App. 716. Mr. Thomas Duncombe. Sig. 9. 15,291. The Petition of the undersigned Factory Workers of Hugh Cogan and Company, Grame-square, Glasgow,

Humbly sheweth,

That your Petitioners, in common with vast numbers of the people of Scotland, feel much aggrieved at the existence of the law of arrestment, which operates so injuriously on the operative classes of the country, by encouraging a system of credit calculated to lower the tone of morals, lead to profligacy and crime, injures the fair trader, and generally to debase society.

That your Petitioners are fully persuaded that the evidence afforded by the late commission appointed to examine into the evils resulting from the present law of arrestment is sufficient to convince honourable Members of the necessity of altogether abrogating the said law.

That, further, as the present law of arrestment is only felt and exercised in Scotland, and knowing no reason why we should not stand on an equal footing with England and Ireland in this respect, your Petitioners conceive that this grievance ought to be removed with all possible speed.

May it therefore please your honourable House to take into your serious and early consideration the well-being of Her Majesty's faithful subjects the working classes of Scotland, and grant them a release from a law so distressing, by giving the weight of your power and influence to the Bill brought before you by the honourable Member for Finsbury. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

WILLIAM GORDON.
CHARLES REDDOCK.
JAMES STEWART.
&c. &c. &c.

App. 717. Sir Robert Peel. Sig. 84. 15,358. The Petition of the undersigned Inhabitants of the city of Dublin,

Humbly sheweth,

That your Petitioners, being desirous that the youth of Ireland should be brought up with sentiments of mutual respect for one another and of common affection for the land of their birth, witness with great satisfaction the steps taken by Her Majesty's Government for conferring the benefits of a united home education on the youth of this part of the United Kingdom.

That your Petitioners, seeing that this is a free state in matters both civil and religious, regard the introduction of theology in any of its departments into the course of study in such institutions as being necessarily attended with theological differences.

That your Petitioners are persuaded that the theological differences cannot be expressed within such institutions without the danger of exciting animosities, and preventing the youth from learning the salutary lesson of respect and love for one another.

That therefore your Petitioners pray of your honourable House that you will pass the measure for academical instruction in Ireland now brought in by Her Majesty's Government with due provisions against the introduction of theology in any of its departments into the course of study, or of theological professors into any of the chairs within the proposed colleges.

Humbly sheweth,

That your Petitioners have seen with mixed feelings of satisfaction and alarm a Bill lately introduced by Her Majesty's Ministers, intituled, "A Bill to enable Her Majesty to endow new Colleges for the advancement of learning in Ireland."

That such institutions are greatly needed in Ireland, and will, if judiciously regulated, be a blessing to the people.

That we therefore hail the proposed endowment as a wise and conciliating policy.

That so much of the Bill as provides means for educating together students of different creeds, and leaves the honours and emoluments of the projected colleges open to persons of all religious denominations, tends to promote charity and to extinguish the religious feuds which have been the greatest affliction of Ireland.

That we therefore highly approve of the principle of mixed education contained in said Bill, as being calculated, with modifications which we trust will be introduced in future stages, to serve the interests of piety and peace, and to excite a healthy emulation in learning

and virtue.

That the Bill is materially defective in not providing means of religious instruction for the college students, many of whom will be removed from the care of their parents and guardians.

That means for the religious instruction of the students, and the observance of their religious duties, according to the tenets and discipline of their respective Churches, should be afforded by the appointment of deans of the Roman Catholic and Protestant creeds, and other necessary arrangements.

That we trust it will not be found impracticable, without an omission of necessary branches of knowledge from the plan of education, to guard, on the one hand, against doctrines subversive of revealed truths, and, on the other, against all tampering with the peculiar religious tenets of any class of students.

That by conferring on the Crown the appointment, dismissal, and control of the professors and other collegiate authorities, the Bill, in its present form, would deprive the new institutions of academic spirit, and the strongest inducements to literary and scientific exertion; would afford no security for the ability or independence of the professors, would give the Government for the time being means and temptation to corrupt the literary class, and make the colleges Government offices, suspected by the people, and used more for the interests of party than of education.

That the election of the first professors by a board of examiners, to be named in the Bill, and of future professors by the governing body of the colleges, and of all professors after public examination only, would, in the opinion of your Petitioners, be found a practicable and excellent way of procuring the best teachers, and preserving the freedom of the colleges and the purity of the literary class.

Colleges (Ireland) Bill (in Favour). Royal Belfast Academical Institution.

That the Bill will be defective unless immediate provision be made for enabling the students of the provincial colleges to take degrees in the Dublin University.

That the Bill contains no provision and proposes no means for the advancement of academical education in Dublin, where the want is grievously felt, by reason of the defective and exclusive constitution of Trinity College, and from the omission of many important branches of practical education from the course of that college.

That the opening of the existing scholarships and lay fellowships, and the endowment of new fellowships and scholarships in Trinity College, open to all creeds (which latter could be effected at a trifling expense), would greatly increase the number of students, and the funds of that college, and would give to all creeds of Irishmen the benefits and rights of the ancient, illustrious, and only Irish university, without injury or harshness to that corporation, or any member of it; and that it appears to your Petitioners that this may be accomplished without diverting from their objects such revenues or preferments as are devoted, according to former grants and endowments, to purposes peculiarly connected with the Established Church.

That your Petitioners consider it also indispensable so to modify the system of education and management of Trinity College as to bring that institution into harmony with the present age, and to afford a proper system of practical and industrial education.

That your Petitioners entreat for these proposals the solemn and careful consideration of your honourable House, assuring your honourable House that they are made from an anxious desire to aid the efforts of the Legislature for the advancement of learning and good-will in Ireland.

Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray your honourable House, before allowing the said Bill to pass, to introduce into it amendments in accordance with the views hereinbefore suggested, and, should said amendments be made, then that your honourable House will be pleased to pass the said Bill.

And your Petitioners will pray.

JOHN L. ARABIN, Lord Mayor of Dublin.
JOHN ARABIN, Secretary.
FREDK. W. McBLAIN, Sch. T.C.D.
&c. &c.

&c.

proposed plan can be carried into effective Colleges (Ireland) Bill (in operation, and that from the peculiar circum- Favour). stances of this country it is the only plan that can be successfully applied.

Your Petitioners therefore pray that this Bill for promoting a literary and scientific education, without requiring any theological test from the professors or other officers to be appointed, and without any interference with the religious opinions of those who are to be educated in these colleges, may be speedily passed into a law and carried into effect.

And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

WM. CAIRNS, LL.D.
W. BRUCE, A.B., T.C.D.
JOHN FERRIE.

&c. &c. &c.

That your Petitioners have long witnessed with regret the baneful effects upon the social condition of the people produced by the embittered religious and political differences existing in Ireland. That, whilst in a country enjoying the blessing of civil and religious liberty, differences of opinion upon these important topics must be expected to exist in the opinion of your Petitioners, one of the most desirable objects to be accomplished by a wise and patriotic Government is the adoption of such means as may tend to produce harmony among a people so divided in religious and political sentiment, not by endeavouring to repress inquiry, but by affording them the means of liberal education, freed from all the exciting topics of religious controversy, and thus teaching them to cherish sentiments of mutual charity and forbearance.

That this institution was founded early in the present century, principally by the voluntary contributions of the merchants of Belfast and its vicinity, for the purpose of affording to all classes of the community the means of procuring a sound secular education without regard to religious differences; and it is with no ordinary degree of satisfaction that your Petitioners, who have been ever anxious to preserve intact the great principle of this seminary, have seen the government of the country recognize that principle as the true basis for the education of a mixed community, first in the establishment of the national system, and again in the Bill now before your honourable House for the establishment of provincial colleges in Ireland.

That your Petitioners are convinced that, considering the state of this country, the principle of not including any theological instruction in the course of education in the proposed colleges, but leaving it to the several Churches to provide such instruction for the members of their respective communions, is the only practicable mode of attaining the end of a united education.

Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that you would at once pass into a law the Bill to enable Her Majesty to endow new colleges for the advancement of learning in Ireland, a measure which as your Petitioners believe is calculated to produce the happiest results in this country,

Academical Institution.

And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c. &c.

Signed by order of the Joint Board of
Managers and Visitors of the Royal Bel-
fast Academical Institution, this seven-
teenth day of June, one thousand eight
hundred and forty-five,

W. J. C. ALLEN,
Secretary of the Institution.

App. 721. Sir Robert Peel. Sig. 19. 15,362. The Petition of the undersigned Members of Councils and Committees of various Literary and Scientific Societies in the town of Belfast,

Humbly sheweth,

That Petitioners are warmly interested in the promotion of literature and science, as conducive to the advancement and prosperity of Ireland.

That the extended cultivation of science is particularly desirable in a country whose industrial resources are so ample, and which have hitherto been so imperfectly developed.

That Petitioners, during a long experience in the management of literary and scientific institutions in this town, have found that individuals differing widely in their political and religious views have always cordially co-operated in the advancement of learning and the diffusion of useful knowledge.

That Petitioners cordially approve of the proposal of Her Majesty's Government to provide a system of general education, in which no religious tests shall be required as qualification for admission to professorship, or for the_attainment of honours or rewards by students.

Petitioners therefore pray that your honourable House will pass into a law the Bill for enabling Her Majesty to endow new colleges in Ireland, which appears to Petitioners a measure well adapted to the peculiar circumstances of this country.

And Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

HENRY GARRETT, A.B. T.C.D., President
of the Belfast Literary Society.

W. BRUCE, President of the Society for
Promoting Knowledge.

ROBERT PATTERSON, Vice-President of
the Natural History Society.
&c.

&c.

&c.

App. 722. Mr. Ross. Sig. 234. 15,363. The Petition of the undersigned Inhabitants of Belfast and its vicinity, Humbly sheweth,

That your Petitioners do not object to the Colleges (Treoriginal nomination of the professors being en- Favour land) Bill fin trusted to the Crown, but they have nevertheless heard with much satisfaction that it is in contemplation to adopt a different arrangement with respect to future appointments, and they trust that the independence of those engaged in so important a task as the instruction of the youth of Ireland will be effectually and satisfactorily protected.

Your Petitioners therefore pray your honourable House speedily to pass into a law the aforesaid Bill, with the above modification, without introducing any provision for imparting theological education within the proposed colleges.

And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

That much privation, disease, mortality, and moral degradation have been shewn by late official inquiries to prevail in the districts of towns inhabited by the working classes, from unwholesomely situated and constructed buildings, overcrowded with population, from want of air and light, of water, of sewerage and drainage, and of surface or street cleansing.

That from the same quarters disease often extends to the more favoured localities, and reaches even the highest class of the inhabitants.

That these great disadvantages in their external condition are a very great obstacle to improvement in the character of the working classes.

That the town of Edinburgh, in which your Petitioners reside, experiences to a great extent the evils above enumerated, and your Petitioners are desirous to have the benefit of legislative authority in aid of their own exertions to remove them.

That your Petitioners have formed themselves into an association in the hope of mitigating these evils, and earnestly wish the noisome and often ruinous dwellings in which too many of the working classes live may give place to well situated and constructed, well lighted and ventilated, and healthful and respectable, buildings, where the comforts of cleanliness and purity may be enjoyed, and the decencies of life observed by their inmates.

That your Petitioners feel convinced that any legislative attempt to impart a theological instruction in the proposed colleges would lead to the excitement of sectarian animosities, and prevent that union in the pursuit of general knowledge without which the present measure could be of little value.

That the present condition of this city affords a very favourable opportunity for such improvements, as many of the lofty tenements piled up in former times for the sake of protection by fortified walls have fallen into a state of ruin and are of little value, and may easily be re

That your Petitioners have seen with great satisfaction the statement by the royal Commission lately appointed to inquire into the sanatory condition of towns in England that great improvements as to the construction of houses, and the cleansing and ventilation of streets, are compatible with a reduction of existing pecuniary charges.

Edinburgh.

That, though this important truth has been established to the satisfaction of intelligent men who have made the subject their particular study, your Petitioners are well aware that it cannot be turned to account by the great body of the lower orders in this or other great towns, and that such advantages cannot be realized to them, unless their interests are protected by the Legislature against those of the proprietors of houses adapted to their pecuniary means, whose chief object must always be to supply habitations to poor persons at the lowest possible expense and trouble to themselves.

That your Petitioners feel for the sufferers in many other towns similarly conditioned, and express their hope that a general remedial sanatory measure may be passed by your honourable House, which, while it establishes such principles for the protection of the health and comfort of the working classes as experience shews to be compatible with a due regard to the pecuniary interests of the higher ranks, will create local administrative powers to work out details in all towns and places which may take the benefit of such statute.

Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that your honourable House will as soon as practicable take into your consideration the expediency of passing such sanatory measures as may tend to the improvement of the character and condition of the working classes forming the great body of the people.

And your Petitioners will ever pray,

ADAM BLACK, Lord Provost.
ANDW. WILKIE, Baillie.
WM. DICK, Dean of Guild.
&c. &c. &c.

App. 724. Mr. O'Connell. Sig. 1. 15,409. The Petition of the Loyal National Repeal Association of Ireland,

Humbly sheweth,

That your Petitioners have learned with the deepest regret that a Bill has been introduced into your honourable House, intituled, "A Bill for the amendment and better administration of the Laws relating to the Relief of the Poor in Scotland," which if passed into a law will have the effect of depriving natives of Ireland who may be obliged to resort to Scotland for employment of all right to acquire a settlement in that part of the United Kingdom, and of subjecting them to deprivations and injustice which all friends of humanity must deeply deplore.

That under the present poor law each parish in Scotland is bound to maintain such poor as have acquired a settlement by a settlement of three years.

That by the proposed Bill the right to acquire a settlement will hereafter be limited to natives of Scotland.

Your Petitioners respectfully submit to your honourable House that, instead of taking away such rights, it would be just and sound policy to facilitate their acquisition on principles which may operate in encouraging habits of frugality, sobriety, and industry.

Your Petitioners beg leave respectfully to submit to your honourable House, that an English pauper who may be removed from Scotland will have a legal right to relief in England; the Scotch pauper removed from England will have a legal right to relief in Scotland; but the unhappy Irish pauper when visited with destitution in any part of Great

Britain will, if this Bill pass into a law, be Poor Law Amendment liable to removal, and will have no legal right (Scotland) Bill He is to be removed from (for Allerto relief anywhere. the country which has had the benefit of his ation). labour, from the residence where his associations and habits are bound up, to some part of Ireland, where all these ties have ceased to exist; and where the law does not recognise any claim to relief arising from birth.

Your Petitioners respectfully submit to your honourable House that while so many offices of trust, honour, and emolument in Ireland are enjoyed by natives of England and Scotland it is manifestly unjust to take away a right so long accessible to the Irish poor, whom the want of employment at home compels to resort to the more wealthy country.

Your Petitioners lament the absence in the present Bill of the clauses which Ministers felt it their duty to introduce into the English Settlement Act for the protection of the Irish poor. The proviso in the present Bill requiring a medical certificate before removal has been conceived in a humane spirit; but, though generally beneficial, it will in many instances lead to the separation of members of the same family.

Your Petitioners have reason to complain that this Bill contains no clause giving to Irish guardians a right to appeal against an order of removal, and that it does not contain a provision for the removal of the Irish pauper to the seaport nearest to his place of residence.

Your Petitioners implore your honourable House to make some provision to protect the Irish pauper, and deeply regret to state that some of the Scotch parishes have been influenced by national and religious distinctions in the administration of their poor law, and with having exercised the grossest injustice and inhumanity to Irish paupers who were entitled under the law of settlement to the same right of relief as natives of Scotland.

Your Petitioners refer to the evidence of Mr. David Dowd, the Right Rev Bishop Gillies, and Right Rev. Bishop Murdock, before the Commissioners of Poor Law Inquiry, Scotland.

Your Petitioners therefore pray your honourable House that the privilege at present enjoyed by the Irish poor of acquiring a settlement in Scotland may be preserved as it exists at present, or at least that it may be acquired by natives of Ireland on the same terms as by natives of Scotland. That provision may be made to secure to Roman Catholic paupers the free exercise of their religion, and likewise the proper instruction of Roman Catholic children without danger of proselytism. That a power of appeal against orders of removal may be given to Irish boards of guardians. That the removal of casual poor shall be to the seaports nearest to the places of their birth, and in the covered parts of a vessel during the winter months.

And your Petitioners shall ever pray,
Signed on behalf of the Loyal National
Repeal Association,

W. J. O'NEILL DAUNT, Chairman. Sixteenth June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-five.

Timber Ships British vessels laden with timber from North Bill (Against). America from bringing any deck load during the summer months, your Petitioners deem it their duty to lose no time in pointing out the injury likely to result therefrom to British shipping, and more especially that such a measure would be fraught with the worst possible consequences to the shipping of this port, a great part of which is employed in the North America timber trade.

That in vessels belonging to this port the deck load is usually equivalent to one-ninth of the entire cargo, so that should deck loads be prohibited it would be impossible for your Petitioners to navigate their ships to advantage without an increased freight of four shillings or five shillings per load, and, were that to be added to the price of American timber in this country, your Petitioners entertain great apprehension that American timber would be excluded by Baltic timber.

That, if the Baltic trade could with respect to deck loads have been placed on the same footing with the North-American trade, the evil might not have been so great; but, in consequence of the Baltic trade being at present to a very considerable extent carried on in foreign vessels, any regulation of that trade by legisla

tive enactment on the part of this country is Timber Ships impracticable; and your Petitioners beg there- Bill (Against)fore respectfully, but most urgently, to submit that any legislative interference with the carrying trade from North-America can only have the effect of giving an impulse to the Baltic trade in favour of foreigners, to the prejudice of British interests and of British shipping.

That the above objection against the prohibition of deck loads applies with greater force to the shipping of this port than to British shipping in general, for this reason, viz., that small ships ordinarily bring more of their cargo on deck in proportion than large ships, and that the shipping of the port of Sunderland engaged in the North-American timber trade, being comprised of the smaller class of vessels, adapted to the smaller ports of the kingdom, they would be the first to be driven out of the trade.

Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that there should be no further interference on the part of the Legislature with vessels bringing deck loads from North America.

Signed on behalf and pursuant to the
resolution of a public meeting of the
society,

WM. NICHOLSON, Chairman.