The Sun. — London, England, 1855-03-27 00:00:00

a5. , • ,, .....' n. cEIT NCE. yesterday a in prical ; (includini tion), c°1:11, at 51 1 ,Cods . s at od. M a rket ussian trad Fridai; acc ede .0 , can &we: nelnelon 4%! questioi.. tion o,i e 1 since, life 4 tter shossi., deriv"l,ol d the I`, n r , 33. one ats fo r „„ . S ti l 19 gliel ,-- ., lag P r l . but a° '' flide ~ su sing• , i stana•„'' upon I f ; ortaw" . Bank s . ," perhol-'" , !w ard, , its frvt to trabay in 111 ill 24oPh ~,rlll : poet 0 1 17u t, ,s tc u 'r t_40 )0, the ' BO a .5 5 0 nthe s 1:1t. 00 04 rest' AI I T° n t( s I ro i l e slooir opulatb°P clYf A ' " t $ S f r°l3l a( ; a tte)3 k 01 0 S ," ,C, C Sir S. sit z sfery 8 hal t( IS I°s ' g 7t11631`1 a nd " 01 , 4 0 11 bey' i 1 , 11 rark s ) , 5 putcfr o Cout s ,ro ces 0 sto 9 • dittx ' ; 01 'urge- 1 1.0 8 , to 9 , o,9,tesr u jic n►: Dcl .3f at Alic :' lg c Ag ri a No 0" 80 10 93i 10 1 3 21 lo 93i 13 6 9 6 9 69 1 1 S O r 82 51 801 dor , 1 621 94i 0 921, 93 1. s DA: 41 W O cl• 41 • to 01 0.11 04! 1 t) 1194 on 4°l rtil tt) 11l OWII 'fir 9' o dil. , o. 9,‘ ic , ° Cl l°° de" ten d die * 93 ;fer . tore j 5 11b bb tl , ) 111 p er °IS' - rS Pi e ;he= tlu ` .1-Ql a errio utli kro vea rk for r o bo icA ,/ti io ~131 of rev Pt° , 3a - A°l ;.ilea'' .) gol idAi 13 3 ' ; 01' Bov3 be Sa r l° oo*' . o° 1 .0.) # 0 4 . 36 laP h ol• er, i 9 .0 or' joli5 •01 •,:. v s will ; 3 00 ilor' Al l r ioce co ° jo t', • f Tie l ot tis e.l t 0° ; gel' Co fc. 64‘ o °o o4 t o ;•'' 01? 13° ieo tj he o t e hio l oto b t b e p - • bu t !)l e *ll beg I de 10 1. d r I 11 60 a] tai al 22 11 25 3; Bt. 11 St. 1( 10 2. 25 St. 20 at 12 50 16 16 St. 19i 14 20 11i St. St. 20 10 12i St I I 50 4 40 3 25 25 a St. 10 25 8'26 St. St. 20 l' 20 a] 10 a] 10 Et. bola 60 20 1 20 20 1: 25 a 1 , St. to Eli. 161 25 20 a' 20 ni 20 1 10 1, all 3i 10 2e. ::g..Sj;.'~ - n• and East.:. June li Relfast & liailymena. al Binning. Wolverh. `:tour Valley 496 Sirkenhd. I.anesh. & Cfneihire Jim& 273 all Do. Birk., £5O and -225 Cens. .9 Do., 0 Rlyth &Tyne origlua £25 (isad. at 445, ) Bristol and Exeter Caledonian Carmarthen and Car digan r :2 Chester dr Holyhead 50 all Cork and Bandon 20 all Cork, Black, & Pass 20 16 Cornwall -10 16 Crieff Junction 5 0 45 Dublin&BelfastJunc 25 all Dundee Perth&Al:o , deep Junction all Do. New 4. 10 East Anglian ' Eastern CountieS..... Eastern Union, A fit. 100 Do., B Stock 25 8 s Do,, New A. St, 100 East Lancashire St. 106 Edinburgh& Glasgom 10 all Ed ir.b. and Peebles St. 100 Edin.Pril, &Dundee 10 1 Porth & Clyde June. 60 all Furness . 20 all Do. Extension St. 100 Glasgow& S. Wester,' St. 100 Great Northern __ St. 100 Do., A. 5t0ck...... St. 100 Do., B. Stock St. )0 Gt. Sth. &West. (Ire. ; St. 00 Great Western St. 00 Do. Stour Val. Rail Gua. Stk all Irish South-Eastern all rAneaster & Carlisle [43 Do., Thirds 4 Do. New Thirds 10 Lancash.andYorksh 11l Do., Fifths 114 Do., Wst. Riding Un dl Liv.Crsby.&Southpt all London & Blackwal )0 Load. Bright & S.Cst Lond, and N. Weetn. 16 Do. Fifths 56 Do JO/. Sh., M&8.., 26 Do. Eighths LOO London and S. Westn 123 Do., £5O 14 Do., £4O . 11 Lndndrry& Col erain, 11 Lndndrry. & Ennisk. 10 ganch.Shef &Limb .11 Do. No. I 4h 1)0.,11an. &Lin. Un )0 Midland 00 Do. Birmng. &Derb3 50 all Vidld. G. West. (Ire, ) 25 223 Do. Half Shares 100 In Newcastle & Carlisle 6) 5 Newmkt.BuryExten. 2r 213 Nwpt.Aberg. &Hrfd 50 5 Newry &Enniskillel , 20 all Newry Warrenpoini and Rostrevor St. 100 :Norfolk 50 31 Northn.Cotmties Un St. [OO North British 16 all North Devon, No. 1 16 all Do., No. 2 8 all )0., 6 A Deferred 8 all Do., 3 B Guaranteed St. [OO N. Eastern—Berwick 25 20 Do. do. Extension 25 13 )o.do. G.N.E. Parch 50 all Do. Leeds Bt. [OO Do. York 50 all North London 1.0 all Do. New £lO 10 3! is N.&S.Wstrn.,flamP stead, and City Jn.. .73 North Staffordshire.. 11 North Western., 11 N. &S. Westrn. June 1 Nuneaton, Hinckley and Leicester 10 Oxford, Worcester, & Wolverhampton 8 Portsmouth 10 Scottish Central 10 Scottish Midland.... 11 ihrewsby. & Herefd 10 Shropshire Union South Devon N) South Eastern 11 South Wales .5 S. Yrksh. & Riv. Dun 5 Do 2 staines,Wok. &Wok ►'l Stockton & Darlin 6l Sto , :kten & Hartlepl. 10 Taff Vale . 9 Do. £lO shares 10 Do. Pref., No. 1 114 Maraca Haven Dock and Railway 11 Vale of Noath 11 Waterfd. & Kilkenny 1 Waterford&Limerivh West Cornwall West End of London, and Crystal Palace West London Wimbledn &Croydon 89 8i I 21 11 100} 6hr. le, 20 20 17i 20 20 20 20 20 20 • 100 20 100 100 20 li 5 20 20 20 33i 10 20 (TELI6 DAY.) .1.1. PAu,7TAYa. Cl °sing Pries ye s terd 2O 211: - 134 - 12 16 - 17 6,1(.1 88 --• 90 64 - 64, 12 - 13 6 - 8 - 5i - 11 - 15 118 - 28 - 30 20 - 22 72 74 57 59 2d par 20 2L 70 - 72 83 - 89 72 - 74 123 - 025 91 - 93 65 65i 60 - 62 70 - 73 6 - 7 6 7 76 76, ...c Si ' 97 99i 100 id 1 —d 83 81 8 8 7 6i 24i - 25 8 - 8i 69i - 70 11 - 43 11 - 9 li - 2 48 50 29 BO 7 9 - 5 7 71 -72 i 7k 4k 3i 12k 13 49 -- 50 49 50 par ha —k, 4 - 6 6i 1d ar 29 - 30 01 - 103 64 - 66 45 47 12. 1 3 61i 62 274 - 28 4 - 2 2 - 1 id 38 4f - 161 161 - 5 22 - z 4 - ... 6 - 7 8 - 81 1 - li 2/ - 21, par i p 23 - 24 - ... -' ii -- ... -- `1" (7`, , T p m R Bailnecs do-te this day. 334 - 34 5; - 6iy 2r -24 p 14 - - •• 9 - • 8 9 8i 49 -51 d 89 91 2 2ip iP 17 3 / 4 -- 18 96 - 98 95 - 97 100 - 102 92 94 19 - 98 -- luo •• --- • •. Ais 2 -- Zip par iP liP ,•• '''''. •• - 7 34 :34 121 -- 12 114 i 5k i - 9A 21i - 22 p 47 49 40 42 pm 7 2 . 2 22 ld. par 2i lid Si 8g ... - pm 4 5.4 - iii --: iiii B.L.NKS. 82 -- 81 4 ••• id—id Z 2ict 201 —21 i d ip 32 - 34 39 - 41 37 -- 39 65 - 67 7i - 8 41. !*"..."!..* •°, FOREIGN. Antwerpaitotterdam Belgian Eastn. June. , Beziers to Graissessa, Bombay, Baroda, and Central India. Scrip Central of Italy Demerara ... Dijon and Besancon.. Dutch Rhenish Eastern of France Do. New East Indian Do. Eriension Do. 4i p. c. Bds., pay '57, convertible Do. do. do., '59, do Gd. Tk of Canaclali is. Do. St. Lawrence & Atlantic do. Do. Cert. of Deben 16} 10 31i ,all con. into Stk. till 83 Do. Comp. 6 p. c., do. Gt. Central of France Gt. Indian Peninsula Do. New 5 por cent Great Luxembourg Constituted Shares Do. Obligations Gt. Western of Canad Shares Do. Bds., payable's7, with option till '55.7 Do. do., '62, P. '56 Do. do., '76, p. '6O Do. do., '73, without option Hamilton & Toronto Do. 6 per cent. Lake Const. & Basle Lucca & Pistoja 5 p.c prof Lyons and Geneva Lyons & Mediterran Niach.as Do. New Aaria Antonia Do. do. New Namur & Liege (witl interest) Do. (ex interest) ,Northern of France. D o .20/. Shs.late Char leroi and Erquelines guar. 3 p. c. & red. at 221/. dur. 88 yrs. from 1 Jan. :854 Do. 201. 3 p. c Bde. (fmy. B. & Ants. Shs. ) NorwegianTruukPref Paris and Lyons Ditto Bonds Paris and Orleans.... Paris and Rouen... ParisCaeu & Cherbrg. Rouen and Havre.... Royal Danish Royal Swedish Sambre and Meuse Do. 5.1 p. cent. Pref southern of France St. Andrew's and Quebec (A) Nest flande"l Do 54 per c. Pref 'Weston of France Wept. of Switzerland Zealand. JOINT-STO I Anat:•alrsia I all !t..100 1.00 5 24 . .:_cP 5 it 0 all ;0 all all .24 :al .2 all O all .0 all 1.00 st. WO 5, all ,C! 1 all 15 fall all 100 5 18$ 2 9 i ;0 all 5 all it. 100 Business this day. PREFERENCE SHARES. St. 100 Aberdeen llOl 103 ..)t. 100 Do. N 0.2, 7p. • 90 92 25 30 BlythandTyne 10per ••• c. pref. (issd. at 501) •• St. 100 Bris. & Ex. 4p. c. St. 92 91 20 5 Do. 4p. c. Shares St. 100 jaledonian £lO 97 99 15 all ' - Thester & Holyhead Guar. 54 per cent._ 93 all Do. do. Prof. No. 2 ••• 23 all Do. do. Pref. No. 2 64 all Cork &Bandonslp.c 2 4d 6i all Dundee Perth &Aber deen Junction 63 all Eastern Counties Ex tension, sp. e. No.l 1 I pm 64 all Do. No. 2 Pm 10 all Do. New 6 r . e. St. 12i 131 20 all Eastern Union, Gar per cent 5 all Do. 51., 10 ner cent ... 10 all Do. 10/. Del;entr.Sh- St. all Do. do. 4 per cent ... St. 100 East Lancash.6 p.ct9 — 5 all East and West Yorie shire June. Fifths ... St. all EclinbPrth.&Dunclee 4 per cent. St. WO Glasgow & S.Western Guar. 5 per cent — ad St. 100 Great Northn. sp. c. 115 117 St. 100 Do. sp. c. Redeem., at 10 p. c. prom. 107 109 St. 100 Do. 41 p. c. lOO 102 24 all Do. sp. c. Scrip, Red. at sp. c. pm... 10 all Gt.N. of Scot. lstPref 64 100 Gt. Southn.&Westm. (Ireland) Eighths) 20 8 Do. 4 per c. Prof. St ... •• • 50 6 Gt. West - D. (Berks & Hants Ex. sp. c) 6 St. LOD Do. con. red. 41 p.c. 06 98 St. 100 Do • con. red. 4p. c. 87 81 St. 100 Do. irred. 4p.e. 8 all Do. Birm. Pref. Sh lO 101 10 all Do.Cocster Bp. c.P.S. 16/ 174 10 all Do. do. sp.c. do lO 104 St. 1.00 Do. 13irm. Gua. Stk. 71 —73 715 N_l, all Do. Ches. Gus. Sh i 184 194 19 134 all Do. do. do .„ 20 all Ds. do. do ...... 14 141 16 6 Lan. & York. F. £2O St. 100 Do. 6p. c. Stock 133 - 135 St. 100 London and Brighten Guaranteed 5 p. St. 100 Do. Pref., sp. c. St. ... St. 100 Do. New Guar.6 p. c 135 St. 100 Lon. &N. W., Cow. (S - Nuneaton sp. ... 114 50 5 London &S. Wester Con. Thirds 25 -- 3 r 125 all Londonderry& Color 4 Shares — 125 111 'Londy.&Ennis.lSh. 10 all Man., Shot, & Lin. New. £lO 125 13 6 45 Do. £6 iP 125 all Warypt.&Carl.4p c 124 all Do. 45 per cent 123 104 Do • efie St. 100 Aid. Consol.6 p.e.St. St. 100 Do. Consol. Bristol t Birm. 6 per cent.... 133 135 131 16i 114 Do. Pref. 41 per cen 18 ie 110 Norfolk Debenture . 4 —44 St. 100 Do. Prof. 4p. c. Stocl 85 —B7 St. 100 Do. 5 p.c. Ext lO3 105 St. 100 Do. 54 per et. pref — Bt. 100 Do. Way. Vail. op. u — St. 100 North British toi St. V. E. Berw. 4 p.e. P 9O 92 17 5 Do. do. do 34 3i 20 13 Do. Leeds 6 p.c :No.l 121 9 Do. do. Quarters 4 5 25 10 Do. York & Pur. id 20 all North Staffordshire.. St. 100 Oxford, Worcester, & Wolverh.£ls, 6 n.c. 106 108 107 85 all Scot. Cent. ,New Frei 25 all South Devon l3 14 10 , 1i Dc. fixed, 45 per cent 5d -- par 1.0.6' all S. Eastern (Reading Ann.) of £1 Os. M. 224 234 20 all S Wales Gus. 4p. c. •.. 20 all Do. do. 41 p. c.... . • ••• 20 all S.Yorksh.4p.c.Guar": , 14 —l7 25 all Stockton and Dar lington, 5 per cent • ... 25 ,15 Do. do. do. -11 p 125 all Stockton and Hartle- I pool, guar. 5 p. till Ist July, 1875 1372 13 12i British Colonial Bank and Loan Company 11 British N. American 5 Chartd, Bank of Asia 2 Chrtd. link. of India, AuF.tralia, & China 25 , Colonial !O Commercial of Load .8 English Scottish and Australian 20 I all 100. 100 24 20 11 Loud. Chmt. Bk. o: 5 I Ditto NCW 20 50 50 100 100 _ 0 London and County. .0 London Joi Pt Stock. Loud. Sr, WeTtmine,tei, ;5 National Provincial _ of England D Do. New ;2i National of Ireland a Now South Wa1e5....1 11 Oriental - Rank of Corporation. 5 rroviwial of Ireland 3.1 Do. New 1 Royal Australn.Bkg th)ld. Imp Co , South Australia ill Union of Australia 2ilDe New LO Unioa of Lomb= G2h li MINES. 1 all Agua Fria ..... $ 1 all Anglo Aurtrin. Gold 10s. all Anglo Californian — 20 6 Australian 1 1 1 all Australian Cordillera - 1 all Australian Freehold. ... 1 all Ave Maria 1 all Baden (Gd.Dachy of) $ 50 all Bleenarvon Iron and Coal . 20 13.5 British Iron 4) 5A 35 24 Brazilianlmp.(issued at Er, pm 2A 3 30 all Do. Cocaes & Cuiab:e 2 2A 2i 20 15 Do. St. John Del Rey 29 —3l 1 Carsons's Creek s 1 a Clarendon Cons. Min, Afl Co. of Jamaica — 40 all Cobro Copper 49 51 5 1 Colonial Gold — A St. all Copper Min. of Eng 43 48 25 all Do. Pref. 7. p. cent ld l 0 2e 5 ... 16 Copiapo 5 all English and Austin. Copper Sneeltg (o 1i 2 1 2 / Fortuua R cl —AP 20 all General.. 1 ,4 —16 i 1 all Gt.NnggetVoinßeg. a 4 all Great Polgooth. •.• ••• 1 all Liberty -• 3 all Linares 7 8 5 1 Lusitaniau gd 1 all Mariquita $ $ 1 all New Granada 1 all New Linares Mining and Smelting Co • 1 all Nouveau Monde — 20 all Poutgibaud Silver Lead Min. & Smelt. 15 16 5 1 Port Philip 1 all Quartz Rock •• 50 all Rhyraney Iron l9 —• 21 15 all Do. New 5 6 30 11/ Santiago do Cuba..... 51 61 51 1 all south Austr alian ..... 1 10 7A Pin Crof t... .. 1 -- 2 2N all United Mexican — 5 i 1 all Waller 1 all West Mariposa h 1 12s. Worthing Mining of Australia 1 all Yüba MISCELLANEOUS. 25 17) Australian A vieult. 30A —31 A Australsn.Pcific•M ail 10 all Ails:a-aim Royal Mail .., 10 7 Berlin Water Works 21 —21 d 50 40 Brit. American Land 55 60 5 1 Brit. & Coln. Suieltg. and Reduction ( Jo.. ..• 100 32i Canada ................. 119 121 St. 100 Canada Gov. 6p. ct. 1(.8 108} 108 A Jan. and July 5 all Crystal Palace 3i 3 3 i 4 all Crystal Pal. of France ••• ••• 1 Dastou Tron Ore ... ••• 20 5 Eastern Steam 25 22 .lillectricTelegraph (A) 15 16 15A 1 all Electric Teleg. of Ir. 15 14 Gen. Steam Na,vigat. 20 all General Screw Steam 1 0 1 . 20 10 Irish Beetroot &rad 20 10 Magdalena St. Navig. 10 all Mediteran. Elec. Tel. 10 9 Mexican&S.Amer'en. 6/ 6f 1 all Nat. Pat. Steam 'Fuel 10 5 NetherlAnds Laud.... I 2 1 N. S. W. Coal &Inter. Steam Navigat. Co.' .„ •• 1 all N. B. Australasian... 20 12A NAIL ofEuropeSi earn 5 all Peel Rr. Ld. & Minrl. 21 50 all Peninsular & Oriental 57 59 50 all Do. 2 all Portland Iron C 0..... 1f 2 100 60 Eoyal Mail Steam 1 all Scot. Austral. Invest 1i —1/ 1 Ditto New — 25 all Saall i ustral.Lanc 36 1 all Submar. Telegraph j ... 1 a ll . 20 5 Tryst dr Loan Co. of Upper Canada.... 101:0 28 8 Van. Diemana s Lance 13 13~ THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 27, 1858. Communication, Plymouth Great Western Docks, West Londw and Cubtai Pnldee and Westminster Terminus Railways. PETITIONS. Mr. DUNCAN ;resented a petition from Dundee ajainet the Scotch Education Bill. • Mr. BROTHERTON presented a petition from Stock port, praying for the repeal of Church rates. Mr. WILCOX presented a petition from Southamp ton praying for the repeal of the newspaper stamp. Mr. HORSFALL - presented a petition from. Liver pool in favour of Mr.' Glaistone's, and against the Chan cellor of the Exchequer's, Newspaper Stamp Bill. Mr. KIRK presented a petition from Belfast against the sale of intoxicating drinks on Sundays. Mr. FERGUSON_ presented similar petitions from Carl isle. Mr. MOWBRAY presented a petition from Durham against the Chancellor of the Exchequer's and in favour of Mr. Gladstone's Newspaper Stamp Bill. Mr. DISRAELI presented a petition from Finsbury praying for the repeal of the newspaper stamp. Mr. M`MA.HON presented a petition from upwards of 1,500 inhabitants of two parishes in the county of Galway, complaining of certain wholesale and indis criminate evictions there ; also, a petition from Irish fishermen, complaining of distress, and praying for an amendment of the Irish Fisheries Act. Mr. R. LOWE presented a petition from 5,000 inha bitants of Sydney, South Australia, praying the house to reject the Constitution sent over for its adoption, and in favour of a Legislature consisting of two elective cham bers. Mr. H. BERKLEY presented a petition from 6,000 of the inhabitants of Bristol against church rates. NEW WRIT. On the motion of Mr. FIA.YTER, a new writ was ordered for the city of Gloucester, in the room of Mr. Price, who had accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. Mr. BRIG HT presented a petition from an individual whose publication had been suppressed by the Inland Revenue, praying for the repeal of the newspaper stamp. 40 1 al 40 i al 50 25 20 ••• 150 LINES T.7.A.SED AT F.1.N1f.1) RENTALS. RAILWAYB; Le,.Sr44 Company r 4 ondon N. We:•,t. r4.&N.W. E. Tin. tg: 07, Caldonian. Do C4t. Weg si Vk. Now. & Berw. Y.&Nsf Do. Easton Peto & Co. Norfolk.. & N. W. & Midid. 3tekton & Darlingt. Alidland.. E. Count Do Do L.&N.W &Ln&Yk Do Gt Northt Lancash & Yorksh. T. MClean tockt. & Darlingt D 0.... . • • • • ltWestu. 108412 Prl CCP yesterday.: ~rl " .r _~u. 111 2 21 S 651 a I Si 761 6 I 21 97i i 100 99i 1 11 Bedford and Bletchloy Buck gliarnsli. C'cdosdalejc 'Col. Stour Vy E. j.: 6 per Glas. Barr. & Neils. Direct Do. New ..... . lstr.ez Dn.Fi Dk. Railway Hull & Selby Do. i Shares. Do. i Shares. Lon.k Greenw Do. Preferen ~, Lon., Til., & S. - Lowestoft gr. 4 per cent. Do. 6 per et. Manch. Bxtn. and Matlea Middlosbro' Rl' Redcar Midld.Bradf I Northern an- Easternsp. ~ 'Do. 6 per et. Do. Fixeds p Prest. & Wyre Do. 2 Shares. Roystn.& Hit. rihcf. Roth .an' Goole g. 5 p.c. S. Statiordsb. Wear Valle; gl 6 per cent Do Nilts&Gonarst 5 - 97 7 - 134 - 136 lu4 —10 a I2i ---'• 4 23 -- 24 10 114 2a 2i 6 :::92 57 - 59 fio :: iis 2i 2 d 32 - 32 89 - 91 ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. The SOLICITOR•GENERAL gave notice that, on Friday next, he should move for leave to bring in a bill to abolish the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical and other courts in England and Wales respecting wills and the testamentary distribution of property, and to create a distinct court for granting probates and letters of admi nistration, and otherwise to amend the law relating to will and letters of administration. ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS. Mr. LIDDELL asked Mr. Goulburn whether there was any intention on the part of the Ecclesiastical Com missioners for England t ) apply any portion of the unap propriated balance of 4,2171. 10s., arising from the .Maltby Fund, and described in their last report as re maining in their hands, towards the repair and improve ment of the residence of the Vicar of Newcastle ; and, Whether any, and if any, what arrangements were con templated for augmenting the endowment of that vicar age, the great tithes of the parish having lately become vested in the Commissioners by virtue of an arrange ment made by them with the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle ? Mr. GOITLBURN replied in the affirmative to the first question, but he could give no answer to the second. MILITIA BILLETING. Mr. EWART wished to inquire of the Secretary for War whether any measures were in contemplation to re lieve certain towns in Scotland from the billeting of the militia, now complained of as severely oppressive on them ? _ _ Mr. PEEL said the subject was now under the con sideration of the Government, and steps would shortly be taken to remove the annoyance complained of. TROOPS IN DEMERARA. - Colonel WYNN asked the Under Secretary for War whether any official information had been received by her Majesty's Government of the t )tal destructioa of the sea wall at Georgetown, Demerara, on Feb. 17 ; whether it was the intention of her Majesty's Government to remove the troops now stationed there ; whether there would be any objection on the part of her Majesty's Government to lay on the table of the house the correspondence which had taken place between the Governor of British Guiana and the late Secretary for War, and Secretary for the Colonies, concerning the maintenance and repair of the sea wall protecting the barracks at Georgetown, Demerara ? Mr. PEEL said the Governor of British Guiana had made such a report, and if the buildings were hereafter found to be untenantable the troops would be removed. There would be no objection to produce the correspon dence. TROOP SHIPS. Col. HARCOURT inquired whether it was true that in November last there was an inspection of the sheeting in use in Parkhurst Barracks, when a very large quan tity was condemned, and put aside for the express purpose of being immediately forwarded to the Crimea, for use as bandages and lint, but that till very recently, if not up to that time, it remained at Parkhurst, and was not used for any purpose : —Whether it was true that Lord Methuen, the Colonel of the Wiltshire Militia, declined allowing his men to be embarked for the Mediterranean in the troop ship Resistance, in consequence of his not considering her fit for the purpose ; whether it was not then pro posed to send oat the drafts of the Guards in her, who, for some cause or other, did not go out in her ; and whether drafts of the Highland Brigade, or of some other regiments, had not been since sent in that ship ? Mr. PEEL said no part of the sheeting had been sent out, because it was not wanted. The objection to the Resistance was that it Nv.......,111. g wad ;,..‘ a ottani ves4el. A portion of the Guards were ordered to go out in it, but in consequence of the large accommodation required for the officers they did not go out in it, and the vessel was therefore appropriated to the Highland Brigade. BOARD OF WORKS. Mr. WISE wished to ask the Secretary of the Trea sury for an explanation of the third, fourth, and fifth paragraphs in the auditors' report, dated the 31st day of January, 1855, on the accounts of the Commissioners of Works and Public Buildings! Mr. WILSON gave the required explanation, declar ing that all the accounts were quite regular and correct. RUSSIAN PORTS. Mr. SANDARS;sked the First Lord of the Admi ralty at what period it wa3 intended to establish a blockade of the Russian ports in the Baltic and White Seas, and if that blockade was, from the first to the last, to be an effective one I Sir C. WOOD said it was intended, as soon as the ports were open, to establish an effective blockade from first to last. CLOTHING THE ARMY. Sir DE L. EVANS asked the Clerk of the Ordnance when it was intended to introduce any improvement in the cloth for clothing the army Mr. MONSELL said the clothing of the army was not yet transferred t o t h e O r d nan ce, but, as soon as it was, the quality of the cloth would be duly considered, with a view to its improvement. BREECH -LOADING CARBINES. Sir DE L. EVANS said it was reported that most of the principal gunmakers in the metropolis had been invited to send in to the Ordnance specimens of their breech-loading carbines. Now, he was told by some of them that they had received no such invitation, and he should be glad to know if that were so ? Mr. MONSELL raid there would be no objection to produce a list of those who had been invited LORD DUNDONALD'S SCHEME. In reply to Mr. DELLEIY, Sir CHAS. WOOD said Lord Dundonald submitted his scheme to the late Board of Admiralty. It . had since been fully inqui re d into, but it would be indiscreet in him to publish to the world what the result was, or how the Admiralty would decide upon it. THE VIENNA NEGOTIATIONS. Mr. LAYARD wished to know from the First Mini ster whether there would be anv objection to lay before Parliament the protocol of the 2a December, which had originated the Vienna conference ? Lord PALMERSTON said it was not usual to pro duce fragmentary documents relating to a conference still going on. THE SARDINIAN CONTINGENT. The house th en went i nto a com mittee of the whole house to consid er h er M a j esty ject of the Sardinia n l oan. The Message h av i ng b een rea d , 's Message on the sub - Lord PALMERSTON rose to move a resolution, in reply to the Message, and, in doing so, he briefly urged the necessity which the war had created for calling in foreign aid to our assistance. Her Majesty having ex hausted the powers of the militia, had been forced to have recourse to the assistance of a. foreign ally, and Sardinia had undertaken to supply an auxiliary force of 15,000 men to co-operate with the troops of Eng land and France, and in return for this assistance her Majesty had undertaken that this country should advance Sardinia a loan of 1,000,0001., pay able within the next six months, upon condition that the loan should carry interest at the rate of 4 per cent., one per cent, of which to go to the Sinking Fund. The value of this assistance could not be overlooked ; be cause the valour and skill of the Sardinian soldiers were amply acknowledged in history as having been estab lished upon many a hard-fought field. It was alike for the interest of Sardinia as of England that this alliance should be entered into ; it was an alliance honourable to both parties • and while it would afford to Austria a guarantee for th ' e tranquillity of the assurance for the safety and y a resolution, in effect authorising the Commis sioners of the Treasury to issue to her Majestygie northern‘ quietude Sardinia p o afr m t the s f o I s t eo a tt h l, on th e ot h er h an d it would l for the purpose o f this loa n • He concluded by moving 1 ,000,0001. out of the Con solidated Fund immediately, and a further 1,000,0001. in the event of the war continuing beyond twelve months. Mr. DISRAELI found fault with the noble lord's statement as being exceedingly meagre and unsatisfac tory. No doubt it was gratifying to know that Sardinia was ready to assist us with her army, but still there were circumstances connected with their as sistance which the house would do well to consider. Last year they heard of loans in disguise, and it ap peared to him that this loan was a subsidy in disguise. (Rear, hear.) The system of subsidising was vexati -0,3 i n principle and pernicious in operation l and so u nsatisfactory did it work during the last war tha t nothin g but extreme necessit y could jus tify a recurre nce to it. N o w, was there any extreme had been th e cause of it ? The y were told, indeed, tat the in the p re sent case ; an d if there was, what h th e c ountry was embarked in a s t r uggle with a great Pow er, but before we embarked in it we should have calculated cos —ea t (h r hear)--and conseq uences. at We had only been at war about twelve mo nths, and yet, at this early period,Parliament was called return to subsidies, The noble upon to sanction lord had told the house that we went to war with a peace eatabiishinent, but whose feult was that ? (Hear.) Why, the Government of the day. The war did net come upon us suddenly—it had long been anticipated ; and in spite of negotiation the preparations should have been going on for open hostilities. A long time ago the Government of this country became aware of the private intention of the Emperor of Russia with regard to Turkey, and they ought to have taken the ad vice of the Opposition, and called out the Irish and Scotch militia at least a year before the war commenced. After war was declared the noble lord lost no means for the development of our defences, by organising the militia, and it was not until midsummer that the noble lord had recourse to these measures which, if he had ap pealed to them before, might have been at once forth coming. This showed a want of confidence in the spirit and resources of the country. (Hear, hear.) He should not at present oppose the measure of the noble lord, but he would not allow it to pass in silence ; he could not pass it by without remark, that in the first year of a war we were obliged to have recourse to foreign subsidy, simply because we had neglected the national means at our disposal. He hoped the house also would not allow it to pass in silence, and that the house would proclaim that if war was to be carried on, it ought to be with our legitimate national resources. The hon. gen tleman resumed his seat amidst cheers. Lord PALMERSTON said as the hon. gentleman who had just sat down had expressed his intention not to oppose the measure very little would be necessary for him to say. But he could not allow the hon. gentleman's remarks to pass unnoticed inasmuch as they dis played so little confidence in the discretion of the Government in voting so comparatively small an amount of money in order to strengthen our military resources. (Hear, hear.) The hon. gentleman told them that when we were now engaged in war we ought to abstain from making preparations for war whilst peace negotiations were pending, on the principle that we had not done so before when we were in the height of the struggle. (Hear, hear.) With reference to the calling out of the militia, he hoped the right honourable gentleman and the party to which he belonged would make their own defence on that point. Ile acknow ledged fully the merit of the Government to which the hon. gentleman belonged in reorganising the mi litia ; but could it have been embodied in a time of peace, when such a threatening operation would have appeared very ominous, and was, moreover, unnecessary ? (Hear, hear.) On the other hand, there was no power to embody the militia without a fresh legislative act. ; but when war did at length manifest it self—when the Black Sea was blockaded, and a naval force had been despatched to the Baltic—thou was the time for the embodiment of the militia ; and the Govern ment accordingly obtained a fresh act for its embodi ment. (Hear.) Therefore, he conceived the want of foresight was ascribable to the Government to which the hon. gentleman belonged rather than to the Administra tion with which he (Lord Palmerston) was connected. (No, no, and counter cheers.) At the same time, could it be for one moment said that the militia could have proved a proper and effective force for the purpose for which the Sardinian loan had been proposed. They never could have been regarded as a substitute, although every cre dit was ascribable to them for their gallantry and self devotion in volunteering their services for duty abroad, and for enlistment into the regular troops. (Cheers.) Therefore he thought the charge brought forward by the hon. gentleman of want of foresight and negligence of duty must inevitably fall to the ground. (Applause.) Mr. E. DENISON regretted that if no opposition was intended to be given to the vote of this loan it should be given in any way grudgingly. (Hear.) In Sardinia, although a Roman Catholic country, they had found out the value of religious liberty, and had respected it ; and he congratulated the Minister at the head o f affairs in that country for having conducted the nego tions with this country so successfully, and he trusted the union which would be cemented between the two countries by those negotiations might long con tinue, as it source of pride to this country and admira tion to the world. (Hear.) Mr. BRIGHT, in the course of a luminous address, said lie did not regret that the loan was voted to Sar dinia, though he should much rather the security had been anything else than 15,080 men. He did not think the progress of civil and religious liberty in that country, of which the house had heard so much of late, wenld be materially benefitted by Sardinia embarking in a war in which she could have no possible interest. (Hear, hear.) He should not, as the hon. gentleman (Mr. Disraeli) had just said, oppose the resolution before the committee, but lie could not allow the opportunity to pass without expressing his dissent to any measure which had for its object dragging Sardinia into a stiug gle from which greater countries than she might reason ably have shrunk, when she might have been much more advantageously employed in proceeding quietly, as she had done hitherto, in the beneficial arrangement of her internal affairs. ("Oh, oh," and hear.) Mr. BOWYER bore testimony from observation of the courage and fidelity of the Sardinian army ; but he regretted that the Government should have been se hasty in concluding a treaty without first ascertaining what were the resources of that country as to repayment and security for the money. He contended that Sardinia was not in a position to afford reliable security. He could not bring forward actual statistical tables to prove the correctness of this assertion, but he maintained that the reasonable inference for what had transpired between the two countries was as he bad stated.. (Hear.) He could, however, inform the house that there was an annual deficit of revenue in Sardinia, rand the taxes—especially the income tax —were neavy. uommerce num 'leen stimulated to the utmost, speculation was rife, and he feared was based on an unstv end foundation. So far from any economy being e. xercised the expenditure was most profligate ; and then ;there was a disproportionate stand ing army. His hoe. friend bad believed he (Mir. Bright) had alluded to the absurdity of engaging in war, especi ally under present cis cumstances. (Hear, hear.) Now so far was that true, that the Genoese merchants found themselves materially injured by the present war, because their trade lay chiefly in Russian ports ; and he mentioned this fact to show the want of caution in the Government in not placing beyond all doubt the question esf security before inducing Sardinia to join in the war. He aiiked were the financial affairs of that country managed in so unexceptionable a manner as to afford the Govern went reasonable satisfaction that the security offer ed . was firm and reliable 1 He should not have mentioned these circumstances at another period, as we had nothing at all to do with the internal. affairs of other countries ; but when the grant of a loan. :from this country to another came before the house, it behoved them, he thought, to con sider well the securiit.ie which they should have for their money. (Hear, heair..) Mr. GLADSTONE was anxious that the question before the house should be placed on a proper footing, and trusted that no comment in another form would place it in an unjust light. (Hear, hear.) Sardinia had peculiar claims met , n our sympathy and respect. In times far more fav ourable to the freedom of consti tutional Government , at times when other coun tries had as it we re freedom within their grasp and lost it again—iv lien retrogression marked other nations, Sardinia, as country amongst difficulties almost insuperable, succeeded in establishing the bless ings of a free Go.vernment. He thought his hon ourable friend the 'member for Malton was quite jus tified in commenting upon the happy union between that country and our own, while he thought the case attempted to be set up by the hon. gentleman who had just sat down against the financial character of Sardi nia had not been by any means clearly established. He admitted that all questiores of this nature ought to be regarded with jealousy by this house ; but he held that the present was a loan and not a subsidy. In answer to Mr. Bowyer's calculatione, lhe would only ask in what instance that country had ever failed in fulfilling its obligations ? Mr. ADDERLEY objected to the resolution, and could regard this money in no other light than as a loan. It would be much better to draw auxiliaries :from our Canadian and other colonists than any foreign country whatever. Mr. KINNAIRD complained that hon. gentlemen opposite were now pursuing the very course of riispa reging foreign aid which had already ruined the forma tion of the foreign legion. Mr. DISRAELI denied that the neglect in embodying the militia was owing to the Government of which he was a member, and reiterated his former arguments, that it was owing to the mismanagement of the Govern ment, the disregard of the militia, and the neglect of the regular army, that these foreign troops were now wanted. After some further personal explanations from Lord PALMERSTON and Mr. BOWYER respecting the militia, Mr. J. BALIa controverted the statements of Mr. Bowyer respecting the finances of Sardinia, and stated, from his own knowledge of the country, that though there were at present some financial difficulties they were of a purely temporary character, and were rapidly disappearing. Mr. COBDEN would yield to no one in admiration of the constitutional government of Sardinia, whose progress in civil and religious liberty he had long watched with intense interest, but he confessed he felt that_ her present atep was not a wise one. He could not under stand why Sardinia, which was always regarded as an equipoise to Austrian power in Italy, should bo dragged into the war before Austria fired a shot. But mere than all, he could riot veld erstand why this convention should have been entered into at a moment when the prelimi nary negotiations had made such progress that within a week we might have a certainty of peace. He wished to know whether the noble lord had taken the precaution of withholding the money if the expenditure was rendered unnecessary by the establishment of peace ? Mr. M. MILN ES repeated substantially the same question. Lord PALMERSTON said this treaty was made with sardinia on the supposition that the Sardinian contin gent would have to go to the seat of war to carry on operations in con„ unction with the British army during the war. This million of money was, by the terms of the convention, ie) be advanced in two halves —one as soon as possible natter the assent of Parliament had been given, and the other at the end of six months. Of course the Sardinian G•overnment wanted money to meet the greater expense incurred by an army in the field as com pared with that Lncurred by one stationed at home. Some of this expense must have been incurred in preparing the contingent 'tor the field. If peace should be made before the arrn.y had embarked, only a certain por tion of the exj sense would have been incurred ; should it reach the s at of war, a still larger portion of that expense must be met ; and so on in proportion to the time for v rhich it serves. The only answer I can give is, there :Tore, that, if peace should be made earlier than th a treaty contemplates there will naturally be a fresh am vagement between the two Governments, dependent on tlie particular moment at which peace shall be made. I c ennot imagine that the Sardinian Govern ment would v. rish to throw on us a greater burden than is proportionate to the services that their troops have been cdied upon to perform. (dear, hear.) The vote was then agreed to, and the house resumed. NEWSPAPER STAMP BILL. Petitions in favour of the abolition of the newspaper stamp were presented by Mc.. Cowan, from Edinburgh ; by Sir J. Shelley, from Westminster and other parts of the metropolis ; and by Mr. Hudson, from the printers and nowsvendors of Sunderland. Mr. MILNER GIBSON presented a petition from the proprietors of the Illustrated London News, praying that the Newspaper Stamp Bill be passed immediately ; and another from the principal publishers in London, includ ing the Longmans, Murray, Hurst and Blackett, Chap man and Hall, and Bentley, praying that printed matter might be passed through the post at the rate of id. per four ounces. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved the second reading of the bill. Mr. DEEDES, in rising to move the amendment of which he had given notice, that the second reading of the bill be postponed till after the Chancellor of the Exche quer had made his financial statement, said that when the right hon. gentleman introduced to a committee of the whole house those resolutions upon which he based this bill, he had not the good fortune to be present, and had not, therefore, the advantage of hearing the argu ments used by the right hon. gentleman upon that occa sion; but on referring to the usual channels of informa tion to ascertain what had passed he was forcibly struck by the very slight encouragement which the right hon. gentleman obtained from those who followed him in the debate. It appeared to him as if every one who spoke had some stone to cast at the right honourable gentle man, and was exceedingly anxious to point out to him that his proposed measure was not wanted by the country gene rally. If the right hon. gentleman had taken the advice tendered to him upon that occasion, and had abstained from interfering in the way of legislation in this matter, instead of following the course which his predecessor had laid down for him, he would have escaped the difficult and delicate task which he had imposed upon himself; both that house and the country generally would have con sidered him perfectly justified in adopting that course, and he would have lived to survive any attacks which might have been made upon him from Manchester or elsewhere. The observations which the right hon. gentleman was re ported to hare made at the conclusion of the debate fur nished a complete answer to the necessity or advisabilita , of bringing forward the measure which he had now sub mitted to the consideration of the house. He based the necessity of dealing with the question upon certain resolu tions passed unanimously during the last session, at the instance of the right hon. gentleman +Ase ese e nebee f Mae chestes. Lao era ne easy with regard to the financial part of the question ? His renearks upon that point were an answer to any necessity he might have felt for introduc ing the measure at the present moment. He said—" If we had at this time a surplus revenue, and if the expenditure of the country did not greatly exceed its' revenue, the newspaper stamp would have a fair claim to enter into any repeal or readjustment of taxes, and those who ob ject to it might claim that its repeal should have pre cedence in any financial scheme. This, however, is not the financial state of the country, and, if the house should decide in favour of this measure, it would be my duty to call upon them to provide for the deficiency of the revenue by some other mode of taxation." (Hear, hear.) The right hon. gentleman went on to say :—" It is my duty to inform the house that the estimate of persons of authority as to the loss of revenue must not be taken to be less than 200,0001. Such a loss of revenue is no doubt inconvenient at the present moment. On the other hand, the house will bear in mind that, to refuse to repeal the stamp would be to recede from the unanimous resolution which it agreed to last session, and will render necessary the passing of some measure declaratory of the law." Now, nobody would argue that any resolution of that house should lightly be passed over; but every one must admit that there was a fitting time for dealing with important public questions, and the great objection to this bill was that it had been introduced at an improper and inopportune time. (Hear, hear.) Perhaps the terms of his amendment would indicate that his objection to the measure was entirely confined to the financial part of the question ; but he was strongly impressed with the conviction that the bill was open to far more serious objection in other respects. He considered clause 1 to be the very pith and marrow of the bill. The subsequent provisions referred to matters of detail, but clause 1 provided that there should be no fur ther compulsory stamp duty for any newspaper, that there shoeld be no farther compulsory registration, and that there should be no further declarations. All these were matters which had been enacted for the purpose of preventing un fair attacks being made in newspapers upon private charac ter, of raising as much as possible the character of the pub lications in question, and of offering a remedy if abuses should exist ; but new they were no longer thought to be necessary. He confessed that he looked with considerable dread to a relaxation of the law which would enable any person so minded to pander to the vices and prejudices of those whom he might call ignorant and uneducated, and therefore not able to discriminate between right and wrong. He had seen, within the last day or two papers and writings of the description to which he alluded, and he should be very sorry to see them multiplied in this country. (Hear.) Again, he objected entirely. upon principle to taxing infor mation by the inch ; and because any one paper should have taken more trouble and gone to more expense to get information which was palatable to its readers and to the public, he saw no reason why it should be called upon to pay a heavier tax than a paper which catered less for the public amusement or instruction. Was the present sys tem so faulty as to require amendment ? If so, was it immediate amendment that was necessary, or was the amendment proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer likely to meet the evil. He was quite ready to admit that there were in the present system faults which required amendment, and that there were anomalies to which it would be desirable to put an end ; but he denied that they existed to such an extent as to render it necessary for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to devise at present a plan for the express purpose of removing them. At some future time they might well be considered ; but he did not think that the present measure was calculated to remedy those ee;le e manner that would be fait a nd :met existing interests. - 1:18 was one of those who ad frequently thought that the press of this country sometimes overstepped the bounds of discretion, and had made unfair attacks upon pri vate character ; he believed, too, upon a recent occasion that letters and statement's had been sent from the seat of war which were highly coloured and exaggerated ; but still he was convinced that, on the whole, this country was greatly indebted to the press for the exertions it had made to pro vide the public with information from the Crimea ; and he thought tliey would have reason to regret if the press should not in future have the power of following their vo cation in that respect. In dealing with this question he could not altogether disregard the general subject of edu cation. There were at the present moment on the table of the house two bills relating to that subject. He under stood they were to be referred for consideration to a select committee, and if, as he suspected, the t en d enc y o f thi s bill would be to give rise to publications of a licentious and immoral nature, he should like to have the opinion of that committee before he ventured to consent to the pass ing of such a measure. There was another point which he considered of great importance—the question of copyright. Hero he had the valuable opinion of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer to stand him in aid. The right hon. gen tleman said upon that subject :—" There is another point which is not a matter of indifference to me— namely, the question of copyright for the protection of literary property in newspapers. I don't wonder, so far as we know anything of the plan of my right hon. friend from his explanation to-night, that he has not included in his bill any clauses upon this subject. I think, iudeed, it is a matter with reference to which it would be very difficult to devise a plan. At tke seine time lam under the impression that the proprietors of newspapers, in many cases, entertain great auxiety that the previsions of the law with respect to the protection of literary pro perty should undergo special consideration, and should, if practicable, receive somo extension with a view to the pro tection of literary property in newspapers. Undoubtedly, so far as the article that is most strictly called "news" is concerned—for instance, the communication of facts, which may generally be comprised within a very brief space, and the language, the outward shape and form of which can ho varied almost at will—l de not how you aro to introduce any further provisions than the law at pre sent contains ; but I have understood from some persons who ought to be well informed en the subject that the great anxiety of those who think this question worth con sideration in the press as it stands, is not so much directed to the protection of their `news' strictly so called, which, in point of fact, it would be very difficult to protect, as to the protection of what may more fairly be called their lite rary compositions, for example, the leading articles in their newspapers, and especially as regards the London press, the communications of their foreign correspondents. Now, I for one am very anxious that, either in the plan of my right hon. friend, or in some other effective form, this question should be brought to a settlement." If the right honourable gentleman were in his place he would ap peal to him to say whether the question of copyright was dealt with in the bill before the house. There was no protection whatever to newspaper proprietors in that mea sure. The words with which the late Chancellor of the Exchequer concluded this part of his speech were so strong that he could not resist quoting them. They were :—" I do not venture to prejudge this question, but I would ven ture to express a hope that, in endeavouring to carry out the principle of the freedom of the press, my right hon. friend will not be ialisposed to take into his favourable consideration any reasonable proposition which may be made to him for the improvement of the law of copyright, in order that we may not run any risk of breaking down that system under which the highest talent in the country is largely applied and advantageously devoted to supplying the public with intelligence, and to the discussion of that intelligence. I must confess that I should regard the de destruction of that system as a public misfortune—a mis fortune which I am the less disposed to incur, because I do not look upon it as a natural or necessary consequence of the important measure of emancipation which is now contemplated by her Majesty's Government." In looking over the present bill he was compelled to conclude that the misfortune which the late Chancel'or of the Exchequer de precated was likely to occur. A great improvement had taken place in the general tone adopted by the press ; and for that reason, among others, he thought it ought to be protected. He remembered when day after day, and week after week, prosecutions were instituted by the Atter nieoyn- e that General , wereondisgrace the er t ofothe the country;Crow n andagainst ho p tus should be e exceedingly . sorry e c t o o u n s t e r e y thoselarge r g p e u b w l a i c s t a s i a o t n i s s fi e r e d v i w v e it d h . H uthnelelsaswuansdietrnvoewrystfosovdo,urasubdlethceirrceufomrestahnecesus,brhietteemditathiantg, a rrangementso b u je g c h ton tins to the bill,ottobed h istue mightrbed. beasked why Entertaining these general objections he did not move the rejection of the measure altogether. His answer to that was, that he did not wish to embarrass the Government at the present moment, when one of its most distinguished members was engaged at Vienna in conferences of vital importance to the world. H e came now to the more immediate subject of his amendment— the financial view of the question. Hero ho must say that he was at a loss to imagine on what ground his proposition could be opposed. He had already asked the opinion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer himself as to the present condition of the finances of the country, and the impossibility of abolishing the newspaper stamp with out calling upon the people to make up the deficiency by some other mode of taxation. The right hon. baronet the member for Portsmouth, who had also filled the office of Chancellor of the Exchequ a er estimated the probable l oss to the revenue at a quarter of million, an d remarked, " The Chancellor of th e E xc h equer has fair ly told you that if you pass this measure he must of necessity propose some other taxation to compensate for the sum it is proposed should be lost. Well, thee, let us know what is the taxation which the right hon. gentleman will propose in lieu." Surely that was a fair and reasonable proposition. These were not times in which large sums of money should be thrown away without the The house right beinghon. told baronethow thehe then deficiency dw to to be made up. speak of the details of the measure, and he said :—" I will not now enter further i nto details of the plan which the ! ~ ^'~y - -~- it 1.04 PRIVATE BILLS. T l, l/ 3 t;' 1,7. 1 .L t ) 1 - A/11; 1 NT fia h. & • • HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY.) The LORD CHANCELLOR took his scat on the wool sa2k at five o'clock. PETITIONS. Earl GREY presented a petition from Somerset, nr7inz the house to adopt prompt measures for the eedy t/{ Lord BROUGHA:vI presented a petition from Kingston-upon-Thames in favour of the abolition of church rates. The noble and learned lord took the opportunity of laying on the table two more resolutions he intcnded to move in connection with the treatment of criminals. The Earl of SHAFTESBURY presented a petition from the Wesleyan body of dissentersin favour of closing the public-houses on the Lord's-day. THE QUEEN'S MESSAGE—TREATY WITH SA RDINIA. The Earl of CLARENDON, in rising to move that the message of her most gracious Majesty with reference to the treaty with the King of Sardinia be considered, said he felt it would be unbecoming in him to detain their lordships any length of time. Their lordships would no doubt consider any argument superfluous in support of the address which he intended to propose for their adoption. Although the treaty proposed by com mand of her Majesty to the Sardinian Government was only recently ratified, yet the treaty itself had long since received the assent of that Power. It would no doubt be agreeable to their lordships to learn that no solicitation whatever was necessary on our part to induce the Sar dinian Government to take the course which more than any other result within his recollection had been re ceived with satisfaction by all classes of her Majesty's subjects. The only merit to which the diplomacy of her Majesty's Government could lay claim to was that, they thought the time had arrived when an invitation might be given to the Sardinian Government to adhere to the treaty of the 10th April. The Sardinian Go- • vernment acting with that vigour of purpose and perfect good faith which bad characterised all her proceedings --which had insured her success at home and respect abroad—had agreed to those preliminaries which had terminated in so gratifying a result. Sardinia alone ad heres to what he would call that self-denying article, to which England and France bad bound themsglves, not to derive any territorial advantage from the war. The state, however, of her finances being inadequate to the expenses of an army abroad as well as at home, she has ap plied to England for an advance of money (2,000,0001.), the interest of which was to he paid at the rate of 4 per cent. ; 1 per cent. of which was to be applied to the Sinking Fund. She also asks that her troops might be conveyed by England to the seat of war ; and her Majesty's Government, waiting the approval of Parlia ment, had agreed to these applications, and at this moment a British fleet was on its way to Genoa to carry 15,000 of those troops to the Crimea—troops which he dared to say were inferior to none in Europe in organisation, in discipline, or in gallantry. The efforts made latterly by Sardinia to obtain national liberty were watched by this country with the greatest anxiety, and her success in the attainment of that great object was, he thought, greatly owing to the fact of, her being utterly free from foreign intervention. The noble earl concluded by moving an address to her Majesty, which was but an echo of the royal message. The Earl of HA.RDWICKE bore testimony to the gallantry of the Sardinian troops at the battle of No vara, and also to the great ability that characterised the gallant general who had been appointed to the command of the troops in the Crimea. The Earl of SHAFTESBURY said if ever Sardinia was called upon to defend herself from external oppres sion, he believed that any application fo r ass i s t ance would be met with a response from the country which had never been made before—from north to south—from John O'Groat's house to the Land's-end. The address was then agreed to. POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS WITH AUSTRALIA. The Earl of HARDWICKE rose to present a petition from the Australian Postal Association complaining of, and calling attention to, the unsatisfactory st a t e o f th e postal arrangements with Australia. The noble earl said that in 1851 contracts were enterel into for the conveyconveyance of letters to Australia by the overland route, in connection j with the steamers of the Oriental Steam Navigation Com pany, and also by steamers by the Cape of Good Hope, the former ro ate being travelled in 60 to 65, the latter in 61 - to 70 days. This arrangement continued till the commence ment of the war. The postal revenue obtained from the communication with Australia was 90,030/. a year; the value of the exports to that country in the year 1853 was 14,506,532/. ; but at the present moment the postal com munication was stopped ; that was to say, it was carried on only by sailing vessels ; and the consequence was that the communication, which formerly occupied six weeks, now occupied four or five months. The petition which he had presented admitted that there had been a derange ment of the steam communication on this side of the Isthmus of Suez, but denied that any such arrangement had occurred on the other side of that isthmus, and assert ed that therefore so far as that part of the route was con cerned, the regularity heretofore observed might have been maintained. The petitioners stated that there existed in Australia several companies possessing ships well adapted for the conveyance of mails, and they prayed their lordships to take into consideration the injury sus tained by the general interests of the colony from the suspension of mail communication, and to address her Majesty, praying her Majesty to direct arrangements to be made for the re-establishment of that communication. Whatever difficulty might exist in carrying on the postal service as it was carried on before, he thought that difficulty might be met in the same manner as it had been met with regard to other colonies, and ho sow no reason why the colonists ghould not. hn permitted aotrup a. postal communication of their own. (Hear.) Lord CANNING said there could be no doubt that the subject was one of great importance, both to the mercan tile interests of this country and to the interests of the colonists, and deserved every consideration. He thought, however, that the noble earl had been led into some little error by the allegations in the petition. The statement with regard to the postal communication producing 90,0001. a year was made from an insufficient knowledge of the facts. So far from that being the produce of the postal revenue-- The Earl of HARDWICKE observed that 90,0001. wa s the gross revenue, out of which the postal service was carried on. Lord CANNING said that that statement was very far from being accurate. It appeared from a report laid on the table last session that the amount received two years ago was not half that sum. About six months ago a consider able diminution took place, in consequence of the reduc tion in the colonial postage, the reduction in the case of Australia being more than one-half, and the whole amount of postal revenue received from the Australian mails, during the last six months, was not more than at the rate of 36,0001. a year. Now with respect to the offer of the packet owners to contract. A proposal was made to him, some time ago, to enter into an engagement, or give an undertaking to a company not possessing a steam or sail ing vessel, that the Government would enter into a contract with them, on their constructing steam or sailing vessels for the purpose of carrying the mails. Now, the adoption of such a course of proceeding would not only have been rash on the part of the Government, but it would have been unfair to other companies. The principle on which the Go vernment had hitherto acted had been not to entertain pro posals from companies whose means of performing contracts were not in existence. (Hear, hear.) The reason which had led to the suppression of the Australian steam service was very evident. War was a hard taskmaster, claiming the application of every possible resource. Little more than two years ago there were in existence two lines of steam communication with Australia, but last year the require ments of the war had caused steamers to be drafted from all steam companies, and from the two Australian com p mies especially. It so happened that at that. time he was in communication with the Peninsular and Oriental Company, with the view of increasing their bi-monthly communication, which would have given 18 instead of 12 mails in the course of the year ; but the demands of the war were so urgent that further sacrifices were demanded from the company. Australia was not the only colony which had suffered. Eight vessels had been taken from the Peninsular and Oriental Company for tho transport of troops and stores. The ccmpany which carried the mails to the Cape of Good Hope had given up seven of their vessels. Cunard's lino had given up eight. At this mo ment there were not fewer than from 27 to 30 large postal steamers employed by the Government for the purposes of the war. He was far from saying th at Australia had not suffered more than the other colonies ; but the Go vernment had no resources to fall back upon but the old sailing vessels. The Government were so conscious of the inj ones which had been inflicted on the Australian colonies that notwithstanding the exigencies of the war, they were in communication with parties most .likely to be able to supply the deficiency, and inquiries had been made of the Peninsular and Oriental Company as to the terms on which they would consent to supply certain accommodation, and the time which they would require to enable them to do so. He did not look to the existing arranee ment as a permanent one. He thought the petition had been drawn up in ignorance of what was really practicable. He did not believe there were more than one or two steamers in Australia able to take the long voyage. The noble earl had fallen into an error with regard to the dif ference of time consumed in the voyage between sailing vessels and steam vessels, stating that it now took four or five months to write and receive an answer between Aus tralia and England, whereas formerly not more than five or six weeks were required. Now there was no case of which ho was aware in which the post had travelled be tween the two extremities in that time. The Earl of HARDWICKE remarked that the voyage which was formerly performed in six weeks now took 3 mouths. Lord CANNING said that by the Cape line the average passage was from eighty-five to ninety days. Notwith standing the pressure on the finances of the country, it was the intention of the Government to re-establish an efficient steam communication with Australia, but he hoped that the Australian colonies, and those persons who had influence in their councils, would manifest a little patience in the matter, and show themselves willing for a time to endure the inconvenience which they had experi enced. The Earl of HARDWICKE said he understood the dif ference between sailing and steam vessels varied from 61 (lays to 90 or 100 days. He believed the Australasian Steam Company was in possession of twenty steamers in Australia, many of them as large as 700 or 800 tons. The subject then dropped. DESPATCH OF BUSINESS (COURT OF CHAN CERY) BILL. Their lordships went into committee on this bill, The bill was reported without amendments, and Their lordships adjourned at twenty-five minutes after seven o'clock. HOUSE OF COMMONS-YESTERDAY, The SPEAKER took the chair shortly before 4 o'clock The following bills were considered and ordered to be read a third tune : - Birmingham Water, Bridport Rail way, Chesterfield Water and Gas, Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax Junction Railway, Monmouthshire Rail way and Canal, Plymouth and Stonehouse Gas, South- Eastern Railway (Capital), Torquay Market and Slaugh ter-houses, Torquay, Tor, and St. Mary Church Gas, and Sheffield Gas. The following bills were read a second time and ordered to be committed ;—England and Ireland Improved Chancellor of the Exchequer has explained so clearly and candidly to the house, but if he proposots, - .otiebinging in his bill, to pass it before his financial statement, I am afraid that he will find me prepared, even if I should find myself in a minority of one, to vote for the postponement of the measure." He therefore claimed the right hon. ba ronet as No. 2in favour of his amendment. Following thn course of the debate he found several other hon. members speaking in the same strain, and although ho could'not say that from the speeches of the hen. niember for Manchester, he derived mu c h 11,•pe s.upport, still he was thankful 4t the little he could get. When the right lion. gentlemnrk.the member for Manchester said, " I quite agreeleith the right hon. gentleman that we must be careful in timnslikethese in not abandoning sources of revenue, he strengthened to some extent the case against the bill, or at all events pointed out the danger of interfering with therevenue at the present time. His hon. colleague in the representation of Manchester almost seemed to have anticipated something like an appli cation for postponement. He did not consider the present measure so good as that of the late Chancellor of the Exche quer ; denied that the question was one of revenue ; urged the Chancellor of the Exchequer to pass'his bill as soon as possible, and deprecateddelay. The hon. member was an able man ; his speeches were admirable ; but he could not agree with him upon the present occasion. In conclusion, he might be allowed to say that he did not think the bill had been sufficiently long before the house to allow all its details to be understood. For that and the ether reasons he had stated he begged to move as an amendment that the second reading of the bill be postponed till after the Chancellor of the Exchequer had made his financial statement. (Hear.) Sir E. B. LYTTON differed from his hon. friend and from other hon. friends on this subject with great concern. He was glad, however, to see that his hon. friend had not narrowed the debate so as to reduce to a question of pounds, shillings, and pence as important a principle as any that the House of Commons could entertain. (Hear.) He (Sir E. B. Lytton) was one of the first to introduce the principle to that house in a motion for the repeal of the taxes on knowledge ; and when his hon. and learned friend said that the question was not long enough before Parlia ment, he bogged to inform his hon. friend that it was brought forward by him (Sir E. B. Lytton) twenty years ago. He was then a young man, but the opinions he enter tained on the question at that period he entertained at the present moment, and had seen no reason whatever to alter them since. A great advance had, undoubtedly, been made in the general intelligence of the country since that time, and the dangers which then threatened had, it was admitted, decreased. But why? It was because during the last twenty years cheap publications had abounded, and because the public had had the wisdom to choose the best of these publications and reject the worst. rre (ir E. B. Lytton) had heard the arguments now employed by his hon. and learned friend, in respect to newspapers, not unfrequently urged on former occasions against all cheap publications whatsoever, as if to adapt the book market to the poor man's pocket was to corrupt the public taste. But what was the fact? Why there was such a profusion of good books published that the bad ' books totally disappeared. (Hoar.) At the present moment the books to be found in the hands of the artisan were either elementary scientific works, or works of entertain ment of a superior character. And now, when the danger had disappeared, he would ask, had they a right to listen to what newspaper proprietors would have them put faith in, that any publication cheaper than their own was an appeal to the passions of the public. Was it the cheapness of the newspaper that was to corrupt the artisan, or the vileness of the artisan that was to corrupt the newspaper ? .All those suppositions, however, were refuted by the evi dence of facts. Thousands of cheap publications had brought to the cottage of the labourer, not the degrading literature that was anticipated, but the most elevating de scription of knowledge. He (Sir E. Bulwer-Lytton) there fore entreated the house not to separate this important prin ciple from its consideration of the bill. He agreed that the details required attention, and he thought it was not only absolute justice, but sound policy, to give an effective and simple copyright law to newspapers, something similar to Sir J. Emerson-Tennent's act for the protection of designs and manufactures, which he believed would not be difficult. As far as regarded the weight and size of newspapers be thought the paper of the largest circulation should be taken—the one in which the public felt the deep est interest. Ho was given to understand that the Chan cellor of the Exchequer meant to return to the principle of weight. It did seem to him, however, that this would be unfair, as it would separate a paper from its supplement. Far from having any grudge against the existing news papers, be (Sir E. Bulwer-Lytton) agreed that the press was au honour to this country, for ability in its composi tion, for the integrity of the men in whom its duties were vested, and, always making an allowance for anonymous power, fur its freedom from calumny. (Hear, bear.) And if he were called upon fur a monument of our civilisation he should point, not to our docks, nor to our public build ings, but to a file of our newspapers. He could find nothing to cling to except an Attorney-General who had not the courage to prosecute, and a jury who wou'd refine) to con vict. His hon. friend spoke in commendation of the tone of the existing press ; but he would remind his hon. friend that it was not the newspapers that formed the tone of the public mind, but the public who gave the tone to news papers. And if the press was an honour to the country, it must be recollected that it was because it reflected the masculine honesty, the vigorous good sense, and the civil ised humanity of the popular mind. They had been told that this proposed change would have a tendency to degrade the press to the level of the American press. They had been told that the American press was in the hands of penniless, illiterate adventurers, and that to this was to be attributed its alleged low tone. Whereas the real fact was, the American press abounded with the highest intel lectual characters of the country. There was scarcely an author of eminence, or a statesman of fame, or a man of liberal opinions and sufficient merit, who was not a con tributor to the American press. They found the whole of tie literary talent and character engaged on the American press, and therefore, if the press was inferior, it must be owing to the less civilised character of the country (we understood). It showed that the good or bad character of the press did not depend on fiscal arrangements, but on the standard of civilisation of a nation. He would now come to the main principle of the bill, and he would venture to piece, that erode prinriplo on a higher and broader ground than that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. That right hon. gentleman seemed to regard the bill rather with the toleration of a step-father than with the glowing love of a parent. He took the principle to be this, that in a free country they ought not to lay a tax en the expression of public opinion, or tax the diffusion of information on pub lic affairs--that information, according to the constitution being the common interest and concern of every subject of the state. Still loss, they ought not, by means of a tax, to create artificially by capital a virtual monopoly of the right to publish information on questions in which the whole public had an equal and a commorr interest. That was the principle of the bill and was the question before the house ; and they could not get rid of the fact that no man, what ever might be his talents, whatever his honesty and know ledge, however sound his opinions, could publish his opinions on the events and affairs of the day in a daily journal without an enormous capital, or in a weekly journal without several thousand pounds ; and that this narrowed the liberty of publishing quite as much as if the state sold for a sum of money the right to a monopoly of the market for public information. (Cheers.) One result was, to narrow the represenation of public opinion. There was either a large section of public opinion not represented or repro' m ted inadequately. He very much doubted whether there were ten thoughtful men on either side of the home who, on great and important questions, could find a single paper with which they could cordially agree in opinion. Now, if they took the great Conservative party, it would be found in the counties that the party had a large majority, and in the towns they had a large and influential minority. With respect to its comparative strength, not its numbers, but its wealth and intelligence must be regarded. L e t the h o u s e consider how large a share i t had of the cultivated classes, the learned profess sions, the clergy, and the gentry. Well, if they turned to the metropolitan press, would they tell him that the Con servative papers' circulation was in proportion to the nuua hers and weight of the party, or adequately represented its intellectual eminence and wealth ? (we understood.) There were two ways of representing public opinion—one through Parliament, the other through the press. His hon. friend below him (Mr. Deedes) would tell him that the Conservative party was the largest integral body in Parliament, and yet in the press there was no sub-division of opinion so sparingly represented. If they looked to the press generally and the number of copies circulated by the various journals, they would be startled at the dis parity which existed between the influence in the country of the Conservative party and their represen tatives in the press. (Hear, hear.) If the stamp duty were removed, and if able men among the party pos sessed the power to defend their cause, could any one doubt that all that talent, and knowledge, and intellect could do would find its channel of repre,enta tion ? No doubt that paper was the best which had the largest command of capital, but then it was not always the best a wspaper that presented the best opinions. Some took cue course, some another ; ono paper was supported on account of the variety of its news, another because of its political opinions. Twenty years ago he had convinced himself that with respect to the Liberal press, there were many safe and sound thinkers who would hold it to be their duty to come to resist and counteract any revolu tionary or socialist doctrines ; and on the Conservative side were they so indifferent as to be unable to defend, or indifferent to the increase of their opinions ? He was per suaded if the duty was taken off, that many able writers — gentlemen and scholars on their side—would came forward to remove prejudices, and to enlighten the public mind as to Conservative opinions and views, about which they were just now very much left in the dark. He was convinced if the duty were removed, that many eminent public men —many eminent men of letters would come forward and publish cheap journals — not, however, vereiug with the Times, but works which would convey opinions stamped with the responsibility of the au thors' avowed name. He was convinced that this cheap com p etition wo uld not lower, but would rather elevate the moral characte r of the newspaperpress and the I social position ; for if anything could exalt th a t social position with the anony mous character of public writers (we understood). lie s , c it ial would . b e of doing .!o gent l e men ing away connected with willingly admitted that no more able and accomplished gentlemen could be found than those who contributed to the political department of the leading journals ; but, then, it was in vain to deny that m os t persons felt an uneasiness at their presence, and in holding social intercourse with men who, in the exercise of their talents, must make secrecy a necessary law. O ne na t urally feared ' that the newspaper contributor with whom he associated to-day might, in the discharge of his professional duty, sting him darkly and to the quick to-morrow. Mr. Fox told an anecdote of a man who was eiving evidence in a court of law, who said he got his information from a ghost. "Well," said the judge, " I know of no objection against taking the evidence of a ghost; let him bo brought into court." (Laughter.) Anonymous newspapers were a kind of ghosts—he had no objection to their evidence, but at the same time he should like to have them b rou g ht into court. (Laughter.) The hon. gentleman (Mr. Deedes) appeared to argue the case too much as if it was a question between the press and the tax collector. Ho could not help smiling to hear the hon. gentleman say that the proprietors of newspapers did not complain of the tax, and why then should it be altered? But what corporate body ever did complain o f a t ax w hi c h re stricted competition in their department, and secured monopoly to it? Helwas amused to see journals which formerly wore warmest in their advocacy (of free trade doctrines, now arming themselves with all the most anti quated arguments in favour of protective duties amounting to absolute prohibition, which had been used so success fully dining the last 10 years of the corn laws—arguments snotand now lauifiligthert. which even the farmer s wou ld no t h ave b een beguiled by. (Hear, time to enforceue ion wa s this—whether it The st the good principle of the constitution, a pr i nc i p l e cons onant to liberty and com mon sense—that opinion should be free, and should not be suppressed or fettered by fiscal arrangements, through which liberty was filched and stolen away, but that it should only be subject to the laws of the country directed against treason, blasphemy, and slander? Here he would say one word on behalf of a class who were the chief sup porters of c h ea p publications—it was, that no class in the I 20 10 20 20