The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-01 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, May 31.
The House met at Four o'Clock, to hear the Royal
A.sseat given by Commission to several Bills. The
Lords Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor, the
Archbishop .of Canterbury, and the Duke of Buccleuch.
The House of Commons having been summoned, the
Royal Assent was • given to the following Bills :—The
Excise Spirit Drawback Bill ; the Ecclesiastical Houses
and Residendes. Bill ; the Turnpike Roads (Ireland)
Bill ; the Saandersfoot Harbour and Railway Bill ; the
London and Blackwall Railway Bill ; the Equitable
Gaslight Company's Bill ; and several Road, Dock, and
Inclosure Bills.
The House then adjourned during pleasure.

Their Lordships resumed at Five o'Clock.
MESSAGE FROM THE COMMONS.
A message from the House of Commons brought up
several private fills.•
Lord CAMP LL gave notice, that on Thursday
next he should dtill the attention of the House to certain
proceedings which had taken place in Stirling, in conse-
quence ot a witness refusing to take an oath.
ATTEM'PT 'TO ASSASSINATE HER MA-
JEsTY.—THE ADDRESS.
The Duke of WELLINGTON rose and said—My
Lords, your Lordships must have heard with horror and
ootteern, and with feelings of the greatest indignation, of
the-attOmpft.made upon' the life of her Majesty last night;
andirriow My lot to perform the duty on the part
of her 3Taje:ity'l Government, to state to you, that an at-
tempt was made upon her Majesty's life last evening, as
her Majesty was returning in her carriage, accompanied
by his Royal Highness the Prince Consort, to herl'alace
of Buekingham 1 louse, which, by the blessing of Divine
Providence failed, by a person who was within it short
dints tee of her Alajesty'a carriage, who fired a pistol at
her thjesty. Der Majesty, as I have stated, by the
blessing bititiu Providence, was unhurt, and the per-
sen'ivto etimtnitted this act—this atrocious act I may -
retil immediately taken into custody, and his
etime is 'noiv undergoing the usual course of
legal inviry; and in due course he will be
brought to justice. My Lords, I avoid enter-
ing into details upon this painful subject.—(hear,
hear.) I confine my:self strictly to the performance of
my duty in stating the facts to your Lordships, and mov-
ing your Lordships to agree to present to her Majesty
an Address of Congratulation upon the failure of this
atrocious and treasonable attempt on her life, and which,
by the interposition of Divine Providence, was pre-
vented. I will therefore propose such an Address
to your Lordships, and I will afterwards submit to
your Lordships a motion in the usual course, that the
same Address be communicated to the House of Com-
mons in a conference, and that that House should name
Members to hold the conference with your Lordships on
tltr übj ef!t —(he ar. ) I therefore, my Lords, move
your Lordships to agree to the Address. The NoLle
Duke then, in a very low tone of voice, read the following
Address

"Gracious Sovereign : We, your Majesty's loyal sub-
jects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Cum-
mins in Parliament assembled, beg leave humbly to
approach your Majesty, to express our feelings of
regret-and abhorrence at the late treasonable attempt
against your Majesty's sacred person. We, at the same
time, heartily congratulate the country on your Majesty's
happy preservation from the danger to which your
Majesty has been exposed. Attached to your Majesty
by every sentiment of loyalty, by a sense of the benefits
which we derive from the wise and paternal
GUN eminent of your Majesty, we cannot but highly
appreciate and acknowledge the great and merciful
interposition of Divine Providence which was mani-
fested on the present • occasion, and we make our
earnest prayer to Almighty Gad that Ile will he pleased
to efinfer upon your Majesty every blessing, awl that Ile
will cos:finite to Watch over and guard a life so justly
dear to tts all."
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said, I know not, my
lewd,. whether I ought to delay, by a single moment,
your Lordships' adoption of a proceeding which cannot
bet meet with the universal concurrence of the House.—
(Cheers.) In the absence of my Noble Friend,
who, I am sure, would have been present on this
areashin, if his absence fr :an London had not prevented
him from receiving any account of the sad and melan-
choly event to which the Noble Duke has alluded, I may
be permit! ed to state, that every sentiment which
has been uttered on this sorrowful occasion
by the Noble Duke must find an echo in every one of
your Lordships' breasts.—(Loud cheers.) I have no
hesitation in saying that we must all concur
in the adoption of the Address which has
been proposed to your Lordships, and that
we have quite sufficient grounds for that proceeding
in what the Noble Duke has stated with regard
to that fact, so deplorable end so melancholy,
and which is unhappily but too well known.
On that question I will nut ask for any information,
as during the present state of the inquiry all informa-
tion is most properly withheld. But I trust that, after
giving expression to the feelings which actuate your Lord-
shins on this occasion—after going up to the Throne with
those feelings which are common to us all, I trust that
your Lordships will not stop here, but that you will, -
when you contemplate what may be the causes which have
led to this extraordinary crime—that .you will address
your attention to 'the consideration of what . may
have been the causes which may have led to this
attenipt, which is the greatest of anomalies, if made
in the absence of all -motive, as it is the greatest
of crones, if we leek to the unhappy event which
might have been its consequences. I am sure I need
not say more upon this subject. I believe that there
can he bat one feeling in the House of participation
in the sentiment:, expressed by the Noble Duke.
Lerd POR,TMAN begged to be allowed to interpose,
for a single moment, for the purpose of stating to their
Lof (Mips a fact, which would tend to increase, if any fact
conk! -hienAbe- -their gratitude, and that attachment to
her Majesty, e hieh they all should feel as expressed itt
the Address of the Noble Duke. He wished to state to
them that her Majesty, while contident in the protection
of Ahnighty God against any danger which might sur-
round her, had been thoughtful of those who
are in her service. Feeling yesterday that
*same risk might he incurred by these who were
attending her person, 'she declined the attendance of
these ladies who actually accompanied her in her drives,
because she did not wish to subject them to that risk to
which she herself might he exposed.—(Hear, hear,) As
he Was one of the parties who had a Lear and dear rela-
tive attached to her Majesty's person, he could not help
communicating that fact—a fact which must attach her
eubjeete the more closely to her Majesty. •
;Lord BROUGHAM said, that there was but one feel-
ite- upon the subject tinder their Lordships' notice, both
indoors and out of doors. He begged, however, to have
t. distita understood that it was his deliberate opi •
• e iu reference to what had fallen from his Noble Friend
' (Marquis of Lansdowne), that the law of England .
t present stood Was abundantly sufficient to prevent
'atrocities as this, and to prevent their repetition.
' le Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that he did not
It to recommend any new legislative measures ; but
tt'j‘ltat he meant was that all the eirettinstances eon-
' neeteel tt its that utrocious and unaccountable crime
should be carer:l:lv proved to the satisfaction of the public.
Lard fiRtAIGiLI3I. understood then that his Noble
Friend did not. contemplate any change in the criminal
law, in censequestee of that greet—that melancholy and
atrocious latenq .
On the motion of the LORD CHANCELLOR, a
Committee was then appointed to draw up an Address to
her Majesty.
The Committee then retired and immediately returned
with the. Address, which was read by the Duke of CAM-
BKI
The Address was then agreed to.
The Earl of SHAVrESBURYtneved for a conference
with the House of Commons, which was agreed to.
Messengers were then sent to summon the House of
Commune to a conference.
The two Masters Ferrer and Lynch, who had been
sent to request a Conference, returned stating that the
Cernmons had agreed to the request of their Lordships.
On the motion of the Earl of SHAFTESBURY the
`'following Peers were appointed to manage the Confer-
ence :—the Lord President, the Lord Privy Seal, the
Duke of Wellington, the. Duke of' Richmond, the Mar-
quisof Lansdowne, the 7,l.larquis of Normanhy, and the
Bishop of London.
lehertle efterwards Mr. Pulman, the Deputy USher of
the NIA Red, appeared at the Bar, and announced that 1,
the Lords appointed as Managers were ready for the
Conference.
lime tames of their Lordships were then called over,
Itrld they
the the 'louse to attend the. Conference.
After tne lapse et Amalie ten minutes. the Conference
returned, and Lord 147.14AIINCLIFFE reported to the
liehea, that thee essareeeace With the House of Commit's
had taken plaea, and' thei, the Address to Her Majesty
Wa6 left in the hands of Sic 'Robert. Peel,
and other
Members, who repreiented the House of Commons. .
FENTONVILLE PRISON BILL.
On the metiou of Lord Atm, Ma s.
CLIFFE, this Bill
was read a third time, and passed.
CLERKEN %VELE, IMPROVEMENT BILL.
This Bill was read a OA time. •
MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES.
Lord HO WDEN said that seeing the Right Rev. Pre-
late who had the spiritual welfare of the Cetus
tries' under his. superinamdence, he would take
the liberty of putting question to him.
he thought that him. lle did nut
meat to detain their Lordships long, b
many of them would he surprised at the statement he
was going to make, of a transaction whicliwohl_dappe7
more properly to have taken place in the middle set's
than- an occurrence which hardly had taken place a
veer - woo. An officer of rank, with whom he
iseed Itawden) Was well acquainted, died in
42'irehee, and after his decease the officers of his regiment
usetnimottele resolved that a testimonial should be raised
to ;times eaulahry caused: a tehlet to he engraved, merely
elate-fee the circumstances, (_;t• his death, and the • respect
a"4 alleetifee Ott' his hew her officers, which he carried to
1-11? feetimoniel, one would have thought,
Was 'vary hataseente They washed to erect it ie one or
the churches of the city, told appliad to the Colonial
for nerinision to do so. That iwyai.,:iion
.refeeed• Bat be thought it would be difficult to find any justi-
fiable reason for utftring, under any circumstanees, an nemit to
tt..e dead. lie wished to draw the attention of their Lordships
to the fact. tat this officer was torn of parents, members of the
Church of England, that he was baptised and brought up in
thet.Church, and that he was accustomed to its serice with the .
officers and men of his regiment. Now be was not aware that
there was any oeourrence upon record which could justify any
inquisitorial surmise as to his not having belonrred to the Co-
mmunion of the Established Church. For his part, ha respected
the rights of the ecclesiastical authorities; but he should saY •
thrt, in this country, such an occurrence as that to which he
had referred could not have taken plisse, smiLthat.
public opinion
would have checked any attempt of the kind, however willing
some parties might he to make it.. He 'should "ecnotuje b;
asking the Right Rev. Prelate first of all, whether ,the state:•
ment he had made was a correct one? And, if it were correct,
whether the conduct of the Colonial Bishop had met with the
confirmatiun and approval of Ids spiritual superiors at home?

The Bishop of LONDON said, that as the Noble Lord who s
had just sat down had had the kindness to communicate to him
his intention of putting those questions, he was prepared to
answer them. lie should say, however, that he did not admit
that a Bishop was responsible to that House—much less to any
individual Member of the House—for any regulations he might
think fit to make in the administration of the affairs of his dio-
cese. The Noble Lord was mistaken in supposing that he, the
Bishop of London, was entrusted with the superintendence of the
spiritual affairs of all our colonies. They had no jurisdiction
whatever, except in those colonies which had not a Bishop of
their own. Canada had had, for many years, the advantage
of a Bishop to superintend its spiritual affairs, in which he (the
Bishop of London) could not therefore interfere. If he were
at any time consulted by any of our colonial Bishops, they
addressed themselves to him merely from any defer-
ence they might think fit to entertain for his opinion.
The Bishop of Quebec was answerable for any course
he might think fit to pursue, to no other party but the
Primate of all England, the Archbishop of Canterbury. It
happened, however, that the circumstances of the case to
which the Noble Lord had referred had been communicated to
him by the Bishop of Quebec. He should first Fay that the
facts of the case had been correctly stated by the Noble Lord.
The Noble Lord, however, was not correct as to the infe-
rence which he drew from those facts. It appeared, that in
the month of August, 1840, the Bishop of Quebec had ad-
dressed a letter to his clergy, calling on them not to allow
any monument to be erected in a church which was not sub-
mitted to the clergy of the place, and to take care that the
erection of such monuments should be confined to the case of
persons who had been communicants of the Church. It hap-
pened that the officer to whom the Noble Lord adverted had
died shortly after those orders had been issued, and the
Bishop saw no reason why they should not be followed in his
case. That course was, however, adopted, without any in-
tention of singling out the officer in question as an object for
the censures of the Church. Ho (the Bishop of London)
might take that opportunity of observing, that a Bishop pos-
sessed the undoubted right of making any regulations he might
think fit with respect to the erection of monuments in the
churches of his diocese. He need not remind the Noble
Lerd that even in this country that right had been not unfre-
quently exercised. There was, for example, more than one in-
stance inl which the Dean and Chapter of Westminster had
thought fit positively to refuse permission to erect monuments
in Westminster Abbey to persons of great distinction and of
high literary merits. He thought he had said enough to jus-
•tify the conduct of the Right Rev. Prelate in the case to which
the Noble Lord referred.
ADDRESS TO HER MAJESTY.

Sir R. PEEL. Sir G. CLERK. and others from the House
of Commons, brought up the Addrese, proposed by their Lord-
ships, to ber Majesty, which the Heuse of Commons had
agreed to.
On the motiontof the Earl of SHAFTESBURY it,was ordered
that the Address should be presented to her Majesty by the
whole House. It was next agreed to, on the motion of the
Noble Lord, that her Majesty should be requested to state when
she would be pleased to receive the Address.
MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES.

Lord HOWDEN had listened attentively to the answer given
by the Right Rev. Prelate to the questions he had put to him.
He (Lord Howden) thought that their Lordships would agree
with him in thinking that theregulations of the colonial Bishop
vvere neither politic in the times in which we lived, nor in har-
mony with the mild spirit of the Church of England.
Lord BROUGHAM had listened with very great interest,
and some anxiety, to the explanations of the Right Rev. Pre-
late. The defence which the Right Rev. Prelate had made,
was no doubt as powerful as the nature of the case would per-
mit. But the defence of the Right Rev. Prelate, notwith-
standing his ability, appeared to him (Lord Brougham) to be
feeble in the extreme ; and he could only explain that feeble.
ness of the defence by the badness of the cause. He rejoiced
that we had not in this country such regulations in regard to
spiritual matters as those which appeared to prevail in Canada.
He rejoiced to know that St Paul's and IN estminster Abbey
were under more just, more charitable, and more liberal super-
intendence. He would not go into particulars ; but, of this he
was sure tlat, if the same regulations which prevailed in
Canada, were enforced in St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey,
many of those monuments which grace these great national
Cathedrals, would not now be found within their walls. And
when he (Lord Brougham) adverted to the only precedent.
which the Right i'ev. Prelate had been able to cite on behalf
of his absent Brother, he must needs say that that only prece-
dent was the very one which ought to have been selected by
the Bishop of Quebec—(Hear, hear)—in order not. to fol-
low Hear, hear. )

The Bishop of LONDON said the simple statement of facts
into which he had entered should have precluded the possi-
lity of such animadversions as the Noble and Learned Lord had
made. After what had fallen from the Noble and Learned
Lord, he confessed that he had no hesitation in saying that he
thought the Bishop of Canada was perfectly justified in the
course he had pursued. A Bishop had an undoubted right to
make any regulations he might think fit relative to the erection
of monuments in the churches of his diocese. He would go a
step farther and say, that the unquestioned facility which ex-
isted with regard to the erection of monuments in the churches
of this country was a source of great abuse ; and he could not
but say that he looked upon some of the inscriptions on those
monuments with a feeling of shame. He never went into one
of those churches without taking shame to himself for the mo-
numental inscriptions which disfigured it, in commemoration of
parties who, neither in life nor in death, had shown their sense
of the privileges to which, as members of the Church, they Here
entitled. In the circumstances of this country, he dared not to
enforce the prohibition of the erection of such monuments ; but
he thought that the Bishop of Quebec was perfectly justified
in the course he had taken, if he found there was no usage in his
diocese which would prevent the enforcement of his regulations.
He insisted that it was quite consistent with the principles of
the Church and true charity. The Right Rev. Prelate con-
cluded by reading a paper containing the Bishop of Quebec's
own reasons for not allowing the erection of the tablet.
Lard BROUGHAM said he had not made any attack upon
the Right Rev. Prelate, and yet the Right Rev. Prelate said
that he rose to answer an attack made upon him by him ( Lord
Brougham). He did not think that the Right Rev. Prelate
had at all mended the ea..e, he had rather made it worse.

- .
The Bishop of LONDON explained.
Earl GALLOWAY said that, without wishing to be set
down as a bigot, he must sa)• that he agreed with every word
that had fallen from the Right Rev. Prelate.