Lord Palmerston repeated his inquiry, whether the hon. member's allusion was meant to apply personally to him.

Mr. Hume said, he did not conceive that the noble lord was entitled to any courtesy from him; inasmuch as the noble lord had, on a former occasion, said he did not conceive himself bound to answer any question put by him, although he was ready to satisfy the House. The noble lord had no right, therefore, to expect any courtesy from him, after having on that occasion so notedly declined acting as a gentleman. [Cries of "Order, order."]

ble for all the military duties of the place, and a captain, marching in with a battalion could not command there. The major might be tried by a court martial, though he was regimentally on half-pay. The case, therefore, was perfectly clear. He was desirous that colonel Bradley, as an old and a brother officer, should be treated with forbearance. To such treatment he was entitled, by his services and by his misfortunes. But his case was not such as to call forth any expression of the opinion of that House. It would be the height of danger to allow military officers, in distant colonies, to take the authority from their superior officers, from whatever well-intentioned mistake such conduct might proceed. He meant nothing harsh to colonel Bradley personally; but he could not refrain from saying, that when colonel Arthur desired him to attend at the government house, and meet the other officers there, in order that colonel Arthur might then state the whole grounds on which he had assumed, and would maintain, the military command at Honduras; and when colonel Bradley, instead of acceding to this reasonable request, issued contrary orders to the officers, calling upon them to meet him at his quarters at the very time appointed by colonel Arthur for the meeting at the government house, it was impossible to imagine any line of conduct of a more dangerous ten-ments, or the particular inference drawn dency. Colonel Arthur had shewn a sincere wish to make colonel Bradley acquainted with the grounds on which he exercised his command. Colonel Bradley, however, not only refused to listen to colonel Arthur's statement, but issued contrary orders, calculated to lead to the most mischievous results. He therefore approved of the proceedings which had taken place. The only thing he regretted was the misfortunes of the individual.

Mr. Hume made some observations which were not distinctly audible, and was interrupted by

Lord Palmerston, who wished to inquire whether the hon. member, in stating, that assertions had been made in that House which were not founded in fact, meant the observation to apply personally to him. Mr. Hume said, that what he meant to convey was, that assertions having been made in that House which were not founded in fact, he had rather rely on authenticated documents than on any such assertions,

The Speaker said, it was the duty of the person who occupied the situation in which the House had done him the honour to place him, to take care that whatever irregularity hon. members might be betrayed into in the warmth of debate, should be rectified, and that any expressions which might be disrespectful to the House, and painful to 'the feelings of individual members, should be explained and retracted. He had understood the hon. member to say, that all he intended to convey by his observation was, that authenticated instruments laid before the House were better evidence than any assertion that could be made in that House, inasmuch as those assertions might be founded upon the particular construction put upon these docu

from them by the persons who made the assertion. If such were the meaning of the hon. gentleman, no imputation was cast upon any individual in that House; and all that could be inferred from the hon. member's observation was, that different persons might form different judgments of the same document. Such an explanation must, he was sure, be satisfactory to the noble lord, although it was evident that the noble lord did not, in the first instance, put the same construction upon the hon. member's meaning as he (the Speaker) had done. With respect to the last observation of the hon. member, he was quite sure that the hon. member must himself feel that it was highly disorderly; and he was satisfied that the hon. member could not have deliberately intended to make it.

Mr. Hume said, he had been a long time in the House, and had endeavoured never to use language which might be unbecoming in him, or irregular as to the forms of the House, It had often been

chancery, disputing the title to landed property, had been filed, within a period of sixty years, and afterwards dropped, it nevertheless operated as a bar to the transfer of such property. The learned gentleman would do a real service, by remedying the law in these respects. He felt the more fortified in this opinion, seeing that it was supported by that illustrious man (for so he would call him), Mr. Charles Butler, a gentleman not only versed in law, but in every human science; the ornament not only of his profession, but of literature.

sixty years. The House was called upon, therefore, to make the law, in some degree, consistent; and for that purpose he should propose to limit the period within which the legal title to land might be disputed to thirty years. He proposed, also, to correct a gross abuse which resulted from the present state of the law. As the law now stood, a person having no title whatever, might for the mere purpose of vexation, bring a writ of right against the person known to have the title. He might put him to great expense to prove his title, and after all he was not even compelled to pay costs to the person Mr. D. W. Harvey, after some observawhom he had wantonly injured and tions upon the practice of conveyances, harassed. This abuse he proposed to and the facility with which they entertained remedy. There was another injustice any objections to a title when they might which it was his intention to remedy. be made to form grounds of proceedings At present, the party bringing the writ in a court of equity, expressed his surprise of right was not bound to make out his and regret that the learned gentleman had claim; but the tenant in possession was not moved for the appointment of a comcompelled to make out his title to pro-mittee to investigate the state of the laws perty, of which he might have been in with respect to real property, rather than, possession for fifty years. He proposed by proposing a partial and unequal remedy, to make possession prima facie evidence of the right, and to throw upon the party disputing the right, the onus of proving a better title to the land. He proposed also, to alter the law respecting the manner of taking conveyances, to bar the dower of married women on purchases made by their husbands, by a mode less circuitous and expensive than that which was at present adopted, and by merely inserting in the conveyance words to the effect, that the purchaser should be seized of his estate in freehold, discharged of the dower, or claim of dower, of his wife. The hon. and learned member concluded by moving for leave to bring in a bill, "for the limitation of a Writ of Right, and to amend the Law with respect to Dower."

to disappoint the expectations formed by the public upon any thing which might emanate from a man of the learned gentleman's character and legal reputation. If, however, the learned gentleman did not move for that committee, he would himself, at an early period, propose that the whole of the laws relating to real property be subjected to the revision of a committee of the House.

Mr. Hume expressed his conviction of the necessity of such a committee, and condemned any measure which did not put some bar to the claims of the clergy for tithes. Some of these claims were carried back four hundred and fifty years; and unless a general system of reform was introduced, they would patch without relieving those difficulties which deteriorated the value of land to the extent of four or five years' purchase. The learned gentleman's bill seemed, indeed, to be but a patch, and he agreed with the hon. member, that it would disappoint the hopes of the public.

Mr. Lockhart thought the landed interest were much indebted to the learned member, for the measure which he proposed to introduce. He could have wished that the learned member had proposed some remedy for the evil arising from outstanding terms, which created great difficulty in the perfecting of titles. At present, persons were frequently obliged to consume years in finding out the next of kin, in order to take out letters of limited administration, at a most enormous expense.perty; but he thought they ought not to There was another evil which called for a remedy. A bill in chancery was held to be notice to all the world; and if a bill in

Mr. Shadwell, in reply, declared himself willing to lend the benefit of any little experience which he might possess, to any measure which the House might adopt towards a reformation of the law of real pro

reject the remedy of one grievance, because they could not obtain their wishes with regard to all. Men differed with respect

to what was a grievance, as well as upon the remedies to be applied to them; and he could not but think that by doing a little at a time, they might gradually acquire all, while if they were to wait until all were agreed, no man in the House was likely to live to benefit from their labours. Leave was given to bring in the bill.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Friday, February 15.

KING'S MESSAGE FOR A FURTHER PROVISION FOR THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CLARENCE.] The Chancellor of the Exchequer presented the following Message from his Majesty :

"GEORGE R.

"His Majesty being desirous of making such further provision for the support and maintenance of the duke and duchess of Clarence as may be suitable to the present situation of their royal highnesses, relies on the affection of His faithful Commons, that they will make such provision therein as the circumstances of the case may appear to require. G. R." Ordered to be referred to a committee of the whole House to morrow.

the state of the Irish poor, appointed in 1823, he, as an evidence (not being a member of that committee), had mentioned this project of trying the experiment of emigration from the south of Ireland, on a small scale, and the committee, in their report, laid on the table of the House in 1823, approved of the suggestion in these words:-"The attention of government having been lately turned to the subject of emigration, your committee have been led to examine into the particulars of the experiment about to be tried. They cannot but express their approbation of the principles on which it has been conducted, and their hope that it may lead to satisfactory results."

In 1825 another vote had been proposed, for again trying the effect of an experiment in emigration on a small scale, from the south of Ireland to Canada; and it had then been opposed, as being contrary to all sound principle. It was said, that these trifling desultory emigrations were of no use whatever, and that nothing could afford any relief to the superabundant population of Ireland, except a plan of emigration on a very extended scale. To this it was answered, that matters were not ripe for venturing upon such an extended plan of EMIGRATION FROM THE UNITED emigration. That the proposition before KINGDOM.] Mr. Wilmot Horton rose, in the House was one merely in the nature pursuance of a notice which he had given of an experiment, to enable them to form last session, to move for the renewal of the some accurate judgment how far a grand Emigration Committee. He said he was and extended emigration might be beneanxious to state in the outset, that what- ficial or practicable. At length the proever details he might now think it proper position was, though somewhat reluctantly, to enter into relative to the proceedings of agreed to, upon the understanding that a the late committee, he did so merely as the committee should be appointed to examine chairman of that committee, and not as pre- into the subject. That committee was suming to say any thing to the House of a appointed accordingly. It sat in the definite nature relative to the intentions of course of the last session of parliament, government upon the subject. Perhaps it and proceeded to collect and examine would be a convenient mode for him to colonial evidence to a great extent. Alinform the House of the circumstances though it by no means executed the full which led to the appointment of that purposes which might have been expected committee. In the year 1823, it was from a committee to which time and op. determined to try the experiment of send-portunity had been afforded to investiing a few individuals from the southern gate subjects hitherto un-examined, much parts of Ireland to the province of Upper misunderstood, and greatly misrepresented, Canada-not from any expectation that yet he hoped he was justified in saythe small emigration which then took ing, that, by common consent, the eviplace could produce any sensible effect dence obtained before the committee, upon the superabundant population of the was received by the public as evidence south of Ireland, but merely for the sake of a most valuable nature, tending to of having before them the effect of an ex-throw great light on many circumstances periment tried upon a small scale, before not understood with respect to the colothey ventured upon a plan of emigration nies, and exhibiting in a most unequiupon a large one. In the committee on vocal manner the success of the experi