termined to carry on the system of mixed mentioned, but that, if they are disposed education, and to allow their sons to go to to support the present Ministers, they will the Queen's Colleges and to promote na- enable them to carry on the Government tional schools. As to the agricultural part for the benefit of the country, and that of the hon. Gentleman's speech, I can they will make full provision for that puronly say that, although it has been fre- pose. As to the observations of the hon. quently said, and the hon. Gentleman him- and learned Gentleman as to the system self has frequently argued, that the landed of conducting the Government, I think part of the community are suffering great it is hardly worth the while of a person of injustice, he has never been able to per- the ability and station of the hon. and suade the House that it is so. With re- learned Gentleman to adopt such jargon spect to the countervailing duty which Mr. as he has referred to. The noble Lord M'Culloch said the landed part of the the present Secretary for Foreign Affairs community ought to have, the hon. Gen- has shown considerable ability in the other tleman's opinions might have some weight; House of Parliament; he has conciliated but I think also, that Mr. M'Culloch had great goodwill by his manner of conducting some reason on his side when he said that the business which has devolved upon him, the time had been allowed to go by when and it would be absurd to suppose that it a fixed duty on foreign corn might have is because my great grandmother was the been accepted by the Legislature of this sister of the noble Lord's great grandcountry. In 1841 the present Earl of father, that the noble Earl has been apDerby treated with the greatest scorn a pointed to his present office. I do not proposition for a duty of 8s. on foreign know that I need now enter into the excorn, and said over and over again that to planation of any other relationships. propose such an insignificant protection There is, it is true, a connexion of mine was an insult to the agricultural interests who holds the office of Lord Privy Seal, of this country, and that they never would and that noble Lord has held office under submit to so low a duty; and yet in 1851 Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne; but it the noble Earl stated, at a meeting at would be rather hard if it were forbidden Merchant Taylors' Hall, and at other to all those who are connected with me, places, that he expected a great triumph by marriage or otherwise, to fill any posithat they would have success in their tion in the Government of the country. endeavours, and would attain the object These, however, are trifling matters; and they all desired. And what was that ob- although they might be fair subjects for ject? A fixed duty of little more than comment, the real question is whether the half what he had formerly rejected. With persons who fill public offices are or are respect to what has fallen from the hon. not competent for the posts which they aud learned Member for Sheffield (Mr. occupy. If the House thinks them comRoebuck), I readily admit that the House petent, and will extend its confidence to can at any time declare they will withdraw them, they will endeavour to discharge their confidence from the present Ministers their duty in carrying on the Government of the Crown, and that there are others of the country; if otherwise, it is desirable whom they may think more entitled to their that the House should at once come to confidence, and who, they believe, will carry a decision upon the point. on the Government more for the welfare of the country. If the House should so decide, the present Ministers will be ready to bow to that decision; but in their present position they hold they had nothing more to do than their duty with respect to the different subjects they they might from time to time bring before Parliament, and be ready to bow to the decision of Parliament upon them. Of this I am sure, that after the time they have held office, there is nothing so requiting or delightful, there is nothing belonging to office to induce them to be unwilling to submit at once to that decision. All I ask now of the House is, not at once to carry the measures I have COLONEL SIBTHORP strongly con demned the commercial policy of the Government. He said he must attribute à considerable portion of the depression in trade to the Great Exhibition of Industry in the past year. There was but one opinion-and it was universal-as to the gross insult which had been offered to the merchants and tradesmen of this country by the wholesale introduction of fo reigners and their wares which had taken place in consequence of the Exhibition; and, for his own part, he would not for a thousand guineas enter the walls or approach within smell of the unwieldy, illdevised, and unwholesome Castle of Glass. The Speech which the Ministers had put into Her Majesty's lips was a mass of trickery, trash, and trumpery. It was they who were responsible for the sentiments it contained, and he sincerely hoped that the Queen would speedily escape from their fangs. MR. WHITESIDE said, he must deny the assertion that the hon. and learned Member for the University of Dublin (Mr. Napier) had said that it was necessary to have a Coercion Act for Ireland. On the contrary, the hon. and learned Gentleman said the ordinary law of the land would be sufficient to repress all outrages existing there, provided it were properly administered. He (Mr. Whiteside) could bear his testimony to the fact that the law was not properly administered in Ireland. He had been nineteen years on the Northern Circuit, and at no period within his memory had the three counties of Armagh, Monaghan, and Louth been in a more disturbed state than at the present time. The arm of the assassin was firm and strong; the arm of justice was paralysed. All he asked was, that the law might be so administered by sincere and conscientious men that the lives of honest people should be protected, and due punishment be made to overtake the guilty. SIR GEORGE GREY said, that the language of the Speech was perfectly correct in stating that the outrages were confined only to certain districts in the counties of Armagh, Monaghan, and Louth. If the hon. Gentleman meant to impugn the conduct of the Irish Government by saying that there had not been an honest and zealous attempt on its part to put into force all the powers which were vested by the law in the Lord Lieutenant, he (Sir George Grey) would be quite ready to meet him upon that point on a future occasion, and to demonstrate that the assertion was utterly incorrect. The hon. and learned Gentleman was mistaken if he supposed that the Speech contained any statement to the effect that the Government might not hereafter deem it necessary to meet the prevalence of crime and outrage in Ireland by powers of an extraordinary character. The Government hoped that the powers of the existing law would be sufficient for the punishment and suppression of the evil; but if they should be disappointed in that expectation, they would have no hesitation in applying to Parliament for more extensive powers. Question put, and agreed to. Committee appointed, " to draw up an Address to be presented to Her Majesty upon the said Resolution:"-Sir Richard Bulkeley, Mr. Bonham Carter, Lord John Russell, Sir George Grey, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Labouchere, Sir Francis Baring, Lord Seymour, Mr. Attorney General, Mr. Solicitor General, The Judge Advocate, Sir William Somerville, Mr. Cornewall Lewis, Mr. Hayter, Mr. Baines, Mr. Parker, and Mr. Bernal, or any five of them. Queen's Speech referred. The House adjourned at a quarter before One o'clock." HOUSE OF COMMONS. Wednesday, February 4, 1852. WOODS AND FORESTS REPORT FOR 1851. VISCOUNT DUNCAN wished to put a question to the noble Lord the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests (Lord Seymour). In explanation, he should observe that the annual Report of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to Parliament had generally received the signatures of all the three Commissioners; but the last report of July 30, 1851, had received only the signatures of two out of the three Commissioners. He asked, therefore, if all the three Commissioners concurred in sanctioning all the statements made in the last annual Report, and placed in the hands of Members of Parliament in December of that year; and if so, why that Report had been signed only by two instead of three Commissioners. He wished, in fact, to know if the Report had been submitted to Mr. Kennedy, and had his concurrence? LORD SEYMOUR wished first to correct his noble Friend as to the title he had given him (Lord Seymour), namely, the Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests. In consequence of the separation of offices by the Act of last Session, he was no longer Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, though he still continued Chief Commissioner of Works and Buildings. With respect to the signature of the Report by two Commissioners only, his noble Friend might have been aware that it was not necessary for all three Commissioners to sign any Report to the Treasury. Two signatures had always been sufficient, though he would readily admit that it was usual for all three to sign the Reports MR. ROEBUCK asked whether the two persons who had signed the petition were not the chairman and secretary of a public meeting? MR. F. PEEL said, he knew one was chairman of Cape Town Assembly, and the other a commissioner of Cape Town; but he was not aware whether they signed on behalf of any public bodies. before they were presented to Parliament. | nances on the table. The other petition In this case, however, Mr. Kennedy had to which the hon. Member referred was not signed the Report, and for this reason, included in the papers on the table. that he was not a member of the Commission until nearly six months of the year to which it referred had elapsed, and therefore, of course, it was not reasonable to make him, further than need be, responsible for the Report, with which he had very little to do, having just resigned the former office he held in Ireland. He had, however, as the noble Lord would see, signed the account of income and expenditure at the end of the Report; and this was, in fact, the essential part of the Report. With respect to the other point, whether or not the Report was submitted to Mr. Kennedy, he believed there were some passages in the Report in which Mr. Kennedy did not perfectly coincide; and on that account, and as he had very little to do with the arrangements, it was thought unnecessary to call upon him to sign the Report. VISCOUNT DUNCAN would then give notice, that on Thursday week he should move for any minutes of papers which would explain the reason why Mr. Kennedy had abstained from submitting his signature to the annual Report of the 30th of July, 1851. THE AFFAIRS OF THE CAPE. MR. ADDERLEY begged to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether a petition had been received at the Colonial Office from Inhabitants of the Cape to Her Majesty, praying Her to refuse Her assent to Ordinances passed by the reconstructed Legislative Council previously to proceeding with their new Constitution; also, whether he will lay copies of all such ordinances immediately before this House? He also wished to know whether a petition had been received, praying Her Majesty to expedite the construction of the Constitution, and to refuse Her sanction to any alteration, on the part of the Legislative Council, in the constitutional Ordinances; and whether there would be any objection to produce such Ordinances, together with any resolutions for altering them which might have been passed. MR. F. PEEL replied, that a petition signed by two persons had been received, praying Her Majesty not to sanction any Ordinances, except such as were necessary to carry out the constitution. There would be no objection to lay copies of the Ordi METROPOLIS BUILDINGS BILL. MR. BERNAL OSBORNE said, perhaps the noble Lord the First Commissioner of Works and Buildings would be good enough to inform the House what course he intended to take with respect to the Metropolis Buildings Bill, laid on the table at the close of last Session, and whether he intended to persevere with it? LORD SEYMOUR said, he had brought in the Bill with the view of obtaining the opinions of the public regarding it; and he meant again to introduce the Bill in the present Session, in order that it might be referred to a Committee, with the view of obtaining such information as was not to be procured in any other way. NEW METROPOLITAN MARKET. CAPTAIN FITZROY wished to know if the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary for the Home Department could state what proceedings were intended to be taken under the Act of last Session, in reference to the construction of a new cattle market for the metropolis in place of Smithfield? He believed that the interval of six months allowed by the Act of last Session before the choice should be made, had now expired? SIR GEORGE GREY begged to state that, on the 29th of January, the day before the expiration of the six months allowed by law, he had received formal notice from the Corporation of London that they desired to undertake the formation of a new metropolitan market, and to defray the expenses incidental_to_such formation out of their corporate funds. CAPTAIN FITZROY wished to know whether another Act would be necessary? SIR GEORGE GREY said, he had no reason to believe that the Corporation would apply for any new Bill, so far at least as powers for holding the new market were concerned. The Act gave certain powers to the Commissioners that Her Majesty was empowered to appoint, and it | serious inconvenience might ensue if they was provided that, if the Corporation ac- laid down an inflexible rule that no vote of cepted the option of carrying it out them- public money should be taken after twelve selves, those powers should be transferred o'clock, and he did not think that any into them. Of course an Act would be ne- convenience had been experienced from the cessary for the purchase of a site for the present practice such as would justify market, because the late Act did not pro- them in laying down such a rule. The vide for that. usual course was, that no money votes were moved by Government after twelve o'clock. Occasionally it might happen that a few THE STANDING ORDERS. MR. CORNEWALL LEWIS moved the votes were taken after twelve o'clock; but usual Sessional Orders. MR. SPEAKER accordingly read them seriatim. On the Order respecting Votes in Committee of Supply, that was done only with the approbation of the House, and when any strong objection was taken they were withdrawn. Under these circumstances it seemed hardly advisable, after so many years experience in Committees of Supply, to apply this inconvenient restriction by a sessional order. With respect to the complaint of his hon. Friend (Mr. Hume), that votes were often taken when forty Members were not present, it was only necessary to remark that it was competent to any Member who objected, to have the House counted, and it would then be impossible to proceed with the vote. MR. HUME said, that no doubt cases might occur which it would be desirable to treat as exceptions to the general rule which he wished to be laid down, and then the standing order could be suspended, as in similar instances. MR. HUME proposed to add to the Standing Orders, "and that no Vote for money be taken in Committee after midnight." During the last four or five Sessions a practice had gained ground of money being voted when the House was almost empty, at a period when nobody expected that any question of importance could possibly come on. It was not so much the fear of abuses being committed under such circumstances, which would be checked in the presence of a larger number of Members, which induced him to make this proposition, as the fear of the appearance it would have with the country, if they adhered to their ordinary course in this matter. He was anxious Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. that a fixed rule on this subject should be Another Amendment proposed, at the laid down and adopted, because it was end of the Question, to add the words, extremely inconvenient, when the money" and that no new Vote for Public Money, votes came on, for any man to rise and if opposed, be taken after twelve o'clock oppose a vote. When the Tories were in at night.' office for twelve or fourteen years, he had never allowed a single farthing to pass after twelve o'clock. He had been blamed for relaxing his insistence on that rule; and, thinking that equal justice should be done to both parties, he hoped the House would agree to his proposal. Question proposed, "That those words be there added. COLONEL SIBTHORP most cordially agreed with what had fallen from the hon. Member for Montrose. He had seen public money voted away when only fifteen Members were present, and some of them asleep on the benches. He thought, therefore, it was high time that some step should be taken, and he, for one, would always be happy to oppose any attempt at abuse in this respect by Ministers. MR. BROTHERTON supported the Motion. He stated at the same time, that as he could not expect that if the House negatived the present Motion they would agree to that which he had given notice (that the Speaker should leave the chair at twelve o'clock), he would not in that case bring forward his resolution. House divided:-Ayes 64; Noes 146: Majority 82. Main Question put, and agreed to. THE QUEEN'S SPEECH-REPORT OF ADDRESS. The Report of the Committee appointed to prepare an Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne brought up and read. MR. HUME said, that upon the previous evening he was unfortunately unable MR. CORNEWALL LEWIS trusted to make any remarks upon the Address, the House would not agree to the Amend- as in consequence of the state of the ment of his hon. Friend. He was afraid atmosphere in the House he was obliged to VOL. CXIX. [THIRD SERIES.] G the present plan evidently had not answered the purpose desired either last year or on the previous day. As the architect had built the other House not capable of receiving the House of Commons, he would submit that when it was again necessary that they should go up, it should be ascer leave it at eleven o'clock. He wondered the bar of the other House would contain, represen |