[Footnote 98: [The measure which Lord Clarendon had in view, and was anxious to carry, was a Bill to facilitate the sale of encumbered estates in Ireland, which was ultimately adopted and carried by the Government by the creation of the Land Court. In the course of the thirty ensuing years, land to the amount of more than fifty millions was sold under the direction of this Court, and the encumbrances cleared off.]] [Sidenote: LANDED INTERESTS IN IRELAND.] _Thursday, May 11th (Bruton Street)._--For the last fortnight everybody has been occupied with the division in the House of Lords on the Navigation Bill; the greatest whip-up was made on both sides that ever was known, and the lists made and re-made out with such accuracy that every vote was pretty well ascertained, and the numbers quite correctly calculated.[99] Stanley made a magnificent speech, the best it is said he ever made, and one of the most brilliant and effective ever made by anybody. He made a sort of attack on the Duke of Wellington which was both unjustifiable and in bad taste. The Duke behaved oddly in this matter. He gave repeated assurances to the Government that he would assist them in every way he could, but he really gave them no assistance at all, for he refused positively to communicate with any Peers on the subject, would not speak to those who wished to consult him, and he never opened his lips in the debate. I am compelled to believe that Stanley really meant, if he could have defeated this Bill, to have taken the Government if offered to him. [Footnote 99: [The second reading of the Bill for the repeal of the Navigation Laws was carried in the House of Lords on May 8 by a majority of 10.]] The Protectionists are gone mad with the notion of reaction in the country against Free Trade. Many people, however, say that distress really has produced a very considerable change of opinion, and it is allowed on all hands that in the event of a dissolution the Irish, frantic with distress, would support any Protectionist Government to a man. We hear that Stanley means to overturn the Bill in Committee, as he undoubtedly can, and that the Government will be compelled to restore its integrity again on the report, and this is to be the future progress of the contest. On Monday night a great event occurred in the House of Commons. Young Peel, Sir Robert's second son,[100] made a maiden speech (on the Jew Bill) of such extraordinary merit, that it at once placed him at the top of the tree. Its excellence and its great promise were universally admitted. Peel came into the House just at the close of it, and it is said that neither he nor Lady Peel had any idea their son was going to speak. The appearance of a young man who promises something great, is in these days of mediocrity an occurrence of enormous value and importance. [Sidenote: A SUPPRESSED DESPATCH.]