The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-08-29 00:00:00

HOUSE OF LORDS-TUESDAY.

The royal assent was given by commission to a multitude
of bills.

Lord CAMPBELL, in moving the consideration of the
Commons' amendments to his defamation and libel bill,
lamented the mutilation it had suffered, and cited a num-
ber of instances to show the injustice of adhering, as the
lower house had done, to the old rule of common law,
which denied redress for any spoken scandal, unless it
imputed an indictable offence or tended to injure a man in
his profession. The chastest matron or the purest maid
might be arcii.ed of incontinency; the bravest soldier
might be publicly proclaimed as a coward or a scoundrel ;
yet the law, although punishing the impu'ation that one
person had lifted his hand against another, afforded no
redress. He contended that in such cases as these the
treatment of spoken should be assimilated with that of
written slander, and thought that the fear of costs would
be a sufficient restric►ion upon frivolous actions. He corn-
plained also of the omission of the clauses which prevented
the mere truth of a charge from being a sufficient answer
in a civil action without proof that the publication was for
the public benefit, but generally approved the other alte-
rations.

The LORD CHANCELLOR vindicated the discretion of
the House of Commons in the changes they had made,
and the amendments were then agreed to.
Lord TEEN HAM afterwards moved for certain returns
. .

fleeting the administration of the poor law, with the view
principally of procuring for the poor an extension of out
door relief, but partly also that he might procure the ap-
poiiltment of a committee to inquire into the operation of
the act. He entreated that regard might be had not only
to the wants but to the feelings of the poor. and established
by several instances the impolicy as well as the cruelty of
offering relief on condition of entering the workhouse, and
thus forcing the honest and able-bodied labourer to eke
out his existence by theft, which, when discovered, would
render his family a burden upon the parish, and ruin his
future prospects of employment. In districts, where
wages were so low as to be insufficient to support more
than two or three members of a family, relief either in
food or money should be given, and neither in this case,
or when work failed from the circumstances of the times,
should the workhouse test be applied. He attributed the
hardships inflicted upon the poor not so much to the act
itself as to the orders of the commissioners, which had
induced many who had originally co-operated in carrying
out the system to withdraw themselves from a participation
in its cruelties. The expectations of decreased expense
that they had been taught to entertain were miserably dis-
appointed—a necessary result of the practice of driving
whole families into th, workhouse, whom a little tempo-
rary assistance would have enabled to maintain themselves
in independence. He pressed for a general inquiry into
the system—into the regulation of the workhouses, the
classification of their inmates, and other topics connected
with the operation of the act, but more especially into the
proceedings of the commissioners themselves. He did
not regret that the law had been so little discussed this
session, as enough was not known of its working to enable
their lordships to introduce satisfactory amendments.
Lord STAN HOPE complained that some returns which
which had been ordered by the house last session had not
been produced, and expressed his surprise that Lord Teyn-
barn should have contented himself with asking for only
a more merciful administration of the law. He objected
not only to its cruelty and injustice, but to its pr,nciple,
and on behalf of the oppressed poor demanded its repeal.
That result would one day be obtained ; and if it was not
conceded by parliament, it would be achieved by the
people.
Lord WHARNCLIFFE had no objection to the returns,
and the motion was, therefore, agreed to.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-TUESDAY.

On the motion for the third reading of the Slavery Sup-
pression Bill, Mr. H AWES repeated his disapprobation of
the measure. But since it had now been so modified by
Ministers as to be really in its present state a Government
bill, he felt that he had not the power to defeat or to de-
lay it; and therefore, though he could have wished it post-
poned, he would not oppose it.
Mr. MILDMAY was surprised that Mr. HAWES, who
bad so many good reasons to give against the bill, should
have concluded by expressing his intention to forbear from
opposing it. He therefore would himself move that it
should be read a third time on that day three months.
Sir J. R. REID seconded this amendment.
Sir T. WILDE said, that this Lill was opposed by two
sections of members, one of which objected to it because
it would repress this kind of commerce, and the other be-
cause it would not. It was no new measure ; there had
been long and ample notice that it was to be brought for-
ward. Unless it were fitting that British subjects resident
abroad should be permitted to employ their capital in en-
couraging the slave trade, the opposition to this measure
could not be sustained. It affected slave-trading only,
and not slave-holding. It prevented the importation of
fresh slaves, but not the transfer of slaves in the country
where they already existed as such.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (by whom the modifications
of the bill had been introduced) would yield to no man in
his zeal for the suppression of the slave trade. The bill
was beneficial in this, among other respects, that it would
evince to foreign nations the sincerity of the British desire
to extinguish that traffic. He vindicated the necessity of
the clauses which he had introduced ; indeed, it might be
collected that what had been done was pretty nearly right
from the disapprobation of both the extreme parties. It
was not, however, properly to be called a Government
bill. _ .

It was then read a third time, without a division.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-THURSDAY.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Her Majesty prorogued Parliament this day, with the
usual formalities. She looked remarkably well, and was
loudly cheered as she passed along. The following is a
copy of

HER MAJESTY'S SPEECH.
" MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,
" The state of public business enables me to close this
protracted session, and to release you from further at-
tendance on your Parliamentary duties.
" I thank you for the measures you have adopted for
enabling me to give full effect to the several treaties which
I have concluded with Foreign Powers.
" I have given my cordial assent to the bill which you
presented to me for increasing the means of spiritual in-
struction in populous parishes, by making a portion of the
revenues of the Church available for the endowment of
additional ministers.
" I confidently trust that the wise and benevolent in-
tentions of the legislature will be aided by the zeal and
liberality cf my subjects, and that better provision will
thus be made for public worship and for pastoral
superintendance in many districts of the country.
" I view with satisfaction the passing of the Act for re-
moving doubts respecting the jurisdiction of the Church
of Scotland in the admission of ministers, and for securing
to the people and to the Courts of the Church the full
exercise of their respective rights.
" It is my earrest hope that this measure will tend to
restore religious peace in Scotland, and to avert the dan-
gers which have threatened a sacred institution, of the ut-
most importance to the happiness and welfare of that part
of my dominions.
" I continue to receive from all Foreign Powers mws,