The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-21 00:00:00

The House of Commons assembled at Four o'clock.

The motion for bringing up the report on the Grand
Junction Railway Bill being opposed by Mr. RICARDO,
a short discussion ensued; after which, on a division,
the Bill was rejected, the numbers being—
For bringing up the report 73
Against it
Majority against the Bill --133

Lord HOWICK suggested the propriety of introducing
some measure for regulating the charges on railways.
Sir G. CLERK thought the question worthy the con-
sideration of the Board of Trade, but would not be pre-
pared to offer anything beyond a suggestion.
Mr. LABOUCHERE thought the Board of Trade should
take up the subject.
On the motion of the SOLICITOR-GENERAL, the Se-
lect Committee was nominated to consider the case of
HOWARD V. GOSSETT.

Mr. B. OSBORNE moved for a return of all monies
derived from rents of college lands, endowments, be-
quests, fees on matriculations, and taking of degrees ;
specifying the amount of income paid therefrom to
the senior and junior fellows, professors, scholars, and
other officers of Trinity College, Dublin.
In answer to Sir T. FREMANTLE, who expressed a
hope that the motion would be withdrawn,
Mr. OSBORNE said, that he wished to see Trinity Col-
lege thrown open to all religious denominations, and
should certainly press his motion, as he considered that
such must be the result of inquiry.
The motion, which was seconded by Mr. WARD, was
supported by Mr. kIUME, Mr. WARBURTON, Mr.
EWART, M. SHEIL, Mr. BELLEW, Mr. M. GIBSON, Mr.
T. DuscomuE, Lord J. RUSSELL, and Mr. BRIGHT; and
opposed by Mr. SHAW, Sir T. FREMANTLE, Sir B.
INGLIS, Sir R. PEEL, and Mr. COLQUHOUN.
On a division the motion was negatived, the numbers
being—For the motion, 53 ; against it, 82—majority
against the motion, 29.
The adjourned debate on the Maynooth Bill was then
resumed by Sir 11. W. BARRON, who supported the
measure.

The House was subsequently addressed by Mr. Law-
son, the Hon. H. Cholinondeley, Mr. Ffulliett, Sir D.
Norreys, Mr. Godson, Colonel Rawdon, Mr. Shaw, Mr.
Gaskell, Mr. Bellew, and Sir R. Inglis; after which,
upon the motion of Colonel Verner, the debate was
adjourned.

In a very recent article we gave an outline of Captain
BERKELEY'S argument of Friday evening last against
the absurd practice of sending out our ships of the line to
sea with a different complement in time of peace from
that which they are allowed in time of war, though the
canvass to be carried, and their number of guns and their
weight of metal should be exactly the same in the one
case as in the other. It is remarkable that when Captain
BERKELEY was speaking to the fact of the Albion carry-
ing her proper complement of from 800 to 830 men on
board the experimental squadron, whereas she had been
dispatched to Lisbon, where there lay a large squadron
of the French navy, and at a period in which our hostile
collision with France appeared to be almost inevitable,
short of that complement by 100 men, he was inter-
rupted by a remark from Sir GEORGE COCKBURN, which
seemed designed to impeach the force of the case esta-
blished, by showing that it would not necessarily lead to
the results apprehended. Sir GEORGE remarked that in
the expedition to the coast of Syria under the late
Government, one of our 90-gun ships had on board no
more than 680 men. If that isolated fact could have
proved anything in favour of the vicious system of under-
manning, which it did not, it would have been corn•
pletely set aside by the pithy rejoinder of Captain
BERKELEY, that at that very time be was remonstrating
with and almost retiring from his colleagues in office
because they would persist in such dangerous and un-
warrantable experiments. That Sir GEORGE COCKBURN,
a member of the present Administration, by whom
these colleagues have been driven from office, should
t
now plead the precedent of their pernicious prac-
tice to justify a folly which, on former occasions, he has
himself so stoutly condemned, only supplies a proof how
prone men in office are to ensconce themselves behind the
authority of any precedent ready to their hands rather
h
future. But
trßouubtlesirofGeEsotaßbGlEischiocimngaubßeNtter his practice
for
sub-
sequent an
thebe
speech,
when attempting to excuse the one ab-
surdity of the " sliding scale' of manning, adopted by
his predecessors, fell into some of
So
t,h moste startling in-
consistencies we ever heard of. good , a ni officer must
have had a bad case, indeed, when it ran hi
absurd and illogical conclusions as those will: ihnt° w such
attributed to him. He denied that he had ever
saeidhnhde
Could man the navy well, at the present moment, with
good seamen without difficulty ; what he had said was,
that it was impossible to get a number of " able seamen
at the moment they were required." lirby, that was
precisely the part which Sir CHARLES NAPIER, Captains
BERKELEY' PECHELL, and Roue, have at different pe-

Hods of the present and the last session so strenuously
asserted in proof of the defective management of the
Board whereof Sir GEORGE is the first effective Lord.
The question however is, why Sir GEORGE COCKBURN
and the other Lords have never devised, matured, and pro-
pounded, on their own responsibility, in Parliament, a
plan whereby the loss of these valuable men's essential
services, when needed by the exigencies of the country,
may be hereafter obviated? Why have they never
proposed to Parliament to make some permanent
provision, in the nature of half-pay, or pen-
sions, for able seamen, the condition of their title
thereto being that they shall not enter into any foreign
service, and be always liable to be again entered for
duty under certain limitations as to classes and rotations
of liability; and, above all, let them preserve these pen-
sions, not only as a retaining fee, but as an honorary
distinction, together with the wages of any other em-
ployment in the merchant or other British service into
which they may enter. The miserable spirit of inter•
ference which has prompted the Government to act on
the principle of denying to these publi.s servants any
portion of the public money whilst they are earning any
emoluments derived from private services, is one of the
most vexatious and arbitrary among the many causes
which disgust our sailors with the treatment they must
now look forward to after once entering the navy. If
the half-pay or pensions, we propose, be duly deserved,
what have the Government to do with the question of
how much more the recipients may legitimately gain in
other quarters? In the very nature of things the result
of this inquisitorial process can only he, that because an
able seaman or petty officer is found to be getting pri-
vately two-thirds of the amount of his allowance in the
pay, you cut him off directly from the entire of that
allowance, and leave him to starve on the two-thirds of
the sum which he draws from some other connexion.
On both sides of the House the propable objections of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer appeared to be anticipated
as likely to prove fatal impediments to all or any
great measures of improvement. But the first con-
sideration is, what the exigencies of the public ser-
vice demand ? And when we look at the hundreds of
thousands of pounds annually wasted by the Board of
admiralty on naval cobbling, breaking up, cutting down,
lengthening, reducing, deepening, widening ships of war
that ought never to have been built, if they require such
organic changes in their construction, we must not be
told that the funds requisite for a just and even generous
provision of the nature we advocate cannot be found.
Our gallant seamen will have reason, indeed, bitterly to
complain if they are to he turned upon with that an-
nouncement, when —as we learn from a Hampshire
paper of last week—the new royal steam yacht, the
Victoria and' Albert, the building of which, but two
or three years ago, cost, we know not how much, and
its gilding and decorations we are afraid to say how
much more, is again in dock, undergoing a huge
course of repairs and alterations, in addition to those
which have already cost the country 33,0001.
Sir GEORGE COCKBURN "concurs. in the propriety of
sending all ships to sea fully manned," and yet he allows
that the Albion is limited to 690 men, though, he adds,
she ought to have at least 750 men. In the same spirit
of inconsistency, Captain bons, after Sir GEORGE, ar-
gued that because when NELSON was in the Agamemnon,
she was 100 short of her complement, and that when
the great action of Trafalgar was fought several of our
line-of-battle ships were very short of their complements,
therefore it is very well that we should continue to sail
our sea-going men of war, now-a-days, under-manned.
If our brave fellows—that is— have really done their
duty despite the odds against them of deficient manning,
to which they ought never to have been subjected ; con-
tinue to hamper them with the same disadvantages, and
multiply, by habitually renewing, them. What logic is
this ? Because your mismanagement rendered them
liable to be defeated, and their intrepidity trampled over
by the very superior forces of their enemy, continue
your mismanagement, increase their deficiency of hands,
and enhance that enemy's superiority of manning ! But
Sir GEORGE COCKBURN, on the contrary, affirms that
'• ships without their proper complements of men cannot
be sent out to meet an enemy."
" The Admiralty were now anxious to try certain ships
which had been built upon different plans, in order to ascer-
tain their respective qualities; and by the aid of seamen who
had been employed as labourers in the dockyards, and of ad-
ditional marines, they would make an effort to render the
crews of those vessels strong enough to manoeuvre them in
the Channel so as to test their sailing qualities. The Admiral
who would have the command of those ships would know
to what extent they were manned, and he would not li
expect their various manoeuvres to be performed in so ef-
ticient a manner as if they had their full complement of
men."

Why, then, the result of the trials to be made by this
squadron of experiment must necessarily be—good for
nothing. But we must defer this important subject
again, owing to want of space.

Madrid journals of the 13th have been received. The
business before the Cortes was drawing rapidly towards
a close. Indeed it had been all disposed of in the
Chamber of Deputies, and the Senate on the 13th was
merely occupied in registering the money Bills sent up
to it by the Deputies. The Castellano states that Wed-
nesday, the 14th, would be the last day
.on which the
Cortes would transact business previous to the proroga•
tion. The same journal says it is probable that Prussia,
Austria, and Russia, would follow the example of the
the Court of Rome, and acknowledge Queen ISABELLA.
The Intendant of the Royal Household had left Madrid
for Barcelona, to make preparations for the QUEEN'S
journey, and a body of troops had also marched in the
same direction.

The Three per Cents. were done at 341 for cash, and
35 at 60 days; tho Five per Cents. at 25, at 60 days;
the Coupons, at 28;} at 52 days; the Vales, at 11 at 59
days; and the Debt without Interest, at 8 at 60 days.

The French Chamber of Deputies resumed on Mon-
day the discussion on the great northern line of rail-
way. An amendment was proposed by M. I)ELBAQUE fhr
a branch line between Fampoux and Hazebruck, which was
supported by M. BERRYER and M. BILLAULT; the latter
Member urging as a reason that it would place Calais
and Dunkirk in direct communication with Parts, and
would be of the first importanc:- in the event of a war
with England. The amendment was opposed by the
Minister of Public Works, who recommended the Cham-
ber to postpone the question till next session. The
amendment, however, was adopted by a large majority.
M. GARNI ER PAGES then put some questions to the
Government relative to a proposition said to have been
made by M. GANNERON, the beaker, for constructing
certain lines of railway. It had been stated publicly,
and generally believed, that M. GANNERON had offered
to lend the Government a sum of 700,000,000 f.
(28,000,0001.), at 3i per cent., to construct the lines
from Paris to Avignon by Lyons, from Paris to Stras-
burg, and from Paris to the Belgian frontier. He
highly approved of the proposition, because it would
enable the Government to keep these lines in their own
hands, and was therefore anxious to know whether such
a proposition had been entertained. The Minister had
not replied at the hour of past. The Chamber of Peers
had appointed Count Roz to draw sip the
report on the Bill for the conversion of
the Five per Cent. Stock. The Journal des
Debuts publishes a long letter on this Bill,
written by M. C. DUNOYER, described as one of the
ablest political economists of the day. The writer is
strongly opposed to the Bill, but it is of the less impor-
tance at present as it is well known the Ministry will
not press it this session, and the Peers are decidedly
hostile to it. According to a letter from Switzerland, in
the Comtitutionncl, the Catholic cantons arc preparing
to carry into execution the decree for the introduction of
the Jesuits. The Catholic conference at Lucerne had
addressed a note to the Governments of Soleure and
Tessino, inviting them to make common cause for the
re-establishment of the convents.

The public funds improved considerably on the Paris
Bourse on Monday, especially in the Five per Cents.
The Three per Cents. closed at 86f. 35c. ; the New
Loan, at 86f. 65c. ; the Five per Cents. at 12If. 90c. ;
Orleans Railroad shares, 1,252 E 50c. ; Rouen, 1,120 f. ;
Havre, 900 E ; Avignon, 1,075 f. ; Basle, 276 f. 25c. ;
Spanish Actives, 40* ; Spanish Three per Cents., 424 ;
Spanish Passives, 8.
The following are the quotations for the new lines :

Orleans and Bordeaux, 220 f. premium ; Boulogne, 150 f.
ditto ; Troyes and Montereau, 75f. ; Paris and Lyons (Laffitte),
22f. 50c. ; ditto (Calon), 2f. 50c. ; oitto (Ganneron), 12f. 50e. ;
Northern line (Laffitte), 32f. 50c. ; ditto (Rosamel), 13f.
25c. ; Tours and Nantes( Mackenzie), 1 lf. 25c. ; ditto ( Drouil-
lard), par ; ditto (O'Neill), 15f. ; ditto (Jacques Lefevre),
par ; Lyons and Avignon (Lecointe), 251. ; ditto (Talabot),
35f. ; ditto (Cotnpagnie Meridionale), 12f. 50c. ; Bordeaux
and Toulouse (Mackenzie), sf. ; ditto and Cette (Espeleta),
18f. 25c. ; Creil and St. Quentin, lf. 50c.
LYONS, MAY 17.—Avignon and Marseilles, 1,055 f., for
cash ; Paris and Orleans, 1,222 f., end of May ; Paris
and Rouen, 1.096 E, for cash ; Orleans and Vierzon, 818 f.,
end of May; Orleans and Bordeaux, 720 f., ditto; Montereau,
573 f., ditto.

MDLLE. SOPHIE DULCHEN'S• CONCERT.—This
talented young lady, who, although only ten years of age, has
already achieved for herself a name as one of the most delightful
pianoforte players of the day, gives a concert to-morrow evening,
at the Princess's Concert Rooms. In addition to the performances
of the fair beneficiarc herself on the pianoforte, we are to have
Herr Edward Meyer on the clarionet, Giulio Regondi on
the concertina, and Herr Adolph Simon on the violin.
The great attraction of the evening, however, will
be the performance of Mademoiselle Lorenzina Mayer,
on the flute. This lady is the only female fluted ever heard. She
has, during the winter, been giving concerts all over the Continent
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