The Sun. — London, England, 1854-05-17 00:00:00

with it when only first published. The music being that the repeal of the present laver would, more than anything for wh ; leh the money is paid in all instances, you wilt per- else, tend to put an end to. ceive hat, supposing 16 or more pages of advertitements to . The ATTORNEY-GENE RAL did not rise with the in be gi' ren with the music, the Musical Times would still con- tention of quarrelling much with the resolution of the hon. sist 4 principally' of the music, which is what people pay for. member for Manchester, for •he was disposed to think that I a-sa obliged by _your offer to submit my representations to the law on the subject of tl se periodical press required re tb.e board, and I feel all the inconvenience of their position, vising and amending. (H. tar, hear.) He was also dis til having to administer a law which th e j u d ges are una bl e t o p ose d t o a d m it t h at up to the present time the law had define, and. which no Government has yet had either the grace been unequally enforced, to it to this he could give some st o repeal or the courage equally to enforce. I am not with- explanation and q u a lification, for he did not wish the house out hope that the present Government will adopt the graceful to run away with the uctiorr that the law had been arbi course and repeal these bad laws; but if in the meantime trarily enforced,. for had. got been so. The portion of they are determined to make the existing laws respected, they the a !dress of the b.on. meeetber with which he was most would be more likely to succeed by prosecuting any of the disposed to quarrel was the unnecessary bitternes4 with other 50 or 60 papers placed in precisely the same position as which he had con:tenet:des' on the conduct of the Stamp the Musical Times, because ill-natured p eo pl e will be apt to office officials T:ue - principle on which the law had been think the selection more due to its being the property of the administered w'lth -regard to these publications was, that treasurer of the Acti v e A ssoc i a ti on for th e Repeal of all the wherever a 'periodical publication had confined itself to Taxes on Knowledge, rather than to any peculiarity in the an y s i ng le °l ees o e subjects, there the law had not interfered. contents of the Musical Times requiring the enforcement of lit thought this principle was first introduced in the case the law to begin with that paper. of the At,keruzum, for it was considered that in the case of " I am, Sir, your obedient servant, publicateone not being at all devoted to political sub " ALFRED NOVELL°. jects, yet which conveyed an amount of amusement and instruction y which wloiti w heoh o eb u t mi l at c h l r b e e tt. hebeinfseal excitinga fi v tcouivarrle,p- political b tti e he ar l ) —t public,ettpbieesee " To J. Timm, Esq., Solicitor of Inland Revenue." e (Hear.) He (Mr. Gibson) believed, however, that. the pr:bli[o.tieo Te's swNcletl wanting would Musical Times was no newspaper at all, and, judgi'sg by some o This began with palications o and were those to dl ei e tt z ie ;r e ef n lo i the past practice and written opinions of the Board of r fav o ur. h ical character, and was gradnall might ext f en a Inland Revenue, it certainly could not come within that category. In answer to se letter which had been addressed when the principle of exemption was introduced, it was o • felt to be no more than fairness and justice that the prin to the board by Messrs. Robinson and Crofton,. of Wake field, dated the 25th of February, 1851, the solicitor wrote tip/.e should he applied to all those publications which fell to this effect : witein it. The consequence of this has been that so many of these dem publi rations are now issued that many and serious complaints have been made against these exemp tions by those who pay the duty, so that he could promise the hon. member he would now obtain that which he con tended for, and the law should be equally enforced against the whole of those publications infringing the law. (A laugh.) It was rather odd that one who had so long and eloquently contended for the repeal of the duties should now clamour for the inflexible and uniform enforcement of the law. He thought the principle on which the hon. gentleman did this might be surmised. He (Mr. Gibson) conceived that the greater the number of the periodicals subjected to this tax, the greater would be the outcry against them and the greater the chances of their repeal. (Hear, and a lau g h.) He (the Attorney-General) did not quarrel with this, but it should be borne in mind, when complaints arose of the unequal enforcement of the law, and of the conduct of the officers of the Board of Inland Revenue, that prosecutions had arisen out of the grievous complaints made 'by parties paying the duties against those who wore exempted. (Hear, hear.) He considered that the law on this subject required additions and amendments, but he could not agree with the hon. mem ber as to its imperfect state with regard to the case he had mentioned of the Dublin paper. In this case the law decided nothing—the judge merely told the jury that the law was defined by the definition in the act of Parliament, and asked the jury to find and determine as a question of fact whether that portion of the news paper relied upon by the counsel for the Crown did contain public news, intelligence, or occurrences. In this case the question had to be decided by a jury, and the jury said it was not a periodical containing news, inteligence, or occurrences, and they gave it as their opinion that the paper did not come within the meaning of the act. In such cases as these, when the question came to be whether the law was or was not inf. inged there was no alternative but to bring them before a jury, by whose :.recision alone the point at issue could be settled. Now, he asked the right hon. gentleman whether ho was able to give a better defini tion of a newspaper than that which was laid down in the act of Parliament ? (Hear, hear.) So long as they admitted the principle that a newspaper was to be taxed, some defini tion such as that must be'aduered to. With reference to the tax, all he would say was, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was not prudent, and they could not fairly be asked to consider the repeal of so considerable an amount of the public revenue. In present circumstances such a proposition was out of the question. (Hear, hear.) All they were now considering, therefore, was, whether the definition given by the law was a right definition or not ; and again he asked whether t ey could give a better defini tion of a newspaper than that it was a publication con taining " public news, intelligence, and occurrences ?" Ho could not agree with the right hon. gentleman in the views he had expressed on that point. At the same time he trusted the right hoe. gentleman would feel that he did not say this from any backwardness or obstinacy in accepting from him any advice that might be serviceable on this question. If his right hon. friend could point out any mode by which the law might be amended, he would he most happy to avail himself of his suggestions. (Hear.) He admitted that there were parts of the law which might be amended; those relating to bonds and securities called for consideration, and he would be ready to give his best assistance towards making such alterations as might be deemed necessary. (Hear, hear.) He could not agree with his right hon. friend that the law had been arbitrarily or capriciously enf orce d. li e was qu i te sure that such was not the case, and he must repudiate as one of the law offi cers of the Crown the charge that had been brow ht for. ward with reference to the Potteries Tree Press. They had been compelled to proceed in that case in consequence of the urgent complaints that were made by other papers, and the prosecution was gone into solely for the purpose of enforcing the law, and not to inflict hardship. fu conclu sion, he again admitted that the law required amendment, and that it should be uniformly enforced on one general principle, and he trusted that the Government would be prepared in due time to follow out the views he had ex pressed. He could not, however, accept the resolution proposed by his right hon. friend. At the same time he would not propose co negative the resolution, but would content himself with moving the previous question. (Hear.) Mr. E WART was glad to hear his hon. and learned friend state that he was willing to consider the question of securities, and he trusted he would also consider that part of the law which subjected to the stamp those papers that consisted only of advertisements, because it was absurd to repeal the advertisement duty, and yet prevent the circu lation of advertisements in unstamped papers. (Hear.) He looked upon the whole question as one that concerned the education of the people, and regretted that the war in which we were engaged should have intervened to perpe tuate the present system. They had refused to entertain the question of national education—so intense was the odium. theologicura throughout the country—and he was therefore the mere anxious that the people should have the means of educating themselves by means of libraries, and museums, and the extensive circul a ti on o f a f ree press. (Hear.) They had thrown out the bill for promoting a national system of education in Scotland ; and if they thus refused national education on the one hand, and, on the other, prevented the people from enjoying the ad vantages of unstamped newspapers, he did not know what. was to be the result. (Hear.) In America every man had his newspaper, and they had the best authority for saying that the state of political education gave the people there an immense superiority over the people of this coun try. (Hear, hear.) It was possible even in India to establish a system of education, so that in this respect England was not only behind America, but positively be hind her own colonies. (Hear.) He hoped that, though his right hon. friend might not succeed in the present in stance, he would, nevertheless, continue to agitate this question. (Hear.) He rejoiced that the Attorney-General had promised to alter the law with respect to bonds, and his great hope was, that hereafter the efforts of the right hon. member for Manchester would be completely success ful. (Hear.) Mr. HUME asked if it was the intention of the Attorney- General to put an end to the present system of prosecu tions ? The object of his right hon. friend the member for Manchester was to show that the law was so uncertain that no judge or jury could avoid giving offence, but the hon. and learned gentleman had not told them that this state of things was to cease. He wished to see the re maining portion of " the six acts" blotted out of the statute-book. Instead of progressing with the rest of the world, and especially with America, with which we came most into competition, we seemed to be going back. We were keeping up laws that maintained the people in igno rance, intolerance, and vice, instead of allowing such a free circulation of intelligence as would check those evils. What would be thought of the man who woule try to make an animal live on one kind of food only, and expect it to work with vigour and efficiency? The food, of an Englishman was news, intelligence, and information ; yet they stinted him of these. - Why, there were no such laws in Turkey as we had upon this subject. He would advise the Government, at a time when they were at a loss to know what to do with crime, and when their prisons were over flowing, to remove all restriction on the free circulation of intelligence. There could be no doubt that the present state of the law prevented the employment of capital in the production of cheap publications. He would call upon the Government, therefore, to repeal the present laws altogether, and leave the press open, resting assured that so long as a government acted rightly they had no reason to be afraid of any class of newspapers whatever. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said his hon. friend who had last spoken seemed to have misapprehended the mean ing of what fell from his hon. and learned friend the At torney-General. He certainly understood his hon. and learned friend to speak entirely in the spirit in which the right hon. gentleman the member for Manchester had moved his resolution. He understood that a distinct pledge was given that this subject would receive the most anxious attention of the Government, and that his hon. and learned friend was desirous only of showing to the house the difficulties of attempting to defies. the law better than it was defined at present. This was a subject of that nature that it almost baffled the pos sibility of definition in terms that would insure abso lute certainty. The definition now used was not one of modern legislation, for it was the language of the 10th of Queen Anne, the precise words of that statute having been introduced into the last act passed on the subject. The words were " public news, int e lli gence , or occur rences, which shall be dispensed or made public and it was impossible to use language more precise. The hon. member who spoke last but one spoke of the anomaly of papers containing only advertisements being treated as newspapers. His hon. friend did not seem to be aware that this was done at the instance of the proprietors of one of those advertising papers, called the North BritiBh, Advertiser, who wished their publication to be admitted to the privilege of the stamp, in order that it might have the advantage of being transmitted by post. The resolu tion proposed by the right hon. gentleman was one that would not lead to any difference of opinion. At the same time he could not agree in the language of the resolution being adopted, because it implied a great reproach—viz., that the law had been unequally enforced. The law had been unequally enforced only from the desire that existed to enforc it according to its spirit, and not according to its letter. (Hear, hear.) He would repeat what had already been stated to the house, that the whole subject would re ceive the careful attention of the Government. The ques tion of securities which had been referred to was not the only one deserving the attention of the Government. Som e of the acts of 1819 still remained unrepealed that ought in his opinion to be removed from the statute-book, !t to nd a a a n op a t tt a empt ought to be made to bring the whole law into one uniform system. It would not be easy, however, inserted in every statute More clear and distinct than that which downwards. ha dbeen copied from the act of Queen Anne, and trusted that pon thisthe subjectright hon.fro m gentleman time etn eh who had brought forward. this motion would be satisfied .wgnefantril of with the assurance that this subject would have the earliest t a h tt a e t n t t h i e on ri o g f h t t h h e o l ha auxiliary to such ofticerseru would Crown, and he hoped consent to act as an acts and the definition of thne lawndering the words of the as they possibly could be made. upon the subject as clear Sir J. SHELLEY considered that the assurances hear of the Government, so far a s th ey went u satisfactory. He could not, however,n this ma tt er, were agree with the on. and learned Attorney-Ge nera l t h at the law relating h it was either well understood or w e ll d e fi ned ; and as a :. f that it was not so, he would refer to th e very voluminous correspondence which he held in his hand, and which the house was in possession of on this subject, and which cer tainly went to prove the very opposite of what the hon. tint! learned gentleman had asserted. He had moved a short time since for certain returns conne c t e d w i t h the I..evsp ipi.eee a . : ivi th the ate Lep duties, ii , hien had e eco refused to him on the ground that there were no means of giving him the information that he required ; but he " Inland Revenue, March 1,1851. " Gentlemen,—ln answer to your letter of the 25th I beg to say that any account of the marketsomayce is taken be law.- fully published in au unstamped paper. of accounts of dramatic performances and such ti n like, _but *any ether matter published in unstamped papers will " not bo over looked. " I am, &c., J. TIMM. 44 Messrs. Robinson and Crofton, Silver-street, Wa l aefield." He (Mr. Gibson) held that the words " dramatic perf orm . ances and such like" included balls and concerts and things of that description, and, if Mr. Timm said that n o notice would be taken of balls and concerts in Wakefield, on what principle would he say that the difitslcal Times was to be affected by the Stamp Act ? (Herar, hear.) If people Could not obtain accurate irAformation upon such a point -'-as this from the officers of the Crown, where were they to go for it ? This difficulty and uncertainty arose, not from any fault on the part of the Board of I n l an d Revenue, but from the maintaining of a bad and ineffective system, which which was incapable of being administered with justice, and which must bring the executive officers into bad re pute and cast undeserved odium upon them, (Hear, hear.) He believed that Mr. Wood, the chairman of the Board of Exc i se , was prepared on all occasions to administer the laws intrusted to his care with justice and impartiality, and, in matters of penalties, with leniency to the subject ; but no man could administer such an unintelligible sys tem of law as that connected with newspapers, and it was not only to relieve the public, therefore, but to relieve their (Am officers fro m th e o di um which' must necessarily attach to them that he asked the Government to legislate upon this subject. He thought that the instances which he had adduced fully made out a case for legislation, and that a bill wi'llout loss of time ought to be brought in for the purpose c f defining the law. He now came to the other head of his resolution—that the law was unequally enforced —and he could bring abundant evidence to prove that position. The practice had been, he was sclrry to say, not to enforce it against the strong, against the powerful London publishers—but to press it with undue severity against '..he humble proprietor of a small newspaper in some provincial town. They had had in this matter one law for London, antlYe.nother for the country. Illustrations of this might at once bo given. On the 13th of September, 1851, the Board of Inland Beve,nue sent a communication to the .Racinia , Tines, asking for an e.4lanation of its being pub lished Without a stamp, and concluding with, "as the case admits of no delay whatever, your immediate attention must be given to this communication." To that letter Mr. Thompson, the publisher, replied, that the It acing Times was essentially a class paper, such as their own officers had declared to be exempt from duty. Mr. Timm rejoined, that no person could entertain a doubt that the paper was a newspaper, and threatened prosecutions against the pub lisher and per , ons selling the same without a stamp. Mr. Thompson then wrote the following letter : " Racing Times-office, 291, Strand, Sept. 20. Sir,—l have not acted without high legal advice in the matter of the publication of the Racing Times, and therefore I have only to inf , rm you that I am perfectly prepared to support my right in a court of avv ; and when you require it, I will furnish you with the name of my solicitor, who on my behalf will accept notice of auy proceedings you may think proper to institute, and take the necessary steps in defence thereof. I am, &c., _ _ " J. Timm, Esq. " Jews THOMPSON." Here the correspondence ceased. The moment that Mr. Thompson spoke of his solicitor, Mr. Timm disappeared from the field, and no more was heard of the matter; but Mr. Thompson was a powerful Lontlrn publisher, living in the Strand. His case was that of the Atheneum, the Lite rary Gazette, the Law Times, the Medical Gazette, and others, all of which would have joined with him in resist ing Mr. Timm. When he had to deal, however, with a penny paper like the P o tt er i es F ree Press, published at Stoke-upon-Trent, Mr. Thorn proceeded to the police office, took up the delinquent proprietor, and fined him 201. It was only just to add that the Government being' uneasy in their conscience, he supposed, had remitted that fine. If such were the inequality in the mode of insti tuting prosecutions, what should be said of the way in which the security system was administered in this coun try? The 60th George 111., chap. 9, the act which related to securities, was aimed against the small po itical publica tions which in those days were supposed. to be dangerous to the constitution and religion of the country. It bore no reference whatever to periodical papers. Let the law be carried out, and no one could publish a paper under 6d. in price, and less than 714 square inches in size, without entering into securities that he would not be guilty of publishing blasphemy and sedition. That law was not carried out against the per sons for whom it was in tendel—the writers of small political pamphlets—while it was pot in force against people who published newspapers. He held in lais hand the Political Examiner, price ld., a weekly democratic journal, having a motto from the writings of Mr. Macaulay, " If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait for ever. This was exactly one of the publications which the law intended should give security, but nothing of the kind was ever asked for it. The English Republic was another periodical cf a similar description which found no securities. Here, however, was a publication which actually did find securities for 4001. that it would publish nothing seditious or blasphemous, and what did the house suppose was its heading? Outline of a Lesson for Girls on the Ingredients of a Plumpudding. (Great Laughter.) He should scarcely have thought that there was anything very seditious in the ingredients of a plumpudding. But he asked, were they prepared to allow all the publications which were contemplated by the law toescape the law, and to include all those which never had been intended ? He remembered an admirab:e speech of his right hon. friend the Chief Commissioner of Woods upon the colonies, which had been published as a pamphlet, and which he had read and gained much instruction from. If that speech sold for less than 6d., and were less than 714 square in.:hes in size, his right hon. friend might have been prosecuted by the Attorney-General for having issued such a speech without having given his securities against blasphemy and sedition. (A. laugh.) 'lf owing to its price, that case were not quite in point, there was another which certainly was. The noble lord the member for the city of London had written a celebrated letter to the Bishop of Durham. That letter had been published by Mr. Westertou, and sold at Knightsbridge for ss. a thousand, so that the price was un doubtedly less than 6d., and its size was undoubtedly less than 714 square inches. There could be no doubt then that Mr. Westerton was liable at this time, if the Attorney-Ge neral did his duty, forhaving published a paper comment ing on Church and State without having given securities. (Hear.) These cases showed the absurd position in which the law stood ; and he respectfully appealed to the Atter ney.General to signalise his administration of the affairs of his office by advising the Government not to allow a day to pass without taking into consideration this foolish state of things. The war in which we were engaged vas not a rea.- son for neglecting everything. We could not live upon war alone. It was becoming somewhat tedious already, and he hoped that the Government did not mean them to under stand that they were to subsist entirely upon it, for they must gain laurels in the fiel , lsof peace us well as in the field of war if they intended to retain the confidence of the con stituencies of the country. (Hear ) He trusted that the Government would enable their supporters before a general election to have something to say in their behalf, that they had endeavoured to repair the evils and anomalies which he had mentioned, that they had, had some regard for the repeated appeals which had been made to them in the cause of education, and that they had aided in the production of a cheap and unrestricted and a good press by freeing it from all fiscal regulations and from all control except that of a court of law for libel. (Hear, hear.) These were the grounds on which he had taken the liberty of asking the house to agree with his proposition that the law was ill defined and unequally enforced. He would tell hon. gen tleman opposite, whatever might be their opinions on these matters, that Lord Derby. when they were pressed upon him, had no doubt on them, and ',id not seem in the slightest degree to question the possibility of making the law equal, and was also strongly impressed with the injus tice of allowing it to remain in its present state. (Hear.) In the correspondence which had only been laid on the table yesterday, it appeared that petty persecution was being carried to a great extent; letter after letter was being issued by the Board of Inland Revenue to publishers of penny periodicals, telling them that they had infringed euele hhw. They did not st a t e w h a t l aw , b u t cau ti one d -them that they were on the point of incurring penalties. What aeraekaystem this was, and, as a con sequence re g it, cheap publications fell into the hands of men withottiattcisnipi *are for violating the or respectability, men who did not had a greater tendency laws. Such a system of petty perse cutiondeter men of capital tendency even than prosecutions to and cl respectability from undertaking And euPPorting the wanted to see not onl sap literature of the country. He not wish to give-t e only cheap , but a good press. He did violate the laws and whonhiP to those who were willing to of the country. He sought c t 1 .42 no respect the institutions induce men of good morals and character to undertake th publications, which would not then be without their effect his sincere and conscientious belZ:hreieV for it was beet su e lications were calculated to promote the effect interests. of the country, and would have more educating the great masses of the people than would anyyaledeaueation bill which could pass through the house. was another strange point which had been r-) There started by the Board of Inland Revenue as to monthly publications, w hich were not allowed to be published excepti ng at th , e ra ga a l beginning of the mo nth. The clause res pecting this a contained in the 60th of George 111., chap. 9. High l authority, however, believe d that subsequent acts had re pealed this clause. The Board of Inland Revenue had, however, started it afresh , and if it were not re p eale d , he (Mr. Gibson) thought the Attorney-General ought to take into his consideration the repeal of so absurd a law. H e begged hon. members not to direct their attention to theories which he (Mr. Gibson) or other hon. members might have started with regard to thissiibj t e o ct v , o b te ut fo t r o look at the resolution which they were about which was merely to have the law clear l y defined and en forced with justice. He did not ask hon. members to agree with his theories or the theories of others about cheap newspapers, but he asked them to give him their support on a proposition which he conscientious l y believed was divested of a ll p ar ty bias, and to which every sensibl e man, having the interests of his country at heart, might , without reference to party, give in his adhesion. Mr. RINNAIRD, in supporting the resolution, said, that after the able and lucid statement just made, it was unnecessary for him to detain the house by entering into the legal view of the question. He merely wished to bear his testimony to the facts that hail been brought forward, and to state froin his own knowledge, that the large mann faJtaring to wn, were inu n d a t e d w ith a c l ass o f low itn' =oral publloations, which th e p eo pl e wou ld rea d. By th e proA c jil t, state of the law tit y were pr ::clinks , ! from r,3% that which was interesting and useful, and were compelled to read a deal of trash and unwholesome matter, which 1 THE SUN, LONDON, WIINES,D,AY EVENING, MAY 17, 1854. ound now, from the evidence of Mr. Novello, that from the stamped and unstamped copies of the newspaper which were necessarily deposited, there could have been little or no difficulty to put him into possession of the data that he required from the production of such returns. Under these circumstances, he should renew his application in a different form, by the adoption of which he had little doubt of being more successful. With respect to the question immediately before the house, he felt that his right hon. friend had so well argued it that there was no necessity for him to go over the same ground ; but, at the s sme time, he must say, that he felt very much pleased at the pledge which the motion of the right hon. gentleman had extracted from the law officers of the Crown. (Hear.) He wished to say a few words with regard to the postage of newspapers, the management and regulations of which he considered to be very inadequate and annoying ; and he was of opinion that if, in the estimation of Mr. Rowland Hill, id. on each paper was ample payment for the p stage of the same, such penny ought to be paid. In the district in which he resided there were, happily, only two news papers, and most people, to see these, as they had no wish to incur the expense of purchasing them individually for themselves, had to go to the public houses, where, of course, they had to pay for ale or brandy and water, or whatever they had to drink. If it were not for the pre sent restrictions this would not be so, but every man could afford to have such newspapers at his own home. (Hear.) He hoped that his right hon. friend would carry his motion to a division, as he should like the people of this country really to know who were or who were not honestly their friends in this matter. (Hear, hear.) Mr. CROSSLEY said that, although he was disposed to be as liberal as most members with respect to these ques tions, nevertheless he could not agree with the doctrines which he had heard propounded with respect to their general effects upon education. He was one of those who had voted against the late scheme of the Government rela tive to education, and he should always continue to vote against such educational system, from the conviction that it was radically wrong. His notion in these matters was, "Hands off," and let the people educate themselves. He was quite certain that they would do much better without any interference of the house than with it. He could not agree with the Attorney-General that when there was a time of war all lightening of taxation should necess irily be put a stop to ; and in considering such an emergency, he thought th a t th e a d v i ce g i ven to him by an old frie n d when he first commenced business might be usefully followed, such advice being that " when difficul ties increased our energies should increase also." He had followed and acted upon that advice, and could testify to the advantage of having done so. He would propose to Government that, in place of enforcing the restrictions which were complained of, it would be better that it should be made compulsory to put a stamp on all bankers' cheques. Mr. BRIGHT thought that the house would agree with hint in the opinion that the language of the law officers of the Crown was not so confideut on this as on former occa sions. These learned gentlemen had been complimented on the tone of their language, and he certainly thought that such tone was much more moderate than it had been hitherto. He was glad to seethe learned Attorney-General and Solicitor-General agree together in thinking that some alterations were required as to the laws on this subject, but still he could not help feeling that the. hon. and learned gentlemen very widely differed as to the extent of such alterations with his right hon. friend and colleague. (Hear, hear.) If the hon. and learned gentlemen did really so cordially agree with his right hon. friend, he (Mr. Bright) could not understand why they should so strenu ously oppose his proposition, which was drawn up in so moderate a spirit that he almost felt inclined to blame his right hon. friend for not putting the question in m or e for cible terms than he h a d evidently thought it his duty to adopt. The terms of his right hon. friend's motion, if he properly comprehended it, were these—namely, that the laws in reference to the periodical press anti newspaper stamps were ill-defined and unequally enforced, and that the subject was one which demanded the early considera tion of Parliament. (Hear, hear.) He understood the learned Attorney-General to agree so far with the words of the motion as not to deny that the subject demanded the consideration of the house,, and that the laws on the subject had been in some cases unequally enforced— [" Hear, hear." from the Attorney-Generali— but the learned gentleman denied that such laws were ill-defined. (Hear, hear.) Well, then, he could understand exactly the position which the hon. and learned gentleman intended to take. In following the arguments of his right hon, friend who introduced this motion to the house, it should , be observed that .t had not been in any way insinuated that the Board of Inland Revenue had been voluntarily unfair or partial in their dealing with the operation of the laws over which they had control, so as to charge one man to the exclusion of another; but what was complained of was, that these laws had been unequally enforced, and, that they were so, even the hon. an d l earne d gentlemen themselves had not attempted to deny. (Hear, hear.) He firally believed that the Attorney-General iu his own mind telt that no attempt which could be made would be ef fectual to prevent these laws from being unequally en forced; and if it should be said that every paper that came within the reach of these laws should be taxed, he did not believe that such laws would stand a year. (Hear, hear.) He hoped it would not be supposed for one mo ment that the object of his right hon. friend in bringing this motion before the house was that such papers as Cie At engine, the Builder, the Racing Times, or even Mr. Novello's publications, should be stamped; for he felt as sured that nothing was further from the wishes and inten tions of that right hon. gentleman, who had on so many occasions expressed and proved himself an enemy to the system of stamps altogether—(" Hear," from Mr. Gib sou)—but what was objected to was that the law shouldbe so worked as to touch some and let others off free, particu larly in such cases whore it was supposed the public might he offended and the stamp duties imperilled. He had no doubt that if the Chancellor of the Exchequer were in his place he would tell them that these stamp duties, regarded in a fiscal light, were of little or no importance ; and he could easily und e r s t an d th a t th e amount of suc duties was not the mainspring of their retention, which, pro balsly, was chiefly owing to the desire of keeping down the publication of cheap political periodicals, calculated to be dangerous in their tendency and widely disseminated among the people. (Hear.) Notwithstanding what the learned Attorney-General had said, there was no doubt but that the Board of Inland Revenue had been for years allowing a body of news to be published throughout this kingdom, contrary to the statutes on the subject—(hear, hear)—and that hundreds of thousands of pounds which ought to have been paid had been remitted in the way of stamps with reference to this or that publication, which the Government might have considered not objec ionable, or perhaps useful. (" Hear," and "No.") Why, if a Man in Manchester issue a newspaper, he must pay Id. on every copy he sent out, while another man in the Strand was permitted to publish the Racing Times without a stamp, and not only remain unprosecuted by Government, but actually let off altogether. He had no objection to the unstamped publication of the Racing Times, or any other paper, and merely mentioned such an example to show the injustice and inequality of the tax. (Hear.) Government, no doubt, acted in this way, not because they were unwilling to receive all they could get from this tax, but because they found it wise to give up some of the tax in order to be able to retain any of it. He hoped that his right bon. friend would not be met on this occasion in a spirit of such restricted liberality as the recommendation of the hon. and learned g entlemen seemed to infer, but, on th e con t rary, that G overnment would imitate the example of Sir Robert Peel and other great statesmen on similar emergencies, and do away with such cumbrous machinery of legislation, which was not only ineffective, but unmanageable. (Cheers.) What, he would ask, was to be the operation of the statute on the proceedings of the electric t e l egrap h companies ? When hon. memers left the house some of them went to the Re form, some to the Carlton, and some, perhaps, to that club which a distinguished individual sail he had never heard of—(a laugh)—and each would find written up in the hall of his duo an account of the proceedings in the house. (Hear.) He himself, before coming down, had so read a report of part of the speech of his right hon. friend who had made this motion. Well, every line of every para graph so published was a violation of the law. And so— not at the interval of a month, a week, a day, or even an hour, but every five minutes through the evening —fresh news from that house was being published all over London. It was prii.ted, and it was sent down into the country and printed there, and he should like to know from the Attor ney-General whether it was his intention co put a stop to this wonderful operation of the electric telegraph ? Were great public companies, who hid expended immense sums in their undertakings, to be insulted, attacked, worried. nay, perhaps destroyed, by the Board of Inland Revenue ? ( Hear.) The Attorney-General knew very well there was no fear of it; and even if there were, the Attorney-Gene ral was not the man to be the instrument of such doings He could not think that the hon, and learned gentleman would ever -lend himself to du anything which could lessen the instruction of the people, or could diminish the length and breadth and number of the channels by which the publication of political information was spread through all parts of the kingdom. (Hear.) Then, again, with regard to the financial part of the question. Not long ago he had read in a Scotch paper that the Chancellor of the Exche• quer, in receiving a deputation from some place in Scot land, praying fora grant for the establishment of some pub lic institution, though he did not promise the grant, had stated very distinctly that he did not wish to he understood that, because the oountry was at war, everything connected with art and science and public instruction was thereby to be thrown aside, even though it did cost something to the Exchequer. That was a sentiment which did honour to the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; but in this case he would have the right hon. gentleman to understand that he was not asked to abandon the 400,0001. which the penny stamp produced. At present it was supposed by persons connected with the post-office, that about as many papers went through the post-office as were published— that was, supposing 100,000,000 ne ws p a p ers t o b e published, 100,000.b00 went through the post-office, some of course never going through it all, and some very frequently; and the question, therefore, to be ascertained was, supposing the stamp duty were abolished, and a postage of ld. im posed for every newspaper which entered the box of the post-office as a substitute, what would be the number of newspapers which would go through the post-office as compared with the number which now went through? For it was evident that if the number continued the same, the Exchequer would get quite as much money as it did now. The letters which had been read in the course of the discussion, containing applications f rom a ll parts of the country o the Board of Inland Revenue, a s to whether such and such papers were or were not liable to the tax, would give the house some idea of the pressure which that board brought to bear upon the disposition to publish throughoutjthe country, and of the number of newspapers actually strangled by the stamp. There were 75 boroughs in the United Kingdom returning memb ers t o P ar li amen t , i n not one of which was there a newspaper—(hear) —a thing which would scarcely be believed if told in England of any other coun try. He would assume that for every newspaper pub• lished in the United Kingdom now, there would be ten published if there was no newspaper stamp ; and if they went to the colonies or to the United States, he thought everybody who knew anything of the condition of affairs there would sallow that he was not overstating the case. If, then, instead of 100,000,000 papers there were 1,000,000,000 published, was it not fair to assume that at least one in ten of these would still pass through the post, and, if the postage duty was equal to the present stamp, it was clear that the sum of money which the Ex chequer would receive would be just about equal to that which the stamp duty produced. The Excise duties would fall off to that amount, but the postage revenue would immediately increase ; the paper duty would increase— (hear)—and at the same time the facility of intercourse among all classes of the people would lead to the spread of trade, the increase of consumption, and the general im provement of the revenue. (Hear, hear.) But there was a strong argument to be drawn against the tax from the siza of the newspapers. Now here wore three newspapers of the largest size—The Times, with its supplement ; a ,paper published i n th e co l on y o f Vi c t or i a , ca ll e d the Mel -oourne Argu3, with its supplem e nt, about the same sizo as the Timeß ; and th e "r^ •'• ''"!' rbOr (~`" ' i Times without a s u ppl emen t. [H ere the hon. member, suiting the ac ti on to the word, unfolded the three papers mentioned, whi c h being cut into single shoots, and the sheets tacked together lengthwise, formed each a long roll, which fell over the seat before, and extended far into the floor of the house.) The Times paid Id. stamp for each copy, but the Melbourne Argus paid no stamp at ad. The population of Victoria was not much more than that of Manchester and Salford together, yet the Melbourne Argus printed 11,000 copies every morning, and so great was the demand, that not having the said admirable machinery at its command as was possessed by the Times, the proprie tors had been obliged to issue a notice that the price would be doubled to every subscriber after such and such a day. The price of the Times was sd. to the public, the price of the Melbourne Argus was lid e and every workman in New York could buy the New York Tribune every morning for. 1(1. It was just as good a newspaper as the Times. Per haps all its leaders were not written with the same ability which distinguished that part of the Times—but it had pilot boats which went far out into the Atlantic to meet the packets, it had telegraphic despatches from every part of thi union, it had correspondents in all the chef cities of Europe, and—a thief; which would scarcely be deemed pro bable of a paper sold for id.—it employed a staff not much short, he believed, of 303 persons. There was a paper in New York which sold for a h , lfpenny—the New York Sun—the copyright of which sold not long ago for 50,0001., and he believed that the copyright of the New York papers was at this moment worth double the copy right of all toe papers in London with the exception of the Times. (Hear.) The reason of that was that the trade there was free like every other trade, and it prospered in consequence; while here, on the contrary, it was ham pered by the fetters of the Board of Inland Revenue. Look, for instance, at the D a ily N ews — a paper w hi c h was said to have sink 100,0001., and yet how small was its'cir culation, and by the late returns that was diminishing. There was the Morning Chronicle, too, a paper that every day addressed a still more select audience. Take all the London papers, with the exception of the Times and a few of the cl - eap-priced weekly papers, which appealed to a somewhat different clew, and which were at very much less expense —all were suffering from the restricted trade. Here was an unfortunate paper which the Board of -Inland Revenue had strangled out of its little in nocent life. (A laugh.) [The hon. member here produced a single sheet somewhat of the size of the Spectator.] It was called the Potteries Free Press; or Weekly Narrative of Cur rent Events, and purported to be published without a stamp in conformity with the regulation of the Stamp-office, as sanctioned by them in the publication of the Athenteum, Builder, Punch, Racing Times, &sc. The proprietor thought he was acting according to law, but the Board of Inland Revenue very seen toll him a different tale, and he was brought. to a sudden stop, when, but for that interference, he would have had a sale of 10,000 copies; and the house, which was horrified at the ignorance of the people, which voted 260,0001. for education, which appointed public in spectors of schools, was content to maintain a law which enacted that this little paper should not travel among the industrious artisans of thedistrict, and do its part towards the instruction of the people. Then again, there was the case of the West Sussex Advertiser, or South Coast Journal, published by Mr. Mitchell, a gentleman who lived in a dis trict of the country in which there were 100,000 inhabi tants, which returned eight or nine members to Parlia men-, and which, nevertheless, had not one single paper to enlighten it. Mr. Mitchell attempted to improve this state of things , be publi s h e d thi s paper unstamped at N., but the Board of Inland Revenue interfe-ed with him too ; he re ceived one of their polite letters, and he was obliged to pay 5/. penalty for what he had done, and to put the Id. stamp on the corner of his paper. Now there were three little vil laoes in that district, in which 41 copies of this newspaper, at Id., were sold—three villages in which three papers had never regularly and permanently circulated before—but no sooner was the stamp imposed, and the price consequently changed to 2d. instead of Id., than 37 persons out of the 41 discontinued the paper. Mr. Mitchell had written a most admirable letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject, which he defied the right hon. gentleman to read, and remain unconvinced. Now, he would ask this house, whether they would obstinately continue to tax this paper —a paper which was suitable to the small towns and vil lages, suited, too, to the capacity and time for reading, as well as the pockets of the labouring classes—whether they would consent that the Chancellor of the Esehequer should permanently place a tax of ld. on this small sheet, end the same tax on the largesheot of the Times. It was contrary to common sense, contrary to every principle sanctioned by the house, and be therefore advised the Attorney-General not to waste his legal acuteness in cobbling up this law, which he roust know never could be fairly and equally worked out. He would rather advise him and the Solici tor-General to set about persuading the Government that the thing was a blunder altogether. (Hear, hear.) It was ell very well fur the time of Queen Anne. It must be re membered that they hail two civil wars within a few years after the law was passed, and they had men in both houses f Parliament sworn against the reigning dynasty. Bat there Mere no disputes now about the dynasty or the over throwing of institutions, on the contrary, there was not a country in the world where the people were more united generaly on all great political principles, more disposed to put confidence in the Legislature, or more sine-:rely desir ous of working together for the prosperity of the whole community. The report of the Royal Cominissioners sent to the New York Exilibition had been referred to in the course of the discussion, and he should like greatly to call the attention of the house to the last paragraph of Mr. Whitworth's report. This was it : •‘ It rarely Lapps, s that a workman who possesses pecu liar skill iu his craft is disqualified to take the responsible position of superintendent by the want of education and general knowledge, as is frequently the case in this country. In every State in the Union, and particularly in the north, education is, by means of the common schools, placed within the reach of each individual, and all classes avail themselves of the opportunities afforded. The desire of knowledge so early implanted is greatly increased, while the facilities for diffusing it are amply provided through the instrumentality of au almost universal press. No taxation of. auy kind has been suffered to interfere with the free development of this powerful agent for promoting the intelligence of the people, and the consequence is, that where the humblest labourer can indulge in the luxury of his daily paper, everybody reads, and thought and intelli gence penetrate through the lowest grades of society. The benefits which thus result from a liberal system of education and a cheap pre ss t o th e wor ki ng classes Of the United States can hardly be over-estimated in a national point of view ; but it is to the co-operation of both that they must undoubtedly be ascribed." He understood there were many things in Mr. Whitworth's report which had startled manufacturers and men of science in this country. (Hear, hear.) He had shown that in cer tain departments there was an increasing skill and know ledge, which threatened not only to rival, but to excel any thing existing in this country. (Hear.) It must be borne in mind that we were close to the United States. Every week, everything that was known here was known there, and every workman there had the same power as the mem ber of Congress to read all that was published in the public papers, while the very opposite was the case here. Passing by a publichouse here, they would see the newspaper folded over the bar, as a temptation for the workman to come in from the street to read it. The right to have it in his own home and at his own hearth was denied him here ; and the effect of the law was to drive him to the alehouse if he ac tually wished to read a newspaper. The working classes could not see the newspaper in these places without im bibing a certain, or rather an uncertain, quantity of gin and water. That was the effect of the newspaper stamp in this country ; but it was not so in the United States. If we distrusted our population so much that we would not trust them with political knowledge, we were hypo crites to the last degree if we spoke of the ignorance and depravity of our countrymen. (Cheers.) Judging from the persons in his own employ, he should say that the newspaper was as enticing and alluring to the working classes as to hon. members. It was read by them with as much eagerness, and they came to conclusions as reason able, as members of that house. When they could get newspapers at their own homes they abstained from public houses, and, by reading a variety of journals, they got rid of those false politico-economical views which were too prevalent among the Iworking classes. As a matter of finance, he believed the revenue would not suffer from the repeal of this duty, while upon the higher grounds 01 morality and education the time had come when this duty ought to be abolished as a stamp duty and changed to a postage duty. The house would set free hundreds of news papers in a single 3 ear throughout the country, and they would do more to promote t ,OSO objects which they pro• fessed in speeches and blue-books to care for than they could do by any machinery that human ingenuity count contrive, or that the power of th e execu ti ve G overnmem could enforce. (Loud cheers.) Lord PAIXERSTON—Sir, I think it is a rule deserv ing to be followed, when different persons concur on some points and have a difference on others, that it is for th, mutual advantage of all that they should endeavour to con fine their action to those points on which they agree, an, avoid, if it be not neoessary, entering into collision upot those points on which they differ. Now, sir, on the gene. . . • - ral scope of the resolution proposed by my right hon friend (Mr. M. Gibson), I apprehend that the house wil have seen from what has passed in this debate that there is no fundamental difference of opinion. It is admitted that the law in question requires to be considered, and that it is a fit subject for revision, but the resolution of m. rig t hon. friend contains assertions not bearing neces sarily on the points he has in view, and on which a dif• ference of opinion has been stated. My right hon. friend's resolution asserts that the law is ill-defined. Tha, is a question of legal opinion on which a difference has been stated, and I apprehend that it is hardly necessary for the purposes of my right hon. friend to insist upon the assent of Parliament to that statement. The resolution of my right hon. friend also asserts that the law has been un equally enforced. Now, in the sense in which, by his speech, he has interpreted that part of the resolution, the assertion is perfectly right and undeniable. (Hear.) There has been an unequal enforcement of the law, but anybody not cognisant of the details connected with the execution of the law, and who simply reads the resolution, would infer that th e reso l u ti on mea ns to imply th a t the law has been enforced with partiality, with favour, and with in tentional i n j us ti ce . Th a t I a pprehend is disclaimed. (Cries of " Hear, hear.") Well, but surely that is no good rea son for adhering to words which are liable to an interpre tation that is not meant. I should therefore submit to my right hon. friend, that he will accomplish his purpose, and render his resolution free from objections that might be urged to it, if he will so far alter it as to content himself with the assertion, that " the laws in reference to the periodical press and newspaper stamp demand the early coo sideration of Parliament, with the view (going further perhaps than the right hon. gentleman) to their revision." I should submit to him that such a resolution would answer his purpose, and it will not render the Board of Inland Revenue liable to a Parliamentary imputation, which he does not wish to inflict, while it steers clear of the debateable question as to whether the law is ill-defined a matter of legal opinion which we are not called upon to decide. The speech of the hon. gentleman (Mr. Bright) was chiefly directed to matters which aro not involved in the resolution, and which my right hon. friend studiously abstained from entering upon. The hon. gentleman, following his own opinion, in language often well expressed, has argued at great length for the repeal of the stamp duty. But that is not the object of this resolution, andmy right hon. friend stated that he did not moan to apply the resolution to that point, and that it would not be fair to have done so in the absence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Therefore I do not enter upon a discussion on that subject ; all I say is, that I entirely so far concur with the hon. gentleman the mem ber for Manchester that I think it must be an object of desire to everybody, and that it would be a great public advantage, to afford to the lower classes all those means of general instruction that can well be brought within their reach. (Cheers.) The abrogation of this peculiar stamp is is only a matter of financiarconsideration, and it can only be maintained as a matter of finance. (Hoar.) Undoubtodly everybody will admit, that the larger we open the field of general instruction, OD; fir:Lwr fouri(littion , ; xvhich the order, the 10y.11,y, and the good conduct of the lower classes will rest. (Cheers.) On that subject I will not enter, as it is brought forward 'separately and distinctly. The present question refers to the resolution of my right hon. friend, and I really ask him, whether he does not think that the resolution I suggest will perhaps better answer his purpose than that which he has proposed ? (Divide, divide !") Mr. M. GIBSON said—l really do not exactly see why there should be this great objection to the resolution I have proposed. (Hear.) I well considered that resolution be fore I submitted it to the house, and knowing the great adroitness of the noble lord—l beg his pardon for the ex pression—(hear, hear, and a laugh)—and his experience in the conduct of these parliamentary affairs, I confess that I feel some reluctance to give it up, and to assent to the words which he has suggested to me. (Hear.) If he agrees with what I have said, why not take our resolution? (Hear.) If he disagrees with what I have said, that seems to me to be a ground for making an appeal to the house. (bean) I heard the word " revision." Now, Ido not want to bind myself to what is called " revision. (Hear, hear.) My position is this. I complain of certain laws as ill-defined and unequally enforced, and I call upon the Government of the country to take their own course, but to come to us with some mode or other of meeting the evils which I complain of. (Hear, hear.) When they submit their remedy, I shall be prepared to give my opinion either in favour of or against it, but I decline, for one, to be a party to revising this particular law, because I am in favour of repeal. (Hear.) All I ask the house to do now is, not to vote in favour of repeal, but to go so far with me as to say the law is ill-defined and unequally enforced, and that it is the duty of the Government to submit to the house some plan or other of meeting those evils. (Hear, hear.) I throw the responsibility upon the Government. The noble lord now asks me to share that responsibility by talking about " revising." My wish, however, is to leave it to the Government to decide whether they will revise or whether they will repeal ; and on these grounds I will be no party to the alteration which the noble lord has pro posed. (Hear bear, " divide, divide.") Lord PALMERSTON—I wish to ask my right hon. friend whether I clearly understand that his resolution as he proposes it is not meant to imply any censure, any ac cusation of unfairness, or partiality against the Board of Inland Revenue. (Hear, hear.) If that is clearly under stood, I do not think the difference of wording is a matter of any great importance. (Hear.) Mr. M. GIBSON—I thought that, in my opening re marks, I had distinctly guarded myself against being mis understood upon the subject. (Hear, hear.) I bring no charge whatever against the Chairman of the Board of In land Revenue'or his officers. (Hear, hear) I attack the system, which I say is calculated to cast unmerited odium upon them. (Hear, hear.) The amendment was then by leave withdrawn, and the original resolution unanimously agreed to amid loud cheers. RIGHTS OF NEUTRALS. Mr. J. G. PHILLIMORE, who had given notice of his intention to call the attention of the house to the admis ion during the present war by the Government of the principle, hitherto repudiated, that free bottoms make free goods, postponed the discussion to a future day, in consequence of an intimation which he had received from the First Lord of the Admiralty, who thought it better he should put his proposition in a more specific form. He therefore gave notice now of the motion which he intended to pro pose, and which invited the opinion of the house upon the n change which had been made. THE CIVIL SERVICE. Mr. VINCENT SCULLY announced the withdrawal of the motion of which he had given notice on this subject. CORN AVERAGES (IRELAND)—TITHE-RENT CHARGE (IRELAND). Mr. BLAND moved for leave to bring in two bills, the one having for its object to establish " a better and more general mode of taking the average price of corn and other agricultural produce in Ireland," and the other " to pro vide for the annual variation of the rent charge in lieu of tithes in Ireland, with reference to the averages of the then next preceding seven years." The honourable gentleman briefly explained the present state of the law upon these subjects, and the inconvenience resulting from it, and stated that the object of the proposed measures was to assimilate it to the existing law of England. Sir J. YOUNG said, with reference to the first bill— that which proposed to provide a better mode of taking the corn averages in Ireland—he had no objection to offer to its introduction. On the contrary, he thought it so ne !e4- sary that some measure of that kind should be introduced that he had hip. self ordered a bill to be prepared. Mr. FRENCH hoped the right hon. baronet, whose con sent to the bringing in of this bill he had heard with plea sure, would order his own bill to be laid upon the table at the same time. After a few words from Mr. THORNELY, leave was given to bring in the bill. With reference to the bill for the variation of the tithe rent charge, Sir J. YOUNG— admitting the force of the hon. gentle. man s observations—would not object to its introduction, hut thought it right to express his apprehension that great difficulty would be found iu dealing with the subject. The tithe compositions in Ireland were (as we understood the right hon. gentlemen) on a different basis, and hail been arrived at by a different process from that which had been gone through in Engl ►nd ; and ho was afraid that if they attempted to legislate without having all the data clear', before them, justice would not be done. After some further conversation, leave was given to bring in th, bill. DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY BY MARRIED WOMEN. Mr. MALINS rose to move for leave to bring in a bill, which, he said, was one of great public importance, and cal culated, he thought, to make a material improvement in the laws of this country. The house was aware that by the old law relating to the property of married women no married woman could alienate any property in reversion, except by an expensive process of fine or recovery, which threw great difficulties in the way. But in 1553, in consequence of a report made by the Real Property Commission, a great improvement was effected in the law, so far as concerned real property, by which a married woman having a rever sion in property, of which she was expectant on the death of another, could go before a judge or a Master in Chan cery, and there, by a simple deed, make as complete an alienation of the reversionary property as if she were unmarried. But that law did not apply to personal property, so that if she had 1,0001. or 2,000/., of which she was expectant on the death of a friend or parent, be the exigencies of her family what they might, she could not alienate her reversion except at the merest nominal price. Even if she concurred with her husband in its alienation, still the law held that that concurrence was not binding upon her, being under coverture ; so that if she survived her husband, she could, after all, claim the property as her own. The law was intended to protect the married woman ; but its operation was to render the reversion luring her husband's lifetime absolutely valueless. Now, he wished to remedy this state of things, by proposing that a married woman should have the same power to deal with personal property in reversion which the law already gave her to deal with real property. There was one other object which he wished to effect. At present, when a married woman came into possession of property, it was the rule of the Court of Chancery that she was entitled to what was called a settlement of equity, which was gene rally held to amount to one-half of the property. The practice of the Court of Chancery was, that a married woman should appear before a judge or Master in Chancery, who examined her in private as to her wish to have this settlement made, or whether she waived her right. He (Mr. Malins) had had a good deal of experience in this matter, but he never knew a married woman claim her equity of settlement except in one instance, and that was under a misapprehension. He proposed to provide that, without personal appearance before the court, which was always expensive, and often inconvenient, a married woman might be at liberty by a simple deed to waive her right to equity of settlement. Mr. LOCKE KING seconded the motion. He con 4dered this a step in the right direction, and he hoped it .vould prove the earnest of a much larger measure of law reform. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL concurred in the con leinnation of the present state of the law, as described by is hon. and learned friend, and which originated in a lecision of the Court of Chancery, pronounced about 70 years ago a decision which proceeded on a mere fallacy, sat which had been repeated by one judge after another till it had been. established as a rinciple. The effect of ,his decision was, that though a woman might be entitled o 50,0001. in reversion, still the possible claim, in the went of her husband's death, se ditniuished its value that it would hardly sell for 201. The whole case was quite at variance with the general principle of law which pre ,erved, as far as possible, an analogy with respect to real end personal property. Without pledging himself, there fore, to all the details of the bill, he hail no objection to its introduction. The motion was then agreed to, and the bill was ordered to be brought in. PREROGATIVE COURT. Mr. HUME moved for the appointment of a select com nittee to inquire into and reoort upon the state of the °resent public registry of the Prerogative Court, use l as a testamentary office, and whe. her a better office can be esta blished for the keeping and preservation of wills. The re port on this subject, which was lai I that day upon the table of the house, declared that the custody of testamentary locuments of great importance was at present most unsa ,isfactory, and that the number of places in which such instruments were deposited rendered it most difficult and apensive, and in many cases impracticable to make the lecessary searches when dealing with the property of de ceased persons. In regard to Doctors'-commons, the room appropriated to these documents was very narrow and in convenient. He saw from 15 to 16 persons on one occasion referring to wills in a passage where there was scarcely room 'or individuals to pass each other. In 1833 Dr. Nicholl re ported upon the necessity of having a better building appro priated to this subject. Nothing could be more satisfactory than the arrangement made by Major Graham, the Regis trar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Somerset House. As Doctors'-commons was but leasehold property, and as the interest would expire in 1857, the building, with all the wills therein, would fall into the hands of the pro prietor, if something be not immediately done in removing those documents to some other place. The hon. member concluded by makinghis motion. The question having been put, or of f e d d e ri The SOLICI TOR - GENERAL said that the question was one of param oun t i mportance. It was one that had engaged the att en ti on of successive governments. He now hoped that w e were on the eve of seeing something done to re ano m vt ebndegye a n thesoplacew evil. as so onlydeposit ot poofi r nw e t g i regretted at thete adjoining g t h r e a a t t thethmtpi convenienceol anc place al of great statistical information, which was in immediate con nection with the subject of wills, and ti. hich was so admirably arranged by the intelligent officer to whom the hon. member had alluded. If such a plan could be effected it would prove of the greatest possible advantage not only to the lawyers, but to every class of persons conne_ted with property. Mr. HADFIELD thanked the hon. member for Montrose for bringing forward this subject. It was now high time for them to consider how those wills were to be finally disposed of. Mr. MALINS said that the second reading of the Testa mentary Jurisdiction Bill was fixed for the 29th instant, and that, among other subje c t s , th a t relating to the cus tody of wills would then come under the consideration of the house It was extremely inconvenient, therefore, that when a discussion upon that question was about to take place in a few days, the Government should accede to such a proposition as that which had just been male by the hon. member for Montrose. He might also observe, that for the last two centuries wills were accessible in the most easy and ready manner to all who might wish to see them. In fact, in those cases wh , re the names of the parties and the date at which the will was made were known, the instrument might be procured in ten minutes at a charge of only ls. A commission had also investigated the subject, and under those circumstances ho trusted the hon. and learned gentleman the Solicitor- General would be induced to pause before he assented to the appointment of the committee. • n J., After a, few observ a tions from Mr. I reply, tne roo . :,ion was agreed to. INDUSTRIAL AND PROVIDENT SOCIETIES BILL. Thin bill was read a ovoid time. ENROLMENT OF THE MILITIA. The address in answer to the Queen's message, ordering the enrolment of the militia, was considered and agreed to. MANNING THE NAVY BILL. The house went into committee on this bill. Clause 1 was agreed to. Clause 2 having been put, Sir J. GRAHAM, in reply to Sir G. PECHELL, said he was not prepared to recommend any alteration in the law as it now stood with reference to the amount of bounties. In clause 11, however, it was proposed that henceforward the payment of those bounties should not be made to the agent, but to the accountant-general, who should distri bute the money in accordance with the orders of the Ad miralty. Sir G. PECHELL made some remarks upon the subject of bounties for killing or capturing pirates or slavers. Sir J. GRAHAM stated that the Admiralty had the power of according bounties for such cases, and he had acted on the power repeatedly Mr. HUME considered the system of bounties for kill ing men was inhuman. It resulted in a sad slaughter of innocent men ; and as there was a higher prize for killing than for capturing, it held out a premium for in humanity. Hundreds of thousands of pounds had been paid to reward slaughter of innocent men. In hundreds of cases men were slain for the sake of the bounty who were not pirates at all It was an atrocious system, dis creditable to the country. Mr. OT WAY said that the bill was in opposition to the opinion of the best authorities in the profession, and even of some of the authorities of the Admiralty. Sir J. GRAHAM. said the hon. member was utterly misinformed as to the Admiralty, and he believed be was as utterly misinformed as to the profession. The system in the last war was found very vicious, and imperatively required improvement. This was the object of the bill, which was framed in order to distribute prize money fairly. It would materially affect the distribution in favour of the crews engaged in captures. Sir G. PECHELL complained of the extortions of the High Court of Admiralty. Sir G. TYLER said he had never heard of any great defalcation among navy agents in this country. He knew many of them, and believed them to be an honourable class of men. At all events it was not fair to condemn the whole body for the faults of a few. With regard to the bill, he thought they had better go on, and take the clauses in the order in which they stood. Mr. OTWAY said that for the second time the right hon. baronet at the head of the Admiralty had made the most unfair insinuation that he was the advocate of the navy agents, and that he (the right hon. baronet) was the advo cate of the officers and seamen. He had no more connection with navy agents than the right hon. baronet had. The right hon. baronet knew that all his (Mr. Otway's) earliest associations were with the navy. If he had thought that this bill would act in favour of the officers and seamen he would have been the last person t o h ave o ff ere d any objec tion to it. The right hon. baronet assumed that between 30,0001. and 40,0001. had been lost by the defalcations of navy agents in England. [Sir J. Graham—Not in Eng land.] That was the question. If the failures had taken place in the West Indies, what security was there in this bill that they would not take piece again? By whom would prize money in the W es t Indies be paid ? [Sir J. Graham —By the commissariat.] Since the right hon. baronet has been so unsparing of his aspersions on private agents, and so much in favour of commissariat agents, he would refer the right hon. baronet to a paragraph in a morning paper of the other day ' in which the failure o f a n important function a ry o f th e Admiralty Court was an nounced to no less an amount than 66,0001. He challenged the right hon. baronet to prove his assertion that anything like 30,0001. or 40,0001. had been lost by the failure of navy agents in this country. There were numerous cases iu the late war in which the agents of captors had procured the condemnation of prizes against the opinion of the law offi cers of the Crown. There was the case of the Semarang, the other day, in which the grant was opposed by th e Ad miralty Court, but in whi c h the agent procured the distri bution among the seamen and marines of prize money to the amount of 13,0001. Would the right hon. baronet say that the interests of the officers and men would be less looked after by their own private agent than by Govern ment officers? No one could suppose that the whole of the business connected with prizes during a long war could be carri e d o n by th e presen t s t a ff o f the Admiralty. Within the last fortnight he had made inquiries among a great many officers regarding the proposed alteration, a nd he hid not met with one single officer who approved of it. Admiral WALCOIT thought that the navy agents had every inducement to look atter the interests of officers and (nen. He believed that the right hon. gentleman had brought in the measure with the best intentions. but he believed it would not be attended with the advantages which its promoters calculated. Sir J. GRAHAM thought that it would be more conve nient to proceed as the hon. and gallant member had sug gested with the clauses as they stood. But after the speech of the hon. member for Stafford, he roust refer to one or two points. He had not stated that the loss sustained had been free' the failure of navy agents in this country, but from the failure of navy agents generally. He would not mention any names, but he held in his hand a list of cases showing the losses sustained by failures of agents from 1812 to the end of the war. One of these Was an agent id the West Indies, who oiled to the amount of 33,0001., of which not more than 19,0001. was recovered; another for 21,0031., of which not more than 10,0001. was recovered. Another was the case of a Lon ton agent to the amount of 24,00 J/., of which not more than 12,0001. was recovered ; another in Jamaica to the amount of 115,00 t/., of which not more than 70,0001 had been recovered. The last case was that of a London agent in 1844, to the amount of 6,0001., of which not more than 2,3001. was recovered During the war great failures took place, and heavy losses were sustained. With regard to the defects in the Admiralty Court they had mainly been corrected ; but the appointments had been placed under the immediate control of the Admiralty judge, Sir S. Lushington, in whom all had confidence. With re 7 spect to the failure of the registrar of that court, alluded to . by the hon. member, no securities had been taken on his o f iti - -;:. pointment, but ample precaution and security had befen taken in the appointment recently made. 1 , rider the old system the registrar of the Ad m i ra lty, f or a cer t a i n per i o d after the condmnation of the prize, kept tr,e proceeds un der his control ; but by this bill the money immediately on being realised would be paid into the public account. It had been asked whore the seamen would go for their money, They would go to the paymaster-general or to the account ant of the navy. The money would be paid into the pub lic account, and the public would be responsible. With respect to insurances on prizes, that point had not been overlooked, and directions had been given that the prizes should be insured. The hon. member had assumed that no private navy agents would in future be employed, but that was not the case. If the majority of the captors thought that their interests would best be consulted by their appointing agents, there was nothing in the bill to prevent them doing so. The agent's ceininission was fixed at 2.:, per cent:, with an addition of 3 par cent. on the pri vate share of the captain, so that it could not be said that the interest of agents had been much neglected. The clause, as also clause 3, was then agreed to. On clause 4 being read, Captain SCOBELL reminded the committee that in the course of last session he had endeavoured to introduce amendments which would have the effect of encouraging the entry of men into to the navy. If anything would in duce men to enter her Majesty's service, it would be the holding out of an encouragement in the shape of bounty. The right hon. gentleman had stated that it would require a sum of 200,00 A to give a bounty to men entering the naval service. He denied, however, that it would amount to anything like that, as he would not give the bounty to any but able seamen, and half the money would be amply sufficient. But a better plan still would be to give the men a pound a year for every year they would enter for, and that would enable them to get the ships to sea and have them employed actively much sooner. A pound a year would only be three farthings per day, and he was sure the i services of able seamen were well worth that sum. The hon. and gallant member then proceeded to take ex ception to the arrangements made in the bill with regard to the division of prize -money, which did not award a fair proportion to the leading and able seamen. Sir J. GRAHAM said the arrangements now made for the distribution of prize money were in strict accordance With the recommendations of the navy committee. As regarded the question of bounty, he would observe that the prize money to which the seamen were now entitled would be a bounty in the most legitimate sense, inasmuch as it would be paid by the enemy instead of by this coun try. If the scale was compared with that which existed at the beginning of the last war, in 1793, it would be fou,d that the seamen and petty officers receive a much larger sum now than then, and at the expense of the flag officers and captains. (Hear.) He hoped that explana tion would satisfy the committee that the interests of the seamen were not neglected by the present Board of Admi ralty. After a few words from Sir G. PECHELL, the clause, as also clauses 5 and 6, were agreed to. Clauses up to 21 were passed. On clause 24 being proposed, Mr. OT WAY hoped the right hon. baronet would agree to report progress, as ho had a long amendment to propose. Sir J. GRA .M 1 hoped the hon. member would not obstruct the progress of the bill by his proposition to report progress. 14Ir. OT WAY said his amendment had reference to the payment of prize money into the hands of the Government accountant. Now, after what had been said about the un trustworthy character of many Government officers, he hoped precautions would be taken to prevent any objec tionable appointment to the post of Government accountant. If the money stood in the joint names of the Paymaster- General and the agent of the captors, and was paid by them into the Bank of England, nothing could be more secure or satisfactory than such an arrangement. He hoped the right hon. baronet would assent to his proposition. Sir J. GRAHAM objected to the amendment, because it was totally opposed to the principle on which the bill was founded. After a brief conversation, in which Sir G. TYLER and Sir G. PECHELL supported the view of Sir J. Graham, Mr. OTWAY withdrew the amendment. The clause was then agreed to, as also were clauses down to 33 inclusive. Clauses 34 and 59 were omitted. Clause 41 was postponed. The remaining clauses of the bill were agreed to. NAVY PAY BILL. The Navy Pay Bill then passed through committee. The house adjourned at half-past one o'clock. SHIPPING INT ELLIGENCE. NOTICE TO MARINERS. CHANGES OF LIGHTS AT CAPE HATTERAS, BODY'S ISLAND, AND OCRACOKE (COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA). In conformity to the Notice to Mariners, issued from the Office of the Lighthous e Board at Washington, under date of December 1, 1853, notice is hereby given, that the proposed changes will take place simultaneously at the three abovena►ned lighthouses on the night of the Ist of June next (1854). CAPE . The Cape Hatteras light will be a first order Fresnal flashing lens, exhibiting, in every 20 seconds of time, a brilliant white flash of 8 seconds' duration, followed by a total eclipse of 12 seconds' duration. At the distance of 14 to 18 miles the duration of,the flash will be somewhatless, and that of the eclipse propor tionably greater. The height of the tower from the ground to the top of the lantern is 140 feet. The colour of the tower from the ground to the height of 20 feet is grey, and the remainder red. The tower is placed about two miles from the point of the Cape on the southward and eastward extremity of a long ridge of white and naked send, backed by woods. The space of about two miles between the lighthouse and the pitch of the Cape is a low, flat, and bare sand botch, very little above extreme high water. Tho light will iio 150 foot, above the level of the sea anti 1),) , e,Coilin ge e d we,a...her . ion 1J feet abd - ve the water, at the distance of about 19 nautical or 22 statute miles. The iliWoi,ioaato positioa of t$ CaPe gattorai , , 11. house, as determined by the coast survey, is 15 min. 11 sec. n or th, l ong . 75 d eg . 30 mill. 33 gle° ' from Greenwi c h. lat. 35 BODY'S ISLAND. The Body's Isl a nd li g ht, about 32 nautical miles t north-ward of Cape Hatteras, will be changed '.t ed • Whi time (June 1, 1854 , ) t o a f our th or d er F resne l tiz light, varied by alternate red and white flashes. This light will be 50 feet above. the level of th• e r Oa , s the white flashes should be seen in good weatts 3 r • f rom position 15 fe e t a b ove th e wa t er at the distauce. o f sbcil lt so is nautical or 15 st a t u t e m il es; th e fi xe d li g ht nc +1; c o far as the white flashes and the red flashes at a 1( yet distsn than the fixed white light. dr t The approximate p os iti on o f B o d y ' s I s l an d li gl 20.6 terrnined by the Coa s t S urvey, i s l a t . 35 d eg . 47' t a "''"- sec. north, long. 75 d eg . 31 m i n . 20 sec . wes t f rot wich. OCRACOKE. t he The Ocracoke light, a b ou t 23j nau ti ca l m ile s tO southward and westward of Cape Hatteras Lig 10 4 .7 1 01 s will 13 , 3 changed at th e same ti me (J une 1 , 1854) t o a order Fr,snel fixed white light. This light will be 75 feet above the level of the src oo il urinate the entire horizon, an d should be seen ' ll weather from a position 15 feet above the water It a tance of about 14 nautical, or 161 statute miles. The approximate position of Ocracoke lightly 1 111,6 determined by the Coast Survey, is lat. 35 deg. 6 t 12 i%' j a h. sec. N, long. 75 deg. 58 min. 27.4 sec. W f rom G ri on"" By order of the Lighthouse Board. (Signed) D. P. WOODBUt: 6 0, April 15, 1854. Captain of E 'girl VESSELS SPOKEN WITH. JA The Niagara (ship), Pensacola to Liverpool,. Ai P•• lat. 32 N., long. 77 W. The Charity (screw-steamer), bound E as t, Ap r il - 99 50 N., long 17 W. .1' The Atlantic (American ship), bound W es t, A Pri• • 25 , lat 44 N., long. 45 W. The Esmeralda (American ship), Mobile to Li' / 01 '1 1°4 April 22, lat. 29 N., long. 80 W. g 1 54 The London, to San Francisco, March 17, l a t • lon.. 85 W. The Ocean, Antwerp to Callao, Ma rc h 19, l a i • - 1 0,1 long. 75 W. • The Penzance, Sydney, N.S.W., t o L on d on , A Prl l9 ' lat. 5 N., long. 33 W. The Amerique. April 20, lat. 7N. long. 36 W. . The Sultan, Liverpool to N ew Orleans, April 22 • la" N., long. 43 W. 16 The Mexican Pack e t, f or Li verpoo l , A pr il 23 , lat" N., long. 51 W. The Agnes Taylor, Trinidad to Clyde, May 5, lat 44 long. 38 W. The Mary Russell, Falmouth to Melbourne, Z Toy. 26 lat. 15 N., long. 25 W. The Francis Ridley, Melbourne to London, Fe) ). 40 S., long. 142 E. The Fanny Ealer, Baltimore to Liverpool, April 23, 11/S ' 58 N., long. 69 W. The Moultan (ship), March 4, lat. 31 S.,long. " 1" E• c The Derwent (bar que ), M arc h 6 , l a t . 32 S., long ' lot The Imaum, of Muscat, March 13, lat. 36 S., lon g• The Emelie (Swedish b r i g ), M arc h 15 , lat. "31 i 3., 14 14 E. The Anglia (three-masted schooner), April 13, la t. long. 24 W. The Rantloll (brig), May 6, lat. 6 N., long. 22; 11T. COUNTRY MARKETS. LIVERPOOL, MAY 16. The Corn-exchange this morning was again nu; mercoll attended by millers and de a lers, wh o b oug ht freelf, lo " wheat and flour at doubl e F r id a y' s a d vance , roa king the improvement on last Tuesday's prices 3d t o 4d p, sr on wheat, 2s per bushel and sack on flour, and , is 6d 17„ qr. on Indian corn. Oats, oatmeal, and o th er ar t loins v" . changed in value. IPSWICH—MAY 16. We get a lessened supply of whet every marfret d 0 0 . i hence it clearly shows th a t, as p r i ces ru l e hi g h, tl'ie g r o ers can have no stocks held b ac k. All de sc ripti i > ns 4we 1 fully 2s per qr. higher, an d i n man y i ns t ances 3 s. Spi 0 coin but little on sale, and high prices made. PER QUARTER. Wheat, red (old) -Cs to 82s Barley, grinding .. Ditto (uew) Ditto, white (new) 85s to 88sf Peas Ditto (old) Barley, malting ... 3 's to 37siFlour, per sack PE a QIII 005 1 , 0 Vi 4Si 46s 1 P 46s to vw' ,00s to Uos to 001°14 AVERAGES FOR THE WEEK ENDING MAY 16, Igfii 1. Wheat Barley Oats l5 „ 27s od. Bears PP 47s 10c1 Peas HULL—MAT 16. tor There was a fair supply of wheat from the 3 Farm( day, which met a brisk sale at fully 2s over i.he e' eon rates of last week. Foreign is to 2s per qr. de a.rer. spri , g corn full rates are paid. Indian corn m•m .e after. Linseed dull. A good demand for cakea ; Alai) rapecakes. Bones quiet, but held firmly. 5 8 Wheat, English, red SU to 8•_ I ' Ditto white B4 to 87 Dantzic and Konigs berg Pomeranian and Ham- s. Pee,s, grey and black 45 .1 0 6 6 Linseed, Black Sea 6 (t 0 6 6 Ditto Petersburgh 6 Ditto Riga and Arch angel burgh Danish, Holstein, and Friesland 7O to 74, Russian and Odessa 6ii to 72, Oats, English Ditto Danish Ditto Friesland Ditto Russian 3 ,) to 3:;! 30 to 32 1 Barley, malting Ditto grinding 33 to 36 Beaus Ditto foreign Peas, white and yel su to sii DittOKouigsberg and Memel — to P er Too . Lins. c., Hnlllo/ 5s Od to 0/ ... , 10 Ditto fine for. 81 10s f ,1 15* IX' Ditto inf. for Ol Os Od ito 01 Rapeseed OOl Os i o 00 1 °6 ,, Rape cakes Tares, English.— ... 0 Os to It Ditto foreign ....... 0 Os to Or Guano 4l 10a 81 10 V/ ul Bones l2ss 0,1 to 00b 0 Rye Meal . uOll. COURSE OF EXCHANGE—YESTERD. Lr. Amsterdam.. 11 14W Gibraltar •••••„/ Ditto, three months .. 11 16 ~.eghorn • ........ 30 5 1 7, ' Rotterdam ...... • • .... 11 16 Genoa ........ 25 5 v Brussels ....... ..... 25 22% Venice flainburgh ............ 13 5% Naples • • Altona ............ •• • • Palermo .... •• • Paris • • .... 24 97% .alessina Diqo, three months .. 25 30 - Lisbon _ •• .. 25 32N Oporto ............ Bourdeaux .......... • — Rio Janeiro . ..... .. • • Franitiort-on.Maine 118% 'Buenos Ayres...Berlin •• .............. New York, 60 days': ;light Vienna ................ 13 40 Philadelphia ...... ..• •• Trieste .• •• •• •• 13 42 PRICES OF BLILLIOI UP• Potersburgh.. •• Madrid ................ Barcelona....., _ Liao] t o Foreign Gold in Bars ~Z 3 17 9 , Stp,6 Portugal G o ld C o i n 0 0 50% gexlean Dollars 0 5 Ow New Dollars 0 0 ;Jiver in bars 0 b SEABORNE MAILS. (N F igni nes that the malls are ..,ent from the Gener, ti Post-offle9 by the night—and M by the morning—despateh.) , Day when mat. u. Emit wit.. Whet COUNTRIES in General host- Pert du - 1 ° Otilce, London, Dlsnetche ! England._ -- - America(byllrit.pack)! , Every Friday .. i.iverpool lEach 3 1 ° America (by United Sts. 1 packet) .......... IA May 2 ......... Liverpool jiMay 10 America (by U Stale packet) .........N April 25.. ...... -outhampian c Australia (via South. ampton) .........• NI May 4 ......... . • - outhampt on May 29 Ditto (via Marseilles) •N May S . Ditto (via Cape of Good Hope) ............ N June 1 .. l'ncertel l Africa ( West Coast)...N 't3d of the month . Plymouth . . April 6 Alexandria.......... N 4,'i, 24, &30 or m Dover .... ~ 29 Alexandria........ —3l 4th & 20th of moo Soutliampio t. ~ 29 Bahamas Belgium ............N1Dai1y............ D0ver....., •Daily Brazil ........... ..1)119th of the month .4.ititliainis•o Is ]May 16 Buenos Ayres ........51 19th of the month. Rouitiartip , l , .. May 16 Cape ot I lood [l one .. Nil4th of the tro , nt Plymouth „j Cape of Good Elope ..NII lth of the month Solithaino,,,.. Cape de Verds ..... Nl4th of the moot. Southampton! March 26 Ceylon (see India) Ceylon ..............N 14th of the mont: Channel Isles ........N Mon „ Wed., &F rid j B outh amp fc in IT A t P i. ri l l 2 • 69 ' st. Chi1i................141 2d & 17th of moot iSmnahampt i pay 1 China (see India) Constantinople ......N 7,8,17,21,&27 0l in Dover ...... lApril 3 6 Constantinople ........ 4th & 20th of Eno South••mpto .1 ~ 30 cont. of Europe M . & N/Twice daily ..... Dover ...• ~, •Twicedal , y Egypt (see India) , :1 France ........ Al & S 'Twice daily .. .... Dove* ..—... eeda ll i Ili braltar ... • • —Al4, 7, 17, 20, 27 of ii liutlimmittoi • ,May 6 Greece (see India) 1 4,.. I Greytown .......... M 2nd & 17th of mon. 4 oilthampto• may flarnhurgh ........ NiTuesday & Frifla London ......11 • Fl.4vannah .......... 41 2nd of the mina So. natty oi .j'June 1 Rolland ............ M Daily.. .... ...... Dover ... , ~, , 4 mil India Honduras .......... 111 , 17 th of the mom h •m• all i.a•o i oto May 16 ( v i aSout , iampt.)M 4th & 20th of m n. Plym uth .. Ma) 20 In ha (via M arse i lles) Ai Bth& 24th of mo ,t: liver ...... April 29 Eonlaii Isles (see Ind a) 7, 1 7, &2/ of mon D0ver...... i , „ 2 4 Ireland ........M & N Twice daily ...... auk! lama ... - Twicedal l l Limbon „„, M'7, 9, 17, & 27 of in. Southanron, May 16 Madeira ...........• N '9th of the month Aoutharnpioh %ley 16 Madeira Malta (see India) Malta „., ........ •N!7,17,19,27, 30 of m. Dover ...... April 29 Mauritius (see India) Nlituritlus ..........1 , 1 1 14th of the month April 26 Mexico ...... ..... .31 2nd of the month. S out h ampton une 1 Naples . . . ~ ...... N' fithisth2stliotnion Dover ...... May 2 Sew Granada --lit i lb; 2cl& 17th of mo n th S out h amptoi, May I . ... New Zea1and........ „ private Ship .. Vari ous port I • nce rtte.' Papal States ........N ls thlbth2Athonnon. Dover ...... may 6 2 Peninsula ..........741r7thl7th28thormon southamptoi: ay ...• ........, At 41 & 27th of mon Bouthamptori May 1 • PPort Natal ..........Nll4th of the month Plymouth .. otty ...... • • ......N : bthltith2stholmon, Dover ...... : ay 2 Tuscan • ...... „, •, ~ N;Att•lst h2stholmon. Dover ...... May 2 Venezuela ..........M 2d& 17th of month B outhampton May 1 Van Diemen's Lana (see' Australia) ... .. West Indies ~ Ni,2d& 17th oi monthlSouthampten May 16 * When any of these date; tall o i a -4 tliday, the wan, will be despatched on the following d a y. w ith th e excep ti on o f th e I n di, v Southampton). and the Malta, both of which will be despatch& the day preceding. BIRTHS. OF A SON. On the 12th inst., at Upper Stone-street, Maidstone, the wife of Captain Edward Scott. On the 14th inst, at 12, Gloucester-villas, Maids-hill West, Mrs. James T. Berkley. OF A DAUGHTER. 0 Of On the 11th inst., at Kin gs t own , I re l an d , th e wif Lieutenant Blackett, of her Majesty's ship Cressy- On the 14th inst., at 7, Montague-street, Russell-squo'r e ' the wife of Frederic J. Farre, M.D. MA RRIED. On the 11th inst., at the Epi sco p a l Ch ape l , Elgin, N,• V ". the Rev. Edward Seymour Stocker, Fell ow of the Univer sity sity of Durham, to Jean Hamilt on . e ld es t d aug hter of Archibald Dunbar, Bart., of Northfield. Lord On the 13th inst., at St. G eorge ' s H anover - squa re, _.l Bateman, to Agnes, youngest dau g ht er o f th e late Genel'" Sir Edward Kerrison, Bart. DIED. On the 12th inst., at Eggesford, Devon, in the 68th yea r f of her age, C a th er i ne, C ountess of Portsmouth, widow the late Earl of Portsmouth, and sister of Earl Fortesoue• On the 15th inst., Sir Charles Wolseley, of W°lBeleY ' in the county of Stafford, Bart., aged 41 years. On the 15th i ns t ., at Brighton, the Hon. and Righ t 114'..v," Richard Bag o t, Bi s h op of Bath and Wells, in his 7.Zu year. L tc , l=a 111 kW) VOU.:`; 1120 of No. 112, St ran d, P r i nter , at the Sun Office, N o. Strand, in the Preoinot of the Savoy, in the coital g i 1 14ititilteet a Wecluteclef, Itbr 17. WA 41%, is63o 127 Hooi Th, amtoutteecl neat, the 23 et, 1 147 AZ and popular of habits, may daily,at the 1 and 2, Bin E XET UN I • CERT of S ! 'which is it • EVENIN.4, ' The Pmran sacred liars Library, 33, ?R age -seller! 1 3 JUNE 4 °CELY.N, General Sae her Majesty' • 4 tb June nel Plraton for! Argo. which arlY ship up i • carrying the w lege of ab! eight b otnew and from her ass uclo that of Passage ty, and Passage Lolldon•brict stin.A.N L yRE T ELI h-VERPOOI. AZDUCTIO2 ktive en London London London Liveroon Liv, T p oo kanches ' l !trratrxgt .., farmink t gt • For Tub pa it , t ile'ontees 7 1 , eoramons Bt' v erPool-2:] anchester— raligliain- aveaend--4 Hull, °last, hi. "ll knrnt-diai and Lc The flbrna'' o f direct emu , !ma have dir, Ineta are thu we Continent G. L 00 TRACTS Depart' THE C Lord fold Ireland i nstant, at On t ills as may .4 0 her Slaje StTG ~„ t&A, • (l.ongou Ppt i t 4°II AA.C.O The articl es t endering for No tender ,nan 5 tons. : I ns. of T t ea 4 ,samples of ~inan lb. fa man 2 lbs.), a The sample: Z l :e requested tracts have be Igo tender v 'Wed for the at t he said 01 rvice at Li , conditil 00 Is called ,Nol treaty, and if a gent on his tract, a, the e nnUnun sated E very tends ... wtrl bear toil must also be FOR FIS JOHN prieton SAUCE, beg thed by man: its the GErmi: This .AUC: the Kingdom, all respectable which is prep: 1431 7, Duke-sti e name, "J *laic withc TRIES: Patens la a remedy fo BYetetn. igtectually,in !taclicates all h ave so long t '51.4 Vast porti the great C Unf ortunately tvltable destri SlO saParilla in T RIE4EM I Ind of all tie Idthout their Sold in tin ( 46Aarate dos, To VA, 68, Corn Oxford .s LLSC A Mess h4m4tl. PeyLE t h ari A ) 1 teW erY, au 4tablishrnen SC , Ivt e°Bll. AI Private Fe tritlaaieal prof( ,oth all the r ,ALE ALE' When in b having DN THE PI hat Publish Penni, ~11age, with , ° ,„ ri gin to On ,' mates, or .'wenty year Debilit L( `"rinary ' and on the "unditlons in ° I .I THE Cott `44strate Nell Edit Imo