to the arbitrary power which the bill would give to the
magistrates.—Mr. F. MACKENZIE urged the second
reading of the bill on the ground that it was the only
means of obtaining legislation on the subject this session.
—Lord MELGUND believed it would increase the evils
which it professed to cure.—Mr. BOUVERIE thought the
very supporters of the bill had objected to its details.—
On a division, 123 voted for and 67 against the bill,
which was accordingly read a second time.

Mr. BRIGHT (for Mr. Milner Gibson) moved the second
reading of the County Rates Expenditure Bill.—Sir
John PAKINGTON opposed the bill, which, he declared,
assailed ancient institutions of the country, and if
introduced at all, ought to have been brought in on the
responsibility of government. Condemning the animus
by which, he said, the promoters of the bill were
actuated, he moved its being read a second time that
day six months.—Mr. R. PALMER said that the principle
of the bill (which had been represented as the same as
that of last year) had been entirely altered. Under the
present bill it was left to boards of guardians to decide
whether any magistrate whatever should have a voice
in the affairs of his county. He charged Mr. M. Gibson
with dealing unfairly by the house.—Mr. M. GIBSON
denied that there was any alteration in the principle of
the bill, and asserted his right to deal as he thought
proper with its details. The principle of the bill
having been twice sanctioned by the House of Commons,
he thought it was the duty of government to take it up.
—Sir G. GREY thought that, on introducing the bill,
Mr. Gibson should have explained its difference from
that of last year, and that those who had supported the
latter were not thereby bound to vote in favour of the
present measure. He was not prepared to agree to a
bill which excluded the magistrates from the direction
of the county expenditure. Pointing out other important
differences between this bill and its predecessor, he said
that he could not consent to the second reading.—
Mr. BRIGHT spoke in favour of the bill, and warmly
complained of Sir G. Grey's opposition.—Mr. DEEDES
said that Mr. M. Gibson had brought the present opposition
upon himself, by setting himself in opposition to the
select committee.—Mr. HUME regretted that, on account
of a want of tact in the mover of the bill, the ratepayers
were to be deprived of an important boon.—Mr. HENLEY
said that the measure had been brought forward as a
means of getting up a popular agitation. After some
further discussion the second reading was negatived by
130 to 63.

Mr. FRESHFIELD moved the second reading of the
County Rates Bill, explaining that his object was to
consolidate existing acts, and put an end to incongruities
in the law. To prevent inequalities, he proposed to
take the gross, instead of the nett, value of property as
the basis of the rate. After a short discussion, the
second reading was agreed to.

On Thursday the 19th, Lord NAAS, according to
notice, brought forward his Charge against Lord
Clarendon as Viceroy of Ireland. He moved a resolution
that the transactions which have recently taken
place between the Irish government and the editor of
a Dublin newspaper are of a nature to weaken the
authority of the executive, and to reflect discredit upon
the administration of public affairs. After giving a brief
outline of the cause of action tried on the 5th of December
last in the Irish Court of Queen's Bench, in which
Mr. Birch was the plaintiff and Sir William Somerville
the defendant, when it had not been denied that
Mr. Birch had been employed by the Irish government,
he proceeded to show the character of Mr. Birch and
that of his paper. He then traced the connexion betwixt
the government and the World newspaper, commencing
in 1848, as developed by the evidence at the trial. He
read various letters, commenting upon certain passages,
and laying particular stress upon a letter, which he
characterised as an extraordinary one, from Mr. Birch
to Lord J. Russell, in June last. The most painful
part of the case, Lord Naas remarked, was the appearance
of the lord-lieutenant at the trial, the first appearance
of a viceroy of Ireland in the witness-box, to give
evidence against his own chief secretary. From the
evidence of Lord Clarendon he drew the conclusion that
Mr. Birch was employed to support the measures of the
government, on the understanding that he was to
receive a certain reward, and it was admitted that these
services were paid for partly out of public money,
although his lordship stated that he afterwards repaid
that money out of his own pocket. Under these
circumstances he thought that he was justified in bringing to
the notice of the house acts which, in his opinion, called
for condemnation.—Lord J. RUSSELL began his speech
in reply by saying, "The noble lord leaving those
questions in which he has lately been engaged, has brought
a most grave question for the consideration of the house.
And let him not expect to extenuate or diminish the
gravity of that question. He says that he does not wish
to do anything vexatious, and that he does not wish to
make any remarks personal to Lord Clarendon. Now
the house must be quite aware that the attempt of the
noble lord is to blast the character and to affix disgrace
upon a man who has rendered great public services who
has not only been engaged in political life with great
honour and credit, but who has rendered great services
to that country of which the noble lord is a representative.
Let not the house at all believe that the noble
lord brings forward a question of mere speculative
reference to public morality; it must entail the
consequences that I have described; and I may ask on what
foundation does the noble lord ask the house to come to
so grave and penal a declaration? The facts with
respect to these transactions require to be again stated
after the narrative of the noble lord." Lord J. Russell
then gave an exposition of the circumstances which led
the Irish government to countenance Mr. Birch, who
tendered his services in the spring of 1848, when the
state of Ireland was one of great peril, to promote the
cause of peace and order, and these services were with
that object accepted. He taxed Lord Naas with unfairly
excluding from view the perilous position of Ireland at
that critical period, which had induced the lord-
lieutenant to encourage a public writer to support, not
his government, but the cause of the whole united kingdom.
In these difficult and dangerous times Lord
Clarendon had shown all those qualities which should
distinguish a viceroy, and now, when the danger was
past, an attempt was made to affix a stigma upon his
fame. He could not understand how a member of a
conservative opposition, who owed to the wisdom and
energy of Lord Clarendon the safety of his property,
could now arraign the men by whom those benefits had
been conferred, and ask the house to concur with him in
condemning one to whom he ought to be grateful. In
his (Lord John's) own opinion, it would have been
more discreet in Lord Clarendon if he had refused
a compromise with Mr. Birch; but a slight error
of this kind was but a feather's weight in the
scale against his great and undoubted services, and
he (Lord John) was persuaded that the house would
be of opinion that it would be consistent neither
with its own dignity nor the interests of the country
to pronounce Lord Clarendon's condemnation.—The
motion was supported by Mr. Disraeli. Mr. Moore,
Colonel Sibthorp, Mr. Newdegate, and Lord Claude
Hamilton; and opposed by Mr. Hobhouse, Mr. Roche,
Dr. Power, Col. Thompson, and Sir D. Norreys.—Lord
PALMERSTON said, that having for many years had the
advantage and honour of Lord Clarendon's friendship,
and been connected with him by official relations, he could
not give a silent negative to the motion. He was bound
to bear his testimony to his private worth and personal
honour, and to express his deep regret that he should
have been selected as the object of a personal attack.
This was not a worthy weapon of political warfare. For
such a motion the grounds should be broad, clear, and
substantial, and he appealed to all who had heard the
debate whether any such ground had been assigned.
What had Lord Naas established? It was this:—In a
moment of great public peril, when danger of the
greatest magnitude threatened that part of the empire
of which he was the responsible governor, a newspaper
editor comes to him and says, "I agree in the policy
which you are carrying on—I wish to support the cause
of the monarchy, the cause of loyalty and order, which
you are charged to maintain. I have a paper which has
but a small circulation, and I am willing, if you can
assist me in giving a greater circulation, to endeavour to