The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-25 00:00:00

SINKING FLTND.

Mr. HUME 'would move, if the motion were not ob-
jected to, for returns of the amount of the Sinking Fund;
of the sums which had been voted from that fund; of the
various purposes to which those amounts had been ap-
propriated; and of the sum to which the Sinking Fund
would have amounted if those appropriations had not
taken place.

Sir GEORGE CLERK thought the Hon. Gentleman
had better give notice.
ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS BILL

Mr. T. DUNCOMBE wished to know when the Ec-
clesiastical Courts Bill would be brought on. It stood
in the Orders for Monday next.
Dr. NICHOLL intended to move on Monday that the
Bill be committed pro forma in order to enable the
House to get through the money clauses awarding com-
pensation.
Mr. BORTHWICK had already given a notice on the
subject. If he allowed the House to go into Committee
pro forma, he should lose his right, and he therefcro
gave notice that when the Hon. and Learned Gentleman
should move the commitment of the Bill, he should pro-
pose his amendment.
PRIVITIGE.--AR7FERRAgIYS ACCUSATIONS.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM rose and said —Sir, I rise
to address the House on a case of privilege. At the
same time, I may truly state, I think, both on the part
of my Hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and myself,
that I am extremely unwilling to occupy any portion of
the time of the House in hearing a statement on a
purely persona l matter. If I could have regarded
it merely as a personal matter I should have hesitated
long before I brought it before the attention
of the House; but, as I said yesterday, I
feel strongly, that whatever concerns any Hon. Member
of this House, is indissolubly connected with this
House itself, and, after what occurred on Monday and
yesterday, lam satisfied that the deliberate opinion
and dispassionate judgment of the House is, that the
matter then considered cannot be allowed to rest where
it now is. The course with respect to the case of the Hon.
Member for Beverley that has been pointed out for
adoption is, that certain passages of his speech, purport-
ing to be delivered by the Hon. Member for Knaresbo-
rough, and published in the Times newspaper of Wed-'
nesday, the 10th of April last, should be read. These
passages contained, first, the charge against myself, and,
secondly, the charge which applies both to the Hon.
Member for Beverley and myself. Ido not think it right
to add more now, and I deem that I shall best discharge
my duty—and I believe my Hon. Friend concurs with
me in that opinion—by laying the two passages on the
table for the purpose of having them read by the Clerk.
The Clerk at the table then read the following pas-
sage :—" The meeting should remember that no man
had resisted the poor-law more vigorously than
Mr. Walter, and it therefore was felt necessary
by Sir James Graham to get him unseated. Against
that gentleman's (Mr. Walter's) return a petition
had been presented, and in that petition an allega-
tion was made that between thirty and forty pounds had
been improperly expended. His speech went on to say
that the Committee to try this petition consisted of three
Whigs and of three Tories, and its Chairman was Mr.
Hogg, the Member for Beverley, one of the most pure
boroughs in the kingdom, but whether he (Mr. Hogg)
got his seat for forty pounds or not, he (Mr.
Forrand) did not exactly know. This Tory
Chairman, aided by Sir James Graham, unseated
Mr. Walter. Mr. Hogg tried to explain away his con-
duct on that occasion, and all the Government side of
the House, on which I sat, listened with feelings of dis-
gust while he 'higgled and haggled' in that explanation.
There was but one man on that side of the House who
vociferously cheered, and that one man was Sir James
Graham.'
When the Clerk had done reading,
The SPEAKER said—ls the Hon. Member for Knares-
borough in his place ?
No answer being returned,
Sir R. PEEL said—Sir, I believe I am acting in con-
formity with general usage in undertaking, on account
of the position in which I have the honour to be plseed
in this House, as the head of her Majesty's Government,
respectfully to tender to the House my opinion
as to the course which it will be desirable to
take.—(Hear, hear.) I advised the House, in
the course of yesterday evening, when this subject was
under consideration, to permit an interval to elapse
before they came to any decision, in order that there
might be the opportunity during that interval for each
Member, taking an interest in this case, to refer to the
precedents which have been established in cases at all of
an analogous nature. The position in which we are now
placed is this— that two Members of this House,considering
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