THE NEWSPAPER. 



[1844 



S S3 *«ft tiS^d statesmen n,e„- 



i~fe : Si °< i con,erence have 



H^** Ce in " f air way of a satisfactory 

 «4 T«* *J?1 .il scientific Association will hold 



'-L:' «ar a\ Milan, and the day of 

 k. rtfe eo■G* ,, ""* J . or 19 Count Boromeo is to 

 Z£*"«$^toJ^ O. Bassi,the 

 b l^li^^d Cesar Cantu, the historian, 

 ■^■Ki-.? *■ M-"-* that e 



iffittrianed by the burning lava emitted 

 — rf *L nf Mount Etna amounts to 143, and 



" t?S "to the. pot by curiosity to witness this 



1 W nf nature The damage done to the fields, 



ZfcTZ estimated at'a million and a half 



W 



Cat 



_\Ve have received by the Levant packet a 

 the projected constitution of Greece, drawn 

 i"w L committee to whom the task was entrusted. 

 -JL fttaht we the principal articles which were 

 ?k?t3bt under Lossion forthwith in the 

 «^^ Afwably --The dominant religion is that 

 ^^•rtbodoi church of the East. The Greek 

 ia ill «piritnal matters and dogmas is united to 

 Cbrotiaa Church of Constantinople ; in civil matters 

 i Milium J --» and governed by a synod. There is 

 4 freedom in Greece for all religious per- 

 AI1 citizens are equal before the law. In- 

 Jibtrty is inviolable. The Slave-trade is pro- 

 { ilave of any nation is free on setting 

 fa>; oo the wil of Greece. There is liberty of the 

 and the censorship is not permitted under any pre- 

 IWre are three powers : the King, the Senate, and 

 Cknber of Representatives. The initiative in the 

 of laws is in all the three ; measures of finance to 

 toted by the Chamber of Representatives. The 

 rf thft King is inviolable— the Ministers alone are 

 The King appoints the Ministry, commands 

 irnuei, declares war, makes treaties, sanctions and 

 the laws, and prorogues and dissolves the 

 Chafers, The Crown is hereditary, and passes to the 

 a of King Otho, from male to male, to the 

 — exclusion of females and their descendants. In 

 It of heirs of King Otho, the Crown descends to his 

 n Pnnce Leopold. The King's majority to be fixed 

 •Cfa«jeon8 years. j J 



parliament. 



HOUSE OF LORDS. 

 •-ftrhameut was opened this day by the Queen in 

 LrfSi formalities - Her Majesty having arrived 



■££ W e tak ? n her seat ou the tl »rone read the 

 C^ooas Speech: — 



-»TUii, a Jr H J; QUEEN ' S SPE ECH. 



^sniiuli^r TLEMKV '- I,: affor ds me ereat satisfy 



Z£^.« "Kabte tenS " e C f °", t '" ueii assurances of 

 •^•■tki. e X pe« a ?ir ° f aU Princes a »1 States, 



^snaSws^ns^ •• b — of 



JEJ? . «">d the skill and tin a J our of the troops, 



^•^BSE^r^ their " n 



lortnwith communicated 

 *-* *sJS pre I»ared with a strii re you ' 



>*& stre 'Sh! r an c d°T P cted , with the »SS. 



^^stabUstmems * ^'P^d demands 

 *« empire. Waeut> ir ™ the various parts 



*S*i inS* co ^try/ taht Caches of the trade 

 CNi*^creased demand for 1 *k v 





I have had 



■I 





-' ee„' he , ^"^"^'"""^onneeted with 

 "«*ee^S!« tu "Phold ,h"f , h .l ! me <" Peaee. 



ess 



chart er 





'S^d°rt r he nity K WiU ° CCUr 

 Cu the subject of the 



^ con sideratio n . establ »shaieuts f 



«' At the close of the last session of Parliament I declared to you 

 my firm determination to maintain inviolate the Legislative 

 Union between Great Britain and Ireland. 



" I expressed at the same time my earnest desire to co-operate 

 with Parliament in the adoption of all such measures as might 

 tend to improve the social condition of Ireland, and to develope 

 the natural resources of that part of the United Kingdom. 



44 I am resolved to act in strict conformity with this declaration. 



" I forbear from observations on events in Ireland, in respect 

 to which proceedings are pending before the proper legal tribunal. 



" My attention has been directed to the state of the law and 

 practice with regard to the occupation of land in Ireland. 



" I have deemed it advisable to institute extensive local in- 

 quiries into a subject of so much importance, and have appointed 

 a commission with ample authority to conduct the requisite in- 

 vestigation. 



"I recommend to your early consideration the enactments at 

 present in force in Ireland concerning the Registration of Voters 

 for Members of Parliament. 



•' You will probably find that a revision of the law of Registra- 

 tion, taken in conjunction with other causes at present in opera- 

 tion, would produce a material diminution of the number of 

 county voters, and that it may be advisable on that account to 

 consider the state of the law with a view to an extension of the 

 county franchise in Ireland. 



"I commit to your deliberate consideration the various im- 

 portant questions of public policy which will necessarily come 

 under your review, with full confidence in your loyalty and 

 wisdom and with an earnest prayer to Almighty God to direct 

 and favour your efforts to promote the welfare of all classes of 



my people." 

 The House again met at five o'clock. The Earl of Glasgow, the 



Marquess of Winchester, and Lord Suffield took the oaths and 

 their seats. Soon after five o'clock the Lord Chancellor 

 entered the House, and read her Majesty's Speech, which was 

 again read by the Clerk at the table. — The Earl of Eldon then 

 moved an address to the Crown for the gracious Speech from the 

 Throne. In doing so he said that it was his good fortune to 

 have nothing but matters of congratulation to touch upon in the 

 few remarks he had to address to the House. In reference to 

 one point noticed in the Speech, he was satisfied there could be 

 but one opinion ; he referred to the state of Ireland ; he was 

 happy that steps were taken most likely to calm the troubled 

 waters of that country, and that speedy justice would soon be 

 accomplished for Ireland. With the result of certain trials going 

 on there he had nothing to do, but of this he was certain, that 

 their Lordships would assist and co-operate with her Majesty 

 in preserving peace and the legislative union of the two countries, 

 even though extreme means should be deemed necessary for 

 such purposes. He considered that mueh benefit would be 

 derived from the proceedings of the Landlord and Tenant Com- 

 mission which had been appointed— he had the fullest confidence 

 in the Commissioners. After alluding to the affairs of the East, 

 the noble Earl referred, in terms of exultation to her Majesty's 

 recent visit to the King of the French, which doubtless was 

 accompanied with much advantage to both countries. After 

 a brief reference to China and Scinde, he touched upon a subject 

 which was not mentioned in the Speech, viz., the Corn-Laws, 

 and begged to express a hope that protection would be still 

 afforded to the agriculturists of this country. With regard to 

 another topic not mentioned in the Speech, he referred to a 

 melancholy circumstance which took place last year by which 

 one Officer fell by the hands of another; he sincerely trusted 

 that some measure would be proposed by Parliament for the pre- 

 vention, if possible, of such lamentable occurrences. He should 

 not further detain their Lordships, but conclude by moving an 

 Address to her Majesty. The Address was then read; it was, as 

 usual, an echo of the speech from the Throne. 



Lord Hill, in a few words, seconded the Address, regretting 

 that he could not congratulate their Lordships on any revival in 

 Agriculture similar to that which had been announced in Manu- 

 factures. He was followed by the Marquess of Norman by, 

 Lord Brougham, the Marquess of Clanricardk, Earl Fitz- 

 wili.iam, and Lord Campbkll. — Lord Brougham descanted on 

 a variety of topics, and the state of Ireland was briefly glanced 

 at by the different speakers, but there was a prevailing indispo- 

 sition to disturb the unanimity of the House, and the Address 

 was agreed to without opposition. The Earl of Shaftesbury 

 was then re-appointed chairman. 



Friday.— The House met at half-past 12, when theBishop of Lich- 

 field read prayers, after which their Lordships waited until nearly 2 

 o'clock without transacting any business. The Lord Chancellor 

 arrived shortly before 2, when the Peers went in procession to Buck- 

 ingham Palace, to present the Address agreed to on Thursday night, 

 in answer to her Majesty's Speech on the opening of Parliament. 

 The House then adjourned until Monday. 



HOUSE OF COMMONS. 



Thursday.— The House met shortly before two o'clock. At 10 

 minutes past two o'clock the Deputy Usher of the Black Rod 

 summoned the House to the House of Lords to hear the Royal 

 Speech read on the opening of Parliament. The Speaker, accom- 

 panied by the members present, immediately proceeded to the 

 House of Lords. On their return the House adjourned. At a 

 quarter before four the Speaker resumed the chair. The attend- 

 ance of members was rather numerous; there appeared about an 

 equal number on both sides. The following new members took 

 the oaths and their seats :— Mr. Warburton, for the borough of 

 Kendal; Mr. Pattison, for the City of London; Mr. Campbell, 

 for the City of Salisbury; Mr. P. Butler, for the county of Kil- 

 kenny; Mr. D. M'Neile, for Argyleshire. On the motion of Sir 

 T. Fkemantlk, new writs were ordered for North Wilts, in the 

 room of Sir F. Burdett, deceased ; and lor Devizes, in the room 

 of Mr. Sotheron,*who had accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. 



The following notices of motion were then given :— by Lord 

 Ashley, on the 8th inst., to move an Address to the Crown re- 

 lating to the affairs of Scinch 1 j and on the 15th inst. to move for 

 the appointment of a committee to inquire into the system of 

 medical relief in union workhouses; by Lord J. Russri.l, on the 

 13th inst., to move for acommi'.tec of the whole House to take 

 into its consideration the present state of Ireland; byanhon. 

 Member, on behalf of Mr. Mackinnon, to move on an early day 

 relating to the subject of prison discipline ; by Mr. Divett, to 

 move relating to the appointment of Mr. F. R. Bonham to the 

 office of Storekeeper of the Ordnance; by Mr. Milnes, on the 

 8th inst., to bring forward a motion relating to the Church of 

 England ; by Dr. Bowrino on the 15th inst. to call the attention 

 of the House to the late commercial treaty with Turkey \ by 

 Mr. French, to brins; forward a motion relating to the present 

 state of the poo:* in Ireland ; by Sir T. Fri: mantle, on behalf of 

 Mr. Gladstone, to bring forward a motion, for the 5th inst., 

 relating to the present laws affecting railroads ; on behalf of the 

 Home Secretary, on the 8th inst., to bring forward a motion 

 relating to factories; and on behalf of Sir K. Pekl, to move on 

 the 8th inst., the thanks of the House to the army in Scinde ; by 

 Mr. Wallace, on tne 5th inst., to move that all orders and 

 motions on the printed paper be called on and disposed of in the 

 order in which they were printed; and on the Qth, to move for a 

 return of the loss sustained by the public in light sovereigns 

 and half-sovereipns, and the amount of bullion In the Bank. 



Sir R. Pk KL entered the House shortly before five o'clock, and 

 was loudly cheered. 



TIIR ADDRESS. 



The Sprakkr having read her Majesty's Speech on the 

 •enmg of Parliament, Lord Clivk rose and moved, that a 

 humble Address be presented to her Majesty, in answer to 

 the Speech which had just been read. The noble Lord took 

 a review of all the leading facts in the Speech, and ex- 

 pressed his opinion that it must prove satisfactory to the 

 country at large. It was most satistactory to know that 

 the friendly relations of this country w th foreign powers 

 remained unchanged. Her Majesty's recent visit to France 



) 



would no doubt tend to cement the pacific and friendly feel 

 ing which existed between these two great nations. Each 

 succeeding year he hoped would prove the permanency of the 

 peace which had been concluded. The noble Lord then re- 

 marked on peace with China, and the successful termination of 

 hostilities in that part of the world, under the able management 

 of Sir H. Pottinger, and after remarking on other subjects con- 

 tained in the Speech, he moved that a loyal and dutiful address 

 be presented to her Majesty in answer to her most gracious 

 Speech. The noble Lord then read the Address, which was an 

 echo of the Speech. 



Mr. Cardwkll seconded the Address and was much cheered. 

 The hon. Member congratulated the House on the present aspect 

 of the country. Trade and commerce were improving. There 

 was a surplus revenue and national prosperity was returning. 

 He most cordially seconded the Address. 



The Speaker then read the Address at length, after which Mr. 

 Hume rose and complained of the House being called upon to 

 return an answer to the Royal Speech within a few hours after 

 it was delivered. He thought a lapse of 24 hours at all events 

 ought to intervene before it was considered. Some portion of the 

 Speech he agreed with, but others he did not, and therefore time 

 onght to be given fully to consider all the subjects which it al- 

 luded to. He believed whilst France and England remained united 

 and acted together, the peace of the world would be maintained. 

 He called on Sir R. Peel no longer to leave the farmers in doubt 

 as to his intentions, reprobated the language used at the Anti- 

 League.or agricultural meetings, and proposed two amendments 

 embodying the views which he wished to be added to the address 

 in answer to the Royal speech.— Mr. Sharman Crawford fol- 

 lowed with an amendment on the paragraph relating to the 

 estimates, which had for its object the withholding of the sup- 

 plies until alleged grievances were redressed. — Mr. Fielden 

 seconded this amendment, which was supported by Mr. War- 

 burton and Mr. Wallace.— Lord John Russell said if the 

 amendment meant that a minority might take upon itself to 

 resist the will of the majority in a deliberative assembly and stop 

 the granting of supplies, such a principle could never receive his 

 sanction. It was reasonable to concur in the address, as no one 

 was pledged by it to any approval of the general policy of the 

 Government, and suitable occasions would arise for the discus- 

 sion of the various topics involved. In regard to the Corn 

 Laws three theories floated in the public mind in rela- 

 tion to them : one insisted on protection to all articles 

 of British industry, a second contended that there should 

 be no tax on commodities but for revenue, and even then 

 not on articles of general consumption, by which the price of the 

 home-grown article would be raised; and a third theory was 

 intermediate, not to abrogate too suddenly that old-established 

 protection which in itself might be disapproved. This latter was 

 the theory adopted by Sir It. Peel ; yet, if his corn -law were good 

 for anything, it could only be defended on the old protection 

 principle, which had been given up by Ministers as untenable. 

 This was putting the agriculturists in a false position. Sir R. 

 Peel last year very fairly refused to make any alteration, but 

 reserved to himself the right of judging by the condition of the 

 country the expediency of maintaining it. He should be surprised 

 indeed if Sir Robert were now to declare himself so enamoured 

 of his law as that nothing should induce him to change it. 



Sir R. Pkel, after hearty commendations of the ability dis- 

 played by the mover and seconder of the Address, applied him- 

 self to the amendment of Mr. S. Crawford. Even if he approved 

 of the introduction of more of the democratic element into the 

 constitution, he should deprecate the motion. The abuse of 

 privilege was a fatal example, and if those who set it were ever 

 to obtain the government of the country, they would strike at 

 the root of their power. Looking at it in this sense, he thought 

 that Mr. Crawford's good sense would prevail over rash decla- 

 rations ; and that no light use would be attempted to be 

 made of so great an instrument as the power of stopping the 

 supplies. It was expedient not to disturb unanimity in voting 

 the address. He briefly referred to the foreign relations of the 

 country in France and Greece, and after declaring his intention 

 of abstaining at present from discussion on the state of Ireland, 

 he came to the question of the Corn- Laws. Had any alteration 

 been contemplated, it would have been intimated in the Royal 

 Speech. Mr. Hume was therefore quite right in his inference 

 that the absence of all allusion to it was an indication that no 

 change was intended. In a community so complicated as ours 

 it might be exceedingly dangerous to apply, in practice, princi- 

 ples that might be abstractly true. He adhered therefore to a 

 sliding scale in preference to a fixed duty; and if Lord J. Russell 

 advocated a fixed duty on the ground of revenue simply, why 

 not deal with Wheat as with Barley, and raise your revenue at 

 the mill? Last year he refused to make any declaration of 

 general adherence to the law, because such a declaration would 

 be contrary to his duty as a Minister of the Crown. But it was 

 not with any reserve or evasion that he had refused so to declare 

 himself. Ministers had never contemplated and did not now 

 contemplate any change in a law under which prices had main- 

 tained a steadiness almost without parallel during the last half- 

 century. The state of the revenue was satisfactory ; the balance 

 of income and expenditure had been restored ; there was an im- 

 provement in most of the great branches of trade ; and though 

 there was still distress existing in the country he considered that 

 Ministers had realized the expectations which they had held out, 

 and that they met Parliament under more favourable circum- 

 stances than had been witnessed for some years. .... 



Lord Palmkrston followed in a short speech, in which he 

 criticized the results of the foreign policy of the Government.— 

 Mr. Roebuck condemned the abstinence from all discussion on 

 the critical state of Ireland, because certain State trials were 

 going on. The blame of the omission he threw chiefly on Lord 

 J. Russell and the Liberal party in the House.— Lord Howick 

 considered that Mr. Roebuck had grossly misrepresented Lord 

 John Russell. On the subject of the Com Laws he thought 

 that Sir Robert Peel was no friend to the Agriculturist 

 in destroying all chance of the settlement of the question by 

 what was certainly a fair coraprombe between conflicting 

 interests— a moderate fixed duty. For his part, it he were 

 reduced to the alternative of choosing between the maintenance 

 of the existing law and total repeal, he would have no hesitation 

 in adopting the latter.-Mr. Wyse and the O'Coxon Don followed 

 on the subject of Ireland; and Mr. M. Gibsox, Mr. Brother- 

 ton, and Mr. Villiers, on the present condition of the country 

 and the Corn-law question. Mr. Villiers read passages from, 

 an article in the new Number of the " Foreign and Colonial 

 Review," which he understood to have been written by Mr. 

 Gladstone, and in which free-trade principles were freely avowed. 

 —Mr. Gladstone declared that he was not the author of the 

 article; that he did not know who had written it, and that he had 

 never even read a line of it.— Several other Members joined in the 

 debate, amongst whom were Mr. Muntz and Mr. Mare Philips, 

 who warned the House not to be led away by exaggerated notions 

 of returning prosperity.— After some remarks from Mr. Fiki.dex 

 and Mr. Sharman Crawford, the House divided on the amend- 

 ment, when there appeared— For the amendment, 29 ; against 



it, 285; majority, 256. 



Mr. Hume's amendment was next put, when there appeared— 

 For the amendment, 49 ; against it, 235 : majority, 186. 



The address wa* then read by the Speaker, when Mr. T. Dun- 

 comb k gave notice that when the report was brought up he 

 would move an amendment in that passage of her Majesty's 

 speech with respect to certain proceedings now taking place in 

 I reland, and another amend roent to the effect that an extension of 

 the franchise should be applicable to boroughs and cities as well 

 as to counties, in Ireland, as intimated in that pas*ace of the 

 speech recommending a revision of the elective franchise in that 



kingdom. 



Fnduy —After the presentation of numerous petitions, and the 

 disposal of several motions for Returns, Mr. & Woktley asked 



