The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

676 " Illy lords hare under their consideration two sp. pboatioss maths mbject of receiving and parsing defaced cunt " Write to the applicants respectively, and state that it was not the intention of the tiovemment, in peering the net of the 11l and IT Victoria, cap. 104, entitled ' An Act to prevent the detaining of the current coin id' the realm,' to interpose) any dinienity in regard to such coin as may lutve beet defaced by ordinary wear and are, or in relation to Ferrous who, in the ordinary course of business, pay coins which are &freed. • '• Tite inintediate objoot of the Liovernment in obtaining the set war to put a situp to a practice of stamping the aosses of proms, Arms, upon coins, by way of adver tisements or otherwise, slid the intention of the I ii.% rni• seat was to reach by painkiller the persons who, in this or In any other wain% or malicious way, injured the coin. And in order that the law should nut prove vetations to those who in the ordinary transaction or 11111111111• NS paid mph coin, and who were wholly i eee nwent of the offence of deleting them, or of forcing Own, into eireulati with the intention if promoting the object of such Aim& era, and nut fur the purpose only of ordinary payments, the law provides that Mb 1111 e eats b' prosecuted for parr• ing defaced coin except with the consent of the Attorney- Untold. " Whilst, thereibre, the tiovernment are determined to put an rod to snob abases as are herein referred to, and to use the act with vigour to that slid, it is neither their wish nor intention to ember:nee or interfere with the ordinary and current tranaactiona of business." (Migiked ) "JAMES WILSON." How little effect this minute would have upon a wart of law, if called upon to construe this statute, may be seen hereafter; and how little it remedies the vexatious operation of the act in another sense is evidenced by the fact that, within a day or two of its appearance, several of the railway companies gave notice at. their respective stet' s that. all money tendered in payment of fares, if in the least degree defaced, would be refused. THE SMALL BOROUGHS AND THE COUNTY CONSTITUENCIES. TO THIN ZDITon OF " THL PAM." Sir,--So murk has been said of late by the Liberal journals in condemnation of small boroughs, and they have been so denounced in no sparing language as the strongholds of the Tory party, that I have taken the trouble to see how the members for the forq-eight boroughs of England which contain con. stitueneies under 400, and wend seventy-one members to Parliament, voted on the rival budgets of the last and present Chancellors of the Exchequer. I find that, in the division of the Ilith of December last, thirty such members voted with Mr. Disraeli, thirty four against him, and seven were absent. I find that., in the division of March the 2nd, forty-two sup ported Mr. Gladstone, twenty voted against him, and nine were absent, thus giving the present Coalition Cabinet a majority of more than two to one in the small boroughs. In fact, these boroughs are the stronghold of that last phase of political quackery, Liberal Conservatism or Conservative Liberalism ; and the wish to disfranchise them emanates, not from the present Government, but front the Man cheater school, who wish to have the suffrage trans ferred to more populous towns. There might lie some plausibility in this demand if the towns did not already engross► more than their due share of the representation. The county constituencies, taking one county with another, contain more than thrice the number of electors to each member than the boroughs, taking them one with another, do ; and this, notwithstanding the county occupation suffrage is fivefold that of the same suffrage for a borough. The county elections are, too, wholly un tainted by corruption. They have, therefore, on every account the first claim to additional members if it should be thought desirable to disfranchise any existing constituencies. The Tory party has nothing whatever to fear from any Reform Dill which shall be based upon fair principles : whether we are likely to get such a bill from the present Coalition, should they remain in office long enough to bring one for ward, is more than I should like to allirm.—l am your obedient servant, AN Ex-U.l'. TN consequence of the diffieulty anti expense (Mewling the transmission of heavy packets across the isthmus of Suez, it has become necessary to rescind the regulations under which printed books, magazines, reviews, and pant phleta, addreesed to the East Indies, Ceylon, Mauritius, and New South Wales, are at present forwanied through the Post-office rid h:gypt, and to restrict the conveyance of such books, tie., to the direct mail-packets proceeding to those pieties. In future, therefore, all publications, ad dressed to India, Ceylon, or Mauritius, intended to he for warded through the post, under the privileges of the °Adel book post, will be conveyed by the eontnwt mail peekete, rid the Cape of Good Hope, leaving Plymouth on the lb* of each month; and hooks, tic., for New south Wales will be sent by the eontract packets J((1)4641(41 from this country once in two mouths, of the bailing of wide/ notice is issued from time tv time. THE PRESS. FAREWELL. BANQUET TO LORI) E LP II IN STON E. Tim approaching departure of the new Governor of Bombay was signalised by a complimentary banquet given to Lord Elphinstone, according to the prece dent established with regard to his predeceasors, by the East India Company. On Satuniay last this feast wax spread at the London Tavern, and was characterised by more than all the magnificence for which that establishment is famous. The dinner displayed an unusually lavish array of delicacies, wines, Szo.; and among the less evanescent con comitants of the banquet was a g rgeous show of plate, furnished forth from the glitte►ing trophies which had accumulated for generations past in Lead enhall-street. Mr. Russell Ellice, Chairman of the Board of Directors, wax the ex-officio president of the day, and among the guests were most of the Cabinet Ministers, a large section of the India Board, together with the Lord Mayor and a number of City magnates. After dinner Lord Elphiustnne's health WAS first proposed. his lordship, said Mr. Ellice, was not an untried man. lie had given great satis faction to the directors as tiovennor of Madras, and they felt accordingly at once safe and pleased to concur, by a unanimous vote, in his appointment to the more important governorship of Bombay. Lord ELPIIINSTONE acknowledged the compliment, under a full sense of the arduous duties which he had now undertaken. His previous experience had taught him justly to estimate the immense responsibilities devolving upon the post which bad been assigned him. Hut he felt reassured when recollecting " the assistance and support he had received both from the directors of the company and their servants in India, without whose assistance ho felt he should never have been equal to the situation " " It WAY (he Mani 111 l ell ) the peculiar good fortune of the Indian iiovernment to possess a body of MerViiithl, both in the civil and military departments, which he believed to Ise altogether unequalled Mr their zeal and ability—men of tried experienoe, who had been educated and bootight up in the service of the company ; and, with their assistance, he did net despair of seeomplishing the objects fur which he had been sent out. (Applutme.) It was unnecessary for him to dwell to env length on what he conceived were the ditties of an Wallin governr. He would only say thin the principal objects which he proposed to himself in Iris government were three—tio'xi, to develop the resources of the country ; second, to promote the sontoland monistical secular education of the natives—( applause)—and third, to advimee and 'women., as opportunities might oiler, these natives who might (totality themselves for situations of trust in the twiddle service. (Great uppleure.) In all thew• objects he relied with perfect confidence the coun tenance and support of the ('unit of I drecturs." Sir JAMES (NAIRN afterwanls, responding on be half of the navy, eulogised the performances of several naval officers who, while serving the corn putty directly, haul accomplished feats glorious and advantageous to the country at. large. Ile also com plimented the East India Company upon their public services in another point of view, remarking that their Oriental possessions " yielded Koine of the finest timber of which the ships of the navy were constructed ; and from their arsenals had been sent Girth some of the strongest and best men-of-war in her Majesty's fleet." Lord HAnDINOE having returned thanks for "The Army," in a speech comprising a condensed eulogy of the achievements performed by the Indian branch of the land service, Earl GRANVILLE replied to the toast of "Her Ma jesty's Ministers ": " Ile would state that the I ;overnment, afterlong, carefUL and anxious delibenition. NMI resolved to take that course which appeoultil to them best adapted to promote the wel fare of the natives of Indio, with t showing favour either to one side or another et home ; and he could assure the meeting that he and all hie colleagues s ppr ee i s i e d th e straightforward and singleminded manner in which the East India Company had met their endeavours so to act. And in future he was sure the East India Company would thol that her Majesty's tioventment would always be ready to co-operate with them In every measure calculated to promote the welfare of the inhabitants of India. (.4,l•Nere.) Ile should not do justice to the feelings of her Majesty's Ministers if lie did not express on their port the gratifies thin which they felt at the appointment of his noble fri e nd Lord Elphitistone, which appointment had also met the approbation of such a high authority as hoed Ilardinge. (.4pjobruse.)" Sir Charles Wood's health was then proposed as President of the Board of ('ontrol—all of whose measures, said Mr. Ellice, speaking in time name of his company, "it would be impossible they could affirm. But tile) , always felt satisfied of the honour able purpose and high motives which actuated them on all oecasione." Responding to the toast, Sir C. Woon expressed his pleasure at finding, by the test of experience, that, whatever changes were made or contemplated in the organisation of the Board of Directors, there was none perceptible in the magnificence of their hospi tality. lie proceeded with some allusions to the India Hill passed in the late aeration by the lie wrnment SATURDAY, " time changes bad taken place in the government o f India both at home and abroad. lie entild rotprime that all the propositions he had made should have met the cordial approbation of all whom hr had now the honour t.. address ; but atlas he could assure them, that in all he had proputted lie was actuated by the belief that they would vim duce to the good go veniment of India. In spite of much opposif , and of numerous attacks, they had sueeeeded in preserving entire the home tiovenonent of India, and the independence of the Court of 1 iirectors. They had been told that constant altercations and differences of opinion were going on between the Government awl the Court of Directors ; but he had early expressed his opini on that the two bodies would eordiallr co-operate together iu all th 41140 great purposes for which they were called upon to act together ; and he was bound now to declare that the result had fulfilled more than his expectations. lie bud, both from the late and the present chairman of the cum pany, without the slightest exception, rereivesl the most cordial and undeviating support. (Appiusse.) " After eitioi.lising the prudence and judgment evinced by the Hoard of Directors in selecting Lord Elphinstone to the onerous duties now assigned to him, Sir C. Wood added : - - "The eyes of the people of Englund were more fixed upon India than they had ever before been, on account of the in• ereakied facilities of intereoune, and the greater informa tion that and consequently dittinted with respect to it. His noble friend had a dillieult task to diseluirge ; but he be. neve(' he Wait fully equal to it; if he had not, he would never have given hie own consent, or the directom theirs, to Lie being placed in that battalion." The Marquis of LiNsoowNE proposed a return toast in honour of the Chairman of the East ludia Company. In the charactor both of a Cabinet Mi nister and an experienced member of the House of Peers, th►e noble marquis referred to the " long in tercourse " he had enjoyed with► the company, and ►u'knowledged " the advantage of having the affairs of the company in the hands of the directors and their chairman. Both houses he was sure would recog nise the merit, the skill, and the judgment with which they had administered the affairs of India." With toasts for the " Civil Service" and the " Indian Army," to the latter of which Sir 0. Pollock responded, the festivity terminated. The Indian journals received by the last mail re port a melancholy occurrence which has caused much sensation throughout the Bombay Presidency. Mr. A Malet, chief secretary to the Government, with his wife and infant child, left Bombay on the lith of October in the steamer Achilles, on their way to the Hills, he having been directed to proceed thither as secretary in attendance on the Governor. When off Bankote the entire family left the steamer, and pro ceeded in a bunder-boat for the mouth of the river, up which they were to ascend to a place called Mhar. There are two entrances to this river, into one of which boats cannot get unless at the highest spring tides—the other is accessible at all times with perfect safety. It being dark the boatmen took the wrong channel, the boat struck on the bar, and immediately sunk. Mrs. Malet, her infant child, the ayah, and nearly every soul on boord, including all the house hold servants, were drowned. Mr. Malet reached the shore clinging to a spar, and the lifeless body of his ill-fated wife was brought to land by a few boatmen : the body of the infant and those of the other persons drowned have never been recovered, SOCIETY OF ARTS. Tins society has now passed its centenary. The 1110th session commenced on Wednesday last; the opening night being attended by an audience more crowded and inlet ested than any that have for a long period gathered at the aociety's meetings. 111 x. H. Chester, chairman of the council, inaugurated the season with a most able address, in which he gave some cartons details regarding the first origin and successive opc rations of the society, whose hundredth birthday they might be said to be keeping : " So far back as 1721, proposals were made for the estel. lishment of a society, to lie called "I' he Chamber of Arts, fur the preserving and improvement of Imitative know ledge, the mechanical arts, inventions, and manufacturer.' In 1748 Benjamin Franklin published his Proposal for the Improvement of Useful Knowledge among the British Plantations in Amertea,' by the formation of a society at Philadelphia, to be called "the American Philosophical Society, of which he volunteered to act pro itospore ar secretary. It was, however, the public spirit' of William Shipley , who is said to have been a drawing-master. and 'waiter to the Bishop of St. Asaph, which gave rime to the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce in Mr. Shipley first obtained the approval and COEICIIMIWr Viscount Folkestone, Lord Mooney, and Dr. Isaac Abot• Bishop of Worcester ; and then proceeded to unlibt others. 'the tirst meeting of the society was held MI lit Itith of March, I'M., at Ilawthinell's co&e•house, hs Urn rietta-strfet. COVelit-gartien, and Mr. Wm. Shipley, who acted as secretary, put forth this Address to the Public ' ' Some of the nobility, clert4y, gentlemen, and merchants, having at heart the good of their country, have lately tort together in order to fomt themselves into a society nor the encountgoment of arts, manufactures, and commerce, In threat Britain, by bestowing rewards front time to Our for such productions, inventions, or improvements as shall tend to the 4..mploying of the poor, tv the isicrease of trade,