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    604 THE IiEA-PER. fNo. 379. gtww.T - ' ¦...

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    Imperial Parliament. —>»——Mo&Da*/, June ...

    wants than we . There was top strong a tendency to a war policy in India ; and , if we were to wait for a surplus of'Indian revenue before internal improvements were made , the delay would probably be a very long one . — - Mr . Seymour , in moving the previous question , said that the facts on which Mr . Smith had erected his theory were mostly obsolete * What is wanted to promote the growth of cotton in India i 3 capital and European superintendence . —On the motion of Sir ErsKlne Pekkt , the debate was adjourned to that day week .

    SALARIES OF SCOTCH OFFICIALS . Mr . Black moved a resolution , that the salaries of the Scotch inspectors and surveyors of taxes are inadequate for the duties they have to discharge , and that the remuneration for their services should be placed on the same scale as those of England and Ireland—Mr . Wilsow could not consent to a motion which would impose upon the House a function properly belonging to the departments connected with the revenue of the country . — 'The motion was negatirei . The Alehouse Licensing Bill was read a third time , and passed ; various other bills were advanced a stage ; and the House adjourned about half past one o ' clock . Wednesday , June 'ZAth . JUDGMENTS EXECUTION , ETC ., BILL .

    The House of Commons went into committee ou this bill , when a good deal of discussion took place—firstly , as to whether the Chairman should report progress ( a coarse proposed by Colonel French , but negatived on a division by 93 to 31 ) ; secondly , -whether the Government wculd adopt the bill ( a question which elicited from the Solicitor-General , a favourable opinion of the measure ) j thirdly , a return to the question whether progress should not be reported ( a proposition again defeated , this time by 141 to 50 , and once again by 175 to 54 ); fourthly , whether the bill should not be

    committed pro forma and recommitted ( a suggestion to which the Lord Advocate agreed ) ; and lastly , -whether Ireland should not be excluded from the measure . The Irish members contended that Ireland ought to be excluded , and offered so much opposition to the progress of the measure that the Lord Adxocate accused them of factions conduct—a charge which they warmly denied . At length ( only two clauses having been passed ) , Mr . Craufurd , with whom the bill originated , consented to progress being reported , and said that , on the first open Wednesday , he would bring forward the measure again . The House then resumed , and went into committee on the Scientific and Literary Societies Bill ; but , before the second clause could be disposed of , the time for discussion had expired . ROCHDALE ELECTION . REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE . Mr . Henley brought up the report of the select committee appointed to inquire into the charges contained in the petition of John Newall . The committee stated that Petor Johnson was not produced before them , though it appeared that means had been taken to find him in Rochdale and in . London . They found that Abraham Rothwell was served with the Speaker ' s warrant on the 12 th of May , to give evidence before the election committee on the Rochdale petition , and that the fact of his being a person likely to be examined , as a witness on the election petition was well known in Kochdale , and before the . 18 th of June was known to Joixn Lord . That John Lord and Peter Johnson having come to London , Peter Johnson personally applied to John Lord for the address of Abraham Rothwell , and from what passed between them , it appeared that Peter Johnson requested John Lord to tell Abraham Rothwell that if he wished to leave the country , he would find money to the extent of 50 / . to enable him to do so . That , through the agency of John Lord , Peter Johnson and Abraham Rothwell met , and that in the presence of John Lord , Peter Johnson , on the evening of Thursday , the 18 th June , offered Abraham Rothwell to supply him with money to the extent of 50 / ., if he would quit the country and go to America . Under the oixcumstances , the committee were of opinion that the necessary inference would be , that the purpose of Peter Johnson was to prevent the examination of Abraham Rothwell on the trial of the Rochdale election petition , and that such purpose of Peter Johnson was known to Jolin Lord ; but the evidence was bo inconclusive , and the manner of the witnesses jbn giving their testimony was so unsatisfactory , that the . committee were unable to state that inference as being the clear result of their investigation . The committee desired to add that nothing appeared in the evidence before the committee to connect the sitting member , or the agent of the sitting member , with the transaction in question . The report was received , and the House adjourned a little after elx o ' clock . Thursday , June 25 tA . DIVORCE BILL , In the Housu of Lords , Lord Kedesdale introduced a bill on the subject of divorce , which he said was so framed as not to be liable to tho objections which wore contained in tho bill which had recently passod that Howe . ^—Tho bill wa » read a first time . THE PROBATE AND DIVOKClfi JUJLL 8 . The Earl of ; Wko * oww wished to ask a question with reference to the Probate and Administration , and tho

    Divorce and Matrimonial Causes , Bills . Neither of them was extended to Ireland ; and , as regarded the latter , he wished to know if the action for damages in cases of criminal conversation , and all the other proceedings which had hitherto been necessary for the procuring a divorce , were to continue in force in Ireland . —The Lord Chancellor could only say , in reply , that it wa 3 not only the intention of Government to introduce similar bills for Irelaud to those which had just passed their Lordships' House , but a bill for remodelling the Court of Probate had beeii prepared ( he did not say it was ready to be introduced ) , and the Attorney-General for Ireland hoped to bo able to pass it this session . It was impossible to make the present bills applicable to the two countries , because it would be necessary to create two new tribunals .

    OBSCENE PRINTS AND PUBLICATIONS BILL . Lord Campbell moved the second reading of this bill , by which he proposes to give power to the police , after obtaining a warrant on affidavit , to enter any house where improper publications are sold , and to seize and carry them away . —Lord Brougham , while heartily agreeing that the trade sought to be suppressed is of a most infamous and disgusting character , suggested that it would be impossible to define clearly what an obscene book is . Many works of art , and many of the writings

    of modern and ancient poets , might be objected to on the ground that parts of them are obscene . —Lord Campbell said he by no means designed to extend his measure to such cases as had been alluded to by his noble and learned friend , but only to such publications as have the single purpose of corrupting the morals and shocking the decency of any well-regulated mind , bales of which are imported into this country . He would take as a test only books for the sale of which an indictment -would lie .

    The Lord Chancellor and Lord Lysdhurst poke to the same effect as Lord Brougham ; and Lord Lyndhurst put some imaginary , but at the same time possible , cases , to prove his assertion that the bill was impracticable . Having given Doctor Johnson ' s definition of ' obscenity , ' which turns chiefly on the idea of immodesty and unchastity , his Lordship continued : — " Under this bill ,, a policeman might apply to a magistrate for a warrant authorizing him to seize anything which might happen in his view to be obscene . He would go to a magistrate , who would issue his warrant , and , armed with that , he might go to Colnaghi's , and say , ' I want to look at a print of Jupiter and Antiope ' —a picture which represents a woman asleep—very

    beautiful—with a strange expression in her countenance , herself perfectly naked , and a satyr standing by her side , with an-expression in his face showing most distinctly what are his feelings . The policeman seizes it . ' By -what authority ? ' asks the shopkeeper . ' Lord Campbell ' s Act , ' he replies ; and , despite all remonstrance , the print and printseller are carried before the magistrate , who , if he took the same view as the policeman , would probably sentence the one to be destroyed , and the other to imprisonment . ( Hear , hear . ) There are many other valuable prints of the same description —' The Rape of Danae , for instance , which would come most distinctly within this act , and be liable to seizure . The shopkeeper might be imprisoned for

    exhibiting it , while the painting from which it was engraved would be hanging in the large square room in the Louvre , in front of an ottoman on which the most delicate-minded women in the world might be seen daily assembled contemplating its beauties . ( Hear , hear . ' ) But this was only pne part of tho case . Suppose the policeman happens to go inside the studio or residence of a sculptor ; he might see tho statue of a man perfectly naked , or a naked group—a caat , perhaps , from one of Palladio ' s groups—and , as all the statues from tho antique are naked , and some of them in attitudes which he ( Lord Lyndhurst ) did not choose to describe , of course they would be seized , and the artist would bo liable to punishment . There is a third class

    of works that would be liable to seizure under his noble and learned friend ' s bill—those of the poets . Not a circulating library in the country but would be open to an information , and their books to seizure . Tho policeman looks over the catalogue , and finds Rochester ' s poems , with which his noble and learned friend was doubtless familiar ( 'hear , hear , ' and a laugh ) .: those might be seized . He ( Lord Lyndhurst ) admitted that there is as much difference between tho licentiousness of Rochester and that of the ancient classics as there is between tho nakedness of an Indian and th it of a common prostitute . But they might go further : there was tho great master of English poetry—Dryden . He had translated some of the worst parts of Ovid—some of tho moat

    licentious epistles of Ovid to his mistress ; but , beyond those , there was not a single volume of that groat muster which would not come under tho denunciation of his noble and learned friend ' s bill . And what would his noble and learned friend say to the bulk of modern , French novels ? Was there anything , either anolont or modern , calculated to excite licentious doalros equal to those i There was nothing that ho had mentioned that would not , undor tub bill , bo liable to seizure . Every library and every bpokeollor ' a shop would bo exposed to expurgation at tho hands of tho police i not oven ' Don Quixote' could be retained , " He moved thut tho bill be road a second time that day six months . At the conclusion of Lord Lyndhurat'a remarks ,

    Lord Campbell rose and said , speakine with , " ~ phasis : — " My noble and learned friendW ^ f ^ em to this , that all remedy for this evilshoulf £ " ***" end to . He says » Here Lord IS ** order . His noble and learned friend had ^ ' ° v ! reply until the end of the debate . To this lwS * bell replied that , as an amendment had bS S ^ he was privileged . to speak . Lords ¦ ffi 2 T ? V Rkiwauc thoug ht differently , and a mJSSJS and angry controversy ensued ; Lord CampbmT «• quently beginning his observations afresh , and fiL « constantly interrupted . At length , the Low SL ? cellok decided the rule in his favour , when Lord ( S " bell said that , having asserted and maintained his ££ t 1 ??? ™^ ° ™ " -Lord WensS

    ^ ^ . dalb then opposed the bill on the same ground as th » I assumed by its other opponents—Lord Wvnfobd spoke in favour of the measure—Lord Campbell replied , and observed that the very word obscene , ' to which Lord Lyndhurst objected , is the word used in the form of indictment under the existing law , and it was left for the jury to determine the application . " His noble and learned friend seemed under great apprehension lest that choice collection of literature , which had evidently made a deep impression on his mind , should be seized . He could dispel his noble and learned friend ' s fears . His collection , whether literary or artistic , would be in no danger ; for his noble and learned friend , he imagined did not mean to sell it or exhibit it , but to keep it for his private gratification and the amusement of his leisure

    hours . ( Cheers and laughter . ) There would be no difficulty in introducing words which should draw the distinction required . —Earl Granville said that , as his noble : and learned friend was ready to introduce words removing objections , he thought the best way would be to permit the bill to be read a second time . —This was accordingly done .

    VEXATIOUS SUITS PREVENTION BILL . Lord Brougham moved the second reading of this bill , and cited many examples showing the necessity of repressing frivolous aud vexatious actions at law . A was not , however , his intenti in to press the aieasure during the present session , and after some . remarks from the Lokd Chancellok and Lord Campbell ( who thought the bill would be ineffectual ) , the debate was formally adjourned . Their Lordships adjourned at twenty minutes past seven o ' clock . ¦ ¦ *

    PASSING TOLLS . In the House of Commons , Mr . Lowe , in reply to Mr . Inquam , said that he feared there would be no chance this session of carrying the measure of which he had given notice with respect to passing tolls . It must therefore be . deferred to next session . O . OVKKNMENT STORKS . Major Sibthori' asked tho Uiider-Secretary for War whether it was true that large quantities of gunpowder

    were stored in various places in the immediate neighbourhood and town of Waltham Abbey , and if so , whether they were to remain there ; also , if it was true that any persons connected with the Government hud threatened with instant dismissal any of tho worlnnca or others at the mills , if they divulged anything relative to the quantity of gunpowder stored there . — Sir John Ramsden replied that there was no amount of Government stores in the neighbourhood and town of Waltham Abboy , and that no Government official had been

    threatened with dismissal . THIS CIIIJKCH IN CANADA . Replying to Mr . Collins , Mr . Labouoiiebk »«> «¦ ' » Royal assent had been given to n bill passed oyttt S * r ~ . liamont of Canada to enable the mom ^ m of the Linteu Church of England and Ireland i » Canada to moot in Synod , in order that they might exore . se the ngi 1 w self-government ; a » d , without giving niv opinion , 0 a difficult point of law , ho believed that ; the act us cl tho appointment of Bishops of that Church in tin Synod . 8

    PAYMKNT OV MKOXOAL OI FICKRIii reply to a question from Sir John Tboiaopb relative to tho payment of medical officer * in poo - » unions , Mr . Bovvkrih Baid that tho comm . ttee vhtoB had conaidered tho subject had made three roooin , monto tions-firstly , that tho medical officer * appointmentt should be more permanent than they bad pro * cuaiv boon , secondly , ( hat , from time to time opport , iitto . should be taken of inoreaaing tho amount of tho w munorntion ; and , thirdly , that means should ¦ " »"""" to diminish tho area of tho diHtricts which they or quired to superintend . Tho first recommond . itum nw been substantially complied with , undor an ordo ib » w by his predecessor in office , and by a subaoqiw * t m iBSuocl lly himsolf . Tho other two recommendjtwn . could not bo actod upon conveniently at tho < mmo

    umo-OATHS DILL . .. th |) On tho order for tho third reading of into WJJ Marqula of Blahim-okd moved to dofor tlio third iw « gj for six months . II I * fundamental objection to tho w w « 8 lliat tin ) crown of this ronlin was « v ° w 0 * ' n ° f by th . graoo of God , ' In tho Christian ld * J » 0 oil . Tho Divine Being waa ignored by tno »• sure , whJah Old not rocoffnteo tho _ wu religion < ho did not moroly moan tho »«¦ t « J ia J , Church ) , though in tho old oath Christian ! tyw <>» inotly rooognizod . —Tho amendment w « s aeoowm /

    604 The Iiea-Per. Fno. 379. Gtww.T - ' ¦...

    604 THE IiEA-PER . fNo . 379 . gtww . T - ' ¦ ¦ —¦ — — ^ x j

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 27, 1857, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27061857/page/4/