The Press. — London, England, 1855-04-14 00:00:00

APRIL 14,1855. THE DUKE or CAMBRIDGE AT THE MANSION HOUSE. THE customary Easter banquet given by the Lord Mayor was on Monday celebrated with unwonted eclat, through the presence of the Duke of Cambridge, who honoured the civic magistrate by becoming his guest on the occasion. The royal visitor was received with extraordinary honour, not, however, so much on account of his affinity to royalty as in his character of Crimean hero. Under that denomination he was feted and toasted by the assembled convives ; and, cordially accepting the position, his Royal Highness returned thanks for the enthusiastic applause with which his name had been greeted when given from the chair. He said : It has at all times been to me a source of the greatest pleasure and satisfaction to be allowed to pay my respects to the chief magistrate of this great city, and to enjoy the hospitality of the Mansion-house ; but on no occasion has my gratification been greater than on the present, when, with his lordship's permission, I find myself addressing so distinguished an audience as I now see around me. lam amply grateful for, I may say, the enthusiastic manner in which I have been received, not only in this hall, but when coming through the streets of your city. (Loud cheers.) Since 1 last had the honour of addressing the citizens of London I have witnessed many various scenes, and passed through much excitement. Sometimes I have experienced satisfaction, sometimes tasted glory, but sometimes had a share in events of the most painful and heartrending de scription. (Hear, bear.) But I can assure you that after all these changes, whether agreeable, honorable, painful, or disastrous, there is nothing which is the source of more pleasure to me, or which is considered to be a greater re ward by me, and those who were engaged along with me, than that on our return to our native country we should receive the hearty welcome and kind consideration of the citizens of London, and the general population of this great country. (Loud cheers.) But when I find myself placed in this honorable and proud position, I ask myself this question—How have [ obtained this position? As fur myself, I have done nothing more than my duty, but I feel that those over whom I have had the honour and satisfac tion of being placed in command, have nobly conducted themselves, and in short achieved all the glory. (Loud cheers.) A general placed in high command has indeed no easy task, but when supported as I have been by such men as the officers and soldiers of the first division, or any other division of the British army, he feels assured in the consciousness that that indomitable spirit which pervades every rank, from the highest to the lowest in his command, will not fail him in the hour of peril, but that the honour of the country must always be safe in such hands. (Loud cheers.) But, in addition to having men under my com mand such as I have described, I have also had the advan- Cage of acting with allies with whom it has always been my greatest pride and pleasure to be associated. (Loud cheers.) That great alliance, so happily cemented, and which, thank God, is growing more intimate from day to day, will soon receive a new impulse from the arrival in this country of that great and illustrious man who now rules over a neighbouring and mighty nation. ( Loud cheers.) May that alliance be of long duration, and may such a friendship be cemented between England and France as is necessary to secure the peace of the world. (Hear, hear.) My lord, on my own behalf, and on that of the brave and gallant men with whom I have had the honour to act, allow me again to thank you and this company for the manner in which my health has been received. (Loud cheers.) To the subsequent toast, de regle, of " Her Ma esty's Ministers," the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER responded as follows The illustrious duke had attributed much of his success to the officers and men by whom he was supported. In the same way did her Majesty's Ministers derive strength from the support they received from the great communities of this country, such as he now saw represented in that hall, communities celebrated for their industry, wealth, and power. Such support was in some sort a sharing of the responsibility of public affairs, and a sure way of bringing them to a successful termination. It was only by the aid of well•earned public confidence that Ministers could get on with their difficult task, and that confidence was the more especially necessary in the office which he had the honour to fill. He felt that the confidence of the public could only be retained by a faithful observance of all the Government engagements, by a strenuous upholding of the public credit, and by faithfully fulfilling all those pecu- niary obligations, upon the due discharge of which, after all, the safety and honour of this country so greatly de pended. THE MINISTER OF WAR AT TURIN has granted sum of 300 f. to the sub-lieutenants of infantry, 400 f. to the lieutenants of infantry and sub-lieutenants of cavalry and artillery, 500 f. to the lieutenants of cavalry and artillery, and 000 f. to all the captains be longing to the Piedmontese expedition to the East, to enable them to support the expense of their outfit. ebTHE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA remitted through the wedit•li Embassy a sum sufficient to give every pri soner in the Lewes Gaol 6d. each for hot cross buns. SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON'S GOLD MEDAL, for the best essay by any student of the University of Edinburgh, matriculated in 1853-4 or 1854-5, "On the Influence of the Mind over the Body in causing wad curing Morbid and Anomalous Conditions," has been adjudged by the Senatus Acalemicus. The successful competitor is John Glen, M.A., student of medicine, son of the late Rev. Dr. Glen, for many ears missionary in Persia. THE PRESS. KILMARNOCK ELECTION. THE new Vice-President of the Board of Trade, the Hon. Mr. Bouverie, was on Saturday re-elected for the Kilmarnock Burghs without opposition. After his return the hou. member addressed his con stituents in a speech of some length. In the course of his remarks he said : It is impossible for me 'not to be reminded of the cir cumstances and of the political aspect of affairs which existed at the time when I last solicited your suffrages, and to compare those circumstances and that political aspect with those existing at the present time. We were then in a state of unexampled prosperity ; our manufac tures and our trade were increasing at a rate and to an ex tent unknown before in the history of this country. The taxes of the country were gradually being reduced, and the public burdens were becoming lighter. We were then, too, under the administration of a Tory and a Protectionist Government ; and, last of all, we were in a state of pro found peace with foreign nations. (Hear, hear.) In the first place the Tory Government is dead, gone, and clean forgotten. Our trade, which was then expanding iu an unexampled manner, is now being curtailed and is diminishing. The taxes, which were then being lightened and taken off, are now being increased; and the state of peace which then existed has been converted into a state of foreign war—war with the most powerful, with the most formidable country in the world. No one deplores more than Ido the circumstance of being at war. It involves great sacrifices—great pecuniary sacrifices—but it involves sacrifices much more important than pecuniary ones ever can be. Last year new taxes were imposed for the purpose of meeting the expenses of the war. These taxes now amount to nearly 10,0000001. a year, and the practical re milt has been that while for fifteen years previously we have been reducing the taxation and diminishing the bur dens of the people of this country, the whole of the amount so reduced hes been reimposed. But there are greater sacrifices than pecuniary ones. I refer to the lives of the brave fellows sacrificed in doing their duty, and in defend ing the honour and interests of this country in foreign lands. (Hear.) The lives of those brave men who have been sacrificed in their c3untry's cause can never be recalled. But their bravery has not been exerted in vain. Our soldiers have shown that they have not degenerated from the heroism of their forefathers. Yet more, they have shown an example of patience under great sufferings, and of endurance under the bitterest privations. It is a complicated machine, an army ; and we have not had that machinery at work since the war of the French Revolution. We bad to put it in action at once, and, until we tried, we did not know where the weak parts lay; we did not know whether it would break down or whether it would work. That is the source of the disasters which have happened to our brave army in this East. But I am glad to think that this state of things has passed away; and as our future experience shall be increased, so shall we meet with success after that army has already conquered evils which were almost overpowering. Adverting afterwards to the question of the newsp iper stamp, Mr. Bouverie remarked : I have always held the opinion, and have expressed it more than once in I'arliament, that that stamp was an ob jectionable thing. Many think that the law as it stands is not an objectionable thing; but I would just like them to answer this question :—Why should not a man have as much liberty to print and circulate among his neighbours the news of the place as he has to write a letter to his friends containing that news, or to state it in conversation in company? I can see no difference. Many people are of opinion that there is something rather startling and alarming in the prospect of a great number of cheap news papers. They fear that the people will learn to read and like vicious and perhaps licentious writing. I do not say that there will not be such things as foolish and licen tious newspapers; but what I say is this—they will have a very bad chance against a good article. I have such a good opinion of the morality and pure feelings of the pub lic that I believe they will always prefer an honest and well•conducted newspaper to the bad and the licentious. The argument against cheap reading, if worth anything, is equally an argument against all education, even leading and writing. ANOTHER TUSCAN PROTESTANT has been made to feel the vengeance of the popish priests. A Florence letter of March 30th states that on the previous Sun day morning, at half-past four, Domenico Cecchetti was hurried away from his children to the prison of the Bargello, condemned without any trial, or wit nesses, by the Council of Prefecture, to a year's confinement in the Penitentiary of Imbrogiano, near Monte Lupo, whither he was conveyed in chains on the following morning. The crimes for which he was consigned to a dungeon were the possesion of one Bible and two Testaments, and the avowal, when examined by the Chancellor of the Delegation of Santa Maria Novella, that he considered Jesus Christ the sole head of the Church. Tux pedestal is now being put up in the Parliament House at Edinburgh for the statue of the late Lord Jeffrey, which has been executed by Mr. John Steell. The statue will occupy the upper of two niches in the hall the other of which is to be filled by the statue of the late Lord President Boyle, which is in the hands of the same sculptor. A COMMITTEE, composed of members of the Church Protestant Defence Society, Evangelical Alliance, National Club, Protestant Alliance &c., have con vened an " aggregate meeting of Protestants " on the subject of Maynouth, for Tuesday next at the Free mason's-hall. MR. LAYARD AT ABERDE EN. MR. LAYARD, M.P., was installed on Thursday as Lord Rector of the Aberdeen Marischal College and University. In his address, after alluding to the value to public men of such testimonies of approba tion, Mr. Layiud proceeded to the general subject of the influence of education upon the national cha racter. Tested by present emergencies, its defects became apparent : We have received a terrible warning. Let it not be thrown away upon us. Day after day have I of late listened, as a member of the committee appointed to inquire into the condition of our army in the Crimea, to the most sicken ing and heart-rending tale that human suffering ever fur nished—one too much calculated to lower us, not only in our own estimation, but in that of the world. I cannot allude to it without a glow of indignation anti a blush of shame. To what are we to attribute the grievous misfor tunes which it discloses ? Are Englishmen less honest, less humane, less generous, less intelligent, less fruitful in resources than we once were ? Surely nut : we see no proof of it in private enterprise, or in the relations of pri vate life. How, then, have we been plunged into this abyss of national disgrace ? Why, with our immense mercantile means and experience, have our stone miscarried? Why have our brave countrymen been allowed to die untended and uncared for? Why have our gallant soldiers been left to perish from want and by the sword, in default of common precautions? Why have the unparalleled re sources of this great country been put forth almost in vain ? It is because men who engage in the service of the State are taught to look upon themselves as mere machines, or rather as forming part of a machine, and do not feel a true sense of individual responsibility because a vicious system enables them to shelter themselves behind empty forms—because they can shift from their own consciences a burden which, it would appear to me, it would be intoler able to a sensitive and right-feeling man to bear, unless he could persuade himself that his own free action and inde pendence were completely controlled. On the same day Mr. Layard christened the splendid new clipper Schomberg, a handsome three decker, built for• the Black Ball Line of Australian packets. Twenty thousand persons were present. At the dijeuner which followed the launch, Mr. Layard again spoke, and proposed " Success to the Schomberg and the Black Bail Company, represented by Mr. Thomas M. Mackay." ST. PAUL'S, KNIGHTSBRIDGE. THE election of churchwarden for the various metropolitan parishes took 'Alice on Wednesday. In none, however, were the proceedings marked by my features of general interest, except in the dis trict of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, where Mr. Wes terton was brought forward for re-election, and many severe censures passed at a crowded vestry meeting on the conduct of the incumbent, the Rev. Mr. Liddell, who occupied the chair as a matter of right. Mr. Westerton was re-elected without opposition, after some stormy passages, and in reply to some questions stated that, although about 1,0001. annually was collected at the offertory, little went to the poor, it being absorbed chiefly in carry ing out the Romish practices. During the proceedings the following resolution was put by Colonel VEREKER, and carried before the meeting broke up : Some doubt having been intimated by the Bishop of London, in a letter addressed to Mr. Westerton in May last, whether the mode of celebrating divine worship by the Hon. anti Rev. R. Liddell and his curate, in the church of St. l'aul and the chapel of St. Barnabas, is or is not highly offensive to the majority of church people in the district, we, the petitioners in vestry assembled, avail our selves of this opportunity to express our opinion, in the most emphatic and unqualified terms, that the mode of celebrating divine worship by the Hon. and Rev. R. Liddell and his curate at St. Paul and St. Barnabas, is highly offensive, and ought forthwith to be discontinued, and that a committal be appointed to carry out that object. THE MARRIAGE OF CHARLES SCHRIEBIR ESQ., fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, with Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest, widow of the late Sir John Guest, Bart., M.P., and only daughter of the late Earl of Lindsey, was solemnised on Tuesday, by special licence, at the parish church of St Mart►n in-the Fields. Her ladyship is well known for the zeal which she has evinced in the improvement of the social condition of the workmen employed at the I)owlais Ironworks. She is the mother of a large family, and the bridegroom (who has been tutor to the eldest son) is her junior by sixteen years. TRIALS for breach of promise of marriage have hitherto been almost unknown in France, but the Imperial Court of Nismes has just declared that the non-execution of promise gives a right to damages. THE HONOLULU CABINET is tbus constructed : Her Royal Highness the Princess Victoria Kama malu, to be Kuhina Nui, or Prhne Minister ; L. Lee, to be Chancellor of the Kingdom; Keoni Aur (John Young), Minister of the Interior; Robert Crichton Wyllie, Minister of Foreign Relations ; Elisha H. Allen, Minister of Finance ; Ilicherd Armstrong, Minister of Public Instruction. ~. ~