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    March. 1, 1856.]. . THE LEAD1& » 19&

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    Imperial Paklumentmonday, February 25th....

    ships and goods , from corporate towns to the Customs , to be applied as directed by the Board of Trade ; and the third proposed entirely to abolish the differential dues , on the plea that corporate property is public property . A corporation which is invested with a publio trust without any beneficial interest might fairly be dealt with by Parliament ; but corporations which , were created to be the medium of conferring rights and privileges upon individuals , in which each individual possesses a right to , and share in , the privileges and property of the corpoi-ation , should not be subjected to such measures as that before the House . In respect to the dues which it was intended to transfer to the control of the Board of Trade , the

    change would not be of the slightest benefit to the public , while the principle was one of most dangerous tendency . —Sir Francis Barikg seconded the motion . Mr . Lowe said that Sir Frederick Thesigei- had construed taxes into private property . ! Now for himself , he could understand property in land , and property La capital ; but he could not understand property in other people ' s property . Such arguments as those which had been employed would not fortify alleged corporate rights ; but they might suggest to the public that private property rests upon no firmer foundation than corporate property . Public bodies are but means for the attainment of certain ends ; and , when they cease to answer those ends , they ought to give

    place to something better . The sweeping municipal reform of 1835 offered a perfect precedent for the measure then under discussion ; and it should be recollected that those who pay the taxes have as good a right to be heard as those who receive them . Mr . Lowe therefore asserted that it was he who was standing up fur the inviolability of private property , the principle of spoliation being in fact advocated by the opponents of the bill . "Whatever cases might occur to which the general principle of the measure does not apply , the necessary exception would be made in committee . —Mr . Collier , Mr . Baines , and Mr . Ingham , also supported the Mil , which was opposed by Mr . Horsfall ( on behalf of Liverpool ) , Mr . Ridley ( for Newcastle-on-Tyne ) , Mr . Tollemacke , Mr . Hildyard

    ( who thought that the arguments with respect to property used by Mr . Lowe were unpai-alleled in that House ) , Mi-i Rice ( speaking on behalf of Dover ) , Mr . Liddell ( who feared that such assaults on corporate property would lead to similar attacks on eclessiastical property ) , Mr . Cairks ( who , referring to Mr , Lowe ' s sneer at " musty charters , " said that the scoff was directed against the tenure by which all the property in the country is held , and that taxes were described as property" in the bill itself ) , and Sir Fitzroy Kelly ( who remarked that the effect of the bill would be to deprive creditors at Liverpool , to the extent of two millions and a half , of the security tliey now l ^ ossess in the town . dues ) . — -Finally ., the debate was adjoxu-ned till the following day .

    METROPOLIS LOCAL MANAGEMENT ACT . The Attorney-General obtained leave to bring in a bill to explain and amend the Metropolitan Local Management Act of last session . He explained that , in "the bill of last yenr , it was originally intended to give to the vestries to be elected under it the power of levying rates and the management of the poor . By alterations effected in committee , that intention was changed , and , as the act now stands , there is great doubt who has the right to levy rates and to manage the poor . The recent act declared that , as soon as the new vestries nre constituted , thoy should supersede all others ; but exceptions had been iufcro-. luood in committee which rendered it doubtful whother tho management and levy of the poor rates foil within their scope ; and it was to romove the existing doubts that the present bill was framed .

    ST . JAMEB * S-PARK . Sir P . kxja . min Haix moved for a Select Committeo "to consider tho bost moans of communication botwocsn thoso parts of tho metropolis which lie north of St . James ' s park and those parts which Ho south and south-west thereof , and to report thereupon to the House . "—An attempt wan made to defer tho motion ; but , after a short discussion , in the course of which Lurd Palmigrston stated that no particular lino hud boeu oontoinplatod , tho motion was agreed to .

    Tuesday , February 267 ft . TUB MERCANTILE LAW COMMISSION . In tho Housjfl ojt Lokds , tho Lord Chancellor oftllod tho attention of tho House to the second report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire iuto the Mercantile Laws of the United Kingdom , aud moved tho first reading of two billa on tho aubjeol ., with the understomding that thoy should be inferred to a Soloat Committee . The objeofc of these bills is to

    assinulixto tho laws in various parta of -tho United Kingdo m * , and to remove those , contradictious which iu many canes arc produotive of great inconvenience . In . aomo iutifcancoa , tho Scotch laws are to bo aaaiuiilutotl to thoso of England ; in ofchors , the Engliah lava are to bq made conformablo with tho Scotch . - Lords BuouanAM and Oamfbhll expressed tboir ( satisfaction with tho proposed measures ; and bho latter called attention to tlio diegraceful ntftto of the Scotch marriage law , which bo Bald ie bo lax that no o » o con

    tell whether he is legitimate or not . —The bills were then read a first time .

    THE TIOKET-OF-LEAVE SYSTEM . . Viscount Ddnoahnon moved for a retura of the number of convicts to whom tickets of leave have been granted ; and also the number of convicts who since receiving such tickets of leave have returned to their former course of crimes ; specifying the character of the crimes which they have been charged with or convicted of . —Earl Gkanvilie said there was no objection to grant the returns moved for , but he begged to inform the noble Viscount that similar returns had been already ordered to be laid before the other

    House of Parliament . —Viscount Dusgannon said those returns would answer his purpose . He proceeded to ask whether the Government proposed to continue the ticket-of-leave system , which he believed to be fraught with evil consequences . —Earl Granville said it was not their intention to bring in any bill on the subject . —In the course of a desultory conversation which , ensued , the Earl of Harrowb y remarked that , naturally , if no transportation be allowed , criminals , after a certain period of imprisonment , must be turned out again on the country ; an observation which the Earl of Malmesbury considered

    to be " one of the most alarming he had ever heard in Ms life . Earl Harrowby declared it was perfectly impossible to retrace our steps with regard to transportation . "—The Earl of Harrowby disavowed this interpretation of his remarks ; and , after a few more observations ( iu the course of which Lord Campbell spoke against the ticket-of-leave system ) , the subject dropped .

    ERZEROUM . . In the Hoxjsk of Commons , Lord Paliveerston , in answer to Mr . Ewart , stated that the English Government had made strong representations to the Ottoman Porte in favour of the construction of a serviceable road from Trebizbnde to Erzeroum , and similar representations would again be made .

    THE CRIMEAN REPORT . Sir John Pakington gave notice of his intention to move the following amendment to Mr . Roebuck ' s motion on the subject of the Crimean report : ¦— - " That the House regretted that her Majesty's Government had not transmitted the report to the Commander-in-Chief before . it -svas submitted to the House , thereby giving ground to suppose that there was a want of confidence between the "War-office and the Horse Guards , and causing the construction of a military commission , which was inadequate in its nature to inquire into the matters contained in the report :

    and that the House observed with regret that the Government had appointed to responsible posts officers whose conduct was impugned , and while the inquiry into their conduct was still proceeding . " In answer to a request from Mr . Roebuck , Lord Palmerston stated the names of the Commissioners appointed to report on the report of Sir John M'Neill aud Colonel Tulloch , which are as follow : ¦—Lord Seatou , General M'Mahoii , Sir John Bell , General Rowan , Earl Beauchamp , General Peel , and General Knollys . His Lordship then laid the warrant containing the names on tho table .

    THE LOCAL DUES ON SHIPPING BILL . On the resumption of the debate on this bill , Lord Palmkuston explained the intentions of Government with respect to it . They felt aa much convinced as ever iu tho justice and policy of the principle involved iu the measure ; but it had become manifest in tho course of the discussion that , in the cases of some of tho towns affected by the bill , there were circumstances of far greater complication than the

    Government had been led to anticipate . These difficulties lay with that part of the bill which related to the differential and town duos ; and tho consideration of the cases iu a cunamittoe of tho whole House would bo highly iuoonvoniont . The Government therefore proposed to withdraw the bill ; to refer the questionable part of the measure to a select committeo ; and to sec whether n separate bill might not bo made out of tho remaining materials . —Mr . Disraeli oxprosaed his sabigfiiution at tho determination which tho

    Government had eomo to ; tho specoh of Mr . Lowe on the previous evening being of a nature more calculated than any he had ever listened to in that House to disturb and alarm the publio mind , and to unsettle all confidence in prescription . It was evident that tlio Govoruuiont had introduced the measure without due forethought ; , or thoy would not now require to r . ifor it to n select oomniittoe . Tlio position of tho Government was by no moans dignified , as thoy had to enduro defeat iu both Mouses by thoir own followcm , brought about by their mischievous crusades

    against tho peerage iu tUo ono placo , and the municipalities of Jilnglrtud in tho other . —Mr . Lauouoiuok-E replied by taunting Mr . Dlaraoli with party purposes , and with pouring forth , though very inappropriately , the bitter eloquence which he had dowijmod for the adjourned debute , and of which ho found it necessary to relieve hitnaolf . Tho bill having boon founded on the report of a oommiBHiou , it could not be said that it h « d boon crudely brought forward . -After a few words from Mr . Hicadlamc and Mr . Haohheud ( tho former of whom approved , while tho latter regroUacI ,

    fclte withdrawal of the bill ) , the order was discharged and the bill was withdrawn . '

    SELECT COMMITTEES . The Select' Committee on the Court of Chancery ( Ireland ) Bill was nominated as follows : —Mr . Solicitor-General for Ireland , Sir James Graham , Mr . Edward Ellice ^ Mr . He-uley , Mr . Walpole , Mr . Keogh , Yiscount Monck , Mr . Cairns , Mr . Macartney , Mr . Henry Herbert , Mr . "William Fitzgerald , Mr . Whiteside , Mr . De Vere , Sir Erskine Perry , and Mr . Kirk . —The following names were also brought forward as those of the Committee on St . James ' s-park : —Sir Benjamin Hall , Lord Jolin Manners , the Chancellor of the Exchequer , Mr . Disraeli , Lord Robert Grosvenor , Lord Hotham , Sir Joseph Paxton , Mr . Stephenson , Sir John Shelley ,. Mr . Hutchins , Colonel Boldero , Mr . Drummond , Mr . Stuart Wortley , Colonel W " . Patten , and Mr . Milnes .

    The Charitable Uses Bill was read a third time and passed . Wednesday , February 27 .

    COSTTRACTOBS' DISQUALIFICATION REMOVAL BILL . On the ord-er for the second reading of this bill , in the House of Commons , Mr . Mitchell , the introducer of the measure , said he intended to withdraw it , in consequence of the strong prejudice against it 3 tendency—a course which he was further inoved to adopt since Mr . Ricardo had announced a motion for a committee to inquire into the whole subject . —Mr . Duncombe , Mr . Walpole , and the Chancellor of the' IExcheqtj EB , spoke in favour of the design of witndrawingtlie measure ; and , after a few observation from various speakers , the order fox * the second read-Ing was discharged ^ JUSTICES 03 ? THE PEACE QUALIFICATION BILL .

    Mr . Colvilx , in moving the second reading of this bill , stated that its object is to enlarge the qualification , and to extend it to personal property . —Mr . Deedes and BIr . Vansittart opposed the bill , which was supported by Mr . Kee Seymer , Mr . Bass , Mr . Hadfield , and Mr . Ewart . —Sir George Ctrey declined to offer any opposition to the bill ; and it was read a second time . — -In the course of the discussion , Mr . Duncombe asserted tlie crying necessity for a paid magistracy in the country ; but a contrary opinion was expressed by Mr . Muntz , who , nevertheless , admitted tie gross inefficiency of country magistrates .

    ANNUITIES BILL . On . the second reading of this bill , the Chancellor of the Exchequer , adverting to the debate xipon the first order of the day , repeated that lie had no dotxbt of the rectitude of the decision of the committee of last year ; nevertheless , he could not shut his eyes to the fact that persons of great weight entertain doubts upon the point , and it . was necessary to clear up those doubts one way or the other . He proposed , therefore , to introduce into this bill , when in committee , a clause of indemnity for subscribers to the existing loan , which would not throw any doubt upon the decision of tho committee of last year . Thursday , February 28 <& .

    THE IRISH BAR . In the House op Lords , Lord Brougham preseuted a petition from several members of the Irish bar , praying that tliey might be put on a footing with their English brethren , and that Ireland might be treated as an integral part of the United Kingdom . His Lordship ( who spoke-in tho highest terms of the Irish bar ) did not tliink that tiny preference is shown to the English bar over the Irish . —Lord Cawlpbell also spoke highly of tho Irish legal body .

    THE APFKIXATE JURISDICTION OF THE HOUSE . The Earl of Derby , moved for the appointment oi a Select Committeo to inquire whether it is expedient to make any , and what , arrangements to socura a more efficient exercise of the judic al functions of the House as the Supreme Court of Ap ; oil . Disavowing any intention to interfere with tho motion of Lord Lyndhurst ( which he said would bo an act of the groatest presumption ) , and expressing n dosiro to propare the way for that motion , Lord Dorby critioisoil tho nature and functions of tho House as a Court of Appeal . Tlio power to ait as such wag inhurited by tho Barons from tho groat counoil of tho real in , which oxoroisod it in tlio oarliost tirnos ; but tho privilege m not essential to tho other functions of tho 1-luuao , and is in fact a mere pretence—a legal fiction . Appeals

    aro not hoard by tho House , but by a few hv > v lordi-j , tho lay lords paying no attention to tho proceedings ( though as ix mattor of form thoy must attend in Bufficiont liumbora to make a quorum ) , not ovon afFooting to givo an opinion , but inoroly assenting to any proposition put to them by the Lord Chancellor . Complaints also had boon mauo against tho fewueas of tho judgos , tho uncertainty in thoir number , tho want of any powor to cornpol thoir attendance , tho probability that oaeos of appeal m « y bo heard and decided by tho aanao judgos who luwo already prouounoad judgment on them in tho court below , tlio fact that tho House sits only half tho year , and tho want of any adequate tribunal for the dooiBion of Scotch appoalfi . To eomo of thono oomplaintu oxuoption might be taken ; but many improvement *

    March. 1, 1856.]. . The Lead1& » 19&

    March . 1 , 1856 . ] . . THE LEAD 1 & » 19 &

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 1, 1856, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01031856/page/3/