MR. T. G. BARING was not aware The Committee divided :-Ayes 18; that the House had decided that there Noes 14: Majority 4. should be no turnpike trusts in the metropolis regardless of existing interests. The roads on the north of the Thames had only been thrown on the rates when the debts

THE EARL OF DERBY repeated, that the House ought not to be called upon to pronounce an opinion upon a question so important without previous notice. The proposition, or rather the suggestion, of the noble Lord was, that the House should allow all Private Bills not disposed of by Committees of their Lordships' House to stand over until next Session, and then to be taken up from the stage in which they now were.

The noble Lord had cited cer

thought proper. That Resolution having | low the same course as that adopted under been adopted by the House of Commons similar circumstances. on the 10th June, the parties were required to give notice on the 18th June whether they wished their Bills to be suspended or not. Now the option was very different on the present occasion. On the occasion of 1847 he entered a protest against proceeding at all with the Resolution, on the ground that it was very objectionable that one Parliament should bind another. Ile thought that the principle was a bad one. And there was this objection to it, that whereas in some instances competing schemes might have been rejected, and one Bill adopted in preference to another, it was in the power of those persons who had promoted those schemes to bring in improved schemes of the same character in the next Parliament, and the parties to them might demand to have their schemes heard in connection with the others. At the same time the House was placed in a great difficulty, the public business being nearly at an end, to finish the private business as soon as it was desired, although he did not think it would take very long to dispose of the private business in the ordinary way. Under these circumstances he must leave the matter in the hands of the House for their decision. The House would sit to-morrow, and he should then move the following notice on Standing Order 179, sec. 1 :

tain instances in which he said that course had been adopted. But he (the Earl of Derby) doubted that these cases were analogous to the present position of Parliament. One of the cases was that of 1859, when it had become indispensable that a dissolution should take place in the spring of the year, owing to the then state of parties, and it was therefore desirable that some provision should be made in order to prevent the private business then before. Parliament being unnecessarily affected; but, in the present case, there was no rcason why Parliament should be dissolved or prorogued before the business was gone through in the ordinary way. It might be very convenient to the Government, and to the Members of the other House of Parlia ment, that they should not be kept a long time in suspense, and that the elections should take place without delay; but that was not a sufficient reason for the adoption of such a course as that suggested-a course that would necessarily expose the parties immediately interested in those Bills to much inconvenience. He did not know what the state of the private business was; but he had not heard any reason assigned for the adoption of so unusual a course as the prorogation of Parliament, without any THE EARL OF DERBY said, he thought apparent cause, at the end of June or the it unfortunate, when a course of so unusual beginning of July, and to call upon the para character was proposed, that some notice tics promoting those Private Bills to susshould not have been given to their Lord-pend their proceedings in respect to them ships of the intention to submit a Resolution of this kind in order that the parties immediately interested in the Bills to be affected by it might have an opportunity given them of stating their objections to such a proceeding if they thought fit to do so.

"That this day shall be considered as a sitting

day with respect to any petition praying to be heard upon the merits against any Bill mentioned in either of the two classes of Private Bills, except to any such Bill which was read a first time on Friday last."

The effect of that Order would be, that all petitions to be heard against Private Bills must be presented on Monday next.

now, and to resume them in the next Session, when a new Parliament would be assembled. With regard to the suggestion made by his noble Friend, he (the Earl of Derby) wished to know whether he was to understand by the notice which the Chairman of Committees had given that he intended that their Lordships should meet to

LORD REDESDALE answered in the affirmative.

LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY said, that he had not proposed any Reso-morrow to consider the subject. lution-he had merely made an inquiry of the Chairman of Committees as to the state of private business, and suggested THE EARL OF DERBY said, all he whether it might not be expedient to fol-wished to know from Her Majesty's Go

EARL RUSSELL thought that, according to precedent, after the Appropriation Bill had been introduced, after all the Votes in Supply had been taken, and after all public business had been disposed of, it was not usual to delay the prorogation simply for the sake of private business and appeals. Such was not the case in 1859. The public knew that the present Parlia ment had been in existence for six years, and that it was not usual to continue seven years, and therefore the general expectation was that there would be a speedy dissolution. The promoters of Private Bills were, therefore, quite aware of the chance to which they were exposed.

vernment was, whether they meant to pro- | monstrous one, and was not justified by pose to-morrow any specific course of pro- any absolute necessity. ceeding founded upon any specific grounds, and if such was their intention he was anxious to know what those grounds were? LORD CHELMSFORD said, that the noble Lord opposite stated that the public business would probably be soon disposed of, and that the public would become impatient if the House should continue sitting after that time, and he suggested a mode of disposing of the remaining private business. But he must remind their Lordships there was still some public business of much importance to be transacted in the shape of a great number of appeals that were yet to be heard. Now, it would be a great hardship to the parties concerned in those appeals if Parliament, in consideration of what it called the public business being disposed of, were to be prorogued before there was any absolute necessity for such a course. He, therefore, entered his protest, on behalf of the parties whose cases were ready to be heard, against the proposed unnecessary prorogation of the House before the proper time.

LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY said, he had merely made the suggestion to his noble Friend for the purpose of obtaining information as to the position of the private business before their Lordships' House; and he mentioned the course adopted by Parliament under similar circumstances on former occasions, and left it to their Lordships to consider what would be the most desirable means to take for meeting the difficulty in which Parliament was placed.

THE DUKE OF MONTROSE said, that the noble Lord had stated that, seeing that the private business would occupy a long time if they proceeded to dispose of it in the ordinary way, he thought it was extremely desirable to close the Session at once. He (the Duke of Montrose) could not assent to so unusual a course being adopted without some strong reason being shown for its necessity. Why, he would ask, was there this great hurry? The noble Lord opposite spoke of the natural end of the Session, but that natural end was usually the middle of August, and not the end of June. There could be no good reason for imposing upon parties who had had their Bills before the House of Commons for six weeks or two months the hardship and inconvenience of having further proceedings suspended until next year. The proposition of the Government was a

THE EARL OF MALMESBURY said, that the delay suggested was not one of weeks but of days. The case of 1859 was not applicable here, because then it was absolutely necessary to know at once what was the opinion of the country, and then very little inconvenience was produced to the promoters of Private Bills, because they knew that, as the dissolution must necessarily be followed by the meeting of the new Parliament, within forty days their business might be resumed. But now they were told by an authoritative journal, The Times, that Parliament would not meet until February; so that there would be a recess of seven months, during which time all those interested in private business and appeals would be left in a state of anxiety and suspense.

INCREASE OF THE EPISCOPATE.

PETITION.

LORD LYTTELTON, in presenting a Petition of Clergy and Laity of the Church of England for the increase of the Episcopate, said, the petition was so respectably and numerously signed by about 1,500 persons, clergy and laity in about equal proportions, that he had felt bound to give notice of his intention, in order that in presenting the Petition he might draw the attention of their Lordships to the subject of its prayer. He had not intended to say more than a few words upon the subject; but, as the most reverend Primate had requested him to delay the presentation until he and some of his right rev. Brethren could be in their places that there might be the opportunity for a full expression of opinion on the subject, he thought it would be expected that he

should do a little more. He would, district to indicate the means to be therefore, briefly advert briefly advert to the few provided, and to lay the details specievents of importance which had oc- fically before Government and Parliament. curred since last he alluded to the sub- All these addresses had suggested that one ject. One of those events was the fact great means of endowment for the new that both Houses of Convocation had con- sees should be looked for in the fund in curred in opinion that an increase of the the hands of the Ecclesiastical CommisEpiscopate was desirable, and the Upper sioners, which used to be called the Epis. House had gone so far as to specify a cer- copal Fund, but which was now merged in tain number of new sees which it was de- the general funds of that body. That was sirable should be created, and addressed certainly a reasonable suggestion in itself, the Crown to that effect. Thus the opinion but yet he did not advocate its adoption of both Houses of Convocation had been in the present state of public feeling. The in accordance with the views which he had Ecclesiastical Commissioners were now be expressed on a former occasion. Some coming for the first time in their existence time since a journal, highly distinguished a popular body, because they seemed likely for its zeal in the cause of the Church, had to be able really to deal with the spiritual said that Convocation ought to be sup-destitution of the country, by increasing pressed, because it did nothing, but confined itself to discussion, and the public cared nothing for what was said in Convocation. The first objection was natural, but not, therefore, reasonable. They first debarred Convocation from going further than discussion, and then sneered at it because it did nothing but discuss. Whether any one cared for what Convocation said was, no doubt, a question of opinion and observation. His own belief was that people did care, and much more than formerly, for the expression of the opinions of Convocation, and that it was precisely for that reason that those who desired that there should be no action by the Church of England, except as a branch of the State, were jealous of the degree of influence which Convocation had obtained. The Upper House had recommended the formation of three additional sees. One was to be the division of the see of Exeter by the severance from it of the county of Cornwall. So far, it was connected with the other main event to which he had alluded-the presentation of an address from the county of Cornwall to one of Her Majesty's Ministers, in favour of a bishop for that county being appointed. He believed that neither the address of Convocation nor the memorial from Cornwall went into the question of how the object should be attained. He did not complain of any Government for declining to undertake to bring in such a measure of its own motion. He himself had presented a petition from the diocese of Winchester in favour of a subdivision of that diocese; but he then expressed his opinion, which he still retained, that it was for those who desired to see such a measure carried into effect in their own

out of their general funds a large number of small endowments to a fair and reasonable amount; and he did not maintain that that process could now be interrupted. He certainly could not agree in the answer which had been given by the Home Secretary, or by some clerk in his Office, to these addresses, that railways and the penny post had greatly diminished whatever necessity might have existed for an increase of the Episcopate. It was a wonder he had not added telegraphs, elastic bands, and envelopes. He was ashamed to answer such an argument. Railways of course had increased the facilities of getting about for bishops as well as for everybody else; it did not take so long to get from Exeter to the Land's End as it used to do; but, at the same time, they brought more people to see and consult with the Bishops, and thus increased their work. Had any noble Lord found that the penny post had diminished the labour of correspondence? It made it easier and cheaper, but it multiplied it tenfold. Such an answer was totally unworthy of the subject. Some time ago the late Sir James Graham, in the other House of Parliament, had given a description of a bishop. He said he had to preside at certain committees and to answer certain letters, and that was all. This Grahamic model of what a dignitary of the Church of England ought to be had excited a good deal of remark. But the true theory of a bishop's duties was that he had the cure of souls of the whole of his diocese. There were Bishops who had a personal and accurate knowledge of every parish in their diocess, who had been in them all, could tell what was going on in them, and knew many of the leading