The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-15 00:00:00

CORN-LAWS.

Lord CAMPBELL presented a petition from Edin-
burgh, praying for a total and immediate repeal of the
Corn-laws. He had been requested to support the prayer
of the petition ; now, although he had the greatest respect
for the petitioners, he was not able to go so far as to vote
for a total and ;minediate repeal of the Corn-laws, be-
cause considering the number of years during which the
Corn-laws had existed, he thought that great evils
might ensue from so sudden and violent a change.
But he was not prepared to support any modification of
those laws which would not admit of a free-trade in corn
at all times—(Hear, hear)—because a measure which
would not do that would not produce a steady price—
would not promote the sale of our manufactures—would
not prevent the evils of the existing system—would not
prevent the derangement of out monetary system,
inasmuch as it would not tend to promote a
barter between England and corn growing countries,
but when we required their corn we should have to pay
for it in bullion. It would thus tend to perpetuate all
the evils of the existing system. He would not consent
to any alterations of the Corn-laws which would not at
all admit of the free importation of corn at a moderate
fixed duty.

RF;GULATION OF BUILDINGS BILL.
The Marquis of NORMANBy presented a petition
from the Mayor and Town Council of Birmingham,
praying that the carrying out the provisions of the Bill,
might be confided to the town council, instead of to cer-
tain commissioners, as had been proposed in the Bill. The
petitioners likewise prayed to be heard by counsel on
the subject, at the bar of their Lordships' house.
The Bill was then read a third time and passed.
DRAINAGE OF TOWNS BILL.
The Marquis of NORMANBY wished to impress upon
the Noble Duke opposite, the necessity of drawing the
attention of his colleagues in the Government to the pro-
priety of introducing a Bill for the drainage of towns
into the other House.

BOROUGH IMPROVEMENTS BILL.
The Borough Improvements Bill was read a third
time, and passed.
APPROPRIATION ACT AMENDMENT BILL.
On 'the motion of the Duke of WELLINGTON the
Appropriation Act Amendment Bill was read a third
time and passed.

Viscount MELBOURNELCoeerdn! awonmsu aenprayingsreaciltlhsooaottnf'ohatrEe
vessels
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might
chnmbge
subjected
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were
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due:
CORN-LAWS.
presented a petition from
b
ll
ipanin'm'ooiaitnieeltnsdaedtoiCio; also a petition from Antrim, praying for the
marriages:nintroductionaent tohfe s
no
emcleel measure
necessity
osoubfrl
ee
speedily
oei
se legalisecd(i)li).i
t ur
introducinggle' rdesubpyot
upon
somer ia
then
Govern
measure for that purpose.
PRESBYTERIAN MIXED MARRIAGES.
Lord CAMPBELL referred to the recent decision
of the Judges in Irelar_d, and observed that the firmer
decision upon the subject of those marriages, were much
more to be relied on, than the decison alluded to. It was
much to be regretted that a question of such infinite import-
ance was not determined otherwise than merely by the
conviction of a criminal. The Noble Lord suggested to his
Noble Friend, before he introduced the Bill upon the sub-
ject of these marriages, it would be of the utmost import-
ance. to consider what the law was precisely, though he
perfectly agreed with his Noble Friend who had pre-
sented the petition, that no time should be lost in de-
termining so serious a matter ; it seemed to him (Lord
Campbell) of vast importance, first, to determine what
the law upon the subject of those marriages was.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said he had written
to Ireland to ascertain what the precise terms of the
decision in the case alluded to was, and when he had
received a communication froin the Learned Judge
before whom the trial took place, then he (the Lord
Chancellor) would introduce a Bill either declaratory or
enacting.

The Marquis of CLANRICARDE concurred with
the Noble and Learned Lord who had suggested the
necessity of considering what the law was upon the
subject of those marriages. It was also of the utmost
importance that time' should not be unnecessarily lost,
because every day serious evils might arise, and
were actually arising, every day. For instance,
a person in a humble rank of life, who was a member of
the Chnrch of ' England, had been married for somQ
years to a Presbyterian, by a clergyman of that per-
suasion, and since the decision had been made upon
the subject by the Judges in Ireland, that man deserted
his wife, who was obliged to go into the poor-house to
procure the necessaries of life. ,The Noble Lord
then presented petitions from the Presbyterian con-
gregation of Galway, and from the Presbyterian con-
gregation of Stewartstown, in the county of Tyrone,
praying the House to pass a law for the immediate
regulation of Presbyterian marriages.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from the
Roman Catholic inhabitants of Kendal for a repeal of
the Corn-laws. Also a petition from working men of
Kendal, which stated that the rights of industry were
tampered with by unjust restrictions, imposed by the
Legislature on labour ; and, therefore, they prayed for a
total and immediate repeal of all monopolies On commerce,
by which the petitioners would be enabled to sell
their labour in the best market. The petitioners
also stated that the repeal of these laws would be the
most effectual mode of regulating the labour of children
in factories. The Noble Lord also presented a petition
from a place in Surrey for the repeal of the Corn-laws ;
also a petition from the manufacturers employed by

born subji►ct,-- they had no power over him to
give him np on such a charge till a law be
made arming the Government with the power
to do so. Ile had referred their Lordships to cases where
the Government had been armed with powers to perform
these obligr►tions ; but without the power conferred by
Act. of Parliament it would be impossible to perform
these obligati►,vs. He had stated that the only doubt in
his mind with regard to the Creole was, that a piratical
case had been committed. The case of piracy stood in
two particulars in a very different position from any
other case where the charge is against an alien, for
crimes'committed beyond the jurisdiction of the country;
for whereas in any other case they would have no power
to arrest and detain, in the case of piracy it was un-
deniable they had power to seize and to detain, though
the person charged stiould be an alen. In the case of
piracy, also, they had not only the power of seizing and
detaining a person, but they could send him to his
trial, so that here there would be no fear of his
going unpunished ; but in case or murder committed
in a foreign country they had no power either
to detain, seize, or give him up. It was impossible to
deny, and he (Lord Brougham) did not deny, that this
was a state of law which ought not to continue. The
rights of justice required, and the rights of good
neighbourhood required, that in two countries bor-
dernig on one another, as the United States and
England —in reference with their colonies and
even in England and France, Holland, and Bel-
gium, there ought to be laws on both sides, giving
power to each Government to secure offenders who have
committed offences in the territory of, one, and taken
relnge in the territory of anot?rer• He could hardly
imagine how nations could maintain the relationship
which ought to exist between one country and another,
without being armed with some such power ; at present
however, such power did not exist ; there was no law

in this country to justify such a proceeding.—
lie understood that in the year 1822 a law was passed
by one of' the border States of America, conferring the
power in question; about the same time by our province
of Canada conferring the same power; and in consequence
of those two laws there was- a mutual giving•up of
persons charged with offences. A similar law had been
passed in Belgium, but only under certain restrictions,
and operating only in cases where certain proceedings had
already taken place with respect to persons charged ;
and, above all, only in cases where there was a reci-
procity in other points between the two countries. It
was on these grounds that he had troubled them with
observations on the subject, both now and on the.first
night of the session.

Lord ABERDEEN said, in answer to the ques-
tion of his Noble and Learned Friend, he begged
to inform the House, that communications had taken
place between the Governor of the Bahamas and her Ma-
jesty's Government on the subject. Perhaps the Noble
and Learned Lord would not press for the production of
those communications in the present stage of the trans-
action. particularly when he informed the House what
the course of her Majesty's Government had been on
this question. As their Lordships might well imagine,
her 111,ijesty's Government had given the question their
most seriou§ and anxious attention, and after taking
advantage of ‘ all the assistance which they thought de •
sirable on the subject they have satisfied themselves that
by the laws of this country there is no machinery or
authority fur brinLing those persons to trial for mutiny
dnd murder, still less for delivering them up.
The Secretary of State for the Colonial Department
had therefore sent out orders for releasing those persons
who had hitherto been detained. He was not certain but
under our colonial law these persons might be brought to
trial. It was possible, as the Noble and Learned
Lord had cited the existence of such a law in the
Canadas. If such a law did exist, of course it could be
acted upon ; but should there not be such a law, direc-
tions had been sent by the Government to release the
parties.

Lord DENMAN said he believed that all Westminster-
hall, including the Bench, were of the same opinion
as had just been expressed by the Noble Earl. The law of
England furnished no instance whatever tbr delivering up
persons accused of crimes committed in a foregn country.
When the Alien Bill was before Parliament, the lawyers
came to the same opinion. Sir Charles Wetherall, a
man not likely to be led by political opinion, had ex-
pressed a strong opinion on this subject, and had
given a strong example in support of it. He
expressly stated that offences committed in a

foreign country form no reason for refusing protection
to the parties if in this country. He said that if the re-
gicides of Louis XVI. had sought shelter in this country,
they ought not to have been sent away; and that refugees
for crime ought to find an asylum in this country. This •
was not a new doctrine ; there was a passage in Lord
Coke to the same effect, and one which could
not be read without interest :—" It had been
holden and resolved, kingdoms in league with one an-
other should be a sanctuary to the servants and subjects
of each. - if they fly for safety from one coun-
try to the other ; and if a demand be made fir them
they cannot by the laws and liberties of this kingdom be
delivered back." lie then refers to a text of Scripture in
support of his opinion, and goes on to mention two cases
between France and England, one in which the Ambassador
of Queen Elizabeth made a demand for one Morgan, ac-
cused of treason, to which demand the French ourt
replied, that if he had committed an offence in France
the law would be acted on, but he was not
given up ; and the other, where Elizabeth
he
thestates that this doctrine
. Supreme
afforded protection to the French Huguenots when they
were demanded to be delivered up -for having committed
rebellion against the French Crown. These opinions were
not confined to the lawyers of this country,
as one to exactly the same effect had been given
might subject the Go-
by Judge Storey in America. After citing the same
psibility of an action
Court of the
plUvaanssistaiengddeirSfertcoatnitleys.LcoonHrfiderCmwoekasde'byq.uite sure that no Govern-
ment could give any decision that should appear
in the remotest degree to favour the slave-trade, and he
reminded that House that enforcing a seizure
of
vsuercuhmpeenrstonosffi,
for false imprisonment, or even the still more awful
responsibility of murder should t ie parties resist, and
they would be justified in resisting any force that
officer to
might be used to seize them. lie_. reserved his opinion
of the case, but was sure that their Lordships would re-
joice that two hundred human beings In a state of
slavery had restored themselves to a state of freedom.
without t
ii
e authority,
res
Lord CAMPBELL should not have presented him-
self to their Lordships, had it not been stated that
during the time he had held the office of Attorney-
General, he had given it _ as his opinion that
foreign Governments had authority to demand that
their subjects, accused of crimes, and who had taken re-
fuge in the territories of other Governments, should be
delivered up to them. He had never given any such opi-
nion; on the contrary, he bad always given it as his
decided opinion, that, according to the law of 'nations fo-
reign Governments had no right to make any such demand
and that by the municipal law of England there was no
power given to comply with any such demand. This had
been laid down by all the authorities, and Mr. Martens,
the Professor of Law in the University of Gottingen, bad
in his work laid down the law very explicitly on the subject.
No State could have_ any such right unless it acquired
it by treaty. In that way an imperfect right might
be acquired, but, according to the law of na-
tions, there was no perfect right to make an,,, such
demand. Mr. Week, the American Minister at Berlin,
had laid down the law that no State had a right to make
any such demand unless there was a Specific compact

for a repeal of the Corn-laws.
Mr. HINI)LEY presented thirty-three petitions for
the total and immediate repeal of the corn -laws. One
petition signed by upwards of 5,000 persons from the
borough of Ashton-under-Lyne ; one froth Mossley
signedrf
from
I,oooth persons,
e u3,e c r
oft u
od
fe ‘
the v ,
Ashtonfrom lilloerfos Iremy
fßr amn cAh
Association, from the workpeople of Messrs. A. and S.
Rycroft, from the workpeople of Mr. Peter Platt
and of Mr. Evan Leigh, Ashton, from Mr. Boulton Moli-
neaux and his family, Warrington, from the workpeople of
of Mr. T. Eskrigge, of Messrs W. and J. Hicks, War-
rington, from the Independent Dissenters Upper Mile
Saddieworth, and the Wesleyan Methodists Ashton-
under-Lyne, and from the workpeople etnployed in twenty
different firms in the parish of Manchester.
Mr. SCHOLEFIELD presented a petition from Bir-
mingham, signed by upwards of 3,000 persons, praying
for a total and immediate repeal of the Corn-laws, and
the removal of all restrictions on national: industry.
The Hon. Member also presented the following petition :
To the Honourthle the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland
in Parliament assembled,
The Petition of the Church and Congregation worshipping at
Ebenezer Chapel, Steelhouse-lace, Birmingham ;
Humbly snoweth.—That your petitioners beg to state, that,
in their opinion, the agricultural interest is of vast importance
to the prosperity of the British nation, but as what is morally
wrong cannot be politically right, they are decidedly of opinion
that to attempt to support that interest. by any indirect taxation
on the coutmercialint,rests of the kingdom is no less impolitic
than unjust, and necessarily calculated to injure rather than
promote it.
Your petitioners therefore pray your Honourable Ilouss at
once to repeaVall laws which tend to enbarice the price of bread,
and for the following reasons :-
1. Such law's are based on injustice, as the following state-
ment will prove ;—•
The Corn-laws, and indeed all laW, which tend to enhance
the price of provisions arc a tax, not. on wealth but on poverty,
and the tax becomes oOressive in an exact ratio to the de,
green of a man's poverty. . _

. . .
This is evident fronfthe foßowingicaleinf calculation.
Assuming that the tali4ites.the.price Of a loaf from sixpence
to eightpence, every cdpstimei of such .a lo4f pays a.tax of two-
pence.
o"
•
A man has a family, copsisting of six members,'who consume
one loaf a day, his income is one guinea, tivo, five, ten,. fifty.
His neighbour has also silr in his. tismily ; but as they have no
meat, or fish, or eggs t.l.c)cit, no ale or wine to drink, they will
consume two loaves a clay. This man's income is three shil-

pings, two shillings, or eighteen.pence a day. Thus, while the
rich man, whose income is fifty guineas a day, pays only two-
pence as his quota of the tax, thg poor man who has only
eighteen-pence a day pays fourpence.
Your petitioners, therefore, sole only protest against a law
which is based on such unjust and iniquitous principles, and
now appeal to your Honourable House, and ask Whether you
can reasonably expect the great mass of our labouring popu-
lation to remain contented pith such a scheme of legislation.
2. Such laws, by their practical operation, inflict such a
vast amount of suffering on the great masses of the people,
while they tend, at the same time, to increase thg wealth .of
the affluent. The rich landlord, whose rent is raised by the
operation of the Corn-laws, can afford to indulge his appetite
with all the luxuries which the most remote countries can
supply ; but this indulgence is gratified by entailing the most
appalling suffering on the poor. They are doomed to a con-
dition of half starvation m the land of abundance. They
wander about the streets telling their tale of woe, or remain
within their dreary habitations pouring forth their lamentations
in tones too agonizing to disclose. Thousands and tens of
thousands are not half fed, and while they are compelled .to
devote all their money to purchase food, they are all left with-
out a zufficiency of clothing, of fuel, and of all the other com-
forts of life.

3. Such laws tend to promote universal discontent, and, un-
less repealed, will cause the suffering poor to long for some or-
ganic cnange in the political constitution of the country. The
suffering poor know that many of the aristocracy are dissatisfied
with the laws ; that the late Government and their gracious
Queen wished to effect a change in these unjust and cruel
laws ; that some of the members of the present Administration
have, by their speeches and pamphlets, protested against these
laws as the primary cause of national suffering ; that the manu-
facturers, tradesmen, and especially that the patriotic Dissent-
ing ministers of the country, denounce these laws as in opposi-
tion to the laws of God as laid down in the Scriptures ; and to
suppose, while they know this accumulating amount of dissatis-
faction is daily increasing amongst the classes above them, that
they will patiently submit to their sufferings without cherishing
feelings hostile to the Government, which could, but which

neglects, to relieve them, would beno less childish than absurd.
Your petitioners, therefore, hope that your Honourable
House will take the subject of an early and entire repeal of
these unjust laws into your serious consideration.
And your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. C. WOOD presented several similar petitions from
congregations in the town of Halifax.
Mr. DENISTOUN :presented 128 petitions from Glas-
gow and other places, one of which bore 54,658 signa-
tures.—(Hear, hear.) That petition denounced the
measure of the Government as an insult to the country,
and in that he cordially agreed with them.—(llcar, hear.).
The petitioners, however, had no hope of any beneficial
remedy from the House as at pre:;ent constituted.
Mr. BROTHE R TON presented 14 petitions from places
in Lancashire and Cheshire, for a total repeal of the Corn-
laws. The petitioners viewed with astonishment and
indignation the attempt made by the Government to
impose upon the common sense of the people by their
proposition respecting those laws.—(Cheers.)
Mr. GRANTLEY BERKELEY presented several
petitions to the same effect from Dursley, Caine, and
other places in Gloucestershire,

Similar petitions from Kendal and other places were
presented by Mr. G. W. Wood, Mr. Carter, and an Hon.
Member whose name we did not learn.
COLONEL CONOLLY presented a petition from
Donegal praying for an alteration of the laws affecting
the laws relating to Presbyterian marriages.
Sir G. STRICKLAND presented a petition from
Preston, signed by 16,800 persons, praying that those
unjust laws might be struck out of the statute-book, be-
cause they defeated the benevolent intentions of Provi-
dence. The Hon. Member also presented a petition from the
Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the borough of Pres-
ton; and one from Fleetwood, in Lancashire; and 26
from different parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire, to
the same effect.

Mr. EWART presented a petition from 28,000 of the
inhabitants of Edinburgh; also from the inhabitants of
Preston, in Lancashire ; from Forfarshire ; from the
borough of Selkirk, from a Congregational Church as-
sembling in Fife ; 13 from different families in Wigratn,
and one from the inhabitants, all praying for a repeal of
the Corn-laws.

•
Mr. H. BERKELEY presented 47 petitions from 47
different trades in the city of Bristol, praying for a repeal
of the Corn-laws ; also from 17,799 inhabitants of the
city and county of Bristol to the same effect.
Mr. MILNER GIBSON presented a petition from
8,000 unemployed operatives of Manchester to the same
effect.
Mr. THORNELY presented a petition from the mer-
chants of Wolverhampton, praying for a total and im-
mediate repeal of the Corn and Provision-laws. The
Hon. Member stated that this petition was agreed to at
one of the largest in-door meetings ever held in that
important borough. The Honourable Member also
presented petitions to the same effect from Montrose, and
several ti,atholic and Protestant congregations of Liver-
pool ; and ten petitions, with the same prayer, from .the
working men in Manchester.
Colonel RAWDON presented a petition from Armagh,
praying for a measure to legalise Catholic and Presbyte-
rian marriages.
PRIVATE BILLS.
Lord GRANVILLE SOMERSET gave notice of his
intention to move several resolutions respecting petitions
for private Bills ; they are to the following effect—That
as regards such private petitions presented in the present

• session, and whielt proebede frbta the same parties,
having the same objects as here sought lay any Bills that
passed to second reading in the htst session, MO were
61.)ircie,iii(:t!ditillicteiettgitoloNniiiitaohtifititefirriiisai.e;1301,11tillst:
rie'itiaatmorean-tt'oath:e°rn;
session,)l(islfitetrhsapt
teig:lililtnrodttetien of such Bills in
tits present one. That the minutes of Com-
inqtee on , petitions for private Bills of last. session,
be taken fist etidenee of the compliance with such stand-
ing orders ; the Committee to call for further evidence
if they deem it necessary. The Committee to ascertain
whether such bill be bone fide for the same objects as
the billa.presented last session. The parties promoting
such iill4; after the introduction, and previous to
the secatid felt tit; to give notice in the London Ga-
zette, and the kVA of minty paper of the district,
of their intention to pro Med avith such Bills.
Lord DUNC.A.N and Mr. BuslitElat presented petitions
in favour of a repeal of the Corn-lawg.
Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD presentj4 a petition
from the inhabitants of the borough of Rochdaa :The
petitioners alleged that the present Corn and Provision--
laws were oppressive to every class or the community—
only excepting the owners of the soil. That the truth
of this allegation wits rendered more manifest each
succeeding year by the ram decline of commerce
and manufactures. That vast Waltitudes of their
countrymen Were suffering privatiniig from want.
of employment and want of food, which must
breed burning discontent, and portend alarming cala-
mities to the nation ;.
that.these laws increased the
ren MI of the landlords •of 'Britain, at the exease_ of a
grievous wrong committed upon all other classes of the
community. They, therefore, prayed for the immc•liate
and total abolition of all iaailia which prevented the free
importation of grain and provlaiotia, The petition was
:.ianed be fen. thousand and ten name§ lti the borough
of Rochdale. 1145 Pon. Member also presented ..a
pAition from the Soc'ie'ty of Friends. ' They alleged that i
any obstruction to the free iitipbmnion of provisions was
directly opposed to the divine disientiaattons of Provi-
dence ; that such laws doomed thousatiX to the horrors
of famine, and were at veriance with not fatly the tem-
poral but the eternal interept, of man ; that such
unrighteous legislation must lAN; frightful retri-
bution, and indict awful calamities OD the nation.
The Honourable Member also presented :wither
petition from the congregation of Wesleyan Methodists,
These petitioners, among other allegations, stated, that
these laws were injurious to the morals of the people ;
seriously hindering the spread of religion, and prevented,
to a deplorable degree, the benign effects which Chris-
tianity was calculated to produce. The lion. Member
also presented three petitions from the congregations of
Water-street Chapel, Hope Chapel, and Baillie-street
Chapel; and one from the Sunday School Teachers of the
Baillie-street Chapel, all setting forth similar allegations.
These petitions were signed by 903 names. The /lot.
Member also presented six petitions froth the villages of
Lower-place, Miln-row, Rahewood, and Shaw Clough ;
also one from the printers at Gale Print-works, signed
by 2.301 names. All the above petitions prayed for
the immediate and total repeal of the duties on corn and
provisions, mid were signed in the whole by 13,214 names.
The Hon. Member also presented a petition from certain
Members of the United SecessiOn Church, and others
1 belonging to West Kilbride, Ayrshire, agreed to at a
public meeting joining in a like prayer, and the petitions
.further prayed that the People's Charter might be made
the law of the land.
Mr. SHAW presented a petition from Dublin, praying
for the adoption of some regulations with respect to
Dissenters' marriages,
1)r. 110 WRING presented three petitions from Kirk-
ably and two other places, praying for the protectioN of
British industry, and the repeal of the Corn-laws.
Mr. JOHNSON presented several petitions from
Lancashire, praying for the repeal of the Corn-laws.
Mr. lIAWES presented thirty-four petitions from
places adjacent to the metropolis, praying for the re-
peal of the Corn-laws. He presented also thirty-three
petitioris from Dunstable, Hertford, and other places, to
to the same effect.
Mr. WAKLEY presented a petition from a place in
Scotland, of which tile name was not heard in the
gallery. for Universal Suffrage and Annual Par-
liaments.
Mr. ALDER presented a petition from Leeds signed
by 3,517 persons ; ten petitions from congregations of
Protestant Dissenters, and numerous other petitions, all
praying for an immediate and total repeal of the Corn-
taws. I
Mr. RIGBY WASON presented a petition, nume-
rously signed, from Ipswich, to the same effect.
Mr. M. PHILLIPS presented a petition from Man-
chester, signed by 68,850 persons to the same effect. The
petitions stated that by the last census the town of Man-
chester contained upwards of 240,000 inhabitants, and
it was the centre of a district, with a population of no
less than one million, which were entirely depen-
dant on manufactures for their support. The distress
which that largo population were suffering was unparal-
leled in extent and duration, and they were convinced
that it was brought about by the Corn-laws, which pre-
vented them from exchanging the produce of their labour
fur the food produced in other countries, and they prayed
for the total repeal of those laws. He presented a great
number of petitions from Salford, and from various Dis-
senting congregations in different parts of the country.
Mr. J. HEATHCOTE presented a petition from Ti-
verton, for the repeal of the Corn and Provision-laws.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE presented petitions from Exeter
and Hull, to the same effect.
Mr. B. WOOD presented a petition, signed by 15,000
inhabitants of the borough of Southwark, praying for
a repeal of the Corn-laws, and the removal of all restric-
tions on the industry of the people.
Mr. MACAULAY presented four petitions front
Edinburgh to the same effect.
Mr. J. PARKER presented a petition, sired by
15,912 Inhabitants of the town of Sheffield, praying for a
repeal of the Corn-laws.
Petitions to the same effect, from Derby, were pre-
sented by Mr. William Evans ; front Barnstaple, signed
by 9,000 persons, and from Milford, by an Hon. Member;
from Nailsworth, by Mr. Poulett Scrope ; from Wick,
by Mr. Lock ; from Southampton, by Mr. A. Murray ;
from Renfrew, Stirling, and places in Lancashire, by
Mr. P. Stuart ; and from several places also in Lanca-
shire, by Mr. O'Connell.
Sir R. FERGUSON presented a petition on the sub-
ject of Dissenters' marriages.
Mr. HASTIE presented a petition from Paisley for a
total repeal of the Corn-laws.
Mr. RUNDLE presented a petition from the agricul-
tural district of Ashburton, Devon, for a repeal of the
Corn-laws, to which the petitioners attribute the de-
pressed state of agriculture to their operation.
Mr. COBDEN presented forty-two petitions from
Dundee and various other places, all praying for a re-
peal of the Corn-laws.
Lord J. RUSSELL presented several petitions, with
the same prayer.
Aldenaian lIUMPHERY presented a petition front
Southwark, praying for a total repeal of the Corn-laws.
ORDNANCE ESTIMATES.
Captain BOLDERO presented the Ordnance estimates.
Lord PALMERSTON presented a petition from the:
Trades' Union of Manchester, praying for a free trade
in Corn.