POSTSCRIPT.

SATURDAY.

The adjourned debate in the House of Commons, last night, was opened by Mr. OSBORNE, with a speech ranging over the salient points of the pre- vious debate in a style of smart criticism, and concluding with a hearty declaration against the bill, at the risk of forfeiting the confidence of a large portion of his Middlesex constituents. Then the debate proceeded, at considerable length, without much novelty. The bill was opposed by Mr. C. FORTESCUE, Mr. GOOLD, the new Member for Limerick, and Mr. \\r J Fox ; the last expressing his belief that the movement of the pub- lic mind on the subject has been exaggerated, and his censure on the mode in which passions have been inflamed to placate the pride of a few titled ecclesiastics. The bill was supported by Mr. BA ILLIE COCHRANE, with testimony to the exemplary forbearance of Roman Catholics ; by Mr. °limn; and by Mr. WALPOLE. The last, in a long argumentative speech, counselled Lord John to reconstruct his preamble, so as to make it dis- tinct in constitutional principles and declaration of law ; and when the bill should become law, to let it be firmly carried into effect. Then, with truth, honour, and justice on our side, our Queen may challenge the hearts of her subjects when she says, as frankly as truly, " I am for a free people, but I trust you are for a free Queen."

Mr. ROEBUCK declared himself puzzled by that part of Mr. Walpole's peroration in which he talked of a " free Queen."

What is the relative position of the two great powers in this country ? On the one hand we had a great people, the foremost in the world, hardly equalled, certainly not surpassed, by any nation upon earth. We had a Sovereign whom all hearts obeyed, in whose presence we were proud to be mean, and for whom we were all ready to die. Now, that was one side of the question ; and, in addition, did it not prove what was the real Protestant feeling of the country ? Then, as to the other side, he would take the " foreign prince." As a prince, he was nothing—he was without power ; he had not an acre of land that he could call his own ; and his power was altogether a moral influence, which by an act of Parliament could not be overborne. Abstaining from any talk on religious liberty, and confining himself to the political bearings of the question, Mr. Roebuck at last came to the effect of the measure on the "Irish difficulty." It was not the loyal, humble, and every way docile body of English Catholics who gained Emancipation, but the Roman Catholics of Ireland. Will they be quiet with this law upon the statute-book. Govern Ireland ! Why, how could the noble Lord govern at all ? He depended in that House on the support of his Irish friends, and the withdrawal of their support had rendered his Administration power- less. The noble Lord had some time since discovered the great mistake he had made, and at this moment lie felt acutely how unwise he was in de- parting from the course prescribed to a leader of a party, to say nothing of the head of a government, by entering into a discussion in a newspaper upon such a subject. He would soon experience the truth of the remark that whoever attempted to arrest the advance of a great principle would bq de- stroyed. The noble Lord had made such an attempt, and already if was clear that his destruction was inevitable. The First Minister of the Crown ! He was not. His an Administration ! It was not. The Government was without power ; it could the nothing. The moment the discussion on the bill should be brought to a close, there would be an end of the noble Lord's Ad- ministration. This was the consequence of the noble Lord's abandonment of the principles by which he made his political fortune. In a few days after the present discussion shall have terminated, some question affecting the policy of the country will be brought forward, and what must be the re-

sult? The noble Lord had disgusted the Irish Members—he had offended all

the Members of the English Liberal party, who had believed that the motto of "civil and religious liberty" was inscribed on his banner. To whom did the noble Lord now look for support ? By whom was he cheered ? Of whom would his majority be composed ? Never was there exhibited in that House a more marked contrast than was shown last night in the reception ac- corded to the speech of the right honourable Baronet the Member for Ripon and that of the noble Lord. The cheers which greeted the right honourable Baronet were hearty and enthusiastic, but they came from that (the Ministerial) side of the House. The noble Lord attempted to answer the right honourable Baronet's speech, and the cheers, such as they were, came from this (the Opposition) side. The contrast damped the noble Lord's courage, and from the time of his rising until he

resumed his seat his spirit was annihilated. ("Hear, hear! ") Recent proceedings had taught the Irish Members a lesson they would not readily

forget, and which they would apply to coerce any Ministry which might hereafter be formed. They would take advantage of their position, and in spite of all official prestige any Ministry must quail before them. He advised the Irish Members to close the discussion. Let it come to an end. Force the noble

Lord to follow out his policy. It was the most dangerous thing he could do. In ten days the noble Lord would be as docile a person as ever filled the position of Primo Minister. (Laughter and cheers.) The people are

tired of this discussion. They believe that the interests of the country are not involved in it. They believe it to be a mere party dispute, for which

this bill is made an excuse. He believed that the noble Lord is sincerely anxious to get out of his difficulty. He could not get out of it but by one means, and that was by retiring from office. At present nothing but this bill stands between him and destruction.

The Arron.ienv-GENERAL very much elucidated the legal bearings of the question ; showing how far the bill is intended to operate and will most probably operate, and meeting the difficulties which have been fore- seen by its opponents. The bill, he believed, will in nowise affect the sacred principle of full liberty of conscience, or interfere with the fullest possible spiritual action on the part of every Roman Catholic in the country. He would explain how the canon law would be put in operation in this country by means of the Pope's rescript. That law can only be introduced by bishops of territorial dioceses in synod assembled. The canon law is not the law of England, but the English law will take cognizance of that portion of it which concerns the matter in hand, as a fact to be proved by witnesses of competent character ; and when the fact is once proved, the law does not inquire whether it is right or reasonable, but adopts the fact and acts on it. A. considerable number of Roman Catholics in this country are very wealthy, and they are, as a body, richly endowed with respect to ecclesi- astical benefices. There were claims of lay patronage on the behalf of Ro- man Catholic proprietors. The bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, as he believed, had always claimed the right of appointing the priests to those benefices. That claim had been hitherto successfully resisted by the laity. The prelates of the Roman Catholic Church being simply bishops, and not having any territorial dioceses, could not enforce that claim. But the mo-

ment they were made territorial, and had dioceses, by the force of the canon law the bishops would have the right to appoint, under certain circum- stances and under certain conditions, the priests to those benefices. They would then come to the Court of Chancery and the Court would enforce every one of these trusts ; upon proof of the fact of that being the canon law of the Church of Rome, the Court of Chancery would enforce the canon law, would remove the priest, and give the income of the bene- fice to the person so appointed by the bishop of the diocese. In that manner therefore would the canon law in relation to temporalities be intro- duced by the Papal brief, if it were not met by this measure. The analogies suggested in the cases of the Wesleyans, and other bodies establishing purely spiritual hierarchies, and not superinducing a foreign law in reference to temporalities, do not hold good. He spoke with diffidence, but he had for- merly paid much attention to the civil and canon law' and he had now again endeavoured to make himself master of the subject: he believed he should state exactly the truth when he said there were no spiritual functions whatever which could not be performed to the same extent, and in all respects as effectively, by a person exercising the spiritual functions of a bishop as by the same person being the territorial bishop of the dio- cese. Ile invited any gentleman who might speak after hins in this debate, to say what episcopal function there was that could be admi- nistered by a bishop having a territorial diocese which could not be equally performed by a bishop not having a territorial character. If that were so, it was idle to talk of persecution and of tyrannizing over the Roman Catholics. In the legal opinion by eminent gentlemen, that the first clause of the bill in effect contains the clauses to be omitted, he did not agree, to its full extent. Contracts deliberately entered into with any person calling himself "Archbishop of Westminster," will, without a shadow of doubt, be enforced by the courts of law ; and if bequests are made to "the Archbishop of Westminster for the time being,' the only thing which the Court of Chancery will look to will be to ascertain whom the testator secant, and it would do the same in reference to trusts to be declared by "the Archbishu p of Westminster for the time being" : to this ex- tent, the second, and the second clause only, is included in the first. But if there be any act which could only be operative by reason of any person being bishop of a territorial see and holding. a territorial title, then that act would be void ; it could not be sustained in any court of law, and its temporal consequences would not follow. In that respect the first clause would no doubt interfere, as it is meant to interfere, with the action of sy- nods, by preventing their temporal consequences ; but to no other extent, in no respect purely spiritual, would it have any effect. Sir John noticed, in terms of dignified affection, the allusion to his father by Sir James Graham, but maintained that he is now doing nothing incon- sistent with the principles in which he was educated. The measure might check a first step towards giving the Romish Church in England a predomi- nance over that in Ireland ; but it would not injure religious liberty, and ought not to injure the friendly relations with Ireland which all Englishmen are desirous to maintain.

The debate was adjourned till Monday.

Mr. MILNER Gn3soN drew the attention of Lord John Russell to the state of public business.

No doubt, many very respectable persons take an interest in the measure against Papal aggression—(Laughter)—but as other most important pub- lic interests have to be attended to, is it fair to appropriate so large a por- tion of the session, which will practically have but a certain limited dura- tion, to this one subject ? The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave notice of a resolution to reduce and equalize the duty on coffee : while that subject is kept in abeyance, the whole business in that important article of commerce is suspended. He had hoped that after tonight the Papal aggression would be laid aside for a week ; especially as there was a rumour that the bill al- together was to be withdrawn by Ministers. Greater progress would be made when the animosities and heats had subsided a little.

Mr. ROCHE seconded the appeal. If this bill were to suspend all other business, Lord John Russell might expect to see the Irish Members avail themselves of all the forms of the House to stop its progress.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL, as far as he was concerned, would have been glad if the debate had finished last Monday : the subject has now been tole- rably exhausted.

When the House had decided to read the bill a second time he should pro- ceed on the first oi der-day afterwards to take the Army Estimates, and some Army votes ; and then the Ordnance Estimates. The alterations in the Budget would then be stated to the House ; and upon the next order-day afterwards he should propose to take a vote upon the Income-tax.

Mr. LABOUCHERE obtained leave to bring in a bill to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the regulation of ocean and river steam-navi- gation and to the boats and lights to be carried by sea-going vessels.

In reply to Sir ROBERT INGLIS, Sir THOMAS BARING stated that the Lords of the Admiralty have decided that it is not necessary to send a steamer into the Arctic Seas to meet Captain Austin in the summer.

In the House of Lords, the second reading of the County Courts Bill was moved by Lord BROUGHAM, in a speech supporting the principle of the changes which it would make, and explaining some modifications in the measure. He would introduce a clause to provide that on new trials the venue should be changed to another judge ; he would give the courts jurisdiction in cases of arrears of tithe rent-charge to the amount of 501. ; and would propose to absorb in the County Courts a number of ancient local courts of varying jurisdiction—such as the Tolzey Court of Bristol, the Recorder's Court of Manchester, the Court of Salford Hundred, &c. Lord Brougham hinted that other extensions and im- provements—such as equity jmiscliction, &c.—might be looked for at a future time. He is going forward slowly, but surely ; and will never shut out the hope of grafting any new improvement. The LORD CHAN- CELLOR and Lord CRANWORTH reserved detailed objections till the bill should be in Committee. The bill was read a second time.