The Sun. — London, England, 1860-02-18 00:00:00

if the house conisiders; they will find that they will only have a partial and limited means of observation and criti cism in obeying thee line chalked out by the Government. There are some most important articles in this treatywhich, by this manner, will never come under the consideration of the house. (Hear, hear.) The house can only give an opi igen where the customs duties are involved. As matters stand the 13th article of this treaty, regarding coal, could not come before us when we go into committee on the cus toms duties. lam sure the house will not consent to be placed in a worse position in dealing with such matters in 1860 than they were in 1787. Take for instance the third article of the treaty in reference to shipping, and it would be seen that the house would have no opportunity of giving an opinion upon that article in going into committee upon the Customs Acts, as both the noble lords have spoken upon this motion. I feel sure the First Minister of the Crown will find an opportunity for stating the course intended to be pursued. What we Ought to know is this : the mode con templated by the Government by which the House of Com =ins shall have an opportunity of giving a full and con stitutional consideration to this commercial treaty with ' France, and I shall be glad if the noble lord at the head of the Government will state whether the course pursued in this instance will be the same as that pursued by Mr. Pitt in 1787. Mr. HORSMAN was afraid that the house was being led into a most irregular Bourse, which would before long involve it in great difficulty. (Hear, hear.) There were certain preliminaries to going into committee which ought not to be passed over. The noble lord the Foreign Secre tary seemed to have misapprehended the purport of the question of the hon. member for Perthshire. The hon. gentleman did not enter into the merits of the treaty, but, after pointing out that we were about to make certain changes which we could make without a treaty, and that the French Government were now about to make certain changes which their Legislative Chamber could make with out a treaty, he went on to say, " Why does the Govern ment resort to a treaty to do that which they can do with out a treaty ?" (Hear, hear.) Reciprocity treaties were an obselete, antiquated, condemned mode of doing business, • and by no gentleman in the house had they been more strongly condemned than by the two noble lords the princi pal members of the Cabinet. (Hear, hear.) The noble lord said it was too much to expect from• him to go into the question to-night, but it was not too much to expect from the Chancellor of the Exchequer that he should have gone into it the other night. (Hear.) The first thing the Govern ment ought to have said was,—" Before we go to consider the details of the treaty we think it our daty to inform the House why we take such an exceptional and objectionable course as to proceed by a treaty at all." (Hear, hear.) This -treaty gave the foreigner the power of intruding himself - into our internal legislation.. By it we surrendered our legislative independence; we abandoned our commercial policy. (" Hear, hear," and murmurs of dissent.) Certainly he had always understood that the system of reciprocity and bartering for equivalents was what we gave up when free - trade was adopted. (Hear, hear.) At any rate, by the treaty we abandoned the exclusive right of administering our own internal financial affairs, and what the Government ought to have said to the house was, "We ask you to take an exceptional course, an objectionable and reactionary course, and it is our duty in the first instance to point out to you the overwhelming motive and necessity for it." (Cheers.) That ought to have been done before - going to the consideration of the budget. The point raised in addition by the right hon. gentleman opposite was still more important. By the 20th article this treaty was not to be valid sinless the 11th article received the assent of Par liament. It was not that the withholding the sanction of Parliament from the 11th article was to make the 11th ar • tide invalid, but the whole treaty. Another objection had also struck him. He should much like to hear the opinion of the law officers of the Crown as to whether her Majesty • had not been advised by her Ministers to exceed the power of her prerogative. By this clause she fettered the future action of Parliament in a matter of taxation. She assumed legislative powers, and she declared that in time to come no duty should be levied on particular articles of export. That he believed to be a stretch of the prerogative, and an uncon stitutional usurpation of the powers of the Legislature. He hoped Government would say first in what mode they pro • posed to ask the consent of Parliament to the treaty ; and next, whether in this article, by inadvertence, no doubt, her Majesty had not been advised by her Ministers to assume a power which by the constitution does not belong to her. Mr. AYRT ON thought the right hon, gentleman opposite had done the house some service by the point which he had raised, because there was another important view of this question which had not yet been noticed. By the suggested mode of proceeding what might be called the omissions in the treaty could not be taken into consideration. How was the house to discuss such a paint as the liberty reserved to the French to keep on the duty on the export of raw silk to this country, while we engaged to levy no duty whatever on the manufactured goods exported from France to this country ? (Hear, hear.) There were other questions of omission which ought to bs considered in connexion with the treaty, and some mode ought to be devised by which the whole policy of the treaty might be brought before the house. An hon. gentleman had given notice of a motion with re gard to the shipping interest; but the manner in which that notice had been framed was most inconvenient. (Hear, hear.) The question ought to be considered in connexion with the whole policy of the treaty. In looking at the treaty the point to be considered was whether justice had been done or not to all the great interests of the country, or whether it would redound to the benefit of one or two special inte rests. (Hear.) He hoped, therefore, that the Government would devise means by which the opinion of the hould could be distinctly pronounced on [the policy of the treaty as a whole. Before sitting down he wished to know whether the licences for selling wines were to be granted simply to the keepers of eating-houses, or whether the keepers of beer houses would also be entitled to take them out. Mr. NE WDEGATE said he had early called attention to the very anomalous course which the Government were pursuing in this matter. It was impossible not to see that the free discussion of the subject was verymuch impeded by the language held by the noble lord the Foreign Secre tary, who told the house that he really could not say whe ther, if these duties were kept on, it would be agreeable to the Emperor of the French. It certainly was most em barrassing that if we did not accommodate our system of free imports in England with the system of protection in France we should be perpetually reminded that we were likely to do something disagreeable to the Power over the way. The most anomalous thing of all was that Parlia ment was asked to legislate for both countries, beeause if it sanctioned this treaty it would sanction a system of pro tection in France for ten years. He was old fashioned enough to agree with the majority of people in France and America that raising revenue by Customs' duties was a very good thing if they only fostered native industry. Whether France would adhere to that system or not was her own affair ; but it was his duty to represent an English constituency, and on that ground he thanked the right hon. gentleman below for having pointed out the fact that this matter could not be fully and freely discussed by the pro • posed mode of procedure. Mr. LAING explained that it would be competent for the occupier of any beershop by taking out a licence as an eatinghouse to obtain in addition a license for selling wine. But it was right that he should state that a large number of representations on the subject of the resolutions as to licenses had been received, which would require a great deal of consideration (ironical cheers from the Oppo sition), and probably some modification would be introduced into those resolutions, more especially as regarded police regulations and the hours of opening. (Hear, hear.) He could only state at present that these modifications would be submitted to the house in a complete form, and that time would be given for their consideration before the house was asked to come to any decision whatever. (Hear, hear.) Sir H. WILLOUGHBY reminded the noble lord the Secretary fer Foreign Affairs that he had omitted to answer one question which had been addressed to him by the hon. member for Perthshire—namely, whether any correspond ence bearing upon the foreign treaty existed between her Majesty's Foreign Secretary and Earl Cowley and Mr. Cob den, or between any other o ffi cial personages who took part in the late negotiations, and whether such correspon dence would be laid on the table of the house. Lord H. VANE hoped her Majesty's Govelettjg e u e ld take into consideration the recoihmend a made to them, and would cause the stonl w hich b' ct of th e treaty to be submitted to the deliberation e s ubje ct j t e he house. e (Loud cheers.) According to the metho d originally pro posed such unquestionably would not ha ve been the case ; and he hoped that the evening would not clos e te without some -distinct intimation of the course which Government bythe were prepared to adopt. Allusio n h a d b een right hon. gentleman the member for Buckin ghamshire to the course which had been pursued in 1787, ed ques tion of such importance he thought it would be inexpedien t to to depart from the precedent which had thus be en eit esta blished. (Hear, hear.) He differed in opinion fromth hon. member for Stroud, fo he held that all taxation mast proceed from, or, at least,.be suggested by the Crown, and that the house had no right to go into commit tee of supply or to vote taxes without such a recommen dation, although, of course, the subsequent sanction of Par liament was required. Mr. BOUVERIE was meet unwilling to address the • house, but he thought it worthy of consideration whether the suggestion of the right hon. gentleman the member for Buckinghamshire was sound or not. No one could for a moment doubt that it would be necessary for the House of Commons to pronounce their opinion, aye or no, upon the French treaty ; for it was expressly stated in the treaty itself that its validity was conditional on its acceptance by the British Houses of Parliament. (Hear.) But the ques tion really was as to the order in which they should pro ceed—whether they would consider the treaty as a whole, and pronounce upon it either the approbation or disappro bation of the house, and subsequently pass to the considera tion of domestic legislation with reference to it; or whe ther they would in the first instance enter upon domestic legislation, deciding the points which arose, not with re ference to France, but solely with regard to the interests of the people of this country—(hear, hear)—and, • having achieved this object, they would then proceed to con sider whether the treaty was sound or not. He apprehended . that the fair and proper method for the. House of Commons , to pursue was to deliberate in the first instance on the changes which it was proposed to effect in certain duties in contemplation of the treaty, and. having decided, purely in accordance with British interests, whether the Government were right or wrong in having recommended these, they could then proceed to the consideration of the treaty itself. (near, hear.) Lord J. MANNERS, while agreeing with the right hon. g - entleman that it was of the utmost importance that these two question s should be discussed separately and distinctly, • could not believe that the mode which he had proposed was the conveni en t or even the constitutional course. (Hear, hear.) Cer tainly , if he were right, Mr. Pitt was serene- ; and, w i t h all res pect, he must say that on such a point he would prefer th e authority authority of the elder statesman. (Hear, hear.) h„i g lion. gentleman seemed to have misapprehended the ans wer giv en by the noble lord to the question so well put by yn.temember for Perthshire, and shich was, in fact, a reply to which question which had oc =red to his own min d never been put. Th 'noble lord (Lord J. Russell), s u t p a l e e n 'i t i l t d h i l ' e stinctly that it was question that the - intention on Monday next question of s pea , r.er do leave the chair, to go into the who le ue., ,•e treaty, and to Vindicate the whol e the Fr steenntteds. sur cly, then, it woo necessary for those w i l t i s o si:Ch course of tooof say— as proc eeding h he Wteos ealk)peytltleeihr have monstrat e-es at 0.7 1 w, heard it sa-acl on both side s . f . t he ouse—that such was not nd constitutional method of proceeding lie the proper a e ro ut h the cheers that the noble lord had • now understood gentlemen, that he was not pre. ' len to two or three on. pglarse. to icate the treaty on M on d ay next, but proposed 1- e occasion should be afforded to the house, in that a %Var.%and legitimate discharge of its ). i n the proper a order th, —' be able to express a deliberate opinion, aye duti es, i t ,:;0 1 :lo ,visions of that treaty . He must again o r no, on the Prt friend the m ember for Perthshire thaw h is hon. . I beg for bring f°lrsvar' esty's Government this important qu estion ; and he , 't q uestion ller god to s ,that to thi s Maj • had not attempted to give the shadow of an annYar. (Cheers.) Lord J. RUSSELL complained that the noble lord oppo site had unintentionally misrepresented him altogether. The hon. member for Perthshire had asked why it was that when both countries, by their legislative bodies, could have instituted changes in the duties which they relatively im posed, the Government had chosen to proceed by way of commercial treaty ; and he replied,l that when the debate was raised upon Monday upon the whole question he would give the reasons why in this instance he had thought it ad visable to enter into a commercial treaty. He did not say, as had been represented by the noble lord opposite, that on that occasion he would be prepared to enter into the details of that commercial treaty. He would now give to one part of the general question an answer, which possibly he had before omitted to do—namely, that no such correspondence as had been referred to existed at the Foreign-office. (Hear, hear.) Mr. HARDY, with a view of showing how completely and inseparably the Government had mixed up the Budget and the commercial treaty, read a passage from a letter written by Lord John Russell to Earl Cowley and Mr. Cobden, which was as follows :—" The effect of your in structions will be to place at your disposal a large sum be longing to the revenue from Customs to be employed in re moving, in moat cases wholly, and in all cases to a consi derable extent, the charge of Customs' duty from very im portant productions of France. These productions are not in general articles of primary necessity, or of auch univer sal use among the people of the United Kingdom as to en title them on those grounds to the first attention of the ' Government. (Ironical cheers.) They are selected, then, • for relief, in part indeed upon. commercial grounds, but in part also because of the collateral effectnwhich we antici pate from the conclusion of the treaty." If the house were to act in the manner that the Government now calla on ' them to do—in an independent way and for the interests of England [alone —they ought in the first instance to enter on the consideration of the treaty, and afterwards to take up the discussion on the Budget. (Cheers.) The motion for adjournment to Monday was then agreed to. On the motion that the Speaker do leave the chair, with a view of going into Committee of Supply, Lord PALMERSTON said—Sir, I take advantage of that motion to answer the inquiry of the right hon. gentleman opposite. It must be obvious to anybody who has read the treaty, or to any one who reflects on the constitutional principle, that it is essential that the opinion of Parliament should be taken on the treaty as a compact between the two countries. The only question is as to the order by which our proceedings should be governed. Now, I humbly think — considering that the treaty involves a considerable number of changes in our Customs regulations—that if we had come down to the house, and at once and before any other pro ceeding had proposed a general vote sanctioning the whole treaty as it stands, we should have been met with the natu ral objection—" You call on us by one vote to give an opinion on a matter involving a great number of details — (cheers)—you are not dealing fairly with Parliament. (Hear, hear.) Let us go through the matter point by point and step by step, and when we have arrived at a con clusion on all the separate parts, then give us an opportunity of expressing an opinion on the national en gagement as a whole between the two countries." (Cheers.) Tliat, I apprehend, was the course pursued by Mr. Pitt ; that is the course we mean to pursue. (Hear, hear.) We in tend to take the sense of Parliament on the different matters dependent on that treaty, in combination also with changes made on separate grounds in our other Customs and fiscal regulations. But unioubtedly it will be our duty—a duty from which we have no intention of shrinking-4 give to the two houses of Parliament an opportunity of stating their opinions plainly and directly—aye or no—in approba tion or disapprobation of the treaty. (Hear.) It will be our duty to give notice of the time most expedient for the public interest to take the discitssion j and the house may be as sured we have no intention of shrinking from that duty. My noble friend has deprecated the premature discussion of the treaty, and with all submission I must say, when the house is assombled to discuss the Army Estimates it is in convenient to employ the time of the house in discussing a treaty which will probably be a subject of debite in the en suing week. My noble friend has been interrogated by se veral hon. gentlemen after the time when the forms of the house permit him to be catechised ; and I believe I am now in some degree departing from those forms in giving the in formation asked by the right hon. gentleman. Mr. DISRAELI—I have not received any answer from the noble lord. Of course no member of the house supposes that this treaty will be carried into effect without the house having an opportunity of giving its sanction to it. But the question to which I wish to call the attention of the house is the mode and manner in which it shall receive that sanction. The noble lord says the question of the approval of the treaty will be brought before the house. But I maintain it should be brought before us in the same manner as the ' treaty of 1787 was laid before the house by Mr. Pitt, so thai the house should have an opportunity of expressing its opinion on each article. (Hear, hear.) By the course the Government has settled, the house will have the opportu nity of parting with a considerable amount of the revenue of the country ; and afterwards it will have an opportunity of rejecting the treaty in consequence of which this amount of revenue has been destroyed. (Hear, hear.) Nothing is more proper than that we should have an annual statement of the financial prospects of the Government for the year that informs its of its commercial and financial policy, ex ternal and internal ; but because we have that statement it does not follow that we should immediately go into com mittee to consider the Customs duties. In 1787 Mr. Pitt was Chancellor of the Exchequer as well as Prime Minister, and made his financial exposition when he moved that the treaty be taken into consideration. The duty of the Go vernment now is to give the house an opportunity of ex pressing its opinion on every article of the present treaty. That, I believe, is the proper and constitutional course, nor will any other course be satisfactory to the oountry. THE DISEMBODIED MILITIA. On the question that the Speaker leave the chair, for going into Committee of Supply, Mr. PALK, according to notice, called the attention of the house to the great expense incurred in raising and training a regiment of militia, so as to make it fit for per- Manent duty ; ho also asked the Secretary for War what arrangements he contemilated for filling up the vacancy in the numbersin the army that will be occasioned by the dis embodiment if the militia regiments ? The militia had suf fered from the practice of one Ministry reversing the policy and undoing the work of another. The militia was an ex pensive force, and if organised and maintained as a perma nent body would be a reserve from which the regular army could be reinforced by regiments and battalions. It was a force no Government could hastily get rid of. Now, he understood 12,000 of the militia were to be disbanded, and the number to be supplied by the regiments coming home from India. He thought the militia should be kept up as a reserve, and to furnish garrisons for their present fortified places, and those that might be hereafter erected. If the Government would confine themselves to ordinary times, when there was no fear of foreign invasion, to a force of 10,000 men, they would have a well-organised and useful force, which could be called out without that detriment to the agricultural interest which the calling out of large bodies of men for short periods of training necessarily inflicted. He should like to know to what extent the disembodiment was to be carried. The estimates gave no information on thatpoint. However peaceable our relations with France might be at this moment, he trusted the right hon. gentleman would calmly consider the state of our foreign relations. The commercial treaty did not appear to be going on quite so smoothly as was perhaps originally supposed. It had been said in that house that the Government were so sanguine they should be able to pass this measure, and that it would re-unite the bonds of peace so strongly, that they had not thought it necessary to eonsider what the effect of its rejection would be on the minds of the Emperor of the French and the French people. That was a most important ingredient in the case. The French people were not so accustomed to the inconsistencies of our Legislature as we were, and he thought it extremely possible that if the treaty were not adopted by that house some feeling of irritation would be created in their minds. Entertaining that opinion, he thought would be most dangerous and ill advised to disembody one single regiment until this matter were settled. It would be most unwise to do anything that should diminish the defences of the country. 'Whatever the number of regiments to return from India, he should, at the present juncture, welcome their approach with the greatest satisfaction. Even with them, with the militia, and all the volunteers that could be raised, there would no t a man toe many. When a Ministry had difficult negotiations on hand, o ata 01 large tru yt i ee ffi t aoi e r mn u lmt oetyaftintentions Stateoe policy tlnol t appointed.hf t o soof for o l , the b (Hear,es t force h ear he ) could have was secretary Sir J. FERGUSSON hoped the right hon. gentleman the house,tWh earw g i veo Governmentu ld them h i e n na t h w fe some e th ta information militia. It was very important both to the country regard er nmt aht t a o °ll was th a the army that they should have a large force of Tili! y ia, a n d whetherte the embodied or disembodied ; but he was afraid it would be found, when the return of the hon. member for Middlesex was produced, that th e number of the militia bore a very small proportion to the nominal amoun t at voted by Parlia hmaedn t h . e e The n fen number e o f increasingabsentees at every ebolioatknennofalretrgaiinnieningts, and the force now eo a f v t a h i leabsul Parliamentary subject. In ll I p nv r ja 7 rd a e .. ... i n t o e t snp e te v a e k r with t p h e a r c k e n n e t w , ol knowledge g t h e had the honour to command there had been for two or three years an accumulation of absentees most annoying to offi cers and prejudicial to the public service. Had the War office permitted them to strike off the absentees from that regiment two years ago, there would have been no difficulty in filling up the numbers. But during the last two years there were fresh absentees, and they were cumbered with the names of those who were nominally members since the conclusion of the Crimean war, but had long since enlisted fraudulently in regiments of the line. These men received itte d w the respect know t e two bounties, and the rig ht hon. g entleman would do w ell courseto pu t an th eend Governmentt o suck a intendedsy the embodiment of the militia from time to time. Without disparaging the services of the volun teer cor p s, Government stern' to He pursue wanted would do well not to neglect or allo w the old constitutional force of the country to fall into decay. Colonel DIXON was glad this subject had been brought forward, although it had not met the support it de served when he had introduced it. He admitted that themilitiareginients were raised from the lowest class of society, but discipline and good treatment had made diem a most admirable national force. The case of the junior officers of militia, thrown desti tute on the world, was a very hard one; and it was to bo regretted that the Secretary of State for 'War shoutd have met their claims the other night with the simple remark that he thought these young men had derived great ad van tage from having been two or three years in the service. From the nature of the questions constantly being put in that house it was undeniable that there existed in the public mind a lurking suspicion that the political horizon was not quite so clear as we had hither to fancied it. If, therefore, wo were to have a militia at all it ought to be kept in a state in which, should its services b 7 called upon at any moment, it would be found perfectly efficient. A certain number of the regiments should always bo embodied, even thou g h the embodiment of each regiment should last only fa- a short time. Then we might rely upon having, fur every regiment that was embodied, six or seven others that a, _ e would be ready in case of need. It was impos- , the sm i n n downil to understand how the item of £500,000 should be put the present estimates for disembodied militia, while officers to keep their be wa r n e t g er „ _ to be taken for the embodied militia was £300,090. Vas the militia to be a service or was r't not ? Were the never likely to eats in order, though they were or was the force to lie treated as THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY FAVENING; FEBRUARY 18, 1860, one to which they might be proud to belongT At least, let the militia not be disembodied without some slight recogni tion of tli - e - s - eTvices of its deserving young officers. CONDUCT OP SOLDIERS. Mr. GRIFFITH called the attention of the house to the use which soldiers off duty, were in the habit of making of their belts and buckles, which had been found by experi ence to be injurious to the safety of the public; and wished to ask the Secretary of State for War whether it was essen tial to any military duty that soldiers off duty should wear equipments which were only necessary to support side arms, the wearing of which had been long dispensed with on such occasions, and whether, therefore, the consideration of the public safety might not, in the absence of any mili tary necessity, reasonably induce the military authorities to discontinue the practice of allowing soldiers to wear such belts and buckles when off duty ; and also moved for a copy of any correspondence or return that may have occurred be tween the police and the military authorities on the use which soldiers off duty were in the habit of making of their belts and buckles. He recommended that as the soldier used his belt for improper purposes he should not be allowed to wear it when off duty. Gen. 'UPTON vindicated the character of the soldiers as a body, and thought that they should not be visited with such a mark of disgrace. (Hear.) Capt. ANNESLEY said the offences were compara tively few. The offences among 6,000 men were only 30 in one year. In one battalion the highest number was 16, that was per annum, in another there were no offences at all. with France, but if this treaty passed we n ever cou ld till war came prohibit the export of coal to' France without at the same time prohibiting it to all other countries. But the question was . not as regarded France, but any other nation. Here was a power given to the Crown when Parliament was not sitting to prohibit at once, byan order in council, the exportation of coal to the whole world. He did riot desire to put,it hypothetically that this Country was at war with France ; but suppose we were at war with Russia or the United States, we had the power to advise the Crown by an order in council to prohibit the' exporta tion of coal to any country whatever. Now, he would take the case which the noble lord himself put as to the treaty with' Russia. In that treaty there was a clause by which we engaged not to prohibit the exportation of coal to Rus sia without at the same time prohibiting it to all the rest of the world. Now that clause, he thought, was very reasonable, and did not interfere with the power of the Crown. No one could suppose that an order in council would be framed in so foolish a manner as to say that if we went to war with America we should merely prohibit the exportation of coal to America. Therefore, he said, this was a question which deserved the most serious considera tion of Parliament. This was not the time to discuss the details of the treaty ; but the noble lord talked of going into committee on Monday night on the duties on wines, Bpi rite, and manufactured articles under this very treaty. Suppose the house assented to that, and agreed to repeal those duties, he apprehended that no British Minister would be found to advise the Crown to sanction such a measure without the assent of Parliament. But suppose they agreed to repeal those duties on Monday, and some other day they were asked to surrender that power and would not agree, what would the Emperor of the French. say ? He would say :—" lam one of the contracting par ties to this treaty ; and I ask for it as a whole. You have struck out clause 11, and I won't have the treaty unless I have it in the form in which I first accepted it." Ho (Sir H. Cairns) asked them, were the Government going to ask the assent of Parliament to this 11th section ? Sup pose Parliament did not assent, had the Government any assurance from the Emperor of the French that he would accept the treaty without the 11th section? and if so, were the Government prepared to state that they would come down to the house and ask the house to rescind any modifications of the customs duties which they had previ ously passed P He said that Parliament had a right to have this question answered by the Government. Lord J. RUSSELL said the hon. and learned gentleman could net imagine, nor could any constitutional lawyer imagine, that at the end of the session, when Parliament is prorogued, without any act being passed on the subject, a mere resolution would govern the matter if the treaty was not approved of, and therefore the whole question fell to the ground. With regard to some other questions of the hon. and learned gentleman, he might have an opportunity of answering them some other day. (Hear.) The subject then dropped. Mr. WILLIAMS, previous to the house going into com mittee on the army estimates, complained of the short time which had been allowed to members to discuss these esti mates, which, though comprising 2,000 or 3,000 items, were only delivered on Wednesday last. Mr. S. HERBERT, in reply to a question by Mr. D. GRIFFITH, which had been asked at an earlier period of the evening relative to soldiers being allowed to wear their belts when off duty, stated that all he could say was, that the Commander-in-Chief had the subject under his considera tion. His royal highness also intended bringing into opera tion a military police. a system which had had great success in some garrison towns, and which he hoped would put an end to complaints of this description. ARMY ESTIMATES. The hour having gone into committee, Mr. S. HERBERT rose to bring forward the army esti mates. He said before he went into the statement which it would be his duty to make, he would answer the question put by his hon, and gallant friend opposite (Col. Herbert), who asked whether thero would be any sum required in ad dition to the £500,000 vote of credit for the Chinese expe dition. First, let him say that the amount of the force of that expedition was greatly exaggerated, for it was not an additional force, but one going to relieve four battalions at Hong Kong. The two votes of credit altogether would amount to. about £900,000, and when they came to be dis cussed that would be the best time to go into the question. He apprehended that some charge would fall upon the East India revenue,which must be arranged with them afterwards. The hon. gentleman behind him (Mr. Williams) said, he had taken an unfair advantage of him in bringing forward these estimates so suddenly. There was some cause which delayed the circulation of the votes, but he thought, looking at the state of public business in the house,and the necessity of having the financial statement at an early period, the house would agree that upon the whole it was for the convenience of the public service that the naval and military estimates should be brought forward at the earliest period. It was true these estimates, though not quite so large as the hon. member imagined, were unquestionably enormous. (Hear.) Bt if they glanced at the estimates for last year as compared with those for the present year, they would find that his hon. and gallant friend (General Peel) received last year a considerably larger sum than he should receive this year. Now, what was the difference between the two esti mates ? Last year they amounted to £13,200,000 ; this year to £14,800,000, making a difference of £1,600,000 ; that was, the present estimate exceeded that of last year by £1,600,000. The committee would naturally want to know what had caused this enormous increase. Well, if he had to consider in what manner he should expend to the greatest advantage of the country whatever sum of money was voted in the estimates, whether it was better to do it by an increase of forts, by laying in stores of those new armaments and implements which were necessary by the change that science had introduced into the art of war, and which other coun tries in Europe were rapidly adopting, and which we could not ourselves neglect to adopt without seriously injuring the power and influence of this country ; if he had the choice, if money were put into his hands, and he was told to expend it in the manner most likely to increase the strength of the army, he would not expend it on men, be cause at the end of the year when the men were paid they had nothing to show for it towards the future strength of the country. They had their security with the men they employed while they employed them, but they were not struager in arms ur material, of which they ought to have a hirge stock for the future, irrespective of what they might want at present. . The particular kind of store or armament ' we had been most deficient in for some time had been small arms and rifled guns, and the expenditure en these arms was necessary,. net only for the land but for the sea service. They would see in these estimates, in the store vote, that there was an enormous outlay, amounting to something little short of a million for arms, including what was re quired for the navy He did not think it would be possible, looking at the rapidity with which armaments of this de scription were made abroad, and the enormous strength that this added to the navy, to have permitted for a moment the manufacture of the best weapons. That was his reason for the expenditure of so large a sum. But it was necessary especially to hasten on the manufacture of these rifled guns which had shown themselves valuable in the war in Italy, and which on board our ships might be of a value and im portance which no one had yet estimated. He now came to what had been done with regard to these forces. Ina dis cussion the other night, he said it was an error in the form of the estimate having no distinction between the vote for the embodied militia, and the vote for the line, because in point of fact they were both battalions of infantry, and should be both put together. If they wished to understand what they were going to do they must take votes 2,3, and 4 together. Last year the amount of these votes was £4,864,000; this year it was £5,498,000. He assumed that they were going to have a large disembodied militia. He had taken in this estimate the troops in China. If by some good fortune that calamitous war was soon ended those men would come to England without disturbing his estimate, because they were already borne upon it. The Govern nment thought it better to maintain a larger body of the regular force, and to disembody the militia. Was it right to maintain in time of peace an embodied militia, which ought to be their reserve in time of war, or fear of war? He entirely dissentedfrom the doctrine which had been ad vanced that night, that all the militia ought in turn to be embodied. He could sot conceive anything more likely to give them all the evil of a disembodied militia, without giv ing them anything in return. He was ashamed to say he was the first to embody them, but he did so when they were en gaged in the war with Russia, when the efficiency o f th e 'militia was of very little consideration. They were called out simply as a channel for recruiting the line. It might be said that was an expensive process, because the men got two bounties. That was true, but still they got the men. It was an emergency, and in an emergency they must proceed be yond standard rules. It was justified in that case as well as inethe case of the Indian mutiny. They must recollect that when they were doing that they were ruining their militia, inasmuch as they took the men just as they were becoming efficient. He thought the country had never appreciated the services of the officers of the militia in that respect. He thought that in future it ought to be laid down that they would not embody the militia in time of peace. Another ob jection was that when the militia was embodied, it was com posed of the very class who would go into the line, and they thus narrowed their recruiting ground for the line, and they were thus raising a competiti on aga i ns t themselves. Fer these reasons the embodied militia ought to be dispensed with as soon as possible. - There was a considerable addition to the force which they took this year ; it amounted to nearly 20,000 men—he was not speaking of that which was borne, but that which was voted last year. A large portion of these men were transferred from India to China. They had raised a second battalion at home. They had raised two batteries of field artillery at home in the place of those who went from here to China, and it was the intention of Government, looking to the deficiency of artillery in this country, and looking also to the improbability of their being any artillery sent from India, that there should be an increase in that force, and it was proposed, therefore, to add a brigade, which was equivalent to a battalion, a brigade of garrison artillery, and a brigade of field artillery. It was proposed, also, to raise an addition to the force of engineers to a small extent. The reason for that niight be shortly stated. They had at home one broken half battalion of engineers. They had got a very great increase in all works which required engineering superintendence, and they had found this year, as they found last, that the labour of sappers was not only effective, but economical. This year a strike took place at Woolwich, the works were stopped, and the difficulty was removed by the employment of sappers, who completed the wirk, end he believed at a less cost than if the regular workmen had been employed. Another rea son was, that they had not a sufficient number to give a fair relief to 'those who were engaged abroad. Moreover, engi neers were in such request that it required a constant exer cise of authority to keep them out of civil employment. For all these reasons the Government had thought proper to ap ply for an additional half company of eneineers. That wou ld account for two bri ga d es o f ar till er y, and one and a half bat talion of sappers. It was proposed to take an augmentation of 4,000 men in a manner that would meet easily enable them to effect a reduction when the additional forces came home from India, namely, by raising each company of infantry at home from 80 to 100 men. They could most easily reduce them by that means, and that was important, because after all they had got an army which was amply sufficient for their purpose, if they could secure their proper distribution. If they had raised additional battalions instead of increas ing the strength of the companies, they would b e o bli ge d , : wheys tiny effected a re d uc ti on , to disband the officers, which %%NW objectionable oa several grounds. They had raised, also, a battalion of invalid artillery, commanded by a major, who had been himself a private soldier, and whose time was actively engaged in training artillery volunteers. The whole of their army now amounted to 240,000 men, including the 20,000 additional men to be raised ; but it was di -pereed in every quarter of the globe. It was said that that was a large and disproportionate force when compared with the population of this country. But see the propor tion between this and foreign countries. England, with a population of 28,000,000 had an army of 220,000, or 1 to 128 ; France, 36 millions, had an army of 378,000—(he should observe this return was made two or three years ago) —or the proporti on o f 1 to 95 ; R uss i a, 65 millions, tad 900,000 men, or a proportion of 1 to 72; Austria, 40 mil lions, and an army of 578,000, being a proportion of 1 to 58 ; Prus , ia, 17 millions, and 122,000 men, being a prospers tion of Ito 119. That comparison showed England as the lowest in Europe, but it was not a fair one, because it must 100 recollected tltat it Was ilea the army of paland es • .. Mme' __put of India and Australia, the West Indies, Canada, and their colonies spread over every part of the globe. If they tested in that way, it would be 1 in 246, which was the just relative proportion, and a number unknown in modern times: - It was also common to say that their army was the dearest in the world, but that arose in a great mea sure from the habits of the people, the higher scale of pay and provisions which existed here beyond foreign coun tries. But see the proportions of officers in an infantry regiment to each company, as compared with others. In England it was 3, in France 3, in Austria 4, Prussia 6, and Sardinia 4. In England there were 23 men to each officer, France 22, Austria 26, Pru ss i a 19 , an d S ardinia 19, and so on in the same . proportion with the cavalry and artillery. Deducting the Indian depots, we had on the Ist of April, last year, 87,000 men. This year we shall have, by the augmentations and additions he had mentioned, 107,000 men, but from that they would have ultimately to deduct the whole of the disembodied militia. On that point he must ask the house the same ind ulgence as had been granted to his predecessor, as to the time at which the militia regi ments should be disembodied. That must depend upon cir cumstances, but at the same time he was most anxious that it should be completed within the present year. The only change he intended to make as to the men in this vote was, though a small matter, of some little importance. Now that the general term of enlistment was limited to 10 years, the existing regulation as to g oo d con d uc t pay scarcely offered sufficient inducement to young soldiers to re-enlist at the end of that period. He proposed, therefore, to shorten the period at which good conduct pay should commence, under the belief that this would hold out such an inducement. It was unnecessary for him to mention the number of field guns which they had. The change now making in that de partment by the substitution of the Armstrong gun showed that there were eight new batteries, and the hon. and gal lant general (Sir De L. Evans) need not be alarmed at 12 of Armstrong's guns having been sent to China, for all the home batteries would shortly bo armed with these guns. He would say, in passing, that his reason for sending these Armstrong guns to China was in order to test them in field practice more effectually and more economically than could be done at home. The questions next arose, having got these men—How were they commanded How were they practised How were they clothed ? How were they armed? How were they fed, and what was their state of health P The first vote would answer the question as to how they were commanded, and it was one which excited a good deal of attention and jealousy and complaint in that house—he meant the staff. (Hear, hear.) He was not one of those who was inclined to make a run at the staff as being unneces sary, and that they should depend upon their regimental rank. They should recollect that if they destroyed the staff they destroyed the brain of the army, and left nothing but the limbs. Before the Russian war wo had in fact no staff. Our officers wore neither trained nor practised in staff ope rations, and the result was, that when th e y were su d denly called upon to perform staff duties they failed. The matter has, however, had the careful attention of every Govern ment since, and much had already been done to remedy the deficiency then shown to exist. In the staff, two changes had lately been made. The first had reference to the perma nent staff at the Horse Guards. Looking back for a period of years, he found that they had a quartermaster-general and an adjutant-general, the former of whom had been 40 years in that office, and the latter 20 years in his office. It seemed to him (Mr. S. Herbert) quite obvious that the system which left two men so long in such positions must be defective; that it was impossible they could know any thing of the modern system of warfare, or keep pace with modern improvements. It seemed to him, also, that it was a great disadvantage to staff officers not to see the adminis tration of the array from above, upon what principle the army was governed, and the whole meshanism by which the machine was moved. It was, also a great advantage to the Commander-in-Chief, as it enabled him to ascertain who was the best administrator, and to put his h an d - upon th e man who had the best head-piece. He had, therefore, pro posed to the Duke of Cambridge that, in future, the head office should only be held for five years. The Commander in- Chief entirely concurred with his views, and he was glad to think that the change thus made would be very beneficial to the service. (Hear.) At the same time there were two pro visions attached to the change. One was that both these officers should not retire at the same time, and thus place the whole of the administration in the hands of new men (hear), and the other that compensation should be given to the officers who had accepted these appointments under the impression that they were for life. (Hear.) With regard to officers holding command on foreign stations, it had been the practice to appoint a colonel to these pests, with the temporary rank of major -general; but the Commander-in- Chief found in practice that this restricted his choice, and it was now proposed to give such officers the rank of brigadiers. They would not have the same allowances as it temporarily holding the rank of major -general, but as in the case of Malta, where there were two such officers, the senior officer in command, and who was also Governor of Malta, would hold the office of major-general. The same would be the case at Gibraltar. These changes, it was be lieved would have a good effect, and place younger and mere active officers at the disposal of the Commander-in- Chief. Last autumn there was a very general impression in this country that the French army had got some pecu liar bayonet exercise which would give them a great ad vantage over everybody else, and it was also said, and he believed truly, that there was a great deal more attention paid in that country to the physical development of the soldier than in England. He had communicated with the Commander-in-Chief upon this subject, and Colonel Hamil ton, of the Guards, an exceedingly intelligent officer, was appointed to visit France and examine into and report upon these points. He did so. He came back stating that there was not one movement of the new bayonet practice which did not exist' in our own army, and that so far from the French officers themselves being aware of their supe riority in this respect, they only learned it from the news papers in this country. (A laugh.) They themselves were very doubtful of its value, and most preferred the old bayonet. But it was true that great importance was at tached to the physical training and development of the French soldier, and with the best practical result. Colonel Hamilton reported most favourably on this head, and under this head it would be found that in the estimate he had taken a sum of money for the erection of gymnasiums in one or two of the 'principal stations. With respect to the Camp of Aldershott, he knew it was a sore point with hen. members behind him, but after all that camp had been one of the most useful institutions to the army we had ever had. (Hear.) The men at the camp had practically tested 120 in ventions, many of them of great utility. There were fewer desertions from Aldershott than from any other part of the British army—there was less drunkenness, less crime, and less disease. In fact, the returns of mortality ware so low as to be almost fabulous. This might be attributed to the fact in part that the soldiers sent there were young, but it was also largely owing to the healthy position of the camp and the constant exercise in open air. (Hear, hear.) The troops prided themselves on doing all that would be required from them in a camp during a state of war. The Commis sariat consisted ef four supernumeraries belonging to each regiment, and had acted exceedingly well. Mr. Warriner, who had been sent down to the camp to give instructions in the exceedingly homely art of cookery, reported that the soup made from meat contained 25 per cent. more nutriment than he had seen elsewhere, that Aldershot loaves were 25 per cent. better than London bread, or in other words, that four Aldershot loaves were equal to five London loaves. (A. laugh.) Another great improvement introduced was the supply by the Commissariat of additional groceries to the amount of lid. a day beyond the regular stoppage, and as the purchases'were made w h o l esa l e, t h e soldiers had the ad vantage of either a larger quantity of goods for their money, or better quality than they would otherwise have obtained. (Hear, hear.) It was in contemplation to extend this sys tem, combined with equal n e t p ay, t o a l l stations of the British army. Although at first it was looked upon with suspicion, the troops were now quite convinced of the bene fits it conferred upon them. With regard to clothi ng, a very great improvement, both as regards quality and make, had been introduced, but the question of contract was still undecided. In France, the contract system had worked so badly, that they had resolved to abandon it. For instance, in Italy it was found th a t th e soles of the men's boots were actually pasteboard, not leather; their toes came through them in a day, and they became quite useless. He believed that a variety of modes of providing clothing would give rise to a healthy competition. Next, how were the troops armed P He believed that, on the whole, they were the best armed troops in the world—(hear, hear)— though no doubt s ome o f t h em might be still bettor. There was a question which arose, not between the Whit worth and Enfield rifle, but the question was whether the bore of the Enfield rifle was the proper one. There was no doubt that the great fault of the Enfield rifle was its weakness in the barrel, and many doubted whether a charge of bayonets driven home would not altogether spoil the gun for the purposes of shooting. Under these circumstances, the government had appointed a commission of officers to test the matter accurately ; and he hoped that, as practical men, devoting their whol e ti me to i t, they would aeon come to a satisfactory conclusion. It might be asked, how could they effect a change when they had so large a stock of the bore in hand. They had in England peculiar facilities for a change of this description. Their troops were scattered over the world, and they could with ease, and perhaps with advantage, divide their rifles and ammunition in the same War. He would now pass to the state of health of the army, and he was happy to say that here a considerable improve ment was to be found. In the household cavalry, in which, from 1837 to 1856, the rate of mo r t a lit y was 101 per thou sand, it was slow 8 . 24. The cavalry ef the line, in which the mortality had bash 13.3 per thousand, was now 7 . 12, and in all the other branches of the service a like improvement was to bo seen. The mortality amongst the agricultural popu lation was 8 per thousand, and if they could get the army to it, they would remove the stigma which had so long at tached to it. He attributed the improvement principally to the youthful ages of the men of which the army was now composed. And now as to the volunteer corps. He was afraid that there were many gentlemen present who would quarrel with him for having this year taken no vote for the training of the yeomen ; but his reason was, that they had been regularly out for several years past, and that he .had felt it necessary to reduce the estimates in every possible way. (Hear.) With regard to volunteer corps, however, ho had introduced a sum for the payment of adjutants for the volunteer rifle artillery companies. It appeared to him most important to give as regular and as military an organisation as they could to those bodies. (Hear, hear.) It was impossible to over-estimate the value of the feeling which those corps had displayed; but there was ono point on which he thought it wise to raise a warning voice. There was, he feared, a little too much disposition in the corps to run up the number of members, wholly irrespective of the probable per manence of the corps. He had seen it stated that the corps should be of all ranks. Nobody could object to that prin. ciplo, but the question was, would those corps be permanent? (Hear, hear.) His belief was that the corps which lived upon extraneous support would not stand the test of time, and that therefore the principle could not be depended upon. The Government proposed to give the volunteers assistance in the way of drilling. There was a doctrine abroad that solidity was a thing not required by such corps, and that less drill was required to make thorn effective. Milit ar y men thought that the duty of irregular troops was more difficult to do well than that of regulars. When people talked of 1 ose order they meant loose drill ; but it required more drill to make efficient irregular than regular troops, (Hear.) Gentlemen, then, would do wisely to insist as much as possible on every necessary , kind of drill, which could not be too well done. It was also said that, provided men shot well, it was unnecessary that they s h ou ld b e well drilled; but the highest military authorities in every nation held that the best tirailleurs or skirmishers in the world wore the French, although proverbially the worst shots. (Hear.) With regard to rifled guns the Government in tended to go to the trade for what the trade made, and to confine themselves to thoso articles which they could hest make. They therefore took a vote for £t6,000 for additional machinery, and hoped to have made, by the end o f the finan cial year, 3,000 rifled guns, and to put on board ships of war 100 largo breach-loading guns, Ile might state that in the case of the Armstrong gun, it was so constructed that it could be adapted to any improved process, if any 84 4 should lie discovered, and that the country need fear ) ; lo l oss h i the manufacture of these guns. While on this subject he might say that the Enfield title was , in the h en e d i , o , Lud r," of Atli. regular troops, our d , lunteer carps, and p oin t _s militia, the vo them. Enut , h suers that m i g h t apply for the • produced at present a. snflicient nuns co supply all necessary deraandri, (liear a hea' With respect to arsenals, it was not necessary to multiply them, but it might be convenient to have many depots. Well, then, we were sufficiently provided in that respect. As to the objection made against us for ma nufacturing implements of war for France, Austria, and Russia, it must be evident that while that was a profitable industrial enterprise in time of peace, it would have the effect in time of war of giving this country a monopoly of the article. (Hear, hear.) The right hon. gentleman con cluded by thanking the house for the kindness with which they had received his statement. Mr. MASSEY having read the vote, Mr. WILLIAMS moved that the chairman do now report progress, in order that members might have an opportu nity of considering those enormous estimates. (Oh, oh.) Sir J. FERGUSSON did not think it right to use the militia for the purpose of supplementing the regular army. They should be considered as a force to be called out in case of necessity. It would operate injuriously to the militia force if they were only to be considered as a body from which you were to recruit for the line. He hoped the volunteer corps would be supplied with rifles on the e best pattern. (Hear, hear.) NATIONAL DEFENCES. Mr. HORSMAN wished to know how soon the report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the national defences would be placed in the hands of members, and how soon the Government decision upon it would be communi cated to the house. Mr. S. HERBERT said he did not wish to compromise either the Government or the commissioners by propound ing a crude scheme on an important subject like this. The volunteers had been told that they might have the short rifle substituted for the long one, but they had come to the conclusion, and he thought a right one, that the long rifle was preferable to the short one. As to the militia, ho might state that 4.5,000 were to be disembodied. He hoped shortly to be able to state the course the Government meant to adopt with reference to the report of the commission to which the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Horsman) had alluded. Sir R. PEEL rose with great reluctance for the purpose of entering a respectful but a serious protest against the enormous extravagance of our public expenditure. Year by year the estimates were increasing ; at the present mo ment the effective of the British army was twice as great as it was a few years ago; while if anybody rose for the purpose of suggesting any extensive supervision of the public expenditure, he was met by a supercilious official sneer, and cold water was thrown upon his proposals. (Hear, hear.) His right hon. friend (Mr. Ellice) said that a bitter pill had been administered to the country. At all events it was a pill tree Bien doree. (A laugh.) But, al though their senses had been lulled into tranquillity by the eloquent appeals addressed to them, the time would come when these appeals would be no longer effectual. Some thing more than eloquence was required to induce the coun try year after year to add to the national burdens by voting these enormous sums of money. (Hoar, hear.) The house had now heard three financial statements. If anything could induce them to accept almost every item of the bud get it was the eloquence and ability with which the Chan cellor of the Exchequerinsinuated himself into their pockets last Friday. (Hear, and a laugh.) Then, as to the Navy Estimates, if it were possible to convince the house of the expediency of every proposal then made, the straightfor ward simplicity, the professional skill, and ability of his noble friend (Lord C. Paget) would have that effect. (Hear, hear.) And, lastly, if anything could win entire approval of the Army Estimates, it was the grace and the clearness with which the right hon. gentleman had just exposed the wants of that service. (Hear, hear.) But on the three great financial field-days of the year it was not difficult to dross up such proposals in gaudy attire, and to excite applause by the skill with which they werepresented to Parliament. The effect of skill and of eloquence soon passed away, and the stern realities of life soon came back to them. Here they were, with a deficit of £10,000,000, voting £30,000,000 sterling for the national defences ! Perhaps the house would allow him to state one or two facts on this subject. The Army Estimates of 1859-GO showed a decrease in comparison with 1858-9 of £9,695 ; whereas in the present year (one of peace, be it remembered, Parliament was called upon to vote an increasse of £1,982,000. (Hear.) Last year the navy estimates allowed an increase of £961,810 ; whereas this year there was a net increase over those of 1859-GO of £1,025,000. This was a most serious and appalling state of things. The right hon. gentleman had alluded to an estimate of population as bearing on this question, but nothing could be more fallacious than any such test. He (Sir R. Peel) had ascertained that in France the expendi ture for national defences amounted to one-half the public income ; in Russia, one-third ; Austria, as every one knew, was entirely crippled ; in Prussia this expenditure was one fourth of the public revenue; in Belgium, one-third; in Sardinia, 40 per cent.; in Holland, one-fifth; in Switzer land, one-tenth ; and, as to Spain, it was hardly possible to form any estimate respecting an army which took three months to go about 15 miles. (Laughter.) The right hon. gentleman had referred to the French budget. row in the budget of 1861 the effective of the French army, like that of the year previous, was 392,000 men and 83,000 horses. The total military expenditure amounted to £13,800 ,000, while the English army estimates were £14,842,000 with out the militia, showing an excess over the French esti mates of £1,042,000. (Hear.) This proved the extravagance of our expenditure. The French army contained 56,000 men and 58,000 horses more than the effective of the Bri tish army and yet we spent £1,042,000 more than our neighbours. (Hear.) In 1835-6, the effective of the British army was 80,000 men ; in 1850, 99,000 ; while this year 'the number was 143,000 men, exclusive of India. Now, it was very remarkable that in 1850 the British soldier cost at the rate of £4l per man, whereas in the present year, taking the whole of the charges for the land force and the number of rank and file, the cost was about £46 per man— £s more than in This was a fact which re quired the attention of his right honourable friend. (Hear, hear.) Notwithstanding our present costly arma ments, the report of the Committee of Public Safety, just alluded to by the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Horsman) declared that £10,000,000, if not £20,000,000, would be required to place the country in an efficient state of defence. Now, after the enormous sums of money annu ally granted by. Parliament, it was too bad to come down in *time of peace and ask for such enormous additions to the estimates. (Hear.) Up to 1850 the state of the country was most satisfactory, but all of a sudden afterwards they had been constantly told up to the present time that all was wrong, that the country was absolutely undefended, and Parliament had, in consequence, voted money without grudging. He must say that they ought to give credit to those to whom credit was due for the defenceless condition in which the country was stated to be, and the country, at this important crisis of its political history, had a right to demand some explanation of those who for the last fourteen years had, almost without interruption, held political power in this country. (Hoar.) He said that they were at peace with the world, but at all events he was correct in saying that they were at peace with all Europe. He would not look to China—they had been asked not to mention that subject—but, though he did not alluie to it, the house must feel the confident assurance that as long as the present Pre sident of the Board of Trade was in the Cabinet, there could not be any war with China. (Hear, and laughter.) He knew that the member for Ashton was no longer the mem ber for Birmingham, and no longer sat in those cheap seats below the gangway (laughter) -- but occupied a more luxurious and dignified position on the Treasury bench— (renewed laughter)—but still he was quite sure that the right hon. gentleman considered all the emoluments and patronage of his office as mere dirt in comparison with the maintenance of his political morality. (Cheers and laughter.) It was impossible, then, so long as that right hon. gentle man was in the Cabinet, considering the powerful way in which he attacked in this house the noble member for Tiverton on precisely a similar subject, that there could be any serious disturbance with China. (Hear, hear.) While they were at peace with all the world they were voting away £30,000,000 for warlike purposes. He believed that there had been some little uneasiness with respect to France, more so than for the last 10 or 20 years. He re colltcted that , a few months ago they were seized with panics of invasion and attack, which even Ministers of State and Ministers tor War condescended to promote— (hear)—and he did not think it a very manly thing for Ministers of State to endeavour to shirk the responsibility which really belonged to them, and place it on a lot of country attorneys and easy-going provincials, w ho were forming themselves into volunteer corps. The right hon. gentleman the Minister for War said he would not take a vote this year for the old-established force, the yeomanry 4 though he was obliged to take £68,000 for the purpose of adjutants' forage, and so on ; but let the house consider that these volunteer corps would cost the country ten times more than £68,000. (Hoar.) Here was a lot of country attorneys and easy-going provincials costing the country a great deal of money, with a loose way of drill, as he had no doubt it was. (Laughter.) He had the utmost contempt for that, for he liked smartness in a soldier. (Hear.) In 1804, when the volunteer corps were enrolled, they cost the country £1,000,000; and Mr. Pitt obtained soon afterwards £500,000 more for them. Let the house take care that the same thing did not occur now ; for if support were given to these volun • teen corps, the house might find that they were costing the countrya great deal more than they were worth. (Laughter. It would be a fine thi ng t o see these men come forward i f there were danger, but there was no danger. The other day he met a stout young friend of his, who was a volunteer rifleman. He told his friend that he was too stout; but his friend replied that it was'capital fun. (Laughter.) " Capital fun I" he exclaimed, and mentioned to his friend that ho had been in Switzerland, and had seen the volunteer riflemen there crawling along on their bellies by the hedgesides for miles, and that he recollected being out with a corps which passed the whole night in the trees. Nevertheless, his young friend rejoined that it was capital fun—that they had their afternoon parade and patriotic lunch— (a laugh)—and wore going to have a ball in full dress uniform for the ladies, an expensive band, a dinner, and all kinds of conviviality quite unsuited to the rigid habitues of the army. (Hear, hear.) Now if there existed any cleaver he would ask the committee to increase the regular army and navy, for he concurred in the opinion of the noble lord the late Commander-in -Chief in Scotland, that they could not trust to these men. Ho observed that the noble lord was no longer the Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, but he hoped that his resignation had nothing to do with the expi essious he had used with regard to the volunteer force. Another reason for preferring an increase in the army and navy to those volunteer corps was afforded by what Earl Grey said somewhere in the country. The noble earl stated that the reason he supported this volun teer force was, because it was an anti-military movement. Such au idea was quite unworthy the noble earl's position and the office he formerly held. But was there any neces sity at the presort moment for these volunteer corps ? What did Lord Derby say in 1852 when asked whether ho would eountenance them ? The nobly lord said—and this vies a manly way of looking at the matter instead of hum bugging about it—(leud laughter)—that his Government was not prepereci to give aid to the formation of volunteer rifle cops, and he concluded that that conclusion was a sound and reasonable decision. Were the circumstances of the country different now ? He imagined they were not ; but at Any "rate there was the old established forge of the country—the militia, which might be increased, if need be, instead of being disembodied. This question of national defences had always Loan one of great difficulty with Mini sters. He well recollected that in 1852 the noble me:nber for the city of London brought in a Militia Bi.l, and th e noble lord the member for Tiverton came down with hie amendment—(laughter)—and without the slightest desire to displace the noble member for London, neyertlados ITIGHWAYS BILL. Mr. BARROW wanted to know if it was the intention to proceed with the highways bill that night. THE CHINESE WAR. . • - Sir H. WILLOUGHBY wanted to know what would be the likely expense of the war in China. It was quite clear that a vast body of men could not be moved from India except at a great expense. He also wanted to know if any portion of the expense of moving that body of men was to be borne by India, and how the expense of the transport of the troops to China was to be defrayed. Sir DE LACY EVANS said a credit had been spoken of towards the Chinese War of £500,000, but for such a war that sum was quite a bagatelle. There was no glory to be gained in a war with China, which he thought had been owing to an injudicious selection of agents in that empire. The war he considered to be a very grave affair, especially considering the great distance they were from China. He fouled that among other munitions of war siege artillery had been embarked, and he should like to know for what pur• pose. General PEEL said he found the amount of the army estimates to be £14,800,000, to which £1,000,000 was to be added for the disembodied militia, and £500,000 for the war in China. A part of the force to be sent from India to China consisted of native regiments, and as to the ex pense, it appeared to him that £500,000 would not covor the outlay which had already been incurred. Therefore there must be considerable additional expenditure on ac count of that war. Now he (General Peel) might be per mitted to say that he had not exceeded his army estimates in 1858 by a single shilling. One thing he could not under stand, and that was how the men of the native army had been paid. If they had not been paid by the Indian Government they must be paid in one shape or another. He further wanted to know whether the men who remained in India were to remain at the expense of the Indian Government. EXPORT OF COAL. Colonel P. HERBERT wished to ask a question respecting the 1 lth article of the French treaty, by which they engaged not to prevent the exportation of coal. That article was drawn up with great simplicity of language. Such language might be very suitable in their new plenipotentiary, but those who did not believe in the.immediate approach of the millennium might make objection to it. The terms in which this article was drawn betrayed great carelessness or haste on the part of the negotiators of the treaty, and reflected great blame on the part of these who approved of it. As he read that article they were precluded from prohibiting the export of coal to France up to the day before the declara tion of war. He did not think the noble lord at the head of the Government exercised that superintendence of the Foreign Secretary which the interests of the country de manded, and supposed that for the sake of keeping peace in the Cabinet he permitted him a wider discretion and scope than the noble lord the Foreign Secretary permitted the noble lord at the head of the Government when their situations in the Cabinet were reversed. If they were engaged in a war, not with France but with another country, they could not prevent France from obtaining their coal and supplying it to that other country. Again, if France was engaged in war against a nation with which we were on friendly terms, their coal ships might be employed by France, and there fore liable to capture by, the nation which was at war with France. They might thus, nokns volsns, be dragged into war either on the one side or the other. These were im portant points, which he wished to have explained before the discussion of the treaty on Monday, as it was necessary for them to understand the terms of the ti eaty before they entered info a discussion of it. (Hear.) Lord J. RUSSELL—The question which the hon. gentle man puts relates to that part of the treaty which does not re fer, as he has put it, to commercial interests or trade regula tions, but to our political relations with France. Now, I believe that that article, which has certainly met with a great deal of comment, was inserted without any political view whatever. (Hear, hear.) Nor did our negotiators take any political view of it. I understand that the French Government likewise have declared—and, indeed, I have been assured of it—that they had no political view in agreeing to that article. But the hon. gentleman, per haps, is not aware that it is our policy generally not to impose export duties. On this particular article of coal Sir Robert Peel proposed an export duty, in which I sup ported him. It met with the concurrence of the House of Commons, but it was found to be so extremely dis tasteful, so much opposed to the principles of free trade that it created great discontent, and the duty had to be abrogated. Therefore it may be said that our general policy is in favour of not imposing export duties, and of not prohibiting the export of coal. The hon. gentleman then, I suppose, wishes to have the power of preventing the export of coal to France whilst it is permitted to other countries. It is either that case, or a general prohibition. I take it that a general prohibition is so opposed to the inter. ests of a great portion of our countrymen that no minister would propose to put a stop to a considerable trade which is increasing from year to year. Well, if you cannot have a general prohibition, yon may have one, the hon. gentle man would say, to the particular country of France. But that, I submit, would be of itself rather a symptom of hos tile relations, and of an intention to engage in war before any long time, than one of commercial relations. (Hear, hear.) If you say that you will permit the export of coal to all other countries but not to France. you will produce a state of things which will give France a right to in quire of you what is the intention of your Govern ment, and whether you do mean to enter with her into rela lations of a hostile kind. Therefore I conceive, apart from all questions of the treaty, you can hardly venture on such a measure unless you mean to place yourselves in a hostile position towards France. The hon. gentleman, perhaps, may say, that after all, if that is the general policy of the country, and if you must act in that way, it is still not necessary to make your exports the subject of any treaty whatever. (Hear, hear, from the Opposition.) But per haps the hon. gentleman is not aware that stipulations with regard to exports are not entirely new in this treaty, which he seems to think Lord Cowley and Mr. Cobden negotiated without sufficient attention and without sufficient regard to the interests of this country. A treaty was con cluded last year with Russia under the direction of Lord Malmesbury ; and by an article of that treaty we agreed not to forbid the export of any articles to Russia unless we for bade it to other countries. Coal came under that provision. Therefore we are under this restriction, that we cannot for bid the export of coal to Russia unless we prevent the export of it to other countries, which would be a great injury to the coal trade. That is a provision with regard to Russia; and we are quite as likely to go to war with Russia as with France. For the last forty-five years we have not been in a state of hostility with France, but we have been with Russia; yet that is the provision which Lord Malmesbury made, and that is the treaty which he concluded. The hon. gentleman says further; that this is the first time we have put any restriction upon our power of restraining the export of coal. Now, there are many articles more useful for war like purposes than coal. By another article of the treaty we agreed to give Frame the advantage of the principle of the most favoured nation. 'We could not, therefore, allow the export to the United States or Spain without at the same time giving the same power to Fran'ce. Consequently our only choice was either to put a stop to the trade alto gether, or to allow it to France, as well as to all other coun tries. This being the state of the case, I imagine it is quite a delusion to think there is any great importancein that ar ticle of the treaty. It is an article in favour of our exports, and of every valuable trade, and for our own interests. Then the hon. gentleman says we may be on the brink of war with Franco. Why, coal is an article used for manufac turing purposes in times of peace as well as an article used in war. But there is an article which is used only for the purposes of war—viz., ri fl ed cannon, and we were inf orme d in the course of last a utumn that a considerable order for the rifling of cannon had been executed in this country. Now, what an absurdity it would be if we allowed rifled cannon to ge to France and prohibited coal from going there. (Hear.) Of course, if you come to a state of things approaching hos tilities, it will not then be a treaty of commerce. You would then take measures for your own security, and openly avow that they were for your own security. (Hear.) Tho treaty of 1787 was framed with the object of distressing a power that its framers knew would be their enemy, and therefore they had no hesitation in prohibiting the exporta s: e to p a ot inset tion of whe a t. A n d so i n like manner this whole t rea ty i s intended fo r th e re l a ti ons o f p eace . (Hear, h ear .) Th e h on . and gall an t mem b er may not va l ue peace. (" Oh , " f rom the . t)p s l i at, t ee i at o c n i et with b e nucthtliFesii.s.an)trlceleae.ty ( does made personal reflections on in!, whi c h h e i s perfectly at liberty to do, but the object of this t rea t y i s to maintain the interests of commerce while we a H But oeetiern.)o more t h i fun a n fo t r h t unfortunately n tr a e t a e t l y h Russia y answerwi t utsosia therespecting bon. we ever should b e at war with France we should take mea uie contraband of w tb a a r t . T gentleman, of no such importanc e as h e states—the treaty this h i s is article merely is miys t placing France in the positi on o f the m ost favoured nation, and therefore the article it se lf is not o f h tf o ha ar.) importance which has been attributed to it. (Hea r, Sir 11. CAIRNS believed that this 11th article of th e treaty was not overrated in importance. There was no con troversy on either side of the house as to th e po li cy of an export duty. He had not heard any person on either side of the house say that they th night the tim e would conic wh en an export eduty, power even a n y coal, , 0 nwtohuelede duties o'W.jacsetdisentianbeld by act e duty. of Parliamen t, a n d no later than 1853 , when the atrlywuenreitilonn,ffi gunpowder, oe m ethat power was d e fi ne d to military and n ava l stores,ipnrcelsuedn e t &a 3 Minis c. try nin Therefore, here was a power confided to the Crown by Parliament at any . emergency ,, t!)pr(?hibit to any place the exportation of anythog which b e converted into naval stores. 'Well, of course, coal w as, of all other , articles, the one without which all others Nou r ld for nav a l . h v purposes be comparatively useless. (Hear, ea :)N ow, he apprehended that that power which wa s com m i tte d to the Crown ought to be exercised for the b enefit of the S tate; and it was not right for any Ministry to advise the Crow n to surrender for ten years or for one year that p ower with out the consoat 9f Parliament, W 9 did not wish for war ousted that noble member from office on this very question of national defences. (Continued laughter.) It seemed to be different now. All the Ministers were perfectly agreed, and, in fact, at the present moment we were under the provisions of the 44th George 111., cap. 54. He hoped the committee would allow him to read—he would not, using the language of the hon. member for Birmingham, say the "rubbishing trash,"—but the extravagant talk uttered throughout the country on the subject of the rifle corps movement. One gentleman, called in the news paper report Mr. D. Seymour—he hoped not his hon. friend the member for Poole —addressing a meeting some where in th e coun t ry, expressed the opinion that the volun • teer movement was a sort of millennium. Mr. Seymour delivered his oration at the beginning of December, and he calculated that at that time there were 400,000 volunteers in the country, and that in a few days the number would reach 1,000,000. Surely the Minister for War did not mean to spend £lO upon each man in so vast a host. (A laugh.) Upon the same day there was a meeting of the Pimlico Fencibles. (Laughter.) The chairman, more moderate than the millennium gentleman—(a laugh)— thought the enrollee volunteers then numbered 150,000, while the Times of the same date bad no doubt that in the aggregate they were more than double what they had been three months before, when the number was calculated at 22,000. An hon. friend of his towards the close of the year made a most amusing speech at a plane called Eye. The poet had well said— " Where ignorance is bliss 'tie folly to be wise ;" for the enthusiastic rifleman, addressing the Suffolk bump kins—(a laugh) —made their hair stand on end by stating that there were hundreds of thousands of troops on the other side of the Channel waiting to come across. (Laugh ter.) Really, when such extravagant language was need to excite a national zeal for volunteer corps, the sooner a stop was put to it the better. Schools were turned to strange purposes nowadays, and he was not surprised that a rifle meeting had been held in St. Peter's School, Pim lico. One of the speakers, waxing very eloquent, indeed, declared that he hoped to see the day when every man in. England, like the Swiss, would have a rifle hung behind his door. (Cheers.) No doubt, there were a gre a t many riflemen in Switzerland, but.those who cheered should re collect that we paid upwards of £30,000,000 for our army and navy. For his own part, he should like to see the stal wart youth of England turning their attention to some legi timate and useful pursuit, instead of hankering after firearms and knickerbockers. (Laughter.) But the climax was still to come. At the same meeting in Pimlico a Mr. Denman informed his auditors that in 1797 a body of 1,400 French troops landed in Pembrokeshire, but were immediately die persed by the red petticoats of the Welsh women seen on a distant hill. (A laugh.) He must say that Mr. Denman did not offer a very flattering suggestion to the gallant Pim lico Fencibles. (A laugh.) " But," continued the orator, " Mr. Fox declared that England did not recover from the effects of that descent for 20 years." (Laughter.) It was certainly high time to " show up" meetings at which such speeches were made. Perhaps the Committee would derive a little amusement from the names of some of the rifle corps. The leaders of the movement, judging from their absurd nomenclature, seemed to have gone mad. (A laugh.) It was a fact. Certain gentlemen, who had evidently been reading Carlyle's Life of Frederick the Great, were adver tising in the Times on behalf of a corps, to be called the Six Foot Guards, (A laugh.) There were corps composed. of the stokers and pokers of the railways. He had already mentioned the Pimlico Fencibles, but what did the Commit tee think of the Westminster Volunteers of St. John the Evangelist? (Laughter.) What St. John the Evangelist had to do with rifle corps he could not for the life of him understand. It was really too bad that so venerable a name should be associated with a band of idle striplings playing at soldiers. (A laugh.) There was the Volunteer Corp* of the Aldermen and Corporation of London, and last, but not least, there was the Rifle Corps of the Inns of Court. He admired the patriotism of lawyers, but nothing could well be more absurd than the idea of a lot of barristers from the Inns of Court meeting the cuirassiers of the Imperial Guard in deadly conflict. (Laughter.) Sergeant Parry seemed to be an active member of the corps. No doubt that distinguished legal luminary would earn a grade, and be come Sergeant-Major Parry. (A laugh.) The Sergeant was kept in countenance by Dr. Balls—a capital soldier's name— (a laugh)—Counsellor Butt, and his old friend of the time of the French Conspiracy Bill, Lawyer Bodkin. (Laugh ter.) These gentlemen, and many more of the same kidney, leaving the study of Coke and Blackstone, were devoting their days and nights to Plutarch's _Lives, Caesar's Commentaries, and The Rifle, How to use it. (Con. tinned laughter.) How heavy lawyers expected to be able to crawl along hedges upon their bellies and climb up trees he could not comprehend—(a laugh)—and he hoped they would not be very much offended if he applied to them the somewhat apt quotation "/n medio tutissnnus ibis," which, being literally translated, meant "You are a deal safer in the Middle Temple." (Great laughter.) It appeared that some of the riflemen had attained great proficiency in shoot ing. At Hythe the first prize was carried off by a genuine Cockney. (A laugh.) Upon being asked how he had ac quired his extraordinary skill and precision, "Oh I" said he, " I live in London, and have had considerable practice in shooting at the cats of my Brompton neighbours." (Laughter.) It was not, perhaps, of much consequence in the depth of winter, but no man could tell what a scene London would present at the height of the season. Every body would be shooting at his neighbour's cat—(great laughter)—and there would be no end to the inhuman mac• /mere of the feline tribe. (Prolonged laughter.) He trusted, however, that before that time a stop would be put to the volunteer movement. If the country was really in danger let the Government, instead of subscribing £lO to a rile corps—as the Minister for War had done—give up their official salaries in aid of the necessary measures of aefence. Were there real danger, all classes of men would combine to defend the institutions of the country. As it was, two dukes of great territorial i n fl uence had had the courage to decline to contribute to this movement because they con• ceived it to be absolutely unnecessary, and it had received ' no encouragement from the Royal family—who in case of danger would be the- first to put themselves forward—be yond the patronage of a volunteer ball. He was as natty as any man to maintain the necessary strength and efae ciency of the legitimate defences of the country, but he en tered his protest against what he believed to be a most ex travagant expenditure of the national resources. (Cheers.) Colonel P. HERBERT said he differed from the hen baronet as to the value of the volunteer movement, whisk he considered most valuable. With regard to the esti mate he thought a regiment of twelve companies most ob jectionable, and they were found most inefficient during the late war. Mr. H. BERKELEY begged to return his thanks to the Minister for War (Mr. Sidney Herbert) for the into rest he had taken in the volunteer movemet. The yeomanry of the country formed an equally valuable force. He thought the volunteer movement a most conatitutional movement. It had been productive of most beneficial effects in teaching the use of arms to the population, with out which they never could reduce their standing army. The hon. baronet said the Royal family did not encourage the movement, but look at the levee. That was a proof the Queen looked with favourable eyes on this force. He again returned his thanks to the military authorities fir the encouragement and aid they had given to the volun teer system. (Hear, kear.) The vote was then agreed to. On the vote of £4,495,496 for the pay and allowances of the land forces, Colonel NORTH called attention to the efficiency of the staff officers of the army, and hoped that, in his state. ment, the right ho n . gen tl eman did:not intend to cast any slur upon that staff. After a few words from Sir IL Verney, Col. Dickson, Col. Knox, and Col. Dunne, Mr. WILLIAMS moved that the Chairman report pro • gross, and ask leave to sit again. The motion was agreed to without a division, and the house resumed. MUNICIPAL CORPORATION MORTGAGES, dce., BILL. This bill was read a second time. PACKET SERVICE (TRANSFER OF CONTRACTS) BILL. This bll was read a second time. ROMAN CATIIOLIC CHARITIES BILL. This bill was - read a second time. Mr. PAULL obtained leave to bring in a' bill 'to facili tate the erection of piers and harboursi* Great Britain and Ireland. Mr. WHITESIDE obtained leave to bring in a bill to amend the Settled Estates Act, 1855. Several unopposed returns were ordered, and the holm adjourned at a few minutes to one o'clock. [ADVERTISEMEN T.] —Am on g the numerous extraordinary cures without medicine effected by Du Barry's delicious health-restoring RevalentaArabica food indigestion (dyspep sia) flatuency, constipation, nervous, bilious and liver com plaints, cou g h, ast h ma, consumption, and debility the fellow. mg are not the least remarkable : Cure 32,836. " Three years' excessive nervousness, with pains in my neck and left arm, and general debility, which rendered my life very miserable, has been radically removed by Du Barry's health restoring food. Alex. Stuart, Archdeacon of Ross, Skil). bereen." Cure 3906. " Thirty yea rs ' coug h, i n di gest i on , and general debility have been removed by Du Barry's ex cellent revalenta arabica food. James Porter, Athol-street, Perth." Clunbury, Shropshire, Dec. 22, 1856.—Gent 1e• men,—Many years' sufferings of chronic rheumatism, and complication of nervous diseases that made me miserable, for which the most approved remedies had been tried in vain, have been removed by Du Barry's revalenta arabica food. I am, &c., James Chapman. In tins, at ls. 6d. ; 11b., 3s. ; 21b., se. 9d. ; 51b., 125.; 121 b., 265. The 101 b. and 121 b. tins carriage free, on receipt of post office order. Du Barry and Co., 77, Regent-street, London* Fortnum, Mason, and Co., 182, Piccadilly; Abbis, 60, Gracechurch-street ; 4, Cheapside ; 63, and 150, Oxford. street ; 330 and 451, Strand ; 49 and 60, Bisho_psgata. street ; 85, Tottenham-court-road. Also at Dublin. Bewley :and Draper ; at Edinburgh, Raimes and Co. at Liverpool, Nixon and Thew; at Manchester, Sharp and Scott ; at York, Raimes, .Blanchard, and Co. ; atSouth amoton. Randall and Son. BIRTHS. KENNEY.—On the 16th inst., the wife of Charles Lamb Kenney, Esq , of the Inner Temple, barrister-at-law, of a daughter. POBTMAN.—On the 16th inst., at 8, Rutland-gate, the Hon. Mrs. Portman, of a son. WILLOUGHBY.—On the 15th inst.,_ at 10, Westbourne• terrace, Hyde-park, the wife of J. P. Willoughby, Esq., of a son. MARRIAGES. ROLL—WINFIELD.—On the 16th inst., at St. Pancras Church, B. Roll, Esq., of Kensington -gate, Hyde-park south, to Ellen, youngest daughter of Chas. H. Winfield, Esq., of Tavistock-square. SELMAN-- , PAWSEY.—On the 16th inst., at St. Sepulchral, L )mlon, Mr. Charles Soa,man, Peckham, to Mary Ann e eldest daughter of the late George Pawsey, Esq., Lidgate Hall, Newmarket. DEATHS. ADENEV.—On the 16th inst., at 16, Sackville-street, dilly, Mr. Wm. Adenoy, aged 72. CARTEn.—On the 16th inst., Thomas Carter, Esq., of CO. ventry, aged 66. CLAxToN.—On the 17th inst., at Upper Cheyne-ron't Chelsea, Mary Anne Elizabeth, wife of Captain Claxton, R.N., aged 62. Hoposox.—On the 16th inst. at Alvescot Rectory, Char* lotto, reli c t o f the late General J. Studholme Hodgson; aged 88. TURING. —On the 13th inst., at Rotterdam, Sir Jas. Henri Turing., Bart., her Britannic Majesty's Consul, aged 6 8 . DEVITT.—On the 17th inst., T. H. Devitt, of Mare-street" Hackney, and 9, Dilliter-street, aged 60. W 9 nsixv.—On the 12th inst., at Newport, Isle of Wigh t ' Miss Charlotte Worsley, aged 86. LONDON: Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, l ". ll2 ; Strand, in the Precinct of the S avoy , I n t h e count " bliddlebez, Saturday, February 18, 1860. -100 4 vi TRAI llcioug cent tralisa tlle Tr /CNC lent * P R T 1 and DI at VA.9 beautil ter, Ms manufi Majest MINE. the Int, and GI ?RA EALO, BU] The I of the ti to their Mutts purity c lodged 1 tries, as the. Um They Wince, etomae! A san will. be id., or I It is s are the steeled wines streutrt Their valids, 1 the heir aohnewl iaeulty, T. pri of the flu All •r ME T°__ by—Dr..l The Review. "Thoi the A.utl health a medical " The oure."— " The the abet plaints, and east sen,ted." CAUT g doibts o or parth from the of Regis the, prim public b: FOR HA DEBIT COMP R Mi gent U) day, sub. D'