sheriffs to poll and vote for said F. Pon- | and still mayor of the said town of Galsonby; and the petitioners further shew way, although it was objected, that even that of the above number of 311 persons if in every other respect they were freewho were so permitted by said she- men, that such qualification as freemen riffs to vote for said F. Ponsonby, divers was not valid within the act of parliament, persons were permitted to vote as freemen they not having qualified within six of the corporation of the town of Galway, months anterior to the teste of the writ of although such persons never were legally election; they further declared, that they admitted freemen of the said corporation, were so sworn by said D. B. Daly for the nor did there appear to be any sufficient purpose of voting for said F. Ponsonby on evidence of their having ever acted as free- said election; and the most considerable men or done any corporate act, inasmuch part of the above number declared, at the as the only evidence of their admission as time they were voting for said F. Ponfreemen was one of the corporation books, sonby, that they were ignorant of the by which it did not appear that any per- name of the other candidate, although the son legally qualified vouched or certified said V. Blake now resides, and has since their admission, nor any evidence of their his birth resided, within the county of the having qualified as freemen, or taken the town of Galway; and the petitioners furoaths prescribed by the charter of the ther shew, as further evidence of their said corporation; nor did there appear to being occasional voters, that 158 of the be any stamp or any document of their al- above number admitted, at such their time leged admission as freemen into said cor- of voting, that they had all, on one and poration as prescribed by act of parlia- the same day, been entered upon the corment; and the petitioners further shew, poration books, as they alleged, and at a that the above number of persons were time when many of them were minors, not residents in Galway at the time of for the purpose, as they alleged, of being their alleged admission to the freedom of brought forward at some future day of the said corporation, nor did they ever re-voting for the said D. B. Daly, or his noside therein; that the said number of per- minees; that the petitioners further shew, sons were composed of the principal part that divers persons who voted for the said of the tenant peasantry of the right hon. hon. F. Ponsonby declared themselves Dennis Bowes Daly, of Dalystown, in the Roman Catholics, yet did not produce any county of Galway, the uncle-in-law of the legal document or certificate of their said F. Ponsonby, and his alleged repre- having duly qualified themselves to vote sentative on the hustings at said election ; as such Roman Catholics; and the petithat they were, for the most part, totally tioners further submit, that said oaths so illiterate, and incapable of speaking the administered were irregular, as not having English language, and admitted to their been made before one of the judges of his freedom, if at all, by several hundreds at Majesty's four courts in Dublin, or at the a time; that the petitioners shew that they quarter sessions of the peace in the county were occasional voters, made for the pur- where said Roman Catholics resided, none poses of election, contrary to the law of of them having ever resided within Galparliament; that a considerable part, if way; and further, inasmuch as no renot the whole number of said persons, de- quest was made by said F. Ponsonby, the clared at the hustings, that they did not other candidate, to said sheriffs, to appoint recollect ever having exercised any cor- magistrates to administer to Roman Cathoporate act as freemen, or had ever taken lics said oaths of qualification, nor did, in the oath prescribed to freemen, but had, fact, said sheriffs ever make such appointon the morning of the day of their voting, ment; and the petitioners further shew, or the day before, and after said election that the persons entitled to their freedoms had been commenced, been sworn by the in said corporation, under the Irish act of right hon. D. B. Daly in an adjoining 4 Geo. 1, c. 15, and under the charters of room which had been kept locked, and no said corporation, when duly qualified by person admitted to enter, save the said taking the oaths thereby prescribed, were persons about to be sworn, and one or two rejected by said sheriffs as persons not of the dependants of the said D. B. Daly; qualified under the above statutes and that they declared, when about to vote, charters, although they had, long anterior that they had been sworn in the aforesaid to the teste of the said writ, applied for manner before the said D. B. Daly as free- their freedom, and offered to qualify for men, said D. B. Daly being at that time same, but were repeatedly refused the op

table uses from granting long and improvident leases. Having adverted to the acts already passed to secure the due ap

portunity of so qualifying by the right hon. D. B. Daly and those under his influence; and the petitioners shew, that they are particularly aggrieved in this in-propriation of donations for charitable purstance, because the several persons in this respect, to the number of nearly 30, declared at the hustings, that if they were admitted to vote, they would have voted for V. Blake; and the petitioners further shew, that said sheriffs, at said election, permitted to poll at said election for said F. Ponsonby, four freeholders not duly qualified to vote, one of said freeholders having agreed to sell and assign the whole of his freehold, and to give possession thereof in March next, without any reservation, two whereof having no freehold whatever, and one who had not duly registered his alleged freehold; and the petitioners further shew, that, in order that the fullest evidence of the petitioners' objections might appear on record, the petitioners, and those concerned for them, required that the objections of the petitioners to the voters who were unduly admitted, and the answers and admissions of said voters for said F. Ponsonby, might be entered and taken down by the sheriffs on the poll book, which they uniformly refused to do; that the petitioners humbly shew, that, by the several means aforesaid, the said F. Ponsonby obtained a colourable majority over the said Valentine Blake; but that the said V. Blake had a very large legal majority of votes in his favour on said poll over said F. Ponsonby; and that said sheriffs should and ought therefore to have declared the majority on said poll in favour of the said V. Blake, and to have him declared duly elected, and to have made their return accordingly; whereas the petitioners shew that they made their return that said F. Ponsonby was duly elected; and praying the House to take the petitioners' case into consideration, and to appoint a committee to try the merits and validity of said election, according to law, and grant the petitioners such relief in the premises as the House shall deem proper.

Ordered to be taken into consideration on the 11th of February next, at the same time that the Petition of Valentine Blake, esq. is ordered to be taken into consideration.

CHARITABLE ESTATES BILL.] Mr. Lockhart rose, in pursuance of his notice, to move for leave to bring in a Bill to prevent the trustees of Estates giyen for Chari

poses, he proceeded to observe, that it yet remained for the legislature to adopt some measure, the object of which would be to prevent the trustees of donations, such as he had described, from granting leases of lands or other property, for terms, which, in the common acceptation of the word, might be considered improvident. What he called improvident, were those leases which exceeded 14 years. It was not his wish to meddle with any of those leases which had hitherto been granted, nor did he mean to oppose the grant of long leases, where the interest of the estate required that such leases should be given, namely, where the estate was to be improved by building or otherwise, but to prevent any difficulty on this head, he should introduce a clause into the Bill, empowering the bishop of the diocese, in which leases were to be granted, to decide as to the length it might be expedient to grant them, and calling upon the trustees to make application to him before such leases were granted. In all estates, where rack-rents were exacted, however, he should propose, that no lease should be granted for a longer period than for 14 years, and that where such leases were to be given, the circumstance should be made public, in order that a fair competition might take place, so as to secure an adequate price for the property to be leased. These regulations he had no doubt would not only tend to the better attainment of the objects for which charitable donations were left, but to the general improvement of agriculture. The hon. and learned gentleman having concluded by moving for leave to bring in his Bill, the motion was agreed to, and the Bill ordered to be brought in accordingly.

GOLD COIN BILL.] The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved the order of the day, for the second reading of the Bill to continue an Act of the last session of parlia ment, for making more effectual provision for preventing the current Gold Coin of the realm from being paid or accepted for a greater value than the current value of such coin; for preventing any note or bill of the governor and company of the Bank of England, or of the governor and . company of the Bank of Ireland, from being received for any smaller sum than

the sum therein specified; and for stay-back the currency to its proper standard,

which took from lessors the power of distraining for rent after tender made of Bank of England notes. The only effect of the first part would be to increase hoarding, or perjury and crime, and that of the second to reduce the lessors of lands to the same state with the public annuitants. One observation made by his hon. friend, he could not concur in. If the Bank of England were unconnected with government they would be able to answer all demands on them. He certainly was astonished at the little knowledge of the subject shown by the gentlemen of the Bank, who had been examined before the Bullion Committee, but he was assured that if they had not been swayed by government, but had been left to follow their own bias, they would have acted in a manner consistent with the welfare of the country. He concluded by saying, that he should be unwilling, that the Bill should be pressed through the House at any time, but especially at the present.

come down upon him with the terrors of fine and imprisonment. Was there ever then such a violation of the right of property? And what advantage resulted from it? Was the state benefited? only so far as it enabled them to pay their creditors in depreciated currency; but in all cases of public expenditure the state suffered as much as the private individual. As for all the great public creditors, they were in the same situation-they lost 35 per cent. or one third of their property. Thus the public, the annuitant, the public creditor were losing-and who were the gainers? He knew of none, except the Bank of England. The directors of that company were told in 1797, that they might defraud their creditors; and in 1811, they were again told, that they might go on in the same system. They exported coin, and as it disappeared paper became depreciated. What check was there, then, on the discretion of the Bank? These gentlemen, when examined before the Bullion Committee, had confessed, that in regulating their issues they never looked to the price of gold, or to the course of exchange, and that so long as a bill was brought to them with a good name at its back, they would issue to any extent. This was the theory of these gen-rected before he answered any general or tlemen; what was their practice? They had divided six millions in bonusses, besides increasing their interest from seven to eleven per cent. The danger from depreciation being such on this account, besides the danger from a shock of public confidence, it became the House to take time for consideration, to reflect whether it would not be better for them to retrace their steps than to proceed. The time also at which the Bill was brought forward, was objectionable. Half the members were not present, and of those who were, a greater proportion were new than had ever been known before. As it was improper at such a time for the House to pledge itself to continue this act, and as it did not expire till the end of February, he should move that the Bill be read a second time on the 3d of February.

Mr. Brand said, he was extremely anxious to hear what the right hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer had to say on the present occasion. The hon. gentleman then objected to two parts of the Bill; first, that which in pursuance of the ridiculous resolution of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, made the bank paper equal to gold; and second, to that part,

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, he had no intention of preserving any disrespectful silence on a question of such great magnitude; but he had been desirous of hearing to what particular view of it the observations of members might be di

partial objections. He was apprehensive, otherwise, of being drawn into a prolixity which might not only be tedious, but unnecessary, after the long and reiterated discussions which this subject had undergone. He now saw, that the favourite view taken was, the practical one, and to this, therefore, he should chiefly confine himself. The question of depreciation had been entertained, he wished the House to remember, at a period considerably earlier than the appointment of the Bullion Committee. In 1807 it had been argued in the other House of Parliament by lord King, and the same arguments then urged by him, were afterwards brought forward more amply by the Bullion Committee. In the year 1811 the same noble person had thought proper to adopt a proceeding which made it appear to parliament ne cessary to pass that act which it was the object of the present Bill to renew. It was not his desire to attribute to that noble individual any unworthy motive for this conduct; on the contrary, his persuasion was, that the noble lord was only desirous of confuting him (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) and of furnishing a practical example of the correctness of his own