Colonel SIBTHORP put a question as to the intentions
of the government with regard to a further extension of
the principles contained in the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill?
Lord J. RUSSELL replied that the government had no
intention of disturbing the bill as it stood. In reply to
Sir F. Thesiger, his lordship stated that the government
did not intend to introduce any measure on the subject
of grand juries.

Lord PALMERSTON, in answer to Sir James Duke,
said that the question of Betting-houses was a very
difficult one, and he had not, as yet, been able to devise
any method of dealing with it.

Lord J. RUSSELL, in reply to Mr. Bright, said that a
commission had been appointed to take into consideration
a considerable portion of the subject of the Ecclesiastical
Courts; and the government considered it advisable to
await the result of that inquiry before introducing any
measure upon the subject.

On Friday the 11th, Mr. HILDYARD put a question
respecting the recent Mortality on board of certain
Emigrant Ships chartered by the Emigration
Commissioners; he said that on board one of those vessels,
which had made the unusually rapid voyage of 64 days,
no fewer than 104 persons perished, and the rest of the
passengers arrived at Melbourne in a state of great
prostration and sickness. His question had reference
more particularly to inquiry with respect to the number
of passengers, and to the means of ventilating the lower-
deck berths.—Mr. PEEL replied, that about 100 deaths
were known to have taken place on board one vessel,
and on its arrival at the harbour of Melbourne no fewer
than 300 persons were sick from fever of one kind or
other. There was no doubt that great mortality had
occurred on board those vessels. They carried an
unusually large number of emigrants, having two decks.
It had not been the practice of the Emigration
Commissioners to put people on board any vessels except those
which had a single deck; but the state of matters
rendered it necessary to employ vessels with two decks.
No other vessels were tendered on that occasion. He
found that of 179 deaths on board three vessels, no fewer
than 163 were deaths of children; and there was an
unusually large number of children passengers in proportion
to adults. A relaxation in the rules had been made,
in compliance with the urgent recommendations of
parties connected with the colonies. Immediately,
however, on intelligence being received by the Emigration
Commissioners of so deplorable a loss, they issued
instructions that no vessels with more than a single deck
should be engaged by their agents, and refused to take
families as emigrants having more than two children
under seven, or three under ten years of age. These
precautions would, he believed, prevent the recurrence
of similar results. There would be no objection to laying
on the table of the house the reports received on the
subject.

Lord D. STUART called the attention of the Secretary
for the Home Department to the State of the Graveyards
in this Metropolis, which he believed to be most disgraceful
and injurious to the public health. There was one case in
particular, that of the churchyard of St. Clement Danes,
in the Strand. Great complaints had been made of that
churchyard, and persons had been struck with most
serious disease in consequence of passing it. One
gentleman with whom he was acquainted happened to
pass when a funeral was performing, and was struck
with a most virulent disease, which assumed an appearance
very much like the plague. There was swelling
under the arms; and the gentleman to whom he referred
was for a time in a state of dangerous illness. On the
authority of medical men of eminence, he (Lord D.
Stuart) could say that they considered it dangerous to
pass, and that many had lost their lives from passing
when funerals were performing. He had been assured
by many men that they had seen absolutely putrid flesh
and blood thrown up by the gravedigger.—Lord
PALMERSTON said:—The particular case to which my
noble friend has alluded was brought under my notice a
few days ago by a deputation from the parish to which
this graveyard belongs. The result was, that a meeting
of the vestry was held, and that application was made
to me for an order in Council to shut up that graveyard.
That order in Council will, as soon as possible, be passed.
With respect to the question in general, I can only
repeat what my noble friend has stated, that the
graveyards of the metropolis are in a state which is disgraceful,
and I trust that the various parishes with whom it rests
in the first place to correct so terrible an evil will not be
deterred by considerations of expense from doing what
they can to remove from the metropolis, sources of
pestilence, which, if the will of Providence should be
that the cholera, which is raging in some parts of the
continent, should visit this island and come to this
metropolis, will be attended with the most dangerous
consequences. I can assure my noble friend that my
attention will be anxiously directed to the subject which
he has brought before the house.

Mr. ADDERLY put several questions respecting the
affairs of the Cape of Good Hope; and Mr. F. PEEL
said in reply, that the constitution ordinance for the
Cape of Good Hope would be shortly sent out to the
colony; that there was no intention to establish a
convict settlement in any part of South Africa; that General
Cathcart had advanced with a body of troops into the
Orange River territory, but there was no expectation
that this would lead to any hostile collision with the
natives; and that it was not intended to establish a
British colony in the sovereignty of the Orange River.

On Monday, February 14, Mr. DISRAELI having
asked whether a paragraph in a recent Speech of Sir C.
Wood at Halifax, animadverting on the conduct and
motives of the Emperor of the French, was correctly
reported. Lord J. RUSSELL, on behalf of Sir C. Wood
(who was unable to attend), observed that the speech
had no reference to the subject of our foreign relations;
but, in arguing the question of universal suffrage and
Parliamentary reform, he had referred to what he
thought an appropriate illustration; and Lord John read
a letter from Sir Charles, in which he declared that he
had expressed no opinion upon the conduct of the
Emperor of the French, and that nothing could be
further from his intention than to use any words which
could be offensive to the emperor.

Mr. COBDEN having enquired whether the British
government had had any communication with that of
France on the subject of the Increased Naval Preparations
alleged to be going on in that country. Lord J.
Russell replied, that although it was true that the
French government had thought it right to increase
and improve their naval means, that increase and
improvement were not such as to require the government
of this country either to remonstrate with or question
that of France, with whom our relations were of the
most friendly nature.

The house went into committee upon Metropolitan
Improvements, when a resolution was agreed to whereon
to found a bill, the object of which was shortly
explained by the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—
namely, to discharge certain payments out of the
consolidated fund in exoneration of the land revenue.

The LORD ADVOCATE, in moving for leave to bring in
a bill to Facilitate Procedure in the Sheriffs' Courts in
Scotland, described the nature and jurisdiction of those
courts, the abuses in which, he observed, consisted in
their delays and expenses, which were traceable to three
causes—first, that the pleas were in writing; secondly,
that the depositions were likewise not oral, but written;
and, thirdly, the facility of appeals from the sheriff-
substitute to the sheriff-principal. He explained the
remedies provided in the bill, which proposed, not to
abolish, but to reform these useful local jurisdictions.
Mr. HUME thought the people of Scotland would not be
satisfied with this half-measure, and recommended the
government to reconsider the subject, and to abolish
altogether the office of sheriff-principal.—Mr. C. BRUCE,
on the other hand, highly approved the bill.—After a
few words from Mr. CRAUFURD and Mr. DUNCAN,
leave was given to bring in the bill.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL obtained leave to bring in
a bill for further regulating the office of Examiner of
the Court of Chancery, the object of which was to rectify
certain omissions, inaccuracies, and ambiguities in the
act of last session.

On Tuesday, February 15, Mr. HUME asked what
were the intentions of the government on the subject
of the Income Tax? Lord J. RUSSELL said he was glad