The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-15 00:00:00

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.

Mr. DUNCAN presented a Bill from Dundee agains
the Statute of Limitations Bill.

MAYNOOTH.

Mr. ITAWES presented several petitions against the
grant to Mayncoth, and one in favour of it, signed by a
single individual, the Rev. Mr. Ballagar, which, as it
presented the question so shortly and so strongly, he
should move that it be read at the table.

BIRMINGHAM, GLOUCESTER, AND WOLVER-
HAMPTON RAILWAY.

Mr. SPOONER moved the second reading of the
Birmingham, Gloucester, and Wolverhampton Railway
Bill.

Mr. PAKINGTON said that this was a Bill for the
extension of the London and Birmingham Railway,
and he hoped the House would extend its indulgence to
him whilst he stated his reasons for opposing the second
reading of this Bill. It was not merely on private grounds
that he opposed this Bill, nor would he ask any favour of
the House, but on behalf of other landowners as well as
himself, he should oppose it. This railway would pass
for 21 miles through his own ground, and he would hear
every engine from his drawing-room vi indows. When
this scheme had first been brought forward, he had
inquired of his surveyor respecting it, and had been
informed that the standing orders had been violated in a
hundred instances. The Bill had been proposed, and was
then withdrawn, when after two or three months it
was again brought forward by an entirely dif-
ferent company. Last January it was again intro
duced to the notice of the public, not by the original
company, but as an extension of the London and Bir-
mingham line, when one was prepared to oppose it ; and
he should, therefore, certainly take the sense of the
House on the second reading.
Mr. SPOONER opposed the motion on the ground
that his Hon. Friend had not given notice to the parties
of his opposition. The promoters of the Bill bad been
put to the expense of summoning their witnesses and
retaining counsel. The Bill had been referred in one
of the groups to the Committee, and before that Com-
mittee the case of his Hon. Friend would be fully inves-
tigated.
Mr. PAKINGTON explained. He regretted that
he had not been able to give notice of his intention to
oppose the second reading, but in consequence of the
period at whichj the Bill was moved he could not give
notice.

Sir R. INGLIS said he did not understand his Hon.
Friend to object to the Bill, except upon the ground of
surprise, but as he understood the facts, it was his Hon.
Friend the Member for Droitwich who was taken by
surprise, and he would, therefore, support the motion of
his Hon. Friend the Member for Droitwich.

Mr. SPOONER explained.
Mr. LABOUCHERE said that the Hon. Gentleman
brought the case very fully and fairly before the House ;
but still he thought that his objection to the second
reading of the Bill, merely on account of the surprise
which it would cause, should not induce the House to
refuse the second reading of the Bill.
The House then divided, when there appeared to be—
For the motion 4l
Against it
Majority in favour of the motion —l9
ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.

Mr. WAKLEY rose to move, " That a Select Com-
mittee be appointed, to inquire into the management of
the Royal College of Surgeons of England :—Also, to
investigate the circumstances which led to the grant
of an additional Charter to the Council in
1843, and into the effects produced by the operation of
that charter upon the interests and professionol rank of
the great body of the members of the college.-And should
that resolution be negatived, then to move the following:—
"That in any charter which the Crown may be advised
to grant for the incorporation of the general practition-
ers, those gentlemen are fully entitled to enjoy an
equality of professional station with the newly-created
Fellows ; that a deep and lasting injury would be in-
flicted on many thousands of scientific men if a College
of General Practitioners were to be founded as an insti-
tution inferior to the College of Surgeons." The Hon.
Member said he submitted the motion to the House in
conformity with a gnat number of petitions which had
been presented to the House from members of the
College of Surgeons resident in every part of the king-
dom, and in consquence of a great number of communi-
cations from the same body of gentlemen on the subject.
But he was chiefly actuated by the fact that a
petition had been presented on the 31st of March by
him from surgeons resident in the county of Gloucester.
The petitioners stated that, by the charter granted in
1843 by her Majesty, the Council had the power of
electing a certain number of the members of the Col-
lege, who should be entitled to the general principle of
electing the Council in all time coming; and they added
that they looked on such distinctions as unjust to the great
body of surgeons, and they entered their most indignant
protest against the principle. They also stated that the
charter required that all existing members should
undergo another examination, or be excluded from the
honours of a fellowship in the College. They also
prayed that no Bill should be allowed to pass until
inquiry had been ordered into the circumstances
connected with the granting of the charter. Ile be-
lieved that the Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary of
State for the Home Department was by that time aware
that he had taken a false step in recommending the
granting of this charter, and the division to
which the house had come the other night
was a sufficient proof of that fact.—(llcar, hear.)
lie was as yet really ignorant of the effect of the changes
which were intended by the Government measure ; and
be supposed—he was under the necessity of sup-
posing—that the Bill which had been formerly in-
troduced was in substance the very
that which hhhictb same with
thatv'' hwaveinstereonduachedoppboerfottrienitythoef
examining these alterations. The history of the Col-
lege of Surgeons—the history of th conduct
of the Council rather was h
c aracterised as
one of injustice to the professors by the
self-elected governing body. The College
s
founded by a charter granted in the year 1843, and fromlya
that year to this the Council had on various occasions
passed regulations extending their own powers, and,
in fact, creating to themselves a monopoly of
the most unjust and oppressive character. In the year
1826, in consequence of the abuse of these powers,
there had been a large assembly of the profession who
expressed great dissatisfaction at the conduct of the

Council. After much discussion the meeting passed
two resolutions, he might say unanimously, expressive of
their sense in the first place, of the oppressive mode inwhieh
the Council had acted ; and, in the second place, that
the regulation which had been passed in 1823, respect-
ing the taking up of diplomas were highly detrimental
to the interests of the profession. These resolutions
were passed in a meeting in which nearer 2,000 than
1,500 individuals were present. At the time these
resolutions were passed it was a universal im-
pression that, however energetic their represen-
tations might be, there was little chance of
obtaining attention or redress, except by an appeal to
the House of Commons ; and accordingly the last reso
lotion of that meeting was a determination to appeal to
that House, and they accordingly did so. The result of
that petition was the appointment of a Select Committee,
of which his Hon. Friend the Member for Kendal (Mr.
Warburton) was chairman, and he believed the Right
Honourable Baronet opposite (Sir James Graham)
was a member of it. Before that Committee
a great mass of evidence was taken, the whole
purport of which was to show that the whole
establishment was in a state of disorder. The
museum, a most valuable one, the Hunterian
Museum, which was allowed to be one of the finest
in Europe, and for which a great sum of public money
had been paid, was in a state of disorder that it was per-
fectly useless. From that time till 1843 nothing was
done, but in 1835 a great injury had been done to the
medical profession by the operation of the New Poor-law.
The profession had every reason to expect that they
would obtain redress from that House ; but in
1843 they found to their amazement that a new
charter was granted no the college ; in which ex-
traordinary and unconstiutional powers were con-
ferred upon the council. When it was first re-
ported that such a charter had been granted, he
did not think that a hundred men in the profession
throughout Great Britain, believed that it was true.
But, unfortunately, time showed that it was true, and
that a charter had received the sign manual con-
ferring those extraordinary powers on the council.
It contained provisions which gave extreme an-
noyance to upwards of then thousand men. In
the last fifty years the science of medicine and
surgery had made greater progress than any other art
or science in the whole range of human knowledge. It
was admitted by every writer of eminence or ability
that medicine and surgery constitute but one science, of
which pharmacy and midwifery are important depart-
ments. But by the extraordinary provisions of the new
charter, those members of the College of Sur-
geons who practise midwifery and pharmacy are
excluded from the governing body of the college.
In fact, the qualifications were looked upon by the mem-
bers of the College of Surgeons as inferior and degrading
occupations, and the rules of that institution were such
as cast a slur upon the professional avocations of those
practising midwifery that never should have been cast
upon them. Those rules and by-laws had been made by the
Council of the College of Surgeons, but they had never
been included in any statute or ever received the sanction
of the Crown. One of the clauses in these rules was to
this effect, that no member of the College of Surgeons
should be eligible to become a member of the Council
while practising midwifery or pharmacy, or who
had practised those branches of the profession
for five years, or, in other words, that any person
who had practised midwifery or pharmacy for four
years, from this time, would be disqualfied for a seat
in the College of Surgeons. This he should call a most
monstrous and ridiculous propos tion, and such a one as
never would have received the sign manual of the Crown.
Well, the rule went on to say, further, that those who
professed midwifery and pharmacy could not be entitled
to a seat in the College unless they resided within 5 miles
of St. Martin's-le-Grand. Now, he knew many members
of the profession practising those branches, who could
not be equalled in Europe, and many of them were
superior to any in the empire, and yet this
disqualification was put upon them by this ridi-
culous rule. The rule went on to provide, that
if a member who had a seat should cease to
reside within the definite distance, then lie should be
removed from the council. This, he would say, was
carrying such absurdities to a most preposterous length.
It was for those reasons that those members of the me-
dical profession who practised midwifery and pharmacy
had sought for the abrogation of those bye-laws. They
sought it by petition to this House, and by public
declarations, and by remonstrances to the Right
Hon. Gentleman opposite himself. He (Mr. Wakley)
would contend for it, that no person in the profession
could approve of this charter. The Right Hon. Gen-
tleman himself did not like it, though it was his own off-
spring; and he (Mr. Wakley) could assure the Right Hon.
Gentleman it was looked on abroud as an ugly production.
'l'wo petitions had been presented for an inquiry
into the circumstances which led to the passing
of the charter. The proceedings of the council
were carried on in secret—no one knew what
motions weae proposed, or what amendments Is ere made
to them, nor was it known what was decided. The
Right Honourable Gentleman had made them
a representative body, and he should also take care
that the members should know what the conduct of their
representatives was. The language of Mr. Guthrie was
worth the attention of the House. He stated in his
petition which was presented last year, that though in
his collective capacity he was compelled to accept the
grant of the new charter, a copy of which Thad been laid
en the table, yet he considered several of the provisions
to be illiberal, exclusive, and unjust. In his petition this
year he sought for an inquiry into the conduct of the
council, and states that he was aware of the unfitness
of the charter for the purposes for which it was
intended, and that many of the provisions were as de-
ceptive and illiberal in their nature as could be expected
from even a purely arbitrary Government. That was
the language of a member of the council of health,
and he hoped that such an explanation would
be given by the Right Hon. Gentleman as would
preclude the necessity of the appointment of a Com-
mittee of Inquiry, and that the Right Hon. Gentleman
would be prepared to say that such a charter would
continue to exist, to the annoyance of the profession.
Even the majority of the Council spoke of the duty
imposed on them by the Right Hon. Gentleman as an
invidious duty. The Government had, therefore, abso-
lutely forced on the Council of the College oj Sur
geons a charter for which they entertained the
greatest dislike ; and, of course, which they
had no desire to receive. Now the circumstance
was very extraordinary, considering what had been
the conduct of the profession for a long series of
years. In his (Mr. Wakley's) opinion the Right
Hon. Baronet exercised in 1843 relative to this subject
a very unconstitutional power, and he thought he had
most unjustly exercised that power with expense
to a very large number of deserving professional men.
C.smplaints had been made by Sir Astley Cooper and
other distinguished men, and all were agreed that the
rule prohibiting men from becoming members
of the College until they had arrived at a
certain period of life was a great hardship.—
(Hear.) These complaints had been laid before the
House, but how were the petitions of these men an-
swered ? Simply by a Minister of the Crown, who rely-
ing on some private representations and founded by
some influence at the Home-office, granting a
new charter to the Council, and instead
of punishing the council for misconduct which they had
committed during a long series of years, invested
them with new powers, and enabled them
to exercise such powers to the extreme annoy-
ance of many thousands of their professional
brethren. The profession and the House had a right to
complain ; and, if prerogative charters were granted in
this way, the sooner such powers were extinguished, the
better. He knew the Right Hon. Gentleman would
say that he did it for the best. He (Mr. Wakley)
had no doubt but that was the ease, at the same time he
felt quite sure the Right Hon. Gentleman had been mis-
informed by one upon whose judgment he should not
in future rely. But the charter had bees granted, and
granted
under extraordinary circumstances. Was it
to continue in force. The Right Hon. Gentleman ought
to make some alteration in the standing of the Fellows.
The present plan was the most absurd and ridicu-
lous that could be conceived. The Committee
were empowered according to the provisions
of the charter is to elect 300 members to the class of
eb er membersandad ry notbarbitrary
theserr
remy s s w than
hmimembersca 250
hnn tlier
N
fellows within the first three months of its operation.
Upon the 14th December, 1843, the Council was required
selectf
thantherom3
bodyoo m
members,
nor
more
weorwe
the
fellows selectedilows
constituted in t mosthethe body
future council was to be elected, the fellows themselves
being the electors, and by this system it was absolutely
impossible for the names placed lowest on the list to be
elected to the Council of the College. Could
any one suppose that an arrangement of
this kind could be satisfactory to the pro-
fession. Could it give rise to any other feel-
ings
_than those of disappointment ? There were im-
mense numbers of men, who had endeavoured to dis-
charge their professional duties with credit to them-
selves and advantage to the public, thus by the
whim of a dominant party placed in such a position,
that they were deprived of their just right and privi-
leges. The council of the College had seen proper to
give the world an analysis of the mode in which they
had discharged their duty, and the result according to
their own showing was as follows. They had appointed
229 surgeons in the general hospitals in various parts
of the country.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)