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

MAYNOOTH.

Lord REDESD ALE presented a petition from Hogs-
den, in Oxfordshire, against any further grant to
Maynooth.

THE ASHBURTON TREATY.

Lord ASHBURTON requested their Lordships' per-
mission to offer a few observations upon a subject,
which though undoubtedly in some respects a personal
one, was also of a public nature. At the terminatioa of the
conference, at which he had the honour to negotiate on
the part of this country with the United States of
America, he hai the great satisfaction of receiving
the most unequivocal expression of their Lord-
ships' approbation ; and he, therefore, felt himself
more bound to notice certain great misrepresentations
which had been made in another place with respect to
his conduct on that occasion. Their Lordships' House
was the only place where he could give an explanation,
and he trusted their Lordships would excuse him
for so doing. He was not about to enter into any
general discussion as to the merits of that mea-
sure ; but he'hoped their Lordships would do him the
justice to recollect that when on a former occasion he
entered into a discussion on that question, he took no
notice whatever of the various criticisms, some of which
were not very just, which had been made in another
place. He should not upon the present occasion have
intruded himself upon their Lordships' notice if
it were not with the view of contradicting what
had been stated as positive facts in another place. He
did not complain of the personal manner in which the
Noble Lord (Lord Palmerston) had brought this sub-
ject forward, because that Noble Lord was constantly
making similar reflections upon his conduct, in a tone
which it was to be regretted the Noble Lord did not
confine to an individual case, but applied it to questions
affecting the general interests of the country.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE rcse to order. He
had no objection to listen to any explanation the Noble
Lord might desire to make, but he hoped the Noble Lord
would not fall into the error he was deprecating, by
attacking a person who was not present to defend himself.
Lord ASHBURTON said he did not wish to use any
stronger expressions than were necessary for the occa-
sion, but he at the same time thought that the expres-
sions of which his Noble Friend complained were
quite necessary, in order to justify the line which it
was his duty on this occasion to take, and to
repel those attacks which the Noble Lord (Lord Palmers-
ton) was in the habit so lightly and so flippantly of
making upon him. The House was aware that that was
the only House in which he (Lord Ashburton) had the
opportunity of repelling attacks of this nature. If he
understood these attacks aright, what he was accused of
was, that in the late treaty which he had the honour
to negotiate he had unjustifiably ceded the territory of
Madawaska, on the banks of the river St. John. Now,
it was necessary to state that the territory of Mada-
waska was nothing more than a narrow strip of land
on the banks of the St. John, which comprised a
straggling village some two or three miles in
length ; and it should be recollected that, on
two or three occasions, this very same terri-
tory had been ceded. The dispute between this
country and the United States had been first referred to
the decision of the King of the Netherlands. by whom it
had been allowed to the United States. The Americans
had refused to abide by the award of the Kir.g of the
ntherlands, and twenty-live years afterwards Lord Pal-
merston, considering that the best mode of settling a
dispute of this nature was to divide the con-
tested district between the two countries, ceded
the territory of Madawaska to the United States. His
own (Lord Aehburton's) decision hail been impugned
sie extravagant, and yet it was better than that
of Lord Palmerston, for it secured to this country
those intermediate heights between the St. John
and the St. Lawrence, which from their command
of the latter river, and the consequent power of inter-
rupting the navigation of that river, were the only
really valuable portions of the territory in dispute.
He should further state that he implied no blame upon
the Secretary of State for making that proposal.
Nor did he think the line at all unfair. But,
combinir g all the circumstances, and consider•
ing the line decided upon by the King of the
Netherlands, their Lordships would see that his (Lord
Ashburton's) line was so much the best, that it was
hardly fair to cast upon him any reproach whatever.
But now, with respect to the Madawaska settlement, a
Noble Lord in the other House of Parliament (Lord J.
Russell) stated that when he held the office of Secretary
for the Colonies he directed negotiations to be entered
into by Lord Sydenham with Mr. Webster, the result
of which was, that Lord Sydenham refused to allow the
Americans to retain that settlement, Mr. Webster on the
other hand reusing to give it up. The Noble Lord
(Lord J. Russell) said that one of the last acts
of his official life was to declare his appro-
bation of Lord Sydenhani's course. Now, he
(Lord Ashburton) believed their Lordships would be
surprised when he informed them that the whole of that
scat: meat of facts was without foundation. There was
no negotiation whatever on the subject between Lord
Svdenhane and Mr. Webster. There was a negotiation
biaween Mr. Fox, our Minister at Washington, and
Mr. Webster, but not on the subject of the Madawaska
settlement. The Noble Lord, however (Lord J. Rus-
sel), prided himself very much upon the course which he
and Lord Sydenham had taken, and had chosen
to make it the ground of a reproach upon
him (Lord Ashburton). He had a most sincere and
unfeigned respect for Lord John Russell, and from a
long and intimate knowledge of the matter, he was
perfectly assured that his Noble Friend would not
make any statement which he knew to be unfounded.
Yet that statement of fact was so—whether it was that
the Noble Lord in going out of office dreamed of these
facts—(A laugh)—or took the statement upon some
light authority—(A laugh)—there was no founda-
tion for it. The negotiations between Mr. Fox and Mr.

Webster arose out of the disturbances which took place
between the irregular troops of the State of Maine and
our leticibles in New Brunswick. It had been settled
that there should be a treaty on the boundary in that
direction, and Mr. Webster and Mr. Fox agreed only to
fix upon a boundary, in the mean time, to pat an end to
those disturbances, until the treaty should be settled. But
there could be no treaty on the boundary in the
Madawaska statement, without the consent of the States
of Maine and Massachusets ; and when he (Lord Ash-
burton) was in the republic, he had to wait for the
arrival of the Deputies from those States. He had felt
himself called upon to make this explanation, which he
did without any intention to east imputations upon others.
The Companies'Clauses Bill was read a third time and
passed.
On the motion of the Earl of DALHOUSIE the fol-
lowing Bills were read a first time :—The 'Railway
Clauses CousAidation Bill, the Companies' Clauses
Consolidation Bill, and the Lands ClansesConsolida.
tion Bill.

RAILWAYS.
The NOBLE EARL at the Game time laid upon the
table of the House, by command of her Majesty- maps
relating to the proposed railway communications' with
the northern districts of Ireland and Scotland,the re
port., of the Board of Trade upon the scheme fur supply-
ing Leeds and the West Riding of Yorkshire with rail-
way communications, upon the Portsmouth and South
Wales schemes, and upon the London and York and
South Wales projects.
The Duke of RICHMOND trasted that as the Court
of Quarter Sessions would be held next week the Railway
Clauses Consolidation Bill would not be pressed through
the House till the following week. There were other
parties interested in this Bill besides those connected
with railways, and he hoped there would he no objection
to the course proposed.
The Earl of DALHOUSIE had no desire to press
these Bills more rapidly than was consistent to admit of
proper attention being paid to them ; but, at the same
time, it must be remembered that, to a certain extent,
the postponement of this Bill was checking the progress
of the numerous measures likely to come before Parlia-
ment, connected with railway legislation.
BASTARDY BILL.

Lord STANLEY said—the fact of the quarter
se3sions coining on next week ii,duced him to hope that
their Lordships would now sanction the second reading
of another measure. It was a Bill for amending the
existing law of bastardy, for which no day had yet been
fixed for the second reading. The Bill would not,
to any extent, alter the spirit of the present
law, but it was introduced into Parliament for the pur-
pose of removing certain technical difficulties which im•
peeled the operation of the Act of last year.
After a few words from Lord CAMPBELL and the
Duke of RICHMOND the Bill was read a second time,
and ordered to be committed to-morrow.

THE OREGON TERRITORY.

Lord CLARENDON gave notice that he would to-
morrow call attention to the question of the Oregon tcr-
ritory.—Their Lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, April 3.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
MEDICAL REFORM.

Mr. MANGLES presented a petition from the whole
of the medical practitioners of Surrey against Sir James
Graham's Medical Reform Bill.
BIRKENHEAD DOCKS.

On the motion of Mr. TATTON EGERTON, the Bir-
kenhead Do2ks' Bill was read a third time and pa sed.

EASTERN UNION RAILWAY EXTENSION.

Captain FITZMORRIS presented a petition from a
private individual against the Eastern Union Extension
Railway.

Lord' RENDLESIIAM presented a petition from Man-
chester against the Manchester and Salford Waterworks
Bill.

The report of the Committee on the Birmingham and
StaffordAire Gas Bill was referred back to the Com-
mittee.

On the motion of Mr. SPOONER, the report of the
Committee on the Thames Navigation Bill was further
considered, and read a vcond time.