Dante% anti ilkortebings in Vailiainent.

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND.

On the motion to renew the Committee of Supply, on Monday, Mr. SHEIL moved an amendment, by way of introducing a debate on the Government of Ireland. If there existed an impression, he said, that that Government was conducted with impartiality, it was erroneous, and the public mind ought to be disabused. The Government still trod in the old track of Toryism, and it would lead to the same consequences as before. Mr. Shell illustrated this position by a long speech, com- prising the main allegations against the present Government in respect of Ireland, since its entrance upon office— Ile contrasted the pledges of the members of Government with their prac- tice. Two years ago, Sir Robert Peel said that his chief difficulty was with Ireland ; and that must be the chief difficulty of any Minister who might be compelled to adopt a system of government to which the majority of the Irish Members were opposed. About two years after that declaration, the right honourable Baronet, on coming into office with a vast and almost unprece- dented augmentation of power, stated that he was determined to overcome his chief difficulties by adopting a policy of conciliation and peace. He selected, and a better selection could not have been made, the noble Lord (Eliot) an amiable diplomatist, as Chief Secretary for Ireland. On Lord Eliot's reelec- tion for Cornwall, he was seconded by Mr. Fortescue, the brother of Lord Fortescne ; who vouched that Lord Eliot would pursue a just and middle course. Lord Eliot himself said, "He knew that the policy of Sir Robert Peel in Ireland would be a sound and wise one ; directed by a spirit of peace and conciliation." Those professions were reechoed by Lord De Grey ; who said in reply to an address by the Corporation of Dublin, that he should en- deavour to merit a continuance of their good opinion "by a perfect abstinence from party-feeling and the greatest impartiality in the administration of the Jaw." Every one who read those speeches was induced to indulge the hope that a new mra had arrived for Ireland. Every one of those fond anticipations had been disappointed. "Of the practical application of the principles of Tory- ism," continued Mr. Shell, " no sort of mitigation has taken place; and as tar as the Executive is concerned, they act as if Catholic Emancipation had never been carried. You have been in office for a year. In that period, how many of the professors of the national religion have you promoted ? To what office have you, who told us that you would govern Ireland without party, advanced a single member of that community, which in numbers, in wealth, in intelligence, and in power, is every day making so irresistible a progress? You have not appointed a single Roman Catholic to any one office of high trust and honour; and, in place of keeping your engagements, you have acted in a spirit of partisanship so clear and so indisputable, that the difficulty consists, not in stating in what instances you have broken your under- taking, but in what single particular you have adhered to it. You will not call the appointment of Mr. O'Leary by Sir Edward Sugden, to some small place, (I do not remember what,) a proof of impartiality ; you will not call the employment of a few Catholic barristers in circuit business, worth some twenty pounds a year, a proof of impartiality. What cares the country for these miserable and paltry nominations? The country looks to the offices through which a great social and moral influence is exercised, which are con- nected with the Government of the country, and which impart weight and influence to the whole community—with which the individuals who are th objects of high promotion are connected.' They might say that they could not retain the Law-officers appointed by their opponents: but in 1835 they retained Mr. Blackbarne, the Whig Attorney-General, and Mr. Greene, the Whig Counsel for the Crown. He did not ask why Mr. Pigot had been dis- missed, for he was distinguished by the ardour of his political feelings ; but Mr. Monaghan had done nothing to offend : his retention in office, however, bad been denounced by anticipation in the Dublin Evening Mail; and Mr. Brewster, a well-known partisan, was selected to fill his place. On the elec- lion of the Solicitor-General for Dublin University, what was the topic es- lected for animadversion by him and Sergeant Warren ?—the Education Coin. mission. On the death of Mr. West, his successor in the representation of Dublin was proposed by Mr. Gregg, who had declared that a priest committed a greater crime than child-murder every day that he celebrated mass : the electors were canvassed for him by Lord Jocelyn, and he was supported by the Government. The old Corporation Sheriffs were retained when the election came on, although the new Sheriff, Sir Edward Borough, had been nominated ; and although one of the old Sheriffs, Mr. Brown, had offered to do any job for the Liberal party in consideration of a knighthood. Mr. Lefroy, who had been mired up in every question with which Ireland had been distracted for the last twenty years, was elevated to the bench. Mr. Shell adverted to two recent in- stances of trial by jury in criminal cases, in the North of Ireland ; imputing to the Government an abuse of power. In one case, of four Protestants tried for the murder of M'Ardle, a Catholic, in the county of Down, it was stated that the next of kin did not object to the Jury; but the Attorney-General would not allow their agent and counsel to be retained until so late that they could not object to that course. Turn to the trial of a Catholic for the murder of a Protestant—of Francis Hughes for the murder of Mr. Thomas Powell : Hughes was tried by a Jury composed of ten Protestants and two Catholics, and by another composed of nine Protestants and three Catholics ; and in neither case could the Jury agree to a verdictf: he was tried a third time : the challenge of the Jury panel by the prisoner, of those who had avowed any opinion hostile to him, was disallowed ; the Crown Solicitor set aside many of the panel on the ground that they had expressed an opinion favourable to the prisoner; every Roman Catholic was set aside; the Jury was exclusively Protestant ; and the prisoner was convicted, and hanged. The prosecution of the Belfast Vindicator and the Newry Examiner for libel was next adverted to : in the case of the Vindicator, nine Catholics were struck off the panel, and there was only one on the Jury ; and Chief Justice Pennefather addressed the Jury thus, after reading the article to them, " Was there ever a more diabo- licial libel than that ? In my opinion never! I am not to decide the question, but I am to give you my: opinion ; and that is, that this is a gross and infamous libel—and that is not mincing the matter." Mr. Sheil contrasted the neglect to dismiss Mr. Biddulph from the Magistracy, after he had advised the wit- nesses to abscond in a criminal prosecution which he originated, with the restoration of Mr. St. George, who had written an offensive letter to Lord Normanby. Be concluded by moving for the correspondence in the case of Mr. St. George. Lord ELIOT remarked, that the newspaper organs ofthe Opposition in Ireland had repeated these charges ; and if honourable gentlemen be- lieved them to be true, they had betrayed their duty by letting them remain so long unnoticed. He followed Mr. Shell's charges with spe- cific contradictions—

His spontaneous declaration of opinion in Cornwall had been made to bear an interpretation which could not fairly be put upon it. When Government declared that a government should be a government not of a party, but of the whole empire, they looked to the general administration of justice : they took care that one party should not be allowed to domineer over another ; and that the religious test should cease to be the test of fitness for political employ- ment: but he could not believe that any Government meant by that that they could bestow patronage indiscriminately upon all their opponents as well as their friends. Mr. Monaghan of whose dismissal complaint had '

been made, was so strong a partisan that at a public dinner he refused to drink the Duke of Wellington's health. Lord Eliot entered into a defence of Mr. Brewster from the charge of being an " exterminator " or whole- sale ejector of tenants : the fact was, that he had succeeded to some land occu- pied by very bad characters, of whom he endeavoured to rid the neighbourhood; but he had continued respectable Roman Catholics on his land, and even in- creased their holdings. 'With regard to the appointment of BaronLefroy, Lord Eliot might easily and justly ask of the right honourable gentleman, whether he adopted all the sentiments which had ever been expressed and all the lan- guage that had ever been used by those who had been offered judicial appoint- ments by the late Government ? He might ask if a high judicial office had not been offered to an individual who had by the very same Government been denounced from the Throne ? But he was prepared to vindicate the appoint- ments on their own merits. No charge had been breught against Mr. Lefroy's judicial conduct. Mr. West, a personal friend, had been passed over to appoint Sergeant Warreersonally unknown to the Government. In like manner as to the Episcopal appointments : the Bishopric of Ossory and the Deanery of Cork had been filled up by clergymen who had no kind of political influence, but whose theological eminence, high character, and scholastic attainments, had entitled them to the appointments, which had given the highest satisfaction in the Church. So with respect to the Constabulary vacancies : seven only had occurred, and all of them had been filled up by men whose fathers had died in the force or who themselves had risen from the ranks ; and great as was the pressure on a new Government from the natural claims of political supporters, in no one case had the Government dispensed their patronage with any regard to such claims, but always with a regard to professional merit or public services. As to Lord Jocelyn's canvassing. of Dublin, he had himself been invited to stand : he was prevented by prior engagements ; but he was not to be de- prived of his right of canvassing the electors merely on account of his holding an honorary office in the Lord-Lieutenant's Household; more especially as the right honourable and learned gentleman had not been able to adduce one soli- tary case in which the noble Lord (Jocelyn) had used the Lord-Lieutenant's name, or availed himself of the Castle influence. Of course the Government felt a natural interest in the success of Mr. Gregory ; with whom, notwithstand- ing the disagreement of opinion on one or two subjects, there were many more points of concord than with Lord Morpeth. The charge respecting the ap- pointment of the Sheriffs was most trumpery : the day for their entering office, simultaneously with the County Sheriffs, was fixed weeks before the election. The legislative measures introduced by Government had been of no party character, but intended to promote the solid and permanent welfare of the country—as the Drainage Bill and the Fisheries BilL In the trial of criminal cases, the Attorney-General had adhered to the rule laid down by Sir Michael O'Loghlen, that no person should be set aside on religious grounds. In the case of Hughes, the prisoner challenged twenty names, the Crown twenty-five ; nine of those challenged by the Crown being among the jurors who had tried the case before ; and the Lord Chancellor had examined the whole of the circumstances with the most laborious minuteness, and he had come to conclusion that there was no doubt as to the guilt of Hughes. The Attorney-General himself had expressed his dissatisfaction with the verdict of the Downpatrick Jury in the case of M'Ardle. From a letter by Mr. Brewster, Lord Eliot explained the law which dictates the composition of the Jury panel. "A book, called the Jurors' Book, is made out in the month of October in each year. This contains, or ought to contain, the names of all qualified per- sons. If any be omitted, means are provided to remedy the omission. From this book the Sheriff must take his panel ; but he may, and it is on all hands admitted he ought to, select a sufficient number of those best qualified to dis- charge the duty. It is his exclusive prerogative, and it would be in the highest degree unconstitutional to interfere with him ; indeed, if the Executive ven- tured to do so, an outcry, and a well-founded one, would be made." In the case of the newspapers, who had not only impugned the conduct of Govern- ment, but directly made the charge that they had tampered with the admi- nistration of justice, the Juries were balloted for in the usual way, each party striking off twelve, and leaving twenty-four. The Newry Examiner would not stand a trial, but let it go by default. With respect to Mr. Biddulph, who ie a Whig, it was believed that he was influenced by the wish to save his sister, already twice exposed to the annoyance of cross-examination. Lord Eliot repeated the explanation which has before been given in the case of Mr SL George.

Sir Wtra.tem SOMERVILLE said, it was unfortunate that the Juries should all be of one sect or party ; and was it not monstrous that articles which appeared in the Morning Chronicle newspaper in England must not be copied into the Irish journals, lest the Attorney-General should proceed against the paper copying them ? He complained of the general exclusion of Roman Catholics from power.

Mr. JACKSON retorted with charges of abase in the challenge of Juries against Mr. O'Connell and Mr. Sheil himself— Mr. Jackson had gone the Munster circuit for the period of twenty-seven years, and it was the practice to challenge ; but be solemnly declared that he never knew a jury challenged for volitimTreasons on the Munster circuit until at the trial of one of her Majesty s officers at Cork. He alluded to the case of Sir George Bingham. That gallant officer was tried because he had endea- voured to suppress a riot, his only object being to prevent the shedding of blood. Mr. O'Connell, who was engaged in that cause, put aside sixty jury- men : every man who came up to be sworn, and who represented himself to be a Protestant, was challenged by the right honourable gentleman. This was the man who brought forward such a charge against the Government! Mr. Shell objected to twenty-seven Protestants, in the case of Pearce.

Mr. M. J. O'CoNNELL said, that if the present practice of challenging Juries were pursued, they might as well altogether abrogate trial by jury and freedom of the press in Ireland. TISCORIa JOCELYN repeated the explanation already given of his Dublin canvass, and revived accusations against the Whig Government, of having, in 1831, sent notice to the Stipendiary Magistrates that they held their seats on condition of giving their votes and interest "to the candidates who are pledged to the cause of King, People, and Country." The Chairman of a Select Committee on the subject moved in the House a resolution, "That certain individuals holding official situations in Ireland did at the last election for the City of Dublin, in contraven- tion of the resolution of the Moose of Commons, use undue influence in favour of and with a view to aid and assist in the election of the sitting Member for the City of Dublin"; but Government carried a direct negative to that motion, by 207 to 66. And in that majority, which voted that threatening to dismiss Stipendiary Magistrates and dismissing tradesmen, was not improper interference, he found the name of the right honourable and learned gentleman the Member for Dungarvan.

Mr. CHARLES BuLLEit insisted that the trial of the Belfast Vindicator for libel was disgraceful to the Government.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM pointed to the legal appointments of the Whig Ministers—of Mr. Perrin, Mr. O'Loghlen, Mr. Wonlfe, Mr. Richards, Mr. Brady, and Mr. Crampton, who had all reached the bench by the road of politics. Allusion had been made to Lord Jocelyn's canvass of Dublin, because he held an honorary situation in the Household of the Lord-Lieutenant; but Mr. Byng, though Comptroller of the Queen's Household, did not think it inconsistent with his position to sit as Chairman of the Committee which conducted the Westminster election. The religious differences of Ireland render it exceedingly difficult there to procure a fair trial by jury.

Lord PaLmmisrozi gave to Lord De Grey and Lord Eliot credit for the best intentions; but their difficulty lay in the attempt to govern a country through a minority holding opinions at variance with the mass of the people. He thought that no rule ought to be maintained which led to the constitution of an entirely Protestant &try to try a Catholic. The present debate, however, was satisfactory, as it would probably in- duce the Government in future, in selecting persons for judicial situa- tions among their political friends, not to choose those who would excite distrust in the mass of the people ; and it was satisfactory also in an- other respect— Any one who had sat in that House for a considerable period of years must be gratified in comparing the tone and temper of the present debate with those debates which formerly used to take place in reference to such questions. The improvement was apparent on both sides of the House : but in dating such to be the case, he must add, that he thought that the very fact of this moderation in the present debate indicated a growing moderation of party-feeling in Ire- land; and if such was the case, much of that soothing-down of party-spirit and acerbity could not but be owing to the policy pursued by Lord Normanby and Earl Fortedue. He thought that they had great merit in having succeeded in bringing about that change by the tone and temper of the Administration, which had so much tended to assuage the acerbity of party-feeling, and given its satisfactory tone and temper to the present debate. He trusted that the noble Lord now in office would pursue a similar course, and that he would overbear that likely resistance which he might encounter on the part of some of those persons by whom the Government was supported.

Sir ROBERT PEEL remarked upon the inconsistency of Mr. Shell's speech, preferring general charges, and his motion for papers in the case of a gentleman who had been restored to the Magistracy. He drew a more extended inference from Lord Palmerston's admission-

" I concur with the noble Lord opposite in reference to all countries, and particularly to Ireland, circumstanced as she is, that it is not sufficient that Justice should be purely administered, but that it is of the utmost importance to the comfort and peace and satisfaction of the people that there should be confidence on their part in the administration: of that justice, and that the administration of justice has lost the whole of its advantages unless it be accompanied with a conviction on the minds of those with respect to whom that administration is to take place that justice will be done. And when the noble Lord contrasted the tone of this with the tone of all former debates on Ireland, and considered it an indication of an abated animosity, I think it is a proof that my two noble friends, the Lord-Lieutenant and the Chief Secretary for Ireland, have not failed in their efforts. If so, I think the noble Lord had no right to draw a conclusion that my noble friends have not succeeded in their great object of restoring peace to Ireland." Lord Palmerston had spoken of Lord De Grey and Lord Eliot in terms which left Sir Robert Peel little to say : those two nominations he considered decided proofs of the mild and conciliatory course which Government intended to follow. He never imagined that he should select persons to fill the chief offices from among his political oppo- nents— "I never should have thought that gentlemen opposite would have been simple enough to believe that I should have resorted to the ranks of my op- panents—(" Hear I" avid laughter); but fearing that if I remained anent some such inference might be drawn I was determined to prevent it, and therefore, in the very speech referred to eoy the right honourable gentleman, I expressly said—' I think the Crown ought to act on the principles of law, (that is, the law which removed the disqualification of Roman Catholics,) and not to snake religious opinions interfere as a ground for disqualifying persons from the exercise of civil. functions.' It was quite true I said that; but, fearing that it might be misconstrued, I added= I claim for myself, however, the same right which you, my opponents, exercise and which every Government ought to exercise, that of preferring political supporters to offices of trust and im- portance, and which could not be usefully or properly filled without concur- rence in political opinions.'" Sir Robert briefly reviewed some of the appointments—that of Mr. Pennefather to be Chief Justice, a gentleman without any political in fiuence whatever; and of Mr. Lefroy : Sir Robert appealed to the House to say whether Mr. Lefroy ever showed any "violence"; Lord Wellesley had offered him a seat on the Bench, and that was the third offer that Mr. Lefroy had received- " For the noble Lord to read us these lessons," continued Sir Robert, amid repeated cheering from his own side, " as to the policy of avoiding polities in Judicial appointments, when he was a party in offering the appointment of the Chief Barony of the Exchequer to a gentleman who has taken that really vehement part in polities which Mr. O'Connell has done—for the noble Lord, having been a party to that transaction, to lavish this indignation upon us, who have proposed to Mr. Lefroy, one of the most eminent Equity lawyers of the bar, the office of a Puisne Baron in the same court—it does savour of that same assurance—that, I think, is a Parliamentary word—that enabled the noble Lord, with gravity of countenance, to congratulate us on the position he has secured to us in Afghanistan. It is a most remarkable thing, when a certain appointment is proposed, the way in which the merits of those who do not happen to be selected for the appointment are brought forward. Unless I am greatly mistaken, on the occasion of a rumour that an English lawyer was to be selected to fill the office of Lord Chancellor, I could show that moat vehement complaints were made that an Irishman was not selected for the office; and I think it was stated upon that side of the House, and upon high legal authority, that there could be no pretence for a Conservative Govern- ment sending an English lawyer to Ireland when they had so eminent a mem- ber of the bar in Ireland as Mr. Lefroy : that is to say, when Mr. Lefroy was not the object of the choice, but the intention was to disparage English lawyers, then Mr. Lefroy was not only discovered to be the most eminent Equity lawyer in either country, but the object was to place Mr. Lefroy in that very office which commanded the appointment of the whole of the Magma-

Sir Robert concluded by saying, that he did not think that any of these appointments were inconsistent with the principles which he had avowed when out of office.

On a division, Mr. Shell's motion was rejected, by 146 to 75. A determination being manifested on the Opposition side to compel an adjournment, the House only went into Committee pro forma ; and the Committee adjourned.

SUPPLY: MA.YNOOTH COLLEGE.

The Committee of Supply was resumed on Wednesday, and several votes were passed.

On the proposal of 8,9281. to defray the expenses of the Roman Ca- tholic College of Maynooth, Mr. PLumputz opposed the vote, and declared that he should divide the Committee upon it. Viscount CLE- MENTS advised Mr. Plumptre and his friends rather to look to the moral instruction of the Protestants in Ireland, than to find fault with the small grant made to religious opponents. .„Mr. Ilarzsom could not con- sent to endow a seminary the principles olAvhich are hostile to the in- stitutions of the country ; and he averred, that if any Roman Catholic priest in Ireland refuses to join in political agitation, he is instantly saddled with a curate from Maynooth, who most willingly joins in ex- citing the feelings of the parishioners. Mr. HAWES said that an argu- ment used by Mr. Plumptre, that Government could not call on Pro- testants to pay for the education of Catholics, would apply to the Scotch Presbyterian or the Dissenter : to be consistent, Mr. Plumptre should be a Voluntary. Night after night they voted sums of money for the religious education of the people of all creeds, in the Colonies, without the slightest objection ; and he was astonished at the spirit of opposi- tion manifested to this paltry vote for the education of Irish priests. Mr. COCHRANE said, that if the grant was good, they did not give half enough; but, as a Protestant, he could not support it. Sir G. SMYTH vindicated the assertion in a publication to which he was a party, that "immoral and beastly doctrines" were taught at Maynooth. To show the spirit of agrandizement and encroachment that actuates the Roman Catholic Church, he referred to the language of Mr. O'Connell at a re- cent public meeting, that he hoped and expected to see the day when mass would be said in Westminster Abbey. Surely, when he found such a feeling actuating the Catholics, he was justified in saying that the established religion of the country must be in danger. (Great laughter.) Mr. MONCKTON MELEES said, that particular passages picked out from Catullus and other authors, on Sir G. Smyth's plan, might be taken to condemn all classical education. He did not think that Government would do its duty by the pittance which they were shoat

to dole out ; and he asked whether it would be less dangerous to com- pel the Roman Catholic priests to seek education on the Continent ? Colonel VEntinn opposed the grant. It was supported by Lord Joce- LYN, on the ground that the custom of forty years had pledged Parlia- ment to it.

Lord ELIOT deeply regretted the discussion, especially as it partook of the nature of theological controversy. He defended the grant on two grounds, expediency and obligation—

He was inclined to recommend the grant on the ground of expediency, on account of the impropriety of this country's allowing a large portion of the

Irish people to be without the means of procuring education or religious in- struction. Although they could not but believe that doctrines were taught at Maynooth to which, as conscientious members of the Established Church, they ' could not agree yet it was better that some superstitious or unsound notions should be inculcated than that the great bulk of the Irish people should be

prevented from embracing the only means which they would adopt of becoming acquainted with the great fundamental truths of Christianity. With respect to the alleged pruriency of passages in class-books used at Maynooth, it should

be recollected that they should not judge of a general system by detached por- tions; and he believed it would be as unfair and unreasonable to attack the general system on account of these alleged evils, as it would be to decry the moral tendency of medical education on account of certain passages in anato- mical books or anatomical drawings. He must say, too, that he thought that these passages would have remained in darkness and obscurity had they not been raked up for particular purposes. He believed that no people were cha- racterized by greater purity of morals than the people who dwelt in those dis- tricts where the priests were in the habit of instituting those inquiries to which an honourable gentleman had taken such exception. Mr. O'CONNELL said, that if he were at liberty, after the speeches which were made, to vote against this grant to blaynooth, he certainly should do so, because in his opinion no set of Christians ought to pay for the religion of another; and if the rule applied to the Catholics, it was equally good for the Protestants. Besides, it was a paltry, a miserable grant, and was made the vehicle of every species of outrageous slander against the cherished priesthood of the Irish people. Mr. O'Connell made some animadversions on the intolerance of Colonel Verner and Mr. Bateson ; which caused Mr. BATESON to retaliate in some sharp language : he said that he had not been brought up to become "a cowardly blusterer" or a" mendicant hypocrite, &c. &e."

On a division, the grant was affirmed, by 95 to 48. Some other votes were passed ; and the House resumed.

BONDED CORN,

Mr. GLADSTONE, on Wednesday, moved the second reading of the "Bonded Corn (No. 2) Bill." He introduced the motion with a state- ment— At the instance of the honourable Member for Hull, the question of the pro- priety and expediency of permitting foreign corn in bond to be taken out and ground into flour for the purpose of exportation had been referred to a Com- mittee, several of the members of which were distinguished for their zeal in behalf of the agricultural interest; and the Committee came to an unanimous resolution recommending a measure of the nature of that now before the House. He regretted that, some four or five years ago, he had voted against a bill having s similar object in view, though it sought to effect it by means which were more liable to objection. The object of that bill, as it was of the present, was to permit parties to grind foreign corn, under the lock of the Crown, into flour, for the purpose of exportation. When he came to examine the subject, upon acceding to office, he soon became convinced, before the appointment of the Committee on the subject, that the view which be had formerly taken of the subject was erroneous, and that the arrangement which it was the object of the present bill to effect might be made without injury to the producing in- terests in this country, but at the same time with the most beneficial result as regarded commerce by the great extension of trade which it would cause in particular branches. As regarded the present measure, the credit of it belonged entirely to the honourable -Member for Gateshead. The objection which had always been urged against the measure, and one to which he formerly attached considerable weight, was that it would open the door to a fraudulent evasion of the Corn-laws. He found, however, that the plan sought to be established by the bill had been adopted in France without any evil resulting from it, although in France the importation of foreign corn was regulated on the same principles as it was in this country. During the last ten years nearly 300,000 hundred- weight of flour had been manufactured in France and exported. The present measure would give our millers and shipowners access to the flour-markets of the world, and he had no doubt that they would soon carry on a more exten- sive trade in that article than the French did. The persons who were asking for an alteration of the law were persons of substance and respectability, who were desirous of carrying on a bona fide trade : and even if as much corn as the whole amount ground in France 100,000 quarters, were surreptitiously intro- duced into this country, it would be but the two-hundredth part of the con- sumption of the country ; too hisignificant to be worth consideration. He proposed to make three alterations in the bill,—to limit its duration to three years ; to permit the entrance for home consumption of corn ground in bond, at the current rate of duty ; and to mitigate the penalties imposed in cases where the flour should not be of the precise quality contemplated by the bill.

Colonel RUSHDROOKE said that the agricultural interests would be seriously injured by the measure, for no precautions could give security against fraud ; and he moved that the bill be read a second time that day three mouths. Mr. TROTTER said that none of the objections against the measure had been removed since Mr. Gladstone voted against it. Mr. GEORGE Per.srEa predicted, that if the bill passed, every ounce of biscuit or flour consumed on board of any ship would be entered as for exporta- tion; and the certificate would then be sold to enable persons to intro- duce a corresponding amount of wheat into this country. Mr. Hurr said that the bill would bring a large addition to the trade of the coun- try; a trade now monopolized by Austria, Belgium, America, and other foreign states. The fraud apprehended would render no pecuniary return, and therefore there would be no chance of it. Mr. Giu. sup- ported the bill. Viscount PALMERSTON regretted that the principle of opening new sources to the commerce of the country was not carried further. Mr. DARBY deprecated entering into the general question.

Mr. ROEBUCK rose amid loud cries of " Oh, oh ! "and "Divide ! "which led him to advise those who were anxious to stop the debate for the sake of their dinners, to go away at once. (It was then seven o'clock.) The "fraud" alleged against the bill meant that it might afford means of introducing bread to a starving people. On the other hand, all Mr. Gladstone's arguments went to show the advantage of a free trade in corn. He reproached the agricultural Members with starting up to oppose even so small a proposition as that wheat should be substituted in bond for an equal quantity of flour or biscuit.

Sir THOMAS DYKE ACLAND thought, that if Mr. Roebuck would de- vote one moment to a dispassionate consideration of the subject, instead of indulging the desire of making an inopportune speech, he would not remain of the opinion to which he had given utterance, that the object of the country gentlemen was to raise rents. Mr. HOME entirely con- curred with Mr. Roebuck. Colonel SIBTHORP would not waste the valuable time of the House by replying to Mr. Roebuck's "con- temptible" speech. The grapes were sour : if Mr. Roebuck and Mr. Hume could get a few of the acres possessed by the tenants of those whom they so grossly misrepresented, the treatment of the tenants would be very different.

The motion was carried, by 116 to 29 ; and the bill was read a se- cond time.

CORN-LAWS.

The debates on the Corn-laws were revived, on Thursday, with a motion by Mr. THOMAS DUNCOMBE. He implied that Ministers had endeavoured to prevent the assembling of the House : Sir Edward Knatchbull certainly entered after there were thirty-six Members on the Opposition side. To rebut the charge of obstructing the public business, he called to mind that in the last session of the last Parlia- ment the Tory Opposition had protracted the debate on the proposal to reduce the Sugar-duties, for eight nights, and the No-Confidence debate for five. He would not enter into the details of the distress or the subject of the Corn-law : his object was to warn the House and Govern- ment, and more particularly the country gentlemen in the House, of the danger which he believed to beset them and their properties at that moment— He believed that, great as the alarm in the country was, if any one thing more than another increased that alarm in the minds of reflecting men, it was the total apathy and indifference shown by the great majority of that House to the distresses of the people. What were they about to do? To separate, at a moment when the peace and tranquillity of the country were not, as he believed, worth forty-eight hours' purchase. They were about to separate, as if peace and plenty and contentment reigned over the land; whereas, if they knew any thing of the real state of affairs, they ought to know that the state of the country was diametrically the reverse. What had happened at the commence- ment of the present session ? At the opening of Parliament, the House was told in her Majesty's Speech that the privations of the people had been great, and had been borne with the utmost patience and fortitude. Had those priva- tions been in the least degree mitigated, abated, or diminished. Had they not, on the contrary, increased greatly; and were they not, on the contrary, increas- ing still ? Yet what had they done ? They had refused the motion of the Member for Greenock, for inquiry into the distress ; the motion of the Member for Aberdeen, who desired to give them the opportunity of opening the ports; and they scouted the motion of the Member for Wolverhampton, for a Com- mittee on the Corn-laws. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, " Leave things alone." The plain fact was, that the distress of the country occupied the minds of those gentlemen not at all. Their thought was of Downing Street ; and now they were seated there, he wanted to know what they were going to do ?

The Premier relied upon the people to maintain order, out of their respect for the power of the law : Mr. buncombe would read a report on that subject from one of those much-maligned people the Chartists— In consequence of there being an outbreak in a manufacturing-district near Birmingham, a person was sent down there by the Council of the Chartists to dissuade the people from committing any outrage. He did so far succeed ; and his report was worthy the attention of the House. It was as follows—" The peaceful conduct of the people is not, as Sir Robert Peel declared, to be at- tributed to their respect for or fear of the law '; for these people generally be- lieve existing laws and the present legislature to be extremely bad. But their quietude is solely attributable to the hope they have hitherto entertained, that a peaceful change would ere long be effected. Yet the recent votes of the House of Commons have greatly diminished this hope, and the suffering people are now falling into despair ; and a murmur runs among them that 'they must help themselves.' * • Serious assaults upon property have been medi- tated, and only repressed by the efforts of those too often in scorn styled the Physical Force Chartists. The people scoff at the Queen's charity-letter, and, say they need justice, not charity." The stockingrnasters of Loughborough had been frightened from a reduction of wages by the assembled men; and they said that the Income-tax had driven them to it.

Mr. buncombe quoted the statement of Mr. Holland Hoole, at the Anti-Corn-law Conference, that the state of Manchester was rapidly growing worse, and that the Magistrates apprehended an outbreak in the manufacturing-districts during the winter. He read an extract from the Mark Lane Express, saying that the thinness of the wheat upon the ground may be compensated by fulness of ear, but that no material fall of price can be anticipated. And even if the home harvest were good, what impulse would that give, asked Mr. buncombe, to our foreign trade and the employment of the working classes? He con- cluded by moving, that an humble address be presented to the Queen-

" To represent to her Majesty, that the distress in the manufacturing-dis- tricts, to which her Majesty was pleased to allude in her Majesty's most gracious Speech at the commencement of the present session, ' as having been borne with exemplary patience and fortitude,' continues unabated; and that the sufferings and privations resulting therefrom are rapidly extending from the working to the middle classes of society; that none of the measures hitherto proposed by her Majesty's Government to Parliament, however just the principles upon which some of them have been founded, appear adequate to afford a timely and sufficient remedy for these great and pressing evils "; and recommending that, unless an improvement take place, Parliament shall be called together again at an early period, " with a view of giving fuller effect to those sound principles of commerce which, if fairly and impartially carried out, more especially as regards the food of the people, would, by giving an im- pulse to trade and industry, avert those calamities which the inclemency of winter, superadded to want and destitution, must inevitably produce."

Mr. WARD seconded the motion, with illustrative facts from Sheffield, where 1,500 heads of families are out of employment and dependent on parochial relief. Mr. DISRAELI opposed the motion ; and entered into a long retrospect to show that the "anti-commercial diplomacy" of former Ministries, and especially the neglect of the late Ministers to conclude the commercial treaties with France and other countries, was the real cause of the distress. Mr. EWART contended that the adoption of perfect free trade was the only thing to enable this country to sustain the struggle with the great commercial confederacies against it among foreign countries. Mr. RICARDO referred to scenes of disturbance and pillage by the starving poor in the Potteries ; averring that the Income- tax must press heavily on the working classes. Sir JAMES GRAHAM at- tributed the disturbance in the Potteries to the breach of custom by an employer, who had made a reduction in the wages of the colliers whom he employed without giving a fortnight's notice. As to the high price of corn' within the last few weeks it had fallen 5s. a quarter at Mark Lane. Mr. Ricardo attributed the distress to the Income-tax—a mea- sure not yet in operation ! It is the duty of Ministers to advise the Queen as to the assembling of Parliament ; and therefore Sir James would resist the motion as superfluous and inconsistent with constitu- tional privileges. Mr. HAWES supported the motion with general argu- ments against the Corn-law ; threatening Ministers that the discussion would not cease even with the prorogation, but would be continued at public meetings. Mr. MARK Pamirs declared that the wish of those who desired manufacturing-places to be blotted from the surface of the country would be realized if things went on as they did : by Christ- mas many manufacturers would be unable to pay wages. The motion was also supported by Mr. JOHN PARKER and Mr. THORNELY.

Sir ROBERT PEEL could not reconcile a "just panegyric" which Mr. Thornely had pronounced upon himself for supporting the Tariff, with declarations made in the course of the debate that Ministers had done nothing whatever to remedy the distress prevailing in he country- The Income-tax was rendered necessary by the deficiency in the reve- nue.

With respect to the Tariff, which was regarded in very different lights now and when it was under consideration-

" I perfectly well understood the object of the many questions that were put to me at that time on the subject of the proposed measure. One honourable Member asked me whether I meant to propose to reduce the duty on salmon ; another honourable Member expressed his opinion that hops would remain un- touched; while another asked me whether 1 meant to touch cattle and foreign meat. Now, the whole tenour of those questions was to imply, that in the pro- posed Tariff it was the intention of the Government to defer to powerful in- terests, and that it bad not the courage, in the discharge of its duty to the country, to risk any dissatisfaction on the part of its own supporters ; of whom I must say that, although they did express some dissatisfaction, yet on the whole they gave the measure theirgeneral support. (An ironical cheer from the Opposition.) I am bound to say, at the same time, that I should have considered the permanent deprivation of their support as a great mibfortune. I look, however, to what has been effected by the Tariff. You may affect to disparage it now ; but when, in any session of Parliament, was there ever so great a relaxation of protecting-duties on articles of commerce as has been effected during the present ? We declared that we did not think that measure could tend immediately to mitigate the existing distress. We said that those principles, although admitted to be good, yet, if applied hastily and precipitately to the multifarious and complicated commercial relations of this country, would only increase the distress by creating it in other quarters." Sir Robert thought that a more desponding tone was taken than the circumstances of the country warranted. The number of uninhabited houses had been mentioned; but in thirty-four out of forty English counties there had been an increase per cent in the number of inhabited houses as compared with the population, and in only the remaining six a decrease. Mr. Philips had complained that Sir Robert declined to see a deputation of Manchester shopkeepers- " I can enure the honourable Member, that it was with great regret that I declined to see them ; but at the same time it is absolutely necessary to place some restriction upon the employment of time. I do endeavour to devote all tbe time I possibly can to the public service. (A cheer from all parts of the House.) Nine hours at least during the Bitting of Parliament are required for attendance in this House. The applications from deputations are very numerous ; and on the other hand, there are public duties required of a Minister out of the walls of Parliament, of a most onerous and important nature. There- fore, the representatives or deputations of the people must not attribute it to disrespect, or to any indifference to the sufferings of those whom they represent, if, when they seek interviews, it is utterly impossible for public men to recon- cile the performance of their duties in this House and elsewhere with the gene- ral reception of all deputations that may apply to them for audience. I must ray, too, that in deputations there is rather a disposition to forget the objects with which the interview is originally accorded ; and that, instead of confining them- selves to the statement of useful facts, they are apt to avail themselves of those in- terviews as affording opportunities for oratorical display. (A laugh.) To simple statements of facts I am always disposed to listen with patience, but of mere declamation we all hear so much in the House of Commons, that gentlemen must not be surprised if I sometimes am disposed to turn rather an unwilling ear to it when coming from those (I speak it not in disrespect of either their powers or intentions) who are somewhat disposed to abuse the pri- vilege of a deputation, to travel from the facts of the case and to indulge in oratorical displays. 1 repeat, that I have not, personally, the least disinclina- tion to hear gentlemen coming to me in that capacity ; but 1 must entreat them to remember that the time of a public man is public property." (Cheers.) Sir Robert returned to his argument to show that too despairing a tone had been taken- " The honourable Member, (Mr. Philips,) pursuing that course of disparaging the Tariff to which I have already referred, says= You have reduced the duty on coffee, to be sure; but of what use is it to reduce the duty on coffee unless you reduce that on sugar also?' Notwithstanding there has been no reduction of the duty on sugar ; the quantity of sugar consumed in the year 1842 as com- pared with the year 1841 has much increased. I hope that the honourable gentleman will see in that fact a reason why he should not altogether despair of an increase in the consumption of coffee. The quantity of sugar consumed up to the 6th of April 1841, from the same period in the preceding year, was 3,516,000 hundredweight ; whilst the quantity consumed up to the same period in the year 1842 was 3,998,000 hundredweight, being an increase of 482,000 hundredweight in the latter year. When such an increase takes place, even whilst the amount of duty continued the same as it had been in the preceding year, it is in some degree an evidence that the distress which is admitted to exist in the country has been overrated. Now with respect to the increase of shipping in the port of London : it appears from the report of the St. Katharine's Dock Company, that, comparing periods of six months in 1841 and 1842, the increase of vessels in the port amounted to 140 ships, and that the amount of tonnage was in a corresponding proportion. It used to be said that foreign ships came in with corn, and it might be urged that such was the case in the present instance; but I can state from the returns that the fact is otherwise. Of the 200 vessels which came into the port of London during the six months to which I have referred, 60 were foreign vessels, and the remaining 140 were British. Without denying, therefore, the existence of distress—which would by no means he understood to do—I do contend, that when we see such an increase in an article of general consumption without any reduction of the duty in the article having taken place, and when we see such an increase of ships and tonnage in the port of London, we ought not to endeavour to make it appear to foreign nations, or to impress upon our own people at home, that the prospects of the country are so gloomy as some honourable gentlemen would have us to conceive."

Sir Robert quoted newspaper articles to show that there are symp- toms of reviving trade ; the City article of Thursday's Globe, and the Manchester Guardian, both Whig papers. He cited Mr. M.`Culloch's authority to justify his belief that much corn cannot be expected from America. He could not consent to Mr. Duncombe's motion-

" The motion is rather a long one in terms, but when the sense of it is ex- tracted it comes to neither more nor less than this—a pledge on the part of the House to repeal the Corn-laws at an early period of the next session. Now, in the first place, on constitutional grounds, I think the House ought to exercise with great caution the power which it unquestionably possesses of addressing the Crown to summon Parliament. If indeed her Majesty's Government had lost the confidence of Parliament, I could perfectly understand the object of an address to her Majesty to take that course. But Parliament has not ma- nifested a disposition to withdraw its confidence from her Majesty's present ad- visers. The Government is responsible for the advice it gives to the Crown with respect to the exercise of this prerogative as well as any other. If the circumstances of the country should, in the opinion of Parliament, require that it should be called together at a particular period, Parliament would have a per- fect right to question the conduct of the Government in abstaining from giving that advice. Her Majesty's Government ought to summon Parliament if they believe that that step would mitigate the distress. I give no assurances, no pledge upon that subject ; but I have no hesitation in saying, that I should think H a dereliction of my public duty as a Minister, if, foreseeing that the summon- ing of Parliament would mitigate the distress of the country, I refrained from giving advice to the Crown to do so. But can you carry it further than that? Leave the responsibility to the Executive Government if they fail to do that

which is right, then question their acts ; but I think it would be inexpedient that Parliament should share with the Executive Government the responsibility of exercising a prerogative of that nature."

If carried, the motion might even act as an impediment to the relief which was anticipated from the free importation of corn-

" The duty is now at 8s., and there may be a prospect of its rising in conse- quence of the decrease in the price of corn. At present, therefore, there is an inducement to bring corn out of bond for the purpose of introducing it into home consumption. But if the holders of this corn think it probable that Parliament will interfere and permit corn to be introduced at a duty of 4s. or 2s., or without any duty at all, is it probable that any man will subject himself to the loss of the 8s. duty by taking out his corn now ?"

On these combined grounds—the danger of exciting commercial dis- turbance by exciting false hopes, and undue interference with the pre- rogative, unusual except under special and peculiar circumstances—he offered his opposition to the motion.

Viscount PALMERSTON twitted the Ministerial Members with their silence : it is an old saying, that " when people have nothing to say, they say nothing." Mr. Disraeli's speech was scarcely an exception, because it turned all upon foreign affairs—upon complaints that the di- plomacy of the country had been " anti-commercial," and that the tariff had not been settled at the Congress of Vienna. Lord Palmerston almost expected that he would have attributed the distress of the country to the Consuls ; but he was glad to find that it was all imputed to himself. The country has at presept thirty-three commercial treaties, of one sort or another ; whereof fifteen had been concluded by the late Govern- ment. Lord Palmerston vindicated the conduct of his own party in respect to the Tariff, appealing to the votes ; and then he recurred to old arguments about the deficiency, the Income-tax, and the India revenue.

Lord Palmerston predicted,'that if Parliament did not assemble before November, Government would then have let out the bonded corn. (An emphatic "Hear, hear !" from Sir Robert Peel.) The right honourable Baronet seemed to think that that would be sufficient to prevent, not famine, for famine did not exist, but a want of employment : and really could the House agree with him ? Mr. Gladstone had laid down the true principle, in recommending the measure to exchange flour for biscuit : he said that it would promote the trade between this country and corn-growing countries, and that that would be not a temporary but a permanent advantage- " That is the principle which all along we have maintained, not against bril- liant oratorical displays, but against silent and unwilling hearers—hearers whom we have not convinced—(Ironical cheers)—and whom we never shall con- vince—(Loud Opposition cheers)—but who may be convinced, when the same doctrines are not only preached by those whom they respect and follow, but when they are propounded by their leaders to the House, and when those leaders, going out into the lobby and followed by their nominal opponents, will triumph over their own supporters by the honourable and independent assistance of their political enemies." (Loud cheering.) Mr. HUME here moved the adjournment of the debate ; which Sir ROBERT PEEL resisted. Mr. MILNER Ginsow gave notice, that if the debate were not adjourned, he should raise the question again on going into Committee of Supply. After a few words from Mr. COBDEN and Mr. STANSFIELD in support of the motion, the House divided; and it was rejected by 147 to 91.

POOR-LAW.

In moving the order of the day for the Committee on the Poor-law Amendment Bill, in the House of Commons, on Tuesday, Sir JAMES GRAHAM explained how the measure stood.

The first clause, which continued the Commission for five years, had been carried. The four next clauses remained for consideration; they comprised the questions, what should be the number of the Assistant Poor-law Commis- sioners, the power of the Commissioners with respect to the issue of general orders, the regulations under which rules and orders should be issued in eases of urgency, and—what was a matter of comparative unimportance—the forms in which notices should be served. It was not his intention at this period of the session to press any of the clauses immediately following the 5th, more especially as to the Gilbert Unions and the formation of districts for the pur- poses of education. Two or three, however, he should press on the considera- tion of the House ; among them the 23d, which gave the Guardians power to provide work for casual poor in the workhouses. The 'practice had grown up of looking on these houses as houses of hostelry or of call, where a night's lodg- ing might be procured; and it often happened that persons applying under such an impression, not only destroyed the furniture but their own clothes, and rendered it necessary in the morning to give them new clothes at the cost of the Union, or to detain them for a longer period. The 23d clause rendered such conduct a misdemeanour, and gave the power of exacting a twenty-four hours' task for a night's lodging. During the recess, Government would consider the several enactments of the bill, and at the very commencement of the next session would reintroduce them in a new bill,together with any fresh provisions which on inquiry might appear to be called for.

Sir James urged Members not to press amendments of which they had given notice.

Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD, however, persevered with one. The Irish Poor-law differs from the English in that it gives the Commis- sioners no power to order out-door relief: but in some parts of Ireland there are no workhouses, and in others the workhouses are too small to admit all the applicants for relief. The Cork Board of Guardians had petitioned to have the power of a voluntary assessment for out-door re- lief. The consequence of passing the Poor-law has been to prevent the exercise of charity in Ireland as heretofore, without providing an equi- valent for the poor. He moved that it be an instruction to the Com- mittee, that the Commissioners should be empowered to order out-door relief on the terms of the labour-test. The motion was negatived, by 112 to 11.

Mr. Joni.; FIELDER interposed another amendment, three resolutions for appointing a Select Committee to inquire whether "a rise of wages" and "increased content of the labourers and diminution of crime," which were specifically promised as consequences of the New Poor-law in the Commissioners' Report of 1834, bad been realized; and whether

the rise had been equivalent to the parish-assistance afforded to the la-

bourer before the passing of the act ? The motion was seconded by General JOHNSON; barely supported by Mr. Giumsorren, Mr. ?tam- ONDY, Mr. &COTT, and Mr. REDHEAD YORKE ; and more sturdily by Captain PECHELL. Sir JAMES GRAHAM referred to the many Committees that had been appointed; and observed that there was no want of in- quiry or experience on the subject. The measure had delivered the

working classes in a great measure from the workhouses and gravel- pits ; and he was assured that in the rural districts it had operated most favourably on the rate of wages. The amendment was rejected, by 125 to 8.

Clause 28 gave rise to a discussion on the mode of conducting inquiry into cases of complaint against the local administration. Sir ROBERT PEEL said that the appointment of the persons to conduct the inquiry would rest with the Commissioners ; but it would be made after a con- ference with the Secretary of State, and he would in fact be responsible. On a division, the clause was affirmed, by 59 to 9.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM agreed to postpone clause 5th till next session. On clause 23d, which has been already explained, Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD • divided the House : it was affirmed, by 84 to 8. Mr. DARBY introduced a clause to prevent the Commissioners from exercising jurisdiction in places under local acts, except with the consent of two-thirds of the

• Guardians : it was rejected, by 91 to 42. The other clauses having been disposed of, according to the-plan proposed by Sir James Graham, and the preamble agreed to, the House resumed.

When the report was brought up, on Wednesday, Mr. Escorr pro- posed a clause providing, "That it shall be lawful for all Boards of • Guardians of the poor in England and Wales to grant such relief as in

their judgment shall be necessary to poor persons at their own homes, any order, rule, or regulation of the Poor law Commissioners notwith- standing." He made some general remarks against the Poor-law ; disputing the right of Parliament to establish a Commission and dele- gate to it legislative powers. In the agricultural district in which he lived, the prohibitory order had been productive of the very worst con- .sequences— He knew of whole parishes in which the "able-bodied" men had ceased to be able-bodied in consequence of the operation of the order prohibiting out-of- -door relief. The law said to the able-bodied man, that he could get no relief unless he entered the workhouse ; and the result was, that he preferred toiling on at reduced wages to leaving his wife and family and entering the workhouse. But the law had quite a contrary effect on the idle and dissolute labourer, who scrupled not to leave his wife and family for the workhouse, where he got fat- tened in idleness.

He admitted that his amendment would lead to the payment of wages

out of the rates : but which was the greater evil, to pay a small sum to keep the labourer out of "the house,' or a larger sum to maintain him in it ? in many cases, where it would take 25s. to maintain a family in the house, assistance to the amount of 2s. 6d. or 3s. would keep them out.

Sir Itlams Gassrasi declared the clause equivalent to a repeal of the statute of 1834, and totally at variance with the bill on which its was proposed to graft it. Nor are the Guardians without a discretionary power— There was a general order which gave to the Board of Guardians the largest possible discretion ; and even the prohibitory order also gave a large dis- cretionary power with respect to affording relief to the able-bodied. They were • empowered to give relief either in or out of the workhouse, in money or food, in clothes or in medicine, to all able-bodied paupers in the case of sickness, either of the head of the family or of any member of it, or in any case in which the necessity of relief was certain and urgent. He defined the principle of the Poor-law to be, the local administra- tion of relief controlled by the authority of a central administration. Mr. Escott seemed to think that the workhouse system was rigidly

• -enforced : how stood the facts ?—

, In 1839, there were 1,137,000 relieved: of these, 140,000 were relieved in the workhouse, and 997,000 received relief out of the workhouse. In 1840, the total number of persons relieved was 1,199,000: of these, 169,000 were relieved in the workhouse, and 1,030,000 out of it. In 1841, the number of persons relieved was 1,300,000: of that number there were relieved in the workhouse 192,000, while those relieved out of it were 1,108,000. Then with respect to the relative expense of those relieved in the workhouse and those relieved out -of it, the total sum paid for the maintenance of the poor in 1840, in England and Wales, was 3,739,000/.; 808,000/. was expended for relief within the workhouse, and no less than 2,931,000/. was given to the poor at their own homes. So again in the year 1841: the gross sum expended was 3,884,6001.; of this sum 892,0001. was expended for relief in the workhouse, and no less a , sum than 2,992,000/. was distributed in England and Wales among the poor, , not in the workhouses, but at their own homes.

Mr. Escou had admitted that his clause would bring about a return

• to the payment of wages out of the Poor-rates- What was that system of paying wages out of the rates, but the exaction of a sum of money from the rate-payers by the employers of labourers to pay for labour from which the rate-payers derived no benefit. He could not conceive a system, if they viewed it only in the light of abstract justice, more iniquitous,

• more intolerable, or more indefensible as related to the rate-payers ; while as it related to the labourers themselves, he knew of nothing more calculated to in- jure them in their character for independence and moral bearing. The motion was supported by Mr. FIELDER, Mr. O'Cosaism, Mr.

• HARDY, Mr. AGLIONBY, Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD, and General JOHN- sox. Mr. WARD asked whether it was fair that money contributed by ' shopkeepers and others should be applied to eke out the insufficient - wages of farmers ? Mr. HUME objected to the motion, that it would

create as many different modes of payment as there were Boards of Guardians.

When the House was cleared for a division, Mr. 'Cram= walked

out, closely followed by Sir THOMAS FREMANTLE, amid the ironical cheers of Members on both sides. Mr. Escott's motion was negatived, by 90 to 55. Some verbal amendments were made, and the bill was ordered to be engrossed ; to be read a third time on Friday.

LAW REFORMS.

The LORD CHANCELLOR called upon the House of Peers, on Monday, to proceed with the Bankruptcy Law Amendment Bill, the County Courts (England) Bill, and the Lunacy Bill ; three measures which he had introduced and desired to discuss together. He paid a compliment to the improvements which Lord Brougham had made in the Bank- , ruptcy laws— That system however, excellent as it was, comprised within its jurisdiction • only a circuit Of forty miles round London. He proposed to extend the Me- tropolitan district to a hundred miles round London ; which would add a fifth to the business of the Commissioners without inconvenience to them. For the country it was proposed to appoint Commissioners at five central points, in five great towns beyond the London district, vested with the same power which was at present reposed in the London Commissioners. They would perform the same quantity of duty now performed by the London Commissioners having a similar range and a similar jurisdiction. The course with the law of Lunacy was somewhat similar— The law of Lunacy was administered like that of Bankruptcy ; the London Commissioners having jurisdiction for twenty miles round the Metropolis, and the country Commissions being, like those of Bankruptcy, directed to persons of little or no experience, though the inquiries were of the nicest and most de- licate character. He proposed that two Commissioners should be appointed for the purpose of executing all those Commissions, not only in the Metropo- litan districts, but throughout the country. From an examination into details, to which he need not advert, he was satisfied that those two Commisioners would be amply sufficient for discharging those and other important duties connected with Lunacy. The payment of Commissioners by fees would be abolished; it tends to prolong the inquiry and increase the expense : in one case, for instance, the expense of examining into the lunacy of a person whose income is 19/. 10s. had amounted to 2,1041. ; and in another case, the Committee died, and it was necessary to appoint another. The Commissioners will be added to the visiters at present appointed to inspect the condision of lunatics. They will be taken from among the highest members of the bar.

Lord Lyndhurst objected to any sweeping change of the existing County Courts: his measure went merely to extend their jurisdiction

County Courts were a part of our ancient system of judicature. They were

presided over b7 the County Clerk, whose jurisdiction extended to 40s. They might be held in any part of the county. If he appointed a particular place, and gave them a jurisdiction to the extent of 54 and appointed persons of re- spectability and learning to preside over them, as he proposed to do by this bill, he thought he did not innovate upon this ancient institution. He pro- posed further, that for the recovery of debts to the amount of 204 persona should be appointed Judges of these Courts, who should not reside in the pro- vinces where they administered the law, but that they should make circuits, like the Judges of the land, into the provinces with which they were not ac- quaiuted, and where they had no local connexions or prejudices. Be proposed that there should be six or eight circuits a year, to be made by barristers of a certain standing, to be appointed by the Crown; who should return to the Me- tropolis after the circuits, where they could mix with their colleagues in the profession, and thus there would be a security for the uniformity of the law they administered. Her Majesty in Council would appoint the times and the places for holding these Courts.

Lord Cerrresmare observed, that sixty out of the seventy clauses of the County Courts Bill had been copied from his measure ; but he condemned the omissions in the present measures, and especially the omission of any amendment of the law of Insolvency. Lord Baouanme admitted that the measures were useful, though they fell short of the exigency. Lord WYNFORD approved of them ; and Lord CAMPBELL, approving of them in parts, regarded the omissions as so important that he could not support the bills as a whole.

They were read a second time, and ordered to be committed en Friday.

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE ROYAL ASSENT was given by commission, on Saturday, to the Protection of the Queen's Person Bill, the British Possessions Abroad Bill, the Stock in Trade Exemption Bill, the Indemnity of Witnesses (Sudbury) Bill, the London Bridge Approaches Bill, and several pri- vate bills. Lord Baoucmsie added a proviso to the Protection of the Queen's Person Bill, that nothing in it should be taken to alter the law of high treason ; and Lord CAMPBELL, a clause declaring it a high misdemeanour tcr exhibit or have in possession near the Queen's person any weapon with intent to injure or alarm her.

DISFRANCHISEMENT OF SUDBURY. Mr. LEADER moved, On Monday, that Mr. Roebuck be allowed by the House to appear as counsel at the bar of the House of Lords in support of the Sudbury Disfranchisement Bill.—Ordered.

CHURCH-EXTENSION. In reply to Mr. HAwss, on Monday, Sir ROBERT PEEL stated, that he should pursue the same coarse with re- spect to the motion of Sir Robert Inglis for a Committee on Church- extension which he had taken last year, when out of office. Notice of this motion had been given now, as it was then, without consultation. He should vote for the Committee to consider of the expediency of addressing the Crown ; but he reserved to himself the right of forming his own opinion as to the form of the address to be presented. If Sir Robert Inglis persevered in bringing forward the motion, the subject should have his full consideration ; but he could not hold out the least prospect that he should be able this session either to bring forward any measure or to support any grant of public money. Sir ROBERT Limas said, that after what had fallen from his right honourable friend, he thought he should best consult the great interest he advocated if he consented to leave the matter as it stood, in the hands of Government.

IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. Lord Corrermax gave notice, on Tues- day, that early next session he would lay upon the table of the House of Lords a bill to abolish imprisonment for debt, and to provide for the granting a cessio bonorum without previous imprisonment.

STADE-DUTIES. Sir ROBERT PEEL remarked, On Thursday, that Mr. Hutt had a motion on the Notice-paper for correspondence between the British Government and the Government of Hanover, relative to the Stade-duties : he hoped the motion would not be pressed, as he could make no reply to any statement on the subject consistently with the public interests. Mr. Hurr said, that be could not withdraw his motion and he called upon' Sir Robert for some statement respecting the Stade-duties. Sir ROBERT PEEL said, that the state of pending negotiations with Hanover made it incumbent on him to keep unbroken silence on the subject, whatever constructions mifht be put upon that silence. Mr. Hurr had understood that the negotiations were proceed- ing on a basis inconsistent with the declarations of Ministers and with the rights and honour of Great Britain- " Before Parliament is again assembled, it is probable that the treaty now in contemplation with Hanover will have been formally concluded.• Remon- strance will then be too late. I can only say, that if negotiations with Hanover be concluded on the present footing—if this plain question be disposed of on a principle of compromise, that the right honourable Baronet will have taken a part fatal to the reputation of his Government, and most injurious to the inte- rests and honour of his country. I shall say no more." (Cheers.) THE ELECTION ComBurrmes.

Mr. ROEBUCK brought up, on Monday, the report of the Select Com- mittee on Election Proceedings ; and stated, in answer to Sir ROBERT Nous, that it would be printed by the end of the week. Mr. ROEBUCK gave notice, on Wednesday, that on Thursday the 28th he should move a series of resolutions founded on the Report of the Committee. He should not now state what those resolutions were, because the Members had not as yet had time to read the report ; but he should take an opportunity to state them before he brought them under the consideration of the House.

The Committee on the petition against the return of Mr. John Quincey Harris for Newcastle-under-Lyme began their business on Thursday. The allegation is, that Mr. Harris was disqualified, as he had been declared by a Parliamentary Committee guilty of bribery and treating by his agents. The Committee on the Ipswich petition against the return of Ear- Desert and Mr. Thomas Gladstone met on the same day. The petit tioners allege bribery and treating ; and pray that the election may be declared null and void.