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

before they could repeal it they must be prepared with Was substitut e ter it.—(Herr, hear.) Well, then. he Which a loss to uederstetel wnet tax could be suggested theteh tho people would accept as a substitute for Malt -tax, for there was it large class who a dvocated voeate,d the t ax o n th e ground that it had the effect of diminish ng drunkenness, and they certainly would el" W 45 abolition --(tit ar, hear.) The hop-tax. how not viewed in that light; it was a t ax in fact , • e Jlf the wholesome beverage of the poor man , 4 , 1 having had some experience in the House of the ,9 :Acuity of carrying large questions , he c o u ld tell those ,wha advocated the repeal of the tax they must per letere, in spite of the temporary difficulty which it might i m p ose upon the Government.—(Hear.) He t herefore hoped this motion would be pushed to a divi al°e, and then the poor man would fet,. who were his friends and who were not —(Neer.) Mr. FREWEN was quite sate,fied with the answer that had been mode by the Chancellor of the Exch, quer, and "der these eireutevtances he should not put the g oose to the trouble of going to a division.—(Hear.) Mr. BASS admitted that a good deal of distress bed Prevailed, of late years amongst the f a rmers of Kent and h nrcestershire, bat it did not result from the growing of Ost but of wheat, and he recomme nded them to deme , -•re attention to hops than corn. He denied that the aye et gentian had increased in proportion to the recent increase in the conrumption of bitter ale, as was , alleg e d ~ by one Hon. Gentleman who had taken part in " 41 s . debate.—(11ear, hear.) After a few words from Sir E. FILMER, the motion Wati withdrawn. FOREIGN REFUGEES. Mr, M. MILNES rose to move for an address for "Pies of the correspondence between her Majesty's 'Government end Foreign States, respectirg the protec tion afforded to refugees (in continuation of the corre spondence already presented to Parliament). The Hon. Member said, that at the commencement of the session if had applied to the Noble Lord who had then been at tke head of the Government for the purpose of aseer caining 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 thaw: ho 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 Schwan a,nberg, at the time Earl Granville's dispatch bad reached him, had been occupied with important busint ss. and that he could not therefore give an immediate re ty. But a short time atter the date of Lord Westmore- Tad's letter, it had been stated in the public press that a certain dispatch bad been forwarded by Prince Behwartzenberg to the Foreign-office in this country. NOW he (M.r. Wines) thought it very important that that dispatch should be laid before the House, for the tette of it, as it had appeared in the public journals, was, to say the least of it, of a very peculiar and painful character. He had asked his Right Herr. F,iend the chancellor of the Exchequer shortly atter the accession of the p resen t G ov ernment to office, wh ether he would have any objection to lay tho se p a p ers before the House, but ; his Ri g ht Hon. Friend was un w i llin g to p roduce 'ern, on the plea that the correspondence had not at that time been complete. But he w ould p ermit his Right Ron. Friend to say that such a plea merely meant that he did not find it convenient to produce the papers. again ask his Right Hon. Friend whether he i 4 any objection to produce the dis p atch addressed to `newer Granville by Prince Schwar tzenber g , and any ` ll wer which Lord Granville might ha ve made to that dispatch? If his Right Hon. Friend should fin d it con 'enient to produce, also, any correspondence which "light have taken place on the same subject since the accession of the present Government to office, the House "'QUM, no doubt, gratefully receive that addition to its storey o f information. xhe CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said his got. Friend seemed to belong to that sc hool of p olitics which believed that the essence of dip lomac y was mys tery; for he evidently thought it quite impossible that whenever a diplomatic interest was concerned a Minister ttid give a straightforward answer. His Honourable Friend had tome partial knowledge of the correspond ence to which he bad referred; and he had the other d ay asked him (the Chancellor of the Exche q uer) when b e would lay seme further papers before t he House. g 1) had then told his Hod!•Friend that the correspond ence was not complete, but that when it should be corn lete he would produce it. He bed at present to inform to Ron, Friend that the correspondence was not only e ctaplate, Init that it was nearly printed, and that when t should be fully printed, which would probably he in a day or.two, it should be laid bef ore the House.—(Hear, "' t r.) He could assure his Hon. Friend that his ques tion aa was in no way em b a rrassing. He could not su p - Vie that his Hon. Friend would then press h is motion a division; and he believed that he had himself en wftly fulfilled the promise he had given upon the subject. e°dr. M. MILNES said he did not accuse his Ri g ht fia Friend of having indulged in a n y m y ster y in that cave-ii He. only hoped that on every other subject answer of the Right Hon. Gentleman would be 'Vi r ally distinct. 4 1 - , ord J. RUSSELL said he took it for gra nted that his ° n• Friend would not press his m o tio n to a division after the statement of the Right Hon. Gentleman. .:The motion was then withdrawn. EGYPT AND THE PORTE. )&r• ANDERSON moved an address to the Crown for tx) , Pies of all correspondence between her M a j est y 's Go ernMent, her Majesty's Ambassador at C onstantino p le, yld her Majesty's agent and Consul-General in Egypt, ne the Ist day of January, 1850, relative to the at -7,lcated interference of the Sublime Porte i n the internal P asha of Egypt, by proposing to de p rive the of the power to ieflict capital punishment on ca rtiltt% convicted criminals, to construct r ailwa y s for the t hat improvement of and facility o f transit throu g h l • at country, and otherwise, and of all representations made by British subjects in reference thereto. He ob served that the country had a deep interest i n the ques tion now pending between the Ottoman Porte a nd the calle of Egypt. It was a favourite saying of the late : 14 , Mehemet Ali, that Egyp t had become the brid g e tween Europe and Asia. The centre of that bridge h i ec a desert a few years since, but now it was converted great highway of traffic, and numbers of camels h kt o 4 with merchandise, specie , and le tt e rs , p rivate, co mmercial, and governmental, regularly traversed t h e r ll 1 1 , th. The importance of this corres p ondence in a po ll°al, commercial, and social light , t h e Hou se would 1,„4 d.encily appreciate; and he might also o h s e r ve that the e.tatce b e tween Europe and the East was by i .. !.° route shortened about one fourth in time. ixt the House consider the inconveniences n r i eh would be felt if all th e advanta g es this route should be lost to this country. He 87 h 8 7eved that the British people would never submit to /rti a state of things; yet, it the proceedings o f the c lrte were allowed to go on unchecked, he anticipated th at the traffic along it would be nearly stopped , or , at ai l:events, s eriously impeded. He would refer to the t 1 :1 111 of the pretensions put forward by the Porte since 11 ,a accession of the present Pasha of Egypt. The latter 413 Menced some rather sweeping reforms, believing that rnY abuses existed under the former Administration. L found many (State) manufactories established,which 7_ o thou g ht o f no use; being of opinion that the proper m anufacture of Egypt was corn, which might be ex- Oh m ged for the commodities of other countries. The t * B 4 consequently broke up several of those manufac :Zing establishments and di smissed a number of em 'o6, many of whom were F r e nchmen, who went to :wristantinople, and there organized a conspiracy, hay tog for its object to deprive the Pasha of the govern kent Of Egypt, and reduce that country to the condi tion of an ordinary pashalte. Among other p retensions of the P orte was one which struck at the root of all government in It prive the gash gYoPfthe t • ;and that was an attempt to de power of inflicti n g ca p ital Punishments. — ( H e ar hear ) Without such a p ower ir , it would be utterly f possible to maintain subordina tion in the country, , or t o secure sa fety to life or pro perty. To carry out the objects which the enemies of 14 Pasha had at heart di ssensions had been industri ously fomented between the different members of his ra, pally, which, if f urther e xcited, mu s t l e ad to civil war, weause those relatives possessed l arge districts of laud, andhad great numbe rs of agricultural E tenantry under their control. Emissaries had also b een Bent to and th ey h a d created a con sid erable feeling of f .iniiugbyoOrt, e taloa by persuading the people that the P as h a had " authority, as the Sultan had taken all al honourin power awcy tom him. It might be asked, why could not a pgypt be Remarried as well by Turkey as by the Pash but, • maintain the 're * , he would say that he thought the nation . t .of this country was pledged to present in the position in which Mehemet Ali had been I „Pt e ld from 1841. To sh ow how impotent the Turk -I,' Government was to pro tect p roperty and person, Would read an extract from a letter received that day in -su f Constantinople :—" The weak administration the Turkish Government as to affordiug protection 0 — „, life or property, is made manifest by facts of number. Even in this capital we are scarcely in . .? secure from murder and theft than persons here g in the provinces; the only difference being, that gang s the acts are perpetrated during ''"'lge of organized thieves, whereas those in the country the night and by ta ke plaoo during the day and in sight and call of the h ues of the victims, and frequently within gunshot of Zell who are called guards. At Smyrna two c ases oc tintred not long since of a particularly glaringdescrip tion, viz.; I. that of the Dutch C on sul , who was taken o ft t of hi s own vineyard at 3 , P.M., and within call of his ec'nlie and kept by the bandi tti who i n f est the neigh bourhood of that city until his friends ransomed him for it th e Danish Consul-General, who was actually taken i,?lca his house' n the centre of a village of upwards of main houses, having a so-called military force of 200 ta ' t o,rig quartered in it. The payment of a sort of bl,ck J i ll by the Smyrna merchants to these robbers for per reeion to get the fruit and other produce brought there Shipment exempted from plunder is well known." He 1 7 50 recalled to the recollection of the House the mas 4ere of the Christians at Aleppo not long s ince. With e tch a state of things let the House contrast the safety 1 1 ".(1 security which existed in Egypt, and th en decide w hether there was any good reason for transferring the ittrernnaent of that country to Turkey. He reg retted naY that there was a general idea prevailing th at the th a s ha was not supported in a manner consistent with elusion which this country had given, and in con s observed, that though people had been talking of caench invasion of this country, they might possibly se e, h unless due attention was bestowed on the matters he submitted to the House, a French invasion on the Neehores of the Mediterranean and on the banks of Zee th at CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gated ._ls,t, the mitten of 1,0 Honenratle Nlenther realty led ,‘"u_t.erence to ore, ef the met_ important end di licate ruts of foreign politics , namely, the relations between ci l l_ r key and Egypt; and he could assure the Honourable -94 t1em412 that the conduct of the present epvernment, `"~ _ 1 { .. ; a•` T E SUN t 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. It the Hon. Gentleman 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 Lion. 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, it adopted, would lead to the production of a variety of information referring to ne gotiations now pending. The attention of the Govern ment 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 coevititien of the great importance to the interests of this country, arid or the world generally, that those relations should be estab lished on a proper and legitimate basis. Ho felt it his duty, therefore, to oppose the motion of the Bon. Gen tlemen, and he dial so on the intelligible and wimple ground that the transactions to which he referred were in an 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 hi g heBt importance and delicacy, and thought ho was quite right in opposing this motion. Ho thought the Hon. Gentle man who made this motion was mistaken as regarded the guarantqe of England. This country was a party to the settlement of Egypt as an hereditary pashalic in the family of Mehemet Ali, bat 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 most friendly terms with the Sultan arid with the Pasha of Egypt, and we might therefore not only give counsel generally, but might even advise the Sultan to allow the Pasha the power of inflicting capital punish ment, without reference to Constaidinople, 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. HUME said that in 1839 we dispatched to Egypt 50 sail-of-the-line to conquer the Pestle and to place Egypt under the Sultan, wi h the guarantee of England and France that certain powers snould be continued to the Pasha. There were documents in which it appeared that the Sultan, while he was speaking in the fairest and most fl uttering 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 regrettel to find that there appeared to be an intention to destroy the treaty so guaranteed; but, as the Right Hen. Gentleman said the production of these documents would be injurious to the public service, he trusted his Hon. Friend would with draw bis 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 meintenence 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.—Hear, 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 mulgaied, not only had the Christian people living under the dominion of the Stilt ei been treated in a totally different manner from that in which they tv.re before treated, but the principles of good government had been established to a great extent. If the Pacha of Egt pt could so put his case to the Court of Constantinople as to make it appear that he would only allow capital punishment to follow on a jus: trial and fair conviction, he did not believe that the Sultan would deny to the Pacha 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 Suit mit could ever have seriously contemplated the prevention of such a gnat improvement in what might still be considered his own dominions. He be lieved that the present Pacha had the real welfare of Egypt at heart, and would try to improve his country by solid and practical reforms; aud, it the questions between him and the Porto were left to the mediation of Sir S. Canning and Mr. Murray, he (Mr. Manes) 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 r a ilroad 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 ruche 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 much 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 in by allowing them to go to any part of the country they pleated. 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 TOW N 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. Gentlenetn said that the gentlemen from whom the petition emanated were com paratively personally disinterested, and that their eno• We in addressing that House was to obtain, hrough its medium, protection from the deep wrong inflicted on the poor of the town of Ennis. The river Fergus ran through the town, taking its source about eight or nine miles above it. A loan was obtained by the proprietors in he neighbourhood of the town for the Board of Works to effect the drainage of the lands near the river; but, instead of commencing an outlet to facilitate the exit of the water, at the instigation of the gentlemen mimed 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 Eunis. — (A laugh.) 'Under these circusustancee, 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 matter on the late Go vernment, year, believed that the Right Hon. 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 he had no doubt that the owner of those tolls (Colonel Wyndham) would assent. The Hen. Gentleman concluded by moving that the Board of Works in Ireland be direc , ed forth with to proceed with the completion of the drainage above the town of Ennis. Sir C. WOOD said, that he lied on former occasions pointed out to his Hon. Friend that, before any thing could be done practically in the matter, it would be necessary to have a Bill passed under which local Com missioners could be appointed tor administering any loan that the Government might make for the desired purposes. The CHANCELLOR Of the EXCIIEQUER said he had only had an opportunity that day of reading the petition enforced 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 Repeal, therefore, rather to those proprietors than to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sir L. O'BRIEN said, that the reason why t he pro prietors had re f use d th e ir second assent was, that the Board of Works bad expended the futile first grant allowed them to for the im p ro veme nt tiattt of the Fergus in a manner so en tirelyproprietors saw it would not remu aeratehad arisen under the NapIER advance their money. his attention to the observed, that the greatest confu;ion Drainage Act. He had been de votingvsaurbiject, and he hoped before intelligible measurelament satisfaction ted.— the meeting of the n ew executed, — (gear.) wh to ich ha w v o e ul p d re.pared some simple and in Right and d at the state these works to be satistactorily Learned Attor ney GROGAN expressed his system that had b eentL3:7ued enable (Hear.) had been inflicted upon nineeyntj General,ust m made r b u y n t d h e e r of late great hardship landed proprietors. In almost every case the ostimertiesdh expense of these works had been greatly exceeded,. in some cages the amount tied been nearly trebled. and The O'GORMAN MAHON briefly replied. Until that evening he had never heard a word about the mode of settling the question by bringing in a Bill, b u t „ w that that course had been sugge.ted he looked upon his object as accomplished.. and intimated his intentiou of intiodueing a Bill at es cern, a period as possible. Tlati motion was tnen 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, 1851, with its en closures, complaining of the obstructions and discou ragements he had received to his commercial affairs in Borneo at the 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. Ile believed his Hon, Friend near him (Mr. Drummond) was anxious to take that op portunity of renewing an old debate with reference to Sir J. Brooke, but he beg ge d t o assure hi s H o n. Friend that his r'retent motion bed no reference to that ques- Wee, but V."Eiti itiOrt ly There wou ld of n 0 , 11 - e rei m iew n in D g ß tf u le m o m ld o d N eb il ate sai li d er w ea h f; L ij h . already preduced. ci temple teetto3 f or lion. Friend's putting repeated •iloti ces on re objected to was his the paper LON DON, 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 Hon. Gentleman set down in his notice that Mr. Burns was " prosecuting his lawful commercial 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 tleman, Mr. Burns, fell into the hands of these Bor nean pirates, and lost his ship and his head in conse quence, that he also lost 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 abjection 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 be- possessed of this monomania, that there was nothing so delightful as blackening the cha rect-r in Oist House of.orie of the moat deserving public a rvtsnts that the country ever bad. Mr. HUME deriicd that he hid any other object in view than to obtain legitimate information, and he asked the House whether there was one word of insinua tion or reflection upon the character of any man in the notice which he bact moved for? The motion was then iigreed to. Mr. kIENLEY obtained leave and brought in a Bill to enebh? her Majesty to carry into effect arrangements made with foreign powers for the apprehension of sea men whu desert from their ships, which was read a first time. On the motion of Mr. FRE WEN, a Bill was brought in and rend a first time, to promote the building of churches in benefices,that have no church, and to pre vent the union of hem-flees above a certain value. MANCHESTER AND SALFORD EDUCATION SCHEME. Mr. M. GII3SON moved that the folldwing Gentle men be nominated a Select Committee on Manchester and Silford Education:—Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. William Miles, Viscount Melgund, Mr. Monsell, Mr. Bright, Marquis of Blandford, Lord John Russel', Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Heald, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Cardwell, Mr Fox, Mr. Tier Seymer, Mr. Brotherton, and Mr. Child. Mr. PETO 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 tour 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 i❑ earnest—that they had done the work committed 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 favoitr of a voluntary system of education ; but that name had been objected to, and the, name of Mr. Heald had been substituted for it. He should not object to the appointment of his Hon. Frit , nd 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. W ALPOLE, 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 pus! poned. Mr. HINDLEY concurred in recommending that the appointment should be postponed ; and this course was ultimately adopted. Oo 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 tho House :—Mr. Stephensob, 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. The Copyright Amendment Bill was ordered to be recommitted on Friday next. ST. ALBANS DISFRANCHISEMENT BILL. The Report on this Bill having been brought up, Mr. BELL said he did not mean to oppose the recep tion of the report. He thought he had done as much as could be expected from him under the circumstances. He only wished to say that he hoped the crusade against S'. 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, brieg 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 th a t th e N o bl e Lord who was lately at the head of th e G overnment was, in point of fact, to move the second rea di ng o f hi s Corrupt Prac tices at 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. HUNIE 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. Members on the subject by proposing a motion to that effect. The report on the St. Albans Disfranchisement Bill was then received. The Consolidated Fund (8,000,0000 Bill was read a third time and passed. Tho 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 Ifouse adjourned at Half-past Eight o'clock. PARLIAMENTARY DIVISIONS. (From the Votes awi Proeeelimos of the [louse of Common. TUESDAY. MARCH 23. SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE MINING DISTRICT WATER COJLPANY BILL. Order for Second Reading read; notion 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 Muse divided : MINORITY—AYES, 75. Anderson, Arthur Fordyce. A. D. Milligan. Robevt Anson, General Forster, M. Mundy, William Armstrong, It. 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 Beholedeld, 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 Tennent, R. J. Childers, J. W. Hutchins, E. J. Thicknesse, R. A. Clay, James Jackson, William Thompson, Colonel Cobden, Richard' Johnstone, James Thompson,.George Colebrooke, Sir T. Jolliffe, Sir W. G. Trelawny, J. S. Copelandillderman Kershaw, James Vivian, J. H. Cowan, Charles Langston, J. H. , Walmsley, SJ. Davie, Sir LL Lemon, Sir C. Wawn, J. T. Dawes, Edward Littleton, E. R. Willcox, Brodie Drummond, Home Lockhart, A. E. Williams, John Duncombe, T. Long, W. Wilson, Matthew Ellis, John Lushington, C. Wrightson, W. B. Elliot, J. E. Mackie, John Wyvill, Marmaduke Evans, Sir De Lacy M'Cullagh, W. T. rELLEan Ferrer, James M`Gregor, John Thornely, Thomas Matheson, Colonel Villiers, _Charles Foley, J. H. MAJORITY—NOES, 89. Adderley, C. B. nb. ii. • Miles, P. W. S. Frewe , E M il es, R. M. Archdall, Captain , A. E. Fuller, Viscount Molesworth,Sir W. Arkwright, George Galway, Mullings, J. R. Bailey, Joseph Freestun Colonel.: Maunsell, T. P. Gaskell, J. M. Nugent, Sir Percy Baillie, H. J. Baird James Gooch, E. S. O'Connor, Feargus Bankes, G. , G o ulburn, Henry Perfect, Robert Barron, Sir H. Pigott, Francis Barrow , W. H. Hall, Sir B. Powlett, Lord W. Bateson, T. Hamilton, Lord C. Pugh, David Bramston, T. W. Hastie, Archibald - R en ton, John C. Fridges, Sir B. H a y e s, Sir E. Brisco M. Ricardo, Osman , Burghley, Lord G H w en y l n e , y, I I j o . w w el . Herbert, H. A. Kushout, Captain Carew, w. P. Ilildyard, lt. C. Scott, F. Chaplin. W. J.Scully, Francis Charteris. Francis Hill, Lord E. Sidney, Alderman Christopher, Smythe, George CharlesT. B. Clerk sir G. ' Hope; Sir J. Spooner, Rickard Clive, H. B. Howard, P. H. Stafford, Augustus Cocks, T. S. Hudson, G. Stanley, Edward Codrington, Sir W. Inglis, Sir R. H. Start, 11. G. Conolly, Thomas Keogh, William Sullivan, Michael Duckworth, Sir J. Knox, Colonel . it. A. Hiliini,dlYieayrd, Thompson, Alderman Duncombe, 0. Lennox, Lord A. Vesey, Thomas Duncuft, John Lygon, General Wall, C. B. Dunne, Colonel Mackenzie, W. F. Wynn, H. W. 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 in 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 t o a d vance, made by , the emissaries of Messrs. Wiseman Swift, and. Co. : " Lord Chamberlain's. office; March 23.—Notice is hereby given, that the preQntation 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 required authority."—ffera/d. , if DN EVENING, E PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS From the Votes I G 'r o ole t ef t s s of c Zl l : l lrse of Commons. 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; The undernamed 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 Railwey ( Wandsworth to Croydon). Middlesbrough and Guisbrough 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 [louse of Cemnious on onday, it is clear that the Government have, as some of the daily pipers expressed it, snubbed the Volunteer Rifle 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 are a more powerful defensive armament than a Militia, may is „- Cully vote against a Militia alttigteher 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 80,000 men suremonable 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 onlyanake 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 againstanother's. the t thing, is in t Thehe trying of one maker's plan 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 vantage-of 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, that these six or seven shots might be traced in a corresponding diminution of the American executive. It was my 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 of blethtehL:snpdavvretheer acted is th w e ho sp r a i i t d o , f , T the e i na sstep nearer." How the Landwehr youth kept himself provided with ammunition, there was not opportunity rigidly to inquire ; but I presume that when he had composed or sung his so n g of " Fatherland," and made libation as he might to the fraulein beyond the Rhine, be 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 upon that subject. There was a regular general who made Leased conspicuous in Par • liament by attacks on the Volunteer Corps and their commanders, and particularly on an Alder man of London 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 lull uniform, summoning him to surrender, and whom he sent away iu rather a rough manner. A few hours afterwards I brought to him another fashion of negotiator,—one of the Voluntarios Patrioticos de Buenos Aires, —in precisely the jacket which thost, who saw the E n glish Volunteers will recollect, blue with red in the seams, —but of the rest I speak not, beyond a distinct notation that his nether u I m say, e that at the sight of him, all man was cased in corduroy and h e h a d a cast in his eye , which last may possibly even y e t help to identify the meritorious citizen in his pea ce f u l retre at. You will not • d er b y el p ie er v f e ec m tl e y when setup m Colonel Birch rose before my eyes . And to this not member rof our general surrender the Ch urc h o f St. Domingo and all of us that were therein. I t was a judgment if there ever was one. - And so shall i t be wit h more regular generals, that laugh at V o l unteers. On Tuesday the princip a l subj e ct was s motio n on the removal of the Hop duty. N othing was said of the re moval of the duty on forei g n H o p s ; though this was stated to he virtually prohibitory, except when there is an extraordinary failure i n the - English crop. It may be collected therefore, that th e o bj ect is to get rid of the duty on home-grown hops, and leave the dut y on foreign. If there was the conv i ction at Bradford which I wish there was, that you deal' in foreign h o p s and everything else that can b e b rought chea p e r from abroad, von would have considerabl e Ws • to make to this. are But I am afraid friends objections not yet up to that mark. For the present, the lion has been l et in, and no doubt will take good care of himself. I am, Sir, yours very sincerely, A.N OLD REFORM ER. Blackheath, March 24, 18 52. ELECTION INTELLIGENCE. Lord Naas was returned o n M on d ay CO LERAINE. w i t h o ut oppos Lion, as Mr. Wilson Kennedy did n ot dernsuid a poll. CHURCH STRETTON, TUESDAY.--A vacan cy having taken place in the representatio n o f t h e southern division of Shropshire by the appoint ment o f Vi sc ount Newport to the situation of Vice. Chamberlain in her M a j est y 's Household, an election was held in consequence to-day at Church Stretton, by the High Sheriff, Hobert Burton, Esq. Sir BALDWIN LEIGHTON, BART., proposed the Right Hon. Viscount Newport. JOHN Itt,CK. Eiq. , seconded the nomination. No ottp.r candidate having appeared, The HIGH SHERIFF dech,red that the Right Hon. Orlando George Charles Bridgman, Vi s count Newport, had been d u l y electe d.—(Cheers.)' Vi s count NEWPORT then a d dressed the e l ec tors, and the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the High Sheriff. comm only called DEARTH ON TFIE 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, the Tyrol, Cassel, Nie derlausitz, &o. In Posen there are regular bands of robbers, driven on by hunger, so that cava l r y are obliged to patrol the roads to prot , ot travellers f rom attack. In Westphalia, beans boiled with roots h ave s uperseded 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 daughters and then herself, in despair at the approach of starvation. I n t h e neigh bourhood of Dantztc the failure of the potato crop has induced several landowners to turn their attention to the so-called Russian potato, which is at present very little cultivated here; itissaid to co n t a i n from 30 to 36 per cent. more saccharine matter than beet=root; if true, this would be worth the attention of the company about to manufacture beet-root sugar in Ireland. [ADVERTISEMENT.] —Declaration of aDutch soldier who fought at Waterloo, cured by Holloway's Ointment have cured me of several ulcerous sores,Ointment way e Pills which and hana dd y in s P gr il a ls tit a u a d d e Pills "4, J. de Swart, publicly state that Il o il o their origin in imperfectly healed wounds rece iv ed in the battle of Waterloo. The pain was infinite, and now for two years been enjoying the best of in he o a nw li ss ; e vi d nhe to my bed always during the harvest Ointment, whi c h c c o u n re se d g m ue e n i c n e a o v f e i r l y sin s g ho r t o t l i l m ow e a ; pub lish this testimony. ( Signed) J. de Swart, of Lent, on the Vossepels, near NymeAen, Holland, Oct. 4th, 1849." Sold by all Druggists, and, at Professor Holloway's Establishment, 444, Strand, London. " CURSING" A MAGSTEATE 1111 r A CLERGYMAN.— A most extraordinary, novel, and exciting scene was wit nessed at the Flordon station, on Saturday evening. When the five o'clock train from Norwich arrived there, the pas sengers were much surprised at seeing the Rev. Mr. Moore, the curate of the parish, standing in the passage of the station-house, dressed in his canonicals. It was, however, soon understood that he was waiting there to " curse " a neighbouring magistrate, who was expected by the train ; and who had given him some presumed offence. When the 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 bread," &e.,,&c. ;and thus he went on until the "cursed man" drove ofi. We underF.trand that the matter has been laid before the bishop; and that the reverend gentleman, in default of, finding sureties to keep the peace, was committed on Saturday night to the Castle, by Edward Howe, Esq.— Norwich Mercury. for which scolllnelfihyna. M A it C ii 0 4. t 852. SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. FROM TlT't 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- e day evening and performed the part of commentator on O. the figures which the new Secretary recited. This re- Ti warkable division of labour between those who pre- Ci pared the estimates and those who adopt them, enabled m 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 J 1 press" in particular. With a modest announcement that th he proposed to " say something in favour of the late el board," Admiral Berkeley reviewed, first, the case of the sei Megaera; next, the subject of the " preserved meats;" Yt thirdly, the performances of the Admiralty in the trans- in port of troops to the Cape; and, finally, the general re- fie sources of the navy as organized by the late board fer to the purposes of national defence. With'what success he H conducted his arenment we can soon qtialify the reader "e for deciding. " I will NeWn," said admiral Berkeley, m with the case of the Megsera." This "case,". as evil! of be molly reoollected, was constituted by the notorious It fact that the steamer in question not only broke down Cl or became disabled between Dever and Plymouth, but b was so laden as to make her - prospects - fur the voyage v anything but desirable. And what, upon these points, i was Admiral Berkeley's defenoel " I think." said. he, that this has been satisfactorily settled by the late First Lorll of the Admiralty, and Ido not think that featly fea more words' ' if any, are necessary on the subject. I conceive that the answers of my Right Hon. F r i en d h as butt:lc:4,l3oy disposed of the intautous stories which have been invented about that vessel?' This is what Admiral. Berkeley said about the Megtera—tbia and. no more. It is a pity he should have forgotten that before a 'defend ant can gain a suit he has to convince-other-persons be bides himselt. 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 ho wished to impart his own convictions to others, he should have done something more than merely endorse the imperfect :apology of a fellow defendent. The case, as we 'neve obierved, involved two points—first, the break down, and, secondly, the interior arraugements of the. vessel. As tieere 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 contributed 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. Fur these statements we relied, among other sources of in formation, on the communication of a corrpapondent who published the evidence of his own senses with the authority of hi. proper signature. The Rev. William Boller, rector of the Holy 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 geese; 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 inflicted on the troops, even if the consequences did not involve the " risk of life to England's best and bravest sons." 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 Megsera's ultimate performances, though we are aware that her passage to Madeira corresponded as nearly as poseible 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 enga e ed 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 Megsera 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 hey 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 Megasru. It will be in everybody's re• collection, indeed, that this vessel was reported to have been absolutely lost, and in point of fact she is again considerably overdue at this very moment. The Hellespoat scree-steamer left the Cape on the 28th of December and arrived at Plymouth on the 31st of January; the Bosphorus lett on the 3d of February and arrived on the 3i 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 in=t.; but the Vulcan, though she left the Cape on the 2d 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 sach other, in the space of 24 hours." Such is the Gal 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 some effect in the debate on ourdefences, 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 a 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, the boldness of which was chiefly manifested in this— that it took for granted that the 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 JuLts 1847. Let us .how what we mean 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: — " Tee 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 fur 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 6We are in a minority we mean to conduct the whole b u siness of the country with that minority ; we mean o go through the session, and when the session is over we mean to exercise our own d iscretion whether we shall dis December, Parliament or not—it may perhaps be dissolved s in and then we shall propound the measure 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 exact l y similar statement. He said . " I had the pleasure of' hearing the Noble Earl at the head of the Government iu a late speech of bis, when h e sa id— , I know that I am in an undoubtedtherefore min to or the ity in the House of Co mmons, and I appeal forbearance of the House.' I deny absolutely that in the whole course o f our Parliamentary history such an admission was ever made by any Minister, or that any su ch appeal for forbearance w I challenge any one to point out ever asked.—(Cheers.) any such admission, or any such request , as that made by Lord Derby.—(Hear,, bear.) I say that a du e homa g e 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 country." A n d then, thirdly, came another ex-Minister, Mr. Gladstone. He said:-- "If I have any fault to find with the Right Hon. it is that he seems di s p ose d to avo id G e ntleman's speech , recog nising that there is something improper and irre gular to the constitution in the existence of a Govern ment which is in a minority in the Commons." And again:— The point which I desire to bring before the House , and on which I wish the discussion to be concentred, ife that this House must obtain in form and substance an assurance of the intention of the Government to advise the Crown to dissolve Parliament as soon as the busi- ness necessary for the circumsta nces o f t h e momen t s hall be dispatched. , ' Nose here we have three men of the first class as poll- Icisns agreeing in a statement which utterly " ignores" i use a modern phrase) the whole Parliamentary history 1846-1847. In 1841 a new Parliament was summoned. ie first thing it did was to dismiss the Melbourne ibinet; and to carry Sir Robert Peel into office by a _ajority of 91. That majority was subsequently a little increlised, and it is a fact, altogether beyond dispute, that in that Parliament, which sat from August, 1841, to ulyi 1847, Lord John Russell could never reckon more iani27o to 280 supporters; while the Conservatives, lect .r 1 by the people expressly to put him out of office, 'ere above 360 in number. In June, 1846, Sir Robert 'eel having introdtieed a lamentable and fatal division to he ranks of the Conservative party, was ejected o office, by a momentary coalition, exactly similar t at which has just overthrown Lord John Russell. isLordship speaks with some bitterness of the Pro cti niits whor' - eoterl with Lord Palmerstpn on the ili a question , and, thus . caused his ejecdou from fie . It is r s,sonv l enient to him to forget that in l 4 he himself mhileged to climb into office by a pre sel 'similar - votoij 'He pushe \ ct Sir . Pi Bert . Peel from a eat, sod regaiued the Premiership"for himself, by iti g with 4rgcl,,(4eorgieAllentinck aaut the Protection __ts, to destroy the Fee Trade Povernment of' Sir Ri , ..) at Peel. And now, forsooth, he makes it a i cha 7e against some of the Protectionists that they pre ferr d Lord Palteeteten's, Militia Bill, to. his own! l , But lo return: Lord John Russell was sent for in 184 , preCisely as Lord D4by wa s sent for in 185 2 , be eau , the existing Ministry being ?verthrowv, this Sovereign saw in him the best apparent hope of a new G, Nernment. Hn accepted ufficea Had he a majority in the douse of Commons? Nut for one single moment. Yeti this never disturbed him. , He knew that he had onl —as Lord Derby has now—some 260 or 280 ple ged'supporters in the Lo wer H ouse . B u t t hi s did not i l Liis gq , him; for he calculated, and he had a right to cal culAte, that the remaining 360 or 370 M em h ers wo rld nevtv combine, at least for the present, to throiv him out of °pee.. He wait on safely,..but without- a majority. He did not dissolve.. On the contrary, he carried Par liament all through the business 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-Radicals in the aggregate. And yet we are now told, by three ex-Ministers in mat for a Government to think of holding office for even three or four months without having a majority in the House of Commons, is " utterly opposed to the spirit of the Constitution!" So say Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham, and Mr. Gladstone. But what will men not say who have been 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 to the Con tinental Revolutionists : " What ought to be at present the snot d'ordre, the rallying cry of parties? All is comprised in one word— Action—action, one, European, incessant, logical, bold, and universal I 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 killed 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 weak or diseased brains, an organization which cannot issue except front the co•operation of all the human fa culties in notion, and of having substituted their so litary I for the collective I of Europe,' of having , spoken in the name of St. Simon, Fourier, Cabet, or any other, there where the point was to destroy the re vealing agents for the profit of the continued revelations, XL Lid to inscribe over the trout of the temple, God is God, and Humanity is his Prophet!' Fur having forgotten Ac tion For having said;' What France owes to Europe is the solution ot the organization of labour.' For having .lighted the voice of such of her children as called on all dissentient parties to organize themselves on a common ground to bear the brunt ot battle — Fra nce has arrived, by Rome, at the shame of Dec 2. The whole of demo cratic Europe must now aid France i n 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 which shall rise, not iu the name of 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 are ready to sacrifice themselves for 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 re/stating, 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 transport a ti on , a nd 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 MAZZINI," THE CRYSTAL PALACE. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,—l have read Will surprise the report of the Com mission appointed by the Treasury to make inquiries on the cost and applicability of the Crystal Palace. The whole bearing of my evidence was iu favour of the plan suggested by me, and admitted by the Commis sion to be the beat proposed, viz., to convert the Crys tal Palace into a winter garden; but the only portion of my evidence which has been 'adverted to in the report is a detached sentence, the meaning of which bar been totally misunderstood. It the opportunity which I requested, and which was afforded to others, of making verbal corrections in my printed evidence had been given me, I should have made In my opinion, be this sentence clearer; but as it stands now, the sense which has been attributed to it arises from a strange misapprehension. I never would have recommended the conversion of the palace into a winter garden, if I had not felt convinced that it was for the public 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 of erecting and filling up an edifice of the kind and size de novo. The destruction of the buildin a g nd W t h h e e n r i e ta fe p r u e re ne V e as i ,n e has teh ae ' e r a eq z u o ired for the ' been so nearly completed would, wanton sacrifice of property, report to at t a h l e es p s os e s x i p b e il i i i t e y e o t f hi c n onwstoruucpldtah)lbacge necessary misrepresentationou da y o o n f the y evidence, Crystal ‘ foolish but it' In the eves of the public to the Vandalism which thelreport of the not only on b i l y ind a I have the honour to be your Commission sanctions. moat o bedient leeeof ' m servant; odern JOSEPH PAXTON. Devonshire-house, March 23. THE CRYSTAL PALACE. The public were on Dionday, for the first time, ad s ; mated without charge inta'the interior of this in P m en i tx , preservation were well illustrated building, and its popularity and the interest taken_ ~ f by the . hum'' ' people who availed themselves of the P mvilego t hus afforded by n t y na t 3 t 3 ie 3o 7 o t o ra v c i t s o i z. rs. Durinyg theeiodn,gi The " ll seemed greatly class from the peerage downwards, an d a specw i e . m a ny y ed th t e o r e e :;y e imprebsed with the grandeur of th e ght had never beet, there before, g and n them t s h to e l o Wr d lie . :rn: The site of the P th an e i l n o B s m t pro be heard eagerly P minent objects of th e her chief trophies of the crystal fountain and of the ot her all thus carefully indicated. nave and transept were themselves on benches and quietly Many seated vast yet regular proportions contemplated . the which,.vas seen cle i e lb E in it i h n ibiti nt their a n red unadornedobatructsioiains_ wonderful effect. The ofto the e e in v t i e e r w io,r, a na a ver y sim plicity, have certainlyho area of the edifice from end . to lored and the troops of cbd horoughly exP 1 d end wore t es le playing about sugg te h ow dren and yOUDg 'MOP . well so vast a covered space might be adapted e , s i ly and of . galleries and the w innocent recreation. Willis's grand purposes __ for organ nn • ' lig vestiges of Gl a ss Company are now the sole rema ining . d the immense mirrors of the Tham es Plate Exhibition. The retention of t the Saturday last it prove a considerable advantage. On d to rmance rew was played by Mr. Best, and the en d induced a sale of gether not less than 4,000 people, .he organ is likely to 1,200 catalogues. Now that the int erior is empty, musio is heard with much greater effect than formerly, and the performance will be repeated on VI Tednesdays and Saturdays until farther notice. The pt tblic ought not to lose the opportunity now afforded them. of visiting the Palace free of charge, and judging for tl iemselves how far they are interested in its retention. 1,2 a few weeks hence, unless they bestir themselves, it mill disappear almost as suddenly as it arose, to be remetubered only as a splendid vision—the phantasmagoria of human i n _ dustry, in 1851. HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE. Somewhat later in the season than usual, but .welconse . soon or late, comes the programme of her Majesty's , Theatre for the ensuing year. The summer which is _ before us hardly presents the same inducements to ma- - nagerial ardour as those held out in the Great Exhibi tion year. We cau anticipate no swarms of foreigners crowding across the Channel, nor, still more profitable, 'region s o f ,- prov i nc i a l s fl oc ki ng up to the metropolis from ever, no o k an d c o rner of England, J.L'elund, and Scot lead. ElPeziouvering tronbles, moteocer, threaten .to some extent tamer the seaeon, and to break up the-gay period when the West-end is crotvded, and all the sights and all the sound. of Loudon tire in full swing; but we are glad to perceive that Mr. Lumley dismayed by none or these portents, and after all they may turn out to be mere portents,, As. u s usual in the .field —vigorous and energetic ,mie , inf . yere ; , that h e h ass onectcd 411 old troupe around him, with considerable and important ad ditton-:: and that he appears to be perfeetly_pr.s.per , d end eager for the rustling campaign. k'or, after all, tier Ma jesty Thea , _re is theolo and-chosen home of Italian opera. 1.,s enceinte is full of association and reminiscence. We couple it with all the great artistic retiowne of It has seen the early "roar and the -early triumphs of those notabilities of Italian snag who seem no longer to be destined to awak6n its echoes; while t h e reee ir tions of the ballets which it has given to the world—of the queens of the dance who have sometimes reign ed in individual majesty—sometimes concluded a congress of terpsichorean' sovereignty upon its 'hoards—are all fraught with pleasurable sensations, which we may be excused if we are glad to look forward to again. Th at 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 - keiff on the qui iive. An active and enterprising competition is necessitated. The old beaten ways are felt to be -do 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 beno 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 oe awe to do lull justice:— Don Giovanni Norma Nozze di Figaro La Sonnambula Il Alatrimonio Se- La Favorite greto Il Barbiere Lucia di Lammer- Semiramide muir La Gazza eadra Puritani Lucrezia Borgia L'Elisir d'Amore Linda di Chamouni Don Pasquale Otello Cenerentola La Figlia del Beg- Ernani gimento 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 of anticipation. We refer to the production of a new grand opera, Casilda, the composition of his Royal 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 unconnected with 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. More than one of hid operas are well known upon the German stage, and we are glad to have an opportunity of judging for 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 reproducing 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 sad Gotha. Roberto Divers= Il Giuramento Guglielmo Tell Torquato Taw Tancredi Roberto it Dia volo Pietro l'Eromita La Tempests Florinda, and II Prodigo The second novelty positively promised is an opera, not actually new, bat 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 Ame 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 his orchestral scoring is the work of a consummate musician bringing a strong individuality of taste to bear upon a thorough command of the resources which he possesses. The opera ot Martha hiss, doubt less, bees written so as to develop the peculiar vocal talents of its heroine—Madame Sontag—and as such may be anticipated as a rich and stilling treat. Among the conditional announcement is one that " an opera by the great maestro, Meycrbeer, will be, most probably, produced during the season, written expressly for Madame Sontag." Of Meyerbeer's operas we can never he said to be certain until the curtain actually rises upon them. The ‘, great;ma,estro" is a very fastidious personage, and, as he does not write for considerations of personal advantage, he 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 beat; 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. elude Madame Sontag, Madame Cruvelli, and the new comer, ot 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 Zerlina, and Mademoiselle Wagner (as we conjecture) the Donna Anna. With any distribution, however, including th e three names, the cast will be singularly strong. Besides the actual works which we have mentioned as to be produced for th e first time, we are promised, in general terms, " many n ovelties." The Saxe Cobo urg opera and Floto w ' s work are onl y p articularized as to be amongst th e earliest. Th e com pany includes all the principal names of last , year with important additions. Madame Sonta g we have m entioned. In herself sheieverla host, and:ever welcome, a as bringing back the purest and moat brilliant style of the purest and most brilliant days of the ItalianOper . Next to Sontag we fin d t he n ame of Mme. Fiorentini an con tralto, o ld favourite, who bas been lately winning golden o pinions in Italy, and who will betoceozrediitaeh kat n strongly ca lled up around her by her cordially stwillelcome(' hieker e sens• back. Mdlle. Ida Bertrand will be, as before, the tra lto, and Mille. Sofia Cruvelli, flushed with h e er rdiesgiarneetorifumenpthhsu,smiaasmy b t e han hexptec of Fidelio, Norma , andatet clwhgielhy dramatic u Lucrezia, Borgia.. inter pretations We have not heard her, but her Wagneris to England, and we believe that amongst the ladies Mdlle. the new corner. fame has preceded her o th o e mm N a e n w di G ng erm am an oa a n r t tist of a interest. energy. The debut will be and will excite universal i we are to anticipate in To the list of gentle d ramatic talent, force, and very anxiously anticipated, find again s several additions have been made. Gardoni ret urns Calzolari---zil m tinlagiliaCent soprano, with a - g all the omi- • notwithstanding all . nova reports about his his sta te of health. With him we Signor Pardini, S ignor Melva , than three—Signab and Signor Lablaches concludethe male company, not including _ the list of than are not less. whom old and well-known fr i en d s- The two Ing the new comers of al favourite during il" the last opera season at Paris—. Sjgnor 8• • know nothing—and Signor mum of whom we Ferlotti, who has, we believe, been ‘,l34l,sini, a we ' 11-known barytone from Italy. Signor hi e American tour. The above ssenetti re-appears after gers we must wait until list calls for no lengthened comment. The known names are well known. Fotrh tehceonstrdiantional engagements is that they Among' come. • i the tenor, the conclusion of which expected. l a stated to be dail y Of Signor Pieg r n ' l ' The ba ll e t was som ewhat neglected last sea son, bat 13 be 9rrangsnients for the present year are promising and r illi a nt, and in clude, not onl y sev era l of the old favour tea ii,.s exe cutants, but several novelties for th em to dance _ a ktdlle. Cerito has been engaged, and will appear,we resume, early in the season; and Mille. Gay Stephen s ' ) i we take it, will open the campaign in a new Spanialt 4 ver tissement, entitled El Duende, which will be per, I formed on the opening evening. Another welcome ballet ~ engagement is that of Mdlle. Caroline Rosati. Among the choregraphic Dii minorts we find the names of Wiles. Rosa, Mathilde, Lamoureux, Emilie, and Pas. cales. It seems yet uncertain whether Carlotta Grisi - :Will return, bat her admirers will be pleased to learn that " a proposal for an engagement of two months" has also been forwaroed to the lady in question, who is now a' St. Petersburgh, to commence at the termination of , ler present engagement at the Russian ca p ital. A ne w talian ballet, compos ed ex p ressl y for the theatre, is an_ isounced for immediately atter Easter. The compositi on will, we presume, introduce Mdlle. Cerito. The opening opera will be Maria de Rohan, intro- • diming Signor Ferlotti. Mr. Balfe has, we believe, re turned, from Paris, where he went after the production' progress. 1852, giving pro -461 his opera at Drury-lane, and the preliminary rehear.' y ls The andcompeti severe,tio competition between n o t!: o h n o l u y s houses express li no s salel, hueare a t c h t e n n i lly commencesi ncourse theof aettso mise of divers events of interest, and of an active and d bu ou s hope that managerial tact and executive skill wi ll be properly appreciated, and fully It y b e e ar s ' tea T d rewarded, at whichever ,establishment they are displayed. Died, on Fridv, 11rarch 19, at Gwern Vale House, Brecknockshire, after a long illness, John GYnnev, Es+) aged 72, deputy-lieutenant for Brecknockshire, also Justice of the peace for the counties of Monmouth and Brecon. He served throughout the Peninsular war as lieutenant in the 14th Light Drag oons, being twice severely wounded, and" was present in the three several eng agements —namely, Sa-• lamanca, Fuentes d'Onor, an d Talavera—for which he re,,, ceived a three-bar m e d a l from her Gracious Maiestr.