The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-16 00:00:00

the rights of private property, but when they were legislating
by wholesale instead of passing one or two small Bills, be did
intreat their Lordships to reflect for one moment upon the risk
they run of doing most grievous injustice to the rights of pri-
vate:individuals. The law of England would not allow any
land, no matter how small it was, to be taken without the pre..
vious sanction of the owner had been obtained ; nay, so j alters
was the law, that if a man put his hand across the fence of an-
other, he was in law a trespasser, and would be liable to an
action for damages. As a general principle for the guider ce of
the Legislature, he (Lord Brougham) thought it would be
much better that the railway company should be
put to inconvenience, rather than the rights of
private property should be violated. It would be much better
to leave railway companies to make their bargains with the
owners and occupiers of land, than put the latter to the expense
or trouble of going before a jury or a magistrate to obtain their
rights. The companies were in the habit of forcing on their
Bills, lest they should lose the completion of them before the
end of the session; but he would rather that railways were de-
layed one, or even two years, than that they should-be hurried
forward in this tyrannical manner to their completion. They
were told that if there was any danger to be appre-
hended, that there was a double guard thrown around
the interests of individuals in the proceedings of this
House, and especially by the scrutiny Of the Com-
mittee of Standing Orders. But with respect to the
Committee of Standing Orders he would warn the House not
to depend too much upon them. He did not wish to speak
otherwise than with respect of that Committee, but when in
the consideration of railway Bills they were told that thoee
Bills had been referred to a Committee to ascertain whether
the standing orders had been complied with, he would warn
them not to think that that Committee was gi'ted with a per-
fection of apprehension—he would warn them not to think
that that Committee was gifted with an untiring industry, that
they were in the habit of exhibiting an extraordinary diii-
gence—he would warn them not to suppose that their dili-
gence was of that perfect and scrutinising character which
would enable them to make themselves acquainted with every
part, parcel, and portion of every measure brought before them
—he would warn them not to suppose that that Committee was
even superficially acquainted with every measure submitted to
their consideration—nay, he would warn them against sup-
posing that they knew anything at all about it. No ; those
gentlemen were too fully occupied to read even the text Of the
measures submitted to them, let alone the consideration. They
contented themselves with consulting the margin of the Bill.
Now, the margin of the Bill was no part of it, and a railway
company or a railway agent had nothing to do but to put a clause
into the Bill which was omitted in the margin and
they might pass a grievous and onerous injustice, without any
one being aware of the injury until it came into operation.
This wasno speculative philosophy, the fact had act ually occurred,
a clause had.been introduced into a Bill which had passed the
Committee of Standing Orders. This clause gave to every
person having land which contained coal, lime, gravel, or soil,
power to carry it across any person's land, by only paying for
the damage done and without giving a farthing for the good
will ; and this, too, to no less an extent than five miles on each
side of the railway. Now, this was an enormous mischief, and
a mischief which ought not only to be remedied, but to be
prevented. There were two very great evils of which he com-
plained. One was the power given of deviating from the line
chalked out to the extent of a hundred yards on either side of
the line, that is a deviation of not less than two hundred yards.
Now, why should not the company be restrained to their line
itself? Why did they not come to that House so prepared with
their line, that there should be no deviation at all, and thus
prevent the grievous injury that might arise, as was the case
with this petitioner? For his own part, he would rather
restrict the companies to twenty yards, than to a hundred on
each side of the line, and then if any accident did occur, so
that they were obliged to trespass, let them go and make a fair
bargain for the purchase of the ground to be taken. Let them
go as they did into the market for any other property, and
let the seller have a word as to the price as well as the buyer.
Let the sale of the property be a voluntary act, and let the
owner not be left to the mercy of a jury. They all knew what
juries were, and how entirely railway companies had them at
their command. Another of the evils was that of the injury
done to property by a railway passing near it. If a railway did
not pass over the ground, but only near it, there was no com-
pensation whatever. There was a case which he knew of very
great hardship. Ile had gone with a friend to look
over a beautiful villa, which had, until the forma-
tion of a railway near it, commanded a rent of from
300/. to 400/. a year, but which had not now been let for three
or four years ; but in consequence of the villa standing en the
verge of the property, though the house was entirely dstroyed
by the contiguity of the railway, there was no compensation.
Another thing for which provision ought to be made was the
height of the works above the ground, for a house might
effectually be destroyed ; and he had therefore inserted in the
orders which he had devised, and which he begged to lay upon
the table, that on the introduction of all future Bills there
should be a return of all the houses within three hundred yards
of both sides of the railway. He was anxious to add these to
the other standing orders, and he should not regret if
they had the effect of throwing any impediment in
the way of this frenzy of speculation. He felt
it was his duty, as it was the duty of every one who had the
advantage of addressing that •r the other House of Parlia-
men, and, through them, the public, that above all it was the
duty of that powerful and influential body who were connected
with the newspaper press of the country, to ware their fel-
low-citizens against this frenzy of speculation. How many
were there who, after saving a few hundreds or a few thousand
pounds by perhaps the industry of half a life, or by the restric-
tion of penurious habits, had lost their all by investing it in
those speculations, with the hope of deriving a larger interest
than from any other source. If they referred to 1837, or 1833,
and still more, if they went back ten years beyond that time,
they would find that 10, 15, or 20 per cent. was a rate of mo-
de.-ate expectation; and if they attempted to caution any one
of those speculators against indulging the hope of such an in-
terest, they would have only a deaf ear turned to them, or be
derided with a smile of contempt. But that was the fact.
He would take only one set of railways, and those
were all what were called paying ones. In those
the original cost of the shares was 32,000,000/, ; but he
beleved-that by premiums the money which had really been
paid for them was 42,000,0001. But taking it at 32,000,0001„
and what was the per centage realised upon them? Not 20, not
It,, not 10, nor anything like it, but 51 per cent. was all the
interest the holders of the very host kind of railway property
had realised, notwithstanding all the risk they ran—less than
could be obtained by going to any respectable bill broker.
But if lie divided this sum of 32,000,0001. into halves, he
found that on 8,000,000/., the interest realised was not 5 per
cent., and upon 6,500,00 t 1. the interest was absolutely under
3 per cent. or less than could be obtained from the soundest
and best of all securities—the Three per Cent. Consoli-
dated Annuities. But he did not stop there. Take an-
other portion of 2,000,000 e and he found that upon that
amount, or nearly one-eighth of the whole, the interest was
under 2 per cent. per annum, and on part f this the whole
people obtained was only after the rate of I/. 14s. 6d. per cent.
per annum. This was all authentic information derived from
data furnished by the report of the Railway Committees to tho
House of Commons. But. even this might have been
borne with, if the property had retained its value ; but even that
was denied to the unfortunate holder of railway share., far
he found that. on twenty-five and a half millions there had' been
a decided dead loss of fifty per cent. on one-half of the whole
amount, so that he who might have secured 30/. a year without
risk, could hardly now obtain 12/. for every 1,000/, which
he invested; and the property itself, beside all 2onsideration of
premiums, would not sell fir half of what it cost. He would
apologise for thus trespassing on their attention, but he felt it
his duty to warn their Lordships, and to warn the country
against this gambling frenzy, and with this feeling he begged to lay the orders on the table.
The Marquis of BREADALI3ANE, in presenting a petition from the Caledonian Railway Company against the 26th clause
of the Railway Clauses Consolidation Bill, which gave a par-
ticular compensation to the trustees of railway trusts, took
occasion to deprecate the hostility of the Noble Lord against
all railway schemes.
Lord BROUGHAM said that he was not surprised at the
Noble Marquis's tenderness for railways, seeing that he him-
self was a Chairman of a Company.
Lord DALHOUSIE did not mean, in rising, now to go
into a subject of which his Noble Friend had given notice of a
motion. He thought it only necessary now to say that he
thought some of the statements of his Noble Friend were
overcharged. He would reserve what lie had to say upon it
until the question of the Bill itself came before the House.
The Marquis of B REA DALBA NE moved that the petition
be_printed.—Ordered.
The Export Customs Duties Bill then passed through Com-
mittee, was reported, and ordered to be read a third time on
Thursday.
The Glass Duties Bill also passed through Committee, was
reported, and ordered to be read a third time on Thursday.
The report upon the Lands Clauses Consolidation Bill was
then brought up.
On the question of the report being received,
Lord DALHOUSIE moved amendments on the clauses re-
lating to arbitrators, which were agreed to without discussion.
The report was then received.
The report upon the Lands Clauses Consolidation (Scotland)
Bill was re-committed.

The remaining clauses were agreed to, and the lione re-
sumed.
The CHAIRMAN reported progress, stud the report way or,
dered t •be brought up on Thursday.
Their Lordships then adjourned,

HOUSE OF COMMONS. April 15.
I M PEACH MEN'.V 01,' SLR R. PEEL.
Lord J. RUSSELL R.id he understood the Hon. Gentle-
man who last spoke to say, that he intended to found a motion
on the petition accusing the first Minister of the Crown, of high
treason, and calling on the House to impeach him.--( Hear,
hear.) Now he k Lord J. Russell) could not agree with the
Right Hon. Baronet opposite (Sir R. Inglis) that it was a
matter of course, according to the rules of the House, to prime
every petition upon which an /ion. Member undertook to
found a motion. It was a matter of course upon all ordinary-
J the
e Graham)
Printing naturally ea.
occasions. But the present was a peculiar case. The peti-
tioners made the heaviest allegations against the
v eoryf t hde petition or.
rsonat
Minister of the Crown, and asked for impeachment, row the
ißwiegshsetdllaonv;isGh ennotltemtoan
o(pSpoirse
that ground. He (Lord J. Russell) could ' feelings of the Right Hon. Gentleman. For hi petition
the
that the House, even if it were intended mse
' he
thought
to found on thii
petition a motion directly impeaching
the conduct of the first.
Itlinister of the Crown, ough to
the printing of this petiti - _(2l pause before they consented to
on. But he did not think that when
the motion was to be made on the third reading,
that motion alluded, partly indeed, to the __.and that when
, , Bill, but, for the
most part, to an Act of Parliament passed last se sion—passeel
by the consent of the Queen, Lords,-1
and Comroons, and stated
that Act of Parliament v
was a violation of the Act of
Settlement and of the Act of Supremac , be could
not consitler that that could be considered Yas 4 motion
impeaching the first Minister of the Crown and would say that the printing that petition, although h
it did not positively say that, in the opinion of the House, there
were grounds for impeaching the P'rime Minister, yet it did
imply that there was something reasonable in the allegations,
or, at least, that they were not-altogether frivolous and absurd
allegations.—( Hear, hear.) Now, the allegations of this pe..
titien might be divided into two parts. One part, as had been
observed by the Right Hon. Member for Montgomeryshire,
the other evening, directed to the conduct, of the Right Hon.
Gentleman the Member for Tamworth, as a Member of that
House with regard to motions made by him, Bills brought in,
and votes given by him, as a Member of that House.—( Hear.
hear.) That could form no ground for proceedings on the
part of the House. Another set of allegations accused him of
advising the Crr,wn, in his capacity of Privy Counsellor, to
fulfil the ortivisions of the Catholic Bequests Act, and to place
certain Roman Catholic prelates on the Catholic Brinesta
Board, giving them precedence according to the prottsions of
the published order in council, and it stated that the appoint-
ment of these Members to that Board was a violation
of the oath of supremacy, and a violation of tire
Act of Supremacy itself —( Hear.) Now, it appeared to
him (Lord John Russell) that this was a frivolous allegation..
It was not a plausible allegation. They could not take any-
proceedinn- Olson it, and on that ground alone, even if it had
been intended to found a motion upon it, he could not coot.
sent so far to give the sanction of the House to those allega-
tions as to allow the petition to be printed.—(Cheers.) But
as the lion. Gentleman said that he should only bring f rwara
a motion on the third reading of the Bill, to the effect that
the Act of Settlement and the Act of Supremacy had beers
violated by an Act passed by Parliament in the last session—.
that Parliament having a right to alter or amend any proctschus
ing of Parliament—and did not intend to ask the house tetaksh
tato its consideration the crimes and misdemeanours of '4,41