(of Alderley), having presented three petitions against the Weaver Churches Bill, observed, that on a former evening a noble and learned Lord had said, "that he would never consent to any proposition for taking money from any person or persons, which was vested in them by Act of Parliament." Now, the operation of this bill would be to appropriate money for the building of churches, in defiance of an Act of Parliament. The petitioners declared it to be their conviction, that if the bill were passed, no property in land, however ratified by Acts of Parliament, would be safe. The Bishop of London had some reason to complain that the noble Lord had not made his statement when the bill stood for a second reading. It was said, that the object of this bill was to permit one hundred persons to violate a trust reposed in them by repeated Acts of Parliament. Now the fact, stripped of all colouring, was, that those parties thought it right to provide the means of public worship for a very large number of people employed on the Weaver Navigation. For that purpose, it was proposed to take a very small, a very insignificant portion of funds, amounting to 15,0001, per annum. It was proposed, with the sum thus raised, to build three churches within two hundred yards of the banks of the canal, for the convenience of the labourers. It was said, in petitions, that 30,000l. were to be taken for this purpose. But it was easy to get up petitions; and, when parties spoke of 30,000Z., they might just as well have said 40,000Z., 50,000l., or 100,000l. He believed that about 3,000 persons had petitioned against the measure, which was not a striking proof of its unpopularity. Lord Stanley (of Alderley) said, the petitioners against this bill were far more numerous than the right rev. Prelate supposed. In the House of Commons, three petitions had been presented, signed by 10,000 persons. Petitions laid on the table. ROYAL MESSAGE. THE REGENCY.] Viscount Melbourne moved the Order of the Day for the consideration of the Message from the Throne, and the message having been read, the noble Viscount said, "My Lords, in reference to the important subject which was brought under your consideration by the Queen's most gracious message, which I had the honour to bring and which has just been read from the Table, my noble Friend upon the Woolsack will give notice of his intention to bring forward without delay a measure for the purpose of securing that object which is recommended in her Majesty's most gracious message. It, therefore, only remains for me, my Lords, upon the present occasion, to do that which, I apprehend, can meet with no objection on the part of your Lordships' House, and which it is unnecessary for me to enforce by any argumentnamely, to move that an humble Address be now presented to her Majesty, to return to her Majesty the thanks of this House for her Majesty's most gracious message, and to assure her Majesty of our readiness to take that measure and those circumstances which her Majesty has been pleased to recommend into our immediate and serious consideration." Address agreed to nem. con. COPYHOLDS.] Lord Brougham would take that opportunity, of stating the course he intended to pursue with regard to the Copyholds Enfranchisement Bill which had been referred to a select committee. It had sat for some time, and a period of the Session had now arrived which made him feel that he could hardly hope to get the bill passed this Session. If he were to proceed with the bill, it could not be sent down to the other House of Parliament before the end of this month, and that was a sufficient reason for his withdrawing it. He would add, that this circumstance presented the only reason for withdrawing it, because, with the exception of the compulsory clauses, he was confident that he should have obtained the assent of the select committee. Lord Lyndhurst said, that in his opinion, his noble Friend was perfectly right in withdrawing the measure, upon a pledge that he would bring it forward early in the next Session of Parliament. Bill withdrawn. DISABILITIES OF THE JEWS.] Lord Lyndhurst begged to present a petition from Mr. David Salomons, a gentleman of the Jewish persuasion, who stated, that he had filled many offices of trust and dignity, and had served the office of sheriff of London and Middlesex. The petitioner stated that he was elected in IILIK List of the Noes. bills at the close of the Session, when all the Irish members of the legal profession Adam, Admiral Muskett, G. A. were necessarily absent, attending the Ainsworth, P. Nagle, Sir R. assizes. He moved that the Chairman Alston, R. Norreys, Sir D. J. report progress. Baring, rt, hn, F, T. O'Connell, M. J. Viscount Morpeth said, these bills were Basset, J. O'Ferrall, R. M. for advancing the general interests of the Bellew, R. M Palmerston, Viscount country, if, therefore, the hon. and gallant Berkeley, hon. C. Parker, J. Member persisted in his opposition, be Bewes, T. Pechell, Captain should certainly divide the House upon it. Blackeit, C. Philips, M. Colonel Perceval thought that these bills were introduced for party purposes ; Brodie, W. B. Protheroe, E. and he should therefore persist in his Brotherton, J. Rawdon, Colonel motion. Buller, E. Redington, T. N. The Committee divided ; Ayes 18; Noes 29: Majority 11. List of the Ayes. Buller, Sir J. Y. Knigl., II. G. Dalrymple Sir A. Lincoln, Earl of D'Israeli, B. L'acke, ('. W. Douglas, Sir C. E. Parker, R. T. Eliot, Lord Pringle, A. Ferguson, Sir R. A. Grey, rt, hn, Sir C. Smith, R. V. Rolieston, L. Grey, rt bn. Sir G. Somers, J. P. Grimsditch, T. Sandon, Viscount llawes, B. Somerville, Sir W.M. / Hayes, Sir E. Sibthorp, Colom! Jlector, C. J. Stanley, hon. W.0. llenniker, Lord Blindley, C. Bughes, W. B. l'erceval ('olonet Ilobhourse, rt hm.Sird. Stuart, Lord J. Irton, S. Holmes, W. llubhouse, T, B. Stock, Dr. List of the Noes. Hodges, T. L. Strutt, E. Ilollond, R. Talbot, C. R. M. Adam, Admiral Pechell, Captain Tancred, II. W. Baring, rt. ln, F. T. Pigot, D. R. Redington, T. N. lluit, w. Troubridge, Sir E. T. Buller, E. Russell, Lord J. Scrope, G. P. Grey, rt. hm. Sir ('. Somerville, Sir W. M. Lemon, Sir ('. Verney, Sir 11. Grey, rt. hn. Sir G. Stanley, hon. E. J. Lushington, C. Vigors, N. A. llawes, B. Sieuart, R. Macaulay, rt. hn. T.B. Villiers, hon. ('. P. llubhouse.ne.bn.Sir J. Troubridge, Sir E.T. N'Taggart, J. Vivian, J. U. Ilodges, T. L. Tutinell, ll. Vigors, N. A. Warburton, II. Maule, hon. F. Wood, B. Melgund, Viscount Wyse, T. Morpeth, Viscount TITTERS. Mildmay, P, St. J. Yates, J. A. O'Connell, M.J. Gordon, R. Morpeth, Viscount Palmersion, Viscount Parker, J. Morris, D). TILTRS. Bill passed through the Committee. Gorduti, R. Tuesday, July 14, 1840. VINTTEL) Bille. Read a third time :-Masters in Chan Prisons (IRELAND).] House in Com- Petalsts presented. By Lord Lyndhurst, upon the subyees mittee on the Prisons (Ireland) Bill. of the sulptur Monopoly : for an Alterature of the Law On the fourth clause, and on amend. relating to Marriages within the Prodututet Dagtes, and ngaunt the Rating of mtock in Irade: and from William ment being proposed, Herbsts, fut leuwiry into his Anuseptic investión.-By Colonel Perceral objected to the com. Lard stanley of Aldersley), frown places in Cheshire, tou the Weaver (hurehe Bil-By Lord Brougham, . nittee proceedinz any further with the ftum vatrous plau, asurant the leaves Churche bill bill toonight, and to the practice of Go. (of Alderley), having presented three pe- and which has just been read from the lilions against the Weaver Churches Bill, Table, my noble Friend upon the Woolsack observed, that on a former evening a noble will give notice of his intention to bring and learned Lord had said, "that he would forward without delay a measure for the never consent to any proposition for taking : purpose of securing that object which is money from any person or persons, which recommended in her Majesty's most grawas vested in them by Act of Parliament." cious message. It, therefore, only remains Now, the operation of this bill would be for me, my Lords, upon the present occato appropriate money for the building of sion, to do that which, I apprehend, can churches, iu defiance of an Act of Parlia. meet with no objection on the part of your ment. The petitioners declared it to be Lordships' House, and which it is unnecestheir conviction, that if the bill were passed, sary for me to enforce by any argumentno property in laud, however ratified by namely, to move that an humble Address Acts of Parliament, would be safe. ibe now presented to her Majesty, to return The Bishop of London had some reason to her Majesty the thanks of this House to complain that the noble Lord had not for her Majesty's most gracious message, i made his statement when the bill stood and to assure her Majesty of our readiness for a second reading. It was said, that to take that measure and those circumthe object of this bill was to permit one stances which her Majesty has been pleased hundred persons to violate a trust reposed to recommend into our immediate and in them by repeated Acts of Parliainent. serious consideration." Now the faci, stripped of all colouring, Address agreed to nem. con. was, that those parties thought it right to provide the means of public worship for a COPYHOLDS.] Lord Brougham would very large number of people employed on lahe thal opportunity, of stating the the Weaver Navigation. For that purpose, course he intended to pursue with reit was proposed to take a very small, a gard to the Copyholds Infranchisevery insignificant portion of funds, amount- ment Bill which had been referred to a ing to 15,0001. per annum. It was pro- select committee. It had sat for some posed, with the sum thus raised, to build time, and a period of the Session had three churches within two hundred yards' now arrived which made him feel that he of the banks of the canal, for the con- could hardly hope to get the bill passed venience of the labourers. It was said, in this Session. If he were to proceed with pelitions, that 30,0001. were to be taken the bill, it could not be sent down to the for this purpose. But it was easy to get, other House of Parliament before the end up petitions; and, when parties spoke of of this month, and that was a sufficient 30,0001., they might just as well have said reason for his withdrawing it. He would 40,0001., 50,0001., or 100,0001, He be- add, that this circumstance presented the lieved that about 3,000 persons had peti. only reason for withdrawing it, because, Lioned against the measure, which was not with the exception of the compulsory a striking proof of its unpopularity. clauses, he was confident that he should Lord Sianley (of Alderley) said, the bave obtained the assent of the select petitioners against this bill were far more ; committee. numerous than the right rev. Prelate sup. ). Lord Lyndhurst said, that in his opinposed. In the House of Commons, three ion, his noble Friend was perfectly right petitions had been presented, signed by in withdrawing the measure, upon a pledge 10,000 persons. that he would bring it forward early in Petitions laid on the table. the next Session of Parliament. Bill withdrawn. ROYAL MESSAGE.-The Regency.) Viscount Melbourne moved the Order of DISABILITIES OF THE Jews.] Lord the Day for the consideration of the Mes. Lyndhurst begged to present a petition sage from the Throne, and the message from Mr. David Salomons, a gentleman having been read, the noble Viscount said, of the Jewish persuasion, who stated, that "My Lords, in reference to the important he had filled 'many offices of trust and subject which was brought under your dignity, and had served the office of consideration by the Queen's most gracious sheriff of London and Middlesex. The message, which I had the honour to bring petitioner stated that he was elected in i but in consequence of his refusal to subscribe the declaration required by the act 9 George 4th, his election was declared void, and another gentleman was elected in his stead. The petitioner then applied to the Court of Queen's Bench for redress, and that court decided that he ought to have been sworn in, but the decision of the Queen's Bench was reversed on appeal by the judges of the Court of Exchequer Chamber. The petitioner now prayed their Lordships that he might be permitted to make the declaration required by the act 1 Victoria, c. 5 instead of subscribing the declaration rendered necessary by the act 9 George 4th. If he (Lord Lyndhurst) received any concurrence from their Lordships, he would bring in a bill to carry into effect the object of this petition, with a view of getting rid of the anomalies which existed in the present state of the law. A gentleman of the Jewish persuasion might be sheriff of a county because he was not obliged to take the oaths of office until six months after he had entered upon the duties of his office, and then he was protected by the Indemnity Act. It was formerly doubted, indeed, whether he might be the sheriff of the county of a city or the county of a town, but the Legislature interposed four or five years ago, and settled the question by providing for his eligibility. It therefore appeared to him, that there was no reason why a gentleman of the Jewish persuasion should not be a member of a town council, either as councillor or alderman. In fact, the law was evaded on this subject, for if there was a flexible town council, all they did was this-not to call upon him to subscribe the declaration previous to his election, and if so, he came into the appointment with his acts made valid by the Municipal Act itself, and was himself protected from all consequences by the operation of the Indemnity Act. Persons, therefore, who had conscientious scruples on the subject, were not in so favourable a situation as those whose consciences were less tender. What was the practical effect? A Jewish gentleman was one of the towncouncillors or aldermen in the corporation of Southampton, and this was also the case in Birmingham. He repeated, therefore, that if he should receive the concurrence of their Lordships, he would bring in a bill to carry into effect the object of Lord Brougham observed, that the best way for his noble Friend was to try and bring in his bill. He could assure him of his own support to the measure. Lord Holland would also give his support to the bill. Petition laid on the table. HOUSE OF COMMONS, MINUTES.] Petitions presented. By Sir E. Knatchbull, Tuesday, July 14, 1840. from Silk Weavers of Kent, against the Reduction of the Duty upon Foreign Silk.-By the Earl of Darlington, from the Guardians of the Ludlow Poor-law Union, for a Reduction of the number of Assistant Poor-law Commissioners.-By Mr. Mackinnon, from Glasgow, for the Encouragement of Emigration to our West India Colonies. -By Mr. Hindley, from Ashton-under-Lyne, for a Mitigation of the Punishment of Mr. F. O'Connor; and from Staley-bridge, in favour of the Inland Warehousing Bill. OPENING OF PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS ON THE SABBATH.] Mr. Hume rose pursuant to notice, to move that an humble address be presented to her Majesty, that she will be pleased to recommend to the trustees of the British Museum, and to the trustees of the National Gallery, that those places be opened for the admission of the public on Sundays, after divine service, at such hours as the houses of licensed victuallers, of sellers of beer, and of keepers of gin shops are now legally open to the public. The object of his motion was to improve the moral and religious character of the people. He begged hon. Members to look for a moment at the way in which the Sunday was now spent by the humble classes. The higher classes had Zoological Gardens, and other places of pleasant and instructive recreation to resort to; but the humble working man, after a week of hard toil, after labouring from Monday morning till Saturday night, to a degree unequalled in any other part of the world, had few other places to resort to on the Sunday except the public-house. One of the first objects of a wise Legislature ought to be to provide places of innocent, healthful, and instructive recreation for the mass of the community, for those who, during the greater part by far of their lives were condemned to earn their bread by the sweat of their brows. They ought to be provided not only with the means of taking healthful exercise of the body, but they ought also to be provided with the means of obtaining wholesome mental instruction. At of walking through the suburbs of the me- the Tower on Sundays would be most contropolis would find a public-house at the ducive to the health and entertainment of corner of every street crowded with the the working classes. He would inform humbler classes, who spent thus, in the the House of what had been the result of unwholesome atmosphere of the gin-shop, the partial opening of those places of innot only their property but their health. struction and amusement that had already Surely, if there were any mode of remedy- taken place, which would show that in ing these evils, in even a slight degree, the proportion as they opened the door of remedy ought to be adopted. At present, such places to the public, the public had according to the 2 and 3 of Victoria, c. taken advantage of the opportunity affor47, s 42, houses for the sale of fermented ded to them. The visitors to the British liquors were not to be opened before one Museum since the alterations in the hours o'clock on Sundays, and all he asked for of keeping that place open, had increased by his motion was, that the British Mu- from 300,000 to 600,000. The visitors seum and the National Gallery, places so to the National Gallery had increased to well calculated to afford amusement and 387,000. The visitors to the Tower had instruction, should be opened to the pub- increased from 12,000 to 42,000, and lic, at the time the public-houses were when the entrance fee was reduced to sixallowed to be opened. Why, he would pence, the number had increased to 70,000. ask, did it happen that in England less The visitors to Hampton Court, since it attention was paid to the wants of the had been open to the public on Sundays, working classes than in any other country had increased tenfold. Let them open in the world? There was scarcely a large the other public places he had enumerated town on the continent in which places of on the Sundays, after the hours of divine amusement and instruction were not opened service, and he would undertake to say gratuitously to the public during a por- that the public-houses would be in a great tion of the Sunday. Surely it was time degree empty, and the comforts and hapthat such an example should be followed piness of the people would be greatly inin this country. From the want of places creased. The hon. Member then referred of rational instruction and amusement the to various returns he had obtained from people, as he said before, were now driven different towns in the United Kingdom, to the public-house; and the result, as for the purpose of showing the great inproved by the returns made by the metro-crease that had taken place in the number politan police, was, that during the first five months of the year 1838, not less than 2,380 persons were arrested, between the hours of twelve o'clock on Saturday night and twelve o'clock on Sunday night, for drunkenness, In 1839, for the same period, the numbers were 2,220; and in 1840, the numbers were 1,320. But looking at the return for the whole of those years, he found that the aggregate number of drunken persons arrested on Sunday was greater than on any other day in the week. He thought that the opening of places of innocent amusement on the Sunday would keep people out of the publichouse, and he had, therefore, a perfect conviction that his motion, if agreed to, would be productive of benefit to the morals of the people-would tend to improve their religious habits, and would tend to make them in every way better men. He had received a letter from a working man, in which, after expressing a hope that the House would agree to his motion, he suggested that the opening of St. Paul's of visitors to the different public exhibitions. He called upon the House to give a fair trial to the proposition which he had made, to open the British Museum and the National Gallery to the public on Sundays. By doing so they would bring back the population from dissoluteness and vice, and give the people an opportunity of improving themselves by the study of the liberal arts. He did not wish to interfere with the duties belonging to the Sunday, but he thought if they allowed the people to enter public houses on that day, they might also allow them to enter those institutions where the public treasures and the pictures had been brought together at the public expense. The country had contributed largely to these exhibitions, and he thought that the working classes ought to have their share in a pleasure which was highly prized by the upper classes. After the testimonies he had read in favour of his motion, he had no doubt but that he would receive the support of the House. |