connected with the war department. After some further discussion, the Committee divided for the amendment, 12; against it, 114. : March 5.-Mr. Williams (Coventry) moved that no motion, if opposed, shall be brought on and discussed in the House after midnight. The House divided, when there were for the motion 16, and against it 146. March 6.-The County Coroners' Bill went through the Committee. Several clauses were agreed to. On clause 20, which enacted that Coroners should receive 1s. per mile travelling expenses, instead of 9d., Mr. C. Berkely moved that the clause should be omitted. The Committee divided, and the numbers were, for the clause, 98; against it, 34; majority, 59. March 7.-Mr. Labouchere brought forward his motion for an address to her Majesty, praying for the adoption of such measures as might appear best calculated to improve the commercial relations between this country and the Brazils. After some observations from Lord Palmerston, the House divided-against the motion, 205; for it, 132; majority against it, 73. March 8.-The House having resolved itself into a Committee, the Chancellor of the Exchequer explained the views of the Government respecting the future mode of dealing with the Three-and-a-half per Cent. Stock. He was about to ask of the House to deal with the largest sum for which any Government had ever been called on to propose a regulation, being no less than 25,000,000 of money. There had long been a general opinion that the time was approaching when it would be the duty of the Government to reduce the interest on this debt. Never was there a period when capital seeking investment was so plentiful, and the rate of interest so low, as at present; and there was nothing in the circumstances of the times which gave any reason to expect that this state of things would soon pass away. The condition of the public finances, too, was favourable to the proposed object; for, thanks to the firmness of the House of Commons, the revenue now once more exceeded the expenditure. He specified the successive creations and amounts of the different stocks bearing 3 per cent. interest, and noticed the past reductions in them. He had not thought it right, though these stocks had been separately constituted, to deal with them separately, but proposed to treat them all upon one level, except the stock constituted in 1818, which had been accompanied at its birth with some peculiar protections. He was not disposed to purchase an immediate relief by increasing the burdens of succeeding times. He had, therefore, rejected the idea of lowering the present interest by augmenting the capital of the debt; and his intention was to propose the conversion of the Three-and-a-half into a Three-and-a-quarter per Cent. Stock, which should continue till October, 1854; after which period the interest should be reduced to Three per Cent., with a guarantee that, for twenty years from 1854, there should be no further reduction. Having stated the periods which would be allowed for signifying dissent, he observed, that by this measure the public, from October, 1844, to 1854, would save 625,000l. per annum; which saving, from and after 1854, would become 1,250,000l. per annum. He proposed, also, to make such arrangements, that from next October the payments of interest would be nearly equalised in each quarter. He concluded his most clear and able statement (amid repeated cheers from both sides of the House) by moving resolutions which embodied the proposals of his speech. Mr. Baring, Sir J. R. Reid, Mr. P. Stewart, Sir J. Easthope, and other Members on both sides of the House, expressed the strongest approbation of the proposed measure; and the resolutions moved by the Chancellor of the Exchequer were agreed to. The House then went into a Committee of Supply. March 9.-No House. March 11.-The House of Commons went into Committee on the Factory Bill, and the debate, on Lord Ashley's amendment, was resumed. After some observations by Mr. Hindley, Mr. Collett, and others, in the midst of much noise and impatience the Committee divided-For the amendment, 179; against it, 170; majority against Ministers, 9. Another division took place on the motion for the insertion of the word "six," for eight o'clock in the second clause. For the motion, 153; against it, 161; majority, 8. Sir James Graham said that the decision of the Committee was just the adoption of a 10 hours' Bill without any modification. He had insuperable objections to it; but still he did not think it consistent with his duty, in the present circumstances, to drop the Bill. There would afterwards be an opportunity to consider the subject in a more substantive form, when they came to the 8th clause. The House then resumed, and the Chairman reported progress. The Gaming Transactions Bill (Indemnity to Witnesses) was read a third time and passed. March 12.-Not Members to form a House. March 13.-The House went into Committee on the County Coroner's Bill. Sir James Graham thought that the power to alter districts given to the Magistrates in Quarter Sessions by the second clause of the Bill, ought to be coupled with the consent of the Lord Chancellor expressed thereto. Mr. Pakington agreed to adopt the suggestion. The second, third, and fourth clauses were then agreed to. Mr. Scott, on the fifth clause, objected, that the effect of it would be to take away the right of election from those in whom it was at present vested, and place it in the hands of those who had qualified to vote for knights of the shire. He would, therefore, move for the omission of the words "knights of the shire," and the insertion of the word "Coroners." Mr. Warburton seconded the amendment. The Committee divided-for the amendment, 70; against it, 45; majority, 25. Various verbal amendments were introduced into succeeding clauses. On the 20th, some discussion took place as to its wording, with the view of preventing Coroners from charging double mileage for inquests in the same place. The proviso was ultimately introduced, and the clause, as amended, was agreed to. Clause 21 was agreed to, 22 was struck out, and the remaining clauses having been severally agreed to, the Chairman left the chair, the report was brought up, and the Bill, with its amendments, was ordered to be printed.-The Night Poaching Prevention Bill was read a second time.-A discussion took place on the second reading of Lord Worsley's Enclosure of Commons bill, which was opposed. The House divided. The second reading was carried by 70 to 23. March 14.-Not Members to form a House. March 15.-The House again went into Committee on the Factory Bill. On the 8th clause, limiting to 12 the number of working hours for females and young persons between 13 and 18 years old, Lord Ashley proposed that the maximum, instead of being 12 hours, as proposed in the Bill, should be reduced to 10 hours. The Committee divided on the original motion of the Government to fill up the blank in the clause with the words, twelve hours."-For the motion, 183; against it, 186; majority against Ministers, 3. The Committee then divided on Lord Ashley's motion to fill up the blank with the words "ten hours."-For the motion, 181; against it, 188; majority against Lord Ashley's motion, 7. March 16.-No House. March 18.-On the resolution of the Committee of Supply respecting widows' pensions being read, Captain Bernal moved for a copy of any correspondence between the Secretary at War and Mrs. Fawcett relating to the withholding of her pension. After a long discussion on the subject of duelling in the army, Captain Bernal withdrew his motion. March 19.-Mr. Cobden brought forward his motion for "a Select Committee to inquire into the effects of protective duties on imports upon the interests of the tenant-farmers and farm-labourers of this conntry." After some observations from Mr. Newdegate, Dr. Bowring, and Mr. W. O. Stanley, the House divided. For the motion, 133; against it, 224: majority, 91. March 20.-Mr. Gladstone moved for a Committee of the whole House to consider the laws relative to international copyright. The present law, which was framed in 1838, related only to a portion of the articles which were the subjects of copyright, and since the late Act very material alterations of the law had taken place, in consequence of which Her Majesty was not at present in a situation to conclude conventions with respect to copyrights with foreign powers. He might state, that there was a prospect of such conventions being concluded with Prussia and the Zolliverein. He asked for leave to bring in a Bill to enable her Majesty to extend to foreigners, with certain restrictions, all the privileges of British subjects with regard to copyrights. The House then went into Committee, when resolutions were passed and reported to the House. After which leave was given, the Bill brought in, read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time on Friday. The County Coroners' Bill, the Masters' and Servants' Bills, were advanced a stage. March 21.-Mr. Cochrane moved for copies of any correspondence that had taken place with Sir H. Lyons, or with the Government of France and Russia, respecting the late occurrences in Greece. March 22.-Went into Committee on the second clauses of the Factory Bill, when the chairman of the Committee reported progress. The Three-and-a-Half per Cents. Annuities Bill was read a third time and passed: and also the Consolidated Fund Bill. March 23.-No House. INDEX TO VOL. XXXIX. ORIGINAL PAPERS. A young Girl, 262. Accounts of my Creditors, 352. Brother and Sister, 45, 281. Castilian Song of Victory, 165. Chinese War, The, 328. Christmas, 139. Companion for Life, 312. Consumption, 327. Damosel's Tale, The, 105, 423. Dead Monk's Finger, The, 71. Dead Sea Apples, 372. Father's Lament, 388. Flag of England, 377. Fortunes of the Great, 133. Garrison Belle, 44. Histories and Mysteries, 56, 295, 378. How will it End, 85. Infant Prodigy, 121. Irish State Trials, 1, 113, 225. It is in Memory, 70. LaBelle Blanche, 22. Lays of Windsor Castle, 352. Letters from Abroad to a Friend at Cambridge, 166 Living and the Dead, 310. Lines, 448. Marriage of Calculation, 179. Marco Botgarri, 194. |