The Press. — London, England, 1856-06-28 00:00:00

THE P RIE IS IS. an official administrator. He proposed that there should be a testamentary office in London, with se curities against the danger of wills being passed de ficient in the requisite solemnities, and it would be competent for any person to bring a will to that office for admission to probate. When the will was de posited there and proved, he proposed that, instead of the usual exemplification, copies of the will should be printed, and that each copy, authenticated by a stamp, should be conclusive evidence. He proposed that offices should be established in the rural dis tricts, one in each circuit of the county courts, which should receive all papers connected with the proof of wills where the personal estate should not exceed a limited amount. The bill provided further for a metropolitan place of deposit of wills and for local subordinate registries in different parts of the coun try. With respect to compensation for the proctors, the Solicitor-General explained, that taking the number of proctors at 149, and their average profits at 7001. a year, he proposed to give them by way of compensation an annuity for life equal to one-half of their clear profits. The whole amount of the outlay would be 160,000/., while that of the fee fund, out of which compensation would be paid, was 181,0001., leaving a surplus or margin of 21,0001. In conclu sion, he expressed his hope that the house would see that the time had come for the final adjustment of this question, which he had carefully considered in conjunction with Sir F. Kelly and Mr. Collier, who were willing to withdraw the bills they had in troduced for the same object. . _ Sir F. KELLY, in seconding and supporting the bill, expressed a hope that a reform so comprehensive and so loudly called for would speedi!y become law. Reason, experience, and authority were all on its side. Sir JAMES GRAHAM was not disposed to resist the second reading, but must reserve his opinion upon several points till a future stage. He thought that any compensation given should be charged upon the annual votes, so that it might be yearly under review. Mr. COWER gave a conditional support to the measure. He would insist that all questions of fact, such as the competency of the testator, should be decided by a jury. He did not think the right of appeal to the Lords Justices any improvement. Mr. MAr.ms denied that the defects in the working of the ecclesiastical courts were so great as to justify abolition. Correction, and not abolition, ought to be the principle upon which the house should act. He protested against the propoYal to set up a second minor Court of Chancery to do that which the pre sent Court of Chancery was perfectly capable of transacting. Mr. John Phillimore, Sir Erskine Perry, Mr. Robert Phillimore, Mr. Bowyer, and Mr. Watson, having spoken in favour of the second reading, the bill was read a second time. The house then resolved itself into a committee upon the County Courts (Judges' Salaries, &c.) Bill, which was ordered to be reported. JUNE 28, 1856. and its consequences were equal, would not meet with the public concurrence at this time. Lord CAMPBELL. laid down the general principle that it was only in cases of adultery that the mar riage ought to be dissolved; but contended that, though adultery by the husband might be condoned, its inevitable effect when committed by the wife was to dissolve the marriage at once and for ever, and condonation was out of the question. He would limit the power of the wife to sue for a divorce to cases of incestuous adultery by the husband, bigamy, and de sertion for a certain number of years. Lord ST. GERMANS suggested an amendment, that so action should be brought for criminal conversa tion unless the court to be constituted by the bill pronounced a divorce a vinculo matrirnonii. The Bishop of OXFORD approved the bill so far • as it proposed to deal with the acts of gross injustice ..too often perpetrated on married women. He ad intitted the evils resulting from the action for ► criminal conversation ; but he could not consent to a provision the tendency of which was to facilitate as far as possible the dissolution of marriage a vinculo, even for adultery. Unsatisfact.,ry and im perfect as the existing law was in many respects, it was more desirable than the universal laxity in the public morals which he apprehended would result from the bill under consideration ; and he implored the house not to hurry through a measure of that : importance without the most careful deliberation, iijea'ing as it did with the whole family life of Nrigland. The Duke of ARGYLL thought the facilities should ;,be equal in both cases. On the motion of the LORD CHANCELLOR, the bill passed through committee ; and, on the motion of ~the Bishop of OXFORD, which was carried on a divi sion by a majority of 9 to 7, it was ordered to be reported on Thursday next. HOUSE OF COMMONS—THURSDAY. AUSTRALIAN POsTAL SERVICE. At the morning sitting, in reply to an inquiry by Sir J. Pakington, Mr. Wu.soN stated the arrangements which the Government had entered into with responsible parties for a rapid and reg ular postal communication between this country and Australia:— The first vessel would be ready for survey in the month of August, and would depart on a voyage between South. ampton and Melbourne direct round the Cape with pas. sengers iu October. That vessel would be ready in January to take up the service from Melbourne to Suez and back; another vessel would be despatched for Mel. bourne in November, a third in December, and a fourth in January. From January the service would be performed between Suez and Melbourne monthly without interrup tion, backwards and forwards each month. The vessels would be of 2,200 tons burden, and not less than 500-horse power. He thought everything had been done which money and invention could achieve in order to accomplish the most rapid and regular communication between this country and the Australian colonies. (Hear, hear.) None of the vessels to be permanently employed would be less than 2,200 tons burden. There were two of 1,800 tons, to be employed temporarily. He did not exactly re• member the time stipulated for the passage, but he thought Oat the number of days was about fifty from London to Australia. The contract was entered into for five years, aiid the penalty to be incurred for the non-performance of the contract was, for the first day of its infringement, 501., and so increasing by 501. every day afterwards. The house having resolved itself into committee upon Parochial Schoolmasters (Scotland) Tests Bill It wax agreed to and ordered to be reported. It then went into committee upon the Parochial 'Schools ',Scotland) Bill; clauses one to nine were discussed, and agreed to. ' In the evening, Lord DRUMLANRIG brought up the answer of her Majesty to the address on the subject of National Education in Ireland. It was in substance similar to the motion of Monday. CORPORATION REFORM BILL. In reply to Mr. Hankey, Sir G GREY stated that, as there was no proba bility of the London Corporation Bill, which stood for a second reading, passing all its stages this ses sion, he proposed to withdraw it, with the intention of introducing a bill during the next session, not differing in its material features from that before the house. WILLS AND ADMINISTRATION BIM.. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL, in moving the second reading of this bill, proposed to abolish all necessity of resort to the ecclesiastical courts, and to substitute a tribunal that should unite in itself all the powers of the courts of law and equity, governed by' the common law rules of evidence, procedure, and trial, of the simplest kind, to determine once and for all questions of testacy and intestacy. In order to provide for the administration of the estates of testators and intestates he proposed to arm this tribunal with all the powers of administration apper taining to the Court of Chancery, giving to it, how ever, an independent existence, not mixing it up with that court, but allowing an intermediate appeal to the lords justices. He proposed to clothe this dilnirt with the power of appointing, upon application, MAYNOOTH COLLEGE BILL. On the order for resuming the debate upon the second reading of the Nlaynooth College Bill, Mr. SPOONER moved that the order be dis charged. The hon. member complained of the un fair advantage taken of the forms of the house to defeat the measure, but observed that he was satis fied with the position of the question, having had five divisions in his favour. It was his firm inten tion, be said, to renew the motion next session. The bill was therefore discharged. The Drainage (Ireland) Bill passed through com mittee. The second reading of the Mercantile Law Amendment Bill was postponed till Monday. The Public Health Bill was read a second time. The Cambridge University Bill was read a third time and passed. GENERAL SIR J. WILSON, K.C.8., Colonel of the 11th (North Devonshire) Regiment of Foot, died on Monday morning at his town residence. The gallant general had seen much active service from the spring of 1794 up to the close of the war, in 1815. Sir John served in the West Indies in 1796, and was at the taking of Minorca in 1798. In 1800 he took part in the expedition against Cadiz, and in the following year proceeded with the army to Egypt, and was present in the actions of the 13th and 21st of March, and during the whole of that campaign. He proceeded to the Peninsula in 1808, fought at the ►,attle of Vimiera, where he was severely wounded, then joined the Lusitanian Legion, and acted with that corps during an arduous period of service in which he was repeatedly engaged with the enemy, and several times more or less severely wounded. The gallant general received the gold war medal for his services at the assault and capture of San Sebas tian, and the silver medal and two clasps for Vimiera and Nivelle. He for some years commanded the forces in Ceylon, and in May, 184, the colonelcy of the 11th Regiment of Foot was given to him by the Duke of Wellington. The general's first and last commissions bore date, ensign, 26th of March, 1794; and general, 20th of June, 1851. 607 THE CAMP IN THE INTELLIGENCE from Constantinople up to :the 16th states that the sth July had been fixed as the period at which the allied generals would cease to exercise any further authority in the Crimea. The French generals M'Mabon, Bazaine, De Sales, and others, have arrived at Marseilles. A despatch flora Marshal Peli,sier states that from the date of the signature of peace up to the 13th of this month, there had embarked in the Crimea, to returu to France, 3,620 officers, 93,828 men, and 16,046 horses. There only remained to embark 731 officers, 22,042 men, and 7,200 horses and mules. The artillery and stores were almost all embarked on tho 13th, and must be completely so by this time, and the same may be said of the engineers. A despatch from Sir W. Codrington, under date June 14th, reported the health of the army as good, and that ten regiments only remained for embarka tion. Lord Gough arrived at the camp on the 4th June, and on the 6th invested the French and English officers with the Order of the Bath. The ceremony was very impoiing, 16,000 troops were assembled, and the investiture began with Marshal Pelissier, who was introduced to Lord Gough by General Codrington. At the conclusion Lord Gough spoke as follows: The Queen my august Sovereign having at heart to confer the highest military honours upon the officers of the French and English armies in the Crimea, as a testi mony of her high approbation and es a mark of her entire admiration of their distinguished services on the field of battle, and the Emperor of the French having graciously acceded to her Majesty's wishes, I have been deputed by my august Sovereign, and I have received from Prince Albert, the Grand Master of the Order, the necessary powers to come here, upon the actual theatre of your glory, to confer, in the presence of the two armies, the dignity and the insignia of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath upon his Excellency the Marshal Pelissier, the Com. mander•in-Chief of the French army, upon General Salle., and General M'Nlahon. Tha absence of General Morris deprives me of the satisfaction of investing that distin guished officer with a similar mark of her Majesty's consi deration. It is also an agreeable duty for me, in cantor mity with the orders of my Sovereign, and as a testimony of her royal approbation, to invest with the insignia of Knights• Commanders of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Generals Thiry, Herbillon, Bonet, and Aurelle. The absence of Generals Camou, Autemarre, and d'Allonville, deprives me of the satisfaction of con ferridg upon them the same distinction. I need not ex press to you, my comrades of the English army, all the pleasure and pride which I feel in having been commis sioned to confer upon you, Lieutenant• General Decree, Dr. Hall, Inspector-General of Hospitals, Lieutenant- General Barnard, and Lieutenant-General Lord Rokeby, the well-merited honours which are so graciously accorded by our august Sovereign and mistress. May you long live to enjoy the just reward of your valour and loyalty. Al. though I am much flattered by the gracious choice of my Sovereign, I cannot help saying that the agreeable mis sion I now fulfil would have belonged much rather, had it pleased God to spare him, to the brave and noble soldier who victoriously led the English armies upon these battle. fields, and under whose 'paters your gained these honours. However, I have myself commanded considerable forces of the English army, and have learned the anxieties and responsibilities of such command. I may, therefore, be permitted to appreciate at their just value such distin guished and brilliant services as yours. T will not attempt to describe the glorious services and brilliant feats of arms of the French and English armies in this terrible struggle, which has been so happily terminated by heroic efforts against an enemy worthy of such adversaries. These armies have the pride and satisfaction of knowing that it is to their valour and devotedness that Europe owes a peace honourable for all parties, and on that account, in all probability, the more durable. The soldiers of France and England have fought side by side in this grand strug gle without any other rivalry than that of striving which should best serve their Sovereign and their country. May this union and this friendship, engendered by an admira tion for great military virtues and cemented by the prodi gal sacrifice of the best blood of the two peoples. remain ever dear to the two greatest military nations of the world. The next day the following general order ap peared Head-quarters, Sebastopol, June 7, 18.56. The Commander of the Forces believes that it will be gratifying to the army to be aware of the expressions used by General Viscount Gough, G.C.8., after receiving the salute yesterday. They were as follows : " GENERAL SIR W. CI " Having just now fulfilled the orders of my Sovereign, by the ceremony of investiture, I am called upon to per form a most pleasing duty—to express to you the gratifi c.ition I must, as a soldier, feel at witnessing this noble display before me—a British army of which my Sovereign and country may well be proud, whose achievements history will record. exhibiting deeds of self-devotion, patient endurance, and daring, forming altogether a brilliant ample for others to imitate, and to surpass which would , impossible. Never have I witnessed a display more cheer ing to a soldier's heart. The bronzed and ruddy counte nances of the men bespeak the judicious arrangements for their health and efficiency. On their return to their native land I am persuaded they will be received by !eta A Lent ex- I be eer- nue 1 for heir q a