The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-02-28 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS:7TuEsDAY.

After the presentation of many petitions,
Mr. LABOUCHERE said (in answer to Mr. Williams) that
as the commercial treaty with France was still under nego-
tiation, it was quite impossible for him to state what was
likely to be the arrangement regarding English manufactured
silk goods ; at the same time he expressed the opinion that
he thought there was a good deal of unnecessary alarm on
this subject; adding, that it had never been the intention of
her Majesty's government " to abandon the principle of an
efficient protective duty."
Sir R. JENKINS called attention to the petition of the
East India Company, presented on the 11th instant, " for
further alterations of duties on articles of East India pro-
duce ;" and he, in consequence of such petition, moved eight
resolutions, declaratory of the expediency of reducing the
duties on sugar, tea, &c., of East India growth, for the
purpose of encouragement.
Mr. LABOUCHERE called on the house to pause before it
pledged itself to these resolutions.
The discussion was of considerable interest ; but the mo-
tion as disposed of by acceding to the suggestion of Sir J.
C. HOBHOUSE, to refer the Company's petition to " a select
committee."
Mr. liumE afterwards moved for, and they were eventu-
ally ordered to be produced, copies of any correspondence
with the Foreign-office, or the British authorities in the Le-
vant, as to the continuance of monopolies agreed to be abo-
lished by the treaty of commerce with the Porte ; and of any
representations made as to the increased duties levied by the
in Egypt and Syria :—a comparative statement or return of
duties levied in the Turkish empire on articles exported and
imported by British and Russian subjects, under the new
treaty and under the old one :—and a return of the rate of du-
ties levied on imports from and exports to Great Britain in
Turkey Proper, and in the Turkish provinces of the Danube,
and in Syria and Egypt, previous to and since the late treaty
of commerce with the Porte. _ .

Lord STANLEY then rose to bring forward his motion
for leave to bring in a bill to amend the laws relating to the
registration of voters in Ireland. He began by expressing
his opinion that the success of such a bill in this house must
mainly depend on the exclusion of all party considerations,
both from the measure itself, and from the statement by
which it was introduced. He did not propose to make any
alteration in the franchise, or in the manner of taking the
polls, but only in the registration. He stated in detail the
points of difference between the systems of registration in
England and in Ireland, and the abuses and grievances
which are generated by the Irish system, and which have
been fully exposed in our strictures on the evidence taken be-
fore the committees for the examination of fictitious votes.
He represented in particular that a voter once put upon the
registry gets a certificate which lasts him eight years, and
which cannot be recalled, however the qualification be after-
wards disproved, or even though the voter have lost his inte-
rest in the property. The certificate, after his death, may be
handed to a stranger for the purpose of personating him. It
is a document which cannot be questioned by an appeal to
the judges, not yet by the returning officer; and, even on a
petition against the return, the election committee may de-
termine not to open the registry ; or if they open it, the vo-
ters whom they strike off are not thereby removed from the
register, but come again to the poll at the very next election.
Government brought in several bills by their law officers
for Ireland, to correct these evils, which had been fully ad-
mitted on both sides of the house • but the first of those bills,
that of 1835, was not sent up to the House of Lords till the
29th of August, too late to be considered in that session, and
the subsequent bills were not even forwarded through their
stages in this house. No division, not even an objection, had
ever occurred to check the proposed reform ; yet, to that
hour, not one of the abuses had been remedied. He then
stated the remedies he had to propose, which were princi-
pally these :—That the registration (instead of being quar-
terly, and lasting for eight years) should be annual ; that it
should be held, as now, before the assistant-barrister ; that
the appeal to the judge of assize should be permitted, not
only as now, against the rejection, but also against the ad-
mission, of a vote; that the whole system of certificates
should cease; that costs should be awarded upon frivolous
appeals or defences ; that after an objection overruled, the
burden of proof, if the same objection were repeated, should
lie on the objector ; and the registry should not be revisable
by an election committee.
Lord MORPETTI, after excusing the neglect of the govern-
ment to carry forward the bills of its law officers, on the plea
that there was reason to apprehend their rejection in the
House of Lords, attempted a strain of rather awkward sar-
casm. Lord Stanley, he flippantly said, had, from an ob-
structor, become a constructor; and though • government
would receive his suggestions with respect, yet to treat him
with confidence was quite another matter. Ministers had
opposed Mr. O'Connell's bill of last session for assimilating
the franchise between the two countries ; but if they perse-
vered, on the one hand, in resisting the fundamental changes
pressed upon them by the Irish nation, who honoured them
with its confidence, so, on the other, they could not consent
to any alterations which should contract, within too narrow
limits, the now existing legitimate franchise of the Irish
people.

Mr. Sergeant JACKSON gave the history of the past delays
in the legislation on this subject, and rebuked the endeavours
of Lord
.fi _'rM.forNp eNt
nh
LT
attacked
b
be
severe.MrLord Stanley as the known ene-
my of the Irish people's franchise. However, it was manly,
he said, in the conservatives to have made hill) the leader of
thismeasTuhree,pbtienceaiupslee
tobfisthissbiVenly to set Ireland at de-
fiance.a:onvexationnse i ,
attorneys, and
and
Already in every county there were
to be„
andpa i d
nswearers
expense
nt os r
,svuwoacbal
his;
obstruct
ct
ytemployedtte
increased
.;
tntimidation practised was nothing he would
bill. Itretoo no account of the
riareudvcie done better to attempt the cure of the
greatestnsiiot
aet
nl
ldi
ekoye liked
totv the
wouldl
evil--the
obstruct t
have
on the tenants. Lord
acknowledged defects of the English registrationfr before he
thus volunteered a new secretaryship Ireland. Surely
the noble lord could not think there were so many judges, in
whom the country placed confidence, as to make popular a
bill with an appeal to their bench.
Lord STANLEY said he would not be induced, by what had
passed, to depart from the temperate tone which he had pre-
scribed to himself at the outset. He was not surprised at
Mr. O'Connell's opposition, for he had read a resolution of
the Loyal Registry Association of Ireland, passed when they
had seen only his notice of motion, and could know nothing
of the contents of his bill, instructing, the liberal members
for Ireland to oppose it. Such were the guides who pretend-
ed to direct the Irish nation. Lord Stanley then showed,
by an exact comparison, that the reform bill for Ireland did
intimated, an.au
in no one instance contract the Irish franchise to a narrower
limit than the English, as Mr. O'Connell had groundlessly
Leave was theenp
on the reprimanded him for his indecent animadver-
sions) dges.
returns, regarding thes,c
Mr. HumE moved
to bring in the bill.
for returns, in continuation of former
number of electors in counties, towns,
the house di;
&c., in England, oitdland and Ireland. After much dis-
cussion,;
majority,ed :'the numbers were—for the mo-
tion 87, against it 7G
Sir F. TRENCH moved
this house, forthwith, an
account
tothere he laid upon the table of
with the experiments of the
t 11.
iittic(if all expenses connected
from their com-
mencementinventor to the present day, including
machi-
nery, wages, and labour, and remunerTtgio
also, the expense of removing and againscim replacing the lustres
Sir M. WOOD moved that the Corporation of
and shades ; which motion, after e conversation, was
agreed to.
London having, on the 12th instant, resolved to
address to her Majesty, her Royal Highness the presentuF e Duchess san
of
Kent, and his Royal Highness Prince Albert, on
mar-
riage of her Majesty, and by the ancient mom the
.of the City
of London the sheriffs being permitted to wait on her M.

jesty to receive her Majesty's commands with respect to the
presentation of such address•—be it resolved, that Mr. Sheriff
Evans be allowed to wait on her Majesty for the purpose of
receiving such commands of her Majesty.
Lord J. RUSSELL opposed this motion, and moved, as an
amendment, " that the orders of the day be now read."
The house divided, and the result was—for proceeding to
the orders 81, noes 39 ; majority, 42.
On the question that the house do adjourn, Mr. FRESH-
FIELD moved, as an amendment, that the sheriff be brought
to the bar and discharged. Nobody seconding the amend-
ment, it could not be put ; and the original motion being
therefore carried, the house adjourned.

HOUSE OF LORDS—WEDNESDAY.
The Lords did not assemble to-day.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-WEDNESDAY.

Lord aRANVILLi SOMERSET moved that the Croydon
Railroad Company should have permission to proceed. with
their bill for the London and Greenwich enlargement and

station, notwithstanding the report of the standing orders
committee.

vv
The motion, after considerable discussion, was agreed to
by ayes 95, noes 22 ; majority 73.
Mr. HUME gave notice that he would move, by way of
amendment to the motion which was to be submitted on
Thursday (yesterday) by Mr. Liddell, that the pension of
£lOOO. granted to Sir J. Newport, from her Majesty's civil
list, be withdrawn from that list, and that the services of half
a century be submitted as a special case to the house.
Lord MAHON adverted to the international copyright bill,
securing copyright to authors in foreign countries ; to the
information that negotiations had been entered into for the
purpose of carrying the provisions of that bill into effect ; and
asked whether the negotiations were completed, and if there
were any probability of the result of those negotiations being
laid before the house during the present session.
Lord PALMERSTON answered that negotiations had been
entered into with various foreign powers on the subject of
copyright. As yet these negotiations had led to no satisfac-
tory result.
Lord SANDON said that having seen in the newspapers a
report that a commercial treaty between this country and
Naples had been concluded, and that the question of the
sulphur monopoly had by that treaty been settled, he
wished to ask whether Lord Palmerston could give any in-
formation as to the truth of these statements ?

Lord PALMEESTON answered that he was sorry he could
not confirm the report. Negotiations were still proceeding
with the court of Naples ; he hoped the result would be, and
speedily, the conclusion of a commercial treaty. With re-
gard to the sulphur monopoly, he contended that it was a
violation of existing treaties, and on that ground this country
claimed that it should be abolished immediately, and not
making it a matter of negotiation in the new treaty. From
the accounts he had received from Naples, he hoped soon
to have it in his power to state that the sulphur monopoly
had ceased.
Sir E. WILMOT moved the second reading of the Sum-
mary Jurisdiction Juvenile Offenders' Bill.
Mr. MILES wished the bill to be referred to a select com-
mittee, moving, if that were not consented to, that it be read
the second time that day six months.
After some discussion the motion was divided upon, and
carried by ayes 49, noes IG. After which it was ordered to
be referred to a select committee. •

—The report of the Vagrants' Removal Bill was presented,
agreed to, and the bill ordered to be read the third time on
Friday.
Mr. SANFORD, for Mr. Pakington, presented the report
of the committee on the Sale of Beer Acts : it was agreed to,
and leave given to bring in a bill accordingly.
The second reading of the Inland Warehousing Bill was
deferred till Friday.
The house then adjourned.