The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-28 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARIIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, W
EDNESDAY, .Terki 27.
Lord FARNHAM presented a petition from the
county and city of Cork, complaining of the state of
the elective franchise in Ireland. The Noble Lord
said, that the present disgraceful tystein was op-
posed to the popular part of the representation, as
the 40s. freeholders were, in almost every instance,
under the influence of the large landed proprietor,
or were guided by demagogues and their Clergy.
The Noble Lord thought that something should be
done in the course of the next Session to remedy
such a state of things. The Noble Lord presented
a petition, from certain Protestants; Catholic!! and
Protestant Dissenters of the County of Kerry,
cwnplaining of the interference of the Catholic
'Clergy, in preventing parents from educating their
children in the manner which they themselves
thought fit. The petition prayed that the sys-
tem of education 'in Ireland might be reformed.
The Noble Lord also presented a petition from
the Protestant Shopkeepers of Mount-Mellick, in
the Queen's County, stating, that the Itoman Ca-
tholics in that neighbourhood had entered into a re-
solution not to deal with such Protestants as were
not favourable to their Claims. This the Noble Lord
said, had been a standing regulation with the Order
of. Liberals established in Dublin.

The Earl of DARNLEY observed, that in the
town of Mount-Mellick, there was an Orange
Lodge, and that Orange
__ processions took place there
from time to time. When a party spirit was thus
engendered, was it to be wondered that the Ca-
tholics could remain quiet.
Lord FARNHAM admitted that there existed
great excitement in that town, and that both parties
were in some measure to be blamed,-.-the Noble
Lord presented_ several petitions against further con-
cessions to the Catholics.

The petitions were laid on the table.
Lord LAUDERDALE presented a petition from
Saxmundham, praying for protection to agriculture.
The Noble Lord also presented a petition from Suf-
folk against the Warehoused Corn Bill.
The Mesne Process Bill went through a Com-
mittee, a►.2 was ordered to be read a third time to-
MOITCI

CUSTOMS BILL.
Viscount GODERICH moved the order of the
day for the House going into a Committee upon the
Customs Bill.
Lord FALMOUTH rose for the.purpose of ob-
jecting to a clause in the Bill allowing the importa-
tion of copper ore from South America for the pur-
pose of being smelted here, and then of being export-
ed again, to be sold in foreign markets. This clause
would prevent the exportation from Birmingham
and other parts in England of copper. There
were no less than from 80 to 100,000 men depend-
ant upon the mines of Cornwall, and the House
ought to reflect on the condition of those men.-1
In the year 1825, the spirit of speculation in these
mines had been carried to an extraordinary extent :
that speculation had failed—and by that failure
many mines had been totally stopped, and vast
numbers of men thrown out of employ. The clause,
therefore, alluded to by the Noble Lord,he considered
would give a licence to the South American mer-
chants, which would be most prejudicial. to the in-
terests of this country, inasmuch as it would enable
them greatly to undersell the English merchant. If
the Noble Viscount would explain to the House why
the South American merchants should have this li-
cence, if this Bill should be pressed forward, he (Lord
Falmouth) would have no objection to it passing in
the next Session, provided the reason was at all satis-
factory; but in the absence of such reason he begged
to move, that this clause be expunged.
Viscount GODERICH considered that his Noble
Friend in moving for this clause to be expunged,
had been under a misapprehension as to its probable
effects as to the grounds on which it had been pro-
posed, and as to the circumstances under which it
had been introduced. The Noble Lord seemed to
think it had been introduced into the Bill without any
consideration on the part of those interested in the
question, whereas he could assure the Noble Lord
that the subject had been constantly under discussion
for a length of time by the Board of Trade, and that of
persons most deeply interested in the Mining concerns
of this country. He had been given to understand
by Mr. Taylor and others, that this clause might be
carried into effect without the slightest chance of
prejudice to the British miners. If the mines
in South America produced a very fine copper
or; and at a cheaper rate than could be pro-
cured here, and if the consumption of copper was
greater on the Continent after the ore was smelted, he
was firmly persuaded that it was the interest of
all parties to have it, carried there. There was
no difficulty, mystery, or magic in the smelting
of copper ore in France, Holland, or. Germany,
any more than there was in England ; it only re-
quired a little capital to do it there as effectually as
here, and if the wish of the House was to send it en-
tirely there, they could not adopt a better course than
the principle of the Noble Lord who had just
spoken. If the House permitted it to be brought to
this country, it would be brought in English ships,
and the probability was, that if it went out of this
country again it would be taken away also in Eng-
lish vessels, whereas, if the importation of it was
to be prohibited in the manner now proposed,
not one farthing's worth of copper would ever af-
terwards be brought from Chili, or any port of
South America, .by English ships. By permit-
ting the importation of it,. this country would
decidedly have the advantage of the navigation—
of the warehousing—of the labour employed in
the smelting—and of the capital that would neces-
sarily have to be employed in the traffic; but if the
importation
,was prohibited, the House would do a
very great injury to the interests of .this country
without effecting the smallest good—therefore he
felt it his duty to do all he could to maintain the
clause in the Bill.

Lord FALMOUTH would feel greatly mistaken
if those persons most deeply interested in the copper
mines in this country had either given their assent to
to this Bill, or anything like it. All he had
heard was that those persons had made frequent re-
monstrances against it, and that their remonstrances had
been utterly disregarded. He could not under..
stand how Mr. Taylor could have given an
opinion in favour of it, because he could
not on •
any ground see how this licence to
the foreign merchant was to be beneficial to this
country. He was sure that the mode of smelting
here was far superior to that ofany other country ;
and he could assure the House that,
allowing this
clause to stand, they were taking the in
first
e step to do
the Cornish miners an irreparable injury.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH considered it very
natural for persons to take the alarm when any thing
at all of a serious nature approached themselves;
whether this alarm had been taken by his Noble
Friend on such a ground he would not presume
to say, but certainly the Noble Viscount opposite
had himself admitted in what he had stated, that
there were some grounds for apprehension. The
Noble Viscount had admitted that the supe-
riority of smelting in this country, as well
as the great convenience of getting ore here,
but still he did not suppose that that was
sufficient to prohibit the importation. His
Noble Friend (Lord Falmouth) was justified
in finding fault with the late period at which the
present Bill was brought up. It was incumbent
upon their Lordships to throw out the Bills brought
up at so late a period, for if they did not do
something of that kind, their privileges would
be abridged, and this House only used for
registering the edicts of the other House.—
For his (Lord Ellenborough's) part, he would en-
deavour next Session to do all in his power to pre-
vent the continuance of this most reprehensible
practice.
Lord GODERICH said, that for his own part
he should be extremely obliged to the Noble Lord,
if he persevered in the course he intimated his in-
tention of adopting. He considered that an itch
fur legislation was one of the greatest evils of the ,

present day, and any thing done to abate that evil
would be a public benefit:,
The Earl of FALMOUTH recommended that
the
.coririe Which the Noble Baron proposed and
the Noble Viscount approved, should be first pur-
sued with respect to the present Bill:
The Marquess of SALIS)3URY opposed the
particular Clause in 'question.
Lord LAUDERDALE concurred with his Noble
Friend (Lord Ellenborough) in tondembing the
penctice of crowding the table with Bills at the end
of the Session to such a degree, that no human in-
dustry wan sufficient to enable their Lordships to be-
come acquainted with the topics which they were
legislating.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH thought the Bills
relating to Ireland at all events, should be introduced
early next Session, to allow tithe to communicate
with that country.
Lord BEXLEY the complaint just made
was of tolig continuance, but he conceived some
indulgence should be granted during the present
Session, considering the change which had taken
place in the administratiun.,......

The Marquis of SALISBURY wished to know
whether the Bill might not be postponed, or at least
the objectionable clause, for a few days.
Lord GODERICH said, he had no objection to
postpone the third reading until Friday, though he
saw no reason why it should not be read a third
time to-marrow.

Lord FALMOUTH thought the only way of
meeting the objections urged was to omit the clause
to which he had referred altogether.
The question was then put on the clause, which
was agreed to without a division; the House then
resumed, and the Bill was ordered to be read a third
time on Friday.