The Sun.
London, England, 1826-03-23 00:00:00

PARLIAMENT.

OF LORDS, MAitcn 22.
Lone (711ANO:I.T.Ott, the Earl of SHATTESBURT,
etl Lord 31E1.v 'tree, sat as Commissioners, and notified the
11.14aViiseent to the Army Mutiny Bill, the Marine Mutiny
Bill, the, Indemnity Bill, the Promissory Note Bill, the Bank
""`f►tYvabsyett hill, the Scotch Jurors Bill, the Wok India Eecle-
lisetical•Sidaries Bill, the Irish Prisons' Bill, and a great num-
ber of Private Bills.
Accounts were presented at the Bur, of the Public Income
"d Espendintre. (Or one year, up to the sth of January, 10211,
otid several other Annual iteturne.
Petitions against any alteration in the present system of
'banking in Seetlend were presented by the Earl of GLASGOW,
from the borough of Renfrew; and by the Duke of. ATUOLL,
tre,.;7l Wengowrte,
• I.6rd MEINIfiLE gave notice, that he would to-morrow
introduce a Bill to mike permanent the Act of last Session of
Parliament relative to Joint Stock Companies in Scotland, en-
abling them to sue and be sued by their °dicers.
• Petitions praying for the abolition of slavery were. presented
by the Earl of Snare' ESBUTRY, from Kendal; and by Lord
CALTUORPt, from Wakefield, front Basingstoke, from
Chelmsford, t'rom Rumftird, front Thurston, in Lancashire,
• from %Vale, in Hertfordshire, anti front Caerfaly, in Glamor-
ganithire.
Earl GROSVENOR gave notice, that soon after the holi.
'days, he would move for Papers relative to the treatment of
'Slaves in - ilerbice. The Noble Earl also gave notice, that ho
*mild move an instruction to the Committee now sitting, to
consider the propriety of enacting a law for recovering the pay-
ment of Small Notes by summary process.
The Earl of I,AUDEItDALL observed, that such a mea.
sore could have•nothing to do with the subject which the corn-
,nittee was appointed to investigate.
• BREACH OF PRIVILEGE.
The LORD CIIANCELLOR called the attention of the
House to a breach of privilege. IVe understand, that in con-
sequence of some observations made by Mr. Fonblanque on
. the evidence of a witness in an appeal now pending before the
House of Lords, a letter had been written to the Learned Gen-
tleman by a Mr. Wharton. The hand-writing of the letter,
and its receipt by Mr..Fonblanque, through the medium of
the twopenny post, were proVed yesterday at an early hour,
after which the letter was delivered into the House. The Lord
ilhancellor now adverted to the subject, but spoke in so low
a tone of voice that he was not distinctly heant thronghout.-
-He wished to' call their Lordships' attention to a transaction
which had taken place, connected with the judicial business of
the House. • A letter addrettised to a Counsel in a cause heard
At the Bar had yesterday been delivered into the IlOtifSe, and he
had now risen for the purpose' of moving, that the person sup-
posed to be the author of that letter should he required to at.
tend at the bar. in an appeal front an Irish Court of haw, one
of the Counsel, Mr. Fonblanque, in his address to their Lord.
:ships on the case, trittikeome remarks on the testimony of an
individual who had 'been called its a witness on the opposite
sale. Now, if any observatioee not consistent with the duty
of u Counsel had been made at their Lordships' bar, it would
have been Mr the flouse to notice it, and he shotild have taken
rare that the diameter of the individual whose name was thus
introduced before the House should be attended to. It was the
duty of Counsel, in stating the circumstances of' a case, to
subMit to, their Lordships for their information, every 'ohm-
vrttion which 'he thought necessary to make, as to the credit
due to any pert of the evidence, and it was not competent for
any person to impede the proceedings of that House by calling
In question what sus eo stud. He now called their horkshipo'
• attention to the letter, which was in the following terms:—
Bra—ln consequence or what you said respecting my father,
1 beg leave to uninin• you that 1 consider you a liar and a
scoundrel, you. being the first man who ever doubted my fa-
titer's veracity. Joust C.- Wltanerost.
The Noble and Learned Lord made some observations on
this letter; end, as we 'understood, on the necessity or their
Lordships' checking conduct which was calculated to impede
Cade judicial procetelinent, by depriving them of that assistance
from Counsel which was necessary to enable them to decide on
it the causes heard at their bar. He concluded by moving, " that
John C. Wharton be ordered to attend this House to-nmrrow."
-:--Ordered.—Adjourned.

HOUSE OU' COMMONS.
'A person Crow the Custom-house brought up an account of
all Imports foul .Experts of the United Kingdom for the tart
y car.
- A persOn from the Treasury brought up .an account of the
number of pounds weight of tobacco anti anuft on which the
du tier had been paid during the last year. • •
'tieneral GASCOVNE brought up the Report on the Man.
cheater and Liverpool RaiLroad lull, which was laid on the
table.

Petitions flr the Abolition of Slavery were presented. by Sir
C. Ctii.E, from Cowbridge, Glattnirgaroddre ; by Sir Wu..
LlAat Ivtaas.ov, from Oldford and Spilsby, Lincolnshire ; by
Mr. CtritvrEN, from trititehaven and VVorthington ; by Mr.
Sox, from (iodalming ; and by Colonel Wo(iii, from
tiro borougitof nrecon.—Ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. LITTLETON agreed, on the suggestion of Mr. Cal-
mi.:, to. postpone the resolutions. which wat, to he brought
terward in the Committee on Private Bill,' until Thursday,
the 20th of Apt next, and the order a tlw day being Alit.
charged, gos,e ttotice thereof accordingly.
111 r. Al A L'i" presented t wti petitions from Abingdon ;
one praying for relief in the amount of the assessed taxes,
end the other, that the. manner of collecting the poor's rates,
which the petitioners found extremely burdensome, should be
altered.

The lion. Member ai,o m.4ented a petition from James Bar-
ber, a sehoohnaster, in the same town, complaining of the
an onnt of tie house and window tax. ,

Colonel 11'001) pre:witted. a Petition from 21 .Adjutants. of
Al Ohio, conii;laining that their retired allowances had been re-
&teed from :Is. to fis. per day, and praying that they should be
placed in the same stination as before.
Lord P.114:1I ERSTON presented a Petition from Charles
Ceilings, of Lanthelh, complaining that the laws' relating to
patents Ilid.not afford safiletent protection to persons to whose
ingenuity the public was indebted fur many inventions of teat'
importance amt utility,; rut praying Coat the, smile principle
which insured to authors the copy right.K in theirvworks for more
kngthono.l peri:.als, might he iipplied to patents. The Noble
1 c;rd thought that the sit jest was one i halt was fairly entitled
to the consideration of the Masi:, tout hoped that his lion.
Friend the Attornev.Ciericral would adopt the views of
the petitioner, and ail'ord some l'4rclicr advantage to that me.
ritornms class of pt.lollh LO whose interests the petition re.
lured.

The Arroarqx-GTNERAL concurred with his Hon.
li•iend that the siihject was one of great importance, and that
the personn r.ltudcii to had unqueitionable claims to every pro-
teetlini that could he atibrded them consistently with thepublic
interests. The feeling or the Muse, and that of every person
out of the Iloose who could appreciate the discoveries in science,
most be the same On this subject. The objects of the petition
appeared! obe Various. In the first place, it prayed that, so
of' the present law as prevented assignments of patents
being made to more than lox persons, should be repealed.
That restriction had been inserted in consequence of a
provision to the saute elect in the Act of the Gth
Geo. 1., commonly called the Bubble Act; and since
the House had thought fit to repeal thatlaw, It seemed to • him
-vary reasonable that the restriction should now be taken oft
The petitioner complained of the short duration of the patents.
end wished' that they might have the same extent us copy.,
• rights in books, and'referred to the laws in foreign countries us
more equitable on this subject than our own. Ile (the Attor-
'ley-General) had looked into the French law, anti had found
that Patent% were granted. lit France for five, ten, or fifteen
. y ears, mecording to the nature and merit of the inventions. lie
was ready to admit:that in many instances, fourteen years were
not enough. ft might happen, as it often did, that the intri-
cate and expensive wore. of ie machitiery required to bring
the invention into:practice would not allow the paten.
tee to reap a fair reward from his labours in so abort a
• ,time. In twine such instances the fioutte had, upon appli-
cation, passed bills thr extending the duration of the pa-
-tent. in a great variety of Instances, however, the period
now allowed by law was quite Sufficient; but the difficulty
-might be obviated by leaving in the discretion of the Crown a
power to extend, the- term, if eiretunstancei should appear to
require. With regard to the expellee of patents, he had found
inquiry into the subject that the.cost was much the SUMO
brie as to other countries. In France it amounted to 15,009
fran ca'( nearly NW.), anti in England the cost was usually
a compenson witletbe situation of au.'
Ito thought that upon
thorn the patentees were in the enjoyment of. a preferable pro-
a person Made a di
tectton, scovery in chemistry, or any
science, and published it In the shape of a book,. any body
avail themselves of it, and pirate. the substance of the
not the fornt. The 'lntent, on the.contrary,
from any possible infringement, he
protected the inventor,
cause it whatever being made of his
gave him an immediate appeal to the common law for
use ,
redreas, in the twat of AnY
-iiitendon._,Th, petition was then ordered to lie on the table,

. and to be printed:
Mr. P. CORBETT presented a petition from the Alaltsere
Shrewsbury, complaining of the effect of the introduction of
.the New Measures on their trade.
WELCH IKON AND COAL CO.3IPANY.
Mr. V. MOORE brought up the report on the ‘Veleh Iron
and Coal totupany Bill. On the motion that the report be
.leeelved,
. Mr. LITTLETON rose for,ths purpose of objecting to the

report on this Bill, which,byigiving to thepfNers of the com-
pany the power of suing and being. sued; wiould invest them
with all the privileges of aeorporauon. A Bill similar to that
now before the House had been introduced in the last session,
and it appearing objectionable in its principle, as well as most
injurious in its effect upon the interests of -persons in that part
of the country in which its operation was to be confined, it had
been strongly opposed. The lion. Gentleman's constituents
had been particularly earnest in that opposition, and incurred
a considerable expence.. He (Mr. Littleton) had attended all
the Committees on the Bill, at none of which the lion. Chair-
men (Mr. Peter Moore) had, for reasons probably best known
to himself, thought lit to be present. In . the last session, he
(Mr. Littleton) moved fir the llill being thrown out, and the
House then unanimously coincided with him. He hoped that
the same result would be experienced on the present occasion,
and therefore concluded by moving, " That the Report be re.
eeived this day six months."
- -

Mr. P. MOORE said, he hoped the Hon. ',6entlman would
be induced to withdraw his opposition to the Bill, which was
really one of grcat public utility. There had already been
2,0001. or 3,0001. subscribed, and it was probable that as large
a sum. would be added to the capital of the company. Mines
had been purchased, and shafts dug, in which a great expense
had been incurred. As the law now stood, many serious diffi-
culties stood in the way of persons who had to proceed against
the company, because they were obliged to insert in their bills
the names of the shareholders; and in the event of any one of
them dying during the suit, the proceedings would have to be
renewed. It was obvious, then, that the Bill would be of great
utility to the public, and as he believed that no more re.
apectable company than this had been formed for the last half
century, he trusted that the Hon. Gentleman would not persist
in his opposition.
- - - - •

• • -
Colonel WOOD hoped that his Hon. Friend (Mr. Littleton)
would not he induced to relax his opposition. Every body who
knew the mining counties of :Wales knew that this company
was not at all necessary. Instead of there not being enough,
there was too much iron there, and the great evil of this Bill
would be, that it would Increase the competition to a mischicv.
bus extent.

Colonel DAVIES sahL that the reasons given by the two
Hon. Members for their opposition was very extraordinary.—
They alleged no public grounds fOr it ; they did not say that it
was likely to prove delusive, but they only alleged that it would
be opposed to the interests of the iron-masters with whom they
were connected, in that part of the country where the Bill
would be carried into operation. He could not understand
WIT! if such a company were to exist, the public was to be
deprived of the power which it was now proposed to give them
in all legal proceedings, since it was clear that if they had
not that power they would be wholly without tiny adequate
remedy.
Mr. S. -WORTLEY said his objection to this bill was, that
it gave the sanction of Parliament to a company only for the
purpose of enabling them to come into the market upon better
terms than any other persons. Every allegation in the preamble
of the bill was false. It stated that great advantages had been
derived to the principality of Wales by the establishment of
this company. lie denied that in Wales, or in any other part
of the kingdom, any advantages had been derived from such
companies.
alr. CALCltrin op nosed the bill because he conceived it
to be a scheme to raise the value of the company's shares. He
stood up to defend those persons who traded on their individual
capital against the efibrts of a sonibination.
Mr. BARINO was afraid that the House was inclined to
proceed too hastily on die subject. ' Last year they passed all
Bills relating to companies of .the most trumpery description,
and now they seemed indisposed to pass any which was at all
-connected with a company. It became the House to be more
consistent in their legislation. They ought to decide upon a
general principle, and not with reference. to the merits of par-
ticular companies.
- Lord PALM ERSTON,did not think that by passing the
Bill the House would ,appear to give a sanction to the company
If the company were one notoriously unstable, that wotyld be
A ground for rejecting the Bill ; but the company had been in
existence twelve months, and he understood that the whole of
their capital was paid up.
Tice e CHANCELLOR—of the EUCHEQUER said, he
was reluctant to take apart in the .discussion • but he wished
to know whether the company availed themselves of an Act
passed last year, by which the Crown was empowered to grant
limited charters. Ile thought that before the company came
to that House to claim the advantage which would be conferred
by the present bill, they ought in the first instance to have op-
plied fur a limited charter to the King in Council, by whom the
character of the company might be fully inquired into. It was
impossible that the Muse could undertake to decide upon
the fact stated in the preamble of the Bill—namely, that the
company would prove beneficial.
Lord A. 11A M I LTON said that joint stock companies came
to that House to obtain Bills of the nature of that before the
House, in order to gain a character out of doors, and to enable
theta to sell their shares to advantage. The House ought to
proceed with extreme caution on the subject, after the dishonest
practices which were committed • by the joint 6tockcompanies
who 'obtained charters last year.

141 r. HUSKISSON-said; he was not aware that any notte ,
rious bubble companies had obtained Sanetton from that House.
The number of applications made last year for Acts„of Par-
liament, on the part of joint stock companies, first called the
attention of the House to the subject, and they (the Howie) al-
moot came to a resolution not to entertain, as a matter of
course, an application from any number of persons associated
in partnership for permission to sue and he eyed through their
eecretary. Towards the dose of last year Parliament made
an alteration in the Act of Ocorge 1., the effect of which
was to enable the Crown to grant limited charters to joint
stock companies. %Viten that legislative measure was adopted,
the fever of speculation' had abated, but was not .altogether
subsided. A great number of applications were made to the
Icing in council for charters. Whilst those applications were
under consideration, many of them were withdrawn, and he
believed that the parties who had withdrawn them were now
very glad that they had not been put to the expence of pro-.
'curing a charter. The company to which the present Bill re-
ferred was instituted, he understood, for the purpose of working
mines and minerals in Wales. ()ne of the applications made ro
the Privy Council for a charter was, by a. company for working
mines and minerele in Scotland, and the'application was backed
by- the recommendation of the first people in Scotland. ..He was
one of those who did not think it proper to navise the Crown
to grant any privilege to a company. which, by the general
description of their object, might work any thing, from a slate.
quarry to a gold mine, if they coeill find any.—(Hear !)—The
application of the Scotch' Company was therefore rejected...—
The • House should be certain before they granted special
privileges to joint stock companies, That the business
which they proposed to carry on was not auflicently well.
executed the application of' ordinary partnership capi.
tul.—(Hear, hear I)e,-Onit of the results of the number of the
speculations which were afloat last year had been to raise the
price of wages artificially. Th.e workmen in StafrordShire and
other places, led away by the,delusive hopes held tbrth by the
joint stock companies, refused to work without a large increase
of wages. lie 'thought that under these circumstances the House
would do well to he very jealous of entertaining any schemes
which would interfere with the ordinary mode of carrying on
commerce, manufactures, and mining._( Hear!)--A t all events
the Company in question ought to apply in the first instance to
the Privy Council, where their afraira could be more accurately
et emitted titan in that House. He would take this opportunity
of expressing a wish ihst some person more conversant with
legal matters--more fit to examine such subjects, than himself
.._.would consider the present state of the law respecting part..
nermitipti in all its bearings end inconveniences. 'I he detects of
the present system, as exhibited by various cases which.had
lately occurred, Were such as could hardly be conceived. if'
partner wax Libmn, the firm could not be sited till the
_plaintiff
obtained a writ of outlawry against the absentee. Whew the
writ was obtained, another partner might abscond,- which
would render it necessary for the plalntitf to go through the
same process again. Then, it' there was the Slightest error in
the oilmen of the persons composing the firm, the defendants
would put in a plea of abatement. The unfortunate plaintiff was
then placed in this situation—if the plea of abatement was at.
lowed, there waken end of the action, and he could not get rid
of the plea except by dropping the action and beginning again
de nom It' the plant ill' brought a new.action, he might than
be told that another person whom he had never heard of before
was one of the firm, and he had no means of disproving the
fact, because he could not examine the defendant:4.as witnesses.
These were some of the evils resulting front the present state
of the law, Perhaps. they might in some degree be remedied
by compelling all partners to register their names, and by pro.
viding, that where the firm consisted of more than a certain
number of ►pertioni, one partner might be sued for the whole.
lie hoped gist some aoinpetent person would amend the law
as worded partnerships, which system he believed to be the
main incitement to a spirit of industry which prevailed in this
country. •
The amendment was then carried, without a division. The
Bill is therefore lost..
Mr. BUTTERWORTH presented two petitions from pi-
riave;liyeiinn
thEessewxcesttullnl:toiersksifire, praying for the abolition of blae
On the motion of the. GUANCELLOR of the ExcitEettrEn,
cite House resolved Itself into a Committee of Supply.
IRISH F•iSTIMATES.
Mr. 00 ULDURN moved that the sum of 25,0001. be grant-
ed in aid of the Society for Promoting the education of the,
Poor in Ireland, for the year IWO.
Mr. HUAI kl was surprised that Ministers should bring for-
ward the estimates Ma Wednesday—a. day on which lc was