degree in the colonies; that the evils of these restrictions are incomparably greater in countries where, from the more frequent recurrence of pestilence, they affect life, as in our colonies in the Mediterranean, than where, from its less frequent occurrence, they, for the most part, only affect property, as in England; and that their operation in the colonies is the more calamitous from the dread habitually entertained of pestilential contagion by the inhabitants; that the dread of being aban

abandonment, when a person is seized with the disease, prove almost certainly fatal; and that many of our friends and relations in the colonies have thus become the victims of deplorable delusion; that in this point of view the delay of even a single season in putting an end to this system would, the petitioner humbly apprehends, be matter of infinite regret; since, were a pestilence of any severity in the mean time to occur in the colonies, many lives and much property might be sacrificed: the Petitioner therefore most humbly prays, that the House will be pleased to repeal the Quarantine laws, being without an object, as an absolutely demonstrated evil, as a code eminently anti-commercial, anti-social, and anti-christian; or, should doubts still remain sufficiently strong, in the opinion of the House, to justify hesitation; that the House will be pleased, before any legislative measure of a permanent cha. racter shall be adopted on the subject, to direct the public mind, being now better prepared for the discussion and for any consequent change, to a new investigation into all the obtainable facts which may bear on either side of the question, respecting the validity of the doctrines of pestilential contagion."

prevail for a long series of years in any one country, without its being conveyed to every other with which that country had intercourse, whether by sea or land; that the non-importation of the cause of plague into England by sea, and into Persia by land, at those times in which it was raging in Turkey, is therefore a most unequivocal proof that that cause is not a specific contagion; that, to reconcile these and other contradictions with which the system abounds, or rather of which it is composed, the doctrines have been in-doned, and the consequences of actual vented of susceptible persons, susceptible goods, susceptible seasons, and susceptible countries, of which the House will not fail at once to perceive the absurdity; that, with a similar view, it has been assumed that the supposed virus of pestilence possesses the faculties of self-generation, sleeping, waking, dying, resuscitating, with many other properties equally marvellous; that, in principle, Quarantine laws very much resemble our ancient laws against witchcraft, recently repealed, with this material difference in practice, that whilst they are infinitely more destructive, they have not, however, fallen into disuse; that, as the petitioner has proved at large in works which are before the public, these laws are, in times of pestilence, a powerful additional cause of sickness and mortality, as well as in other respects highly injurious to many of the best interests of communities; that they impede science, produce immorality, obstruct travelling, restrict commerce, navigation, and manufactures, occasion the failure of expeditions and the destruction of armaments, are injurious to the general consumer and the public revenue, and are capable of being, as they have sometimes been on the continent of Europe, rendered subservient to the purposes of despotism; that the detriment which has been sustained by this nation in direct charges of Quarantine, in losses by detention of ships, goods, crews, and passengers, and in consequence of restraints upon commerce and navigation generally, during the 104 years that this singular system has been in operation, must have been enormous; that at home, only, the annual direct charges of Quarantine have for the last 20 years averaged nearly 30,000., and that the losses by detention of ships and cargoes, according to the number (857) detained last year, may be computed at about 200,000 annually, independent of similar charges and losses, probably in a greater

Ordered to lie on the table.

DUTIES ON THE IMPORTATION OF IRON, COPPER, &c.] Mr. Lawley presented a Petition from the Chamber of Commerce at Birmingham, for a Reduction of the Duties on Iron, Copper, and other metals.

Mr. Littleton supported the petition.

Mr. Whitmore concurred in the prayer of the petition. The measures which ministers had taken to remove the shackles which had hitherto impeded our commerce, were fraught with wisdom, and merited the warmest approbation of the country..

Mr. Huskisson said, he should, at no

ARMY EXTRAORDINARIES-CAPE OF GOOD HOPE-LORD CHARLES SOMERSET.] The House resolved itself into a committee of Supply. On the resolution, "That 620,000l. be granted to defray the Extraordinary Expenses of the Army,"

Mr. Hume begged to know in what manner a former grant of a similar kind, in respect of the military establishment at the Mauritius, the Cape of Good Hope, &c. had been applied.

Mr. Wilmot Horton said, that the commissioners, who were pursuing their inquiries in the colonies, had taken occasion, in their report to government, to express their entire satisfaction at the manner in which the grant in question had been disposed of.

distant day, have an opportunity of stating fully to the House the views of his majesty's government with respect to the introduction of that material, which formed one of the most essential branches of our manufactures, as well as of other minerals. The views of the government would continue to be sedulously directed to the removal of those duties which were called protecting, but which were, in fact, the greatest impediments to the extension of our commerce. The hon. member for Stafford was aware last session, that it was in the contemplation of government to repeal the duties on foreign iron, at a time when the deficiency of the supply to meet the growing demand was not felt. With respect to the other metals, undoubtedly the high price at which they were supplied was a great impediment to the growth of our manufactures, and the continuance of that high price would certainly endanger our commercial prosperity, in respect to those branches of our manufactures. It was his intention, therefore, to propose, a reduction of the present duties on copper, and other metals, which were employed in our manufactures. He trusted, that on communicating with those who were interested in copper and other mines, he should find them equally dispo--(and he had seen a great many such sed to accommodate their views to the great interests of the country, with those who were connected in the iron trade.

Mr. Tremayne had no wish whatever to oppose principles of free trade. At the same time, he hoped his majesty's government would proceed with caution. A large capital had been embarked in coppermines, on the faith of a continuance of the existing system. All sudden revulsions were to be dreaded, and a great influx of foreign copper might produce the most mischievous effects.

Sir R. Vivian hoped his majesty's government would not proceed too precipitately in a measure of so much importance to the commercial interests of the country.

Mr. Grenfell said, that no views of private interest should induce him to withhold his assent from the liberal principles on which his majesty's government had lately acted. He trusted, however, that they would proceed with caution.

Mr. Maberly hoped that a measure of so much importance would be preceded by inquiry and investigation.

Ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. Hume felt the more anxious for explicit information on this head, because there was no British colony which had so much reason to complain of its governor,as the Cape of Good Hope; none in which the settlers had been more oppressively or unjustly treated; and no governor whose arbitrary and highly improper conduct was more to be reprobated than lord Charles Somerset [hear]. If the statements that had been published respecting the course adopted by that individual

statements)- were true, lord Charles Somerset ought not to be continued any longer in his government. His conduct seemed to have been not only most arbitrary to the colonists, but most hostile to the liberty of the press. It was to be hoped, therefore, that the report of the commissioners would be immediately communicated.

Mr. Wilmot Horton assured the hon. gentleman, that the commissioners were as actively engaged in the prosecution of their important inquiries, as men could be. Whenever their report should be received, there would be, on the part of the colonial department every disposition to meet the object adverted to. But, if the hon. gentleman expected that all the statements which had met the public eye respecting the individual in question, and recent transactions at the Cape, necessarily exparte as those statements must be, were to receive an answer from him, the hon. gentleman's expectations would be disappointed. That hon. member on a former night had said, that all the complaints which had been preferred by the settlers at the Cape to the Colonial-office were received with indifference and contempt

that all their applications were unattend-punishment he had received. It was at ed to. Now, this imputation he denied least the duty of the House to see that in the strongest manner; and he chal- this practice was not carried to so great lenged the hon. gentleman to adduce a an extent. single instance, in which such complaints had not been made the object of careful examination by the Colonial-office.

Mr. Hume desired to repeat his conviction, that the conduct of lord Charles Somerset had been so very reprehensible -so entirely contrary to the interests of the settlers, and the welfare of the colony at the Cape-that the colonial department ought by no means to have continued him in his government up to this time. He knew, indeed, that some of the individuals aggrieved had received a partial remuneration for the ill treatment which they had been subjected to. The editor of a journal published at the Cape had been allowed to return; but had been refused any remuneration for the losses he had suffered; and he must say that in continuing lord Charles Somerset in such a situation, the colonial department had manifested very little regard for the interests or the feelings of the colonists.

Mr. Wilmot-Horton said, that when the report should have been communicated to parliament, the colonial department would be in a condition to meet any specific charge which the hon. gentleman might bring forward.

The resolution was agreed to.

MUTINY BILL.] The House having resolved itself into a committee on this bill,

Colonel Johnstone objected to the inequality of the present principle in its application. There were regiments in which 100 lashes were more than equal to 300 lashes as given in other regiments for similar offences.

Lord Palmerston was not an advocate for corporal punishment, but was convinced that, to a certain degree, it was absolutely indispensable. Our army was recruited not by proscription, but by volunteers, which might account for the circumstance that the discipline of the French army was not so complete, and their punishment not so severe as ours. Every effort, consistent with the discipline of our forces, had been made, to decrease the amount of corporal punishment.

Mr. Hume stated, that corporal punishment was unknown in the French army, and yet their discipline was so excellent that the duke of Wellington had held it up as an example to our own troops.

General Hope stated, that the necessity of corporal punishment arose in a great measure from the practice in our army of drunkenness; but from the regulation adopted by the commander-in-chief, of paying men weekly, this source of offence would be greatly removed.

Captain Maberly suggested the introduction of the tread-mill as a substitute for corporal punishment.

Mr. Hudson Gurney thought this a fit opportunity of adverting to the practice of enlisting soldiers for life in the British army, whilst, in every other service, they were enlisted for a term of years. The arrangements of our army seemed to be harsh and unjust, in the same ratio that our civil institutions were otherwise. He thought this a grievous and crying evil; and one to which the House ought to give its immediate attention.

Mr. Sykes rose to repeat his objections to the practice of flogging, so prevalent in our militaryservice, and which was comparatively unknown in the armies of foreign nations. It had been argued, that the practice was necessary in the British service, because our army was recruited from the manufacturing districts, in which the habits of our people were immoral and irregular; but, for his part, he did not see that persons brought from those districts were Lord Milton said, he should not enter more untractable than the average of the into the details which had been adverted population. He would read a letter from to by the hon. member for Hull, or the a correspondent who stated, that he had last hon. member, but would once more met a soldier whom a guard was conduct-protest against that which appeared to ing to the hospital from his wounds in consequence of his having just received 300 lashes. He had heard the screams of another victim, who was also receiving 300 lashes, and of a third who had received a similar punishment. The writer also alluded to a soldier who had died of the

him to be the most objectionable of all; namely, the immense increase which it was this year proposed to make in our standing army. That increase had been hitherto wholly unaccounted for; the ground taken by the gallant member for Southwark not being at all satisfactory,

the amount of that army, he was bound to avow himself as culpable as any one. The present military establishment was designed, not as substitute for the ancient mode of governing the people, but solely with a view to guard the empire against accidents, with respect to its foreign possessions.

Mr. Robertson denied that any reason was to be found, either in the arguments of ministers or the state of Europe, to warrant any augmentation of the army.

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS BILL.] Mr. R. Martin moved the order of the day for the second reading of this bill.

and, as far as he could judge from our relations abroad or our situation at home, wholly uncalled for. He was unable to see any danger in any quarter which could call for such an increase. With respect to what had been said as to the enlistment of soldiers for life, the hon. member for Newport was not probably in parliament when, nineteen years ago, that measure was moved in that House. He knew the quarter from which that measure then originated, and he would venture to say, that it was from the same quarter that the present increase proceeded-not from the administration generally, or the financial part of it, but solely from the military part of it. He was almost tempted Mr. Heathcote said, he felt bound to to lament the present prosperity of the oppose the bill. He had listened to the country, when he witnessed the purposes statements of the hon. mover upon former to which that prosperity was prostituted. occasions, but he confessed he had heard He was quite sure that if the country gen- nothing which, in his view of the subject, tlemen felt the same pressure of distress called for the enactment of such a meathat they did some years ago, they would sure. The hon. mover had, on a former never consent to this military increase. evening, detailed to the House, in a most From some cause or another, there had affecting manner, the many injuries inbeen always shown a strong disposition to flicted on the bear, which had been for so increase the military force. Was it for- long a time baited at the Westminster gotten with what reluctance ministers con- pit. Now, he had been induced, by cusented to reduce the army to 60,000 men? riosity, to pay a visit to this bear, and he Since then, half that number had been declared that a finer animal of the kind, added, although no cause, either at home or a more prosperous and hopeful set of or abroad, had been referred to, to warrant cubs, he had never seen. The fact was, it. In 1819, upon frivolous pretexts, the that this bear had been continually baited army was again increased; and now ad- for six years; and they had been at last vantage was taken of the first moment of obliged to discontinue baiting him, bereturning prosperity, to carry through the cause he had grown too fat for the exerfavourite project of an increase in the mi- cise. The hon. member had also indulged litary. Surely ministers ought at least to the House with a history of the cruelgive the country a moment to breathe ties practised upon a greyhound by a after all its struggles. He did not object French surgeon; that statement, however to the chancellor of the Exchequer's sys- had since been contradicted in the public tem, because eventually the changes in journals. If such a bill as this was to the duties on wines, &c. would increase to pass, they were also bound to prevent the revenue; but his reductions of the the cruelties practised in coursing, hunttaxes were not such as would materiallying, shooting, and fishing. He would ask relieve the burthens of the people. Nor did he expect that the chancellor of the Exchequer would be able to relieve those burthens so long as these consecutive measures for the increase of the army were forced upon him.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer complained that the noble lord had made an allusion to some one as the secret author of the present propositions relative to the amount of the standing army; but he felt it incumbent upon him to say, that a more complete error had never been promulgated in that House. If any blame was to be attributed to the administration for

any hon. member-and he should like to hear the casuistry by which the question would be evaded-whether there was any more cruelty in baiting a bear with one or two dogs, than there was in hunting a stag with ten or twenty couple of hounds. If parliament put down bear-baiting, dogfighting, and such sports, and allowed stag-hunting and other rural amusements to be continued, then might it indeed be said, that they had one law for the poor and another for the rich. It was known that his majesty himself kept stag hounds, and encouraged an indulgence in that sport. Many hon. members then in his

eye also had packs of stag-hounds and might be called cruelty, in every case, why fox-hounds, and were therefore, upon the were they to interpose legislative enactprinciple of the hon. member for Galway, ments for the protection of a certain prias much liable to a charge of cruelty as vileged class of animals? Why were the the proprietor of the Westminster pit in monkey and the bear to be protected, Duck-lane. He hoped the House would while the fox, and the stag, and the hare, not interfere to the prevention of those were subject to the most unrelenting perhardy sports of the field, in which English secution? His hon. friend's bill stated: gentlemen indulged, but which, in fairness," And be it further enacted, that if any must be suppressed, in the event of the person shall, after the hon. member's bill passing into a law. He would move, as an amendment, "That it be read a second time on that day six months."