The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-14 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.

The Court met yesterday for the special purpose of mov-
ing an Address of Congratulation to the Queen of Wurtem -
burg, and which we gave in our Paper of yesterday.

CITY ADDRESS TO THE KING.
We were informed that, while the doors of the Court
were closed, a member asked whether the Sheriffs had any
communication to make relative to the time at which it
might please his Majesty to receive the Address of the Court
of the Common Council, on the subject of the change of
Ministers.

Sheriff FAREBROTHER said that he had none to make to
the Court.
Sheriff WINCHESTER also rose to say that he had nothing
to state ; but he was prevented from entering into auy ex-
planation, it being the opinion of the Court that the worthy
Sheriff, not being a member, had no right to exceed his
privilege as a Sheriff, and that he was bound merely to an-
swer questions, without making any comment upon them.
It was here mentioned by a member of the Court that
he could not but feel surprise at the delay in receiving the
Address. It struck him as very remarkable that so long a
period had elapsed between the vote of the Address and pe-
riod for receiving it. For his part, he had had the honour
of seeing his Majesty at Ascot Races yesterday, and
never had he seen the King look better. His Majesty ap-
peared to be in excellent health, and was as cheerful as
possible. This appeared to be rather inconsistent with the
account given by the Secretary of State, Mr. Sturges
Bourne, upon the aKlication of the Remembrancer for the
appointment of a day by his Majesty for receiving the Ad-
dress. He (the worthy Member) wished to know whether
the Corporation of London could not demand an audience
of his Majesty ; he believed that to he the case ; and, if so,
the privilege could not, perhaps, be exercised upon an oc-
casion more adapted than the present.
No answer was given to this question.
The City Remembrancer, in answer to a question, stated,
that be had very frequently indeed applied at the office of
the Secretary of State, in order to ascertain whether his
Majesty had been pleased to appoint a day for receiving
ths City Address. He had been received universally with
the greatest respect at the office of Mr. Bourne, but lie
had no appointment to make to the Court Th• Right
Honourable Secretary seemed not to know at what time it
might be possible that his Majesty would be able to re•
ceive the address.
His statement seemed to have some effect upon the
Court, who, in fact, appear to consider the delay as a ma-
nifestation of slight or disregard. It is said, that the sub-
ject will be started shortly. Certain it is, that although
his Majesty pleaded illness in excuse, it is supposed that
he has another motive for his conduct upon this remarkable
occasion.
The address having been copied, was unanimously agreed
to, and the Court adjourned.

A French comedian, happening to perform
at Vienna, thus addresseel his audience, " Illustrious
Foreigners, &c. &c."—Le Furet.
The late Mr. Gifford never stipulated for any
salary as editor of the Quarterly Review. At first he
received 2001. and at last 9001. per annum; but ha never
engaged for a particular sum. He several times returned
money to Murray, saying, "he had been too liberal."—
Perhaps he was the only man on this side the Tweed who
thought so ! He was perfectly indifferent about wealth.
I do not know a better proof of this than the fact that he
was richer, by a very considerable sum, at the time of hie
death, than he was at all aware of. In unison with his
contempt of money was his disregard of any external dis-
tinction. He had a strong natural aversion to any thing
like pomp or parade. A very intimate friend, who had
risen like himself from small beginnings, having taken his
Doctor's degree, conceived his importance to he somewhat
augmented by this new distinction. Having called on
Gifford shortly after, he brought ti.e subject on the tapir,
and observed, with evident satisfaction, "But I hope,
Gifford, you won't quiz me, now I'm a Doctor?"—
cc Quiz thee ! God help thee ! make what they will of
thee, I shall never call thee anything but Jack." Yet he
was by no means insensible to an honourable distinction ;
and when the University of Oxford, about two years before
his death, offered to give him a Doctor's degree, he ob-
served, " Twenty years ago it would have been gratifying ;
but now, it would only be written on my coffin."—
Memoir of .111 r. Gifford in the Literary Gazette.
from Wsi Le When tmhe er, faiml oe
atoss Fppedatha eferwO'Ldayesary i.wtahse coming
wnnof
Boulogne-sur-Mer. Here he heard of a great curiosity,
which all the people were running to see—a curious bear
that seine fishermen had taken at sea out of a wreck ; it
had sense, and attempted to utter a sort of lingo which
they called patois, but which nobody understood. O'Leary
gave his six sous to see the wonder, which was shewn at
the port by candle-light, and was a very odd kind of ani-
mal, no doubt. The bear had been taught a hundred
tricks, all to be performed at the keeper's word of com-
mand. It was late in the evening when O'Leary saw him,
and the bear seemed sulky; the keeper, however, with a
short pike at the end of a pole, made him move about
briskly. He marked on sand what o'clock it was with his
paw, and distinguished the men and women in a very
comical way; in fact, our priest was quite diverted. The
beast at length grew tired—the keeper hit him with a pole
—he stirred a little, but continued quite sullen ; his master
coaxed him—no ! he would not work ! At length the
brute of a keeper gave him two or three sharp pricks with
the goad, when he roared out most tremendously, and
rising on his hind legs, swc ee at his tormentor in very good
native Irish. O'Leary waited no longer, but went imme-
diately to the Mayor, whom he informed that the black-
guards of fishermen had sewed up a poor Irishman in a
bear-skin, and were shelving bins for six sous ! The civic
dignitary, who had himself seen the bear, would not be-
lieve our friend. At last O'Leary prevailed on him to ac-
company him to the room. On their arrival, the bear was
still upon duty, and O'Leary, stepping up to him, says,
" Gand a tha haven, Pat ?" (How do you, Pat?)—

" Stanger a manugouth," (Pretty well, thank'e) says the
bear. The people were surprled to hear how plainly he
spoke ; but the Mayer directly ordered bins to ha ripped
up, and, after some opposition, and a good deal of diffi-
culty, Pat stepped forth out of the bear-skin, wherein be
bad been fourteen or fifteen days most cleverly stitched.
The women made off—the men stood astonished—and the
Mayor ordered the keepers to be put in gaol, unless they
satitfied him ; but that was presently done. The bear
afterwards told O'Leary that he was very well fed, and did
not care much about the clothing, only they worked him
too hard. The fishermen had found him at sea on a hen-
coop, which had savA him from going to the bottom with
a ship, wherein he had a little venture of dried cod, from
Dungarvon, and which was bound from Waterford to
Bilboa. He could not speak a word of any language but
Irish, and had never been at sea before. The fishermen
had brought him in, fed him well, and endeavoured to re-
pay themselves by showing him as a curiosity.

" That when the right of conquest had rendered the
country of their birth a dependency of the British Empire,
King Charles 11., in the 13th year of his reign, by a
Charter of Liberties and Franchises to the Settlers in the
Colony, declared that the children of his subjects of
England to be born in Jamaica should, from their respee;
tive births, be reputed to be, and should be, free denizens
of England, holding the same privileges, to all intents and
purposes, as the free-born subjects of England,' thus assur-
ing to them the full enjoyment of those inherent rights
no climate or compact was to diminish or destroy.
" That although this inhe'•itance of every immunity in-
cident to British freedom, was thus confirmed to the set-

tiers to be perpetuated in their free offspring born in the
island, yet at an early period in the history of the Repre-
sentative Legislature of the Colony, their descendants, the
mixed issue of the European and the Black population,
were disinherited of all the rights and liberties recognised
in that Charter, the object of which was to preserve unim-
paired the Constitution of the Parent State, and to render
inviolable the ancient jurisdictions, liberties, and privi-

leges of the people.
" That although thus excluded, by local policy, from the
lowest offices of the State, divested of the privileges of Ci-
tizenship, disqualified for exercising the functions of Jurors,
disinherited of the Elective franchise, anti disallowed the

right of testimony in Courts of Law, yet, under all these
jealous restrictions, this class of the community, neverthe-
less, advanced in wealth and respectability.
" That the influence which the acquisition of opulence
_ _

was calculated to create, being deemed hostile to the
maxims of Colonial policy, this class of inhabitants, by
express enactments of the local Legislature, were shut out
from all places of trust even among themselves, and of
gainful employment among others in the commerce and
agriculture of the country; and that, finally, in the year
1761, the distinction of poverty was snore effectually added
to that of the physical circumstances of birth, by debarring
the mixed and black people from receiving bequests, or of
making purchases to a greater extent than two thousand
pounds, current n icy of Jamaica, or to the value of
fourteen hundred pounds sterling.
6' That during tl.e Maroon War, the mixed population,
by their zeal and devotion to the welfare and safety of their
country, when both were imminently threatened by a
domestic enemy, having for themselves the favourable notice
of the Government, the Legislation were pleased, in 1796,
to extend to them, as a reward for their good conduct, the
right of testimony against Europeans in cases of assault ;
but the enactment conferring this boon being guarded by
many degrading .provisions, it was rendered nugatory and
ineffective, as a protection from personal injury.
" That this portion of the Colonial Society, though ex-
posed to every variety of moral evil, and compelled to make
their efforts in life under all the accumulated disadvantages

of indigence, and a want of adequate protection from the
law, were net so dismayed by the apparently insurmount-
able obstacles which policy and public opinion had heaped
around their condition, as to preclude them from attempt-
.

ing an alteration of their state, they therefore appealed to
the House of Assembly in 1813, by a General Petition,
founding their claims to its liberal regard on the character
they had always maintained under this system of political
disqualification, and in consequence of thle wee/ o—s
obtained from that body a reneel -f i'`. Act limiting pur-
chases and bequests to the sum of two thousand pounds ;
and also to the admission of their evidence in Courts of
Lay, in all cases, mil and criminal. They were, at the
same time, permitted to fill situations of trust among the
agricultural slave holders of their own class.
" That in 1816, another concession was made to your
petitioners, by which they were allowed to officiate as
pilots on the coast, thereby increasing their opportunities
of utility and industry.
" That notwithstanding the very limited nature of these
privileges, which were rather a restitution of what the
jealous policy of 1712 and 1761 had taken away, yet being
thus, in some degree, raised from their former abasement,
and enabled more vigorously to exert themselves in those
new pursuits which became opened to them by private
trust and public confidence, your petitioners made ad-
vancements in wealth and respectability, and all classes of
the community were seen benetitted by this new capacity.
" That in consequewe of these concessions, partial as
they were 'in their nature, ninny among your Petitioners
have accumulated property to a considerable amount, but
that a very numerous pc rtion of their class are still indi-
gent, because by the roe rictive policy of the country they
are still precluded from many employments, to which their
physical and intellectual capabilities might otherwise
readily recommend them.
" That this large indigenous population, which is ra-
pidly increasing, has no ether resource but in the unfetter-
ed application of their industry in the country that has
given them birth.
"That, iniluced by these considerations, r. n d impelled
by their necessities, your Petitioners made a further appeal
to the Colonial Legislation for an extension of their
franchises, by a general peaition in the year 1893, in which
they solicited the right of suffrage at elections, the admis-
sibility to exercise the function of Jurors, the introduction
to employment in all places of agricultural industry what-
soever, and the abrogation of the laws excluding them
from those offices of public trust, to which their intellec-
tual acquirements might recommend them ; finally re-
questing to be, equally with the white inhabitants, admitted
to those schools of elementary education at the public ex-
pence, open, at present, oaly to whites, and their claim
to which is founded on fieir proportionally sustaining,
with the privileged class, the military and financial burthens
of the country.
" That although your Petitioners have been repeatedly
applauded as a meritorious class of his Majesty's subjects,
by the House of Assembly of Jamaica, that House, in reply
to the prayer of this Petition, expressed their determination
that the further legislative claims of the general body should
be rejected ; declaring their intention to entertain only in-
dividual applications, duly recommended for special privi-
leges, to be limited according to the condition and circum-
stances of the party applying ; thus denying to your Pe-
titioners any general advantages from those plans for the
benefit of the subject for which Legislative Assemblies are
established, and divesting themselves, as it were, of their
own deliberative character, by refusing to entertain any
proposition for the future and collective good of this class
of the people.
" That the operation of this principle which they have
adopted, of selecting some few for political favour, while
the whole class are held by the law in a state of political
exclusion, the holy of the people experience no diminu-
tion of that adverse influence of public opinion by which
their moral improvement has been hitherto effectually re-
tarded.
" That even the consolation of hope, that a remedy
may at sonic time be applied to the evils of that policy
which has hitherto paralysed their energies, being thus re-
fused to your Petitioners, they have no resource, but in thr
impartial justice and superintending care of the Imperial
Parliament, or in that paternal benevolence and liberality'
which peculiarly belong to the Sovereign of a free and
enlightened people.
" That, born ender the King's allegiance, and entitled
to participate in he blessings of the British Constitution,
and having evinced on all occasions their loyalty and pa-
triotism, your petitioners look to your Hon. House with
the utmost solicitude, and with confidence that you will
listen to their pr, er, and not ranee to admit them to the
full protection of he law, and all the privileges of Brill-di
subjects.
" That your petitioners fervently pray your Honourable
House will take the premises into your consideration, and, in
your wisdom, adoi.t such measures as shall remedy the evils
of which they complain—furnish to them new incitements
to ingenuity and enterprise—ameliorate their eoridition—
and promote their moral and intellectual improvement, and
by thus enlarging their means of usefulness, add to the se-
curity, and augment the force and riches of the community
at large.
" With the assurances of undeviating zeal for the sup-
port of his Majesty's Throne and Government, your peti-
tioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray," &c. &e,

CORN BILL.
Lord GODERICH rose, and addressed himself in these
terms :—I was asked, my Lords, in the course of last
night to explain to you the course the Government meant
to take with respect to the Corn Bill, after the discussion
that had taken place. I was asked, first of all, whether
it was my intention to propose, in any other stage of the
Bill, again to rescind the amendment, to which I
had stated my objection ; and I was further asked
on what day it was proposed that the third
reading of the Bill should be fixed. Upon these ques-
tions being put to me, I certainly did not think myself
able to give satisfactory answers, but I feel that it is now
fit I should state distinctly, on behalf of his Majesty's Go-
vernment what I propose to do. After the decision which
the House came to, for the second time, upon the amend-

ment, it evidently would be quite out of the question for me
to make any further attempt again to induce your Lord-
ships to depart from that decision: I therefore am under
the necessity of considering the Bill zis having been finally
sanctioned by your Lordships with that amendment. I
felt it my duty to state as strongly as I could, because I
thought I had a strong case, the grounds on which I con-
ceived that that clause was not only objectionable, but in

my judgment, fatal to the principle of the Bill, and
inconsistent with the success of the measure. I have

now to state that I cannot depart from that opinion,
and that it is not possible for me to propose the third
reading of a Bill to which it is quite impossible for me
ever to bring myself to agree. I shall, therefore, not

proceed as I had intended, to move that the third reading
of that Bill shall take place on Friday next.

Lord MALMESBURY—I shall be at all times per-
fectly ready to meet the Noble Lord, or his Majesty's
Ministers in amending the Bill in any way that may
be considered the best. I should indeed be exceedingly
anxious to adopt any measure in conformity with the
landed interest, and the interest of the community at large ;
and I think it right to state this now, because, in my opinion,
it is not too late to adopt a measure for the purpose of
putting the Act of 1822 into operation.—(Hear, hear.)--
I should beexceedingly glad to see that clause removed which
prevents that Act coming into operation. If it were remove d
and the Act brought into operation, I think it would ope-
rate for the benefit of the community, and without produc-
ing any very great inequality of opinion.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH--.My Lords, I think my
Noble Friend's suggestion well deserves the attention of
the House. The principle of the Bill of 1822 has never
been tried. In the course of last year there could have
been no objection to the passing of a measure to
have brought that Bill into operation, and there would
be time enough yet during the present Session to pass
a short measure for that purpose, but I think that the Act
of 1822 is kept up as a grievance, in order to force Parlia-
ment to adopt some measure that may be proposed by Go-
vernment.

Lord GODERICH.—I can asßure the Noble Lord

that the principles which operated his Majesty's Govern-
ment respecting that Act of 1622 were of the purest
nature.

The Duke of WELLINGTON.—Though the Noble
/I+,l 1... a.....ght proper to say he will not move the third
reading of the Bui, ye‘ ,or rne third reading of

it is not discharged, and I apprehend it is open to any body
else to move the third reading of it.—(Cheers eL. oe-

position.)
Lord GREY.—My Lords, I should wish to state what
it is
have been the motives of my own conduct, as well as the
iconductntheN he
of
osbolemeLoofrdms power,
Nobleer riif thinks the Undoubtedly
Friends.
amend-
ment so completely mischievous as to render the
Bill useless or injurious, to withdraw himself from mov-
ing the third reading of it, and having such art
opinion, he has done right to abandon it.—(Hear,
hear, hear.)—My Lords, I certainly did not vote for
that amendment upon any idea of getting rid of the Bill.—
(Hear, hear.)—l vote with the majority for its going into a
Committee, and I hope it is unnecessary for me to say
that I should not have lent myself, as I am sure
the Noble Duke would net have lent himself, to any
measure to effect that indirectly to which he had not
directly assented—(Cheers.)—l voted for the Amendment.
thinking it really an improvement. I certainly should have
approved of an amendment if it had been moved by my
Noble Friend sitting at the table, but as that amendment
was not moved by him, and as the one moved by the Noble
Duke seemed to me to be calculated to detect the frauds that
that had been committed without impeding the effect of
the Bill, I voted for it.—(Hear.) That, my Lords, is still
my opinion, and, thinking that a very unjust clamor has
been raised on the subject of the Corn Laws—thinking
the Government has been much to blame far the measure.:
they have adopted, which have much tended to encourage
that clan-ar—thinking also there was no case made out for
our immediate interference, nobody having been able to
state, that for the last six years there had been any
such inconvenience as to have called for the interference oftbo
Government, I could not vrithold my vote for the amendment.
There hnd not been during these six years that fluctuation
in the prices that had been stated by those Noble Lords
who introduced the Bill, bat being introduced, and feeling:
that it was connected with the maintenance of interests upon
which the prosperity of the country depended, i.e (Earl
Grey) gave it his support, and voted for its being entertained
in the Committee. But in doing so, Tie never intended to
go into that Committee, with the delusive idea that all
power of deliberation was taken away.—(Cries of Hear,
hear) ; he owed it to the Hcuse, and to the country, if
any beneficial alterations in his view of the question
should be proposed, to vote for them, and therefore it was
that he supported the Amendment of the Noble Duke;
he did so, because he thought the amendment calculated to
correct the dangers arising from our system of bonding—a
system which was not now defended even by its former
advocates; he voted for it under the impression that ;,t
might in some measure mitigate, if not avert, the danger to
be apprehended from letting loose upon the market such ale
accumulation of Corn, as would inundate the Country.
If the House were again to go into A discussion of the
entire question, the Noble Lord would be prepared to
defend his conduct with respect to this measure by ar-
guments which, to his own mind, carried conviction.--
It was for those persons who, in the first instance, agitated
this question of so much delicacy and difficulty, now to
suspend the consideration of it, and with that suspensioa
to risk all the exasperation and angry feelings which
may exist before any remedy could be applied, it
was for them to consider the expediency of such a pro-
ceeding, adopted because of the introduction of an
amendment, the only practical effect of which was
to defer the period at which foreign Corn was to come into
the market, from the time the price was 63e. until it was
665. The important principle of the measure was
still the same, and he could not believe that, even in the
view of those who were most wedded to their own opi-
nions, the Bill had become so vitiated by the altera-
tion that it ought now to be abandoned. If the
alteration was found to be inconvenient, it would have been
subject to the consideration of their Lordship at any future
period. The Noble Lord, after entering into details of the
Bill, with a view of showing that it had not been materially
altered, and observing that he did not question the integrity
of the Noble Lord (Goderich) who, he was willing to admit,
acted in the conscientious discharge of his duty; could

.~ ~ `T~

not think it other than an extraordinary proceeding on the
part of the Noble Lord to abandon, on account of an
alteration of that sort, a Bill of so much importance in
other respects. The Noble Lord could not sup-
pose that his Majesty's Ministers had tal.en this
course for the unworthy object of exciting the
feelings of the country against that House; but if that
be the effect of their conduct (said the Noble Lord) I am
ready to meet it.—(Cheers.)—l stand here, one of a body
always ready, while they anxiously and feelingly protect
•the interests of the people, to stand boldly forward
in the maintenance of their own rights.—!Loud Cheers.)
—lf, as we are told, the result of our persevering in the
amendment will be to force a worse measure on us, I, for
one, declare that I am not to be intimidated by that threat.
and I trust that if that rorse Bill comes, it will meet
from your Lordships a firm opposition, and ultimate
rejection.--(Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) If we are un-
happily to come to that sort of contest, and that there is
to exist that sort of exasperation of feeling with which we
are tineatened, between this House and the body of the
people, my part is taken.—(Clkeers.)—l am one of an order
with which I must stand or fall, and whose independence
and privileges I will maintain to the last hour of my exis-
tence. (The Noble Lord resumed his seat amid loud
sheers.) .

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE then rose, and depre-
cated any discussion when there was no question before the
House. His Noble Friend near hint (Lord Goderich) had
no intention of submitting any motion to their Lord-
ship, but merely stated that the Order of the Day
for the third reading of the Corn Bill stood for Friday next,
and that he did not propose to move the third reading of it
on that day. His Noble Friend did not even move
that the order ba discharged ; and, as the mat-
ter now stood, it war perfectly open to any
Noble Lord who thought the Ell, with the amend-
ment, would he still b,neficial, to move the third reading
of it on Friday. His Noble Friend conceiving that the
Bill had now assumed a form materially different in
its effects from what i: was when first introduced by
bim, had, in answer to a question put last night, de-
dared his determination of not proposing that the Bill
be carried through any other stage, but any other Noble
Lord was at liberty to lo so. The Noble Marquis
would not now enter into avy vindication (which he easily
.could) of the conduct of his Noble Friend, though
strongly tempted to do sc by what had fallen from
the Noble Earl opposite (Lord Grey); but an oppor-
tunity might hereafter arise of defending this, which
required defence, and then he would be prepared tc
show that nothing was more clear than that the amendment
which he been introduced, rnlde the Bill, in its effects,
differ materially from what it was when brought up from
the Commons. _ _

--------
The discussion on this subject here dropped.
CRIMINAL LAWS.
Lord TENTERDEN moved the second reading of the
Criminal Laws' Amendment Bill, the taking away the be-
lle& of Clergy Bill, the Consolidation of the Larceny Laws'
Bill, and the other Bills for improving the Administration
cf Justice. In doing this, his Lordship was understood to
pronounce a high eulogium on the late Secretary of State
for the Home Department, and the Gentlemen who had
assisted him in drawing up the Bills ; but his Lordship
spoke from the Cross Benches, and was nearly inaudible
below the Bar. He said that it was fortunate that the
subject had been taken up by a Gentleman of an enlarged
and comprehensive mind, who had not been bred to the
law ; for those who were bred to the law were rendered
dull, by habit, to many of its defects. His Lordship was
also understood to split ove nuch of the simplification of the
law, as likely to be a great service to those Noblemen and
Gentlemen, who, with great honour to themselves, and ad-
-vantage to the country, administered the Jaw.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH, though he was disposed to
arm ve of the Bill, thought, at that late period of the
Session, their Lordship could not pass the Bill without
some danger of committing ao error, unless the Noble
Lord should vouch for the correctness of the Bill.
TrNTERDEN meant to expiaia 41-• f'^”,rnit-
tee what Acts had been repealed, Ara ny w,at Clauses. ,
Lord ELLENBOROUGH expressed himself perfectly
The LORD CHANCELLOR said a few words in
praise of the great care with which the Bills had been
drawn.
The Bills were then all read a second time, and ordered
to be committed to-morrow.
CORPORATE FUNDS' BILL.

On the Order of the Day for the third reading of the
Corporate Funds' Bill being read,
The. Earl of Ecoo-N expressed his regret that this mea-
sure should have reached its present stage without his
being aware of its existence. Now that he was in posses-
sion of its object, he felt himself bound to oppose its
further progress. The Bill, as their Lordships would per-
ceive, proposed to make that illegel which, it was admit-
ted on all hands, was now perfectly legal, Corporations had
certain funds at their disposal, for purposes &peeled in their
Charter ; and when they had applied their funds to those
Corporete purposes, they have A right to apply the remain-
der to what purpose they please. This right was clearly
defined and eceiblished by law, and was As fixed and certain
as the right of any private gentleman in the kingdom to dis-
pose of his property. The law being so, and no evidence
being shown to the House that any Corporation had dispo-
awl of its funds in an illegal manner for election purpose?,
he wished their Lordships to say, why Corporations
were by that bill to be disfranchised, for it was nothing less,
quoad those funds, which it was now apparent could be
legally used for these purposes. Besides, by the Charters
of many Corporations, they were expressly called upon to
elect Members of Parliament, and to defray the expences
from those fusels ; and ha would ask, what right had Par-
liament to prevent thcre! COrporations from using their
funds for these purpose; ? Upon the whole, looking at the
perfect legality of the rights pf Corporations, as they were
exercised in this manger, and at the total want of the evi-
dence of any departure ii*PM the legal application of their
funds, he felt himself bound to move that *the Bill be read
a third time this day three r ninths.
Lord DACRE defended tee principle of the Bill, and
contended that it was intended to prevent Corporations
float applying their funds 40 purposes adverse to the inte-
rests of three from whom C..y w, .re taken. Corporations
were not, 'in the case of elections, at all placed in the
same situation as an individual, because an individual was
restrained from an intemperate and improper waste of hie
property by the privations to white_ he was compelled to
eubrnit whey he entered into that expenditure, while Cor-
porations wasted the property of others, and were totally
unrestrained by Cue; considerations which operated on the
minds of individuals. For these reasons, to prevent the
improper application of Corporate teethe and to restrain
Corporations from exercising the power triii,ch those funds
gave them to destroy she irdependance of boroughs, and to
overlay the power anti the influence of the vo:ces of the in-
dependent inhabitants, in cases were the Corporation had
a political bias, he hopoel their Lordships would consent to
Allow the Bill to pass into a Law.
Lord REDESDALE contended, with the Noble Earl
iEjeipn), that the Bill would be a most improper interfe-
rence With an acknow edged legal right. Corporations
had, be conceived, as me ch interest as any inhabitant of a
T3pper pt n should be returned to repre-
borough, t:lat a
arliaToment, : !soro the preservation of their rights,
sent them in e
of their property. The Noble Lord
and the securit,"
deprive them of this right, and
(Lord Deere) propoa7d
influence—that influence which
to divest property of its i:11
he does not pretend to say 1.2 now illegal—in operating
upon the choice of those pee sons who are to return Mem-
bers to Parliament. Looking at these things, at what the
Noble Earl said of the constriction of the Garters, and at
the want of all evidence, he filt bound to oppose t:le Bill.
The E.. cl of LIMERICK supported the Billeand instanced
the case of the Corporation o Limerick as a proof of the
right of ouch interference as ti at claimed by the Bill. That
Corporation had funds gran,ed them for parochial pur-
pseee.--fee the maintenance of roads, the repairing of
bridges; and the improvement of streets. The roads, how-
ever, becaese almost impassable. The bridges were left in
a state of ruin, and no man could pass through the streets
without being in danger of his life; and all this, while
dithe
Corporation had funds to an immense extent at ther s-
pole!. Complaint of this misapplication of funds was
made to Parliament, and their Lordships had actually now
before them the evidence upon which a ground of inter-
ference and redress was justified iu that lieuse.
The Earl of ELDON ailreiated the force of the Noble
Earl's illustration, but be seemed to forget that the evidence
taken in that case afforded no ground for treating all the
Corporations in the world in the same mantes:.
The LORD CHANCELLOR thought no man
eould
possibly have any doubt upon the law as it now affected the
application of Co. rporate Funds. ;Upa n what ground,
therefore, may it be asked, were their Lordships celled
upon to pass the present Bin/ He thought the teit answer
was to be found in its history, or rather, in the history