The Press. — London, England, 1856-06-07 00:00:00

JUNE 7, 1856. Mr. BLAca justified the abolition of the test, and contended that the bill would not diminish the control of the minister or the Presbytery over the religious teaching in the schools, which was, in fact, in the hands of the lieritors. The west guarantee for re • ligious teaching was the religious principle of the people of Scotland. Mr. BLACKBURN insisted that the bill practically severed religious and secular education. He ob jected to the division of Scotland into districts and the appointment of inspectors by the Committee of Privy Council. The LORD ADVOCATE could not consent to the institution of any new test. The bill was read a second time. On the motion for the second reading of the Education (Scotland) Bill, Mr. HADFIELD moved the adjournment of the debate. Agreed to without a division. MARRIAGES BILL. The house, on Wednesday, went into cotnir ittee on this bill, and clauses 1 to 4 were agreed to with slight verbal amendments. To clause 4, Sir J. DUCKWORTH moved as an amendment that " notices of niarriages be affixed outside as well as inside the registrars' offices." The committee divided, and the amend ment was carried by a majority of 8-93 to 85. Clauses 4to 10 were agreed to. To clause 11 Mr. HENLEY moved to add the following proviso : Provided always, that no such marriage as aforesaid shall be solemnised in any such registered building without the consent of .he minister, or of one of the trustees, owners, deacous, or managers thereof, nor in any church or chapel of the United Church of England and Ireland, without the consent of the minister thereof, which was agreed to. Clause 12, so far as it em• powered the superintendent registrar to issue licence: to parties who were not resident in his district, was oppo.ed by Mr. MASSEY, and these words were struck nut by the committee. The clause so amended, and also clauses 13 to 18 were agreed to. Clau.:e 19 was struck out. Clause 20 was agreed to. Clause 21 was struck out.. The remaining clauses and the schedules of the bill were then agreed to. Mr. BOWYER, who had given notice of adding other clauses, postponed them to another stage of the bill. COALWHIPPERS (PORT OF LONDON) BILL. On Thursday, on the order for the second reading of this bill, Mr. LOWE said, that application had been made to the Board of Trade with the view of having this bill withdrawn, the trade undertaking to make such re gulations for themselves RA would insure the objects of the measure. Such an arrangement was extremely desirable; and he was, therefore, willing to postpone the bill for a fortnight, in the hope that within the interval a plan would be laid before the Board of Trade accomplishing the end aimed at by this measure, and to which the principal cualowners would pledge themselves. The second reading was postponed accordingly. NATIONAL GALLERY. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, 011 Thursday, obtained leave to introduce a bill to provide a site for a new National Gallery. 7AN ROADS. On Thursday, .13 the motion ot Lird R. GROSVENOR the Committee upon Metropolitan Roads was nomina ted as collows :—Lord R Grosvenor, Mr. Bramstott, Sir J. Shelley, Sir W. Jolliffe, Colonel Pennant, Sir B. Hall, Mr. Hildyard, Mr. Butler, Mr. Wyvill, Mr. H. Russell, Mr. Bonham-Carter, Mr. Alcock, Mr. Al derman Challis, Mr. Grentell, and Mr. Wr.ghtaon. ABATFMENT OF INCOME TAX. Mr. Wn.soN, on Thursday, obtained leave to bring in a bill to continue the act for extending for a limited time the provision for abatement of income tax in respect of insurance on lives. THE BRITISH FLEET. Admiral BERKELEY, 011 Thursday, in reply to Sir C. Napier, declined to furnish certain returns of the vessels of war put out of commission since the peace, and of the deficiencies of complement of each ship in commission. Sir C. N.PIER gave nonce that on going into com mittee he should move for the returns refused. YR. LONOWORTH'S MISSION TO THE CIRCASSIANS. Lord PALMERSTON, on llursday, in r ply to Lurd Claud, Hamilton, declined to lay before the house any report made by Mr. Longworth of his recent ssion to the Circassian-, as the relations with the Russian Government of those persons with whom be treated might be compromised. NOTICES OF MOTION. Mr. HEYWOOD, on Wednesday, gave notice that on the Ist of July he would move an address to the Crown for the appointment of a commission to in quire into the authorised version of the Bible. Air. DRUMMOND, on Wednesday, gave nt rice of his intention to call the attention of the house to the propriety of devising some means of relieving the Home Secretary from the importunities to which he was subjected on behalf of criminals, whereby the administration of justice was often impeded. THE PRESS. THE CAMP IN THE CRIMEA. THE embarkation of the English army goes on slowly, though every one else appears to be in a hurry to get out of the Crimea before the heats of June set in. The Sardinians have gone, and 55,600 French as well. General Codrington had written a very flattering after.order on the occasion of General De la Marmora's departure, and sent a guard of honour to attend him on embarking. Marshal Pelissier yet remained with the French army of reserve. Colonel James, Colonel Stanton, and Captain Gordon, of the Engineers, had started to survey the new Bessarabian frontier; while Captain Hammers• ley and Captain Brook were on the 21st ult. about to proceed to Perekop to examine the road and bridges across the Sivash, and the country generally about Genitchi and Ksffa, with the view of ob,aining more knowledge of the ground than is at present pos sessed. General Codrington and staff were also about to start on a tour round the south coast. The Russians, according to the letters of the Tina correspondent, show their proverbial inquisitiveness, which they turn to good practical use on most occa sions, in all that concerns our camp arrangements, roads, railways, Sec.:— The staff officers of the Russian army are busily en• gaged 'n surveying our camp, and the Commander-in- Ch.ef of the English army has ordered that every facility shall be afforded them. They have closely examined the construction of the railway, and have studied the plans and sections deposited in Mr. Campbell's office at Bala klava. The questions they asked respecting rails, sleepers, rtc., indicated a limited acquaintance with the elements of railway engineering. Dr. Monett and another medical officer have returned from a tour in the Crimea. during which they have nrinutely inspected the Russian military hotintals, with a view to prepare a report upon their medical system. That the Russians will profit by v hit they see no one who witnesses their avidity for in timation and desire of improvement can possibly doubt. They are deeply persuaded of the necessity which exists for making good roads ; but I fear they look upon that ne cessity as one arising rather out of military and political than peaceful and commercial considerations. " None of ns ever dreamed of the Crimea being made the scene of a great campaign, or we should have had good roads, and possibly a railroad, to Sebastopol." That is their constant remark.— Timer cor., 21st. Some interesting details are now and then gleaned from them on the subject of the siege : The strangest, but the most universally asserted, and best attested, tact we have learned from our late enemies is this—that, had the fire continued, they would have blown up their works and evacuated the south side of the town on the IJih, or at furthest on the 12th of September —that is, either two or four days arter the assault. The fire was too tremendous aril all searching to be withstood. The officer of one regiment, which garrisoned the Malakoff from the evening of the Pith till the evening of the 7th, said they marched in 3,4(X) men, with seventy officers, and when they were relieved 2,t400 men and fifty one officers had been killed or wounded by shell and shot. Sometimes a shell rolled clown into a bomb-proof and blew up among the dense mass of men inside. Sometimes a round-shot, striking one of the massive beams of wood which supported the works, sent a shower of deadly splinters all round it. and the service of the guns was at tended with the certainty that almost every gunner would be hit by the French riflemen in the course of the day. The Russians concur in saying that they lost more than 2,000 men every day of the fire. But then, if they hail waited till the 10th, and no assault had been made, what would have oc_•nrred? The tire must have slackened on the 9th, for the allies had not the means of continuing it. The Russians, most likely, wore two. wutild have plucked up heart of grace, set to work, and been ready for another bombardment, which could not possibly have taken place for two months. But then winter would have been upon us, anti—however, there is no use in supposing. A private letter from the camp gives some interest ing particulars connected with the non-effect of the bombardme of '54 against the fatuous Wasp Battery, and the state of the sunken ships : An officer who served in the fleet at the bombardment of Sebastopol, in 1145.1, dined, by invitation, with the Governor of the Wasp Battery last month. He describes the Wasp Battery as having a ditch some thirty feet wide around it, with an embankment level with the guns, so that ships' guns could not hit the fort at all, but only the embank ment in front, while the guns at the battery would fire shell right down upon the deck of a ship. 130 feet below. This fortifirAtion mounts only eight gulls, en barbette, and those are very close together. Tnis was the battery to the tire ot which Albion was exposed, and the Russian officer expressed his surprise that she was not sunk. According to his account,the shells thrown by the battery would go corn• pletely through the whole of a ship's decks in that position. The only casualty the Russians suffered in the Wasp Battery was from one shell, which dropped amongst them, render ing twenty-eight men hors de combat. The officer himself had, on the occasion of the bombardment, been in the front of the engagement, and was anxious to see what guns the fleets had suffered from. The Vv'te-p Batten - , which is scarcely perceivable from the sea, he describes as tile most dangerous, and the Albion as having one of the hottest berths. The Rusiian commander gave him a good dinner, plenty of champagne, and a hearty welcome. From the statements of the same Russian officer it sp. pears that the outer boom in Sebastopol harbour, owing to a succession of gales, became in a sinking state during the 535 siege. and was removed to assist in making the bridge o boats; the inner one shortly afterwards shared the same late. After the gale of the 14th November, 1K54, the outer line of ships was so much broken up as to render the har bour easy of access to the fleet, upon observing which the Gabriel and Silistrio were sunk by the Russians as a further impediment. Five steamers were sunk on the morning when the Russian troops crossed the bridge of boats to the north side: nothing of them is vis;ble. The first or outer line of ships were sunk, with everything on board them, upon the Russians perceiving the allied fleets weighing from the Alma, and in the belief that the allied fleets were about to enter the harbour, the Russian officers and men losing all their property on board. The Empress Maria and Grand Prince Comseanline are the only two ships whose masts are standing; the former on her bilge, the latter per fectly upright, lying with her head up the harbour ; the others are cross ways; the last mentioned was the finest ship in the Russian fleet. The ships were sunk by heeling them over and cutting tour scuttles on each side as large as a pudding plate; they were kept afloat for acme time by plugging and caulking them in till it was requisite to sink then, and then it was done by driving the plugs all out to gether, after which it required from two to three hours for them to sink. jortign ad talonial)ftittligtute. FRANCE. The terrible inundations at Orleans and Lyons have caused such a lamentable destruction of pro perty, and in some cases of life, as almost to absorb the attention of the Parisians. The Emperor, on receiving intelligence on Sunday night 01 the seri ous nature of the calamity, took al the money he could find at St. Cloud, some 300,000 francs, and started in a few hours for Lyons, arriving there in the course of Monday morning. His Majesty at once proceeded to visit the inundated localities, and to distribute alms on all sides. On his return to the hotel the Emperor conferred with the authorities upon the necessary measures to be taken, not only for affording present relief, but for preventing any future repetition of this catastrophe. In Lyons it is estimated that upwards of 25,000 persons have been rendered liouseless. From Lyons the Emperor pro ceeded to Valence and thence to Avigno t, which be entered by a boat, distributed large sums at each place, made every arrangement fur the full relief of the sufferers, and returned to Paris on hursday morn ing. On Friday the Emperor had arranged to start on a visit to Orleans and the valley of the Loire, which was completely flooded. Subscriptions were being raised in Paris, and all over France, for the benefit of the sufferers, and a credit of 10,000,000 francs had, on the Emperor's return, been deman.ied 13f the Senate fur the same purpose. The heavy rains whic ceased on Monday bad set in again on Thursday, and the accounts from the provinces of the Loire were distressing. Both the Orleans and Lyons lines of railway were brrken up, and all traffic beyond a certain distance was stopped : In approaching Chalons-sur-Sosne (writes a correspon dent from Lyons) the country had the appearance of an inland lake; but after passing Chalons. as far as the eye could reach, nothing but water was to be seen, dotted with tops of houses and bushy green willows, with long tows of poplars, looking like herons watching for 6sh. It was im possible to say where was the course of the river. Not a boat was to be seen excei.t those landing furniture from the ricer. All the tea-gardens and &Imlay restaurants had many feet of water round them. At Tournus the destruc tion of property was immense, and still as far as the eye could reach nothing was to be seen hut water, besprinkled with roofs of houses and trees. Around Macon was a complete sea; and. as the ricer became narrower on ap• proaching Lyons, the body of rushing water was tremen dous, overthrowing walls, houses, or whatever ureaumed to stop its progress, and so near the road or the chain bridges, that one expected to see a❑ carried away. From Ville flanche to Lyons the red flag of danger was hoisted all along the railway; in some places the sleepers of the way being loosened by the rain, while in other places there had been avalanches of earth and turf, which the workmen had much difficulty in clearing away. So great has been the distress and suffering caused by these floods that the funds set aside for the fetes at the baptism of the Imperial Prince will be devoted to the relief of the inondes, and the fetes deferred. The opening of the Agricultural Exhibition in Paris has been attended with tvery success. The apiculture.' growth of every European country is fairly represented, while the exposition of cattle is remarkably fine. The arrival of the Cardinal Legate from Rome was daily expected. Great ceremony and state would he adopted towards the Cardinal Patrizzi during his visit to Paris. The baptism of the Imperial Prince is fixed for the 14th. AUSTRIA. Count Buol has addressed a circular to the Aus trian diplomatic agents abroad upon the affairs of Italy. The Austrian Government admits that refl , rms are much needed, but attributes the present c; itical state of Italy to a secret and wide-spread conspiracy, which Sardinia excites and enccurages. Count Buol then throws back upon the Sardinian