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PARLIAMENT
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Parliament
PARLIAMENT .
A short discussion took place in the House of Commons on Thursday evening , on the question of going into committee on the Mercantile Marine Bill , which was opposed by Mr . Moffatt , on the ground that the measure was not acceptable to the mercantile interest . Sir William Clay , Mr , , Labouchere , and Mr . Cardwell spoke strongly in , favour of the bill , and Mr . Moffatt ultimately withdrew his opposition , and the House went into committee , pro forma , with the understanding that it should proceed with it on Tuesday evening .
The House afterwards went into committee on the Ecclesiastical Commission Bill . On the first clause Mr . H orsman moved an amendment , the object of which was to place the whole administration and financial management of the commission under the control of the three paid and responsible commissioners . Mr . Horsman said his object was to save the bishops from being burdened with business of a secular nature , and to save Parliament from the necessity of proceeding in a course of secularization calculated to interfere with the spiritual duties of the bishops , and to degrade them in public
estimation . Lord John Russell opposed the amendment as directly adverse to the report of the committee of the House of which the honourable gentleman himself was a member . He considered that two commissioners , one nominated by the Crown and the other by the Archbishop of Canterbury , would adequately represent the highest interests of the Church and State , and their authority would have the greatest weight . Sir Benjamin Hall supported the amendment . The episcopal body had shown themselves unworthy of confidence as men of business , and the Government should not shrink from the
responsibility and inconvenience of bringing the whole matter of the ecclesiastical property under the consideration of the House , and insisting on the removal of abuses . He hoped the committee would be of opinion that bishops should be altogether excluded from that board , and that the whole property of the Church should be put on a better footing . Sir George Grey , Sir John Pakinoton , and Mr . Gladstone all opposed the amendment . On a division the amendment was rejected by 60 to 22 . The House then went into committee on the bill , several clauses were passed , and the committee reported
progress . In the House of Lords on Tuesday evening the Marquis of Lansdowne moved an address of condolence to the Queen on the death of the Duke of Cambridge , which was unanimously agreed to . In the House of Commons Lord John Russell moved a similar address , which was also carried unanimously . The suffrage question was discussed on Tuesday evening in a rather dull manner , although the division list exhibited more hopeful symptoms than could have been anticipated . The subject was introduced by Mr . Locke King , who moved for
Leave to bring in a bill to make the franchise in counties in England and Wales the same as that in boroughs , by giving the right of voting to all occupiers of tenements of the annual value of £ 10 . " Premising that the condition and circumstances of the naiion had very materially changed since the passing of the Reform Act , he argued that our system of representation should be amended , because the people had altered and improved in their ideas . He insisted thnt the present system , which grossly violated the constitutional principle thnt taxation and representation should go together , worked injustice
and oppression , and he pointed out various anomalies , which he proposed to correct , in the manner suggested by Lord J . Russell , by legislation supplementary to the Reform Bill . The motion was seconded by Mr . Hume , who argued that it might be adopted without alarming the most timid reformer . The increase in the number of the constituency had not corresponded with the advance in education and intelligence amongst the people , and he considered that the enlarging of the franchise was really extending the basis of our Constitution , which would be thereby the better protected from political
convulsion . Sir Db Lacy Evans , who had given notice ol an amendment to make the payment of income or property tax , or of poor rate , or deposits of a certain amount in savings banks , a qualification for a vote , offered to withdraw it if it interfered with the motion , which ho supported on the same grounds as had been urged by the preceding speakers—the adt . £ & , vance made by the nation in morals , intelligence , ^ fnind opulence since the Reform Act , which , he contended , was accepted as a compromise ; and if
sufficient twenty yoar 3 ago , was not sufficient now . Ihe motion was supported by Mr . Alcock and Mr . Geouor Thomvhon . The latter speaker characterized our electoral system as the most unequal ancTabsurd in the world , and , after a searching >< 3 Bniftj 8 i A *|* C Parliamentary statistics , asked what /^ ^ cn . anee ^ liberal ^ measures or a liberal government ( T < had , with ** * arouse bo constituted ? Mr . IIkxrv ' ^ JHKJtiniojft > . supported the motion , but not on the
same grounds as those which had been put forward by other speakers . Their arguments pleaded for a representation not founded upon the constitution of this country ; a constitutional representation was a representation of interests , though that principle had , he admitted , been altered by the Reform Bill . Lord Dudley Stuart said , he would vote for the motion as a step in the right direction , but he would prefer Sir I ) e Lacy Evans' amendment , though even that did not satisfy him . It should be the policy of the Legislature to grant the just demands of the people ,
and to concede them in time . Mr . Newdegate could not see anything in the circumstances of the country which called for the proposed change . Lord John Russell was opposed to the motion . If the House desired to extend the franchise , a measure should be brought in early in the session , so that it might receive mature consideration and be proceeded with and passed in the course of that session . To deal with a question of this importance by allowing a bill to be brought in and leaving it on the table was not worthy of the House or fair towards the people . This was a sufficient reason for his voting against the
motion without entering into the particular question of the merits of this proposition , which , indeed , hardly any member had discussed . Having delivered his opinions on former occasions respecting electoral divisions and other matters which had been mixed up with this question , he did not think it necessary to repeat it . Without considering whether the representation of that House was exactly satisfactory , he did say that the people of this country were deeply attached to the fixed principles of the present constitution , and he should ask those who called for a change to show what was their plan and that it would form of
open , though the newspaper-box was shut . As a religious question , therefore , the House was not competent to deal with it , and as a political question it had made a gross blunder . Lord Ashley said the House had adopted a resolution , and her Majesty , under the advice of her Ministers , had given directions to close the Post-office on Sunday , and , in the name of those whom he represented , he demanded a full , fair , and sufficient trial , which the change could not have had within twenty days . Sir R . Inglis opposed the motion , which in his opinion involved the honour of the Sovereign . Lord J . Russell
explained the position in which the Government had been placed by the resolution of the House , which they were bound not to withhold from the Sovereign , whose consent they had advised . He did not consider that commercial correspondence was the chief matter , but the position in which families and domestic affairs were placed by the change , and he owned he could not get over this circumstance , that here was a public department , charged with the conveyance of letters and armed with authority to prevent their conveyance by others , which might transmit a letter one dav addressed to a daughter ,
produce results consistent with the present the Government . Mr . Bright said , what was asked by this motion was , that the principles which were held good in boroughs should be adopted in counties ; and if Lord J . Russell had not an unchangeable hostility to the extension of the franchise he should not oppose a motion so moderate and reasonable . Though falling far short of what it was the duty of the Government to give to the people ; it would go some way to show the disposition of Parliament to extend their rights , and by degrees take a still increasing number of the people within the
denied that the Sabbath was known to the Christian religion . It was the Christian Sunday they had to consider , and that was a day of rest , set apart for human observance by human wisdom for human purposes , and on human grounds he justified his vote . Not treating this , therefore , as a religious question , he looked at it with reference to the politic observance of the day . Rest was to be afforded to the largest number , to be interrupted only in . cases of necessity ; and he proceeded to show that the evils of the change fell in the greatest proportion upon the poor man , to whom the pothouse was
communicating the illness of her father , which , arriving early on Sunday morning at a provincial town , would be detained for twenty-four hours . The effect of this , and there might be a hundred of instances , amongst poor families would be distressing . He recommended the omission of that part of the motion praying that pending enquiry the collection and delivery ot letters on Sunday be continued . Mr . Gladstone said nothing had a greater tendency to disparage the authority of the House than to rescind a motion , especially one so recently passed , before the result of the change could be seen . If the noble
pale of the constitution . —Mr . Disraeli said the Reform Bill had been a permanent settlement of the then agitated question ; yet since that period the gentlemen whom it had sent to Parliament had been quarrelling with that very arrangement , and were constantly endeavouring to sap it . If this country was to be , as it had been , aristocratic , and free because aristocratic , let the Legislature * place power in the monarchy , order in one estate of the realm , and liberty in the other . Repeating that the Reform Act was a settlement accepted by the great body of
lord would take a day or two to consider the precise form of the motion that should be submitted to the House , he thought that would be the course most likely to meet the convenience of the House , and to lead to an amicable settlement of the question . If not , the noble lord , however well he might intend , left the motion open to the most important of the substantial objections that were urged against it . He for one decidedly objected to come to a vote , declaring that sensible inconveniences had been experienced from the arrangements lately adopted , as the resolution would be left Lord John Russell
the people , he delivered a pointed invective against the supporters of the motion and the levelling system of political agitation of which they were sworn friends . Sir B . Hall , in supporting the motion , made a direct charge against Mr . Disraeli of dereliction of political principles , asserting that he had gone down to High Wycombe as a protege of the late Mr . O'Connell and Mr . Hume , and had desired to represent Marylebone upon liberal principles . After an explanation from Mr . Disraeli the House divided , when the motion was negatived by 159 against 100 .
thought , after what had fallen from the member for the University of Oxf » rd , it would be desirable to come to some understanding as to the proper form of the resolution . It appeared to him that it would be quite sufficient , leaving out the latter words , to vote " that an humble address be presented to her Majesty , praying that her Majesty will be graciously pleased to cause an enquiry to be made whether the amount of Sunday labour may not be reduced , without completely putting an end to the collection and delivery of letters . " Several other members having spoken , the House divided , when there
The Sunday Labour Question was afterwards brought forward by Mr . Locke , who moved : — 44 That , whilst this House acknowledges with satisfaction the diminution in the amount of Sunday labour effected by the recent arrangements in the Post-office , it cannot but be sensible of the great public inconvenience which has arisen from the total cessation of any delivery or collection of letters on Sundays , and that an humble
address be therefore presented to her Majesty , praying that she will be graciously pleased to cause an enquiry to be made whether the amount of Sunday labour might not be reduced without completely putting an end to the collection and delivery of letters , &c , on Sundays ; and that , pending such enquiry , her Majesty will be graciously pleased to give orders that the collection and delivery of letters , &c , on Sundays shall be continued as heretofore . "
appeared — For the original motion , 92 ; against it , 234 . Lord John Russell ' s amendment was shortly afterwards put and carried by a majority of 195 to 112 ; The Marriage Bill was read a third time , in the House of Commons , on Wednesday evening , after a brief debate , in which Mr . Walfole warmly opposed the measure altogether , while Mr . Duncan M'Neill and Mr . Fox Maulb protested against the application of the bill to Scotland . The third reading was carried by a majority of 144 to 134 . Mr . Ewart moved on Thursday evening for leave to bring in a bill to abolish the punishment of death . He declared that public opinion was daily growing stronger upon the subject , and that the general
feel-He observed that the stoppage of the post communication was a matter of such great importance , that it demanded a more careful consideration than it had yet undergone in that House . The Government had not received due credit for the extent of the reductions of Sunday labour in the Post-office which they had effected , and he read an epitome of those reductions , published in the Quarterly Review . His belief was that there would be no real diminution of the aggregate amount of Sunday labour by the late meamerel ot labour
ing against capital punishment destroyed the certainty which ought to be characteristic of justice , for juries were perpetually acquitting persons of whose guilt there could be neither legal nor moral doubt , simply on account of the prevalent horror of the fatal result of a hostile verdict . Mr . Hume seconded the motion . Sir George Grey resisted the abolition of the punishment of death from conviction that the continuance of that punishment was indispensable to the interests of society , which had a title to look to Government for its protection . Mr . Bright supported the motion in a long and able speech . Mr . Ewart having briefly replied , the House divided , when the numbers were : —
sure ; there would be y a shifting , and he adduced evidence of the division of labour consequent upon the distribution of letters and newspapers being transferred from the Post-office to private hands . He showed the delay , the embarrassments , and the losses which the suspension of postal communication on a Sunday would create , and asked why the suspension ot labour should bo limited to the Post-office , for , if the principle was asserted in all its entirety , it would overturn the whole ; frame-work of society . Mr . Kouhuck , who seconded the motion ,
For the motion , 40—against it , 4 G . Majority against it , 6 . Mr . F . O'Connor then moved that the House should adopt the principles embodied in the document entitled the People ' s Charter . The honourable mom her had made some progress in his argument in support of his motion when thellouse was counted out .
Untitled Article
362 @t ) £ %$ &tltt + [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 13, 1850, page 362, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1846/page/2/
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