Star.
London, England, 1829-03-26 00:00:00

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oppeirtUniino express his sentiments. The Dawes signed
to this Patmoti,ivere highly respectable.
Mr. MUNDY said he did not feel disposed to offe, r
any oppositiona or to make any. rebsarks upon the cc.
spectability of the signaturei to the petition presented
by the Noble Lord. He'had no doubt that the stn e-
meats Made by the Noble Lord as to this petition woe
pc:reedy correct; but, in reletence to the petition which
he had the honour to preietit tile other evenitig, might
be alliivred to say, that it bore no tiurierical c tnpa t ?ts
with that now presented by the N.,ble Lord, to? the pe-
titinn pterented by him (Mr. Mundy) had Above four
'thousand signatures. Al to the. interruption Wtiih
a Magistraie had received at the Meeting'ailuded to by
the ?Coble Lunt; the fact was, that the Gentleman al-
luded to came forward at the commencement of the
proceedings to explain bhy he had refused to attend to
a requisition, presented to him to call the tweeting; but
it was Considered by those who conduCted the ineeiilig
-that it wriuld'not be in milieu) ewer into such ezPlis.
nations Untilfbe. resolutions Were disposed •f. The
Na a ble Lord, on fot tier evening, bad insinuated ttiat
the names of Sir Honey Fitzherbert and Mr. Meynall
had been iMpropeily attached to the petition presented
by .him (Mr. Mindy). , Now, the fact appealed
.t r be,
that those Gentlemen had not improperly intruded
themselves at the meeting at Chestafield, as they had
been invited by those who had originated it. Clue of
them also possesied property in the neighbourhood of
Chester 6:ld, and, as had been observed by the lion.
Member for Rye, on the former evening, ,both wets
Magistrates of the coun:y; and testi-airy attended the
Sessions held at Conics field:
Mr. 13; D A WSON moved for Returns of the number of per.
suns admitted by the Aptithecatie.' Hail, and of prosecutions by
that Corporation, Sic —Ordered.
Mr. W. SMITH, brought up the Report of the Commissioners
for Repairing the Roads in the Highlands of Scotland.-.-Ordered
to lie on the table.
General 0101 SILL presented a Petition from the Corpdrals of
' the comity of Antrim Militia. praying for compensation in the event
of the reduction of Militia Staff.,
Mr. HUME presented Petitions in favour of Roman Catholic
Claims ftom the parish of Killank7, In Ireland, and from four
places to Lancashire.—Ordered to be on the fable. •
Mr. B. CLASSIC presented a Petitfbn from Kilmacow, In Ire.
land, praying for a revision of the Sub letting Act, and ageing Sae
Disfranchisenaent of the Forty Shilling Freeholders. Ile also pre.
seated a Petition from another place in Ireland in favour of the
Roman Catholic Ciaines.—Ordered to lie on the table.
Lord ESSINGTON presented a similar Petition from Newton
Abbotte—tilsi to lie on the table.

JUSTICES OT TUE PIACI.
Mr. Secretary PEEL tow, pursuant to notice, to
.ssen for leave is bring in a Bill, the object f which
WAS is regulate the office of Justice of the Peace in
counties at large, and to facilitate the dist:barge of the
duties imposed upon t tote functionally,. No i•ne had
more ample and complete opportunities of observing
the manner in which Justicesot the Peace us this coun-
ter discharged the important duties of their odic.. than
had the Secretary of State for the 11-me Dept' meat,
and with the most perfect sincere', he bo:e test away
to the exemplary manner in which the Alagesteacy per-
fainted their duties; and be hoped be should ,:ever see
the day when the country would be deployed of their
valuable services by any sunlit of 0 cif duties to 4ti her
hands. It was impossible that they could be transferred
to any hands capable of discharging them with moss
general satisf.ction than those to w.:icit they wee al.
ready entrusted. Tire object, then. of the Bi.l which
he proposed to intro..uce would be to facilitate t;.e es-
erase of the duties, and life the laws which
applied to them, but by no meant. to trench upon the
existing privileges. of the Magistracy. Them were in
all, be believed, twei.ty -theft Acts which related to the
qualifications and jurisdiction of Magituates. Tne en-
accosts,' in these were nuaserou,, and some of them
complex. He proposed to proceed as had been dime
with criminal laws last Session, namely, to unite them
all in o e general statute, repealing such portions as,
upon consideration, might appear to be requirecc and
snaking such additions as the lapse of time might have
rendeted necessary. He would not then enter into any
,minute details; they would be best seen when the Bill
came to be printed. For its subsequent stages he would
fix a tense sufficiently remote to allow of the lulledt
consideration. It might not be amiss, however, that
he should then lay before the House an outline lit the
intended measure. The qualification ef Magssuates
had been fixed, is t e reign of Geori,a 11. •at 1001.
year. Settee that, the value t f money had so much
changed, and propttty so much increased, that mitt the
slightest difficulty could be experienced in finning per-
sons possessed of niuch higher qualifiLati:4l thin Abet,
and it had been considered highly espedient that the
ansoutst,shoold be ratted from one to thiee hundred
pounds. ibis, 14 course, was not intended us apply to
local Magistrates—it only WAS to affect Justices if the
Peace Sr counties at large. 4t was also intended to
abolish the distinction betty. en Justices of the Quorum
and Justices of the Peace: the necessity lot such a des-
tiacoon had long since passed away. Anotto r provi-
sion which he intended to introduce was one for enabling
Magistrates to compel the attenda• ce of material wit-
nesses ; and he would likewise propose that the Ma-
gistrate who issued a summons should Atincl pet somtlly
• to hear and assist in determining the matte, in dispute.
His BiU would also mac pr..viseon for the revilers ..
holding of Petty Sessions, and it would contain a gene-
ral form of conviction. The want of that had been
hetetofure very.seriously felt, and even felt by the Le-
gislature itself, for in every new kit a teeth lasi of
conviction was always to be given, and lot offences
against the common law no settled form Will extant.
These defects he proposed to remedy. As respected
fines and penalties,.he proposed that reunite shtuld be
regularly made to the Clerk of the Peace, and he would
introducca provision for regulating- the lies tis be re•
ceived by the Clerks ofthe-Justices themselves. These,
besides the consolidatint of the Acts above referred to,
constituted the principal provisions of the 11111. He pre-
sented it to dut Souse wisb the rester confidence, k
having been prepared., wish thensaistance•et his Bight'
.Hon. Friend (Mr. Hobfisouse). Though mooted by
ill health from.continuing..itr public lite, hr, with. this.
truest petulant's, gave to *country the benefit of his
long experience and perfect knowledge. of the sabject.•
Mr. HUME objected to a tiooney qujthgcancle--w
whether. 1001. or .8001. a year—being dude so pro-
milientoa feature its the propoied Bill) 'arid be did so
because:he thought the possession of property should
not be rendered the ptincipal—be might say the only—,
qu'alOcation.for exercising the jurisdiction of a Mogi'.
trate., •He thought :the. Right Hon. Secretary's object
ought to bats been .to Induce meow whvee previous
,acquirements and knowledge bad
.fitted them lot the