Commons Sitting of 18 June 1841

MINUTES.
Bills. Read a third time:—Court of Chancery.
Petitions presented. By Mr. Villiers, from Districts in the neighbourhood of London, and from places in Herts, and Bucks, by Mr. Callaghan, from Cork, by Mr. Hastie, from different parts of Scotland, by Lord John Russell, from Lambeth, St. George's-in-the-East, and other places in the vicinity of the Metropolis, from Peebles, Dumfermline, Roxburgh, and other parts of Scotland, and by Colonel Evans, from the Tower Hamlets, and neighbouring places, for an Alteration of the Corn-laws.—By Mr. Bethell, from different parts of Yorkshire, by Mr. Round, from Maldon, Essex, by Sir George Clerk, from a place in Berwickshire, and by Colonel Perceval, from Cork, against any Alteration of the Corn-laws.—By Lord John Russell, from various Dissenting bodies in Stroud, and other places in Gloucestershire, for the Admission of Dissenting Ministers to Union Workhouses.—By Mr. Wakley, from James Nelson, a labouring man at Man-
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chester, for Reform of Parliament.—By Mr, Hume, from Middlesborough, in favour of the Government propositions. —By Mr. Etwall, from Baptists of Andover, against Church Rates.—By Mr. Etwall, from Ratepayers of Stockbrirtge, Hants, against the Poor-law.

SOUND DUES.
Mr. Huttseeing the right hon. Gentleman the President of the Board of Trade in his place, was anxious to learn from the right hon. Gentleman whether any progress had been made towards effecting a revision of the Sound duties, in accordance with the motion which he had submitted to the House in the month of March last.
Mr. Laboucheretrusted, the answer he was enabled to give to the question put to him by the hon. Member for Hull would be satisfactory to the House, and to the great mercantile interests affected by this question. He was enabled to state, that a protocol had been signed by his noble Friend the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and by the Danish Minister, by which he (Mr. Labouchere) hoped the foundation had been laid which would speedily lead to a satisfactory adjustment of the matter. The protocol had not yet been ratified by the King of Denmark, but he believed it was the intention of his noble Friend at the head of the Foreign Department to lay it upon the table of the House, and thus enable hon. Members to see the terms of the arrangement which had been entered into. With regard to the revision of the tariff, commissioners for that purpose would be appointed to proceed immediately with that revision, and he trusted that the whole of this important question would be settled at no distant period.

PUBLIC MONUMENTS—SIR SIDNEY SMITH.
Sir F. Burdettrose to put a question to the noble Lord with reference to a motion which the House would recollect that he had intended to bring before the House upon the erection of a monument to the late Sir Sidney Smith, but which he was prevented from submitting to the House by an assurance that it was the intention of the Government to take tip the subject, and he was willing to leave it in their hands, conceiving them be the fittest persons to conduct the necessary arrangements. He was, however, much surprised and disappointed when he found that amongst the supplies proposed by the Government no grant for such a purpose was mentioned, and, that in fact,

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no further notice was taken of the matter. He really had expected that some intimation of carrying out this object would be made by the Government, and he felt the disappointment the more because he was anxious to have said a few words respecting the gallant individual in question, with whom he had been formerly acquainted. Only the night before last he received a note from the noble Lord, stating that it was not the intention of the Government to do anything in the business during the present Session. He believed that there was a concurrent desire on the part of the public that a monument should be erected to the memory of Sir S. Smith, and some explanation of the intentions of Government was due to the House, to the Friends and relations of that gallant person, to the profession of which he was an ornament, to the country at large, and he might be permitted to add, to himself, because he felt that he was in rather an awkward predicament, not knowing what answers to give to those applicants who wished to be in-formed what had become of the project. All he knew at present was, that a promise had been made on the part of the Government, which had not been carried into effect.
Lord John Russellreplied, that he certainly undertook that a sum sufficient for the erection of a monument to Sir Sidney Smith should be provided out of the public funds, if the House of Commons would consent to such a vote; but upon taking the matter further into consideration, the cases of some other officers who had also been engaged in the service of the country, were brought before the Government; and there were two of those cases, which seemed to be of sufficient importance to induce the Government to consider whether, in those instances, as well as in the instance of Sir Sidney Smith, it would not be proper to erect monuments at the public expense. He alluded to Lords Ex-mouth and Saumarez. If the Session had proceeded in the ordinary manner, it was his intention either to have taken out of the civil contingencies, a sum sufficient for the erection of the proposed monuments, or to have obtained the amount by a separate vote in the miscellaneous estimates. The hon. Baronet was, however, aware that an interruption had occurred in the ordinary proceedings of public business; and, for that reason, Government
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had thought it better not to bring forward any supplementary estimates, but merely to take those which were necessary for carrying on the public service. Such, indeed, was the understanding of both sides of the House, and it seemed to him the better course, to reserve the application for such a sum, until Parliament met again. He could assure the hon. Baronet, that his opinions in favour of erecting a monument to Sir Sidney Smith had undergone no change, and that the delay in bringing the subject forward had entirely arisen from the peculiar circumstances of the present Session.
Sir F. Burdettunderstood the noble Lord to say, that the delay had occurred, not from any change in his opinion as to the propriety of erecting a monument to Sir Sidney Smith, but from the unlooked-for circumstances which cut short the present Session. The family of Sir Sidney Smith, and the public, might then expect to see the promise of erecting a monument fulfilled, for he understood the noble Lord to say, that he had not given up his intention of taking the matter in hand.
Mr. Humesaid, that the monuments ought to be erected in some place where the public could see them. They had thirty or forty public monuments, which had cost the country upwards of 100,000 l., but to which the public had no access. He hoped, therefore, that in future, no monuments would be placed in a situation to which the people were debarred access, and he trusted the noble Lord would give his attention to this part of the subject.
Conversation at an end.

RAILWAY TRAVELLING.
Lord R. Grosvenor, as we understood, wished to know why passengers were excluded from travelling by certain lines of railroad on which the mails were carried. For instance, persons going to Dublin were obliged to go round by Warrington to Liverpool, while the mails were sent by a shorter route. He wished to know whether the Board of Trade had not the power of remedying the evil.
Mr. Sheilthought that passengers had a right to be conveyed by the shortest route; but he would make enquiry on the subject, and answer the noble Lord on Monday.
The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid,

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the point had been raised in regard to other parts of the country, besides that alluded to by the noble Lord, and he apprehended that, though by law the Government had power to compel railway proprietors to forward the mails, they had no power to oblige them to carry passengers.
The House then adjourned.