The Press. — London, England, 1856-07-12 00:00:00

and, as something must be dotie, for the evil ad mitted of no delay, he had voted for the second read ing of the bill, and should vote against sending it to a select committee, because, after mature considera tion, he could see no better expedient. He denied that the bill limited in the slightest degree the pre rogative of the Crown. Mr CARDWELL insisted that a bill dealing with the constitution of the House of Lords, the prerogative of the Crown, and the dearest rights and most im portant interests of the community, required careful consideration. Law ref9rm, he observed, was the great demand of the day. The court of final appeal was the arbiter of all the other courts. We had now two courts of final appeal, and that which gave universal satisfaction was to be ignored and ulti mately absorbed, and the other was by this bill to be replaced by a tribunal admitted to be imperfect. Mr. GLADSTONE said it appeared to him that the bill absolutely extinguished any claim on the part of the Crown to exercise the prerogative of creating life peers; and be considered that the manner in which the bill dealt with this great question was a reason for further inquiry, in order that the measure might give satisfaction to the public mind and bear marks of deliberation. He did not like, he remarked, to see the House of Lords, by its great salaried officers, become pensioners on the public purse, in order to fulfil duties which that house claimed as appertain ing to its public character ; and he objected to ex posing to hazard the independence and purity of the bench. Lord PALMF.RSTON said he regretted the circum stance adverted to by Mr. Currie, that there was a strong difference of opinion between the Government and some of their friends regarding this bill ; at the same time they had felt it necessary to recommend the measure, which originated in a conviction that the condition of the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords was one which it was not for the public interest should continue, owing to the dimi nution of the legal force in that house, which it was therefore desirable to strengthen. The question was, not whether this was the best plan that could be devised, but whether the bill, by giving an acces sion of legal force to the House of Lords, would remedy an acknowledged evil. His opinion was that it would; that the appointment of two salaried offi cers in that house would strengthen its legal force sufficiently to enable it to perform its duties more satisfactorily. The salaries were given not for legis lative, but for judicial functions, and there could be no constitutional objection upon that head. As to further inquiry, he thought the arguments of the opponents of the bill showed that no further inves tigation was needed. The SOLICITOR -GENERAL, in reply to a question by Mr. Roebuck, said, if there be a prerogative in the Crown to create life peers, the bill as at present worded limited its exercise so far as to prevent more than four persons sitting in the House of Lords at one time as peers for life only. Upon a division the amendment was carried against the Government, by 155 to 133. The Lill was, therefore, ordered to be referred to a select committee. POOR LAW AMENDMENT (No. 2) BILL. The order for the second reading of this bill was read and discharged. EPISCOPAL AND CAPITULAR ESTATES BILL. Sir G. GREY, in moving the second reading of this bill, said he proposed to continue the existing act for one year, in order that the recommendations of the commissioners might be considered by the house. The bill was then read a second time. STAMP DUTIES. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved for leave to bring in two bills. The first provided for the reduction of the duty upon proxy papers for voting in respect to railway companies from 2i. 6d. to 6d. At present, if the articles were not stamped before taken out they were invalid, and he proposed to adopt in regard to those instruments the same course that was pursued in respect to similar docu ments, and to allow them to be stamped et a future time upon payment of a penalty. The other bill was intended to give to landowners in Scotland the same advantages with respect to the income tax which were virtually enjoyed by landowners in Eng land, and which had been conferred by act of Par liament upon landowners in Ireland. Leave was given to introduce these measures, and the two bills were brought in and read a first time. ECCLESIASTICAL. COURTS. Mr. HEADLAM obtained leave to bring in a bill to abolish certain ecclesiastical courts, and to continue certain temporary provisions concerning ecclesias tical jurisdictions in England for a limited period. The Formation of Parishes Bill passed through committee. THE PRESS. jortign 6orrtsgonttutt. BRUSSELS, July 10. THE Archbishop of Malines, by certain procedures, has just illustrated the peculiarities of Romanism. The testamentary dispositions of the widow Bogaerts Torfs at Antwerp, lately under investigation before the competent tribunal, is the case in point. The facts are as follows. In January, 1855, this lady caused her professional adviser to furnish her with a report on the pecuniary state of the several members of her family, pointing out their degrees of relationship, the number of their family, and their different means. According to this statement, on the 11th of January a will was drawn up, wherein her property was bequeathed to her family and rela tions, in proportion to their consanguinity and wants. An omission had been made respecting one of her relatives which was rectified by a clause dated the 18th of January. Subsequently, by the death of one of her sons, another alteration was made, and the perfected will and testament bore the date of July 2. The lady died on the 18th of that month. It was then discovered that another will had been made on the 12th and 14th of July, annulling the former will of the 11th of January, with its codicils of the 18th of January and the 2nd of July, and leaving the whole property in trust to M. Verhagen, solicitor to the Archbishop of Malines, for religions purposes. An " etablissement de bienfaisance " or convent was to be founded, churches were to be endowed, extrava gant sums were to be set aside for masses, altar pieces were to be given of 20,000 francs each, and pieces of gold plate studded with rubies and other precious stones were presented to particular churches, and a large sum, always in trust to the attorney, was bequeathed for charitable purposes so called. The family, left in comparative destitution, appealed against the validity of the will. By the decree of an " arrtee royal," M. Nothomb, Minister of Justice, has affirmed the will of the 12th and 14th of July, giving the wealth of Mme. Bogaerts Torfs tt, the Roman Church, and condemning her family to poverty. A Belgian journal observes, "Les details déjà connus assignent ii cette captation ecclesiastique tin caractere reellement scandaleux." The question on the "Tariff" has been adjourned to another session, as had been predicted. In spite of opposition, the principle of free trade is gaining ground. Petitions in its favour have been presented from several places; and many cf the French jour nals, especially one at Lyons, are strenuous in support of a freedom from restriction in trade. The workmen remain yet to be persuaded in Belgium ; and although they would the more immediately benefit by unre stricted commerce, yet there are those. amongst their employers who have biassed them improperly and unwisely. The petition of the English residents in favour of the Rev. Mr. Jenkins has been successful, and in this instance the Bishop of London has been defeated. He had named another incumbent, and pressed his nomination with earnestness ; but Lord Clarendon, it may be fairly assumed, upon reference to the English Minister at Brussels, saw fit to accede to the request of the English residents. In reality, there is no actual appointment vested in the Bishop Lon don, or in the Foreign-office. It is competent to the congregation to elect whom they may choose to officiate; but the salary granted by the Belgian Government is not given without reference to and the sanction of the English Minister. In this case the propriety of the selection cannot be gainsaid. The Rev. Mr. Jenkins was born and partly educated at Brussels, and graduated at the University of Cambridge with much distinction. Esteemed, popular, and of unimpeachable conduct, his accession to the chaplaincy has given general satisfaction ; and the petitionets have reason to he grateful to Lord Howard de Walden for his courtesy to them, and for his support of the desire which they had expressed. The protest of Prussia and Austria against the treatment of the Holstein or German duchies by the Government of Denmark, if not productive of immediate effect, will probably lead to future conse • quences. Mindful of the former conduct of Prussia, the answer of the Danish Government was tinged with a smartness of expression that could not have been pleasing to M. de Manteuffel. The question of the Lauenbourg domains will oblige Prussia to raise the entire Danish question dependent upon the settlement of 1851. An unusually frequent com munication is taking place between the students of the Danish and Swedish universities, and Scandina vian associations are forming after the fashion of the Burchenschaft of Germany. These may not be dangerous in themselves, but the toast of the " Lioness of the North," unobjectionable in itself, brings back the recollection of the Union of Calmar, which bas a significant meaning. SATURDAY, Eastern affairs do not wear a favorable appear. since. There is still much and increasing ferme n t in the Principalities in favour of a uniGn. By the unambiguous demonstrations that have taken ple 3e in favour of such a course, a forced junction will not have a permanent effect. Too much has been said, and the desires of the country have been too openly manifested, to permit of the question being summarily disposed of in contempt of popular de mand. The Grand Vestiar of Moldavia, M. Bo s . setti de Roznovano, during his visit to Vienna, had several interviews with M. de Buol and Aali Pacha, and in plain language foretold the consequences of a despotic line of policy. M. de Roznovano left for Paris on a similar mission. The Unionists rely with satisfaction on the widening difference betwixt Prussia and Austria, and the abrupt termination of the visit at Berlin of the Archduke Maximilian re mains without explanation, and authorises deduc tions of a non-amicable nature. Mazzini is in the Tessino, hovering from place to place on the confines of the Milanese. That he went to Piedmont not long since there can be little doubt, and the information obtained by the Government that he was somewhere on the Massa coast appears to have been authentic. The enmity borne by this demagogue to the Constitution of Sardinia, is not less intense than that against the despotism of Austria. In an animated discussion of the triumvirate and their friends in London, it was admitted as the general opinion that the example and wellbeing of the mo narchical and constitutional form of government' in England operated more prejudicially against the republican prospects on the Continent than the detested autocracies. Nothing but the insular posi tion of Great Britain, it was affirmed, prevented an accelerated momentum of democracy that would render monarchy impossible. And notwithstanding the oceanic impediment to a continental corruption, the anti-monarchical result is counted upon, sooner or later, with security. These men, protected by England against a punishment that in part they richly deserve, evince their gratitude by reviling her institutions, and plotting to undermine a form of government to which they immediately owe their safety. Count Appony is said to have received instruc tions to protest to Lord Clarendon against the conduct of the Sardinian Government, and to invite him to use the influence of England to repress the revolu tionary—in truth the constitutional—movement throughout the peninsula. There are three things that more particularly offend Austria in regard to Piedmont,—the liberty of the press, the restriction of Papal and ecclesiastical power, and the freedom of speech permitted in the Chambers against the acts of existing Governments. England is asked to dis countenance elsewhere the essential principles of her own free Government. In plain language, Count Appony has been ordered to state that a representative Go vernment, in its working, is opposed to the tranquillity of Italy. The answer of Lord Clarendon caused great dissatisfacticn. A large body of Austrian troops has arrived by forced marches at Milan, and has since taken up a position at Borgoforte, on the Po, where they have constructed a bridge. Marshal Radetzky, now residing at Monza, came lately to Milan to have a conference with the Chevalier Biirgen, the Arch bishop Romilli, and the Gonfaloniere of the town, on the state of Lombardy and Parma. lie assured them that Austria was prepared to occupy Plaisance immedia'ely, and that a fresh army would be sent into Lombardy. Between the Chevalier Biirgen and the archbishop there is a difference of opinion on the Concordat, the prelate being desirous of its rigid application at any cost, and the more wary diploma tist being convinced by experience that the unpala table law, in its full force, will only add to the existing difficulties of the moment. The Duchess Regent of Parma has dismissed the Prince of Soragni from his Ministerial office, and the latter proceeded to Milan. Looking at the opinions and the late conduct of the Prince, his choice of abode is singular, and goes far to justify by inference his dis missal by the Duchess. At Florence the conspiracy to assassinate the Minister Baldasseroni is a fact. As a matter of course, it is denied by the Jesuit party ; but it is well known that the betrayal of the secret was consequent on some indiscreet observations at a supper, which caused one of the attendants to give timely notice. The Minister Leonida Landucci, supported by M. Buonarotti, whose name is a libel upon that of his great namesake, is seeking to foment a reaction in favour of the Concordat and the Jesuits, and in op position to the more liberal system of M. Baldasseroni. In proportion as the latter Minister loses the confidence of the Court, he progresses with the popular party. Assassinations are of daily occurrence. Outside of the Porta San Gallo a person was found a few days since stabbed in eleven places, and two more, bound hand and foot, were thrown at night into the Arno. In the Romagna, the bandit chief Lazzarini openly levies black mail in the towns without the slightest molestation. Meetings have bees held, and the iu• iill iiiiii .4"`A