The Express. — London, England, 1867-04-11 00:00:00

CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERALISM. "TUE DAY." Price One Yuan, —Office, 49, Esazedreat, Strand. B ENSON'S WATCHES and CLOCKS. By Special Appointment to H.R.11. THE PRINCE OF WALES. Prize Medal, London, Class 33 ; Dublin, Class 10. WATCH Ea—l riwomctcrs. keyless, Repeaters,Chron CLOCKS— For Di ing and Drawing Hooms,Carriages,Churc de. JEWELLERY speeialities in Monograms, CryaUda, Diamonds, mid Fine Gold. PLATE., and WoRKS id ART in Bronze, by Leading Artists. PRICES and Deacriptions, see Illustrated Pamphlet, post tree. W4t,h,. ;ma CL aka sent to all parts of the world. J. W. BENSON, 15, OLD BONDiSTRRET. Steam Factory and City Show Rooms, fix and tio. LUDGATE-HILL Paris Exhibition, 1587, English Section, clue 23. BROWN and POLSON'S CORN FLOUR for CHILDREN'S DIRT. To obtain extra profit by the tale other kinds see scenettreet eared instead et BROWN and POLSON'S. each packet. John Brown." "John Poison." la Idgned by the Main ea the erpreoo. TO CORRESPONDEVN. advertliemeots 'Mended for "The Express," London Evening .Par, must be at the Office, 10, Bouterte-atreet, by Two ef on the day of publication. DRUR Y LA N R. TON EVENING, 008 ROY. — Me;;ls. Phelps, T. Rwtnhourne, W. Harrison, Mgrityre. Barrett, nod iltrrourt . Mesdames M. Cross, R. G. Le Thiere, tin t p th , and E. Brungliam.—To ennclude with WANTED HUSBANDS FOR SIX. Miss Hudspeth. HAYMARKET. Tnpl EVENING. PERFECTION. Mr. Kendal & Mins Brake.— AS lOU LIKE IT. Meseta. Howe s Compton, Farren n• dale, Koper', etc. Scott.Si.l,lo.l3, Moore, F l tzwilllanl, R.:.—And HIS FlltsT Cil NIPAON E. Mr. Compton, Re. PEI NCFNES. Tars IiirMING, NO. I,ROCNIS — TITE CORNER. Mews. Shore and Forrester.—And IT IS NEVER ToO LATE TO MEND. Messrs. Vining. E. Villiers, Verner, Shore, Calltaens, and Mellon: Misses Page end Rodgers. LITEI TRII EVENIN(I. iI.IMIIOIT/.l;iiiT . Mr. Price and Miss Kate Bidltitp.—Aud TII E IH K Ezi MOTTO. Mr. Fechter, Messrs. Jordan, Eatery. Price, Fitzpatrick, ttc. ; Muck lienrade, Elswurt:iy, tiratton, and Carlotta Leclemi. STRAND. THIS EVRNING, SW Miff! lalif`i AND WIVE. 9. Mr. BeI ford.—ESMEILALDA ; OK, THE SENSATION GOAT. Mears. Morse, Junes, Robson. and Turner Swanborough, Hughes, Weatheralq, ex.—And THE FRENCH EXHIBITION. HOLBORN. Tam ammo, MY TURN NRXT. Mr. Belmont; Mime soots and 1.0111101-41 A FLYING SCUD. Mesas. Neville, Bel move, Blake, Vollaire, ttc. Mesdames F. Josephs, C. Mandan, Bessie Foote, friddes, Lounos, Raymond, de. BRITANI , TIA. THIN EVENING, 711 K OLD MINT OF SOUTHWARK. Miss (lard UrillllllB.—F.ll . , r. Mrs. Lane. Illows Edwin. and booth; blew& Higwood, Elton, de.—Aud THE EAtilJe. AND CHILD. Nhas Clara 141111118. MOO WATER AT LONDON BRIDOL TIN DAY tren......Afternoon, Th. Im. ZO-MOlutow—Morulng, ton. LONDON, TII URSDAY, A PRIL 11. WHEN the First NAPOLEON returned from Elba he solemnly acknowledged, by the grant of the Acte Additionet, the impossibility of governing France without liberty, in the absence of military glory. Whether, had the Allies consented to his re covered usurpation, ho would or could have kept his word, and disarmed, and proclaimed an Empire of Peace, is a question that must ever remain un answered. At St. Helena, however, he repeatedly and emphatically declared the sincerity of his adhesion to the Aete Additiwo.l. He also, it is true, asserted that his original desire had been to unite all Europe in one grand confederation, and to establish perpetual in ternational peace ; only the perverse ingra titude and unbelief of nations had limited his beneficent purposes to conquest and subjugation, to the partitioning of kingdoms among the mem bers of his own family, and the enrolment of sub ject populations under his liberating standards. The Restoration gave liberty to France, but un happily with a sparing and grudging hand ; and when the reaction triumphed in the coun cils of the BOURBON monarchy, it was obliged to fall back upon glory; if glory it could be called which consisted in sending an army to a country distracted by civil war to lend its aid in the de struction of liberty. But mark the result of that re actionary policy at home. It combined the liberals and the Bonapartists, and made the latter the cham pions at once of national honour and public liberty. The Monarchy of July was founded by Liberals and Bonapartista, and began by attempting to satisfy both the passion for liberty and the passion for glory. It ended by disappointing both, and fell before an insurrection in the name of liberty, of a people who had neither all the liberty they asked for, nor all the glory. The Republic of '4B gave so much liberty that the nation had no need of glory ; but the " old parties," in order to get rid of this excess of liberty, • combined with an ignorant peasantry to elect a NAPOLEON in the name of glory. Not that the French Conservatives called for war. They bad not forgotten the terrible conscriptions of the First Empire ; but they wanted order, and they were destined to get more of it than they desired. The Empire was restored ; but without the charter of the Hundred Days. It was to be the Empire of barracks and bayonets pure and simple, with every public right and liberty suppressed, ex cept the right and liberty to eat, drink, and be merry. But soon came the inevitable problem. How could a Napoleonic Empire without the Ade Additionel exist without glory ? The EMPEROR at Bordeaux, at a banquet of " men of " business," declared that the Empire was peace. But peace, as all the world knows, means liberty at home, and it remained to be seen whether the Second Empire was capable of restoring the liberty it had de stroyed. What followed ? A sudden and im mense expansion of industry and commerce, a devouring fever of speculation, a rage for public works, all the blessings of order, but of order without security. From that moment all Europe became that " armed camp " which Mr. DISRAELI deplored the other day. A new era of wars and foreign expeditions was ushered in. First, the Crimean war, which, as history will show, if Russia provoked, the French Government had tempted it to provoke. Then the Italian war, transacted in a tite-a-tite at Plombieres for the valuable consi deration of Nice and Savoy. Then the war in Mexico for the establishment of an empire under a French protectorate, as a counterpoise to the Republic of the United States ; then a war for the liberation of Poland, if England would have contributed a contingent to the French forces; then a Congress of Paris to show cause why France should not resume her natural frontiers ; then on the more or leas direct refusal of all the Powers to take part in such a Congress, the abandonment of Denmark to the tender mercies of Germany, and a second edition of the Plom bieres transaction with Count BISMARCK for the aggrandisement of Prussia, with conditional com pensations for an attentive neutrality ; then this little affair with the King of HOLLAND which has expanded into " the Luxemburg question," and now convulses every Bourse in Europe. Such has been the peaceful and beneficent course of the Second Empire, which the " men of business," who disdain principles and dread liberty as a nuisance, acclaimed as a reign of order and tran quillity. It has enriched a host of cynical speculators in uncertainty and confusion—it has debauched or .stet e!ied the publi,• mind of a great people—but so far from establishing peace or THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 11, 1867. order it has shaken the .security of every neighbouring State, turned the Continent' into one vast camp, and arrested the hopes of civilization ; while professing the most pacific sentiments and even entertaining all nations at a festival of industry, it is at this very moment in triguing to escape from its demotic difficulties by pandering to the barbarous lust for glory, and on a false point of honour musing the pas sions of a multitude of eager dupes. It is impos sible to examine impartially this so-called Luxemburg question without perceiving that the transaction of the Emperor of the FRENCH with the King of HOLLAND can only be compared with that of a bill discounter who offers a needy spendthrift a loan at 60 per cent. and pays half in cigars. The King of HOLLAND has not a shadow of title to dispose of the undoubted military rights of the Germanic Confederation in the Grand Duchy. That Confederation, it may be pleaded, is no longer in existence ; but the Powers that founded it exist ; Germany exists ; Prussia, one of the chiefs of that Confederation, exists, and it was not to the Confederation in its mere federative capacity, but as representing Ger many, that the military rights which Prussia still holds or exercises in the Grand Duchy of Luxem burg belonged. And it is for that Ger many which Prussia is entitled to represent to renounce its military rights in Luxemburg, or to defend them in the common interests of all its States. If Luxemburg is to be given to France because France grudges the gnawing power of Prussia and of Germany, or because the Emperor of the FRENCH wants a sop to take the taste of Mexico out of the mouths of his people, why, let it be understood once for all, that the peace of Europe is to depend on the readiness of every Power to follow the changes of the French Em- PEROR'S policy, and to make things pleasant to a Sovereign who dare not give his people liberty, and must keep them quiet with some sort of "glory." For such is the complexion of affairs to which sixteen years of Imperialism have brought Europe. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs comes down to the Corps Legis latif and to the Senate with a message of twenty lines sufficient to reassure speculators for a rise for a single afternoon, and to satisfy all dispas sionate observers, who are not "men of business," that the peace of Europe will never be worth six months' purchase while it remains at the mercy of one man's convenience or caprice. THE statement from Madrid, purporting to give the reply of the Spanish MINISTER of FOREIGN AFFAIRS to a question put to him in the Senate respecting the relations cf the Spanish Government with England, has very naturally been regarded as presaging a refusal to grant the just redress which Lord STANLEY has demanded in the name of this country. General CALONOE stated that the Government would "cause the rights of the " nation and the decision of the Spanish tribunals to " be respected." This language does not necessarily imply an intention to deny us justice, but it is jus:. such language as would be employed by a govern ment which had that intention, and we fear that no other inference can be drawn from it. should be drawn between those new pommelling the fran elite sad ibthe to be enfranchised without some strong reasons justifying the change. If the ministry be wise, they will not stake the fate of their measure upon a condition open to many objections, and which could in no case have more than a tempo rary existence in the Statute-book. But Mr. Gladstone's other amendments are of a totally different character, and as they show that he still regards a 5/. rating as the beat test of fitness, he cannot expect that the oonimittee will adopt them. No one can doubt what their fate will be. It was decided on Monday afternoon. The Daily News points out that the new amendment of which Mr. Gladstone has given notice, and which ap peared in yesterday's Ezpreas, raises at the very threshold the question of personal rating. If this clause be carried them will be an end of discussions about the compound householder, for he will be, as he ought to be, in just the name position as the householder who pays his rates directly into the hands of the overseer. I When the artificial barriers raised to keep out the compound householder, or, as the friends of the bill would say, to call out his " prudence and energy," have been removed, there will be no occasion for the artificial aids by which a show is made of enabling him to surmount them. Either the compound householder is fit to receive the gift of the fraschiao or he is not. If fit, there is no need to impose on him the trouble ►nd inconvenience not required of anyone else; if unfit, he ought not to be allowed to acquire a vote by a payment to the overseer. It would perhaps be rash to conclude that Mr. Gladstone will receive the undivided support of all who obtained seats at the last election on the profession of liberal prin ciples ; but there can be no doubt that this motion gives members who have lately gone astray a good opportunity of rectifying their position, and making it intelligible to the country. The Past believes it is correct in stating that the tem porary disturbance in tho liberal party has been almost wholly removed. On reflection, the course adopted by the handful of members at the meeting in the tea-room does not seem to have satisfied mazy of those who at the mo ment supposed it to have been the wisest or safest solution of the difficulty. It is therefore more than likely that, in the approaching division, either to-night or at whatever time Mr. Gladstone's amendments are put to the vote, the liberals will unite and give their whole support to their natural leader. Contrary to the statement in Mr. Disraeli•s circular, the Siamlard says that the term of residence may be a matter of compromise, but by the personal payment of rates the government must stand or fall. If in an evil hour the House of Commons should consent to repeat the blunder and the crime of 1859, Lord Derby will not shrink from appealing to the country. The Hera/c/believes that Mr. Gladstone before to-morrow evening will find it expedient to appear in the part which Mr. Coleridge played on Monday. The Day prefers both to Mr. Gladstone's scheme and Mr. Disraeli's, a union which Earl Grosvenor suggested between the rate-paying clause of the one and the rental clause of the other, and it trusts to the tact and experience of the noble lord to bring the two together. The star urges upon all liberal members that it is of the utmost importance they should cordially aid in permitting issue to be joined in the mode determined on by the leader of the party, to prevent the fatal consummation of having a purely conservative Reform Bill saddled upon the country. The Telegraph assures every man who joins in defeating the government to-night that he will live to be glad that be had a voice in striking from the tory bill the insults which it oilers to the people under the name of reform. PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION. • * HOME OF COMMONS.—Aran, 10. TESTS ABOLITION (OXFORD) BILL Order for committee read—lotion made, and question put, " That it be an instruction to the committee, that they have power to extend the provisions of the bill to the University of Cambridge."—(blr. Fawcett)—The house divided—Ayes, 253 ; noes, 167. AYES. Acland, T. D. Forster, C. Murphy, N. D. Adam, W. P. Forster, W. E. Nicol, J. D. Agnew, Sir A. Foster, W. 0. Norwood, C. M. Akroyd, E. Fortescue, C. P. O'Brien, Sir P. Allot, W. S. Fortescue, D. F. O'Conor lion, The Amberley, kflsct. French, Col. Ogilvy, air J. Andover, VJICS. Gaselee, Seri. Oliphant, L. Armstrong, R. Gaakell, J. M. O'Loghlen, Sir C. Ayrton, A. 8. Gibson, T. M. °Aortic, IL B. Aytoum.B. S. Gilpin. C. Otway, A. J. Bagwell J . Gladstone, W. E. Owen, Sir H. Baines, k Glyn, G. Padmore, It. Barclay, A. C. Goldmild, Sir F. Pease, J. W. Barnes, T. Goldianid, J. Peel, A. W. Barron, Sir H. Gower, F. L. Pelham, Lord Barry, A. H. Closchen, G.J. Philips, It. N. Barry, C. It. Graham, W. Pim, .1. Bass, A. Gregory, W. H. Platt, J. Baas, M. T. Greville-Nugeut,Col Pollard-UrquharkW Baxter, W. E. Grey, Sir G. Portman, W. H. Barley, T. Gridley, Cspt. Potter, K Beaumont, W. B. Grosvenor, Capt. Potter, T. B. Berkeley, H. F. Gurney, & Power, Sir J. Biddulph, Col. Hadfield, G. Prise, A. G. libidulph. M. Hamilton, E. W. Price, W. P. Bingham, Lord Monkey, T. Pritchard, J. Blake, J. A. Roomer. Sir J. Pugh, D. Blennerhamett,Blrß Hardcastle, J. A. Bearden, D. J. Bonham-Carter, J. Harris, J. D. Rebow, J. G. Brand, H. Harlington, Marg. of Robertson, D. Bright, J. Hartley, J. Rothschild, Baron Browne, Lord J. Hay, lord J. M. de Bruce, Lord C. Hay, Lord W. Russell, F. W. Buller, Sir A. W. Hayter, Capt. St. Aubyn, J. Butler, C. S. ifeadlam, T. E. Salomon., Aid. Butler-Johnstone, II llemiersoa.J. &studs, J. ILYA. Bunion, Sir T. F. Henley, Lord Samuelson, B. Calcraft, J. H. Ilibbert, J. T. llodskinson, G. fkunderson, E. Candlish, J. Scholeffeld W. C•irdwell, E. Hoiden. I. Scott, Str W. Carnegie, C. Holland, E. Neely, C. Olive, T. Howard, C. W. Seymour, A. Cavendish, Lord E. Hughey, 'l. Seymour, If. D. CaveinUsh, Lord F. Hughes. W. 11. Matto, it. D. Cheetham, J. Hurst, It. H. Sheriff, A. C. Clay, J. Ingham, It. Simeon, Ski. Clement, W. J. Jermise, Sir J. Smith, J. Clinton, tool A. Kearsley, ('apt. Smith, J. A. Clinton. Lord E. Kennedy, T. Smith, J. B. Cogan, W. 11. Kinglake, J. A. Speira, A. A. Colebrooke. air T. Kingseote, Col. Blacpoole. W. Coleridge, J. D. Knatchbull -Hugs- FdroleY, W. 0. Collier, Sir It. sen, K Stansfeld, J. Colthurst, Sir G. Laing, B. Stock, 0. (olvile, C. R. lAyard, A. H. Stone, W. H. Cowen, J. Lamont, J. Stuart, Col. Cowper, H. F. Lawrence, W. Stucley, Mr G. IS. Craufurd, E. H. Lawson, J. A. Sullivan, E. Crossley, Sir F. teattuun, W. H. Sykes, C. Daiglish, B. Lee, W. Synan, B.J. Davey, R. Leeman, 0. Tile, W. Davie, Mr H. Lefevre, G. J. Torrena, W. T. De La Poer, K Lewis, H. Tracy, C. R. Denman, G. Locke, J. Trevelyan, G. 0. Dent, J. D. Lusk. A. Yandekur, Col. Dewing, Sir E. MacEroy, K Vanderbyl, P. Devereux, R. J. li'lletuts. J. N. Verney, Sir H. Dillwyn, L. L. "Mackie, J. Villien, C. P. Dodson, J. G. Mackinnon, Capt. Vivian, Capt. Duff, M. E. linsgan, P. Waring, C. huff, It. W. Maguire. J. F. Watkin, K W. Dundas, F. Ilarjorilmnks, Sir D. Western, Sir T. B. Dundas, Sir D. Martin, C. W. Whalley, G. 11. Dunlop, A. C. Matheson, A. Whatman, J. Edwards, C. Merry, J. White, Capt. Eliot Lord Milbank, F. A. Whits, J. Enfield, Vinci Mill, J. 8. Whitworth. B. Erskine, Vice-Adm. Mills, J. R. Williamson, Sir 11. &monde, J. Mitchell, T. A. Winnington, Sir T. Ewing, H. E. Moffatt, O. Woods, H. Eykyii, R. Monk, C. .1. Wynne, W. R. Fawcett. IL Monsen, W. Wyvill, M. Finlay, A. S. Moore, C. Young. R. FitsPairlek, J. W. Morris, G. TELLERS. Foley, H. W. Morris, W. Nike, Sir W. Follambe, F.. 1. Morrison, W. Neate, C. THE GOVERNMENT BILL FUR THE PREVE.I - OF CORRUPT PRACTICES AT ELEC TIONS. This morning was issued the government bill to provide for "the more effectual prevention of corrupt practices and undue influence at parliamentary elections." It enacts that the Speaker shall form a panel of election commissioners for the investigation of charges of bribery, treating, or undue influence made in election petitions. No person is to be a commissioner in the case of an English election unless he is qualified as follows:—" Is a barrister or serjeant-at-law of not less than seven years' standing, and in constant practice, or is or has been a judge of one of her Majesty's superior courts in England or of the Court of Admiralty, or a commissioner in Bankruptcy, or a judge in • county court, or Recorder of London, or a stipendiary magistrate, or a judge of some supreme court in some part of her Majesty's colonial dominions, or in India" As regards Scotland no person is to be a commissioner unless he is • member of the Faculty of Advocates of not less than seven years' standing, and in actual practice, or is or has been a judge of a court of session. In the case of Ire land no person is to be a commissioner unless he is a bar rister of not less than seven years' standing, or is or has been a judge of one of her Majesty's superiorcourta, or is or has been Recorder of Dublni,or Judge of theLandedEetates court, or an assistant-barrister. Within seven days after the receipt of an election petition the Speaker is to select from the panel of the commissioners three persons to investigate the charges, name one of such persons to be chairman, and forward the names of the persons so selected to the returning officer from whom the petition was received. Within fourteen days after receiving the names of the commissioners the returning officer is to give notice to the parties of the time and place for the in quiry. On the receipt of the Report of the Commissioners, which is to state whether the candidate has been guilty of bribery, treating, or undue influence, personally or by his agents, the Speaker is to lay the document on the table, and, in the absence of any mo tion to the contrary, the necessary directions will be given by the house for either confirming or altering the return, or ordering a writ for a new election to be issued. Any member of the House of Commons may, within fourteen days after the report has been laid on the table, move that it be referred to an election committee, on grounds to be stated by him ; and in the event of its being carried, the petition is to be deemed an election peti tion within the meaning of the act, and dealt with amoral ingly, , provided the petitioner has paid the costs. Clauses 16 to 18 are as follows : " Any candidate for a county or borough who is found guilty of the offences of bribery, treating, or undue influ ence, or any of such offences, by a report of the election commissioners under this act, and whose return is in con sequence made void, shall, in addition to any penalties to which he is otherwise subject by law, be disqualified as follows, that is to say: if found personally guilty of any of the above offences, he shall, the first time that he is so found guilty, be incapable of being elected, or sitting in the House of Commons for • period of five years ; and if found personally guilty of such offence • second time, be shall thenceforth be in capable during the remainder of his life of being elected or sitting in the House of Commons. If found guilty by his agents of any of the above offences, his election shall be void, and he shall be incapable of being elected or sitting in parliament for the same county or borough dewing the parliament then in existence. " The commissioner, shall report specially to the Speaker the names of any persons, other than the candi date complained of, who have been proved before them to have been guilty of bribery, treating, or undue influence, or of any of such offences, and who have not been fur nished by them with certificates of indemnity in pursuance of the power hereinafter given ; and such report, with the evidence thereon, shall be laid before the Attorney- General with a view to his instituting at the public ex pense a prosecution against such persons if the evidence is, in his opinion, sufficient to support a prosecution. " If any candidate knowingly employs at any elec tion the services of any person who before the passing of this act has been or may hereafter be found guilty of bribery, treating, and undue influence, or any of such offences, by any competent court, or by any committee of the House of Commons, or by the election commissioners under this act, or by any commissioners sppointed under any other act to inquire into the conduct of elections, the election of such candidate shall be void." With regard to the powers of the the following important provision : there is " The commissioners appointed to investigate the charges contained in an election petition shall have such powers, rights, and privileges's on the occasion of any action or suit are vested in or exercisable by any of her Majesty's superior courts, or in any judge thereof, in any of the matters fol lowing ; that is to say—(l.) The enforcing the attendance of witnesses, and examining them on oath. affirmation, or otherwise, as they or he may think fit : (2.) The compel ling the production of documents: (3.) The punishing persona guilty of contempt: and a summons under the hand or hands of one or more of the com missioners may be substituted for and shall be equiva lent to any form of process capable of being issued at law in any action or suit for enforcing the attendance of witnesses or compelling the production of documents. Any warrant of committal to prison brayed for the purpose of enforcing the powers conferred by this section shall be under the hand or hands of one or more of the com missioners, and shall specify the prison to which the offender is to bo committed, and shall not authorise the imprisonment of any offender for a period exceeding three calendar months." The inquiry is to be conducted in public, due notice being given of the time and place of holding it, and all questions before the commissioners are to be decided by a majority. The question of meta is left in the bands of the commis sioners, and their certificate is to be conclusive evidence of a debt due from one party to another. Every person who wilfully gives false evidence is to be liable to the penalties of perjury. The commissioners are to be protected as justices in the performance of their duties; and it is provided that no action shall be brought against them or any other person, for anything done in the execution of the act, unless it be brought within six calendar months next after the doing of it. It appears that the Mr. Biddulph who was present at the meeting of the " new cave" on Monday was Mr. R. Myddleton Iliddulph, M.P., for Denbighshire, and not Mr. Michael Biddulph, M.P., for Herefordshire. The former is stated by " Dod" to be in favour of " gradual reforms in church and state." Mr. D. M`Laren says he has always doubted the wisdom of the policy pursued by the liberal party in IWO, in throwing out the Derby Reform Bill, by an amendment moved on going into committee, and all soon as he learned that the present government would consider the carrying of Mr. Coleridge's instruction as equivalent to throwing out the bill, he at once re solved to vote against it " in order to give the govern ment the benefit of getting she bill into committee, which they appeared so earnestly to desire, and where they hail promised to give way on the details of the clauses to the general wishes of the house." This op portunity has now, by a stretch of courtesy, been granted to them, and the responsibility for the manner in which the opportunity may be employed rests with them only ; " and " adds the hon. member, " I feel free to act as I may think beet respecting all the clauses and proposed amendments in committee." The Right Hon. the Speaker gave his ninth par liamentary full dress dinner last evening, to the following noblemen and gentlemen :—Earl of Dalkeith, Earl of Bec tivc, Viscount Andover, Viscount Curzon, the Hon. Percy Herbert, Major the Hon. A. Anson, Right Hon. Sir John Trollopo, Captain the lion. C. White, Sir James Strong, Sir John Neeld, Mr. Antrobus, Mr. Arthur Russell, Captain Mackinnon, R.N., Mr. Alfred Seymour, Mr. Pollard Urquhart, Mr. Aytoun, Mr. Inner, Mr. A. H. Campbell, Mr. Goodson, Mr. Hartley, Mr. Grant, Mr. Karshike, Mr. Hodtoon, Mr. Kelk, Mr. C. More, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. R.. H. Paget, Mr. Simonds, Mr. Treeby Mr. Reanlen, Mr. Abel Smith, Mr. Vauderbyl, Mr. Williams t Mr. Whit worth, Mr. Wise; Rev. Dr. Meiivale, chaplain ; and Mr. Alfred Denison, private secretary. PAUPERS IN ST. PANCRAS. —At the meeting of the board of guardians of St. Pancras, held yesterday, Mr. Churchwarden Robson in the chair, the officers re ported that there were 10,:t3ii persons receiving in or out door parochial relief, being an increase of 2,008 as conipared with the number at the corresponding period of last year ; also that there were 50 children in the workhouse, for whom no adequate accommodation could be provided in the house, and they could not be received into the district school at Hams-ell, on account of the contract number, 3::•0, being already exceeded by six. THE FORTHCOMING ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION. There is every prospect of a strong exhihiM g at the Royal Academy this year. Most of the lead. lug academician& are exhibitors ; and many of th e other artists have pictures of considerable merit. The circumstances under which those works ar e seen, of course puts criticism out of the questittn for the present, btit we propeit to briefly catalegue some of the principal works of the year. Mr. Frith's " Last Sunday of Charles H." i s founded on an extract from Evelyn 's diary. The King is seated between Lady Castlemaine and the Duchess of Portsmouth. while a page warbles lov e songs, and the profligate courtiers and lathes t.ty and flirt on all sides. A party of gambler+ are at the back, while at the right stands Evelyn, with mournful thoughtful face, scan dalised and pained at what he sees. Scntpuluus attention has been paid to details and accessories, and it is the common report of art circles that this picture is Mr. Frith's master piece. Mr. Creswick contributes a small sea . piece, and some exquisite syl van scenes. M r . Millais gives ua Jephtha Daughter, and three exquisite pictures of children. Jephtha is seated in his tent, clasped in his daughter's arms, while the attendants and the court are retiring mournfully, and as if with a forehode i ., of evil, the precise shape of which not yet known. Everyone who remembers " The First Sermon"—and who does not ?—will be charmed to see the same sweet little chill, but grown older, dancing a minuet in a formal red dress of the period. A pretty child asleep in bed, with its nurse at work by its side, and another just roused from slumber, are both 0 .. quisite pictures, and are among those f.or which one may safely predict a crowd of admirers. Mr. O'Neill has two large pic tures, one of " Luther in his Cell," the other .f " Titian on the Grand Canal at Venice." Luthtr, as is well known, was subject in his youth touts melancholy and abstraction. During one of these he locked himself in his cell and remainLd secluded for some days. A fellow monk, he. coming alarmed, broke the door open and found Luther stretched on the floor in sensible. Other efforts to rouse him from his trance having failed, some choristers were brought in and sang his favourite hymn. 111 r. O'Neill has pourtrayed the moment of returning consciousness ; the bright rosy faces of the singing boys contrasting bravely with the worn ascetic on the floor, and the burly father she is endeavouring to raise him up. The Titian pio. tore is a hint to the ladies of England, concerning the treatment of great artists. It is recorded that when Titian's work was over for the day, high. born Venetian dames called for him in their gen. doles and played and sang while the great artist rested and enjoyed the setting sun. Mr. O'Neill's fine picture represents him doing this. Mr. Elmore's as What is whispered in the closet shall be proclaimed from the house-top," is a view of the roofs of the city of Algiers. The central riga!' is a Moorish woman who is clapping her hands before retailing the choice bits of scandal she has to communicate to her friends. Behind her is another woman in an agony of suspense, lest it should be her secret which has been brought to light ; while on the flat white roofs tin all sides are eastern figures at work and play, and carrying on the business and pleasure of their lives. A faithful pictorial realisation of scenes described in the Bible is a not unfair defini tion of Mr. Elmore's work. Mr. Ansdell's " Ship wrecked Friends " is an enormous picture of sailor with bound-up head who has just been washed ashore with his faithful dog. liege waves are dashing in as if on the point of en gulfing him ; sea-gulls are sweeping overhead, while in the distance lies the shattered hull of the wrecked ship. A Highlander returning house laden with game, his dogs by his side ; and a Spanish scene, showing a group of peasants and fasters praying at a shrine, with the Alhambra in the dis tance, will be also contributed by Mr. Anedell. Mr. J. Feed's " The Poor the Poor's bur. Friend," represents a blind man and child beggtag at a cottage door, at which sits a sturdy fisherman and his child mending nets. The latter is fumbling in his pocket for money ; while the two children eye each other wistfully, and with a world of cha racter in each little face. Mr. Leighton has seve ral line classical pictures, and a picture of Venus. Mr. V. Prinsepe shows a Venetian gambling tteene, and Miriam watching through the bulrushes as th infant Moses floats down the river. Mr. Gale': tine picture of " Christ on the Mount of Olives shows the Saviour on a white ass—painted, by th way, from one of the few veritable Syrian donkey in the country—and a crowd of jubilant Mon giving him enthusiastic welcome. There is world of mournful prescience in the quiet dignity of the Saviour's face, and the effect o f this heightened by the boisterous congratulation , t the varied Oriental group around hint. Pet tit's " Treason" is one of the meet powerful p . tures of the year. A group of conspirators, one cardinal in scarlet, the rest in mail-arm tar sit in secret council, while a sentinel k,-1 at the fastened door. The lb , - ad r Deferred " of Mr. Thomas Brooks is a striking pie ture of a French fishernuan's wife peering anxiously over a stormy sea for her husbands bat, while other wives are praying at the large crucifix behind. Mr. Eyre Crowe's Knighting that sir loin," shows King Charles and his Court in a halt ing lodge, the King in the act of striking the j.tfit, OUR CONTEMPORARIES. (TRIS DAY.) CHIEF JUSTICE COCKBURN ON MARTIAL LAW. Whatever, observes the Times, may be the result of the prosecution commenced against Colonel Nelson and Lieutenant Brand, the charge of the Lord Chief Justice of England has vindicated one vital principle of Eoglish justice. And the theory—that martial law, having been proclaimed by virtue of the royal prerogative, supersedes the action of the civil tribunals—a theory which received an apparent sanction from Mr. Disraeli's reply to Mr. Mill last session, has been luminously dieproved. The Chief Justice at the same time shows that military law as now administered under the Mutiny Act is a diffe rent thing, and is not open to the charge of being an arbitrary system, governed by no fixed principles or rules of procedure. There is no case in which • mockery of justice can be rendered valid by proclamation of martial law. The illegality of Cordon's arrest having scarcely been questioned, it follows that his trial must have been equally illegal, and the Lord Chief Justice did not scruple to de nounce the policy which took him out of the jurisdiction of lawful tribunals which might have acquitted him, and sent him before an unlawful tribunal from which a con viction was confidently expected. The Tinter accepts this authoritative confirmation of constitutional principles from the bench with unqualified satiataction. The Poet, without having any sympathy with the Jamaica committee, says it must be admitted that very startling doctrines have been broached in reference to the right of the executive to proclaim martial law, and that it is high time these doctrines should be brought to • judicial test. The present prosecutions furnish the opportunity for applying that test, and therefore, however confident every one must feel of the result, whether at the bands of a jury or of the Crown, they cannot be regarded as mali cious or vexatious. The Lord Chief Justice has conclu sively shown that neither the Sovereign in this country nor her representatives abroad possess at common law the power of superseding the operations of those tribunals which are provided by the constitution for the administra tion of justice. In suppressing a rebellion the executive may repress force by form, but it cannot create an anoma lous and arbitrary species of jurisdiction. The Tektiropli finds cause for congratulation in the fact that such important principles should be expounded by so eminent • judge, but rather follows his lordship over the ground which he took than offers any opinion of its own. The authoritative exposition of the Lord Chief Justice will take rank, says the Star, with the most famous judi cial deliverances of past times, and future generations will feel the deepest gratitude to Sir Alexander Cockburn for baring extirpated the monstrous theories, the outrageous assumptions of those who have endeavoured to engraft upon the English constitution a system of lawless and irresponsible violence which they, with the recklessness of unscrupulous partisans, have dignified with the name of martial law. The Chief Justice has denounced "the wild doctrines" which Mr. Disraeli and others have endeavoured to foist upon the laws of England. Applying the principles which he had clearly set forth to the case of Mr. Gordon, his lordship had no doubt that hie arrest at Kingston and removal to Monuit Bay was " an arbitrary and totally unjustifiable act ;" that the bulk of evidence against him was " utterly worthless," " mere moonshine and nonsense ;" and that the constitution of the court was illegal, and unauthorised by any law, rule, or usage. The motives of those who arrested, tried, and put hint to death, and the gravity of the peril by which the authorities were, or believed themselves to be surrounded, were elements in the case which a jury alone should determine. The Standard tenders its sympathy to the prisoners adhinst whom adverse fate and unrelenting antagonism have combined. All that they did they did land fide, and th.ir judicial determination was beyond doubt patiently deliberated on and conscientiously arrived at. There is a legal maxim which says that cam mania ernd fad! jus, which might not unreasonably be held to apply in a case like this where legal guilt is admittedly consistent with moral rectitude. THB REFORM BILL AND NR. GLADATONEN AMENDMENTS. As the Timer views matters, the action of the fifty liberal members, more or leas, who met in the too-room last week, has removed all doubt as to the preference for a universal rating suffrage, checked by personal conditions, over the rigid line of a 51. rating suffrage. The amend ment of Mr. Gladstone which stands first, reducing the term of residence to twelve months, is based on such sound reasons that the government are bound to assent to it in fulfilment of their pledge to co-operate with the house. Twelve months is the period of residence required of 101. occupiers under the existing law, and no distinction THE TESTS ADOLMON BILL The Times views with some anxiety the progress of Mr. Coleridge's Tests Abolition Bill. The design of the measure, which is now to be applied to Cambridge as well as to Ox ford, is to destroy the exclusive eharacterof the universities as Church of England institutions, and the Tines does not believe that parliament has sufficiently considered how such an alteration would affect their usefulness as places of education for young men. Parents, it thinks, if such changes were carried out, would no longer send their sons there, and it is unable to see why it is any more unjust that Oxford and Cambridge should be conducted on the denominational principle, than that the London University should be conducted on the opposite. The NI has been moat inadequately discuued, and the Thus trusts it will even yet receive more consideration before it is finally accepted by the House of Commons. the taurt. WINDSOR CASTLE, Aran, 10. The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon in a ospriageand-four, macompanied by Prince sad Princess Christian. Princess Louise walked and drove in the grounds, at tended by Lady Churchill. Her Majesty and Princess Louise walked and rode on ponies this morning. Prince and Princess Christian took a drive. Prince Leopold, attended by Mr. Legg, walked in the Home-park. Princess Beatrice and Prince Henry of Prussia also went out walking. The King of Denmark, attended by General d'Oxholm and M. de Scheele, visited the Queen this afternoon at Windsor Castle. Viscount Torrington, lord-in-waiting to the Queen, was also in attendance upon his Majesty. MARLBOROUGH-HOME, APRIL 10. " The progress of the recovery of the Princess of Wales was checked in the latter pert of last week by the occurrence of a fresh attack of inflammation of the knee joint. The inflammation has now greatly sub. aided, and the general health of her royal highness, which was only slightly affectol by the local change, is very satisfactory. (Signed) " WILLIAM JENNE& " Jenks PAGICIr." The Prince of Wales attended a General Court of Governors at St. Bartholomew's Hospital yesterday, and was installed as President. Viscount Hamilton, General KnoHp, and Captain nisi were in attendance. Despatches were received yesterday at the Colonial office from the Governors of Malta and Gibraltar. De spatcbea were sent to the Governors of Malta, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Labnan, and the Straits Settlement*. The Scotsman understands her Majesty the Queen is expected to visit their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Roxburgh°, at Floors Castle, in the month of August, or early in September. Lord Derby was so far recovered from his severe attack of gout as to be able to sit up yesterday. . . • • —.- Lady Chelmsford had an assembly Lug evening at her residence in Eaton-square. Previously to the re ception the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chelmsford received the Duke of Cambridge at dinner. The following guests were present to meet the noble duke:—His Excellency the Austrian Ambassador and the Countess Apponyi, the Earl and Countess of Hardwicke, Lady Agneta Yorke, the Lord Chief Justice of England (Sir Alexander Cockburn), Lord Redewlale, the Right Hon. General and Lady Alice Peel, Lady Margaret Beaumont, Colonel the Hon. James and Mrs. Macdonald, the Solicitor-General, Hon. Major and Mrs. Charles Thesiger, &c. The Earl and Countess of Clarendon had a dinner party yesterday evenin* at their mansion In Gros venor•erevicent. The Earl and Countess of Fife entertained at dinner last evening in Cavendish-square his Excellency the Italian Minister, the Marchioness of Downshirc and Lady Alice Hill, Marchionesa Townshend, Marquis of Graham, Earl Cowper, Lady Susan Vane Tempest, Sir Edmund and Hon. Lady Filiner, Hon. T. De Grey, M.P., the Eight Hon. W. E. and Mrs. Gladstone, Mr. Hope, * Mr. Russell, Mr. Augustus Lumley, &c. Frances Countess Wahlegrave gave a reception last evening at her mansion in Carltomgardens, which was numerously attended by members of the Lower House, the corps diplomatique, and most of the aristocracy at present in London. By order of the King of Prussia numerous alter ation. suggested by the experience of the late campaign will be introduced into the equipment of the army. The most essential are the addition of • cape to the military sleek, which will henceforth closely resemble the English pattern ; the increase of the number of cartridges borne by each man from 60 to 80, one-half of them to be carried in pouches sewn on the outside of the knapsack, and a light ening of the weight of the helmet. NOES. Adderiey, C. B. Forester, Gen. Mowbray, J. R. Anson, Major Garth. R. Nw, Lord Arkwright, R. Goodson, J. Neeld, 81r J. Hague. Sir W. (lore, J. R. Nevale-GrenvMe, R. Karnali, C. (lore, W. R. Newdegate, C. N. Bailey, Sir J. Grey, T. De Newport, Vied. Baillie, H. J. Griffith, C. D. Noel, G. J. Itareett, ii. Gwyn, H. North, Col. Barrington, Vise'. Hamilton, Lord C. J. Pocky, C. W. Barrow, W. H. Hamilton, I. T. Paget, R. H. Bathurst, A. A. Hamilton, Vied. Parker, Major W. Beach, Sir M. Hardy, G. Patten, Col. Beach, W. W. Hardy, J. Peel, Gen. Restive, Earl of Hartopp, E. B. Powell, F. S. Ileocrult, G. S. Heatimoto, G. H. Reed, C. 8. Bentinck, G. C. Ileathcote, Sir W. Ridley, Sir M. Benyon, R. Henley, J. W. Roberteon, P. F. Booth, Sir R. Henniker-Major, J. Bolt, Sir J. Bourne, Col. Herbert, Col. Roystou, Wart. Bowen, J. B. Heygate, Sir F. W. Schreiber, C. Bridges, Sir B. Ilildyard, T. B. Selater-Booth, G. Briscoe, J. I. Hodgson. W. N. Severn., J. K Bromley, W. D. Hogg, Lt.-Cul. Seymour, G. H. Brooks, R. Holmesdale, Vied. Simonds, W. 11, Bruce, Sir H. Hood. Sir A. Smith, A. Bruen, 11.• Hornby, W. 11. Smith, S. G. Horde% T. B. Stanhope, J. B. Cartwright, Col. Bottum, Lord Manley, F. Cave, R. Bowes, E. Strong., Sir J. (live, Capt. Hubbard, J. 0. Stuart, lA.-Col. Cochrane' A. D. Iluddleston, J. W. Surtees, F. Cole, U. limes, A. C. Surtees, H. E. Code, J. L Karsleke, Sir!. Sykes, C. Conolly, T. Kerslake, B. K. Taylor, l'ol. Cooper, Z. H. Kavanagh, A. Thorold, Sir J. Cux, W. T. Kekewich, S. T. Thynne, Lord H. Cranborne, Viact. Kelk, J. Tottenham, Lt.-Col. Cubltt, G. SennsrsL R. W. Trollope, Mr J. Curzon, Vied. Sing..l. K. Turner, C Delkeith, Earl of Knight, F. W. Vance, J. Dick, V. Knlghtley, Sir IL Verner, bir W. Dimulale, R. Knox, Col. Walcott, Adm. Du Cane, C. Leon, Sir E. Walker, Major Duncombe, CoL Langton, W. G. Walpole S. H. Dyke, W. H. Woo-Iles, E. W. Walronti, J. W. Dyntt, CoL Legh, Major Welsh Sir J. Earle, R. A. Lefroy , A. Waterhouse, S. lickereley, N. Lennox, Lord G. Welly, W. E. Edward', Sir H. Leslie, C. P. Whitmore, H. Egerton, A. F. Lindsay, Cut C. Mae, H. C. Egerton, W. Lope., Sir M. Wyndham, H. Vane, LL-Col. Melnwaring, T. Wynn, Sir W. Vane, Col. Manners, Lord J. Wynn, C. W. Feilden, J. Montagu, Lord B. Fellowes, E. Montgomery, Sir G. TELLUS. lloyer, J. Mordant, Sir C. Selwyn, C. J. Forte, Col. Morgan, G. Ben-Mord-Hope, A. THE LIBERAL SCHISM. TO THI EDITOR OP' THE . ZIPRZSO. Buy—Yesterday's edition of your paper gives a list of the so-celled " liberal defaulters" who met at the House of Commons on Monday last. My name appears in this list, and it is stated that I was one of the members who spoke against defection from the recognised policy of the liberal leaders. I beg to inform you that this is incor rect. I did attend that meeting, but I did not speak against its objects, or in any w►y dissent from them. The remarks which I made at the meeting were directed against Mr. Coleridge's proposed instruction to the com mittee on the Reform Bill, upon the ground that it would not be right, upon entering upon the consideration in committee of a measure proposing to deal with the repre sentation of the peeple, to give a specific instruction to the committee to legislate upon matters affecting the burtbens of the people, this being • subject which in my opinion should have been first considered and submitted to the country in the usual ana constitutional manner pre scribed by the House of Commons.—l am, tic., Athenzenm Club, April 10. L. L. DILLWYN. After Easter Mr. Rearden will move "that no bill for the amendment of the representation of the people of Ireland can be satisfactory which does not contain a provision fora large increase in the number of its mens ben." Mr. Smollett will ask the Secretary of State for India to-morrow whether he to willing to put upon the table of the house all the correspondence that has passed up to the present time with the several governments in India relative to the famine in Orissa, and to the alleged enormous loss of human life from starvation in that pro vince in the year Il li ; a subject prominently noticed in her Majesty's speech to parliament at its opening upon the sth of February last, but upon which no official informa tion whatever has been communicated by government to the loupe of Commons. Mr. Colvile intends to move on the nomination of the select committee on Mines, &a., Assessment Bill, " That it be an instruction to the committee that they take into their consideration the expediency of rating game for the purposes of local taxation." Mr. H. B. Sheridan has given notice that on the second reading of National Debt Bill he shall move " That a further reduction of the duty on are insurances, to which this house is already pledged, would be a better mode of disposing of a portion of the surplus of ways and means for the present year than the creation of termin able annuities proposed by the present bill." On the 3rd of next month Sir J. C. Jervoise pro pores to move that an humble address be presented to her Majesty, praying that her Majesty will be graciously pleased to cause such inquiry to be instituted as may lead to the better distinction between contagious diseases and such as are termed infectious, so as to obviate, as far as possible, the loss, alarm, and injustice consequent on the theory of the infectious nature of certain diseases when unsupported by demonstration. THE GALS. SUTTON, LINCOLNSHIRE, Wensasn.f •• I have to report (says Robert Brooks, F., Esq.) that the services of the Birmingham lifeboat 0 1 :a National Lifeboat Institution, stationed at this 1 .!g... were called into requisition yesterday morning. .1 f•-fi was discovered at anchor about a mile from the with signals of distress dying. The lifeboat woo OM `.:i.13 promptly launched ; but before she could get oil ti. .Los cable parted, and the vessel herself drifted on shore n a sinking state. On arriving alongside, the lifeboat'st is found that the vessel was the id !try, of Lynn, hound from r At port to Stockton, with a clap) of wheat, and that the heavy gale from the north-west she had struck , sandbank in the night, causing her to leak v e ry art a :. The crew of the lifeboat stayed by her fur a time. t:iool coctinuing to blow very heavily, and when s ufficient o : er sum had been taken to assist the crew, the lifebod the vessel The behaviour of the boat and crum excellent. • PORTIICAWI SOCTFI WALES, A Pr,. This morning (reports the Rev. E. I). Knight, a) , was observed riding at anchor in a veiy .1.111.•..8 Ull3 I/0.11 on the tail of the Rugen Bank, just outside the Skerse.' Sands, about four miles to the west of this id.;. I! blowing a strong gale from the S.W. at the ties', and wee a very heavy sea on, with thick aratlici and h. rain. Apparently signals of distress some 1 , . sl and the Good Deliverance lifeboat of the Nation: l I boat Institution was promptly Liam:lad and aria v.: the vessel, which proved to be tlo. Wrie (baselines, bound for Swansea in ballast. Fortunatvb services of the lifeboat were not th, .• rode out the storm, and the lifeboat thaivfore otarta• the shore in the afternoon, having behaved v.))* v" i: the heavy sea that was breaking. SKERRIES. , COUNTY DI - DUN. The brig Mary came to anchor vestvvilay oif I,,tlgoL , during a strong gale from N.W., and hoist , d a sip. , distress. The lifeboat Admiral Mitchell. h. lav r ;ing National Lifeboat Institution, was lauuelud with difficulty, it being low water at the tune, and tha having to get into the sea to push the boat otf. hard struggle, the ('roes Rock was scatla iv• good style in the midat of a trenicuilaila squall • rain, and the vessel was boarded at ni,:htfall.. was in rather a perilous state, as the car:, 1“.. 1 - or in one of the heavy squalls which had Laid tla v.— • her broadside, and had cause.) a quantity of Wall I• 1 shipped in the cabin before the anchors werc h t lifeboat's crew gave their assbdance to the brit. f•i they were heartily thanked by the master. severe gale, the lifeboat could not return until till , noon, and then the sea was so rough that "ii' h ta, taken to the South Strand, and was 0,11 drawn or carriage to her station. The opening of the Bohemian Diet at I'? the other day was excessively stormy. The an. ' Tcheque party made clamorous demonatmt;ons in fe of the autonomy of the kingdom. and demanded the the communications of the government slionl,l up in the national idiom. The Gertnan deputies Ir' against that course, and a peat tumult arose, several times renewed on the ocenbion of the ten"'" of powers. I r } ....•