Debates anb larottebings in Warlfament.

SUBTERRANEAN EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

Lord ASHLEY drew the attention of the House of Ccmmons, on Tuesday, to the Report of the Children's Employment Commissioners, and to a bill which he had framed on the subject. He began with complimenting the late Government on the readiness with which they bad appointed the Commission, and on their choice of Commissioners ; and he proceeded to prove the necessity of immediate legislation, by reference to the Report on the employment of children in mines and collieries. First he quoted details as to the age of children employed— In South Staffordshire, Shropshire, 'Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and Cum- berland, children begin to work at seven years of age ; about Halifax, Bradford, and Leeds, at six ; in Derbyshire and South Durham, at five or six; in Lan- cashire, at five, and near Oldham as early as four; and in some small collieries of the last neighbourhood, some children are brought to work in their bed- gowns. Lord Ashley observed in passing, that had it only been the great ceal-owners with whom they bad to deal, the necessity for the bill would not have existed. In North Durham and Northumberland, many children are employed at five or six, but not generally ; that age is common in the East of Scotland; in the West of Scotland, eight ; in South Wales, four is a very usual Age ; in South Gloucestershire, nine or younger ; in North Sornereetshire, six or seven. In the. South of Ireland no children at all are employed. All the under-ground work, which in the coal-mines of England, Scotland, and Wales, is done by young children, appears in Ireland to be done by young persona be- tween the ages of thirteen and eighteen. With respect to sex— The practice of employing females under ground is universal in West York- shire and North Lancashire ; it is common at Bradford and Leeds, in Lanca- shire, Cheshire, and South Wales; general in the East of Scotland, rare in the West ; and no women are employed in Staffordshire, Shropshire, War- wickshire, Leicestershire' Derbyshire, Cumberland, Durham, Northumber- land, Gloucestershire, or Somersetsbire. In none of the collieries in the coal- fields of Ireland was a single instance found of a female child or a female of any age being employed in any kind of work. " I must observe," said Lord Ashley, " that with respect to that country, neither children of tender years nor females are employed in under-ground operations. I have often admired the generosity of the Irish people, and I must say that if this is to be taken as a specimen ot their barbarism, 1 would not exchange it for all the refinement and polish of the most civilized nations of the globe." Lord Ashley then turned to the nature of the localities in which those labourers are employed—

The health depends much upon the ventilation and drainage of the places ; and they differ according to the depth of the seams of coal, which vary from ten inches in some places to ten or twenty feet in others. In South Steffen& shire, for instance, says Dr. Mitchell, the coal-beds are sufficiently thick to allow abundance of room ; the mines are warm and dry, and there is a supply of fresh air. The case is pretty much the same in Northumberland, Cumber- land, and South Durham, with some exceptions in the last place ; and in North Durham there are some thin seams. The mines are damp, and the water in them is sometimes deep, in Warwickshire and Lancashire. In Derby- shire, " Black damp very much abounds; the ventilation in general is exceed-

ingly imperfect." Hence fatal explosions frequently take place : the work- people are distressed by the quantity of carbonic acid gas which almost every- where abounds, and of which they make great complaint, and that the pits are ao hot as to add greatly to the fatigue of the labour. While efficient ventila- tion," the Report adds, " is neglected, less attention is paid to drainage. Some pits are dry and comfortable. Many are so wet that the people have to work alt day over their shoes in water, at the same time that the water is constantly dripping from the roof: in other pits, instead of dripping, it constantly rains, as they term it ; so that in a short time after they commence the labour of the day their clothes are drenched; and in this state, their feet also in water, they work all day. The children especially (and in general the younger the age the more painfully this unfavourable state of the place of work is felt) com- plain bitterly of this." It must be borne in mind that it is in this district that the regular hours of labour are not less than fourteen or sixteen a day. In the West Riding of Yorkshire, it appears that there are very few collieries where the main road exceeds a yard in height, and in some it does not exceed 26 or 28 inches ; nay, in some it is even as little as 22 inches in height : so that in such places the youngest child cannot pass along without great pain, N. I.. sitri ilwoost constrained posture. In East Scotland, where the side-roads • bend from 22 to 28 inches in height, the working-places are some- J*0100 and 200 yards distant from the main-road ; so that females have to crawl tia-Award) and forwards with their small carts in seams, in many cases not exceeding to 28 inches in height. The whole of these places, it appears, 'are in a most deplorable state as to ventilation, and the drainage is quite as bad as the ventilation. The evidence of their sufferings, as given by the young people and the old colliers themselves, is absolutely hideous. In North Wales, the main-roads are low and narrow, the air foul, the places of work dusty, dark, and damp, and the ventilation most imperfect. In South Wales, in many pits, the ventilation is wholly' neglected ; 1nd the Report complains of the quantity of carbonic acidgas, which produces the most injurious effects, though not ac. Mall! bad enough to prevent the people from working. This, indeed, is the genet& result ot the Report of the Commissioner for that district. With re- spect to the mines in Glarnorganshire and Pembrokeshire, he states the venti- lation to be most imperfect; and productive of a manifest tendency to shorten life, as well as to abridge the number of years of useful labour on the part of the workpeople. The next subject is the nature of the employment in these loca- lities- Now, it appears that the practice prevails to a lamentable extent of making young persons and children of a tender age draw loads by means of the girdle and chain. This practice prevails generally in Shropshire, in Derbyshire, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in Lancashire, in Cheshire, in the East of Scotland, in North and South Wales, and in South Gloucestershire. The child, it appears, has a girdle bound round its waist, to which is attached a chain, which passes under the legs and is attached to the cart. The child is obliged to pass on all-fours, and the chain passes under what, therefore, in that posture, might be called the bind-legs; and thus they have to pass through avenues not so good as a common sewer, and oftentimes as much neglected. This kind of labour they have to continue during Fescue] hours, in a temperature described as perfectly intolerable. By the testimony of the people themselves it appears that the labour is exceedingly severe ; that the girdle blisters their sides and causes great pain. " Sir," says an old miner, can only say what the mothers say, it is barbarity—absolute barbarity." Robert North says—" I went into the pit at seven years of age. When I drew by the girdle and chain, the skin was broken and the blood ran down. If we said any thing, they would beat us. I have seen many draw at six. They must do it, or be beat. They cannot straighten their backs during the day. 1 have sometimes pulled till my hips have hurt me so that 1 have not known what to do with myself." In the West Riding, It appears, girls are almost universally employed as "trappers" and " leurriers," in common with boys. The girls are of all ages, from seven to twenty-one. They com- monly work quite naked damn to the waist, and are dressed—as far as they are dressed at all—in a loose pair of trousers. These are seldom whole on either sex. In many of the collieries, the adult colliers, whom these girls serve, work perfectly naked. Near Huddersfield, the Sub-Commissioner examined a female child. Be say s—" I could not have believed that I should have found human nature so degraded. Mr. Moho} d and Mr. Brook, a sur- geon, confessed, that although living within a few miles, they could not have believed that such a system of unchristian cruelty could have existed," Speak- ing of one of the girls, be says—" She stood shivering before me from cold. The rug that hung about her waist was as black as coal, and saturated with water, the drippings of the roof." " In a pit near New Mills," says the Sub- Commissioner, "the chain, passing high up between the legs of two girls, had worn large holes in their trousers. Any sight more disgustingly indecent or revolting can scarcely be imagined than these girls at work. No brothel can beat it." " Sir," continued Lord Ashley, "it would be impossible to enlarge upon all these points without going too far into the evidence, from which the most abundant selections might be made. 1 will say, however, that nothing can be more graphic and touching than the evidence of many of these poor girls. Insulted, oppressed, and even corrupted as they are, there exists oftentimes, nevertheless, a simplicity and kindness in these poor beings, which render tenfold more heartrending that system which forces away these yming people from the holier and purer duties which Providence appoints for them, to put them to occupations so unsuited, so harsh, so degrading. It appears that they drag these heavy weights some 12,000 yards, some 14,000, and some 16,000 yards daily." '• In the East of Scotland," says the Commissioner, "the persons employed in coal-bearing are almost always girls and women. They carry coal on their backs on uncalled roads, with burdens varying from cwt. to 3 cwt.—a cruel slaving," says the Sub-Commissioner, " revolting to humanity. I found a little girl, only six years old, carrying 1 cwt., and making regularly fourteen long journies a day. With a burden varying from 1 cwt. to 11 cwt., the height ascended and the distance along the roads, adeed toge- ther, exceeded in each journey the height of St. Paul's Cathedral." Thus we find a child of six years old with a burden of at least half a hundredweight, going fourteen times a day a journey equal in distance to the height of St. Paul's Cathedral I The Commissioner goes on—" And it not nnfmquently happens that the tugs break, and the load falls upon those females who are fol- lowing; who are of course struck off the ladders. However incredible it may be, yet I have taken the evidence of fathers who have ruptured themselves by straining to lift coal on their children's backs." But, if this is bad enough for the fathers of the children, the case is still worse for pregnant women : it is horrible for them. Lord Ashley observed, that he had ever found these people most accurate in their evidence on their own condition. "I have a belt round my waist," says Betty Harris, "and a chain passing between my legs, and I go on my hands and feet. The road is very steep; and we have to hold by a rope, and, where there is no rope, by any thing we can catch bold of. It is very hard work for a woman. The pit is very wet. I have seen water up to my thighs. My clothes are wet through almost all day long. I have drawn till I have bad the skin off me. The belt and chain is worse when we are iu the family way." " A woman has gone home," says another, "taken to her bed, been delivered of a child, and gone to work again under the week." "The oppression of coal-bearing," says E. Thompson, "is such as to injure women in after-life ; and few exist whose legs are not injured, or haunches, before they are thirty years of age." " Jane Watson had two dead children ; thinks it was so from the oppressive work. A vast number of women have dead children, and false births, which is worse, as they are not as able to work after the latter. I have always been obliged to work below till forced to go home to bear the bairn; and so have all the other women. We return as soon as able—never longer than ten or twelve days; many less, if they are much needed. It is only horse-work, and ruins the women ; it crushes their haunches, bends their ankles, and makes them old women at forty." Another poor girl says, " We are worse off than horses: they draw on iron rails, and we on flat floors." Another witness, a most excellent old Scotchwoman, Isabel Hogg, says—" From the great sore labour, false births are frequent, and very dangerous. Collier-people suffer much more than others. You must just tell the queen Victoria, that we are quiet, loyal subjects ; women people here don't mind work, but they object to horse-work ; and that she would have the blessings of all the Scotch coal-women if she would get them out of the pits and send them to other labour." "Well, Sir, and 1 say so too," added Lord Ashley.

The nest point respects the hours of work-

" When workpeople are in full employment," says the Report, " the regular hours of work for children and young persons are rarely less than eleven ; more often they are twelve; in some districts they are thirteen. In Derbyshire, children. fee. work sixteen hours out of the twenty-four, reckoning from the time they leave their home in the morning until they return to it in the evening As regards the East of Scotland, there is " overwhelming evidence. The labour is often continued, on alternate days, at least fifteen, sixteen, seven- teen, and eighteen hours out of the twenty-four." Anne Hamilton, seventeen years old, says, I have repeatedly wrought the twenty-four hours; and after two hours of rest and my pease-soup, have returned to the pit and worked another twelve boarp." " In the great majority of these mines night-work is a part of the ordinary system of labour. The labour is generally uninter- rupted by any regular time set apart for rest and refreshment ; what food is taken in the pit being eaten as best it may while the labour continues. In the coal-mines of Ireland a fixed time is allowed, at least for dinner."

The physical effects on the workpeople are not so visible as might be supposed until a certain time of life ; though some children suffer Severely from mere exhaustion—

Agnes Kew, fifteen years old, says—" It is sore crushing work; many lisses cry as they bring up their burdens." Again. another says—" It is sae fa- tiguing work, it maims the women." Mr. T. Batten, surgeon, of Coleford, says—" Has known caps of nervous relaxation in young boys. Had one case of epilepity in a boy about thirteen, brought on by too much exertion ; another

boy died of hemorrhagia purpuree, from the same cause. The boy was not more than seven years of age." One pluenomenon is a preternatural and un- healthy muscular development. The physical effects of this system of labour may be classed under these heads—stinted growth, crippled gait, irritation of bead, back, and feet, a variety of diseases, premature old age, and death. Several," says Dr. Scott Allison, " become crooked. Diseases of the spine are very common and very serious. Several of the girls and women so em- ployed are distorted in the spine and pelvis, and suffer considerable difficulty at the period of parturition." Diseases of the heart arc very frequent, say all the medical witnesses: many are ruptured, even lads, from over-exertion; some

are ruptured on both aides. But the most destructive and frequent disease is asthma: some are affected at seven or eight years of age ; most colliers at the age of thirty become asthmatic. Dr. Scott Allison says that between the age of

twenty and thirty, many colliers become more and more spare: " the want of proper ventilation," says an old miner, "is the chief cause; the men die off like rotten sheep." There is also another new disease, of which the House now heard perhaps for the first time—the awful melanosia or black spittle, attributed to the want of oxygen to decarbonize the blood, and by Dr. Makellar to a carbo- naceous infiltratipn into the substance of the lung. The disease is incurable and fatal. Theircolliers, says Mr. Massey, Clerk to the Wellington Union, are disabled at Carty; and one of the Commissioners says, that each generation of that class of the population is commonly extinct soon after fifty. The moral effects of the system are equally alarming. It superin- duces a ferocity of feeling among the men—

One boy had two of his ribs kicked out because he could not do what was beyond his strength. Jonathan Watts says—" A butty has beaten a boy with a stick till be fell. He then stamped on him till the boy could scarcely stand. The boy never told, and said he would not, for he should only be served worse. Boys are pulled up and down b' the ears. I have seen them beaten till the blood has flowed out of their sides. They are often punished until they can scarcely stand." John Bostock, speaking of Derbyshire, says—" The capords used to take the burning candlewicks after the tallow was off, light them, and burn the arms of the children. I have known my uncle take a boy by the care and knock his head against the wall, because his eyesight was bad and he could not'see to do his work as well as others. Girls are beaten as severely as boys : they strike them in the face and knock them down. William Holt says, " I hare seen an eye knocked out by a stone flung at them by the master." Chief- constable Oldham says, speaking of North Lancashire—" There are so many killed, that it become quite customary to expect such things, and people say, Oh, it is only a collier.' There would be more feeling exhibited if a Police- man were to kill a dog in the streets. Even the colliers among themselves say so; so that when they learn which it is that is killed, that is all they think about it."

The women are rendered unfit for the duties of their sex by over- work and demoralization— It appears that they are wholly disqualified from even learning how to dis- charge the duties of wife and mother. Matthew Lindley, a collier, says—" wish the Government would expel all females from mines: they are very im- moral; they are worse than the men, and use far more indecent language." George Armitage says, " Nothing can be worse." John Simpkin openly avowed the part which he had repeatedly taken in destroying the morals of the girls. Now, the corruption of the men is had enough ; but if we suffer the women to be corrupted it is perfectly obvioua that we are allowing the waters to be poisoned at their very source. Indeed, it appears that wherever girls are employed the immoralities are scandalous. The Reverend Richard Roberts says, " The practice of working females in mines is highly objectionable, phy- sically, intellectually, morally, and spiritually." " It is awfully demoralizing," says Mr. Thornely, a Justice of the Peace for the county of York : " the youth of both sexes work often in a naked state." The Sub-Commissioner says, " The employment of females in this district is universally conceived to be so dearading, that all other classes of operatives refuse intermarriage with the daughters of colliers who work in the pits." Joseph Fraser, a collier, says, " The employment unfits them for the duties of a mother : the men drink hard, the poor bairns are neglected ; in fine, the women follow the men and drink hard also." "Under no conceivable circumstances," says the Sub-Commissioner, " is any one sort of employment in collieries proper for females: the prac- tice is flagrantly disgraceful to a Christian as well as to a civilized country." " I have scarcely an exception to the general reprobation of this revolting abo- mination." " I am decidedly of opinion," says Mr. Thornely, " that women brought up in this way lay aside all modesty, and scarcely know what it is but by name. I sincerely trust that before I die I shall have the satisfaction of seeing it prevented and entirely done away oith." " Now, I know," added Lord Ashley, " that the Commissioners have not by any means told the worst of the story. They could not, in fact, commit to print for general circulation all the facts and circumstances that had come to their knowledge in con- nexion with this system: but it does not require any very vigorous imagina- tion on the part of those who have read or heard these statements to draw from them conclusions amounting to a state of things which is not only dis- graceful bat highly injurious to the country."

Since the first disclosures of the African slave-trade there has not prevailed throughout the land such a feeling of abhorrence and disgust as this system has excited ; and the feeling is shared by many well- intentioned proprietors, who are anxious to see ameliorations intro- duced. Much, no doubt, must be left for future legislation ; but the most hideous evils can and must be immediately removed.

Such is the object of Lord Ashley's bill. Its first provision was, the total exclusion of all women from the mines and collieries of the country— Few, he believed, had any real interest in keeping the women so em- ployed. The motives of those who induced them to undergo the shameful toil, as described by the workpeople, were, that they do not catch cold, are more manageable, more intelligent at an early age, are content always to remain drawers without rising to be coal-getters, and work for lower wages ; and Mr. Wright, the manager of Mr. Tamsay's mines, a highly intelligent and moral man, stated the disgusting reason, that women will work in had roads where no men could be induced to draw. The advantage of excluding women was not a mere matter of speculation ; Mr. Wright had had experience of that 'regulation in the mines under his care. He said—" Four years ago, I super- =tended Mr. Vamsay'a mines : females and young children excluded. A vast elmoge in the comfort and condition of the colliers who availed themselves of the new regulations. Some families left at the period, being desirous'to avail themselves of the labour of their female children ; many of whom have re- turned, and the colliers are much more regular than heretofore." This wow confirmed by the evidence of Thomas Hynd, coal-hewer in Mr. Dundee's pits ; who said—" When Mr. Maston first issued the order, many men and families left : but many have returned, for they find now the roads are improved, and the out-put not limited; they can earn as much money, and get homes : many of the females are gone to service, and prefer it Mr. Wright continued—" This will force the alteration of the economy of the mines; owners will be compelled to alter their system ; they will ventilate better, and make better roads, and so change the system as to enable men who now work only two days a week to discover their own interest in regularly employing themselves." All this was confirmed by the statements of an ho- nourable friend of hie, Mr. Holton of Hutton, who had been in the pos- session of pits for five-and-twenty years, and had never suffered females or children of tender years to enter them. The consequence was, that the popu- lation around those pits was in a state of greater comfort, and distinguished by a better morality, than the people of other collieries. Mr. Maxton of Arniis- ton, and Mr. Hunter, the mining oversman, state, that "in consequence of a new ventilation, and an improved mode of railing roads, a man and two boys take nearly as much money as when the family were below ; and many of the daughters of miners were at a respectable service." Mr. Maxton added, that before the regulations colliers used to migrate in the proportion of one-fourth, but now not one-tenth do so.

The next provision of the bill would exclude all boys under thirteen- years of age. That was the weak point, or the greatest difficulty, in his measure. The Factory Act, however, prohibits the employment of boys under thirteen for the full time of labour in the day, twelve hours ; and it is objected that there is a deficiency of juvenile labour, as the children are carried to print-works and collieries, to which the law does not extend. He would place the latter on a level with the factories ; and he hoped the children would be drawn off in sufficient numbers to 'allow of two sets being employed by the manufacturers in the day. To allow the children to go down into the mines at all, would be out of the question— They would be entirely under the control of the miners; and subterranean inspection would be impossible, as the life of the inspector would not be safe few of the police would even venture to pursue fugitive offenders into the mines. One of the dangers of employing young children in the mines would appear from the following extract—" With all the precautions explosions take place, and more titan one hundred people have been killed at a time." And no wonder ; "for all the expedients devised to secure the safety of the mine may be counteracted by allowing one single trap-door to remain open : and yet in all the coal-mines the care of these trap-doors is intrusted to children of from five to seven or eight, who for the most part sit, excepting at the moment when persons pass through these doors, for twelve hours consecutively, in solitude, silence, and darkness." The children are wholly at the mercy of the colliers ; who over-work them to make up for time lost in drinking, gambling, and cock- fighting. The next important provision in his bill would be to prevent the em- ployment of males under twenty-one years of age as engineers. The employment of children in that capacity is a fertile cause of acci- dents— " The accidents which occur," says the Sub-Commissioner in the mining district of South Staffordshire, " are numerous; and to judge from the con- versation which one constantly hears, we might consider the whole population as engaged in a campaign. The risk is constant and imminent. It is a life, says a cone, of great danger both for man and child: a collier is never safe after lie is swung off to be let down the pit. In 1838, in fifty-five districts of registration, 349 deaths, of which 88 only were caused by explosion or suf- focation, the rest through the unguarded state of the pit's mouth, the badness of the ropes, the mismanagement of the drawing-engine, and the accumula- tion of water in the mines." He wished particularly to draw the attention of the House to the fact that the miners were drawn up and let down in baskets moved by the steam-engine at the pit's mouth. This engine was frequently left in charge of children of twelve, eleven, and even nine years of age. Let the House hear the result of such a practice. Mr. Wild, Chief Constable of Oldham, whose duty it is to collect evidence for the Coroner's inquests, said- " It is a general system here to employ mere children to tend these engines, and to stop them at the proper moment ; and if they be not stopped, the two

or three or four or five persons, wound up together, are thrown over the beam down into the pit again. There have been people wound over at Oldham Edge,

at Werneth, at Chamber Lane, at Robin Hill, at Oldbuttom, and on Union Ground here, within the last six or seven years. Dues not know a case in which children were not the engineers. Three or four boys were killed in this way at the Chamber Lane Colliery, by the momentary neglect of a little boy, who, he thinks, was only nine years of age; and who, he heard, bad turned away from the engine when it was winding up, on his attention being attracted by a mouse on the hearth." The fourth and last principal provision was the abolition of appren- ticeship— The districts in which it prevails are South Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Lanca- shire, and West Scotland. In South Staffordshire, the boys are bound by wholesale from the Union workhouses. " Many of the colliers," says the Sub- Commissioner, " take two or three at a time, supporting themselves and fami- lies out of their labour. As soon as either of them is old enough he is made a getter, and is then worth from 10s. to 15s. a week. At the age of fourteen, the apprentice works side by side with other lads who are getting 14s. a week, be himself getting nothing ; at seventeen or eighteen, side by side with free-

men, who may go wherever they please, and arc earning 20s. or 25s." The orphan," says the Sub•Commissioner, " whom necessity has driven into a workhouse, is made to labour in the mines until the age of twenty-one, solely for the benefit of another." " Notwithstanding this long apprenticeship,"

says Dr. Mitchell, "there is nothing whatever in the coal-mine to learn be- yond a little dexterity, readily acquired by short practice : even in the mines of Cornwall, where much skill and judgment are required, there arc no appren- tices." Being paupers and friendless, the masters arc careless to what dangers

they expose them, and treat them with the utmost brutality. Lord Ashley read the case of a boy in West Yorkshire, whose master had struck him with a pick, which passed through the glutei muscles almost to the hip-joint : the same boy had twenty other wounds, occasioned by dragging coal in low work-

ings. But of the eases read, the following is the worst : it is related in the re- port of Mr. Kennedy. " Edmund Kirshaw," says the Snb-Commissioner,

" was apprenticed by the overseers of Castleton to a collier, near Rooky Moor.

Mr. Milner, the surgeon, examined this boy, and found on 1118 body from twenty-four to twenty-six wounds. His posteriors and loins were beaten to a jelly ; his head, which was almost cleared of hair on the scalp, had the marks of many old wounds ; one of the bones in one arm was broken below the elbow, and seemed to have been so for some time. The boy, on being brought before the Magistrate, was unable to sit or stand, and was placed on the floor in the office. It appeared that the boy's arm had been broken by a blow with an iron rail, and the fracture had never been set, and that he had been kept at work for several weeks with his arm in that condition. It was admitted "- what in admission I—" by the master, that rte had been in the habit of beat-

ing the boy with a fiat piece of wood, in which a nail was driven and projected about half an inch. The blows bad been inflicted with such violence that they had penetrated the skin, and caused the wounds described by Mr. Milner. The boy had been starved for want of food, and his body presented all the marks of emaciation. This brutal master bad kept him at work as a waggoner until he was no longer of any use, and then sent him home in a cart to his mother, who was a poor widow, residing in Rochdale."

The bill would also contain a provision to cancel every existing indenture. Lord Ashley contrasted the state of these people with the preparations made for the health and comfort of the prisoners in the Pentonville prison ; urging the necessity of changes. He had not en- deavoured to legislate between masters and workmen ; but he read a return of the Manchester Police to show the demoralized condition of the people in the manufacturing districts-not because Manchester is more demoralized than other large towns, but because the return was accurate ; and he feared a popular outbreak, which would destroy the body social of these realms unless the Legislature were to remove these seeds of evil. He concluded in the language of Scripture, " Let us break off our sins by righteousness, and our iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of our tranquillity."

Mr. Fox MAULE seconded the motion ; with a compliment to Lord Ashley for having preferred the work of benevolence to that more splendid and glittering path that ambition might have opened to him. Mr. HEDWORTH Lamm:o/c expressed his thanks for this among the many proofs which Lord Ashley had given of his anxiety to protect the poorer classes. He was gratified that the counties of Durham and Northumberland were particularly free from those charges that had excited feelings of indignation. He thought that children began work too young ; but he thought that in the Report there was some slight exaggeration : out of forty-seven collieries, a return showed that the youngest child was eight years old ; and as to the unhealthiness of the employment, the young men appeared to him to be lively and cheerful at their work ; and he had received a letter from the manager of an extensive mining concern, who stated that he could produce examples of pitmen healthy and active at ages varying from sixty to sixty- eight, and even to seventy-certainly large numbers at sixty, and among them many who had been hewers for upwards of forty years. Lord FRANCIS EGERTON also sincerely thanked Lord Ashley for his exertions. In the district with which he was connected, he did not be- lieve that the employment of females was incompatible with health ; but, putting aside the question of cruelty, it was a monstrous thing that the female sex should continue to be so employed. With respect to the age of children, a clergyman bad stated to him, unwillingly, but consci- entiously, that he feared the peculiar bend of the back, and other phy- sical peculiarities requisite to the employment, could not be obtained if children were initiated at a later age than twelve.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM expressed a general concurrence in the prin- ciples of the measure ; reserving his opinion on some points of detail, 'but promising that Government would render Lord Ashley every as- sistance in carrying on the measure. The same hearty concurrence was expressed by Mr. HUME, Mr. STUART WORTLEY, Mr. TURNER, Mr. WARD, Mr. PROTHEROE, Mr. BROTHERTON, Mr. PAKIMGTON, and Sir ROBERT INGLIS.

' The motion was agreed to ; and the bill was ordered to be brought in by Lord Ashley, Mr. Fait Maule, and Mr. Brotherton.

TEE TARIFF.

In Committee on the Customs Acts, on Monday, the House of Com- mons resumed the consideration of the Tariff; proceeding with the timber-duties.

The Tariff proposes a duty of 17. 10s. on Foreign timber and of Is. on Colonial ; 11. 18s., and after 10th October 1843, 1/. 12s., on Foreign deals, battens, &c., on Colonial 2s. Mr. ROEBUCK moved, as an amend- ment, to impose an equal duty of 20s. on Foreign and Colonial timber. Sir HOWARD DOUGLAS objected to disturbing the interests of com- merce with the North American Colonies ; the British imports into which have increased from 1,000,000/ value in 1821, to 3,000,0001. at present. Oar trade with other countries-with France and America, for instance-is declining ; and it is essential to maintain those differen- tial duties which uphold our Colonial system. Here Mr. P. M. STEWART proposed a new amendment, "That the duty on Colonial timber be reduced to 5s. per load, and the duty on Foreign timber to 35s. ; and that the measurement of deals for the pur- pose of charging duty be taken in conformity with the recommenda- tion of the Committee of 1835."

Mr. GLADSTONE observed, that the Committee were no longer at the commencement of the Tariff: they had up to that time been enforcing protective duties, varying from 4 to 20 per cent ; and thus Mr. Roebuck was out of time in refusing all protection to Colonial imports. Mr. Stewart had said, on Friday, that being a Colonial proprietor and a Free-trader, he found it "very nice steering "; and very nice steering it was with him on that occasion- Mr. Stewart admitted, however, that the saving to the consumer, by the proposed reduction on timber, would be 931. in building a house worth 2,0001., and 401. in 1,000L ; no small saving. Moreover, the relaxation would remove many expensive restrictions: the expense of bonding Colonial wood, for in- stance, would be quite obviated. The average duties at present on Foreign deals are 43s. 9d., on Colonial 7s., a protection for the latter of 36a. 9d.: the duties on Colonial deals are to be 38s. and ultimately 32s., and the protection will finally be reduced to 31s. 6d. ; a reduction which could not reasonably be objected to.

The House divided on Mr. Roebuck's amendment; which was re- jected, by 243 to 16. A motion by Sir HOWARD Doi:mi./1s, to negative the proposed reduction of duty in 1843, was withdrawn ; the schedule was agreed to ; and the House resumed.

In the discussion of the last point raised, Sir ROBERT PEEL stated that the Tariff has already produced a favourable effect in the countries on the shores of the Baltic-

The German League had intended to make a heavy increase in the duties on British iron, but the proposal had been abandoned when the Tariff became known on the Continent. It was not possible to conceive any thing like the general acquiescence with which his Income-tax, an impost so unusual in time of peace, had been received by the country; but he felt all the more strongly the obligation he had incurred to adhere to his original plan of holding out by the Tariff a compensation to the payers of the Income-tax. Of this the article of timber would form no small element.

The House adjourned at a quarter past two o'clock. The Committee was resumed on Tuesday, beginning with Schedule 11-manufactures of leather. Mr. GEORGE PALMER opposed the in- tended duty on the importation of shoes, and would substitute 11. in lieu of 128. on every dozen pair. After a sharp debate, the House divided, and the amendment was rejected, by 148 to 36.

On Schedule 12, Mr. MILNER Gissow asked the reason for laying an ad valorem duty of 10 per cent on cotton-manufactures : on the part of the cotton-manufacturers be disclaimed it. Mr. GuaosTostz replied, that there were certain branches of the cotton-manufacture which re- quired this protection.

A debate followed on Free-trade principles, which ended in a most extraordinary scene. Mr. FERRAND protested against Dr. Bowring's being taken for an authority in free trade ; charging him, on the faith of " a Swiss gentleman," with having taken only such evidence as suited his own views and purpose. Dr. BOWRING demanded an ex- planation ; and several Members called on Mr. Ferrand to give the name of his authority ; which he refused to do. Lord STANLEY made light of the charge, and regarded it as completely disposed of by Dr. Bowring's denial. In the melee of wordy war which followed, Mr. WALLACE noticed that Colonel Peel interrupted him by crying " Question !" more loudly than others, and he intimated to the gallant Colonel that he was not to be " bullied" by him or by any man living! Being called to order, Mr. WALLACE retracted the expression, but not the allegation. Mr. CHARLES BULLER declared that the House was not in a temper to consider the subject before it. He twitted the Minis- terialists with the uproarious and disorderly state of their ranks in Sir Robert Peel's absence ; observing, " When the cat's away the mice will play." He moved an adjournment ; which was negatived. Mr. HUME renewed the motion. In the course of the turmoil, Mr. COBDEN, as a young Member, stated the result of his observations on their pro- ceedings- He found that from half-past four in the afternoon till about half-past five, there were Members dropping in, when personal questions might be put and personal matters could be discussed. From that time until half-past seven, Members staid, growing more and more impatient, interrupting the speeches and shouting for divisions, till about eight o'clock. Then honourable Members all at once disappeared; leaving some forty or fifty Members to discuss the most important subjects connected with the affairs of the country, till about half-past ten or halt-past eleven. At about that hour they would see some fifty Members or so enter at the door and take their seats, wearing their white cra- vats and their white waistcoats, and having either come from their dinner- parties or to go off to their balls; and then from about half-past eleven to half- past twelve o'clock, there was renewed the same interruption, the same shouts for divisions, and the same inattention to the real business of the country.

Lord STANLEY urged the House to proceed to business. But Mr. AGLIONBY intimated that he should follow up Mr. Hume's motion. Lord STANLEY made a playful allusion to a white waistcoat worn by Mr. Aglionby ; which the latter took in good part : peace was partially restored; and Lord STANLEY yielded to the determination to adjourn.

The Committee continued on Wednesday. On the question that there be a duty of 5 per cent on cotton-manufactures, Mr. MANGLES moved that the duty be only 3i per cent ; contending, that as the manu- factures of India had been ruined in their own markets, this country ought not in justice to impose so high a duty. Mr. GLADSTONE said, that the proposed alteration would not make a difference of 501. to the Indian trade ; and the amendment was rejected, by 56 to 42.

Mr. GLADSTONE proposed, that instead of 121. 10s. ad valorem for every 1007., as set down in the printed copies, a duty of 10d. the square yard should be imposed on damask, and 5d. the square yard on damask- diaper. Mr. STUART WORTLEY claimed a higher protection ; for al- though the linen-trade in geperal needs little or none, particular branches do ; and the hand-loom weavers would be the chief sufferers. Belgium, he said, has a great advantage in the growth of the raw material. But, said Mr. GLADSTONE, in spite of that advantage, Belgium exports little linen to this country. The proposition was agreed to as it stood.

On cotton or waste of cotton wool, the duties proposed were 2s. 11d. on Foreign and 4d. on Colonial. Dr. Bowstnea maintained, that, to be consistent, Sir Robert Peel should carry out his profession of reducing the duty on the raw material of manufactures to a merely nominal amount. The present high duty on cotton renders it impossible for our manufacturers to compete with those of America or the European Continent ; and he moved, that the duty on cotton-wool be reduced to Id. per hundredweight. Mr. GLADSTONE said, that the revenue derived from the article, which amounted in 1840 to 640,9171., could not be spared. America had a similar apprehension as that now expressed, of the com- petition of England ; and the Americans especially apprehend the effect of the cheap wool from the East Indies. Mr. COBDEN observed, the reason given by the Americans was, that they could not compete with the pauper population of England. The amendment was negatived, by 97 to 44.

The Tariff imposes a duty of id. per pound on Foreign sheep or lambs-wool under the value of ls. a pound, Colonial wool being free. Mr. CHARLES Woon proposed the lower duty of ls. the hundredweight, without specifying the value of the wool. When the duty was lowered in 1824, instead of falling, the price of English wool rose ; but in 1818, when there was a diminished import of wool, there was also a fall in the price of English wool ; foreign competition was encouraged, and the English manufacturer had lost many markets which he had never re- covered. In 1821, the exports of woollen cloths of all sorts amounted to 375,464 pieces ; in 1841, to 213,125: from 1833 to 1840, the exports had diminished by one-half; in the same time the French exports had more than doubled. Mr. GLADSTONE said that Government could not give up the revenue ; while the remission of duties on articles used in dying would benefit the manufacturer. The amendment was rejected, by 122 to 65. Mr. GEORGE WILLIAM WOOD renewed the motion, limiting it to wool under the value of Is. ; but his motion was rejected, by 96 to 47.

PREVENTION OF BRIBERY.

Lord Josue RUSSELL moved, on Monday, for leave to bring in his bill for the better discovery of bribery in the elections of Members of Parlia- ment. Although, he said, you may not be able to do by legislation all that is desired, you must deal with such cases as the law can reach. You cannot punish crimes like treachery or ingratitude by law, but bribery of electors might be suppressed, as bribery of Members of Pox- Bement, once a prevalent offence, actually bad been suppressed. At present, the inquiry into bribery is left very much to the chance that the pursuit of private rights will expose it : a seat is contested ; but the person that wishes to obtain it only proves so much as will unseat his adversary, and there he stops. It was a main object of his bill not to impose additional penalties in bribery, but to carry the inquiry further— The first part of the bill was intended to facilitate disclosures of actual bribery before Committees. It was proposed that parties making a charge of bribery should give in lists of the alleged bribers ; the voters, not being able satisfactorily to defend their votes, to be disfranchised on the report of the Committee to that effect. Witnesses will be indemnified against the usual penalties on making a full disclosure of acts of bribery. It was also provided that the Members, the candidates, and their agents, should be examined by the Committee. The next part of the bill was to prevent corrupt compromises. The Committee, on being satisfied that a compromise has been made, that the proceedings have consequently come to a premature close, or that the petition has been withdrawn by a compromise, may report to the House that such is their belief; and the House will give them authority to proceed with the case. As the private parties could not be called upon to pursue the inquiry at that stage, he proposed that the complaint should be prosecuted by a solicitor or agent appointed by the Speaker or by the General Committee nominated by the Speaker: if it shall be found that bribery has been committed by the sitting Member or Members, the Committee shall have the power of declaring the election void, as at present. If the sitting Members be convicted of bribery, the costs of the petition shall be borne by them; in other cases by the petition- ers. He now came to another class of cases, which do not come regularly before Election Committees—those in which petitions generally allege ex- tensive bribery, though there may be no person inclined to take the risk of prosecuting an opposing petition. In some old boroughs, a sitting Member may be at once sacrificed; or it may be agreed that some particular candidate shall be allowed to take his seat at the next election. In such cases, the peti- tion making the allegation may be tried by order of the House in the same way as an election-petition, and in the same way the election may be declared void. The effect intended was, that candidates should not in future expect by large payments, of four or five thousand pounds, to secure a seat in the House. It would be a great check on bribery by candidates if it could be proved to them that they would lose the very seat which they coveted. With the persons bribed the case is different : their object is immediate reward in the shape of money, and the appropriate punishment is disfranchisement. The next case to be dealt with is that of an entire borough convicted of bribery : it might be disfranchised,—which would be a complete remedy in the case of small boroughs returning Members only by right of prescription; but in the case of the larger boroughs, as Liverpool or Birmingham, they could not be deprived of the right to return Members. The bill for the disfranchisement of the Liverpool free-. men who had been convicted of bribery, was a step in the right direction. ford John broke off in the description of his measure, to describe the difficulty of carrying out these remedies as laws- " You find that an inquiry before the first Election Committee fails : you go through some other inquiry, either at the bar of the House or before another Committee: meantime, the public, the important political business of the ses- sion, obliges you to postpone this inquiry from time to time; and ultimately the bill does not go to the House of Lords till the second or third session. By the time it arrives in the House of Lords, the House of Lordebeing disposed to look strictly at these matters, a great portion of the evidence and many of the witnesses who established the case in the first instance may not be forthcom- ing, or the evidence adduced may not be such as was given on the former occa- sion; the wish on the part of the borough in question being naturally to avoid disfranchisement ; and it may well be found that after a year or two have elapsed, on the matter coming before the House of Lords, the evidence is not, in their opinion, sufficiently strong to support disfranchisement—not sufficient, at all events, to induce noble lords in the profession of the law; and here I do not speak of one party or the other in the House of Lords, but of the law-lords generally."

He described the machinery of his bill for the disfranchisement of entire boroughs; in which he had copied in some degree alterations which the Lords had made in his bill of 1834-

" I should propose, in adopting generally the principle of that bill, that there should be either five Peers and four Commoners, or four Peers and five Mem- bers of the House of Commons, constituting a commission of nine members ; and that this commission, instead of a judge as proposed by the Lords, should be presided over by one of the Peers, who should be named by the Crown for that purpose. I shall propose that all the members be named by the Crown ; thinking it better that her Majesty, by her responsible advisers, should choose the persons for this sort of inquiry, than that either House should, by a ma- jority, or any other mode, select members for this purpose. However, this is a point for future consideration." To that tribunal the inquiry into general bribery with a view to disfranchisement should be referred; it should report; and the House of Commons, having the report before it, should legislate ac- cording to the circumstances in each case. The legal adviser of that joint Committee should be the Attorney-General.

Two other clauses of the bill would abolish the bribery-oath ad- ministered to electors, as commonly adding perjury to bribery ; and would pronounce the payment of any gift or valuable consideration to any voter, under whatever name, to be bribery. Lord John answered a few objections to his bill. It gives indemnity to witnesses ; which might be objected to as encroaching on the power of the Crown to par- don : but in cases of murder, Ministers already take upon themselves to promise pardon to accessories who give evidence ; and it is not found, to answer another objection, that that acts as an inducement to persons to commit the crime. The asking persons questions which criminate themselves may be considered as going beyond the ordinary rules of courts of law : but Lord John quoted Burke, Coke, and Justice Foster, to the effect that there is an inherent right in Parliament which is not bound by those rules. It was incumbent on Parliament, he argued, to adopt any measures which could be found to be useful ; and he was far from despairing that, with the increase of religions instruction, and the general improvement in the morals of the country, they might make progress in removing this great evil.

Sir ROBERT PEEL gave his cordial support to the bill ; the general . principles and objects of which he approved; but he pointed out some

difficulties, and made some suggestions— In cases where Parliament prosecuted the inquiry into the alleged bribery, he would suggest, that where the opposing candidates were, by the determina- tion of the Committee, shown to have had the majority of bona fide votes, the election should not be declared void, but that the opposing candidates should take their places. It would be necessary also to provide checks to prevent candidates from prosecuting these petitions, in the expectation that the public would indemnify them of the expenses ; and also that Members should not be subjected to unnecessary annoyance in defending their seats ; the expense of an election-petition being the check at present. He approved of the nomina- tion of the joint Committee by the responsible advisers of the Crown : the nomination of Committees by the Speaker proved that personal responsibility and respect for character would secure a more impartial choice than where the decision was left to mere party-motives. He had no objection also to the bill's having a retrospective effect—so that it might include, for instance, the case of Newcastle. To define treating would be difficult, as it was difficult to discri- minate between perfectly innocent friendly conviviality and practices which come under that description of corruption. All these changes, however, it was to be feared, would leave the law in an unsatisfactory state: but he did not underrate its power, nor the power of the improved habits of the people to diminish bribery ; and if the leading men of the boroughs in the country would set their faces against bribery, he believed they would sec such an improvement that the bribery witnessed at the last election would never be repeated.

Mr. HOME thought that treating should be more clearly defined, and that those convicted of bribery should be for ever disfranchised ; but the only efficacious remedies would be extension of the suffrage and ballot.

Mr. ROEBUCK threw it out as a suggestion for Lord John Russell, that when a Member came to swear to his qualification, he should be bound to give in an account of his expenses.

Lord SANDON doubted whether such an account would in any way indicate the transactions at an election. He could say that his first election did not cost him a shilling, and the subsequent ones not more than 2001. or 3001. It was impossible not to pay something for the instruments of excitement, such as flags and music, at an election where the inhabitants amounted to 200,000 or 300,000 persons. The best thing the House could do would be to declare a certain number of charges legal.

The bill was ordered to be brought in by Lord John Russell and Sir Thomas Wilde.

NEWCASTLE WRIT.

Mr. ADDERLEY moved, on Monday, the issue of a writ for Newcastle- under-Lyne. Mr. HOME opposed the motion, on the ground that a system of bribery, under the names of "head-money " and " market- money," has for many years prevailed in Newcastle ; and be moved that the writ be suspended for fourteen days, a Select Committee in the mean time to be appointed to inquire into the extent of the bribery.

Mr. O'CoststELL seconded the motion. In 1838, a Committee, of which Lord Ebrington was Chairman, reported of Newcastle, that an objectionable practice existed there of distributing money to the poorer voters after the election ; and now a Committee has made a similar report, nearly in the same terms. The exposure to public censure had had no effect in arresting the practice. Mr. O'Connell read extracts from the evidence, which described the issue of beer in enormous quan- tities to electors and non-electors, with scenes of the grossest drunken- ness. There were regular bribery-agents appointed ; and one of them was Mayer, a preacher of some kind. Flag-bearing prevailed to a great extent ; and every flag-bearer was attended by a number of burgesses, each of whom received 31. 15s. in money and 5s. in drink. One of the voters received 31. from Mayer; who deducted 2s. from that sum as his commission on the transaction.

Mr. LIDDELL hoped that the House would not be seduced by the ingenuity of a practised lawyer in picking out parts of the evidence suited to his purpose. The Committee, unanimous in all but one case, had not recommended the disfranchisement of the borough ; and the borough was not to be disfranchised because a few individuals had yielded to that species of bribery—if bribery it was. As to the treating, the bills at the two principal public-houses did not amount to more than 531. for each, in a constituency of many thousands. If Mr. O'Con- nell wished to eradicate drunkenness among the people of Newcastle, he might do well to send Father Mathew among them.

Mr. CHARLES BULLER insisted that the head-money was bribery— it was bribery paid after the election, to avoid the consequences of paying it while the election was going on : and he read extracts from the evidence to show that the practice, though proved only in a few cases, was notoriously general.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL contended, that by selecting portions of evidence, as Mr. O'Connell had done, every borough in the kingdom might be made liable to censure. Had there not been violences at Cork ? He agreed with Mr. Buller, that the suspension of the writ could only be determined on the understanding that some practical measure was to follow : if Mr. Hume was about to bring in a bill to dis- franchise Newcastle, he could suspend the writ, but not else.

Mr. BERNAL and Mr. CHARLES WYNN declared that there was suffi- cient ground for further inquiry, and therefore for the suspension of the writ. Mr. Wynn said, the argument that heal-money was not bribery seemed to him something like the logic of Foigard in the Beaux Stratagem, where he tells the chambermaid that if she accept money beforehand she will be guilty of bribery, whereas if she take it after the fact it will only be a gratification. He urged the propriety of appoint- ing the Attorney-General to prosecute in such cases.

Sir ROBERT PEEL observed, that each of these cases must be consi- dered on a review of its special circumstances. He did not regard the present case as so strong as that of Ipswich, in which the writ had been granted ; and it differed from the case of Southampton, in that they had no petition from a number electors praying that the borough should be disfranchised. The practice of giving head-money is objectionable, but he believed it originated in this way : the richer electors had an expensive dinner after the election, and the poorer voters claimed their share of the pleasure ; a dinner was provided for them, and afterwards it was commuted for a sum of money. The practice ought to be abo- lished ; and he doubted even now, if it were brought home to the sitting Member, whether it would not unseat him. On the whole, he should vote as he did in the case of Ipswich.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL supported Mr. Hume's amendment.

The original motion was carried, by 143 to 46. Mr. HOME declared that the House might as well repeal all the bribery-laws, and tell the candidates to go and buy constituencies as they pleased.

THE BELFAST COMFROMISE.

Mr. O'CoisisELL presented, on Monday, a petition from Peter Stephen Cropper, making grave charges against the late Members for Belfast, and especially against Mr. Emerson Tennent- He states that he had been a hatter at Carnarvon ; but being unfortunate in business, he moved, in 1839, with a wife and six young children, to Belfast;

where he took a public-house. The removal of a bridge and the progress of Father Mathew's pledge so injured his business that be again became embarrassed. His opinions were Liberal ; but be was much pressed to vote at the last election for -the Tory candidates; and his wife urged him, because of the threats of Tory creditors, "to sacrifice principle to want." Two Members of the Tory Com- mittee repeatedly offered him the means of paying any Liberal creditor who might press him to vote for Lord Belfast and Mr. Ross ; and at last, on the third day of the poll, mainly induced by a Tory creditor, he voted for Mr. Emerson Tennent and Mr. William Gillilan Johnson, and was paid 201. for his vote. Of that sum he immediately paid 12/. to his Tory creditor, and the wemainder was paid to other small creditors. His embarrassments, however, were only aggravated by his apostacy; for a mob smashed his windows and broke into his house, and all his Liberal customers deserted him. Being thus reduced to extreme straits, he wrote, in August last, " to request the said James Emerson Tennent, who bad obtained a situation in her Majesty's Go- vernment for himself, to obtain some small appointment for your petitioner." ;die received the following reply-

" Liverpool, 16th August1841.

" Dear Sir—Your leiter followed me here. In reply to it I have bat to say that if you will point out to me any situation vacant which }'on could be qualified to fill. and inform me the quarter in which to apply fur it Cr you, 1 will with pleasure exert any little influence I may possess io your !avatar. '" Must truly yours, " J. EMERSON TENNENT."

Mr. Cropper procured a certificate of character to be drawn up by a Tory lawyer and signed by a Protestitnt clergyman, and sent it to Mr. Tennent; and in March last he received this answer-

" London, 14th March.

.' Sir-1 have received your letter this morning, and the testimonial which it en- closed, and which I shall present to the Treasury should any vacaucy come to my knowledge that p.tt would be qualified to fill. " Your obedient servant, " J. EMERSON TENNENT." In April, Mr. Cropper wrote again, asking whether be had not better come to London to be at hand? Mr. Tennent replied, that he had not any thing to report ; "but it is almost too- soon to expect it yet." Mr. Cropper, however, did come; and on the 23d of Slay he called on Alr. Tennent at the Board of Control; where the honourable gentleman told him that there was no vacancy yet, but that be should call next day. He did so; but ever after he found Mr. Tennent too busy to see him. Once he was referred to Mr. Bates, the Belfast agent in London ; who hoped that be was not going to injure the sitting Mem- bers, and promised to see them on his behalf; but Mr. Bates also was always afterwards invisible. At length, on Thursday week, a very pressing note from Mr. Cropper produced from Mr. Tennent half a sovereign, and the recommen- dation that he should return to Belfast, where be would hear from the said James Emerson Tennent. Immediately after that, on the same day, the petitioner heard that the petition against the return was compromised; that the ex-sitting Members had agreed to defray all the expenses of the pe- titioners and Commons Committee ; and that the inquiry into the bribery and Itersonations was abandoned on a private arrangement between the two oppos- ing parties of petitioners and sitting Members,—the understanding being, that the return should be voided on the sole ground of illegal conduct of the poll; that the two local parties should return unopposed one Member each; and that the new Tory Member should be the said James Emerson Tennent." Mr. Cropper says, that an extensive system of bribery and personation was carried on at the last election; the bribes varying from 101. to 50/: clothes, including Quakers' dresses, were provided for the personators ; and the arrangements for personation and bribery were made in the Tory Members' Committee-rooms. These facts the petitioner offers to prove; and he prays for full inquiry, under indemnity.

Mr. O'Connell was to have moved for a Select Committee to inquire into the alleged 'compromise, on Thursday ; but there was no House that night, forty Members not being present when the Speaker took his Leaf.

MISCELLANEOUS.

11111t. MACKENZIE AND THE SERGEANT-AT-ARMS. An absurd little fracas drew the attention of the House on Monday, when Mr. MAC- KENZIE complained that Sir William Gossett, the Sergeant-at-Arms, bad pushed him back from the door of the House as he was entering; and again on Tuesday-, when Sir ROBERT INGLIS read a letter from Sir William, stating that he bad only refused to admit Mr. Mackenzie after the door was closed, and that Mr. Mackenzie acted contrary to the rule in not removing from the lobby when it was cleared for a division. Mr. Mackenzie, it appeared, had the company of -Captain Beresford in his contumacious refusal to quit the lobby, and they were removed : both now expressed their regret for that irregu- larity, but both insisted that the door had been abruptly closed upon them. Mr. M. ATTWOOD, one of the Members shut out, gave evidence to the opposite fact ; Sir JAMES GRAHAM bore testimony generally to the courtesy and discretion of the Sergeant-at-Arms ; and the matter dropped.

THE QUEEN'S LETTER. In reply to Lord KINNAIRD, on Tuesday, the Duke of WELLINGTON said that the money raised by the Queen's letter would be handed over to the Committee which had been appointed in 1825, called the Manufacturing Distress Relief Committee, which is still in existence.

CONTROVERTED ELECTIONS.

The Committee to try the petition on behalf of Sir H. W. Barron and Mr. Wyse against the return of Mr. W. Christmas and Mr. W. M. Reade, for Waterford, opened the investigation on Saturday. The ground of the petition was, that several voters of the petitioners' party had been rejected by the poll-clerk, because they were described as oc- cupying. a " house and premises " ; which was held to be an insufficient description. The Committee refused to enter into a general scrutiny of the votes ; and on Thursday they resolved- " That Mr. Wililiam Christmas and Mr. W. EL Reade were not duly elected to serve in the present Parliament as burgesses for the city of Water- ford, and ought not to have been returned; that Mr. Henry Winston Barron, DOW Sir Henry Winston Barron, and Mr. Thomas Wyse, were duly elected, and ought to have been returned."

The Chairman stated, that he was directed by the Committee to move in the House that Mr. Christmas, Mr. Reade, and other persons properly qualified, be at liberty to petition against the amended return within fourteen days.

The Athlone Committee met on Wednesday. The point at issue was the same as in the foregoing case ; and yesterday the Committee decided it by declaring that the sitting Member, Captain George de la Poer Beresford, was not, and that Mr. Daniel H. Farrell was duly elected ; with the same proviso as to the liberty to petition against the amended return.