The Press. — London, England, 1854-03-11 00:00:00

MARCH 11, 1854. SECOND READING OF REFORM BILL. (From the Times of Friday, the 28th April, 1854.) HOUSE OF COMMONS. THE House met at four o'clock. THE NEW MEMBER. Mr. JOHN MITCHEL, the new member for an Irish borough whose name we could not catch, took the oaths and his seat. He was looking exceedingly well after his residence in the New World, and was warmly congratulated by Mr. LUCAS, Mr. DUFFY, and other mem bers of the Brigade. PETITIONS. Petitions were presented by Sir JOHN SHELLEY, from himself praying that he might be appointed Leader of the House ; by Mr. LocKE KING, from his constituents, that there may be no more eldest sons permitted, but that all children shall be born at once ; by Mr. HENRY BERKELEY, from Bristol, that it may be felony for an elector to say how he voted ; by Mr. FAGAN, from his constituents, that half the Protestant bishops may be excluded from the House of Lords, and the same number of Catholic bishops substituted ; by Mr. APSLEY PELLATT, from himself, that the street Punch may be put down, for imitating his gestures when addressing the House; by Mr. limn, from himself, complaining that when he speaks more than two hours the reporters cut him short; by Mr. W. WILLIAMS, from Lambeth, praying that the Speaker's mace be sold, and the produce applied towards liquidating the National Debt; and by Mr. BROTHERTON, from a num ber of ladies, praying that the House will rise every night at ten o'clock, and on opera nights at half-past seven. NOTICES OF MOTION. Mr. J. G. PHILLIMORE gave notice that on an early day he should move to repeal all the existing laws whatsoever, and substitute for them a code of his own making, to be called the " Code Phillimore," which would settle the country at once and for ever. Mr. BRIGHT gave notice that he should shortly move for leave to bring in a bill to disqualify any person possessed of any land whatever from voting at elections. ( Hear, hear.) Mr. MILNER GIBSON gave notice of a resolution to the effect that all taxes ought to be charged upon the landed property of the country. Mr. Cosnzx gave notice that he should call the attention of the House to the present unequal distribution of the land of the country, with a view to its being equally divided among the population. QUESTIONS. Sir Jour; PAKINGTON asked whether any news had lately been re ceived from the Baltic fleet? Sir JAMES GRAHAM said that he did not know. Lord JOHN MANNERS inquired when the Savings Bank Bill was to be brought in ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he could not say. Mr. NAPIER inquired when the bills for consolidating the law would be discussed? The ATTORNEY-GENERAL replied that it was impossible for him to state. Mr. DISRAELI asked whether any explanation could be given as to the alleged encounter between the Russian and the united fleets in the Black Sea? Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that if the fleets had met they had most likely fought, but he was unable to furnish further particulars. TO CORRESPONDENTS. THE AUTHOR OF " PALNIEIVITON FOR PREMEER."—We regret, and are glad to recal, the unwelcome infer ence that the author of this pamphlet is a supporter of Lord Aberdeen. But we have no space to discuss the purely critical inferences which the author differs from us in regarding as erroneous. is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive. It Their insertion is often delayed, owing to a press of matter and when omitted, it is frequently from reasons quite inde pendent of the merits of the communication. We cannot undertake to return communications of which we do not avail ourselves. Ccmmunications 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 ust be authenticated by the name and address of the writer, m not necessarily for publica tion, but as a guarantee of his good faith. land, and introduced a vehement complaint against the amount of fees taken in the English county courts. The Earl of SHAFTESBURY, in moving for papers respecting Christianity in Turkey, denounced the assertion of the Russian manifesto, that England and France were fighting for Mahometanism, and Russia for Christianity. This was not the first time that England was thus accused—the same reproach bad been made by Mr. Cobden. The question was not one of religion, but of justice. Although be could have wished both parties removed from their actual positions, still, being compelled to choose, he infinitely preferred the Turkish to the Russian civi lisation. The injustice in Turkey towards Chris tianity was mainly due to the Christians themselves —the work of Christian intrigue or of the Greek priesthood. He quoted authorities to prove the progress of Protestantism amongst the Turkish Christians, and praised the absence of all difficulties in the way of religious instruction—the free permis sion to teach, and to print religious hooks, many of which were issued in the Turkish language. He contrasted with this the conduct of Russia, where no religious movement was permitted—the Bible was prohibited in the Russ language, the only tongue known to the mass of the population—and even the importation of Hebrew Bibles forbidden. The Bus sian Government was hostile to missions, even to the heathen in its own dominions, whom the Greek Church left unconverted, and permitted no others to Inter- VI)T 21'.4)ritgg+ LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1854. POSTSCRIPT. HOUSE OF LORDS.—FRIDAT. Lord BRouonAm'presented a bill for the assimila tion of the Scotch bankruptcy laws to the English in certain points—a bill which, he said, had met with the full approval of all trading classes in Scot- \ i THE PRESS. THE THE REFORM BILL. 229 On the order of the day for the second reading of this bill, Lord J. Russet'. said : Sir, I rise, in pursuance of notice given so far back as the 3rd of March last, to make a motion upon the subject of the Reform Bill. Sir, my opinion of that bill is, that it is the very best bill which was ever introduced into this House. ("Hear, hear," from Lord Palmerston.) That bill, sir, as it appears to me, does away with all the imperfections of our electoral system, and restores our Consti tution to that state of perfection in which it was intended by Provi dence to be exhibited to the world. It is, sir, unnecessary for me to remind the House that this is the month of April, but I do so to show that precedent is strongly in favour of the course which I shall pro pose. The great Lord Somers is well known to have preferred the month of April to any other month in the year for considering impor tant changes ; for he says, " You are then betwixt cold and heat, and as it were in a temperate clime, best fitted for sober thought." Mr. Fox had a great respect for April, which, in the humorous and playful manner which endeared him to all his friends, he described as " a brick of a month ;" and Lord Grenville is known to have thought so well of April that, when he was informed by his valet that April had come in, he immediately gave his tailor an order for new leather breeches. Therefore, sir, in asking the House to consider this bill, I am fortified by the most illustrious names that have shed a light upon the roll of time. I admit, sir, that there are certain reasons which would seem to dictate a postponement. In this bill, among other changes, we give a vote to any person with 501. in the savings bank. But, as my hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer is not ready with his Savings Bank Bill, it appears to me that it might be unde sirable to proceed with this part of the question. Again, we give votes to graduates, but, with the excitement of the Oxford Reform Bill before us, we can hardly discuss this with advantage. Then we give a vote to the payer of 40s. income tax, but, as this tax is now doubled, it may be a question whether we ought to trouble a man about voting, when his mind is full of the difficulty of raising the money for the collector. Next, sir, we proposed to give members to Chelsea and Kensington ; but the excitement among the Chelsea pensioners in regard to the war is so great that possibly we should not introduce the political element into the district, especially as Cremorne Gardens are now open. Again, sir, we make it unnecessary to pay up rates and, taxes ; but I need hardly say that with a war expenditure in hand w need every stimulus which can tend to bring in the money. Thes sir, I own are five reasons which might induce me to think that the bill had better not be proceeded with at the present time, and I doubt not but that they will be found of the same cogency and weight as those upon which I originally based my argument that the measure ought to be discussed, and as those upon which, three weeks later, I rested my conviction that it ought not. But, sir, there is another point of view from which the bill must be regarded, and this is the paramount claim which my own consistency has upon me. The bill is my own— at least, all that is good in it—and I am not inclined to throw it over simply because the balance of argument might seem to suggest my so doing. I have, therefore, finally made up my mind that the bill shall be pressed, and I can only say that if I am successfully opposed her Majesty's Government will lose a humble but faithful leader, and the nation will be deprived of the services of the man who (as it seems to me) is capable of conducting the affairs of the State upon the prin ciples of the Constitution. Sir, I move the second reading of the Reform Bill. ( Sensation). After a pause, Lord PALMERSTON moved the adjournment of the House, which was unanimously agreed to, and the House rose at half past six. A SUBJECT FOR THE PILE -RAPHAELITES. - Sir JAMES GRAHAM blessing the Baltic Fleet. fere. The consequence of all this was an increased exertion from the Greek priesthood to maintain their exclusive supremacy. The Russian consular authorities were constantly intriguing in support of claims of the Greek Church, and supported them in every measure of tyranny and coercion ; and for this the Czar went to war. The British Government was repeatedly compelled to interfere against the reli gious outrages of the Russian agents, and he quoted several instances from the despatches of Lords Aberdeen, Palmerston, and Stratford. The conse quence of Turkish toleration, more especially towards Protestantism, involved the secret motive of the Czar's proceedings : the spirit of freedom was to be put down, and hence the Menschikoff note, the meaning of which was to wipe out all acts of toler ance towards Protestantism for the last twenty years. The Czar had long but secretly embraced this policy. Alexander had been a different man ; he had warmly supported religious instruction and the Bible rocie• ties, which it was one of the first acts of his successor to suppress. During twenty years Turkey had per•. mined more for the advancement of civilisation than Russia during four hundred. Had Turkey been less liberal, there would have been no Menschikoff note. He trusted that additional security to progress would arise out of the present contest. The Earl of CLARENDON said that nothing could be more culpable or less successful than the Russian proceedings. No man—not even the Russians them selves—was deceived by their religious appeal. The Mfiiamk