The Sun. — London, England, 1856-04-26 00:00:00

domestic life, for there were certain circles of relationship, the restraining marriage within which was a blessed regula- Wien, calculated to surround men with other relationships, and with an atmosphere of undoubted purity. He had come to the conclusion that the law of the New Testament agreed with the law of the Old Testament, and made those marriages unlawful. His noble friend had with much industry brought forward one or two authorities. He;(the Bishop of Oxford) s bound to say, after all the deep research which his noble friend had shown, that he must set against the authorities which he had cited the undoubted judgment of the Church of Christ in its best and purest ages, His noble friend said that first cousins were forbidden to marry in the same way. He (the Bishop of Oxford) denied that proposition, :or during the first three or four centuries of the Church no such prohibition existed. The Western Church had never allowed dispensations to be granted for such marriages as the noble earl proposed to make lawful until the time of that worst of men, Alexander VI. (Borgia), the priest, prelate, and Pope, a man stained with every vice, guilty himself of incest ; but there never had been an instance in the Western Church of such dispensations until Borgia granted oae to Emmanuel, King of Portugal,for certain state reasons. Well, then, if he found that to be the case in the first centuries of the Christian Church—if he found a stream of unbroken tradition upon such a subject as this down to the 15th century, he thought that the question could not admit of any doubt. He cared very little for what the Church of Rome had done in the way of dispensations, because he knew enough of ecclesiastical history to be aware of this fact, that when driven into a corner there was very little which that wily and astute court could not justify. There was a certain great authority in the Church of Rome—the great casuist Li guori—whose teaching in the matter of dispensation was so lemnly declared by that Church to be the true and apostolic doctrine. Liguori laid down this particular rule as to the dispensing power : Papa non poJest dispensant, in lege Die. His noble friend no doubt thought this doctrine went all his wn way, but it proceeds sine justa causa. (Laughter.) To make this rale more complete it added, nec episcopus lege ec *sig. So that the dispensing power of the Pope, according to this authority, was the same with regard to the law of Godas that of the bishop with regard to the law of the Church. They had the unbroken tradition of the Western. Church up to the 15th century, interpreting the law of God. But that was not all. Tidy hud also the traditionlof theßussian Church and the Eastern Greek Church. Those traditions were all the same as to the prohibition of those unions. What was the tradition of the Anglican Church from the time of the Refor mation until now ? That Church, in returning to the primi tive faith—which, he thanked God, she still holds—had al ways declared that those marriages were contrary to the law of God. He now wished to sae a few words as to the social consequences of suffering such marriages. His noble friend was not, he thought, very happy towards the close of his speech in alluding to what he (the Bishop of Ox furl) believed was the universal Christian instinct of all instructed women. He believed there were many things more safely settled by the instinct of a Christian mind than by the subtle arguments of a reasoning casuist. The effect of making lawful such marriages as those in ques tion—while it would be an act of gratification to those who had already contracted such attachments—would, he be lieved, be a great injury to society at large. In the first place, such a measure as this would give one of the most signal en couragements that could be given to bleak the law, in the hope of getting the lawaltered so as not to incur the penalties to which parties were now liable. He believed that the freedom of intercourse in this country depended upon the high moral state which, take it as a whole with - God's bles sing, we enjoyed in regard to the institution of marr i age . Suc a measure as this was well calculated to injure the moral sense of the whole mass of the population as to the law of marriage and its purity. It would seriously interfere with the happiness of a multitude of families, which depended al together upon the declaration of God's law, and the sanctity which that law threw around them. They had no right, fer the sake of gratifying comparatively a few persons, who contract such marriages, to i reak up the happiness of whole famines who, under the shelter of the existing law, were living in a state of purity and contentment. Something had been said about the poor being the class most interested in these marriages. In his own diocese he had instituted cer tain inquiries ou this point, and the result showed that there was no desire among the poor to violate the law by contract ing such marriages. The class among whom such a desire existed was not the poor, but the more self-indulgent classes of society, who had ahundaut means of existence, and were not hard worked. All the argument, therefore, about this being chiefly a poor man's question, was nothing more than a clever piece of rhetoric without any basis of truth. Be . trusted he had made out to their lordships' satisfaction a sufficient case to justify them in refusing to read the bill a second time. He would ask them to do more, and to reject it by such a majority as would discourage future attempts in the same direction. Those who agitated this question, and who brought it before Parliament, were doing the greatest possible unkindness towards those porsens in whose behalf they had come forward. (Hear.) By agi tating the question they were doing what they could to weaken, if not to destroy, that barrier which hedged round the purity and sanctity of female domestic life. He begged the noble lord who had introduced the bill to believe that it was not lawful fer him to attempt to unsettle those safe, sta ble, and sacra I foundations on which marriage rested. He could not hold either the noble lord, or any one else, blame less, who attempted to break down the sacred bounds of mrr rued life. It was easy to make a beginning in such a work ; but once begun, where was the man or where the authority that would be able to stem theflood ? He hoped, therefore, that the decision of their lordships would be of that unmistake able kind which would effectually clamp any expectations that might be entertained that the present law would be changed. Even if their opinion was that these marriages were probably opposed to the Word of God, that ought to suffice-for the re ject ion of a measure which would legalise them. He therefore called upon them in the name of God—in the name of the tees of thousands of homes in Greitt Britain—homes the models of purity and of ever 3, domestic blessing—to fence them round from the invader, and not to make light of God's great and holy institution of marriage. (Hear.) The Earl of ALBEMARLE thought that in discussing this - question they ought not to lose sight of the disadvantage of having one law fir the rich and another for the poor. He could not help thinking that the strength of the argument used by the noble lord loelow him with respect to what was called the indefinite manner in which ladies spoke of this matter was attributable to want of care en the part of their spiritual advise re, and to their bein g led to regard the table of affinities in the Book of Common Prayer as of equal autho rity with the Bible. He maintained that there were two un truths in the table, and he desired to know by what autho rity it had been placed where it was generally to be found. He believed it had no more right to be there than a chapter of the Koran had. In tracing the history of the table in question, he found that Archbishop Parker had introduced it without the authority of his rev brethren—evidently against his own inclination—and had never summoned con. vocation to give additional validity to it. If Archbishop Parker had believed such marriages as those in question to be incestuous, he thought that he would, as the first Protestant prelate in this kingdom, have annulled them, and would not, as he had done, have pronounced a contrary opinion. With respect to the canon of 1671, he did not think if the circum stances that led to it were considered, that much reliance could be placed upon it. The right rev. prelate who spoke last had referred to a canon—he presumed the 99th—but he should like to ask the noble and learned lord the Chief Jus tice of the Queen's Bench, whom he saw in his place, what validity the 99th canon had over the laity in England ? Blackstone, on the authority of Hale, said that all those canons were to be considered as having been made onlyby the foreign authority of popes and emperors. The right rev, pre late had spoken a great deal of the domestic purity of the homes of England. In his (the Earl of Albemarle's) opinion, domestic purity was more in danger from the law as it stood than it would be from the alteration proposed. With respect to the operation of the law, he knew not how far the state of one parish might be regarded as a proof of the state of others, but he had received a letter from a person in the north of Eng land, which stated that in his own parish within the last year and a-half there had been ne less than six of these marriages. The right rev. prelate had spoken mysteriously of the Church, without stating what he meant by the term. The right rev. prelate referred to the apostolic canon of the fourth century, bet the canon had never had that authority in the western Church which it had in the eastern ; and he was surprised to find the right rev, prelate yielding a blinder assent to it than was given to it in the fourth and fifth centuries. (Hear.) Having cited the canons in which bishops could be excom municated, he inquired how the right rev. bishop recon ciled the 25th canon with the cenge d'elire ? li e would show another discrepancy in the canons which had been written before the Council of Nice which took place in the year 325. Basil, who was born four years afterwards, asked whence they had derived the custom of baptism by three immersions. But had he referred to these canons he would have lound that a priest was liable to the punishment of death if he did not immerse three times. Then the heinous crime of fasting on a Saturday, and the venial crime of taking away a man's life, were subject to the same punishment by one of those canons. The 85th canon gave a list of all the books that wore accounted venerable and sacred ; and after naming the Testament books, declared the Book of Us to be a sacred book. Therefore, as a layman, he could not admit the validity of the apostolical canons, He would venture to tell the right rev. beach that not one argument against the bill had been, or could be, alleged that was not answered in a book ho held, published in 1756, and written by Mr. Fry. The main con. tents of that book were these—that the 18th of Leviticus re lated to the abominations between the Egyptians and the Canaanites ; that there was not one instance in the Bible rela tive to marriage where any form was denounced (we under. stood). Tho reasons he had now urged satisfied his mind, and led him to give his cordial support to the bill of the noble lord, Viscount DUNGANNON objected to the bill, on the ground that. it would affect the social interests of society; and he trusted it would be rejected by such a majority as would de stroy anYhopes of success for the future. Lord RAVENSWORTH had never voted in opposition to this measure whenever brought before the house ; on the con trary, he had taken every opportunity of giving it his support. He did not agree with the noble lord who said that the pass ing of this bill would interfere with the social order of the community. He would say that his opinion could not be c hanged by any arg ument--(lau ghter)—because his mind was firmly made up upon the question. When the social in terests of the community had been alleged as the reason of a noble lord's opposition, he thought that a case of social hardship should have been alleged in support of that argu ment. Now he had a real case of social evil to produce in which a gentleman was debarred from marrying his sister in-law, and thus finding a second mother for his children, because it would be contrary to law. He would read the gen tleman's letter, which was addressed to a relativ e of his own in the other house. The writer said his ease cut both ways. The relatives of the lady thought it was improper for her to reside with a brother-in-law, a widower; and he (the writer) would not allow a daughter of his to live with a bro ther-in-law who was a widower. By this rule he was depri ve d of the society of his sister-in-law, and his children of her pro tection ; and the hardship of the case was aggravated by the fact of a mutual attachment existing between the parties. He contended this constituted a social grievance, and lie thought, therefore, it was right to make their lordships ac quainted with it. These parti s did live apart in o':edience to the law, and they suffered in consequence. In how many hundreds a"d in how many thousands of instances were the humbler classes compe'led to resort t 3 immorality in order to evade the existing law. He knew this •was the case, a, he had been much fraught into contact with the humblerelass: , s. (Question.) Some noble lord clied " question ;" if that cry was rai se d because some noble lords might wish to retire from those walls, he would remind their lordships that the eyes of the country were upon them. It hid been asserted in that house, and in oth,r places, that to permit a relaxation of the law was contrary to the law of God. He would say, woe be tide that legislature and that legislation which attempted to establish any law that was c ntrary to the law of God. He bad carefallY.-consulted the Sacred Book, with the view of in forming his mind on the sulject, and without relying on any doubtful interpretation or passage, he would say if he could bring his mind to believe that the relaxation of this institu tion was contrary to the law of God, be would be the very last to sanction or support a measure having such an effect. Aware of the social demoralisation which was the result of the strict canonical law upon the subject, he (Lord Ravens worth) would vote for the second rowing of the bill. Lord CAMPBELL said that if the noble lord had heard the eloquent and able speech of the right rev. prelate who spoke second in the debate he would have been a convert to the doctrines propounded in it. As regarded his (Lord Campbell) own opinions, he was bound to say that those he held in 1851 on the subject were still unchanged; and he would add, that the more he re llected on it the more decid edly he believed that the alteration proposed by the noble earl in the present law was contrary to the law of God as well as the law of the land. He had a great respect for the noble earl, but he thought the noble earl would have done much better if he had avoided a continuance of the agitation on the subject. The noble earl said that public opinion had been increasing on the matter ; it had done so, but it was against any change in the law. In the year 1849, for in stance, the House of Commons passed a bill on the subject by a large majority ; in 1865, however, a similar bill was only read a second time by a majority of seven ; and each successive stage so decreased its supporters that it fell through. The alteration proposed in the law was, in his opinion, con trary to the law of God, and socially productive of great mis chief. There could be no doubt that the marriages proposed had been held as unlawful in England for three centuries. The solemn judgment of the Court of Queen's Bench, in the case of the " Queen v. Chafis," settled the question as to the legality of these marriages ; and he was astoni,hed that the noble earl should set up his own opinion against that judg ment. Earl ST. GERMANS was understood to deny that such was the case. _ . Lord CAMPBELL was glad to hear it. That judgment had been acquiesced in by the country ; but the attempts which had been subsequently made to overturn it were the cause of the act which was sought to be repealed by the bill of the noble lord. That bill, however, was more objection able than any former bill ; it went farther, for it applied to the niece of a deceased wife, as well as to a deceased wife's sister. It was, moreover, admitted that legislation would not end with th• bill, and therefore further alterations might bo looked for. In fact, it would lead to per petual agitation, and no ore would know at last where the line of demarcation was drawn. He was not sur prised the bill did not extend to -cotland, for by the univer sal opinion of that country it was held in abhorrence. As a measure calculated to lead to inextricable confusion, as well as a measure contrary to law and religion, he (Lord Camp bell) gave the bill his most decided opposition. The Bishop of CASHEL said that the Jewish law, ISth Leviticus, was stated not to be part of the Jewish law ; but lie maintained it was the declared exposition of the will of God, and not a merely municipal regulation. Whatever a man might do, a woman might do also, under that law. But a man might not marry his brother's wife, nor a woman marry her sister's husband ; therefore, reversing the conditi ns, a man might not marry his wife's sister. He hoped and true' ed that a large majority of their lordships would prove in the face of the country that they were determined to go upon the written Word of Uod, and that no motives of mere social convenience should induce them in aught to depart from it. The Bishop of ST. DAVID'S said an apprehension had been entertained that he agreed with the noble earl (S. Germans) in a very essential point of his argument, and that he differed from tie greater part of his right rev. brethren. Certainly there was one point with regaid to which he did coincide with the opinion of the noble earl, and therefore so far dif fered from some of his right rev. friends, but the extent of that agreement and of that difference had been most prodigi ously over-rated, and he must say that if before this evening's debate the agreement between him and the noble earl was small, the difference between them had been greatly widened by what he was %mew to have heard fall from the noble earl. On the otl er hand, he had the greatest p'easure in feeling a g: wing as eirance that there WAS no material or substantial difference betwe m his view of the subject and that which he believed was entert iined, if not by all, yet by an immense maj ,rity of his right rev. brethren. He (the Bishop of St. David's) was sorry the noble earl had thought it his duty to revive this discussion. He knew the preparations by which it had been introduced, and which had been indicated by the petitions laid upon t' eir lordships' table, and upon which such stress had been Pe.e. eel as a material argument in favour of the proposition of the noble earl. But h, would only ob serve with regard to that, that if they looked merely at the number of the petitions they would be found to bear a very inconsiderable portion indeed to the mass of the people who were opposed to the measure ; and even if they were much more numerous than they were, still he would sty that this, above all, was a question en which he behoved their lordships not to count the numbers, but to weigh the reasons which were urged in the petitions. It was an undeniable fact that the prohibitions with regard t ) marriage contained in the Old Testament were actually tin basis of the law of the land on this subject. Those prohibitions were, until the beginning of the Christian dispensation, speaking generally, the undoubted lawof the Jews, anl from the beginning of that dispensation to this day, also speaking generally, they had remained the law of the Christian Church. No doubt they were received by the first disciples of our Lord with the same degree of de ference and submission as every other part of the law of the Old T,stament which related to moral subjects, and if there were any difference in their feelings with regard to this por tion of the Divine law, it was that they were opposed to any relaxation of its rigour than would have been the Jews them selves before the Christian dispensation. But, however, that might be, the feet was indisputable that these prohibitions did form the basis of our actual system with regard to all its domestic relations ; and this was not only the actual basis, but the only basis which could be conceived, devised, or formed by any human law or wisdom. If it were not the basis, then they were thrown upon the light of nature to regulate these relations, and there was nothing to prevent them from falling back into those cxce sex into which some of the most enlightened nations of the heathen world, which wanted those restraints, did actually fall by sanc tioning every kind of incestuous abomination. It was true that the noble earl only proposed to cut one of the restrictions, but that was upon grounds which evidently reached them all, and would virtually sweep them all away. (Hear, hear) Although in one single point, then, he eeineided in opinion with the noble earl, still, upon the whole, and in substance, he perfectly agreed - with his right rev. bre thren. The point in which he agreed with them was this— that the principle and spirit of the Divine law was distinctly and clearly opposed to that kind of marriage which the noble earl desired to legalise. The ground on which the Protestant Dissenters rested this question in their petition was just as applicable to every other prohibition in the table as it was to the one with which the noble earl proposed to deal. He could only regard the measure of the noble earl, then, as the first step in a movement, the limit of which ho- confessed he was utterly unable to foresee. True, the noble earl disclaimed all intention of carrying the matter further; but was it not probable, was it not morally certain, that some other noble lord might come forward in a bolder spirit and with more consistency than the noble earl, to carry out the principle on which the noble earl had founded his measure ? He trusted, then, that their lordships would add another title to the gra titude of the country, by again rejecting the proposition of the noble earl, and that by a still greater majority than on the last occasion the bill was before them. ( dear, hear.) Earl GREY said there were two or three important points which had been mentioned by the noble earl, and which no attempt had been made to controvert or answer. In the first place, not a single member of their lordships' house who had spoken aeainst the bill had ventured to say that there was in the Word of God a plain and clear prohibition of those marriages in so - many words. (Hear, hear.) Neither had they ventured to deny that prelates of the highest eminence, that a large body of the parochial clergy, and that the com missioners appointed by the Crown to inquire into the subject had arrived at the conclusion that these marriages were net prohibited by the 'Wor I of God; and that the prohibition by human legislation was mischievous instead of advantageous. Further, they hid not denied that in every other Protestant country in Europe these marriages were legal ; whilst even in Roman Cathclic countries and in Russia they were fre quently allowed under certain circumstances. In America these marriages were approved of ; and the act of the senate legalising them was en public grounds considered a beneficial one. (Hear, hear.) It was not denied that in this country each marriages were entered into by the lower orders in defi ance of the law; and it was equally notorious that many persons of the higher classes of society went to foreign countries to contract them. (Hell., hear.) He could not help,expres sing his deep regret that his noble and learned friend the Lord Chief Justice had extra-judicially, and without having heard the arguments of counsel on a - subject which might probably be brought before him judicially at a future time, expressed So decided an opinion as to those marriages being altogether against the law of this country. That appeared to him (Earl Grey) to be very unfortunate, for it would ne cessarily detract from the weight of that judgment which he (Lord Campbell) might hereafter be called upon to pronounce in a court of justice. (Hear, bear.) Those were the grounds which induced him to vote for the second reading of the bill. He voted more for the principle than the details of the measure. According to all the usages of Parliament, on the second reading the house considered the principle of a bill and nothing else. The principle of the present bill he took to be simply this—that the existing prohibition to a man's marrying a deceased wife's sister should be relaxed. The faults of the bill could be removed, or at all events corrected, in committee. (Hear, hear.) The Bishop of EXETER would not have thought it neces sary to address the house but for some observations which had fallen from the noble earl who had last addressed their Lordships. The noble earl had said that there was no ground whatever for holding that these marriages were contrary to the law of God. Now he (the Bishop of Exeter) should in form the noble earl that it had from the earliest ages been the doctrine of the Church that they were contrary to the law of God. (Hear, hear) The law of the land had adopted the affirmation of the Church on the subject; and by its statutes affirmed that such marriages were contrary to the law of God ; that they sere incestuous as well as invali '. (Hear, hear.) Switzerland had been referred to, but with the exception of one canton—that of Neufchatel which was under the influence of Prussia, Switzerland adopted the same view of the question as England. All the Greek Church was opposed to those marriages; and the Greek Church bore witness of what was the common doctrine of Christianity before the separation of the Western and Eastern Churches. The Roman Catholic Church also held that those marriages should not be celebrated. It was said that that Church had granted dispensations permitting marriage with a deceased wife's sister ; but what was the question raised at the time of Henry vIII.'s proposal for a divorce from his first wife ? The point was, whether the Pope could dispense where a matter was thought to be clearly contrary to the law of God ? The greatest universities of Europe, the canons of the Church, the University of Paris, and the English universities, almost unanimously declared that the Pope could not dispense where the matter was contrary to the law of God ; that he could dispense where the case was simply one of prohibition by roan, but that the prohibition then under consideration not being one by man, but by God, it, could not be dispensed with. ( Hear.) Then, as to legal authorities, in a celebrated case where a wife applied for a divorce from her husband on the ground that he had committed adultery with her sister, Lord Thin-low supported the biil, stating that a divorce was granted to a husband whose wife had committed adultery, be cause he could no longer live with her without degradation to himself, and in the case then before him (Lord Thurlow), the husband having been guilty cf " incest," the wife could not live with him any longer without degrading herself, and there fore he would vote for the divorce. (Hear.) Lord CONGLETON voted against the bill, on the ground that it was opposed to Scripture. The Earl of ELLESMERE supported the measure. The Earl ST. GERMANS re pli e d. Their lordships then divided. The numbers were : For the second readin Contents . g— ...... Non -content s 43 against the second reading —l9 Majority The bill was, therefore, lost. The house adjourned at a quarter before 12 o'clock. HO USE Ors COIIMONS.--(YESTERDAY.) The SPEAXER took the chair at the usual hour. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The Bath Gas bill and the Worksop Gas bill were seve rally read a third time and passed. The B , stop Gas bill, the Canada Company bill, th e Eastern 'Union Railway bill, and the Leeds Water bill were considered, and ordered to be read a third time. The order of the day for the committal of tbo Barnsley Canal and Collieries Hail Nay bill was read and dis charged. STATUTE LAW COMMISSION. Mr. L. KING moved fora copy of the memorandum of the Attorney-General to the plan of proceeding in consideration of the statutes.—Agreed to. Sir J. SHELLEY presented a petition from the pariah THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVEN LNG, APRIL 26, 1856. of St. Martia-in-the.Fields against the Metropolis Local Management Act. THE NATAL REVIEW. yards, as well as in the yards of private contractors, to construct a large number of vessels of war, and so far as the Admiralty were the means of calling those exertions into action we thought we had every reason to be proud of what was done, and were naturally anxious to exhibit to the Legislature and the country the result of our labours. Every precaution which we could take was adopted in order to enable everybody who went to witness that result under the charge of the Admiralty to see it to the greatest possible advantage ; but I must beg hon. gentlemen to recollect that there were two things—time and tide—over which we had no control, and that over the arrangements with respect to the means of conveyance from London to the point of em barkation our authority was but of a limited character We did all that was in our power to provide that proper arrangements should be adopted by the railway company for the conveyance of the members of both Houses of Par liament, but it was not for us actually to carry out those arrangements. It was at first intended, as hon. members are aware, that the review should take place more than a week ago. Bat we found that, from the state of the tide, arrangements could only be adopted by commencing the proceedings at so early an hour in the morning that per sons anxious to go to see them from London should leave it shortly after midnight ; and it was accordingly resolved that the review should be deferred until last Wednesday. In order to meet the requirements of the tide it was ne cessary that a period of about six hours should be as signed as the limit between her Majesty's embarka tion and her disembarkation at Portsmouth ; and on Wednesday last those six hours must have been the hours between eleven and five o'clock. I will now proceed to state what were the arrangements which we made for the accommodation of the members of the two Houses of Parliament upon the occasion ; and in doing so I will THE MARS DEBATE. endeavour to answer the objections which I find I have Mr. J. G. PHILLIMORE said it was his intention already been made to the course which we adopted. The first of tese obectionsis that the memers of the two to move an amendment to the motion of the hon. mem ber for Enniskillen, to the effect that the disregard by houses were sent j to Southampton and not b to Portsmouth. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe of the directions of General (Hear.) Well, I can only say that the simple reason which Williams was the cause of the calamity. induced us to make that arrangement was that we believed COMMUNICATION WITH DUBLIN. it would promote the convenience of the members them- Mr. H. A. HERBERT asked whether there was any selves. The two ports of embarkation ware Portsmouth prospect of the proposed arrangements for accelerating and Southampton ; and it was manifestly advisable to di the postal and passenger communication between London vide the visitors between them. Now we believed that and Dublin being completed; and whether any proposals the far larger crowd would assemble at Portsmouth. That had been made to the Government by the Leaden and was the port which the friends of the var i ous officers of the 7 3et w te o r uld es be o s f ure h to % select. Ido North-Western, and the Chester and Holyhead Railway e fleet o t ic a n n o d the atv e e believed a eii ort Companies, and the City of Dublin Steam Packet Cora would be the the comparative numbers embarking bar w kin a e t puny, for such acceleration, or by the Government to than the fact that while we provided 23 steamers for spec the tutors at Portsmouth, we provided six only at the said companies for the same purpose; and also South whether the Secretary to the Treasury would have any ampton. There was, thus far, less risk of being incon objection to lay on the table of the house copies of any venienced by-the pressure of the crowd at the latter than memoranda, letters, or proposals that had passed be- at the former port. Then there was another consideration tween the Treasury, the Post-office, and tae said coin- which influenced us in the choice that we made. At panies on the subject of postal and passenger communi - Portsmouth the distance from the railw a y s t a ti on t o th e ca-ion between London and Denim since the issuing of wharf is at least half a mile or three-quarters of a mile. (An hon. Member said it was a mile.) Well, I believe it a Treasury minute, dated Oct. 19, 1855 ! is near a mile. But at Southampton the distance fr om th e Mr. WILSON said up to the present time no corn - railway station to the wharf is only 200 or 300 yards. I munication had taken place between the Government remember that at the naval review two years ago, visitors and the railway companies. There had been some de- experienced no inconvenience either in the railway trains lay, but he thought the time was come for the Govern- or in the vessels, and that the only anuoyaace they had to meat to propese a tender upon the subject to these corn- encounter was the difficulty of getting from the railway panies. There was no correspondence on the subject to to the point of embarkation ; and any difficulty of that produce. kind would necessarily be much less at S ou th amp t on th an at Portsmouth. The last consider a tio n w hi c h i n d uce d us WILLS AND ADMINISTRATION BILL. to prefer Southampton to Portsmouth for the embarka- Mr. PHILLIMORE asked whether it was intended tion of the members of the two Houses of Parliament to proceed with the Wills and Administration Bill this was, that it was nearer London. I must observe . that session 1 . while we were anxious to consult as much as possible The SOLICIT° ReGENER-A-Te said it undoubtedly the convenience of the members of the two houses, we was their intention to proceed with the bill, and as early del not consider it part of our duty to provide them as it was possible, with a passage from the r a il wa y s t a ti on t o th e vesse l s in which they were to embark ; but we felt that the shorter REWARD FOR SERVICES IN THE TRENCHES, that passage was the more would it save them from being On the motion for the adjournment of the house, incommoded. We naturally concluded, therefore, that they Mr. 0. STANLEY asked the Under Secretary for would find Southampton, where the distance from the raia War, if any distinguishing mark of honour or reward tvly convenient o t I t i e o fwehma embarkation t ?en a l only Z ia o } !: 0 3 r Ot Portsmouth, yards, ati a e . more e waste be given to those officers and men who had the distance the railway station to the wharf was '' been engaged in the arduous duty of the trenches, nearly a mile. and attacks upon the enemy's works during the Col. NORTH here asked why the members of the two siege of Sebastopol ; or if it was intended that houses were not accommodated at the Clarence Dockyard the Crimean medal and Sebastopol clasp which at Portsmouth ? were bestowed upon all, however employed, was Sir C. WOOD resumed—The Clarence Dockyard was ()triune who immediately accompanied her, and if that to be the only mark of the enduring constancy displayed reserved exclusively fo: the use of her Majesty and the had been Open to other persons, we could not d by ang th er o s se oi g t a h t a la t n p t ro n t i ? all the hardships and dockyardP have secured that accuracy of time for her Majesty's ember- Mr. F. PEEL said it was intended that the Sebasto reancted through siege potion which was pol clasp should serve this amongst other purposes, and proposed review, absolutely whichmes, es a se s ntia i l ia i v n e ca a r ir r e yi ng out he reward those who had contributed towards the reduc- have taken place between the hours of eleven and five tion of thateplace, and of those none had contributed o'clock in the day time. Southampton had for all these more to wareles% it than those officers and men who had reasons been selected as the port of embarkation for the done duty in the trenches. members of the two Houses of Parliament; and I must hero THE MILITIA. obsei ve, that when I informed the house on a preceding Lord C. HAMILTON asked the Under Secretary of evening of that selection I heard no objection whatever State for War the intentions of the Government as to made to it. I now come to the vessels we had chosen for the constitution of the permanent staff of the militia, in conveying the members of the two Houses of Parliament. the event of that force being disembodied ? These were the Transit for the members of the House of Lords, and the Perseve ra nc e f or th e mem b ers o f th e H ouse Mr. F. PEEL said the question how the permanent of Commons. An hon gentleman had asked a question with staff should be composed, and what allowance or gra- respect to the latter ;easel, which was calculated' to create uity should be granted to certain regimental officers of some a l arm. 1 answered that question to the best of ne y Militia, was engaging the attention of the Government. ability; and I made a statement which I think must have As soon as their determination had been decided on, been satisfactory to the house in respect to the perfect sea the Lord Lieutenant and the Commanders of regiments worthiness of that ship. When a similar question was put should be made acquainted of it, and by that means by another hon. gentleman, I made an answer which, lam made known to the public. sorry to find, has been considered by some hon. members to have been ueeoarteous. I certainly did n o t mean to MASTERS OF THE ROYAL NAVY. have been discourteous upon the occasion, and all that I Mr. LA.YARD called - attention to the return that stated was, that if hon. gentlemen knew one-tenth part of had been laid on the table of the house as to the inac- the trouble to which we had been put in that matter, they curacy of that return with reference to the promotion would make some little allowance for us, and not repeat of the masters of the Royal navy. By that return the names questions which, as I thought, had. al-eady been fully of two distinguished officers of that class had been answered. I hope those hon. members who were on board omitted. He supposed they would have a supplemental the Perseverance on Wednesday last had no reason to complain of the complete efficiency of that vessel, and that list correcting the error, and that it would be laid on they will admit that, as far as she w•at, their comfort had some poor clerk, who would be made the scape-goat. been provided for while on board of her. (Hear, hear.) I Mr. B. OSBORNE expressed his regret that the hon. find from a report of Commander 111`Donnell, ' who corn member for Aylesbury had not accepted his explanation mended the Perseverance, that she arrived. at Southamp of regret at the error, but that he should have seized ton at half-past six o'clock in the evening (en Hun. Mern that moment when the Admiralty were a little unpopu- ber here said "Seven o'clock")—that she arrived at lar—(loud laughter)—to make this attack on them. The Southampton at half-past six o'clock, and that every mein error arose not from the neglect of a clerk, but through bar had left her before seven ; and considering the 'la the over anxiety of a gentleman at the head of a depart- fortunate delay that had taken place in her departure, I think it will be admitted that s h e was as l i ttl e b e hi n d meat to produce them as speedi.y as possible, and he had been subject to a serious jawbation (laughter) for it. v ti e m ss e el as e c m ould have been exp ec t e d on h er re t urn . Th e employed fur the conveyance of the members of THANSGIVING FOR PEACE. the House of Lords was the Transit. Now .it is Mr. BYNG called the attention of her Majesty's Go- perfectly true that the Transit was the vessel vernment to the statement, made on Monday night, in the boiler aof which a le a k age h a d occ u rre d w h en s h e was that, while no day of thanksgiving or special form of h e a n d y p ey u i t n i g n into 1121;rets7e i p a s e t 0 0 0s t e he Metleiteorfratnheaatinleaankd leakage. she i prayer has been proposed on toe restoration of peace, hoe. friend (Mr. Lindsay) seems to think that . because My inasmuch as the conditions of the said peace have not vessel once met with an accident,. no matter how well she as yet been formally ratified, preparations for expendi- might after wards have been repaired, she must for the fu ture, on a large scale, have been authorised by the See- ture be considered utterly inefficient for the performance rotary of State for the War Department in celebration of any duty. Now, I should have theught my hon. friend of the above event. must have known better than that. The accident had hap- Sir G. GRE 'it was sorry his former statement had paned to the boilers of the Transit somewhere about a been misconstrued, and explained that no such day had year ago, and ,ince that time she has undergone complete even been named for a thanksgiving until niter the ratifi- rept o . f k rhe h w i a a s st repdrted perfectly fit for service on the with the single exception that one or cation of peace. Communication had been had with the 25th of her . air-pumps , _ware affected, but that circumstance Archbishop of Canterbury respecting it, and at the ap- in no way• • injured her boilers. The only result of it would pointed time it would be announced to the country. bs that it would reduce her speed. (Laughter.) lam not EMBARKATION OF TROOPS FOR CANADA. going to conceal anything —that it would reduce her speed Mr. LAING asked the First Lord of the Treasury for from li knots to 10 knots an hour. But that matter some explanation as to the intention of the Government had been considered of such slight importance that she of sending troops to Canada ? was reported fit to go to th e C r i mea ; an d s h e wou ld Lord PALMERSTON said he disclaimed any respon- have gone to the Crimea—(hear, and much laughter)— and more than that, she will go there—(renewed laughter ) y sibility of information circulated through the newspapers) and I have not the slightest apprehension that her engines ) which he characterised as a left-handed official source. or her machinery will not be found in the most efficient The statement that 10,000 men were going to Canada condition. It has been said that some part of her engines was a gross exaggeration, and if they were so, he doubted or her machinery had been found defective on Wednesday if any man could eeriousiy believe the Government con- —and this morning, after having learnt that that state templated an invasion of the United States. When meat was made, I telegraphed upon the subject both to the war commenced, being on a low peace footing, it Capt. MtDougall at Southampton, and to Sir G. Seymour was necessary to strip the colony of almost every avail- at Portsmouth, and I find from the answers I received able man, and amongst the other places, they from them that there is no d e f ec t i n the machinery of any ' sort or kind. That which re a lly did happen to her on taken from Canada and our wide-extended North were Wednesday was, her fires we re l e t ou t. (Loud laughter.) American provinces. The war being over, it was the I perfectly agreethose who h with think that that could only intention to replace the number that had been taken have occurredthrough soreerotssin negligence on the part from them, and it was proposed to send b ac k of the persona i n c h arge of the vessel; but I believe the about 4,000 men to be scattered over that wide ex- house will see that it would be impossible to expect that tent of territory—(hear, hear)—for the protection of the the Board of Admiralty should have issued any order for inhabitants. He thought there was no cause of alarm, preventing such a casualty. (Hear.) It is only fair to the and that none ought to be raised, at the Government commander of the Transit that I should here state what is doing that which was the duty of a prudent Government the character he has acquired. The hon. gentleman the to do to protect its colonies. If there had been a re- member for Northamptonshire (Mr A. Stafford) spoke the port circulated that the Government was about to s en d other night in terms of hi g h p ra i se o f C o mmander M'Don -10,000 men to Costa Rica to suppert Gen. Walker, as the nell, w t h - e --- wasin T a m t zand of the Perseverance ; andd r o l f can te hon. gentleman had stated, he (Lord Palmerston) had assure Transit, i s ant house officer of a a p s t ii iJo h hnso h n, thiz 3 c r o a m s man ie e any the Ber net seen it, and so far from it s b e i ng true h e authorised vice. He served in the most ist a in e gu ar istd manner underan the hon. gentleman to contradict it in his (Lord Pal- hon. and gallant member of that house (Sir C. Napier, we merston's) name. (Hear.) - believe) in the Syrian campaign ;he commanded a ste alter THE PEACE. in the Pacific for three years, where he had greatly distin guished himself by his good conduct, and where he notonly Lord LOVAINE complained that the country should met with the approbation of the Admiralty, butreeeived the be called on to celebrate the conclusion of peace by a thanks of the British merchants trading along the coast of wasteful expenditure of the public money in a die- California, and of the London Lloyd's. He was selected by play of fire works before the house and the a private company to command a large steamer, and he country were aware of the terms of that peace, and he continued in that position during the first year of the war; proposed to submit a motion thereon, which was ruled after which, being anxious to return to the Queen's service, by the house to be out of order, when the noble lord his request upon the subject was acemted, and he wee ap moved, as an amendment, that the house did not ap- fo h o s int er to th ise command of the fra e nsit. I did e n; believe an officer of highe har act er i the whole prove of the means adopted for celebrating peace p re - e navy. Of course, however, the fires of the Transit could vious to a day of general thanksgiving. only have been let out, on Wednesday last, by a gross piece The SPEAKER ruled the noble lord was out of negligence; of and I have sent down an order toelay by order, telegraph, that an inquiry should beinstituted into the case. Lord LOVAINE then gave notice that he would But there was no defect whatever in the machinery of the move it on another day. vessel. It was essentially necessary for the accommodation Colonel NORTH said that the opinion of the noble of the members of the two Houses of Parliament that they lord was in accordance with that of the majority of the should have large vessels at their disposal. The review of members of that hou-e. (Hear.) He thought there 1854 had been held in the summer, and the Admiralty should b e a d ay o f genera l t h an k sg i v i ng b e f ore any had not thought it necessary upon that occasion to m a k e public rejoicings f or th e restora ti on o f peace. any provision a gainst bad weather; bat we felt th a t f or a review to be held in the month of April such a provision THE NAVAL REVIEW. ()right to be adopted. We therefore procured vessels in which the visitors would find ample accommodation below Mr. LINDSAY asked the right hon. baronet (Sir the decks if they s uld be driveu there by wet weather. Charles Wi.od) fur an explanation of the mismanage- than, again, atth h e e review of 1 -54, the number of tickets ment at the naval review. He wished to know if the issued omembers of the House of Lords was 150; Transit, put at the disposal of the members of the other on the present occasion the number was 400. In house, was the vessel that broke down some short time 1854 the number of tickets issued to members of the since, and had to put into Plymouth ; then afterwards House of Commons was 220; on the present occasion broke down, and bad to put into Brest ; and after that the number was 450. In point of fact tickets were issued broke down, and had to put into Gibraltar? (Laughter.) to every member who applied for them. It was, therefore, :provide laiger vessel s than those Sir C. WOOD — I waited, sir, until the last moment e s essentially necessary to employedi in til3 year 1851. So much for the r easons w hi c previous to your putting the question in order that those influenced th e Admiralty in selecting Southampton as the hon. gentlemen who desired to make any explanation upon port of embarkation for the members of the two Houses of this subject might do so before I rose to offer any explana- Parliament o n W e dn e sday last, and in selecting th e P er - severance and Transit for conveying them. If the house me, I real tothemthe or lets which tissue in connection with it to thehouse. I from the first will bear with will intended to make such e xplanation, and I am glad that the , the Admiralty issued fur the purpose of providing proper opportunity for doingso has presen t e d it se lf this evening.- I i accommodation for the Lords and Commons on Wedues trust hon. members, then, will afford me their attention I day last, and I think these orders will show that w e were guilty of no negligence in the matter. These were the while I enter at some length • to a defence of the board of ' in orders which we forwarded to Sir G. Seymour, the corn which I have the honour to be a member, and into a state- - naand • - Portsmouth eron-in at :— meet which I feel to be necessary for the satisfaction of the i 1 " Her Majesty's steamer Transit will embark the House house, in relation to the occurrence which took place on , of Peers, and the Perseverance the House of Commons, a t • Wednesday. Butl can assure hon. members that no one can ' Southampt on , at nine o'clock a. m on the 23d inst. Both more deeply regret those occurrences than the Board of I ships to be there early on the 22d, or on the previous day. 1 The commanders of these vessels are to direct the military, Admiralty, inasmuch as no persons had so great an interest ' stewards to provide breakfast, and also a cold collation dur in the general success of the splendid d e m ons t ra ti ons w hich I ing the day, to include sherry, beer, and soda water, for the we had been mainly instrumental iu callinginto existence. following number of persons, and at the exl arise of the Ad. We should regret those occurrences the more if we had not , miralty—Trausit, 400 persons ; Perseverance, 450. The ne taken ev er y means i n our p ower t o cause every thi ng con - ; cessary plates, ere., must bo hired for the occasicn. The spare spars, &e., are t o b e landed from these vessels to afford mo re nected with th a t rev i ew t o p ass o ff as we ll as poss ibl e; an d space, and tables are to be on the main decks also platforms I think, at all events succeeded in ', we have the count u ry eas good reason to be proud of that display of be on hoard, Sir G. Seymour to give the necessary orders, her naval strength which on Wednesday was exhibited, and my lords trust the commanders of these vessels will give Great exertions were matte in her Majesty's natal building every assistance in their power to carry out the proposed ar- Mr. PALS wished to a-k the Secretary of the Ad miralty whether he would state to the house the number of tickets issued to the clerks of the Admiralty, and whether those tickets were transferable ? Mr. B. OSBORNE said the First Lord of the Admi ralty would be in his place shortly, when he would give an explanation on the subject. ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. Lord J. RUSSELL brought up the report of the Committee on the Ecclesiastical Commission. THE NATIONAL GALLERY. - - Mr. WELLS asked whether the Government had come, or was about to come to any decision as to the removal of the National Gallery of Pictures from Trafalgar-square to the site recently purchased at Brompton, in accordance with the recommendation of the committee of 1854 ; and whether any, and, if so, w hat opportunity would be afforded to the house of ex pressing its opinion on the subject of that recommenda tion? Lord PALMERSTON—The matter has been for four months under consideration of a committee of this house, and the result arrived at by that committee was that the present site was injurious to the pictures. The recommenda tion of the committee was that the collection of pictures ought not to remain open to such injury. The commit tee also recommeeded that the gallery should be trans ferred to the site purchased at Knightsbridge as soon as it was possible. The Government intended to abide by that recommendation. It was therefore the intention of the Government to obtain plans and estimates for the erection of a suitable building. As the house would have to vote the necessary funds, the whole subject would therefore be brought under the consideration o" the house. rangements in a satisfactory manner. Each vessel to carry a distinguishing flag at the fore on the 23d inst.—namely, Transit, white, with blue cross ; Perseverance, blue." On the evening of Friday last the commander of the Tran sit wrote to Capt. Milne as follows : " H.M. S. Transit, Fri(lay, April 18. "My dear Sir,—l have written to the commander-in-chief that the dockyard men will have completed us on Saturday (to-morrow), and requesting a Southampton pilot. Wines, &c., are on board, and everything in a fair way, promising to turn out well. We have ample room on main deck to sit down 450 at one time, and could make a few more seats in case of ne cessity. " Very faithfully yours, " C. R. JOHNSON." In point of fact, the whole difficulty arose in the convey ance of the visitors from London. If that conveyance had been performed as we had every reason to believe that it would have been performed, I am perfectly convinced that evelythieg would have gone on right. It was not for us to provide that conveyance ; but we communicated with Mr. Scott, the manager of the railroad, and I hold in my hand a paper which he sent us stating what he was prepared to de. He informed us that train No. 3, for the mem bers of the two Houses of Parliament, would leave London at 7, and would arrive at Southampton at 9.15. Captain Milne, to whom was entrusted the management of those arrangements on the part of the Board of Admiralty, saw the manager of the railway several times, and I myself saw him once. Captain Milne sent him, two or three days beforehand, a return of the number of persons who were to be conveyed in the train appropriated to the use of the members of the two houses, and gave bin every possible information for the purpose of enabling him to carry out in the most perfect menner the arrangements for their conveyance. On the morning before the day of the review Captain Milne expressed to him his great desire that no delay s'.ould take place in conveying the members ; and Mr. Scott stated, in reply, that no apprehension whatever need be entertained upon that point ; that every precau , tion had been taken for their conveyance, and that ho might depend upon their arriving at Southampton at the hour stated in the paper. (Hear, hear.) Now I really do not know what more wo could have done for the purpose of insuring the proper and comfortable conveyance of the members of both Houses of Parliament; and I think I shall have no difficulty in slowing that if there had been no diseppoiatment on the railway all ,he arrangements of the day might have been satisfactorily c rrried into effect. We provided as far as we could that the members should ar rive at Southampton at the proper time. And then, with respect to the short passage from the railway station at Southampton to the water side, we wrote to the Mayor of Southampton begging him to keep that passage as free as possible for the members of the two Houses of Parliament. It has been said that there aas n© person authorised to take charge of the embarkation of members at Southampton. But I can state that the greatest precautions were taken upon that point. Cept. M'Dougall, an old and experienced officer, who Intl boeu charged with the embarkation of the troops at Southampton, was informed so far back as the 10th of the present month that the members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons would embark at that port for the review, and he was desired to make the neces sary arrangements for having them put ou board. Wo were at that time aware that the large vessels in which the members were to embark would be some distance out side the harbour, and we desired him to have smaller ships which could take the members up at the wharf side, and afterwards transport them to the Transit and the Persever ance. He reported that he could only hire two of these smaller vessels, and we then ordered throe others from Portsmouth ; and on Wednesday morning we had lying at the wharf side in Suuthrempton, independently of the Har binger, a ship of same size, four small vessels capable of conveying at one trip all the members of bath Houses of Parliament. Capt. Milne went minutely with Captain M'llouge.ll over the whole of the details connected with the conveyance of the members of the two houses from the wharf side to the Transit anti the Pe-severance. I saw Capt. M`Deugall myself, and I told him that we depended upon him for carrying out all the arrangements of the em barkation of the members of both houses. Commander M'Donnell, of the Perseverance, was in town on Moeday morning. Capt. Milne saw him then, and I saw him my self, and pointed out to him the course the vessels were to pursue, and all the duties we expected him to discharge; end neither Capt. M`Dougadl nor Commander M`Donnell expresse l the slightest doubt of their being able to carry out the arrangements entrusted to them, provided—and it was an essential condition—the train should arrive about the time stated by the railway comp my. According to our calculations it might occupy half an hour, or say three quarters, to take the members stepping on board the tenders to the larger vessels lying outside the harbour. But we allowed an hour for that purpose. They would then have been on board of larger vessels at ten o'clock ; but even if they had been on board of them at half-past ten they would have been in ample time to see the whole review. Once on board the Transit and Perseve rance they would have had the tame distance to get to the west end of the line of the fleet which we who had em barked at Portsmouth would have had to get to the east end of it, f)r in each case the distance to be traversed would have been about eight miles ; and if they had only been on board at half-past ten o'clock they could have assisted at all the operations of the review. At eleven o'clock on Id nday night Captain Milne met me at the Ad miralty; we then went over all the orders given fur the review, and we could not see that we had anything to add to them. But, with the view of providing against the possibiliti , of any orders of a contradictory character being issued at Portsmouth, I went down at seven o'clock on Tuesaay morning to see the admiral command ing th , ro. It appeared that some doubt prevailed among the authorities in that quarter whether it would be possible for the members of the two Houses of Parliament to pass between the lines at the review. I deemed it es sential that they should. I stated t o th e a d m i ra l our v i ews upon the subject. In addition to the previous communi cations addressed to Capt. M'Dougall, I wrote him a pri vate letter telling him that the two HOVS29 of Parliament were tp pass between the lines, but that their doing so must depend on their starting at an early hour, and beg ging Matto pay particular attention that they should be in time. I declare that Ido not now know what orders the Admiralty could have issued or what pains they could have taken to insure a satisfactory termination of the whole proceedings, that they did not actually issue and take. (Hear.) Sorry and annoyed, and vexed as lam that this mistake should have occurred, I cannot charge myself or any member of the Board of Admiralty with having ne glected any precaution by which it could have been avert rel. (Cheers.) Of course I shall be asked how the diffi culty arose, and in attempting to answer that question I will read to the house a statement I received this morning from a gentleman who is completely unknown to me, and who was a pa , senger in what was known as the " Hima laya train." That statement appears to me to afford, 1 will not say the most satisfactory, but the clearest explanation of the delay which took place on the railway. He states that the train in which ho travelled, which left at six o'clock, and was the first of the special trains, was de layed by an ordinary or some other slow train—(an hon. Member here said "The Parliamentary train")—by the Parliamentary train—(loud and long-continued laughter) —that it was delayed a considerable time, and that ho and his fellow-passengers arrived very late at their destination. He then continues as follows : "I have described the train which impeded the first special train in the morning. When we were at length enabled to pass it I presume it took its own place on the main line again, and offered the same impediment to the following special train as it had offered in the first instance to our own. That was called the breaking down of an engine The engineer of that train simply did his duty in get ting it forward how he could and as quickly as he could. When the company for the Himalaya arrived at Southampton it was within, perhaps, three-fourths of an hour of the time fixed for the eml arkation of one or other of the Houses of Parliament. How was Capt. M { Dougall to know that they would arrive at the time appointed ? Upon speaking to him, which I did twice in the course of the night upon the subject his reply was, the House of Peers or the Commons were ex pected to arrive at the time you actually reached the barri cade, and I thought it only reasonable that they should have the preference of you ; but when I had waited a long time, and found the Legislature did not make their appearance, and. with an angry crowd of gentlemen before me, I could keep the tenders idle no longer, and sent them full to different ships. Was not that al very natural thing for the gallant officer to do under the circumstances ? As to the wooden barricade, he said he had nothing to do with it. So,' then, it comes to this, the gallant officer was left in perfect igno, ance of everything that had occurred to delay the trains by the railway authori ties ; and I and others who could have enlightened him were prevented fiom approaching the pier from a wooden barri cade, erected by the Southampton authorities, no doubt from the best motives. Had the first special train kept its time no doubt the four tenders would have been at the disposal of the company. They would have been enabled to return in time for the succeeding trains, and everything would have been in order. I have now stated to you briefly my observations ; and again thanking, you, tte." At the time the first special train arrived it was long after the proper hour in consequence of the delay on the railway, and the company readied the pier at Southampton about three-quarters of an hour before the time named for the ar rival of the two Houses of Parliament. Captain M`Dougall declined to allow the Company conveyed by that train tne use of the tenders to cat ry them to the Himalaya, but after waiting a considerable time he gave way to their remon strances and allowed them the use of the tenders. That accounts for the absence of the tenders upon the arrival of the members of the two Houses of Parliament. Had the special train been to its time the tenders would immediately hive conveyed the company on board the Himalaya, and they would then have been able to return in time to receive the members of Parliament. That Ibelieve is the real ex planation of what took place. Hon. gentlemen will see that it really does all turn on the want of punctuality by the railway company in working the trains. Every arrange ment that we could make was made, and up to the la t moment the strongest assurances were given that there was no reason to apprehend any difficulty would arise in carry ing out those arrangements. I ought to say that I assure hone gentlemen that nobody in this house can be more, or f els more, dis pdointed than myself. (Cheers.) We were mat anxious that every one should have an opportueity of witnessing the review under the most favourable circum stances ; and I believe, if any fault has been committed, it has arisen from attempting to give greater accommoda tion to the public than ever has been before afforded on a similar occasion. We provided &mown° latiou in one way or another for upwarus of 6,00 J persons in Government vessels. lam not sure that, as matters have turned out, it would not have been better to have allowed them to find their own way in their own steamers ; but I can only say that if anything has gone wrong we did not expect delay, for we spared no pains to make the arrangements as per fect as poi4ible. Perhaps we attempt e d more than we were justified in attempting, but we were must anxi4 ui that everything should go off as satisfactorily as possible. Capt. DUNCOMBE said the Transit was a broken down vessel. He must in all other respects admit that every thing that could be done was done by the Admiralty ; but the management and negli gence o f th e ra il way o ff ic ials was disgraceful. After some observations from Mr. NEWDEGATE and Sir W. JOLLIFFE, on the defective railway communication between our greatest naval arsenal and the seat of Govern-, merit, which called for some immediate remedy, Mr. CHAPLIN (who was very inaudible in the gallery) expressed the extreme regret felt both by himself and his colleagues that any member of the house had suffered in• convenience in consequence of an accident on the railway under their control. It must be considered, however, that as the whole of the traffic upon that occasion had to be con , veyed to' Southampton in about two hours, it Ivas Bible that any engine could return from a particular point to assist another. They had to start i» that time 16 trains, and ho would inform the house how they were arranged. The first was the five o'clock excursion train to Portsmouth; that was followed by a train at 5.15, to accommodate the officers of Aldershot ' the third was the 5.30, an excursion train, conveying 670 passengers ; that train had the best and most powerful engine belonging to the company, and which was usually employed to move the heavy goods trains. The weight of the excursion train conveyed by it on Wednesday was 167 tons, 'w hereas the weight of the ordinary goods trains, including the carriages, was 400 tons. This engine proceeded as far as Briber, when one of the dent- pipes burst. There was no telegraph between Esher and Woking, but eventually an engine was obtained from Kingston, which conveyed it to Woking, and shunted it, thus allowing the other trains to pass. The fourth was the six o'clock train, a spcial train, conveying the ps sengers who were provided with tickets for the Govern ment ships. Two trains conveyed 2,300 persons with tickets for the Government ships, and at seven o'clock the Loris and Commons started to Southampton followed by a train conveying the directors, and at 8.45 the Royal train started. It must be remembered that the company had solicited none of the enormous additional traffic on the line ; they had held out no inducement of cheap fares to en tice the multitude, and crowd their trains beyond the capa city of their locomotive power, and if, under the enormous pressure of the circumstances an accident had occurred, to which railways were at all times liable, and which had impeded' the passage of the trains, he did not think the company could be severely blamed, if it could be shown that they used all reasonable precautions to prevent acci dent, and that they did so he thought was proved by the circumstance that they had at least conveyed every one safely over their line. But ho denied that the company were responsible for much of the inconvenience and delay, for the directors, who reached Southampton after the houses had been enabled to see the review, and had proper arrangements for taking bon. members off to their vessels been made they would h•+ve done the same. The incon venience resulting to the House of Peers, on their return, was attributable to the confusion, in the midst of which it was stated in 'mistake that their lordships were in their carriages, and the train left without them. The - Afarquis of GRANBY thought that the railwsy company were not entirely to blame for the delay which took place. Mr: HAMILTON hoped that the result of the discussion would be, that the railway system of the country would be placed under proper regulations. Mr. HUTCHINS was sorry that the house should have suffered inconvenience by any fault of the South-Western Railway Company, but thought a great deal of virtuous indignation had been thrown away by hon. members oppo site, for they were entirely innocent of the delay of an hour and a half on the quay, which was really the reason why the house missed the principal portion of the spectacle. He complained, also, that more tickets were issue.l by the Adwir lty than the company were aware of • but at all events the train conveying the directors was behind that of the Houses of Parliament all the way, and yet they arrived in time and returned to London by twelve o'clock. The special train was ready for the houses at the appointed time, but they came not, being delayed by the accident to the boat. In consequence of this much confusion was caused. and when at length they came the superintendent himself told hire that the House of Peers were behind and the train went off. The 'superintendent at the time fully believed that they were ; of course, there was no other special twin, and they were consequently obliged to travel by one of the ordinary trains. He did not think that all tee blame could be j ustly attributed to the South-Western Railway Company; &nee of it must fall upon the Admi ralty itself. The subject then dropped. POLICE (COUNTIES AND BOROUGHS) BILL. The house went into committee on this bill. Mr. HENLEY moved on clause 1 of the original bill to leave out all after "county," line 2, and insert, "under any existing act or acts of Parliament, the justices of such county, at the general or quarter sessions holden next after the passing of this act, or at any adjournment thereof, shall appoint a suffirsient number of fit men, who shall be sworn in before some justice of the peace ha,vingjui isdiction within the county, to act as constables for preserving the peace, and preventing robberies anti other felonies, andapprehend ing offenders against the peace; and the men so sworn, and also all constables appointed, or to be hereafter appointed, under the provisions of the act of the fifth and sixth years of the reign of his late Majesty King William IV., tu provide fur the rsguletion of municipal corporations in England and. Wales, or under the provisions of any other act authorising the appointment of constables in any county, or town, or district, shall, not only within such • county, but also within every county anti borough in Eug laud and Wales, have all such powers and privil e ges, an d be liable to all such duties and responsibilities, as any con stable duly appointed now has or hereafter may hay within his coastablewick, by virtue of the common law of this realm ,or of any statute made or to be waste, anti shall obey all such lawful commands as they may from time to time receive from any of the justices of the peace having jurisdiction within any county, or borough, or town, or district iu which they shell act as constables, for conducting themselves in the execution of their office: Provided al ways, That it shall be lawful for the justices of the peace of any county in general or ...quarter sessions assembled, if they shall be of opinion that a distinction ought to be made in the number of constables appointed to keep the peace in • ifferent parts of the county, to divide the same into dis tricts, as shall appear to them most convenient, and to de clare the number of constables which ought to bo appointed for each district, and from time to time to alter the extent of each such district, and the number of constables to be 'appointed for the same; and the expenses of the police for each such county or district shall be defrayed by each such county or district in the manner provided by the existing acts, and so much of the said acts, or any of them, as con fers the appointment of police constables on the chief or superintendent constable shall be, and the same is hereby repealed." He said that the system, which had been called that of rural police, was not wholly satisfactory to the country, and it was remarkable that it should have been ' introduced at a time when crime was on the decrease, He should take the liberty of calling the attention of the house to certain statistics which had been furnished relating to the counties of Surrey and Hampshire, as ith respect to the working of this particular law in this country. These were the .only.countiee witterespect to which he could fiu d any returns dealing with this subject. The former had been fur nished by the chief constable of the county (Surrey) ; the letter from the evidence taken before the police committee. C ipt. Harris, the chief constanle of Surrey, had now moved to the metropolitan - police, anti he had no doubt that h was an able and trustworthy witness. It appeared from the return lately made before the Transportation Commit tee that the number of persons committed for tri d. in 1854 was 29,000, and in etss, 26,274. The charaAer of the crime had also changed for the better. It was marvellous, but it certainly appeared to be the fact, that in places where there were the most policethere were the most offences committed, and the fewer number of detections. Capt. Harris, in his evidence before the Police Committee, said that, taking the town of Gosport, and comparing it with the metropolis, it appeared that, in 18)1, in Loudon, there was one policeman to 457 inhabitants, while in Gosport there was one police. man to every 3,381 of the inhabitants. Now, let them see what were the convictions in London ? With one policeman to every 457 of the inhabitants, not more than one offender in four was brought to justice. In Gosport, with one 'po liceman to every 3,381 of the people, one was convicted on the average in every 2; ; in Hampshire it appeared that 312 sheep were stolen in s'x years ending in 1852 ; and fur the offence of sheep-stealing; in that period, 45 persons were sent to trial; and how many of that number did the house think were convicted ? Nine were acquitted ; and .for these 312 sheep stolen, 36 persons only were brought to -justice. He would now refer to the statistics which had been furnished by Mr. Hastings, the chief constable of Surrey. If they were correc t, the moral state of that county was equal to its sanitorial condition. Mr. Hastings stated that the rural population, omitting the metropolitan part of the county of Surrey, might be taken at 111,000. That was what might be called a nice manageable popula tion. Mr. Hastings divided the suspected portions of that population into three clw , ses. The first comprised that class who lived wholly by violatingtho law, including pros titutes. The second class comprised those who followed some occupation, but were known to have c unraitted offences ; and the third comprised those who were the associates of thieves and other suspected per sons. In the first class there were 26 females who lived by prostitution; in the second class nine, and one in the third class ; making 36 altogether. There were 525 males who came under the same category. The number of persons in the county who were given into custody in 1851, were 681 for all offences, and o these 246 were discharged at once by the magistrates. In 1805, 947 were taken into cus tody, arid of these 310 were at once discharged by the ma gistrates. _Re found that, in 1851, 44 persons were :sum maHly convicted by the magistrates, 98 were committed for trial, and 64 only convicted. He came to matters of a closer nature. In the return before him he found that in 1855, 322_ persons were apprehended in Surrey for indict able offences, but of these 99 were discharged by the ma gistrates. The criminal tables showed that 36 persons were guilty of housebreaking, 1 of robbery; of sheep, horse, and cattle stealing, 21 ; and of breaking into hen-roosts, 47. Of these persons, net one of the 36 guilty of housebreaking was apprehended, and consequently there was not a single person tried or convicted. Was that a satisfactory piece of evidence to induce other counties to follow the example of Surrey? He next carne to the case of robbery. There was one robbery fur which nobody was apprehended. There were 21 offences of sheep, horse, and cattle stealing, and the number of persons apprehended was 7. Of these the magistrates discharged 4, and the 3 sent for trial were ac quitted, so that, in fact, not a single person was brought to justice for these grave offences. Of the 47 "fowl" of fences—there were only 6 -parties app re h e nd e d ; th e ma gistretes discharged 3, and 3 were sent for trial and con victed. So out of this array of 105 offences, all that were brought to justice were 3 persons for zolehing hen ; roosts: Such was the working of the police system in the county of. Surrey He could well understand that in crowded neighbourhoods it might be advisable to have patrols, but if, in neighbourhoods where the popula tion was thin, the people relied upon a force of this kind, and took no trouble themselves to bring offenders to justice, the thieves knuwiug where the police were stationed, had every opportunity of avoid ing them, and comurittiog offences undisturbed. He im plored the Government to let the counties set up such police force as they thought best. He was sorry to have troubled the committee, and without further remark put his amendment. Sir G. GREY opposed the amendment. Lord LOVAlNkdenied that it was true that there was more crime committed in those counties where there wore police than in others where there were none". After a few - words from Mr. B. DENISOS and Mr. BEN TINCK, Mr.'BAINES said the public opinion of Lancashire was in favour of the force It had been sdd that the Govern ment had the intention of substituting a borough for a county police, but he (Mr. Baines) had no knowledge of any such intention on the part of the Government. The simple question was, whether they should introduce into the rest of the counties of England that system which, from the experience of some,l6 or 17 years, had been tested in some of the counties, and had Well found to be highly satisfactory. (Sear, hear.) Mr. EVELV - N said the right hon. gentleman the mem ber for Oxford , hire hat told the house that the comity of Surrey was distinguished for the morality of its inhabi tants and for the salubrity of Its air ; and if he understood the right hon. member aright, the Falai r ty of the county of Set rey had always existed as at present, but its im proved moral ty he dated from the year 1831. The noble lord, moreover, had said that before that year neither life nor property was safe in the county of Surrey. Now, he (Mr. Evelyn) himself had lived for many years in that county, and he was totally ignorant of that danger t,. which the noble lord had alluded. A very unfair ace had been made of the circumstance of the burg ary that took .plsee _in the year 1840. Upon that lamentable occasion a clergyman was murdered in his bed at the dead of night. (Hear, hear.) B tt this was a mist ridicul-rts instance to bring forward.- The dreadful event in Rup r - street' might as well be cited t o arguefl:Aen, hear.)favouof - ng tho metrop o lit an police, Iu the rasa of every burglary. it was quite an accidental matter 'whether it was accompanied by murder or not. (Hear ) gvery burglar was morally a murdeter. In the case of the .F.timley murder, the man who committed the crime wits rnot the most guilty of the three, but the man who did not fire the shot set the other. two on. The facts brought on by the right hon. member for Oxfordshire could not establish the fact that crimes bad not been committed since the est • blishment of rural police. On the contrary, it was rather a question of the intensity, than the quantity, of the crimes committed. It had been stated that the magistrates in Surrey were greatly in favour of the new system. Ho (Mr. Evelyn) would candidly state to the house that he believed the majority of the house were favourable tv it, and if Any 1 4 0NDokT Printed and Published by KURD° YOUNG ; of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at 271 e Snn. of e , N 112, istrane, m the Precinct of 'the Savoy, in the countEof buil/nes, Saturday, April 26,1866, attempt were made to rescind it which depended upon their opinion, there would be little chance of accomplish ing it. Mr. M. GIBSON observed that the Corporation of Man che-ter had given a qualified 'assent to the bill, but the people of Manchester objected to it, and preferred being left to their old system of police. He (Mr. Gibson) thought he should not think it necessary on the present occasion to vote for the amendment of the right hon. member for Ox fordshire, but reserved to himself a right on a future oc casion to object to those clauses of the bill which would interfere with the municipal corporations of the county. After a short discussion, The committee divided, when the numbers were— For the amendment Against 268 Majority ----174 The clause was then ordered to stand part of the bill. On clause 2, - Sir J. PAKINGTON asked for information as to the reason for introducing this clause, which he thought un necessary. The clause gave compulsory power to the Secre tary of State as to the division of counties into districts Ho thought such a division a local question, which ought to be left to the discretion of the local magistracy. Sir G. GREY said he had already explained that those reasons were founded on the recommendations of the select committee. Mr. HENLEY thought it a clause clumsily drawn.. Were the whole or only a portion of the ratepayers to have a voice in the matter ? Sir J. PAKINGTON hoped the Government would make rip its mind as to what course ought to ho taken on this clause, Sir G. GREY had amended the clause in the report. Mr. COBBETT hoped the amendment would be pressed that the Chairman do now report progress. The motion for reporting progress was withdrawn, and the committee divided upon the 2d clause— ' For the clause l9B Against it Majority --136 The CHAIKMA.N then reported progress, and obtained leave to sit again on Friday nett. The second reading of the Parochial Schools (Scotland) Bill was moved by the LORD-ADVOCATE, Mr. HADFIELD proposed an amendment adjourning the further progress of the measure for a fortnight. After some discussion the house divided, when the mo tion was affirmed by a majority of 9D to 47. The debate was afterwards adjourned until Monday. The National Gallery Bill was read a second time. Sir F. KELLY obtained leave to bring in a bill to trans fer to a distinct court the jurisdiction over matters testa mentary and matrimonial. The house adjourned at half-past 1 o'clock. Co tuary Markets. LIVERPOOL—Aram 25. At this morning's market there was a thin attendance of dealers and millers. Wheat met a slow retail sale, at the prices of Tuesday. Flour in fair request, at an im provement of fully 63 per barrel on American, while Spa ❑ish advanced fully is per sack, at which a fair extent of business was done. Bailey, beans, and peas unchanged. 0 Ats and oatmeal neglected. Indian corn held a little over Tuesday's rates, demand limited, and we repeat our for mer quotations. WAKEFIELu- -APRIL 25. Fine wheat was in moderate demand at rather over the rates of last week. Other sorts were held for full prices, out the sale was Blow. There was no alteration in barley, oats, and other articles. EXETER—Aram 25. CORN.—In our market wheat may be quoted from 8s 3d to 8s 9d. Malting barley, 4s 6d to 5s 6d ; grinding do., 01 1 'id to Os 0,1. Oats, 3s Od to 3s 6d. Beans, Os Od to 06 Od. Peas, OOs Od to OOs Od. FLOUR. —Fine, —s Od to :?Js Oil ; , seconds, —s Oa to diEs d per sack. CATTLE.-- Fat oeef was sold at from Os 6il to lOs 6d per score ; fat calves, 40 to 5d per lb ; barrenuers, Os to 6s 6d per score ; cows and calve.?, 121. to 171. —5 • butchers' to —d per lb., .reartuf? calves —s s each. sheep, ewes and lambs, 11. 14s to 21. 5s per couple; ewes. 6d. to 60; wetbers, 60 to 6i ; lambs, 11 'is each. Pigs, large size, 45s to 5Js ; second size, 24s to 30s ; slips, 160 to 20s ; suckers, 6s to 12s. Rough fat, 3d .per lb. Pork zarcases from lOs Od to lls Od per score. BRISTOL SUGAR-APRIL 25. The market has assumed a much firmer tone, more espe cially during the last few days of business, and nearly everything offering ha 4 been cleared off at full prices at fld advance. Refiners' produce has been rather more freely dealt with, but the demand is not brisk, and prices about supported. .Little doing in rum, but we do not alter our quotations. COAL hiARSET.—ArniL 25. Prices of Coal per ton at the close of the market. s. d. Wallsend, &c. Saddle W. Hartley l9 (. g. e. tlolywell - 9 Canfield Moor l4 ( riraddyll lB 0 Canfield Moor Butes . l4 ' I etton l7 6 Wylam 15 ( A mbton 17 0 West Wylaw 15 :- 'ussell's Rotten 16 0 3outh Hetton 17 0 Stewart's - 17 6 Heugh Hall 16 0 South Kelloe 16 6 Tees l7 . Whitworth l6 0 Birchgrove Graigola 2l 6 Derwentwater Hartley lB 9 13 1 Sold Wallsend, &Tx. . - Eden ;osfortl) . 15 C Ifarvey Wylam 14 0 Hilda 14 6 Riddell l5 0 1 Bell's Primrose 14 01 Ships at market... COURSE OF EXCHANGF.-YESTERDAY. msterdam Ditto, three months .. dotterdam • • • • ••• • .. • • • 12 Gibraltar •••••••••••••• 12 21,4 'Leghorn ..•••••.•••.•• 15 12 .. 2 1 ,4 Genoa Antwerp •.••• • • • ..• .• 25 6VA Milan •• •• •••• •• •••• 25 67 13 11% Brussels • • • • • • • • •• • • • • lamburgh • • •• •• • • • • Iltona •• •• •• •• •• • • Paris.• •• •• • • •••• •••• 25 47% Ditto, three months .. 25 77M, riarseilles....- ........ 25 77% Venice— •• •• •••• •• •• Naples ..•..... .. 4336 Palermo ...... 1306 Messina ... 13034 Lisbon ...... 53 Oporto •• •.•• •••• •••• •• 53 flourdeaua . ........ Fiankfort-on Maine .• .. 12134 , lerlln -• •••• ••••.••••• Vianna..........•• .... 10 24 Crieite••••••s• •• •• .• 10 26 Petersburg ••.••••••• •• 36% Nladricl •. ••••••• •• •• •• 49 .!adiz • • •••••••••••••• 50 lareelona ............ •evi11e............ - itio Janeiro ..... . •-....— Buenos Ayre5.......... Sew York,6o days' sight -- Philadelphia ...... PEWEE Or BIILLICN, PES OZ. Foreign Gold in Bars £3 17 9 Portugal Gold Coin .. 0 0 0 %lexicon Dollars .... 0 0 0 New Dollars .....• 0 0 0 -ulver in bar. 0 0 0 SEA BOMN if A 11.4• N ragniflta that Mt man, ,rum the General Post °Mc ° the night—and NI by the naorning—despatch., Day whiell ma.l,• General tow- 0013 & Tittles. frOM Por: Dispatch. Waw dncla Ene.!tuad. Livort. , ool .kprll 13 I Li verpoot 'Scutt r,ra p VA. Southampton Dover ID'acortabt Plymouth .. Dover .... Southamptor. Southampitn Dover ...... Southamploi, Southarr,;qcm Various port Daily May 16. May 16 Uncortoi, Iflonthampter Souttlamptol 3outhampto, ITa.Th.Sat 'April 20 )Dover S3nthmptoi; !Dover ...... I ,lwicedailY Dover SOW k Amptol ITwicsdally Southampton London ... Southampton Dover ..... Southampton Plymouth .. Dover .. Dover .. • • Rol; head ... Southampton Southampton Liverpool ...I May 2 thaly 16thotzto 14 & 0 In Twicedai/I April 21 ;Dover 4, 20 mo. Southampton Dover ...... Southampton Various port Dover ...... Southampton Southampton Various ports Dover ...... Dover ...... Southampton ISouthamptani Office, London.* 1 Mvery Fridk; .. Inerica(bylirit.paek tnarlhP by United St, packet) 'onerica (by U. States packet) ~..N , 17:stralia_ (via South ampton) Atto (via gamines) N 'itto (via Cape of Gosd Hope) •• •• •• •• • ../.1 t frica ( West Coast) t3ahamas 31 elgitun N Brazil ........ Cuonoa Ayres Cape of Good Hope ..N (Jape of Good Hope ../ 4 1 .:afic 'de Verds ..N Ceylon (see India) Ceylon N _ Channel 151e5.... „ N Blo 2 .•Wed.,llcFrP. fk 17th of montl china ... Constantinople „NI 8 . 13 . i 8 • 2 3•ft28 of II Constantinople ...„„ 4th & 20th of mon. Cont. of Europe 24 & N Twice daily •• • • • • Egypt (see India) France M N Twiea dail 'libraltar ........ml 4 , 7,17, 20, 27 of to :Reece (see India) lroytown m!2nd & 17th of mon. In u d e o d f a y t F m ri o d tg ( la u n v n b u n r g a b h aolland • MlDal l y • • • • • • ...... Uonduras 20th 17ta Ithe month. India (viaSouthampt.)31 ▪ 4th 4 ' of mon. month ftdia (via Marsoilles)M 9th& 25th of & fon m lonian Is7os (see India) 7, 17, troland ........M & N Twice d 27 of • • •• •• ...„...114 7,9, 17, & 27 of m. liadeira ....„ m 9th of the month Madeira Nl23d of month tialta (see Ind ia) • icaita .. . N l B, 18. &28 of mon. Mauritius (see lndia) N 14th of the month 2nd of the month.. !tiaesiaa ples . . N • 15th ihth2sthofmon. New Granadal2l &17 of month tiew Zealand.. • 5 t private stip .. Papal States hlh th2hthoftnon.i Ittil.l Peninsula lth27thonnon 2d Pi 27th 01 mon. Peru _! Po:.•t Natal welly N 5t th 15th25thofmon.h IA th2sthoimon, 24& 27th ofenontt Tuscany Venezuela Van Diemen's I.Rnd (see Australia) Wei+ Trulinc - et i 2 d (7th 23,1 of the month 8,9, '24, & 30 of in. 4th & 20th of mon. 17th of the mend Daily.... „ „ „ „. ,9th of the month.. 19th 01 the thonth 9th of tho month ;April 28 Uncertain ILTncertalii I&l6mcg ill &In mrs When dny (.0 those tate, fall on a Sunday, the malls will 4. ee gpatched on the following day, with the eaceptien of the tolls (vil 'oathampton),and the Malta, both of which will be dectiateh.,l 0 prneedinr day BIRTHS. OP At SON. On the 25th inst., at 19, Camden Cottages, Camden town. Mrs. W. Webb. On the 24th inst , at Myland Rectory, near Colchester, the wife of the Rev. Edmund Hall. OP A nAUGHTEB On the 25th inst., at Stanniore Cottage, Kilburn, the wife of Mr. Robert S. Garden. On the 25th inst., at Queen's-road, Daiston, Mrs. Rad. Manwaring. MARRIED. - On the 24th inst., at St. James's Church, Francis W. H. Cavendish, Esq., second son of Lieut.-Gen. the Hon. Henry F. C. Cavendish, to the La.fy Elinor Fitz Gibbon, third daughter • f the Earl of Clare. On the 24th inst., at St. Mark's, Kennington, Mr. Thos. Berry, of South-street, near Faversham, Kent, to iary Ann, second daughter of Mr. Thos. Wheeler, of the Bank of England. DIED. On the 25th inst., at 15, Grovehill-terrace, Camberwell, Archibald Cliffurd Blackwell Cranford, of Ardmillan, Ayrshire, age 69. On the 24th inst., Ruth Emily, third daughter ofJacob M. Da Costa, Esq., of 26, Tovistock-square, aged sixteen months. On the 24th inst, at Prospect-bill, near Reading, Mrs. Stephens, relict of the late Wm. Stephens, Esq., whom she survived less than four days. On the 2 ith inst., at Richmond, Surrey, Sarah, the wife of John Noyce, Esq. On the 22d inst., at St. George's Villas, Canonbury, the Rev. John 13eecham, D.D., aged 69. On the 19th inst., Mr. Robert Dickie, for 22 years in the employment of Messrs. Faudel and Phillips, of Newgate street, aged 33.