The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-03-03 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-MONDAY.

In reply to questions from Mr. O'Connell,
Sir R. PEEL said it was not the intention of the go-
vernment to bring in any measures in reference to Ire-
land to take precedence of the commercial measures un-
der the consideration of parliament It was, however,
intended in the present session to bring in a bill to give
encouragement to the improvement of land in Ireland, by
granting compensation to tenants for such improvements
as they might effect. It was also intended to bring in a
bill to amend the elective franchise in counties, and also
to amend the proceedings at elections generally. In ad-
dition to these hills, it was intended to bring in another
for the purpose of amending, the franchise in municipal
towns so as to assimilate them as far as pos,ible to those
of England.

In reply to a question from Mr. O'Connell,
Sir JAMES GRAHAM said, he deet.ly regretted having
to admit that a deputation from Westmeath had waited
upon his excellency the Lord Lieutenant, praying that
Braon Seery might not be respited, but that the executi-
on should be suffered to proceed. He could, however,
assure the house, that that deputation did not: influence
the Lord Lieutenant in the course he had adopted.
The debate on the corn laws was then resumed, and
was again adjourned.

.►
HOUSE OF COMMONS.-TUESDAY

The debate on the Corn-laws was resumed again. Mr.
M. O'CoNNELL, on general principles, advocated the
measure ' • COL CONOLLY, on general principles, opposed it.
Lord lNna THE asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer
why, after his secession, he had rejoined the ministry, and
why he did not resign his seat for Cambridge? He ar-
gued. on the authority of official returns, that wheat could
be imported at 225. a quarter ; and produced to the house
a young potato, which he affirmed to be a very good one,
as a proof that young and healthy roots might be produced
from the eyes of diseased potatoes.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER made the Mi-
nisterial speech of the evening. He gave an account of
his owu conduct during the late crisis. He had opposed
opening the ports by Order in Council—he had opposed
the meeting of Parliament in I•l,?vember ; but, when the
extent of the potato failure was ascertained, he became
convinced that the alteration of the Corn-laws had now
become a question of absolute necessity, and prepared to
give his opinion that, under all the circumstances of the
case, those laws ought to undergo a change. At the same
time. however, he felt that the change ought to be ef-
fected by others than himself and his colleagues, and had
accordingly resigned, without any prospect of returning
to office. He had no intention whatever of retiring from
the representation of Cambridge, He then dived into fi-
gures and calculations, with the view of showing the in-
fluence of the removal of protective duties on the shipping
interest. In the year 1842 the tonnage of British vessels
engaged in the foreign trade amounted to 2,600,000 tons.
In the year 1845 it was 3,690,000 tons, showing an in-
crease consequent on the relaxation of duties of one mil-
lions of tons in that period. Again, it was said that inju-
rious effects were likely to result to the timber trade from
the proposed measure—let us see what injury has resulted
from the relaxations which have hitherto taken place. In
1842 the number of ships engaged in the Baltic trade was
3,519, their tonnage e 13,809 tons; in 1844 the number
was 4,424, their tonnage 818,44,1 tons, showing an in-
crease of 1,000 ships and 2(10,000 tons. He reminded his
bearers that in the reign of Charles the First the agricul-
tural interest had expressed the same alarms as in the
present day.
Mr. FERRAND made a speech which occupies five co-
lumns in the morning papers He first attacked the
system of petitions. The Anti Corn-law League bad pur-
chased signatures in the West Riding of Yorkshire at the
rate of one shilling a hundred, and he was prepared to
produce evidence, if necessary, that one man had actually
attached 14,000 signatures to one of those petitions, and
that be had done so without ever having left his house, or
even having asked a single person to write his name. He
proceeded to animadvert on the conduct of various ho-
nourable gentlemen whom be saw around him, and others
who were not there. He regretted that Mr, W. Beckett
was not there to be questioned :—" In the borough which
be represented, the honourable gentleman had been called
' Honest William Beckett.' But if the honourable gen-
tleman now betrayed his principles, he would have another
syllable prefixed to that title, and be known in the borough.
politically speaking, as ' Dishonest William Beckett."'
Mr. Cobden did not escape,—the truck system, the
shops, the cows, and the cottages were recalled again to
the recollection of the house. He dwelt fondly on the
days when he used to receive large packages of Sir it.
Peel's speeches upon the corn lows, sold at one penny
each. Who sent them tie could never find out, but he
very much suspected that the right hon. baronet had
beard what an earnefit supporter he (Mr. Ferrand) was of
those principles, and that therefore he had favoured him
with those packages, "carriage paid." (Laughter.) He
circulated them amongst all parties in his neighbourhood ;
they were most instrumental in creating a great many
proselytes, and were one chief cause of the return of Mr.
Stuart Wortley, now Lord Wharncliffe, for the West
Riding. He anticipated the growing prevalence of the
democratic principle. Should that unfortunate day ever
dawn upon the political horizon when the power of demo-
cracy will be paramount, degraded indeed will be our fate.
But I will add—
" May I be cold before that dreadful day,

Pressed with a load of monumental clay;"
and told Sir R. Peel, at the top of his voice, that the peo-
ple of Great Britain and Ireland viewed with unmitigable
disgust his contemptible apostacy and tergiversation.
The other si eakera were Mr. Trelawney, iu favour of
the measure, arid Mr. Parke against it.

HOUSE OF COMMONS
.-
.j
The House met at twelve o'clock, and a considerable
share of p.ivate business was disposed of.
Mr. STAFFORD O'BRIEN drew attention to an occur-
ence at the South Nottinghamshire election, in order to
give Ministers, if they thought fit to avail themselves of it,
an opportunity for explanation. The bon. member for
Mahon, who had voted for the appropriation clause, and
who was pledged to the abolition of the temporalities of
the Irish Church, had publicly stated, that he had held
conversations with Lord Lincoln prior to giving him his
support in the present contest for that county, and was
satisfied with the explanation given him by the noble lord
of the course of policy which he intended to pursue as
Secretary for-Ireland. From this it was to be inferred
La t Lord Linculn had determined upon a policy hostile
to the Established Church, and it was highly important
that his real intentions should be understood at the earl-
iest
Sir 3,../Es GnAtinNt said, he did not believe that Lord
Lincoln has ever expressed a feeling hostile to the Estab-
lished Church hf Ireland ; but the noble lord would pro-
bably be in the 11,-,ust in a few days; when he wuuld be
able to answer for
Lord J. RUSSELL st t he was informed by the bon.
=ember for Malton of all • had passed between him-
self and the noble lord, and be d that nothing had
fallen from the noble lord hostile emi.
I Established Church,
or inconsistent with the policy of with whom he was
associated in the Government.

.....
Mr. O'CONNELL said, that Mr. S. 0'1)- '-ad drawn
a proper distinction between the Church 11..
':
temporalities. The former no one wished to do s._
and its
i..
u
the sooner the latter was firmly and properly dearo,; b,,t
the better for Ireland, to which this country owed a lasi;„!
debt of gond government.
Sir J. GRAHAM Glen called attention to whit had pass-
ed on a former CA ening relative to the case of Seery ; on

which occasion be had regretted that a deputation had
waited upon the Lord-Lieutenant from the county of
W e•tmeat`, for the harsh and unusual purpose of praying
that the execution of Seery should not be respited. Ile
had since received a letter from the Lord-Lieutenant sta-
ting that the deputation had waited upon him for another
purpose, and that it was only inadvertently stated that any
lenity shown to Seery would be considered as a proof of
the weakness of the Government, and tend to encourage
the perpetration of such atrocities, and to keep alive that
sanguinary spirit so fatal to the peace of the country. The
Roman Catholic Relief Bill was read a second time with-
out any discussion.

HOUSE OF OF LORDS.—TuuRsnAr

The Marquis of WESTMEATH asked Lord St. Germans
whether any deputation from the mitgistrates of West-
meath had waited on the Lord-Lieutenant to pray that
Bryan Seery might not be respited, and whether such a
proceeding were " harsh and unusual," as it had been
termed ?
The Earl of St. Germans read a letter from the. Lord-
Lieutenant, which admitted the fact that such a deputati-
on had waited on him for the purpose specified. With
regard t,.) the second question, he thought that such a
proceeding, if not harsh, was at any rate very unusual.
After some further conversation, in which Lords Stour-
ton and Brougham joined, the matter dropped.