The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-06 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1845.

The House of Lords met at Fire o'Clock.

The Privy Council Appellant Act Amendment Juris-
diction Bill was read a second time, after a short dis-
cussion.

On the motion that the Auction Duties Bill be read a
second time,
The Duke of RICHMOND moved that it be read a second
time that day six months. The agricultural inte;t
ought to be relieved by the remission of the malt-tax.
They paid the expenses of the prosecution of prisoners,
and for the maintenance of prisoners in prison ; they
were also burdened with the payment of the clergyman
in every parish, and therefore he thought that the Go-
vernment ought to pay half the county-rate, and from
20 to 30 per cent. of the poor-rates.

The Earl of DALHOUSIE said that the tax was both
demoralising and unproductive, and that therefore it
ought to be removed.
The Earl of MALMESBURY considered that the agri-
cultural interest had been injured by the measures of the
Government

The Earl of WINCHILSEA, Lord BEAUMONT, and Lord
STANLEY supported the measure.
The Marquis of NORMANBY objected to the abolition
of the auction duty, because he considered that it would
make the income-tax perpetual.
On a division the numbers were—Content, 33 ; Non-
Contents, 15 ; Majority, 18. The Bill then went
through Committee, and was ordered to be read a third
time.

The Customs Duty Bill passed through Committee,
and the Bill was ordered to be read a third time to-
morrow.

The Commons met at Four o'clock.
Mr. F. FRENCH moved that the Irish Great Western
(Dublin and Galway) Railway Bill be permitted to
proceed.
Mr. EsTcorr opposed the motion.

The motion was opposed by several Members of the
Standing Orders Committee, but was eventually carried
by a majority of 16, the numbers being—For the Motion,
97 ; Against, 81 ; Majority, 16.
A long discussion ensued as to the attendance of
Members on Railway Committees, and it was suggested
by Mr. HuME and several other Hon. Members that a
call of the House ought to take place, in order to compel
the attendance of Irish Members.

On the order of the day for the bringing up of the
report on the Maynooth Bill being read,
Mr. SHAEMAN CRAWFORD moved an amendment,
that any provision for the separate or exclu-
sive education of any particular religious denomina-
tion, or for the support or endowment of any religious
sect or sects by State grants, or funds raised by com-
pulsory assessment, whether under the name of tithes,
rents, ceases, taxes, regium donum, or under any other
name or form whatever, is a violation of the rights of
conscience, detrimental to religious truth, and danger-
ous to civil and religious freedom, and that all such
establishments, grants, or endowments now in existence
in the United Kingdom ought to be discontinued with as
little delay as may be consistent with a due regard to the
rights of those who have life interests in the same.
This motion gave rise to a lengthened discussion,
which was terminated by a division in which Mr.
CRAWFORD'S motion was rejected by 139, and the Re-
port on the Maynooth Grant was received.

Lord PALMERSTON then rose to ask Sir R. PEEL a
question respecting the slave-trade, that led to an ani-.
mated debate, terminating, however, in no immediate re-
sult ; and, after the other orders of the day were dis-
posed of, the House adjourned.

Mr. HUME has given notice that on Friday next he
will move a tail of the House. The attendance of Mem-
bers in Committees, independent of other Parliamentary
number of railways and private Bills, that a more equal
division of labour is found absolutely necessary, and a
very general feeling was expressed last night of the
hardship that certain representatives should be com-
pelled to do all the drudgery of Parliament, while not
fewer than one hundred Members were absent without
leave, and enjoying rustic felicity during the most
busy period of the session. Lord CASTLEREAOII,
concurring with others in such sentiments, asked
whether the House was prepared to order the
Sergeant-at-Arms to be sent over to Ireland, to
bring in custody those Honourable Members who
had not attended Parliament this session ; and the
reply was, on the part of Lord G. SOMERSET, that he
should be prepared, in the case of every Member,
whether connected with England, Ireland, or Scotland,
who did not attend when summoned, to move that he be
committed to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms.
This question will, therefore, be brought to an issue,
and it will be curious to see what influence the order
will have on the Irish absentees. Probably some of
them will set the resolution at defiance. In Ireland it
is no uncommon occurrence for an officer with a
judge's warrant, or other warrants equally peremp-
tory, to be kept at bay for weeks, and
finally compelled to retire with defeat. Will the
Speaker's warrant in this instance be treated with more
respect ? Mr. O'CONNELL and a great portion of his
tail have wilfully absented themselves from the House of
Commons; they regard the Legislature as totally useless
for Irish purposes, and it is extremely probable that
they will carry out perhaps a preconcerted
plan, and avoid the warrant. But, besides, it will re-
quire a small army of officers to capture the recreant
Members—some will escape to the fastnesses of the
west or south, others will hide themselves in Dublin ;
and supposing that each Member is endued with the
obstinate spirit and resolution of CARUS WILSON, ten
officers far each fugitive would be barely sufficient.
Some twenty or thirty representatives have deserted
their post, so that a force of at least two hundred men
would be required to carry on this game of Member-
hunting, even supposing the peasantry to remain neutral.
Still-hunting was nothing to this. But to look
at the subject in a serious light, the public
cannot fail to view Mr. O'CoNNELL's conduct
in a very unfavourable light. Certain parties, it is
true, have exhibited an uncharitable spirit in reference.
to the Maynooth grant, but that is no fault of the House
of Commons or the Government. Never did Members
perform their duty so nobly towards Ireland as the ma-
jority on that question, including Whigs,
Tories, and Radical Reformers, all of whom
have sacrificed great interests for the sake of
principle and rendering justice to Ireland.
The least that Mr. O'CONNELL Call do is to assist them
in this noble purpose. Does he wish to strengthen a
conviction entertained by some of his political enemies,
and refuse to lend his powerful aid in forwarding mea.
sures which may render agitation unnecessary ?

The first and most natural emotion excited by an
overwhelming calamity like that which has just occurred
at Yarmouth, through the fall of an iron suspension •
bridge, is naturally one of profound regret for so vast a
number of our fellow-creatures and countrymen, sud-
denly, and in a moment, as it were, of unheeding fes-
tivity, swept off the stage of human existence! The next
impression produced by so awful a catastrophe as this
sacrifice of more than 100 lives, in little more than as
many seconds, is one of profound sympathy for the be-
reaved survivors of these ill-fated victims, who, in the
relations of wives, sons, daughters, husbands, have
lost their natural friends or protectors, their guar-
dians or parents. The considerations, however, which
connect themselves with so frightful and extensive a dis-
aster, are too solemn for a more enlarged discussion in
this place. We turn, therefore, from the irretrievable
destruction of life to the precautions which the demands
of future security so imperatively require to be adopted
in testing the stability of all public works, structures, and
edifices, upon or about which masses of the people
are likely at any time to be congregated. It
would be strange, indeed, were this horrible
causualty to be allowed to
as
public remembrance without furnishingps aoust of the
salutary
yas
well.as memorable lesson, in the first place, to those who
undertake such constructions; in the second to the au-
thority and principals, municipal or other, by whom
they are employed. Is it possible to give more e and
point however to such a lesson than are communicated
by some of the incidents connected with this
deplorable accident ? We do not happen to be
aware of the dimensions of this suspension-bridge, or
the pin 9p weight of the chains, the suspending-rods,

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