The Press. — London, England, 1856-02-23 00:00:00

182 TERMS OF 102 Efir i)rrss: Per Annum .. 1 I alf-Yearly . • Quarterly .. • • Payable in advance. .. £1 6 0 .. 0 19 0 .. 0 6 6 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. ALFRED hrE, 110, Strand, London. lis :I rtog. LONDON, SATURDAY, FEI3. 23, 1856. POSTSCRIPT. ARRIVAL OF COUNT ORLOFF AT PARIS. A telegraphic despatch from Paris on Friday morning announces :-- Count Orloff arrive" lag night, at ten o'clock, at Paris. He was received by M. de Seebach. Intelligence from Berlin states : Baron de Manteuffel has declared to the committee on the budget that the prospect of peace was exceedingly favorable; but that the cootinurelon of their armaments be the belligerent parties, and the tone of Queen Victoria's s)eech from the throne, obliged Prussia to direct her a tension to the shores of the Baltic, to keep up her army 01 a war footing, and even to extend it if necessary. Despatches from Hamburg, of the 21st, convey the fallowing intelligence:— M. Bang, Minister of the Interior for llolstein, has followed the example of M. liaaslotf, and resigned. M. Simony, Minister of Justice, retains his functions proci• sionally. Letters from St. Petersburg state : The school of marine apprentices is to be transferred from Nicolaieff to Cronstadt. Orders will be given to stop the building of the vessel of the line Witicts, 130 guns, at Nicolaietf. The opening of the Paris Conferences is fixed for Monday next, the 23tli instant. Intelligence from Spain announces the formation of the Spanish Credit Mobilier as follows :—Duke d'Alha, president ; M. Duclerc, vice - president ; members, MM. Carlos Calderon, of Madrid ; Emile and Isaac Pereire, Biaio, Goubie, Duke of Glucks berg, and Count de Morny. An advanced squadron of screw-frigates will shortly proceed to the Baltic. under the command of Captain Watson, in H.M.S. Imperieuse. A further petition to the Queen, from the jury on the trial of Stratton and Paul, prays for the liberation of Mr. Bates on the plea that the allegations con tained in his petition are perfectly true, and that had the facts now known to the jury been proved at the trial, they would never have committed Mr. Bates. Cabinet Councils were held on Saturday and on Tuesday afternoon. The Council sat three hours and a half and three hours and a quarter respec ti•ely. The whole of the Ministers were present on each occasion, with the exception of Lord Clarendon. A Cabinet Council will be held this afternoon at the Foreign.office. The Civil Service Superannuation Bill has been printed. No person under sixty years of age will be entitled to a superannuation allowance unless under very special circumstances. The scale commences with la .60ths of the salary enjoyed for not less than ten years service, and graduates up to 46.60ths of the salary for thirty-five years' service, beyond which period of service no addition will be granted ; pro vide l that, where persons entered the service before the sth of August,lB29,and shall have served thirty five years or upwards, a further addition of 1-60th may he made for each additional year beyond thirty four years up to and including forty-nine years; and where the) have served fifty years or upwards the pension will be equal to the net amount of the salary and emoluments of the office. The above allowances may be increased or reduced by the Treasury under certain circumstances, but not otherwise. The Trea sury may al'o grant gratuities where retiring allow awes are illegal. Persons aged sixty-five must retire on their allowances, except in special cases where the r further services may he deemed useful to the puoitc. This act will not prevent dismissals for mis- THE PRESS. HOUSE OF LORDS.-FRIDAY. LIFE PEERAGES. Lord GLENELO moved that the following questions should be submitted to the judges : Whether it is in the power of the Crown to create by patent the dignity of Baron of the Unite' Kingdom for life? And, what rights and privileges are conferred by such a pretext? The noble lord remarked that after all the discus sion that had taken place respecting the question of life peerages, the legality of the proceeding remained still a matter of doubt,.and he insisted upon the ex pediency of referring the matter for decision to the judges as affording the best means of settling the point. Lord CAMPBELL opposed the motion, contending that the question should be decided rather by parlia • mentary than judicial authority. There were also practical and technical difficulties in the way of the plan now proposed; it might not be found easy to bring all the judges together, or possible to obtain accordance in their opinions. In every event their decision would be delivered too late to be available for present purposes. '1 he Loan CHANCELLOR supported the motion, en forcing the propriety of obtaining the best possible opinion respecting the legality of life patents before proceeding to further discussion on the subject. The Earl of WINCHELSEA and Lord BROUGHAM opposed the motion, which was supported by Earl GRANVILLE. Their lordships divided—Contents : present, 62, proxies 49, total 111; Non contents : present 97, proxies 45, total 142. Majority against the motion, 31. The house then went into Committee of Privileges. Lord LYSDHURST moved the resolution of which he had given notice, enunciating the opinion of the committee that neither by letters patent, nor by a writ of summons issued in pursuance thereof, was Lord Wensleydale entitled to sit and vote in Pulls. ment. Drawing a distinction between the title of nobility, which he recognised the indefet.sible prero gative of the Crown to confer, and the right to sit among the peers, Lord Lyndhurst cited many au thorities and precedents to prove thatthe house itself was fully entitled to decide on this latter point. He then proceeded to argue that on the question of life peerages their decision should be in the negative, both for the sake of following ancient usage, and in order to maintain inviolate the ancient constitution and character of that branch of the Legislature. Earl GREY moved an amendment declaring the life patent granted to Lord Wensleydale legal, and acknowledging his title to a seat in that house. This amendment, if carried, be expressed his intention to follow up by a series of re3olutions, setting forth that the occurrence should not be drawn into a precedent, and that precautionary measures should be provided against possible abuse of the power to create life peers, if that prerogative were ever to be exercised hereafter. Lord STANHOPE supported the mction. The Duke of ARGYLL contended that the suggested interference with the Royal prerogative was an act of more questionable loyalty, and established a more dangerous precedent, than the creation of a peerage upon life-tenure. Lord BROUGHAM said that during the course of the debates all the doubts he might originally have en tertained on the subject had been wholly dissipated. He was now convinced that the power to create a life peer, so as to be also a peer of Parliament, was entirely beyond the prerogative of the Crown; and any patent so framed would be invalid and illegal. Life peers were utterly unknown to our law, and had been so at every period. The LORD CHANCELLOR having spoken against the resolution, their Lordships again divided. Contents .. .. .. .. 07 Nan-contents .. .. .. .. 52 Majority for Lord Lyndhurst's motion 45 Their Lordships adjourned at a quarter past one o'clock. HOUSE OF COMMONS—FamAr. EDUCATION. In reply to Sir J. Pakington, Lon:O. - RUSSELL stated that he should bring for ward certain resolutions on the subject of education on the 6th of Match, when he would explain the nature of his proposidon ; but that he should not invite a vote on the subject until some more distant day. 11 THE KINGDOM OF DUDE. Replying to Mr. Otway, Mr. V. SMITH stated that, in consequence of the prevailing distress in the Kingdom of Oude a large discretionary power of interference bad been given to Lord Dalhousie, but no annexation had yet taken place. The papers on the subject would, ho added be produced in a few days. Sir E. PERRY denounced the policy of annexation which had characterised the administration of Lord Dalhousie in India. SATURDAY, After a few words from Sir J. W. liouu and Mr. ROEBUCK the subject dropped. NEW LOAN. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQI7ER rose, in com mittee of ways and means, to move a resolution Authorising the Goveinment to raise a new loan Referring to the estimates of revenue and expendi ture which he had propounded last session, Sir G. C. Lewis stated, that in reality the income had fallen short of his anticipation by about 1,600,0001., and the expenditure had swollen by 1,060,0001. beyond his original computation. This left the Exchequer worse off by 3,560,0001. than had been calculated upon ; and by this discrepancy the margin of four millions which he had provided for the contingent expenses of the year was nearly swallowed up, and the Trea sury le t bare of surplus to meet accruing demands. By the resolution he now had to propose, the Govern ment would obtain power to raise a new loan of five millions, thus covering the past deficiency and leav ing a smaller surplus for future expenses. The total charge of the war for the twenty-two months and a-half during which hostilities had now lasted, he estimated at 43,560,000/. By the new loan of five millions the whole sum borrowed during the current financial year would be raised to twenty-eight millions. Sir H. WILLnL'OMBY commented upon the loose manner in which the estimates had been framed, and inquired why five millions were to borrowed on ac count of deficiency of only one and a half million. Mr. WILLIAMS regretted to find that the new loan was to be raised in so inconvertible a stock as the Three per Cents. Mr. GLADSTONE warned the house not to beguile themselves with the belief that the sum stated by the Finance Minister would constitute the whole cost of the war. When the bills were all paid and affairs wound up, the total would amount, in all pro bability, to at least half as much more. The resolutions were agreed to, and the house resumed. ORDNANCE ESTIMATES. On the motion for going into Committee of Supply, Colonel DUNNE commented in detail upon the many proofs of extravagance and mismanagement which he alleged were exhibited in the administra tion of the Ordnance Department. Mr. MONSELL gave some explanations, and Mr. RICARDO protested against the evils of the contract system. Lord Pau MERSTON remonstrated against the pro longation of so miscellaueous and purposeless a dis cussion, while Sir DE LACY EvAss depreciated the haste with which the Government were pushing on the votes of supply. Atter a brief remonstrance from Sir C. Wood, the house went into commits( e, and Mr. MONSELL pro ceeded to move the several votes belonging to the Army and Ordnance Estimates. OATH OF ABJURATION. On resuming, Mr. M. GIBSON obtained leave to bring in a bill to abrogate the oath of abjuration. All opposition or comments upon the measure were by consent post poned until a future stage of its progress. The house adjourned at halt-past twelve o'clock. Her Majesty has conferred the dignity of Baron on Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Baronet, under the .itle of Baron Aveland of Aveland in the county of Lincoln. R. Bickerton Lyons, Esq., First Paid Attaché to the Legation at Florence, has been appointed Secre tary to her Majesty's Legation at that Court. New camps will, it is said, be established in the spring on Barham-downs, near Canterbury ; Penen deb-heath, near Maidstone; and Southsea-common, Hants: the troops to be encamped are stated at 8,000 on Barham downs, 20,000 on Penendon-heath, and 15,000 on Southsea-common, at all which places the men will be under tents, and will be drilled in field duties ready for any emergencies. BEAUTY OF THE DEAD SEA SCESERY.--AS I stood upon the shingle, gazing over an expanse of water so intensely blue that I could fancy the deepest nook in the Mediterranean beneath the brightest of June suns would have seemed green compared with it, the huge Moabite mountains rising abruptly from its azure depths on one side, and the high land above Mar Saber convulsed into a hundred fantastic shapes on the other, the whole covered with all the various tints that are ever seen in the changing face of Nature between sunrise and sunset, I thought I had never looked upon any picture deserving of such enthusiastic admiration as the Dead Sea and its surrounding scenery. It is true that all is scorched and barren, that not a leaf or blade of grass is here to give relief to the eye; yet the blue surface of the lake itself, and the rich colouring in which the whole country round is steeped, is quite sufficient to atone for this, and I went away carrying with me the reminiscences of a picture possessed of such peculiar beauty, that I might wander where I would over the wide world, and not meet with any spot which I could compare with it.—Kennard's Eastern Experiences.