The Express. — London, England, 1853-06-30 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 30, 1853. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—WEuNEsu.►s, JUNE 29. The Si took the chair at anon. PRIVATE BUSINESS. to the fact that at parochial contests in Marylebone the votes had lately been taken by ballot, and it was said that that did not prevent influence being exercised. Lord J. MANNERS rose to order. The noble lord was referring to a debate on another subj. et. The SPEAKER said the noble lord (Lord D. Stuart) less charly irregular in his reference to what vas said in thit debate. Lord D. STUART said he bowed to the decision of the Speaker, but be must say that the course he was pursuing was one of constant occurrence. The noble lord then, !repeal of the corn law great injury was predicted to 'Canada, but it has made a more rapid progress since 1843 than in any precious ten y..ars of its history, and now sends annually large quantities of grain to the United States as well as to England. It Is add ing its produce to that of the States for the suppiy of the Old World. and, in the last instance, by THE INDIA MAI.L. A telegraphic dispatch from lisrseilles, d etsi Wednesday, states that the Euxitie arrived ther e • ') p.m. with the Overland dispat c h es f rom India. "" The Lied; aro eodonenta on the Faits south Railway Bill wer e read and eriniidered. The Myth and Tyne Railway ; Fishers' Divorce ; the !darned Haven Railway and Canal; and the Oxford, Woe nester, Wolverhampton Railway (Wolverhampton Station. ) ; Ihlla, ware read a third time and passed. ;SOL 111 DEVON AND TAVISTOCK RAILWAY INDIAN FCRLOCCIIS. BILL. ---- S r J. Y. DULLER Roved that tbii bill be now cm tiglercd. lIHRBERT asked the ban. baronet to postpone tLe conOderation of the bill for two days in order that they might see the result of the committee's deliberations upon Ow Drava and Dorset bill. It was of great importance for purposes of the public defeure that there sh)old be a narrow gauge line along the south mast, emnecting the great arsenals of the country. Sir J. Y. BULLER. coda not agree to the postpone• meta, because it would render the passing of the bill ex ceedingly doubtful. It was quite absurd to suppose that there ever enuld bee narrow gauge coast line. (Mar.) Mr. COLLIER protested against delay. Mr. St/THERON hoped the right hou. gentleman would not press hi. request. Mr. S. llEltlll.lbT accordingly assented to the consi dersti.,a of the bill forthwith. After a few words from Mr. IL PILILLIMORE, Mr. LOCKE made some g l remarks upon railway legi.lation, and in support of the views of Mr. S. Herbert. Mr. L. IIEYWOIMI said the legialat•re had been bruLait into its present dilemma by not having fixed • uniform gauge on railways. The bill was then considered and ordered to be read a third time. WEXFORD JUNCTION RAILWAY BILL. Mr. GROGAN moved that the ball be recommitted to the former committee with leave to sit and proceed to-morrow. Sir J. HANMEIt, u chairmen of the committee, opposed the motion; sad, after some discussion, The house divided— Ayes 49 Noes 94-44 . _ . The motion was therefore lost. Several other private bills were Meant:aid &stage. PUBLIC BUSINESS. TRANSFER OF LAND (IRELAND) BILL. Mr. V. SCULLY moved the *mond reading of this bill, and gave some details of its provisions. The bill was ' framed not only for the purpose of simplifying not only the title to the land itself, but the title to the charges upon the lard. The four first clauses proposed to allow any owner of land to obtain a parliamentary title to enable him to transfer his land or any portion of it at any future period without cost or 'spent,. The other clauses of the bill referred to the machinery by which the bill was to be ear-ied out, and nailer the lids sec tion the machinery of the Encumbered Estates Act wee made available for the purposes of this measure. In ma clusioo, the hon. and I d gentleman stated that his object was to hare the bill read a second time, that it might be considered by the country between this and the neat session of parliament—as be could not hope at this period of the session, unless it were taken up by the government, to carry it through before the prorogation, but be inti mated that it had hem suggested to refer the bill to the Registration of Assurances Committee, to which the bill of the boo. member for East Surrey (Ur. Drummond) which related, in some respects, to the same subject, bad been already referred, and as he bad no objection to that course, he left it to the house to say whether or not, alter the second reading, it should be Dent to that committee for their consideration. . Sir J. YOUNG did not propose to offer any ehjection to the second reading. Ile admitted the importance of the subject, and he believed the hill would, by enabling per sons to buy small portions of land, have a great affect in steadying the minds of the Irish people, and allaying in some degree the passion for emigration whieN now pre vailed. This was a subject which would no doubt occupy the attention of the commission which the Lord Chancellor had announced a fortnight ego would be issued in reference to the working of the Encumbered Estates Act, and the law of reel property generally, and the result of whose in• quirt' would, he hoped, he the adoption of some general plan which would be satisfactory to all classes. With re gard to the proposal to refer the bill to the committee on the Itegistration of Assurances Bill, if they had time to consider it he should offer no objection, but he thought it would be better, in the first instance, to consult his hon. and learned friend the Solicitor-General for England. Mr. V. SCULLY—I have already spoken to the Solicitor- General for England, and be is in favour of referring the bill to the committee. Sir J. YOUNG would then offer no objection. It was his object, as it was that of all panics in this country, to simplify the transfer of land, and to give security of title and facilities for sale ; therefore, on the part of the govern ment, he certainly was not prepared to efler any opposition to the second reading of a bill based on that prin ciple. (Hear, hear.) Mr. NAPIER presumed the consent of the government to the second nading did not pledge them as to their future course in regard to the bill. (" Hear, hear," from Sir J. Young.) Mr. HEADLAM inquired whether they were to under stand that a commission as to the law of nal property was to be issued as to Ireland ? Bir J. IOLNG—Yee. The bill wu then read a second time and committed to the 'elect committee on the registration of ansurances. COURTS OF COMMON LAW (IRELAND) BILL. The house then went into committie on this bill, end the remaining dames wen airned to, with some verbal amend seats. ELECTIONS BILL. The house then went into committee on this bill. Clause I was negatived,andisclause moved by )lr.G. Burr was substituted t, the effect that county elections shall be held, not later than the tenth day nor earlier than the sixth day from the date of the proclamation, and another clause was added giving directions u to the mode in which the writs doll hewed. The aseednesis were then reported, and the house re- SEAMEN'S SAVINGS BILL. _ _ On the motion of Mr. F. Famecn, this bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed this day tort night. PUBLIC LIBRARIES (IRELAND) BILL. Mr. FORTESCUE moved the messed reading of this bill, which was, he said, merely to extend to Ireland the act which was at present only applicable to England. By this bill the town council might, through the mayor, convene • public meeting, and if the provisions a the bill were ac cepted by a majority et two-thfrtio, the ssiondl would be enabled to Isey • roes oirsot mess His s halfpenny in the pound. The attention Oaths arshoo et Ike Dublin St& tistlaal betty had boos draws Po Oho ooloof of the Mai nlines's an WON% and In _gore MN bill had been drawn. and Ito bed been resmosell to takis dory of it. The 11111 was than rend a scosed tints andordered to be einsmdttod this day week. PUBLIC HOUSES (SCOTLAND) BILL. The home west into sommittee on ibis bill, and the clause which had been postponed were agreed to. SHERIFFS' COURTS (SCOTLAND) BILL. Tbo sossaisals is this bill were ioasiiie — rids;d agreed to, sad dta WI was ordered to be read a third nine oa Friday. ___ THE LIVERPOOL WRIT. Mr. FREBHITILIIoveci ihwiasew --. writ be hosed for the election of two member for Liverpool, is the room of Mr. Terser sad Mr. Parties Mackenzie, who have been unseated on petition. He did not think it necessary to ester into the trausactious of the last election. They un derwent a most 'earthing investigation before the com mittee, and it would be sufficient for him to stets the molts to which the committee had arrived. The com mittee found that refreshments were provided as the poll day at numerous public-houses where the voters bad been directed to assemble for the purpose of being conveyed to the poll, but it did not appear that the treating that took plaee was of an extravagant character, that a number of the voters were bribed by the payment of de. and 4s. each, which was given them seder the name of the day's pay as a compensatioa fur the time that they lost, , but the booths were so situated that they could have voted without loss of time ; and the committee recommended that the issue of the writ should not be suspended, and that it was net necessary that any further inquiry should take place. He was not only authorised, but requested, to state, on behalf of the member for South &ileitis, the chairman of the committee, that be regretted his absence on this oc casion, •r he would have brought forward the mo tion him.elf; but be was under the necessity of dischargiag • judicial duty at Newcastle. He might fairly have espected that the motion would have been adopted without opposition ; but be found two notices ap- pliable to this day, and one applicable to a future day. The noble lord the member for Masyrabone first proposed that the elections at Liverpool shall in future take place by way of ballot. That, he took it, was no amendment at all oe his motion, which was that the writ should be issued. His neat amendment was that the issue of the writ should be suspended till the 20th of July, and he had also gives no. I ties of his intention to move for leave to bring is a bill that in future all the elections at Liverpool should be by ballot. He (Mr. Freshfield), however, did not think that the house would disregard the recommendation of the com mittee, that there should be no suspension of the writ ; and if they were to pat it off till the noble lord could move for • leave to bring in his bill, that would be an indefinite post pooement. as that would, in effect, be postponing it till the bill passed through all its stages, if it were agreed to by the house. --- Lord D STUART said his first amendment had re- =mined on the paper by mistake. He had intended to make a emotion of that description, hut being informed by the Speaker that he could not make such a motion eon sieteatly with the forma of the bou‘e, he abandoned it, and he now proposed that the writ should be suspended till the 20th of July. He was desirous, at the earliest possible period, of bringing forward a motion for leave to bring in a bill that all elections at Liverpool should be taken by ballot, and the earliest day he could make that motion was the 19th of July, aad he was desirous that the writ should be suspended till the house had had an opportunity of dieeusaing that motion. He was desirous of the Ceetions being taken by ballot in Liverpool, not with a view of pu nishing that borough for corrupt practice*, but that they might have experience of the bona in • large constituency. Re thought that would be a boon to the electors of Liver pool, awl he believed there was throughout the country a wish that the ballot should be tried. (Cries of " divide.") Reference had been made in the recent debate on the ballot amidst much interruption and loud and repeated cries of Divide," proceeded to aroma tha question of the ballot generally, and wu proceeding in his oturtations, when The SPEAKER observing that six o'clock had arrived, the house adjourned. 4thr 424preols. TO I UIiIiESPONLIENTS. A veci.nd Edittan rf "The Vapeera,' eontaia!ne tea ram evening's te ',unlinked every Tateday sad Friday eight, in Ulna lat post. • ivisent• la:ended .or Eapreea." London Evening paper, the meta; gonveriastneet, tfy two o'c:iivit oa the lay of yuble-aLoa. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. Tons —lllereirg. 911. 18‘ ..aisreees. Ow T...roaa .w—kk.rtua.. 0 . 14a. ...„ Afkreoes. 103. 441 LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 30. IN the order of business in the House of Commons for this day stands the Succession Duty Bill. The measure—so far as it goes—is one of mere justice ; for there is no possible reason (except that the landed interest is strong and fractious) why landed property should not bear precisely the same rate of taxation on its transmission as is borne by other kinds of property. In fact, the Succession Tax, now for the first time to be imposed on land, is so arranged that it will amount only to one-half the burden to which all personal estate has long been subject; and the manner in which the landowners in the Legislature resist this modified taxation—this placing of the slightest burden on the strongest—in evitably provokes an examination of the grounds for taxing real property at a lower rate than personalty. Though there are cues in which a tax on succession acts with some severity on individual interests, such a tax is by no means open to the same objec tion as many of our fiscal burdens arc open to. The worst case is where all the capital of a deceased person is employed in a business of which the suc cessful prosecution mainly depended on his skill and activity. Such a capital, when it devolves to his children or other relatives, may not be used so effec- , tively, and may not be aided by the same energy and tact as when in the hands of the deceased , owner. Yet that would occur in the event of a father retiring from business and giving up his capi tal employed in it; and the succession tax is paid on the value of the capital only, not on the value of an annuity calculated upon the income derived by the deceased from the combination l of his capital and skill. In any other instance the tax on successions conforms to most op- I proved economical laws; it is "levied at the time and in the manner in which it is most likely to be con• venient for the contributor to pay it;" and it fulls due " when he is most likely to have wherewithal to pay." It is, morecvcr, a tax easily collected and at little cost. Confining our remarks, at present, to personal property—we shall see hereafter whether there is any real difference as regards real estate— when can a man so conveniently pay one, two, or even ten per cent. upon the succession to 1001., 1,0001., or 100,0001., as when he first succeeds to it? The tax is then a deduction from property he has never enjoyed. He has formed no habits of expense de pendent on the income of his newly-acquired property, be it a mere pittance or enormous wealth. His sole objection to the tax then must be that he would rather not pay it,—that he would prefer to receive his legacy entire. But that applies to all taxation ; nobody likes to pay taxes. The man who pays tax on a succession pays it not, however, out of his own means, but as a deduction from that property into the enjoyment of which he is about to enter. How otherwise could a tax be paid either at a time or in a manner so likely to be convenient to the tax-payer? And this is equally true in whatever form the pro perty subsists. Be it invested in the funds, or on mortgage, or in shares, or employed in trade, or con sist of specific chattels, the succession tax is simply a deduction from the yet unenjoyed succession. Poe- sibly in many instances it may be highly advantageous mot to disturb the actual investment of the property. The new owner may wish not to call in a well-secured and beneficial mortgage, or to sell the railway shares or debentures, for the sake of taking out of the capital the tax payable on his succession. What then does he do ? Why, he borrows the amount of the tax on the security of the property if he is abso lute owner, or pays it out of the income if he does not possess the complete ownership. In either ease he pays the tax on the full amount of his interest in it; if absolute owner on the value of the property ; if life-owner on the full value of his life interest. Let us see in what respect landed property differ* from personal estate, which in contemplation of law includes all leaseholds, as the subject of a succession tax. The objections raised by the landowners to equal taxation, when equality adds to their burdens, are innumerable. It would throw upon trustees for landowners most onerous duties to disclose the suc cessions which formed the occasion of, and the pro perty liable to, the tax ; the enactments necessary to prevent the evasion of the tax by fraudulent—in fact, pretended—transfers from the landowner in 1 possemion to the landowner in reversion, would "shock the moral feelings" of the class; that from the complications in which landowners involve their property by means of settlements, jointures, life annuities, charges for younger children, remainders, and the like—there would be such a frequent accrual of some duty on a succession, their trustees and them selves would be involved in trouble, and would have to employ a solicitor ; that if numerous deaths should occur in a family, the estate might have to bear fre quent repetitions of the succession duty; and much more of an equally inconclusive nature. Sir JouN PAKINGTON roundly declared that to tax landed property by means of a succession tax was plunder, robbery, and so forth ; and a desperate struggle took place to exempt the value of the timber on an estate from all liability to the tax. Undoubtedly some part of this opposition has been brought upon the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER by his attempts to conciliate the landowners by con cessions and exemptions. A new mode of estimating the value of " rateable property " for the pur poses of the succession duty is to be established, by the effect of which the ad valorem tax payable on a succession to land will be ' about one-half the amount payable on per sonal property. The time afforded to landowners for payment is extended over eight years, and all sorts of minor advantages are afforded for reducing the valuation of the estate to which a succession has taken place to the lowest rate. There is really no reason why in every case of succession to land the full value of the interest of the new owner should not be taxed, as personal property has so long been taxed, and the measure of that value should be its worth for sale in the market. If my Lord A. or Sir John IL and Squire C. find it conducive to their dignity or convenience to erect or maintain stately mansions, surrounded by pleasure-grounds, garden., deer parks, forests, and the like, and to retain fine masses of ornamental and other timber on their estates, why should not the full market value of such possessions .be charged on the oc currence of a succession to any of these costly inheritances? These stately luxuries have a market value, and should be paid for accordingly. The leasehold villa of the merchant or tradesman has long been taxed at its true value for probate ant legacy duties, although great part of that value may consist of objects analogous to ornamental timber. Nor would there have been any practical difficulty is requiring immediate payment of the succession duty payable on land. The person succeeding to land sr any interest in it, comes into the enjoyment of pro ' perty not before possessed, and whether the operation of the tax be to abstract a part of the estate or to lessen for a time the income derivable from it, he suffers no greater hardship than has always bees incident to the succession tax on personal property. lie would pay out of property he is about to enjoy. Nothing would bo taken from that which constituted his existing source of income, or enjoyment. Had the full amount of the succes sion tax been made immediately payable, the new owner might have been authorised to sell a sufficient part of the land to raise the amount of the tax, and land thus sold might have had the benefit of a Par. liamentary title, so that the purchaser need not go into, and the landowner would not be burdened with, any investigation of title. It might have been seeds sufficient that the land was sold to pay auseweisse duty to communicate an indefeasible title to the par chaser. Or, instead of selling part of the estate, a power m i ght have been given to raise the amount of the tax of a terminable annuity, extending over, say, fifteen or ',twenty years, in the same way as public money drainage loans are repayable; and thus the immediate payment of the tax having been pro vided for, the estate would, by means of the termi nable annuity, be ultimately cleared. And various other modes might be suggested for raising at once out of landed property the amount of the succession duty. Instead, therefore,of offering any factious and selfish opposition to the modified and too lenient scheme of the CIIANCLLLOR of the EXCHEQUER, the land owners ought to have borne, with decent de meanour, that approach to an equality of taxation they are now about to be subjected to for the first time. They should have recollected that they are still exempt from probate duty, which personal property bears in addition to the succession tax, and that far such exemption not a shadow of reason or justice can be urged. They should bear in mind that all the difficulties of detail they urge so passionately in Parliament are caused, so far as they have any reality, not from the nature of the property to be taxed—for there is no more diffi culty in raising legacy duty from a freehold farm than from a leasehold manufactory—but from the complex system of settlements and entails, by which, for their own objects of pride or feeling, the land owners of this country have trammelled their estates. Nothing can speak more plainly the moderation with which our great industrial interests seek to redress the inequalities of taxation created by a Legislature of landlords in their own favour than the steady sup port all the representatives of popular constituencies have afforded to the Government Succession Duties Bill. That measure is not one of restitution, as might have fairly been demanded; it does not even place the future burden of taxation equally on the two kinds of property, real and personal; but because it contains an admission of the principle of justice, and affords an approach towards equal taxation, all the representatives of the industrious communities of the country rally round the Government in its support. This is a lesson which the PAIINGTONS and other in discreet landowners, who cry out " robbery," when they are called on to contribute some portion of their fair share towards the expenses of the l / 4 ,6tate, would do well to study. THE price of wheat in Mark-lane rose on Monday from ls. to 2s. per quarter ; at the same time France, which has sent us large supplies of wheat and flour in the course of the last three years, has become a purchaser of the cargoes intended for our market. The autumn was an unfavourable seed time; the winter and the spring have been long and dreary; the summer seems setting in wet, and our prospects are such as to make us look at our stocks and the probable sources of our future supplies. For some time past there has been a drain of corn for the neighbouring continent, and we may not ex pect much from there. The stocks are short, the prospects from the Vistula to the Garonne are un promising, and the consumption is everywhere extra ordinarily large. Throughout France and the greater part of Germany trade is flourishing in the same manner as here, though not to the same extent, and the demand for food is great. Flour has risen within a short time consi derably in Paris; the stock, that has hitherto been large in the capital, is dwindling rapidly away ; for the same means that brings the supplies from a great distance,—the rail,—brings the more distant parts of France, when destitute, to Paris for a supply ; and flour is now dearer in Paris than in London. From France we have latterly obtained from 1,500,000 quarters to 2,000,000 quarters of grain, or flour measured as grain, annually, and that source of sup ply is for the moment dried up. At the same time con. gumption here is very great. There was imported last month no less than 525,236 quarters of wheat, be sides 341,964 cwts. of flour; the wheat being a larger quantity than has been imported, except on two oc casions, in any one month, since the Corn Laws were repealed ; and all that quan tity was immediately taken into consumption. In fact, the rising prices show that, large as was the quantity, it was not one grain too much. From the north of Europe we shall get but little. The politi cal proceedings of Russia threaten our supplies from Odessa; from Egypt, according to the latest circu lars, the sale of wheat and beans had been stopped by the Government, and there is " no private-trade grain " coming forward, or expected. The possibi lity of war may put a stop to the imports from the Levant; and we have thus a prospect of both a defi cient and late harvest at home, and curtailed sup plies from abroad. The time is coming when Free Trade will be strongly tested, and we must take care not to run under a full and flowing sail into the breakers of scarcity. The subject is one of great interest, no thing less than how the people are to be fed, but it is not for the State to take the matter up. When the State has set trade free and given all the protection in its power to the property and the operations of the merchants, it has done its part, and it must leave the duty of supplying the markets to the industry, enterprise, and interest of individuals. It will find, however, when we have to compete with France and other countries for our supply, that the shilling duty it still imposes on imported corn,—to which we have so frequently referred,—will be a great impediment to l our success, and a short ,harvest here and abroad would probably compel the Ministry to remove that trammel from trade. With the shilling duty, how- I ever, for the moment we have no concern—we wish chiefly to draw attention further to the supplies we may receive from America. We are promised, we are happy to say, a large quantity of corn from Canada, and its expected ap pearance made the flour and wheat market dull at Liverpool last week. This is one of the many unex pected and beneficial results of free trade. From the The average growth of wheat in the States, though increasing every year, is not above 13,000,000 qrs. In the year ending June, 1850, it was 100,503,1 99 bushels, or 12,562,986 qrs. Now, there has already been exported from the States since last September, ac cording to the circular of Messrs. lionEnts, BROTIMRS, of New York, 2,285,016 barrels of flour, equivalent to something more than 1,500,000 qrs. of wheat, and 4,000,036 bushels of wheat, together somewhat more than 2,000,000 qrs., or nearly one-sixth, since last h t, of the avenge crop of wheat grown in the States Of that a considerable quantity was Canada wheat, but as the exports of the present year exceed the exports of last year to the tune of 1,838,737 brls. of flour, and by 2,152,774 bushels of wheat, we may infer that the suppliesyet to come from America of last year's crop cannot be very large. We trust, however, as the weather is said to be very favourable in I Canada, it may also be favourable in the States, and that an early and an abundant harvest there may be the means of giving us a large future supply. We know from the exsmple of the year 1847 that when high prices tempt exportation, the large quantity of maize which the Americans grow—in 1850 no less than 592,326,612 bushels, or upwards of 74,000,000 quarters—enables them to dispense with a large proportion of their growth of wheat. Wo will not pretend to say, there- Awe, what quantity we might get from the States were prices to rise much above their present level; and it is probably so great as to ensure us against very high prices. We continually import from the States large quantities of maize—since September lest year no less than 1,479,994 bushels—and the Immense quantity the Americans grow assures us that if we cannot get wheat or flour from them, we shall not want for food. Our Free Trade, however, opens all the markets of the world to our merchants; there is no place hardly from which we cannot, and from which we do not, now obtain supplies of corn. It the north of Europe shall have no stores to send us, Egypt will probably have abundance; if both these springs should be dry, America may over flow. And if the continent of' Europe, instead et sending us breadstuffs, should want food, the trade we have established all over the world will send some et, the abundance our merchants are preparing for vs, as at present, into its ports; and the Free Trade, which some continental statesmen yet deride, and all refuse to imitate, by encouraging production every where for our use, may save their subjects from famine. TURKEY. The following telegraphic dispatch wasreeeived yes terday : " Vienna, June 28.—The last accounts from Constantinople are to the 18th. M. Balabine, the last member of the Russian legation remaining at the hotel of the embassy, left Constantinople on the 17th with the refusal of the Porte to accede to the last ultimatum sent by the government of the Czar. M. Balabine took with him in the steamer to Odessa the archives of the Russian embassy." According to the above despatch, the diplomatic relations between Russia and the Porte, which were not entirely broken up so long as M. Balabine re mained at the Russian embassy, are now at au end ; but there is nothing in the despatch to show whether the rejection of the Porte was unqualified, or whether it was accompanied, as some of the German journals pretend, by a proposition suggested by the Austrian ambassador, of a nature to open the way to new negotiations. Neither is it said whether M. Balabine proceeds to St. Petersburg or remains at Odessa. If he has gone on to the capital, the statement of the Emperor of Russia having revoked the power he had given to Prince Menchikoff to give orders for the occupation of principalities of the Danube immediately on receiving the news of the rejection of the last ultimatum, and to await fur ther orders from his Majestj; ;a i e s e robably, correct. This statement cannot be to an authentic source, but it has arrived from so many quer ters that we may suppose that it was an authorised one. It it was false, the question assumes a serious aspect; but if true, and the rejection of the ultima tum was accompanied by propositions which the Em peror of Russia could not decline without showing that he is more desirous of war than peace, the next accounts from St. Petersburg may be of a satisfac tory character. It will be perceived that there is no allusion in the telegraphic despatch to the ac count given in the alonge Gazette of M. Bala bine having on the 11th presented a second note from Count Nesselrode to the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, in which the Russian Minister is said, whilst declaring that the Emperor, his master, would withdraw no part of his demands, to have added that, if the Sultan was desirous of negotiating, he must commence by dismissing his present ministers, and appointing others less hostile to Russia. The inconsistency of such a communication, to sal , nothing of its dictatorial tone, is so great, that it is hardly possible to believe that the Cologne Gazette was well informed. It is, however, still open to ns to believe that at the eleventh hour the Czar will come to his senses, and accept the large concessions of Turkey. The declaration by the Porte that it recognises a moral engagement towards all the Christian powers rest ing the favours accorded to its Christian sub j ects includes, in fact, all that is material in Prince Menchikoff's last demand. The following is • full translation of the letter addressed by Count Nesselrode to Reschid Pasha, a summary of which appeared in our columns on Tues day last : St. Petersburg, May 31, 1853. _ _ _ Sir,—The Emperor, my august master, has just been informed that his ambassador has been under the necessity of leaving Constantinople, in consequence of the peremp tory refusal of the Port to take towards the Imperial govern ment of Russia the smallest engagement of a nature to re assure it of the protective intentions of the Ottoman govern ment with regard to the orthodox worship and churches in Turkey. It is after a fruitless sojourn of three month•—after having exhausted, by word of mouth and by writing, all that truth, ►enevolence, and a spirit of conciliation could dictate—ltis, finally, after having endeavoured to meet (nOtager) all the scruples of the Porte by successive modi fications, to which he had consented in the terms and the form of the guarantees which ho was instructed to demand —that Prince Menchik.ff was compelled to take the deter mination which the Emperor learns with sorrow, but of which he could but entirely approve. Your Excellency is too enlightened not to foresee the consequences of the interruption of our relations with de government of his highness. You are too devoted to the true and permanent inteiests of your sovereign and his em pire not to feel a profound regret in prevision of the events which may follow, and the responsibility of w►ich must rest entirely on those who provoke them. Thus, in addressing this letter today to your Excellency, my only object is to put it in your power, in so far as it is still possible, to render a most important service to your sovereign. Place once more the real situation of affairs before his highness ; explain to him the moderation and the Justice of the demand of Russia ; the very great insult done to the Emperor by opposing to hie intentions, which have constantly been friendly and generous, unfounded mistrust and inexcusable refusals. The dignity of his Majesty, the interests of his empire, the voice of his conscience, do not permit him to accept such proceedings in return for those which he has had, and still wishes to entertain, with Turkey. He must seek to obtain their reparation, and to provide against their recur- rence in future. Ina few weeks the troops will receive the order to cross the frontiers of the empire, not to wage war, which it is re pugnant to his Majesty to undertake against a Sovereign whom it has always pleased him to consider a sincere ally, but to obtain those material guarantees until the moment when, brought to more equitable sentiments, the Ottoman government will give to Russia the moral securities which the has in vain demanded for two years through her repro her ambassador. The draft of the note which Prince Menchikoff pre sented to you is in your hands. Let your Excellency hasten, after having obtained the consent of his Highness the S..ltan, to sign that note, sans variantes, and to trans mit it without delay, to our ambassador at Odessa, where he still sojourns. I earnestly hope that at this decisi•e moment the counsel labial I address to your Excellency, with the confidence I with which your enlightened •iews and patriotism inspire me, will be apprecia•cd by you and by your colleagues in the Divan; and that, in the interests of peace, which we ought all to be equally desirous of maintaining, it will be adopted without hesitation, and without delay. I am, &e., Nr.ssrbitonr. FRANCE. (BY SUBM•LUNE TELEGRAPH ) PARIS. Tnt•ncnAY. The .Moniteur reports that Vice-Admiral Ilamelin is appointed commander-in-chief of the Mediter ranean squadron, in place of Viet-Admiral de la Suisse, who enters on the reserved list. PARIS, WEDNESDAY EVEN ISO. There has again been a very bad Bourse. It is very generally reported that private letters, received by the Eurotas, hale warlike tone. Vely I'acha, I am assured expressed himself with great energy this morn ingin regard to the intentions of his government. M. Emile de Girardin, in the Presse, indicates the prevail ing feeling of the moment, by saying the short and proper answer for Turkey to give to the Nesselrode note is, "If by a 4 more decided attitude' you mean the passage of the Truth and the occupation of the principalities, we shall consider that act of aggression as equivalent to a declaration of war, and shall accept it as such with the support of England and France." Asy concession, any weakness, on this question, Girardin says, may cause complications with out end. Firmness is necessary for peace. The "tfonitertr contains a decree founded on a re port of the Minister of Public Instruction, enacting that, with the consent of the bishop, pensions may be conferred on old or infirm priests of more than thirty years' standing. Count Henri Martini, one of the Lombard emi grants whose property has been confiscated by Aus tria, and now a naturalized Sardinian subject, and a member of the Sardinian parliament, arrived in Paris yesterday. It is reported that he has come on a secret mission. The " fusion " is again spoken of for the twentieth time. A legitimist sounded M. Thiers a day or two ago upon this subject. lam told M. Thiers said, " All I have to say to the Count de Chambord is this: Let him get upon the top of the Vienna church steeple and cry continually, ' Constitution! Charter!' as loud as he can." It seems that many reputed Orleanists have lately been giving the Count do Chambord anything but constitutional advice. However the legitimists and Orleanists may find it difficult to agree among themselves, they still separately and collectively occasion much un easiness to the government. A request was lately sent to the Belgian cabinet that the exiled generals might be sent away from Brussels during the nuptial festivities of the Duke of Brabant, the object being to prevent any meeting between the Orleans princes and the." African sabres." I am assured that King Leopold thought it prudent in the present crisis of continental affairs to comply with this request, and the departure of General Changarnier from Belgium, recently an nounced, is attributable to this motive. M. Henri Chevreau, the newly appointed Prefect of Nantes, was originally intended to succeed M. Berger in the Prefecture of the Seine, but at the last moment it was considered so important in the event of war, to have a tried and trusty imperialist in Brittany, to watch the movements of the legitimists there, that his destination was changed. The market for ltentes has been dull throughout the day, and at the termination of business a general decline of prices had taken place. In the Three per Cents. there was a fall of 25c., and in the Four-and a-Half per Cents. of 30c., both for the end of the month ; whilst for money the Three per Cents. de clined 20c., and the Four-and-a-Half per Cents. 25c. In Bank of France shares there is no change to re port. The final quotations were :—For cash : Three per Cents., 76.80; Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 101.75. For the account : Three per Cents., 76.60; Four-and- 1 a-Half per Cents., 101.40. Bank stock, 2,685. Northern, 880.50; Orleans, 10.55; Paris and Strasbourg, 893; Paris and Lyons, 900; Paris and Rouen, 1040 ; Lyons to the Mediterranean, 723 ; Western, 723; Rouen and Havre, 490; Bordeaux and Cette, 600. HOLLAND. ROTTERDAM, TUESDAY. In the preamble to the bill for removing the ob structions to trade in the Moluccas—a bill just laid before the Second Chamber—it is stated that the original object of the Dutch in closing the above islands to trade, was to maintain the government monopoly in the production of the articles known under the general name of spices. Tho supplies, however, of those articles furnished to Europe from other quarters, and the establishing of the free port of Singapore, whereby the smuggling trade was greatly facilitated, had rendered that monopoly far leas valuable. The bill declares in favour of render ing four ports in the Moluccas free ports, viz., Ternate, Amboina, Bands, and Kajelie. Much im portance is attached to the making of the last-named port a free one, inasmuch as it is already much fre quented by British ships (bound for China), for the purpose of taking in water and other provisions, and as it lies on the way to Australia. With regard, however, to the importation of fire-arms, gunpowder, and opium, the bill proposes to allow the Governor- General of India, to make whatever local regulations he may think necessary. In the preamble the government express the hope that the Chamber will lose no time in discussing and passing the bill. The cattle disease still prevails in parts of Holland. According to the Friesland Courant, the authorities ordered last week 50 more horned cattle to be destroyed, in order to prevent the spreading of the longziekte (disease of the lungs). The total number killed in that province as a precautionary measure, amounts to not less than 8,209. In his reply to the deputation that presented yes terday the address of the Second Chamber, the King of Holland observed that he was gratified to find that the Chamber had justly appreciated the motives which made him anxious to maintain the liberties and rights of all his subjects. The exiitence of re ciprocal confidence between the government and the chamber, formed the strergth of the constitution. He was happy to find the chamber desirous to in crease that strength, and to draw claser the bond of union between the Netherlands and the Orange dynasty. Such a disposition of mind would, under Divine Providence, bring forth happy fruits for the country. SPAIN. Accounts from Madrid of the 23rd inst. state that all the ministers were to proceed on the following day to Araojuez, to assist at a Cabinet Council which was t.) be held in the evening in that resi dence. Private letters state that the prevalent opinion at Madrid was that the Lersundi Cabinet is lost beyond hope with the retirement of M. Bermudez de Castro, the only minister of the last three cabinets whose character and acts inspired the public with any de gree of confidence. M. Pastor, the new finance minister, is scarcely known to the public ; he is the brother-io-law of M. Salamanca, of railway noto riety. M. Gonzalo Moron, a deputy, and a man of mark in Spain, has addressed a spirited note to the Nacion upon the present slate of affairs, and thus expresses the wishes of the Spanish nation : " We want," says he, " for ministers men who, while inspiring the nation with confidence, shall be the ministers of Queen Isabella, and of her only. Let us no more have seven names good only to till a gap, appointed by we know not whom, nominated one knows not how, and representing we know not what. Let us have no more bastard combinations, but a ministry which shall express the free will of the Queen, and stand out as the representative of public interests. All this and nothing less we must demand of the Queen. The history of ministerial crises in this country has always been a series of mystification for the country. It is time to put an end to this system." Nothing perhaps shows the indifference of East India Company to progress with the age and t g io incompetency more than their furlough regulation,. g. these regulations a number of the higher grades or officers cannot visit England while on leave of Anse l% from any cause, without forfeiting their situations 4 though they might visit any place between Initialed t i t Cape of Good Hope and Austaulia. This prohib:tieg from visiting England was reasonable when the voya ge and from India and England occupied a twelvemegek. Within the last 12 years, however, the eatablishinettd steam packet communication between India and Englae4 by the Peninsular and Oriental Company has reduced th e time occupied in visiting England and returnieg India to three months—in fact, a person can reach lingliat from Bombay in a month, still the East IndiscCoMp% have refused to amend their furlough regulations, note% standing they have been urged over and over again to dog No one could ever account for the obstinacy of the Eira India Company in adhering to old rules, which them e ", of events had rendered so absurd, unless by attributiqg to an antipathy to the enterprising stesm packet company who have done so much for India by b r i ng i ng it in mei close and intimate connexion with the mother country b e the furlough regulations have undoubtedly deprived th latter company of a considerable revenue from naut li ," who would have travelled by the India nverland route, d they had been permitted to do so. That the F.ot India Company have birue no good will to the Peninsular nag Oriental Company is evident, from their refusal for so tea l years to give up the carrying of a considerable poroong the Indian mails to the Oriental Company, in oppositioeu the wishes of the government, and the mercantile coma % nity both in India and England, and when even they they could not carry them so theaply, nor sU s hptdl:lo.4 as the latter company. THE 4.11.11 T IN INDIA. The following order has been issued by Lai Frederick Fitzelurence Head.quarters, Mahable.hwur, May 13, Ig3. 13y the Commander-ina:bief. " The Commander-in-Chief is pleased to direct tho tire discontinuance of the leather stock io all the ass, Compaay's European regiments under this prtsidenty, a i officers commanding European corp: will he pleased 4. coroingly to carry this order into t ffict as early as may. cable. " The collars of the coats and jackets will he hereafter cut square (the i'russian collar), and made to close in f r., with hooks and eyes, sod nothing is to be worn inside ks, yond a plain white shirt collar, of sufficient depth to p► vent the soiling of the lining of the coat collar, wit* being visible above it—a small tly of the enlist. of the fadup must be placed so as to prevent the shirt beiug seen 3ttlitg the hooks and eyes. "The Commander-in• Chief farther directs the mar discontinuance of the black silk neckerchief, which hi lordship has ohscrved that the soldiers of some Euroons corps are in the habit of wearing with their white *kip, and which has never been sanctioned by auy compete's. u. thority. The collars of all jackets are to be made to don in front, in the same mariner as those of the costs. " The Commander-in-Chief has remarked that the cloth. ing of the non-coramissioned officers and soldiers in geeng is too tightly made and fitted, particularly across the dot and round the arms—the very portion of a man's body which requires to be left free and easy for those who're intended to use the firelock, on the offensive or defeasive. " The trousers in most instances are en absurdly a& about the waist, and even the hips, that the soldiers tag with difficulty go through the extension motion. " Commanding officers are strictly desired to give their especial attention to these points at the next issue of clothing. officers and soldiers will sit &vett their messes with their jackets open. They are to be per milted to walk about in the immediate vicinity of their lines or barracks in forage caps with their jackets open; but slouu:d they proceed into the bazaar, or town, or other inhabited part of the cantonment, they must wear their jackets and collars buttoned up. White cop and covers an to be worn from eight a.m. till five p.m. " Non-commissioned officers and soldiers, being pro. hibited from wearing their side-arms when off duty, Ira not be required to wear their side- belts on such occsoioce for the future. " The blue calico trousers, barrack change, are to worn, as a general rule, on drill parades or tatigrue dot^ and on the line of march ; and the officers and men of oil regiments, European and native, are to parade on all cieck sions in the same coloured trousers—black, white, or blue. "Now that so much ease is given to the soldier, by re. lieving him of the stock on parade and on guard, the eol:u of the coat or jacket is never to be turned down, except to the line of march." DEATII OF MR. PENDARVES, M.P.—We regret to announce that E. W. W. Pendarves, Esq., M.P. for the Western Division of Cornwall for a long series of years, de- parted this life on Sunday last, at his seat, neer Cambarm. It is the general expectation that Michael Williams, Erq.. of Trewince, in Owcatnap, will present himself as a midi date for the representation. It is uncertain if a candidate on the anti-free•trade question will oppose this gentleman. TESTIMONIAL TO MR. HITCIIENS.—A public dinner took place on Thursday, at Tavistock, for the pap pose of presenting Mr. J. H. Ifitchens, of mining celebrity, with a piece of plate, of the valne of 6001. The affair was a very brilliant one, several triumphal arches having bees erected, and the company enlivened by the cheering mane of the Royal Marine Band. The testimonial consists of three splendid candelabra, weighing nearly 1,400 ounce, manufactured by Messrs. Etkington and Co. The eentrd candelabra rests on a plateau, representing rugged rock, ott which are six figures of miners, in three groups, enticingly employed in operations, with the shovel, pick, and gad, and blasting ; one of these figures points upwards to the testimonial itself, and another downwards to an inscription on a shield on the base, on which also are two others, cos. taining the Cornish motto, " One and All," and the arms of Mr. Ilitchens. On the lower branches of the sum ate two figures representing the arts and sciences. There In two other candelabra of smaller dimensions, intended foe the upper and lower ends of the table, also standing m rocky bases, and ornamented in similar style with mining emblems; the whole farming beautiful specimens of art, worthy the object for which it is intended.—An excellent dinner was provided in the ball room of Northway's Bedford Hotel, to which upwards of ISO sat down. Mr. H. Peet, of London, presided and presented the testimonial to Mr. Hitchens, who having responded in appropriate teems, various toasts followed, among which were " Success to Mining and Mining Adventure," " The Committee,"" The Subscribers" &c., and the meeting broke up. • INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETT.-At the annual general meeting of the Incorporated Law Society, held on the 21st instant, at their hall in Chancery-lane, a resolution was passed reducing the admission fee of members to 31. The fund out of which the ground was purchased and the building erected was originally raised in shares of 251. each. Some of the leading members of the profession subscribed 60e1. ; runny 250/., others 1001., and the rest 501. or 25/. Thus 50,0004 was collected, and a charter obtained in IS3I. In 1845 a new charter was granted, and the shares of the members were relinquished, each retaining one as a quali6• cation. The admission fee of new members was fixed at hit, and subsequently the country members were admitted for 101. With a view to extend the usefulness of the society, and bring together a larger proportion of the members of the profession, the admission fee has now been reduced to 51. Thus the younger class of practitioners may join the society and have access to an extensive library, with the right of attending all the lectures, and of using the hall and officers and the articled clerks of all the members may be admitted to the library and lectures for a small annual subscription. Ten of the 30 members of the council go out of °rhea annu ally. The following gentlemen were re•elteted members of the council William Strickland Cookson, William Lozhara Ferrer, John Irving Meanie, John Swarbrick Gregory. George Herbert Kinderley, Germain Lavie, Edw. Leigh Pemberton, William Sharpe, William Tooke, Edw. Archer Wilde,—and the following gentlemen were elected auditon. Stacey Grimaldi, Nathaniel Charles Edwin Ward Scadding. - - TORTURING A CAT.—A aline of cruelty to a cat came on for hearing before a bench of migistratcs at the Devonport Guildhall, on Wednesday last. Two parties were implicated, namely, a lieutenant in h , r Majesty's3 s th Regiment, named 'Myth, and a private in the same corps named Paul Lancaster. The case hating been brought under the cognisance of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, they immediately obtained awa rrrr t against the defendants, and Mr. Rundle, of the firm of Beer and Rundle, solicitors to the society, appeared fur the prowcution. From the evidence of a youth named Henry White, who was passing the barracks on the previous Wed nesday morning, at the moment the occurrence took place, it would appear that he saw two dogs attacking a cat at St. George's barracks, and the two defendants were look ing on and appeared to exceedingly enjoy the sport. After the dogs had nearly killed the cat, Lancaster took from his pocket a knife and ran it through the cat's hinder legs, and skinned it. Witness heard the defendant remark whilst he was doing it that he never saw a thing so hard to kill in all his life. After doing so the defendant cut the cat's head off, and said he was going to take the carcase to the ferrets. A constable deposed that he found in a stable belonging to the barracks, in a box where there were ferrets, part of a cat skinned, and which the ferrets had been eating. Lieut. Blyth, in defence, said he was attracted in the direction of the cat and dogs, by hearing a great noise, but denied that he had urged the dogs to tight. The other defendant did not deny shinning the cat, but said he did not know who put the dogs to fight. The cat belonged to him. The bench, after a short consultation. ordered Blyth to be fined Os. sad Lancaster 31., and the coots of the court. 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