The Press. — London, England, 1856-02-09 00:00:00

7 134 It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive. 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 not avail ourselves. of which we do Ccmmunicatious should always be legibly written, and on one side of the paper only. If long it increases the difficulty of finding space for them. Wbateveris intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publica tion, but as a guarantee of bis good faith. Advertisements gent from the country must be accompanied by a remittance or a reference for payment in town. TERMS OF FOR Per Annum .. Half-Yearly .. Quarterly .. .. £1 6 0 .. 0 13 0 .. 0 6 6 Etc Press: (STAMPED.) Payable in advance. Subscribers are requested to send their Orders through their News Agent; if direct to the Office, accompanied by a remit tance. Advertisements also must have a reference or remittance. Money Orders to be made payable to Mr. ALSUZD I , IE, 110, Strand, London. - 71 - 1)T ;rvgg,.> LONDON, SATURDAY. FEB. 9, 1856. POSTSCRIPT. A telegraphic despatch from Berlin, on the Sth announces : The Austrian communication ou the subject of the five points accepted by Russia was yesterday presented to the Diet of Frankfort, and was referred to the respec• tive committees without discussion. A telegraphic despatch from Madrid, dated the 7th inst., announces the commencement of a change in the Cabinet : M. Bruil has left the Ministry of Finances, and yes terday M. Francisco Santa Cruz took the oaths as Minister of Finances. Marshal O'Donnel, in order to be able to bring his quarrel with M. Orense to an issue, had sent in his resignation. The Queen had refused to accept it. The Chevalier d'Azeglio, on account of ill health, has declined the office of Plenipotentiary to the Con ferences. Sardinia will be represented by Count Cavour and the Marquis Villamarina. Letters from Berlin state that Russia has declared that the participation of Prussia in the Conferences is a special question, entirely independent of the mg nature of the preliminaries of peace, and the solu tion of which may take place at a later period in the course of the Conferences. At the conference on the Sound dues, on the 6th, Denmark proposed that 36,000,000 of thalers be divided among those interested. General do la Afarmora left I'aris on Wednesday to resume the command of the Sardinian army in the Crimea. A Cabinet Council was held on Saturday afternoon at the Foreign•othce. The Ministers present were Viscount Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, the Mar quis of Lansdowne, Earl Granville, the Earl of Her rowby, Sir George Grey, the Earl of Clarendon, Lord Panmure, the Chanceller of the Exchequer, Sir C. Wood, the. Right Hon. R. Vernon Smith, Lord Stan ley of Alderley, the Right Hon. M. T. Baines, and the Duke of Argyll. The Council sat three horns and a quarter. A Cabinet Council was held on Tuesday afternoon at the Foreign-office. It was attended by Viscount Palmerston, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Earl Gran• vine, the Earl of Hai rowhy, Sir George Grey, the Earl of Clarendon, Lord l'anmure, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Charles Wood, the Right Hon. R. Vernon Smith, Lord Stanley of Alderley, and the Duke of Argyll. The Council sat two hours. Dr. Travers Twiss, vicar general of the province of Canterbury, has been appointed by the Bishop of Hereford to the chancellorship of that diocese, vacant by the death of Chancellor Corbet. The official accounts published on Tuesday show that., in the year ended the 31st of December, 1855, the public income of the United Kingdom amounted to 63,384,0051., and the public expenditure to 84,505,788/., leaving a deficiency of 21,141,1831. THE PRESS. HOUSE OF LORDS.-FRIDAY. MINISTER Of EDUCATION. Lord GRANVILLE brought in a bill creating a Vice- President of the Council of Education. Intimating that it was intended to appoint to this office a mem ber of the House of Commons, the noble lord pro mised at some future stage of the measure to explain more fully the duties and responsibilities which this Minister of Education would be called upon to undertake. The bill was read a first time. LIFE PEERAGES. Lord CAMPBELL, referring to the vote of the pre vious night respecting the Wensleydale peerage, suggested that, instead of referring the question to the Committee of Privileges, an address should be presented to the Crown, praying that the title to be conferred on Sir James Parke should be made hereditary. By this step, he contended, the privi leges of the house would be maintained, and all chance of collision with the Crown avoided. The Earl of DERBY said that he had as yet had no opportunity of consulting with Lord Lyndhurst as to the future steps to be taken in pursuance of the vots already passed by their lordships. On abstract grounds, however, he concurred entirely in the sug gestions offered by the Lord Chief Justice. The subject then dropped, and the house ad journed at a quarter to siz o'clock. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-FRIDAY. Mr. WARREN, Q.C., took the oaths and his seat for Midhurst. Lord RAYNIIAM took the oaths and his seat for Tamworth. THE CAMEL REPORT. In reply to Lord W. GRAHAM, Mr. F. PEEL stated that replies to the allegations contained in the report recently presented by Sir J. M'Neil and Colonel Tulloch had been prepared by Lord Lucan and the Quartermaster-General. Other officers, whose conduct was inculpated, were, he added, still in the Crimea, and had not yet seen the document. THE PACIFIC SQUADRON. Replying to Mr. H. BAILLIE, Sir C. WOOD recapitulated the chief incidents of the last naval campaign in the Pacific and China Seas, vindicating the conduct of Commodore Elliott. THE UNITED STATES DISPUTE. Mr. COBDEN referred to the pending controversies with the United States Government, and inquired whether the official correspondence on the subject would be soon laid before Parliament? Lord PAL3IERSTON repeated the explanations already given on this subject, stating that, after receiving the complaints of the Washington Cabinet respecting the attempted enlistment of men in the States for the British service, the Foreign Secretary had transmitted certain apologetic missives in re turn ; and although, from the rejoinder that had since arrived from the American Government, it appeared that some dissatisfaction still existed in that quarter, a supplementary reply had been de spatched whose reception was not yet acknowledged. Until the arrival of the answer to this last communi- cation, any publication of the correspondence would, he submitted, be inexpedient and premature. After a few words from Sir DE L:►cv EVANS, the subject dropped. METROPOLITAN POLICE BILL. This bill was read a third time and passed. PARTNERSHIP AMENDMENT BILL. On the motion for the second reading of the Part nership Amendment Bill, Mr. SPOONER complained of the haste with which so important a measure was hurried through the Legislature. Mr. WATSON, while concurring in the principle of the measure, contended that some amendments were required in its details, especially as regarded the definition of the term "sleeping partner." Mr. MVNTZ opposed the bill, of which Mr. CAIRNS approved, as did Mr. MOFFAT. Mr. F. BARING urged many strong objections to the measure, in whose provisions he discovered various opportunities and encouragements for fraud. The bill threatened to change and degrade the whole commercial system of the country. It was also, he maintained, wholly unnecessary, sin ce no lack of capital was ever experienced for the prosecution of any sound branch of enterprise. Sir W. CLAY defended the bill, remarking that gigantic frauds existed in private mercantile estab lishments even under the present law. Mr. HASTIE recommended the postponement of the second reading of the bill, in order to afford time for its fuller consideration. Mr. BIGGS believed that the subject was satisfac tory, and would prove useful. Mr. GLYI4 and Mr. MALINS approved of the sug gestion for postponing the present stage of the measure. Mr. CARDWEI.I. congratulated the house on the prospect of a final solution of the partnership ques tion. He suggested some considerations which SATURDAY, should, he believed, be entertained when the bill went before committee. <4ll Mr. A. Pellatt, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Sergeant Shee, Mr. J. G. Phillimore, Mr. Laing, Mr. M. Chambers, having spoken, Mr. Lowe replied to the criticism that had been offered upon his bill, and which was then read a second time. The Joint-stock Companies Bill was also read a second time. The Burial of the Dead (Ireland) Bill passed the second reading. YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS IN IRELAND. The second reading of the Youthful Offenders (Ireland) Bill was opposed by Mr. V. Scuux, who complained that no sufficient provision had been made in the measure against the danger of Catholic children being sent to I'rotestant reformatories. Mr. KENNEDY having spoken, The SECRETARY for IRELAND briefly defended the bill, which was then read a second time. Leave was tben given to Sir W. Clay to bring in a bill for the abolition of Church rates, and to Mr. adlam for a bill relating to medical reform. The house adjourned at half past ninevo'clock. CAMBRIDGE ELECTION. CLOSE OF THE SECOND DAY'S POLL. Walpole 631 Denman • Majority for Walpole 315 THE NEW JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES BILL. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS." Sir,—lf lam not much mistaken, there appears to be a very curious omission in the proposed bill for regulating joint-stock companies. Carried away by the laudable desire to limit the liability of shareholders in such undertakings, the draftsman has forgotten to enact where that limit shall be placed. The proposed bill, after making certain requisi tions for the formation of companies with limited liability, informs us in its fourteenth section that after registration the subscribers shall be a body corporate, with such pecuniary liability on the part of the shareholders as is thereinafter mentioned. But the extent of this liability is in no place after wards mentioned in the bill, except in the event of a limited company being wound up. In this event alone the proposed act limits the liability of the shareholders to the amount of calls that are unpaid on the shares held by him. But there is in the pre sent act no clause similar to the one contained in the Limited Liability Act of last year, now to be re pealed, which enacted that no member of a company with limited liability should be liable for any debt or engagement of the company for a greater sum than should be equal to the portion of his shares not yet paid up. The proposed act apparently fails even to enact that the shareholders in a company registered as limited should enjoy, except during the process of winding up, the advantages of what is vaguely termed " limited liability," a term which is used frequently in the bill without a definition being given to it, which is, in truth, the great omission in the proposed act. For I submit that, whatever may at present be the popular acceptation of the term, it does not in itself contain any virtue legally to define what shall be the length and breadth of the restriction imposed. I hazard these remarks in case you should think them pertinent, as I do not think our legislators are so perfect in their work that they need be above taking a hint from you.—Your obedient servant, February 8, 1858. Sus. The EARL or LISTOWEL died on Monday last, in his fifty-sixth year, from paralysis, at Morrison's Hotel, Dublin. His lordship was the eldest son of Richard, Viscount Ennismore, M.P. for the county of Cork, whose father, Mr. William Hare, having represented Cork and Athy in the Irish House of Commons from 1790 to 1800, was raised to the peerage at the time of the Union, and promoted to the earldom in 1822. The peer lately deceased succeeded to the title in 1837, on the decease of his grandfather, and was elected M.P. for the lately disfranchised borough of St. Albans in February, 1841, and again at the general election in that year, and continued to repre sent it in the Liberal interest until the dissolution in 1847. Since that time his lordship bad taken little or no.part in politics, but held the office of a lord•in-waiting to the Queen. He is succeeded in his title and estates by his eldest son, William , Viscount Ennismore, who became lieutenant and captain in the Scots Fusilier Guards in 1854, and was severely wounded at the battle of the Alma. His lordship is an aide-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and, it may be remembered, contested the county of Cork with Mr. Rickard Deasy, Q.C. , the Roman Catholic candidate, in March last, but without success. He was born in 1833, and is un married. .1111