The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-02-20 00:00:00

Emprrial Varliaintilt.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-MONDAY.

Lord CorrEsu AAM laid on the tableat;illfor the bet-
ter administratton of the law of debtor and creditor, which
was read a first time.

The Loan CHANCELLOR also laid on the table a bill
relating to the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Court.
The Earl of RIPON moved a vote of thanks to Sir
Charles Napier and the army under his command at
Scin de,

The Earl of AUCKLAND seconded the motion. The Duke of WELLINGTON entirely concurred with the
motion. Sir C. Napier possessed all the qualities of a
soldier necessary for him to carry through great military
operations ; he had displayed great gallantry, zeal, and
science in all these operations. (Hear, hear.) His skill
in conveying guns, heavy artillery, across the desert, and
taking possession of it, had entirely cut off that retreat
from his enemies, and thus he contributed much to his
complete victory.
The motion was then agreed to.

HOUSE OF COMMONS:-MONDAY.

Mr. HUME gave notice, that if the motion relating to
the Irish Catholic clergy was.brought forward, he should
move an address to her Maj"sty, to direct an inquiry to
be made as to whether the Roman Catholic population in
Ireland was larger than the Protestants. (Hear, and
laughter.) If so, the time he considered was come when
the revenues ought to be taken from the Protestant
church, care being taken to give compensation to the pre-
sent incumbents.

Mr. FERRAND put the following question to the Secre-
tary of State for the home department :—" That as Lord
Chief Justice Denman has declared it to be the unanimous
opinion of the judges of the Court of Queen's Bench,
' that there are some cases in which it is necessary to
break in upon an act of parliament, and upon that which
may have existed from all time;' and has also declared
that ' it is the mother who is the proper party to have the
custody of ail her children under seven years of age, and
that is not for the benefit of the mother but for the pro-
tection of the children ;' and that he thinks that ' the
judges ought to crush the first attempt to depart from that
principle, and that it is of the highest importance that it
should be considered the undoubted law of the land,'—
whether the government intend to insert a clause in the
new Poor-law Bill, for the purpose of prohibiting the se-
paration of mother and child, if they should become the
inmates of a workhouse."
Sir J. GRAHAM said the hon. member had quite mis-
taken the opinion which Lord Denman had given on the
subject. As the law now stood, mothers might visit their
children at all convenient hours, and it was not his inten-
tion to introduce any new clause on that point.
Mr. FERRAND then gave notice that in committee on
the bill he should introduce a clause.
The Factories Bill was read a second time.
Sir R. PEEL, in rising to propose the thanks of the
House to Sir C. Napier, and the officers and men parti-
cipating in the late military operations in Sinde, observed
that the objects and policy of the war were not here in
discussion. For the instructions given to Sir C. Napier,
the civil power, and not the General, was responsible.
The Right Hon. Bart. then eats red into details of the
battles of Meeanee and Hyderabad ; in the former a
British force of 2,000 was opposed to 22,000 of the
enemy, and in the latter the relative numbers were 5,000
to 20,000. The cbicf glory, however, where all were
glorious, belonged to the Commander—one of three bro-
thers who had ingrafted on the stern of an ancient family
the distinction of personal nobility. Throughout the
Peninsular war there were no officers more prodigal of
their blood than those brothers : and the leader of one of
the most recent and brilliant of our naval achievements
also bore the name of Napier. The Right Hon. Bart.
illustrated the value of Sir C. Napier's success by exam-
ples of the active and perfidious character of the Ameers
and by the operations of Sir John (now Lord) Keane
against those formidable chiefs. The military skill of
Sir C. Napier was not his highest praise ; still greater
applanse was due to the moral courage with which he
acted on his own judgment against urgent advice, and
hazarded his own life and his own reputation. For such
exploits he thought the House would be unanimous in
their thanks. He then adverted to the loss of those brave
men whose deaths were commemorated in Sir C. Napier's
despatches; and expressed a hope that such a record of
their gallantry would afford some consolation to their
surviving families. (Cheers.) _

Lord J. RUSSELL.—After the eloquent language in
which the Right Hon. Gentleman has moved he thanks
of this House and the country to Sir Charles Napier and
the gallant army under his command in Sinde, I shall
content myself with at once seconding the motion.—
(Cheers.) Even those who may differ with the Right
Bon. Bart. must yet feel bound to render their tribute to
the military skill, exalted courage, and perseverance, ex-
hibited by Sir Charles Napier. (Cheers.) Looking at
the age to which Sir Charles Napier had attained, it is, I
consider, an eminent fortune in this country that he
should have retained all the vigout and energy of a young
man. There are few men of 20 or 30 who, while they
could not exhibit the same military skill, would have
shown the same energy and vigour. (Hear.)
Sir H. HARDINGE vindicated and applauded the cause
taken by Sir C. Napier in opposition to the advice given
by Major Outram. His gallantry was well known before ;
his skill and the mastermind he had recently shown were
now the subjects of just eulogium. Sir H. Hardinge men-
tioned some specific instances of Sir Charles Napier's
judgment; and, moreover, of his humanity. Whatever
fortune might befall him in the difficult regions of the
East, at all events this country's honour and interest
could never be plecd in safer hands. _

--Commodore Napier related several particulars of his
relative's gallantry in earlier life. He added some details of
the late Indian battles. There might have been no declara-
tion of war; but there had been an attack by the Ameers
on our Residency ; besides, declarations of war were out
of fashion; we had been fighting the Chinese these four
or five years without any such declaration. Gentlemen
talked about tempting future officers by votes of thanks ;
but he did not believe there would be many amateurs in
a great hurry to lead 2,000 men against 20,000.
Lord PALMERSTON gave his cordial support to the pro-
posed vote of thanks. He would not inquire into any of
the questions of policy. He saw a brilliant victory by '
British troops, almost without precedent for the disparity
of the conflicting forces.
The House divided. The numbers were—

For the motion ....
Against it
Majority.....

-155

Mr. CHRISTIE moved for a select committee to con-
sider the subjects of admission of strangers and publica-
tion of debates. The rules on these points, he said, were
antiquated, and now in practice disregarded. The House
was at this day hampered by its own regulations, so widely
inconsistent with its practice. He exhorted the House to
sanction the publication of reports in general, and to
punish only where the permission should be abused. He
entered into an historical review of the existing orders,
which appeared to have had their origin in the struggles
of the house with the Crown. With respect to the
presence of strangers, he wished to see it allowed ; but
he would still leave to every Member the right of requir-
ing the house to be cleared. It had been thought that if
the House permitted reports, it ought to have its own
reporters • but experience had shown that open competi-
tion was the best security for faithful reporting.
After a long discussion the House divided—

For the motion....
Against it
_ _

Majority against it -47
Mr. PAKINGTON said, the subject of his bill (" to define
and regulate the periods for holding quarter sessions in
cities and boroughs ") involved the administration of jus-
tice, and the manner in which certain powers conferred
by the Municipal Act had been exercised by the Learned
Gentleman the Recorder of Worcester. He did not
therefore press it upon the House at that hour, but would
postpone it for the 22d inst.
Mr. HAWES said he was ready to defend his learned
friend's conduct, which was thus, it appeared questioned.
Mr. PAKINGTON disclaimed any design of attempting any
imputations beyond certain statements absolutely requisite
to show the necessity for his measure.
The hon. member then obtained leave to bring in a bill,
the object of which, he said, was to assimilate, as much
as possible, the law with respect to the election of county
i coroners to that affecting the election of coroners n cities
and boroughs.
The other orders were then disposed of, and the house
adjourned at a quarter to one o'clock.