The Sun. — London, England, 1863-05-08 00:00:00

'.IPERIAL PARLIAMENT HOUSE OF LORDS—Last Evening, The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack at the usual hour. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The North Eastern Railway (Newcastle and Starbeck), Cockermouth and Worthington Railway, Staines and Woking Junction Railway, and Sowerby Bridge Local Board bills were read a second time. THIRD READINGS. The Great Eastern Railway (Steamboats) and North British Railway bills were read a third time and passed. THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES. Their Royal Highnesses entered the house this evening shortly after five o'clock, The Princess of Wales occupied a seat in the gallery crer the throne, and his Royal High ness took his usual seat on the front cross bench. CORRUPT PRACTICES AT ELE JrioNs BILL. Earl RUSSELL moved the committal of this bill, and in doing so entered into an explanation of its provisions, which provided that in the event of boroughs being found guilty of extensive bribery the writ might be suspended for five years, and also gave very stringent powers where in dividual cases were to be dealt with. The Earl of DERBY thought the while bill would prove totally useless without a clause similar co the suggestion of the noble earl (Grey) opposite respecting bribery was in serted. He obj , cted to the clause which gave the House of Commons the power of suspcnriing the issuing of a writ for five years, as that was virtually disfranchising the place. Lord REDESDALE also objected to that clause, and hoped it would be expunged. Atter a short discussion the house went into committee on the bill. Clause 1 was agreed to. Lord LYVEDEN moved the insertion of a clause which disqualified all persons from voting who had been engaged at a salary as agent, messenger, or in any other capacity for one month previous to such election. Their lordships divided, when there appeared-- Contents 52 Not contents Majority ag a i nst —l4 Clauses up to 9 were agreed to. A division took place on the 10th clause, giving Parlia ment the power to suspend the writ of a borough guilty of corrupt practices for 5 years. The numbers were— For the clause 26 Against it 92 Majority against the clause —66 The bill, as amended, then passed through committee. LONDON DIOCESES BILL. This bill, with some amendments, passed through com- mittee. CAYMAN ISLANDS BILL. This bill was read a second time. The object was to give to the Lezislature of Jamaica the power of including those islands in their colonial jurisdiction when passing local acts. EXCHEQUER BONDS (4000,000) BILL. CONSOLIDATED FUND (£20,C00,000) BILL. These bills were read a second time. VICE -A.DMIRALTY COURTS BILL. This bill was read a third time. CHARGES ON SETTLED ESTATES FOR RAIL WAYS. Lord REDESDALE moved a resolution declaring that the power prop ose d to be given to trustees and tenants for life of settled estates to create charges for mosey to be sub scribed towards neighbouring railway schemes, was a matter of too much nicety and importance to be disposed of by pri vate legislation. There was much to be said on both sides of the question, but it was a subject of so comprehensive and serious a character that it ought to be dealt with by a public Act of Parliament. Lord ST. LEONARDS was understood to express him. self in somewhat similar terms. Lord EVERSLEY (who had an amendment on the paper) said he did not want to press his resolution in par ticular upon their lordships, but he wishea to see legislation of some kind upon a subject which had become one of great social importance. The principal features of his lordship's amendment were a limitation of the term of the rent charge to 25 years from its creation, and a declaration that the charge should not commence until the railway should be made. After soma discussion, the original resolution was agreed to, the amendment being negatived without a division. Their lordships adjourned at 20 minutes before eight. HOUSE OF COMMONS—Last Evening. The SPEAKER took the chair at 4 o'clock. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The consideration of the Lords' amendments to the fol., 1 Owing bills and amendments were considered and agreed to :—Cleveland Railway, Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway, Rugby Wat-r, and Whittle Dean Water. THIRD READINGS. The following bills were read a third time :—Birkenhead Improvement, Formartineand Buchan Railway, Gr.vesend and Milton Gas, Great Grimsby Water, Itchen Bridge, Letterkenny Railway, London and South Western and Andover and Redbridge Railways, Mid Kent Railway, Rotherham and Kimberwortb. Local Board of Health, Stourbridge Railway, Tranmere Docks. The Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Gateshead Equitable Gas Bill was considered, and ordered to lie upon the table. PETITIONS. Several petitions were presented against the imposition of income tax oa charities, and against the amalgamation of the Metropolitan with the City police. A large number were presented in favour of the Prisons Ministers Bill by Air. HENNESSY. EXPERIMENTS AT SHOEBURYNESS, In reply to Mr. MAGUIRE, Lord C. PAGET said it was true that experiments were made at Shoeburyness on the 27th of April last on " Chalmers' farget," but whether they were made on a target which was a piracy of one patented by Mr. John Clare, jun., the Board of Admiralty could not venture to express an opinion. CONVOCATIONS OF ARMAGH AND DUBLIN. Mr. H. SEYMOUR asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it was the intention of her Majesty's Government to summon the Convocations of Armagh and Dublin, in the same manner as the Convoca tions of Canterbury and York were summoned ? Sir G. GREY replied that two memorials had been pre sented to her Majesty, but the Government had not deemed it well to advise her Majesty to accede to their prayer. ORDNANCE SURVEY. Mr. WARNER asked the Unrier Secretary of State for War when the military survey of the environs of London, stated in the Ordnance Survey Report to be in progress of publication at the end of last year, was likely to be issued ? Lord HARTINGTON replied that some portions of the survey had been published, and that the rest would be com pleted and be ready for issue before the end of the year. PURCHASE OF THE INTERNATIONAL EXHI- BITION BUILDING. Lord 8.. CECIL asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the report was true that the Government had offered or intended to become purchasers of the building in which the Exhibition of 1862 was contained, and, if so, what emu they pr, posed to pay for it, and at what period of the session they intended to bring forward the estimate. The CHANCELLOR of the EXuHEQUER had nothing to add to the reply which he had given to a simi lar question a short time ago. He was not able to make any fresh statement. But should the Government cletar mate to purchase the building, the matter w.uld be quickly communicated to the house, and ample time given for the discussion of any estimate that might be asked for its pur chase. BRITISH KAFFRARIA. AND THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. Mr. A. MILLS asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any memorials or petitions had been recently addressed to her Majes y's Government by the in habitants of British K ffraria, respecting the proposed annexation of that Province to the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope ; ano, if so, whether there would be any objection to lay such docu. meats upon the table of the house ? Mr. FORTESCUE said petitions had been presented against the amalgamation of the co•ony with the Cape of Good Rope. Aft er g i v i ng t h e matter t h e f u ll es t considers u, the Government had determined that the annexation should be Proceeded with. In reply to Sir a. CAA LTON-TERRACE. SITELL EY, Mr. F. PEEL stated that the valu a ti on o f th e vacan t the highest site was prep are d i n the usuala and it had been let to bidders—Messra. Peto ' and Trollope—at £1,400 a-year. He had no objection to produce the papers. POLAND. Mr. HENNESSY gave notice that on an early day he should Poland move an address t o t h e Crown on the subject of . COMMUTATION OF CHURCH RATES. Mr. NE WDEGATE gave notice that early next seasiou he should introduce a bill for the commutation of church rates. BRAZIL.-MR. CHRISTIE. Mr. M. MILNES rose to put a question to the • Lord of the Treasury respecting the conduct o f Mr. Christie,l:l 18t her Majesty's Minister at Brazil, in the question of the ship Prince of Wales and the officers of her Maj es ty' s s hi p Forte ; and asked whether a letter addressed to Earl Russell by the Minister of the United States at the Court of Brazil, and subsequently published, had re • ceived any notice from her Majesty's Government. H e thought it was only due to Mr. Christie that the hon. mem ber for Lincoln (Mr. Bramley-Moore) would retract the very unjustifiable language he had used towards that gen• tloaan. Mr. BRAMLEY-MOORE, in order to explain, moved the adjournment of the house. The merchants and prin cipal inhabitants of Rio Janeiro, who were better able to pronounce an opinion than people at a distance, were exceedingly dissatisfied with the conduct of Mr. Christie, on account of the irritability of his manner and the actual falsehoods in which he had dealt about the wreck of the Prince of Wales. It appeared, too, that he had quarreled with the other Ministers, and generally created by his con duct an ill-feeling against this country. He justified the u n guage of Gen. Webbe with respect to Mr. Christie. Lord 1'41.144E115T ON defended Mr, Christie, He bad for sometime been a Member of that house, and many hon. members could hardly fail to recollect the meritorious way in which he performed his duty. (Rear.) M Christie was a gentleman and a man of honour, and he w a satisfied that no man could justly question his ver Jct. (Hear.) He knew nothing of Mr. Webbe—(laughter)—r nd with re gard to his letter, it was no doubt treated 1)3, Earl Russell with the disregard it merited. (Hear.) Had such a letter been written by a British diplomatist he was sure his noble friend would have dismissed him as a person unfit to hold such a responsible post. Mr. Christie simply carried out the orders sent him by the Government, and he had reason to believe that the informati n supplied to the hon. member for Lincoln with respect to the alleged ill feeling against Mr. Christie was grossly incorrect. (Hear, hear.) It was not the province of a body of traders to decide upon the conduct of the representative of a Government, but that of the Government who sent him there, (Hear, hear.) After a short discussion the motion was negatived with out a division. PRISON MINISTERS BILL, On the motion for going into committee, Mr. R. LONG rose to move that the house " do not re solve itself into the said committee until that day six months ;" and said that he was justified in taking such a course by the strong feeling which had been manifested against the measure. Without any attempt at organising opposition there had been between 400 and 500 p titlons, slgoed by some 50,000 persons, presented against the bill, and amoag them was a petition from the corporation of the City of London. In the first place, he was desirous of ask ing the Government what the grievances were which it was proposed to redress by this measure. The grievance, as he understood it—although he denied that it was a grievance was put in this way, that it would be a hardship if th-y were the mtinners of a Protestant min rity living under a Roman Catholic Government, and that, if some persons ot their persuasion were in prison, they should not have a paid chaplain of their own persuasion. But, if it was a grievance that Roman Catholic prisoners in the gaols of this country had not a paid chaplain to minister to their spiritual neces sities, it was one which resulted from the nature of the con stitution under which they lived. As long as the Esta blished Church was put forward as the exponent of truth and morality, he did not see how the grievance could be remedied. If they were once to depart from the present principle, let them see the extent to which they might be carried. According to the provisions of this bill, v herevei there was a sect, no matter how objectionable its tenets,if a suffiiient number of its members were in any prison of the country, the Government would be compelled to provide a chaplain of that persuasion ; so that they might have a chap lain of the Mormonite persuasion —a thing abhorrent to the principles of the English constitution. He also wished to ask the Government whether they had counted the cost of the measure to the ratepayers of the country. They could not stop at the appointment of chaplains, but must also pro vide chapels and all the paraphernalia necessary for con ducting the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church with proper sclemnity. It would likewise be necessary to provide schoolmasters and schoolmistresses ; and if the Government were once to take a step in that direction, he could not see, if they provided religious aid for criminals, how they could with anything like consistency refuse to provide spiritual aid for the poor Roman Catholics out of prison. (Hear, hear.) With reference to the remarks made on a former evening by the right hon. gentleman the mem ber for Buckinghamshire (Slr Disraeli), he should say that he did not think there were any "popular rights" endan gered by opposing the present bill. The Church of Eng land had taken her stand on a broader foundation when 300 years ago she had shaken off the Church of Rome, and, later again, when she freed herself from German theology. He asked all Protestants, both Churchmen and Noncon formists, to oppose the bill, because there was no grievance sufficiently urgent to require the contemplated change. If this bill passed, it would open up similar demands for the appointment of Roman Catholic chaplains to pauper lunatic asylums, unions, and workhouses—(hear, hesr)—and he considered delay essentially necessary to give the country an opportunity of really understanding the magnitude of the proposed alteration. Sir L. PALK seconded the motion, and in doing so he made no apology to Roman Catholic members, because he had no intention of treating it as a religious matter. It was a sound and good principle that every prisoner con fined in the gaols of this country should have the best eccle siastical advice and assistance it was possible to confer on him, and in that he fully concurred. He differed from the right hon. gentleman (Mr. D sraeii) that a great principle was involved, or that it was a step in the progress of civil and religious liberty; and so tar from either one or the ether being involved in the bill, it appeared to beer on its face a compromise between contending opinions. Hear, hear.) If a great principle was involved, he thought the bill should not be a permissive bill, to be worked by an irre sponsible body of men who did not represent public opi nion ; but be made a general measure, and carried out cn the authority and resp ,nsibility of the Government. It was, he repeated, a miserable compromise to place on the hands of magistrates in quarter sessions that power which the Government were afraid to use, and of throwing upon them the odium of taxing the ratepayers, who were already overburthened with local taxation. (Hear, hear.) Every one in that house admitted that of all the contests that took place these religious discussions were the most painful; and, whilst they deprecated those constant acri monious disputes and quarrels between Churchmen and Dissenters and Roman Catholics and Protestants, they were about to infl ct the nuisance on the county magistrates of England. (Hear, hear.) Year after year they were plac ing in the hands of the magistrates powers which they did not formerly possess of taxing the people without being re presented, to an extent that was assuming a magnitude that was attracting the attention of the country at large, and it the principle contained in the bill were adopted, Roman Ca tholic chaplains must be appointed to reformatories, poor law unions, workhouses, and lunatic asylums, which would greatly increase the present heavy amount of local burdens. (Hear, hear.) The Roman Catholic priest in this country was as highly educated and as honourable a man as the clergyman of the Church of England, and they would not have any right to make any difference in the amount of sa lary paid to each of them. To what extent therefore were they prepared to carry this principle? and it would be well for them to consider what sum it would be necessary to raise to work this bill. He thought there was great incon sistency in the conduct of the Secretary of State for the Home Department in bringing in this bill when it was con sidered that he had dismissed the Roman Catholic chaplain from Dartmoor convict prison, and had withheld his rea sons for so doing. Mr. MORRITT, as a new member, claimed the indul gence of the house whilst he offered a few remarks in support of the bill. There was not a more thorough going Protes'ant, nor one more attached to his religion, than he was ; and it was because he saw no new principle in the bill, or anything to be afraid of, that he supported it. (Hear, hear.) He was surprised at the argument that had been urged against the lot I—that because Roman Catholic prisoners did not send for the priest, th-refore he should not be sent to them. It was because they did not send for him that it app and to him the priest should be sent to them. He had no such puerile ideas that the bill wr.uld undermine the Protestant Church—(hear)—and with regard to the other argument, that if they appointed Roman Catholic chaplains they could not refuse to appoint Mor • monite chaplains, and every other description of chaplain, he reminded the house that the appoir.tments would be under the control of the magistrates, and it was not likely that they would make such appointments as those he had referred to. The opponents of the bill had forgotten that regula ly-paid Roman Catholic priests were appointed to our military hospitals—and, as a soldier, he could say that he had never heard any disagreement between the Roman Catholic priest and the Protestant chaplain in a regiment, but, on the contrary, they harmonised well, anc were the best of friends. (Hear, hear.) At present every Roman Catholic prisoner had a right to send for a Roman Catholic priest ; and he thought it was much better to pay one to attend to the spiritual wants of all the Roman Catholic prisoners, than for a number of Roman ( atholic priests to be running about the place, like a flock of sheep, looking for the par icular prisoner who had sent for him. (hear, and laughter.) A Roman Catholic priest was sent to a of eternity; under sente n c e o f dßeoamthananCdaothnotihiceervnevirget but who was able to say that he, as well as our prisoners, was not on the verge of eternity ? and therefore he considered it was their boun.ten duty to provide those prisoners with spiritual instruction. The admission of Roman Catholic priests to our gaols could not in any way undermine the Esta blished Church; and, in showing a proper liberality and goodness of feeling towards their R oman Catholic brethren, they would strengthen rather than weaken the Church of England. (Hear, hear.) He considered the payment of the pries is ought to be made by the G o . vernment, and not out of the pockets of the rate. payers. He was most arxious that the bill should go into e ft : t d i e e ts. committee, l t h had dhbeene been urged would eg able a b i e ne t to Catholic priest pri sons would arise in appointing a Roman th to e d b i i s l c l u e t s h s at fu d i i i ffi Y prisoners confined, Where that was the case the e where there were only three or font . Roman Catholio magis trates could say to the Roman Catholic priest, If you choose to attend those gentlemen—(laughter)—go in, and they could ply him according to his work, (Hear.) Mr. KENDALL looked upon the bill as the mistake of the session. It was a great mistake on the part of those who support it to do so because it was a Government bill, and it was a greater mistake than all that it had received the support of those who were called the Conservative leaders in that house, and the champion; of the Protestant religion. (Hear.) The feeling outside the house was very strong against the measure, and great astonishment was felt that it should have received support in that house. There was a bid on both sides —or it looked so much like a bid, that those who had not the means of knowing to the contrary were suspicious of it —to obtain certain support in that house, (Hear.) He held the bill to be a mistake. As a measure of toleration simply to supply the spiritual wants of the Roman Catholics, be should be the last man to oppose it; but he did not look upon it in that light, but rather as a bill of peril to the Protestant religion. The bill not only en couraged Roman Catholicism, but it would use actual com pulsion to discourag Protestantism, and on that ground he should avail himself of every legitimate means of upsetting Mr. G. DUiT vaid that, av the majority of the Scotch THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 8, 1863. members had voted against the second reading of the bill, he was most anxious to be allowed the opportunity of stating that he would not have the slightest hesitation in recording his vote in favour of the measure. And he voted for it, not merely because it was a moderate concession to the reasonable demands of the Roman Catholics and the other non -established sects of the country, but also upon the higher and more truly Protestant ground that the S ate had no right to give greater facilities to one body of religionists than to another. (Hear, hear.) Sir J. PAKINGTON held this to be a bill with regard to which every man should vote according to his sense of Christian duty, and it was only under that sense that the amendment had been moved. It was therefore with some regret that he had seen a deviation from that spirit in the speech of the hon. member for Cornwall (Mr. Kendall). He entirely and distinctly repudiated any desire to conciliate the support of certain members by voting for the bill; his sense of Christian duty forbade him to oppose it. He had a strong conviction that if he were to vote against the bill he should not be voting for the honour of the Chin ch of Eng -I,nd. The present was one of those cases in which they were called upon to act in a spirit of toleration, and surely they were bound to extend the benefit of spiritual consola tion to that class of the community which required it more than any other- (Hear, hear.) Lord H. LENNOX, rspr renting a constituency in which the Church of England was specially favoured—in. deed he might say predominant—desired to state that the bill should receive his cordial and unhesitating support, because it redresses a practical grievance under which Roman Catholic prisoners suffered. Mr. WHALL EY, who was received with loud and pro longal cries of "Divide, divide," and other manifestations of impatience on the part of the house, submitted that ao evidence whatever had been offere•t in support of a measure which introduced an entirely novel principle of taxation. It was the opinion of practical autho-ities that the bill w(arld be destructive of the discipline of our gaols. Lord A. V. TEMPEST intended to oppose the bill, but merely because it did not afford a real redress for the grievance which it professed to meet, if the local magic trates thought proper the measure would be a dead letter; and, therefore, he had no hesitation in pronouncing it mere clap trap, and as simply indicative of the storm which was threatening in the poli ical horizon. Maj •r HAMILTON said that the opinions expressed at cou , .try meetings in Scotland had been unanimously against The bill. After a few words from Sir G. GREY, The house divided, the numbers being— For going into committee ..... . 172 Against it l4l Majority.- The house then went into committee, and clause 1 was agreed to. On clause 2, Mr. MURE moved that the bill be limited to England, on the ground that in Scotlandits provisions were unneces sary, In that country clergymen of any denomination could visit a prisoner of the same sect, without his having made a special request for such spiritual visitation. The applica tion of the measure to Scotland, he was afraid, would lead to bitter and prolonged agitation ; and wishing to prevent angry discussions at the county boards, he begged to move that Scotland should be excluded from the operation of the bill. Sir G. GREY said, inasmuch as the law of Scotland for bade any minister from visiting a prison, except a clergy man of the Presbyterian Church, he could not consent to exclude Scotland from the operation of the bill, There were large numbers of Roman Cathol , c prisoners confined in the gaols of cootland, and out of 173 Roman Catholic pri soners in the gaol of Glasgow only three had been visited by a priest. If the hon. and learned gentleman could not show him that the law of Scotland enabled the local boards to appoint and pay a minister or clerical agent other than a minister of the Presbyterian Church, he could not consent to the motion. Mr. NEWDEGATE said there was a powerful organi sation going on in this country and in Scotland, not only for the propagation of the Roman Catholic religion, but also for the establishment of temporal power. Session after session they were rapidly preparing the way for that which Cardinal Wiseman had been appointed to establish. (A laugh.) If there was no difference between the Pro testant and the Roman Catholic Church, why have an Established Church; and if a Roman Catholic sovereign was as agreeable as a Protestant, why not have a Roman Catholic sovereign? (Hear.) First they commenced by appointing chaplains to convict prisons; the next step was the appointment of chaplains fo the army; the next step would be an application for chaplain° in the navy; and by and-by there would be an application to have a Roman Catholic chaplain in every parish throughout the country. Mr. A. KINNAIRD said the feeling in Scotland was very string in this matter, and he trusted his hon. and learned friend would take the sense of the committee upon his amendment. Lord C. H &MILTON appealed to the hon. members for Scotland to treat the Roman Catholics in Scotland upon the same principle of equality and justice with which Scotch men were treated in Ireland. What did Scotchmen find when they came to Ireland? they found in every public institution of that country a chaplain of their own persua sion, In every institution in Ireland there was a chaplain of the Established Church, a chaplain of the Roman Catho lic Church, and a chaplain of the Presbyterian Church. As all were declared equal before the law, he trusted that the hon. members for Scotland would not refuse the same mea sure of justice to the Roman Catholic prisoners in the gaols of that country. As to the argument about proselytism, there could be no bet ter way of preventing it than by giv ing the Roman Catholic clergyman a charge to attend to. His experience as a magistrate for 27 years had taught him the justice of treating all prisoners upon principles of per fed equality, and he should, therefore, vote against the amendment. (Hear, hear.) Lord ELCHO said the majority upon the late division proved that the house wished to pass this measure. If he could persuade himself that it would be a heavy blow to the Established Church, he would not support it ; but he had more confidence in the stability of the Established Church than to suppose a measure of justice to Roman Ca tholic prisoners would imperil her satety. He could not un derstand how such an opinion could be entertained except by those who, like the hon. member for Peterborough (Mr. Whalley), represented the blind bigotry and intolerance of an extreme section of the Church of England. They could not exclude Roman Catholic priests from the prisons any more than the ministers of other denominations, and he con tended it was their duty to afford to Roman Catholic pri soners, where they were in sufficient numbers, the same privileges that were granted to Protestants. (Hear, hear.) Scotland ought not to be exempted from the operation of the bill. At present Roman Catholic priests had a right to visit Roman Catholic prisoners confined in Scotch prisons, but by the working of the law they did not get access to them. Mr. BENT INCK agreed with the hon. member for Nor, h Wrrwickshire that the bill was part of the scheme of a sys tem that had been persevered in for centuries for the pro mulgation of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic religion, and that it was a bill that had been made use of in that house for party cabals, 'he result of which, he ventured to predict, would be anything but beneficial to those who un • dertook them. Agreeing as he did with the hon. gentleman that the bill was a bad and mischievous measure, he c:old not understand how the hon. gentleman could justify his not relieving one part of the kingdom from its operation, because by so doing there was so much gained by diminish ing what they considered an evil. He should vote for the amendment. Sir E. COLEBROOKE supported the application of the bill to Scotland. Colonel SYKES said the Government proposed to legislate in a manner adverse to the wishes of the great ma jority of the people of Scotland and England. There was no wrong to remedy, as Roman Catholic prisoners were not deprived of the spiritual consolation of their priests, because they had ft ee access to them at their pleasure. Thr bid, if carried, would impos- a new religious endow ment on the country. The course of legislation during past years had been to break down such endowments, and not to create n.-w ones. Whether the Roman Catholic chaplains were paid by Government or by local taxation, it came to the same end, as the money would have to be paid by the tax payers. Mr. A. BLACK was opposed to the bill. He believed they had no right to give a preference to any man, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, Mahometan or Hindoo. So long as he was a good citizen that was all that was required. (Hear, and laughter.) A prison was a place of punishment and not a building for the practice of religious toleration. (Laughter.) He thought little good resulted from the visits of any chaplains to prisons, but he was disposed to betieve that much benefit resulted from the visits of those excellent persons, male and female, who went into our prisons and read, conversed, and sympathised with the prisoners. They had more confidence in them than in all the Roman Catho lic and Protestant priests that visited them. Prisoners were not entitled to the same amount of religious toleration as was enjoyed by honest men. (Hear and laughter.) He believed that the only effect of the bill would be to sow dis sension amongst the prison boards in Scotland, and upon that account it should receive his most strenuous opposition. Mr. STIRLING admitted that very few Roman Catho lic chaplains would be appointed in Scotland, but he might at the same time state that if the bill was likely to pro duce dissension there were occasions on which it was right the dissension should be produced. (Hear, hear.) It was in evidence that nearly one-third of the criminals in Glasgow gaol were Roman Catholics, and surely it was fitting that they should be supplied with the means of worshipping God according to the faith that was in them. A great number of the clergy of Scotland were opposed to the bill, but that house had to consider not merely the wants of the majority, but the claims of the minority. (Neer, hear.) Mr. BAXTER would vote against the bill, because he believed that it would tend to restrict the completely free system now in operation in Scotland. At present there was nothing whatever to prevent the clergy of any d enomination from having access to the criminals of their deuomination; a n d h e himself could testify to the zeal and assiduity with which the Roman Catholic missionary at Dundee ministered to the wants of the Roman Catholic in mates of the gaol of that town. At the same time he must deprecate in the strongest terms that spiritual terrorism which had been brought to bear in Scotland by certain clerical agitators in opposition to the bill. Mr. MAGUIRE was very much surprised, after the con cluding announcement of the hon. member, that he was going to vote against the bill. Surely, by adopting that course, he was playing into the hands of those clerical agi- tators whom he had so freely repudiated. Mr. BUCHANAN admitted that he was one of those " pre•eminent delinquents" from Scotland who voted for the second reading of the bill, and his simple reason for doing so was that he regarded it as the proper complement of the past legislation of that house with respect to Roman Catholics. Mr. C. E WING would support the amendment, princi pally because he was opposed to all State endowments of religion. Mr. MACKAY complained of the tone assumed by the Scottish Reformation Society towards Scotch members. Mr. NE WDE GATE explained thathe did not vote against the amendment on account of any unfriendly feeling towards Scotland, but because he did not wish to s , parate the ele ments of resistance to a system which could not be tolerated. After a few words from Mr. MIRE and Sir G. GREY, The committee divided — For the clause For the amendment 55 Majority —4l The amendment was therefore negatived. On clause 3, Mr. HUNT moved the omission of the first two para graphs of clause 3, with a view to strike out the p , ovision for payment to be provided for ministers attending pri soners in gaols. Sir G. GREY observed that the effect of the amendment would be to deprive the beards of justices of the power of appointing a Roman Catholic or Di stinting minister to attend to the ap ritual wants of prisoners of either denowi • nation, and would amount practically to a rejection of tIIF bill. Provision was already made by Act of Parliament for the Payment of 18 Roman Catholic chaplains to the troops in this country, exclusive of those abroad. Mr. WHALLEY, in seconding the amendment, asked if there was a tittle of evidence to warrant the introduction of the present measure, which aimed at establishing, in a most essential manner, the Roman Catholic religion. The noble lord the member for Haddingtonshire (Lord Eicho) thought proper to apply to him the term " blind bigot"— (laughter)—but he denied that he was open to the imputa tion, for he had never said anything offensive to the Roman Catholic religion. What he objected to was, that side by side with that religion there was a political system growing up which threatened the stability of the constitution of the realm, The hon gentleman read a list of Roman Catholic meetings which had been held in various parts of England and Ireland, where the health of the t'ope was drunk before that of the Queen, and stated that the ribbon societies ref Ireland were organised and regulated by the Roman Catholic priests —a fact which must be known to the right hon. gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland. (Hear, hear, and laughter). Sir It, PEE tr said the hon, member was very fond of referring to him. (A laugh.) The hon. member had just told the committee that he was able to prove the Roman Catholic priests were connected with the ribbon societies of Ireland. He must say it was very improper for the hon. member to make such an assertion, for it was well known to everybody who knew anything of the matter that, so far from ribbon societies being prevalent in the South of Ireland, the contrary was the fact, and he re gretted to say the latest discovery of a ribbon society was in the county of Donegal. (Hear, hear.) The hon. member should be more accurate in his facts when he spoke of Ireland. Mr. WHALLEY said that, notwithstanding the rebuke of the right hon. gentleman, he was prepared to prove that the ribbon societies of Ireland were courts organised and regulated by the Roman Catholic priests for the purpose of carrying out the canon law of Ireland. (Great laughter,) Sir NI. FARQUHAR regretted that such a digression, which was wholly beside the question, should have taken place. He considered the bill quite unnecessary, and he should support the amendment. If the change was neces- sary the Government ought to have taken the responsibility of appointing the chaplains. Mr. PULLER supported the clause, After some remarks from Sir L. PALK, Mr. WALPOLE said the g reatest difficulty was involved in the question. He was of oVnion that the bill introduced greater evils than those aheady existing. (Hear.) There were no doubt many instances where the Roman Catholic priest could not be expected to give up his time without some remuneration; whilst, or. the other hand, there were no doubt many cases where proper attendance would be given to the prisoners, as was now done by the Nonconformists, without remuneration. The case of the army chaplains did nor apply. The soldier was employed by the State, and his spiritual wants ought to be attended to by the State, and it was the same in Government prisons; but, instead of act ing on that principle, by the bill with regard to borough and county prisons 'hey were introducing a new principle, and were transferring to every county in the kingdom that agitation on religious questions that exis,ed in that house. (Hear.) He objected to the appointments being in the magistrates, and urged that they ought to he made on the responsibility of Government, under rules laid down by them for the guidatce of the magistrates, and the payment ought to be by vote of that house, as the only body who represented the people in matters of taxetion. (Hear.) Sir G GREY hoped the committee would not be carried away from the question before them. He defended the clause in the bill, and observed that if the magistrates could not properly appoint a Roman Cetholic priest to a prison, and provide the necessary expeese attending thereon, they were incompetent for the discharge of those other onerous duties of taxation and genera' county management which devolved upon them. lie could not, however, believe they would find any difficulty about the matter. After some remarks from Sr B. Lytton against, and Mr W. Martin in support or, the elause, and a few observations from Mr. Hunt in explanation, The committee divided — For the amendment t , Against it Majority .. —l6 Sir W. JOLLIFFE then proposed an amendment in the _ . same clause, the effect of which was to render the appoint ment of paid chaplains obligatory upon magistrates and prison boards, where the average number of prisoners of any denominationduring the preceding 12 months amounted to 20. Unless his amendment Were accepted, he believed the measure would prove a dead letter. Sir G. GREY considered that they had no alternative unless they were prepared to adopt the Irish system of having paid chaplains of the several denominations under all circumstances, but to leave the appointment discretionary with the magistrates. Upon that the amendment was withdrawn. Mr, BENTINCK moved to omit the words "or other person" in the Bth line of the clause. His object was to direct attention to the fact that the bill would not take effect exccpt with the sanction of the titular Roman Catholic bishop of the diocese, and ho did not believe that the House of Commons was altogether prepared to legislate in such a spirit. Sir G. GREY reminded the honourable gentleman that, although there was a paid Roman Catholic chaplain at tached to every gaol in Ireland, he was obliged to travel back to 30 years ago to find an instance of the inconvenience at which he pointed. From the very paucity of such ex amples it was a fair presumption that the system worked well. After some further conversation, in which Mr. Bentinck, Sir G. Grey, Lord Stanley, Mr. Henley, Mr. Newdegate, and Mr. Vance took part, the amendment was negatived without a division. Mr. BENTINCK then moved the omission of certain words in the clause, the effect of which was to prevent ratepayers being taxed fi r these ministers without having a voice in the matter. He recommended Roman Catholic chaplains to show their zeal by officiating without salaries Sir G. GREY said that the omission proposed by the hon. member would not establish the principle he desired, as the justices would still have it in their power to draw on the county rate for the other purposes of the jail for lunatic asylums and for many other purposes. Sir G. BO %VYER said the hon. member for West Nor folk proposed that the Roman Catholic clergy should officiate without receiving any remuneration. He would recommend the hon. member to begin with his own clergy. If the Protestant clergy performed the duties without re ceiving any remuneration, their example would be followed by the Roman Catholics. Mr. BENTINCS thanked the hon. member for having shown that which no Roman Catholic member had yet been known to admit, namely, that he considered that the Roman Clergy had a right to be put on the same footing with the Protestant clergy. Sir M. PETO thought they were opening a wide door by the passing of this bill, and, as a Noncomformist, ho was prepared to take the course which he wished to have pur sued towards himself. He thought that nobody should be asked to pay for the service of a minister but the religious community to whom the minister belonged. He was sure this bill would be the commencement of an agitation which would go on increasing. By this bill they were putting an end to the authority of the Established Church, He differed from the principles of that Church, bat still he was desirous of having her authority upheld. The right lion, member for Buckinghamshire, who was so ready to take the Established Church under his protection as a means of acquiring power, was equally ready on this occasion to throw bis principles overboard. After a few words from Mr. Whalley and Mr. Knightley, Lord Y. IEMPEST moved that the chairman report progress. Mr. DISRAELI appealed to his conduct in that house as a sufficient answer to the imputations made upon him by the hon. Laronet the member for Finsbury—imputa tions which no man should cast upon another without some a'curate data. The mistake of the hon. baronet arose from his confoundi ng th e payment t o R oman C a th o li c p r i es t s with the question of endowment, which were two distinct things. The payment to the chaplains of the Church of England was not an endowment, and the very fact that it was a payment proved it was not an endowment. The real question they had to consider was whether these individual chaplains had a right to be paid for performing a public duty. It was a fallacy to say that any question of endow ment was involved in this bill, and it was the greatest fal lacy of all to say that the Church of Englard was a stipen diary of the St.te. The whole of jections to the bill were based on transparent fallacies. Mr. WHITE protested against the Church principles of the right hon. gentleman the member for Buckingham. The Church of England had only a parliamentary title, and had not rights above the civil institutions of the land. Sir M. PETO accepted all the right hon. gentleman had said as confirming all he had said. The right hon. gentle man could not object to carry out the principle of prison chaplains to all denominations. Mr. NE WDE GA FE said the payment of Roman Catho lic chaplains would be analogous to the position of the M ay nooth grant, and partake of the character of an endowment. Sir G GREY hoped the house would not report progress. He denied that he was hurrying the bill through Parliament. Lord A. V. TEMPEST withdrew the motion for report ing progress. Mr. BOVILL opposed the compulsory appointment of these chaplains, and the taxing of the people against their consent by the magistrates for remunerating tLem, whi. h would, he said, create great uneasiness in the public mind. Sir J. SHELLEY supported the amendmeat. The committee divided— For the amendment Against it Majority Mr. DUNCOXIBE then moved that Roman Catholic chaplains should not be appointed except in cases wnere the number of prisoners in a gaol amounted t) 30 at least. Sir G. GREY disapproved of the amendment. Mr. F. DOULTON then moved that the chairman re port progress; Which was agreed to without a division. INLAND REVENUE BILL. On the motion for the second reading of this bill, Sir H. WILLOUGHBY expressed a hope that the ques tion of taxing clubs would be reconsidered, on account of the difficulty of defining what a club was. The CHANCELLOR, of the EXCHEQUER could not see any diffi ulty in the matter of defining what was a club. Mr. AYRTON asked whether it was intended to do any thing with clubs under a rent of £lOO a year, and what course he proposed to take with regard to levying the duty on railway passengers. Af er some remarks from Lord R. Ctcil, Mr Hodgkin son, Mr. Hutt, and Mr. Coninglpan, The CHANCELLOR of rbe EXCHEQUER explained that he was waiting for statistical intormatiou to be supplied by the railway companies before subisittirg the resolution on taxing railway passengers, and that he had no intention of death g with clubs the rental of which was under £1 0 a year. The bill was then ordered to be re-committed on Monday STOCK CERTIFICATES TO BEARER BILL. The further consideration of this bill, as amended, was resumed. Other verbal amendments were introduced, and the report agreed to. SAVINGS BANKS MONEYS BILL. This bib was read a third time and passed. rr THAMES EMBANKMENT (SAITH SIDE) BILL. The following were nominated the select committee on this bill : —Mr. Cowper, Lord John Manners, Mr. Doulton, Mr. Cox, Mr. William Cubitt, Viscount Homesdale, and five members to be nominated by the committee of selection. PARTNERSHIP LAW AMENDMENT BILL. Mr. SCHOLEFIELD was proceeding to name the select committee on this bill, when Mr. BUCHANAN moved that the house be counted. There not being 40 members present, the house stood adjourned at half-past one o'clock. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, TIMES.—The events now reported from the Mis sissippi are important enough to invite a more de tailed explanation of the proceedings of the Federal, than the present despatches supply. About two months ago Admiral Farragut, Naval Commander in-Chief at New Orleans, made a vigorous attempt to run the blockade at Port Hudson, aLd it will be !tenni ected, perhaps, that the most contradictory accounts of the event were for some time in circula- Lion. Northern reports claimed a victory; South ern versions related the repulse of the squadron. It turned out that the lattet accounts were true in the main, and that the chief portion of the Admiral's flotilla had really seen driven back with more or less damage. But, on the other side, it was also true that the Admiral himself in his flagship, and with one other vessel in his company, had made good his way past the batteries, and was actually .float in the forbidden waters. A grave question, how.-ver, remained as to the reality of this " sue cess." rhe Admiral's ship, the Hartford, was nothing but a wooden vessel—a " first-class screw steam sloop" of the old United States' Navy, but powerless, as might have been imagined, against he ironclads which the Confederates were known to possess. Here, then, was the Federal commander, in a wooden ship, separated from hi- fleet, and isolated in hostile waters, with only a sitgle consort to assist him. It was believed not only in Rich mond, but in New York, that he bad been caught in a trap, and that the captor of New Orleans would all into the hands of the enemy. We confess, indeed, that we have felt unable to account for the impunity which he has ac erioved. It is stated in the present reports that the Confederates, have seven rams and gunboats available in these waters, and yet the H. rtfard and the Albatross have not only remained unmolested, hut have been allowed the whole range of the stream betweer Port Hudson and Viceseu -g. The Admiral was just below the latter place when the attempt was successfully made tojoin him from above. It was on the 16th of April, about 11 o'clock at night, that a flotilla of seven gunboats, one rem, and three transports from the fleet of Admiral Porter, who commands above Vicksburg, set out with the design of running the blockade ; and so incautious or so helpless were the Confederates that all these vessels, with the exception of two of the transports, passed the batteries, and effected a junction with Admiral Farragut in the river below the town. This unlooked-for exploit not only places the Ad miral in safety, but puts him in command of a force equal to any op era ti on h e may devise agai ns t either Vicksburg or Port Hudson. The Benton, which carries the fl a g o f Admiral Porter, is a strong iron cased vessel, mounting 16 guns, and ail the rest, with a single exception, belong to the flotilla of ironclad gunboats constructed at various points of the Mississippi for service in this war. We can hardly, therefore, avoid the conclusion that if the safety of Port Hudson and Vicksburg has really depended on the command of the stream between them, these posts must now be in considerable dan ger. The combined flotilla, numbering 11 powerful gunboats, may co-operate either with General Grant and his army in an attack on Vicksburg, or with General Banks and the garrison of New Orleans in 'he siege of Port Hudson. Nor is this the whole of the advantage obviou.ly gained. The possession of the Mississippi over this p , .rt of its course !Inlet enable the Federals to intercept the supplies of the confederates, and to rew.er, at the same time, itu portant service to the Northern armies on shore. General Rosecrans in Tennessee, and the Federal commander at Baton Rouge, will both feel more secure now that the garrisons from which thtir adversaries might be suddenly reinforced are held in constant check. In short, though Vicksburg is not yet taken, nor Port Hudson either, and though the capture of both these places would probably fail to ensure the safe navigation ,f the Mississippi, it cannot be denied that the recent success of the Northerners may produce material results. It creates a less sen sation than the capture of Cuarleston may have done, but it may prove of greater consequence. was high time, indeed. that a gleam of success should brighten the prospects of the Federals. The season most favourable for their operations was rapidly expiring, and in a few weeks none except tne great rivers of the ccuntry would b.- n*vigabo: to their gunboats. The time for which their troops had been enlisted was expiring also, end they would soon have to choose between a dissolution of their armies or a conscription. All their great expedi tions tied failed—at Fredericksburg, at Vicksburg, at Charleston. If a division of their army, sur rounded by the enemy and threatened daily with capture, contrived to escape that was as much of a success as they could show. But this piece of good fortune on the Mississippi gives them one more chance, at the eleventh hour, of signalising tht campaign by a triumph. The Confederates are not indeed likely to be disheartened by the loss of a city, hut the capture of Vicksburg and Port Hud son would open the Mississippi to the States of the North- West, diminish the growing disaffection of the population in those States, and enable the Fede rals to claim one of the real victories of the war. POST.—The advocates and supporters of Captain Ericsson's " turret principle" for the construction of iron war ships maintain that the late affar at Charleston cannot be taken as any proof of the in ferio, ity of that description of vessel, since it has been shown that the failure in the attack was owing to the obstructions placed in the entrance channel of the harbour, and not to the destructive fire from the forts, for but little injury, it is said, would have been done to these vessels had the channel that would have allowed them to run past the forts been clear. Taking up this ground of argu ment is tanta . moust to yieldi ng at once the long contested point t of superi or it y b etween ships and forts, for until it can be shown that ships are able to overcome the obst ruct i ons placed in their way without it bein g fi rst necessary to silence the guns protecting these obstructions, the question of superiority between ships and forts must be decided in favour of the forts. From the accounts which we have received of the late engagement, as well as from report s w hi ch have reached us of the prepara n ous made fur the defence of Charleston, it does not appear to be qu i te so clear that the vesse l s em ployed in the attack upon that place would have been much benefited had they even been allowed to run past the first line of the Confederate defences. It will be remembered that Fort Sumter, the point of attack, is situated at a distance of three good miles from the city of Charleston, tha goal which it was Admiral Dupont's object to attain. As the rate at which these turret vessels on an average are presumed to steam is not reckoned at more than five or six knots the hour, it stands to reason that they would have been under fire from the batteries which line the shores the whole way from Fort Sumter to Charleston city for a period of at least thirty minutes, which period is precisely the amount of time it took to decide matters at the entrance to the harbour, with the details of which action we have been already made acquainted. The tieing the case, we may fairly presume that by the time these vessels had arrived opposite Charleston, ad mitting that they might have escaped during that perilous passage all the additional dangers of run cing on shore, which were considerable, they would at last have brought up in a cul de sac in front of the powerful batteries erected around the city itself, and past which there would have been no further posslbility of their running, The question, there fore, of superiority between forts and ships would under any circumstances have been simply trans ferred for decision to another locality ; and there can be little doubt that thirty minutes more of hammering, as terrific as the one which ,ufficed for their discomfiture at the har bour's mouth, would have placed them all hors de combat, and that the most which Admiral Dupont , souls have been likely to obtain in exchange for a total destruction or surrender of his ships would have b en the barren satisfaction of hsving thrown a few shells among the inhabitants of a city that has aroused such vindictive feelings in the breasts of the disappointed cotton brokers of New York and Boston. To the American Unionists the failure of Captain E ic-son's ironclads to fffect the destruc tion of Fort Sumter is a heavier blow than any de teats sustained by their armies in the field. Not only has the utmost confidence been placed in the power of these new vessels to accomplish the de struction of all the coast defences still held by the St-ites which are at war with ihe Government at W shington, but the most sanguine expectation, have also been ettert. ined that an entirely new era had set in regaroing ships of war which would give the Americans of the Northern States a chance or assuming such a lead in naval matters as would cffectu .lly wrest from Great Britain her supremacy uoen the ocean. Tne failure of the attack upon Charleston, if itiltas done nothing else, has at least decided some very important points, and among others may be said to have considerably shaken the theory of the alleged advantages of reducing the armament of ships to one or two galas of enormous calibre. The application of steam power to the , working of these heavy guns, which was supp 'sed to have overcome the chief obj ,- ctions to their use. nas been found to be attended with very serious dis advantages. It has been demonstrated to be unne cessary to drive a shot through the iron turret in order to destroy the offensive powers of a vessel armed upon that principle. The slightest derange ment caused to the machinery of the revolving tur ret, upon the nice adjustment of which the work ing of the gun depends, is as effectual a method of rendering a vessel of this description powerless as if the gun itself had been shattered in pieces. This may, perhaps, be considered a minor point with the advocate of the system of revolving tur rets, and be a matter which the engineering skill of the present day may be enabled possibly to grapple with successfully, but until this defect has been remedied, the revolving turret system is not likely to meet with any very great encouragement in this country. The failure of such vessels as sea ' going ships is too well known and generally acknow ledged to admit of dispute; and as one of their chief recommendations, which consisted in the cheapness of construction, has also received lately a most damaging blow, there really remains now but little to be said in their behalf. It has been proved that the princip:e of binding together thin iron plates to the thickness required for a vessel's side will not produce the degree of resistance which was expected ; cons- quently when these vessels have to be con structed of solid plates of rolled iron, the cost of their construction will be much increased. It has been .ound that the extra time devoted to the con struction of an iron ship is time well laid out, and that all the materials required should be of the best quality. This is not the course which has been pur sued in America, consequently their vessels do not bear any kind of compariaon with ours. At the pre sent moment it is perhaps fortunate that this matter should have been so ctearly established, as it may tend to check some of the extravagant notions of the more violent anti-Engi.ish party in New York, and permit of that steady development of the naval power which we have ever wielded with justice and msderation. HERALD.—The objections urged against the pre sent system of distributing army prize money are questions which once more assume additional signi ficance in the midst of those grave complications which may possibly involve us in hostilities with a _ . rich and powerful nation. The whole subject will shortly be brought under the consideration of Par liamen•, pursuant to the notice given last week by C h ; and we have no doubt that a motion of this nature, which promises to place the spurn of disrtinuti , in on a better footing, wit! be srongiy supported on both sides of the house. It is plain, from the tone in which the First Lord of the Treasury treated this matter a few nights ago, that Parliamentary interference for the protection of the scldier has now become an absolute necessity. ('he Prime Minister's reply, on the 20th April, to Mr. Angerstein's question on a subject of this kind, was obviously, even in the inaccurate shape fr. which it was reported elsewhere, a complete evasion of the inquiry propounded by a member for Green wich. Lord Palmerston did not Think proper to in form the House of Commons whether the law officers of the Crown had been consulted on the subject of the Banda and Kirwee booty. He did not state what their opinion was, nor whether it was his in tention to be guided by it. He only to!d the house that this was not a question of law, but a matter which simply depended en the absolute discretion of the Crown, or, in other words, on Ministerial pa tronage, and that the decision in this particular case was postponed for the purpose of , giving due con sideratio❑ to a statement which had very recently been rece.ved from p •rties concerned, or, in other words, from the actual captors of the prize. I would have been fair to have added that this state talent had only been recently received from the Ma d. as officers, because t he counter-statemen ts to which it was their right to reply had been kept secret for more than 12 months, and were not brought to light until April, 1863. It is, however, of more import ance to consider how far the country will endure the sic volo sic jubeo import of the firman in which L , rd Palmerston on Monday week announced his inten tion to deal with army prize according to his own good pleasure. This is not, he tells us, a ques tion of law. No doubt there is no special statute which regulates the distribution of army prize But we greatly doubt whether any of the great lawyers of the day would go so far as to say with Lord Palmerston that a question of this nature is not to be governed by precedent, 2. e., by common law, which after all is the sole founda tion on which the Royal prerogative itself rests If the distribution of prize money is not in any way to be regulated by law, there is, of course, nothing to prevent the Lords Commissirners of the Treasury or their President from recommend ing a grant of all capture or captures whatsoever to his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief or the Se retury of State for War, and the sooner this novel position is announced to the army the better. A 1 ranks will then be properly prepared to provide for themselves, and the good men as well as the rogues will be duly warned to take care of their own inte rests. Under this view of the subject we have no doubt that the distribution of prize wi►l be vastly expedited, and the delays which are now the sub ject of just complaint will cease to exist. We shall hear of no more instances of men entitled to a large share of booty dying in a workhouse, and such suicides as those which attended the delays and jobbery in the Deccan case are not likely to occur. On the other hard, however, military eco nomists must decide whether the universal invita tion to plunder, which the Prime Minister's expo anion of prize law ho da out, is likely to conduce to the tffiei2ncy or discipline of the troops. It must naturally be asked, moreover, if there is no law for the distribution of prize, how it came to pass that special jurisdiction in disputed eases of military booty has been given by Lord Cottenham's act to the High Ccurt of Admiralty. If the matter under dispute is not to be determined by precethnt of common law, we cannot exactly understand in what way Sir S. Lushington would proceed to take cog nisance of the case. We might further ask, if this is not in any sense a question of law, bow it came to pass that the matter was referred for the opinion of the law officers of the Crown ? According to the bold and unqualified statement of the Premier, the opinion of any other individuals, of the arch bishops, for instance, or the Royal Academicians, would have been of equal value. When Colonel North's motion comes before the house we shall know how far the representatives of the nation are disposed to ignore the legal or quasi legal claim of the soldier to his prize money, and to en dorse the absolute and despotic theory of Lord Palmerston. Sixty miles an hour by the Great Western Express has been arrived at by the careful and constant improvement of the locomotive. The same means have made Herring's mag nate brushes and combs equ Lily perfect. They ate now the accepted and certain remedy for the agonies of tic doloreux, nervous headache, &c., and estore the colour to grey hair in a few weeks. N.B.—Counterfeits are being made. °flou t 32, Zasiufihall•street, Loudon. COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL. A special Court of Common Coun,il was held yes' terd ay, at the Guildhall, under the presidency of tne Lord Mayor, for the purpose of receiving a report from the Royal Entertainment Committee, reeeill' mending certain arrangements, with Messrs. Myers and Sons, in respect of their contract for construct ing the new roof to the Guildhall, in order that the works may be suspended to admit of the ball being used for the purposes of the ball to be given to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales. There was also a motion on the paper to be brought forward by Mr. Deputy Lott, to the following et . ' feet :—" That in order to prevent any interruption to the progress of the works in relation to the new roof to Guildhall, ar.d any interference with the con' tract for such works, tLe Right Hon. the Lord Mg" be requested to grant the use of the Mansion Hon es tor the forthcoming entertainment to be given by the Corporation of London to t heir Royal Highnesses the Prince and P. incess of Wales, under the suPe; rintendenceof theß .yal Entertainment Committee. The matter was discussed with closed doors; and ultimately, upon a division, Mr. Ileputy Lotes ►n ° ' rion wos negatived, and the re port was agreed to. THE VIADUCT ACROSS LUDGATE-HILL. A report was brought up from the Improvement° Committee relative to the several references if' re : speCt to the prop ose d v i a d uct across L u eg . to -hill ' which, after referring to the proceedings taken 13 1 the year 1860, in oppositio n t o th e cinapsny's billy went on to state that with reference to the prts en ,i bill, they bad conferred with th e com pany. but b 8" not succeeded in obtaining the required deviation so as to enable the line of railway to be carried out by means of a tunnel rather than a viaduct. At. the same time while so torming the vi a duct, they b ane expressed every anxie'y to improve the acconroo# inochtion,:and have euomicted propositions to th e committee to that effect, to be carried out 1 . 4 clauses to be inserted in the bill now before par tnent. The committee had also had under th eir consideration the proceedings recently taken bi he Coremis,iotiers of Severs upon 'he Fame 1311 tr 4 jeer, and they had under th e i ns tructions ." Me court given the necessary directions to the Ci t ti o solicitor, acting as the remembrancer, to oPP Ie .„ O bill in Parliament, in order to prevent the foinletl'r of the viaduct ; and they had kit it their duty ° tie d the pre-ent peculiar circumstances of the case , 813 0 f in view of the decision arrived at by the Cour t , Sewers agreeing to the propositions of the ° in der pany, to repo r t the wh o l e circumstanc es in °I. that the court mi g ht ex p ress an op i n i o n so to tbe steps most desirable to be taken by the coenru ltte l d The proposals of the company were that they W °ll ll 4 undertake to make the b r id ge 60 f eet w ide jos te of 40, to allow for the impr ovement o f t he ° tr : - e - t and to pull down certain houses to the end of 13 ,149 t0 street, and Farringdon-str ee t, an d a l so to offe! bt the corporation such of the ground as they 01 g. require for the imp rovemen t o f th e s t ree t, the P rico or to be decided between the surv e yor of the c° i„, pany and the surveyor of the corporation, and to the event of their not being able to come to W o o another surveyor to be called in whose awerd °l3 :oo determine the question. The report added tb r " company had that morning offered to mope bridge 70 feet inetead of 60. „Or Mr. Deputy FRY, th e c h a i rman o f the ItoP — te d meats Committee, said th e comm i ttee me rely w ail t io to recrive the instructions of the court as to Virb e v air they wt re to continue th e o pp os i t i on s i n ce the c- c i par.y had made that offer whi c h th ey h a d deem their du y to lay before the court. of Some discussion ensued, and on the In oti°ll r Mr. Lusk it was unanimously ag ree d that the tee port should be received, and that the COW /131- should be instructed to continue the opposilicv.o6, THE APPoINTMENT OF COMMISSIONER OF P OI _ Mr. L'JWMAN TAYLOR ask e d, fo r the iitiorie'oo. of the court, whether the town clerk had, °c i te, formity with the fourth section of the Polic e 0 0 transmitted to the Secretary of State for t,,e d i, Department copies of the testimonials of 110°911 dates for the chief commissionership. ,10 the Mr. WOODTHORPE, the town clerk, infer — l e b 80 court tlut, pursuant to directions which ha d :of given him, and under the autho r ity o f the ° i t t Parliament, he bad transmitted on Saterd o the nun es, nominations, an d test i m onials o f t of candidates for the (Zee of chief commissioue.rved police, to the Secretary of State, and be bad recite a letter from Mr. Bruce, on behalf of Sir G e° Grey, acknowledging the receipt of the Wo e ' tha t Mr LOWMAN TAYLOR said tile act prescribi v g f the election should be made at the expirati c t, ° ,o# days after the testimonials, &c., had been 00 mitted, and he thought the sooner the Mat ter t ot settled the better. He therefore moved lb at n otit day fortni g ht s h ou ld b e a p po i n t e d for the c it. ' The motion was agreed to, and ool j The LORD MAYOR informed the court be have a special court convened for that purpcees The court then adjourned. COUNTRY MARKETS. V- MANCHESTER—MAY 7. f 4 b jlo A slender attendance to-day, with littlece tr i o wheat, English being quot e d at last week's v American was offered at a reduc L ion of 2d per 10011:61 and oatmeal were each rath er d earer . Flour a 010 0 d iio d and prices favoured purch asers . I n di an corn d ec o to per qr. Egyptian beans firm, while English We re per qr higher. 3 IRMING HAM—MAY 7. (1 0 o n , to English wheat was sold at 48s to 566 for whi t ! , 5 , 00 to 52s per 36 stone for red. Barley, new wall; to 42s per qr ; grinding, 24s to 28 s O a ts, old/ ,„ pet' per 30 stone ; Irish, 22 6 to 25 5 . Beans, 36S to 17 " Peas, 36s to 44s per 36 stone. EDINBURGH GRAIN—MAT 6. l3 aul, A good supply of farmers' wheat to-day, will e devw" fair sale at the prices of last week. Oats in goo d and barley a fair sale. At i OP' Wheat on the top is Od up average Os id 01/* Barley on the top Os 3d up average Os 4 de Oats on the top is Od up ota . l 4 S lB up ci p r l s y and Sales. average Os od tit Beans on the top is Od up.., Barley.. . . .. . T . . . 805 qr s average i s cir ° Sold 5 20 1 . 0 Sold 3 16 , g r o Oats ........ 1062 qrs Sold 87u 4 0 , Flour sells as follows :—Whites, 4480 d ; 8ean5........ 183 qrs Sold 54 1 410 ° extr as ' superfine, ;39s Od ; fine, 37s Od . e 6 CORK—MAY 6. ornil4l.Bf, .J 4 t 0 e The following were the quotations this in ba r A d wheat, 6s dto 9s 6(i ; white, 7s Od to 1180 d; /0 64 to 5s Od ; oats, 6s, Od to 8s Od. ; black 0 " 8s Od. DERBY SMITHFIELD—MAY i. 4. nr icelo.e' A plentiful supply of fat beasts to-day ; h, t ig h 7oo o ;foPA . realised, and only a few remai n ed unsold d sheep in in the pens was large, and the deran v eo' Fat pigs were more pl e ntif u l. F a t an d s tore c$ fa. show, and the prices had an upward tendeoo9• " Beet bid to lid Veal ........... ba to B. Hutton 6;d to 7id Pork ..... . .. per Lamb —d to —d Rough ... .. 9 Hides, 3d to 4, } ,d; calf skins, ml to - Births. ijrsa hDroKsoN —On the 6th inst., at Edinburg " he 11 David S. Dickson, of a sol. OP, k u '' HANROTT.—O k the 6th inst., at 22, Oxford . 0 7' a - the wifH of Howard Augus us Hunrott, and heir. t he PAYN —On the Bth ult., at Mhow, Bonw o . , ° 0 00' Lteut.-Col. Payn, C. 8., 72d Highlanders, ()I „ - Marriages. ~:t 10 . BAZALGETTE—COCKSEDGE —On the 7th g °l. Marylebune Chu.ca, J , .hnVan Norlen 13s-4 dattg',i te P c# C.E , Westminster, to Lucy Ellen Oast, 0011)3 the late Thomas Martin (;ocksedge 014 bill, Bury St. Edmund's, Suffdk. ; at 13 10 t 1 t WINTERINGHAM—WORSLEY—On the 6th ' l3° ° CO ° or Lincolnshire, Henry Winteringbam. " u" .Telt 113(4 youngest daughter of the Rev. Wm. Bratoft. COLEMAN.—On the sth n ea th S. W. , _ , do coir o Lr f eLl ß iasn a , n 7 b , ury, aged 56. I Cole " inst., M r. ' White hp . Ov o ' elb Go a o g n eci nA 7 L A G vi : Er ° Re d : N3..othhethe Rev. 6th Robertinst„ at Collis,li i recto (Jori‘ilat#loo- terho rl ' 11l e —On the 4th inst., at Ce ll _ ban, Esq., —GOengthe aged 78. r3, BoP ielle liu s _E_RY.—On the sth inst., at South ' - 1 doo e Y 2 . d H i u n r g r t y, Eatsq., omf:ol4nitvaegruPfett'oet, I/41 James Layer, of Walthamstow, age d 68 ' to atm , JO , ' PA t TON —On the 2d inst ,at Soutil h C 0 4 . 17' •, 9, soo ,Port e ,S , •blo ll ain Edward Paton, late of the 421 Royal ."'" , 6 40 11(1 aged 70. h ° '' SMITH —On the sth inst., Major George S alit ' Horse. Nplt o London: Printed and Published by WILLIAnte P t y Of of No. 112, Strand, Printer , at Tux Stl w nie Strand, GCAP-- trend, in the Precinct o f the fsavoy, Middleges.—Frrifty, gay 8, 1843. . f .r.