The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-05 00:00:00

LONDON AND YORK BILL.

The Marquis of CLANRICARDE presented a; pe-
tition from certain parties, complaining that more than
half a million of the capital purported to be subscribed.
for on the London and York line, had been fraudulently
and fictitiously subscribed. The Noble Marquis hoped
that their Lordships, who had proved themselves so sen-
sitive on the peculiarities of other bills, would institute
a rigid inquiry into these alleged frauds.
VALUATION OF LANDS (IRELAND) BILL.
Lord STANLEY moved the second reading of this
bill.

Lord MONTEAGLE said he never rose with a
greater sense of responsibility in expressing his con-
viction that no more rash course could be taken than the
passing such a Bill under such circumstances : a
Bill affecting . the relations of Ireland, affecting
the stability of her social prosperity, and the
character and existence of the British Government. It
was a measure which threatened to overthrow the tenure
of property, to change the entire principle of subdividing
land, valuing the soil, and the arrangement of all taxa-
tion. They now stood upon the 4th day of August, in
the presence of five Members, four of whom were Peers
of Ireland, the remaining Peers of England, and a Bill
like this was brought forward, and forced upon the
House, to commit the grossest injustice upon Ireland,
which the Government would not have dared to have
proposed for England. If he could not appeal to the
wisdom of the Government he could appeal to their (tom-
passion, and implore them to reconsider their measure,
a measure which, he repeated, they would not dare in-
troduce for any metropolitan parish of this country.
The Earl of ST. GERMANS said that to listen to the
speech of the Noble Lord, one would imagine that this
Bill was a crude emanation from the Government ;
but it must be remembered that a report was submitted
from a Committee of the House of Commons, in the
last session of Parliament, before whom the most able
witnesses were examined, and among other Mr. Griffiths,
and it was also to be remembered that the Bill had been
amended in its passage through the House of Commons.
He would venture to say that a majority of the Irish
people, and of the Irish representatives, were in favour
of the measure. The moment this Bill would come into
operation, the heartburnings and the jealousies which at
present existed on the subject of valuation for poor-rates
and other taxes would be removed ; for the high cha-
racter of Mr. Griffiths as a valuator would place the
operations of the Bill above suspicion. He had no wish
to limit the right of Noble Lords to express an opinion
upon any Bill haviug reference to the country with
which they were immediately connected, but he did
certainly think it hard that on a Bill which had reoeived
the sanction of the
,House of Commons, any Noble Lord
should turn round and rate the Government for
what he might esteem the evils of the He would
repeat that the ratepayers of Ireland would find the
Bill a great benefit, and he was sure that his Noble
Friend behind him (Lord Stanley) would he prepared
in Committee to defend—and defend successfully—the
provisions of the Bill.
The Earl of WICKLOW thought that the House
ought to have time to consider an important Bill of this
kind, for it was a most unprecedented thing ina Minister
of the Crown to move the second reading of such a mea-
sure on the same day that the papers relating to it were
laid upon the table. It had been stated that the leading
Irish Members were in favour of the measure. This was
somewhat different from the representations he had seen
in the daily papers. There it had been represented that
a most determined stand had ben made against the prin-
ciple of the Bill. He wished to know how the Govern-
mrnt could reconcile it to their consciences to pass this
measure without consulting theiopinions of the few Irish
Members who were in that House?
Lord STANLEY said that he brOught forward this
measure with a full sense of the inconvenience of its
being brought on at this period of the session. He felt
it was inconvenient in bringing it forward at this late
period of the session. His Noble Friend said that he
had not hail time to hear the objections which might be
made by Noble Lords, but the Noble Lord must know
that they had an opportunity now of stating their opi-

!lions. A great objection existed against postponing it
till next session, as it would have to come before the
House of Commons again. That would be very inju•
rious as they would be postponing the amendment of the
existing system, which was on all sides alleged to be a
bad system. The only objection he had heard made by
Irish Gentlemen was the postponement. As their Lord-
ships were not generally in favour of this Bill, he would
not, at this period of the session, press the further pro-
gress of the Bill.

- After a few words from the Marquis of CLANRICARDE
and Lord MONTEAGLE,
The motion was withdrawn.

On the motion of a NOBLE LORD, the Commons'
amendments to the Slave-trade (Brazil) Bill were con-
sidered and agreed to.
Their Lordships then adjourned at Half-past Ten.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, Aug. 4.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at a Quarter to Four
o'clock.

ROYAL COMMISSION.
The Deputy Usher of the Black Rod attended at the
bar to summon the House to the House of Lords, to

hear the royal assentgiven by commission to several Bills.
The SPEAKER, attended by several of the Members,
left the House.

On the return of the SPEAKER, he informed the
House that the royal assent had been given to a num-
ber of private Bills (for which see Lords' report).
The following private Bills were read a third time
and passed :
The Birmingham Blue-coat School,
Sir Robert Keith's Estate,
The Severn Estate,
The Lutwidge Estate,
The Earl of Powis's Estate,
The Duke of Bridgwater's Estate,
The North Walsbum School Estate,
Marsh's Estate,
Bowes' Estate,
Boileau's Divorce Bill,
The Winchester College Estate,
Sampson's Estate,
Marquis of Donegal's Estate,
Molyncux's Estate.
GRIMSBY DOCKS.
The Lords' amendments to this Bill were brougbt up
and agreed to.