The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-21 00:00:00

The motion for the adjournment elicited loud cries of
"Divide, divide." _ .

On the question of adjournment being put,
Sir R. PEEL said he deeply regretted that it should be
considered necessary again to adjourn the debate on this
subject.—( Hear, hear.) He thought that, unless there
were some absolute necessity for adjournment, justice to-
wards her Majesty's Government ought to induce the House
to continue the discussion that night, for the purpose of
having an opinion pronounced on the subject.—( Cheers.) 'this
was quite clear—that it was absolutely necessary that this
matter should be (disposed •f before any other business was
proceeded with ; and that business which must necessarily be
postponed, if the adjournment took place, was business of the
utmost importance to the commercial and general interests of
the country. The Hon. Gentleman who had now moved the
adjournment, is, I helieve, the same Hon. Member who moved
iron the first night of the debate.
Mr. Mr. COLLETT—No.
Sir R. PEEL—Of this he was sure, that if the Hon. Gen.
tlernan wished to speak he would be listened to with great at-
tention. It was now only twelve o'clock. If the debate were
postponed, it must necessarily take the precedence of other
business to-morrow. This would lead to the postponement of
the motion of the Hon. Member f. r Manchester on the sugar
duties until Monday, and the Noble Lord's motion must also
again be postponed. Looking to the great public interests
concerned, he thought it was the duty of the House to make
some sacrifice of its convenience.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. COLLETT regretted that he could not fall into the
views of the Right Hon. Baronet. The House met at four
o'clock, and he had for several hours been endeavouring to
ca'ch the eye of the Speaker.—(Laughter.) It was impossible
to gain attention at so late an hour; and he must therefore
persist in his motion of adjournment.
Lord J. RUSSELL said he rose merely to say that he had
expected, after the speech of the Hon. and Learned Member
for Bath, some Member connected with the Government—pro-
bably the Solicitor-:general—would have risen to reply to the
Hon. and Learned Gentleman, and that the debate would have
gone on to a division. He thought it was impossible to deny
that an adjournment would cause great public inconvenience.
He should certainly give his vote against the adjournment.
Mr. BLEWITT expressed his gratitude to the Hon. Mem-
ber for Finsbury for having brought this subject forward. He
declared that the practice of opening letters was totally contrary
to law, inconsistent with the British Constitution, and a viola-
tion of the rights of property.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said he had risen to address
the House when the Hon. and Learned Member for Bath re-
tamed his seat, but he did not succeed in catching the Speaker's
eye. He had remained in the House during the whole debate,
and he was necessarily very fatigued. He, however, felt it his
duty to address the House on this subject, notwithstanding the
lateness of the hour. He trusted the debate would be proceeded
with. _ _

Mr. BROTHERTON—I would advise my Hon. Friend not
to divide if you are determined to finish.—( Laughter.)
Mr. AGLIONBY suggested that the debate should be ad-
journed to Wednesday next.—(Cries of " No, no, no.")
Sir R. PEEL did not think it was just to her Majesty's Mi-
nisters to postpone the decision on this question for several days.
I say at once," said the Right Hon. Baronet, " in the present
position of the debate, that I certainly will bring on no public
business until the division of the House has been taken on this
question."—(Loud cheers. )
Strangers were then ordered to withdraw, and the House
divided, when there appeared—
For the adjournment 29
Against it
Majority against the adjournment
On our admission to the gallery, we found
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL on his legs addressing the
House. He trusted that the decision that had been come to, had
convinced the House that they ought to proceed with the de-
bate.—(Cries of " No, no," and "Go on.") He thought
this course scarcely fair, if it was the intention to adjourn the
debate.—( Cries of" Adjourn," and " Goon," amidst which
the Solicitor-General sat down.)
After a few observations from Mr. BOUVERIE respecting
the appointment of the Committee in the House of Lords,
Mr. S. HERBERT explained that th,t Committee in the
House of Lords was moved for by Lord Radnor himself.
Mr. BOUVERIE said that Lord Radnor moved for the
Committee, but it was the Government who appointed the
Committee, and excluded Lord Radnor's name from it.
Mr. BRIG H I. was sorry that the House did not divide that
night, but, under the circumstances, he would put it to the
House whether it would not be inconsistent to continue the de-
bate. He should, therefore, again more the adjournment of
the House.
Sir ROBERT PEEL thought the House had sufficiently
marked its opinion that it was an unreasonable adjournment,
but as of course the Government would wish to take a division.
when it did occur, in a full House, and as it was evident that at
least a hundred Members had left, he would consent to adjourn
the debate till this day. (An immediate rush of Members from the
House took place on the announcement of the Right Hon.
Baronet.)
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said, he thought the Right lion.
Gentleman had exercised a sound discretion, but thought that
great inconvenience was caused by these repeated adjourn-
ments, when in two or three hours the question might have
been decided. _ _ _

Mr. BROTHERTON denied that any blame could attach
to him, as whenever there was a disposition to come to a ter-
mination that evening he never interfered, but it was evident
that the debate could not be closed, unless the House had sat
till five or six o'clock.

After a few words from Mr. WILLIAMS,
Sir R. PEEL said he hoped a vigorous attempt would be
made by the Noble Lord to prevent another adjournment of
the present debate.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE said, before a vigorous attempt was
made to put down the system of adjournment, he hoped the
Right Honourable Baronet would have justice on his side,
before this vigorous attempt was made to stifle dis-
cussion in that House. It was totally impossible they
could conclude the debate thus. The subject was now
out of his hands and in those of the Noble Lord, and the ques-
tion might be called a personal one 11;etween himself and the
Government, which knew, as well as he did, that they had
opened his letters. Nothing could be more tyrannical than
their refusing him any justification, and he would not allow
any public business to go on till some satisfaction was given to
the House and the public. The Government might have
adjourned the debate to some evening when it would net
have been inconvenient to them, but the Right Ho•
nourable Baronet knew that public opinion was beginning
to bear against them on this question, and the public
would not see injustice done to any man, even though
it %ere to so humble an individual as he himself was.
But did they think the matter should stop there ? No ; cer-
tainly not. He was determined to clear his character from the
impotat.ons thrown upon it by the Hon. Members for Bute
and Pontefract, and indirectly by the Right Hon. Baronet
himself, by associating his name with the violent outbreaks in
the year 1842. He would maintain that it was a base and
mean act to open letters, which in their place they dare not
avow to have done.
Mr. S. WORTLEY assured the Hon. Gentleman, in the
most positive and solemn manner, that he had never accused
him of giving the slightest encouragement to those disturbances
—so far from it, he verily believed, that if the letters
of the Hon. Gentleman had been opened, they would have
been found to contain exhortations against such violence.
Mr. DUNCOMBE must say, that he had understood the
Hon. Gentleman to state to the House, that he (Mr. Dun-
combo) had been in correspondence with those evil-disposed
persons aho attempted with hand grenades to burn the town of
Sheffield.

Mr. S. WORTLEY assured the Hon. Member that he had
never used such language.
Mr. BRIGHT put a question to Sir Robert Peel as to the
business of the House.

Sir R. PEEL, after saying that he would on a future occa-
sion explain some phrases which the Hon. Member (Mr.
Duncombe) had misrepresented, sa;d that regarding the busi-
ness of the House he could not make any other arrangements
than had been made, from the circumstance which had occurred.
The debate was then adjourned.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the
House adjourned at a Quarter-past One.

PRINCESs'S THEATRE, OXFORD-STREET.
LESSEE, MR. J. M. MADDOX.
THIS EVENING
Will be performed Shakspeare's Tragedy of MACBETH. Mac-
beth, Mr. Forrest ; Macduff, Mr. Graham ; Baoquo, Mr. Maury
Wallack ; Lady Macbeth, Miss Cushman.
To conclude with HIGH LIFE BELOW STAIRS.