The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-29 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 29, 1845,

The Lords met at Five.
Lord PORT3IAN brought up the report on the South
Wales Railway Bill.
The consideration of the report on the l)ubliu and
Galway Railway Bill was postponed until to-morrow
(this (ay).
The Earl of lIARDWICLE moved that the report on
the Portsmouth (Atmospheric) Direct Railway Bill be

received.
The Duke of RICHMOND moved the recommittal of
the Bill, on the ground that the Committee had refused
to hear the South-Western Company in opposition to
the Bill.

Lord REDESDALE suggested that the report and evi-
dence should be printed, and the discussion should be
postponed until Monday.

The Earl of HARDWICKE defended the conduct of the
Committte.

The Duke of RICHMOND and the Marquis of CLANRI-
cA RDE considered that it would be useless to print the
evidence, as the Committee bad refused to listen to evi-
dence which was material.

Lord CAMPBELL thought the better course would be
for the Committee to re-assemble and hear the evidence.

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY thought the Committee
ought to have beard the evidence.
After some further discussion,

The Duke of RICHMOND withdrew his motion for the
recommittal of the Bill, and moved that the evidence and
report be printed, and the subject be considered on
Friday next, which motion was agreed to.
On the motion of Lord CAMPBELL, the standing order
declaring it to be a breach of privilege to publish the
lives of Peers without the consent of their heirs and
executors was rescinded.
The House then went into Committee on the Com-
mons Inclosure Bill, the several clauses of which were
agreed to after some discussion.
The Scotch Poor- law Bill also passed through Com-
mittee, and several other Bills having been advanced a
stage, the House adjourned.
The Commons met at Twelve.

The Removal of Paupers Bill, and the Court a
Chancery Bill were repo' ted. The Libel Act Amend.
merit Bill was read a third time and passed. •

The House then went into Committee on the Games
and Wagers Bill.
Mr. C. BERKELEY objected to clause 17, which
legalized subscription to horse-races, as a piece of one-
sided legislation. On a division, however, the clause
was carried by a majority of 34 ; the numbers being,
for the clause 37, against it 3.
The Church Buildings Act Amendment Bill was read
a third time and passed ; after which the House ad-
journed to five o'clock.
On the re-assembling of the House, Sir J. GnAmsx,
at the suggestion of Mr. H. BERKELEY, postponed the
third reading of the Small Debts Bill until to-morrow
(this day) at twelve.

Sir R. PEEL announced that he should to-morrow
move that the House do sit every day at twelve o'clock,
and continue sitting throughout the evening.
Mr. EWART then brought forward the motion of which
he had given notice, namely :-1. That a statement be
made, on the part of the Government, on the condition
and prospect of such educational establishments as are
supported wholly or partially by a vote of this House.
2. That it is expedient that the formation of public li-
braries, freely open to the public, be encouraged. 3.
That it is expedient that schools for the training of
masters be more extensively promoted. 4. That it is
expedient that appointments to the subordinate offices of
Government be made (as far as possible) by examination
of the merits of the candidates for such offices.
Mr. W YSE seconded the motion.

Sir R. PEEL, as a proof of the solicitude of the Govern-
ment on the subject of education, would state that
150,0001. had this year been voted for educational pur-
poses, and that if necessary next year their might not be
any great objection to increase the grant. He did not
wish to hold out public employment as a reward, for mere
scholastic attainment was, he thought, no criterien of fit-
ness for business.

After a few words from Mr. Humit and Mr. HAwEs,
the motion was negatived without a division.

Mr. W. WILLIAMS moved fur a Select Committee to
inquire into the allegations in the petition for the
students in the School of Design.
A long discussion followed on the subject of the
squabbles which have recently taken place among the
teachers and students in the School, and, eventually, the
motion was negatived without a division.
The House then went into Committee of Supply, when
several votes were agreed to.
The House having resumed, several maasures were
forwarded a stage ; and the orders of the day having
been disposed of, the House adjourned at Two o'clock.

We live in an age either of the most Pharisaical or of
the most inconsistent humanity. Our sympathies are
like the saccharine principle of some fruits, of which it
is difficult to say whether the sweet or the acid most
predominate. For some years past, it seems to have been
tha ambition of the Legislature to earn for itself a cha-
racter of tardy justice, or of repentant humanity, by re-
sponding to the demands of public feeling and opinion
for the abolition of imprisonment for debt. In the career
of nor al advancement in the science of adapting modern
legislation to the tone and wants of modern society,
the House of Lords lately took a prominent
lead. From that House, the first great remedisl
measures issued, which had for their object to put down
a barbarous practice, on all hands admitted to be the scan-
dal of our modern social institutions. The bold and
decided step which it took in advance Of the other House,
as to imprisonment for debt, was hailed with grateful no-
clatnation by all the most enlightened and humane men
of every party. Nor have the Peers themselves shown
any indisposition (so far as we have ever heard) to to-
cept the credit which was given to them for this generous
impulse. We have perused, therefore, with surprise,
the first draught of a Bill, as amended in Committee,
entitled "An Act for better securing the pay_
mont of small debts." It has long been the
fashion to consider that the more searching investiga-
tion and more careful forms of the House of Lords provide
the only effectual counterpoise to the slovenly, hurried,
andomftemnornes. "ThankcklessprocessesGodthere of Cemmitteze ofotfh
Lordse House
of co,
has been an ejaculation of grateful acknowledgment, to
which the high authority of Mr. CoBBETT has long
given a wide and authoritative circulation. But if the
Lords intend to produce many fellows to the Bill before
us, the converse of the proposition will obtain with the
people : an expression of thankfulness on the part of the
public that "there is a House of Commons." We
are at a loss to understand on what principle,
in 1845, the Peers of Great Britain can have
been induced to launch so fierce a decree .as this
Bill contains—against that class of debtors who,
we think, are already most within the effective reach of
the law. The first clause enacts that--" Creditors ob-