After some discussion, Mr. WILLIAMS withdrew his
opposition, and the vote was agreed to.

On the vote for Theological Professorships at the
College of Belfast , Mr. MIALL moved an amendment,
negativing the vote.—On a division, the amendment
was lost by 130 to 21.—Some other votes were agreed
to, and the committee reported progress.

On the motion for going into committee on the
Hackney Carriages Bill, Sir R. H. INGLIS referred to
the vast interests involved in the measure, as a reason
why it should not be adopted without due consideration;
and he made special objections to the bill—that it was
opposed to the competitive principle, by providing
for special rates of fares, &c., and dangerous if not
destructive to the liberty of the subject, owing to the
large number of undefined offences which it created,
and the arbitrary power vested in the magistrate, against
which he claimed at any rate the right of appeal. He
moved that the bill be referred to a select committee.—
Lord D. STUART seconded the amendment.—Mr.
FlTZROY considered that a case had not been made out
for referring the bill to a select committee, the effect of
which would be to put an end to every chance of its
passing this session. He admitted that the amount of
property involved was immense; but, on the other
hand, the interests of passengers, numbering not less than
300,000,000 annually, were concerned, and he thought a
committee of the whole house was quite able to deal
with the provisions of the bill.—Mr. Bright considered
that the present state of the cabs was caused by the
want of a proper municipal government in London,
which should provide for the comforts of the cabmen.
Understanding, however, that Mr. Fitzroy was willing
to accept amendments, he gave him his support.—Mr.
B. CARTER was in favour of the amendment.—Mr.
LOCKE was of a similar opinion, believing that the
interests concerned in the measure had a right to be
heard.—On a division the original motion was agreed to
by 107 to 23.—The house then went into committee pro
formâ.

On Friday, May 20, the house, in committee of
supply, proceeded with the Miscellaneous Estimates.

On the vote of £4350 being proposed to defray the
expenses of Establishments at the Falkland Islands,
Sir J. SHELLEY moved an amendment, reducing the
amount by £400, the salary of the chaplains.—After a
discussion, in which Mr. Williams, Mr. Bright, Mr.
Miall, Mr. Lucas, Mr. F. Peel, and Mr. Atherton took
part, the house divided, and rejected the amendment
by 86 to 33.

On the vote of £38,491 being proposed for the support
of Nonconformist Ministers in Ireland (the fund
known as the regium donum), Sir J. SHELLEY opposed
the grant, objecting to payments from the public
revenue for religious purposes.—Mr. BRIGHT and Sir
W. CLAY took similar grounds, whilst Lord C.
HAMILTON defended the grant as a mere act of justice
to the presbyterian clergy of Ireland.—Sir J. YOUNG
believed that the advocates of what was called the
voluntary principle for ecclesiastical purposes formed
but a small minority of the people of England, and was
convinced that, if it were adopted as the rule of public
policy, but a few years would elapse ere the religious
convictions of the people would lose all force and
efficacy. He denied that the grant produced any
demoralising eflect on its recipients, and trusted that
the house would not withdraw it.—Mr. COBDEN felt
enforced, by a regard to political justice, as well as to
the course in which recent decisions of the house seemed
to be tending, to cooperate with those who were opposed
on principle to all state endowments for religious
purposes, leaving all religions to support themselves.—
Lord J. RUSSELL should do his best to resist any
approach to the voluntary system. With reference to
the rejection of the estimate tor repairs of the Maynooth
College building, though he should not propose any
further grant, it would be the duty of the government
to consider how those buildings might be kept in good
repair, the policy of this country, as settled by the act
of 1845, being to maintain that institution. If the
house wished to support church establishments, they
ought to act with justice towards all religious parties.—
After some further discussion, in which Mr. Spooner,
Mr Cairns, Mr. Archibald Hastie, Mr. Maguire, Mr.
Maurice O'Connell, Mr. Newdegate, and Mr. M'Mahon
took part, a division ensued, and the amendment was
lost by 181 to 46.

On Monday, May 21, Lord SEYMOUR brought up the
report of the select committee appointed to inquire into
the Exercise of the Admiralty Patronage in Giving
Appointments in the Dockyards.

Colonel DUNNE moved a resolution that, before
additional taxation be extended to Ireland, a select
committee be appointed to consider the Fiscal and Political
Relations and Relative Taxation of Great Britain and
Ireland, and to report whether the latter does not bear
her fair share of imperial taxation. Among the reasons,
or allegations, which he put forward in support of the
motion, the most stringent were, that the real condition
of Ireland was little known in this country; that with
reference to the treaty of Union she was already taxed
beyond her due proportion; and that the remission of
the consolidated annuities was no equivalent for the
income–tax.—The motion was seconded by Mr. FRENCH.
—The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER observed, that
the motion was an extremely unfortunate one, in respect
to the form in which it was made and the time when it
was brought forward; it interposed, at this late stage,
an absolute bar to the progress of a bill for providing
what was necessary for the service of the year, involving
£5,500,000 of taxation for England and Scotland. He
had not, however, he said, the slightest disposition to
evade the merits of the question, and he accordingly
proceeded to show, from official documents, that a
committee was not wanted to discover that Ireland had not
paid more than her share of taxation, and that the
articles of the Union had been carried strictly into
execution. In discussing the alleged injustice and
cruelty of imposing an income–tax upon Ireland, he
exposed the unfairness of eliminating from the calculation
the consolidated annuities, the remission of which, in
some parts of Ireland especially, was a very sensible
relief, the burden having been hitherto cast upon classes
ill able to bear it, whereas it would be henceforward
shifted to the possessors of property who could sustain
it.—Sir J. PAKINGTON, as an English member, was
prepared to vote for any form of proceeding which Irish
members thought fit to adopt in order to declare their
opinion that the budget bore, as he believed it did,
hardly and unfairly upon Ireland. The consolidated
annuities, he contended, should not he put in the same
category with taxes; they were a debt incurred under
very peculiar circumstances, and, after the report of the
Lords' committee, they were virtually gone; moreover,
the remission of £240,000 a–year was no equivalent for
an income–tax, an addition to the spirit–duty, and a
succession–tax.

After observations by Lord C. Hamilton, Mr. Scully,
Mr. Maguire, Mr. Ball, and Mr. O'Connell, the motion
was negatived by 194 against 61. The house then went
into committee on the Income–tax Bill. On the first
clause, Mr. FREWEN moved to limit the duration of the
tax to two years, which was opposed by the CHANCELLOR
of the EXCHEQUER, on the ground that the Iimitation
would defeat the financial objects of the government;
and the motion was negatived upon a division.—In the
second clause, Mr. WALPOLE moved to insert the word
"net" before "value," but this motion was likewise
negatived upon a division.

PROGRESS OF BUSINESS.

House of Lords.—April 28th.—Clergy Reserves Bill read a
third time and passed.—Registration of Assurances Bill
reported.

29th.—Jewish Disabilities Bill thrown out on second reading
by 164 to 115.

May 2nd.—Lunacy Bills committed.—South Sea Annuities
Commutation Bill committed.—Cambridge Election
Commission of Inquiry agreed to.

3rd.—Charitable trusts Bill read a second time.—Lunacy
Bills reported.—South Sea Annuities Bill passed.

6th.—Registration of Assurances Bill read a third time and
passed.—Lunacy Bills read a third time.

9th.—Land Improvement (Ireland) Loan Bill committed.—
Royal Assent to South Sea and other Annuities Commutation
Bill, Law of Evidence (Scotland) Bill, Canada Clergy Reserves,
and other bills.