The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-07 00:00:00

eltiOninS _-gb-h'')lllt4

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 1845.

The House of Lords met at Five o'clock, and ad-
journed in half an hour, after forwarding several Bills a
stake.

The Commons met at Four.

The several orders of the day were read and postponed,
after which, Lord ASHLEY moved for leave to bring in
two Bills for the regulation of lunatic asylums in Eng-
land and Wales. His Lordship, in order to prove the
necessity of his measures, entered at considerable length
into the statistics of lunacy.
Sir J. GRAHAM, in seconding the motion, passed a high
eulogium on the character of Lord ASHLEI, and said
that the Government had considered the measure, and
gave it their most cordial support, and he stated it as his
opinion, that private asylums, even where there was only
one patient, should be subjected to frequent visitation
and supervision.
Lord CLEMENTS was desirous of a more efficient mea •
sure for the regulation of lunatic asylums in Ireland,
the one introduced by Sir THOMAS FREMANTLE was
quite insufficient.
Mr. Fox MAtmE urged the necessity of amending the
law regulating lunatic asylums in Scotland.

The LORD-ADVOCATE wished to see the result of
measure as regarded England before extending it
;o Scotland.

After a few words from Sir G. STRICKLAND, Mr.
BROTHERTON, Mr. HENLEY, and Mr. WYNN, the mo-
tion was agreed to, and the House adjourned at Seven
o'clock.

We observe that, after a session of exemplary forbear-
ance, certain of the Peers are beginning to evince serious
displeasure with the architect of the New Houses of Par-
liament, Mr. BARRY, on account of the apparently inter-
minable delay in providing any better accommodation
for the Lords than that which they have been so long
compelled to put up with. It must be confessed that the
Chamber in which they meet is absolutely disgraceful—
even as a " make shift" for the purposes of so dignified
an Assembly. Its wretched lighting, its miserable di-
mensions, its ventilation which, like the Satyr in the
Greek fable, blows hot and cold at one and the same
time, and the manner in which the galleries are
projected into the area of the chamber, render it at once
the most paltry and the most inconvenient saloon in
which a great legislative body was ever assembled, not-
withstanding the be-crimsoned hangings and cushions
and coverings which every where obtilide the contrast
of splendid drapery to the most homely carpetry. Here
and there a small window piercing the walls, at two-
thirds of their height from the floor, has an effect of
Cyclopean awkwardness and insufficiency in relation to
the huge blank which they reveal rather than give light
or air to the interior. Mr. BARRY has promised fairly
enough, over and over again, that, at all events, the ac-
commodation for the Lords would be ready ere this ;
and as it seems that, in October next, eleven years will
have passed since the old Parliament Houses were
burnt down, it does not seem unreasonable in Lord
BROUGHAM to complain of his utter faithlessness.
About a year and a half ago we directed attention to
the report of a Select Committee of the House of Lords,
on the progress of the edifice generally, but specially
on the extraordinary departures which Mr. BARRY had
made from the designs approved and settled by former
Lords' Committees appointed for the purpose, and which
departures, involving a huge additional gallery super-
added, in very bad taste, to the designs so settled, ap-
proved, reported upon, and adopted, was severely cen-
sured by the Lords as utterly unauthorised. The new
gallery and other features, which Mr. BARRY
affected to consider himself at liberty to add, under
the general discretion reserved to an architect, will
cum, the cQuatry, it is understoOd, at least 1W.4000/.,
in addition to the enormous sums already expended
on this immense pile ; and when Mr. BARRY
was pressed in his examination by the Peers, on the
occasion we refer to, he acknowledged that the altera-
tions had not originated with himself; but were the crude
suggestion of some unauthorised party, by acquiescing
in whose notions of " effect," and the necessity for a
greater surface applicable to the display of decorative
art, &c. &c., Mr. BARRY must, ere this, have had the
satisfaction of discovering that he has marvellously com-
promised the unity and character of his own design, and
given much offence—not to say disgust—to the truly
constituted authorities, to whom he was bound to have
referred the question of these additions, or excrescences
rather, before one stone was squared for their construction.
Lord BROUGHAM affirmed, and his remark appeared
to be acquiesced in, that Mr. BARRY'S assurances were
net worth the paper they were written on ; but if the
Learned Lord would be at the trouble of ascertaining
how much labour and time, as well as money, have been
devoted to the excrescent new gallery, designed and
built upon the unwritten "suggestions" in question, he
would little marvel at the delay which has constantly
intervened in the progress of the New Chamber for the
Lords. From the first exposure of this affair by a
Noble Peer, whose own distinguished taste and ability
as an architect gave great value to the state-
ments, we were quite satisfied that the other portions
of the work would always be liable to what we
must term the same "liberties" which Mr. BARRY was
guilty of, in disfiguring the settled designs by an addi-
tion so utterly unwarrantable, and in itself so objec-
tionable. What Lord BROUGHASI can mean by de-
claring that Mr. BARRY fancies he has beyond the
House protection so powerful that he is regardless
of any displeasure within it, we do not stop to inquire;
but if Mr. BARRY do indulge in any such fancies, we
quite concur with the Noble and Learned Lord that he
will find himself egregiously mistaken. It is really high
time that some progress more rapid and decided towards
the completion of the interior works, necessary for the
accommodation and business of the Legislature, were
made, instead of Mr. BARRY'S occupying so large a
portion of the means and the staff which he has at
his disposal (to an extent, we believe, unprecedented in
the annals of public works executed in England), on the
multiplication of those heraldic monsters which com-
pose the multitudinous menageries in stone that are to
attest to future ages ,what were considered the appro-
priate effigies and decorations of the palace of the Bri-
tish Legislature. Whether the appropriation of these
quadruped supporters to the arms of all our Kings,
from WILLIAM the Norman, down to RICHARD 11., the

latter of whom first assumed them, is another of the
gratuitous caprices which enter into Mr. BARRY'S
definition of the " discretion " of an architect, we
know not. But it is very clear that the time be-
stowed on chiselling these works of superogatory
heraldry on stone, supporters for two Williams, three
Henries, one Stephen, one Richard, one John, and three

Edwards, who never carried them (according to a
writer in the Art Union, from whom we derive the fact
and the authority), might be more properly bestowed in
advancing the accommodation of Parliament. However,
Mr. BARRY is in Lord BROUGHAM'S hands, and if he
cannot plead satisfactorily to the charges that Learned
Lord may prefer against him, we wish him, rather than
hope for him, " a good deliverance."

It is always contended by the friends of the Established
Church that the general conduct of its ministers must
have been highly meritorious—otherwise the laity would
not have consented, during many ages, to contribute so
munificently to its endowment and their maintenance.
The argument is a sufficiently fair one. We should be
inclined to give any other parties the benefit of it, cateris
paribus—why not the Church? But like all other argu-
ments, its application may be inconveniently extended
beyond the limits at which those who have benefited it

under one condition of circumstances would desire to
see it pushed under another. The converse of the pro-
position may be disagreeable, but it is not the less
forcible, namely, that if the general conduct of the minis-
ters of the Established Church be not highly meritorious,
the laity will not continue in future to make such liberal
provision for their endowment and maintenance. Now
to that clergy we desire to commend this latter consi-
deration, because we take them to be worldly wise, and
shrewd enough, in their generation. In proportion as
they are so, the argument will weigh with them as sig-
, nificant and cogent; and may thus produce a more salu-
tary effect upon their conduct and deportment than
twenty episcopal charges or ordination sermons. It may
be a sordid motive to perseverance in ajust and upright
course to hold out the probable loss of temporal wealth
and station as the penalty of afieparture from it; but, if