The Press. — London, England, 1858-07-24 00:00:00

had only left him 10,000 fr., and he had done nothing to merit from her, personally, a larger legacy. It therefore declared the will null and void. A few days ago the abbe appealed against this decision to the Imperial Court of Dijon, and affirmed, in support of it (and offered to do so on oath), that the legacy was really made to him personally, not in trust for the convent; but the court did not credit him, and as the law does not allow legacies to be made to a person to be transferred to a religious c3mmunity, it confirmed the previJus judgment. THE PRESS, JULY 24, 1858. tout and Pstion. It is now definitely arranged that her Majesty is to be. accompanied, on the occasion of her visit to the imperial dockyard and arsenal of Cherbourg, by such of her " faithful Commons" as may find it conve nient to undertake the voyage. A committee of members has been formed to make the necessary ar rangements, and it is proposed that the legislative wisdom should assemble at Southampton on the evening of the 3rd of August, when a vessel belong ing to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Packet Company will be in readiness to convey it to the French coast. The committee, having a disagreeable recollection of the scant accommodation provided for members of the House of Commons on the occasion of the memorable review at Spithead, two years since, resolved to charter a vessel on their own ac• count, and thus he entirely independent of the Ad miralty. An application was consequently made to the Peninsular and Oriental Company for the use of one of their magnificent fleet of passenger steamers, and the company in the handsomest manner not only promised a vessel, but declined to accept any remu neration whatever for the hire of it. The only charge, therefore, which hon. members will be expected to defray is that for maintenance during the trip, which is to extend over three days at the least. The majority of members having left town, it is not pro bable that more than 200 excursionists will avail themselves of the invitation ; but from these may be gleaned the elements of a pleasant party. As at present proposed, members are to find their way to Southampton on the evening of the 3rd of August, where dinner will be provided on their arrival. The party will sleep on board that night, and the vessel will sail at an early hour in the morning, returning from Cherbourg on the following Friday evening. Captain Ciosset, the Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms, is intrusted with the preparations, and has sent a cir cular, of which the following is a copy, to all the members of the house now in town : House of Commons, July 17, 1858. Sir,—The committee for superintending the arrange ments for the visit of members of the House of Commons to Cherbourg have requested me to inform you that a ticket of admission wilt he issued to you on Wednesday or Thurs day next, on application at my room between twelve and one o'clock, on receipt of a cheque for 51. This amount is considered by the committee as probably sufficient to cover all expenses from the time of arriving on board until leaving the ship. Should the expenses incurred not amount to 51. per head the surplus will be returned to you, and the committee will consider themselves claimants for any extra expenses, which, however, are not anticipated. It is proposed that the party shall assemble on board at Southampton on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 3rd of August, on which day dinner will he ready at eight o'clock ; the party will sleep on board, and the ship will leave early in the morning of the 4th August, remaining at Cherbourg until Friday evening. Should I not receive your application for a ticket by Tburad iy next, the committee will consider themselves at liberty to dispose of your place to any other member. The admission strictly limited to members of the house. A few berths will be reserved fJr servants, and any mem ber desiring to take his servant will be srpplied with a ticket at . 21. 10s. each.—Your very obedient servant, R. A GossEr, Deputy Sergeant•at-Arms. This circular is, of course, based upon the assump tion that Parliament will be prorogued on, at all events, not later than the morning of the 3rd of August. The probability, however, is that the pro rogation will take place on Monday, the 2nd. AMERICA. On the 18th of June an earthquake was severely felt in Mexico, and upwards of fifty persons lost their lives. The British and French Ministers had advised the payment of the forced loan under protest, but Mr. Forsyth gave the proposal his decided opposition, and has demanded his passports. He awaits in structions from the United States Government. General Vidaurri was marching on the capital. 'rho New Orleans cotton market was very dull, and prices were easier, although quotations were nominally unchanged. • The sales of the week amounted to 7,000 bal,:s. The steamship Fulton. from Southampton, was intercepted oil Cape Race on the 10th inst., and her news telegraphed to New York. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. On the sth of June his Excellency the Governor, in the presence of the L tgislative Council and House of Assembly, assembled in the state-room at Govern menthouse, assented in her Majesty's name to certain bills, anti prorogued Purlianient till the 15th of July. the speech delivered by Sir George Grey on thts occasion may be said to contain also the latest Cape news of general Interest. Among other thing his Excellency remarked: — I em happy in being able to inform you that British Kaffraria is in a perfectly tranquil state, anti that sanguine expectations may now be reasonably indulged that the great natimil resources of that fertile country may ne un interruptedly developed, in which case it will very shortly attain to a high degree of prJaperity, and will contribute greatly to the wealth and commerce of this colony. INDIA AND CHINA. The following telegram has been received from the Times Corfu correipondent, dated July 22 : ALEXANDRIA, July 18. The Calcutta ana C'ints mails have arrived, with dates from Calontte to the 18th of June; Madras, to the 2.oth ; and Hong Kong, to the 7th. Gwalior we recaptured from the rebels on the 111th of June. The Cavalry end Artillery were in pursuit of the sn • my. Th. Ranee of Jhansi is reported to be killed. Scindia left. Agra on the 13th of June to join the Central In lie Field Force on its way to Gwalior. Oude continued disturbed. In Rohilenind all is tranquil. The Calcutta import-market is quiet. Supplies of ex ports small. The money-market is unaltered. Exchange, 2s. 02d. to ld for credits. CHINA. The forts at the months of the Peiho were captured on the 2Uth of May by the British and French farces; the latter suffered severely from the explosion of a mine. An unsuccessful expedition had been made against a Chinese camp near Canton. SHANGHAI May 31. • Trade is unsettled by the intelligence from the - Peiho. The new silk crop is favourably reported upon. Etchings, 6s. Id. for bank bills; 6s. lid. to Os. 2d. for credits. At Canton trade is almost at a complete standstill. At Hong Kong exchange is 4i. 7d. for credits. The following telegram from Acting Consul- General Green to the Earl of Malmesbury was re ceived at the Foraigu•otfce on Thursday, July 22, 1958, at 4.45 p.m.:— ALIXANDRIA, July 18. The steamer Caidia arrived nt Suez yesterday. Her dates are—Calcutta, 19th June ; Madras, 25th (}alle, 29th; Men, 11th July ; and Hong Kong, 7th June. The forces under bir H. Rose have retaken Gwalior, after a severe fight of four hours, on the 201 of June. [The Times correspondent says 19th June.] This news is from Madras. Commander lieamish, R.N., with despittchas from Lord Elgin and the Admiral, arrived by the Candia on the 20th of May. The forts at the month of the Peiho, mounting 138 guns, backed by a large body of troops, were attacked by the Eng lish and French gunboats, and taken with trifling loss on oar side. The Chinese stood to their guns very fairly. Oa the 22nd the force commenced advancing up the river. Weather cod, and squadron in excellent health and spirits. Six thousand French troops, originally destined for Cochin Chins, are on their way to the Gulf of Pechelee. At Canton on the 2nd of June an attempt was made, without any good effect, to rout the braves on the moun tains in the vicinity. Ming Poo is in possession of the rebels, and the Eng lish morchants on board her Majesty's ship Surprise. election nttttigenct. STASIFORD.—The election of Sir Stafford Henry Northcote to the seat vacated by Mr. Inglis on his elevation to the office of Lord Justice Clerk of Scot land, took place at the Town•hall on Saturday last. The candidate was nominated by Dr. Pratt and seconded by Mr. Alderman Althorp, and no opposi tion being offered was declared duly elected. Sir Stafford Northcote returned thanks in an address of considerable length. Having expressed the diffidence be felt in succeeding such distinguished men as had represented Stamford, he proceeded to refer to India and several other topics of the day. The Conserva tives, he said, had passed through a period of con siderable trial and annoyance ; he hoped they were now coming to one which would be a time of cheer. fulness and of progress. It was anything but a pleasant task to have to do that which the Conserva tive party had had for some time to do—namely, to present themselves in the light merely of a balance weight, in order to prevent hasty and immoderate progress, and thereby to take up a position which had a tendency to become one of mere obstruction. It was necessary, undoubtedly, that there should be those who were able and willing to perform the dis agreeable duty to which he alluded ; but it was a very disagreeab e duty, and one which it was not good for a party to have to perform continually— that of having to carp and cavil at measures pro posed for consideration, without having an oppor- , - tunity of introducing measures themselves, beca use i t put them in a false position, and placed them bef,re the country as if their only object was to obstruct progress. The consequence was, in point of f act , that the term " Conservative " had come, in shi t minds of many persons, to be almost synonymous with "obstructive ; " so that we found some peopl e regarding it as absurd to talk of such a thing as " Conservative progress." They could not unilvr stand it. They said that Conservatives, when they talked of progress, were either hypocritical and endeavouring to pass themselves off as *something which they were not, or else they were truckling to the times or endeavouring to deceive us by f a l se pretences. But if we looked at the truth, we should find that it was not, so at all. Ther e was nothing whatever in the spirit of Conservatism that was opposed to progress. On the contrary, it was an essential part of the true Conservative spirit that it should be progressive —progressive with the times and with the wants of the times. The hon. baronet then referred to Parliamentary Reform and the ex. tension of the suffrage, and in reference to the ques• tion of universal suffrage deprecated the position to which it had reduced France. The French Govern. meat had the power of manipulating and controlling the masses to such an extent that it became preen. tally a despotism. Therefore they had universal suffrage as the base and a despotism above ; and that was the state of things offered to us in England. It was because he desired to see carried out a Si stein which would give a fairer play to local and municipal govern ment that lie hailed with confidence the accession of the present Ministry to power, because he believed that they wou:d introduce measures tending in that direction. Again, he would say, with regard to the power of the Executive Government, that it was of the greatest importance that we should endeavour to strengthen that power as much as possible ; but we were not to strengthen it merely by leaving it un• fettered to conduct this or that business in its ovn manner, but by enabling it to get the best men and to employ them in the best way, and thus to manage its affairs in the most simple and straightforward manner. It had been his lot to be employed in in vestigating many of our public offices, and to consider how they might be made more efficient than hereto fore ; and he hal been fortunate enough, in con junction with one or two very able colleagues with whom he had had the honour to be associated, to be able to introduce into certain departments of the Government certain small improvements which had tended to ameliorate the working of those depart ments. But while thus engaged he had seen enough to convince him that a great work still remained to be done—to simplify the duties of many offices con nected with the administration of public affairs, and to prevent unnecessary delays and the waste of time and money. The hon. baronet, in conclusion, said wo were now very near the end of the session, and Government would have the advantage of the recess, and lie looked forward with hope and confidence to the measures which were to be expected next year. Those he had the honour to represent might depend upon this, that he should be fully anxious to give effect by his votes to proceedings in Parliament cal culated to further those principles which he had endeavoured to sketch out—that lie was not one of those who would hold one kind of language here and another kind of language there—that he had always been desirous to see carried out the views which he had attempted to express, to see progress among the people, and to see our system of constitutional liberty preserved and at the same time extended ; and he trusted that they would not find him wanting in attention to the duties of the post to which they had tl,at day been kind enough to call him. NW an Volta. CURIOUS ACTION OF EJECTMENT AT Yong.—A curious trial came off last Tuesday at York to re cover possession of a small estate in the North Riding. Mr. Bliss, Q.C., Mr. Cleasby, and Mr. Blanshard appeared for the claimant; and Mr. Temple, Q.C., and Mr. Unthank for the defendant. The defendant was the tenant in possession of the estate, and the question turned on the point whether the landlord of the defendant was born in wedlock or not. The marriage was alleged to have taken place about the year 1790, and it so happened that no entry of it could be found in the register, and the defendant was therefore obliged to rely on a mar riage by reputation. Accordingly, it was proved that the parties in question were always reputed man and wife, that they were received as such In society, and that the woman always wore a wedding ring. In addition to this it was proved from the parish register that the banns were duly published three times in the respective parishes of the parties ; but, as was alleged, by some strange accident no entry of the marriage itself could be found. Two persons were then called, who, it was at first supposed, were present at the cere-