HISTORICAL REGISTER.

POLITICAL JOURNAL.-SEPTEMBER, 1835.

HOUSE OF LORDS, August 17.-A great number of petitions were presented on the subject of the Corporations Reform Bill. The House then went into Committee on the Bill. Lord Lyndhurst proposed, in an admirable address upon the subject of qualification, two amendments-the first, that three-fourths of the town council should be elected in the manner prescribed by the Bill, and that the remaining fourth should be elected to form a body of capital burgesses or aldermen, (or by whatever name they might be called,) and for life; the second to the effect that all the present officers should continue to hold office during their lives. Upon a division, the first amendment was carried by a majority of 126 to 39. The second was then agreed to without a division. The clauses up to the 33d were agreed to, and, the House having resumed, their Lordships adjourned.

August 18.-The Scotch Exchequer Bill, the Irish Municipal Reform Bill, and the Scotch Bail Bill, were brought up from the Commons, and severally read a first time. The Tea Duties Bill was read a third time and passed.-The Bill for substituting, in certain cases, a form of declaration for an oath, was read a second time, on the motion of the Duke of Richmond.-In Committee on the Municipal Corporations Bill, Lord Lyndhurst had some amendments to propose which were consequential on the amendments the House adopted the night before; they had reference to the 96th clause. He proposed to strike out the words which limited their duration of office to the 1st of May, 1836. The amendment was agreed to. ---On clause 36 being read, which provides for the division of boroughs into wards by Commissioners appointed by the Crown, Lord Ellenborough moved that this clause be omitted altogether, for the purpose of substituting the amendment he should propose, to the effect that the division into wards be effected by the county magistrates. After some discussion the amendment was agreed to without a division. The clauses from 42 to 52 were read summarily, and after a conversation across the table they were postponed. The succeeding clauses of the Bill were postponed until the Chairman arrived at clause 65, which affects the licensing of public-houses. Lord Wharncliffe moved the total exclusion of the clause. After a brief discussion, the amendment was agreed to without a division.-On clause 67 Lord Lyndhurst proposed to let the first section of the clause pass, and to change the words, 1st of January, 1836, in the second, to the 1st of August, 1836. The amendment was agreed to.-Clauses 68 to 72 were struck out of the Bill.-Clauses 73 to 76 were ordered to stand part of the Bill; the latter with a proviso added thereto, on the motion of Lord Ellenborough, to the effect, that in reference to the rights of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, no majority of the local trustees could have power to transfer any right appertaining to these bodies without the consent of the Chancellors, Vice-Chancellors, and Masters of the several Colleges. -Several amendments of minor importance having been agreed to, the House resumed, and the Bill as amended was ordered to be printed.

August 19. After the presentation of many petitions, several Bills were forwarded a stage, and others passed. The West India Slavery Compensation Bill was read a third time, and passed.-The Duke of Cumberland, on presenting a petition from Trinity College, Dublin, for the support of the Church, and against the Irish Church Bill, took the opportunity to contradict statements that had been made of his having countenanced the establishment of Orange Lodges in that University.— The Peace Preservation (Ireland) Bill went through a Committee.-A long conversation took place concerning the new House of Lords, during which it was understood that their Lordships generally expressed their intention not to accept of the vote of 5,000l. offered by the House of Commons to supply them with a more convenient temporary House.-The Militia Staff Reduction Bill, after some observations from the Duke of Wellington, passed through Committee, after which their Lordships adjourned.

August 20.-The Polls at Elections Bill called forth some desultory discussion; but it was eventually read a third time and passed.-The Archbishop of Canterbury presented, among others, a petition signed by three Archbishops and twelve Bishops of the Irish Church, against the measure introduced by his Majesty's Government, with regard to that Establishment.-Lord Melbourne then rose to move the second

reading of the Irish Church Bill, and, having announced to the House his Majesty's readiness to lay at their disposal bis interest in the benefices of the Irish Church, applied himself almost entirely to the question of tithes. A discussion ensued, and the Bill was read a second time.

August 21.-The Royal Assent was given by Commission to the following Bills: -The Tea Duties Bill, the Bankrupts' Estates Bill, the Sheriffs' Oaths Bill, the Chancery Officers Bill, the Certiorari Bill, the Lunatics and Infants' Estates Bill, the Loan Societies Bill, the Foreign Post Bill, the Irish Roads Bill, the Irish Assizes Bill, the Linen Manufacture Regulation Bill, the Enlistment of Seamen Bill, the Chancery Registry Bill, and the Small Debts Bill, together with several Private Bills. The Tonnage Admeasurement Bill, and the Weights and Measures Bill were read a second time: to be committed on Monday; and the Illegal Securities Bill, to be committed on Tuesday. The Militia Staff Reduction Bill was read a third time, and passed.

August 24.-The House went into Committee on the Irish Church Bill. On clause 10 being put, Lord Ellenborough said that the clause as it at present stood opened the composition of the tithe without any limitation. He should move that the clause be omitted. The clause was negatived, and struck out of the Bill.-On clause 40 being proposed, which provides that the average value of corn should be the standard of value for tithes, Lord Ellenborough moved that this clause be also struck out. The House divided-for the motion, 35, for the amendment, 126; majority for rejecting the clause, 91.-The other clauses were passed without comment, up to clause 60 inclusive.-On clause 61 being put, the Earl of Haddington rose to oppose this and the remaining clauses of the Bill, the sequestration and appropriation clauses. The noble Lord concluded a very able speech by moving the omission of the clauses. In the course of his speech the Premier made the following declaration :-"That if the Noble Lords opposite should succeed in carrying the approaching vote, and if they left the clauses under consideration out of the Bill, he should not be a party to proceeding any farther with it, and that he should feel altogether disinclined to having any thing to do with the sending of it back to the House of Commons in such a shape as would compel that branch of the Legislature, both on the point of form and principle, to reject it." Notwithstanding this menace, the House of Lords did its duty boldly and effectually, as the following division will show :-Contents, 138, non-contents, 41; majority, 97.

August 25.-The Dominica Relief Bill, the Peace Preservation (Ireland) Bill, and the Letters Patent Amendment Bill, were returned from the Commons agreed to.-The Royal Assent was given by Commission to the Militia Staff Bill, the Polls at Elections Bill, the Paymasters' General Bill, and the Prison Discipline Bill.— On the Imprisonment for Debt Bill, Lord Brougham suggested that perhaps it would be most advisable to allow the Bill to be brought in next session in exactly the same state as it was left by the other House.-The second reading of the Charities Commission Bill was negatived on the representation of Lord Lyndhurst.The Municipal Corporations Bill was recommitted. On one of the clauses an amendment was adopted, requiring periodical proof of the continued qualification of aldermen and members of the town-council. On clause 59 being put from the Chair, Lord Lyndhurst proposed an amendment, that town-clerks should hold their offices during life. After much discussion, the House divided on this amendment: contents, 104, non-contents, 36; majority 68.-On the motion of Lord Lyndhurst, and after much discussion, an amendment was agreed to, without a division, to the effect that none but members of the Established Church should be the disposers of the ecclesiastical patronage of corporations. The other clauses of the Bill were then agreed to, after a few verbal corrections, which produced no discussion. The Bill having gone through Committee, the House resumed.

August 26.-The Constabulary Force (Ireland) Bill was postponed till this day six months, on an amendment moved by the Earl of Roden; the numbers beingfor the Bill, 39, against it, 51.

August 27.-Lord Wharncliffe presented the Report of the Select Committee on the Great Western Railway Bill, and moved that it be received and adopted. Lord Kenyon resisted the motion, and proposed as an amendment that it be received that day six months. After some discussion, there was a division. The numbers were for the original motion, 50, for the amendment, 28. The Report was then received and agreed to.-Lord Melbourne then rose to move that the Report of the Municipal Reform Bill be now received. His Lordship declared his intention to move the rescinding of the principal alterations which had been made,

and upon that one respecting the election of aldermen for life to take the sense of the House. Their Lordships eventually divided on the proposition of Lord Melbourne, to omit the word Aldermen" in the 6th clause. The numbers werecontents 89, non-contents 160; majority for retaining the clause in its amended form, 71. The other amendments were then adopted; the Report was agreed to, and the Bill ordered to be read a third time on Friday.

August 28.-The Sheriffs (Ireland,) the Great Western Railway, the Tonnage Admeasurement, and the Weights and Measures Bills, were read a third time, and passed. On the Order of the Day for the third reading of the Municipal Corporations Bill, the Earl of Winchelsea moved that it be read a third time that day six months. On a division the numbers were, for the amendment, 5, against it, 69. It is worth notice, that Lords Melbourne and Brougham did not divide. The Bill was then read a third time, and, after some verbal amendments, passed.

August 31.—The Royal Assent was given, by Commission, to the Great Western Railway Bill, the Woods Duties Bill, the Peace Preservation (Ireland) Bill, the Highways Bill, the Exchequer Bills Bill, the Slave Owners' Compensation Bill, the Clerk of the Crown Bill, the Colonial Passengers' Bill, the Insolvent Debtors' Court (Ireland) Bill, the Exchequer Court (Scotland) Bill, the Turnpike Roads Bill, the Port of Dundee Bill, and the Nelson Estate Bill.-The Islington Market Bill, with the Lords' amendments agreed to, and the Stamps and Assessed Taxes Bill, were brought up from the Commons.-The Tonnage Duties Bill and the Tithes on Turnips Bill, were read a third time.-The Dublin Police Bill was read a second time, after considerable discussion.-In presenting a petition in favour of the Imprisonment for Debt Bill Lord Lyndhurst dexterously extracted from Lord Brougham a severe censure of the conduct of his Majesty's Attorney-General with reference to this measure.--The Weights and Measures Bill was read a third time and passed.-The Cruelty to Animals Bill was read a third time.-The Bill for abolishing Capital Punishment in cases of Letter Stealing was committed.

Sept. 1.-The Tithes Recovery Bill was read a third time and passed.-The Cruelty to Animals Bill passed through a Committee, and was ordered to be reprinted. The Music License Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Thursday.-The Commons' amendments to the Patents Bill were agreed to, except that which deprived the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of the power of adjudicating in such cases.—Mr. Bernal and others from the Commons brought up the Customs Amendment Acts Bill, the Abolition of Oaths Amendment Act Bill, and the Workouse Regulation Bill.-On the motion of the Duke of Richmond the Commons' amendments to the Oaths Abolition Bill were agreed to.

Sept. 2.-The Slave Trade (Sardinia) and the Slave Trade (Denmark) Bills were respectively read a third time, and passed; as were the Capital Punishments Abolition, and the Arrestment for Wages (Scotland) Bills.-Lord Duncannon moved that the Registration of Voters (Ireland) Bill be read a second time.-The Bill led to an animated discussion, and strong opposition; and it was eventually thrown out by contents 27, non-contents 81; majority against it, 54.

Sept. 3.-On the motion that the Music and Dancing Bill be read a third time, the Marquess of Salisbury moved that it be read a third time that day three months, which amendment was carried.-Lord Lyndhurst expressed his surprise that the Ministers had adopted no further proceedings on the Irish Church Bill." In not proceeding with it and returning it to the other House, great calamities would fall on the whole of the Protestant Clergy of Ireland, and consequently a heavy responsibility would rest on the Government.-Lord Melbourne admitted the evil that must result to the Clergy from the failure of this Bill, but denied that the responsibility rested with the Ministers; it attached to their Lordships for their vote upon that Bill.-Lord Brougham maintained, after the vote to which their Lordships had come, rejecting a portion of the Bill, the Ministers had no other alternative left them than to abandon the Bill.-The conversation on this subject having terminated, Lord Brougham introduced a Bill to consolidate the Law of Marriage in Scotland. In the course of his observations a message from the Commons prayed their Lordship's assent to a conference with the Commons, on the subject of certain amendments in the Municipal Reform Bill.-Lord Melbourne, the Lord Privy Seal, the President of the Council, Lords Shaftesbury, Falmouth, Hatherton, and the Duke of Richmond, and others, were appointed managers of the conference, the Duke of Wellington and Lord Lyndhurst declining to attend. On their return the reasons for the dissent of the other House were read, and ordered to be printed and taken Oct. 1835.-VOL. XIV.-NO. LIV.

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into consideration on Friday.-Lord Brougham then continued his observations, and the Bill was read a first time and ordered to be printed.

Sept. 4.-The Dublin Police Bill, after some discussion, was ordered to be committed that day three months.-The Charities Commission Bill was read a third time. -The Workhouses Bill was read a third time.-The report on the Bribery Indemnity Bill was, after some discussion, ordered to be brought up that day three months. -The Shannon Navigation Bill passed through Committee. In the debate which followed upon the Commons' amendments in the Municipal Reform Bill, the only three propositions which did not meet with their Lordship's assent were, that which vests the nomination of the justices of the peace in the hands of the town councils instead of the Crown, upon which a division took place, when the numbers were 144 in favour of their Lordships' original amendment, and 82 against; that which relates to the division into wards, upon which the numbers were 79 to 33; and that which re-inserts Alnwick and Yeovil in the Bill, which was negatived without a division.

Sept. 7.-A motion for a conference with the Commons on the subject of the Lords' amendments to the Municipal Corporations Bill having been agreed to, the Peers who were appointed reported to the House that they had stated to the managers of the Commons the reasons why their Lordships could not agree to the amendments made by the Lower House.

Sept. 8.-The Commons brought up the Municipal Reform Bill, with their assent to the amendments made by the Lords.—The Tithe Instalment Suspension Bill was read a third time and passed.

Sept. 9.-The royal assent was given, by Commission, to the following Bills, viz. The Glass Duties Bill, the Stamps and Assessed Taxes Bill, the Militia Staff Re duction Bill, the Municipal Corporations Bill, the Tonnage Admeasurement Bill, the Slave Trade (Sardinia) Bill, the Slave Trade (Denmark) Bill, the Weights and Measures Bill, the Charities Commissioners' Bill, the Poor Law Act Amendment Bill, the Cruelty to Animals Bill, the Lectures Publication Bill, the Recovery of Tithes Bill, the Tithe on Turnips Bill, the Oaths Abolition Bill, the Land Revenue (Scotland) Bill, the Reform of Parliament (Scotland) Bill, the Savings' Banks (Scotland) Bill, the Forgeries (Scotland) Bill, the Imprisonment for Debt (Scotland) Bill, the Excise Incorporation (Scotland) Bill, the Tithes Instalment Suspension (Ireland) Bill, the Sheriff's (Ireland) Bill, the Shannon Navigation Improvement Bill, the North American Colonial Association (Ireland) Bill, the Islington Market Bill, and the Cave Hill and Belfast Railway Bill.-On the motion of the Earl of Shaftesbury, the Consolidated Fund Bill was read a third time, and passed.-Mr. Bernal and other Members brought up the Letters Patent Bill, and reported that the Commons agreed to their Lordships' amendments; also the Fines and Recovery Bill, Grand Juries (Ireland) Bill, and the Capital Punishment Bill.

Sept. 10.-The first session of the second Reform Parliament terminated this day. The attendance of the Peers was but scanty, and the business was confined, before the arrival of his Majesty, to the presentation of petitions.-Shortly after two the King took his seat on the Throne, and the Speaker having appeared at the bar, addressed his Majesty, briefly alluding to the measures which had passed.-The King then gave his assent to the Capital Punishment Bill, and other Bills. His Majesty then delivered, in a very clear and firm tone, a most gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"I find with great satisfaction, that the state of public business enables me to relieve you from further attendance, and from the pressure of those duties which you have performed with so much zeal and assiduity.

"I receive from all foreign Powers satisfactory assurances of their desire to maintain with me the most friendly understanding, and I look forward with confidence to the preservation of the general peace, which has been, and will be, the object of my constant solicitude. I lament that the civil contest in the northern provinces of Spain has not yet been brought to a termination; but taking a deep interest in the welfare of the Spanish Monarchy, I shall continue to direct to that quarter my most anxious attention, in concert with the three Powers, with whom I concluded the Treaty of Quadruple Alliance, and I have in furtherance of the objects of that Treaty exercised the power vested in me by the Legislature, and have granted permission to my subjects to engage in the service of the Queen of Spain.

'I have concluded with Denmark, Sardinia, and Sweden, fresh conventions, cal

culated to prevent the traffic in African slaves; I hope soon to receive the ratification of a similar Treaty, which has been signed with Spain. I am engaged in negotiations with other Powers in Europe and in South America for the same purpose, and trust that ere long the united efforts of all civilised nations will suppress and extinguish this traffic.

I perceive with entire approbation that you have directed your attention to the regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales, and I have cheerfully given my assent to the Bill which you have passed for that purpose. I cordially concur in this important measure, which is calculated to allay discontent, to promote peace and union, and to procure for those communities the advantages of responsible government.

"I greatly rejoice that the internal condition of Ireland has been such as to have permitted you to substitute for the necessary severity of a law, which has been suffered to expire, enactments of a milder character. No part of my duty is more grateful to my feelings than the mitigation of a penal statute in any case, in which it can be effected consistently with the maintenance of order and tranquillity.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons,

"I thank you for the readiness with which you have voted the Supplies." "You have provided not only for the expenses of the year, and for the interest upon the large sum awarded to the owners of slaves in my colonial possessions, but also for several unexpected and peculiar claims upon the justice and liberality of the nation. It is most gratifying to observe, that not only have these demands been met without additional taxation, but that you have made some further progress in reducing the burdens of my people.

"I am enabled to congratulate you, that the terms upon which the loan for the compensation to the proprietors of slaves has been obtained, afford conclusive evidence of the flourishing state of public credit, and of that general confidence which is the result of a determination to fulfil the national engagements, and to maintain inviolable the public faith.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"I know that I may securely rely upon your loyalty and patriotism, and I feel confident, that in returning to your respective counties, and in resuming those func、 tions which you discharge with so much advantage to the community, you will re commend to all classes of your countrymen obedience to the law, attachment to the Constitution, and a spirit of temperate amendment which, under Divine Providence, are the surest means of preserving the tranquillity, and increasing the prosperity which this country enjoys."

At the conclusion of the Speech, Lord Denman, as Lord Speaker, by his Majesty's command said "My Lords and Gentlemen, It is his Majesty's Royal will and pleasure that this Parliament be prorogued to Tuesday, the 10th day of November next, to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Tuesday, the 10th day of November next.”

HOUSE OF COMMONS, August 19.-Mr. Hume moved that Lieutenant-Colonel Fairman, the Deputy Grand Secretary to the Grand Orange Lodge of England, be called to the bar, he having refused to produce the letter-book of the lodge.-Lieut.Colonel Fairman was called. He said that he had offered to make selections from the copies of correspondence in his possession; but the book he did not produce even to the Committee of the Grand Lodge, and should not if they asked for it.Colonel Perceval moved that the short-hand writer should be instructed to read over to Colonel Fairman the questions and answers put to him and made by him before the Committee and in the House.-The House divided on Colonel Perceval's proposition. The numbers were-ayes 19, noes 129; majority against it, 110.Lieut.-Colonel Fairman was again examined, and again refused to produce the book.-Mr. Wallace, quoting a precedent, moved that Colonel F. be taken into the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms, with the view of next moving that the Serjeant and officers of the House go with the witness to his residence, and there seize all books and papers, seal them, and bring them to the House, there to be examined by a Select Committee, to separate those that bore upon the question of Orange Lodges, and to forward them to the Committee thereon.-Colonel Fairman being further examined, said that the book was in his possession at his residence, but he