A " heavy blow and great discouragement" was given to

the Anti- Poor-law agitators, in the House of Peers, last night. The Bishop of EXETER presented a number of petitions complaining of the opera- tion of the law; and then, in that mild, conciliatory, and impartial tone which be usually manifests, delivered a column-and.a.half speech to prove that the measure was utterly bad—in principle and detail. Lord MELBOURNE followed in defence of the law r and laid particular emphasis on the fact that the Guardians of every parish were em- powered to give out-door relief at their discretion,—the general rule being, that such relief was only to be given in cases of peculiar hard- ship and distress. Lord Melbourne professed his willinness to amend those parts of the law which could be proved to require alteration ; and regretted that the measure should have been made a topic of party discussion at public meetings and on the hustings. When Lord Mel- bourne sat down, the Duke of WeLLINGTON rose, and delivered the following manly speeech; which must, we think, cut away all tl.e Tory hopes of gaining votes at the next election by declaiming against the Whig Poor-law.

" My Lords, I gave troy assent to this bill when it was under discussion in this House ; and having given that support from having witnessed the evils of the

old law, and bow bring apprehensive of the consequences likely to attend the former system, my Lords. I consider it my duty to come forward upon th s oc- casion and to state that this bill has surpasted any expectation which 'peed of the benefits likely to result from it. My Lords, the bill may rrquire

amendment in certain parts, and it appears that his Majesty's Government haw* taken measures to ascertain in which parts it requires amendment; and I for one shall be ready to take those parts into consideration whenever any measure

shall be brought forward under the auspices of his Majesty's Government. I must say, my Lords, that I approve of the measure as far as it has hitherto gone. and as far as I have been able to witness its operation. Ida not talk of the bitl generally. but of its details, from having witnessed its effects in the workhouses in different parts of the country in which I have resided; and must say, that that of which I appouve particularly — the 'wink which, in my opinion, 1 think it has particularly conferred, consists

in tlita—first, that it has put the !atwitter and his employer upon

a truer footing, a friendly footing, and a footing of confidence; and that it has connected the man of property and the men of the highest rank in this country with the lowest classes, with the labouring classes, by adulating the former into the Winds of Guardians. ft1y Lords. I could mention the names

of several noble lords who are ornaments to this !louse who regularly attend

the weekly meetings of different Boards of Guardians, they being themselves elected Guardians of the parishes in the neighbourhood of which they were residing. I can only say, my Lords, that no bill could have produced better results than this bill has produced. The noble lord near itie is at this neiment a member of the Board of Guattliens of the Union in which he restilea, mid in which he has been the instrument of the greatest possible benefit. My L..rds, I say this Act has produced these benefits; and, being convinced that it is likely to produce still greater benefits throughout the country, I should have been ashamed if I had not stepped falcon!, and, admitting, first, that I supported the bill when brought forward by his Majesty's .Mihisters, and stating that I do not regret the course I took upon that occasion, but that, on the contrary, I rejoice at it, now to congratulate his Majesty's Ministers on its success."

Lord BROUGHAM expressed his extreme satisfaction at the testimony borne by the Duke of lVellington to the success of the Pour-law, and declared that it had surpassed his own most sanguine expectations. Lord Wvseoito admitted that he had originally opposed the introduc- tion of the bill, but that, while he still objected to some portions of it, his general opinion had been altered by experience of its working, and that he now inure especially approved of the appointment of a Board of Commissioners with discretionary power. Lord CoLcuesma ex- pressed general approbation of the measure; as did also Lords RADNOR and HATHERTON.

When, in any future electioneering addresses, Tory candidates en- deavour to gain votes by representing their party as adverse to the Poor- law, we recommend that copies of the Duke of WELLINGTON'S speech be extensively placarded and distributed among the inhabitants.

The House of Commons was occupied the greater part of last night with a dii.cussion on Major Fa:set:mitts motion for a Select Committee on Military punishments ; which he brought forward as an amendment on the motion fur going into Committee on the Mutiny Bill. The only ground on which a fresh inquiry could be asked with mason, was stated, not by Major FaNcounn, but by Captain BOLDER° ; who ob- served, that a considerable change had been effected in the system of punishment and reward in the Army, and it was desirable to ascertain the effects of the alteration. Mr. CUTLAR FERGUSSON, Lord Howicg, and Sir CHARLES DALBIAC, defended the practice of iloggiug, with the old arguments ; and we cannot say that any thing new was advanced by Mr. HOME, Mr. LENNARD, Colonel THOMPSON, Mr. EWART, Mr. GILLON, and Mr. E. BULWER, who spoke on the other side.

In the course of the discussion, Lord Howicx volunteered a defence of Colonel Arthur, who was charged last session, by Mr. '1'. Dun- combe on the authority of Colonel Bradley, with having flogged a sol- dier at Honduras by " tap of drum." Letters from several officers, stationed at Honduras at the time when the flogging was said to have been inflicted, were read by Lord Howiek, to prove that no such cruelty was practised. His Lordship also gave the Colonel a high character for humanity. Mr. I./UNCOMIC said, thatColonel Bradley was ready to confirm all his ptevious statements ; and the friends of Colonel Arthur, if they wished to serve him, would not refuse a Committee of inquiry. If the Colonel were so good a man as he was represented to be, and so popular, how did it happen that Hobart 'fowl' was uni- versally illuminated on his departure? Sir GEORGE GREY, of course, knew nothing about the illuminations ; but said, also of course, nobody had dune so much as Colonel Arthur to benefit the colony of Van Die- men's Land, where and in Loudon a subscription had been set on foot to present him with a piece of plate. Sir George, of course, felt it his duty to stand up in defence of a most meritorious officer, who was not there to defend himself, and so forth. Are not these panegyrics premature ? Would it not be well to defer them till after the proposed inquiry into Colonel Arthur's conduct ?

Major Fancourt's motion was negatived, by a majority of 167 to 72; and the Mutiny Bill went through the Committee without tuither dis- cussion.

The House went into a Committee of Supply on the Navy Esti- mates. A discussion ensued of the usual desultory description—and, as usual, eery imperfectly reported. A speech of Sir EDWARD COD- RINGTON, complaining of the inadequate pay of Captains and Lieuten- ants in the Navy, occupied the Committee nearly an hour in the de- livery ; but in the report of the Post and Chronicle, takes up the space of about an eighth °fa column—say two minutes. The gallant Admiral complained that a speech on the stone subject, which he delivered last session, was similarly curtailed : but the Morning Post fairly replies, that it is impossible to give fully a speech which it would take the re- porter six hours to write out, and the delivery of which commenced after midnight. Let Sir EDWARD compress his matter, wiite it out himself, and send it to the newspapers ; and then the country will have the benefit of his statements. The curse of late hours operates in more ways than the mere killing or invaliding of Members before their time.

It appears that about two millions were voted for the use of the Naval department last night.

On the motion of Sir WILLIAM MoLeswolvrit, the following Mem- bers were appointed a Select Committee "to inquire into the system of Transportation, its efficacy as a punishment, its influence on the moral state of society in the Penal Colonies, and how far it is sus- septible of improvement "—Sir William blolesworth, Lord John Rus- sell, Sir George Grey, Mr. Leader, Mr. Ward, Mr. Hawes, Mr. Wil- liam Ord, Lord Howick, Mr. Fowell Buxton, Sir Thomas Fremantle, Mr. Francis Baring ( Thetford), Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Leonard, Mr. Ridley Colborne, Mr. Charles Buller. Previously to the commencement of the regular business of the night, Lord GRANVILLE SOMERSET made an attempt—an ineffectual one, it turned out—to parry the blow which Captain BERKELEY struck at the Somerset system of perverting the patronage of the Army to party purposes. If the charge was true, Lord GRANVILLE SOMERSET ad- mitted that the continuance of Lord Hill and his Secretary in office would be wholly unjustifiable. He then proceeded to state the defence of Lord Hill and Lord Fitzroy Somerset ; which amounts to this—As early as June 1st 1830, when the Duke of Wellington was in power, an application was made by General Campbell for a commission for young Mr. Lovesey ; that subsequently, similar requests were preferred by Mr. Lovesey senior, and a Mr. F. H. Marshall : to these letters the uni- form reply was, that Lord Fitzroy Somerset bad not forgotten the young gentleman, but his name was "so low on the list" that it was useless to urge Lord Hill on the subject. These letters, with the re. plies, were read by Lord GRANVILLE SOMERSET, and are published : but his Lordship did not produce any of the letters of Lord Segrave, though he admitted that there were such letters; neither did he produce the important letter of Lord Edward Somerset, the existence of which be did not deny. He argued, however, that because Lord Segrave's name was written in red ink and the names of the other applicants in black, that his Lordship was the successful applicant,—as if it were not ,easy to write one man's name in red ink and give the commission as a favour to another ; and as if, provided the transaction was of a doubtful character, that would not most probably be done as a blind ! Captain BERKELEY stood to his guns, and reiterated his former state- ment. He declared, moreover, that "it was the common talk of the whole county of Gloucester, that it was of no use for a Whig to apply for patronage at the Horse Guards, as long as Lord Fitzroy Somerset was Military Secretary." Mr. CRAVEN BERKELEY also declared, that "it was a fact as notorious as the sun at noonday, that when a Tory applied for a commission, it was given directly, but aWhig might apply for ever, and in vain."

Here the matter ends for the present ; but it will probably lead to something more important.

As a sort of " rider " to the above discussion, Mr. HOPE, son of Lady Beresford, contradicted a story, mentioned by Mr. WASON on Thursday, and generally believed to the credit of the Duke of Wel- lington,—that when Lord Beresford refused to support the Catholic Emancipation Bill, the Duke said, that " Lord Beresford might do as be pleased, but that the Master-General of the Ordnance must vote with Ministers." Mr. HOPE said he was authorized to state that this story, so long current without contradiction, was perfectly unfounded.