desirable theoretically it might be that there should be one code of regulations which should guide and govern all railway companies, past, present, and to come, and that Parliament should, by an ex post facto regulation, lay down rules for the guidance of a railway company, thus interfering with its internal management, not only would it be impossible for Government to carry any measure through Parliament, but, if it were possible, it would be an extraordinary in would not be carried out, and perhaps the Bills not even introduced into Parliament. At present the number of Bills for which notices had been given was forty-two, fifteen of which were for the incorporation of new companies, thirteen for the construction of new works, eight for continuations, five for amalgamations, and one for extension of powers. The whole subject, in the opinion of Government, was of such difficulty and importance, as only to be adequately dealt with by a Select Com-terference with the internal regulations of mittee, and, therefore, Government had come to the determination of moving the appointment of a Select Committee to consider it. At present he was not able to give a more decided answer to the questions, than that the subject was engaging the earnest attention of Government. LORD BEAUMONT observed, that in his opinion, the necessity of an Act respecting the management of railways did not depend upon the number of Bills which in the course of the present Session would be introduced into the Legislature. What they wanted was this, a code of laws-a general code of laws-respecting the management of railways, which should apply equally to all railways, both those that might obtain Bills in future, and those that had already obtained them, and had consequently now no occasion to come before the Legislature. A Bill might be framed so as to prevent the vexatious proceedings which now so often take place between conflicting railway interests, and which always result in inconvenience to the passengers, and loss to one or other of the parties. What they wanted was such a general Bill as would lay down a rule to enable persons who had grounds of complaint to right themselves. Of course such a Bill could alone properly emanate from Government; and he (Lord Beaumont) thought, therefore, he might ask his noble Friend if, in the Office of the Board of Trade, this question had been considered, whether in consequence of the numerous accidents which had recently occurred on railways, and the enormous loss incurred by the necessity of applying to Parliament for amalgamations and other desirable objects by separate and special Bills, the Government intended to introduce any measure of a general nature which would put an end to this state of things, by an enactment in the nature of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, which would be of general application? The EARL of DERBY thought, however railway companies, which were most of them much better judges of what was conducive to their own and the public interest, and much more capable of attending to it than any Government Board could be. He could not, therefore, hold out to the noble Lord who had just sat down any expectation that it was the intention of Government to introduce any measures of railway regulations which might tend, according to the sanguine views which the noble Lord took, to render impossible the occurrence of inconveniences and accidents to the public, or which would amount to any serious interference with the powers and privileges conferred by Parliament on the existing companies. He would not, however, hesitate to say that, as experience showed from day to day the necessity of legislation for particular purposes, and as opportunities arose for dealing with particular questions, he thought it exceedingly desirable, and indeed necessary, that they should avail themselves of the fresh references to Parliament that would become requisite on the part of the companies, for the purpose of introducing such modifications of the existing system as experience had shown to be necessary or desirable for the public interest. One question raised by his noble Friend in which Parliament might probably interfere with advantage, was in the connection of different trains with different railways communicating with each other. In such cases there might usefully be given some power of arbitration or arrangement under a Government Board to prevent the inconvenience now inflicted upon the public, for the purpose of making them travel the greatest length possible upon the respective lines of the different companies. But any measure of that kind would require much care, because it might involve an interference with the details of management; and their Lordships must recollect that in every case where Parliament insisted on particular times being observed, Parliament must become responsible also for the in convenience and danger which might be|ject, with the view of remedying the preintroduced by running corresponding trains sent imperfect states of railway legislation. on other lines, and which, if great atten- The EARL of HARROWBY denied that tion were not paid, might be of a very in any contract the Government were at serious description. There was another the mercy of the railway companies. It subject to which he wished to call the at- ought to be remembered that the public tention of the House, and with respect to required from the latter a vast amount of which he considered that a great mistake duty. Look at the vast bulk of newshad been made by neglecting it at an early papers and books which the railways conperiod of the existence of the railway sys- veyed, and for which the means of transit tem-he meant the making provision for were never required under the old system. the conveyance both of mails and troops by This should be remembered when noble the different companies. He believed that Lords were told of the large amount of at present Government was absolutely and payment to railways by the Post Office. entirely in the power of a railway company All experience showed that railway amalas to the terms-not on which the mails gamation, under wise and proper regulawould be conveyed, indeed—but on which tions, was the best system. Parliament other conditions most essential to the pub-might order trains to be run at particular lic service, in the conveyance of troops and hours, but they could never regulate the similar objects, would be performed. There- action of hostile parties. Companies with fore, when railway companies came to Par-rival interests always began with extraliament for new and amended Bills to ex-vagant competition, and then combination tend the powers they already possessed, he eventually followed, to cover the expense thought the opportunity should be taken of introducing such fresh regulations for the furtherance of the public service by facilitating the conveyance either of mails or troops, as might be found expedient. His noble Friend the Postmaster General (the Earl of Hardwicke) had very carefully considered this subject, and prepared clauses which would be submitted to Parliament for its approval, and which, if adopted, would provide greatly increased facilities for the transmission of mails and troops by railway companies. He differed, however, from the noble Lord as to the extent to which Parliament ought to legislate for the regulation of existing railways. The MARQUESS of CLANRICARDE said, he had heard with great satisfaction the remarks of the noble Earl; because he was fully aware of the great inconvenience to which the Post Office and other departments were put by the present system. The sum paid by the public for the conveyance of mails was now of an enormous amount, and exceeded, when he left office, 400,000l. a year. He was sorry the noble Earl had not held out greater hopes that the subject would be considered by Government. He did not approve of ex post facto legislation. It would be very unfair to resort to any measures of that kind, except when railway companies came to ask for some boon. He thought, however, there would be no hardship whatever in taking measures by which redress would be af forded in case of the breach of public engagements. It was very desirable that consideration should be given to the sub of all the losses caused by competition. It would have been much better if Parliament had carried out properly the scheme of Lord Dalhousie. If they had not left the construction of lines to the mad speculation of private parties, they would have had a much more economical and efficient service. The best remedy was, to keep in view the original views of Lord Dalhousie, and to assign somewhat of a monopoly to each railway company over their respective districts, under proper regulations for the protection of the public. Monopolies on railways were, and must be. Let Parliament avow that they were, and deal with them as such, and all would be easy. But if they treated railways as undertakings to which the ordinary law of supply and demand was applicable, causes of complaint against railway management would always exist. EARL GRANVILLE doubted whether so many towns would be now connected by railway, or whether so many trains would be run, if the Government had originally assumed greater responsibility, or had been intrusted with the management of railway matters. He thought it desirable that a Parliamentary Committee should be appointed. In many instances the railway companies would be grateful to have some of the questions between them settled by the superior authority of Parliament. LORD BATEMAN said, that a passenger in Yorkshire ought to have the power of booking himself through to London without being compelled to change his carriage when he came upon the line of any other that the pro vidential change in the weather in the course of yesterday was no light circumstance, not only in adding to the comfort of the vast multitude assembled to witness that solemnity, but also in diminishing, to a great extent, the amount of risk, of confusion, and of danger which all cere Duke of Wellington. company. On some matters of this kind | I think that I may even say legislative interference would be desirable. The DUKE of MONTROSE thought cooperation between railway companies hardly to be expected, unless a controlling power were vested in Government. To show the necessity of an improved system, they had only to look to the frequency of accidents at present. He remembered on one occa-monials of this kind must necessarily more sion travelling to Scotland by express train. An accident occurred; but as no lives were lost, he supposed for that reason the circumstance was not noticed in the newspapers. The cause was, that trains of several different railways passed along one line; and while such a state of things existed, it was fraught with the greatest danger. He understood that an inspector from the Board of Trade went down to examine the line, and that he recommended the erection of a bridge; but the recommendation was disregarded by the railway, and the Board had no power to enforce it. LORD COLCHESTER, alluding to the case referred to by the noble Duke, said that it was but just to the engineer of the railway, Mr. Stephenson, to state that when the matter was represented to him, he undertook to make a bridge sufficiently wide to prevent accidents. FUNERAL OF THE LATE DUKE OF - the or less involve. But it would be most unjust if I were to withhold-and if I did so your Lordships, I am sure, would consider that I was committing an injustice-if I were to withhold the tribute of my applause and satisfaction at the perfect organisation, the admirable arrangements, the entire discipline with which the whole of that great ceremony was marshalled and conducted, and at the discretion and the judgment which were manifested by all those civil and military authorities who took a part in carrying out this national testimonial. My Lords, nothing could have been more admirable than the temper and the patience with which both the troops and the police conducted themselves troops under arms, and the police on duty, for a period of at least eleven or twelve hours, and engaged during the whole of that time in unremitting exertions in preserving order. But, my Lords, we must not omit to do justice also to another class, without whose signal co-operaThe EARL of DERBY: My Lords, I tion and admirable conduct the best arwill, by moving the adjournment of the rangements might have been marred-I do House, put myself strictly in order in ad- not say that the efforts of the military and dressing a few observations to your Lord- the police would have been unavailing— ships on a subject to which I am anxious but which doubtless rendered that task, to call your Lordships' attention. My arduous as it must have been under any Lords, I desire to express the deep satis- circumstances, a matter of comparative faction and the deep thankfulness which I ease and safety. My Lords, I allude to have experienced, and which I am sure your that upon which we may look with pride Lordships will have experienced, at the and gratification-I mean the admirable more than satisfactory result which at- temper, patience, forbearance, and good tended the great solemnity of yesterday. conduct which was manifested by the whole My Lords, I think it is matter of humble of these incredible masses. When we conthankfulness to Almighty God that an sider how large a proportion of the populaevent which brought together such masses tion of these United Kingdoms was for that of persons as never before have congregated, single day crowded together in the streets of under any circumstances whatever, in this this metropolis; when you remember, as great metropolis, should have passed over, those at least remember to whose lot it not only without any signal calamity, but fell to take part in the procession, and without being attended by any-or rather who saw it throughout its whole length and attended by so few of those casualties breadth-when you remember that on a which are contingent upon every great con-line of route three miles in length, extending gregation of persons, even upon a much smaller scale, but which in this case were rendered more probable by the necessarily hasty and hurried manner in which many of the preparations were made for the accommodation of that great multitude. My Lords, from Grosvenor-place to St. Paul's Cathedral, there was not a single unoccupied foot of ground, and that you passed through a living sea of faces, all turned to look upon that great spectacle-when you saw every house, every window, every housetop loaded with persons anxious to proached-when, amidst solemn and mournpay their last tribute of respect to the ful music, slowly, and inch by inch, the memory of England's greatest son-when coffin which held the illustrious dead deyou saw those persons (those, at least, scended into its last and honoured restingwithin the streets) remaining with entire place, my Lords, I was near enough to see and unflinching patience for many hours the countenances of many of the veteran in a position in which movement was companions of his labours and of his trihardly possible, and yet that scarce a umphs-near enough to hear the labouring single accident occurred to the most feeble breath which scarcely checked the tears woman or child amid that vast mass- which would not have disgraced the cheek when, throughout the whole of that length, of England's hardiest warriors, as they not only was a perfect decorum preserved, looked down for the last time upon all that and a ready assistance given to the efforts was mortal of their late mighty leader. of the police and the military, but there was Honour, my Lords, to the people who so exhibited no unseemly desire merely to wit-know how to reverence their illustrious ness that magnificent spectacle, no light and dead! Honour to those friendly nations thoughtless applause at the splendour of who, renewing their old companionship in that spectacle; when you saw how the people his triumphs and his glory, joined in the of England, in the awful silence of those general tribute of respect to him whose vast crowds, testified in the most emphatic renown was not English, nor European, manner the sense in which every man but world-wide, and who associated their among them felt the public loss which own countries for the last time with the England had sustained-I know not, my name and the glories of Wellington! And, Lords, how you may have looked upon my Lords, honour-let me say it also-to this manifestation of public feeling and that great and friendly nation, our relagood sense and order, but I know this, tions with whom in times long gone by, and that as I passed along those lines it was I trust never to return, incapacitated her with pride and satisfaction I felt that I from participating in the national triumph was a fellow-countryman of those who with which we celebrated his military fame, knew so well how to regulate and control but who yet, my Lords, in joining in the themselves; and I could not help enter-public mourning over the departed hero, taining a hope that those foreign visitors who have done us and themselves the honour of assisting at this great ceremonial might, upon this occasion, as upon the 1st of May, 1851, bear witness in their own countries how safely and to what extent a people may be relied upon, on whom the strongest hold of their Government is their own reverence and respect for the free institutions of their country, and the principles of popular self-government controlled and modified by constitutional monarchy. My Lords, when we had passed over the long line of the procession, and had entered into that magnificent edifice, I think that few who were present can, to the latest moment of their lives, forget the scene which they witnessed there. Who will forget the effect when, throughout the length and breadth of that vast cathedral, the pealing anthem swelled the note not of praise, but of sorrow? Who will forget the effect when, in ready acquiescence to the request publicly communicated, within that immense edifice 16,000 voices joined simultaneously in the responses to the common prayer of every Christian man? And, my Lords, when the close of that impressive solemnity ap. forgot for a time their old national preju- LORD STANLEY said, the subject to which the hon. Gentleman alluded had attracted much attention, but he thought the House would agree with him that it would not be expedient to lay upon the table papers relating to it at a period when it could hardly be said that the proceedings had terminated. He had no objection, however, to state in a few words a general outline of the case. It was well known that the Turkish Minister charged with the negotiation of the loan in question had departed widely from the instructions he had received, and contracted in the name of his Government a loan which no judicious adviser of the Porte could have recommended the Porte to ratify. The consequence was, that, after a trifling delay, the Porte refused to ratify the loan, and at the same time immediately announced its intention to repay the portion of the loan already received, together with interest thereon. Further than that, he could only state that from all the information the Government possessed, it appeared that the Turkish Government were acting in a most fair and honourable manner; and they entertained a confident expectation that the affair would be speedily and satisfactorily dealt with. to the world the blessings of lasting peace. I was any objection to lay the papers before My Lords, I trust that in burying him we the House? have not taken leave of and buried the recollection of the principles which he supported and advocated. I am sure that I am speaking in the spirit of him whose loss we all deplore when I say (and I feel confident your Lordships agree with me), that I look upon war in itself as the greatest curse with which a country can be afflicted, and upon unnecessary war as the greatest crime of which a statesman can be guilty. I am sure, my Lords, that the great and paramount object of this country is the maintenance of a firm and honourable peace; but I am no less convinced of the necessity of that principle which it was his constant duty to inculcate upon successive Governments-namely, that in order to maintain the security and permanence of peace, every nation must have within itself those means of self-defence and self-dependence which should not provoke aggression by its weakness, more especially if to that weakness be added the possession of unbounded wealth. My Lords, I trust that we shall bear this in mind, not in words only, but in our actions and policy, and that setting aside all political and party considerations, we shall concur in this opinion-that, in order to be peaceful, England must be powerful; but that she ought to be powerful, only to be more securely peaceful. House adjourned to Monday next. HOUSE OF COMMONS, Friday, November 19, 1852. THE TURKISH LOAN. MR. LAYARD begged to ask the noble Lord the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs the question of which he had given notice. The public was aware, though not through any official source, that a loan effected by the representative of the Turkish Government at Paris was either rejected altogether, or not ratified, and that repayment of the money advanced, with a certain amount of interest, was offered. He did not desire by anything he said to encourage British subjects in speculating in foreign loans. But he wished to ask the noble Lord if he had any objection to state to the House the information that had been received by the Government as to the repayment of the loan, or whether there THE MARITIME LAWS. MR. J. L. RICARDO: I beg, Sir, to ask the right hon. Gentleman the President of the Board of Trade, whether any despatches have been transmitted to that Department from the Foreign Office containing information or statistics bearing on the working of the Maritime Laws of the United Kingdom, and if, so, whether he will have any objection to lay them on the table of the House; also, whether any inquiries have been made by the Board of Trade of the British Consuls through the Foreign Office? MR. HENLEY: I think, Sir, I had better answer the last question of the hon. Gentleman first. There was a letter addressed from the Foreign Office to the several Consuls, directing them to make returns in the form suggested. Returns from some of those Consuls have been received. There have not been many received in reference to 1850; those received have reference principally to 1851, therefore they do not contain much information that would enable us to make a comparison with respect to what the trade has been at |