166 Proceedings in the present Session of Parliament. against agricultural improvement.-The commoners throughout the country, in whose hands so large a portion of church patronage existed, took the alarm. The strict enforcement of residence would lessen the value of that which was considered saleable property; and by their means the measure was, in a great measure, defeated. The Earl of Winchilsea said that he fully agreed with the Right Rev. Prelate that to the great extent of lay impropriation and lay patronage was to be attributed the evil of non-residence. -The Archbishop of Canterbury gave notice of his intention to bring forward a measure for more effectually enforcing the residence of the clergy on their livings, similar to that which had been introduced in another place. - Lord King then intimated that he should have many similar petitions to present to their Lordships. Feb. 8. Lord King, on presenting petitions from places in the county of Gloucester against the Tithe system, said that he had three plans, any of which would be a remedy for the evil complained of. The first was, to charge the tithe as a fixed sum on land, the value to be taken by the average amount of the last years, and to let it remain at that value without any alteration. The second was, to fix a corn-rent, to be settled by a certain quantity of corn, to be decided by the average of the last years, and to remain without alteration at that rate for ever. The third was, to take the tithe at its highest value, let it be sold at that value, and the produce be taken into the hands of Government, and from that fund let the clergy be provided with a suitable maintenance; and if an overplus remained, as no doubt a considerable one would remain, let it go to the public, or let it be bestowed in improving the condition of those who were really the working clergy. Having [Feb. thus given his plans for a remedy for the present tythe system, he would now venture to prescribe a recipe for the cure of the evil of non-residence. It would be simply this-let the non-residence be taken as a receipt in full for the tithe of the living during the absence of the incumbent, and their Lordships might depend upon it, it would be found a most effectual cure for the evil.-The Bishop of London lamented that the patronage of so many livings being in the hands of laymen, prevented the enforcement of residence. The Earl of Carnarvon lamented that his noble friend should think it cousistent with his duty, in these troubled and dangerous times, when the Government was surrounded with difficulties, to take every possible occasion of attacking the clergy. He believed, and the majority of the country agreed with him, that a more respectable body of men never existed than the clergy of the Church of England, and that whether their incomes were large or small, there were no incomes in the country so well spent. In the HOUSE OF COMMONS, the same day, Mr. Hunt moved "That an humble Address be presented to bis Majesty from this House, praying that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to grant a general pardon and amnesty to those unfortunate agricultural and other labourers who had been tried and convicted at the late special commissions." Mr. Hunt addressed the House in a speech of very great length, all tending to show that the conduct of the rioters arose from distress or delusion. In his direct charges against magistrates and others he was replied to at length by Mr. Benett, the Member for Wilts; and Mr. G. Lamb, Mr. J. Smith, Lord Morpeth, and Mr. Long Wellesley, opposed the motion as an impolitic interference with the prerogative of the Crown. Sir J. Yorke made some humourous remarks on the Hon. Member for Preston, and the Attorney-General warmly defended the policy of the Commissions, which, be observed, had realized all the good that had been expected from them. Mr. Hume advised his Hon. Friend to withdraw the motion; he, however, declined to do so, and the House divided, when there appeared-For the motion 2Against it, 269. Mr. O'Gorman Mahon, in a desultory violent speech, moved for the production of copies of the recent Proclations of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The Hon. Member was repeatedly called to order. Among other extraordinary particulars, he acknowledged that he had 1831.] Proceedings in the present Session of Parliament. belonged for more than eleven years to a secret society, the object of which was the dissolution of the Union.-The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that while the Government were prepared to conciliate the Irish people respecting obnoxious laws, and do every thing in their power to promote the happiness of Ireland, yet that sooner than consent to the repeal of the Union, they would bave recourse to arms, and oppose force to force. (Loud cheers.)-Sir Robert Peel said, that he would offer his cordial support to Government in the manly course in which they had avowed it to be their determination to proceed - Lord Palmerston, Mr. Wyse, and Sir C. Wetherell avowed similar sentiments.-Sir Francis Burdett made an admirable speech against the insane project of dissolving the Union, in the course of which he said that the Hon. Mover had merrily laid about him on friend and foe, in a manner that reminded him of the proverbial dexterity of his countrymen in handling a shilelagh at Donnybrook fair. The motion was agreed to. HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 10. A discussion on the tithe system, nonresidence, and other similar subjects took place, on the presentation of a petition by Lord King, from the inhabitants of the parish of St. Giles, in the Isle of Ely, for the abolition of tithes, and that the clergy should be paid in some other manner; in the course of which Lord Wynford said, that if tithes were abolished, he would not give a quarter of a year's purchase for the Noble Lord's estate. He had the honour of being a member of a mission, upon which there were six Bishops, and bore testimony to their anxious desire to put an end to the abuses of the church. (Hear.)-The Marquess of Lansdowne said the subject was one of great importance, and be trusted that the measure intended to com be introduced by the Right Rev. Prelates would prove beneficial.-The Lord Chancellor said, that the property, the rights, and interests of the Church, required the most serious attention. HOUSE OF COMMONS, Feb. 11. The Chancellor of the Exchequer rose to make his financial statement. He proposed first to inform the House of the offices in which it was intended reduction should take place. He enumerated altogether as many as 210 places that were to be abolished or reduced. The reductions which would be made would leave a surplus revenue of 167 300,000l. which he considered as being much too low. His (the Chancellor of the Exchequer's) object was, to reduce the taxes which pressed on the poorer and labouring classes, including such as pressed on the classes who employed them. He should divide the taxes into three classes; the first consisting of those reductions which would rather increase than injure the amount of the revenue; secondly, those which pressed unequally on particular parts of the population; and thirdly, the taxes which interfered with the manufactures, and took more from the population than they produced to the revenue. With regard to the first class, the first tax which he proposed to reduce was that on Tobacco. He meant to reduce the present duty of 3s. on raw tobacco to the sum of one shilling and sixpence; and the present duty of 9s. on manufactured tobacco, from 9s. to 4s. 6d. The tax on Newspapers and Advertisements be proposed to reduce, the stamps to 2d. without discount, and advertisements to 18. below 10 lines, and 2s. 6d. above. The tax on Sea-borne Coals and slate, it was his object to reduce altogether. He also proposed to take off the tax on Tallow Candles, because that impost took more from the people than it paid into the Exchequer. The next tax he wished to take off was that on Printed Calicoes. Another tax he proposed to reduce was that on Glass, which might thereby be raised into a staple commodity. Some smaller taxes were also intended to be reduced, which produced only about 20004. The total amount of reduction would be 4,080,000l. The way to make up for this deficiency would be, by laying a duty on every kind of Wine, including Cape, at the rate of 5s. 6d. per gallon, which would equalise the duty on that article. The tax on Timber he had also thought capable of alteration. The rate at present was 5s. on a load of rough European timber, and 10s. on the same description of Canadian timber. He therefore meant to raise the 5s. to 50s. and the 10s. to 20s. so that an improvement would be obtained for the revenue in that way. He also proposed laying on a tax of Id. the lb. on Raw Cotton, allowing a drawback to the same amount on all cotton exports. He proposed to alter the tax on the export of Coals from 19s. 6d. on the large and 4s. 6d. on the small, to 10s. on all. He would also lay a tax on Steam-boat passengers of, for distances of 20 miles 1s. ; 30 miles 2s.; and above that distance 2s. 6d. per head. He would also lay a duty of one-half per cent. on the bona fide Transfers of Funded Property, and the 168 same duty on the sale of land. By these means there would be left a surplus revenue of 450,000/. Mr. Ward could not but express the greatest surprise at the proposition of the Noble Lord; it was the boldest a Minister ever made. (Hear.) To tax the transfer of the funded property was a proposition which would create the greatest possible alarm and dismay. He should oppose the motion, as one in every way calculated to compromise public credit.-Sir R. Peel said, that the tax on the transfer of stock and property was objectionable upon every political ground, and its adoption would tarnish the fair fame of the country. He would resist the imposition of any tax on the transfer of funded property. (Loud Cheers.)-Lord Althorp said, that, in his apprehension, as funded property was entitled to protection as well as any other property, so it ought to be subject to participation in the public burthens. -Mr. Benett approved of the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, particularly the tax of one-half per cent. on the transfer of funded property.-Mr. Hunt gave the Chancellor of the Exchequer credit for good intentions. The tax upon the fundholders he knew would prove satisfactory. The Resolutions were put and carried. Proceedings in the present Session of Parliament. [Feb. duction of the duties on tobacco and glass. Lord King, pursuant to notice, moved for returns of the non-resident incumbents on the different livings in England and Wales, distinguishing those who held under lay patrons.-The Bishop of London complained of the gross misrepresentations in circulation upon the snnject of the revenues of the Church. He had said, upon a former occasion, that if the total revenues of the church were divided among the total number of its ministers, they would yield from 350L to 360l. a year to each. He had upon that occasion, as he always felt bound to do upon all similar occasions, taken the account rather against than in favour of himself. He was now to state to the House, that if such a division of the revenues of the Church were made amongst the ministers of England and Wales, so poorly was the Establishment really provided, that it would not give 1851. a year to each clergyman.-Earl Grey said it was due to the beads of the Church to state, that he knew they were desirous of a general commutation of tithes. But there were difficulties in the way of such a measure; and another Bill for a composition of tithes had been proposed by the head of the Church Establishment. He had seen that Bill, and approved of it, and had also bad a consultation with the Reverend Prelate at the Head of the church upon pluralities; and he found the Reverend Prelate imbued with the most liberal principles upon that subject. He should leave himself to introduce bis propositions upon that subject to their Lordships. He was also enabled to state to their Lordships that it was in contemplation to abandon the practice of Commendams, by calling in certain preferments which had no cure of souls attached to them, and which were connected with those bishopricks which were in need of some addition to their salaries. The motion was then agreed to, and the House adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 14. The Duke of Buckingham, in adverting to the Budget of the Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that he considered the intended duty on transfers of stock to be no other than a revolutionary measure.-Earl Grey stated in reply, that one of the great reasons which induced Government to propose this measure was, because they had heard a general cry for the imposition of a property-tax, to which, in time of peace, he had great objection, and which, by operating on parts of the community in great distress, would be most impolitic, and would tend to drive capital out of the country more than any other procedure. His Noble Friend (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) bad had the opinion of the Governor of the Bank of England, who thought the tax might be imposed and collected without difficulty; notwithstanding which, looking to the general expression of public feeling on this subject, his Noble Friend had, under all the circumstances, resolved to forego not only the proposed duty on the transfer of funded, but also that on the transfer of landed property. It grieved him, however, to state, that in consequence they were compelled to give up the re In the HOUSE OF COMMONS, the same day, the Marq. of Chandos asked the Right Hon. Secretary for Ireland, whether it was true that Mr. O'Connell had pleaded guilty to the charges against him, on condition that the proceedings would, by a sort of compromise with the Irish Government, pass over. Mr. Stanley said, that the Irish Government felt that it would be impossible for them, consistently with their own dignity as a Government, to enter into any negotiation implying the remotest compromise with the tra 1831.] versers, or that might lead them to suppose that they would abate one inch. It was the unalterable determination of the law-officers in Ireland to follow up the present proceedings against Mr. O'Connell and his associates with the strictest rigour of the law. (Loud cheers.) On the motion for receiving the Report of the Committee of Supply, Lord Althorp made known his intention of abandoning the tax on the transfer of the sale of stock and of land, and that he was therefore obliged to retain the duty on glass and tobacco. Parliamentary Proceedings.-Foreign News. 169 Castle. In this department the excess above the estimates, after making every deduction, was about 61,000l.-Several Members spoke in terms of strong indignation on this subject, which they termed a useless and scandalous waste of the public money. The motion for the appointment of a Committee to investigate the subject was agreed to. The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved for leave to bring in a bill for the amendment of the GAME LAWs. The Noble Lord observed, that these laws, framed as they now were, bad been productive of great mischief; he intended to do away with the necessity of having a qualification to kill game. He would allow any one, on payment of a license duty, to be qualified to kill game. He intended to allow the sale of game; but the dealers must be licensed. The mode in which he proposed to protect the land was by the law of trespass. After some discussion, the Bill was read a first time, and ordered for the second reading on the 18th inst. Mr. Perceval moved that an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, praying that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to issue his royal proclamation appointing a day to be set apart for general fasting, national humility, and prayer to the Almighty for the relief and succour of the nation; also that bis Majesty would be graciously pleased to direct that on that day collections should be made in all the churches for the bene fit of the poor.-Lord Althorp submitted that the constitution of the country put the origin of these matters in the Crown, under the advice of the heads of the Church, and that they were much fitter to be discussed by them than in that House. He did not stand up to give a direct negative to the motion; but he felt himself called upon to move the previous question. The Hon. Mover did not press the question to a division. Feb. 18. Mr. D. Browne, on presenting two petitions on the state of IRELAND, said, that unless relief was speedily provided, there would be 200,000 people in that country without food. (Hear.) He suggested that the sum of 200,000. be advanced by the way of loan, and that Government should be guaranteed in the advance, and that the sum should be laid out in the promotion of public works. Mr. Stanley said, that the Irish Government had been called upon to meet this distress; and his Majesty's Ministers were prepared to submit to the House a proposition that a large sum of money should, upon certain conditions and proper security, be advanced for the prosecution of public works in Ireland, and by that means provide her labouring poor with employment. (Cheers.)-Sir R. Peel said, the Irish landlords were dead to the common feelings of humanity, when they saw such misery around them, and made no exertion to relieve it.-Mr. Ald. Wood remarked, that the only remedy for relieving Ireland effectually, would be a system of poor laws. Feb. 15. The Chancellor of the Exchequer laid before the House certain papers relating to BUCKINGHAM PALACE, and to the supply of the furniture of WINDSOR CASTLE. The Noble Lord said, that the estimates of the works had been enormously exceeded. The original estimates bad amounted to 496,000l. It appeared, however, by the accounts to Midsummer, 1830, that the amount of the sums expended up to that date was 576,3531. being an excess above the estimate of 76,000l.; the total yet to be provided for above the estimate was about 120,000l. The other papers which be had produced related to the recent purchases of furniture for Windsor FOREIGN FRANCE. Some tumultuous scenes have been exhibited in Paris, owing to the intemperate zeal of the old Bourbon partizans and the easily excited temperament of a Parisian mob. It appears that on St. Valentine's day, the anniversary of the assassination of the Duc GENT. MAG. February, 1831. NEW S. de Berri, the partizans of the exiled family got up a mass for the repose of that prince's soul, in the church of St. Germain l'Auxerois, (that church whence sounded the knell of the massacre of St. Bartholomew). After the service, lithographic portraits of the Duke de Bordeaux were distributed and a figure of the child was crowned in the sacristy with a wreath of fleurs-de-lis; some of the assistants wore the cross of St. Louis, others the dress of the national guard, several wore the uniform of the military school of St. Cyr, and the greater number were ladies, and tradesmen of the ex-royal family. The populace having been informed of this piece of mummery, proceeded in the evening in a great body to the church, and demolished the windows of the curate's house, entered the sacred edifice, trampled upon the canopy and other decorations that had been provided for the ceremony, broke and kicked about the wax tapers, spilled the holy water, and committed other profanations; but though thus enfuriated, they respected the magnificent fragments of art which the building contains, particularly the beautiful painted glass which abounds in the church, the paintings which adorned the walls, and which were actually removed across the square into the Louvre, to prevent their possible exposure to danger, and the curious Gothic portico of the front entrance all which were spared on condition that the richly-adorned cross and fleur-delis, which surmounted the roof of the building, should be prostrated as a forfeited emblem. The National Guards were called out, and at length succeeded in clearing the church and its precincts of the angry multitude (who invoked imprecations upou the priests, Jesuists, Carlists, and congregationists), and took several of the offenders into custody. While a part of the mob was thus employed, another division crossed the river to the Archbishop's palace, broke the windows, and damaged the furniture. The National Guards here as elsewhere checked the riot, and restored tranquillity It having been rumoured that other churches of the metropolis were marked out for visits from the populace, strong detachments of the citizen military were stationed in their vicinity, and secured them from profanation. On Tuesday morning, the mob revisited the church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, and the Archbishop's Palace, and in both continued their work of devastation. The populace assembled in great force, with the avowed purpose of pulling down many obnoxious places of worship; but owing to the vigilance of the military, they only succeeded in demolishing the fleurs-de-lis and other Bourbon emblems they could meet with, and this appears to have been connived at by the police. On Wednesday, the King appeared much in public. His popularity does not appear to have suffered. They The Government have, in compliance with the demands of the people, effaced the crosses and fleur-de-lis generally. have published addresses to the people, calling on them to respect the public monuments. It appears that there was a simultaneous rising of the Carlists on that day [Feb. at Bordeaux. A number of persons have been arrested at Paris and Bordeaux in consequence of the riots. An order is issued for the arrest of the Archbishop at Paris. The Duke de Nemours having been elected King of the Belgians in the Sitting of the National Congress at Brussels on the 3d. inst., the Belgian deputies have since had a public audience, and received the official answer of the King of the French, that he could not, under any circumstances, accept the Belgian crown for his son. ITALY. The choice of a Pope has fallen upon Cardinal Maura Cappellari, who has assumed the title of Gregory XVI. His Holiness was born at Belluria, the 18th of September, 1763. He is said to be an estimable man, and to be profoundly skilled in the Oriental languages. He was made a Cardinal in 1826, by Leo XII. Italy has at length made an effort for the attainment of liberty. The flames of discontent, which had been long smouldering in that devoted country, stirred up by some recent oppressions of the Court of Modena, and of the Vice-legate of Bologna, have found vent in these two places. The movement at Bologna appears to have met with scarcely any resistance; but at Modena the people and the troops of the Grand Duke had engaged in conflict. The first impulse was given at the theatre, and in the presence of the Grand Duke, upon the evening of the 5th of February. M. Menotti jumped upon the stage, waved a tri-coloured flag, upon which Vive la Liberté was inscribed, which acting a signal, the whole population flew to arms, and engaged in conflict with the troops of the garrison. The Vice-Legate took to flight and the Grand Duke, after having ineffectually resisted the insurgents, retired to Mantua. as RUSSIA AND POLAND. In the sittings of the 25th of January, the Diet of Warsaw declared unanimously that the throne of Poland was vacant; and it seems that the Poles are unalterably resolved to make a stand, which will terminate in their emancipation or annihilation as a separate State. The Prince Czartoryski has accepted the office of President of the National Government. Accounts from Berlin, dated the 10th Feruary, contain the important information of the entry of the Russians into Poland, on the 2d and 3d instant, in three placesnamely, Merecy, Alexotin, and Prenn. On the 5th, a division of Russians was at Sgakie, but no attempt at resistance had been made. The Warsaw papers of the 5th aunounce that the Cossacks had passed the frontier, at a point much nearer Warsaw, in the neighbourhood of Beyese-Sitewski, on the Bug, in Lithuania, |