The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-03-27 00:00:00

LOWER CANADA.

The Earl of ABERDEEN presented a. petition from 11,000 in-
habitants of Montreal and its vitinity, of whom 10,000 Were
the children of Biitish parents or' of- British settler. They
stated that they were highly sensible of the benefitrolr'the con-
nexion between this country and Canada, and that they were.
particularly grateful for the constitution granted to the-province
by his late majesty, which they were determined" to preserve.
They declared that they viewed with alarm certain resolutions
which had been passed by the House of Assembly, and they
expressed their disapprobation of the dissemination. of the
disloyal principles which had been promulgated to bring the
country into contempt.• They also expresso' their apprehen-
sion that the projects entertained; by some persons would lead
to the establishment' of a pure democracy, and the dismember=
ment of the provinces. They disavow on their parts any par-
ticipation in such projects, and hope that if the British legisla-
ture should think it necessary to interfere in tho internal attairs
of the province, only such mOdificatious may be effected in the
provincial constitution as may be indispensably requisite, in
order to afford permanent relief to the financial embarrassments
of the executive, to maintain the existing connexion between,
the mother country and the colonies, and to preserve in their
proper places and liMits the rightii and privileges of all,classes
of his majesty's subjects iu the province. The petition was
ordered to lie on the -table, and the house adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-7,TuisnAY.
Two committees were .balkated.: for to try the merits of the
election returns. fur WindSor and Canterbury.
Some petitions were then presented. to the house, and Mr.
Harvey moved fOr a voluminous return of the manner in
which the 1.3,000,000 voted to the Irish clergy hadjbeen appro-
priated ; and the number of tithe defaulters, classifying the
amounts. ' .

Sir•-1. HARDINGE said the return was impracticable. How
could the names of snore than 400,0t10 tithe defaulters be made
Mr. HARVEY agic'eing to leave out tho objectionable part of
the motion, the return was ordered.

BREACH OF
,PRIVILEGE.
Sir EDWARD CoDRINGToN wished to direct the attention
of the house to a. question -of priyitcge. The gallant admiral
then proceeded to complain. of a•.misstatement of -what. he had
said in the house. on Friday last, respecting intimidation at his
election for Devouport, by the Morning Post. Having made
his statement, Sir- Edward read the following paragraph from
the Morning Post :—" We assert, in reply to this, and shall
abundantly prove, that our report of Sir ErCodrington's speech
is substantially correct, and that this gentleman, in impeaching
its correctness, has had recourse to direct and wilful falsehood,
or to an equivocation so mean, dirty, and pitiful, that iu com-
parison with it, even direct and wilful falsehood becomes a
respectable and manly vice." (Laughter.) [i.e was not much
afraid of the effect which this charge, made by a writer in the
Morn;ng Post, would have on his character, but. as he before
said, he felt. it necessary to mention the matter in the house in
order to protect himself from having such language again
applied to him, under the idea that he was afraid to notice it
publicly. He did not mean to make any motion on the. subject,
but should leave,* entirely in the hands of the house.
Lord CLEMENTS said, as the question of privilege was before
the house, he would mention a matter personally affecting him-
' self. llhe noble lord then proceeded to explain a misstatement
iu the Morning Chronicle of what he had said on the previous
night, on the subject of orang,eism in Ireland.
Mr. H. GRATTAN begged permission to call the attention of
the house to a misrepresentation of what he had said also on the
same night and on the same subject, which had appeared in the
Morning Herald of that clay. He denied having used the words
attributed to him.
Lord Jonx.llqsstu., having read the paragraph. complained
of by Sir Edward. Codrington, and made some comments on the
case, gave notice that he would bring, this case under the consi-
deration of the house to-morrow (yesterday).
DUBLIN ELECTION.
Sir JOHN CAMPBELL said that he had received a petition,
signed by several thousand electors of the city of Dublin, im-
peaching the,sufficienoy of the sureties of the petitioners against
the return. The hon. and learned member was not certain
whether the petition could in point of order be received.
Mr. W. WYNN said that the house had now no jurisdiction
in the matter. .

.....
Dr. LEFUOY conldibear testimony, of his own knowledge, to
the perfect solvency of the sureties, whose mere word would be
taken fur twenty times the amount. One of tnem was the Lord.
Alavor of Dublin.
Petition withdrawn.
CORPORATION INQUIRY.

In answer to a question from an hon. member, Mr. GOUT
BL RN said that he hid received the report of the commissioners

of corporation in, niry,, but as it had been put. into hauds
tints' -_en minutes before he came down to-the house, he had not
had time to look into it.

Mr. F O'CoNNOR wished to ask a question of the right hon.
secretary for Ireland. He had been informed that the police
were every night employed in servingArotiees for tithes. in the
county of Cork, and, as it was stated, under the directiOn of his
majesty's ministers. He was anxious to. know whether they
had any authority for such proceedings from the Irisa'govern-
ment ?

Sir H. HaautNuE, in reply, said, that from what he knew,
and from what the hon. member knew, of the character of the
noble person at the head of the government in Ireland, he had
every confidence when he stated that he did not think the state-
meat made by the hon. member's informant was to be relied on.
TITHES (ENGLAND) commuTATtos.
On the motion of ,Sir It. PEEL, that part of the King's
spieeh which ielabed.to the.question of tithes having been read
at the table by the clerk, the }ionic went into committee, Mr.
Bernal in the chair.

,§fr ItOREET PEEL then proceeded to address the house in a
slieeehi of which, from its great. leogth, we are unable to give
even an outline. We therefore extract from the Timers the fol-
lowing summary of the intended measure of the right hon. ba-
ronet.

The house having resolved itself into a committee to take
into consideration that part of the speech from the Throne
whice relates to tithes in England, Sir R. Peel developed the
provisions of the measure he is about to introduce on that sub-
ject. After dwelling on the vast importance of the subject, and
upon the multitude and weight of the interests involved in it.
the right boo. gentleman proceeded to dissect with a curiously
searching hand the tithe measures of Lord Althorp, laying bare
all their deformities and malformations, and demonstrating
from their organic defects Low happy an escape the country
had in never becoming subjected to the infliction of such short-
lived monstrosities. The agricultural committee put a stop to
Lord „et..horp's measure of 183.3, and the remonstrances of all
parties interested in tithes induced his lordship to abandon his
revised but terribly complicated edition of Mb Before enter-
ing into the explanation of his own plan, Sir It. Peel observed,
that this, if any question, must be wholly unmixed with party
or political consideratietr; and be called upon any member
who thought Lord Althorp's bills, better than that which he was
about to introduce, to revive-either of Lord Althorp's measures,
and take the sense of the house upon them after fair discussion.
The right hon, baronet then stated, that all projects, fora com-
pulsory. commutation of tithes had failed, and that after the
best consideration he had been able to give to the matter he had
conic to the conclusion that, however possible the redemption
of tithe might be ultiinately, the house Must, necessarily coil-
fine their first step to err/weary commutation. This would give
them a locus standi : commutation of titlee must be, effected be-
fore redemption, and the real practical question at present was
hew that 'ceinmutation•coild be best effected: The principle of
his measure would be to give the greatest possible encaurage-
meat to volti4tary commutation. Ile shnived froic returns up
9n:the table that voluntary ciiminutatiens had already taken •
place by means of private acts of parliament in uo less than two
thousand parishes. In many eases the expenses of it- private
act for this purpose had cost :"Lalooo,. and when it was considered
how much labour and pains, besides money, must have been
expended in such cases, he thought it only a fair presumption,
that if such difficulties were removed, the house might calcu-
late upon the number of voluntary commutations being vastly
increased. He proposed, therefore, that a commission of three
persons should he appointed to sit in London—Lao to be named
by the crown, and the third by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
'I hese. 'commissioners would have the power of appointing as-
sistant-commissioners. The tithe owners iu every parish would
be incited to meet and discuss the question of commuta-
tion, and they Would be furnished with the assistance of au
assistant commissioner, in order to advise them in reference to
points of law, &c., and to facilitate an amicable agreement for
commutation. The commissioner would, in tact, act at such
meetings
.as unticus curia. If at any such meeting the tithe-
owner, two-thirds in valet, of the land-owners, and the patron
of the living come to an agreement, the terms of the agreement
must be reduced to writing, signed by all parties, and then
transmitted to the commissioners in London. The consent of
the bishop of the diocese is in no case to be required, and it is
to obviate the necessity of such consent that one of the. com-
missioners is to be appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
in order that the rights of the church may not be prejudiced.
Such agreements, when confirmed by the coininissioners, are
to be considered binding on the parties. The commutation is
to lye a corn rent the assessment of it is to be apportioned by
an assistant-commissioner on all the titheable lands, mid an
appeal frogs the decision of the assistant-commissioner may be
'marle•try the quarter sessions •bv any party dissatisfied with his
apportionnient. The commutatimi rent may be re-
covered by action or by distress, or, if below a certain amount,
by summary proceeding before two magistrates. Where lands
are on lease at the time of the commutation first taking place,
the tenant may pay.the commutation rent, and then deduct the
amount from the rent payable by him to the landlord. The
amount of the commutation rent is to be determined, not by the
price of wheat only, but by the average price of all kinds of
corn—viz., wheat, barley, and oats; and it is to be subject to
periodical revisions and readjustments, if the tithe-owners, and
two-thirds of the land-owners, desire, at the end of every seven
years.. It is not necessary that parties wishing to enter into
agreements for commutation should have the presence of an
assistant-commissioner; they may meet and make their own
terms among themselves if they please; but agreements made,
whether with or without the intervention of an assistant-com-
missioner, must be confirmed by the commissioners in London
before they are binding; and every parish will be invited to
meet, anti be offered the assistance of a commissioner conver-
sant with the subject, to advise and direct them. This course
will be pursued, because what is everybody's business is no-
body's, and without having their attention directed to the sub-
ject, none of the parties concerned may, in some parishes, think
proper to move in the business. In the case of acknowledged
moduses or exemptions, these may be specified in the agree-
ment, and disputed points of that kind may be referred to the
commissioners. If the parties please, these points may be sent
fur trial to a jury, The operation of the bill is to be limited
to five years. Sir Itobert concluded his speech by moving the
.following resolutian:—‘-‘That is expedient to give facilities for
the commutation of tithe in the several parishes of England
and Wales, and for a payment in money in substitution thereof,
to besapplotted on the titheable lands in each parish; such pay-
ment to be subject to variation at stated periods, according to
the pricet(Of corn, or fur the allotment of land. in lieu of tithe
in parishes wherein the parties concerned may consent to such
allotment?' • •

In answer to a queition by Mr. E. J. Stanley,
Sir R. PEEL, stated, in reference to the constitution of the
commission, that the Archbishop of Canterbury should have
the appointment of one member, and the other two commis-
sioners should be nominated by the CrOwn. It was not neces-
sary that the memberS should be clergymen.
Mr. GisuoitNiu wished to know whether the decision of the
commissioners as to moduses should in all cases be conclusive,
or whether, when parties wished, there might not be 4u appeal
to another court ?

Sir R. PEEL said that the question of moduses had been very
much narrowed by the late Lord Tenterden's act. His (Sir R.
Peel's) desire would be to leave the matter always to the con-
sent of parties. If they wished to avoid expense, he would
encourage them to be guided by the judgment of the commis-
sion ; but if they insisted on a trial by jury, there would be no
objection. •
The remainder of the debate consisted almost entirely of
questions as to the manner in which several parts of the mea-
sure were intended to operate. The answers of the right hon.
baronet appeared to give general satisfaction.
The resolution was agreed to.

RELIEF I)F THE POOR IN IRELAND.
Sir R. MusnaAyE, pursuant to his notice, rose to move for
leave to bring in a bill fur the relief of the poor in Ireland in
certain cases. It was not his intention to press the second read-
ing of this bill, supposing he got leave to bring it in, until after
the evidence collected by the Irish poor law commissioners was
laid upon the table; and even then, if government would intro-
duce a measure of its own, und.would take into its considera-
tion the state of the poor in Ireland,' he'would yield up his plan
and give
;his assent to its measure. His object was to obtain
relief hit- the poor of Ireland, and he cared not by what party
it4tii..afforded, so long as it was afforded. Nothing would
haye'incliiced him to take up this subject but his strong convic-
tion of the necessity of affording„ them some mode of relief. It
was stated in the evidence of the first medical authorities in
Limerick and Tipperary, that more than a fourth of the labour-
ing clasSes in that part of Ireland were carried off by diseases
superinduced by want. That was a sufficient ground for legi-
slating on this subject, nod instead of being premature, a bill.
to relieve his poorer countrymen from such complicated misery.
ought to have been introduced long since. The bill had.beeu
drawn up with great care by an English barrister, and had been
submitted to the members of the late government, and many- of
their suggestions had been adopted. The object of the bill was
to enable parishes in Ireland, by voluntary assessment, to grant
relief to the•poor in certain cases, and to give encouragement
to mendicity societies. Committees would be appointed in
parishes, 'consisting of the highest rate-payers and those who
contribute most largely to charitable societies in the parishes.
The Conifnittee thus formed would have power to form suh-com-,
mittees, and to divide the parish into sections; one member of
the committee to have the superintendence of a section. This
was the plan adopted when the cholera raged in Ireland, and a
similar plan had been greatly approved of by Dr. Chalmers in
his evidence before a committee of the House of Lords in 1830.
One clause of the bill would citable grand juries to levy sums
upon towns or counties for the relief of the pour in cases of
extreme though temporary distress, which unfortunately were;
of frequent recurrence in Ireland. This was necessary, for
though on such occasions many persons contributed to the relief
of.the poor, there were others who gave nothing. The question
wits one of considerable importance to the people of England,-
who were deeply interested in having seine provision mad for
the Irish poor, as the effects of their destitliteslin'dition reacted
greatly ou the condition Of the labouring per to England. -He'
then moved for leave to bring in a° bill to authorize the relief
of the poor in certain cases iu Ireland."
Mr. S. O'BitIEN, in seconding the motion, expressed a hope
that, before long, the right hon. gentleman ( Mr. Goulburn)
would be able to lay the report of the Irish poor law commis-
sioners before the house.

Mr. Got) LawiN said that he would not oppose the motion
for the introduction of the. bill, as the hon. member would not
press its second reading until the evidence of the Irish poor law.
commissioners was before the house. At the same time he
must say he had strong objections to the principle of the bill,
but he would not offer any obstacle to the motion or discuss the
question it involved at present. As to the observation of the
lion, member (Mr. S. O'Brien), he hoped that he should be able
to lay the report of the Irish pour law commissioners on the
table in a, short time.
Leave Was then given • to bring in the bill.
Mr. itoll(ilis moved, pursuant to notice, that the petition of
certain electors and others of the borough of Chatham, pi e-
sented• on the 19th instant, be referred to a select committee.
Sir I:ow Ann KNAT,CHBULL opposed the motion on the
ground that if such a petition as •this were referred to a com-
mittee, there would be no end to the practice of bringing slight
and trivial matters before the house.
The motion was carried by a majority of 31.