The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-13 00:00:00

BRIGHTON ELECTION.

The SPEAKER Intimated to the House that he had
received notice from Mr. Coppock, who had presented a
petition against the Members elected to serve in Parlia-
ment for the borough of Brighton, that it was not his
intention to proceed with his petition.
TEXAS. _

Mr. D'ISRAELI rose to ask the Right Hon. Gentle-
man, at the head of her Majesty's Government, a ques-
tion of great importance. On Friday the Right Hon.
Gentleman stated, that if the blockade of the
eastern coast of America, by the province of
Texas, should be effected, her Majesty's Govern-
ment would be prepared to recognise it. He
now wished to ask the Right Hon. Gentleman whe-
ther, previous to the recognition of the blockade, he was
prepared to recognise the independence of Texas by rati-
fication of the treaty ?
Sir R. PEEL said there had bean cases in which this
country had recognised a blockade, without having pre-
viously recognised the existence of the blockading country
as a state. He had no hesitation, however, in stating that
there were treaties completed with full authority with
the State of Texas ; he had no doubt whatever that the
power to conclude those treaties had been exercised. It
was not necessary for him, as a Minister of the Crown, to
say whether he considered those treaties to be wise or not,
or whether he should have recommended them to have
been concluded bad he at that time been in power ; but
they had been concluded, and he felt it to be his duty, in
support of the good faith of the Crown of England, to
advise that those treaties should be ratified.

Mr. O'CONNELL—But they have not as yet been
ratified ?

Sir IL PEEL—Not yet; till the Ist of August
had been given, and he should recommend the Crown to
ratify the treaty within that time.
BRIBERY AT ELECTIONS BILL.

Lord MAHON wished to ask a question of the Noble
Lord, the Member for London, with respect to his in-
tentions relative to his Bill for the Prevention of
Bribery at Elections. Several clauses in that Bill rested
on the supposition that the election committees would
continue, as at present, under the jurisdiction of that
House. The Noble Lord and every Hon. Member must
be aware that that House would do well for the ends of

justice to part with that jurisdiction. He wished to ask
the Noble Lord therefore if he would consent to post-
pone the second reading of his Bill, until they could see
whether the jurisdiction were still to remain with that
House. If the decision on that point should be against
them, it would be their duty to constitute some jurisdic-
tion which should be perfectly free of that House.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that, having received
notice of this question, he had no hesitation in reply-
ing ; and considering that the jurisdiction had rested
with that House for more than two hundred years,
he thought he had a right to consider that it remained
with them still.—(Hear, hear.) Of course if the House
should at any time depart from that jurisdiction which
it had so repeatedly and so solemnly asserted, it would
take means to make all the rest of its proceedings con-
formable with that altered state of the law. He did not
see, however, any reason why he should postpone the
second reading of the Bill.—(Hear, hear.)
TARIFF (COALS).

Mr. HUTT wished to ask the Right Hon. Baronet, at
the head of her Majesty's Government, when he proposed
to bring under the consideration of the House the export
duty upon coals, and what proposition he then intented
to lay before the House.
Sir R. PEEL said it was his intention to have taken
coals in the order in which it stood upon the Tariff, but
if it would be more convenient to the House, he would
name to-morrow absolutely for the purpose.—(Hear,
hear.) With regard to the second question, he would
say that it was not his intention to make the
proposal of which he had given notice some time ago
of 4s. per ton on the export of British coal.—(Hear.)
The proposal which would be made by her Majesty's
Government would meet, he trusted, with general, though
not, perhaps, with universal consent. It was to impose
a duty on round coal of 25., and on screened coal, sub-
ject to certain regulations, of ls.—(Hear, bear.)
Lord JOHN RUSSELL wished to know whether
there wouid be any exception on coal intended for the
use of steamers. He also wished to know whether the
Right Hon. Gentleman would state to-morrow the reve-
nue he expected to derive from the modified duty, as his
vote would very much depend upon the answer to that
question.
Sir R. PEEL said he had received a great many com-
munications on the subject of coal, requesting exceptions
on behalf of coal used for a variety of purposes,
but the difficulty of allowing a drawback in any
instance was very great. He hoped the reduc-
tions of the duty to 2s. and is. would be sufficient
not to render it necessary to give the inducement to
fraud, which would be given by making a drawback in
favour of steam-boats. From calculations which had
been made, he reckoned on a loss in the revenue of about
50,0001. He might again state that, if there should be
an opportunity, he would take the duty on coal to-mor-
row.--(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HUTT gave nottce that he should, then, to-mor-
row meet the proposition with a negative, and divide the
House upon it.