the pea and asking the dupes, " Is it here, is it here, is it there?" the only result of all which was, that the person who was thus addressed was sure to lose, whatever he had at stake. There was his right hon. friend with his pocket, the church pocket, the state pocket, and shifting from the one to the other, asking, "Is what you want in this? No. In this? No;" and so on till he took up, like these wandering frequenters of fairs, all the thimbles and showed that what they had been seeking for had been appropriated or vanished.-Lord Althorp was not astonished at the effect which the speech of his right hon. friend had produced. It had confirmed all his anticipations, that with whatever grace he appeared on the treasury bench, he would appear to infinitely greater as an opposition member. He was, therefore, not surprised when he heard his hon. friend bandying the terms shoplifters, petty larcenymen, thimble-riggers, and other similar expressions, for they, in reality, formed the chief staple of an opposition speech, and his right hon. friend had used them with such astonishing dexterity, as almost to warrant a suspicion that he had had a private rehearsal of their effect.-Mr. Hume characterised the course taken as disingenuous. The noble lord in his speech alluded to other sources from which the deficiency could be made up. Why not state what these sources are? For his part, he would only say, let the deficiency be made up out of the church property.-After some further discussion, the Committee divided on the motion-Ayes, 235; noes, 171; majority, 64. July 7.-Lord Althorp presented papers relating to the state of Ireland, and moved that they be printed.-After an extended and stormy discussion, the House divided the numbers were, for the printing of the papers, 157: for a committee, 73-majority against Mr. O'Connell's amendment, 84.-The Marquis of Chandos moved an Address to the King that he would relieve agriculture from its present heavy taxation.-The House then divided, when there appeared-for the motion of Lord Chandos, 174; against it, 190; majority for ministers, 16.-The annunciation of the numbers was received with loud cheering by the minority.-On the question that the resolutions agreed to by the Committee of the whole House on Friday, on the Church Temporalities (Ireland) Act, be read a second time, Mr. Hume divided the House, and the second reading of the amendments was carried by 181 to 106.The Court of Common Pleas (Lancaster) Bill was committed. The Stannaries Court (Cornwall) Bill was committed.-The Admission of Freemen Bill was recommitted. The Report of the Merchants Seamen's Widow's Bill was received.-The Report of the Universities' Admission Bill was farther considered, and the bill ordered to be read a third time on Wednesday se'ennight.-The debate on the third reading of the Lord's Day (No. 2) Bill was adjourned till Monday next.-The London Port Dues Bill was read a third time and passed. July 8.-Mr. Ward brought up the Report of the Committee appointed to consider the best mode of taking authentic lists of the Divisions in the House, and moved that the report be taken into consideration, with a view to the adoption of its recommendations at the commencement of the next session.-The House divided: for the motion, 76; against it, 32; majority, 44.-The Imprisonment for Debt Bill was read a second time. July 9.-Lord Althorp said he was placed in a position which rendered it necessary that he should state to the House the reasons which had governed his conduct, and that he had obtained his Majesty's permission to make such statement. "When the renewal of the Coercion Bill was first under the consideration of the government, I felt it my duty, though with the greatest reluctance, to concur in the renewal of it, with the omission only of the courts' martial clauses. Afterwards, confidential communications from the lord lieutenant of Ireland to individual members of the government brought the subject again under their consideration in the week before last. It was at this time that the secretary for Ireland suggested to me the propriety of telling the hon. and learned gentleman opposite that the question was not yet finally decided, and that the bill was still under consideration. I saw no harm in this, if it proceeded no further; and I begged my right hon. friend to use extreme caution, and by no means to commit himself in what he said. From the nature of the private communications from the lord lieutenant, to which I have alluded, I was led to believe that the three first clauses of the act-those, I mean, which refer to meetings in the parts of Ireland not proclaimed-might be omitted from the new bill without endangering the peace of Ireland. Under this impression, I objected to the renewal of those clauses. My right hon. friends the members for Inverness, for Cambridge, for Edinburgh, and for Coventry, coincided with me in making that objection. We were in a minority in the cabinet. The cabinet decided against us; and we had to consider whether we would acquiesce in this decision, or whether we would break up the government. We decided that it was our duty to acquiesce, and I now think that we were right in taking that course. I felt that, in coming to that decision, I might be placed in a situation of great difficulty and embarrassment in conducting the measure through this House. But when, on Thursday last, I heard the statement of the secretary for Ireland, and then, for the first time, was made aware of the nature and extent of the communication which he had made to the hon. and learned gentleman, I certainly thought that the difficulties which I should have to encounter would prove to be insuperable. The debate on Monday night convinced me that I could no longer conduct that bill, or the general business of government, in this House, with credit to myself or with advantage to the public. I accordingly wrote that night to Lord Grey, and requested him to tender my resignation to his Majesty, which his Majesty has been graciously pleased to accept. I am authorized by my right hon. friends to whom I have already alluded, to say that they approve of, and concur in, the step which I have taken. I should be extremely sorry if my conduct on this occasion should not be approved of by my fellow countrymen, and that large body of gentlemen in this House who have reposed so much confidence in me, and who, by their handsome and steady support, have enabled me to maintain a position for which my abilities would otherwise have so little qualified me. I have nothing further to add, but that I hold my office until my successor is appointed, and that, until that is the case, I shall feel it my duty to conduct the ordinary business of the government in this House."-Mr. Hume regretted to find that the noble lord and others of his colleagues, in whom he and the country could place confidence, had been obliged to secede from the administration.-Lord Althorp said he had omitted to state to the House, that in consequence of his retirement from office the administration was at an end.-The Central Criminal Courts Bill was read a third time and passed. July 10.-Mr. Hume withdrew his motion for an address to his Majesty on the state of the nation. When he had given notice of it he thought that the entire cabinet had resigned. As there was no responsible minister in the place of the noble lord, he considered that no important business ought to be proceeded with, and therefore moved that the House do adjourn till Monday.-After some further discussion the motion was agreed to, and the House adjourned to Monday. July 14.-Lord Althorp, in moving the adjournment of the House to Thursday, stated that Lord Melbourne had received his Majesty's commands to lay before his Majesty a plan for the formation of an administration.-The motion was agreed to without discussion, and the House accordingly adjourned till Thursday. July 17.-Lord Althorp moved that a new writ be issued for Nottingham, in the room of Lord Duncannon, who had accepted the office of Secretary of State for the Home Department. He said that Lord Melbourne had been commissioned to lay before his Majesty a plan for an administration, that his noble friend had completed his arrangements, and a ministry had been formed. Lord Duncannon was to be home secretary, Sir J. Hobhouse commissioner of the woods and forests (with a seat in the cabinet,) and he (Lord Althorp) would continue chancellor of the exchequer, in compliance with the gracious request of his Majesty. He added that Lord Melbourne would be the head of the government-a nobleman of judgment and qualities well fitted for his station. After some further conversation, the motion was agreed to. -Considerable discussion took place on the motion for going into committee on the Beer Bill, which was opposed by Mr. F. Palmer, Mr. Wilks, Mr. Gisborne, and others, and supported by Sir E. Knatchbull, and Lord Althorp.-The House divided. For the motion that the Speaker do leave the chair, 105; against it, 35. Majority, 70.-The House then went into Committee, and Sir E. Knatchbull moved the following addition to the second clause, "That every person applying for a licence for the sale of beer, ale, or cider, to be drunk on the premises, shall, in addition to the application, setting forth the particulars, annually produce to the commissioners or other officers of excise in the parish, a certificate signed by six persons, inhabitants of the parish, town, or place, where such beer, &c. is to be sold, who shall be rated at 10l., (excepting malsters and retailers of beer, &c.), who shall certify on their own knowledge that the person applying is a person of good character, and likely to conduct the house in a peaceable and orderly manner, and at the foot of the certificate one of the overseers shall certify to the respectability of the six persons, and the certificate shall be verified by oath before a justice of the peace."-An Hon. Membermoved that the word "annually" be omitted, on which the Committee divided, when there appeared for the insertion of the word annually," 77; against it, 51; majority 26. The Clause was ultimately agreed to, and the House resumed. July 19. Mr. T. Duncombe presented a petition from the inhabitants of Upwell, against the Upwell Tithes Bill.-Mr. Childers moved the second reading of the Bill.-Mr. Wason moved that the Bill be read a second time that day six months.After a few words from Mr. Townley, in support of the Bill, the House divided: for the second reading, 45; against it, 60; majority 15.-The Bill was accordingly thrown out.-Lord Althorp then moved for leave to bring in a Bill "to continue and amend the Act for the suppression of disturbances in Ireland. He proposed to continue such portions of the Act as empowered the Lord Lieutenant to proclaim districts, and to enforce the different regulations for keeping the peace, with the exception of the three first clauses, which refer to public meetings.-Mr. Poulter moved that the Lord's Day Observance Bill (No. 2) be read a third time. Mr. Potter moved, as an amendment, that it be read this day six months. There were for the third reading, 57; against it, 24; majority, 33. It was read a third time.-Mr. Cayley moved then a new clause to legalise all games of exercise in the open air on Sundays, not played during the hours of divine service. The clause was carried, as were some other clauses; after which some of the friends of the Bill said, as the Bill was so altered, they would rather it should not pass. The House divided on that question. The numbers were-for the Bill, 31; against it, 35. The Bill was consequently lost, by a majority of four. MEMOIRS OF PERSONS RECENTLY DECEASED. CAPTAIN DAVID THOMPSON. Intelligence has been received of the decease, at the Mauritius, of this well-known computer and author of the Lunar and Horary Tables, and inventor of the Longitude Scale, in consequence of severe injuries received during the hurricane which recently devastated that colony. The work which has brought Captain Thompson's name into note among men of science, is his solution of the problem, of clearing the apparent distance of the moon from other celestial bodies, from the effects of parallax and refraction-one of the most useful in nautical astronomy; and he received from the late celebrated Baron de Zach, high commendation for his skill and success in this investigation, and from the late Board of Longitude, a tardy acknowledgment of the high merit of his Tables. All methods which solve this problem by approximative formulæ being in some particular cases defective, Captain Thompson undertook the arduous task of resolving the spherical triangle, for every case which can occur in practice. The correction to one of the approximative formula which he adopted, was thus obtained, in every individual case; and these single results were classed in a Table of triple entry, embracing all the cases which can possibly occur. The seaman takes out from the Table the number required for each case, with great ease, and adds it to the calculated numerical value of the approximative formulæ, the defect of which Captain Thompson's Table is intended to supply, and he thus obtains a perfectly correct solution. Captain T. also invented a scale adapted to the solution of the same problem, which is made use of by many mariners. Married.-At Newbattle Abbey, Sir John Stuart Forbes, Bart., of Pitsligo and Fettercairn, to Lady Harriet Kerr, third daughter of the late Most Noble the Marquess of Lothian. Lieutenant-Colonel De Lacy Evans, M.P. for Westminster, to Josette, relict of Philip Hughes, Esq., of the Hon. East India Company's Service, daughter of the late Colonel Robert Arbuthnott. At St. Peter's Port, Major T. K. Clubly, Madras Army, to Ellenor, third daughter of Staff-Surgeon Paddock. At St. George's, Hanover Square, the Viscount Mahon, only son of Earl Stanhope, to Emily, daughter of Major-General Sir E. Kerrison, Bart., M.P. At Clewer, near Windsor, Berks, Captain George Thomas Bulkeley, 2nd Life Guards, to Mary Anne, eldest daughter of Captain Charles Langford. At Great Neston, Sir John Reid, Bart. of Bara, to Janet, daughter of Hugh Matthie, Esq., of New Hall, Cheshire. Captain John Markham, R. N., grandson of his Grace the late Archbishop of York, to Marianne Georgiana Davies, youngest daughter of the late John Brock Wood, Esq. Died.-The Hon. Mary Roper, relict of the Hon. Francis Roper, of Linstead Lodge, Kent, mother to the present Lord Teynham, aged 100. At Bath, in the 72nd year of her age, Lady Fraser, the widow of the late Sir William Fraser, Bart. At Stoke Park, Bucks, aged 74, J. Penn, Esq., Governor of Portland. In the 68th year of his age, Sir D. Bayley, who for upwards of twenty years filled the office of his Majesty's Consul-General in Russia, and of agent to the Russian Company at St. Petersburgh. At Leamington, Amelia, daughter of Sir C. E. Carrington, of Chalfont, St. Giles, Bucks. The Right Hon. Anne Catherine, in her own right Countess of Antrim and Viscountess Dunluce, wife of Edmund M'Donnell, Esq., and mother of the Marchioness of Londonderry. At Tonbridge Wells, in the 30th year of his age, the Hon. Thomas Le Merchant Saumarez, second son of Admiral the Right Hon. Lord Saumarez, G.C.B. At Rome, the Right Hon. James Everard Lord Arundel of Warder. Major General Sir William Aylett, K.M.T. |