The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-03-09 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS-FRIDAY

Lord J. RUSSELL gave notice that on Monday he would
move for leave to bring in a bill for the improvement of the
criminal law.

On the bringing up of the report on Lord Keane's annuity
bill, Mr. HuasE moved its postponement until the corre-
spondence upon the subject between the President of the
Board of_ Control and the East India Company should be
upon the table.

Lord J. RUSSELL said it would be unjust to Lord Keane
to be huckstering with the East India Company about the
payment of this annuity.

- Lord STANLEY said it had been erroneously supposed that
the proposed pension to Lord Keane was the same as that
which had been given to Lord Nelson. A pension of £2OOO
a year had been conferred on Lord Nelson when he got his
peerage, but after his death the additional amount of £5OOO
per annum was annexed to the pension, not for three lives,
but for ever. Independent of this the two sums of £90,000
and £20,000 were vested in trustees for the benefit of the
family.

Mi. Hume's amendment was lost by a majority of 127 to

The house then went into committee of supply, and a great
number of the navy estimates were voted.
Mr. MACAULAY then made his statement relative to the
army estimates, from which it appeared that the vote of last
year, including a supplemental vote, was £6,158,000, showing
a decrease of about £27,000. The number of men he asked
for was 121,000, but of these 29,630 would be paid for by the
East India Company, so that the number to be provided for
by parliament would be 91,491. The right hon. gentleman
entered at great length into the details of the charges, and
concluded by moving that a land force, not exceeding 92,000,
be granted for the year commencing the Ist of March, 1841,
for Great Britain and Ireland.

This led to some discussion, in the course of which Mr.
HUME contended that the number of men was too great;
and Sir H. HARDSNGE that it was too small, under the pe-
culiar circumstances in which the country was placed ; but

the vote was agreed to.
On the proposal of a subsequent vote of the staff for the

Mr. HUME drew attention to the state of the 11th hussars,
and strongly condemned the conduct of Lord Hill in throw-
ing his shield over the Earl of Cardigan.

-Mr. MACAULAY expressed his surprise that a subject
which had excited such a feeling throughout the country
should have been so unexpectedly brought forward on that
occasion. The right hon. gentleman said that not even Pro-
bert nor Burke could have been so hunted down as Lord
Cardigan had been by the press and the public, and contended
that Lord Hill's character was sufficient to shield him from
any charge of impropriety, and that Lord Hill had declared
that no ground for inquiry had been placed before him. The
right hon. gentleman further contended that government
were shielded from all blame, because Lord Hill was their
political opponent. He had no doubt hut, in the course of
time, the public would be convinced that they were wrong in
taking.un the,matter a$ they had done.

_
Mi. FIUME said the blame that hethrew on the govern-
ment was, that they had taken no pains to cause an inquiry.
Lord J. RUSSELL declared his belief'that Lord Hill de-
cided these cases with perfect impartiality.
Lora HOWICK did not expect that this extremely painful
subject would have been brought forward; but as it had
been, he must say that neither the answer of the noble lord
or the right hon. gentleman was satisfactory. The facts
which had come before the public demanded inquiry, as it
was clear that a feeling existed in the regiment, between the
officers and their commander, most detrimental to the public
service. The noble lord contended that, after the former
circumstances relative to the trial of Captain Wathen, it was
imperative, as Lord Cardigan was restored, that if any sub-
sequent allegations of misconduct were made against him,
the closest sifting should be made into his conduct, if only
for the satisfaction of the public. The refusal of inquiry was
not only unjust to the officers of the 11th and to the public,
but was to the last degree injurious to Lord Cardigan, who
could not be indifferent, for it was impossible for any man to
be so, to the loudly expressed opinion of his countrymen.
Sir H. VIVIAN defended Lord Hill, and said he could not
have acted otherwise than he had done.
Mr. H Awss asked if it was to be understood that officer
after officer should be driven frpm a regiment in the service
by a sort of conduct which was felt to be intolerable without
a possibility of looking any where for redress ? If so, he re-
gretted that such a lamentable defect should exist in the con-
stitution of the army.

Sir H. HARDINGE thought the conduct of the Earl of
Cardigan had been exaggerated by the press and by individu-
als, and intimated his opinion that something like a cabal
might have existed in the regiment against him, for before
he had joined his regiment in India three months, he was
libelled in the public papers there, and was informed by the
editor of one of them that those libels came from an officer of
the 11th.
Lord Howtcx said that the right hon. gentleman bad fur-
nished the strongest ground for a court of inquiry by the facts
which he had just stated.
General EVANS thought Lord Cardigan had been very
hardly dealt with. He thought, however, that an inquiry
should have taken place, and was of opinion that the matter
should not rest as it now stood.
The conversation dropped, and the house soon after ad-
journed.

We are sorry to learn, from an authentic source, that Mr.
Anthony Wright Bidduiph, the unfortunate, but deservedly_
respected partner of the late banking firm of Vr right and Co.,
is in a very broken state of health, and that Dr. M`Caragher,
who has always attended him during his illness, has lately
signed a certificate, which has been sent to the assignees, in
which he stated that he had attended Mr. Bidduiph in a very
severe fit of apoplexy
and paralysis between three and four
years since, and subsequently in two others ; and he had also
an enlargement of the heart, and that his life was not safe for
a single day, and may be terminated at any moment. Mr.
Bidduiph has a wife and four ehilderhe,n.o,nwichleo.se prospects are
completely blighted by the unfortunate failure of the bank-
ing house in question.—Morning