The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

tolittral. MR. LANOSTON AND MR. CARDWELL attended the annual Druidical dinner held at Oxford last week, and in returning thanks Mr. Cardwell, in the course of his speech, greatly eulogised the endurance and courage exhibited by Englishmen and women in India during the prevalence of the insurrection. With regard to the future government of that coun try, he said that, in the first place, it was the duty of all Governments, and should be their chief object, to promote the welfare and prosperity of the country and people who live in it, and, in the second place, with regard to the subject of religion, that while on the one hand they should not attempt to propagate our pure and holy faith as Mabomet propagated his, that was by force and the sword,—while they should scorn the base policy of attempting to preach a hollow and hypocritical profession of our opinions, by bane and unworthy influences, so on the other hand he believed that justice, and mercy, and truth were the essential attributes of every wise and just Government, and were attributes also which were inseparably connected with the religion which we professed. And it was in that spirit of justice, of mercy, and of truth that the Government of the Queen of England over 200,000,000 of an alien race must be administered. Os MONDAY next the following provision in the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act (the 20th and 21st of Victoria, chap. 85) will come into operation with respect to the property and earnings of deserted married women. Section 21 : A wife deserted by her husband may at any time after such desertion, if resident within the metropolitan district, apply to a police magistrate, or if resident in the country to justices in petty session, or in either case to the court, for an order to protect any money or property she may acquire by her own lawful industry, and property which she may become possessed of, after such desertion, against her husband or his creditors, or any person claiming under him, and such magistrate or justices of court, if satisfied of the fact of such desertion, and that the same was with out reasonable cause, and that the wife is maintaining her s !If by her own industry or property, may make and give to the wife an order protecting her earnings and property acquired since the commencement of such desertion from her husband, and all creditors and persons claiming under him, and such earnings and property shall belong to the wife as if she were a few sole ; provided always that every such order, if made by a police magistrate, or justices at petty sessions, shall within ten days after the making thereof be entered with the registrar of the county court within whose jurisdiction the wife is resident, and that it shall be lawful for the husband and any creditor or other person claiming under him to apply to the court, or to the magistrate or justices by whom such order was made, for the discharge ; provided also that if the husband or any creditor of a person claiming under the husband shall seize or continue to hold any property of the wife after notice of any such order he shall be liable at the suit of tie wife (which she is hereby empowered to bring) to r3store the specific property, and also for a sum equil to double the value of the property so seized or held after such notice as aforesaid. If any such order of protection b 3 made, the wife shall, during the continuance thereof, be and be deemed to have been, during such desertion of kir, in the like position in all respects with regard to pro perty and contracts, and suing and being sued, as she would be under this act if she obtained a decree of judi cial separation. A REFORK ASSOCIATION for the promotion in the counties of Durham and Northumberland of the new parliamentary reform movement has been organised in Newcastle-on-Tyne. A similar associa tion has also been formed at Birmingham, upon the basis of the six points. A GENERAL CONFERENCE of delegates from the various metropolitan vestries is under consideration, for the purpose of discussing the propriety of re sisting the attempt which is to be made in the en suing session of Parliament to abolish tolls in the neighbourhood of the metropolis—a course which it is thought would have the effect of throwing the expense of the roads upon the parishes, thus in creasing to a very serious extent the parochial rates, particularly in poor districts, where frequently the traffic is the greatest. IT IS UNDERSTOOD that a bill to authorise the India Company to raise a loan in this country will be introduced immediately on the assembling of Parlia ment. This measure will be in no way connected with that for the general reorganisation of the Government of India, which will be bronght for ward at a later period. It will be simply sack as would have been proposed if there had been no thought of altering the existing system. Whether the India Company will avail themselves of it to its full extent is an unsettled question. A loan is now open at Calcutta, and, if a favourable turn should take place there, so as to induce rapid subscriptions, it may be necessary to seek only a small amount in London. It is also stated that the whole of the six or eight millions that are required wilt be die• bursed in this country for dividends on India Stock, purchases of stores, the hire of ships, &e. This con sideration, however, although it diminishes the prospect of inconvenience on the present occasion, in no way mitigates the inherent objections to the THE PRESS, JANUARY 9, 1858. raising of money in England for the service of India. The public mind seems to be fully awakened on that point, and great dissatisfaction will be occasioned unless it shall fully appear when the contract is made that no other course can at the moment be considered available.—Times City cor. THE AMENDMENT OF THE BANKRUPTCY AND IN SOLVENCY AcTs was considered at a meeting of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce held on Wed nesday last. The committee appointed by the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science have proposed resolutions to the effect that the district courts be abolished and their jurisdiction transferred to the county courts, or that the district courts be retained, but that the commissioners go circuit within their districts, and that their jurisdic tion not to descend to cases Lelow 5001., all of which be given to the county courts. To these latter pro posals the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce agree, extending the judicature of the county courts to all cases under 1,0001. THE COMMISSIONERS FOR THE REDUCTION OF THE NATIONAL DEBT gave notice in Tuesday's Gazette that the sum of 121,0841. Os. 10d. is applied, between the 6th of Jan., 1858, and the 31st. of March, 1858, to the following purposes :—To be applied towards the Reduction of the National Debt, 121,0841. Os. 10c1. Add interest receivable on account of donations and bequests, to be applied to the purchase of stock, 7,409/. tern honoured the occasion with their presence, a n d the daughter of the former christened the vess e l "Bartolomes Dias." AN INFLUENTIAL MEETING WM held on Tues day week at the Chambers of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, to consider the state o f the Haymarket, Coventry -street, Regent•street, Portland-place, and the adjoining localities, i n reference to the flagrant exhibitions of street prostitution that nightly disgrace those localities. On Wednesday last the meeting again assembled, when the speakers insisted that the public exhibition of prostitution might be successfully dealt with by the law as it stands, and that the night houses might be controlled and the importation of foreign prostitutes prevented if the public would only support the police in the execution of their duty. Aittropolit an. A SERIES OF PROTESTANT MEETTNas have recently been held at St.. Martin's-hall, Long-acre, in order to consider the subjects. of "Romish Priests and Romish Sisterhoods In the English Church." No practical conclusion has yet been arrived at, but at each meet ing a number of clergymen have addressed the audience at considerable length upon the workings of the Romish priesthood in this country. THE ACQUISITION OF INDIA BY THE SWORD WAS the subject of a lecture by Mr. E. Fry on Wednesday evening, at Sussez•hall, Leadenhall-street. The conclusions Mr. Fry drew from our conquests and annexations were that we had not, as a nation, gained by the policy pursued. The resources of India were undeveloped and the prosperit; of her people repressed : Who then had gained? Certain "honourable" indi viduals, who raised immense fortunes out of the ruin of the Indian princes and people. The gentlemen of India were acute and observant men, and when missionaries spoke to them of the Christian religion and its mild and humane precepts, they referred to the acts of their Chris thin rulers, and they drew their conclusions from our con. duct and not from our language. He was afraid that the practice of torture in India, and the personal deport- ment of the rulers of India towards their dependants, engendered in the Indian mind those feelings of revenge which broke out into such terrible acts as characterised the present outbreak. WITH THE COLD WEATHER the number of deaths has risen even above the regular average ; the actual amount being I,4l3—the average, allowing for increase of population, giving only 1,417. The births for the same period show au increase, amount ing in all to 1,933. THE PARAGRAPH lately going the round of the papers upon the subject of the Crown jewels con tains, says a contemporary, an important inaccuracy. The jewels constituting the regalia at the Tower are not those respecting which there has been a ques tion between our Court and that of Hanover. Some jewels belonging to George 11., and some in the possession of Queen Charlotte, were it. seems the subject of a bequest to the Crown of Hanover. Under that bequest they were claimed, and her Majesty having submitted the claim to competent authority, its 'validity was admitted. The Crown of Hanover, however, has nothing to say to the regalia, which will remain as at present. FIVE 1001. DRURY-LANE THEATRE SHARES were sold on Thursday at the aution mart at 2/. per share. THE LONDON CORPORATION are engaged in making preparations for the purpose of giving the citizens, through that body, an opportunity of offering their compliments of congratulation to her Majesty, the Prince Consort, and the royal pair, the celebration of whose nuptials is appointed to take place on the 25th instant. A GREAT FIRE occurred at Bothell:lithe on Sunday lest, on the premises of Mr. Thompson, Government ship-boat builder, at the Horseferry•stairs, Bother }lithe, whose workshops, as well as those of Mr. Thomas, also a ship-boat builder, were totally de stroyed. The fire was extinguished by the engines and firemen of the brigade, &c.—namely, the two steamfloats, four engines of I), one of A, two of B, and that of the West of England•ofce. A BEAUTIFUL SCREW CORVETTE YACHT, pierced for twenty-two guns, and intended as a sea yacht for the King of Portugal, was successfully launched last week from the building•yard of Messrs. Green, at Blaakwall. The Portuguese and Brazilian Minis- V roVintial. A MILITIA RIOT took place at Burnley on New. Year's-eve. A number of the Dublin Militia now in the Burnley Barracks, by way of celebrating the occasion, attacked the townspeople, smashed their windows, and bayoneted every person who came in their way. Theriot became so serious that a power ful police and military force was necessary to restore order. The militia are at present confined to the barrack, pending a civil and military inquiry. Six teen militia men were apprehended, and eleven have been committed for trial. The militia have since been removed to Aldershott. THE NEW DEBATING Room at the Union, Oxford, is rapidly approaching completion. The structure is from the designs of Mr. Woodward, architect of the new Museum, in the Parks, and will, when the decorations are finished, be a masterpiece of art. Some of the first artists of the pre-Raphaelite school are and have been for some time past engaged in adorning its walls with paintings on subjects from the Cycle of Arthurean romance. Amongst the members of the University and others who give their gratuitous services are D. G. Rosetti ; the Rev. John H. Pollen, formerly Fellow of Merton College, Senior Proctor in 1851, and a seceder from the Church of England to the Church of Rome ; Willism Morris, 8.A., Exeter College; and E. Jones, BA , Exeter College, &c. The subjects are as follows : King Arthur receiving the Sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake—J. H. Pollen, M.A.; Sir Palo mides, Jealousy of Sir Tristram, and the fair 'suite— Wm. Morris, B. A. ; Merlin allured iuto the Pit by the Lady of the Lake—E. Jones, 8.A.; Nimue bringing Sir Peleas to Ettarde after their Quarrel — V. Prinsep ; Sir Launcelot Asleep before the Shrine of the Sangreal—D. G. Rosetti ; and the Corpse of Arthur conveyed by Weeping Queens to Avalon— Arthur Hughes. A MArDEN LADY, Miss Stewart, of somewhat eccentric habits, living in the Lewisham-road, de liberately drowned herself in the water-butt last Monday upon her maiden sister leaving her on a visit to the country. A NORWEGIAN FUNERAL took place at Newcastle last week. The service does not differ from that of the Church of England, but the mourners chant a Lutheran hymn around the grave. The effect is described as having been extremely touching and impressive. A LAMENTABLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT occurred OR the Caledonian railway on Wednesday evening. Several navvies leaving off work were just crossing the main line near Gartcosb, when an up and down train came in sight. The men appear to have become bewildered; some rushed on one side, and some another, but unhappily they did not all succeed in getting clear betore the down train reached them. Seven men were instantly knocked down, five of whom were cut to pieces in a moment ; the remain ing two lie dangerously injured at the Glasgow infirmary. No biame, it is said, can be attached to the driver of the train. WOODCOCKS, says the Hereford Journal, have appeared in unusual numbers in some parts of that country. _ . MR. SMYTH, of Aston-court, Bristol, has refused to serve as High Sheriff, as appointed by the Town Council. The subject was discussed at a meeting of the Town Council last week, when the following letter from Mr. W. Smyth's solicitors was read : We have satisfied ourselves that Mr. Smyth is not liable to serve; and however sensible he may be of the honour intended to be conferred upon him, be is advised that he ought not to accept it, on grounds which we should be prepared to state if it were necessary to do so ; but from communications which have passed with the mayor and the present high sheriff, we consider it unnecessary for us to do more than communicate this decision. The council have directed their law officers to tako immediate steps to enforce the acceptance of the office by Mr. Smyth, either by applying to the Court of Queen's Bench or otherwise, as counsel may advise. THE ANNUAL REPORT of the Oxford Working Men's Eduostional Institute is highly satisfsatory.