cr6ton having obtained 273 votes, General
eulhires 266, M. Vesin 264, M. Leo de Laborde
259, M. Casimir Perier 259, M. de Crouseiihes 257,
M. Druet Desvaux 249, were proclaimed members
of the Committee.

The candidates who afterwards obtained the greatest
number of votes were—Messrs. Combarel de Leyval,
245 ; Benjamin Delessert, 240 ; G-revy, 235 • Cham-
bolle, 221 ; Garnon, 212 ; Maio, 210; Acids ward,
208 ; Durand Savoyat,
Another ballot will take place for the choice of the
three remaining members.

Letters from Toulon of the 19th inst. announce
the return of the steam-corvette Solon from
Naples, where she had delivered dispatches to
Admiral Deschenes, commanding the French fleet.
It was believed the Admiral would proceed to the
north. Each of the captains under his command had
received sealed orders, not to be opened till they ar-
rived in a certain latitude.

The deposits received in the Paris Savings-bank on
Sunday and Monday last amounted to the large sum
of 710,603 f. The deposits withdrawn on those days
amounted to 219,153 f.