The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-28 00:00:00

PRIVATE BILLS.

Mr. Poulett Serope, Lord Francis Egerton, Mr. Bro-
therton, Wood, and Mr. Collett, presented
several petitions on private Bills.
LAW :)F SETTLEMENT.

Mr. MILES presented a petition from. Somerset
against the poor-law clause in the law of settlement;
and also two petitions from places in the same county,
complaming of the awful extent of intemperance on the
Sabbatl ....lay.
Mr. SPOONER presented a petition from Birming-
ham, signed by several thousands of the inhabitants of
that town, against any increase in the navy. He also
begged to present two petitions from the same town,
complainig of the manner in which passengers and goods
were treated on the Great Western Railway.
Sir C. NAPIER presented a petition from Murylebone
against the window tax.
Mr. BRIGHT presented a petition from Durham
against the duty on post-horses.
Mr. R. PA! MER presented a petition, signed by 150
farmers of Bucks, against the malt duty.
POST. OFFICE ESPIONAGE. .

Mr. \YAK I.EY presented a petition from the inha-
bitants of Finsbury, agreed to at a public meeting. The
petitioners stated " That they learned with mortification
and disgust that there exists at the General Post-office a
secret spy system, under which letters are broken open,
their seals counterfeited, and post-marks falsely imposed,
in order to deceive the persons to whom such letters are
directed, and to whom they are afterwards forwarded,
while the information thus obtained has, in some cases,
been used to promote the despotic interests of foreign
Governments—that this meeting strongly denounces the
existence of such disgraceful transactions, and refusing
to be satisfied with the Report of the Committee
published at the close of last session, deem it essentially
necessary for the honour of this country, and also for
public satisfltetion and security, that a strict, searching,
and open inquiry should be instituted into all the eir-
cum stances referred to it: certain petitions presented to Par-
liatnent on this subject, in order that by such inquiry the
manner in which such illegal and unconstitu:ional prac-
tices have been carried on, may be clearly exposed and
brought to public shame." They also state" that they had
read with indignation, the statement made by our repre-
sentative in his place in Parliament, that his correspond-
t•nee had 13, en clandestinely intercepted and secretly
opened, under Government authority, at the Post-office.
That, in the opinion of this meeting, the only excuse for
the excercise of such power towards Mr. Duncombe, would
be that the Government had good reason to deem him
capable of conduct which, if true, would, in our opinion,
render him totally unfit to continue the representative of
a free and independ.eat constituency ; that we therefore
feel it due to ourselves, as well as to Mr. Duncombe, to
&mild from -the House of Commons such an inves-
.

tigation into the proceedings toward him as shall either
justify the implied suspicions of the Government, or fully
establish the innocence of our long-tried and faithful
repreentative."—(Ele,,r, hear.)
THE i'MUFF.

An Hos: MEMBER, on the Cons,:rvative Benches,
asked whether it was the intention of the Government
to give up the duty on straw plait and plaited straw?
S:r ROBERT PEEL said. there were several descrip-
tions of straw manufacture, which went under the name
of " straw-plait"—there was the straw, or grass, for plait-
ing ; then there was plaiting-straw and straw-plait. lie
proposed to take the duty off that particular kind of
plait made of chips, and of straw or grass ; but from the
manufactured articles, commonly called " straw-plait,"
the duty would not be removed.
CERTIFICATES OF SEAMEN.

Mr. 111.TY1-;isijedtOTut- a question to the Se-
cretary of the Admiralty. In the course of last
session an Act had been passed requiring all
British seamen to register themselves at the port from
which they sailed, and each received a certificate of
registration. No sailor would be received on board a
vessel without this certificate, and the captain
who so received him would become liable to
a penalty. There had been a considerable
body of foreign seamen brought to this country.
As the Bill of laA year made no provision for the re-
gistering of those seamen, they were thrown out of employ.
meat. Many of them had been twelve, thirteen, and
fourteen years in the coasting trade, and they
were men of the most orderly conduct,
and esteemed amongst the best in the trade.
Those men, having settled, married, and domiciled in
this country, were unable to obtain employment, in con-
sequence of not being registered, and their condition
excited very great commisseration. The question which
he wished to put to the Hon. Gentleman the Secretary
for the Admiralty was, whether the Government intended
to propose any measure for their relief ?
Mr. CORRY said there was no doubt that foreigners
had been for years employed in the coasting trade con-
trary to the navigation laws, and the stringent operation
of the Act of last year had prevented them from being
employed. But they could get rid f the disqualification
by tasting the oath of allegiance, which would only cost
Ls., and would entitle them to register.
BANKING IN SCOTLAND.

In answer to a question from an HON. MEMBER,
Sir H. PEEL said that he was in communication
with several persons connected with banking in Scot-
land, and he thought he should not be prepared to bring
in a Bill upon the subject, or to state the intentions of
the Government, until after Easter.
MIXED MARRIAGES IN IRELAND.
Mr. ROSS wished to put a question to the Riv,ht
Hon. Gentleman the Secretary fur Ireland on the sub-
ject of mixed marriages in that country. The Roman
Catholic clergy had been long subject to penalties for
marrying Presbytetians t Roman Catholics, and these
penalties had been reduced from time to time.
The consequence of this state of things must be obvious
to every one, and the question he wished to ask was
this—that as it was impossible for twitters '0 remain as
they were, he wished to know which of the only two
cour,es open to the Goverment it intended to take ?
Would it reimpose the old penalties on Catholic cler-
gymen celebrating such marriages, or would is make the
solemnization of mixed marriages by the Catholic clergy
legal.