The Press. — London, England, 1853-05-14 00:00:00

rtgg. LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 14, 11433. HOUSE OF LORDS-FRIDAY. The royal assent was givan to the Exchequer Bills Bill, the Crystal Palace Company Bill, and other hills. The Lords Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor, Vicount Canning, and Lord Stanley of Alderley. On the motion of the Earl of SuAm:serer, the Common Lodging-houses Bill was read a second time. The Earl of Maur then called the attention of their lordships to a misrepresentation of which he had to-day been the object in an evening journal, arising out of his examination before the Dockyard committee. He had been asked four or five questions, to which he believed his answers were most. clear and distinct. One was, whether he hail heard that Mr. Stafford had made a statement to the effect that he (the Earl of Derby) had pressed upon him with regard to the distribution of the patronage of the dockyards. To this he replied that he should have been much surprised at such a statement if made by Mr. Stafford, but that he did not believe any such announcement had been made. This answer was perverted in the journal iu question. He entertained the highest opinion of Mr. Staffing, believing him to be a man of the strictest honour and veracity. Con sidering the explicitness with which he had spoken, he was the more su►prised at the error to which he now referred. (Hear, hear.) The Earl of AIMMARLE then presentel a petition from Manchester, praying that the fntnre Government of India in this country should consist of a minister and a council appointed by the Crown, and directly responsible to the Imperial Parliament. The noble earl entered at some length into the question of the internal condition of twilit, pointire4 out the remedies to which he thought Parliament must turn its attention. After a few observations from the Earl of Ettr.x- Dolmen"( and other noble lords the subject dropped. The Cathedral Appointments Bill and the Burghs (Scotland) Bill were read a third time awl passed. Their lordships then adjourned until :%tooday, the 23rd instant. HOUSE OF COMMONS-Ffirmv. Lord l'AramasTorf having moved that the house at it rising adjourn until Thursday next, for the Whitson holidays, Mr. DISRAELI asked what course the Government intended to pursue with regard to public business on Thursday and Friday next ? The CHANCELLOR of the FACIIEWER proposed to take the second reading of the Income Tax Bill on Thursday, but much would depend on the progress made on the legacy-duties resolution to-night. In reply to another question from Mr. DISRAELI, Lord PALMERSTON said that until the Government saw their way more clearly with regard to the finan cial propositions, they could not name a day for the measure on our Indian territories. In reply to Mr. COBDEN, Lora I ) Al.multsToN promised that wapiti node() shall be given of the introduction of the Education Mr. TITNELL gave notice that on the 11th of Juno he would move for leave to bring in a bill to abolish the property qualification of members of Parliament. The hon. member also gave notice that, as an amendment to the bill of the noble lord the member for the city of London for disfranchising the dock yards, he should move that the votes of dockyard men be taken by ballot. ((. 7 1eering from the Minis terial benches.) in answer to Mr. NEwnEovrr. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said it was not proposed to interfere with the exemption front taxa tion at present enjoyed by farmers in respect to horses employed in husbandry but that a change would be made in the tax on carts. The report of the ineome-tax resolutions was brought up and agreed to, and have was given to bring in a bill founded on them. THE BUD(, ET. The adjourned debate on the legacy-duty resolu tions WWI then resumed by Sir .1. RtatsuroN, who opposed the proposal on the ground that it would entail injustice on the land. The budget, gonerally, detivient, in that impar tiality which ought to Ike the basis or such a scheme, and this partieulor proposition Was inyolitic because it threw an additional burden n:'o3 ateable property, whicli was already sufficiently time& Mr. I:aEst; FIELD moNed stmenetment to the reso lutio to the eth'et of alleviatitt!_t Coe incidence of the tax upon real estate as e nnpare 1 with personalty. He ehar teterised the bailg 't as a w• ar upon property. After ~ome discussion, in which abr. H. DICONNOND, eto IP L THE PRESS. Mr. W. WILLIAMS, Mr. AGLIONBY, Lord Guouttcrt, Mr. LIDDELL, Mr. BRIGHT, and other members took part, the amendment was withdrawn, and the resolu tion carried, on the under,tanding that any further debate should take place on the second reading of the bill. The other orders of the day having been disposed of, the house ad,jou•ned for the holidays. FRANCE. The following is the text of the new articles in the Penal Code restoring the punishment of death for certain offences which have provoked so much dis approbation among the l'ari-ia public : " Art. M L Every attempt against the life or person of the Emperor is punished with the pain ofparricide. Every attempt against the lite or person of the members of the Imperial family is punished with the pain of death. Every I 'Hence publicly committed against the person of the Em peror shall be punished with on imprisonment of from six months to five years, and with a tine of from 590 f. to 111,11slf. The guilty perm may, in addition, be inter dicted from the whole or a portion of his civic, civil, or family rights during aperiod equal to that of the impri e siMlllela to which he shall have been condemned. That period shall not from the day on which the guilty party shall have undergone his punishment. " Art. M 7. Any attempt, the object ofwhich shall be either to destroy or change the Government, or the order of suc cession to the throne, or to excite the citizens or inhabit ants to take up anus against the imperial authority, shall he piwished with detail." Snow has within the last few days fallen in great quantities in several parts of Trance. TURKEY. Letters from Constantinople of the 28th ult. state that the Holy Places question is on the eve of receiv ing a solution favourable to all parties. Three con ventions will be signed: ono between France and the Porte, a second between France and Russia, and a third between Itus,ia and the Porte. By this simple arrangement all possible antagonism regarding this difficult question is annihilated. The basis of the convention is the present static quo, and a slight modification of the concessions made to France. The tone of Prince Mentschikotf has softened considerably since the arrival of Lord Redclitre. MRS. H. B. STOWE AT STAFFORD-HOUSE. A grand reception was given to the authoress of Uncle Tom's Cabin " at the Duke of Sutherland's mansion on Saturday last. The Duchess of Suther land, with a large party of those ladies who signed the celebrated " Address of the Women of England" against Slavery, assembled to welcome Mrs. Stowe to England, and exchange expressions of personal re spect and of sympathy in the cause they had respec tively advocated. After Lord Shaftesbury had pre sented a suitable address, and Dr. Beecher had read a letter from Mr. Clay, the American statesman, re freshments and conversation occupied the remainder of the visit. Mrs. Stowe stated that the feeling ex cited in the States on the subject of slavery was much stronger than English people imagined, and could not be tested either by the rejoinders sent to the " address," or by the statements in the news papers. There was no bitterness between the ladies of the two countries, but those of America could not, because of their husbands' personal and political feelings, stand forth and say exactly what they thought on the subject. For the future the practical question was, what could be done to further the work? She looked first to God, but man also could do something. Sympathy must continue to be ex pressed. British subjects in Canada must be edu cated ; the use of free-grown ootton must be encou raged ;—such are the ways in which this great work may be aided by the people of England. GOVERNMENT EDUCATION BILL. YORKSHIRE CHURCH UNION.—At a meeting of the committee of the Yorkshire Church Union, held at Normanton, on Wednesday, the 11th of May, it was unanimously resolved—That, whereas the 10th clause of the Go vernment Education Bill of 1853, by making it a con dition that in all schools to be admitted to the benefit of the act the children shall be at liberty to withdraw from any religious instruction given in such schools, and from attending any place of religions worship, thereby practically excludes from aid all those schools which require their children to be educated in the doctrine and discipline of the church ; and whereas a great portion of municipal taxation is levied on the property of members of the church : This Union do protest against the injustiet , of this bill, which thus arbitrarily excludes churchmen and church schools from their share in the distribution of municipal rates set apart. for educational purposes. That a copy of this resolution be sent to the Right Hon. Lord John Russell and Mr. Secretary at War, the introducer of tl 0 bill, the Right Rev. Prelates the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Ripon, the members of Parliament for the Universities of Ox. ford, Cambridge, and Dublin. and the ridings and boroughs of Yorkshire. Signed by the Resident on behalf of the union, and be communicated to the secretaries of all other church unions, and published in such manner as the committee may deem expedient. SATURDAY, Xittraturt. AZ-We are unavoidably compelled by want of space to postpone our second notice of Lurd Grey's "Colonial Polley," in which we propose to consider hie views ou the subjecta of Tranaportatiuu and the Legialation for Australia, New Zealand, and the Cape. Memorials and Correspondence t? 1 Charles James Fox. By Lord John Russell. Bentley. IT is recorded of Swift, that in the decay of his faculties he was overheard muttering to himself, with a copy of the " Tale of a Tub" in his hand, " What a genius I must have had when I wrote this book !" Bet4e he is much older, Lord John Russell may well cry, " What evil genius possessed me to send forth these depreciating views of the Whig party, these detracting details about the most im passioned of Whig orators !" George the Fourth, imitating the saying of Johnson to Bozzy, said that " Moore had taken the life of Sheridan." Mr. Fox's fame as a British statesman suffers as much depreciation from these volumes as Sheridan's character from the poniard of Tom Moore. It is certainly very strange that two Whig celebrities, com panions in renown during their lifetime, should be victims to the posthumous severity of incriminating biography ! Apart from political views, we are sorry that this should be the case. In the first column of the first page of our journal (vide PRESS ante, p. 1), it was said that " the annals of English party form one of the noblest chapters in the history of man"—a fact proved by the stirring deeds of two centuries, and brilliantly illustrated by the classic works of Clarendon, Bolingbroke, and Burke. We could desire that all the lives of those towering natures that swayed the passions of the first senate in Christendom should be narrated in a style worthy of the laud, which " will not willingly let the" their names. There is scarcely amongst them all a finer subject for an ar tistic pen than the career of Fox, with its picturesque contrasts and romantic episodes. But, when we turn to these " memorials," how great is the disappointment ! We have been promised a literary monument to the memory of the great party chieftain, and in place of a great work, nobly planned and brilliantly executed, some bricks and mortar are hastily huddled together, and we see little more than the scaffolding of a structure which "was to have been" raised. The work, such as it is, may be described as a compilation, arranged upon "Coalition" methods. Lord Holland contributes some pert and hasty notes on one portion of the theme. The late Mr. Allen, of Holland-house notoriety, interweaves within brackets [thus] some feebly-written passages to clear up the awkward brevity of Lord Holland. Then the dia ries and letters of Horace Walpole are copiously quoted, and passages of them printed at great length. Next Lord John Russell offers com ments and remarks between asterisks * *, and chapters are printed in extenso from the " Rockingham Memoirs"—the Duke of Buck ingham's " Courts and Cabinets"—and " Grat tan's Memoirs." The result of this literary mixture is as amorphous as a " Church Re form" scheme from the present Cabinet. We know of only one precedent in authorship for the confusion, the clumsy arrangement, and the awkwardness of design visible in every chapter of this olla podrida. The noble com piler must have taken his own Reform Bill of two years ago as the pattern of his present work. It is ominous, therefore, for the success of his present literary venture that its precedent was stillborn. At the same time we are bound fairly to state that we have read with much pleasure Lord John Russell's own contributions to these motley volumes. Of the part exe cuted by Lord Holland, Mr. Allen. and Horace Walpole it can he truly said as of phrenology by Abernethy, " there is much that is true, and much that is new, but the new is not true, and the true is not new."' In the noble lord's part we recognise some proofs of that " thought ' ful mind and gallant heart" which an adver sary attributed to Lord John Russell at the time when his present colleagraes were con. mining wholesale larceny of th e noble Lord's