The Press. — London, England, 1857-08-29 00:00:00

Vrocubings in Varliantent. HOU3E OF LORDS-MONDAY. THE OPIUM TRAFFIC. The lonn CHANCELLOR said that towards the close of last session the Earl of Shaftesbury moved that certain questions upon this subject should be put to the judges ; but, as it was thought inex pedient to consult the judges, the Government con sented to consult the law officers of the Crown, and a case was accordingly submitted to them, withl the statement that their opinion would be laid before this house. Lord ST. LEON.tRDS did not object to the recep• tion of the paper, but deemed it unusual to refer to the law officers of the Crown for ther opinion. Lord CAMPBELL concurred in thinking it a novelty to obtain tor their lordships the opinion of the law officers of the Crown. It was not respectful to the judges, who were their lordships' constitutional ad visers, and ho did not approve of it. The LORD CHANCELLOR believed that by common consent it was thought inconvenient to consult the judges upon a matter which might come before them judicially, and that all parties agreed in asking the Government to consult their law advisers upon it. The papers we.e then laid upon the table, and the subject dropped. THE MILITIA. The Earl of ELLENBOROUGEI pointed out to Lord Panmure that the revenues of this country would be charged 529,0001. less than had been anticipated for the army, owing to 30,000 additional men being now in the pay of the East India Company. They were at once relieved of the charge for 30,000 men, and the charge for the recruits who were to fill their places would come gradually upon the public revenue. He thought that the total charge, allow ing 1,000 to be recruited every week in the next six months, would be under 300,000/. There would re main 220,000/. applicab!e, under the clause in the Appropriation Act, to which the attention of their lordships was called the other day. The noble baron would have the power not only of embodying 10,000, but about 11,000 or 12,000 more could be paid for by the surplus under the different heads of charge which he had pointed out, and he ven tured to express a fervent hope that the noble lord would employ that sum in the manner he had indi cated. . . Lord PANMURE said that whatever might be the balance, whether 200,000/. or 3'10,0001., it would be applied to the exigencies of the service, either in embodying more militia or in sending out more re cruiting parties for the army. He was happy to say that during the last three weeks upwards of 1,500 men had been recruited, and as the winter ap proached they would be able still more to augment the army. Lord PANMURE, in reply to Earl Powis, said that as soon as the necessary order in council was made intimation would be given as to what regiments would be called out and embodied. THE DIVORCE DILL. Lord REDESDALE entered into a justification of the course taken by him on Friday last in proposing that the consideration of the amendments of the Commons to the Divorce Bill should be postponed for six months, and denied that he had intended taking the Government by surprise. Lord GRANVIU.L.: accepted this assurance, but it was not until further observations by Lord St. Leonards, the Duke of Argyll, the Lord Chancellor, ani Lord Campbell that their lordships proceeded to consider the amendments of the Commons to the Divorce and Ma►rimonial Causes Bill. Lord REDESDALE opposed taking them into con sideration. He objected to the introduction of local jurisdiction, and considered that the lour new causes fur which, by the Commons' amendments, a wife might sue fur a divorce, were essentially erroneous, and that the remedy devised as a substitute for an action of crim. con. was, in fact, nothing but a revival in a new torm of that action itself. A fine on the adulterer might be imposed without any such action. He also disapproved the clause which required clergymen who conscientiously ob jected to marry the divorced parties to surrender their churches for the performance of the ceremony. The parties might go before the registrar and then proceed to any parish in the kingdom where the clergyman was willing to perform the ceremony. It was evident, he observed, that the people were only just becoming sensible of the probable effects of the bill, and to precipitate the measure was not doing justice either to the country or to Parliament. He moved to defer the consideration of the Commons' amendments for six mouths. The Loan CHANCELLOR said tho arguments of lArri 11-di-Aide did not refer to the question whether the amendments should be taken into con sideration then or that day six months, but whether those amendulects were or were not iniproveMOM4 THE PRESS, AUGUST '29, 1857. of the bill. The merits and demerits of those parts of the hill to which Lord Redesdale had adverted were discussed by their lordships Wore the bill was sent down to the Commons. He admitted it would be more expedient, in the first instance, to confine the jurisdiction to a centrai court; but with that point their lordships were competent to deal. There was much difference of opinion as to the aboli tion of the action of crim. con. Great pecuniary loss might be caused by adultery, and he thought it not altogether sale to abolish that action without giving a substitute. This the House of Commons had done. After briefly adverting to the other amendments in troduced by the Commons, the Lord Chancellor urged that those amendments were all such as their lordships were competent to deal with at once, and that the argument of Lord Redesdale for delay pro• ceeded upon an entire fallacy. Lord Sr. LEONARDB said he should support the amendment, because the only alternative open to their lordships was either to accept or reject the Commons' amendments without consideration. No• body might be to blame for the protracted discus sions in the House of Commons, but that did not alter the fact that the time at their lordships dis posal did not admit of that attention to the amend ments which their importance required. Dwelling upon the great difficulty which had been expe. rienced during the discussion of this measure to determine upon an adequate tribunal before which cases of divorce should be brought, be declared his confident belief that the part of the bill which con stituted the court of quarter sessions such a tribunal would break down. He suggested, therefore, that the clause relating to local jurisdiction should not be pressed. He strongly objected to the clause making adultery upon the part of the hus• band when it took place in the conjugal resi dence a ground entitling the wife to obtain divorce, and believed it would be found productive of great mischief. He regarded the clause which allowed the husband to petition for a divorce and to claim damages against the adulterer as a most monstrous one. With regard to the clause relating to the clergy, he could not approve the principle of placing the clergy above the law. He regretted the introduction of such a clause, but, respecting the consciences of the persons as a concession to whom this provision had been introduced, he was not prepared to vote against the amendment. Lord GRANVILLE did not complain of the course which had been taken by the noble lords who had gone so fully into the consideration of the amend ments of the Commons, but suggested that the intimate knowledge they had shown of those amendments disposed of the charge that the Go vernment were asking the house to adopt provi sions the value of which it was impossible for their lordships to understand. Should the amendment of Lord Redesdale be carried, there would be an end of the bill for this session, but, if not carried, the proper time for conskLring the amendments was yet to arrive. _ Their lordships divided— For the motion .. 46 Against it • • •• 44 Majority .. —2 Their lordships then proceeded to consider the Commons' atnendrnents. The LORD CHANCELLOR moved that the clause es. ablishing a local jurisdiction in cases of judicial separation be agreed to. Lord MONTEAOLE opposed the clause. The judges of assize would have no time to perform the addi tional duties which this clause would impose upon them, and the court of quarter sessions would be utterly incompetent to deal with the questions that would be brought before them. He therefore moved the omission of the wonls from the clause giving power to the court of quarter sessions. Lord HARDWICKE supported the amendment, and was of opinion that the gentlemen of England would not thank Parliament for asking them to attend to duties they were so ill-qualified to perform. Lord WYNFORD, Lord POWIS, Lord FORTESCUE, and the Duke of SOMERSET having expressed similar opinions as to the impolicy of conferring on the platter sessions a jurisdiction on these matters, Lord GRANVILLE consented to the omission of the words, and the clause, with that omission, was then agreed to. The words "Or of adultery committed in the conjugal residence " were disagreed with by a majority of 17—the contents being 27; non-con tents, 44. On the motion of the Bishop of OXFORD, the words "guilty of adultery" were reinserted fot the purpose of providing that when the husband had been guilty of adultery the court should dismiss his petition—the contents being 89; non-contents, 33. The clergy clause and the other amendments of the Commons were, after a division, agreed to, and their lordships adjourned at ten minutes atter one o'clock, 841 HOUSE OF COMMONS—MoNnAy. COMMUNICATE , N WITH INDIA. Mr. GRIFFITH aske i the noble lord at the head of the Government whether it had been under the con sideration of the Government to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by the Atlantic Telegraph cable not being now in. employment in order to get it laid down in the direction of communication with India—for instance, to Alexandria? Also, whether it was true that permission had been obtained from the Pasha of Egypt for our troops to pass by the Isthmus of Suez, and whether it was the intention of her Majesty's Government to send them in that way ? Lord PALMERSTON replied that the cable was not the property of the Government, and could not become so without the sanction of Parliament. He would not give any opinion as to whether it could be of service in the way proposed or pot, bet at this period of the session no application could be made to Parliament on the subject. With regard to the second question, he had to reply that no particular communication had as yet passed between the Pasha of Egypt and the Government. The house was, how-ver, aware that during the hte war it was thought desirable that we should avail ourselves of the means of communication by the Isthmus of Suez, and that on application being made to the Pasha of Egypt he not only made no objcction, but gave every facility for the conveyance of troops. His hon. friend must at the same time be aware that the passage by Suez to India was one attended with great incon venience, difficulty, and expense. KENSINGTON BARR.tCKS. Sir J. RAMSDEN, in reply to Mr. Kerr, said it was the intention of the Government to remove the cavalry barracks at the Ken..ington-gate of Hyde-park, and that arrangements were being made for another site. RUSSIA AND Lord RAYNHAM asked whether the Government had received information that the Russians, notwith standing a clause in the Treaty of Paris to the contrary, had sent a hostile expedition across the Black Sea against the Circassians. Lord PALMERSTON said his noble f►iend was aware that by the Treaty of Paris the Black Sea was de clared neutral, with the exception that Russia arid Turkey were allowed a certain number of vessels for the p dice service of the coast, and that the other powers were allowed to have two vessels each to see that the regulations i.3lative to the Danube were ob served. The coast of Circassia—that was to say, the eastern coast of the Black Sea—was ceded to Russia by Turkey at the Treaty of Adrianople—that treaty ceding certain points by name along the coast round to the Sea of Azoff. The Russians were engaged in hostilities with the Circassian tribes on the nor...hero part of the eastern coat. and it appeared that some of the cruisers which, by the Treaty of Paris, R issia was entitled to maintain in the Black Sea hail been sent to operate against the Circassians at Genetchik and Redout Kale. He did not apprehend that in so doing the Russians had at all exceeded their powers under the Treaty of Paris. The house adjourned at a quarter to four o'clock, until two o'clock on Tuesday. HOUSE OF LORDS-TUESDAY. Lord PANMURE, in laying on the table the report of the Purchase in the \rmy Commis i , sners, said : Ten members were originally appointed under the corn mi-si in. This report is signed by six members, including my noble friend the Duke of Somerset, the chairman of the commission ; but one of the six, /Sir De L. Evans, entered a protest at the end of the report, and intimated his intention to send through the chairman of the com mission a separate document stating his own opinion. Four other members of the commission have refused to sign the report, as they differ from the opinions which it contaius, and Mr. Elbe?, one of those commissioners, has intimated to me officially that it is his int.ntion to send in a separate report in his own name, and also in the names of Sir H. Ilentinek and General Wynyard, which will teach me during the recess, and which I shall be prepared to lay upon the table at the commencement of next session. I may add further, that the other commissioner—Colonel Wetherell—before the evidence was entirely complete, entered into active service in China, and is in China at present, discharging military duties. I shall hate an opportunity of communicating with him before Parliament meet again, and I dare say I shall he able then to announce his opinion with regard to this very important subject. I thought it necessary to make these remarks, because it is quire clear that as the report is signed by only one half of the commissioners, it ought not to go forth to the country as a report unanimously agreed to by the whole of the commission. The noble lord then laid the report on the table. DIVORCE AND ➢IATRIMONIAL CAUSES BILL. The CLERK of the PARLIAMENT (Mr. J. S. Lefevre) read a message from the Commons iu the following terms : The Commons 114 tee to the amendments made by the Loris to the amendments made by the Commons to the liworee and Mari:32ond causes Bill, but propose a ooaee•