The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-02 00:00:00

MENT.

After a pause of considerable duration in the business
of the House, during which Mr. Hume, Mr. T. Dun-
combe, Lord John Russell, and Mr. Manners Sutton,
were severally in close conference with Sir Robert Peel,
Mr. GLADSTONE brought up, and laid on the table,
certain returns relating to the state of agriculture in
Leicestershire.

Sir ROBERT PEEL moved that the House, at its
rising, should adjourn till Monday, the 15th instant. He
wished, at the same time, to state that he had promised
the Noble Lord oppoSite (Lord J. Russell) that he
should, on moving the adjournment, explain the order
in which the Bills brought in by the Government, or
intended to be brought in, should be proceeded with
after Easter. In consequence of the absence of his Right
Hon. Friend, the Secretary for the Home Department,
he was unable at that moment to give the explanation.
He would take care, however, that the order of pro-
ceeding should be set forth in the papers of the House
tomorrow. He hoped that in the course of the
evening he would have an opportunity of communi-
cating with his Right Hon. Friend (Sir J. Graham), and
if so, he would state, before the House rose, what the
course of business would be. In the meantime he should
say that it would be a great public inconvenience if the
Irish Franchise Bill should not pass before June, and it
was therefore his intention that the Bill should be read
a second time on Monday, the 15th, if the House would
allow it, and that the discussion be taken in Committee.
An Hon. Member opposite (Mr. Ewart) was, he be-
lieved, anxious to know if the Government proposed to
do anything respecting charitable trusts ; and he (Sir
Robert Peel) had to state that he believed his Noble
Friend the Lord Chancellor would, that evening, in
another place, give notice of a Bill upon the subject.
Another Hon. Member (Mr. Hume) was anxious to
know what progress had been made in opening commu-
nications with Paraguay. A Commissioner bad been
sent out there by. the Government, but, unfortunately,
from his over-desire to make himself useful, he caused
great prejudice to be created, and he had been obliged
to leave the country.—(Loud laughter.) Since then,
however, news of a more satisfactory character had been
received, and he indulged the hope that England, in com-
mon with France and Brazils, would be able to make some
progress in opening friendly and commercial communi-
cations with that part of the world.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HUME trusted the Government would avail itself
of every opportunity of extending communications with
that portion of the world, as he believed it would be
very beneficial in effecting a considerable extension of
commerce.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said he was satisfied with
the statement of the Right Hon. Baronet, that at a
later part of the evening, or in the orders of the day,
they should be made acquainted with the routine which
Government would follow in regard to their measures
after Easter. With regard to the prdposal as to 'the
Irish Franchise Bill, personally he had no objection to
it, but the Right Hon. Baronet must not be
surprised if
of
ifansyurofplty, on h
the Irish Members who were not pre-
sent that evening should,toe firstnthday afterproposaleh
ttoe
hoda
go into
Committee y
think it proper to oppose that motion. There had
been a very thin attendance of Irish Members
for some days, and the great majority of them
were doubtless wholly unacquainted at the pre-
sent moment with the main provisions of that
Bill. There was another subject on which he would
take that opportunity of saying a few words to the
House. They had not unhappily made great progress
in legislation before the Easter recess, but they had cer-
tainly shown their loyalty to the Crown in a very plain
manner, for they had voted most willingly and
almost unanimously all the supplies it had
been thought proper to ask at their hands.
Among those supplies was a large sum voted for the
maintenance of a considerable number of men for the
navy. He was one of those who was most willing to
concur in that vote ; but in considering the large amount
that was voted he did think it necessary to say a few
words on this occasion, though he might raise a dis-
cussion on it hereafter, on the manner in which
that number of men was disposed of. With
respect to the number of men, though it
was considerably less than the number voted in 1841,
yet it was very considerably more than in 1835. The
statement abroad was that the naval force in the Medi-
terranean was to be reduced to a very small number of
ships of the line, it was even said that only one ship of
the line was to be left in the Mediterranean. In that
case he must say that he did not think such a reduction
would be in accordance with the general policy of this
country. They must recollect that they had some im-
portant stations in the Mediterranean, and important
interests there that might call for their interposition.
There might not be at this moment any danger, nor any
prospect of other than amicable relations with foreign
l'owers ; but should it be otherwise, and any
case for their interposition should arise, the
sudden augmentation of the navy that would be neces-
sary, would probably create great alarm. Even in the
present circumstances of the country, there was the
state of affairs in Morocco, there were insurrectionary
movements in Italy, and any circumstances of this kind
might give rise to the necessity of diplomatic represen-
tations to foreign
powers. So small a naval force, in
case of that necessity arising, would not be ade-
quate to giving support to the interests of the country.
He thought it necessary to snake those observations with
PEELc confessed
of the
respect to the disposal of the fleet in the Mediterranean.
Sir ROBERT
fessedthat
Nobleh
efeltLosurdr:
sur-
prised at the observations
The Noble Lord did not allege that British interests had
suffered, but he stated that it would be advisable to have
a large force in the Mediterranean. Why, that might
be advisable with regard to any portion of the world,
and there might be good grounds for having a large
force in North America, the Pacific, and the Baltic.
This might be true, but he understood the sound con-
stitutional principle was to leave the appropriation of
the forces to the Executive Government. Now, the
Government thought it right to have a num-
ber of vessels for exercise, in the chum. which would