The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-26 00:00:00

TION OF THE I%I2,TROPOLIS.

TO THE RIGHT HCH. THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AHD TEM-
PORAL OF THE trwiTzn KINGDOM OF !SMUT BRITAIN

AND IRELAND, IA PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
The Humble Petition of the undersigned Inhabitants of the
Western Portion of the Metroplie,

Snrwmt:
That your petitioners beg leave #o submit to your Lord-
ships, that the principle of the Acts of Parliament, under
which several Companies supplying the Metropolis with
Water were instituted, was to encourage competition; see-
ing that it is only from competition that a perfect security
can be had for a good, a cheap, and a plentiful supply.
That, nevertheless, by an arrangement entered into, about
the year one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, between
tite several Companies supplying the Metropolis with
ter, 11l competition was put an end to, and a monopoly of
this necessary of life virtually establish-1
That the water taken up from the River Thames, at
Chelsea, for the use of the inhabitants of the western por-
tion of the metropolis, being charged sv;''a the contents of
the great common sewers, the draining, from dung-hills
and lay-stalls, the refuse of hcspitals, slatK,hter-houses, co-
lour, lead, and soap-works, drug-mills, and manufactories,
and with all sorts of decomposed animal and vegetabieaub-
stances, rendering the said water offensive, and deetruefve
to health, ought no longer to be taken up, by any of the
Water Companies from so foul a source.
That the Grand Junction Water-works Company, hav-
ing engaged to supply their customers. with water of the
purest and most wholesome quality. to be drawn from the
Rivers Collie and Brent, and from an is menes reservoir of
nearly one hundred acres, fed by toe streams of the Vale of
Ruislip, have, nevertheless, since the month of gapteniber,
1820, drawn their supply from the Thames, at the foot of
Chelsea Hospital, and nearly adjoining to th, month of the
Great Ranelagh Com:non`_rower.
That the Water supplied by the Grand Junction fim-
pally, to more than seven thousand families, ham Leen prO-
nounced, by professional men of the first eminence, to be tt
51thy fluid, loaded with decayed vegetable matter and other
substances equally deleterious to nealth, and unfit for do-
mestic purposes.
That the Grand Junction Company, havin promised to
supply their customers with water, at a coropelatively
small charge, have, nevertheless, exacted tau increased rate,
equivalent, in no case, to less then fifty per cent., and ex-
tending, in most instances, to ninety and a hundred per
cent. ; and that they obtained, in May last, the sanction
of the Legislature to a new table of rates, by which an ad-
lition of from fifty to three hundred per cent. may be
levied on their customers.

That your petitioners are convinced, that if an inquiry
be instituted by your Honourable House, the several elle.,
tions of this petition will be eatisfactofily established, ana
that means will be discovered for placing the Supply of
Water to the Western portion of the Metropolis on a sure
and lasting foundation.
Your petitioners therefore, humbly pray, that your
Lordships will forthwith cause an inquiry to be made be-
fore a Committee of your Honourable House.
And your petitioners wi;l ever pray.

Earl STANHOPE presented a petition from an indi.
vidwil of the county of Middlesex, complaining of the pre-
sent Bankrupt Laws.
Lord DACRE presented petitions from a hundred in the
North Bing of York ; frcm a hundred in Warwick ; and
from several parishes in Sussex, against the Corn Laws.
Lord KING presented petitions from Dundee, and from
the Board of Police at Dundee, in favlur of the Corn
Laws. The Noble Lord had a petition to present from an
individual, who thought it better that Corn should come to
him cheap, than that be should be obliged to go to cheap
Corn. But as there was some informality in the petition,
his Lordship would not then press it.
Lord TEYNHAM presented a petition from the county
of Kent, against any alteration in the Corn Laws.
Lord CURZON presented a similar one from Henley,
in Leicestershire.

The Earl of ABINGDON presented a similar one from
the vicinity of Abingdon, in Berke.
Lori DRLAWARE presented a similar one from Ken',
The Earl of DARLINGTON presented a petition fro-
the Protestant Dissenters of South Shields, praying for s.
Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. His Lordsh./
read an extract of a letter which accompanied the petition.
The writer of the letter disclaimed, in the most unqualified
terms on the part of the Dissenters any intention to im,
pede or embarrass the present Government. The petitions
were then laid on the table.

Lord DUDLEY presented returns of the eipesaditure of
the Foreign Office department.

CORN BILL.

The Order of the Day for the House to resolve itself
into a Committe having been read,
Lord GODERICH rose and spoke to the following
effect :—lf, my Lords, I ask on the present occasion for
your patience and indulgcnce, I can assure you, I
do not ask it as a matter of favour, because inde-
pendently of the intense ite,)ortance of the question—inde-
pendently of the great interest which it is calculated to
excite among all classes; indeed, I may say, the vehement
feelings, if not passion, with -bich it is regarded
by its friends and opposers out of doors,—independently
of the ardour with which one ekes regard it as a measure of
benefit, and of the terror with which, on the other hand, its
opposers contemplate it, independently of all these considera-
tions, I cannot, my Lords, but recollect in whose place I
now stand.—(Cheers.)—lf my Lords, the Noble Earl,
lately at the head of his Majesty's Government, had not
been unable to attend and assist in your Lordships'
Councils, h' would have been here to explain to
you the principles and details of this most import..
ant measure. When I recollect the number of years
during which that Nobleman acted a distinguished
part in the deliberations of this House, when I recol-
lect that he had a capacity endowed with a clearness almost
peculiar to himself to explain, and simplify the most diffi-
cult and complicated subject ; and finally, when I recollect
that no man within thee* walls, by his personal cha-
racter as well as by his strength of mind, enjoy-
ed so large share of the confidence of your Lordships ;
it is impossible that I should not feel the weight which this
measure must have derived from his advocacy—(Cheers)
—and the immeasurable distance at which I am placed from
him. There is, however, my Lords, one point in which
I will not yield even to my Noble F. end, and that is,
the deep and sincere conviction which I have felt in com-
mon with what are his ecutiments, that the Bill
now before your Lordships, will be productive of
the greatest benefit to all classes of his Majesty's
subjects, and to none more than to that particular class to
which your Lordships belong, and which naturally looks
up to you for the protection of their interests. lam fortified
my Lords by this conviction, formed, I can assure you
after no small deliberation. lam convinced also, that
whatever feeling or doubts your Lordships may entertain
as to the policy of this measure, whatever prejudice: you
may have towards it, will be overcome, and that this
Bill will pass into a law. lam fortified in the conclusion
to which 'I have come by the sentiments which I know that
my Noble Friend, now unfortunately absent, entertained ;
and I am fortified also by the opinions of *eta Noble
Lords, who have lately become connected with his Ma-
jesty's Government ; a connection founded upon principles
which no man can impeach ; a connection, moreover, cal-
culated to protect and serve the ;nterests of their country.
I know, my Lords, that much blame has been cast on
his Majesty's government for agitating this question at all.
(Hear, hear.)—There were many considerations which
should deter the Government :Lan touching it without
the most clear and palpable necessity. That necessity
(continued the Noble Lord) did arise from circumstances
which it was impossible to contreul, and from transactions
connected with that class which now more violently than
any other opposed the present measure. The present
laws came into operation almost immediately after they
had been enacted in 1815. The ports were at once closed,
and were again opened after ors of the worst harvests and
most unfavourable seasons that had occurred wi-
the memory of man. It in fact affected the growth
of corn all over Europe : the ports were opened
from the sth November 1810, to February 1818.
ftTohhreeairtvherreLaegoerdmbeleolninipstghs. would recollect that the harvest of
1817 was a very indifferent one, and though the Porte
were thrown open, the Corn
sloensgthubl,inogne, thetbe
pestlriteFwebe.r,e
continued to rise to au
enormous price,
They remained closed no longer
IcBlolsta6,l
than that period, and were again opened, when in
consequence of the shortness of supply the prices again
" nu6nld ear*