Mr. Aston conceived the measure partial, and injurious to the manufacturers.

Mr. Barclay expressed himself to the same effect, and recommended the postponement of the measure until the House could be enabled to give it the consideration its importance merited.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that it should be postponed to Monday. Lord Milton was extremely sorry that the petition could not be received, as the rejection of it must be injurious to the character of the House. He lamented that measures were at any time introduced in such a manner as could prevent petitions from being received against them. The measure in question was very injurious to the manufacturers of the country, and would press particularly severe on the lower orders of society. The petition was then rejected.

FINANCES OF THE COUNTRY.] Mr. J. P. Grant, referring to his motion on the state of the finances of the country, which he fixed for Wednesday next, stated, that some alteration would be necessary in the Resolutions which he meant to propose, as the chancellor of the exchequer had made a new statement with respect to the amount of the unappropriated part of the grant of last year. He would be obliged to the right hon. gentleman now to inform him of the amount of that surplus; after which, with the leave of the House, he should move that the resolutions which he meant to propose should be read pro forma, for the purpose of being printed before the debate on Wednesday.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated, that the amount of the unappropriated part of the grant of last year, which had at first been estimated at 3,000,000l. was now found to be about 5,000,000l. or 5,500,000l.

The resolutions were then read pro forma, and the debate upon them adjourn ed to Wednesday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Monday, May 20.

THANKS OF THE HOUSE TO SIR GALBRAITH LOWRY COLE.] Lieutenant General the hon. sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, Knight Grand Cross of the most honourable Order of the Bath, being come to the House, Mr. Speaker acquainted him with the Resolutions of the House of

the 3d of December 1812, of the 7th of July and 8th of November 1813, and of the 24th of March 1814, respecting his services in the battles of Salamanca and Vittoria, in the Pyrenees, and at Orthes; and

Mr. Speaker gave him the thanks of the House accordingly, as followeth :

"Lieutenant-general sir Lowry Cole; although the time which elapsed between the close of your service in the Peniasula, and your appearance in this House, would in ordinary cases have precluded me from delivering to you its thanks from this place, nevertheless, your distinguished name and actions have, in a manner highly honourable to you, induced this House to depart from its usual course; justly desirous that, in terminating such a war, no demonstration of its gratitude should be wanting towards those who have deserved it so well.

"Having acquired the early rudiments of your profession in foreign countries, reputed then the best schools of the military art, and having matured that knowledge by practical experience through various campaigns in Egypt, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, you first appeared amongst us to claim our thanks for your prompt and decisive conduct in the battle of Albuera.

"In that victorious army which reestablished the thrones of our allies, though all were brave, yet, by the fortune of war, the skill and valour of some were rendered conspicuous above the rest; and the gallant fourth division was distinguished throughout, by the highest praises, for its enthusiastic courage and heroic devotion.

"Of that division, to which all eyes were turned in every battle, you, Sir, had the chief command; and your growing renown was well supported by many brave companions in arms, whose names will for ever live in our annals.

"So supported, and led on by the greatest captain of our times, you shared in each successive struggle and triumph which marked his progress, from the frontiers of Portugal, at Salamanca, at Vittoria, in the Pyrenees, and at Orthes, to the final establishment of his standard within the ancient provinces of France.

"For these numerous and splendid services, it is now my gratifying duty to deliver to you the thanks of your coun try; and I do now, therefore, in the name and by the command of the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland, in parliament

now, in the name and by the command of the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland, in parliament assembled, deliver to you their unanimous thanks for your indefatigable zeal and exertions upon the 18th of June 1815, when the French army, commanded by Buonaparté, received a signal and complete defeat."

Upon which Lieut. general Sir Henry Clinton said;

"Mr. Speaker; I am extremely grateful to the House for the honour which has been conferred upon me by the vote of its thanks for my services in the battle of Waterloo, a reward to which you, Sir, so well know how to give the full value; and I wish to assure you, Sir, that I am fully sensible of the favour I have received at your hands.

"It is impossible for me to mention the name of Waterloo and not to feel an irresistible desire to join in the general voice of gratitude to the hero who commanded us, and in that of admiration of the extraordinary talents which he has so long and so usefully devoted to the service of his country.

"An army hastily drawn together, composed of the troops of various nations, and amongst which were counted several brigades of inexperienced militia, was the force which the duke of Wellington had to oppose to one of the most formidable and best-appointed armies which France ever produced. Every officer and soldier, I am persuaded, did his duty; but the duke of Wellington alone was capable of giving union to such a force. No other man living could have rendered the service he performed with an army so composed. His great name filled it with confidence; by his constant vigilance, his undaunted firmness, and the exertion of the greatest intrepidity and perseverance, he was able, throughout that well-contested day, to defeat every effort of a powerful and enterprising enemy, and ultimately to gain that victory by which he restored peace to Europe, and increased, to the impossibility of our ever acquitting it, his country's debt of gratitude."

Lord Castlereagh, after expressing his gratification at hearing the exploits which had led to the termination of war, and had raised the glory of the country so high, described in language so eloquent and so peculiar to the Chair, could not help entertaining a hope that this would be the last time such services would be required and such thanks returned, and that in

future the blessings of universal peace would take the place of the glories of war. It would be a great satisfaction to the House to retain such addresses as those which had been spoken that night in their Journals. He was sure that he spoke the sense of the country, when he said, that it was impossible to find any where the glory of our arms so well described as in those brilliant displays of eloquence to which the House had just listened with so much delight [Hear, hear!]. He concluded by moving, "That what has been now said by Mr. Speaker, in giving the thanks of this House to lieutenant-general the hon. sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, and lieutenant-general sir Henry Clinton, together with their answers thereto, be printed in the votes of this day."

The motion was agreed to nem. con.

GAME LAWS.] Colonel Wood rose, to propose that the House should appoint a committee to consider the present state of the Game Laws, with a view of preventing the great increase of poaching, and its melancholy consequences. The hon. colonel proceeded to illustrate his view of this subject, by stating the recent case of the murder of colonel Berkeley's gamekeeper. The poachers, on that occasion, were between twenty and thirty in number, and all armed men, while the gamekeepers, who were employed for the preservation of game on the lands, had the humanity to enter the wood unarmed, and to use every effort to dissuade those poachers from persevering in their purpose. Every body was acquainted with the melancholy result-one man was killed and several wounded, besides those who suffered for the offence. This practice of poaching was not only formidable from its own immediate consequences, but also from the system of insubordination to which it necessarily led. The peasant, in the first instance, became habituated to dishonesty; it led him to nocturnal prowlings. He was up all night, and consequently could not work all day. He proceeded onwards from depredation. to depredation; when game did not fall in his way, he plundered a sheepfold, and at length ended his life on a gallows. It was impossible to amend this vitiated system, unless some mode could be devised of preventing or regulating the sale of game. If there were no receivers, there would, of course, be no thieves; and it could not be

mittee, an attention which, I am conscious, my own imperfect statements would ill deserve. Not, Sir, that the interests of Ireland alone are involved in the decision which we shall be called upon to come to. I must not disguise from the committee how deeply the interests of every part of the empire must be affected by it.

The committee, Sir, will not desire of me to recite at length that article of the act of union which has been especially referred to its consideration; but I shall of fer to you the opinion formed upon it by successive committees of finance, and the grounds upon which those opinions were formed by them. I am aware, Sir, that I shall have to combat the objections which an hon. gentleman (Mr. Bankes), a member of the last committee, felt, and which he will perhaps deem it his duty to re-urge this night. I earnestly hope, however, that the recommendations of so many persons, who entered with such minuteness and labour into the consideration of this article, will have with this committee a weight which, I am conscious, no recommendation of mine could have, when opposed to that of the hon. gentleman.

I am aware too, Sir, that I shall have to enter into a statement of the amount of contribution which Ireland has been required to pay since the union of both Countries; an amount greater than could have been presumed at the time, when the ratio of that contribution was calculated; an amount greater than the authors of that calculation could have deemed it possible for her to provide. They could not have foreseen-who could have foreseen, a war of such duration, and of such expense, as that in which the empire has been since engaged, or the sacrifices of England while she waged it? But if I am compelled to show that the contribution imposed upon Ireland was greater than she ought to have been called upon to bear that its weight has, in fact, accelerated the period at which parliament became competent to review the compact, let me not be supposed to contemplate, with different feelings from the House or the country, that measure which has been the source of our security, and the keystone of British power, which has made Ireland a sharer in your councils, and in the fame that you have acquired-which has made us "Participes libertatis sceptrique Britanni" [Hear, hear!]. No, Sir, if the necessity of reviewing the act of union has been produced by the sacrifices

which Ireland has made to you, doing her best to keep pace with those which Britain made in the cause of humanity and of freedom; if I am able to show, that it is by those sacrifices that her debt has grown to its present magnitude, I should leave the question of to-night with fearless confidence to your decision, and the wisdom and justice of a British parliament.

When the contribution of Great Britain and Ireland towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom was fixed in the proportion of fifteen parts for Great Britain, and two for Ireland, the arrangement was made for twenty years from the time of the union, and at the end of that time the joint charges were to be defrayed in such proportion as the united parliament should deem reasonable, upon a comparison of the average value of the exports and im ports of the respective countries, or upon a comparison of the value of the principal articles of consumption in both. There was another scale of estimate which has never been afforded, though contemplated by the act of union, namely a general tax, if such should have heen imposed, on the same descriptions of income in both countries, at the end of such period and proceeding on these data, parliament is empowered to revise the scale of contribution, unless it should have in the intermediate time declared, what under certain contingencies only it could declare, that with such exemptions in favour of Ireland and Scotland, as circumstances might appear to demand, the expenditure of the empire should be defrayed indiscriminately by equal taxes imposed on the like articles in both parts of the United Kingdom. But, Sir, whether that contingency has arisen, and whether the necessity for exercising the power which the act confers has arisen also, I am now to show.

It is provided by the same article of the act of union, that if at any future day the separate debts of each country shall have been liquidated, or if the values of the respective debts, estimated according to their annual interests and sinking funds, shall bear the same proportion with the respective contribution of each country, and if it shall appear (making allowance for a small variation in the said value) that the circumstances of the two countries will admit of their contributing indiscriminately, and by equal taxes, to the general expenditure, it shall be competent to parliament to declare, that all future expense, together with the interest and