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

with it when only 'first published. The music ksing than „ for which the money is paid in all instances, you will po• r _ 16 or more pages of advertit CO I V e that, suppo sin g emente to be given with the music, the Musical Times would still con sist principally' of the music, which is what peoph I pay for. am obliged by your offer to submit my represent atio as to the b oa rd, and. I feel all the inconvenience of their , Dos' tion, in having to ailminister a law which the judges are u nab le to define, and which no Government has yet had either tl yep race to repeal or the; courage equally to enforce. lam not s rith out hope that the present Government will adopt the gra( .eful course and repeal these bad laws ; but if in the - meant ;ime they are determined to make the existing laws respected,l they would be more likely to succeed by prosecuting any of the other 50 or 64 papers placed in precisely the same positic nas the Musical Times, because ill-natured people will be a 3 to think the selection more due to its being the property o f the treasurer of the Active Association for the Repeal of al 1 the Taxes on Knowledge, rather than to any pecgliarity I a-the contents of the Musical Times requiring the enforcer nimt of the law to begin with that paper. " I am, Sir, your obedient servant, - " ALFRED Nov 'UM. " To J. Timm, Esq., Solicitor of Inland Revenue." (Hear.) He (Mr. Gibson) believed, however, tl .at the Aftisica/ Mikes was no newspaper at all, and, judging by the past practice and written opinions of the B k)ard of Inland Rev , anue, it certainly could not come wilt Lin that category. In answer to a letter which had been ad idressed to the board by Messrs. Robinson and rofton,ci of tr - Wake field, dated the 2 C he sth of February, 1851, t solit( to this' effect : " Inland Revenue, March 1., 1851. . " Gentlemen,—lii answer to year letter of the 25th ii It., I beg to say that any account of the ma rkets_ liono m ti a ce ,V is be ti ! irven fully published in an unstamped paper of accounts of dramatic performancesand such like, but any o ther matter published in unstampeil pa pers will not be o ver looked. " I am, &c., " J. Ti: Lee " Messrs. Robinson and Crofton, Silver-street, Waken eld." He (31reGibson) held that the words "dramatic per form ate:see • and such like" included balls and concerts and things of that description, and, if Mr. Timm said th at no notice would be taken of balls and concerts in Wake field, on what. principle w uld he say that the Musical Ti m( e a to be affected :1;y• the o Stamp Act ? (Hear, hear.) If p ec:vreO3 could iaot obtain accurate information upon such a point 's this from tlae.office-s hof the Crown, wh ere were th e y t o - go for it e s; This difficulty and uncertainty arose, net,. from any fault on the part of the Board of I n l an d R everares, but -from the maintaining of a bad and ineffective system , which .was incapable of being administered with justic e , and which must bring the executive officers into bad re pute and cast undeserved odium upon them, (Hear, I 'tsar.) He believed that Mr. Wood, the chairman of the Board -of Excise, was prepared on ail occasions to adminis ter the laws ititrusted to his care with justice and impel ei a iity, 'and, in matters of penalties, with leniency to the F ;object, ; -bat no man could administer sneh an unintellighhl e sys tem of law as that connected with newspapers, surd, it was not only to relieve the public, therefore, but tr, , reli e v e theiroffic ers from the odium which must ieecessarily attach to them that he asked the Government •• to legislate nponthie subject. He thbught that the ireetinces which he had 'adduced fully made out a case for h' eslation, ar.d that a bill without loss of time ought to be brought in for the purpose of defining the law. He tress came to the other head of his resolution—that the la' - was unequally enforced---and he could bring abundant evidence to prove that position. Theprectice had been, ' ne wa s sorry t o s a y, • not to enforce it against the strong, against the powerful Londetispablishers—but to press 'it with undue severity against the humble proprietor of a small newspaper in some • provincial town. They had. hail in this matter one law for Lenclon, and another for the country. Illustratioes of this might at once ho given, On the 13th of Septemher, 1851, the Boardof Inland I:...evernue sent a coininnuicitt ion to the Racing Times, :taking for an explanation of its being pub lished without 3. stain P, and concluding with, " as the case admiteof no delay whatever, your inimedi e l e at t ent i o n must be giv en to this communication." To that letter Mr. Thompson, the publisher, replied, that the Hewing T imes was essentially a class paper, such as their own officers hid 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 lishe r and all persons selling the same without a stamp. Mr. Thompson then wrote the following letter : " Racing Times-office, 291, ;,fraud, Sept. 20. Sir,—l have not acted without high '.egal advice in the matter of the publication of the Racinr, Times, and therefore I have only to iuf Tni you that I am perfectly prepared to support my right in a court of •aw ; I.nd when you require it, I will furnish you with the name of my solicitor, who on my behalf will accept notice of any proceedings you may think proper to institute, and take the necessary steps in defence thereof. I am, dic., J. Timm, Esq. `` JOHN TIIO3IPSON." Here the correspontlenet teased. The moment that Mr. Thompson spoke of h'is solicitor, Mr. Timm disappeared from the field, and ao more was heard of the matter; but 31r. Thompson wee a powerful London publisher, living in the Strand. Eh; case was that of the A thencruni, the Lite • Tare Gazette,, the Law Times, the Medical Gazette, and others, all of. which would have joined with him in resist ing Mr. Them. 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. Tirnrn proceeded to the police office, took up the delinquent proprietor, and tined him 201. It was only just to add that the Government being uneasy in their conseience, 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., chip. 9, the act which related to seceidties, was aimed against the small po iticel publica tions which, in those days were supposed to be dangerous to the constitution and religion of the country. It bore no restore nee whatever to periodical papers. Let the law be car- ied 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 pea sons for whom it was in . tended—the writers of small political pamphlets—while it was put in fcsree against people who published newspapers. He held in his hand the Political Examiner, price ld. ' a weekly democr a ti c j ourna l, h av i ng a mo tt o f rom 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 sectually 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 Whiele were contemplated by the law toescape the law, and to heclude all those which never had been intended ? He renaembered an admirable speech of his right hon. friend th a Chief Commissioner of Woods upon the colonies, ushich 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.) If 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. Westerton, and sold at Knightsbridge for sc. 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, for having 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 Attor 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 ?.toned 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 fielilsof peace as well as in the field of war if they intended to retain the confidence of the con stituencies of the c iuntry. (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 an.l anomalies which he had mentioned, that they had had some regard for the repeated appeals which had been made to them iu 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 did not seem iu the slightest degree to question the possibility of making the law actual, and was also strongly impressed with the injus tice of allowing it to remain in its present state. (Hear.) the correspondence which had only been laid on the L ab i le yesterday, it appeared that petty persecution was iseueedg c b ar t ed he t o a great extent' letter after letter was being Board of Inland Revenue to publishers of pa:ninneylapweri. (Al taic - telling them that they had infringed them that t ill he eY (M. not - state what law, but cautioned What a cruel •Y i rere on the point of incurring penalties. °Mem thi s was , salting from it, ch ea and, as a consequence !a men without capitalP publications fell into the hands of care for violating theelra resPectability, men who did not cution had a greater tendency Such a system of petty parse deter men of capital and r "ell than prosecutions to and supporting the cheap Peetability from undertaking a Z eal), li terature of the country. He wanted to see not only good press. He did not wish to give the monopoly t o t l o a violate the laws and who held in no respect who were willing to of the country. He sought to inducelieenth f e institutions good morals and character to undertake thesepublicatio:sw; ti er h i would not then be without their effect upon society his sincere and conscientious belief that such publications were were calculated to promote the best interests of .the country, and would have more effect in educating thee great masses of the people than would any education bill which could pass through the house. (Hear.) There 'was another strange point which had been started by the Board of Inland Re venue as to monthly publications, which were not allowed to be published excepting at the beginning of th e mon th. The clause respecting this was contained in su bsequent acts had re the 60th of George 111., chap. 9. High legal authority, however, believed that eal e d, had, he the Attorney-General pealed this clause. The Boardof.t re n however, started it afresh, and if l (Mr. Gibson) thoughta i not ß revenueep ought to take into his consideration the repeal of absurd a law. He so begged hon. members not to d ir ect their attention to embers theories which he (Mr. Gibson) or other hon. m might have started with regard to this subject, but to look at the resolution which they were about to vote for, which was merely to have the law clearly defined and en forced with j us ti ce . H e did not ask hon. members t 0 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 conscientiously believed was divested of all party bias, and to which every sensible man, having the interests of his country at heart, might, without reference to party, give in his adhesion. Mr. KINNAIRD, in supporting the resolution, said, that after the able and lucid statement just made, it was unnesessary for him to detain the house by entering into the leg-+! view of the question. He merely wished to hear leis testimony to the facts that hal been brought forward, N 0 . ) ,1 i i e te from his own knowledge, that the large menu . -...frietairing town. were inundated with a claret' of low im - - iihrerspublications, which the people woub I rend. By the lir . esigib state of the law th y were precluded frolu reading theitwhich was interesting and useful, and were compelled • tersiaddhs deal of trash and unwholesome matter, which , • ?Y a~r~. t ~•",`, C te. • 14 r4III; N" • THE SUN, LONDON, IfEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 17, 1854. the repeal of the present laws would, more than anything else, tend to put an end to. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL did not rise with the in tention of quarrelling much with the resolution of the hon. member for Manchester, for he was disposed to think that the law on the subject of the periodical press required re vising and amending. (Hear, hear.) He was also dis posed to admit that up to the present time the law had been unequally enforced, but to this he could give some explanation and qualification, for he did not wish the house to run away with the notion that the law had been arbi trarily enforced, for it had not beeu so. The portion of the a !dress of the hon. member with which he was most disposed to quarrel was the unnecessary bitternes c with which he had commented on the conduct of the Stamp °Sea officials The principle on which the law had been adirdnistered with regard to these publications was, that wherever a periodical publication had confined itself to av,y single class of subjects, there the law had not interfered. kits thought this principle was first intro luced in the case of the Athenaeum, for it was considered that in the case of publications not being at all devoted to political sub jects, yet which conveyed an amount of amusement a p n u ci lb i i n ca st t ru ion c s ti , o vnt n ga wh i i n c g h would be be ne fi c i a l, —(h ear )—th ese the more exciting political topics, would be less likely to obtaiu the favour of the public, and were those to which the Legislature might extend some favorar. This began with publications of a literary or philoeephical character, and was graclnall extended; for when *le principle of exemption was introduced, it was felt t'o be no more than fairness and justice that the prin ciple should be applied to all those publications which fell within it. The consequence of this has been that so many of these class publications 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 whol e 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 laugh.) He (the Attorney-General) did not quarrel with this, but it should be borne iu mind, when complaints arose of the unequal enforcement of the law, and of the conducteef—thestofficers of the Board of Inland Revenue, that prosecutions had arisen out of the grievous complaints made by parties paying the duties against those, who were 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 dedued 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, intelligence, or occurrences, and th e y ga v e it a s 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 he 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 beladuered to. With reference to the tax, all he would say was, that the Chaucellor of the Exchequer was not present, 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?" He 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 hon. gentleman would feel that he did not say this from any backwarduess or obstinacy in accepting from him any advice that might be serviceable on this question. If hie right hon. friend could pint out any mode by which the law might be amended, he would be ;nest happy to avail himself of his suggestions. (Hear.) He admitted that there were pelts of the law which might oe amended; those relating to bonds and securities called for consideretiea, 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 bean arbitrarily or capriciously enforced. He was quite 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 brought for• ward with reference to the Potteries Free 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. In 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 presses. 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. EWART 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 wiiunt 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 circulation of a free 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 k no w w h a t 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 would 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 thay 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 defiee 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, intelligence, 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 British 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 iu 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 ceivee the care f u l a tt en ti on o f th e G overnment. Th e ques tion of securiti es w hi c h h a d b een re f erre d t o was no t th e o nly one des erv i ng th e attent i on o f t h e Government. Some of th e acts of 1819 still remained unrepealed that ought in hi s op i nion and an to be removed from the statute-book, attempt ought to be m a d e t o b r i ng th e w h o l e l aw which h a d b een co into one unif orm It would not be easy, however, to adopt a definistyistein. oin _more clear and distinct th a n th a t ' inserted in every statute upon the ac t o f Queen Anne, and trusted d ul t ir this subject from that time downwards. He t who had brought forward tl'iit the right hon. gentleman with the assurance that this slnotion would be satisfied attention of the law officers of subject would have the earliest that the right hon. the Crown and he hoped gentleman would consent auxiliary to such officers in rendering th to act as an acts and the definition of the law uponthees words of the as they possibly could be made. (Hear hear.) as clear Sir J. SHELLEY considered that the assurlance Government, so far as they went upon this mattesr, of the satisfactory. He could not, however, agree with the hon. i and learned Attorney -General that the law relating to it was either well understood or well defined ; and as a proof that it was not so, he would refer to the very voluminous correspozo. e / ne e which he held in his hand, and whi c h th e house was in possession of on this subject, and which car taioly went to prove the very opposite o f what the hon. 1 learned gentleman had asserted. He had moved. a short at time since for certain returns connected with the nowipvers and 1 with the st..anp duties, which had been refused to him on the ground that there were no means of giving him the information that he required ; but he ound now, from the evidence of Mr. Novelle), 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 I 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 same 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, 1.1. 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 conrse, 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. CROS.3LE ir 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 necessarily ba put a stop to; and in considering such an emergency, he thought that the advice g iven to him by an old friend w h en h e fi rs t 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 Govetninent that, in place of enforcing the restrictions which were complained of, it would be better that it should bo made compulsory to put a stamp on all bankers' cheques. Mr. BRIGHT thought that the house would agree with him in the opinion that the language of the law officers of the Crown was not so confident 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 touch 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, whicts Was drawn up in so moderate a spirit that he almost felt inclined to blarnehis right hon. friend for not putting the question in more for cible terms than he had 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 and 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-General]— 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 it had not been in ally 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 bad control, so as to charge one man to the exclusion of another; but what was complained of was, that these laws had seen unequally enforce I, and, that they were so, even the hon. and learned gentlemen the :selves had not attempted to deny. (Hear, hear.) He artily believed that the Attorney-General in 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 weuld not be supposed for one mo ment that the object of his right hon. friend in bringing this motion oefore the house was that such papers as tae Athenceion, 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 son) —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 be offended and the stamp. dutiee imperilled. He had no doubt that if the Chancellor of the Exchequer were in his place he would tell them that those stamp du.ies, regarded in a fiscal light, were of little or no importance i • and he could easily understand th a t th e amoun t of such duties was not the mainspring of their retention, which, pro bally, 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 acme of the tax in order to be able to retain any of it. He hoped that his right hon. friend would not be met on this occasion in a spirit of such restricted liberality as the recommendation of the hon. and learned gentlemen seemed to infer, but, on the contrary, that Government would imitate the example of Sir Robert Peel and other great statesmen ou 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 telegraph companies ? When hon. members left the house some of them .vent 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 club an account of the proceedings in the house. (Hear.) Hs 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 pri..ted, and it was sent down into the country and printed there, and he skould like to know from the Attor ney-General whether it was his intention mo put a atop to this wonderful operation of the electric telegraph ? Were great public companies, who h td expended iminense sums iu 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 do 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 for a 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 be understood that, because the country 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 newspapers to be published, 100,000.000 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 id. 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 from all parts of the country to the Board of Inland Revenue, as to whether such and such papers were or wore not liable to the tax, would give the house sonfe idea of the pressure which that board brought. to bear upon the disposition to publish throughoutithe country, and of the number of newspapers actually strangled by the stamp. There were 75 boroughs in the United Kingdom returning members to Parliament, in 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 allow 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 stilt 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 argurneut to be drawn against the tax from the size of the newspapers. Now here wore three newspapers of the largest size—The Times, with its supplement ; a paper published in the colony of Victoria, called the Mel bonnie Argos, with its supplement, about the same size as Times;call an d th e Yew Fcri," Tribune, ' , bent as la as the Times without a supplement. [Here the hon. member, suiting the acti on to the word, unfolded the three papers, mentioned, which b e i ng cut into single sheets, 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 ld. stamp for each copy, but the Melbourne Argus paid no stamp at all. 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 anti such a day. The price of the Times was 3d. to the public, the price of the Melbourne Argus was Lid.,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 edstinguished 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 the union, it had correspondents in all the chief cities of Europe, and —a thing which would scarcely be deemed pro bable of a paper sold for id. —it employed a staff not much short, he believed, of 300 persons. There was a paper in New York which sold for a h , Ifpenny—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. (Haar.) 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 fetter, of the Board of Inland Revenue. Look, fur instance, at the Daily News —a paper which 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 excepti on o f th e Ti mes an d a few of the cl'eap-priced weekly papers, which appealed to a somewhat different cl'iss, 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 Athenceum, Builder, Punch, Racing Times, &c. The proprietor thought he was acting according to law, but the Board of Inland Revenue very soon told 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 Parka mexr , and which, n eve rth e l ess, h a d no t one s i ng l e paper t o enlighten it. Mr. MitChell attempted toimprove this state of things, he published this paper unstamped at ld., but the Board of Inland Revenue interfE-ed with him too ; he re ceived one of their polite letters, and ho was obliged to pay 01. penalty for what lie had done, and to put the ld. stamp oa the corner of his paper Now there were three little vil lagea in that district:in Which 41 copies of this newspaper, at Id., were sold—three villages in which three papers had never regularly curl permeriently circulated before—but no sooner was the stamp imposed, and the price consequently changed to 2d. instead of Id., than 37 persons i - ,ut of the 41 discontinue, I 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 Exchequer should permanently place a tax of ld. on this small sheet, ,nd the same tax on the largesheat of the Times. It was contrary to common sense, contrary to every principle sanctioned by the house, and he therefore advised the Attorney-General not to waste his legal acuteness in cobbling up this law, which he must 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 all very well for the time of Queen Anne. It must be re membered that they had 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. But there were 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 genera ly on all great political principles, mere disposed to put confidence in the Legislature, or more sincerely desir ous of working together for the prosperity of the whole community. The report of the Royal Commissioners sent to the New York Exiiinition had neon 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 happer is that a workman who possesses pecu liar skill in 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 iu 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 an almost universal press. No taxation of any 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 press to the working 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 publichouee 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 o f th e newspaper s t a mp 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. (Cheer s .) J u d g i n g from the persons in his own employ, he sho u ld sa y 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-econornical vi ews w hi c h were t oo prevalent among the working classes. As a matter of finance, he believed the revenue would not suffer from the repeal of this duty, while upon the higher grounds oi 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 Sear throughout the country, and they would do more to promote tJuse objects which they pro fessed in speeches and blue-books to care for than they could do by any machinery that human ingenuity coul , t contrive, or that the power of the executive Government could enforce. (Load cheers.) Lord PA.LIIERiTOIST—Sir, I think it is a rule deserv ing to be followed, when different persons concur on some points mutual advantage of all that they should endeavour to con fine their action to those points on which they agree, and avoid, if it be not necessary, entering into collision upon 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 will 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, ant that it is a fit subject for revision, but the resolution of m 3 rig' - it 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. That 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, w ou ld infer that th e reso l u ti on means to imply that the law has been enforced with partiality, with favour, and with in tentional injustice. That 1 apprehend is disclaimed. (Cries of " Hear, hear.") Well, but surely that is no good rea son for adh er i ng t o wor d s 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 p ress and newspaper stamp . demand the early consideration 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 Beard 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 are not invol ve d in the resoluti o n, a nd 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 d u ty. B u t that is not the object of this resolution, and.my right hon friend stated that he did not mean 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.) Th e a brogation of this peculiar stamp is is only a matter of financial consideration, and it can only be maintained as a matter of finance. (Hear.) Undoubtedly everybody will admit, that the larger we open the field of nenerpl I n , tructio•.!, Lim tio:r o tire order, the loyalty, and the good conduct of the lower classes will rest. (Cheers.) On that subject I will not cuter, m 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 abjection 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.) Tf he agrees with what I have sail, 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. (Hear.) I hear.l 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 tavour 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 hear, " 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 Revenudor 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 (luring the present war by the Government of the principle, hitherto repudiated, that freo 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 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 vhle 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 •es s:ary that some measure of that kind should he introduced that ho had hi, self ordered a bill to be prepared. M. FRENCH hoped the right hon. baronet, whose con sent to the bringing in of this bill ho 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, but thought it right to express his apprehension that great ilitlieulty would be found in dealing with the subject. The tithe compositions in Ireland were (as wo understood the right hon. gentleman) on a different basis, anti hail been arrived at by a different process from that which had been gone through in Engl ind ; and he was afraid that if they at ef te o r t htime(eto, justice evowuiltpnt be done.uothavin having all the data clearly b After some further conversation, leave was given to bring in thi 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 1853, 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 ap alienation of the reversionary property as if she were unmarried. But that law did not apply to personal property, so that if she had 1,0031. or 2,030 L, 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 during 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 ,narried 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. Mathis) 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, anti 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 sidered this a step in the right direction, and he hoped it would prove the earnest of a much larger measure of law reform. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL concurred in the con .lan►nation of the present state of the law, as described by his hon. and learned friend, and which originated in a decision of the Court of Chancery, pronounced about 70 years ago a decision which proceeded on a mere fallacy, nit which had been repeated by one judge after another till it had been established as a , rinciple. The effect of this decision was, that though a woman might be entitled 53,0001. in reversion, stilt the possible claim, in the ::vent of her husband's death, so diminished its value that. it would hardly sell for 201. The whole case was quite at variance with the general principle of law which pre served, as far as possible, an analogy with respect to real mild personal property. Without pledging himself, there :ore, to all the details of the bill, he had no objection to its introduction. The ►notion was then agreed to, and the bill was ordered o be brought in. PREROGATIVE COURT. Mr. HUME moved for the appointment of a select eom uittee to inquire into and reoort upon the state of the present public registry of the Prerogative Court, use 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 thecustoly of testamentary locuments of great importance was at present most toss, 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 For individuals to pass each other. In 1832 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 dune in removing those documents to some other place. The hon. member concluded by making his motion. The question having been put, The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that the question was one of paramount importance. It was one that had engaged the attention of successive governments. He now hoped that we were on the eve of seeing something done to remedy the evil. He only regretted that the motion had not been so worded as to point to the great convenience of having a place of deposit of wills adjoining that place of ;Teat statistical information, which was in immediate con nection with the subject of wills, and which 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 connected with property. Mr. H A DFIELD thanked the hon. member for Montrose fur 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 subjects, that relating to the cue 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 ma le by the hon. member for Montros e. He mi g ht also observe, that for the last two centuries wills were might to seeeinthe thmoestm. In fact, easyandr in those cases wheredymsnnerto all who who n 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 inve , tigated the subject, and under those circumstances he trusted the hon. and learned gentleman the Solicitor- General would be induced to pause Wore he assented to the appointment of the conamittoe. After a few obierva+inns from Yfr. 97T1`1E,in reply th e alu;duil Was A c lreod to. INDUSTRIAL AND PROVIDENT SOCIETIES BILL. This bill was read a sermad 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 AA 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, anti 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 nut pirates at all It was an atrocious system, dis- creditable to the country. Mr. OTWAY 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 he was as utterly misinformed as to the profession. The system in the last war was found very vicious, and imperatively mequireal 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 bad 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 to have offered any objec tion to it. The right hon. baronet assumed that between 30,000/. 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 hail taken place in the West Indies, what security was there in this bill that they would not take place again? By whom would prize money in the West 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 mourning paper of the other day, in which the failure of an important functionary of the 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 in 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 the Ad miralty Court, but iu which 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 carried on by the present staff of the Admiralty. Within the last fortnight he had made inquiries among a great many officers regarding the proposed alteration, and he had not met with one single officer who approved of it. Admiral WALCOTT thought that the navy agents had every inducement to look totter the interests of officers and men. Ho 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 sue gested with the clauses as they stood. But after the sueecii of ;.he hon. member for Stafford, he must refer to one or two points. He had not stated that the loss sustained had been from 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 ia the West Indies, who failed to the amount of 33,0001., of which not more than 19,000/. was recovered; another for 21,00 X, of which not more than 10,0001. was recovered. Another was the case of a Lon ,on agent to the amount of 24,000/., of which not more than 12,0001. was recovered ; another in Jamaica to the amount of 115,00 1. . of which not mome than 70,000/ 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 spect to the failure of the registrar of that court, alluded to by the hon. member, no securities had been taken on his ap pointment, but ample precaution and security had been taken in the appointment recently made. Under the old system the registrar of the Admiralty, for a certain period after the condemnation of the prize, kept tae 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 where 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 uo 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 commission was fixed at 2'; per cent., with an addition of 3 per 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. Oa 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 hail stated that it would require a sum of 200,0001. 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,servicee 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, ho would obse r v e th a t th 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 fon Id that the seamen and petty officers receive I a much larger sum now than then, anti 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 alsu clauses 5 and 6, were agreed to. Clauses up to 21 wete passed. On clause 21 being proposed, Mr. OTWAY hoped the right hon. baronet would agree to report progress, as he had a long amendment to propose. Sir J. GRA -LAU hoped the hon. member would not obstruct the progress of the bill by his proposition to report progress. Mr. 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 appointineLt to the post uf Government accountant. If the money stood iu 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. OT WAY 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 INTELLIGENCE. 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 Lighthouse Board at Washington, under date of December 1, 1853, notile is hereby given, that the proposed changes will take place simultaneously at the three abovenamed lighthouses on the night of the Ist of June next (1854). • CAPE HATTERAS. The Cape Hatteras light will be a first order Fresno.' 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 somewhat less, 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 sand, backed by woods. The space of about two miles between the lighthouse and the pitch of the Cape is a low, fiat, and bare sand belch, very little above extreme high water. Tim light will be 150 fe , ;t ~hove the levy! Of ':re sen, be seen in good wed! her from a position 15 feet above the water, at the distance of about 19 nautical or 22 statute miles. _ porsitioh of the Cape Ilatteran .0.• ...."'" house, as determined by the coast survey, is lA. $ 5 di e go' 15 min. 11 sec. north, long. 75 deg. 30 min. 33 I la. 9 r from Greenwich. BODY'S ISLAND. The Body's Island light, about 32 nautical mile •to north-ward of Cape Hatteras, will be changed at t 61 r,,, time (June 1, 1854,) to afourth order Fresnel fire , d whu " light, varied by alternate red and white flashes. This light will be 50 feet above the level of the s es, 0 the white flashes should be seen in good weather frol°; position 15 feet above the water at the distance of a touts nautical or 15 statute miles ; the fixed light not c la tits. 0 far as the white flashes and the red flashes at a less c Ise str 104 than the fixed white light. The approximate position of Body's Island light), a $ terwined by the Coast Survey, is lat. 35 deg. 4T min. 213 sec. north, long. 75 deg. 31 min. 20 sec. west from G: ref Iv ich. OCRACOKE. T1:43 Ocracoke light, about 234 nautical miles f a t 111 ., south ward and westward of Cape Hatteras Light] loaf will 13, - ; .c hanged at the same time (J une 1, 1851) to a !bur w' order Fr, snel tixe.l white light. This Egli t will be 75 feet above the level of the sea ~ ill minate the entire horizon, and should be seen in 8;1 r weather from a position 15 feet a b ove th e wa t e r at ► al tanco of about' 14 nautical, or 16% statute miles. . The approxi mate position of Ocracoke lighthon 6 determined by t he Coast Survey, is lat. 35 deg. 6 mi a. 31. sec. N, long. 75 c'eg. 58 min. 27.4 sec. W from Greelawid By order of the Lighthouse Board. (Signed) D. P. WOODBURT, April 15, 1854. Captain of Eng:Basel I. VESSELS SPOKEN WITH. The Niagara (ship), Pensacola to Liverpool, Aplal lat. ;3 , 2 N., long. 77 W. The Charity (screw-steamer), bound East, April :22, 1 04 * 50 N., Mng 17 W. The Atlantic (American ship), bound West, Al mil 0 ' lat 44 N., long. 45 W. The Estouralda (American ship), Mobile to lAA 'erpl April 22, lat. 29 N., long. 80 W. The London, to Sau Francisco, March 17, lai . 60 S" long. 85 W. The Ocean, Antwerp to Callao, March 19, 'al t. 58 44 long. 75 W. The Penzance, Sydney, N.S.W., to London, 2 Lpril I ' 4 lat. 5 N., long. 33 W. The Amerique. April ?SO, lat. 7N. long. 36 WW. The Sultan, Liverpool to New Orleans, April ' 21 N.. long. 43 W. The Mexican Packet, for Liverpool, April 2 3 lat. ,16 N., long. 51 W. The Agnes Taylor, Trinidad to Clyde, May 5, Bat. 44 144 long. 38 W. The Mary ° Russell, Falmouth to Melbourn e , Nov. % let. 15 N., 10n.% 25 W. The Francis Ridley, Melbourne to London, 'tab. 7, 111. 40 S., long. 142 E. The Fanny Ealer, Baltimore to Liverpool, Apr it 23, 58 N., long. 69 W. The Moul tan (ship), March 4, lat. 31 S., long. ti 7 E. The Derwent (barque), March 6, lat. 32 S., lon g 32 „ The Imaum, of Muscat, March 13, lat. 36 S., lo ng. 2 2 P . The Emelie (Swedish brig), March 15, lat. 34 S., foolP 14 E. The Anglia (three-masted schooner), April 13,, "lat. !a isr4 long. 24 W. The Randoll (brig), May 6, lat. 6 N., long. 22; W. _ COUNTRY MARKETS. LIVERPOOL, MAY 16. The Corn-exchange this morning was again r tumeroull attended by millers and dealers, who bough - t freely ° wheat and flour at double Friday's advance, paling tbe improvement on last Tuesday's prices 3d to 4d per bus] s_.,°` on wheat, 2s per bushel and sack on flour, an dls 6d 1r qr. on Indian corn. Oats, oatmeal, and other :trticles changed in value. IPSWICH—MAY 16. We get a lessened supply of whe kt every mar ket day hence it clearly shows that, as prices rule high, • the groi /. ers can have no stocks held back. All descri pt ions War! fully 2s per qr. higher, and in many instances 35,. SPri" coin but little on sale, and high prices made. PER. QUARTER. 1 P. ER QUABIIO6 Wheat, red (01d)... ,_ Us to 82s Barley, grinding ... ON to• () ° 6 Ditto (new) Ditto, white (new) 8 5s to 88s;Peas Ditto (old) ... 00s to ohs Ditto (white) Barley, malting ... 3s to 37s Flour, per sack AVERAGES FOR TUE WEEK ENDING MAY 16, IVA. Wheat , I;62quartees, at 80s 4tl Barley Oats Bears Peas HIILL-,MAT 16. There was a fair supply of wheat t;'0131 the f armers t day, which met a brisk sale at fully 2s over the ourrel I rates of last week. Foreig n i s t o 2 s per qr. de: trer. Fc t sprig corn full rates are paid. Indian corn more looks after. Linseed 'dull. A good demand for cakes ; also ft rapecakes. Bones quiet, but held firmly. 8 8 Wheat, English, red 8(1 to 8..1 Ditto white B4 to 87' Dantzic and Konigs berg Pomeranian and Ham - a. IL 'Peas, grey and black 45 to 4 [Linseed, Black Sea G 7 to Ditto Petersburgh atot Ditto Riga and Arch angel Ditto Konigsberg and Memel — to Per To 0. Lins. c., Hulllo/ 5s Od to 01 Of Ditto fine for. 81 lOs 91 15 e Ditto inf. for Ol Os Od to 010+ Rapeseed OOl Os to 001 01 Rape cakes .., 117 s tid , to 00s Tares, English.-- 008 to °Oh§ Ditto foreign 00s to OW Guano 4l 10s. 81 to 121 ill Bones l2ss 0 d to tiOk. Rye Meal burgh Danish, Holstein, and Friesland 7O to 74 Russian and Odessa 66 to 72 Oats, English Ditto Danish Ditto Friesland Ditto Russian 3O to 32 Barley, malting Ditto grinding 33 to 36 Beans Ditto foreign Peas, white and yel 5O to 54 COURSE OF EXCHANGIE—YEsTEED,LY. Amsterdam .. .... 11 14 1 ,‘ Gibraltar •• • ••• Ditto, three months .. 11 16 ..eghorn 30 5279 Rotterdam 11 161. i Genoa ................ 25 6 0 Antwerp .............. 28 22% Milan •. • • Brussels .............. 25 22 Venice ............ •• • • aamburgh ............ 13 5% Naples Altona .......• ••.. • ... Palermo • Paris •• • • 24 97% .vlessitia •.......... • Ditto, three months .. 25 30 , Lisbon Marseilles.......• • • .... 25 3234:0p0rt0 ............ • ... Bourdeaux I Rio Janeiro .. Franktort-on-Maine .... 118%1 Buenos Ayres Berlin . .............. New York, 60 days' sight Vienna •• • ... 13 40 Philadelphia ......... • 7, • Trieste ...• • •• 13 42 PRICES OF BULLION, 'En 0 "1 Petersburgh.......... • • Foreign Gold in Bars .Z3' 17 Madrid .... • ........... 5014 Portugal Gold Coin .. 0 0 .),/ Cadiz 50 1 4 Mexican Dollars 0 6 vw Barcelona...—. • New Dollars 0 0 Seville ••••••• • • • • • .• 411ver in bars .• •• .. 0 41, 127 53% SEABORNE MAILS. (N eignidea that the mails are sent from the General Post-0. 91 " by tha night—and AI by the morning—despatch.) ...... .•r Day when ma.i. n From wh.. W COUNTRIES in General Post- Port du , II; • Office, London.* Ms , . tche Enzl; tini• - - - America(byßrit.pacit)N Every Friday .. I.lverpool (Each I COI , ' America (by United Sts. packet) May 2 Liverpool IMay America (by U • States packet) ..........N April 25.. ..... • outbampton i Australia (via South. ampton) ..........'ml Stay 4 ....• . outhampton May 21 Ditto (via Marseilles) N May 8 . Ditto (via Cape of Good Hope) .. Africa ( West Coast)..N •t3d of the month . Plymooth April ; Alexandria.......... NB, 24, &30 01111 Dover „ A1exandr1a..........31 4th & 20th of mot,. Southanip!oh „ 19 Bahamas ........... St 17th of the mom Soutti , tripton May I Belgium Dover Daily Brazil ,9th of the month A..uttuni, on IMay Buenos Ayres ........ Iti l9th of the month. Southamp , on May 06 Cape of Good (lone ..N 14th 01 the malt Plymouth Cape of Good hope N ,14th of the month Southamotnn Cape de Verds N Il4th of tile moot. Southampton Ma rah 26 Ceylon (see India) Ceylon ..............N 14th of the moot April 26 Channel Isles ........ N Mon ~Wed.,&Frl, l Southam,fon T... 1 .• Chili. ... • ....... 51 2d & 17th 01 moat. S•outhamptot.May China (see India) Constantinople 7,8,17,24,&27 o' m Dwyer l Aprl3 30 Constantinople ........14th & 20th of mo South .Im/to •1 30 Cont. of Europe M & N Twice daily Dover Twit coda i v Egypt (see India) France ........ M & NlTwice daily Dover Gibraltar ..........M l 4, 7, 11, 20, 27 of it tiquttiamptot May 6 Greece (see India) Greytown .......... Mlnd & 17th of mon. Aoutnamot May flamburgh .......... N l Tuesday & Frlda , London ilavannah .......... m 2nd of the moat SOW hatnp of Juno 1 Holland ............ 54 Daily.... • • .... • Dover unite Honduras 111 , 17 th of the month. A...loony° May 16 India (vlaSout , lampt.)M 4th: 20th of nr. n. Flynt uth In•lia (via Marseilles) M Bth&2lth of mo .ti !toyer lonian Isles (see Ind a) 7, 1 7, & 27 of mon Dover 29 Ireland ........M & s .Twice daily 11.41.1 heel Twheedagi Li •hon ........ M 7. 9, 17, & 27 of m. Southamp,on May 16 Madeira ............M i9th of the month Southainp.on Mry 16 Madeira ............:v 23d of month Plymouth Malta (see India) Matta ............ ,N'7,17,19,27, 30 ofm. Dover April 2 9 Mauritius (see India) Mauritius of the month April 2 6 Mexico .... Naples .• , bthl s th2.sthormon Dover ...... May 2 New Granada ...... 11 2d & 17th of month Southampton, May I New Zeiland ....8y private skip .. Various p o rt l'nuertsin• Papal states •• • r 6 th I sth2r‘thoflnon. Dover ...• • • May 2 Peninsula • • • • • i7thl7th2Bthottnon. Southamptor May 6 Peru . ..... & 27th of mon Aouthampton May 1 Port Natal ..........Nll4th of the month 1 . 12, , m0uth ......N'sthlsth2hthotmon, Dover May 2 Tuscany ..........ysthlmh2sthonnon. Dover May 2 Venezuela M 2d& 17th of month southampton May 1 Van Diemen's Land (see' Au , tralia) • West Indies ........ M 2d ft !7th o month Southampton May 16 When any of these date, tall o f a ittmlay, the airily will b e despatched on the following dry. with the exception of the India VI 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, West, Mrs. James T. Berkley. OF A DAUGHTER. On the 11th inst., at Kingstown, Ireland, the wife of Lieutenant Blackett, of her Majesty's ship Cressy. On the 14th inst., at 7, Montague-street, Russell-squar e, the wife of Frederic J. Farre, MARRIED. On the 11th inst. at the Epis co p a l Ch a p e l, Elgin, N.B the Rev. Edward Seymour Stocker, Fellow of the Univer sity of Durham, to Jean Hamilton, eldest daughter of Sir Archibald Dunbar, Bart., of Northfield. On the 13th inst., at St. George's Hanover-square, Lord Bateman, to Agnes, youngest daughter of the late Genera-, Sir Edward Kerrison, Bart. DIED. On the 12th inst., at Eggesford, Devon, in the 6Stb year of her age, Catherine, Countess of Portsmouth, widow of the late Earl of Portsmouth, and sister of Earl Fortesoue• On the 15th inst., Sir Charles Wolseley, of Wolseley , in the county of Stafford, Bart., aged 41 years. On the 15th inst., at Brighton, the Hon. and Right Rev. Richard Bagot, Bishop of Bath and Wells, in his 72d year. : PuiAlslied b) ...IL U111)0 1:(.) of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, No. 11%, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the county of Middlesex ; Witineadon Ars 17,180. ITR. A: Includ TAD; EVENT: Saturday); and Stalls, 3s. (whit till 4; area, IS. VONSTI EGYPII have believed the matt as WI Lastern Corr On Virt li t ne , doe th ° other d, Eight._ Ad THE CC INDIA ( 'tat the rate Bill on, Bengal lurtler novice, B°ll4lY LIFE 42 TIIE AC Capital, t ransac.4d. LO) °0 aPPlt•Atton t AL. Empowe COLONEL E M PWI Every desert Wlthout Partie 1, Prlncee•el • , • E . r 4 T CLERK'S MI followlfig cans W. H.! 11. W. S R. W. G., t( lE. A. G 15, Moorgat ..........._____ pßovi In conseouel Beeretary to t lette rs and off 1 5. moorgat E A b letu7eY desci ..ran ce Ha remitting One-half of P° l lcY'hold, Annuitte,a gra etdow ments. Pcylcies ini Ito charge 11. oneY reci Active Agl agricultural t APPIy by 1 tespectabilit) e°l4 Tri&er Depa r THE eld Ireland, 0 Ina ant, at eon s a& ma 3 her 34 IRa rem System. : dleat " "° eo of Yagt lathe gre llnf 'rtUna evit ab , e 4ra aPart Titt E , *ittlou' t Boldi n I 'ar at lfph 150,'„"°. L. 4,t th , .„helr ;toter) BRIT z~ Privi th t , PALE Whe hay ON T 1 INF Just F S. na gs ori g i n 0 ,11)3w beta tri nz , __lnn, lequc 'hit hood ()th e , Dart' their the' lath