The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-16 00:00:00

ships. When the Noble Earl (Lord Mountcashel) al-
luded to the mortality, he considered that he should look
to the circumstances of those cases, and then he would
find that that mortality prevailed among children, whose
age was not sufficiently advanced to endure the hardships
of a sea voyage of such a length of time as that from
this country to New Australia.
Lord MONTEAGLE said, that all he could discover,
and he considered that he had considerable sources of
information, was, that the system of emigration was per-
fectly satisfactory, and that the charges brought forward
by the Noble Lord (Lord Mountcashel) had no founda-
tion, so far as he could julge. Though he admitted that
there were some few deviations, yet he should say that
those deviations were not errors either on the part of the
surgeons or of the captains. He had no doubt that the
law would be carried out in this case, should it be
necessary to apply it. The colonists were most deeply
interested in the questioa; and here he might ask at
whose expense was the Australian emigration carried
on ? The Australian emigration was chiefly carried on
at the expense of the colonists, who were most deeply
interested in emigration thither ; and if the instances of
bad conduct were the rule, and the instances of good
conduct the exception, did their Lordships not think
that the colonists would make representation on the sub-
ject ? Did they think that they would not have peti-
tions lying on the table of the House, calling► for a re-
dress? With the exception of a newspaper authority,
they had no complaints on this subject ; and the single
complaint now before their Lordships, was the only evi-
dence that was at present furnished to their Lordships'
House. His •,(Lord Monteagle's) Noble Friend (Earl
Grey) and himself differed on the subject of emigration;
but, in a case of this description, all he knew of the
character of his Noble Friend satisfied him, and any one
who knew; his Noble Friend when Secretary-at-War,
must fell satisfied that he would not fail to turn his at-
tention to this subject, and cause proper inquiry to be
made into it. He would not longer occupy the time of
their Lordships, and it was only on account of the mis-
chiefs which those general statements might produce,
that he ventured, at that late hour, to occupy their Lord-
ships' attention.
Lord LANESBOROUGFI thought that the subject
ought to be inquired into, and he had no doubt that the
Noble Earl at the head of the colonial department would
do everything in his power to inquire into the matter,
and procure redress of the whole of the grievances when
laid before him.

Lord MOUNTCASHELL had looked into the papers
on this subject, and he found it officially stated that some
of the officers had paid attention to some of the Irish
orphan girls on board, and that the crew—and this was
important—had unrestrained intercourse with the young
girls; and in the face of that statement he found that it
was laid down that it was the surgeon's duty to prevent
such intercourse. He (Lord Mountcashel) found that
one and a half per cent. of the number of emigrants on
board died, and that was a most serious amount of mor-
tality—mortality, bej it remembered, which was caused
by bad food, bad water, and bad treatment. It appeared
that the unhappy passengers were subjected to the
greatest intimidation, that those who ventured to re.
monstrate were taken below and placed under the
greatest control. He found that one of the emigrants,
who was going out to the colony with a number of
moulds of casts, which were of the greatest value to
him, had all his moulds smashed to pieces because
he ventured to speak out; and that another
passenger who had spoken out had the cords taken off
his boxes, and his property thrown about the vessel.
He (Lord Mountcashel) had much information on this
subject, but he would at present refrain from entering
further into details. He, however, would take that op-
portunity of assuring the Noble Earl that the matter
must not rest here. He hoped and trusted that the
Noble Earl would take steps to inquire into those griev-
ances, and procure a just redress of them.
Earl GREY had no objection to grant the returns
asked for by the Noble Earl, but a delay of twelve
months would elapse before they could be laid on the
table of their Lordships' House, as reference must be
made to the colonies.

The returns were accordingly agreed to.
MR. NASH'S CASE.

Lord BEAUMONT said he had received communi-
cations from Mr. Nash, who was summoned to be in at-
tendance at the bar of their Lordships' House on Mon-
day, and in those he stated that certain papers which
had been laid on the table of their Lordships' House had
reference to documents and papers in 1846. He (Lord
Beaumont) thought it right to make this statement, lest
the charges of forgery might go forth against Mr. Nash
respecting those papers (in matters connected with rail-
ways) and do him injury, previous to the time when he
may be heard in his own thfence before their Lordships'
House.
Their Lordships then adjourned.

MOUSE OF COMMONS, March 15.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at a Quarter to Four
o'clock.