The Sun. — London, England, 1852-03-24 00:00:00

before they could repeal it they most be p re p ared with lame substitute for it.—(Hear, hear.) Well, then, he was at a loss to understand what tax could be suggested which the people would accept as a substitute for the malt -tax, for there was a large class who advocated the tax on the ground that it had the eff •ct of dimieishiues drunkenness, and they certainly would °Neese its abolition —(Hear, hear.) The hop-tax, how "el, Was not viewed in that light; it was a tax in fact U pon the wholesome beverage of the poor man, and having had some experience in the House of the difficulty of carrying large questions, he could tell those w ho advocated the repeal of the tax they most per aevere, in s pite of the temporary difficulty which it might impose upon the G o vernment.—(hear.) He therefore hoped this motion would be pnshed to a divi 'oo, and then the poor man would see who were his friends and who were not.—(Hear.) Mr. FBEWEN was quite satisfied with the answer t hat had been made by the Chancellor of the E xche q uer, and under those circ umstance s ho should not put the b "Ise to the trouble of going to a division.—(Hear.) Mr. BASS admitted that a good deal of distress had Prevailed of late years amongst the farmers of Kent and Worcestershire, bat it did not resu l t from the g rowin g of hops, but of whoa', and he recommended them to devote more attention to hops than corn. He denied that the ao of gentian had increased in proportion to the recent increase in the consumption of bitter ale, as was alleged by one Hon. Gentleman who had taken part in this debate.—(Hear, hear.) After a few words from Sir E. FILMER, the motion was withdrawn. FOREIGN REFUGEES. Mr, Me MILNES rose to move for an address for "Pies of the correspondence between her Majesty's Government and Foreign States, respecting the protec tion afforded to refugees (in continuation of the corm ltondence already presented to Parliam ent). The Hon. Member said, that at the commencement of the session he had applied to the Noble Lord who had then been at the head of the Government for the purpo3e of ascer taining whether he intended to lay before the House the Correspondence between the British Government and the Governments of certain foreign States with respect to foreign refugees; and the Noble Lord said that he would produce that correspondence, and it had accordingly been submitted to the House. Those papers concluded With a dispatch of Earl Granville and certain communi cations which had arisen out of that dispatch. The Earl of Westmoreland had stated that Prince Schwart %%berg, at the time Earl Granville's dispatch had reached him, had been occupied with important business. and that he could not therefore give an immediate re ply But a short time atter the date of Lord_Westmore ad's letter, it had been stated in the public press that 1 ,!, certain dispatch bad been forwa rded b y Prince I. s ehwartzenberg to the Foreign - office in t his countr y . Now he (Mr. Milnes) thought it very important that rat dispatch should be laid before the House, for the Me of it, as it had a ppeared in the public journals, was, to Bay the least of it, of a v e ry peculiar and painful a ceracter. Ile had asked his Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer shortly after the accession of the p resen t Government to offic e, whether he would Lave any objection to lay thos e p a p ers before the House, hat his Right Hon. Friend was unwilling to produce j e lll , On the plea that the correspondence had not at ttime been co mplete. But he wou ld permit his fight Hon. Friend to say that such a plea merely meant t wat he did not find it convenient to produ ce the p a p ers. b had would again ask his Right H on. Friend whether he any objection to produce th e dis p atch addressed to Lord Granville by Prince Schwartzenberg, and any ewer which Lord Granville might have made to that :Patch? If his Right Hon. Frie nd should find it con venient to produce, also, any corres p ondence which "44 have taken place on the same subject since the kcession of the present Government to office, the House Would, no doubt, gratefully receive that addition to its °totes of information. b .' The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQU ER said his ; L oc. Friend seemed to belong to that 8011001 of politics uich believed that the essence of d i p lomac y was mys tery; for he evidently thought it qui te im p ossible that Whenever a diplomatic interest was c oncerned a Minister could give a straightforward answer. H is Honourable 'lend had some partial knowledge of the correspond ence to which he had referred; and he had the other d a ia 3' asked him (the Chancellor of th e Exche q uer) when would lay some further papers before the House. g e had then told his Hon. Friend that the correspond- Tea was not complete, but t hat when it should be corn tete he would produce it. He had at p resent to inform ta Hon. Friend that the correspondence was not only i aPlete, but that it was nearly printed, and that when d should be fully printed, which w ould p robabl y be in a dear.) or two, it should be laid befo re the House.—(Hear, ei 2 e ar .) He could assure hi s Hon. Friend that his ques eft Was in no way em b a rrassing. He could not sup "le that his Hon. Friend would then press his motion tit division; and be believed that be had himself en ail' fulfilled the promise he had given upon the subject. MILNES said he did not accuse his Right r , Friend of having indulged in any my ster y in that k e• He only hoped that on every other subject a answer of the Right Hon. Gentlem an would be t 'lally distinct. Lord J. RUSSELL said he took it for gra nted that his g en. Friend would not press his motion to a division liter the statement of the Right Hon. Gentleman. The motion was then withdrawn. EGYPT AND THE PORTE. 44 . ANDERSON moved an address to the Crown for ;"Pies of all correspondence between her Majesty's do kerament, her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople, R e d her Majesty's agent and Consul-General in Egypt, L eo() the lst day of January, 1850. relative to the at ,raeted interference of the Sublime Porte in the internal pcinistration of Egypt, by proposing to deprive the bi a t aha of the power to it fliot capital punishment on es allY convicted criminals, to construct railways for the th at improvement of and facility o f transit throu g h at country, and otherwise, and of all rep resentations m ade by British subjects in reference thereto . He ob firved that the country had a deep interest in the ques le now pending between the Ottoman Porte and the 11 14 4 of Egypt. It was a favourite saying of the late l i : t a ha s Mehemet Ali, that Egypt had b ec ome the brid g e ween Europe and Asia. The c entre of t hat brid g e hits e desert a few years since, but now it was converted l ie ° a great highway of traffic, and numbers of camels en with merchandise, specie, and l ett er s , pr i vat e, co mmercial, to and governmental, regula rl y tr a versed the ro- The importance of this c orres p ondence in a po etals commercial, and social light, the House would 4 1'4 appreciate; and be might also observe that the Vete° between Europe and the East was by 1 4 : 5 route shortened about one-fourth in time. * ti t the House consider the inconveniences ar ',°, 11 would be felt if all the advantages ti thi s route should be lost to this country. He itt ped that the British people would never submit to Z. state of things; yet, it the proceedings of the tat the Were allowed to go on unchecked, he anticipated 10:ithe traffic along it would be nearly stopped, or, at vent., seriously impeded. He would refer to the eh, s gin of the pretensions put forward by the P orte since e -9 , accession of the present Pasha of Egypt. The latter kit a leaenced some rather sweeping reforms , b elievin g that 1121 abuses existed under the former Administration. h'.found many (State) manufactories establiehed , which e h. ( hought of no use; being of opinion that the proper Zaufacture of Egypt was corn, which might be ex t: for the commodities of other countries. The 1 4ha. consequently broke up several of those manufac pelg establishments and dismissed a number of em -o'o6B, many of whom were F renchmen, who went to cstantinople, and there organized a conspiracy, hay e for its o bj ec t to deprive the Probes of the govern -171314 of Egypt, and reduce that country to the condi- Of of an ordinary pashalic. Among other pretensions of the Porte was ono which struck at the root of all governmen t in de prive the Egypt; and that was an a ttem p t to Pashade of the power of inflicting capital Punishments.—(R ear, hear.) Without such a power it would be utterly impossible to maintain subordina tion in the country, or to Perty. To carry out thesecure safety to life or pro perty, objects which the enemies of . the Paths had at heart d issensions had been industri e°llBlY fomented between the different members of his . e k _acsily, which, if further excited, must lead to civil war, weause those relatives Possessed larg e districts of land, t acl had great n umbers of agrioulturt tenentry under ,tweic control. Emissaries had also been sent to Egypt 1 (1 c 1 they h a d created a co nsiderable f eeling of ineubor: ceetio n by persua di n g the people that the Pasha had to ity 'ti I author as the Sultan had taken all power eau ace him. t might be asked , w h y could not Egypt be it (l verned as well by Turkey as by the Pasha? but, i n o e f P l Y he would say that h e thought the national honour 11 this country was pledg ed to maintain the present bi lls ha in th e position in which Mehemet Ali had been 6. 4 "( 1 from 1841. To show how impotent the Turk- IC Government was to protect property, and person, f: would read an extract from a letter received that day t i fF ial • Constantinople :—" The weak administration , the Turkish Government as to affordiug protection ' n u life or property, is made manifest by facts tit of number. Even in this capital we are scarcely more secure from murder and theft than persons treSidlng in the provinces; the only difference being, that ttt We re the acts are perpetrated during the night and by 1 41 1 1% of organized thieves, whereas those in the country uses Place during the day and in sight and c all of the b e e'aes of the victims, and frequently within gunshot of I 1 who are called guards. At Smyrna two eases oc evred not long since of a particularly glaring descrip o„ia• viz.: 1. that of the Dutch Consul, who was taken h"9l' of his own vineyard at 3, P.M. , and within call of his t 's°, and kept by the bandi tti wh o i nf est the neigh e e tir e uood of that city until his friends ransomed him for ti l 'ace equal to about 5001.; and that of Mr. De Youngh , S OU Danish Consul-General, who was actually taken his house in the centre of a village of upwards of l' ) houses, baying a so-called military force o f 200 str ong quartered in it. The payment of a sort of black JAI by the Smyrna merchants to these robbers for per tu!!saion to get the fruit and other produce brought there 47 Shipment exempted from plunder is well known." Ho _ revelled to the recollection of the House the was ",ae of the Christians at Aleppo not long since. With k :eeo a st a t e o f things let the House contrast the safety i t W hether security which existed in Egypt, end then decide government there was any good reason for transferring the Z'V.ernment of that country to Turkey. Ho regretted thqy that there was a general idea prevailing that the t h " e ' a was not supported in a manner consistent with eluguarantee which this country had given, and in con s Vnn observed, that though people had been talking of rench invasion of this country, they might possibly b 1 1.71 unless due attention was bestowed on the matters he o;:b.t.°L submitted to the House, a French invasion on the havn shores of the Mediterranean and on the banks of Nile. tithethit.e HANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER stated reference motion of the Honourable Member really had b g ,'7„ence to one of the most important and delicate „ 1 .a,1a of foreign politics, namely, the relations between CiZitee' and Egypt; and he could assure the Honourable ' w1114111 11411 OM the 99hdeet 9f the preseut Ctinernment, THE S'U N, and. he was bound to say, of the last also, in reference to this most important question, was not at all influenced by the, information to which he had referred. If the Hon. esitleman thought that the contending claims between Turkey and Egypt had only for their foun dation a conspiracy of discarded workmen from Egypt, he could easily understand from what sources the Hon. Gentleman obtained information of that description; but those claims were founded on existing treaties, on the interpretation of those treaties, on the laws of the country, and on traditionary interests of the utmost im portance. It was impossible for the Government to ac cede to the motion, which, if adopted, would lead to the production of a variety of information referring to ne gotiations now pending. The attention of the Govern meat of this country was of course directed to the settle ment of the mutual relations that should subsist between Turkey and Egypt, with a due conviction of the great importance to the interests of this country, and of the world generally, that those relations should be estab lished on a proper and legitimate basis. He felt it his duty, therefore, to oppose the motion of the Hon. Gen tlemen, and he del so on the intelligible and simple ground that the transactions to which be referred were in ac imperfect state, and that it would have a most in jurious effect on the public service if those papers were produced. Lord J. RUSSELL entirely agreed with the Right Hon. Gentleman that this was a subject of the highest importance and delicacy, and thought he was quite right in opposing this motion. He thought the Hon. Gentle man who made this motion was mistaken as regarded the guarantee of England. This country was a pert) , to the settlement of Egypt as an hereditary pashalic in the family of Mehemet Ali, but by no means guaranteed the conditions on which the relations between the Sultan and the Pasha should subsist. The interference of this country was a matter of the utmost delicacy. We were on the m ost friendly terms with the Sultan and with the Pasha of Egypt, and we might therefore not only give counsel generally, hut might even advise the Sultan to allow the Pasha the power of inflicting capital puniehe went, without reference to Constantinople, if we thought proper to do so; but, at the same time, such inter ference could only be received as the counsel of a friend, and only by being couched in the most conciliatory terms could such advice be well received. He could not but think that the production of these documents would tend to prevent the success of the object in view, and that it would be better to leave the matter in the hands of the Executive. No man was better fitted than our Ambassador at Constantinople to manage such affairs, and if instructions were given to him by the Government at home they would be faitufully executed by that distin guished person.—(Hear.) Mr. FIUME said that in 1839 we dispatched to Egypt 50 sail-of-the-line to conquer the Pasha and to place Egypt under the Sultan, with the guarantee of England and France that certain powers should be continued to the Pasha. There were documents in which it appeared that the Sultan, while he was speaking in the fairest and most flattering manner, was preparing troops to over whelm Egypt, but England stepped in at the risk of the peace of Europe and carried by force of arms success to the Sultan, on the condition. that certain rights should be secured to the Pasha. He regrettei to fled that there appeared to be an intention to destroy the treaty so guaranteed; but, as the Right Hon. Gentleman said the prt duction of these documents would be injurious to the public service, he trusted his llon. Friend would with draw his motion for the present. Mr. MILNES did not believe that the Noble Lord the late Foreign Secretary would ever consent to the inter pretation of the treaty, that England was to guarantee the independence of Egypt—(Hear, hear)—that it would necessarily enforce the maintenance of it; but he be lieved the Noble Lord and the public sense of diplo macy in England agreed that the parties to that ar rangement were morally bound by every means in their power to support the Pasha of Egypt in just and independent authority.—Heir, hear.) At the same time, he must say it was hardly fair to look upon this question without considering in some degree that the edict lately put forth by the Sultan was a very great advance in the civilization of that part of the world. Since that edict had been pro mulgated, not only had the Christian people living under the dominion of the Sultan been treated in a totally different manner from that in which they were before treated, but the principles of good government had been established to a great extent. If the Pacha of Egypt could so put his case to the Court of Constantinople as to make it appear that be would only allow capital punishment to follow on a just trial and fair conviction, he did not believe that the Sultan would deny to the Paoha the power which her Gracious Majesty committed to the hands of the governors of our own colonies. With regard to the question of railroads, he could not conceive that the Sultan could ever have seriously contemplated the prevention of such a great improvement in what might still be considered his own dominions. He be lieved that the present Yachts had the real welfare of Egypt at heart, and would try to improve his country by solid and practical reforms; and, it the questions bet w e en him and the Porte were left to the media tion of Sir S. Canning and Mr. Murray, he (Mr. Milnes) believed that they would be satisfactorily arranged. Mr. ANDERSON, in reply, said, that after the ob servations of his Right Honourable Friend, he could not think of pressing this motion. As to the delicacy of the question, however, he must say that no such delicacy was shown in 1839, when the Pacha had the Sultan prostrate at his feet. The Hon. Gentleman who had last spoken bad referred to the mediation of Sir S. Canning and Mr. Murray, but there was a general opinion that they did not pull well together, though in his (Mr. Anderson s) opinion, Mr. Murray was pulling the right way. The railroad that was wanted in Egypt was the railroad be tween Cairo and Suez—the other was entirely for the internal improvement of Egypt; but the Pacha could not make either of these railroads unless he had the permis sion of the Porte to do it. He believed that never had there been a Pacha of Egypt who had effected so mach practical good for his country as the present. He had remitted taxation to the amount of 1,500,0001. sterling, and had relieved the people from the bondage they were them to go to any part of the country in by allowing they pleased. With respect also to capital punishments in Egypt, he found that during the three years preced ing the reign of the present Pacha the number was six teen per annum, while during the three years afterwards it was only seven. The motion was then withdrawn. THE TOWN OF ENNIS. The O'GORMAN MAHON then rose for the pur pose of calling the attention of the House to the subject matter of the petition presented from the town commis sioners of Ennis. The Hon. Gentleman said that the gentlemen from whom the petition emanated were com paratively personally distnterested, and that their mo s • Live in addressing that House was to obtain,through it medium, protection from the deep wrong iuflicted on the pier of the town of E nnis . Th e river Fergus ran through the town, taking its source about eight or nine miles above it. A loan was obtained by the proprietors in the neighbourhood of the town for the Board of Works to effect the drainage of the lands near the river; but, instead of comm encin g an outlet to facilitate the exit of the water , at the instigation of the gentlemen named in the petition, they deepened the river near its source, and thus, by collecting all the water superabun dant on the adjacent lands, created a facility for inun dating the town of Ennis. — (A laugh.) Under these circumstances, the petitioners prayed the House to insist on the Commissioners of the Board of Works completing the work they had undertaken. He had, year after year, impressed this matt er on the late ,Go vernment, and believed that the Right lion. Baronet near him had, at last, been disposed to meet the wishes of the people of Ennis to a certain extent. What he asked from the Chancellor of the Exchequer was a loan, to be advanced on the security of the tolls of the town of Ennis, an arrangement to which be had no doubt that the owner of those tolls (Colonel Wyndba m ) would assent. The Hon. Gentleman conc luded b y moving that the Board of Works in Ireland be directed forth with to proceed with the completion of the drainage above the town of Ennis. Sir C. WOOD said, that he had on former occasions pointed out to his Hon. Friend that, before anything could be done practically in the matter, it would be necessary to have a Bill passed under which local Com missioners could be appointed for a dministering any loan that the Government might make for the desired purports. Tho CHANCELLOR,of the EXCHEQUER said he had had an opportunity that day of readin g the petition only en forced by the Hon. Gentleman opposite, but it appeared from the petition itself that the fault of the non-progress of the works rested not with the Board of Works, but with the proprietors of the locality, who had refused that second assent which was required by the Arterial Drainage Act. The Hon. Gentleman should appeal, therefore, rather to those proprietors than to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. pro prietors O'BRIEN said, that the reason w h y the _ had refused their second assent w as, that the Board of Works had expended the first gra nt allowed for the improvement t remu nerate them to advance ot)se their money. t futile tha of the Fergus in a manner so en tirelyproprietors saw it would not Mr. NAPIER had arisen under the Drvraeid, that th e grea t es t confusion de voting his attention t o the nage sub ject, and h e h o p e d before e le a Act. H e had been m su ent to have prepared the meeting of the ne w which t would enable so me simple and intelligible ue these works to be satisfactorily exe r e e ut e i Mr. GROGAN expressed his satisfaction on e a r t the d state ment just made by the Right Hon. and Attor ney General, for under t h e s y s tem that had hee n n e of late great hardship had been inflicted upon the Irish landed proprietors. In almost every case the estimated expense of these w orks had been greatl y exceeded, and in some oases the amount had been nearly trebled. The O'GORMAN MAHON briefly replied. Until that evening he had never heard a word about the mode of settling the question by brining in a i, but now that that course hod been euggeeg tcd h© loo ß k ll ed upon his object as accomplished, and intimated his intention of introducing a Bill at as early a period as possible. Thh motion was then withdrawn. BORNEO. Mr. HUME moved an address for a copy of a letter from Mr. Robert Burns to Viscount Palmerston, dated Singapore, the 28th day of June, 18 51, w ith its en closures, compl a i n i ng of the obstructio ns and discou ragements he had rece i ve d to his commercial a ffairs in Borneo at tho hands of her Majesty's Commissioner and Consul-General to the Sultan and independent chiefs of Borneo, while prosecuting his lawful commer cial proceedings in that country; together with a copy of any answer thereto. He believed his Hon. Friend near him (Mr. Drummond) was anxious to take that op portunity of renewing an old debate with reference to There Sir J. Brooke, but he begged to assure his Bon. Friend that his present motion had no reference to that ques tion,elrea already but produced.was merely for papers wouldn cboentaimnupaletiomnetadnss forome renewing the old debate hererifser. Mr. DRUMMOND said what be objected to was his R on. Friend'a putting repeated' notices on the paper LONDON, which were not literally true, and implied censures, on the merit of which the House had no means of forming a judgment. For instance, the lion. Gentleman set down in his notice that Mr. Burns was prosecuting hie lawful commerciel proceedings," whereas, in point of fact, he was propogating mischief at the instance of the society which was assisting the Hon. Gentleman near him. It unfortunately happened when that gen tlemse, Mr. Burns, fell into the hands of these Bor neau pirates, and lost his ship and his head in conse quence, that he also last a portion of his journal, which showed pretty clearly the nature of the " com mercial proceedings" in which he had been engaged. He had not the slightest objection to enter on this debate whenever his Hon. Friend chose to bring it on, but he did object to the repeated insinuations which these repeated notices of motion bore upon the face of them. It certainly was surprising that the Hon. Gentleman, who was esteemed as a man of general benevolence and kindness, should ba possessed of this monomania, that there was nothing so delightful as blackening the cha racter in that House of one of the most deserving public servants that the country ever had. Mr. DUMB denied that he had any other object in view than to obtain legitimate information, and he asked the House whether there was ono word of insinua tion or rtthction upon the character of any man in the notice which he had moved for? The motion was then agreed to. Mr. HENLEY obtained leave and brought in a Bill to enable her Majesty to carry into effect arrangements made with foreign powers for the apprehension of sea men who desert from their ships, which was read a first time. _ . Oa the motion of Mr. FREWEN, a Bill was brought in and road a first time, to promote the building of churches in benefices that have no church, and to pre vent the union of benefices above a certain value. MANCHESTER AND SALFORD EDUCATION SCIIENIE. Mr. M. GIBSON moved that the following Gentle men be nominated a Select Committee on Manchester and Salford Education:—Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. William Miles, Viscount Melgund, Mr. Monsell, Mr. Bright, Marquis of Blandford, Lord John Ru3sell, Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Heald, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Cardwell, Mr Fox, Mr. Ker Seymer, Mr. Brotherton, and Mr. Child. Mr. ?aro objected to the composition of the Com mittee as proposed, upon the ground that certain parties who took a great interest in the question of education, and who ought to be represented upon it, were not re presented at all. He might briefly state that there were four great parties who took a deep interest in this ques tion. First, there were those who conceived it to be the office of the Church to educate the people. Next, there were those who relied entirely upon the voluntary sys tem. The third were those who took it to be the duty of the State to inculcate secular education; and, fourthly, there were those who combined all instruction, and would give a mixed secular and religious education to the people. On the part of those who advocated the volun tary principle he begged to assure the House that that party had been in earnest—that they had done the work cemmitted to them to the best of their ability, and that the country was greatly indebted to them for what they had accomplished.—(Hear, hear.) He would not further detain the House than to express his dissent from the appointment of the Committee as at present proposed, and to give notice of his intention on a future occasion to move the addition of new names. Mr. M. GIBSON admitted the justice of the claim that those to whom his Hon. Friend referred should be fairly represented upon the Committee. Perhaps, however his Hon. Friend was not acquainted with the views of some of the members of the Committee. He had submitted to the Government the name of one gen tleman who, he hoped, would have been acceptable to those who were in favour of a voluntary system of education ; but that name bad been objected to, and the name of Mr. Heald had been substituted for it. He should not object to the appointment of his Hon. Friend in the place of Mr. Heald, or, if the Committee should be increased in number to beyond fifteen, he should not object to the addition of one or two gentle men holding the views which his Hon. Friend had in dicated. He suggested that the Committee should be allowed to pass now, and that his Hon. Friend should give notice of his intention to move some additional names. Mr. HEYWORTH thought it very desirable that the friends of the voluntary system should be represented on the Committee. Mr. WALPOLE, who was but imperfectly heard, was understood to represent that there was not a single Member of the Government upon the Committee, and to suggest that the nomination should, for the present, be post poned. Mr. HINDLEY concurred in recommending that.the appointment should be postponed; and this course was ultimately adopted. On the motion of the ATTORNEY-GENERAL for IRELAND, the following members were added to the Select Committee on Outrages (Ireland) : Mr. O'Flaherty, Mr. Scully, Mr. W. Goold, and the Solici tor-General for Ireland. On the motion of Mr. G. A. HAMILTON, on the part of Lord R. Grosvenor, the following Members were added to the Select Committee on Ventilation and Light ing the House :—Mr. Stephenson, Mr. Locke, and Mr. Henry Fitzroy. The Report on Supply was then brought up and re ceived. The Indemnity Bill, as amended, was considered, and ordered to be read a third time on Thursday. Tho Copyright Amendment Bill was ordered to be recommitted on Friday next. ST. ALBANS DISFRANCHISEMENT BILL. The Report on this Bill having been Taronght;;; -- Mr. BELL said he did not mean to oppose the recep tion of the report. He thought ho had done as much as could be expected from him under the circumstances. He only wished to say that he hoped the crusade against Sc. Albans would not terminate with the disfranchise ment of that borough, because, if it did, instead of being of service, the measure would only excite dissatis faction in the minds of the public. But if her Majesty's Ministers would take advantage of the information which they had received through the St. Albans Com missioners, .and would, before the dissolution of Par liament, bittl in a Bill which should more effectually check corruption than any Act that had hitherto been passed, he felt certain that it would give great satis faction to the public, and would deserve the respect and su pport of every honest man in the kingdom.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. WALPOLE said that the Noble Lord who was lately at the head of the Government was, in point of fact, to move the second reading of his Corrupt Prac tices et Elections Bill to-morrow (Wednesday), which Bill was founded, almost word for word, upon the St. Albans Disfranchisement Bill, and he begged to say that it was the intention of the Government to support the Bill. and endeavour to pass it. <Hear. hear.) Mr. HUME hoped the Government was sincere in their declaration that they intended to support a measure for the effectual suppression of bribery. For himself, he did not believe that it could be altogether put an end to; but he thought the best means that could be adopted for that purpose was the introduction of the ballot—(Hear, hear)—and he intended, therefore, to test the sincerity of Hon. Al•-nabers on the subject by proposing a motion to that effect. The report on the St. Albans Disfranchisement Bill was then received. The Consolidated Fund (8,000,0001) Bill was read a third timeai.d passed. The all to Consolidate and Enlarge the Acts relat ing to the Appointment and Pay of Parish Constables was brought in and read a first time. The 11 - Ouse adjourned at Half-past Eight o'clock. PARLIAMENTARY DIVISIONS. (From the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons ) TUESDAY, MARCII 23. SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE MINING DISTRICT WATER CO4PANY BILL. Order for Second Reading read; Motion made, and Ques tion proposed, " That the Bill be now read a second time :" Amendment proposed, to leave out the word " now," and at the end of the Question to add the words " upon this day six months :" Question put, " That the word now' stand part of the Question." The House divided : MINORITY—AYES, 75. Anderson, Arthur Fordyce. A. D. Milligan. Robut Anson, General Forster, M. Mundy, William Armstrong, R. B. Fox, W. J. Ogle, S. C. Baring, Henry B. French, F. Patten, J. W. Baring, Sir Francis Geach, Charles Pendarves, E. W. Bass, M. T. Glyn, G. C. Pilkingten, James Bell, Jacob Greene, Thomas Scholetleid, William Berkeley, C. L. G. Harris, Richard Seymour, Lord Bright, John Henry, Alexander Smith, John B. Brotherton, J. Heywood, James Strutt, E. Brown, W. Hume, Joseph Teunent, R. J. Childers, J. W. Hutchins, E. J. Thickness°, R. A. Clay, James Jackson, William Thompson, Colonel Cobden, Richard: Johnstone, James Thompson, George Colebrooke, Sir T. Jolliffe, Sir AN .G. Trelawny, J. S. Copeland,SAlderman Kershaw, James Vivian, J. H. Cowan, Charles Langston, J. H. Wahnsley, Sir J. Davie, Sir IL Lemon, Sir C. Wawn, J. T. Dawes, Edward Littleton, E. R. Willcox, Brodie Drummond, Home Lockhart, A. E. Williams, John D un combe, T. Long , W . Wilson, Matthew I Ellis, John Lusiiington, C. Wrightson, N.B. Elliot, J. E. Mackie, Jolm Wyvill, Marmaduke Evans, Sir De Lacy M`Callagh, W. T. TELLEILe Farrer, James M`Gregor, John Thornely, Thomas Matheson, Colonel Villiers, Charles Foley, J. IL yH,G,T..L.Jpo.fd Francis MAJORITY —NOES, 89. Freestun, Colonel,: Maunsell, T. P. Frewen, C. H• Miles, P. W. MS• Fuller, A. E. Milnes, R. M. A BA .A:BB d raa, iack d nitrlli we e g: dg r ii erie l : Ils e : negt y i h, , t c C a . , 3 B et B• h le r g 0 Bailey, Joseph Galway, ugent, sir Percy Baird James Gooch, E. S• swleally: J.1.3V. Viscount M m o til les lin w g o g r . t o h . ,S n ir . W. O'Connor, ?cargo Goulburn, Henry Perfect, Robert Barron, Sir H. Gwyn, Bowel Pigott, Francis Barrow, W. H. Hall, Sir B• Bramston T. W. Bridges, Sir B. HII Hayes , i_i sial Herbert,m tt l Le l too Lord Archibald Sir E. Bh o . lA r .b d a C a C. F rit, t o ujec i gn v aht i r do e , : op t ~ , a L jovo o sih r md d na :LC C. W. c C B 11r o r e s iNt‘svi. ;Rushout, Captain Hildyard, R. C. Scott, F. Hildyard T. B. Scully, Francis Sidney, Alderman Clerk Sir G. liindley Charles Smythe, George Spooner, Richard Cocks, T. S. Stafford, Augustin' Hudson, G. Chaplin, Duckworth, li ndrvires i lil:YglH. t:T:enVhrß. : . S.T S mI it i . t r a. WsJ. A. Henley, 1 ( I 1 Mackenzie,: in n ogpwl Keogh,sei a rs S Colonel dNiSir,jVrF..lll.lit.Nr i .ai v .lmi I. H. F.. Stanley. Edward Stunt, H. G. , Sullivan, H. Michael .Nv. buncombe, 0. Lennox, Lord A. Thompson, Alderman Duncuft, John Lygon, General Vesey, Thomas Dunne, Colonel Wall, 0. B. Du Pre, C. G. Mahon, Lord Edwards, Henry Manners, Lord C. Forbes, William Manners, Lord G. Fox, S. W. L. Masterman, John TELLERS. Best, John Knight, F. W. The following significant notice appears i❑ the London Gazette of last evening. We trust that we may re gard it as an earnest of a future and continual vigilance, checking the advances, or attempts to advance, made by the emissaries of Messrs. Wiseman, Swift, and Co. : —" Lord Chamberlain's office, March 23.—Notice is hereby given, that the presentation to the Queen at the Levee, on Tours day, the 26th of February last, of the Very Rev. Monsignore Searle, is cancelled, that title having been assumed without the reqUked AllthOrity,"..Herakt. WEDNESDAY EVENING, PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS, (From the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons.) STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE. TUESDAY, MARCH 23. The following Bills were reported as not having standing orders dispensed with : Waterford Free Bridge. Haw Bridge and Roads. Dudley Waterworks. Great London Drainage. Thwundernamed Bills were reported as having standing orders dispensed with Eastern Counties and Newmarket and Chesterford Railway Companies. Eastern Union Railway. North and South-Western and Brighton and Dover Junc tion Railwev ( Wandsworth to Croydon). Middlesbrough and Gu6brough Railway. That the,Committees on this and the three preceding Bills do examine, in the first place, how far such orders have been complied with, and do report the same to the House on the report of the Bill. Dumfries and Maxwelltown Waterworks. TO THE SECRETARY OF THE BRADFORD REFORM ASSOCIATION. (CONTINUED ON MONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS.) Sir,—From what occurred in the House of Commons on Monday, it is clear that the Government have, as some of the daily papers expressed it, snubbed the Volunteer Rib Corps." Like Louis Napoleon, they do not want a National Guard. I think 'therefore that any man who agrees with the gallant Member for West minster in believing that Volunteer Corps aro a more powerful defensive armament than a Militia, may law fully vote against a Militia altogether if his constituents wish it, so long at least as circumstances do not point to the necessity of its being called out in addition to the Volunteers. Viewing the question in a military light only, it can hardly be denied, that the Volunteer Rifle Corps are things of slower growth, as depending on the gradual accumulation of the popular feeling, while the Militia are 80,060 men summunable to arms by an Act of Par liament. In addition to which, the first are to find themselves, while the other must be paid for at the price of regular troops; for it is a doctrine with me, that to take a man perforce, is to take from him the value of what a man can be had for by money. And further, the first are likely to much exceed in number the others; while their proposed mode' of arming is better calculated to meet the apprehended exigency. There is not a man in England who better knows the comparative value of a Volunteer force and a Conscrip tion, than the Member for Westminster. And this leads to another criticism on what was col lected to be the intention of the Government with re spect to such Rifle Corps as in consequence of previous leave obtained, or other causes, are not to be " snubbed." It was announced that a condition was to be, that they were to be armed with rifles of the Government's pat tern. This will only make a job for the Government's gun-makers, and cut down the zeal of the Volunteers. The Government might as well intimate that gentlemen going partridge-shooting must be armed with a Govern ment model. Half the enjoyment of the thing, is in the trying of one maker's plan against another's. The whole theory and practice of small arms are at this mo ment in a state of flux and uncertainty, out of which it is probable something as yet comparatively unknown is speedily to come. Nobody but the Chinese, at such a moment, would nail down the Volunteers to the use of an " approved model of the Flowery Empire." You will not suppose me insensible to the weight of the reason urged for the proposed regulation,—the ad vantagenf having balls of the same calibre. But there is no reason that may not be outweighed by a stronger. It is of incomparably more importance that a Volunteer rifleman should hit with two out of three of the twenty balls he might expend in a campaign, and that there should be two Volunteer riflemen where there would otherwise be only one, than that they should be furnished with balls of the " flowery" model. It is among the records of the German corps of riflemen sent to America in the Revolutionary War, that some of the men re turned their ammunition at the end of the war minus six or seven shots; but it is shrewdly intimated , t h at these six or seven hots might be traced in a corresponding diminution of the American execu tive . It was m y chance to see specimens of the Landwehr in Paris in 1814; and it is not impressed on my recollection that their rifles were of anything like a Government model. Some of them struck me as so diminutive, that it was presumable the Landwehr acted in the spirit of the in struction of the Spartan mother, who said " Take a step nearer." How the Land wehr youth kept himself "provided with ammunition, there was not opportunity rigidly to inquire ; but I presume that when he had composed or sung his song of "Fatherland," and made libation as ho might to the fraulein beyond the Rhine, he employed his leisure hours in casting from time to time a score of bullets by the help of a mould he carried in the butt of his rifle, using such lead and powder as was to be obtained from every ammunition waggon that distributed cartridges to the army. Something was said in the House, of the slights thrown by some of the regular generals upon the Volunteers of 1801. Your regular general is not always what Jeremy Bentham would call " all-wise." If letter of mine to you should come to the eyes of any of the Volunteer Corps, I can tell a story up on th a t subject. There was a regular general who made himself conspicuous in Par tiatnent by attacks on the Volunteer Corps and their commanders, and particularly on an Alder man of Landon whose civic occupation happened to have been the chemistry of pastry. And now see what a judgment fell upon him. It was my fortune, in obedience to the direction of a superior, to bring to that general an officer of regular troops in full uniform, summoning him to surrender, and whom he sent away in rather a rough manner. A few hours afterwards I brought to him another fashion of negotiator,—one of the Voluntaries Patrioticos de Buenos Aires, —in precisely the jacket which those who saw the English Volunteers will recollect, blue with red in the seams, —but of the rest I speak not, beyond a di s ti nc t no t at i o n that his nether man was cased in corduroy a n d h e h a d a cast in his eye, which last may possibly even yet he l p to identify the meritorious citizen in his p eace f u l retrea t. You will not disbelieve me when I say, that at the sight of him, all Colonel Birch rose before my eyes. And to this not very perfectly set-up member of a Volunteer Corps, did our general surrender the Ch urch of St. Domingo and all of us that were therei n . It was a judgment if there ever was one. And so sh a ll i t be with m ore regular generals, that laugh at V o l unteers. On Tuesday the princip a l su bj ect was a mo tion on the removal of the Hop duty. N othing was said of the re moval of the duty on f„)reien HO - 'ps• though this was stated to be virtually prohibitory, except when there is an extraordinary failure in the English crop. It may be collected therefore, that th e o b ject is to ge t rid of the duty on home-grown hops, and l eave the duty on foreign. If there was th e conv i ction at Bradford which I wish there was, that yo u d eal in fore i gn hops and everything else that can b e b rought cheaper f ro m abroad, you would have consider a bl e o b jections to ma k e to this. But I am afraid friends are not yet up t o that mark. For the present, the lion has been let in, and no doubt will take good care of himself. I am, Sir, yours very sincerely, AN OLD REFORMER. Blackheath, March 24, 1852. ELECTION INTELLIGENCE. COLERAINE. Lord Naas was returned on Monday without opposi ion, as Mr. Wilson li-nnedy did not demand a poll. CHURCH. STRETTON, TIIESDA.Y. A vacancy having taken place in the represent at i on of the sout h ern division of Shropshi re by the appoi ntment of Viscount N e wport to the situation of. Vtae •Charaberlain in her Majes t y's household, an election was held in consequence to-day at Church Stretton, by the high Sheriff, Robert Burton , Esq. Sir BALDWIN LEIGHT ON , BART., proposed the Ri g ht Hon. Viscount Newport. JohN Wcit, Esq . , second e d t h e nominat i on . No other candidate h av i ng appeared, The HIGH SHERIFF declared that the Right Hon. Orlando George Charles Bridgman, commonly called Viscount Newport, had been duly elected.—(Cheers.)? Viscount NEWPORT then addressed the electors, and the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the High Sheriff. DEARTH ON THE CONTINENT. Accounts come in from all parts of the sufferings of the poor in consequence of dearth of grain and potatoes, from Posen, Westphalia, Greis, th e Tyrol, Casse l , Nie derlausitz, 84c. In Posen there aro regular bands of robbers, driven on by hunger, so that cavalry are obliged to patrol the roads to protect travellers from attack. In Westphalia, beans boiled with roots have superseded bread and potatoes_ with the poor. In Wermeland and Oestland (Sweden) recourse has already been had to straw and the bark of trees for food. In Naumberg, a mother, has drowned her two daughter s and then herself, in despair at the approach of starvation. In the neigh bourhood of Dantzic the failure of the potato crop has contai n from 30 to induced several landowners to turn th e i r attention to at present very 36 per cent. more saccharine matter th an b eet -root; if c l t v e a t ed Russian here; potato, i s t o is ontain the etle so-called cultivated true, this would be worth the attention of the company about to manufacture beet-root sugar in Ireland. [ADVEItTISEMBNT.] —Declaration of a D utch soldier who fought at Waterloo, cured by Holloway's Ointment and Pills -"I,J. de Swart, publicly state that Holloway 's Pills and Ointment have cured me of several ulcero us sores-, which had their origin in imperfectly healed wounds received in the battle of Waterloo. The pain was infinite, and I was confined to my bed always during the harvest months. I have n ow for two years been enjoying the best o f health, solely in consequence of using Holloways Pills and Ointment, which cured me in a very short time ; in gratitude for whi c h ' I pub lish this testimony. ( Signed) J. de Swart, of Lent, on the Vostepels, near Nymegen, Holland, Oct. 4th, 1849.,s Sold by all Druggists, and at Professor Holloway's Establishment, 444, Strand, London. " CURSING" A MAGISTRATE BY A CLERGYMAN.— A most extraordinary, novel, and exciting scene was wit nessed at the Flordon s tation, on Saturda y e vening. When the five o'clock train f r o m Norwich arrived innognicinals.thelt was, however, there p th as e s r a e g , ethoefptahse sengers were much surpris ed at seein g the Rev. Mr. Moore, to " curse " a m agistrate, who was expected by the train; and who had give n him some presumed offence. When the s t ns h toeao e i tno.i oh c unb u n_o r hd a uoe t r e rai nist o geo f , dd t h r e e t pae that r i hi s ne h , h s it wassa ncdNawaiting individual alluded to was giving up his ticket to the station master, the reverend gentleman thus addressed him—" I inflict a curse upon this man. I curse you ; I curse your wife; I curse your children; I curse all you have--may your children be fatherless and vagabonds, and beg their matter bread," S L e , dtc. ; and thus he went ot ellynetailetew"acsucrosmedmmitatned" drove off. We underst and that the has been laid before the bishop ; and t hat the reverend gentleman, in onSaturday default o f find nighting sureties to t t c o l e jeep, by Edward, H owe , L EI .— Norwich Mercury. SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY. TIMES.—The late Board of Admiralty has delivered itself of a posthumous defence. With very considerable confidence Admiral Berkeley rose in the House on Mon day evening and performed the part of commentator on the figures which the new Secretary recited. This re markable division of labour between those who pre pared the estimates and those who adopt them, enabled the Gallant Member to discharge himself not only of an exculpatory address, but of a severe invective against his late censors in general, and the " public press" in particular. With a modest announcement that he proposed to " ray something in favour of the late board," Admiral Berkeley reviewed, first, the case of the Megmra; next, the subject of the "preserved meats;" thirdly, the performances of the Admiralty in the trans port of troops to the Cape; and, finally, the general re sources of the navy as organized by the late board for the purposes of national defence. With what success ho conducted his argume:st we can soon qualify the reader for deciding. " I will begin," said Admiral Berkeley, " with the case of the Megmra." This " case," as will be easily recollected, was constituted by the notorious fact that the steweer in question not only broke down or became disabled between Dover and Plymouth, but was so laden as to make her prospects for the voyage anything but desirable. And what, upon these peinte, was Admiral Berkeley's defence? " I think," said he, that this has been satisfactorily settled by the late First Lord of the Admiralty, and Ido not think that many more words, if any, are necessary on the subject. I conceive that the answers of my Right Hon. Friend has sufficiently disposed of the infamous stories which have been invented about that vessel." This is what Admiral Berkeley said about the Megmra—this and no more. It is a pity be should have forgotten that before a defend ant can gain a suit he has to convince other persons be sides himself: If the Gallant Member really thought the case " disposed of" in the opinion of the country, it was somewhat superfluous that he should take it up again to " begin with." If he wished to impart his own convictions to others, ho should have done something more than merely endorse the imperfect apology of a fellow defendant. The case, as we have observed, involved two points—first, the break down, and, secondly, the interior arrangements of the vessel. As there is no kind of doubt about the former casualty, the latter must furnish the subject of Admiral Berkeley's allusions in speaking of the " infamous stories" in circulation. To some of these stories we c eatributed considerable currency, and we are bound, therefore, to maintain their credibility. It was alleged that the vessel was so overladen and encumbered with heavy ordnance stores as to present a scene of indescribable confusion, and to make it highly improbable that the troops could be lodged with reasonable comfort. For these statements we relied, among other sources of in formation, on the communication of a correspondent who published the evidence of his own senses with the authority of his proper signature. The Rev. William Buller, rector oe the iioly Trinity, Dorchester, avowedly actuated by motives of public duty, informed the country through our columns that he had been an eye-witness of the embarkation of the Rifle Brigade on board the Me gmra; that " the store-room and stowage" (we quote his own words) " were filled with Ordnance stores, so that no place remained for the arrangement and proper disposition of the baggage and belongings of the 700 soldiers;" that " Government, at the sacrifice of men and officers' just claims to consideration, had made the ship answer a purpose for which it was never intended;" and that, in his belief, "much wanton and un necessary misery" must inevitably be inflic , ed on the troops, even if the consequences did not involve the " risk of life to England's best and bravest suns." These were the facts positively and publicly stated by a gen tleman who witnessed the embarkation, and who, we must presume, had some personal interest in thus ascer taining the truth. We leave them to be compared with Admiral Berkeley's second-hand apology, and to carry their own weight, observing simply, that nothing is yet known of the allege:m . .l's ultimate performances, though we are aware that her passage to Madeira corresponded as nearly as poslble with her passage to Plymouth. As regards the " break down" of the vessel, which Mr. Buller described as "putting into Plymouth much dis abled, with a depth of water in her which her crew had been engaged the whole night pumping out," we re marked at the time that it would be unfair to make too much of an accident, except in so far as it might exem plify a general condition when taken in combination with other accidents of a similar kind. It was not simply because the Megtera became disabled, but be cause other Government steamers had fared little better, that attention was drawn to the fact. Our argument was wholly derived from general results, as contrasted with general and reasonable expectations. We observed that whereas enormous sums had been lavished on the completion of our steam marine, its first performances, when put to actual test by the war at the Cape, had been very unpromising. "It was said," asserts Admiral Berkeley, " that the Admiralty were so ignorant of what they were about that they could not convey troops from England to the Cape." Nothing of the sort was said. What was said was, that considering the smallness of the exigency as compared with the magnitude of our establishments, the actual proceedings had been far from satisfactory. We said that though steamers were only required at intervals of two or three months to take 700 or 800 troops at a time, these voyages were seldom or never well performed, and that the Vulcan had done worse than the Aloga3ra. It will be in everybody's re collection, indeed, that this vessel was reported to have been absoluiely lost, and in point of fact she is again considerably overdue at this vtry moment. The Hellespont screw-steamer left the Cape on the 28th of December and arrived at Plymouth on the 31st of January; the Bosphorus loft on the 3d of February and arrived on tee 3.1 of the present month; the Windsor, a sailing vessel of Mr. Green's, left on the 9th of January and arrived also on the 7th inst.; but the Vulcan, though she left the Cape on the 21 of January, has not made her appearance yet. It the requirements of a Kafir war so tax our steam resources that one vessel must be made to do the work of two, and all are left behind by private merchantmen, what are we to expect when heavier demands come upon us? This is the question which was asked, but which Admiral Berke ley omitted to answer. With respect to the general efficiency of our naval defences, Admiral Berkeley not only asserted, but "staked his existence" on the fact that " though the Admiralty did not make any fuss about their proceedings, they could during all the time of the outcry have covered the Chan nel from the North Foreland to the Channel Islands with a fleet of steamers, within signal distance of each other, in the space of 24 hours." Such is the Gel lant Admiral's tardy declaration. We have not the smallest desire to question a statement which will be remarkably re-assuring to the country at large, and which will doubtless be remembered to come effect in the debate on ourdefet:ces, but we really think the " late Board" might have judiciously made a little more "fuss" on this special occasion. We can only say at present that not only the public, but the members of the service itself, seem utterly unable to comprehend where this fleet of steamers was to come from. Admiral Bowles, though formerly in office, "had not the least idea of such a thing." Admiral Napier was evidently quite as much in the dark. Yet, somehow or other, it seems these invisible steamers, with their invisible engineers, seamen, and gunners, and all warranted, we presume, not to break down, were to start forth in scores at ft telegraphic signal. This is, indeed, a " naval reserve" worth talking about, and the more substantial the vision is the better will the country be satisfied; but, as the late Board" kept the secret so very effectually, and have only disclosed it gratuitously after all, they cannot be surprised if the public take some time to "realize" the fact. HERALD.—There are some statements which pass simply from their audacity. They make such a bold onset, that the auditor is pushed some steps backward before he has time to recollect himself. Of this class was an assumption that several leaders of the new Oppo sition agreed to put forward in the first debate under the new Administration in the Commons—an assumption, Vie boldness of which was chiefly manirested in this— that it took for granted that th© present House of Com mons, being born in July, 1847, could have no know ledge of what took place in the previous House, between May, 1846, and Ju: e 1847. Let us show what we morn by citing two or three-passages from three of the prin cipal speakers in that night's debate. To begin, then, with Lord John Russell. The Noble Lord, in that de bate, used these words:— " The Prime Minister says, I cannot propose mea sures to the present Parliament, because I should be in a minority.' That is not an unusual position ; but Mi nisters who have said that have usually said, ' It is im possible for me to propose those measures with any prospect of success in the present Parliament. I must advise the Crown to call another Parliament, and to that Parliament I must submit the measures I think right for the country;' but the proposition of the Noble Lord at the head of the Government, and the proposi tion of the Right Hon. Gentleman to-night, is this— ' We are in a minority ; we mean to conduct the whole business of the country with that minority ; we mean to go through the session, and when the session is over we mean to exercise our own discretion whether we shall dissolve Parliament or not—it may perhaps be dissolved in December, and then we shall propound the measures we think necessary.' " It appears to me, I own, that there is no constitu tional precedent, that there can be no constitutional pre cedent, for such conduct as this." Next, Sir James Graham came to the Noble Lord's aid, with an exactly similar statement. He said : " I had the pleasure of hearing the Noble Earl at the head of the Government iu a late speech of his, when he said—' I know that I am in an undoubted minority iu the House of Commons, and I appeal therefore to the forbearance of the House.' I deny absolutely that in the whole course of our Parliamentary history such an admission was ever made by any Minister, or that any such appeal for forbearance was ever asked.—(Cheers.) I challenge any one to point out any such admission, or any such request, as that made by Lord Derby.—(l.lear, hear.) I say that a due homage to the representative system is at variance with such a request—(Hear, hear) —and that our representative system would be brought into disrepute if a Government so situated continued in office, or suffered Parliament to sit an hour longer than was necessary to provide for the safety and defence of the co untry." Minister, M r . A n d then, thirdly , came another QX. Gladstone,. He said : "If I have any fault to find with the Ili ht Hon. it is that he seemsd p i r s Gentleman's srece h, p up o e se r d an to d avoid recognising that ther e i s something improper irre gular to the constitution in the existence of a Govern wen t which is in a minority in the Commons." And s gain:— The point which I desire t o b r i ng b efore tl:e House, a nd on which I wish the discussion to be concentred, is, that this Hcuse must obtsm in form and substance an assurance of the intention of the Government to a dvise the Ctowli to dmolvo P44418;1014 as mu as the NM' MARCH 24 1852. ness necessary for the circumstances of the moment shall be dispatched." Nose here we have three men of the first class as poli ticians agreeing in a statement which utterly " ier b nores" (to use a modern phrase) the ‘ T h o l e Parliamentary history of 1846-1847. In 1841 a new Parliament was summoned. The first thing it did was to dismiss the Melbourne Cabinet; and to carry Sir Robert Peel into office by a majority of 91. That majority VIIIS subsequently a little increased, and it is a fact, altogether beyond dispute, that in that Parliament, which sat from August, 1841, to July, 1847, Lord John Russell could never reckon more than 270 to 280 supporters; while the Conservatives, elected by the people expressly to put him out of office, were above 360 in number. In June, 1846, Sir Robert Peel, having introduced a lamentable and fatal division into the ranks of the Conservative party, was ejected from office, by a momentary coalition, exactly similar to that which has just overthrown Lord John Russell. His Lordship speaks with some bitterness of the Pro tectionists who voted with Lord Palmerston on the militia question, and thus caused his ejecqon from office. It is convenient to him to forget that in 1846 ho himself managed to climb into office by a pre cisely similar vote. He pushed Sir Robert Peel from his scat, and regained the Premiership for himself, by voting with Lord Geo-go Bentinek and the Protection ists, to destroy the Free Trade Government of Sir Robert Peel. And now, forsooth, ho makes it a charge against some of the Protectionists that they pre ferred Lord Palmerston's Militia Bill to his own! But to return: Lord John Russell was sent for in 1846, precisely as Lord a rhy was sent for in 1852, be cause, the existing Ministry being overthrown, the Sovereign saw in him the best apparent hope of a new Government. He accepted office. Had he a majority in the House of Commons? Not for one single moment. Yet this never disturbed him. He knew that he had only—as Lord Derby has now—some 260 or 280 pledged supporters in the L ower H ouse. B ut th i s did not dismay him ; for he calculated, and he had a right to cal culate, that the remaining 360 or 370 Members would never combine, at least for the present, to throw him out of office. Ho went on safely, but without a majority. He did not dissolve. On the contrary, he carried Par liament all through the busicess of 1847, existing, all the while, on the forbearance of the majority. In a word, he did then for more than twelve months that very thing which he now says it is unconstitutional for Lord Derby to think of doing for one-third part of the time. Is it not strange that such statements as these can be made—depending, evidently, on men's entire forgetfulness of what occurred only five years ago ? Every one, when reminded of the fact, can remember perfectly well that a Whig Government existed in Eng land from June, 1846, to June, 1847 ; although during the whole of that time there were not in the House of Commons so many as 280 Whigs and Whig•RaLcals in the aggregate. And yet we are now told, by three ex-Ministers in succession, that for a Gtsvornitnent to think of holding ofnee fur even three or four months without having a majority in the House of Commons, is " utterly opposed to the spirit of the Constitution!" Se say Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham, and Mr. Gladstone. But what will men not say who have bc , en turned out of office, and are eager to get back again ? ""THE DUTIES OF DEMOCRACY." The following is the last document issued by Maz zini under the above title, and addressed t o th e Con- inental Revolutionists " What ought to be at present the mot d'ordre, the rallying cry of parties? All is comprised in one word— Action—action, one, European, incessant, logical, bold, and universal! Mere talkers have destroyed France; and they will destroy Europe, if a holy reaction is not got up against them. Thanks to such persons, we are now in the time of the Lower Empire. By dint of discussing on the future, we have abandoned the present to the first corner. By dint of substituting each his little sect, his little system, his little organization of humanity, for the great religion of democracy, for the common faith, for the association of forces to make a conquest of the position, we have thrown disorganization into the ranks. The sacred phalanx which ought to press forward always as a single man, drawing closer together at each martyr's death, has become an assemblage of free corps, a veritable camp of Wallestein, minus the genius of the master. At the hour of attack, it fell to pieces on the right and on the left, and was found scattered about in little detachments everywhere, except in the heart of the place. The enemy was one, discussing nothing, but acting always, and it is not by arguing on the best means of cutting and clipping human kind to a fixed standard that the foe can be dislodged. The time has come to speak the truth plainly to our friends. They have done all the evil possible to the best of causes; they would have kilted it by excess of love or by want of intelligence, if it was not immortal. I accuse the socialists, and in particular the leaders, of having falsified, mutilated, diminished our grand idea, by imprisoning our law, common for all, within absolute systems which usurp at the same time power over the liberty of the individual, over the sove reignty of the country, and over the continuity of pro gress. I accused them of having aimed, in the name of their paltry individuality, at giving positive solutions to the problem of human life, before that life was able to manifest itself in the plenitude of its capacity under the action of these great electric currents called revolutions. I accuse them of having at tempted to produce at a fixed time, from their week or diseased brains, an organization which cannot issue except from the co-operation of all the human fa culties in action, and of having substituted their !so litary I for the collective / of Europe, of haying spoken in the name of St. Simon, Fourier, Cabot, or any other, there where the point was to destroy the re vealing agents for the profit of the continued revelations, and to inscribe over the front of the temple, God is God, and Humanity is his Prophet!' For having forgotten Ac tion ! For having said: What France ow es to Europe ie the solution ot the organization of labour.' For having slighted the voice of such of her children as called on all dissentient parties to organiz3 themselves on a common ground to heir the brunt of battle—France has arrived, by Home, at the shame of Dec 2. The whole of demo cratic Europe must now aid France in recovering her position, as she formerly aided Europe. She must above all advance, advance constantly, advance alone, to force France to join her. The movement of France depends at present on the movement of Europe; the movement of Tes sino and the insurrection of Sicily preceded the republic of 1848. The European iniative at present belongs to the first people whi c h s h a ll r i se , not i u t h e name ot a local 'interest, but of a European principle. Should France do so, may God and humanity bless France! Should she not do so, let others do so! God has no chosen people. Father of all, he is with all who aro ready to sacrifice themselves f o r the common weal. From the alliance of nations must spring the initiative ; and there is not, at the present time, a single nation which, spontaneously rushing into the arena, or in nobly resisting, cannot raise the two thirds of Europe. The day in which the democracy militant shall have a government, an impost, a common ground, a plan, an ensemble of operations, it will have conquered. Until then, let it resign itself to M. de Maupas, Schwartzenberg, and Radetsky; let it resign itself to shame, to the rod, to transportation, and to the gibbet, and let it find its compensation in the perusal of the political novels which its utopian dreamers are always ready to write—they do not cost much trouble to be written. " March, 1852. " JOSEPH MA Z ZINI " THE CRYSTAL PALACE. TO THE EDITOR. OF THE TIMES. Sir,—l have read with surprise the report of the Corn missivm appointed by the Treasury to make inquiries en the cost and applicability of the Crystal Palace. The whole bearing of my evidence was in favour of the plan suggested by me, and admitted by the Commis sion to be the best proposed, viz., to convert the Cr) s tal Palace into a winter garden; but the only portion of my evidence which has been adverted to i❑ the report is a detached sentence, the meaning of which has beta totally misunderstood. If the opportunity which I requested, and which was afforded to others, of making verbal corrections in fay printed evidence had been given me, I should have made this sentence clearer; but as it stands now, the sense which has been attributed to it arises from a btraoge misapprehension. I never would have recommended tte conversion of the palace into a winter garden, if I had not felt convinced that it was for the publics advantage, even in an economical point of view. Though, in my opinion, the cost of a new building on the same scale as the present might be somewhat re duced, and its plan considerably improved, the mere ex pense of adapting what we have got to the purposes of a winter garden bears no reasonable proportion to that o f erecting and filling up an edifice of the kind and six-3 de novo. - The destruction of the building when its purchase has been so nearly completed would, in my opinion, be a wanton sacrifice of property, and the reference in the report to the possibility of constructing a more suitable edifice at a less expense than would be required for the nPcessary outlay on the Crystal Palace, is n,:t only a misrepresentation of . my eviden ce , b ut tends to blind the eyes of the pubhc to the foolish piece of modern Vandalism which the s roport of the Commission sanctions. I have the honour to be your most obedient servant, — FAX — To.v. Devonshire-house, M arc h 23. JOSEPEI THE CIfS- i fA----17PALACE. The public were on Monday, ad mitted without charge • preservation were availed themselves for the first tim©, building, and : i" popularity the interior of this immense building, rtt people who illustrated by the numbers_e vil ge thus Y and the of interest th ep privilege taken afforded by tae cunt-d there was not less than 30,000rae visitors. During n They the to ev( ry class from the peerage downwards, impressed with the grandeur of the spectacle. Mrny had nev er b een there before, an d their companions might be heard eagerly explaining to the m where the most pro minent objects of the Exhibition stoo d . The site of the t s' cry al fountain and of th e other chief trophies of the nape and transept wer e all thus carefully indicated. Many seated themselves on benches and quietly Contemplated the vast yet regular proportions of the interior, which, cleared of all obstructions to the view, and teen in their unadorned sim plicity, have certainly a very wonderful effect. The edifice g:dieries and th e from end to end wore thoroughly explored, and the troops of chil dren and yo un g p eo p le playing about suggested bow easily and well so vast a covered space might be adapted for purposes of innocent recreation. Willis's grad organ and the immense mirrors of the Thames Pi its Glass Compftny are now the sole remaining vestiges of the Exhibition. The retention of the organ is likely t? prove a considerable advantage. On Saturday last it was played by Mr. Best, and the performance drew to gother not less than 4,000 people, and induced a sale of 1,200 catalogue a. Li cow the; the interior is empty, music s N' _-. -,- is heard with much greater effect than rortnerg3r, - -and , , the performance will ba repeated, no .Wedn(sedays and:'` 1 Saturdays until farther notice. Thp --vablic ought n0t..1.14 to lose the opportunity now affordatrth,nistif visiting the Palace fiee of charge, and judging u hr-tkemselves how ;•••; `i. far they are interested in its retentitkii.:•2ll- a few weeks ) €4 , itLitreslf-disepliear s t e ob e e ',remember e d on l y ' as a splendid vision—the phantasmagoria of human in dustry in 1851. HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE. Somewhat later in the season than usual, but welcome soon or late, comes th© programme of her Majesty's Theatre for the ensuing year. The summer which is before us hardly presents the same induce meats to ma nagerial ardour as those held out in the Great Exhibi- nookandc tion3 - ea o r f . We can anticipate no swarms of foreigners crowding acro ss th e Channel, nor, still more profitable, legions o provincials rn e flocking r o f England, ag, ul at)d, p to the Ireland, metropolis a nd from every Sco tland. El ect i oneering troubles, moreover, threaten to some extent to mar the season, and to break up the gay period when the West-end is crowded, and all the sights and ail th e soun d s of London are in full sw i ng; b ut we are glad to perceive that Mr. Lumley dismayed by none of these portents, and after all they may turn out to be mere portents, is as usual in the field—vigorous and energetic as of yore; that he has collected all his old troupe around him, with considerable and important ad ditions: and that he appears to be perfectly prepared and eager for the ensui ng campaign. For, after all, her Ma jesty's Theatre is tbe old and chosen horns of Italian opera. its enceinte is full of association and reminiscence. Wo couple it with all the great artistic reaowns of old. It has seen the early career and the early triumphs of those notabilities of Italian song who seem no longer to be destined to awaken its echoes; while the recollec tions of the ballets which it has given to the world—of the queens of the dance who have sometimes reigned in individual majesty—sometimes concluded a congress of terpsichorean sovereignty upon its board s — are all fraught with pleasurable sensations, which w e mar be excused if we are glad to look forward to agai n . r Her Majesty's Theatre has a powerful rival to contend with, is, perhaps, as well for both establishments as for the public. Either management is kept on the gal vine. An active and enterprising competition is necessitated. Tne old beaten ways are felt to be no longer sufficient to fill either house. Novelty in matter and manner is imperatively called for. Artists of continental reputa tion are rigorously demanded, and the result is that the public and the art of dramatic music are equally bene fitted by competition and comparison. The season of 1852 will, it is announced, commence on Tuesday evening, the 30th of March. The repertoire for the season will include the following brilliant list of operas, to one and all of which the resources of the house will be able to do foil jintio.,:— Don Giovanni Norma Nozze di Figaro La Sonnambula 11 Blatrimonio Se- La Favorita greto 11 Barbiere Lucia di Lammer- Serniramide muir La Gazza Ladra Puritani Lucrezia Borgia L'Elisir d'Amore Linda di Chamouni Don Pasquale Otello Cenerentula La Figlia del Reg- Ernani gimento Roberto Devereux 11 Giuramento Guglielcno Tell Torquato Taw() Tancredi Roberto it Dia volo Pietro l'Eremita Li Tempes:a Florinda, and Il Prodigo I Due Foscari Of novelties we have two classes—those positively announced, and those conditionally promised. The first category does not comprise more than two works, but they will be found to contain the elements of great ar tistic interest, united in one case with those intrinsic considerations which, although unconnected with pure art, can hardly fail to excite a lively and natural degree as l i N i r d e re a,t f h e e r to c the omp uct os p i r t o io d no io f nof a new his Royal o g f ra a n n d tic o i p p e a r t a io , D C . Highness the Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, and the brother of Prince Albert. This work, after having been originally produced, as we believe, on the small but com plete stage of the Coburg Theatre, was transferred to the more important boards of Vienna and Berlin , and there enjoyed a success quite unconn ec t e d w i t h the pe culiar circumstances of its origin. The reigning Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha is by no means a tyro in dramatic lyric composition. Moro than one of his operas are well known upon the German stage, and we are glad to have tin opportunity of judging fur ourselves a work which, whatever may be its artistic merits, and we are assured on good authority that they are high, pos sesses other and peculiar claims to our notice. The an nouncement of the work will no doubt excite a consider able degree of curiosity and interest. We have seen scattered notices of the opera in various continental mu sical papers, but without reprodacing their judgments shall wait for the opportunity of fairly deciding for our selves. For the excellence of the ordinary troupe, the chorus, and the orchestra of the Ducal Theatre in the little sovereignty of Saxe Coburg, we can personally vouch, having had opportunities of seeing both opera and German tragedy performed on the boards of Coburg and Gotha. The second novelty positively promised is en opera, not actually new, but new to this country, by Flotow, entitled Martha, and in which it is truly stated that "Madame Sontag has obtained an additional triumph to her many brilliant successes." Flotow is known in this country, if we mistake not, only by one opera—his Arne en Peine which was inefficiently performed some seasons ago at the Princess's Theatre, but which, in adequate as the representation was, made a very con siderable impression. Flotow's characteristics are a deep and feeling vein of melody, full of tenderness and passion, and marked by piquancy and originality of treatment, while bis orcheetr el scoring is the work of a consummate musician bringing a strong individuality of taste to bear upon a thorough command of the resources which ho possesses. The opera of Martha has, doubt less, been written so as to develop the peculiar vocal talents of its heroine—Madame Sontag—and as such may be anticipated as a rich and stirling treat. Among the conditional announcement is one that " an opera by the great maestro, Meyerbeer, will be, most probably, produced during the season, written expressly tar Madame Sontag." Of Me) erbeer's operas we can never be said to be certain until the curtain actually rises up; n them. The "great - maestro" is a very fastidious personage, and, as he does not write for considerations of personal advantage, ho can always afford to keep back his productions as long as he pleases, and that is some times a tolerably considerable time. However, we shall be delighted in the present instance to hope for the best; and whether the hinted work be a re-touched version of the long promised Camp of Silesia or a perfectly new opera, the world will be equally delighted to hail it. Don Giovanni is promised, with a cast which will in clude Madame Sontag, Madame Cruvelli, and the new corner, of whom so much has been said and so much is to be expected, Mademoiselle Wagner, from Vienna and Berlin. Madame Sontag will, of course, be the Z=vlina, and Mademoiselle Wagner (as we conjecture) the Donna Anna. With any distribution, however, including the three names, the cast will be singularly strorg. Besides the actual works which we have mentioned as to be produced fur the first time, we are promised, in general terms, " many novelties." The Saxe Cobourg opera and Flknow's work are only particularized as to bo amongst the earlies'. The company includes all the principal names of last year with important additions. Madame Sontag we have mentioned. In h,,rself she.is ever:a heat, atatever welcome, as bringing back the purest and most brilliant style of the purest and most brilliant days of the Italian Opera. Next to Sontag we find the name of Mme. Fiorentini, an ; opinions o l favourite, i t Italy, and nd who o has been willh lately e ly, cordially winninga gnid welcomeda her t r w o nr a e last e;c sa called d e gree of p a htill Pa risian e back. Mdlle. Ida Bertrand will be, as before, tra it ) , and Mlile. Sofia Cruvelli, flushed With her inter pretations the con- t b h y a n t h e l l, 1 t hcl h s y d shm risien triumphs, tiny be expected t o ete i te n u d h siasm er of Fidelio, N orma , and u e r n o t u Amongst the ladies Mdile. Wagner is Borgia. tier We have not heard her, but her f the new comer. ume to England, and we believ e th at has preceded her the New German arti s t a m We are to anticipate in commanding amou n t o f 6 hguificent so ran a w ith a energy. The deb u t w ill he ruilatic talent, furce, and very anxi ous ly anticipated, and will excite universal interest. To the list of gentlemen several additions have been made. Gaiduni return al the omi nous rt ports about his him we find again Signor Pa d* " state of health. ' li, stud Signor old r ini ' Signor Mere„uireinads. The two Lableches conclude theand welakhnoovvnaaale company, not list f including the new of the there are not less than thteo—si no'OFmeerzt,tio who w has, we believe, been a.favourite dur g in r the las ' t opera season at Paris— Signor Susini, ofgwhom we know nothing—and Signor Bessirli, a well-known be r y tone from Italy. Signor Belletti re.a e ars after his A merican tour. The above pp list ca ll s f or no lengthened comment. The known names are w e ll known. For the strangers we must wait until they come. Among the conditional engagements is till', of Signor Negrini, the tenor, the conclusion of which is stated to be daily expected. The ballet was somewhat neglected last season, but th e arrange men ts for the present year are promising and Wit, and include, not onl y sev era l o f the old favour ibtrlleiaaa executants, but several novelties for them to dance in. Mdlle. Cerito has been engaged, and will appear,we presume, e arly in the season; and Mdlle. Gny Stephan , as we take it, will open the campaign in a new Spanish divertissement, entitled El Duende, which will be per formed on the opening evening. Another welcome ballet engagement is that of Mdlle. Caroline Rosati. Among the choregraphic Dii minores we find the names of Mdlles. Rosa, Mathiide, Lamoureux, Emilie, and Pee-. cities. It seems yet uncertain whether Carlotta Grisi will return, but her admirers will be pleased to learn that " a proposal for an engagement of two months" has also been forwarded to the lady in question, who is now at St. Petersburgh, to commence at the termination of her present engagement at the Russian capital. A new Italian ballet, composed expressly for the theatre, is ane pounced for immediately atter Easter. The compositi on will, we presume, introduce Mdlle. Cerito. The opening, o pera will be Maria de Rohan, intro ducir g Signor Ferlotti. Mr. Balfe bat, we believe, re turned from Paris, where he went after the productit n of his opera at Druryalane, and the preliminary rehetre ells aro aetu illy in course of progress. Thus then commences the season of 185 9 • giving pro mise of divers event' of interest, an d of an active and busy year. The competition between the houses will no doubt be steady and severe, acid we can only express a hope that managerial tact and executive skill will bo properly appreciated, and fully rewarded, at whi,hever estanlishment they are displayed. Brecknockshire, after a lorg illress John G Died, on Frid , y, I\ll.rch 19, at Gwern Vale House , aged 72, deputy-lieuten an t for Brea Brecknoc k s hire, also justice of the peace for the cou n ti es of M onmout h a nd Bream. He w ynne, Esg., served throughout the Peninsular war as lieutenant in the 14th Light llragoons, being twice severely wounded, and was present in the three several engagements —namely, ',mance, Fuentes d'Onor, and Talavera—for which he re ceiyod a throe-bar 11441 from tier Gracious gNosty,