The Express. — London, England, 1866-04-24 00:00:00

I I I I il I j ' , TURTLE, TURTLE, TURT LE. Clear Thick , aad Invalid TURTLE SOUPS always ready. ST. JANES'S-HALL, REGENT-STREKT, PICCADILLY. WI. DONALD. PicorMar. LONDON mast have a SUPPER and MUSIC -M-di ROOM for Gentlemen —Remember, we watt for you at Ird2lB'," after the Coyest Genies Opera and the Theatres. Zit, •nreo. TO COLSESPONDENTff alletteementa aatsoded lot .• Thu Lipman," loadon Evening , sort lye of the Office, 10. Bouvertheitheet, by Two !reit on th e da of publication. HAYMARKET. TED STEdidd, A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT. Hoard n add W. roma ; Was AdaCavendish.—THE FAVORITE 87CATUN. Mews. Buck:tone, Chlppeadale, and Sothedd; Mr& Chippendale, an—And A DAUGHTER TO MARRY. PRINCESS'S. Tom EVENING. A GHOST IN SPITE OP HIMSELF.—AIter phi& THE STREETS OP LONDON. Mews Vining. T. Mead, D. Murray. Shore, aod Villiers ; Kra IL Manioc, and Misses L Daraett and K.. Ledgers. LYCEUM. TEM liTiarrad, A DAY AFTER THE WEDDING. Mness. Herman, Fitzpatrick, and Clifford ; Mrs. HOISMan. &C. —And HAMLET. Mesas. Fechtar, Emery, Addison, Widdicomb, Train, Jordan, Fitzpatrick, ac. ; Mesdames Elswortky and C. Leciercq. BRITANNIA. EVEMIMI, THE SAILORS RKTU RN. —Tbillobasse —CLOUD AND SU24BIIINK Mr. Jamas Anderson. —To con chide with TRZ DARK KING Ole TB B BLACK MOUNTAIN& Wes Clue St Cum Mn S. Lane. TIU9 HIGH-WATILIt AT LONDON-BRIDOL DAT —Yarning, 9h. 49ra Afternoon, 10h. rm. To -m oaa ow—morning, ilk Ara Afternoon, 11h. TM. LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 24. Tag debate of last evening restored the balance of oratorical and argumentative power which, until Friday evening, had, it must be confessed, inclined somewhat too much to the side of the supporters of the Amendment. Mr. Bazaar's sustained mode ration and reserve, and his manner, at once cautious and complete, of dealing with the past and future of the question in its relation to parties, to the Government, and to the country, had prepared for his immediate successor an effect of contrast not particularly favourable to the declamatory personalities of a professional talker against the clock. The best that can be said for such a performance as that of Mr. WHITE SIDE is, that it is a great mercy when it comes to an end, and a great wonder that it should ever come to an end. The rest of the speeches up to the stroke of twelve, which is becoming the accepted signal for adjournment, were serious, practical, and sedate in temper, of reasonable brevity, and direct to the purpose. The electors of Finsbury will gladly recognise in their new representative a ready and accomplished parliamentary speaker, versed in the traditions of the House, who is neither wordy, nor noisy, nor diffuse, but puts a few strong points in a . few clear sen- tences with ease and dignity, and pleads the cause of the unenfranchised with a quiet sin- cerity that secures attention. Mr. WALPOLE is always listened to by all parties with the cordial respect due to the highest personal character and the purest political honour. It had been whis pered that, in common with Mr. HENLEY-with whom he had been so conspicuously associated in Mr. BRIGHT'S speech—he was about to take a part in the division on the Amendment, and to abstain from attacking or supporting the Reform Bill. Whether this idle rumour had reached Mr. WALPOLE'S ears, we cannot say ; but certainly, no speaker of the Opposition has more unreservedly accepted the Amendment, or more emphatically recommended its acceptance to his party. Doubtless, after Mr. BRIGHT'S pointed references to the part which Mr. WALPOLE and Mr. HENLEY had taken in 1859, in seceding from Lord DERBY'S Administration on the question of Mr. DISRAELI'S Reform Bill, to which they ob jected as an unconstitutional and unsettling mea sure, it was natural enough that Mr. WAL POLE'S ()pinion on the present measure should be looked for with curiosity, and his declara tions, in whatever sense, assume the impor tance of a manifesto. We cannot pretend to understand how it happens now that this most estimable gentleman believes that he is aiding a complete and permanent settlement of a disturbing and agitating question, which he entirely agrees with Mr. BRIGHT in desiring to see thoroughly settled out of hand and once for all — that is, for all our time—by lending the authority of his name and his testimony to an amendment which is notoriously encouraged by a majority who object to any and every Reform Bill, and which, as Mr. COLERIDGE said last week, so far from settling the question, leaves it once more " at " sea." Mr. WALPOLE is probably the chief of those Conservatives who object to Lori RussELL's Bill, not because it goes downward too fast or too far, but because it is not comprehensive and corn plate. No one has pointed out more fairly the' difficulty of passing two Reform Bills—a Franchise and a Seats Bill, pari paws, in one and the same session. No one has stated more strongly the difficulty of passing one of such Bills in one session and another in the next, and the objections to separating them. And yet he resists a single Bill because it is a single one ; and although, as he shows, it would be almost impossible for the Government to pass the two at once, and most objectionable not to do so. Of course, it is no concern of Mr. WaLroLE to waist the present Government in choosing the least of several difficulties. But we trust we shall be pardoned for observing that from the lips of any ordinary member of his party Mr. WALPOLE'S arguments last evening might be interpreted, without much uncharitableness, as proving too much against the possibility of settling the question of Reform, for one who is so anxious to settle it. Mr. WALPOLE, indeed, does not pretend to desire Reform for its own sake, or to think it necessary or judicious on its own account. He speaks with a sort of sacred terror of the danger of touching the constitution of the House of Commons. We can only suppose that he sees some imminent danger in a simple downward ex tension of the suffrage, uncompensated by mixed and lateral franchises, and some probability of a second comprehensive effort by Mr. DISRAELI succeeding better than the first. Are we still to be told by every opponent of this Bill, who speaks or who writes, that Lord STANLEY'S arguments remain " unanswered " and unanswerable ?" We had weakly ima gined that the SOLICITOR-GENERAL for SCOTLAND had not flinched from grappling with the tremen dous dialectics of King's Lynn. No doubt the speakers and writers who still pronounce Lord STANLEY'S arguments unanswerable have care fully abstained from hearing or reading any speech that answers them. We must take the liberty to request these devout adherents of Lord STANLEY'S logic to answer, if they can, Mr. GOSCREN'S answer of last evening. In a speech as concise as it was compact, of less than fifty minutes, he tracked the great unanswerable seconder of the Amendment from point to point with a logic as rapid and exhaustive as it was close and pres sing. The member for King's Lynn should have felt the links of his logical chain snapping one by one, as Mr. GosenEN, taking the analysis supplied by Lord ELcao, proceeded to ; • , i• , I . 1 . , i . • , . .• ',. i i 1 .. , .;: 1 1 - ' ~ ~ . . ~ 1 1: . , • , . ' 1 - Jsoavenar.. If the House of Commies rejects or hypo tually supporta the cause of reform, the right of the nation to declare its will becomes irresistible, and the government will be compelled, by popular indignation, to advise the dissolution of an assembly which has pronounced itself an intolerable anachronism. The Mar describes the speech of the bon. mem ber for Birmingham as one of the most thoroughly argu mentative, one of the least rhetorical, the orator has ever delivered. Every true liberal will rejoice, as Mr. Mill, Mr. Torrens, Mr. Goschen, Mr. Leveson-Gower, and all other true friends of the people and of parliament rejoice, to aid in the carrying of a measure which, even judging by bald arithmetic, will not bring the representation to so popular a pitch as to call for counterbalances or checks ; but which, judging by known and well appreciated facts, will increase the love and veneration of the common people for the institutions under which they worthily live. As Mr. Torrens well said last night, it is a technical and transitory question, on which the opponents of the bill seek to ruin its fortunes. But no true liberal will let a technical and transitory question detach him from the party with which is bound up all that is progressive in the history and future of our country. demonstration that, aatiafactory as lard &swill". reasons in favour of the Amendment might appear to those who were against the Bill, they must ap pear futile to those who were in favour of Reform. He showed that, supposing, as indeed the Govern ment had guaranteed, that the present House of Commons shoukl deal with the Beata Bill in this session or the next, it would be in complete com mand of its own destinies ; and even supposing a dissolution between a Eranchiae and a Seats Bill, such a dissolution must operate against the Government in the constituencies. Then taking the member for Caine, and his famous self adjusting or self-expanding franchise, he asked how, if the virtuous portion of the working classes could obtain the franchise by self-control and self-denial, it happened that the constituencies which, according to the statistics presented to Parliament, contained the largest number of work ing class electors, were not those great constituencies of the North which had behaved so nobly during the cotton famine, and whose intelligence and moral superiority were proverbial, but a batch of towns, principally on the coast, in which, whatever the character of the working clam portion of the constituency, it was certainly not superior to the working class of Rochdale, which still remained unenfranchised. Mr. GoscuEs remarked that the confidence in the un enfranchised class, so warmly expressed by the Conservative party, appeared to be condi tional on their not having votes, and that it should desist from educating them to the point of fitness for the franchise; to drink is less dangerous for unenfranchised men than to think. The public will expect with some impatience the reply from the member for Caine to the member for the City of London, and will scarcely feel indebted to Mr. SHERIDAN for insisting as a public duty on interrupting the Reform debate this even ing in order to bring on his motion on the Fire Insurance Duty. The member for Dudley doubtless is inspired by zeal for a great public object, to which he has devoted his labours and energies not without success; but he is putting a somewhat severe strain upon his parliamentary reputation in obstructing the progress of the Reform debate. It was hardly to be expected, considering some former passages between them, that the CHANCELLOR of the ExcaseuEß would discover an other day for the member for Dudley, and it would have been better if the member for Dudley, content with his former triumphs, had preferred loyalty to the party to which he pro fesses to belong to the taunting cheers of the Tories, who snatch every pretext for obstruction and delay. . • - • i= EXPRESS, ft TuESDAY I EVE G, APRIL 24, ' 1866. i" AItROPOLEW r 4 AL GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION. VEST REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE. This morning was issued the first report of the select committee appointed to inquire into the local govern ment and local taxation of the metropolis. The committee have deemed it expedient to report in the first instance upon the local taxation of the metropolis under the acts constituting the Metropolitan Board of Works ; and the greater part of this document *mists of a narrative of the proceedings of the board. According to this aooount,nearly the whole of the expenditure andobliga. tions of the board have been incurred for the purpose of supplying the wants arising from the defects of former administration of the affairs of the metropolis and of effecting permanent improvements which have tended to increase the value of property in the metropolis. The works undertaken are of such magnitude that the chimps for them have been extended by parliament over many years, and their effect will be felt long after all the charges have been defrayed. The whole of this expenditure is of a novel character, resulting from special legislation, imposing new and unforeseen burdens, and the committee recommend that in any arrangement of the financial resources of the board a portion of the charge for permanent improvements and works should be borne by the owners of property within the metropolis, the rate being in the first instance paid by the occupier, and subsequently deducted from his rent. The committee also recommend that whenever improve- Iments or other works undertaken by the board are of mag nitude and of a permanent character, the charge for them should be defrayed in the first instance by loans to be raised by the board on the security of its rates. They add that in prosecuting their inquiry they will not fail to con sider the question of conferring upon the owners of pro perty the power of being represented in the Board of Works. The following clauses in the report relative to the coal and wine duties in the City of London were stab. atituted for clauses of a different kind in the original draft as written by Mr. Ayrton, the chair. man, at the instance of Lord John Manners. After alluding to the evidence taken the report says :—" Year committee cannot but attach great weight to the opinion thus expressed by the representatives of the metropolitan board, and the Corporation of the City of London ; and although evidence has been given by some witnesses as to the unfair incidence of the tax upon their particular trades, your committee have no reason to believe that the existence of the coal and wine duties has exercised a pre. judicial effect upon any of the industries alleged to suffer by their imposition. It is further, in the judgment of your conunittee, no slight recommendation of these duties that they axe cagily and economically collected, are already allocated by act of parliament for a term of 161 years to defray the coat of the several improvements above enume rated, and, having enured for a long period of time, do not excite the hostility which a new tax is likely to incur. Your committee are therefore of opinion that should the works already referred to another committee be sanctioned by it, the coal and wine duties might beneficially be con tinued fora further limited period." In the insertion of the foregoing, Lord J. Manners was supported by Mr. Tite, Alderman Lawrence, Sr M. W. Ridley, Mr. Sandford, and Mr. Kekewich. The original words which condemned the coal tax were supported by Mr. Bayley, Mr. Baring, Mr. J. S. Mill, and Mr. Locke. An important passage in the report refers to the heavy pressure of local taxation in the less wealthy districts of London, where, in the opinion of the Metropolitan Board, direct taxation on the occupiers of property has reached its utmost limits. This is more felt from the fact that,whilst the burdens which produce inequality are placed upon districts locally, those which have been incurred for the benefit of the more wealthy dia. tricts, and which, if they had been also localised, would have tended to redress the inequality, have been made general. " It is apparent," say the committee, " that if the local taxation of the metropolis were more equal, and the heaviest burthens were not cast on those least able to bear them, and the lightest ea those meet able, a much greater revenue could be raised from direct taxation ; for if the inhabitants of such districts as St. George-the. Martyr or Whitechapel have paid rates ranging from 6..9d. to be. 6d. in the pound, it is obvious that the inhabitants of St. George's, Hanover-square,Paddington, Kensington' and St. Margaret's and St. John's, Westminster, could more easily bear rates to the same extent. A rate ut is. in the pound (instead of the existing average rate of 3s. 9d.) over the metropolis, for all the purposes of local govern ment, would yield an additional revenue of 181,7681. It would appear, therefore, that one mode of providing funds for all local purposes would be found in a nearer approach to the equalisation of local burthens on the metropolis ; but as this involves not merely the charges imposed by the metropolitan board, but the charges for the administration of the poor-law, it would carry your committee beyond the scope of their present inquiry." MILITIA REonivrrs.—The establishment of the militia regiments of the United Kingdom consisted lad year of 4,686 officers, 5,027 non-commissioned officers, and 124,622 privates. There were present at training, on the day of inspection, 2,478 officers, 4,509 non-commis sioned officers, and 85,850 privates. There were absent from training on the same day 449 officers with leave, 25 officers without leave, 52 non-commissioned officers with leave, 6 non-commissioned officers without leave, 1,810 privates with leave, and 6,719 privates without leave. There were wanting to complete 1,734 officers, 474 non , commissioned officers, and 30,307 privates. In a note to the return from which these figures are derived it is stated in explanation of the large number of " officers wanting to complete," that the full establishment of officers has been given, whereas all appointments of ensigns (second lieutenants in artillery corps) have been suspended since July, 1860, two supernumerary officers, in lieu thereof, being allowed to each regiment. The large number of " privates wanting to complete," is stated to have been chiefly caused by the reduction made in August, 1864, in the effective strength of all regiments whose establishments exceed 600 privates. On Thursday Lord John Manners will ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has prepared amendments to the bill for the abolition of church rates and, if so, when he proposes to lay them upon the table of the house. Mr. McEvoy on Thursday will ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the Midland Railway Company, having obtained an act (27 and 28 Vic. c. 231) which by its twenty-third section allows them to pass a tunnel under the old church yard of St. Pancras (a closed burying ground), are about to make an open cutting through the said churchyard , thereby disturbing the tombs and bodies ; and, whether the government will interfere to protect the place from such desecration. Mr. Mill to-morrow will ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the In closure Commissioners have finally signed and sealed their award for the inclosure of the newly created common set out for the ratepayers of the parish of Chigwell ; if he is aware that the timber on the fifty acres of recreation ground, granted by parliament, in 186r.1, for the use of the me. tropolitan public,is being cut down, thereby destroying the forestal appearance of the spot, which the intention of the legislature was to keep unenclosed and preserved in its natural wildness ; and, if the destruction of the timber has been sanctioned by the Incloanre Commissioners. A Naples letter in the. Debats says :—" Prince Napoleon has had two balls given in his honour—one at the Court, the second at the French Consulate. On dis embarking from his yacht he first went to the royal palace to pay a visit, and afterwards took up his residence at the Hotel Vittoria. The Prince is said to be negotiating for the purchase of the palace at Port - id erected by Charles 111., near the site of the former city of Herculaneum. The building, which was formerly royal property, now be longs to the public domain, and is for sale by the state. His Majesty has also just sold a magnificent stud of Arab horses. The Count de Flandre has arrived here from Rome." The official journal of Teheran gives the sub joined report of a shooting party in which the Shah bad taken part :—" The royal personage, who casts on th e earth the shadow of God, has passed very agreeably his time at the chase at Djadjround ; with the aid of God he killed 32 head of large game, and deigned to bring down a number of partridges, moor-hens, and pheasants. The grand sypachaadar (Minister of War) who accompanied the great sovereign of Iran, obtained a remarkable dis tinction, for his Majesty, who dispenses his grace and generosity so unsparingly, deigned to present him with a partridge with his own hand.•. OUR CONTEMPORARIES. (THIS DAY.) THE REFORM DEBATIS.-MR. BRIGHT'S SPEECH. Mr. Bright's speech last night is no more satis tory to the Times than the other speeches on the same side which have preceded it. The hon. member does not princi pally shine in argument, and yesterday he condescended to reason with his opponents. His opinion that the power of giving a vote for a member of parliament is a right, and that the redistribution bill is a matter of political expediency, is a notion to be entertained in the babyhood of political science. His asser tion that the power of any class of voters depends upon the distribution of seats is sufficient to justify a demand for the entire scheme. For the rest, the Times sees in the speech a confession that the method of dealing with reform in fragments is due to the advice of Mr. Bright, tendered in a chance conversation with Lord Russell six or seven years ago, and repeated in his speech at Rochdale last January. Mr. Mill has up to this time proved the strongest supporter of the government, but between Mr. Bright and Mr. Mill the Times discerns a fundamental antagonism. Cheerfully acknowledging the lustre which his eloquence has conferred upon the House of Commons, and the signal benefits which, as an advocate of free trade, he was among the foremost in securing for his country, the Times nevertheless cannot be blind to the puerilities of his political philosophy. Never was the narrowness of his political creed more openly ex hibited than last night, and never, our contemporary is glad to believe, was it more plainly rejected by the House of Commons. The Daily News observes that Mr. Bright was moderate and conciliatory almost to tameness, sacrificing the opportunity of a brilliant oratorical display to the better securing of one of the chief objects of oratory—persuasion. As he pointed out, Lord Derby's bill would have given the suffrage to a larger number of persons. This measure is disagreeable to the tones, simply because it proposes to give votes to the working classes, and this fact renders it lees likely that they will be impressed by the evidence which exists of the inaccuracy of the figures, professing to show the number of working men in the constituencies. Their theories of representation agree in nothing but in their tendency to further the designs of the political monopolists. The class-theory is put forward by Sir Hugh Cairns, and almost contemptuously rejected by Mr. Walpole ; the proposition that personal fitness for the suffrage is a title to its possession is advanced by Sir Bulwer Lytton, and scouted by the honorable and learned member for Belfast. In another article, referring to the increased number of defections from the ministerial ranks and to the successive decisions of election committees, the Drtifjf News remarks that we must be pre pared to see the second reading passed by a majo rity so small as to leave no reasonable prospect of carrying the bill through the snares and pitfalls which will await it in committee. The government have no doubt considered this probability, and sincere liberals will accept their determination with satisfaction, whether it involves a dissolution of parliament, with all its efforts and sacri fices, or the resignation of ministers and the accession of their opponents to office. They will be satis fied with anything rather than the abandonment for one moment of the cause of reform. Now that that grave question has been honestly raised it cannot be put to sleep until it has been fairly and finally decided. Whatever else may happen, there can be no transaction between ministers and the opponents of reform. A fear ful political demoralisation went on under the administra tion of Lord Palmerston, and unless a radical cure can be found the liberal party is already undone. The advent of the conservatives, or of the "muddle party," of which we hear so much, is far front being the worst thing that might happen. If Lord Stanley is growingout of his early liberalism and ripening for his peerage, let him place himself at the head of an anti-reform administration. Let Lord Malmes. bury again manage our foreign affairs, and Sir S. Northcote be set to make our budgets ; further, if they please, let them call to their aid the popularity of Mr. Lowe, and the confidence-inspiring genius of Mr. Laing. Such a ministry would be bound to oppose reform. but it would infallibly prove the precursor of a reform administration upon whose feebleness no Grosvenors nor Horamans would venture to experiment. The Past finds Mr. Bright's speech heavy and dull. It sincerely believes he is actuated by a desire to benefit his country, but he would do so by completely subverting the national institutions. According to the Pod, the founda tion of a new and formidable combination between the opposition and a portion of the liberal party has been firmly laid, and the country would approve of a govern ment formed out of these materials expressly to settle the matter of reform. To the Herald Mr. Bright proves that the government has elevated trickery into a principle, and seeks to take credit to the House of Commons for a dirty mameuvre. The hon. gentleman fell far below his own level, and Mr- Whiteside put his inconsistencies in the strongest light. Mr. Walpole, too, vindicated the amendment with un answerable logic. The scene in parliament last evening, the Teie!rraph says, must have satisfied any man of the vast acknow ledged influence which Mr. Bright exercises in parliament and in the country. His speech was singularly moderate and calm. It will not be rational for tones and for liberal ' Iconservatives, after the country has read the speech, to talk about " considering" reform while they vote for Lord THE RELEASE OF THE ABYSSINIAN CAPTIVES. In expressing its satisfaction at the result of Mr. Ras sam's visit to the Emperor of Abyssinia, the Times pays a tribute to Lord Russell and the Foreign-office for the pru dent measures which have been so happily crowned with success. The policy adopted in this difficult matter of using gentle means, and of sending an emissary who was likely to conciliate the Emperor instead of making an impotent demonstration of force, has been fully justified by the event. Mr. Ras gam, going in peaceful guise, and presenting what the Emperor appears to have set his heart on a kind of diplomatic communication from England—has obtained his end, while it is very certain that any hostile operations either by sea or land, would have been at once followed by the execution of all the prisoners after the most horrible tortures. Lord Chelmsford, who criticised the conduct of the government last session, will probably admit that, whatever may have been their former short. comings, they have managed the recent negotiations with skill and discretion. It might have been more prudent, as well as polite, to acknowledge his Abyssinian Majesty's first communication three years ago, the neglect of which is said to have so much angered him, but when that fault had been once committed the government could not do better than show a tardy civility, and conciliate a personage whom it is impossible effectually to coerce- The Times thinks it will be best that as few Englishmen as possible should henceforth visit the dominions of this royal savage, either officially or otherwise. The government ' must now insist that the consul shall confine himself to Massovrah, and from that place transact all business connected with Abyssinian territory. As a matter of sen timent and historical interest one might desire to establish closer relations with so strange a people, but they are evi dently too barbarous to be approached without precaution. Their ruler must be left to make the first advances, and to earn the friendenip of civilised nations by fulfilling his duties to them. II IBCELLANEOCB TOPICS. The account which the Tunes has published of the fraud and forgery practised upon it last Friday evening reminds the Daily News that experiments on the vigilance of the press have greatly increased during the last four or five years. Most of the impositions are to be attributable to a propensity to practical joking, occasionally reinforced by jealousy of the press or of particular journals. Persons with motives of this kind only should remember how serious may be the inconvenience and injury done to innocent persona ; but from the point of the view of the public the matter has a graver aspect. If the sending of such a letter as that received at the Times office on Friday is not at present a crime punishable by law, it may be ex pedient to set the point at rest by a brief statute, and this is suggested, not that it would lighten the arduousness of the duty of discriminating doubtful facts — a function of more importance than skill in the recom mendationof opinions—but that it would be chiefly useful as expressing the opinion of the public and the legislature respecting the nature of a grave social offence, which at present, it is to be feared, is through mere thoughtless ness regarded as venial. We can give no better security to the public than this, that we cannot mislead it by false information without being ourselves wounded in profes sional pride and in our most positive interests. We are supposed to know everybody's handwriting, everybody's seal, everybody's style, and to recognise or miss the signs of genuineness in a hundred communications at once, at all hours of the night, or oftener of the morning.. Let it be so ; it is our burden, and we willingly bear it. An en actment would not lighten our load, but it might prevent the sending of a forged letter to a newspaper by the fear of the penalty it inspired. The TdegrapA learns with sincere satisfaction that an English journal of good repute has not been guilty of any graver offence than incapacity to distinguish between an authentic document and a clumsy forgery. After referring to the ease with which the most scrupulous of candidates may find himself the victim of a system of election which he detests, the Times proceeds to show the depraved standard of political duty through which there is so entire an absence of shame in some boroughs with respect to the practice of corruption. So long as this is the case it is a simple mockery of language to speak of representation as if it were a reality. No legislation can put down these practices, and few men have the courage to insist on rigor ous economy for the sake of a principle. It seems to be expected at Maidstone, for instance, that doles of Christ mas beef should be distributed to all sound liberals who may apply for it, and who would care to risk his popularity by discontinuing it ? It would, no doubt, be a bold expe riment to disfranchise a town like Lancaster, where the committee has reported that corrupt practices extensively prevailed at the last election, but one such example would be of more service than many prosecutions of individuals. Cite Court. OSBORNE, APRIL 23. The Very Rev. the Dean of Westminster performed the service yesterday morning at Osborne, before her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses Princess Louise and Prince Leopold. The Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting were also present. Earl and Countess Granville left Osborne for London this morning. Despatches were received yesterday at the Colonial office from the Governors of the North American Pro vinoes, Bermuda, Gibraltar, and Malta. Despatches were sent to the Governors of the Settlements on the West Coast of Africa. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales have graciously signified their intention of being present at the anniversary festival of the Merchant Sea men's Orphan Asylum, to be held at the institution, Snareabrook, on Thursday, the 28th June. His royal highness will on the occasion lay the first atone of an ad dition to the present building, the erection of which, it will be remembered, was inaugurated by the late Prince Consort on the same day in the year 1861. The Duke of Buocleuch and family are expected to arrive at their mansion in Whitehall early in the ensuing month, when they will receive a succession of visitors. The Earl and Countess of Haddington and Lady Franoes Hamilton have arrived at Penance's Hotel from Scotland for the season. Should the present government reform measure not pass, it is the intention of the executive of the National Reform onion to take early steps for holding a great national exhibition of works of arts and science, produced by working men who are not enfranchised. The exhibi tion will be on a great scale, and will partake somewhat of the character of the grand bazaar held by the Anti-Corn Law League in London, at the time of the struggle for the repeal of the corn laws. _ _ Mr. H. Martin, the head gamekeeper to the late Lord Palmerston, died last week at the age of eighty. He had been forty years in the service of his lordship, and was much esteemed by him. DEATH OF AN 12.18 H JI7DOE.—DUBLIN, MONDAY. —(FRON 01:11 OWN CORRIAPONDENT.—By KLEMM TELE oNAPH.)--Judg.2 Ffargreave, of the Landed Estates Court, died to-day, at his residence at Bray, after a protracted illness. INSTALLATION OF LORD WARDEN OF TRY CINQUE Porra.—Whit Tuesday has been decided upon KB the day for the installation of Earl Granville, K.G„ as Lord War. den of the Cinque Porta and Constable of Dover Castle. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN ITALY. The Gazette of Naples of the 18th says : Further movements of troops for Upper Italy are in pre paration. At Brindisi and Taranto great quantities of naval provisions are being placed in store. The Gazetta delta Ramagsse contains the follow ing : We are assured that the government will take into its own bands all the slow traffic of the rail ways from the 20th. The military purveyors hare received pressing orders to hasten their supplies. In the Milan Gazette we read : - -- • a.. ...asp •••••••• From the lst of May A company of instruction will be attached to each regiment of artillery, in order to instruct the soldiers of the new levy in this branch of the service. The Sentinella Bresciana says -• • When the last levy was made clothing was only supplied to the conscripts intended for the engineers and artillery. Now all the other conscripts have been called in. On the 17th orders were issued to the reserves to present them selves on Saturday. Why the reserves should be called in before the other classes it is difficult to explain, but the fact is true, and of great significance. A corps of ponto niers passed yesterday to Padua by railway. They are intended either for Velflfia or Legnano. The ipennitw reports from Venice that the authorities have ordered the municipality to call in at once all the soldiers on leave. (BILTIT.It'S TILEGIILMS.) PRUSSIA. BERLIN, ArgiL 24. -- • The electors of the third electoral district of Berlin held a meeting yesterday, which was nume rously attended. Resolutions were passed similar to those adopted at the meeting recently held in the other electoral districts, excepting the third paragraph, con cerning the convocation of a German Parlia ment. This paragraph was amended as follows : "The convocation of a parliament, composed of members elected by universal suffrage and en dowed with full powers, is the first step towards the realisation of the inalienable right of the nation that Germany should be united in power and liberty. The Prussian people notwithstanding their internal conflict, have never forgotten their duty to be the first to enter the lists in defence of that right." Yesterday the King of Prussia received the Russian Colonel Weymaren, who delivered to his Majesty an autograph letter from the Emperor of Russia. FRANCE. PARIS, APRIL 24. The Munitetv of this morning publishes the laws regulating the navigation of the Danube. The Moniteur also announces that, according to information received from Portugal nu French vessels arriving in Portuguese porta from Brest, Nantes, or St. Nazaire, since the 4th April, have been subjected to quarantine on account of cholera. SPAIN. MADRID. APRIL 24. The Minister of Finance has received notification that the deposit for the New National Bank of Spain has been paid into the Bank of England. The Chamber of Deputies have appointed a com mittee to examine the press law. PORTUGAL. LISBON, APRIL 24. A change of ministry is considered probable, in which case it is said that the Duke de Loule will be entrusted with the formation of a new Cabinet. The Cortes will be closed on the Bth proximo. Senhor Julio Oomez is dead. (REUTERS EXPRESS.) ITALIAN MILITARY PREPARATIONS. MILAN, APRIL 20. According to the Lombardia, orders have reached the military department of Milan to watch the line of the Po, and to make preparations for the expe ditious mobilisation, whenever necessary, of the regiments stationed in Lombardy. Particular instructions are also stated to have been given to General Durand() in the event of the Austrians re inforcing the line of the Po. The fortifications of Cremona have been commenced, and are rapidly proceeded with. Orders have arrived at Pavia to prepare all the artillery stores that will be necessary for the armament of Cremona. General Durand() is expected at Pavia to make an inspection of the troops and fortifications. The generals on service in the military district of Milan have recently visited the garrisons and barracks of various towns in Lombardy. General Aribaldi Ghilini left this morning for Lodi, and General Franzin► for Lecco. THE STEAMER FIAVRE ON FIRE. (REUTER'S TELEGRAM.) SOUTHAMPTON, TUESDAY MORNING. The London and South Western Company's steamer Havre is on fire. Every effort is being made to save her. She arrived this morning from Havre with • cargo of French goods chiefly for transshipment to the steamer sailing to-morrow for New York. The fire was caused by the explosion of a case of com bustibles amongst the cargo in the hold. Two of the crew and the stewardess are said to be seriously injured. One man has just been got from the hold of the vessel dead. TUESI/AT AFTERNOON, The fire on board the Havre is now extinguished, but the ship has sustained much damage below and in the fire saloon. No further casualties have occurred on board; but Captain Wright, of the company's steamer Atalanta, while running to his own ship for assistance, dropped down dead from excitement. RECEIPTS OF THE PARIS THEATRES.—It appears from the A note Litteraireet Dramatique, which has just been published, that the receipts of the principal Paris theatres for the year 1865 have been as follows:—Opera (L'Africaine), 61,800/. ; Francais (Le Supplice d' un Femme), 37,717/.; Gymnase ( Les Vieux Garcons), 28,576/. ; Vaudeville (La Famine Benoilon ), 21,458/. ; Varietes (La Belle Helene), 32,888/. ; Porte St. Martin (La B/eke au Bois), 57,089/. ; Opera Comique (Le Voyage en Chine), 45,415/. ; Royal (Jocrisses de ('Amour), 30,7381. RELIGIOUS ExcLusrrENEss. —ln accordance with a resolution of the diet of the Tyrol, the Austrian government has modified the privileges of protestant. in that part of the Austrian dominions by requiring the authorisation of the Diet of the Tyrol as a necessary preliminary to the public exercise of their worship. "As," says the Independance, " the great majority of the Diet is composed of ultra. montanes the meaning of this modification may be readily understood." In Sweden, on the other hand, none but protestants can be members of the Swedish Diet. The Journal des Bekaa, remarking on this exclusivenes, says:—" It cannot be of long duration, and on that point we have full confidence in the equity of the Christian consciences of Sweden. What makes us believe in such an act of equity and at an early period is that we have recently read that • proposition, tending to declare non-protestant Christians and Jews ad missible to the public service, had been adopted by the committee on the constitution. It is true that this ad missibility is not to be extended to judicial and ecclesias tical functions or to professorships of religion, philosophy, I and history. In France we can hardly understand how I these exceptions can be erected into principles." • Money orders are now drawn on this country in the island of Dominica, in the West Indies. Amongst the new money order poet town]) in Australia are Faree, Tinonee, and Goodiwindi. LAW INTELLIGENCE. (TEM DAY.) EXCHEQUER CHAMBER. - Sittings in Error. —(Before Lord Chief Judie Irk Barons ) Martin, Cheapen, Pigott, and' lb. Jetties It Smith. THR Wing to. CHAILLOM The prisoner, it will be reoollected, was tried at 10 1 anises held at Exeter, in Anna last f, the insrder Thomas Edward Gibson Hans the illegitimate ehßa • woman named Harris, at Torqua when s h e , convicted and left for execution. The=s i=i Harris, was arraigned and tried at the pre March before Mr. Baron Cheapen fortis murder of 10 child, but the jury after being 32 hours mood in hough the case, and after an absence from the court of five boo considering their verdict, returned into court sheet 6 minutes before mt; of Saturday, slid the h day of the assizes, and informed hie it was impossible for them to agree; he them without giving a verdict, roiommitting prisoner for trial at the ensuing amiss. 0 the second trial Harris was removed from the dock,. gave evidence against Winsor, and it was epee he r Rio spent on oath that the prisoner was conv ict ed sad for execution. An objection was then taken to the fa of the proceedings on the second trial, apou wle the prosecutor brought a writ of error, obi was argued Let term in the Court of Qu i Bench, when the Court affirmed the mark* One point raised was that the evidence of H ee l the accomplice, had been improperly received se ground that she had given her evidences as a fake ha Wed in the conviction of the prisoner, and it was on the pert of Winsor that she had been this evidence, and that Harris before giving ag o otedtto have been finally convicted of the sharp fig , before she was allowed to give evidence. ofCourt Quest'seen legailßenc y h t received, rniedtha b t ut the teT evida aa had Harri s atim an opinion that the prisoner had been prejudiced doe They, however, confirmed the conviction, and she back to Exeter to be executed. The day was fixed for her execution. Calcraft was in the gaol, her grave had been dug, when a feather repi ne rived, error having been raised on the judt regard Queen'sn and ße Winsor's nc Bench, especllia lif y e withii spared to to de have eke s re-argued. A curious circumstance connected Witt proceedings is that the wretched woman who me Gently executed at Exeter for the murder of her kei r was buried in the grave dug if not in the same eefb ■ for Winsor. The prisoner was to-day brought t; , habeas corpus by Mr. Rase, the governor of di. pi Exeter, and was accommodated with a seat alder i counsels' table generally appropriated to atone She appease to have suffered considerable menial see r since she appeared in the Queen's Bench in .117 and she has frequently expressed a wish to le As from her anxiety, either by the carrying out of herr tence, or by its being commuted into something deb During the reading of the record, when reference v a to the charge of murder, and the sentence tint sir hanged by the neck until she was dead, she exidited a slight emotion, and shook her head, evincing dap nu of conscience. _ At the sitting of the court, Lord Chief Justice Erie addressing the Solicibmtkas asked him what he prayed of the court. The Solicitor-Genend (with whom was Mr. Hasar)i that he was present on the part of the crown stood the prisoner wished to assign errors with Wass the judgment of the Court of Queen's Bench, and tbs might be permitted to join in error. Mr. Brewer (one of the Masters of the QUM'S% then read the habeas corpus, directed to the germ Exeter gaol to bring up the prisoner, and his !dam he had, in obedience to such writ, brought her isto me and surrendered her to their lordships' custody. Mr. Chitty, the clerk of assize for the Weans Gm produced the record of the proceedings in the trig, sr the writ of error in the Queen's Bench, and The Solicitor-General suggested that record, ke, Mansell's case, should be taken as read. Lord Chief Justice Berle said he thought it weak not to take anythingaranted, and he duetted gat document should be read. Mr. Brewer then read the document. Mr. Folkard, with whom was Mr. Collies, moos behalf of the prisoner, who was in court, sad es plaintiff in error, for permission to assign woo, tat they might be annexed to the record. Lord Chief Justice Erle—Let it be so. The errors were then handed in, and named record. Mr. Folkard said the usual course was, that to r counsel to the prisoner, and then for email to to assign errors. Lord Chief Justice Erie—Then take it that I assigned you two learned gentlemen as coned fw tk soner. The Solicitor-General—On the part of the non I to be allowed to join in error. Lord Chief Justice Erle—Let it be so. Fs rpm take the arguments in the case on Friday week, Mail give the eight okay CI ay s ' notice required by the ill I in the meantime we commit the prisoner to dip Newgate, to be again brought up on Friday vs& The prisoner was then removed in custody to Is Is in Newgate . COURT OF ADMIRALTY. (Before the Right lion. Dr. Lulling's].) CLAIMS BY THE AIEIRICAN GOVERNIEENT.--THZ Cal OTHERWISE THE TALLAHASSEE. This was a claim made on the part of the Am government to recover a valuable vesiel, which lad employed in the Confederate servioe, and after the oso of hoatilities was found with other vessels at Lim The government of the United States had imtitntsi in the sum of 20,000 f., to recover the vessel and taeld the marshal of the Court (Mr. Evan hum) had ar the ship, and she was now in his pommies. The came on to-dafor hearing, and me not Dr. Twies, Q.C.Q, applied for an order the might be delivered up to the United States, as bete to their government. It had been used by the Co rates. - His lordship asked if there was any objection? Dr. Twins believed there was none. The learned Judge maid, as there was no objection application would be granted. Order accordingly. THE POLICE COURTS. (THIS DAY.) CLERKENWELL. LITZ/DIME AND SYSTEMATIC SOSBEET H A Sat Joseph George Wlteder, aged 30, a groom, g i address, 2, Sussex-terrace, York-place, LW° , charged before Mr. Barker, with stealing . 1 9 1- C I L 6 moneys and property of his employer, Mr. Willis' Bowen, merchant, of 12, Barnsbury-square, Wire i Mr. Ricketts, solicitor, defended. The evidence went to show that the prisoesrbsi I the employ of theprosecutor as groom brace' tee but was for misconduct within the MO From what came to the knowledge of the VW' sent for his corn account, and ascertained that noel man the prisoner, who had received the money awl day to pay all debts, had not paid the cora nob farthing. He also ascertained that the priso behaved dishonestly in other transactions , sad* him into custody. Mr. Ricketts severely cross-examined the ill and having elicited from him the fact that the P when he entered the service of the proaecneer , good character, and that he had had no6i4 to of until after Christmas last, said the prisoosr . plead guilty and ask the court to decide the we t o a course which he felt certain the prosecutor recommend. The prosecutor having recommended that own Mr. Barker said he considered that robberies yanke were very serious, and sentenced the prisms imprisoned and kept to bard labour in the Rouse reckon for six calendar months. Had it not ben I had been said in his behalf he should have felt 01 to have sent the case for trial. WORSHIP-STREET. A SHOCKING STORY. Charter Allen, 26, living in Fleet-street, Bethel was charged with assaulting his wife, May Anne All young woman, with an infant in her arms, and '1 maddened with mental su ff ering. lier de very shocking. Her husband was emp lo y edin warehouses, in Crutched Friars ; he earned 18'. allowed her 14s. of that sum to Pal " support both of them and their ehildre four and two years, and the infant she aged four months. She was a weaveress by t could not get employment, and would not be sib if any was given her, for her baby occupied e ver] of her time. Complainant drew a handkercluef face, which presented a most sickening and k la appearsnoe—every feature bad seemingly been away by vermin, and it was quite blind. The p !icing's sufferings were evidently intense—not instant could the mother keep it quiet. was all this wretchedness brought about '• PrevM child's birth the woman found herself infected' il horrible disease, went to the hospital, and was ei the seeds pawed into the life of the child, .11"11 nested, caught the small-pox. which very sPveml. out the yet more virulent complaint, and left scribed). Such was the complainant's story of Lei life, in part only, for she had to bear repeated ill her husband ' s hands. On the last oc casion he aro the eye, and severely kicked her, because shehad I supper only a haddock, not having th e means to more. Waiting until he slept, she left the house, vinoed that her life was in danger at his hand!, 11, ing to return home, she determined on givm6 custody. It was impossible to live with lum—m! preferable ; but she did not wish him to be im w s n he allowed her a few shillings—a very feMI help her and the children, she would be mil" thankful. Defendant pleaded guilty to the assault, and make denial of any part of his wretched wife's at u .