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London, England, 1826-04-22 00:00:00

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thus almost imprilesible for a qlliet tradesman to enjoy
the cenversatiou Okla friends et neighbours la the pulour a
respectable victualler's," account of hat sot being able to get com-
pletely fretron business till the hour prescribed by this Act for
she excite" of antensers. The Petitioners further stated, that
Bind the Act came into force. they had lot from tea to fifteen
pomades night by this regulation, out of which seven pounds at
least would ►ave gone to the revenue weekly. He hoped the
House, when the Hon. Member for Oxford brought in his Bill en
the some object, would extend the. beer later than the one ordered
by the present Act.
After a few observations from Mr. K. Woonsouse.
Mr. ESTCOURT assured the• House the he had
thought it fit to introduce the words late in the evening,
or early in the morning, merely for the purpose of
pifterving the tranquillity of the neighbourhood in
which such houses were situated. This order, however,
dill not extend to travellers, who could be aJmitted at
•ray hour without the victualler's being fined ft.r thus
admitting them. He had revised his Bill, and had
found it not calculated to answer all the ends he had
. proposed it should do, and would therefore withdraw
k, and allow the present one to go on for a year longer, at the end
of which period be should have framed another, better calculated
than the one he had istended to have brought forward this Session.
Hs did not mean to say that the present Act was a perfect one, It
was far from it bat in the present advanced state of the Session,
it would be too late to frame an Act sufficiently well digested to
enter on the Statute Book. He therefore begged leave to withdraw i
his Bill, and at a future period would give notice of his intention to
Ming in another.
Mr. MONCK supported the Petition.
The Order was then discharged.
Mr. ESTCOURT postponed the second reading of the Ale-
home Licence Bill till this day three months.
Mr. S. CAREW presented a Petition from the Catholics of
Wexford, praying for Catholic Emancipation.—Lid so that table.
Mr. CREKVSY presented a dollar Petition (rem the Inhabi-
tants of the parish of .4. Andeon, Dublin. Ile hoped that the
unanimity which at present existed between the two countries
would me ►e disturbed ►y the adoption of those measures which
were ingraftesi on the Bill of last year relative to Catholic Enna-
cipati•o—Laill Go the table.
Mr. S. RICE presented a Petition. signed by several Protes-
tants; Noblemen, and Landholders of Ireland, complaining of the
penal enactments against the Roman Catholics of Ireland. and of
the injury to that country resulting from the Penal Code. They
humbly prayed the Home to devise some remedy against it. and
relieve the country from the difficulty it was labouring under.
The,Hos. Mite= also presented a similar Ponies from Kil-
kenny, and two other parishes in Ireland.
The Petitions were ordered to be printed.
Mr. S. RICE presented a Petition from the Merchants of the
town of Belfast, complaining of the rates of postage in Ireland. The
letter were charged with English postage, and afterwards with
Irish postage. A letter which would be carried the untie distance
in England, and be charged Is. 4d. was charged as. which was a

very serious difference.
Sir J. NEWPORT supported the Petition ; he held in his hand
a statement of the different sums charged for postage in Scotland
and Ireland. He found that the postage of a letter, to the further
part of the county of Kerry, was charged !s. lid. whilst a letter to
the further part of Aberdeen, is Scotland (the same distance) was
only charged Is. sd. Complaints had been made Session after Ses-
sion, but no notice had been taken of them, and be hoped ths the
House would do something to check this gross imposition.
Mr. GOULBURN supported the Petition. lie could assure
the lion. Membtr, that as soon as the Report of the Pont-office
Commission was laid on the table, that something would be done
to remedy this abuse which be trusted would be to the satiifactinn
at all parties. Ile did not see any reason for charging more for the
carriage of a letter to Ireland than to Scotland. Ile knew, how-
ever, fur a fact, that the carriage of a letter for 150 miles in Ire-
land cost as much as the carriage ratite same for 400 miles is Scot-
land. He was ready to support any thing that could be devised to
aboli.h this inequality of charges.
Mr. C. HUTCHINSON said, he had repeatedly called the at-
tention of the Post-office Commission to the subject, but had never
receited any satisfactory answer. Ile hoped the subject would be
attended to during the summer.
Sic JOHN BRY DGILS said, as one of the Members from the
North of Ireland, he rose to bear testimony to the truth of the al-
legations of the Petition, setting forth the grievance; and he was
happy to hear from the Right lion. Secretary for Ireland, that the
motif would speedily be ii.vestigated, and a remedy applied.
After a few words from Mr. WALLACE and another Gentleman,
the Petition was read, and upon the motion of Mr. S. lime, ordered
to he printed.
Mr. S. It ICE presented a Petition from certain inhabitants •1
the oounty of Cork against the duty on coals.—Laid on the table.
A Message front the Lords ahnouncrd that their Lordships bad
agreed to various Private Bills. Also requesting leave for the at-
tendance of J. GLatismea, Esq. to give evidence before the Com-
mittee, inquiring into the system of circulating Prontiosery Notes
below the value of 51. in Scotland and Ireland.—Leave was given.
r. K. DOUGLAS presented a Petition from Dalkeith against
any a:teration in the Stock Currency.—Referred to the Committee.
Mr. OTCICENSON presented a Petition from the city of Wells,
praying for the Aboli.ion of Slavery.
COUItT vs chiasuesas.
Mr. SYK ES rose to present a Petition upon a subject
which had claimed much of the attention of the House.
It referred to the pra.tice of the Court cf Chancery ;
and althou .h he would not go so far as to exptess him-
self id.the language of his Hon. Friend the Member
for Aberdeen, he would say that the Court of Chan-
cery, if not a curse, was anything but a blessing. He
meant Ito personal disrespect to the Noble Lord at the
head of that Court, but from all he knew of it, be had
no hesitation in describing it as a public nuisance.—
The party from whom the Petition came was no suitor
of the Court, but a Gentleman who had long practised
the profession of an attorney, with great credit and
respectability.• The Petitioner ass Mr. R. Garland, of
Kingston-upon-H ill. The gravamen of his complaint
to the House was, that in the year 1814, having been
engaged professionally in a cause before the Court,
hi. costs were taxed, and the items allowed to him by,
the Master, and paid; and that in 1826, twelve years
atter, the ca.e-had been te-opened by an order of the
Court, and he ha,l been called upon to have the same
bills taxed again. The documents relating to the case
had been lost, and lie was in t in a situation to go into
it; but he had, however, travelled up from Yorkshire,
and, in obedience to the order of the Lord Chancellor,
consented to have the costs re-taxed.- The result was,
tam although he had attended week after week, and
month after month, upon the Master, only thr.e shil-
lings and sixpence had been token off, and that was
upon one item of eight shillings and sixpence. In
consequence of the delay of these proceedings, the Petitioner bad
returned home an mainly ruined man. The Hun. Member stated,
that he bad put this Petition into the hands of the Sacker-Gt.
rood, sad he defied him to disprove any of its allegations, or to
answer the ease.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said, that the Petition
had been put into his hands, and be bad examined it,
although he had not been able to make any further
inquiries into the case. He considered it as a part of a
systematic attempt to hunt down the Chancellor. The
complaint here was, that because an Attorney's Bill
bad been unfairly taxed, the Court had ordered it to
be re-tared. The case was thus : Mr. Garland took a
bond of his client, by which he was bound to pay his
untaxed costs, which every Gentleman in that House
knew to be illegal. In the next place, the costs were
taxed when there was no adverse party remaining. As
soon as the adverse party had revived in another person,
an application was made to the Court, and in the judg•
aunt given by the Lord Chancellor, he said that the
bills had been unfairly taxed, and that upon principles
of public justice he would order them to be re•taxed.
This was one of the cases upon which the Court, of ataneery was
declared as be a curse to the country9 and upon which die Chow
wale was libelled and calumniated.
Mr. HUME said, that after taking time to re-consider
what fell from hot on a former evening, he would de-,

liberately repeat what be then said. Any institution'
which denied justice to millions of the people of this
country, and inflicted a mental torture which* no one
could know but those who had to suffer it, deserved to
be described as his Hon. Friend had described it, as a
public nuisance. Under the semblance of a Court of
Justice, it was a Court of injustice, and a Court of in-
equity. That House ought to have put a s'op to the
proceedings of such a Court long ago. 'l'he Hon.
Member for Surrey, in his zeal to suppnrt the Court of
Chancery, had called it a blessing tb the country. GOD
preserve him from such blessings ! (Laughter). The
injustice of the Grand Unor was not so great as the
injustice of the Court OT Chancery. He gave imme-
diate death without torture; but here a mental torture
was inflicted in every possible shape. Was it n a
shame that thirty-nine millions of the property of the
people of this country should be locked up in Chancery
while they were suffering every species of distress and
piivatien? It was easy to see what would become of
this money rime time or other. The Chancellor of
the Exchequer, or some successor of his, would find it useful for
their purposes, and it was lying there as a nice nest-egg for them.
It was safe under the lock of the Lord Chancellor, and it would
never come out while he remained, and the Institution continued
in its present state. He mould repeat that the institution was •
curse, and he could not separate from the Institution those who di-
rected and maintained it.

The Petition having been read, •
Mr. SYK ES said, that the lion. and Learned Gentleman seemed
to think nothing of the time that bad passed before this case was
re-opened. Twelve years was nothing to the Court of Chancery—
they reckoned by generations. (Hear.) He denied that the Hon.
and Learned Gentleman had made out any answer to the Petition.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL expressed his surprise, that a
Gentleman of the Hon. Member's judgment and d scernment,
should undertake and continue to support a Petition which showed
upon the face of it that the Pedtioner had acted illegally, and
charged for copies which be confessed linked never made.
The, Petition was ordered to be printed.
Lord MILTON presented three Petitions from places in the
Counties of Northampton and York, praying for the abolition of
Slavery.—Laid on the table.
Sir J. NEWPORT moved to postpone the Order of the Day for
the further consideration the Report of the Bribery at Elections
Bill, to Tuesday next.—Order
The-CHANCELLOR of theINIVIEQUER moved that the
House at Its rising do adjourn to Tuesday next.—Agreed to.
Mr. GOULBURN moved the bringing up of the Report of the
Committee of Supply.
Mr. HUME said, that the Report contained a Reso-
lution granting the sum of 7,0001. t- be placed at the
disposal of the Lord Lieutenant for publishing Procla-
mations; and this he would state was used for the put.
pose of bribing those papers which supported the Go:'
verument. From the returns of the circulation of the
Newspapers in Ireland he should be able to spew ex.
amples of what he had asserted. The Patriot was
started to oppose the Cortesisondent (by Mr. %V.-Pole)
and pail 1.2001. a year; and, after a time, the Cores-1
pondent found it would be better to get paid in like
manner ; and it received 7001. a year, and 5001. for
secret service money. If a Committee were allowed,
he should be able to prove these facts (by persons in the
Secretary of State's Office); also the payments for pro-
clamations, advertisements, Ice. by the Evening Mail,
&c. getting twitting for advertisenients, while Govern-
ment papers, although of the smallest circulation, got
enormous sum'. The sums were, in fact, paid to bribe
the Press. Could the House have the indecency to suffer
such things to continue ? Any Government that required
such support deserved not to be continued. Public
bodies were supported and pant by many iimiljr means;
such as the sums for the Dublin. %Vide Streets Board,
&c. '1 hoc were large sums expended. He should
tike the sense of the H ,use against the continua.ice of
such a system, unless it could be sh:wn that there was
something peculiar in the Government of Ireland that
required support by such wasteful means.
Sit J. NEW PORT spoilt to the like effect. The corrupt use of
the many sums given for advertisements, proclamation., &c. was
apparent from their being sent tdipapers of little circulation, while
those of great circulation had not thoadvertisements.

:Br. GOULBURN complained of the unfair way in which the
Hun. Member's opposition wag urged, to establish on him ( Mr. 0.)
the system of bribing the Irish Press, in referring to a paper pro-
duced in 1819, not always to that lately printed. He said he knew
nothing of the petty details of Newspaper Offices; when on the
other side of the water, he had occupation that left him little time
for such subjects. As to bribing the Papers, no one got less by it
than he, for he was the victim, more than any one, of remarks that
were not very complimentary. The Hen. Member ought to be
cautious how be received intelligence. especially from clerks and
others, whose duty it was not to be guilty of breaches of confidence.
This discussion arose on the question, that the Report of the
Committee of Supply be received, co►taining the Resolutions fur
Proclamations fur Ireland, Ste. _

Mr. ELLIS said, that he had before complained of the Hun.
Member's imperfect information, and the defective aut►orities on
which be felled. His information respecting the Dublin Wide
Streets Board was also untrue.

Mr. HUME wished it to be understood that he had not rested
his cbarses on anonymous information—not from any Clerks; they
were from the documents before the Meuse, and printed.
The Houie divided—
For the Resolution
Against it .

. . 40

• • • • 12
Majority . . —22
On the motion of Mr. Secretary Palm, the Hesse resolved itself
into a Committee on the Criminal Justice Bill.

In discourse of a conversation on the Classes of the Dill between
hlessrs Pm, Baoionass, and Danstow,

Mr. Secretary PEEL stated, that it was his intention to bring in
a Hill neat Sessimt which would consolidate all the laws relating to
the violation of property.
The Bill having gupe through the Committee, the House re-
sumed ;—the Report was received, and ordered to be printed, and
taken into further coosideratiou un Tuesday.
On the mode. of the CHANCILLOS of the Excaumusts the House
resolved itself into a Committee on the Bank Charter Amend.
meat Bell

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER stated that it
was his intention to introduce same amendments in order that the
Notes of Honking Companies soliht be payable in London for sums
under the amount .f 501. _ _

A conversation on the 'abject of the Bill ensued, in which Colunel
Damn, Sir ii. 'PARNELL, and Mr. J. SNITN, bore part.
The clauses of the BM having been agreed to, the House resumed,
and the Report was brought up, and ordered to be received un
Wednesday seat.

CHURCII RATES (111 BLAND) BILL.
Mr. GOULBURN moved that the above Bill be re-committed.
Mr. S. RICE, previously to the Speaker leaving the chair, moved
that there be inserted in the Bill a clause, empowering the Pro-
testant parishioners to assess the respective parishes for auditing
towards the building, enlargement, and repairs of Presbyterian
Meeting-houses, and Roman Catholic Cbapeis.
Mr. GOULBURN opposed the motion. The Act introduced
by him made no alteration in respect to the form of assignment.—
The vestries premed no power before of assessing parishes for
Roman Catholic chapels, and they possessed none now. There was
no obstacle in the way of any individuals disposed to contribute
voluntarily to Roman Catholics or Presbyterians. He did not
object to any liberality on the pan of the Protestaat vestries, but
they wished to be liberal at the expense of others.
SirJOHN NEWPORT supported the motion. The Roman
Catholics and Presbyterians were called upon to contribute largely
even to the splendid Cathedrals, for which the wealthy ecelmiastia '
cal establishment possessed funds. He (Sir J. Newport) found
that in three successive years the Protestants of Cloys. dal eeo.l
tribute to the aid of Catholic chapels in that diocese. The power
bad bees exercised there, and so dissatisfaction could have existed,
or the practice would not have ameinned • long. He world
heartily support the proposition, and would support the making the
contribution compulo►y cm the Protestant ecopeats et land.
Sir R. H. INGLIS supported the clause. - He thought the
offerings of private benevolence a preferable mode of atoinlag the
obiect.but ask could mot be adequately accomplished by tuc► —ems,
he would sot witbield frets Vestries the power of

Mr. Secretary PEEL agreed as fully as any man in'
the House could do, that it was a monstrous abuse that
any Protestant vestry should have the power of taxing
A Catholic parish one joint beyond the limit which was
strictly legal and absolutely necessary. At the sans*
tittle, he took it to be a feature most essential in a mea-
sure like the present, that it should defile, as precisely
as possible, the charges really entitled to be made. Dm
was a course which would be desirable in any country;
but in Ireland there would be no getting on without It.
Nor would he agree for a moment in the propriety of
empowering any vestry to assess a parish for the main-
tenance of Catholic, or any other, modes or places of
worship,which were cnntrary to the Established Church.
The fact was, that this proposition was mea►it for the
benefit of the Catholics ; and the including the Presby-
terians in it was a measure little else thanvolourable.—
It was well known that the Presbyterians w►nted no
such assistance as this; that they were in the habit of
supporting the forms and charges of their own modes
of worship, and that they were competent to do so; and
besides—why were the Presbyterians to he provided for
rather than any other class of Dissenters from the Esta-
blished Church ? Why were the Presbyteri ins to have
an advantage which was not given the Quakers or the
Wesleyan Methodists? Those Sects, which already
' maintained their own places of worship, and contributed
to those of the listabl shed Church, would think it some-
what unjust if they were called upon to pay fora third
sy tern, and one directly opposed to that which they
professed. The Right Hun. Gentleman sat down by declaring that
he could not consent to this clause for the maintenance of Catholic
and Presbyterian Places of Worship, because he took it to be con-
trary to the interests of the Established Church. He thought it
highly expedient, too, that the powers of Vestties should be defined
as exactly as possible, or suck meetings would become assemblies
for little else than the display of party spirit, debates, and division.
After a few words from Mr. W. Surat, Mr. Macrut (of Gal-
way), Mr. Turf, and Mr. S. Rica, in reply, the House divided,
when there appeared to be
For the Clause
Against it

. . 23
. 60

111AjorIty against the Clause • —3S
The House then went into Committee on the Bill.

Sir JOHN NEWPORT objected to several clauses, and par-
ticularly that which enables the Bishop to order the inhabitants of
adjoining parishes to pay the Church repairs. The Right Hon.
Baronet moved as an amendment, that the inhabitants of a parish
where there is no church shall not be compelled tu pay for repairs
tu the next church.

Mr. GOU LBU RN said, as far as regarded himself, be was not
sorry this motion was made. It had been pressed against him as
harsh towards the Catholics. The Right lion. Gentleman con-
tenaed that it %cis a provision in favour of the Catholics.
Mr. S. It ICl's said the clause compelled parishes in Ireland to
be united whether they would or nut.
Mr. Secretary PEEL said the Bishop had a right to ordet
churches to be repaired, andjf he saved expence by ordering two
parishes to attend a church which did not want repair it was a
convenience to the inhabitants.

Mr. GOULBURN said all they could do was to make the
church expences fall equal, and the clergy do their duty. Gentlemen
would find that the Clergy in Ireland did their duty in the most
exemplary manner.
Mr. L. FOSTER said the charchea in Ireland had long been
neglected. Archbishop Laud, as early as the reign of Charles the
First, complained of the dilapidated state of those churches. The
repairs had been very properly made the subject of legislative
roast meut.

After some further conversation the amendment was negatived.
Several ether clauses being disposed of,
Mr. GRATTAN rose for the purpose of moving a clause to be
added to the Bill, which would empower parishes to assess taxes
for the benefit of their poor. lie would nut say anything as to the
merits of the clause at that late hour of the evening, but he trusted
the House would see the utility of it, and allow it to be added.
Mr. BROGDEN was afraid that the claim- could not be added
to the Bill, because it contained matter quite foreign to it.

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