METROPOLIS IMPROVEMENTS BILL.] The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved the third reading of this bill. Mr. Hawes objected that the title of the bill was not accurate, as it excluded Lambeth, which was part of the metropolis, and the inhabitants paid their proportion to the coal duties. He did not wish for any specific improvement, but he suggested, that the Commissioners of Woods and Forests should have power, if they should think fit on a survey, to apply a portion of funds in their hands to the improvement of Lambeth. He would, therefore, move, that certain words should be added to the preamble. Southwood Smith, as to the health of the metropolis, and from that report, it appeared, that out of a population of 851,229 persons in the twenty unions of the metropolis, there were 5,692 cases of typhus fever, or six-tenths, more than one-half per cent. of the population; whilst in the Whitechapel union, one of the twenty unions, where the population was 64,000, there were 1,505 cases of typhus fever, or five times more than the proportion of the other unions. And all this was traced principally to the want of drains. He trusted, therefore, that the inhabitants of the metropolis would consent to such light taxation as would effect this great object. Mr. Alderman Humphery wished, that the hon. Gentleman had referred to Dr. Smith's report as to Lambeth; if he had, he would have found as great evil from fever; and he did think that the preamble should be enlarged, for a street might be made on the Southwark side of the river, from Westminster-bridge to Londonbridge, for less than 50,000l. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, he should object to the proposed amendment. In the first place, the bill before the House was not for the purpose of effecting the contemplated improvements, but only for the purpose of giving to the commissioners of Woods and Forests the means of ascertaining, during the recess, what would be the expense of completing those improvements, and it would be for Parliament to determine next year whether those improvements ought or ought not to take place. The present bill had been unanimously recommended by the committee, which was not a packed committee, and he was the only Member of Government on it. The improvement in Lambeth, he was ready to admit, was of great importance to the whole metropolis. But he was not going to discuss the merits of these different plans, but to carry out the objects of the committee, which he was most anxious to effect. Bill read a third time. Mr. Hawes formally moved the insertion of words as he had proposed. Mr. Clay said, that it was not the intention of the committee to vest any power of surveying and carrying out any alterations or improvements not recommended by the committee. There were many improvements in Lambeth and Westminster which were most desirable; the improvements of Westminster, were brought before the committee by one of the Members for that city, but the committee, after long consideration, decided that those mentioned in the preamble were most important. In the report of the Poor-law Commissioners last year there it appeared that there would be no surwas a very important report from Dr.plus. Mr. Hume asked if there was sufficient money out of the 200,000l. to effect this additional improvement; for, if there was, he would support the amendment. The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied, that, from their present information, Mr. Alderman Humphery thought, that | ceedings. That objection had since been if the improvements recommended by the committee were properly managed, there would be a surplus, and that surplus, whatever it was, he wished to secure for Lambeth and Southwark. The House divided on the insertion of the words proposed by Mr. Hawes :Ayes 8; Noes 34: Majority 26. Attwood, T. Duncombe, T. Ewart, W. Hinde, J. H. Hodgson, R. removed by steps which had been taken, and he, therefore, hoped, that their Lordships would consent to adopt this measure. The orders to the commanders of cruisers that were necessary, in order to put a stop to the slave-trade, could not be executed by them, unless they were protected by a bill of this description. The bill protected the commanders of such vessels from all vexatious suits in courts of justice; gave the Admiralty Court a right to adjudicate upon the vessels seized; defined what sort of equipment constituted a slave-vessel; and gave to the Admiralty and Vice - Admiralty Courts a right to deal with vessels taken while engaged in the Slave-trade, but haLushington. rt. hn. S. ving no nationality, in the same manner as List of the AYES. Vigors, N. A. TELLERS. Hawes, B. Humphery, J. List of the NOES. Barnard, E. G. Bernal, R. Bridgeman, H. Chapman, A. Cowper, hon. W. F. Darby, G. Donkin, Sir R. S. Fitzpatrick, J. W. Bill passed. Muskett, G. A. Pechell, Captain Phillpotts, J. Price, Sir R. Rice, rt. hon. T. S. Rolfe, Sir R. M. if they were British vessels. He hoped, that the House of Lords, who, he was sure were most anxious to put down the Slavetrade, would concur in this bill, which was absolutely necessary, in order, that their wishes night be carried into effect. The Report received. Bill to be engrossed. PROGRESS OF PUBLIC BUSINESS.] Troubridge, Sir E. T. The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved Wood, Wood, Colonel T. TELLERS. Baring, F. T. SLAVE-TRADE SUPPRESSION BILL.] Viscount Palmerston moved the suspension of the Standing Orders on this bill. The motion having been assented to, the Bill was read a second time, and went through a committee. On the motion for bringing up the report, Sir Thomas Fremantle hoped the noble Viscount would state to the House the grounds on which this motion for the suspension of the Standing Orders was made. Viscount Palmerston said, that he had the Order of the Day for a Committee of Ways and Means. Mr. T. Duncombe rose to submit to the House the resolutions of which he had given notice. The House having recently consented to place at the disposal of her Majesty the means necessary for increasing the military force of the country, he thought, they as the representatives of the people, owed it to the distressed millions of this country, from whose pockets those means were collected, to do something more than merely vote money and agree to measures of coercion. It was also due to them to admit that their manifold grievances were not altogether unfounded, and that there were many just causes of the late and existing discontent, which coercion alone, would not put an end to, but which ought to be met by a dispo entered into the grounds upon which he in-sition to redress. It might be very easy tended to make his motion on the previous evening at very considerable length, but he would repeat them in a very few words for the satisfaction of the hon. Baronet. He understood that the ground of the rejection of the former bill arose from a misconception on the part of the House of Lords as to the form of the pro for hon. Members in that House - it might be very easy for those who were basking in the sunshine of a Court-it might be very easy for those who were enjoying all the blessings of affluence and prosperity, to blame the people for their impatience and unreasonableness; and it was also very easy to attribute the dis160 turbed state of the country to the exorbi-sunset, they desired to carry the produce of tant demands made by the working classes -but if that House would look a little into their own conduct with respect to the practical grievances of the people, they would, as honest and impartial men, be compelled to admit that they were not altogether exempt from blame, asregarded their labour to a cheaper market, the Legislature refused to allow them to do so, by interposing an exorbitant restrictive tax? To do this, at the same time that you told them they must rely on their own resources, was a heartless mockery; it was adding insult to injury. Could it be denied, that mea the condition in which the country unfor-sures for securing a cheaper and more ex tunately was at present. He readily admitted that many of the charges and allegations in the resolutions which he was about to move might be extremely disagreeable and very painful to many hon. Members of that House; but, at the same time, if they were true, assuredly, in the present state of the public mind, the House ought not to shrink from admitting their justice. He would not be so vain and presumptuous as to imagine that when her Majesty terminated the Session of Parliament, and when the Speaker was called upon by the Crown to explain, in the name of the Commons of England, the manner in which the Session had been occupied, they would find in his resolutions anything that would lead them to solve what appeared to him to be a most perplexing question; but he could not help thinking, that when hon. Members met their constituents on those different occasionsdinners, meetings and the like, that were apt to occur during the recess - when hon. Members were expected to give an account of their proceedings, if they took a bill of fare for their dinner, they would find it a complete answer to those inconvenient and disagreeable interrogatories with which hon. Members were often at such a time assailed. And here let him warn the House, that it would not be sufficient for them on this occasion to put one of their cold, chilling, contemptuous negatives on these resolutions. If they could not be refuted, they ought to be adopted. He was not going at that late hour to enter at any length into these resolutions; but he challenged them to deny the truth of the most important statements they embodied. For instance, could it be denied that, in the course of the present Session, that House had refused to remove the restrictions on foreign trade, and especially upon the trade in corn, could it be denied that, while enforcing the new poor law, they had told the poor that the object of the measure was to compel them to rely on their own resources, at the same time that, after they had toiled from sunrise to peditious administration of justice-measures that were promised at the commencement of the Session-had been abandoned, while the salaries of justices had been augmented? In the very first clause of the Queen's speech at the commencement of the Session, the attention of Parliament was called to the necessity for introducing such measures as would render justice cheap and accessible to all. Had not those measures been abandoned? Yet the votes of the last few days were in evidence, that the salaries of judges had been recently augmented. Another grievance, that of church-rates, did it not remain unredressed? Was a settlement of the church-rate question any nearer now than it was nine years ago, when the Whigs first came into office? Some few years ago there was a vast expenditure of virtuous indignation from hon. Gentlemen who now occupied the Government benches; yet at this very hour there were victims expiring in gaols because of the non-payment of church-rates. Another pretext for increasing the number of troops was the existing state of Canada. It was said that the condition of that colony was such, that a considerable increase to the army was imperatively called for; and, at the same time, a promise of settlement of the affairs of the colony was made. The augmentation of troops had taken place, but there had been no settlement; and the last accounts from the colony showed that they were in a state of despair on account of the postponement of the settlement. From his own personal observation of affairs in that colony in December last, he could state, that wealthy and influential inhabitants of Canada were then in the expectation that Parliament would have immediately met, in order to examine into their grievances, and apply a remedy. Parliament, however, did not meet until February, and what had they done since towards redeeming the grievances of which the Canadians complained? Nothing. Report had it, that his right hon. Friend, the President of the Board of Trade, was going to try his hand at a settlement of the affairs of Canada. He did not know whether the report were true or not; but if it were, he would recommend his right hon. Friend to make haste, otherwise on his arrival on the other side of the Atlantic, he might find no colony to govern. He might also refer to the motion of his hon. Friend the Member for Kilkenny, as regarded household suffrage; and to the motion of the hon. Baronet, the Member for Preston, on the 101. household franchise in counties; or even to what took place on the first day of the Session, when he (Mr. Duncombe) moved an amendment on the Address, to the effect, that, as the House very well knew, reform had disappointed the expectations of the people, and calling upon the House to proceed to the consideration of the subject, with a view to fully carry out the objects of the reform Act,-how was that motion met? By an observation, that such a course was a very inconvenient one. There was no want, in that address, of empty compliments to the Crown. When, again, the Irish vote of confidence was brought forward, the House was ready enough to vote compliments to themselves and the Government, to induce them to vote compliments to them; but the expediency of granting further reforms to the people was denied. Yet such reforms would produce contentment, and secure the permanent welfare of the country. Then, with regard to the question of vote by ballot, all knew that the ballot was denied when asked for during the present Session; yet on all hands hon. Members were ready to admit that corruption and intimidation were rife in every part of the country. What hope, he asked, could the people entertain that this House would ever grant them any redress of their political and social grievances? Every vote of this long, tedious, and unsatisfactory Session, had given them reason to complain; and, unfortunately, nothing had occurred to afford reason to indulge the hope, that in a future Session anything would really be done for the people. Was it, then, surprising that the people should have been dissatisfied? It was not, however, yet too late for them to confess their errors. If they agreed to these resolutions, they would give universal satisfaction to the people of England. Much of the existing discontent would be removed; the loss of many lives during the coming winter would probably be VOL. L. Third Series saved. At all events, by adopting them, a guarantee would be given to the people that the next Session would not pass away unprofitably, as had been the case with the present Session; that the course and spirit of legislation would in future be changed; that the manifold grievances of the people would be fairly and cordially investigated, and a reasonable hope af. forded, that, in the course of next Session, these grievances would be generously redressed. The hon. Member, in conclusion, moved the following Resolutions: "1. That in agreeing to provide the means for an increase of her Majesty's military forces, called for by the Executive Government at an unusual time, and under peculiar circumstances, it is the duty of this House to declare "2. That the troubled state of the country arises from causes which the application of repressive means, against large classes of her Majesty's subjects, will not remove "3. That the existing discontents are, in no small degree, to be attributed to the neglect of Parliament, in not taking measures for the improvement of the social and political condi tion of the people. "4. That, in particular, in the present Session, Parliament has refused to remove restrictions on the foreign trade of the country, espe cially the trade in corn; thereby limiting the demand for English labour, and diminishing its remuneration, while the cost of subsistence is increased; and the new Poor-law is enforced, the view of teaching the people to their own resources, by the same Legislature which prevents the poor from exchanging their labour for the cheaper food of foreign countries. "5. That the measures promised at the commencement of this Session, for rendering justice cheap and accessible to all, have been abandoned, while the salaries of judges and magistrates have been augmented. "6. That the grievance of church rates remains unredressed. "7. That for a national education a very small and inadequate provision has been made, while the military and naval expenditure had been greatly augmented. "8. That any necessity for an increase of the army is mainly occasioned by the disturbances in Canada, and that, until a satisfactory arrangement of the affairs of that colony be effected, the relief of the people of this country from the expense of its military occupation is not to be looked for; notwithstanding which, the Session has passed away without any attempt by Parliament to effect such set tlement. "9. That the prayers of the people for further reform have been disregarded. "10. That protection to the elector, in the free exercise of the suffrage, was denied, by G Lord John Russell said, considering the length of these resolutions, the hon. Member had certainly not made a long speech in support of them; and as the hon. Gentleman had not thought it necessary to enter into detail on the subject, he did not think it necessary to take a different course. The main gist of these resolutions seemed to be, to call on that House to resolve, that if a different policy had been pursued as to certain measures, the existing discontents would not have prevailed to the same extent, and the application of repressive means would not have been required. One fact was quite clear, that those who were most discontented, and whose prayer the House had refused to take into consideration, had been themselves the most opposed to those very measures which the hon. Gentleman had declared were necessary in order to satisfy them. First, as regarded the Corn-laws. He had been in favour of taking that subject into consideration, and of the House resolving itself into committee on the question; and if there had been at the time a very general opinion expressed on the part of the people against the continuance of the Corn-laws, he thought it not at all improbable that the motion might have been attended with success. But so far from that being the case, one of the most prominent points insisted upon by those who had so petitioned Parliament at their public meetings, was a determined opposition to repeal the Corn-laws, and they endeavoured to prevent petitions for repeal from coming to the House. The usual supporters of the Corn-laws, in fact, considered that they had achieved a great triumph when they received the support of those who called upon the House to consent to a reform in the representation of the people. Similar occurrences took place with regard to the question of the ballot. He had seen many arguments against the ballot very strongly put, but none more vehement than those with which he had met in the Chartist newspapers. They warned the House against adopting the ballot. Nothing, they said, was more likely to promote discontent, and increase the dissatisfaction of the people, as they would then have no chance whatever of attaining their rights, and would lose that degree of controul which they now had. So much for two of the measures which the hon. Member declared would, if agreed to, diminish the discontent of the people. With regard to the Corn-law question, he must say, that the hon. Gentleman had put the question somewhat invidiously as affected the whole House. The hon. Member had also somewhat invidiously mixed up the Corn-law with the Poor-law. He said that the poor were told to subsist upon their own resources, at the same time that they were prevented from purchasing their corn as cheaply as they elsewhere could purchase it. This must entirely depend on the view taken by hon. Members individually of that question. If hon. Gentlemen agreed with the hon. Member for Finsbury, then, undoubtedly, they would be very wrong to attempt to force the Corn-law on the people. But how stood the facts as regarded the operation of the Corn-laws upon the poor? Why, it was said, that a large portion of the people - the agricultural labourers having mostly large families-so far from being aided by a repeal of the Corn-law, would be thrown out of employ. ment and prevented from maintaining their families. He did not say, that was correct, but it was most harsh and invidious to impute to the House that it dealt selfishly with the people in not repealing the Corn-laws. The hon. Member also complained of the measures for rendering justice cheap and accessible having been abandoned. But the hon. Member seemed to forget, that every Session measures were obliged to be deferred for consideration to a future Session, when it was found to be impossible to carry them through. The mere circumstance of these bills having been deferred, did not prove, that Parliament had any hostility to ren |