The Aberystwyth Times Cardiganshire Chronicle and Merionethshire News

FRIDAY. In the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor moved the second reading of the High Court of Justice Bill, and explained, in de- tail, the changes which the measure proposed to effect. After some discussion, the Bill was read a second time, and their Lord- ships adjourned at 7.40. In the Commons, the debate on the second reading of the Education Bill was resumed by Mr Vernon Harcourt, who strongly supported Mr Dixon's amendment. He denounced the conscience clause as an imposition and a sham, and as an illogi- cal invention to justify an indefensible system. Sir C. Adderley supported the Bill, believing that aggrieved minorities might obtain relief by an appeal to the Privy Council. Mr Mundella also supported the Bill, although there were several provisions which he wished to see amended. The debate was continued by Sir Henry Hoare, Sir S. Ibbetson, Mr Jacob Bright, Mr Howard, and Colonel Beresford. When the hon. gentleman sat down an extraordinary and almost unprecedented scene occurred, not less than half the members in the House springing instantly to their feet, in the desperate hope of catchine the Speaker's eye. The spectacle of whole rows of hon. gentlemen, who a moment before had been quiet in their seats, starting up thus simultane- ously, and shouting out the name of Mr Speaker with more or le emphasis and persistence, was a striking evidence of the illimitable capacity of the House for speaking on educational questions. After an obstinate contest, and many conflicting cries- Mr RICHARD (being loudly called for) proceeded to address the House, as the representative of the numerous body of Welsh nonconformists, all of whom viewed the measure of the Govern- ment with anxiety, apprehension, and alarm. A great many petitions against it had been presented from the Principality, and in private letters to their representatives Welshmen had ex- pressed the prayer of these petitions in language of a very energetic and incisive character, nor could any ministry, he thought, venture lightly to regard the feelings and opinions of those classes of the population whom the Bill would principally affect. The situation of Wales was peculiar. She owed it to dissent that she was not at this moment a moral and spiritual wilderness—a fact that had been candidly admitted a few years ago by the Bishop of Llandaff, who said that had it not been for the existence of the dissenting bodies, our people must have been consigned to practical heathenism, and have been living in ignorance of the name of Christ, and without hope and without God in the world." It had happened, however, that until within the last few years the nonconformists of Wales had paid less at- tention to day schools than to the erection of places of worship and the organization of Sunday schools, and that was to be ex- plained by various reasons. First, they had a great deal to do in building their own chapels, and building their own Sunday schools and other institutions, much of which was done for the Church of England out of the national endowments. Moreover, the Sunday schools in Wales had for a long time past been more, far more, perfectly organized than in England. They were at- tended, not only by children, but by a large proportion of adults, and in them the great bulk of the population had learned to read fluently and intelligently, at least, their own Welsh Bible. Many landlords had set themselves to refuse sites on which British or unsectarian schools should be erected, and though many hundreds of British schools had been erected by Dis- senters, yet there was a majority of what were called national schools. To call such a school by such a name was very much like lucus a non lueendo, for the national schools belonged to the small minority of the people, though they received three- fourths of the annual Government grant. He desired to give the promoters of these schools all credit for their exertions, though he wished these schools were less subordinated to purposes of proselytism. The children attending these schools were ex- pected to learn the church catechism, and to attend the church Sunday school. It might be said that there was the conscience clause but that did not protect the poor man. His right hon. friend (Mr Forster) had fallen into the error into which many statesmen fell; he did not allow for the depth of religious con- viction among the people. (Hear, hear.) He could only suppose that statesmen were themselves sometimes persons of rather easy religious belief. ("Oh, oh," from the Opposition.) They seemed to think that, "For forms of faith. Let none but graceless bigots fight." It had been said that this religious objection did not originate with the parents, but that it was stimulated by ministers of religion. So far as Wales was concerned this was not correct. Sbme 15 years ago Mr Bowstead, the inspector of British schools in Wales, inserted a paragraph in his report to the effect that National schools were unsuited to the Welsh, inasmuch as the great majority of them being dissenters they did not like to send their children to these schools. The Bishop of St. David's-and in mentioning his name he would refer to him with profound respect—(hear, hear)—in his next charge contradicted the state- ment of Mr Bowstead, but that gentleman reiterated the state- ment, and in confirmation of it alleged the statements of 300 persons in South Wales, comprising ministers and other persons who showed a consensus of opinion in favour of Mr Bowstead's statement. Mr Bowstead dwelt upon the fact that in Wales the feeling pervaded almost the whole mass of the common people. In fact there were some persons who, after having suffered the deduction of a certain portion of their wages for the support of a school of which they did not approve, sent their children to another school, and thus paid twice over for the education of their families. (Hear, hear.) They had been informed more than once that religious instruction in some schools was con- sidered a matter of minor moment. (Hear, hear.) He honoured his countrymen because they were not indifferent to religious education. (Cheers from both sides of the house.) Let them take the case of a nonconformist child who was obliged to learn the church catechism. Take the case of a Baptist child being called on to say he was regenerated when he had never been baptised, or that of another noconformist child, who was obliged to say that his godfather and godmother had promised certain things for him when he had never had either the one or the other. From such lips the statement would be nothing but a deliberate falsehood. There was another fact to which he must advert, though he did so with great delicacy, and that was to the marvelous development that had gone on within the last 20 or 30 years in a direction especially obnoxious to Protestant dis- senters. (Hear, hear.) In North Wales there was a normal school established for training young persons to teach national schools in North Wales. At the head of the institution was the Rev. Sidney Bouchier. This gentleman had provided a number of papers from which young persons were to be examined, and he had defended them at great length. These questions ad- verted to the administration of the Sacraments and kindred topics, and the rev. gentleman after laying down that Church principles were not conformable to the world, and that therefore the world hated them, called upon his pupils to give illustrations of that truth. They could not be surprised that the noncon- formists of Wales should object to have their children exposed to such teaching as this. (Hear, hear.) His right hon. friend said they had the protection of the conscience clause, but they must remember that there was no conscience clause for the ratepayer. The conscience clause was at best but a bungling und unsatis- factory expedient. It might do very well for a period of transi- tion. It constituted a kind of educational toleration act. But he trusted they had got beyond the state of things when any one would say to any body of his fellow-subjects, We will tolerate you in worshiping God according to your conscience." He had to acknowledge that considerable difference of opinion existed amongst his fellow-countrymen with respect to the religious ques- tion in education, but there was a large and increasing body who felt the inextricable difficulties that surrounded the question on all sides; and they had been forced to the conclusion that the only satisfactory solution was to make State-aided education purely secular. Amongst those who had come to this conclusion were people who had as large a reverence for the old English Bible as his right hon. friend (Mr Forster) or Dr Newman-or rather for the old Welsh Bible, which was a much finer Bible than the English one just as the Welsh language was a much finer language than the English. (Laughter.) He believed that if the Government would concede the amendments of his hon. friend the member for Stroud the dissenters of Wales as well as of England would be satisfied. It must be remembered, how- ever, that outside the battle of the churches there was the great mass of the working men. who in England were unhappily out- side all the churches. Their claims in the matter ought not to be forgotten. No man in that House placed a higher value upon religion than he did, but the question was not whether they should give religious instruction to their people, but what was the best way of giving it. Allusion had been made to Germany during the course of the debate. In Prussia they had a strictly religious system of education, including instruction in the Bible and the catechism, prayers, the learning of hymns and the direct services of the parish minister. Yet in spite of this system he was afraid they must admit there was no people in Europe so utterly indifferent to the doctrines and observances of religion as the Prussians. The inference he drew from that fact was the danger of forcing people to learn things in schools to which they objected. He agreed with hon. gentlemen opposite that to allow a population to grow up among them ignorant of Christian truths would be a still greater calamity if they were to have frowing up amongst them an anti-Christian population. He elievea that the best mode of imparting religious instruction to a people was not by any mechanical instrument established by the State, but under the influence of the spontaneous action of Christian faith and love; and he did not believe, supposing all the schools in the kingdom were to become secular schools, that there was any danger of religious truth being lost or ceasing to be valued as highly as it was present. (Hear, hear.) The PRIME MINISTER commenced by justifying the Govern- ment, which had been much reflected upon on account of the support given to the Bill by the members of the Opposition, and excited loud cheers, mingled with laughter, by describing Mr Fawcett as having "risen to the sublimest heights of dogma," when he "laid down the principle that whatever pleases you must displease us." He reviewed some portions of the discus- sion—reminding Sir C. Dilke, who had made a point of Mr Forster's opposition to the Permissive Liquor Bill of last year, that in that Bill there was no conscience clause "—and in order to meet the wishes of Mr Dixon and his friends, intimated that in Committee the Government would not be unwilling to re-consider the details of the provisions as to religious education. He went so far as to say, that in his opinion the separation in time of religious from secular instruction, might be more advan- tageous than the imposition of a conscience clause; and that in all cases the school authorities ought to be required to permit the use of the school buildings for the religious instruction of the minority. -Mr Hardy guarded himself and his friends against any assent to these proposals; but they proved so satisfactory to Mr Dixon that he at once asked leave to withdraw his amend- ment. This permission was refused by a few voices, and the amendment having been negatived without a division, the Bill was read a second time. Some other business was disposed of, and the House adjourned.

MONDAY. In the House of Lords some papers were ordered relating to crime in Ireland. In the House of Commons, Mr Newdegate having asked on what day it was proposed to adjourn for the Easter recess, Mr Gladstone stated that, so far as he could gather the sense of the House, the predominant desire seemed to be that the longer vacation should take place at Easter, and the shorter at Whitsuntide. He hoped, therefore, that they would be able to adjourn early in Passion Week after the Chancellor of the Exchequer had proposed his budget, and re-assemble on Easter Monday se'nnight.—Answering an enquiry of Sir J. Pakington, the right hon. gentleman added that looking at the actual state of business and the intervention of Easter, probably six weeks would elapse before he could reasonably expect to go into committee on the Education Bill.—On the order for the second reading of the Peace Preservation (Ireland) Bill, Mr G. H. Moore rose and moved as an amendment that it be read a second time that day six months. The measure, he contended, was not required, because the ordinary powers possessed by the Executive, so far from having been exhausted, had not even been tried. Mr Callan having seconded the amendment, Mr Newdegate pronounced a censure upon the general Irish policy of the Government, as tending to aggravate the difficulties which the House had to deal with, and mentioned that he was in possession of authentic private information that a large supply of arms had been furtively introduced into Ireland during the last three or four months; for what purpose anyone could judge. He did not oppose the Bill, but called it feeble and inefficacious. Mr Saunderson and Colonel Wilson Patten sup- ported the Bill. Criticising the administration of the Irish Execu- tive, the latter right hon. gentleman declared that if it had been characterized by more firmness and decision much of the evil might have been prevented which had rendered this measure necessary.—Mr Dowse denied that Colonel Patten's description of Ireland was a correct representation of the condition of the country and he predicted that the Bill would prove to be as stringent as the circumstances of the case required, and a fair, wise, and just measure.—Mr Bagwell opposed the Bill on the ground that it would not protect life and property, but prevent honest men holding their own.—Mr Synan condemned it as monstrous and unconstitutional.—Lord C. Hamilton charged the Government, and especially Mr Gladstone, with having used language respecting the state of Ireland which had contributed to the prevailing discontent and disaffection.—The debate was continued by Mr Maguire, Dr Ball, Mr Horsman, &c.-On the motion of Mr Downing the debate was adjourned.

TUESDAY. Their lordships met at five o'clock. On the motion that the House go into committee on the Coinage Bill, The Duke of RICHMOND asked how it was that silver, which was included in the Bill when it was brought into the other House, had since been omitted, and whether or not, under a memorandum signed by C. W. Freemantle, and C. Rivers Wilson, the salaryof the Master of the Mint, 21,500, was not to be added to the salary of the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, who under the Bill was to fill for the time being the post of Master of the Mint. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE stated that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had already stated in the House of Commons that no salary was to attach to the office of Master of the Mint, and with regard to the omission of silver from the Bill, the reason was that it had been found that the profit would be large if silver were not brought in the same as gold. Lord KINNAIRD moved that the Bill be referred to a select committee. His Lordship went through the greater portion of the Bill with the view of showing that some of the provisions were innovations upon established custom in connection with the coinage of the country, that the Bill had been hastily prepared, and that it ought to be considered by a committee before it was allowed to pass their lordships' House. If the committee asked for were refused, he should at a later period move for a committee to enquire into the management of the mint. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE replied to the objections urged by Lord Kinnaird, and hoped they would not, by acceding to the motion for a select committee, sanction the delay that would thereby be occasioned. Lord Kinnaird withdrew his motion, and. the Bill passed through committee. The Income Tax Assessment and Inland Revenue Amendment Bill was read a third time and passed. The Consolidated Fund (29,564,191 7s. 2d.) Bill was read a second time. The House adjourned at 6-10. The Speaker took the chair at four o'clock. In reply to Mr Watkin Williams, Mr GOSCHEN said that attention had been called to a report in the papers that the Ellesmere Board of Guardians had refused to supply maps for the use of the pauper chil- dren, on the ground that it was not necessary for them to learn geography. On enquiry he learned that the facts were these —that the schoolmaster had applied for books, slates, and maps; the books and slates were ordered, but not the maps, on the ground that the children were too few in number and too young to justify the cost. There were twelve children in the school, of whom six were above and six below ten years of age. A neighbouring Board of Guardians, however, had displayed anti-geographical opinions, and the Poor-law Board had been obliged to threaten to stop the money grants for the schoolmaster, being of opinion that when the number and age of the boys justified it the schools ought to be properly supplied. In reply to Mr James Lowther, Mi C. FORTESCUE said that the Dublin Freemen Com- mittee were not responsible to him, and he could not say why they did not meet until December—although ap- pointed in August—unless they were very eminent persons in their profession, it was difficult for them to do so earlier. He had been informed that this report, which was delayed for the printing of the evidence, would be ready directly after Easter. Sir GEO. JENKINSON asked the reason for the com- mutation of the sentences of death upon William Cun- ningham at Glasgow, Susannah Hyde at Tetsworth, and Jacob Spinas for the Finsbury murder. Mr BRUCE-I have been eighteen years in this House, and except in the case last session of the hon. baronet, I never recollect any member calling upon the Home Secretary to explain in the way of question and answer why he has thought fit to exercise the prerogative of the Crown. (Hear, hear.) Of course it is open to the House to question any discretion, and I recollect motions for this purpose in the cases of Wright, Townley, and Jessie M'Laughlan. Similar motions were made in the case of James Scott when my right hon. friend opposite was in office, and more recently with respect to my decision in the case of Michael Atkins. In all those cases notice was given, and the Minister had an opportunity of explaining and justifying the reasons upon which he had acted. However, I do not shrink from answering the question of the right hon. baronet. (Cries of "No, no.") I gather that it is the opinion of the House that I should not. (Cheers.) I am deeply grateful to the House for its confidence. (Cheers.) Sir G. JENKINSON wished to call attention to a telegram in to-day's Times from Madrid, in which it is stated that Mr Bright promises to restore Gibraltar to Spain. (Laughter.) Of course he did not believe it, but thought that it ought to be contradicted. Mr GLADSTONE-I think that I may take upon myself, without communicating with my right hon. friend, to say that it is an entire fabrication. (Cheers and laughter.) Mr BIRLEY put off his motion for a select committee to enquire into the operation of the commercial treaty with France until after Easter. Sir G. JENKINSON moved for leave to bring in a Bill to alter and amend the law relating to the present system of the revision and commutation of capital sentences. He protested against the tone of the Home Secretary in reply to his question if he had been told that it was prejudicial to the administration of justice he would not have put it, but he considered that he was only doing his duty as a member of the house, and that the public had a right to know why and wherefore these sentences had been commuted. Mr BRUCE said the Government had no objection to the introduction of the Bill, and he hoped the hon. baronet would succeed in legislating upon a subject which had hitherto baffled so many statesmen. The motion was then agreed to. The adjourned debate on the second reading of the Peace Preservation (Ireland) Bill was resumed by Mr DOWNING, who objected to the Bill, and contrasted the state of crime in Ireland with that in England con- tending that murder and other serious crimes in the latter country were in excess of similar offences in Ireland. Lord JOHN MANNERS criticised the right hon. gentle- man's speech, and pointed out that there was this differ- erence between crime in Ireland and crime in England, that whereas it was found put and punished in our own country, it remained an impenetrable mystery in Ireland, and became of so exceptional a character as to re- quire exceptional legislation. He would give the Bill his most hearty support, but at the same time he reserved to himself the right of commenting upon the action of the Government, which had rendered the intro- duction of such a Bill necessary. The noble lord censured the speeches of Mr Gladstone and other members of the church upon the Irish question, and urged that they had excited false hopes which could never be realized. He dwelt in particular upon a speech delivered during the recess at an agricultural meeting by Lord Clarendon, in which the noble lord characterized the conduct of certain Irish landlords towards their tenants as felonious. He complained that the Government had exhibited a great want of energy in the past, but he supported the present Bill because it contemplated four objects-the prevention of crime, the detection of crime, the punishment of crime, and the repression and suppression of incendiaries. Upon the last point, which involved the suppression of the sedi- tious newspapers, he thought the provisions of the Bill would not be too severe, and he sincerely trusted that the increased powers which the Bill placed in the hands of the cxecutive Government would result in the putting down of agrarian outrage and in tranquilizing the country. Mr C. FORTESCUE, at some length, replied to the objections and criticism which had been made against the Bill. He defended the conduct of the Govern- ment for not having brought it in at an earlier date on the ground that the amount of violence and crime which had latterly sprung up was far beyond that of the whole of 1869. He denied indignantly that the Government had for some time abdicated its functions in Ireland, asserting that they had done their best with the means at their disposal. He would appeal to any Irish magistrate whether the Irish executive and police authorities had been indifferent in the slightest degree, showing what steps they had taken and what the police and military were doing in the disturbed districts. He contended that they had only failed from the causes which he had explained in introducing the Bill, and ex- Eressed a strong hope that the powers which were now eing conferred upon the Irish authorities would enable them to prosecute their efforts with success. He dis- tinguished between Fenianism and agrarian crimes. Their objects were different but the results were the same, and when they assumed so readily the inefficiency of the Irish police, they must recollect that Fenianism was kept alive by agencies outside of Ireland, and that no crime was so difficult to detect as threatening letters and secret assassination, favoured if not connived at by general sympathy; so it was on this account, and this account solely, and not on account of the inefficiency of the police or the weakness, of the executive, that these additional powers were necessary to meet the difficulty with which they were surrounded, and to supplement the untiring and indefatigable efforts of the police, to which he bore a strong testimony. The charges against the Government and the Irish police were very easy to make. No one acquainted with real facts would make them. The Government had acted all along under a due sense of responsibility, and the result proved that they had acted wisely in not bringing in the Bill until it was absolutely necessary, and thus weakening not only its moral effect, but defeating the objects which they hoped to attain by their other legislation for the removal of all just or rea- sonable complaints, and establishing on a permanent basis a better state of things in Ireland. Some further discussion ensued; when the House di- vided. The numbers being, for the second reading, 425; against, 13; majority for, 413. House adjourned at 12'55.

WEDNESDAY. THB BURIALS BILL. Mr G. O. MORGAN, in moving the second reading of this Bill, expressed regret that the duty should have passed out of the hands of the hon. member for Sheffield (Mr Hadfield), whose name had so long been associated with the measure-(bear hear)—but he had, at any rate, the satisfaction of knowing that L I the hon. member's name was on the back of the Bill, and that the hon. member gave his cordial support to the measure. Should it pass into law, the result would be largely due to the earnest zeal and untiring efforts of the hon. member who had previously advocated the principles of this measure in bringing similar Bills before the house. (Hear, hear.) The church- yards of England were now closed against nonconformist ministers performing in them any kind of burial service, and according to the same law of the Church an incumbent might read the burial service of the Church over the body of any baptised parishioner, not being a felo de se or excommunicated person, without regard to the tonor of his life or the character of his religious opinions. Nothing could be more inconsistent than that a clergyman should on one day of the week be obliged to consign an heretical person to eternal perdition, and on another day to commit the same person's body to the grave in the sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection." On the other hand, in the case of an unbaptised infant, the law of the Church forbade the performance of any service at the grave; in fact, it treated the unconscious infant who died before receiving the rite of baptism, and the conscientious dissenter, with less tendernesss than it did the libertine, the drunkard, or the robber. (Hear, hear.) In France there was greater toleration, and even in Italy the legislature had lately sanctioned the per- formance of a religious service over the graves of unbaptised persons, so that in this respect Roman Catholic Italy was far more liberal than Protestant and enlightened England. (Hear, hear). Of late years, in the towns of this country, the parish churchyards had given place to local cemeteries, and in all of these cemeteries a portion of the ground was set apart for the burial of dissenters, and there of course dissenting ministers could conduct their own services, which were conducted as decorously and reverently as those of the church. But in rural parishes, where the parish churchyard was likely long to remain the sole place of interment, the pressure of the present law was felt in all its severity. The rural parishes of England unprovided with parochial cemeteries were 16,000, as compared with 600 toyn parishes that were so provided. In his own county of Denbigh there were 89 parishes, of which not more than 8 were provided with cemeteries, and that was in a county where five-sixths of the population were dissenters. Therefore, the house would understand the deep dissatisfaction felt there and in similar counties with the present law. That dissatisfaction was shown last year by the enormous number of petitions which were presented in favour of the Bill of his honourable friend. It was far from his intention to say a single word in disparagement of the beautiful burial service of the Church of England, which he could not hear without emotion; but quite independently of that consideration, there was something natural in the desire that the funeral rites should be performed over a man's remains by one who had instructed him during life. He was not aware how strong and how deep was this feeling until it was brought home to him by a painful incident which occurred in his own neighbourhood, at the funeral of the Rev. Henry Rees. The funeral procession in North Wales was swelled by thousands of people, many of whom had walked twenty, nay thirty miles, in order to testify their respect to the memory of a deceased nonconformist, and when the procession reached the churchyard where the relatives of the deceased were buried, the clergyman positively refused to allow the expression of any feeling in the shape of an address, or anything beyond the singing of a hymn of his own selection but this was refused. It was impossible to describe the painful impression created among a highly sensitive people like the Welsh. He did not think that any incident could tend so much to widen the breach between the Church and the dissenters, and to shake to the foundations a weak and tottering fabric. A contemporary newspaper, describing what took place in the centre of England six years ago, said a body was taken on a Sunday to be buried, but a clergyman, a Mr Henniker, refused to bury him on the ground that he was a dissenter. The bishop of the diocese tried to induce the clergyman to bury the corpse and a neighbouring minister of the name of Ward offered to per- form the service, but Mr Henniker refused to permit this to be done. At length the body was taken by force out of the church, and was interred with religious rites by a neighbouring clergy- man, after it had remained in the church ten days. In another instance a magistrates' court, in Norfolk, had taken cognizance of a similar case. In 1860 a charge was preferred by the vicar of Horsted against a person for indecent behaviour in a church- yard, in singing over the grave of an unbaptised child and the clergyman said he solemnly protested against what was going ,on. The bench of magistrates consulted together, and they came to the conclusion that the charge of indecency had been proved, and they sentenced the offender to a fine of Is., and 26s. costs, and in default sentenced him to three days' imprison- ment. Another case was this; A respectable woman was deli- vered of twins in Dorsetshire. One of the little ones died a few minutes after its birth; the other, after being baptised, died in a few hours. The two little ones were placed in the same coffin in order that they might be buried together. The clergyman, having ascertained that one of the children only had been bap- tised, insisted on the bodies being placed in two coffins. The service was then performed over the body of the baptised child and then, the clergyman having left the spot, the body of the unbaptised child was placed in the same grave. And this was not done under the reign of Ignatius Loyola or the shadow of the Inquisition, but in enlightened England in the nineteenth century. In June, 1861, a member of a society of Wesleyans died. He had been baptised by a Wesleyan minister, and the clergyman of the parish said such baptism was not valid, that it was his determination not to encourage it, and that he had made a vow never to bury a dissenter. At Norton, near Cam- bridge, in 1860, a clergyman refused to perform a funeral on the body of an unbaptised child, and the father was going to take it away, but the clergyman refused to permit him to do so on the ground that it having been left on his freehold it had be- come his property, a rather extraordinary application of the doc- trine that that which was fixed to the soil became the property of the freeholder. The present state of the law could not be de- fended, and in 1863 the right hon. gentleman at the head of her Majesty's Government declared such a proceeding was contrary to the prrinciples of civil and religious liberty on which recent legisla- tion had been based. The law of Ireland differed from the law of England; the Act of 1824 permitted the dissenters and the Roman Catholics to perform their own fnneral services. He proposed to assimilate the law of England to the law of Ireland on this subject. He proposed that notice should be given to the in- cumbent of an intention to bury in a churchyard without using the service of the Church of England. The incumbent was then to have power to vary the time of the funeral by twenty-four hours. Another clause preserved the vested rights and fees of the incumbent. He did not mean for a moment to assert that the Bill was a perfect one, or incapable of amendment but he could say that it was an honest attempt to settle a vexed ques- tion upon a fair and equitable basis. A complaint had been made that the measure, while it relieved dissenters of their dis- abilities, would not remove those of the clergy of the Established Church; but in reply he could only say that the immediate object of the measure was a different one, and that he should be perfectly ready to accede to any clause that might be proposed for that purpose, as well as one for relieving the clergy of the Established Church from performing the burial service over the graves of the dissenters. He hoped that the motion for the second reading of this Bill would not be made the occasion of anything like a party contest. The measure appealed to the fair play of all hon. gentlemen, whatever their religious opinions might be. He had been advised to have it referred to a select committee bnt he must confess that he had no great faith in such a body in the case of a Bill like the present one. Whatever objections might be urged against it could be considered more advantageously in a committee of the whole House, and he prayed that the measure might not be sent for slaughter up- stairs. (Hear, hear.) In regard to the plea that had been put forward on the ground of the "vested right" of the incumbent, he would say that that right was not so vested for his exclusive benefit. No man could want a whole churchyard to himself. (A laugh.) It was vested in the incumbent for the benefit of the parishioners. No doubt he had a peculiar rested right in the fees; that was carefully preserved to him by the Bill, which only took away the barren, or he might say odious, right of the in- cumbent to insist upon reading over the grave of a noncon- formist the burial service of a communion to which the deceased had not belonged. He thought that on general grounds no one could argue that a dissenter as such had not a right to be buried in his own parish yard, nor was there any reason for adopting the invidious plan of dividing off a portion of the churchyard for that purpose, and thus keeping alive heats and animosities which had better be buried for ever. He believed the time had arrived when good and earnest men of all religions were begin- ning to look to that which united rather than that which divided them, and if there were anything which ought to give rise to a nobler and more Christian spirit, it was the feelings that must pervade the minds of all who stood mourning round the open grave of a common friend. The measure was one which was not unworthy of the attention of our statesmen, because its tendency would be to soothe the severity of sorrows which God knew were hard enough to bear without being aggravated by cruel laws, to minister peace and consolation at a time when they were most grateful to the softened heart, and to make the parish churchyard that which, in their piety and humiliation, our fore- fathers loved to call it, God's acre. (Hear, hear.) The opposition to the Bill was led by Mr A. CROSS, who ob- jected that it was wider than the grievance complained of, inas- much as it would permit a man's relatives to bury him with a dissentiing service, though when alive he was a churchman, or even to bury him without a service at all. He pointed out the irritation—the risk, even, of a breach of the peace-which would occur if Roman Catholics, for instance, should insist on burying in the parish churchyard with all their peculiar rites and cere- monies, or if infidels hired notorious lecturers to deliver har- angues at a funeral. If the dissenters were admitted into the churchyards, they would demand, next, entrance into the church; and though he admitted that occasionally clergymen had exercised their rights indiscreetly, he feared that some dis- senting ministers would go into the churchyard for the simple purpose of bearding the clergyman. There were only two real grievances, as Mr Cross held—that of those dissenters who themselves objected to having the service of the Church of England read over them, and the grievance of the Baptist and the Quaker, to whom a clergyman of extreme views might refuse burial. These difficulties might be met by allowing dissenters to be buried without the church service if security were given that a religious service of some kind had been performed. Mr TIPPING opposed the Bill from the neutral position of one who was neither churchman nor dissenter, and regarded it as a mere side attack on the Church. The Bill was also opposed by Mr Beresford Hope and by Mr Collins. Both admitted there was a grievance, but the latter ob- jected that this Bill went further than the Bill of 1861, and fur- ther than the necessity of the case; and Mr Beresford Hope, who went deeply into the chnroh theory of the burial service, held that the petty heartburnings created by the Bill would out- balance its advantages. Mr Candlish and Mr M'Arthur supported the Bill, and Mr BRUCE assented to the second reading, holding it clearly established that there was an important grievance, and antici- pating from this concession to justice additional strength for the Church, and greater harmony among all Christian denomina- tions. At the same time, as there were many points essential to a final settlement which were not dealt with in the Bill, he re- commended that it should be referred to a select committee. Mr HAEDY, though not anxious to divide against the Bill, pointed out to dissenters that it was not for their interests that the question should be settled altogether in this way. Nor did he think it would conduce to peace to open the churchyards without limitation, not only to dissenting ministers, but to indi- viduals and organizations of no religious character, such as Socialists, or even Foresters and Oddfellows. If the Bill applied only to the parish churchyards in their original extent, the Bi!l must fail for simple want of room, and the additions made to them by private persons were given, he argued, solely for those who professed the national faith. For the sake of peace and true religion he advised the dissenters to provide their own burial-grounds, as they had provided their own places of worship. Mr HIBBERT, on the other hand, saw no reason why church- men and dissenters should not lie in one common ground. Mr WALTER, anticipating that all the difficulties of the question could be settled in select committee, assented to the second reading on that understanding. But he was of opinion that, if the dissenters were permitted to be buried without a Church of England service, it would be impossible to refuse them permis- sion to celebrate their own funeral service. Mr NEWDKGATK complained that the Bill treated the church as if she had no denominational rights. Sir G. GREY advised the mover of the Bill to consent to a select committee, and only on that condition would he vote for the second reading. Mr O. MORGAN, however, in reply, expressly declined to pledge himself to any such course. On a division, the second reading was carried by a majority of 111—238 to 122. Mr BBUCE then moved that the Bill he referred to a select committee, to which Mr O. Morgan and others objected strongly, but, on a division, the motion was carried by 336 to 189.

THURSDAY. In the House of Lords Earl Granville informed the Conser- vative leader that it was proposed to adjourn the House from the 8th to the 28th of April for the Easter holidays. The Earl of Carnarvon elicited from the Earl of Kimberlev the statement that the Government intended to bring in a Bill to amend the Habitual Criminals Act of last session, and taking as his text the fact that it had been so soon found necessary to amend this Act, Lord Redesdale again moralized on the evil effects of hasty legislation. The subject then dropped, and the House adjourned. In the House of Commons Mr Monsell, Under Secretary for the Colonies, assured Mr Magniac that the latest news received at the Colonial Office from New Zealand made no allusion to any fresh outbreak of hostilities with the Maories; on the con- trary, the despatches were all of a very favourable character. —The House then went into committee on the Peacs Preser- vation (Ireland) Bill.—Mr G. Moore moved to reduce the penalty provided by the 7th clause for carrying arms in proclaimed dis- tricts from two years' imprisonment to one year, and the amend- ment being opposed by ministers, a division was taken, which resulted in the defeat of the amendment by 333 to BI.-Some discussion was raised upon the 18th clause, which empowered magistrates in proclaimed districts to summon before them per- sons suspected of being able to give evidence in relation to offences committed within such districts. This, however, the Government consented to amend by providing that the parties should be summoned to appear at the nearest place where petty sessions are held.-A motion by Mr Synan to strike the clauM out of the Bi'l was negatived on a division by 161 to 16.-Another concession was made on the 26th clause by taking from the Attorney-General the power of changing the venue, and tranfer- ring it to the full Court of Queen's Bench, which will also ba allowed to sit in the vacation for the purposes of the Act.—Mr Synan objected to the 27th clause, providing that newspaperat which contained treasonable or seditious matter shall be forfeited to the Queen, that it established one law for Ireland and another. for England. He proposed therefore, to omit the words "treason- able or seditious," in order to leave the ordinary court? of law in Ireland to decide what treason and sedition meant.-After some debate the House divided, when there appeared for the amend- ment 15, against it 330.—The other clauses were then proceeded with.

PORTMADOC. SHOCKING FATALITY.—On Tuesday afternoon a fatal accident, attended with circumstances of a very shocking character, occurred near this town. A rockman named John Bennett, who was in the employ of the Cambrian Railway Company, was engaged with a number of other men, blasting in a rock cutting about a quarter of a mile from Portmadoc, between that station and Criccieth. Bennett had drilled a hole, and had charged it with? blasting powder, when he gave the warning cry "fire," and the men engaged in various parts of the work at once proceeded to a place of security. Bennett remained behind to light the fuse, and after the explosion his fellow workmen were horrified to find him lying on the ground a short distance from the blast, quite lifeless, and with his head almost severed from the body. A large portion of the skull was picked up about twenty yards distant from the body, and in other parts of the working the men found fragments of the brain and the tongue. The fuse mug have burned much quicker than he expected, and a mass of the rock must have struck him on the back of the head, causing instantaneous death. The deceased was Sk native of Dylife, and hadj been for some time in the employ of the railway company, and was known as a careful, steady workman. He has left a widow and four children. The inquest was held at Portmadoc on Wed- nesday, and resulted in a finding of "Accidentally killed.»■

TOWYN. SINGULAR (OR RATHER PLURAL) COINCIDE.I;CB.-Two, ewes, the property of J. Silvester, Esq., Sandilands, Towyn,'brought three lambs each at the same hour and minute last Saturday. FATAL ACCIDENT.-An accident of a very melancholy character occurred at a farm called Tynllwyn, about two miles from Towyn, to a young lad of fourteen years of ago of the name of Robert Jones, son of the late Morris Jones, Cil-y-park, near Towyn. He was on Tuesday week pulp" ing swedes with water-power, when he had occasion too cross the yard, and the spindle that connected the water- wheel with the machine caught his clothes and turned him round with such violence as to cause his death. He was found dead in about an hour afterwards by his master, who had then returned from Towyn. An inquest was held on Friday before G. Jones Williams, Esq., of Dol- gelley, coroner for the district, when a verdict of Acci- dental death" was returned by twelve respectable jurymen. of the neighbourhood. <

DOLGELLEY. CAERYNWCH CHRISTENING.—On the 21st instant the' second son of Mr Richards, of Caerynwch, was christened at the church of St. Mary, Dolgelley, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Evan Lewis, rector. The child was named Henry Meredyth; the sponsors on the occasion. were Mrs T. Watldn Richards, Mr Wynne, of Peniarth, and Mr Hugh J. E. Nanney, of Hengwrt-uchaf. Several intimate friends afterwards assembled at luncheon, at Caerynwch, in honour of the event. THE PARISH CHURCH.—A statement, showing the re- ceipts at the offertories at the English services, and how expended, from January 1st, 1866, until the close of 1869, has been issued by the churchwardens, Mr H. J. Reveley and Mr Griffith Williams. From the statement it appears that the sums so received have, since 1866, increased nearly threefold. In the first year they amounted to 265 16s. lid., in 1867 to S95 16s. 7d., in 1868 to 2121 12s. nd., and in 1869 to 2157 17s. 5d., there being a total balance in hand at the close of 1869 of 264 6s. 3d., inclu- sive of special gifts for the poor, and a donation of 210 through Mrs Charles Edwards, Dolserau. The disburse- ments appear to have increased in proportion to the re- ceipts, as from B20 lls. 6d., in 1866, they have amounted to £185 7s. 91d., in 1869. This increase is explained by the carrying out of necessary alterations in the church and its approaches, and the salaries of an additional curate and the organist. PETTY SESSIONS, TUESDAY, March 22, before R. Meredyth Richards, Esq., and Col. Bunbury, C.B. Drunk and Riotous.-Thomas Williams, labourer, was charged with being drunk and riotous at Dolgelley, on the 12th instant.—P.C. D. Jones said the defendant was drunk and noisy in the streets.—For the defence, defendant's mother stated that he came home on the night in question, as quiet as a lamb." As four years had elapsed since the defendant was last before the Bench, he was only fined 5s., and 8s, 6d. costs.—The money was paid.

HUNTING APPOINTMENTS. The Vale of Ayron (Copt. Vaughan's) Hounds meet on Monday, March 28th Maenygwynion Friday, April 1st Cae Coed At 10-30.

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