The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-06 00:00:00

*mutat parliamtnt.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—MoNDAy.

Lord DENMAN said it was his intention to have proceeded
with the second reading of the Baptists' Affirmation bill,
but he bad been asked why he confined the measure to the
Baptists, when its principle was equally applicable to every
other sect of christians. This objection was so just, that he
felt be could give no valid answer to it, and for the present,
therefore, he would withdraw the bill, for the purpose of in-
troducing one which would include in its operation all chris-
tians having a conscientious objection to the taking of an
oath.
The bill was accordingly withdrawn.
Lord BROUGHAM then moved that a message be sent to
the House of Commons, requesting copies of the reports and
of the evidence taken before the elections committees which,
adjudicated on the petitions from Ipswich, Sudbury, and
Great Marlow. It is probable that their lordships would be
called upon to legislate in consequence of those reports, and
it was therefore advisable that their attention should be
turned to the subject as early as possible. The noble lord
then condemned the present mode of trying election peti-
tions, which proved by the results that the decisions invaria-
bly went in accordance with the political feelings of the ma-
fority. He next adverted to a plan, suggested by the Duke
of Wellington, who had asked him to throw it into the shape
of a bill, and which if adopted would, he thought, have given
an admirable tribunal for trying those petitions. The plan
was this :—a tribunal should be formed, at the head of
which should be one of the judges of the land, having no
seat in either house of parliament. He would preside over
the court, which would be a sort of jury composed of seven
members of the House of Commons and five of the House
of Lords ; and their verdict in any subsequent proceedings
for the disfranchisement of any borough for bribery should
be taken as conclusive of the facts. The noble and learned
lord entered at great length into the advantages of his plan,
as compared with the present system, and concluded by
moving that the message should be sent.

A conversation arose as to whether the House of Com-
mons would be likely to send an answer to a message which
they might deem an interference with their privileges. It
was suggested by the Lord Chancellor that it would be better
not to risk the experiment, and Lord Canterbury, while
warmly supporting the views taken by Lord Brougham,
thought it would be unadvisable to risk sending the message
to the House of Commons, more particularly as it would not
tend to advance the object which his noble and learned friend
wished to see carried out.

The Earl of WICKLOW hoped that the noble and learned
lord would again bring the motion forward, should any bill
come before them from the House of Commons for the dis-
franchisement of any borough.
Lord BROUGHASf then withdrew his motion, and the house
adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—MONDAY.
Mr, T. DUNCOMBE presented the " national petition,"
which was brought into the body of the house before the
Speaker took the chair. It was an enormous affair, and was
obliged to be removed piecemeal by several of the messen-
gers, who were even in that way a considerable time in tak-
ing it away. The hon. member gave notice that he would
an the following evening call the attention of the house to the
matters contained in it.
The house then resolved itself into a committee of the
whole house upon the Income Tax Bill.
The committee began with clause three, and made rapid
progress in the course of the evening.
Mr. HUME moved that the dividends on stock accruing
in April should be exempted from the tax, as otherwise the
fundholders would have to pay the income tax one quarter
before it was collected from the rest of the community,
The CHANCELLOR of the EYCHEQUER said if they were
not to commence to tax the dividends until July, the result
would be that they would be obliged to collect the tax from
the fundholder three months after the expiration of the tax
as applied to other classes.

Upon a division, Mr. Hume's motion was negatived by a
majority of 159 to 84.
Mr. F. BARING moved a resolution to the effect that the
income tax should not be levied on the dividends derived
from the pnblic funds by foreigners residing abroad.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER opposed the mo-
tion, and said he thought it perfectly right that a foreigner
deriving his income from this country should be liable to the
tax.