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The SPEAKER took the Chair at half-past three, and soon afterwards the House ‘having been summoned in the usual form by the Deputy Usher of the Black’ Rod, pro ceeded to,the Hoase of Lords to hear the Commission read for giving the Royal Assent: to several Bills, for which see our report of the proceedings in the Lords. Mr. Manning and Mr. 8. Drummond took the oaths and their seats, ‘ UNITARIANS. . Mr. WM. SMITH presented a Petition from two hundred sod seventy Protestant Dissenters calling themselven Uni tarians, complaining of the present state, of the laws re specting marriage, and praying for an alteration of the same. The Hon. Member stated, that nothing but the pressure of public business had prevented him, during the present Session, from bringing forward a motion‘on the subject, in conformity with the views of the Petitioners. He would, for the pre sent, lave the Petition on the table for the consideration of Members, . De. PHILLIMORE expressed his readiness to assent to some measure to relieve the religious scruples of the Peti tioners ; but if any measure proposed for that purpose should prove to be of the same nature as that which was introduced. on a former occasion, he ‘should feel himself bound (= oppose it, Mr. W. SMITH said, the Petitioners were not wedded to any particular form, but they had assented to that which it had been his intention to propose, ‘as appearing to be likely to meet, with the fewest objections from the Clergy of the Established Church. They were ready, however,to accept of any relief which the wisdom of the Legislature might think, proper to enact. , yrs The Petition was then ordered to lie upon the table, RECEIVERS GENERAL OF LAND TAX. | Mr. WHITMORE brought up the Report of the Com mittee on the Office of Receiver General of the Land Tax. |,Mr. BARING wished to know whether the evidence heard ‘by the Committee was, ready for printing, “. . Me We SMT said, the evidence, which was very volu minous, was not in a state to be laid before the House., Mr. SMITH said the regular course would be to have the Report read first. _Mr. CALCRAFT said, he wished to have the evidence printed, and if the Honourable Member did not move for it, he would. . . Mr. HUME said he had been induced to waive the print ing of the evidence in the Committee, on the understanding that all the suggestions of the Committee would be carried into effect. Mr. MACDONALD congratulated the House on the re sult of the labours of the Committee, which would lead to a redaction of at least one third the expense of the office of Receiver General. . as After,a few words from Mr. Baring, Mr. Lennard, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr.Whitmore, on the expense of printing the evidence, the Report was ordered to be printed, and the minutes of the evidence to lie upon the the table. SLATE: QUARRIES, Mr. HUME, for Mr.Alderman Wood, postponed to this day week, the motion of which the latter had given notice, for an inquiry relative to Mr. Pennant’s lease or license for opening slate quarries on Llanlecyd Common. OFFICIAL MEMBERS. . Mr. H. G. BENNETT moved for a return of all Mem bers of Parliament holding offices under the Crown, during the pleasure, of the Crown or otherwise, specifying the de actiption of the office, the date of the appointment, and the amount of salary and emolument; also of all Members of Parliament holding offices by appointment,from any of the public offices, specifying the nature of the office, the date of the appointment, by whom given, and amount of salary and emoluments; also of all Members of Parliament receiving pensions, for life, or for a term of years, from the Crown or any public office, specifying the date of the pension, the amount of the same, and the services for which it was grant ed,-also of all Members of Parliament holding offices or appointments in or under any of the Civil or ‘Ecclesiastical Courte, or under any of the Courts of Law or Equity, spe cifying the description of the office, date of appointment, by whom given, and the amount of salary, fees, or emolu ments derived therefrom; also of all Members of Parliament holding grants of reversion of offices, places, or pensions, under the Crown, or any of the public offices or Courts of Justice, specifying the nature of the grant, ‘the ‘date, by whom given, and for what services or other consideration. — Ordered. : CONTEMPT OF COURT. 1. Mr. J. P. GRANT rose :to present a Petition ‘which, stated circumstances of considerable importance as regarded the individual, but for which he confessed he was at a loss,to conceive what means were in the power of the House to afford any remedy or relief. ‘The Petitioner was Willliam Fair ‘leigh, a practitioner in one of the Courts’ of Law in Edin burgh, and stated that he had borrowed up the papers in a suit in that Court. By borrowing up the papers In a suit was Meant a, practice which prevailed in the Courts in ‘Scotland, of borrowing out of the hands of the Clerk, of the Court the original record and other papers in the suit, ‘which was frequently done by ‘the agents of the parties in the suit, they’ giving their receipt to the clerk, as an’ ‘acknowlegment of the possession and of the obligation to ‘return them within a given time. .This the, Petitioner, had done in a particular suit, at the request and for the ser vice of another practitioner, who had since been put in gaol for debt, retaining the said papers in his possession, and no process being in the power of the Court. ta issue to compel him to restore the same,. The recent for the papers having been signed by the Petitioner in his own name, he was in daily apprehension, of a committal for contempt of ‘the Court in not returning‘ ‘the papers, from which it would not be in the power of the Court afterwards to afford ‘him any relief.. The Hon. Member said,as he had stated before, he was not aware of any power of that House, to afford any relief in the particular care of the “Petitioner ; but he stated t he circumstances for the consideration of the Law Officers of Scotland,’ whose attention he hoped would be directed towards some improvement of the law on that head. Ile ‘should only further observe, that the practice of permitting the papers and original records of alils, to pass out of the hands of the Clerk of the Court, was one of much inconvenience and likely to tead to serious evil, and he should be happy to contribute all the assistance in his power towards amending i, The Petition was ‘ordered to lie upon the table, _. + POOR LAWS. 1 . Mr. DAVENPORT presented a» Petition “from the Churchwardena, Oversecra of the Poor, and other Ley payers at the Town of Macclesfield, in the “County of Chester, against the Poor Laws Amendment Bill, 1 . Sir R. WILSON, presented a Petition from the Leypayers of a Village in the Township of Royston, in Lahrashire, Against the Poor Laws Amendment Bill. The Petitioners Particularly dwelt upon the supposition which had, as they Conceived, been entertained by the supporters of the Bill, that the Poor Rates were an inducement to improvident Marriages. The Hon. and gallant General anid, the lan~ Suage of the Petition was concise and proper, and he would not weaken its force by any attempt to expatiate upon its Statements. He would, however, recommend to those gen temen who were advocates for the Bill, and were fond of indulging in denunciations against the improvident mar riages of the poor, to employ themselves during the holidays in reading a publication, which was to be found among the worke.of.a very.eminent, though not always a very serious, Divine. It was entitled, “A modest Proposal to the People of Ireland,” written by Dr. Jonathan Swift, and contained much that was applicable to the present subject. Mr. BROUGHAM said, that after what had passed on the subject yesterday, he had hoped that this question would not be met by clamour, or appeals of nature only calculated to excite feelings of irritation and discontent against the Measure, which had already been too sedulously attempted out of doors. After the applause which his Hon. and gal lant Friend had bestowed on this Petition for its conciseness and propriety of language, it was not without surprise that he heard what was said in it of the rights of the poor respect ing marriage, and its assumption that those who were fa vourable to the Billv progress acted upon the impression that the poor rates operated as an inducement to improvi dent marriages, the truth being that the principle upon which the Bill was founded was, not that the Poor Laws themselves were an inducement, but that they took ‘away, the check which otherwise would exist upon the inclination to marry improvidently, or without sufficient means to maintain, a family. The language of those who maintained this doc trine might have been occasionally somewhat unguarded, but the principle itself was one of which no man could doubt. And here he would observe that much unmerited and groundless obloquy and abuse’ had been heaped upon Mr. Malthus as the author of this doctrine. He would take upon himself’ to say, that so far from being a speculatist, as he was, habitually represented, Mr. Malthus, as far as the Great bulk of his reasonings was concerned, was one of the most practical men, and one who proceeded more upon matters of fact than almost any writer he had seen upon the subject. Nothing,he maintained, could be more i nlusions to the public interests, and nothing so prejudicial to the in terest of the individual himself, than that, throwing away, all consideration of his ability to support a wife and family, a man should rush into marriage, the necessary consequence of which must be to involve not only himself bit his wife and his cildren, even from , their birth, in a misery and want, and to renter them a burden _ and a charge upon the rest ‘of ‘the ‘community. No man sup posed that the prospect of ‘deriving support from the poor rates would act as an actual inducement to a man to burden himself with’a family; but what was contended was this, that having ‘a provision in the poor rates against actual want for himself and for his children, should he have any, the knowledge of such ‘a provision existing was likely to take away the check of prudential consideration, prevent a man from thinking twice before he married,and lead him to overrate his probable means of providing for his family. Who ever doubied that, it was the duty of every man to reflect deeply and seriously upon his circumstances before he married, and that any man, whether poor or in the middle ranks of fife, was not to suppose that it was a merit, but on the contrary to feeling a great demerit to rush into a state which he must know, if he reflected at all, was likely to produce him a family beyond his means or his power to provide for?’ It was, beyond all question, an dis honest in a man so to act, trusting to the poor rates for a protection against want on the part of himself and his fa mily, and calculating on a provision so to be drawn from the means of the labour of others, as it would be to go into any shop, and order a piece of cloth or any other goods which he knew that he could not have the means of paying for,— (Hear, hear, hear), ‘ Colonel WOOD again the Hon. Member who had brought forward the Bill had not had fair play. The regular dis cussion of his Bill had been frequently postponed on account of other business, and was now fixed for Thursday next; but the motion of the Hon. Member for Cumberland, for the repeal of the Agricultural Horse Tax, which had since been fixed for the same day, would have precedence of it, and probably would lead, by a protracted debate, to its further postponement. He hoped, however, the Hon. Member would give way. In the mean time, until the time came for, going into the discussion of the whole Bill, he hoped Gentlemen would refrain from the use of strong expressions against its principle. ‘ Mr. CURWEN, we understood, expressed his decided intention to bring on his motion on the day mentioned. Sir J. GRAHAM said he had received many communica tions from Carliste on the subject of the Bill all concurring in its favour, and hoping it would lead to further improve ments. He therefore hoped the Honourable Member would not be withheld by any clamour or fear of Opposition from going forward with the Bill this Session. Mr. MANSFIELD said he also had received many com munications from the town (Leicester) which he had the honour to represent, in which, if not all, at least ninety, nine out of a hundred of the inhabitants were decidedly averse to the measure.— (Laughter ) Mr. BIRCH said a few words which we could not collect, Mr. W. SMITH said it was a subject of the utmost im portance, and deserving the fullest consideration. He therefore was sure the House would not press it without mature deliberation. He would ask the Hon. Baronet opposite, who, he believed, was nearly as much connected with Leeds as with Carlisle, whether his communications with both places gave him reason to suppose that it was as much approved of in the former, which was a large manu facturing town, or in the latter, where there were hardly any manufacturers at all ?—(Hear, hear.) —He thought the interests of the manufacturers were as much to be attended to as those of any other class, Sir. R. VERON. thought the Biull should not be passed without the fullest time for deliberation. He, therefore, hoped the Hon. Member, would have the measure Tule discussed this Session, but postpone the decision on it until ‘next Session. Mr. SCARLETT had, he wish. to’ bring on the discussion ‘of the measure ont of its due Gencees but after the length ened observations which had been thrown out by Honourable Members, he hoped hte might be allowed to say, that he never anticipated, nor did he now expect, that there could be so unanimous opinion: on any one measure of relief. ‘He believed there was hardly a Member in the House who had had such’an extensive means of ascertaining the gene ral feeling of the country, with régard to the measure as himself. We had had a most extensive,and numerous cor rrespondence on the subject with persons in all parts of the kingdom; all classes, whether of landed proprietors, farmers, manufacturers, merchants, and even the poorer Classes themselves..were agreed in opinion as to the ‘magnitude of the evil, but considerable difference, pre- vailed as to the remedy. Almost every class of per ons, if not every individual, had some remedy to pro pose for the evil, but he believed that if the whole kingdo ‘were palled, all would vote for his plan if their own were of necessity to be postponed. That, he thought, ces 8 tales ruirly good criterion of the general feeling towards this Bul. He did not expect that the correspondence of Members for sage towns would incline them very generally to support the
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