Debuts anti 113rocetbings in I:Indianian.

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS OF THE WEEK.

HOUSE op LORDS. Monday, March 5. Marriages (Scotland) Bill, read a third time and passed—Adjourned 6 h. 30 m. Tuesday, March 6. Supply of Arms to Sicilian In- surgents: British Neutrality discussed—Relief of Distress (Ireland) Bill, read a third time and passed—Adjourned at 7 h. 15 m. Thursday, March 8. Petitions presented— Adjourned at 511. 55 in. Friday, March 9. Royal Assent to the Consolidated Fund Bill, and three other public bills—Report of Committee on Bankruptcy Law, presented by Lord Brougham—Larceny Acts Amendment Bill reported—.Adjourned at 511.

[Time occupied In the four sittings 5 h. 14 in.

from the beginning of the Session 33h. 59 m.]

House Ow COMMONS. Monday, March 5. House in Committee on Irish Poor-laws-- Select Committee on Bribery at Elections Bill nominated—Adjourned at 1 h. (Tuesday morning.) Tuesday, March 6. Sir Charles Napler's appointment to the chief com- mand in India announced—House in Committee on Irish Poor-laws ; Ministerial Re- solution passed—Adjourned at 1 h. 45 m. (Wednesday morning.) Wednesday, March 7. (House met at 12b.) Transfer of Real Property Bill, read a second time—Motion for Return of Arms supplied by Government-contractor to the Sicilians—Adjourned at 612. Thursday, March 8. Convict Transportation: Lord Mahon's Motion for Returns— Mr. DisraelPs Motion on Agricultural Relief—Adjourned at I b. (Friday morning.) Friday, March 9. Petitions against repeal of the Navigation Laws: second reading of Navigation Bill debated—Adjourned at 12 h. 15m.

(Time occupied in the five sittings 42 h.

from the beginning of the Session 18911. 20 m.] AGRICULTURAL RELIEF.

Mr. Disaszu began his speech on local taxation by three distinct dis- claimers: he did not intend to enter into detailed proof of the distress among the agricultural districts,—which is generally admitted, and pro- nounced even by Mr. Cobden to be severe and terrible; he would not in- quire into the causes of that distress,—appealing also on that head to Mr. Cobden, who admitted that the farmers had not been fairly dealt with; and he would not inquire into the policy of the recent changes in our com- mercial system,—though he still retained the opinion that it must end in national degradation and a financial convulsion. He was not one of those who would recur to the past by appealing to the passions of a suffering class: wishing the restoration to be permanent, he should await the growth of conviction in the country, the effect of public discussion, private inquiry, failure in the prophesies of political economy, and sharp experience. What he insisted upon as his basis was, simply, that after the great changes of 1846, which so strangely affected the agricultural interests, those interests were entitled to an arrangement of taxation which should not press un- justly or unfairly upon them; and that the unjust and unfair apportion- ment of taxation shall be removed and redistributed.

A very few statistical details would prove their case. By the accounts

of the parochial or rating year ending on Lady. day 1848, a sum of not leas than 10,000,0001. sterling had been levied by direct taxation on the real property of the country, under the hands of county-rate, highway-vere church-rate, and that variety of charges levied under the name of poor: rate. To these, though not legally a local charge, may be added the land-. tax; making the whole 12,000;0001. sterling. That amount is levied on rental of 67,000,0001. a year. The Income-tax returns show that the pro- perty of England and Wales possessed by those who have incomes above 1501. a year is of the annual value of 186,888,958L: Sir Robert Peel had calculated the smaller incomes as representing property equal to one-fourth of that larger sum; making the total income of the country, under all heads, 249,000,0001. Now, why should this direct taxation of ten or twelve millions sterling be levied exclusively on a portion of the income of the country which is little more than a fourth of the whole amount? Mr. Disraeli admitted that the possessors of house property in towns, the owners of railway property, and the great trading companies, which supply us with water and light, are unduly burdened in the same way; and he called on them to support his proposition, by which they would now have an op- portunity to get rid of the burden. "Let me entreat that honourable Members will consider this question calmly. If it were not in England that it occurred—if We were travelling in a foreign country, and for the first time became acquainted with a system of finance se remarkable—if we were in a strange land, and heard that, independently of taking their share of the whole taxation of the country, there was a private and separate revenue to an immense amount assessed on one-fourth part of the whole property of the realm—what would be the conclusion you would draw ? You would at once conclude that the portion of the country entreated must be the remnant of some conquered race—a portion of some oppressed section of the community which were rebellions, and had to be reconquered; and that the grievous impwts they had to endure were the bitter fruits of a vassalage which not even modern civili- zation nor the humanizing effects of political economy could abolish. ("Hear, hear!" and laughter.) But who could for one moment suppose that the pay. ment of those most unjust and extravagant imposts is the peculiar privilege of that heartless and rapacious aristocracy, who, we are told, make all our laws, and who, according to the doctrines of the most intelligent of those who now instruct us—uniformly fashion those laws with a view to their own advantage? ("Hear, hear!" and laughter.) But the most curious fact of all, and the most anomalous part by far of this al- most unparalleled state of things, is that it is not the law of the country. Ancient statutes never for a moment enforced such monstrous doctrines. In the famous Act of Elizabeth, all men are called upon to contribute according to their means to the support of the poor. Even in comparatively modern times, in the Act of William and Mary, which first legislatively established the land-tax, this principle was acknowledged. The tax was conventionally designated 'a land- tax,' but in point of fact it was a tax upon all kinds of property. Even now it extends to offices under the Crown; even now the old offices of the time of Wil- liam and Mary pay (if I am rightly informed) a tax of four shillings in the pound. To this day I believe the Judges of the land pay this tax: though I hope it is assessed on an allowance such as existed in the time of William and Mary, and not on that which prevails in the reign of our own gracious Sovereign. And stock in trade only escapes by an annual bill."

It does not appear that the objects of this local taxation are of a local character.

"I know of no satisfactory reason why the maintenance of the poor should be the duty merely of a locality. To allow the poor to perish of famine, is to pro- duce mendicity and violence; and certainly the most convenient way to defend your_person from assault and your property from robbery, is to enact a Poor-law. But I do not understand why, even in that limited view of the case, the contri- bution should be levied only on one or even two classes." The alteration of a fashion, or the invention of a machine, may throw whole districts out of employ- ment. The rural districts, often held up to public reprobation for their excessive pauperism, are generally those parts of the country which were once the seats of manufactures now obsolete. "The fact is, that in those districts the manufactures which once flourished and gave employment to hundreds have declined, and left the labourers on the land. They are too numerous for the land ; it cannot absorb them, and thus it is that low wages are to be accounted for. On the contrary, in purely agicultural counties wages are not so low, because the population is not greater than the land can absorb. You forget that in Lincolnshire, where manu- factures are quite obsolete, high wages are to be found." The roads for which the landowner is called upon to pay have been used as much by the commercialltraveller as by the farmer; and the manufacturer might as well repudiate the charge as the country gentleman might repudiate the five or seven hundred thousand pounds for the "packet service." He might quite as well say that it is the letters from the merchants of London and Liverpool which that service is appointed to convey, and that it must be paid by a rate on London and Liverpool; or that harbours of refuge must be paid by a rate on the Cinque Ports. But this country gentleman does not take the limited view of finance which the Financial Reformers do. He deals with the subject in a wise, generous, and national spirit, and cheerfully contributes to expenses which he belives are neces- sary for the public weal. When Sir Robert Peel finally relieved the county of the remaining charge for criminal prosecutions, by which the stranger Tawell was tried at the expense of Buckinghamshire, Sir Robert made the concession as the most important act of compensation on that occasion. But even after that act of relief, the charges on the county, excepting chiefly certain expenditure on bridges, is made up of out- lay on account of the administration of justice—salaries to Coroners and other officers, improved prison buildings, and so forth. It is not to be denied that the advancing philanthropy of the age demands improved buildings and discipline; but those are national, not local objects. The anomaly has been recognized, and hints have been thrown out of a recourse to national rating; but to that Mr. Disraeli objected: the local administration of the funds insures economy, and is intimately connected with our habits of self-government. But that is no reason why a particu- lar class should be subjected to the pressure of unjust and unequal taxa- tion. The landed interest is said to be favoured in other respects—the Probate and Legacy duties would probably be brought forward: he was quite willing to let that question be freely investigated, and had no doubt that the land would not be found to pay the smallest portion of those imposts. He should probably disappoint those who had sedulously announced that he was going to move for a Select Committee: if he should induce them to go into a Committee of the whole House, he would propose a plan for its adoption. His object would be to maintain the local administration of affairs as it at present exists. He took into consideration the fact that the land enjoys some exemptions—amounting indeed to an inconsiderable sum, (about 140,0001,) but which it would be difficult to get rid of altogether. He also made his proposition in a spirit of conciliatory compromise; not wishing to alter a system which has existed so long, nor to stand upon the extreme of right. He should propose, therefore, that, the present sr- tem of local administration remaining, and the present levying of rates

continuing, the local districts should be responsible for one moiety of this taxation, and that the other moiety should be contributed from the Consoli- dated Fund.

Glancing at the possibility of opposition, he said that he did not expect it from Sir Robert Peel, who had recognized the special burdens on land. Neither did he from Lord John Russell, who when announcing to the Queen the failure of his attempt to form a Cabinet in 1845, recorded this

passage--

a Lord John Russell would have formed his Ministry on the basis of a complete

free trade in corn, to be established at once, without gradation or delay. He would have accompanied that proposal with measures of relief to a considerable extent of the occupiers of land from the burdens to which they were subjected." (Loud cheers from the Opposition benches.) Mr. Disraeli did not suppose, therefore, that her Majesty's Ministers would shrink from performing this great act of justice. The farmers are not in a mood to be trifled with. They remember that when they asked the House of Commons, twenty years ago, to take off the Malt-tax, the Minister said that he could not spare the 3,500,0001. which the tax then produced ; next year more than 3,500,000/. of taxation was taken off other articles by the seine Government. In 1835, on behalf of the farmers, the present Duke of Buckingham proposed repeal of the Malt-tax: on which occasion Sir Robert Peel replied, Take care— if you get rid of the Malt-tax, you will have instead a good comfortable property-tax. The agricultural Members fled like sheep: they saw visions and dreamt dreams; and they came down to the House, and rescinded all their promises to their constituents. Well, now they have the "good com- fortable property-tax" in addition to their other burdens. Do not these facts account for the farmers' distrust of public men? The measures which he had proposed that night, however, would enable him to take five or six millions of taxation off the real property of the country, and would benefit the farmer a hundred times more than the repeal of the Malt-tax.

Should he be allowed to introduce the measure, he would follow it up with another applied in the same spirit to Ireland.

He concluded with an eloquent warning against perseverance in the slight and contempt which have exasperated the landed interest.

They might rely upon it, that the blood which refused to pay ship-money is not to be treated with contempt and impunity. They might for a time survive the destruction of territorial influence; but it would be an exception to the prin- ciples which seem to rule society, if without that influence they could maintain a stable prosperity. Though their ports might be filled with shipping, though their factories might smoke in every town and their forges blaze in every village, they would fade like the Tyrian dye or smoulder into dust like the Venetian palaces of yore. United with the landed interest, they would find a counsellor in every trouble, an adherent in difficulty and a champion in danger ; a rival only in pa- triotism and public-spirit, a sure foundation of enduring prosperity. Mr. Disraeli's resolution was read by the SPEAKER, as follows- " That the whole of the local taxation of the country for national purposes falls mainly, if not exclusively, on real property, and bears with undue severity on the occupiers of land, in a manner injurious to the agricultural interests of the country, and otherwise highly impolitic and unjust. That the hardship of this apportionment is greatly aggravated by the fact, that more than one-third of the whole revenue derived from the Excise is levied upon agricultural produce, ex- posed, by the recent changes in the law, to direct competition with the untaxed pro- duce of foreign countries ; the home producer being thus subjected to a burden of taxation which,* greatly enhancing the price, limits the demand for British pro- duce; and to restrictions, which injuriously interfere with the conduct of his trade and industry. That this House will resolve itself into a Committee to take into its serious consideration such measures as may remove the grievances of which the owners and occupiers of real property thus justly complain, and which may establish a more equitable apportionment of the public burdens."

Mr. Rom rose to move an amendment, objecting entirely to Mr. Disraeli's proposition. Mr. Disraeli talked of relieving the landed interest, and said nothing of occupiers. He proposed to add 6,000,0001. to the general taxes, but did not say where he was to get the money from; though another in- come-tax would not provide it. And as he did not propose to repeal the Malt-tax, Mr. Hume would. He belieyed that ten millions of taxation could be taken off in the course of a very few years,—namely, the Malt- tax, 5,225,0001.; the Hop-tax, 392,0001.; the Window-tax, 1,652,0001.; the Soap-tax, 990,0001.; the Brick-tax, 368,0001.; the Paper-tax, 745,0001.; in all, 9,472,0001. But his great object in repealing the Malt-tax was, to abolish the Excise altogether; which would itself save a million to the country, and incalculably benefit trade. As a substitute for Mr. Disraeli's resolution, he moved to substitute after the first " That," these words- " If the local taxation of the country presses unequally on real property, or bears with undue severity on the occupiers of land, such inequality and undue pressure ought to be removed; bat, with the view of granting speedy relief to the agricultural and other interests of the country, without detriment to the claims of the national creditors, it is the opinion of this House that the public expendi- ture, now excessive, ought to be forthwith reduced; so as to enable Parliament to repeal totally the excise duties on malt and hops, and to remove, as far as prac- ticable, other burdens which impede the progress of agriculture and of commercial industry." Seconded by Mr. BRIGHT. At the instance of Sir CHARLES WOOD, the debate was adjourned to Wednesday next.

IRISH POOR-LAW.

The consideration of the Ministerial plan of a rate in aid was resumed on Monday, amidst the general opposition of Irish Members. Major BLACKALL moved an amendment, to the effect that an auxiliary fund for the relief of the extraordinary distress in Ireland be raised by a rate not exceeding 6d. in the pound on all Irish property and income above the value of 1501. a year. The Government rate in aid was opposed by Mr. IPNAGEITEN, as unjust; by Mr. SCULLY, as insufficient for its object; by Sir WILLIAM VERNER, as indiscriminate in its pressure on all estates, well or ill managed; by Mr. BOURKE, as a breach of the spirit of the Union, which re- quires that the strong and healthy body [England] should support the weak and unhealthy [Ireland] ; by Sir ALEXANDER BROOKE, as mischievous. The last speaker, in advocating an absentee-tax, declared his willingness to pay tile tax for all those parts of his scattered property whereon he did not re- mde. Mr. CLEMENTS supported a property-tax of 7d., as less onerous than S rate in aid of 6d. He feared that if Ireland alone had to bear the extra- ordinary expenses expenses entailed by the United Legislature, the English Mem- bers would trouble themselves no farther to rescue her from her unfortu- nate position. Mr. OSBORNE denounced the Mezentian policy of binding the poverty of the West to the industry of the North and South; and he threw contempt on the Ministerial resort to "that refuge for the desti- tute the Consolidated Fund." Ministers found supporters in Mr. WILLIAM Baoww, Mr. EDMDIXD BURKE ROCHE, and Sir GEORGE GREY.

Sir ROBERT PEEL also gave his support to the Ministerial resolution; the evidence of the papers on the table satisfying him, that if you refuse any extrinsic aid, the consequence will be famine disease, and deaths by actual starvation. He thought the other parts of the empire have a fair right to call on Ireland herself for a strenuous effort in the present diffi- culty; and he referred to the practice in this country of resorting from ex- hausted parishes to other parishes in the vicinage for help, to justify a resort to the wealthy Irish provinces in aid of the impoverished. The precise mode of help he threw into an alternative— Of the sum of 1,200,000/. advanced for the building of Union Workhouses in Ireland, not more than 36,000/. has been paid. " If Ireland would make a vigor ons effort to repay the sam advanced for the Union Workhouses at once, instead of spreading it over eighteen or twenty years, so that it may be applied in the way in which it is proposed to appropriate the sixpenny rate, I inn not sure that the House would not accept the arrangement, and forego the rate. (Much laugh- ter.) I say again, that if the Irish Members will guarantee the repayment of the 1,200,000/ in three months I will vote against the proposition of the Go- vernment. (Cheers and laughte;.) But if not, I will vote for it, in the absence of any other practical suggestion for relieving the urgent necessities of the poor of Ireland.'

The most striking incident of the debate was the latter part of Sir Robert's speech; in which he turned the discussion on the future state of Ireland when the present assistance shall have been expended, and threw out the suggestion of a broad practical scheme for diminishing the danger which is visible in the prospect. He took the Union of Beninese an illus- trative case, and drew from the facts concerning it which appear in the Parliamentary papers, the conclusions that there is the utmost danger that the Irish population will again resort to the precarious potato for their chief sustenance, and that large breadths of land are now actually as much out of cultivation there as if they had been devastated by an enemy. "We have therefore, concurrently, an abandonment of cultivation over wide districts, together with the prospect that, unless vigorous efforts be made to im- prove both the moral and physical condition of the people, they will continue to rely upon what experience has shown to be a most deceitful article of food, with the chance of a recurrence of the calamity, which, for anything we know, may not be casual, but the result of some mysterious agency. It appears to me that this state of the Ballina Union—and it is but the type of the rest—suggests matter for grave consideration." In respect of these difficulties, he would—not without hesitation--commanicate to the House what his impressions were. "Al- most the only thing in which I see a hope of safety is, the introduction of new proprietors, who shall take possession of land in Ireland freed from its present encumbrances, and enter upon its cultivation with new feelings and inspired by new hopes. (Cheers.) I wish for no violation of the rights of property. No- thing can be more easy than to suggest remedies if we choose to disregard the rights of property, which it is the first duty of a British Legislature to uphold. But at tbe same time, much property in Ireland is, in point of fact, now of little value to the proprietors, on account of the encumbrances upon it; and I cannot help thinking that it is possible for the Government, with the sanction of the House, by taking an enlarged view of the subject, to devise some means by which new capital may be introduced into the cultivation of the land in Ireland, and the existing proprietors rescued from the disappointment and despair in which they are involved.

"I revert to a period when a state of things existed in Ireland not very different from that which now exists there: I allude to the reign of James the First, when the settlement of Ulster took place. At that time a large quantity of land was forfeited in six counties of Ireland, but not so large a quantity as, I believe, might now be obtained in the West of Ireland by an arrangement with the pro- pnetors—an arrangement devoid of injustice, to which no objection would be made. The lands forfeited after the rebellion of Tyrone, in the counties of Done- gal, Tyrone, Derry, Fermanagh, Cavan, and Armagh, amounted to 500,000 acres. The transaction is described in nearly the same manner by all contemporary his- torians, but I think the best account is to be found in Carte's Life of Ormonde. That author says= These counties had suffered exceedingly in the war, and were reduced to a very desolate condition. The country was full of wood; and fastnesses, which on favourable junctures would give encouragement to rebels, and at all times serve as a retreat to robbers. Great numbers of the inhabitants had perished by the sword—mach greater by famine ; the rest were reduced to BO extreme a poverty that they were not able, if willing, to manure the ground; BO that the lands laid waste in time of war were likely to continue so in thus of peace.' This description, excepting that part which refers to woods and forests affording shelter to robbers, is very applicable to the state of Connaught and many parts of the West of Ireland. Sir Arthur Chichester was the Lord-Deputy at the period in question. He caused surveys to be taken; and it was decided that the lands to be transplanted should be divided into three proportions of 2,000, 1,500, and 1,000 English acres, and these escheated lands were disposed of to 104 English and Scotch, 56 servitors, and 286 natives, all of whom gave bond to the Government for the performance of covenants. The Lord-Deputy caused a parochial church to be erected, and a glebe set out according to the size of the parish for each incumbent. The plantation was extended to Leinster. Great injustice was done to individuals by this proceeding; but, says Carte, 'The grie- vances of particular persons did not prevent the general good intended to the kingdom by these plantations. In consequence of whic, lands were cultivated and greatly improved, towns and villages built, trade and commerce carried on and extended. The people in general, weaned gradually from their former idle and disorderly life, began to learn and practise civility, to apply themselves to business, to use labour and industry in their several stations, and to relish the sweets of peace.' "If it be possible to make any new settlement similar to that of Ulster, my earnest advice, which I am sure will be in unison with the universal feel- ings of the House, is that no religious distinctions should be allowed to enter into the arrangement. (Cheers.) It may, perhaps, be impossible to apply the principle of the arrangement to the extent to which it was carried in James the First's time ; but unless it be applied to some degree, there is no hope of the future improvement of Ireland. If you choose to leave the present proprietors in possession of their property, hardly receiving a nominal rent, encumbered with debt, with every discouragement to exertion, and so overwhelmed with rates that it is impossible to find a purchaser or occupant, then I see no hope for the salvation of Ireland. But if, through the Government or Parliament, you can establish someintermediate agent toget possession of that property on equitable terms, and then can arrange for the redistribution of it, I should see some hope of her salvation. An act was passed last session to give fa- cilities to the acquisition of property in Ireland; but I fear that, in consequence of the alterations introduced into the measure in the Lords, its object of introducing new proprietors into Ireland will be defeated. I very much fear that if you rely merely on individual purchases, you will make no great advance. It appears to me, it might be prudent to appoint some commission for the purpose of consider- ing the whole subject, and the possibility, by their advice and intervention, of effecting the change in property which I believe to be indispensable to any great improvement of that country. (" Hear, hear!") I earnestly advise you, then, to consider whether you cannot, by the intervention of some such commission as that I have mentioned, facilitate the arrangements for the transfer of property. I

have read the rules of the Court of Chancery: I dare say they may be very pro- per; but every one would say, ' If you can give me only a nominal guarantee of 10 per cent for my outlay, I will go anywhere else.' Cannot you assist by the intervention of a commission composed of men of the highest character? Surely you could End men who would gratuitously devote their time to rescue Ireland

• from this state—who would be the medium between the proprietor and the pur- chaser? The condition of twenty of these unions is so wretched, that you find yourselves either unable to trust the local Guardians, or that they are throwing up their appointments and you are trusting to Vice-Guardians to administer the Poor-law in those districts. Would it not be possible, by the intervention of some such commission as that I have spoken of, to assist in solving the legal difficul- ties—to cousider what arrangements should be made for the transfer of property, to suggest the mode in which it could be effected; giving hereafter a title that should not he liable to question; seeking the aid of Parliament for that purpose; con- firming the title in some shape brother; imiting the amount of charge on account of the poor-rates to which those lands should be subject; giving a guarantee, as far as you can, against any violation of property, and also against legal disturbance on account of flaws in the title? I, for one, should see with great satisfaction the Government interposing with the intention of redistributing that great estate which is on sale in Connemara—I mean the estate of Mr. Martin. What do I see now ? I am obliged to support 2,500 ablebodied men ; and that will continue for some time. Suppose I could make any amicable arrangement for facilitating the transfer of the property. Here, then, is fertile land going out of cultivation be- cause the charge upon it is so heavy that no person, as tenant or occupant, will cultivate it. What t3 the prospect, then ? The people are clinging to the potato, and, that failing them, there is but the unsatisfactory remedy which the noble Lord offered, of an incursion of paupers into Scotland or England. But depend upon it, you will have the ablebodied men coming to interfere with the ablebodied labourers of this country, while all the women and children will be left on the land, demanding relief from the poor-rates. I think it improbable that any per- son will purchase that property without the intervention of a third party: with the uncertainty of the poor-rate, who would have anything to say to it? What is the use of continuing it in the family ? I have not the slightest doubt that the present proprietors, whoever they are, would be willing to do what they could for its improvement; but to have those 2,500 men transferred to some other .proprietor, who would do nothing for the future improvement of the property, would be a great evil. But suppose I had an intelligent commissioner by whose intervention that property might pass into the hands of proprietors who would employ those men in the improvement of the estate,—and I believe that, in the district of Connemara, there are vat- lies as fertile as in any other part of Ireland,.—if, I say, I could appoint an intelligent and able commissioner, who, for a time, would take possession of that .property..—who would open means of communication—who would, if you please, divide i4 giving security for ten or fourteen years to come that the amount of poor-rates should not be exceeded, and calling into action the labour of those men,—then I am laying the foundation of future prosperity, introducingnew men into the country, and avoiding that which, I think, was a fatal defect in the act of James the First, namely, the establishment of a religious distinction. ("Hear, hear!") I would give to all persons equal advantages, and would not make any attempt to remove them from the soil on account of their religions views. In that way I would infuse new blood inta Ireland, new enterprise, and a new divi- sloe of property; and I would give a stimulus to industry, by guaranteeing the future proprietor against being sunk and overwhelmed by the amount of the poor- rates.. I see no other mode than some measure of that kind that could be adopted to mitigate -the preeent fsVii. I greatly doubt whether, under the bill of last ses- sion, any amount of property has been sold. I greatly doubt whether you must not have seine internmffiate authority between the present proprietors and the new purchasers."

When James the First determined on the occupation of Ulster, he con- sulted Lord Bacon; and Bacon wrote a treatise, in which, as might be expected, there are many extravagant and fulsome compliments to James, and some ridieuloue proposals, hut upon the whole, some most valuable suggestions,—a treatise which, on account of its prophetic sagacity, is well worth the consideration of the present race of men, more enlightened by the science of these days.

Bacon says—" Of all things, a commission is most necessary, both to direct and appease controversy." That is, he would not have trusted to these particular Guardians or Vice-Guardians, acting in individual parishes without concert, 'struggling against the greatest difficulties; doing all they can, but still without any mutual cperation. He goes on to say—" The commissioners should for a certain time reside in some habitable town in Ireland, near the country where the plantations are to be." But, with the perception of a man long in office, he evi- dently tears the Secretary of State would say, "There is no need of appointing commissioners for the purpose, for we have a capital Privy Council, who will do all the duty and save the expense"; and so, with his habitual sagacity, he goes on to observe—" When I speak of a Council of Plantations, I mean sense persons chosen on whom the labour may rest ; for although your Majesty has a grave and sufficient Council in Ireland, yet that applies not to the purpose whereof I speak." And he says that greater expedition, and a more perfect execution and realization of the matters to be considered, will be secured by leaving them in the lands of those who have paid exclusive attention to them.

Mr. EDMUND BURKE ROCHE did not anticipate much benefit to Ireland from suchplantations; but qualified his remark— If the object were to create an independent yeomanry in Ireland, he believed that some good would be done; but if they merely bought the estates from the present proprietors, who had manifestly neglected their duty hitherto, and put in their place another set without taking some security that they would not follow exactly the same course as their predecessors, he feared that evil would be done in place of good. If the right honourable gentleman really wished to regenerate Ireland, let him face the question of tenure of land; let him bring in a bold, prac- tical measure to enable the money of the farmers and yeomen, which was at pre- sent lying idle in the savings-banks, to come into connexion with the land which was lying unfilled; and he would not only benefit the country at large, but do great credit and honour to himself.

Sir GEORGE GREY entirely concurred in the opinion that the remedy for the disastrous state of things existing in the unions of the West of Ire- land was the transfer of the great bulk of the property from the hands of those who had inherited it overwhelmed with burdens, with incomes insuf- ficient to enable them to discharge the duties of proprietors, to others pos- sessed of capital sufficient to furnish employment to the people on their estates and to insure the proper cultivation of the soil.

The right honourable Baronet said that he would do nothing which was in- consistent with the rights of property: but experience showed how strongly the influence of education and of long-eherished habits inclined Common Law and Chancery lawyers to consider all the forms employed in their profession essential to the maintenance of the rights of property. Much benefit would be experienced if purchasers were relieved from•the dread of competing for the purchase of es- tates encumbered with an accumulation of arrears of poor-rate; cud one of the propositions which his noble friend intended to submit to the Committee up-stairs would be directed to that object If, in accordance with the right honourable Baronet's suggestion, a commission should be appointed to decide upon all questions of property, the members of it must be lawyers• and in that case the same delay would be experimed as was now complained of with reference to

the Court of Chancery. These were some of the observations which it occurred to him to make with reference to the right honourable Baronet's proposition: but any suggestion arising front that quarter must necessarily carry great weight with it, and was entitled to the fullest consideration.

Viecount CASTLEREAGH proposed that the Chairman shotild report pro gross. Lord Joner RUSSELL opposed any prolongation of the debate, which had already reached the third night. On a division there appeared 251 against, and 104 in favour of adjournment; and division, John, " con:

sidering the largeness of the minority," withdrew his resistance.--Adjourned till Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the opposition to Ministers was maintained by Mr. GRO- GAN' Captain JONES, Mr. FRENCH, Mr. CONOLLY, Lord CASTLEREAGH, Mr. MCUI,LAGH, and Mr. ST. GEORGE. Mr. MORGAN JOHN O'CONNELL supported Major Blaokall's amendment, but to vote for Ministers if the amendment were negatived. Mr. MOORE supported the rate in aid. Seine of these Members expressed approbation of Sir Robert Peel's scheme,—as Mr. Guoweet and Lord CaseLiseEe.on; Mr. MORGAN JOHN O'CONNELL, who thought that its proposal entitled Sir Robert to the title of a real bene factor to Ireland: but Mr. CONOLLY and Colonel DUNNE disapproved it, the former as a spoliation, and the latter as impracticable. The only speech demanding separate notice was that of the Earl of LINCOLN; who at considerable length criticized the plan of Ministers, and

stated his reasons for supporting Major Blackall's amendment. - He commented on the extraordinary assertion of Lord John Russell, that in distresses ever which the Legislature had no control, prosperity has always re- turned after a short time: and he pointed, in contradiction, to the cases of the

Wiltshire villages, still overpeopled and miserable as when first deserted by the cloth-manufacture on its removal to Yorkshire; to the Spitalfields weavers; and

the still languiehiogyopelation of the Western Isles, deprived of their kelp ma-

nufacture. -But even supposing Lord John's anticipation should be correct here, it could only be so on the supposition that the potato' should again become pro-

lific, and be the renewed reliance of the ignorant 'population; which farther im-

plied a renewal of the conacre system. Now, a revival of the potato, ifaccom- panied by the conacre system, would, the Opinion of every gentleman connected

with Ireland, be as great a calamity as could .befal the country. He could not

agree that this would probably be mitre temporary andaufficient grant; a peru- sal of the Parliamentaey documents led him to the conclusion that it weak not

be temporary, and that the sum of 250,000/. would not meet the deficiency—that further grants from the Exchequer weuld be needed, and that this sixpenny rate would have to be raised. to a shilling. The facility of thus, raising the rate is a chief cause of the apprehension which is felt in Ireland in regard to it. • He al- luded to the principle of equivalent taxation ; which be thought unsound alto- gether, 'but eepecially so here; - for even if the equivalent could be struck

between Ireland and England, the principle failed as- between the com-

mercial and landed classes of Ireland itself. The class -connected with the Irish land has already been taxed most heavily, while, the commer- cial class has been. taxed most: lightly: in many cases this .sixpenuy rate

would have to be paid. out of what, was next to no :income at all. The feel- ings of the people were unwisely elisregarded... Not may Ulster and Lein-

ster oppose it, but the districts which , are more likely to he recipients than

payers of the rate. He counnented on the general inequality of the rating through- out Ireland, and the injustice of the present assessments, which would be' aggra-

vated by the imposition of this rate. These were time objections which attached

most strongly to the Government plan. ' But it is 'absolutely necessary, that aid should be given, and it is right that Ireland Should give it:- en income-tax would

afford the means of accomplishing the object in view, with more justice tmthose who paid and-less mischief to those who received. The objection that machinery is wanted is triviele adequate .machinerycould be ,found in a very sheet: time. As to time: if Lord John. Russell had adhered to :Ins proposal as made eo the

Committee, this objection would have force, but he had completelyaitered his proposition, and time would now be gained rather thee lost by the tax in fireplace

of the rate; for the rate would not be levied till autumn; whereas the tax, being retrospective, would be leviable from the 5th of April, and would produce a larger sum.

If the amendment were carried, he should propose to fix the income-tax in Ire- land at the same amount as in England.-7d. in the pound. '

Lord Jolts RessELL briefly replied to some of Lord Lincoln's remarks'. He defended the Poor-law valuation in Iteland; and quoted the evidence of Mr. Griffith to show that on the' Whole it works well: - As to the relative time at which the tax and the rate could be obtained 2 Lord Lincoln seemed to forget that the tax, if levied in Ireland, would not mean that in April next it should be forthcoming, but that from that time Propeety should be liable to it. The tax would not be payable till October, and in practice would not he in the Exchequer till January. Then the machinery would take considerable time and arrangement-to bring hitt, action; and it weuld be impossible to predict the probable produce of the first levy.

The Hduse 'divided, and negatived the amendment, by 237 to 164; ma- jority for Ministers, 73.'

Mr. REYNOLDS proposed to add to the resolution' words charging an- nuities, salaries, and rent-charges; atid he persisted in a division,' despite the advice of Mr. ROCHE, Mr. SPOONER, and Mr. STAFFORD; the last of whom acknowledged that they (the Opposition) had been defeated by a large majority, and thought it more respectful not to further oppose the bringing in of the bill.Mr. Reynolds was defeated by 212 to 51. Colonel DUNNE then-demanded a division on the main question. Carried, by 206 to 34.

CONYICT TRANSPORTATION.

Lord Mellow, engaging the attention of the House of Commons on the subject ef convict transportation and discipline, moved for .Lord Grey's " instructions " of 1846, 1847, and 1848, as a basis to his observations. He rejoiced that Earl Grey had at last adopted the principle which he not long ago in no measured language condemned; but it was' to be observed that he had changed, his views on transportation five times in twenty months. All the difficulties of the subject arose from two despatches by Lord John Russell, abolishing assignments in the Australian Colonies and transportation to New South Wales-eon the strength of evidence taken by Sir William Molesworth's Committee, which has since been fully 'contra- dicted. Prisoners accumulated in the hulks at home, and the dense strewn of convicts turned' solely into Van Diemen's Land, bred a moral pestilence. Norfolk Island was ill-managed—hardened ruffians left in dark and undi- vided dormitories, while the officers enjoyed their evenings by themselves; and the most appalling horrors arose. Mr. Gladstone was obliged to esta- blish the colony of North Australia, projected by Lord Stanley; suspend- ing transportation to Van Diemen's Land for two years. Lord 'Grey entered office in November 1846; and betweenthat date and June 1848 he changed his policy five times. On the 15th. of November 1846, he countermanded the North Australian project; on the 5th of February 1847,-he wrote to Sir William Deniseer that transportation to Van Diemen's Land was not to be renewed; and on the 5th of March he pronounced those steps to be." virtual abolition of the system of trans- portation." in April 1848, he wrote to Sir William Denison. that Van Diemen's Land was entitled to compensation to neutralize the influx of convicts, and he proposed a grant of 10,0001. to aid free emigration to that colony: about a month later, he said Van Diemen's Land was to have only part of the grant, the rest going to colonies that received no convicts at all: afterwards he decided that Van Diemen's Land should have the whole

Lord Mahon wanted to know what the Government is now doing in the matter. He insisted that the convict ought not to be set free in the country where his crime is committed. One prominent cause of the Paris revolu- tion of February 1848, was the accumulation of convicts freed from Tou- lon and Brest. In this country the accumulation of prisoners causes se- rious inconvenience: at York the Magistrates are refusing to commit pri- soners to the overcrowded gaols. Lord Mahon advocated a revival of North Australia, the use of convicts as pioneers of free emigration, and a renewal of the assignment system. In 1841, 23,000 souls were added to the population of New South Wales, yet the cry was for more; and in 1847 the colonists complained that society was disorganized for want of labour. Hopes of obtaining free labour in sufficient abundance prove fal- lacious. The Bishop of Tasmania pointed to assignment as the best form of transportation, the most effeetive and most manageable. And the truly valuable book of Mr. Gibbon Wakefield bears striking testimony in favour of assignment. In conclusion, be stated his opinion that the mistake of all Colonial Ministers is their aiming at a perfect system of convict manage- ment: the least objectionable plan should be carried into effect—" Optimus ille est qui minima movet."

Mr. HERBERT took the opportunity of calling attention to the hor- ribly overcrowded state of the Irish gaols. There are now 12,883 persons confined in prisons calculated to receive only 5,685. In one prison, 582— including 26 lunatics—in room for 86. The deaths in the Irish prisons in 1845 were 81, in 1847 they were 1,315.

Sir GEORGE GREY claimed his share of responsibility for the change of counsel imputed to Lord Grey; and proceeded to explain what had been done in the matter, from the point in which he had left it in 1847. Govern- ment steadily acted' upon the principle that the most strictly penal part of the convict system, that of personal restraint before obtaining ticket- of- leave, ought to be passed in this country, where a more vigilant super- intendence can be maintained than in the Colonies; and he adhered to his opinion, citing authorities in corroboration, that separate imprisonment for a limited period. (say one year, or at the most eighteen months) is most valuable for the punishment and reformation of the criminal; deriving its great value, however, from the religious instruction and the zeal and character of the officers who carry it out. Independently of Pentonville, and 800 cells at Millbank, there are now about 1,200 at Wakefield And other places; and if the period of separate confinement be abridged, a smaller number of cells might suffice. He agreed as to the evils of the hulks, and regarded imprisonment in them as only a temporary expedient. But prison establishments for penal labour are formed at Port- land, Bermuda, and Gibraltar. There the regulations of Government will be strictly enforced. One half of the term of sentence will expire before the ticket-of-leave is granted; subject, however, to abridgment or extension according to the conduct of the convict, a scale being hung up in the cell of each convict to show him the prospect he has. No convict will be sent to a colony unless he has a recommendation from the Governor of the establishment on the score of his conduct; he will be obliged to re- main in the colony to which his ticket-of-leave applies, and to repay a certain sum to Government towards the cost of his conveyance. Norfolk Island will be retained as a place of ulterior punishment for offences com- mitted by prisoners under sentence. A removal of prisoners from this country will shortly relieve the temporary pressure on the gaols. The pressure on the Irish prisons arises from a permanent cause—the insuffi- ciency of the prisons; but additional dep6ts at Spike Island and elsewhere will provide for 750 more convict prisoners. The colony of North Austra- lia was a doubtful experiment; the project of forming a population out of exiles has proved a failure, and has been abandoned, after the expenditure of 15,0001. The subject of renewing transportation is certainly under consideration, and the attention of Government will be given to it; also to the subject of increasing free emigration by inducing prison convicts to save money out of their wages for that purpose. He had no doubt, how- ever, that transportation must be continued, subject to the modifications at present under the consideration of the Government.

Mr. Hotta contended that transportation ought to be rendered an effi- cient and severe punishment.

SirJOHN PAYatteros urged, the introduction of Captain Maconochies System into our gaols. Mr. GLADSTONE observed, that the probation system had been tried under persons who had proved the most inefficient instruments; but its evils are disappearing under the energetic and intelligent administration of Sir William Denison. He received with great satisfaction the announce- ment that transportation was to be renewed. He objected to the plan of compressing convicts into limited spaces, which gives a convict character to the whole community; and urged Government to have as many receptacles for convicts as possible.

In reply to Mr. EWART, Sir GEORGE GREY said that the three colonies to which convicts have recently been sent with tickets-of-leave are Van Diemen's Land, New South Wales, and the Cape of Good Hope.

The motion was agreed to.

AsinsnmENT OF CONVEYANCING LAW: GENERAL REGISTRY.

Mr. HENRY DRUMMOND prefaced his motion for the second reading of the Real Property Transfer Bill by a rapid glance, enlivened with charac- teristic facetiw, at the historic causes out of which the present complicated system of "conveyancing" has arisen. He ran over the seizure of all the land in the island by the Norman Conqueror, and division of it into fiefs; the subdivision of it by his followers into baronies, manors, and estates, all held on the condition of military service; the restrictions put on changes in ownership by the original condition of each grant, which was founded on a personal trust that must be maintaineclbetween the giver and receiver; the relaxations of that condition which grew up with the decay of the mi- litary spirit, and the devices of trusts and nominal ownership invented in later times to escape from the rigour of feudal principles inconsistent with modern requirements but still unrepealed by direct legislation. He con- ciliated the unprofessional part of the House by denouncing the interference

of lawyers at this second-reading stage—" the lawyers as a body have no reason to be dissatisfied with things as they are." On the other hand, he bespoke professional sympathy by his rational apology for the main evil of the present system—" the inordinate length of recitals." That evil was one arising out of the follies of the clients themselves; who, with a view of indulging the vanity of founding families and perpetuating names, aimed at providing for every possible contingency that might happen to every child that they had, or that they or any of their descendants might have in all time to come. The length of a recital depends on the matter to be recited; and hence the prodigious extension of narrative allusions and

limiting provisions. But the worst of it is, that the system makes us a solicitor-ridden people: no man can know any more about his own land

than about the land of China.. You take the paper your solicitor brings, and you give it as your "act and deed," knowing no more about it than the blushing bride who is led forward under a veil to put her name to the marriage-settlement. The expense of transfer amounts to a tax varying from 17 per (sent, which is low, to 30 or even 33 per cent of the fee-simple value. The only cure is to have a register of titles, and a system of trans- fer by entries in that register; just as at present they make sales of stock in the Public Funds.

Mr. Drummond then developed the details of his plan; which he would make voluntary only, as it would be right to begin the change in a cau-

tious manner. He appealed to the House to affirm the principle of a

simple and economical mode for transferring real property: that principle granted, he would expand or contract his measure in Committee, as he should find Members go with him. He must find out what the House would let him do, and then find the best means of doing it—for you cannot bore a hole with a saw, nor cut down a tree with a gimlet: he would shape his bill like a pair of lazy tongs, by which persons are able to catch small. objects a long way off.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL, while expressing his full concurrence in the principle of a general registry—a project supported by almost all eminent

lawyers, rather than opposed, as Mr. Drummond would imply—opposed this bill, as a hopeless failure both in principle and detail; and he went into a criticism of its aim and machinery. In the first place, it does not appear what the bill intends to register: all authorized " documents " are to be registered, but there is no definition of "documents"; and it would seem that an applicant may demand registry of any documents or evidence which he may think of importance to his title—such, for instance, as relate to acts of waste committed by strangers. The bill does not define what it means by "owner," nor require that a person should prove himself owner in order to entitle him to register ; and thirty years' possession after registry is to make an absolute title. So that an owner who is only tenant for life under a settlement, might by registry and thirty years of

waiting gain an absolute title to the fee in place of his life-interest; or a right of way over Mr. Drummond's own park might be registered by any

stranger, and after thirty years it would be absolute and Indefeasible: for the notice required to be published in the Gazette is no protection to per- sons who never read that publication. These and other defects are the more serious from the fact that the registration intended is not local. The Commission now engaged on the subject is about to present its report; and. a body of evidence will then be obtained of immense value in the attempt to amend this branch of the law. He pressed Mr. Drummond to withdraw the present bill altogether, as unimproveably bad both in principle and detail.

Mr. PAGE WOOD characterized the opposition to the bill as one of detail only: the principle of it was conceded, and the clauses might be improved in Committee.

The Solicitor-General said there were two distinct modes of dealing with a general registry,—first, by creating a new system of law, under which property should be transferred on the register; and secondly, by adhering to the old sys- tem, and allowing the registration only of proper documents: the learned gentle- man objected that the bill combined both those modes. But it is an advantage rather than a defect that parties should have an option: the Legislature would

be able to take a decided course, one way or other, when it appeared how the choice of those parties generally was determined. The Solicitor-General objected further, that it was not said what one might register. But parties were not to

be compelled to register their title at all originally: whenever land should be on the register, the title would thenceforth be a registered title, and that registration

was to be followed out by registering every subsequent transfer and transaction.

The next objection arose from a singular misapprehension: it was said any person could register himself as owner of a property under a thirty years' title, when the title became indefeasible. But the 22d clause enacted, that any person who re. gistered under a false title should be held guilty of felony, as if he had tendered a forged deed.

So most of the other objections were directed to matters of detail, and'. could be best answered by improvements in Committee. None of them- would justify the House in rejecting this bill, unless the Solicitor-General would engage to introduce ,a Government measure in its place. Sir GEORGE GREY stated, that the members of the Government had always supported the principle of a registry, and would do all they could

to give practical effect to the forthcoming recommendations of the Com- mission: but it would he unreasonable for Government to pledge itself to legislate.

Mr. HENLEY considered that the scheme of a registry promised no ad- vantages: be did not find that in this country property in registered coun- ties was more valuable than elsewhere. Mr. MILLINGS opposed the present scheme. Mr. Ewe= and Mr. MUNTZ gave it general support. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved that the bill be read a second time that day six months. The House negatived this, by 55 to 45; and the announcement of the numbers was cheered. The bill was then read a se- cond time.

BRITISH INTERVENTION IN SICILY.

Replying to Lord STANLEY, on Tuesday, the Marquis of' LAsenowtat stated that there was undoubtedly some foundation for the report that a Government arms-contractor had been allowed to receive back arms out of Government stores in order to furnish them to the Sicilian Government de facto, in pursuance of a contract made with that Government.

But when the permission so given came to be considered with more care by the members of the Government, although it did not appear to them to amount to an act of direct interference in hostilities, it appeared so liable to misconstruction as an act of indirect interference, that they came to the deliberate opinion that it was matter of regret that that permission had nos been withheld; and, in consi- deration of the prOminent power of the British Government in comparison with that of the Government of Naples, they determined that the British Government should be beforehand in tendering to the Government of Naples satisfaction, if

satisfaction should be required. Our Government was therefore fully authorized, if called upon, to explain the amount and extent of its interference, and to state that it had occurred through inadvertence, and that measures had been taken to prevent the recurrence of any such inadvertence in future.

Lod Baotionam objected to the frequent use of the term "Sicilian Go- vernment": he should no more consider the Government of the Sicilian insurgents to be the Sicilian Government, than he should consider Smith O'Brien's Committee the Irish Government. Lord LANSDOWNE explained, that the term was not an acknowledgment of the Government of the in- surgents, but was an expression of the notorious fact that the Government of the insurgents was the Provisional Government of Sicily.

The subject was made a topic of debate in the House of Commons also, on a formal motion by Mr. BASHES, on Wednesday, for "an account of all Ordnance stores returned from that de- partment to any contractor in the year 1848, for the purpose of being sent to the Sicilian insurgents in arms against her Majesty's ally the King of the Two Sici- lies, with the consent of her Majesty's Government."

Mr. Bankes reviewed generally the conduct cf our relations with the Italian Sovereigns; especially criticizing the policy of Lord Alinto's mission, and the mode in which the mission was carried out.

Lord PALMERSTON replied, with somewhat of tartness in his manner, by a general defence of his Italian policy; not overlooking some inaccuracies of detail which he pointed out in Mr. Bankes's remarks. In guarded lan- guage he vindicated the proceedings of the Sicilians, as defenders of vio- lated rights, rather than as rebels against legal government; and be launched into an oratorical glorification on the theme of this country's stability amidst general revolution, with a view to assume the credit of a vigorous and influential Governmental policy at home and abroad. Mr. JOHN 0.Contentr, and Mr. HOME each found in Lord Palmerston's remarks a handle whereby to bring in the topics of Repeal and Retrench- ment,—the first, in his defence of national right to demand independence for Ireland; the second, in his highflown description of the moral power and influence of his country abroad, which would obviate the necessity for great physical armaments.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL corrected erroneous impressions of what had oc- curred in the Cabinet on this question.

It was assumed, "that it appears from the statement of a noble friend of mine in another place, that the Cabinet had differed from my noble friend (Lord Pal- merston) in opinion, and that what the latter thought a right course of proceeding they thoughts course not justifiable. Nothing of this kind occurred. Some months ago, my noble friend received this application from the Ordnance. I suppose at the tune he did not pay exceding attention to it, and be said he thought there was no objection to granting the applicatiom—not that the stores of the Queen should be entirely denuded and that this country should be left without arms, but that the eight or nine guns asked for should be given back to the contractor. Some time afterwards, my noble friend said to his colleagues, that he did not think that that proceeding could be strictly justifier's and he proposed that instructions should be given ta our Minister at Naples to offer an explanation, if called on, and to express regret for what had been done. So far, then, from there being any difference between my noble friend and his colleagues, it was at the suggestion of any noble friend himself that this latter determination was taken."

Lord PALMERSTON was quite willing to grant the return; but he ob- jected to the use of expressions tending to pledge the House to Mr. Bankes's political opinions: he proposed to amend the motion by the omission of such words as "the Sicilian insurgents in arms against her Majesty's ancient ally." Mr. BANKES consented to omit the word " insurgent "; and pro- posed to substitute for the words " her Majesty's Government," at the end of the motion, the words " her Majesty's Secretary for Foreign Affairs," as he understood it was inaccurate to say that the arms were issued with the "consent of her Majesty's Government."

Lord PALMERSTON did not adopt this suggestion, but called for a division; and his amendment was carried, by 124 to 39. The amended motion was then agreed to.

CORRUPT ELECTIONS.

The following Mbinbers were nominated on Monday to form the Com- mittee on the Bribery- at Elections Bill—

Sir John Pakington, Lord Ashley, Sir Frederick Thesiger, Mr. Bauverie, Vis- count Mahon, Mr. Brotherton, Mr. Walpole, and Mr. Legh.

On the motion that Sir John Haumer be one of the Committee, Colonel SIBTHORP divided the House: but the division showing that fewer than 40 Members were present, the motion dropped, and the Speaker adjourned the House.

When the subject was taken up again on Thursday night, Colonel SIB- THORP renewed his motion, and made some show of opposition to Sir John Hanmer; but did not persevere; and the following Members were added—

Sir John Hamner, Mr. Horsman, Mr. Wrightson, Mr. Napier, Mr. Maitland Mr. Mailings, and Mr. Sheridan.