The Sun.
London, England, 1829-03-26 00:00:00

REPLY TO FABER.
This day was published, price is. 6d.

AREPLY to the LETTERS of the Rev.
G. S. FABER.-BY CLERICUS.

James Ridgway, 169, Piccadilly, and every Bookseller.
NEW WORKS,
Lately published by James Ridgway.

1 The CASE of the FORTY-SHIDLING FREE-
HOLDERS of IRELAND, in a Letter to the Members
of the Imperial Parliament. By the Hen. HENRY R.
WESTENRA, M.P. Price 2s.
2. THOUGHTS upon the CATHOLIC QUESTION.
—By an IRISH ROMAN CATHOLIC.—Price 2s. Gd.
"Mr. Blake is the only Roman Catholic who holds an office
of important trust in Ireland. His duties correspond with
those of a Master in Chancery, and he stands high i• the
order of judicial procedure. He has been employed, with
the sanction of Mr. Peel, as a Commissioner of Inquiry into
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10. A LETTER to the Right Honourable ROBERT
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11. A LETTER to the OWNERS and OCCUPIERS
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" The Tales possess consideraole merit, and, indeed, are
better worthy the notice of the public than many works of
fiction of much greater pretensions.*"'We regard the
work as a clever production, and augur favourably of the
future exertions of the writer."—Weekly Review, Sep-
tember 20.

" The whole book is an agreeable miscellany of tales,
which will profitably beguile a weary hour, exciting happy
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—Morning Advertiser.

" A peculiar and somewhat affecting. tone of pathos runs
through some of them ; while a subdaed raillery, combined
with no small insight into huniannature, is apparent, and
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" This is an entertaining collection of tales, put together
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Sept. 14.

Reviews may he bend in almost all the principal pnbli-
cations.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-(LAST NIGHT.)

Sir A. GRANT, and others, brought up from the
House of Commons the Militia Ballot Suspension
Bill, which was read a first time.
On the motion of the Earl of MALMESEVRY, se-
veral returns were ordered of the quantity of foreign
grain imported into this country since July last.
CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.—(PETITIONS.)
Petitions, praying that no farther concessions may
he granted to the Rotnan Catholics, were presented
from Falkenham, Heaford, and several other places
in Lincolnshire, and from Dunstable and other places
in Bedfordshire (in all 20 petitions), by Earl
BROIVNLOW;—frorn inhabitants of the city of York,
by Lord FAVERSHAM;—from several places in the
county of Antrim, by Earl O'NEIL.
The Bishop of WINCHESTER presented
similar petition from Horsham, in Sussex. The
Right Rev. Prelate observed that the petition was
respectably signed, but he could not concur in its
prayer. Before he proceeded to say a word on the
subject to whickpie petition referred, he wished •to;.
take the oppor of correcting a misrepresenta
tion which had gone forth to the public as to what
had fallen on a former evening from a Right Rev.
Relation of his, who was at present prevented from
attending in his place by a most severe domestic
calamity. His Right Rev. Relation was represented
to have stated in his place, when speaking of a peti-
tion which he had presented from certain clergy or
the Church of England, in favour of emancipation;
(as Ai e understood), that,the clergy were inacces
sible to reason, and untuto44experience, on the
subject of the Catholic question:- That such words
had never been used, and could not have been used,
by his Right Rev. Relation, would be readily ad-
mitted by all who knew him. The words used by
his Right Rev. Relation were, that " those who be
lieved that the clergy were inaccessible to reason,
and untutored by experience, on this subject, would
see from the petition then presented what a very
erroneous estimate had been made of their character."
With respect to the measures which would soon be
before their Lordships, he would observe they should
never have his support if he thought they tended to the
subversion or injury of the Constitution or the Pro,
testant establishments; but he would support them-
because he believed that they would tend to the
union of all classes in support of the Constitution.
There was a great difference between a political
and religious union. It was to the political union
he referred, and he was satisfied that it would tend
to promote general tranquillity, and in particular
would promote the peace and improvement of Ire-
land. If it had been proposed to pay the Catholic
clergy out of the_public purse, he could not.supfaFt
the measure, because he thought it would have an
injurious tendency. But in the measures as they
stood, as far as he could be informed of them, he
fully approved ; for he saw in them nothing incon-
sistent with the maintenance of Protestant princi-
ples, or in any degree calculated to subvert the Pro-
testant church. Having said thus much, he could
not concur in the prayer of the petition, but he
would lay it on their Lordships' table. (The above
is only the substance of the Right Rev. Prelate's
remarks, for, from the position in which he stood,
and the low tone in which he spoke, much of what
he said was very indistinctly heard below the bar.)
Petitions in favour of Emancipation were pre-
sented from Portsmouth, by the Earl of Carnarvon ;
from Castle Blakeney, Killcurry, Killoran, and other
places in Ireland (eighteen petitions), by the Mar-
quis of Clanricarde ; from Newcastle-under-Lyme,
Stoke-upon-Trent, and other places in Staffordshire,
and from several places in Leitrim, Kildare, Meath,
and other counties in Ireland (we believe twenty-fire
petitions), by the Marquis of Anglesea. The Noble
Marquis also presented several petitions from some
of the same places, against the Sub-letting and Se-
lect Vestry Bills.
The Duke of SUSSEX presented a petition from
the Minister, Heritors, and other Inhabitants of (we
believe) Kelton, in the stewartry of Kirkudbright,
praying that their Lordships might sanction the mea-
sures now before Parliament for the removal of the
civil disabilities affecting their Roman Catholic fel-
low subjects. His Royal Highness observed, that
he was instructed to state that the petitioners would
not have felt it necessary to address the House on
this subject, if another petition of a contrary nature
had not been sent up from the same place.. He be-
lieved that the opinions of many in the country were
changed upon this question, who at first viewed it as
dangerous to the State, but were now anxious that it
should be carried, believing that it would tend to the
tranquillity and prosperity of the empire.
Several Bills were pressed through their respec-
tive stages, after which their Lordships adjourned at
a Quarter to Six.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-(LAST NIGHT.)
ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS.

Petitions in favour of Emancipation were pre-
sented from three places in the county of Limerick,
by Mr. Fitzgibbon ;—from 13 places in the county
of Galway, and one parish in the county of Roscom-
mon, by Mr. Lambert;—from 12 places in the county
of Cork, by Mr. Boyle ;—from three places in the
county of Westmeath, by Mr. Take ;—from six
places in the county of Limerick, by Mr. Lloyd ;
from 12 places in the county of Leitrim, an:l also
from the friends of Civil and Religious Liberty in
Leitrim, by Lord Clements ;—from the congregation
of the Roman Catholics at Greenock, by Sir M. S.
Stewart ;—from a parish in the district of Powder-
ham, by Mr. Pendarves ;—from the Unitarian con-
gregation of Portsmouth, by Mr. Carter.
Petitions against these claims were presented by
Sir W. Heathcote, from three places in Hampshire;
—from a parish in Caithness, by Major Sinclair ;
from several parishes in the county of Lincoln, by
Mr. Chaplin ;—from Brampton, by Mr. Mundy ;
from Stanford-le-Hope (Essex), by Sir E. Harvey.
Several petitions were also presented for the re-
peal of the Vestry and Sub-letting Acts.—They were
all ordered to be printed.

Mr. E. DAVENPORT brought in a Bill to ex-
tend the powers of summary conviction of juvenile
offenders by magistrates in certain cases. It was
read a first, and ordered to be read a second time
on Friday the 3d of April, and to be printed.
Mr. L. DAVENPORT said, that with the per-
mission„f the House, he would take the discussion
oftheßill, not on the second reading, but on the
Committee.

Mr. KING presented two petitions, one front
the corporals of the North Colic Militia, and ano-
ther from the corporals and bugles of the Cork Mi-
litia, respecting the reduction of the Militia Bill.
Sir J. MACKINTOSH said that however un-

willing he might be, he was compelled to postpone
till to-morrow the presentation of a petition which
he had received from .Edinburgh, in favour of Ca-
tholic Emancipation. He now rose to present a pe-
tition from the students -ef theology in the Uni-

versity of Oxford, who pray that further concessions
may be granted to the Roman Catholics. There is
one sentence, of scarcely more than two lines, in the
petition, which he would beg leave to read to the
House. The petitioners state that they do not fear
the result of the measure as affecting the security of
the Protestant religion, because they feel a generous
confidence in the stability of the reformed religion,
'an►d only fear that it will be disgraced by the in-
jurious aid of proscripeon and exclusion.—(Hear.)
The petition was ordered to be printed.

Mr. LENNARD was intrusted with a petition
from the sert_ral congregations of Protestant Dis-
ewers of the three denominations resident at Ips-
wich. The dissenters of those denominations were
the descendants of those men who left the church
when the Act of Uniformity was passed : they were
commonly known by the name of the " Old Dis-
!renters ;" and no men better understood or were more
*lmbed to the principles of civil and religious li-
berty than they were. The petition was signed by
seven Dissenting Ministers, which number comprised
all the Ministers of those class s resident in Ipswich.
The prayer of the petition was verbatim the same
as had been presented last year from the same con-
gregations, when the repeal of the Test and Corpo-
ration Acts—Acts which more immediately affected
themselves,—was under consideration. lie had
been requested to explain the motives which had
induced the petitioners, at so late a period, to come
forward with their petition. Much misconception
'bad arisen on the subject of the opinions of many of
the Dissenters, who, as a class, had been represent-
ed as opposed to concession. The fact was, that
they, with many others who were friendly to the
measure, bad been content to leave it to the decision
of Parliament, seeing that it had come recommended
from the Throne, and had been introduced expressly
with the sanction of the Government. But as un-
fair advantage had been taken of their silence, they
-had felt that they could not, in justice to themselves
or their cause, remain without expressing their °pi-
`itions for the purpose of refuting the representations
which had been tnade of their lukewarmness or hos-
tility to the measure. The petitioners were as
zealous Protestants as any in the country ; but they
thought that to inflict punishment or to impose pe-
nalties on account of religious opinions wad, in the
words of Lord Bacon, " to dissolve and to deface
the laws of charity and human society, and so to
consider men as Christians, as to forget that they
were men and citizens," He had great pleasure in
presenting " the petition, because it tended to
strengthen what he had, on another occasion, stat-
ed,—that a much larger number were in favour of
concession than the enemies of it were willing to
admit.
Colonel SIBTHORPE had now the honour to
present to the House a petition from the united
parishes of Washinhorough, in the county of
Lincoln, playing that no further concessions be
made to the Roman Catholics. The Hon. Bart.,
the Member for Lincoln, was Lord of the Manor in
these parishes, and proprietor of more than a third
part of them ; and yet, though he took so strong an
interest in favour of Emancipation, only 20 out of
the 1,200 male inhabitants which the parishes con-
tained had refused to sign this petition. The Hon.
Baronet, in alluding to the former petitions which
his Hon. Colleague had presented from Lincolnshire,
had chosen to state that they had been got up by
placards sent forth by the Champion of England, and
had then contrasted those placards with those issued
by his champion, the celebrated Dr. Eady. Now
he begged leave to observe, that neither the Cham-
pion of England nor Dr. Eady were known, nor had
any influence in that parish ; " and I draw," said he,
" a wide difference between my champion, who sup-
ports a sound and wholesome constitution, and the
lion. Baronet's champion, who is employed in patch-
ing up a diseased and broken constitution." He did
not think that the Hon. Baronet could impugn the
respectability of this petition, when it was signed by
so many of his own tenantry.

Sir W. INGILBY again contended that the pe-
titions from the county of Lincoln, against Catholic
emancipation, had been got up by undue influence,
and had referred in proof of it, as he had a perfect
right to refer, to the "constitutional" placard of the
Champion of England. With respect to this peti-
tion, which c:ime from the parish where he was
lord of the manor, and where he was a considerable
landed proprietor, he had only to say that he had
never used any influence among his tenantry, either
to get up or to prevent the getting up of petitions
on this subject. His own parson had told him that
he intended to:get up a No-Popery petition, and his
only reply was, that he was sorry that he should
think such a measure necessary. His own tenants
had signed that petition, and though he might la-
ment that such were their opinions, God forbid that
he should attempt to control them.—(Cheers.)—
He left them to the care of their spiritual pastor;
and he believed that their pastor taught them their
duties correctly, though he differed from him in
opinion on this subject.—( Hear, hear.)—He was of
opinion, that a considerable change had taken place
in the feelings of the people of Lincolnshire of late
years, and he founded his opinion upon the circum-
stance that out of twelve members returned from
different places within it, seven voted in favour and
five against Catholic emancipation.—(Hear, hear.)
It was his opinion that the county of Lincoln was
emancipated from the bigotry which some gentlemen
seemed inclined to attach to it.
Sir G. HEATHCOTE felt as much interested
as either of the members for the county of Lincoln
on this point, and he was inclined to believe, from a
letter which he had received that morning from a
clergyman in Lincolnshire, that no such excitement
existed in the county as had been represented. As
he was on his legs, and as he had the pleasure of
observing the Right Hon. Secretary in his place, he
could not, as an humble individual, refrain from re-
turning to him his sincere thanks for what he must
call the very noble part which the Right lion. Gent.
had taken upon this question.—(Hear.)
Mr. CHAPLIN did not deny that there might be
many gentlemen of large property in the county of
Lincoln favourable to the Catholic claims; but he
must retain his old opinion, that the mass of the
population was decidedly hostile to them.
The petition was ordered to be printed.
THE ENGLISH BAR.

Sir J. SCARLETT had a petition to present in
favour of Catholic Emancipation, signed by 324 gen-
tlemen of the English bar. They desire the House
to adopt measures for the removal of the disabilities
affecting the Roman Catholics ; and they state the
lively interest which they take in the consideration
of the measures then before the House. He felt it
to he a high honour to be the medium of presenting
such a petition to the House. In 1825 he had pre-
sented a similar one, which was signed by 150
of the members of the bar in London; in 1827 he
had presented one signed by 200; and now, to the
third petition there were 324 signatures. It was
with extreme gratification that he declared his par-
ticipation in the opinions which were so well ex-
pressed in this petition, and which he had hitherto
advocated only by his silent vote. They expresser;
their gratitude to his Majesty's Government for the
wisdom and firmness with which they bad intro-
duced and sustained thi's measure in Parliament. It

was important to bring before the House the opi-
nions so expressed of a large and enlightened body
of the community, who were, as he had already
said, so peculiarly well qualified to come to a sound
conclusion upon such a subject. He mentioned
this, not to detract from the respectability of any of
those persons who had signed petitions of an oppe,;
site character, but to call the particular attention of
Parliament to the evidence given in this petition of
the support which was tendered to this measure of
his Majesty's Government, by a set of men of such
preponderating talents, learning, and information.
The petition was then laid on the table, and or-
dered to be printed.
Mr. A. DAWSON presented several petitions
from the counties of Armagh and Louth, in favour
of emancipation, and against the indiscriminate dis-
franchisement of the forty-shilling freeholders.
Mr. SLANEY presented petitions from two pa-
rishes in the counties of Gloucester and Somerset,
in favour of the Bill for altering the poor laws.—
The petitioners, as well as all others who had con-
sidered this subject, were anxious to substitute, as
far as possible, labour instead of pecuniary dona-
tions, for the relief of the agricultural poor.
After a few words from Mr. W. SMITH, the peti-
tion was laid on the table.
On the motion of Mr. G. DAWSON, several returns
relative to the Apothecaries'-hall, in Dublin, were
ordered to be presented to the House.
Lord G. CAVENDISH presented a petition
from Scarsdale (Derbyshire), in favour of the Ca-
tholic claims, which, from the great respectability
of its signatures, he contrasted with that presented
on a former night from-Chesterfield.
After a few words from Mr. MUNDY, the peti-
tion was laid on the table.

Mr. W. SMITH presented the 15th report of
tile Cominis&ioneis for bridges and roads in the
Highland, of Suo land.

Gen. O'NEILL presented a petition from the
corporals of the Autrun Mili:ia, against the Militia
Suspension
Mr. HUME presented a petition from Thomas
Dillon, hotel-keeper and coach-owner, of the city of
Dublin, against the continuance of tolls, which had
been a long time complained of upon the Naas road.
Mr. HUME presented five petitions in favour of
the Roman Catholic claims—one from a parish in
the county of Cavan, and four from Dissenting con-
grations in Lancashire.—Ordered to be printed.
Mr. B. CLARKE presented petitions from Kil-
macon and Mullinavat, in the county of Kilkenny,
against the Sub-letting Act, and the Bill for the Dis-
franchisement of the Irish Forty-shilling Free-
holders; also a petition in favour of the Roman
Catholic claims.—Ordered to be printed.
Mr. BANKES postponed his motion for the usual
grant to the British Museum, in Committee of Sup-
ply, till Monday.
Lord EBRINGTON presented a petition from
Newton Abbot, in favour of the Catholic claims.

QUALIFICATION AND JURISDICTION OF MA-

GISTRATES.

Mr. Secretary gave notice of my in-
tention this evening to Move for leave to bring in a
Bill, the object of which will be the consolidation of
the laws relative to the qualification and jurisdiction
of Justices of the Peace in counties. It will be an
abject of this Bill also to facilitate the execution of
their duties by that class of public functionaries.—
No person can have a better opportunity of witness-
ing the manner in which those duties are performed
by the Magistrates of the United Kingdom, than the
individual who holds the office of Secretary of State,
and proud I shall be on every occasion to bear my
humble testimony to the advantages derived by the
country from the gratuitous and zealous labours of
the Magistrates of the United Kingdom. I trust
that I shall never see the day, nor contemplate the
probability of its arriving, when the jurisdiction
they now possess shall be transferred to other hands.
—(Cheers.)--It would be impossible, I think, to
transfer that jurisdiction to any other hands by
whom it would be administered with greater be-
nefit to the country. Besides, it is of the utmost
importance that the gentlemen of England should
be charged with the duties connected with
the administration of justice. It will be an object of
this Bill rather to facilitate the execution of those dit-
ties, than to trench on the privileges of Magistrates,
or to limit their powers. There are about twenty-
three Acts of Parliament now in force relative to the
qualification and jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace.
They have been passed at different periods of our
hist sry, and some of them are of a somewhat com-
plicated nature. I think it manifest that it would
be productive of great advantage if we were to act
as to this subject on the same principle on which
we acted as to the Criminal Law, and unite into one
Act of Parliament the various provisions to be found
in the different enactments now in force, and apply
such amendments as the lapse of time and change of
circumstances may render necessary. The chief
object of the Bill will be to consolidate the laws
relating to the execution of the duties of Justices
of the Peace. In the course of that consolidation it
may be advisable to supply some defects that may
be found to exist, and make some regulations to
which the law does not apply. As the Bill can be
so much better understood by reading it when it is
printed, I will not occupy the time of the House by
entering into any minute explanation of its pre-
visions on this occasion. But when the House
has read it, I will take the first opportunity which
this time of the year will afford us to give as full
an explanation of all its provisions as I possibly
can do. It is a question whether it would not be
advisable to raise the qualification of a Justice of
the Peace. The present qualification I cannot but
think is too low; for the possession of 1001. a year
is all that is requisite as the pecuniary qualification
for a Magistrate. When we observe that property
has increased so much, and that so many individuals
ate to be found fully qualified in every respect, and
in sufficient numbers, to discharge the duties of this
office, I doubt whether it is not expedient to raise
the qualification from the present amount to some-
thing not greatly above it. I am unwilling at pre-
sent to express a positive opinion on this point,
until I can ascertain, by local information, how it
will :affect practically the different parts of the
country. Tlio question is, whether it would not be
advisable to raise the qualification from 1001. to 3001.
a.year. I Mould nut propose to disqualify those
who may not be disqualified to that amount, and
who are now in the commis-ion of the peace; but I
believe it would be an improvement in the counties
at large if a higher sum, at least than a 100/. a-year,
was fixed for the qualification of cetnity Magistrates.
I do not propose to alter the qualification of Magis-
trates possessing local jurisdiction. This Bill will
abolish the distinction between Justices of the
Quorum and other Justices. This distinction is
founded on no good reason, and was applicable only
to times that are passed. This Bill will leave no
distinction between the power of Justices of the
Peace. It will also supply a defect in the pre-
sent state of the law, and enable a Magistrate to
compel the attendance of material witnesses in all
cases they are required to decide. It is clear, that
if we confer jurisdiction on the Magistrates, it ought
to be complete; and therefore we should give them
the power to compel the attendance of material
Witnesses. The Bill will require the Magistrate
who issues a summons personally to hear the com-
plaint. 'There have been instances in which Magi-
strates who have issued the summons have not
heard the complaint; but though I believe this

practice is very rare at present, it is one that ought
to be entirely suppressed; and the Magistrate who
issues a summons should be obliged personally to
hear the complaint. The Bill will make regulations
for holding Petty Sessions throughout the country;
and it also contains a general form of conviction its
all cases, for which the law-has not already provided.
lfn many instances it is given when an'Act is passed
conferring the jurisdiction on the Magistrates; but
in others there is TIO form of conviction, and it is left
wholly to the discretion of the Magistrate. It
seems to me more proper to give a general form of
conviction, instead of imposing on the Magistrate
the responsibility of inventing a particular form in
every case that comes before him. A general
form should, therefore, be substituted, in order
that the practice might not vary in every place.
The Bill will require Magistrates to make a return to
the Clerics of the Peace of the amount of all fines
and penalties ►hey may have imposed for a certain
antecedent period. If the power to impose these fines
and penalties be given, it is but right that there
should be pe►iodical returns, which will present a
correct statement of the amount of this public pro-
perty. The Bill will also determine inabose cases
which are not provided for by law at present, when
an appeal shall be allowed against a summary con- ,
viction. It also contains a provision of great im-
portance for regulating the fees of Clerks to Justices
of the Peace.--(Cheers.)--I have now drawn an
outline and stated the principal provisions of the ,
Bill; and I think, when it is examined, the Howie
will not find • that any material objection can be
urged to it. This Bill will much facilitate the exe•
cution of the business of Magistrates, by laying down
simple and precise rules where the Acts of Parlia-
ment are silent. I have the greater confidence in
this Bill because it has been prepared by a Right
Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Hobhouse), than whom no
individual can be more capable of framing better
regulations for the office of a Justice of the Peace;
and I must say that that Right Hon. Gentleinane
who has retired from public life, has given an ex-
ample of true patriotism, in thus bestowing on his
country the advantages of his sedulous labours, and
of :his eminent knowledge of the law, and of the
great experience lie derived from the nature of the
public duties in which he was engaged. The Right
Hon. Gentleman concluded by moving for leave to
bring in a Bill to provide for the better execution of
the office of Justice of the Peace in England.
The question having been put,
Mr. HUME objected to a money-qualification--
whether 100/: or 3001. aeyear—being made so pro-
minent a feature in the proposed Bill ; and he did
so because he thought the possession of property
should not be rendered the principal—he might say
the only—qualification for exercising the jurisdiction
of a Magistrate. He thought the Right lion.
Secretary's object ought to have been to induce,
persons, whose previous acquirements and knowledge
had fitted them for the office, to undertake it. There
should be some adequate test of the fitness of candi-
dates for the Magisterial chair before they were
allowed to sit in it. He did not think money the
very best qualification, and was of opinion that the
simple fact of a man possessing 3001., or even
30,0001. a year, afforded no pledge of his capability
as a Justice of the Peace. The Right Hon. Gent.
was not adopting the best mode of having public
business performed. He knew many men of a
hundred a year infinitely better able to perform the
duties of a Magistrate than many fools who had ten
or twenty thousand per annum.—(A laugh.)--The
Hon. Member next proceeded to suggest the propriety
of introducing a clause into the Bill to prevent
Clergymen from becoming Justices of the
.Peace:;
except in cases where other individuals capable of
performing the duties of the office could not be
found. There were some counties in which there
were few of the Justices who were not Clergymen ;
others, he admitted, where clerical Magistrates et ere
not so numerous, but he believed the number of
those shires to be very small in which the clerical
did not predominate, either in the magisterial
list or in regular attendance on the Bench, ()vet
the lay Justices, who were generally outvoted by
their more sacred brethren. He was oppposed
to Clergymen being appointed Magistrates on several
grounds; but it might be sufficient to say, their at-
tention ought not to be diverted from the sacred
duties of their office by secular employments. In
saying this, he was aware he should be met, as upon
former occasions, by the assertion that justice could
not be administered in many places, except Church-
men were allowed to perform the duties of Magis-
trates. There might, perhaps, be a few instances
in which such would be the case, but he held those
as the exceptions to the general rule. What he
maintained was this,—that on no occasion, except
there existed an absolute necessity for so doing, should
the names of Clergymen be put on the list of Ma-'
gistrates. He disclaimed any intention to attack the
characters of Clergymen; but he had always held the
duties of the stations to be incompatible. He could
have wished that the Right Hon. Secretary had
brought forward a more effectual measure than this
appeared to be for controlling the jurisdiction of
Magistrates, armed, as they were, with a terrible
power which had been increased in an immense de-
gree during the last 30 years. The exercise of such
an authority required more caution, temper, and
knowledge, than were usually displayed by its pos-
sessors. He thought the Right Hon. Gent. did not
go far enough—that he had not adopted a proper
plan to meet the exigencies and remedy the evils of
the case, and secure to the public a better and more
effectual administration of justice on the part of per-
sons intrusted with the office of Justice of the Peace.
Mr. HOULDSWORTH was of opinion, that
the lawyers did not always make the best Magis-
trates, and dissented from the opinion of the Hon.
Member for Aberdeen, as to the unfitness of Clergy-
men to perform the duties of Justices of Peace.
With regard to summonses, the hearing of a case
ought not to be confined to Magistrates who had issued
them, as appeared to be the intention of the Right
Hon. Secretary. What was to be done in the event
of a Magistrate who had issued a summons for the
hearing of a case being taken suddenly ill ? Was the
case (which might be one of an urgent nature) to
stand over on that account ?

Mr. PEEL said, the Hon. Member had enti:ely
party
rt
amlliysubnudtertshteoodllim. Magistrate He
who summoned mean
tosay
p thaty
before him should be disqualified to hear the case.
What he intended to convey was, that a Magistrate
id
should not be able to compel parties to attend, ex-
d notad
ex-
cept he had previously heard a statement of the
complaint making out the necessity of instituting an
inquiry.
Mr. BRIGHT, after complimenting the Right
Hon. Secretary on the manlier in which he had
taken up the subject, suggested whether it might
not be better to refer the whole law to a Committee
to inquire and report thereupon.
In answer to a repetition of Mr.HOULDSWORTH'S
objection with regard to the issuing of summonses,
male by Mr. LOTT,
Mr. I EEL said, his objection was, to prevent
persons from being compelled to appear before any
justice of the Peace till the Magistrate should have
first heard the nature of the complaint; the Magis-
trate was to satisfy himself by hearing the charge
whether it was necessary to institute any further
inquiry.

Mr. E. DAVENPORT thought it might be de-
sirable, if any obligation were imposed by the Bill,
making it necessary forall persons previously to their
first acting as Magistrates, to attend a certain num-
ber of times, and on certain occasions, at the Ses-
sions, in order to learn their duty. His object in
making this proposition was, to prevent persons
utterly ignorant of the law and their duties as
Justices of the Peace, from filling the magisterial
chair. There could be no harm in adopting this
proposal. It was of great importance that by the
Bill before the House, the duties of Magistrates
should not only be defined accurately, but detailed
minutely, and strongly enforced ; especially a, a great
part of the Magisterial authority was at present.
discretionary.
• Mr. GORDON ridiculed the idea of having a