The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-03-02 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

advertisem, -n, and vet the noble lord is shocked at it. He
says, let us vindicate our tmour; so say I. (Cheers ) But
the way to do so is to get rid of the present system. (Cheers.)
'The way to vindicate your consciences is to du away with such
proceedings; and the way to vindicate your religious -feelings
is to send such matters to a proper tribunal, that tribunal to
which your lives and property is confided. Let such questions
be left to judges and juries, fairly selected from the counties,
least tainted. with particular wishes upon particular questions—
(cheers)—giving power to the judges to set aside improper ver-
dicts. with power to the superior judges to set aside any matters
of law. (Loud cheers.). Let the honourable gentleman oppo-
site protest before God that this is all a calumuy—let.your Eng-
lish geatlemen boldly state that you are the victims of a system,
and that you are not acting of your own disposition—proclaim
that you are borne down by the faults of the system, that you
are forced into practices as a party which as individuals you
would scorn. Repeal that system altogetherieforin it, and
you shall have any apology from me you please(cheers)—but
until you abolish that you shall not have a word from me, be-
cause I assert that I have spoken nothing but the truth. You
shall to-morrow have the papers in every part of the town, and
in every part of the country, calling out for fair play and jus-
tice—it is impossible that you can resist it; and if lhave been
an humble instrument in.bringing things to such a pitch, I teal
honoured. Had I not been prevented by you, sir, I intended
to have moved that a committee of twenty one should be ap-
pointed to sit from day to day, to inquire into and report upon
the working of the Grenville Act,—that committee should re-
port from time to time, and intended to have suggested that all
committees under that act should be adjourned for a week.
(Cries of " Oh, oh," and laughter from the opposition.) Why,
sir, if I wanted a justification of my statement I have it at pre-
sent in the fact that honourable members may vote against me
while they agree with me in opinion. Therefore, sir, I shall
now retire, declaring to the house that I have come forward in
this business from a thorough conviction of the truth of what I
have said. lam bound to thank the noble lord for the courtesy
with which he has brought forward the motion, and with these
sentiments 1 shall, as the usual course is, withdraw.
Lord ;MAIDSTONE urged that, instead of meeting the ques-
tion, Mr. O'Connell had endeavoured to laugh away the charge.
Considering that his complaint was untouched by the answer,
he moved two resolutions, declaratory in effect that the lan-
guage of Mr. O'Connell was false and calumnious, and that,
as such, the expressions were a breach of the privileges of that
house.

Mr- MA UNSELL seconded the resolution.
Lord liowtcx briefly moved, that the other orders of the day
be proceeded with, on the ground that the house could gain no-
thing by entertaining the question, and that the charge of the
hon. and learned member for Dublin was substantially true as
regarded election committees chosen, not from one party. i❑
particular, but from all parties. It is to be observed, that no
single member who spoke last night was hardy enough to deny
that election committees were frequently governed and biassed
hy'their political feelings. What they said amounted, in reality,
to an admission that the members violated their oaths in conse-
"quence, but not one of them could endure that the word "per-
jury" should be applied ; so that, in fact. the question resolved
itself into so nice a distinction, that it will be incomprehensible
to all right-minded men throughout the county. ,•
An extended and animated debate then followed, in the
course of which Lord J. Russell and the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer supported the amendment, and Sir R. l'eel and Sir W.
Follett, the original motion.

The house, which had become very clamorous for a division,
then divided on Lord Howick's amendment, that they pro-
ceed to the orders of the day. It was lost, there being 254 fur
it, and 263 against it. Majority against the ministers nine!
The SPEAKaR then put the original motion, on which Mr.
Hume opposed it, and declared that he agreed in opinion with
11.1 r. O'Connell.

The first resolution was understood then to be adopted with-
out any division; but on the second being put,
Lord RUSSELL admitted that, after the opinion expressed
by the house that the decision should be taken, he considered
that there could not be much doubt as to what that opinion
ought to be.
The house again divided. The numbers were—
For the second resolution 293
Against it B5
Majority
Lord MA insToNe thereupon moved that the Speaker do
"reprimand" Mr. O'Connell in his place.
This led to still more extraordinary proceedings, as will be
observed on reference to the parliamentary report.
Mr. HUME, on the question of reprimand, moved that_several
other members, having used language similar in its purport to
that avowed by Mr. O'Connell, be included in such reprimand.
Mr. SVYNN submitted that such course could not. be pursued,
inasmuch as the language of members used in the house could
not be complained of, except the complaint were made at the
time.

Adjournment was moved, and upon that the house divided.
The numbers were—

For adjournment 159
Against it
Majority against -87
._. .._

Further discussions ensued; but Sir lt. PEEL said that it was
in vain to think of resisting questions of adjournment; and it
was thereupon agreed to adjourn the question of "reprimand"
until Tuesday.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—TunsDAY.
ROMAN CATHOLICS' OATHS.

The Bishop of EXETER stated, that he had been intrusted with
the presentation of a petition which involved a subject so im-
portant, that he felt it necessary to give notice of the period at
which he would present it. He therefore gave notice that on
Thursday next be would present a petition from certain inhabi-
tants of the city of Cork, praying that measures may be taken
to render effectual the sworn engagements of Roman Catholics,
not to subvert the present church establiShment, and not to
weaken the Protestant religion or Protestant government.

SLAVERY.

Lord BROUGHAM then fixed for Tuesday, next for hismotion
respecting negro slavery, and presented a petition front West
Brunswick for its abolition.

MISS NEWMAN.

Lord BROUGHANI begged to put a question to the noble vis-
count at the head of her Majesty's government, respecting a
matter which had taken place at the late meeting of the Mid-
dlesex magistrates. It was there stated that Miss Newman,
who had been convicted of various robberies, and. sentenced to
I-I years' transportation, was faroure4 with a cominutation,of
the punishment to imprisonment in the Penitentiary; when she
was removed to Bedlam, on account of pretended madness, and
was now living there in comparative luxury. It was afso stated
that the matron of that establishment, upon close observation,
was conviced of the assumption, and threatened to subject Miss
Newman to the discipline of the establishment, if she persisted
in the imposition. He begged to ask if that was true?
Lord MaLnoveNa replied that it was certainly true that Miss
Newman had been so convicted and sentenced; and, at the re-
commendation of the judge, the sentence was commuted to three
years in the Penitentiary, whence she was removed to Bedlam,
upon the recommendation of the medicitl officersof that esta-
blishment. In Bedlam, however, it was discovered that she was
perfectly sane, and that she had been so throughout. With re-
spect to the confinement of the three children in the House of
Correction, the best way would be to draw up a report of 411 the
circumstances, and lay it on the table. (Hear.) They had
been sent up from the country, by the magistrates, under sen-
tence of transportation, which had been passed upon them for
the purpose of removing them from their parents, by whom
they had been instructed in crime. The secretary of state sent
them to the House of Correction for the purpose of reformation.
It was not true that they weresubjected to solitary confinement,
which was not inflicted upon any prisoner, except as an addi-
tional punishment for misconduct in prison. Nor was it true
that any adults had become insane through the severity of their
sufferings. _ _ .•

After a few words from Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Brougham,
Lord Radnor, and others, the house adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-TUESDAY.

In consequence of there being three ballots for the Queen's
county, Taunton, and the city of London election committees,
the gallery was not opened until a quarter to five.

TAUNTON ELECTION.

M C tiALmErts appeared at the Cat. with the reduced list of
the inembeJs ballotted for the petition against the return fol
Taunton. The following were the names :—R. Hurst, T. P.
Williams, Hbn. R. H. Clive, Richard Price, Edward Litton,
Robert Williams, Hon. George Henry Cavendish, Sir Charles
Robert Blunt, Sir Charles Brooke Vere, William B. Brightson,
and Robert Palmer.
QUEEN'S COUNTY ELECTION COMMITTEE. _

The reduced list of members to serve on this committee was
handed in by the clerk, and was as follows:—Jas. Loch, Philip
H. Posey, Andrew White, Hon. John Charles Dundas, Archi-
bald Hastie, Lord Viscount Barrington, Robert Holloud, Lord
Dalmeny, Thomas Benjamin Hobhouse, David Morris, Lord
Seymour.

CITY CF LONDON
.ELECTION PETITION.

The following is the list of members who form the committee
to try the merits of this petition, namely, Mr. Richard Sander-
son, Mr. Joseph Brotberton, Mr. Frederick Hodgson, Sir
William Lawrence Young, Bart., Mr. John Fort, the Hon.
Cornelius O'Callaghan, Mr. John Brocklehurst, Mr. Thomas
Duffield, Mr. John Bowes, Mr. Curry, and the, Hon. Arthur
Henry Cole.