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Untitled Article
¦ was the chairman ? " ] "Who was the chairman ? " Mr . Hume was not the chairman of the committee , was he ? " The evidence showed how improper was the conduct of the honourable member . He ( Sir R . Peel ) was sorry to make this exposure , and wished , by a postponement of the discussion till all the documents were produced , that an opportunity should have been afforded the honourable member of avoiding this painful dilemma . He defended the course pursued by the Commission of Fine Arts , who had opened a most valuable competition , to the native genius of the country . They had selected artists of the highest eminence , to whom they had given commissions , contingent upon the
approbation of Parliament ; but , if the Commission had abused their powers , and if a committee of the House of Commons was thought to be a better tribunal for the consideration of matters of taste , he should see the Commission of the Fine Arts extinguished without a murmur . Mr . Osborne did not think the question was , whether the Fine Arts' Commission should be extinguished , but whether its labours should not be suspended till the completion of the house . If the new building had been either useful or beautiful , the enormous expenditure would not be grudged ; but it was neither .
After some further discussion the House divided , when the numbers
were—For the motion , 62—against it , 144 Majority against it , 82 . Mr . Hume then moved for a committee to inquire into the whole subject of the new houses . Lord John Russell opposed the motion . A complete return of the total expenditure would be made in a few days , and he thought they ought to have that before them before coming to a decision . The House having divided , the numbers were—For the motion , 55—against it , 85 Majority against it , 30 . Lord John Russell moved the second reading of the Lord-Lieutenancy Abolition Bill .
The motion was opposed by Mr . Grattan , Mr . G . A . Hamilton , Colonel Dunne , Mr . M . O'Connell , and Mr . Grogan , but their speeches contained nothing worthy of notice . The debate was adjourned until Monday . Earl Guey having moved that the House of Lords should resolve itself into committee on the Australian Colonies Government Bill , Lord Monteagle condemned in the most emphatic terms that part of the bill relating to the single chamber . The superiority of a double chamber had been recognized by men of all parties : Pitt , Burke , Fox , widely as they differed
on many questions , all deemed it essential to the welfare of an infant colony that it should have a second chamber . In the United States the general conviction was the same ; and they had , therefore , their House of Representatives and their Senate . The world has seen a sad and remarkable instance of the mischievous and dangerous effects arising from a single chamber in the French constitution of 1791—a chamber to be looked upon as a model of human folly ; and yet that experiment has again been tried in our own times in France , and is likely to be again attended with the same fatal consequences . Earl Grey himself shouldbe a witness in favour of a double chamber . He had recommended such an institution in the
warmest terms to the Governors of Australia Proper and New Zealand . After reading extracts from various despatches of Earl Grey to prove this , Lord Monteagle asked him to state the grounds upon which he had abondoned , in 1850 , all the fine principles and all the line sentences which he had enunciated in 1847 in favour of the superiority of a double over a single chamber , especially since the progress of the Australian colonies , on which he justly prided himself , had not made two chambers less proper for them in 1850 than they were in 1847 . He then read a large amount of evidence to prove that our colonies in Australia are favourable , not to a single , but to a double chamber ; and he concluded by moving , as an amendment , to insert the following words : —
" That there shall be within each of the said colonies of New South Wales and Victoria a Legislative Council and a ltepresentutive Assembly . " Earl Guky did not attempt to reply , He contented himself with expressing a hope that their Lordships would support the Government in carrying out a plain and simple principle , and would not disturb existing institutions . Lord Abinoer feared that the colonists would return a single democratic chamber . By this bill they
placed the power of governing the colonies in . the hands of the wor&t class of the people . Lord Lyttelton hoped they would adopt the simple words of the amendment , leaving the details to be settled hereafter . The Earl of St . Germans thought the amendment would unsettle an arrangement which the colonies had accepted as satisfactory . Lord Wodkhouse did not consider that the colonists had ever objected , to the principle of two chambers , but only to two , one of which should be entirely composed of nominees .
Their lordships having divided , tho numbers were— For the amendment , 20—Against it , 22 Majority against it . 2 .
The House then proceeded with the bill . A new clause was inserted by Earl Grey and agreed to , providing , " that every man having a freehold estate of the clear value of £ 100 , or occupying a dwellinghouse of the clear annual value of £ 10 , or holding a license to depasture lands , or having a leasehold estate of the annual value of £ 10 , should be entitled to vote . " The effect of this will be to lower the franchise somewhat . Lord Lyttleton moved the insertion of a clause giving the Governors of New South Wales , Victoria , Van Diemen ' s Land , and South Australia , power to repeal the laws relating to the sale of waste lands . Earl Gkey opposed the amendment . The House divided , and the numbers
were—For the amendment , 18—against it , 28 Majority against it , 10 . The Bishop of Oxford moved the insertion of a clause to enable the Church of England in the colonies to lay down rules for its own internal government , to emanate from an assembly of the bishop , clergy , and laity ; but did not press the clause to a division on receiving an assurance from the Government that an enquiry should be instituted as to the best mode of dealing with the question . The House then resumed , the report was brought up , and the House adjourned . The House of Commons having gone into committee on the Metropolitan Interments Bill , on Tuesday evening , Sir George Grey said ,
" He still thought it necessary to retain the sum originally proposed of 6 s . 2 d . for every burial in consecrated ground of bodies removed from metropolitan parishes ; but , as in large and populous parishes , that would amount to a very great sum , he now intended to propose that those several sums of 6 s . 2 d . should not be received by the clergyman of the parish as a fee , but should be carried to a separate account ; that the first proceeds there of should be applied to the payment of the salaries of the chaplains , and that the residue should be applied towards making just and equitable compensation to the existing incumbents of parishes , calculated according to the rates of their incomes derived from burial fees during the five years immediately preceding the passing of the act . "
Sir B . Hall would move as a proviso that no incumbent should receive more in consequence of the passing of the act than he would have derived from the net annual income to which he was at present entitled . Sir George Grey said he would take time to consider this proposition . Clause 32 having been read , which makes special provision for cases where the incumbent now derives
a profit from interments of bodies brought from other parishes , Sir B . Hall referred to the scandalous manner in which some of the London clergy had made a traffic of their burial grounds . In St . Giles's Cemetery , Old St . Pancras-road , inducements were held out to people to bury in that ground , so that the number of burials was six times greater than that of the deaths in the parish : —
" In 1846 there were 896 deaths in the parish of St . Giles , but there were 2323 burials in the ground to which he was referring . In 1847 the deaths were 1298 , and the burials 2877 ; in 1848 the deaths were 1111 , and the burials 3578 ; while for one half of 1819 the deaths were 573 , and the burials , 3440 . A case could be proved in which a body was entirely broken up , the head being separated from the other parts , and the whole in this disgusting condition put into a wheelbarrow and removed to another part of the ground , where they were thrown into a hole- ( Hear , hear ) . This was for the
purpose of making room for others ; yet the rector , when under examination described the cemetery as in an admirable state . These things were done under the sanction of the rector himself , the Reverend Mr . Tyler , and for his sexton another clergyman who had been a soldief , and was now a clergyman , a sexton , an undertaker , and a stonemason — ( A laugh ) . It was impossible for him to think of compensating a clergyman in the way proposed by the bill who had resorted to such practices as he had pointed out for the purpose of increasing his fees . "
Sir George Grey could not believe that tho Reverend Mr . Tyler could be guilty of such conduct . Sir B . Hall said the evidence on this point was not known till after the examinations of the Board of Health . Mr . Bright said this churchyard in which the reverend soldier , sexton , undertaker , and stonemason , carried on his trade was purchased by the ratepayers of St .
Giles ' s . Now , it was a monstrous thing that these ratepayers should purchase this ground , that then the rector should put into his pocket all tho fees derived from the burials , and alter all come forward and ask for compensation when the ground was to be given up . That churchmen shou d tolerate in their church a system like this only made him wish that every such churchman should carry a parson on His back to the day of his death . { Laughter . )
The clause was then ordered to stand part of the bill , several other clauses wore agreed to , the Chairman reported progress , and tho committee was ordered to be resumed on Friday . Lord Naas moved that the House resolve itself into a committee to take into consideration , the
present mode of levying the duty on home-made spirits in bond . He described the mode in which foreign spirits are estimated for the purposes of duty , and showed the unfairness of the system by which homemade spirits are guaged , without regard to the loss between the time of bonding and the time of selling . Mr . James Wilson defended the system of bonding , as at present conducted , and opposed the mo-Sir Charles Wood spoke at c onsiderable length in opposition to the motion . If it were carried , either fourpence per gallon must be added to the duty on home-made spirits , or the same amount must be deducted from colonial spirits . The British distiller would gain nothing by the change . The House then divided , when the numbers were— For the motion , 85—Against it , 53 Majority against Ministers . . 32 . The House then resolved itself into committee accordingly , and several resolutions were proposed and carried , the effect of which will be , that the duties payable on British spirits , when taken out of warehouse for home consumption , shall be charged on the quantity ascertained by the measure and strength of what is actually delivered . Sir Charles Wood , although he would not oppose the resolutions , after the vote just come to , considered himself perfectly free to take whatever course he might consider proper . Lord Jocelyn moved for papers relating to railway communication in India , and took occasion to enter at some length into the comparative advantages of the different lines projected in the east , west , and south of India . He urged strongly the claims of the Madras and Arcot line , pointing out its facilities and encouraging prospects , and concluded with an earnest appeal to the Indian department of the Government to furnish the population of that vast empire with the means of intercommunication . Mr . James Wilson defended the course taken by the Board of Directors . So far from the East India Company and the Board of Control having been negligent or backward in promoting railway and other communications in India , they had taken measures with that view which , in any other circumstances , would have been hardly prudent . He could assure the noble lord and the House that the East India Company and the Government were perfectly disposed toextend the same privileges to Madras as had been extended to the other Presidencies , as soon as they possessed the necessary information , which they had taken means to obtain as soon as possible . The question was one of time , not of preference or privilege . With regard to a report communicated by some Indian papers , that the Bengal Railway had been abandoned , he felt it to be his duty to say that there was not one word of truth in that report ; on the contrary , the East India Railway , as well as that of Bombay , was going on to the entire satisfaction of the East India Company and the Government . After a short discussion , in which Mr . Aolionby , Sir T . Coleurooke , Sir John Hobhouse , and Mr . Mangles took part , the motion was agreed to . In moving the second reading of the Court of Chancery Bill , on Wednesday , Mr . Turner said the object of the bill was to lessen the delays attending proceedings in the Court of Chancery . He had seen so much property wasted , and so many families ruined in enquiries which might have been avoided , that he felt it his duty to bring forward a remedial measure . There is at this moment property to the amount of £ 50 , 000 , 000 under the control of the Court of Chancery . He then described the alterations which he proposed to make in the existing law . Sir John Romilly would not offer the slightest opposition to the second reading of the bill . He entirely concurred in the object for which it was framed , and had endeavoured to promote it in a measure which was now in the other House . After a few remarks from Mr . P . Wood and Mr . Anhtey , the bill was read a second time . After one or two remarks on the address of the House of Commons to the Queen on Sunday labour , which was carried in a thin House by a small majority , Lord Brougham asked whether letters might be delivered on Sunday to those who apply at the Postoffice for them between the hours of divine service ? The Earl of Minto : No ; they are to be locked up in the box . Lord Brougham : Then I hope that the people of England , and especially the merchants of Liverpool and other gieat towns , will learn in the next six months the consequences of this order . In moving for copies of letters addressed by Lord John Russell to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge , on the subject of the issue of a commission of inquiry , and copies of any resolutions or communications entered into or made on behalf of those universities in volution to tho sumo subject , Lord Montj : aglb said he did not suppose the Government were actuated by any hostile fueling towards the universities , but lie could not help thinking that such an inquiry was uncalled for and injudicious . It was far better that the universities should be loft to them-
Untitled Article
June 15 , 1850 . ] QZ $ e 3 Lt& ?! tX + 267
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 15, 1850, page 267, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1842/page/3/
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