The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-01 00:00:00

TREATY WITH NAPLES.

Mr. BAILLIE wished to ask the Right Hon. Gentle-
man, at the head of her Majesty's Government, whether
the Neapolitan Government had entered into a treaty
with Mr. M'Gregor, and if so, whether he had any ob-
jection to lay that treaty on the table of the House.
Sir R. PEEL said he had the satisfaction of being
able to state that negotiations were now pending with
the proper authorities, and (as we understood) when it
was properly ratified that there would be no objection to
lay it before the House.
AMERICAN CORN.

Sir C. NAPIER' asked a question relative to what
had fallen from the' Right Icon. Baronet, the Member for
Tamworth, on a former night, relative to the time, in
which a vessel could make the passage from America to
Liverpool. The Hon. and Gallant Member stated that
there was a proper officer whoSe duty it was to ascertain,
and who in fact did ascertain, by questions put to the
captain, as to the periods of the ship's departure and ar-
rival, the exact time occupied by the voyage.
Sir R. PEEL said, if he found on further inquiry,
that the means of giving such information existed, and
that there was an officer who had such a record of the
time of voyages, he should have no objection to state it
to the House.
Mr. FITZROY hoped that if there were the
means of supplying • the :information asked
for by the Honourable and Gallant Member
for Marylebone, the Government would give it. He
hoped they would go farther—(Order, order)—he would
ask if the Right Hon. Baronet would also grant a return
of the quantity of flour brought over by American vessels
to Liverpool, with the number of days such vessels were
on their passage:
Mr. TIIORNELY was about to make a few observa-
tions, when he was called to order.
Sir R. PEEL repeated what he had before stated,
that if he found any public authority had a record of
the time referred to, he would immediately furnish the
information required by the Hon. and Gallant Member.
Sir CHARLES -NAPIER rose again, but was loudly
called to order; and the conversation dropped.
ENGLISH REGISTRATION BILL.
Mr. ELPIIINSTONE asked what were the inten-
tions of the Government with respect to the English
registration ?
Sir R. PEEL said, as soon as they had made some
progress with the important measure now occupying the
House, the next Bill to which he should call their atten-
tion would be one relating to English registration. He
should not lay any other Bill on the table till the present
measure was disposed of.
• RAILWAYS.
The Order of the Day for the second rending of the
Railway Bill having been read,
Mr. F. MAULE begged to ask the Right Iron.. Gentl-
eman the Secretary for the Home Department, a question,
to which his attention had lately been drawn, relative to
a practice in Scotland, which had been adopted by certain
sheriffs. In the case of railways requiring more land,
they were frequently in the habit of taking any land
contiguous to the railway, of which they were in need ;
and questions not unfrequently arose between the railway
company and the former proprietors, as to the amount
of compensation to be received by the latter for the land
thus taken. In these cases, the Sheriffs, when called
upon to interfere, considering that they were acting in an
extra-judicial duty, believed themselves entitled to remu-
neration for their services. His object in referring to this
matter was, that it might be made known ; he was sure
the Right Hon. Gentleman would not refuse to call the
attention of the Government to it, and he was content,
therefore, to leave the matter in the hands of the Govern-
ment.
Sir J. GRAHAM confessed that until list week, his
attention had not been drawn to this subject, when he
was directed to it by a paragraph in a newspaper. On
general principles, he thought that great inconvenience
would arise from officers who salaries for their
official duties, looking for other compensation for
their services. If their salaries were not sufficient re-
muneration for all their duties, they should be in-
creased.—(Hear.) When people were called on. to act as
arbitrators they were generally paid by both parties con •
corned in the arbitration He did not know how that was
in this case, but he was disposed to consider the subject.
Mr. FOX MAULE said that in the case he referred
to he believed the Sheriff had not been remunerated by
-1:0th parties, but only by one of them.
Mr. THORNELY wished to put a question to the
Right Hon. Baronet. He (Sir R. Peel) had just stated
that an order had been sent to America for flour, which
flour had been received in Liverpool in six weeks. He
(Mr. Thornely)- begged to state-that he had received a
letter from Liverpool, stating that it was fifiy-one days
from th; sending out of the order to the arrival of the flour
in Liverpool. The Right Hon. Baronet had just stated
that the flour was ordered on the 13th September,
his (Mr. Thornely's) informant stated it to be the 24th.
He begged to ask the 'Right Hon Baronet whether he
had any objection to lay on the -table of the House a
copy of the statement he had referred to.
Sir ROBERT PEEL said he had a letter in .the
hand-writing of the person who imported the flour,
and if he (Sir Robert Peel) had made any mistake,
he was sorry for it. His information stated that the
flour was ordered on the Ist of August, and received on
the 13th of September. He felt quite sure this was the
statement he received, but he would refer to it again,
and
.give the Honourable Member the information
he wished.
Mr. THORNELY—I am much indebted to the Right
lion. Baronet, and if he would bring that statement for-
ward.—(Cries of " Order, order," in the midst of which
Mr. Thornely sat down.)
Lord SANDON said he did not wish to delay the Bill
upon Railways passing through a second reading, but he
hoped that a pledge would be given by his Right Hon.
Friend that ample time would be given for going into
the consideration of this great branch of enterprise, in
order that communications, if necessary, might be had
with parties interested.
Mr. GLADSTONE said he believed that no very-
great time would be required to proceed with this Bill;
the parties interested were quite alive to its merits.
He (Mr. Gladstone) could readily give a pledge that no
nttempt would be made to interfere with the interests 01
certain parties connected with the subject, without
giving ample time to those parties to make any commu-
nication they might think proper.
COLONIAL PASSENGERS BILL.
Mr. HAWES begged leave to ask the Noble Lord
the Secretary for the Colonies a question re-
specting this very important measure. Believing the
Bill the Noble Lord meant to introduce to
he precisely the same in principle, though per-
haps not in all details, to the Bill before the House
last year ; he (Mr. Hawes) meant to give the present
measure his most strenuous opposition. Therefore, he
!iegged to ask' the Noble Lord whether he meant
to move the second reading of his Bill this
evening. If 'so, it would be necessary for him
to take the sense of the House on the question ;
on the other hand, if the Noble Lord did not mean to
proeeed ..'to night, he trusted the Noble Lord would
die some day when thel House would have an oppor-
tunityiSrAthNe STANLEY
Ylnds of
placedof going into a discusSion on the second reading.
n
Lord
admittedi‘iemthboatrshisthßatill
mhoadrnibnegen;
still it could not be said to have taken them by sur-
prise, as it Was in a great degree an embodiment of the
clauses founded upon the Report of the Commissioners
of Emigration, which had been furnished to the House.
Looking. to the period of the year now approaching in which
the business of emigration commences, he was very
anxious that the Bill should be passed as speedily as poi.-
Able ; but being anxious to meet the wishes of the Hon.
Gentlemen and others who were anxious on this subject,
he .(Lord Stanley) would not proceed with the Bill.
that evening, but would promise to fix a day for the dis.
cussion on the second reading, which would allow Hon.
Gentlemen to have amply considered the question.
Mr HAWES said this answer was perfectly satisfac-
tory ; he hoped however the Yale Lord would give
them due notice when he determined to fix the day.
• THE RAILWAY BILL.
This Bill was then read a second time.
VAN DIEMEN'S LAND BILL.
This measure then went through Committee.
MARRIAGES IN IRELAND BILL.
'On the Order of the Pay for the House going into
Committee on this Bill being moved,
Mr. VERNON was understood to say he was pleased
to see the Government bring in the Bill so soon ; but lie
hoped the measure would be strictly retrospective, in
order that before any further measure were introduced,
the whole law of marriage in Ireland, which was in a
very anomalous state, might be reconsidered, and assi,
milated to that of England.
Mr. SHAW concurred in the views of the last
speaker. Ile (Mr. Shaw) agreed tea retrospective Bill;'
but at present, if a prospective one were proposed, he
would oppose it in behalf of the clergy of the Established
Church, and for the sake of the interests of soeiety.
Sir R. BATESON was determined to advocate the
rights and interests of those persons who sent him there
and he assured the House that there was no subject
which had excited greater terror and- more alarm among
the respectable as well as the humble classes of the
people of the North of Ireland than that of the Presbyterian

marriages ' se many of those marriages having been
solemnized, and the number of persons who would be
supposed not to have been born in wedlock if those
marriages were held to be invalid, The greatest
apprehension was naturally excited. The number
of petitions which had been presented to the.
House upon the subject, of which he himself
had this day presented many, showed clearly what
the extent of alarm was ; he, therefore, hoped
that no time would be lost in calming the fears
and apprehensions of the Presbyterians of the North
of Ireland, and that the proposed measure would be
passed into a law as soon' as possible and without dis-
cussing the merits of any future measure.
Mr. O'CONNELL thought the great object of any-
measure upon the subject should be to legalise those
marriages retrospectively, as well as prospectively—
the law should be made what every person sup-
posed it was before. He had himself occasion,
more than once, to consider the question, and he had
no hesitation in giving an opinion that those marriages
were legal. Mr. Justice Perrin, to his (Mr. O'C.'s) own
knowledge, had also given an opinion to the same effect,
and he also followed up that opinion by deciding that
those marriages were valid. The Right Hon. and
Learned Gentleman then suggested the propriety of
enacting some decisive measure as soon as possible.
The House then went into Committee on the Bill.
Sir R. FERGUSON said a question arose on the first
clause, whether Presbyterian Ministers, members of the
Established Church In Scotland, were to be regarded
as Dissenting Ministers in Ireland.
Mr. Sergeant JACKSON said there could be no doubt
that in Ireland, where the Episcopal Church was the
established form of religion, Presbyterian ministers were
Dissenters.

Mr. O'CONNELL inquired whether there was any
occasion to leave the question undecided.' No one would
suppose that a Protestant clergyman of the Esta-
blished Church in Scotland, on going to Ireland and
marrying parties there; became a Dissenting minister.
It appeared to him, that by inserting the words " Pres-
byterian Minister" in the clause, the difficulty would be
removed.

After a short conversation, in which Sir R. Ferguson,
Mr. Jackson, and Mr. Vernon took part, the chime was
agreed to.
On the second clause being read,
Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN -said it was his intention
to oppose the clause in its present form. Ile could
not go further than to say that parties contract-
ing second marriages, should not be subject to
be prosecuted for bigamy ; that }vas the ut-
most extent to which he could go. He should say
No to the clause as it stood at present, and if any
Hon. Member would support him, he would divide the
Committee on the clauSe.
Mr. Sergeant JACKSON defended the clause.
Mr. FOX MAULE said they had in the first case a
woman who had been married several years, and
had most probably a large family—the marriage
having been supposed to be legal, and the children
to be legitimate up to a recent period. In the
next place, ' they had a woman newly married,
with probably no family at all, and who at the
time of the marriage was probably perfectly aware of the
circumstances under which the husband had deserted
who, until recently, had been considered his wife. They
had to choose between these two evils, and cer-
tainly he thought that justice required that they should
recognize the first marriage, and not the second, further
than' to exempt the parties from aprosecutiOn for bigamy.
After a few words from Mr. O'CONNELL,
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that they
could not, unquestionably, make the present Act
have a retrospective effect, by declaring illegal
second marriages contracted by parties who had
been married, in the first instance, under the late law, and
while those marriages, according to the decision of the
Judges, had not been legal. All that could be
said upon the subject was, that the law now about
to be' enacted could not meet the whole of the evil.
He also wished to observe that the present Act
did not declare that the former marriages were invalid,
and it did not in any way confirm the decision of the
Judges if any doubt could be entertained upon that subject.
Mr. S. O'BRIEN was understood to say that he
thought it .proper that those should be absolved from
bigamy, who had married a second- wife, their former
marriage having been declared illegal..
Sir GEORGE GREY thought if those parties were
absolved from bigamy much annoyance and expense
to the parishes would ensue, as it would be a great
inducement for those who had large families to
marry again, whereby they would become chargeable
on the parish.
Sergeant JACKSON said a few words which were
quite inaudible in the gallery.
Mr. MURPHY suggested that a clause should be in-
serted in the Act which would make any father who had
contracted a marriage subsequent to the decision of the
Judges, liable for their cht!dren.

Mr. FOX MAULE said it would be a vast hardship
that a marriage which had existed upwards of twenty
years, and the issue of which had been a large family,
should be set aside anti the man be enabled to marry
again. Let them suppose the case of a man who had
died since the decision of the Judges, the law permitted
that the property should. descend to hix children, and yet
would it not be a hardship that these children should
nut be declared legitimate-? lie would divide the Com-
mittee on the question.
The-Committee then divided, when there ttppearett
For the clause
•
Against it 63
Majority in titvour of the clause — 96.
The clause was therefore carried. iv
The remaining clauses were then agreed to, and the
House resumed.

CORN-LAWS.
The Order of the Day that th 6 House should resolve
itself into a 'Committee of the whole House to'take into
consideration the • corn and provision laws, having been
read,

Mr. KEMBLE presented a petition, which was read
by the Clerk at the table from the mill-Owners of a place
in the environs of London, complaining that theproposed
scale of duty upon corn would have the effect of encou-
raging the importation of foreign flour instead of wheat,
which would greatly prejudice their interests. The peti-
tion was ordered to he on the table,
The House then went into Committee. •
Mr. WODEHOUSE said he would not trespass at any
great length on the patience of the House. The motion
which he intended to propose was, that the Chairman
should report progress and ask leave to sit again. Ile
well knew that that motion would be rejected, but
he still felt bound to state why he propOSed it for adop-
tion. There were peculiar considerations with
respect to barley, which" demanded that it
should receive peculiar attention. The pa-
pers laid before Parliament showed that Denmark was
better adapted to the growth of barley than of any other grain.
And notwithstanding the arguments of the late Chancellor of
the Exchequer, they should not forget that at Elsinore thou-
sands of acres were waiting for the plough ; and moreover
railways would soon run through Denmark, Mecklenburgh,
and Holstein. It was impossible then to came to any other
conclusion than that, however the case stood quoad wheat, it
was impossible to say e hat quantities of oats and barley might
not come in under the new scale from those countries. It
had been stated that foreign barley would not malt. This he
doubted. He had heard from Mr. Coding that the finest
sample of barley he had ever seen was grown in France. True,
under the present law the importation of foreign malt was pro-
hibited. He (Mr. Wodehouse) had twice asked the Earl o
Ripon whether the law would be allowed to remain so
He had asked more than once for information on this subject.
but could get none. The first time he asked the question of
Lord Ripon he had no answer_; on the second occasion he was
told he must wait. They must not suppose that he intended
to cast any censure on Lord Ripen for so doing ; if there was
one public man with whom he had been connected more than
any nther, it was Lord Ripon; and when he found he could
obtain no answer from him, he could look to nothing but Par-
liament. This was a question that involved the fate of
millions, and as far as concerned the country, which
had for twenty years placed him in Parliament, he
would say distinctly that the permanent peace and welfare of
that country were vitally concerned in the answer whieh
might be returned on this subject. It seemed to him, that
with respect to this matter, the intentions of her Majesty's
Government could no longer be doubted ; and this was the
special reason why he stood there to make known to the House
that he had hitherto asked in vain as to what were the inten-
tions of the Government with regard to the admission of
foreign malt. It was at present prohibited ; in former years,
when the export of corn was prohibited, there was an ex-
ception in favour of barley, because at that time they
-had a. very profitable 'export of malt.—( Hear. )
Why was not that export continued ? Because there was
a duty of 20s. a quarter placed on malt. He begged to call the
attention of the Secretary of the' Home Depattment parti-
bcuylatrhe ly ton
ithisgh t subject,llan. R
a bero
Baronet
to preside over a Committeese he had been especially chosen'
which had inquired into this subject, and he would ask him,
supposing a person had taken a farm under the present system,
and on condition that if alteration weie made in the duty on
malt, whether. such alteratiop would not be a fair ground for
his making a claim for compensation. He considered it,
therefore, a hard thing that he had not been able to
get thy information on this question.—( Hear, hear. )
There was another Member of the Government to whom he
would allude, the Paymaster of the Forces, and he would ask
him was he prepared to deal out so harsh a measure to the
people—a measure which Mr..Huskisson would not
fair object give his
sanction to. He would beg to tell theßight
that though official station was a • . There
Hon. Baronet
of honoura.b`o
ambition, it was scarcely worth the stain of insincerity. g
was another Member of the Government to Ith om hewould
allude. The Right Hon. Baronet at the head of her Majesty's
Government would remember that he (Mr. Wodehouse) had
called upon and pressed the matter on his consideration, in the
interview he had with him, he also took the liberty of calling his
attention to the introduction of foreign live stock and malt.
As far as he was concerned, he was in total darkness as to the
intention of the Government with regard to foreign malt, and
how the law was to be altered with respect to live stock. He
sought to impresson him that the question of duty was of minor
consideration, but that the larger consideration was to give
permanent employment to the agricultural labourers. Now,
in his opinion, the new Poor-law Bill could not be carried into
effect, if the proposed duty were to be passed into a law. He
represented a county
received
greater
benefit from the New Poor-law than any other in the country,
which it now pressed upownhiethhemanufacturing labourer. Ho
but he. apprehended that, with the adoption of the
proposed duty upon barley, that law would press
upon the agricultural labourer with the same severity with
begged
admitted that the Poor-law was a useful measure, but if the
present motion were acceded to it could no longer act. The
Mr. GREENE, the Chairman of the Committee,
Hon. Gentleman concluded by moving that tho Chairman
should then report progress, and obtain leave to sit again,
leave, to ask the Hon. Gentleman what was the effect he anti-
eipated from his motion? had PerhaP
Mr. WODEHOUSE said that the effect he anticipated was,
that barley would be erased from the scale.
Mr. G REENE said that the motion would not have that effect.
The only result of its being adOpted would be, that the next
time the House met they should find the question in precisely
the same state as at present. He supposed that the motion,
which the Hon. Gentleman intended to have put was to the effect.
that he (Mr. Greene) should report the resolution to the House.
Sir ROBERT PEEL commenced his observations in on
low a tone of voice as to be almost-inaudible in the gallery. W e
understood the Right Hon. Baronet to say that he had listened
with attention to what had fallen from his Hon. Friend, but be
did not mean to follow his arguments, by which he had at..
tempted to show that the scale proposed sheMld produce Wan-