The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-07-10 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY COMMENTARY.

The English Catholic Qualification Bill WAS list night
rejected by the Lords, as we anticipated. The Lord
Litancellor k.pt his word,as to his pledged opposition ;
blt we have to apologize to our readers for having said
that we should heir " his reasons." Not a solitary rea-
son (sill he offer, but that his mind was made up, and he
was " too old to change it." Does he not begin to feel
that he is rather too old fur the nsusl drudgery of his of-
fice. There is a contradiction in his positions, if the re-
porters do him justice, that savours of a lack of that accu-
racy which should mark the orations of the Head of the
Law. He bad pledged himself to oppose both the
Bills, on account of the prieciples; but, now," what he
principally complained of, was the period at which
the measure was brought forward ;" and he thought the
House was treated with a degree of " indignity," by such
questioes being seat up for discussion so late in the sea
sun! Why not prosecute the House of Commons, thea,
under the provisions of the remainder of the Six Acts;
for treating the House of Lords with " indignity !"
This plea of an inconvenient time is a rare subterfuge
for tender Parliamentary consciences, who wish to weigh
every syllable of a clause before they decide ; but, seri.
*lndy, to whom does the charge of delay belong ? To
the Chancellor's own friends in the Lower House, Ls
she Earl of Harrowby justly remarked, who have been
playing with It there tomer thin months, to afford this
paltry ptelooso to the swamis of the measure above
rain. LAW Liverreel best tie objection to the 11111 for
greeting tits 'Wive Awhile to the Catholics ; but de.
elated be email ippon the Bill for their amiss* into.

THE

certain offices. These are feelings with respect tO• Le.
gislation, that we cannot coinprehentlf•—but there' ft a.
party in office which perfectly understand, that the
greater number of persons who are admitted to partici-
pate in the loaves- and fishes, the less the individuals'
must have for their peculiar shares ; as• co miracle cap
be wrought to make the supply inexhuustible. The
Bishe:. of Norwich, who is always ready to make apy
sacrifice to his duty, when there is a prospect of its a'1811•
jog the cause of truth and liberality, attended in his'
place, end gave his brother Prelates a lecture upon the
principles which should influence them on political sub.
jects ; but the Reverend PrelatUost his labour for the
present. Such labours, hotreve ever die. They are
alwayseffective upon the public mind, and will finally
contribute to produce the omnipotence of rea -on.

The Irish Tythe Bill went through a Committee.
During the debate Lord King made use of the following
energetic language, characteristic of the actual condition
of Ireland :—" The established religion insulted the
" people by its ascendancy, and impoverished them by its
" exactions. It made the rountry a hell upon eafth. It
" held forth not the principles of peace. hut the sword.
" It did not, as it ought, promtte good will among men.
" Indeed, those who lived by it, did not venture to as.
" sert that it did good. It was a profanation of the
name of Christianity. The situation of the Irish pro-
" ple was really deplorable. An Irish farmer might not
" improperly be compared to a jaded mare, who was
" compelled to •carry two riders, one on the saddle, and
" the other on the crupper.' The poor famer bad to
" bear his own priest, and one of the Established Church
" also. One spurred him in the shoulders, and the.other
"in the flank." What would have been said of, or dune
with a writer in Dublin, who had said as much ten
years age ?
During the speech of Lord Holland, when that Noblemen
remarked that the House of Commons had recognized the
question of Catholic Emancipation, tke Minister remarked
across the table, that it was but by a mere majorily. Lord
Holland replied that the present administration ought not to
sneer at mere majorities, for that they bed been highly in-
debted to them on many occasions. We were much ple.sed
to see that Lord Liverpool contended against the Chancel-
lor's declaration, that tythes were as much the property of
the Church, as estates were the property of their owners ;
drat it was equitable and right to treat with tythes by Aet
of Parliament :—the tythe being a charge upon the land, to
be regulated by circumstances; and not an ownership in the
land, entailed ip perpetuity upon the Church. An attempt
to introduce a compoliory clause was made by Lord Clif-
den, but negatived, as a matter of course.

In the House of Commons, Mr. Peel moved for leave
to bring in a Bill to authorise the temporary removal of
convicts from the Penitentiary, in cases where their
health might require it. Was this done to excuse the
obvious neglect of such a duty in certain past cases?
Does not this power already exist? Can the King in
Council have the power of remitting the whole of a sen-
tence to a prisoner, andl yet not possess the power of
removing him into fresh air, when his health requires,
and probably his life depends upon it ? If such a
power did not legally exist, the Secretary of State
might have ventured to do so much upon his own
responsibility. When a Ministerial purpose is to
be answered, we find none of such a scrupulous
delicacy, and the Minister confidently relied upon, and
obtained bills of indemnity. Sorely then, he could
apprehend no danger from the exercise of authority to
save the lives of miserable creatures, who were not ir
tended to be deprived of life, by the sentences which pro-
scribed them from society. Perhaps, however, the good
Secretary of State could find no official precedent for
such are act of humanity. Mr. M. A. Taylor took occa-
sion very gratuitously to remark that the prison was by
no means unhealthy; and he told ns a miraculous fact,
that at the time London was visited by the plague " no
"person living by the side of the Thames had caught
" the Infection." Surely the reporters have been jest-
ing with the worthy Member. Both the statements are
equally unfounded. 'lime Penitentiary is built oa a
swamp. There is, at present, no sufficient power of
drainage, after high tides or floods. Cleanliness and
good liming might do much to counteract the conse-
qnences of 43 situation ; but it is not built in a healthy
place. Mr. Peel says, " there was no ground. for suppos-
ing that the late disease was owing to its local
position." We are satisfied of the contrary; and
that the local position had great effect in encreasing and
continuing the epidemy. Yet we do not think it was
occasioned :ry time local position—but by the experiment
made last summer upon how little the pulse would con-
tinue to beat. Privation of food produced a debility,
which was fatally acted upon by the consequence of the
local situation. _

The Beer Bill last night fell into that aliyes, where
" things destroyed are swept to things unborn." And
Mr. Weston withdrew his bill respecting the Qualifica-
tion of Jurors, as there was n-t time to snake it operative
fur the present assia.s. We do not recognize in this any
reason why it should not be made operative for the nest.
It would he as easy to insert one date as anotiier; but
we do not see with parliamentary optics, and can only
regret that there should he so tinny parliamentary abor-

tions of good measures; while those of a different nature
are nursed with so *ouch care, and thrive so vigorously.

—We hare some hopes, notwithstanding' that we have
contributed to delay, if not to prevent the measure that
would disturb the trade of Spitalfields.
Col. Palrrer, with a view of recording his opinion of the
despicable nature of our foreign policy, moved for the in-
structions sent ont to Sir %V. A'Court, while at Madrid,
which was negatived w ithout a division. The speech of the
Colonel is very interesting, and will amply repay a perusal.
The topics it embraces will shortly be forced upon the pub-
lic attention in a more serious way.

Chief Baron O'Grady has been safely extricated from the
House of Commons by the helping band of Mr. Scarlett,
whose natural affection for fees. induced him to sympathise
with a man who has only been charged with es:creasing
them. The House has resolved distil is " net accessary to
enquire soy further into the matt ^r." Then It wee not ne-
cessary to enquire at all. We were aware of the manna
terminatioo et this matter. sod only wonder why the "
ttsa-
jority" did not save the time that has been wasted. and the
discussion that Us taken place. In the mean time. does the
Chief Berns go on tektite the fees? Tile is a steadiest se
Oise is the Hover thought of asking.

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