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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Week In Parliament. Loed Jomr Russei...
should think proper / ' the clause mentioning as one subject for inquiry " whetherany corrupt practice by way of treating has been carried on at any such elect ion , " Lord Debby proposed to strike out the words " for such a period retrospectively as they should think proper / ' and to introduce words providing that if the commissioners found that there had been corrupt practices at the election which was the subject of the report of the committee , they might inquire into the next previous election , and so on in like manner from election to election , as far hack as they should think fit , until they reached an election where , upon inquiry , they found no corrupt practices to exist , and then they should not inquire further back . He also proposed to strike out the words relating to treating .
The amendments , limiting the period to which the inquiry was to be carried hack were agreed to without a division ; but the amendment , that the words extending the inquiry to treating be struck out , was carried b / 68 to 35 . The remaining clauses were then agreed to , and their lordships resumed .
CB . IME AND OUTRAGE , IEELAND . Mr . Napier , at the morning sitting on Tuesday , moved for leave to bring in a bill to continue an act of the 11 th and 12 th years of her present Majesty , for the better prevention of crime and outrage in certain parts of Ireland . " The present Act was of that nature . It was passed when a crime of a peculiar character was prevalent in Ireland , aiid which the ordinary law of the land could not cope with . It gave a power to the Lord Lieutenant , under especial circumstances , to proclaim any particular locality ; and then lie sent down an additional police force to that
locality , at the expense of the locality . There was nothing- coercive or severe in that . The act then applied the provisions of the / Whiteboy Acts to the districts so proclaimed . That code in itself app lied only to those portions of the country which were in an insurrectionary state ; but by the Act which he now wished to prolong it was made to apply to districts that were proclaimed . One of its most valuable provisions was the making persons who harboured criminals amenable to justice . The act also enabled the Lord Lieutenant to call upon persons to surrender their arms ; and no persons were allowed to have arms in their possession unless they were licensed . "
Mr , Napier drew an appalling picture of the agrarian outrages—which had doubled in number since 1847—the threatening notices , the murders for which no conviction could be obtained , juries being , he said , intimidated from performing their duties . In this state of things , when the ordinary law was insufficient for the protection of life and property , the House , he thought , would incur a fearful responsibility if it refused to continue this act for a limited period .
Mr . Lawxess should oppose the introduction of such a bill , unaccompanied by any measure for ameliorating the condition of Ireland . Mr . F . Scuixy opposed the bill on the ground of the severity of its provisions , and because the outrages against which it was directed arose from the disordereil relations between landlord and tenant , for which remedial measures bad been promised in 1847 , but the promise had not yet been redeemed . Mr . S . Cbawfobd likewise called for remedial measures before coercive ones were enacted . The whole cause of agrarian outrages in Ireland , ho believed , was to be found in the disordered relations between landlord and tenant . Mr . Anste y followed in the same line .
Mr . Keooh complained that the present Government , notwithstanding former professions , had introduced no measures for the redress of the grievances of Ireland , except this coercive measure , against the severe penalties of which he inveighed . Ho disputed the accuracy of the statistics of crime adduced by Mr . Napier , which were at variance with a recent official return laid before the cominitteo , showing n decrease of crime ; and contended that no case had been made out for a bill like this , which , ho observed , taught landlords in Ireland to rely upon the legislation of that House instead of , as in England , upon their own conduct . that
The CirANCKMOK of the Exchequer denied this wuh a measure of coercion ; it was a measure of police , which was expiring , and the condition of Ireland required its continuance . With respect to remedial measures , nuch measures , he fluid , had boon already prepared by the Government ; but ho asked whether any member , looking at tho position of the lniniHtry and tho temper of the House generally in tho transaction of . public busmens , could really say that it t had boon in their power to introduce thorn . Tho Government could not incur tho responsibility of lotting this Act expire , which would release great criminals ; but tho bill was to continuo only until next December , ho that tho subject muwfc bo roconnidorcd in tho ensuing Parliament .
Upon a division , tho motion for leave to bring m tho bill was carried by 140 ugninst 19 . Tho House then adjourned until tho evening ; when there was a
" count out . " Mr . Anstey was making a statement of the case of the Scotch missionaries expelled from Hungary by the Austrian Government , when Mr , PiiOWDEN , a conservative , moved that the House be counted . This was done , and there were found to be only thirty-seven members present , eight Conservatives and twenty-nine Liberals , and the House stood adjourned accordingly .
Mr . Anstey complained , on Wednesday , of several irre gularities in taking divisions , and among other things alluded to the " count out . " " Ministers were last night planning a count out for the purpose of stifling , a discussion on Lord Malniesbury ' s conduct ; but there were considerably more than forty members present when an lion . member moved that tlie House be counted ; tho lion , member for Montrose noticed that there were gentlemen present actually hiding themselves ; there were three members of the Government
behind the Speaker ' s chair . He ( Mr . Anstey ) wished to ask whether the House had no power to compel the presence of hon . members at the table or in their places for the purpose of being counted -when within the House , as the House and the chair had power to compel their presence at the table , or in the House , in order to have their votes recorded ? If not , lie gave notice that he should propose a standing order to prevent the recurrence of such disgraceful proceedings . " The Speaker stated the rule of the House with
respect to the voting of members . " No member had a right to vote unless he were in the House and had heard the question put . Before the question was put and a division taken , it was the duty of the Sergeant-at-Arms to clear the door and the lobby . It once occurred that a member was found in the lobby after it had been cleared . He was called to the table and asked if he had heard the question put . He said that he had not , and the Sergeant-at-Arms was then directed that the hon . member might withdraw . "With respect to the third question , the hon . member knew that whenever an hon . member took notice that there Were not forty members present
the House Was incompetent to transact business . The doors were not locked , but were kept open ; , and , till the Speaker actually counted the House , every member was entitled to withdraw . If there Were 100 members in the lobby , there was no power to enforce their attendance . His attention had been rather irregularly called by the hon . member for Montrose to members behind the chair , because no hon . member had a right to address tlie chair under those circumstances ; but he ( the Speaker ) actually counted twjee over . The rule , however , was , -that no member could be counted unless be "were actually within the House , and the chair had no authority to order his attendance . ( Hear , hear . )"
MAYNOOTH . The wretched squabble about the College of Maynooth has been kept up all the week . On Monday , or rather on Tuesday morning , at half-past two , a . m ., Mr . Spooneb made an effort to obtain either a continuance of the debate or a division . Finding he was likely to bo beaten , he declared that he should consider all votes given for the adjournment of the House as given against his motion for inquiry . ' This of course called forth a storm of protests .
The Chancellor of the Exchequer said , that if the House did not agree to the adjournment , the hon . member opposite ( Mr . V . Scully ) would bo in possession of the House and would continue his speech . It was then his ( the Chancellor of the Exchequer ' s ) intention , with the greatest respect for that hon . member , to go home . ( Shouts of laughter . ) Sir B . Hall said , that if tho debate was to be resumed that night , ho should bo very happy to pur off with tho right hon . gentleman opposite ( the Chancellor of the Exchequer ) , and go home too . ( Laughter . ) Bnfc if tho hon . member for North Warwickshire wished the
debate proceeded with , ho ought to stay nnd listen to tho hon . gentleman . ( Hear , hoar . ) If he remembered rightly , the hon . member ( Mr . V . Scully ) left oil his speech at the year 1814 ; ho had , therefore , tliirtyeight years still to go on with . ( Renewed laughter . ) Tho motion for tho adjournment of tho House was then lost by 103 to 29 ; whereupon Mr , Spoonek said the vote indicuted tho feeling of the Houho . Mr . Gladstone protested , " on behalf of tho meaning of words , " against that construction . Aftor some further idle talk tine House adjourned at three o ' clock .
But tho next day , like tho promptings of a guilty conscience , tho motion came up ngain . In vain members tried to obtain Homo specific reply from Mr . Spoonor . All ho would say was that ho took the division of the preceding night as a division on tho main question , and that ho had no intontion of giving- any notice ' at all of what he should do with tho order of tho < lay for resuming tho debate . And so tho matter wtands . Mil . FEAKGUa O ' CONNOR .
In consequence of tho medical cortiilcateH , Miss Harriatto Browne O'Connor , tho eistor of tho honourable member for Nottingham , petitioned tho House to ullow hor brother to be placed in n lunatic asylum . Accordingly , n select committee was appointed , on Tuosduy , and on Wednesday Mr . WALroLE brought up its report , which Viras to tho following oilbct : —
"The select committee appointed to inquiro into tho facts contained in the petition rf Harriette Browne O'Connor , stating her belief that her brother , Mr . Feargus O'Connor , is of unsound mind , and praying that he maybe discharged-from custody , in order that he may be inimediately placed in confinement under proper medical treatment , have considered the matter to them referred and agreed to the following report •—Your committee haVo inquired into the facts contained in the petition presented by Miss Harriette Browne O'Connor , praying that ] Vl £ I ^ eargus O'Connor , being a lunatic , may be discharged from custody , in order that be may be immediately placed in confinement under proper medical treatment , and they
find that the same are true . It appears , by the evidence of Mr . Lawrence and Dr . Tweedie that they have separately visited and personally examined Mr . Feargus O'Connor , and they have each of them certified accordingto the statute that he is of unsound mind , and a proper person to be confined . It further appears by the eviden ce of the petitioner , that she has requested Dr . Tooke to receive her brother into his private asylum at Chiswiek , and that Dr . Tooke is willing '' to do so , according to the arrangements whiich . have been made for that purpose . The petitioner is the nearest relative of Mr . O'Connor in England , and she has signed the order required by the
statute requesting Dr . Tooke to receive Mr . O'Connor as a patient into his house . Your committee have thought it right to ask Dr . Tooke and Miss O'Connor whether they would be wilung to give an undertaking that Mr . O'Connor should not be removed from Dr . Tooke ' s asylum , without previously obtaining the permission of the House , and they have given such undertaking accordingly . Under these circumstances , your committee beg leave to recommend to the House that Mr . Feargus . O'Connor be discharged from the custody of the Sergeant-at-ArmSj in order that he may be forthwith removed into the asylum of Dr . Tooke , who is willing to take the necessary steps for conveying him there immediately . "
Mr .: Gouxbuhn observed , that it was stated in the report that certain parties had entered into an understanding 1 that Mr . O'Connor should not be removed from the lunatic asylum without leave of the House . He wished to know whether that was intended to apply to the present session only ? Mr . Walpole replied in the affirmative . It was then moved , and agreed to , that Mr . O'Connor be discharged from tlie custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms without payment of fees .
MISCELLANEOUS . The doings in both Houses on Thursday were of a very miscellaneous character . The Lords rejected a bill withdrawing from the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts certain criminal offences , such as brawling in the church , and the like , 'by 68 to 45 ; on the ground , mainly , that it was piecemeal reform . The Copyhold Enfranchisement Bill went through Committee—the Lord Chancellor approving . In the House of Commons , among other matters , there was an important petition from New South Wales ; the purport of which was as follows : —
" The Council declared it a duty they owed to themselves and to posterity to record their deep dissatisfaction with the constitution of the 14 th of Victoria , c . 76 . They were dissatisfied with , tho administration of the wastelands and of the revenues generally of the colony , and they found to their great regret , that the land schedules were increased instead of being abolished . As the last act of their legislative existence , no other course was left to them than to protest against tho imperial policy ; to declare and remonstrate against it , and to enter that protest and declarnti ' nn nnnn tlirfin WrnnnriH . ThflV declared , first , that tllO
Imperial Parliament had no power to tax the people ot Now South Wales , or to appropriate their revenues , but that all taxation should bo made by tho colonial Legis aturo : noxt , that tho revenues arising from tho pubner lands , of which hor Majesty was trustee , could only be appropriated to tho use of tho colony ; thirdly , that tho customs and other branchos of revenue should bo subject to the same control ; fourthly , that tho action of tho . Legislative Council should not bo fettered by interference Irom tho Parliament at homo ; and , fifthly , that no colonial bills should bo resorvod for tho sanction of hor JMajosty , unless such as affected her crown and dignity . In cononiruniou
clusion , they declared they were prepared , n . with their own lands and revenues , to provido for all tno expenses of tho colony , exclusive only of tho govornoi s salary . " ( Hoar , hear . ) T . Lord Naas presented the petition ; Mr . Gladstone drew attention to it . Tho membors of tho Governmono took exception to tho phrase " as a trustee —referring to tho Queen—and a discussion arose upon it . Finally , it was ordered to lie on tho table . Tho Metropolitan Water Supply Bill went through committee , and tho Burial Bill was read a second tamo-At longth , after a steady opposition to the jam clauses from Sir William Molesworth , tho Now / oainna Government Will was read a third time , and passed .
Woman Cathoijo Procmbsions . —A Koyal proclama tion appeared in tho London Gazette of . Tuesday , w « n » b all Uiobo whom it might concern , that tho law iovhvmwt , Roman Catholic processions would , in future , bo nt-W 3 enforced . This gavo riao to questions from Mr . JU ° " \ J who asked whothor Government intended to P * " * Proclamation in tho Dublin Gazette , and to P > ° ?" priests lor doing what had boon connived at over » 1829 . Mr . WAivoLH Baffl , thnt two months ugo u » o « ^ vornmont hoard of a procession in Ireland , in wu % Iloman Catholic bishop took part , and thoy sent a . »«» / intimation to too bjsW pointing out to hw tiuo v „
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 19, 1852, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19061852/page/6/
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