The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1847-07-06 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

HOUSE -OF LORDS.-FAIDAY  The Royal assent was given by commission to avast number of bills. _ _ _  Lord BROUGHAM aaked the Duke of Wellington whether he had received any information respecting the late case of suicide in the, 75th Regiment.  The Duke of WELLINGTON said, that the offence of the private who had committed suicide was a most atrocious case, and that, in his opinion, he fully merited the severity with which he had been treated ; the only fault he found with the commanding-officer was that he had not sufficiently explained the grounds of the order which had worked so unfortunately on the prisoner's mind. On the motion for going into committee on the Poorlaw Amendment Bill,  Lord BROUGHAM stated his objection to the connexion of the Poor-law department with the Government, and to making its head removable by, and intimately connected with, the party in office. The consequence would be that all Poor-law measures, good or bad, would be attacked and defended in a spirit of party, and there would be an end to all dispassionate treatment of the subject. He always considered the „greatest blot in the bill to .be the clause which had been introduced into it in the other house, providing against the separation of married paupers above a prescribed age, and he tendered his hearty thanks to the Government for having opposed that proposition. Again, the requisite knowledge of the details of the department was not to be acquired in a day, and still less the firmness necessary for the discharge of so delicate and so difficult a duty. Yet the president of the department would, if his Government went out, retire from office before this firmness and this knowledge of the details could possibly be acquired. Such a functionary ought to be acquired by knowledge, by temper, by firmness of character, but, above all, he ought to have a seat in Parliament from which he could not be expelled. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE was glad to find that Lord Brougham was disposed to admit the heads of the Poorlaw department to seats in Parliament, for he was convinced that a great portion of the obliquy that had been thrown upon them resulted from the fact of their acting so much in the dark. He could not agree with the noble lord in thinking that the president ought to be unconnected with party, but, on the contrary, was sure that the department would not work well unless its head was in intimate and confidential communication with the government.  Lord STANLEY thought that the question was beset with difficulties on all sides, but, though he was fully aware of the political inconvenience which might arise from the connection of the head of the Poor-law department with the government, he still thought that such a connexion would be advantageous, and for this reason he quite approved of the principle of making the chief functionary of that department personally responsible to the government.  The house then went into committee on the bill, and all the clauses were agreed to, with the exception of the 23d, providing that married persons above 60 years of age should not be compelled to live apart in workhouses, which was negatived without a division.  • The bill was then ordered to be reported. Several other bills were forwarded a stage, and their lordships adjourned.  HOUSE OF COMMONS  -FRIDAY  The following Bills were read a third time and passed : —Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway (Supply of Surplus Water to Manchester, Salford, and Stockport); Portsmouth Paving, Lighting, and Improvement : Taunton Improvement and Market. Lord G. BENTINCX questioned the Foreign Secretary as to whether, in the event of the Prussian Government and the Zollverein refusing to renew the treaty of international commerce with this country, it was the intention of the British Government to make reprisals.  Lord PALMERSTON answered that the Prussian Government had the option to terminate the treaty, and he had received an intimation of their intention to do so. He would have no objection to lay that intimation on the table.  Mr. HuFT wished to know whether the Foreign Secretary was aware that negociations were on foot with the intent of inducing the Hanse Towns to unite with the States of the Zollverein in an arrangement to impose differential duties on the ships of all nations which would not accord to the German States the same privileges of navigation which the German States extended to them.  Lord PALMERSTON said it was true that the German Governments had been in communication with the Hanse Towns for the object indicated ; and he had been informed that a person had been sent from Berlin to Hamburgh, Lubec, and Bremen, to induce the Hanse Towns to become members of the Zollverein. Hamburgh and Lubec had, he believed, become parties to the arrangement. Lord J. RUSSELL moved the second reading of the Bill for the renewal of the suspension of the Navigation Laws. Lord G. BENTINCK opposed the Bill as an underhand attempt to repeal the Navigation Laws—as a steppingstone to their total abolition—which he felt convinced would be a measure most disastrous to our commercial marine, and which would put in peril the naval supremacy of England, by restricting the source from whence the Royal Navy is supplied with seamen. He maintained that the .suspension already tried, as far as experience proved, had had no practically beneficial effect ; and he insisted that the Government, instead of suspending the Navigation Laws, ought to have employed all the vessels of war that could be spared in carrying grain to this country. By September next there would be no further pretence for continuing the suspension of these laws. Lord J. RUSSELL assured the noble lord that the measure was designed to be only temporary, and had no reference whatever to any ulterior change in the permanent Navigation Laws. After a slight discussion, Lord G. BENTINCIE consented to withdraw his opposition, as Lord John Russell had announced that he would impartially consider the evidence taken before the Navigation Laws committee. The Custody of Offenders Bill passed through committee, and the report was ordered to be received on Monday. .  The Stock in Trade Exemption Bill was read a second time after some opposition from Sir R. Inglis and Lord G. Bentinck, the latter of whom moved that the House be counted. Sir G. Grey was then the only occupant of the Ministerial benches, but by a sudden rush of members the House was saved. _ .  Dr. Bow RING asked the Attorney-General whether the property of Tawell, who was executed for murder, and respecting which an official inquiry had lately taken place, instead of escheating to the Crown, would be restored to his widow ? _ _ _  The