The Press. — London, England, 1858-05-08 00:00:00

446 TO CORRESPONDENTS. Advertisements sent from the country must be accompanied by remittance or a reference for payment in town. It is to acknowleige the mass of letters we receiv Their insertion is often delayed owing to a press of matte and when omitted, it is frequently (ruin reasons quite inde pendent of the merits of the communication. Communications should always be legibly written. and on one side of the paper only. If long it increases the difficulty of finding space for them. Whatever is intended for insertion mustbe authenticated by the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publics. tint, but as a guarantee of his good faith. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION FOR ebe lams's: (STAMPED) Per Annum .. .. half Yearly.. .. Quarterly .. .. .. PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. /1 8 0 0 13 0 1, 8 8 Subsci;bers are requested to semi their orders through sews Agents; if direct to the Office, accompanied by a remittance. Advertisements also must have a reference or remittance. Money Or-,.ers to be made payable to Mr.:U.llmi) Iva, HO Strand, London. rip POSTSCRIPT. FRANCE. " The idea is still said to prevail," says the Toulon. nais," of placing Prince Napoleon at the head of the French Mediterranean colony, only without the title of viceroy, .9 was at first stated. He will be named governor general, lieutenant of the Emperor. His 1U ajesty has appointed a commission, composed, it is said, of two Councillors of State, of General de Salles and of M. Chaix &Est Any, Procureur•Ganeral at the Imperial Court of Paris, charged to draw up a decree on the subject. The object of Prince Napo leon, in proceeding to Algiers in quality of lieutenant of the Emperor, will be to impart increased activity to agriculture, to give an impetus to railway works, and to direct towards Algeria the tide of emigration which has been for some years running towards America, Rio Janeiro, and Texas." SPAIN. The Queen has postponed her projected visit to the Meaiterranean to the end of the month, on account of the Prince of the Asturias being about to be vaccinated. The debate in the Congress on the proposition for blaming the President, M. Bravo Murillo, f. , r the manner in which he had caused the minutes of a previous sitting to he drawn up, ended in the adoption by 142 votes to 71 of an amendment declaring that he had acted strictly according to the standing orders, and had done his duty. Some deputies had resolved to present a bill to the Con gress for erecting at the public expense at Seville a statue of Murillo, the celebrated painter. NEW PEERS.—The title by which Sir Colin Camp bell will be elevated to the peerage will probably be that of Lotd Campbell of Clyde, in allusion to his birthplace upon the banks of the romantic Clyde, near Glasgow. The only matter of regret is the fact that Sir Colin is still a bachelor, and that, as he has reached his sixty-sixth year, there is comparatively small chance of his title occupying hereafter a per• manent place in the pages of the British peerage. Mr. Pemberton Leigh, the distinguished lawyer, is also about to be raised to the peerage.—Post. LAST NIGHTS DEBATE. EOUSE OF LORDS. THE any RIioR•GERF.BAI. OF INDIA. The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH laid on the table some correspondence from Lord Canning containing the proclamation lately issued with reference to the lan !owners of Oude, together with the despatch transmitted in reply from the Home Government. Ho moved that the paper: should be printed. Earl GRANVILLE considered the cour-e adopted by the Government altogether unprecedented. They hail not merely passed censure on the conduct of Lord Canning hastily, and, as he thought, without due in formation, before even an o'licial copy of the docu• mcnt had been received, but had promulgated in England, whence it would at once be sent to India, their own secret despatch, with which the Director.A of the Company had only been made acquainted this morning. The consegnence, he apprehended, would be the resignation of the Governor• General, an event in his opinion fraught with serious injury to India, as depriving that country of the services of a states. man who bad nudes perilous circumstances displayed THE PRESS, MAY 8, 1858. consummate ability, and acquired among the natives an exalted reputation for justice and firmness. The Earl of DErtny explained the principles on which the Government had acted. They believed that the proclamation, which threatened an almost general confiscation of the land in Oude, would drive the great landowners to despair, and tend to exasperate and prolong the contest in that province. The inhabitants of Oude ought not to be treated like mutinous sepoys. Writing to Lord Canning, how ever, they had studiously avoided using any expres sions calculated to necessitate his resignation; they bad not even required him to recal his proclamation, simply intimating their wish that in acting upon it he should to a wide extent mitigate its severity. The Duke of Anom. remarked that her Majesty's Ministers had altogether repudiated the maxim that had been recently adopted, that India should be governed in India. lie proceeded to inveigh against their treatment of Lord Canning, especially in allow ing their censure of his proclamation to be publicly announced in the most offensive terms by a distin guished member of Administration "in another place." The Earl of ELLExpottonos replied, offering some further explanations and defences of the course pur sued by the Government towards the Governor- General. The subject then dropped, and the motion was agreed to. After transacting some further business their lord ships adjourned at seven o'clock. HOUSE OF COMMONS. OATHS BILL. Lord JOHN RUSSELL intimated his wish to post pone until Monday the consideration of the Lords' amendments in the Parliamentary Oaths Bill, hoping that the Government would allow the subject to take precedence on that day. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER assented to this arrangement, and the motion accordingly stood adjourned. COURTS OF PROBATE AND ADMIRALTY. Mr. S. WARREN called attention to the operation of tle Prolate Act of last session, with reference to the rights of employing barristers at-law in non-conten tions business in the Probate Court, and barristers and atturoeys.at-law in the Court of Admiralty, sup posed to have been conferred on the public in consi deration of the compensation awarded by that act to proctors and others. The hon. and learned member proceeded to enlarge upon the expediency of throw ing open to the legal profession generally the full right of practising in the Probate Court and Court of Admiralty. Mr. HADFIELD complained that a clause on this point orivinally inserted in the bill hail been struck out at the last moment. Sir R. BETHEI.L declared that the alteration was effected without his knowledge or assent. Mr. MALINS remarked that very exaggerated ideas had become prevalent touching the compensation awarded to the proctors. MAGISTERIAL APPOINTMENTS. Mr. J. LOCKE having called attention to some recent appointments of magistrates in Canterbury and other towns, insisted tbat the present Govern ment had been influenced there and elsewhere solely by the wish of strengthening the Conservative party. This allegation produced considerable discussion, in the course of which the magisterial nominations of the present Lord Chancellor were attacked or defended both generally and with reference to special instances, by the Home Secretary, Mr. Bright, Mr. B. Johnstone, Mr. Rcebuck, Mr. Whiteside, and other members. The subject was at length per mitted to drop. THE " CAOLIAIII." Mr. KIWGLAKE asked the Chancellor of the Ex chequer when the Government would cause us be presented to the house a copy of the despatch referred to by the Under• Secretary for Foreign Affairs un Tuesday last as having been received, to the effect that the Government of Sardinia cordially accepted the despatch from Lord Malmesbury, and were prepared to act in accordance with the sugges tions of that despatch, and the spirit of the protocol of the 14th of April ; and also for a copy of the above. mentioned despatch from the Foreign Secretary. Rumours, he observed, had obtained circulation that the Engiith Government intended to abandon Sardinia in its contest with Naples, which could be best quieted by the publication of the documents in question. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER declared that the production of the papers asked for might occasion serious detriment to the public service. On the part of the Government he claimed confidence from the house with regard to the conduct of affairs involving the honour and interests of the country. Lord J. IltssELT, thought that the conduct of her Majesty's Ministers throughout the affair had been completely satisfactory, and deserved the confidence of the Legislature and the country. Ha trusted that they would not relax their efforts . to secure re d ress fur Sardinia, and especially to obta i n a release of t h e crew of the Cagliari from their Neapolitan irnpri-on. ment. Mr. S. FITZGERALD was unabl e t o g i ve any infor mation respecting the release of the crew, b ut emphatically assured the house that the Government bad never intended, nor would ever consent, to abandon their Sardinian ally. Mr. GLADSTONE maintained that Lord Clarendon, in despatches written many months ago, had effectually pledged this country to support Sardinia. - After some remarks from — Mr. HUMAN and Mr. CRAUFURD, the subject dropped. STAMP DUTY ON DRAFTS. This bill passed through committee after some discussion on various amendments. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. The house having gone into committee on the government of India. The adjourned debate on Resolution 2 was re sumed, and an amendment moved by Mr. Rica discussed at much length, by which the future ad. ministration of India was to he intrusted to a "Pre. sident in Council " instead of a Secretary of State. Lord STANLEY pointed out some official disabilities which might result from the proposed change. In the course of discussion Mr. V. SMITE sus. Bested that the phrase should run, "a responsible Minister of the Crown," thus leaving the precise title of the functionary to be decided hereafter when the bill was before the house. Sir J. PAKINOTON assented to this proposition, which, after considerable debating, was ultimately agreed to without a division. Resolution :3 being omitted, Sir J. PLKINGTON, with a brief explanation, moved Resolution 4, relating to the proposed Council for India. A motion was made for reporting progress, which was adopted after a confused conversation, and the debate stood adjourned to Tuesday next. GAS. Mr. BYNG moved for a select committee to inquire into and report as to the existing arrangements for the supply of gas to the metropolis. The Home Secretary consented to the inquiry, and the committee was ordered. The house adjourned at a quarter past twelve o'clock. THE BRITISH BANK. -" The Queen v. Humphrey Brown and others."—This was an information filed by the late Attorney-General (Sir R. Bethell), which charged the directors and general manager of the Royal British Bank with conspiring, by false pre tences, to defraud the shareholders, customers. snd public. At the trial, which took place before Lord Campbell, at Guildhall, on the 13th of February 10, and twelve following days, the jury found all the defendants guilty, but strongly recommended four of them, viz., Stapleton, Kennedy, Owen, and Macleod, to the mercy of the Court. His Lordship imme diately pronounced sentence, but, in the early part of the present term, all the defendants (except Staple ton) moved to set aside the verdict and to have a new trial, upon the ground of misdirection, and that the verdict was against the evidence. The Court having taken time to consider, Lord Campbell now delivered the judgment of the Court as follows : " Having taken time deliberately to consider all the evidence in this very complicated case, and the argit ments of the counsel for the defendants in moving for a rule to show cause why the verdict should not be set aside, we are of opinion that no rule ought to be granted. It appears to us that the jut) , were well justified in finding that the conspiracy charged in the information was entered into, and that the defendants who make this application were privy to this conspiracy.' After carefully reviewing the evidence, Lord Camp bell said—" Therefore we do not think that we should be justified in setting aside the verdict found against him by a special jury of merchants at Guild ball fully competent to understand the subject, after a trial of thirteen days. Owen and most of the other defendants received an excellent character from respectable witnesses, who had long known them, but against strong direct evidence characters cannot avail ; and it is lamentable to observe that from rather relaxed standard o: commercial morality now prevailing practices of an equivocal nature Teel sometimes be resorted to, without lowering in general estimation the reputation of the individuals concerned in them. All the defendants have put in affidavit; asserting their innocence, but the facts upon which the jury came to a conclusion of their gu ilt stand uncontradicted. Refusing the rule which is p ra y ed, we may conclude by expressing a hope that this prosecution, although it perhaps bears hard on some of the objects of it, may have a salutary te ndency to deter men engaged in mercantile pursuits from yielding to the temptation to violate the truth, even it they should think a wilful misrepresentation may be made without, in the event, certainly workine. prejudice to those with whom they deal." Rule refused. B a e I. l• le in n le re DT Id re ey ed ch he !e- -nd he of le- of le- a lat trt )ir he ug lot to ell he its we ncl Id- ler 111 in, lot a 3w ay ral ed iti eh rid !d, Ii; ne