bill was intended to control, by some regulations precisely of the same kind as those adopted at other critical times. After some discussion, and some remarks from Lord Cochrane respecting the imprisonment of a Mr M'Arthur of Glasgow, who had been afterward released, the bill was then read a second time, and ordered to be committed to-morrow.
SEDUCTION AND TREASON BILLS.
Mar. 3.—The Army and Navy Seduction Bills, and the bill respecting Treasonable Practices, were read a third time and passed.
PETITIONS.
Sir Francis Burdett moved that the petitions which lay on the floor, signed by nearly a million of subscribers, should be received. (There appeared to be nearly a waggon-load of petitions; they lay in a heap, and almost covered the floor of the House; it is understood there were 600 of them.) The Speaker.—Bring them up. (a laugh.) Sir Francis, on the suggestion of the Speaker, agreed to the propriety of proceeding with the petitions some other day.
PRISONERS AT GLASGOW, &C.
Mar. 4.—Lord Cochrane, seeing the Learned Lord Advocate of Scotland in his place, begged to know if the statement was true, that some of the persons imprisoned at Glasgow had been discharged, there being no foundation for any charge against them. The Lord Advocate stated, that he had received no information on the subject. Sir Francis Burdett said, he had received a letter from Glasgow, stating, that the persons apprehended, and afterwards liberated, had been taken up on the evidence of spies. Several petitions for reform were presented by Lord Cochrane, some of which were objected to, and others ordered to lie on the table. The Solicitor General moved some new clauses in the Seditious Assemblies Bill, pro forma, and the House adjourned.
COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY.
Mar. 5.—The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved a grant of 200,000 on account, for expenses of a civil nature in Great Britain, which formed no part of the ordinary charge of the civil list. Agreed to.
Lord Palmerston moved for £500,000 as a further sum for the expense of the land service, with the exception of the troops in France, and in the territories of the East India Company. Agreed to.
SCARCITY OF FOOD IN IRELAND.
Mar. 5—Mr Maurice Fitzgerald moved for an investigation into the amount and state of human food in Ireland, with a view to determine whether it might be expedient to stop the distillation of grain in Ireland. Mr Peel thought he should be able to satisfy the Hon. Gentleman and the House, that a prohibition of distillation would not lead to the result which he anticipated from it. The question was not merely whether they would prohibit the distillation in Ireland; the trade with Ireland was free, and, consequently, such a prohibition would give to the English distiller a preference in the Irish market. It should be considered, that one of the evils attending the stoppage of the regular distillation would be the stimulus thus given to illegal distillation, which would probably cause, on the whole, an increase in the consumption of corn; and, as it would at least be a month before the stoppage could be affected, he was persuaded that the proposed measure would not save one barrel of corn, but be productive of mischief rather than good. He should add, that the Irish Government had taken all practicable means in its power to obviate the dangers of scarcity, especially by taking upon themselves the responsibility of admitting American flour, which the letter of the law did not permit. At the suggestion of Sir J. Newfort the motion was withdrawn.
NEW COINAGE.
Mar. 5.—Mr Brougham moved for copies of some correspondence, which had passed between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and certain Magistrates in the country, respecting the new coin, and expressed in strong terms his indignation on discovering the letters W. V. P. on the reverse of the new coin of the realm; adding, that Cardinal Wolsey having impressed upon the king's coin a cardinal's hat, this was made one of the articles of impeachment against him. Mr W. W. Pole declared, that if there had been any such correspondence as that alluded to by the Hon. and learned Gentleman, he had never heard of it. With regard to the letters W. W. P. the learned Gentleman ought to know that he was authorised, by indentures, to put what private marks he pleased on every piece of the new currency. The question was put and negatived.
EQUALIZATION OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
Mar. 7—The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in reply to a question of Sir George Clerk, respecting the general equalization of weights and measures, assured him that a measure was in progress for the purpose to which he alluded. A commission had been issued, and the whole was, for the present, under the superintendence of the Royal Society.
POOR RATES.
Mr Calcraft presented two petitions from two parishes in Devonshire, in one of which the Poor Rates amounted to 18 or 19s. and in the other to one guinea in the pound to the landholders;—that in one parish, containing 575 inhabitants, no less than 497 were receiving parochial relief, and to this he begged to call the attention of Lord Castlereagh. His Lordship said, he was convinced a great part of the rate would be found to be wages paid in the shape of poor rates; a system which ought to be discour-
