The Sun. — London, England, 1850-05-17 00:00:00

U. ; (rho advocated• t he opr' P ayers f rbe themselves. itle ; for the _I: I louses, and 11° ,. roduction of fro , ' de of proceda )f such s Bi ll b t i f iry Corniniiie v fetc h e r indis cree t r i, len , fit his Co l3 ' l . t r did not cool v .., —(Lsug ht " ) p e. the co; neet the further co p l ace s other tubreee ea , by the Le 3 t . shou ld not be e ear.) Pd• rid of the ern e o f previous stag! , in order alio j$ idered. anion was agr eed mmitted. ED DO A bit, prese nted bY V or tley, fo a nd itbgow, AYe. dignature4 ited by end r R. Ingtrio, om Du ` e nd be Bill) ---81) l g a Gentleman 7.„5 signed by ,;,, 7 viewed withebo of the Bi ll ; f ' sti , c ry feeling eexis which O ff o te Inds, and eat re' v. assingly o frogi , bear, heaN for ye t h e cluor t dis t imenduien - ' O O4 da si l 113 oos , ,nd y moors or co more than ii r experiee"" and leartue6o, e undert9kenoto i.) 110 o d ! i ibd ur of the B,! 110 f lieved th e I ; 0 1. o af, most 11 151e1 0 ,0e of Ireland oin to equ. d tbi • [e repeate d stor I• he W eil/ O v- Acio l r, but 5 9 - ore' :hievoue 1 5 : vo , Aeration of ( indmeatCO°--, appearet -40 ••• 2 - g i , c orn row I to' s heretofo r e l P o o be deviled t the w arriv ed at to with deli re°o` I when , t 5 r to d it , hoote /e to .. 4 9 his objee tw ogbt of waive h it oicli ire stager t hi ear , bear. ) f t he ular part ° f the deratioa ° e ito roposed lay s r• hetber a ll s ieco ife's sister t riC ss and dile lied tr.) And abl e ie law de s r ir d s to 1 of the w ° ' t the imitted t b , the riolatiou O f 1 tto be 51 35 `, • )ted exe e Pihere r, hear.) r she erfering ° D oti notated th e at .o o f other r o tor Th e quell," s who hie. 0 00 1 wives' Ig oe nce or jot s of plated what be the reP a tite of those P e c os' is ranoit. 1 9 1 Ipendix, „ ti o' le that 0 / 1 obligat i° chester light no t 01 : 0 4 3, if not °Pt the ace in w hic Act in ctrc re' Re might 701 0 t think tbt pat et; ion. Ge l3 llo the pro b ta tb° I by suit — O O ol before tbe court s eat' jis and ree de .. r iate li e the o ( 7e t ocent 011 ' io i ca l coar t° 01 , trriagee b 0 were ,01 „itf green of 0 0 0 ;; 5 0 , IA not th ore )a rtiea to Il cit 'bert fe of th e r ise ul the ols c oo individtlsl ler the Legts pen to it• coon t, Dose be co t, 0 0 to a the Oe t k eb• as a rew er p hat AA fr o 0 0 e tl "„„ t ignoran t t fe r e sof as, tha ibited (1 . 0 ,11, old be ll 'efor e ' ' one, tber. Ise! . 4 1 ,e otr• had 000tirot partieeL re, terfero ° J o ring tho-datiO h all tbe got!, trriages• to ~fere • A t We' oa tb l ibor for ocl ° the gri°,l3e 00 a o f y leg o—t r tbeY be t The Du ° (I I P aCed e z e fito hi 9 a , but - t- , ';',d r er iwa"' " • oh o bo h those I / 0 9 • goo, t the ▪by 001 f this t tle ba fel t Id Po woe should be f 1:13; g been 0 r s wftil., l e git e r i ng toe m art P".gl ore 0 f a an d bie o ' . o l?: OW s e re k art s ' r p ut tut.; p oi ;0 lawfa"i a d td ries e aPY - ' bi bit) o P r fo r, t . been pli troob le " t ai onsis tela uld I rf aws oho d violat:00! righ t° ,,,t $ es of tc t he) ore e s • i lstie l ; irect oaf 006 se to oef ro' o mod e g felt I he fe lt snderilj' # th .s f th at le/ 4 in — a side s .3 , D tb the ,t r 01l k • - div itte s ; Deo- . 0 t wen t he barliv st et , 4 de g / c i ft n eer' r Dol t" hi most s° l;hat rest ili f A the s ca aoo Ls . 11°11. tbs g that t he 3 g. o le f t i aciP . 0 0 to IN' t he h ved J be er gots . 00 0 g nor- r • • 0 those Ws be 00 ; a t the 10 ce a k' P L the Ptith D O O henc e 0 , %Dt to bo OW be AO; BY the tht/ vithalt 75,„ sea t r,, ; partits of gu alat , se , ; lAA 1,4 tot • AL - 'l l le a - Mors had contracted marriages, and in the year Act had b een passed which rendered such mar t thet • both psst and future, perfectly valid. The clauses Last 4 . et had been framed by the greatest lawyers of d'rd in dealing with the ease thee under the coriti ther!lit:ti)oerreiafatthe Committee, he (Mr. S. Wortley) a y copied those clauses into the present 13i11.—(Hear, Was, therefore, a precedent completely in t tt , tl ,Pcm that occasion. But he believed that a prom- I N , 'Hen also be found in the Act of 1835, for what -404 a s tieu lPt might b e made to mystify the opera i;tCl that Act, there could be no doubt but 4.'41 eff ec t had been to render valid mar °t that of that sort contracted before the passing te tt Measure. Mr. Sergeant Manning, one of the . o b b,_ earned gentleman at the bar, had expresse . d h . l that there wasgreat harshness and injustice in higtrtent state of the g law upon that subject. (The titrnottourable and LearneGentleman here read au 1 4.7 f rom an article in the Law Magazine, written by )ergbeant Manning, in confirmation of this state -41. I min; Honourable and Learned Friend the Mem 65ek" Abingdon (Sir F. Thesiger) had said that every }itt•iltetd been aware of the pas - sing of the Act of 1835. t hst h e"'old assure his Honourable and Learned Friend 4 hay Wm mistaken upon that point. There were „, tr llpiW ts ° o 3 who had contracted those marriages in f ° ignorance of the passing of the Act of 1835.. tll e 4 °4 Was that, that measure had been introduced in lai te a at um of Lords in the month of July, and had ii° 4 2thr()ll gil the Commons with little or no discus- ltoti p t a Period when there were very few or no legal , s es ee ' ll°44 in town. It had been enacted in perfect 4 d , e heir .regar.ded the great body of the people. of .held la his hand a letter from a gentleman hb 841t ion, and a very near connexion of one d th at d istinguished Members of that House, and tad 1 „, at letter he found that that gentleman had mar pe,,t"ta d.eceased wife's sister in compliance with a re 41emtr h • had been made by the first wife herself. b (l sea 9 a ge had taken place on the Ist of September, h utt lt the P art i es ha gone on the ordinary tour; `e r t it r return of the gentleman he had learned for t he arse that an Act had received the Royalasseu klered! In vat ef l august, by which s uch marriages had been and which placed him in the necessity tath e l l C itl.a state of eoacubinage. It appeared that the f th 'l tt an queetion had not been in any way aware h. Ite ldiz of 435 at the period of its passing, hctwit . t k ile Peculiar and very respectable position in a l det t Leh - tA eu 'ld been placed. It was true that Mr. Tyler Nttl t i r ,''' that he did not know of lany marriages of I ,h e c h m; but it was also true that that gentlemen:s feel%tor 4chwarden was married to hiw deceased wife s fe e tlt C ot very time. Other witnesses , examined that th e be°tunaissioners who had inquired into • of I l e e xpressed their belief' that the pass 'Orel Act of Lord Lyndhurst . was not nn known , and more especially among tl the clas ses . clas ses . It furt h er appeare d th a t recent decision in the Court of Queen's Bench, mt hly tiikare entertainedthis country as to the inva itla ba (3- r t "aa marri g in and Mr. Justic e Erle,"a short !otcore his elev e ati e o s n , to the bench, had given it as ttairez4"ril th at they were legal, notwithstanding the trertlly `he Act of 1835. A belief prevailed still more ( 1 , 41 at these marriages might be legally con tt Sc at and persons placed in these =cum -I'4se.o• uati actually' gone from England and Ireland to 1° 1 , 1 (4 tint . l7 . in order to avail themselves of that sup -I.:Ritttireet-;ll.tage. The Scottish judge Lord Macqueen " as his opinion that those marriages were i iteL l e - t e r eo gaud. But his Hon. and Le trned Friend the e ° I 4r Abingdon had proposed a a amendment in t 1 / 4 44 4t s se. N ° h twould be the effect of tha 1 . ' 4 oc tal ci l p -ri ti t ? firs Hon, • Learned :Friend proposed i 't marriages of that description should co_n 41Ptitl'alid, while all future marriages of the same de- 0 4 iv r 4l4 th. erfectly legal. Bixt the only effect t 7.L4 amendment would be to give a means ot ;1; 1 . 14° 4 Parente , who were . the offending parties, I ldrs e °old withhold any relief from their innocent th e,,„'",(lfear, hear.) He thought th at that statement L ' i. th e 4 ;"go to induce the committee to refuse its assent 7,, t e 11-,lll,eodneent. He should, therebre, only further It h'a t t e - allele an amendment would be at variance ,hveY principle of the Bill, lie repeated that hZ e t a.- ; 1: ,' as it ten stood would afford very material l i „ -- ; a r,ge class throughout the country, and f he nt,r„stoe Committee would not refuse that relief. ,h114,--` 410MPSON said he believed he could affor h' t l'a - ,. 111 d Lear ed Member for Abingdon (Sir F. L t At eet i `e-i a preced e ent, or at least a ease in point, upon hid le - i ll/ h i t ". In the days of Roman Catholic domins chtmidtinountr the marriages of priests were p.re eitaae be g the ' reign of Edward VI. that prohibi ae ( 1, 1 ye removed, and had after, rards been revived B ,Ui . Queen Mary, of unhapp_e memory. Now, e l i gh tu e reign of that Sovereign clergymen y. had h • te t e ° Per tona arry, would it be unreasonable t at e l Mee ages should be declared valid in the reign of tik tt Mor e ee e dia g Sovereign, Elizabeth ? He could not, at h t ad .•'lt, undertake to say that they had been . de : •cluituß ;(1, although he was inclined to think that they • case he feltpersuaded that such a pro se Lei tei only be just and reasonable. But the Otioe ey ' ch it Was proposed they should . take upon that 18 4 bat 41 One of a precisely smolex character._ It 14,ki Sr. fair that a remedy for an evil should go along r, P e p. 4B , v iire for preventing its future occurrence. thg - .Lei said he wished to state, as a . Dissenter, be eN",tteat mass of the religious body to which he e 4 ?d in favour of the measure then under their k tit i}444 ,,,..‘,44tditehkr:,ii andh believed he might fairly claim for credit e of not being lessreou e s e o a r rn m e o st r l a y l I,Nitt i °l ust' portion of the community. 7ta lle th eY would not refuse to pass that measure, ts,7l.tr would xy ; v br e ,r d_ ei i i t gion. afford great relief to. man3.7suffer ltis,,kailie. • , - • any principle of justice s ale without violating lrt o f:,:ultai said it was admitted on the face of the Z" :4°11 et the Commissioners that almost the endtiyreopfopthue illje.t4tiand and Scotland, and a large tetht t uts country, were against the m b e e as i u f re ou no o w o t ;es, ,b to be introduced; and on this ground, the benefit I ,7 alight protest against legislating for human 14 . i) i e r ! N l ° , either in i norance or contempt for . t4 e - t e v li tl gi o r had conntgdraeltoendgt-hoheseeriushneiodnsseinntidn:sepnittse ofof gr eat feelings a tp ei tind uuY of the people of the United Kingdom. t td tha according to the report, the Presbyterians i`te A stabhshei Church and the y atit. ee;,ll Scotland the clergy, were again th e laity ofthe Unitt.clKingdom divers opinions vei l: t e r '' , out the missioners thought that the pre `lN 'ring s m ag m ainst these marriages. It could not ti t ration t t he people had not had ample time for con- Member stake his repute el: fo r teeti W ra ould anyH a o s Y on the u sertion that the majority of Lt:l'll4l°Pble We re e infavour of the Bill? With regard t to iZtabr,b"%eould state that amongst the members of b h c'aies i-e u Church, the Roman Catholics, and Pres tya ,'''!igtt-iwith whom he was acquainted, there was no ldual favourable; out, on the contrary, all . s ti tie lv a -°lll had communicated were adverse tJ its ell 6 a Beside s this they had the concurrent testimony 1 1 1 pr' tia tinti churches and also of the Jews, against to - Qiple of the Bill. The question before them, ao h jti ler i ' was whether they should legislate retro sietllfireetf ; Lod the e is had .. been advocated as a boon What did the commis -145 t 4a " They P sa e i o d that with regard to marriages I ,, L •set i at b i e d since Lord Lyndhurst's Act very few had 4:th e n •4c 2 among the poorer classes. What an E . ' . anl" %4 1 ; would they be setting to the community if, be- O . 1„ 8 "s the better ranks of Hs had violated the :4 81 a ~ of man that which was believed by the ma h-"tleat; 'e the law ' of God, they took away the conse e,liiirecli,r3sth?eir iminalit because they belonged to the . Legislate y es they might this mischief Le t t rcia in, that they would never be able to make h t Marriages in the eves of the great body would it, t t ' to t) t ir e . : of the United Kingdom, and the result wou a u nfie the whole harmony of society.. Upon 11 '44 bads he had not the slightest hesitation in sup ditr, amendment. e°OIiBURN assumed that they were all agreed lo lt ~e of the a estion n the supposition that the prin k and Bill they had been adopted on the second read --tey were only called on at the present moment t P 4rteti, - , W _nether it should have a retrospective and re tk et k i operation. Why should it . not ? The Honour t• lre tt •I4e4 rned Member for Abingdon, adv th er a t t in t g be t y o Illeotaeat urged in its favour —namely, e tc` t-Jotect innocentchildren from the conse (l4l..eeato;lll:_,ir 8 Pelats' sconduct, pointed to the o to r you,'.,z,such a doctrine would lead. It would tl l4 . l lilz ed A said, to sanctio . n . marriages within the was, lk• it degree sof consanguinity. His answer se would Whatever might be of leek d o no such thing. , r aa 13 ,0 of compassion for the children, the feelings . - dati such But this was 4 tally revolted against unions. Dare di revolted case. They were here dealing with klilscitttoulivr..ic.l,ass. of . m . arriages, which they had deter- Why not, then, for t tiSt? eAt i m e ta k e f e m. the future.iScotland a man might t t a 4 0 Z i age at Ytheuenwd that• h life legitimise the fruits g,fencubinical intercourse, and defeat the ex . pee ti t • 4 tEf a ° ,' those who would have otherwise inherited. ropo lop. e Was not altogether so monstrous p kp! operP!h,,e question was whether they sh_o_u 3 ld . extend 4* th *"° !‘ of the Bill as far back as 18 5 They C) 111 " I ' 4 in 1 835, when Sir W. Follett urged the 1 4 ° to a )1 4 Stea 4m oln the measure then before them, it was tube the I%aff_secsat of o argument against it, that it would altogether altering the law on the l td sill I ; 4 ' a nswer was th a t the principal object of t 4 aheadas to secur e th e va lidi ty o f marriages which tiittl42,6,ty take n p l ace, and that as regarded the le 'a , was not to be regarded as conclusive. Z ttl ata - 1 4 ` time parties had taken the opinions of Otsee-t le in the law, and marriages had been s' 4l be en in accordance with those opinions. They th t ,%ra t ti ml t°ll4 that . if they went abroad, to Denmark . th e y w ent Y for instance, and some had even sa . id ,, if wool Scotland and contracted such marna,..e , IL. lea, he legal, and they had acted on that advice. ( T e tt ..it;h w ie t il L at , the Lo rd 9 Advocate in his evidence stated eo ',Mtf e i „,...Ilignaen . t the law in Scotland . was extremely 0. 4 44 1 u41 e subject. Scores of marriages had been k 4" uPon that foundation. Discuss the question . tee that r moral grounds if they pleased, but to as lql4l th • to • e ei ,, th e Church.arriages were contrary Divine law, tne,!itself was divided on the subject, was enstrous. The Dissenters of the country him th e pr r ." l a on tl a subject. But he would not enter of flat th e I "'P le of the measure. It mattered not to Qhurtlesent moment what might be the opinions th te _ th, e . ? or the Dissenting communities. He as isb't r;_tan.? Principle had already been adopted, and s to llid t a l e moon to be considered was, whether they w ' th e 3 ' it to marriages contracted between 1835 h lta the ho e n s . " ,t tiin e. His objection to the amendment N e d , not Learned Member for Abingdon was 1 1:) 4* told Gallant°on the precedents alluded to by the ee Member for Bradford and the Right to 4t ata t i• -ftr ued Member for Bute, but on the distinct be 11 t ug ente red • Iti rtyiew., ere,. into in 1835 that the matter . was ' t ea it 1 . 3 y the Legislature. Under such circum na vain to prohibit such marriages, for peoilib,tese egsinet tee i n etincts 1 of human nature when they acted in unison with that which men in their consciences believed to be teamtioned by Divine law.—(Hear.) Mr. P. WOOD said he would not bo tempted into any argument upon the principle of the Bill, but as the Right Hon. and Learned Member for Bute had made a pointed allusion to a statement of his, involving a matter of fact, the Committee would, perhaps, allow him to occupy th , it attention for a few minutes. He had said that it was a monstrous fallacy to suppose that the poor were in any way interested in this question. That there were one or two rich men deeply interested in it he well knew. (Hear, hear.) He stated that there were in the parishes of St. Margaret and St. John 20,000 or 30.000 poor. Hud he been speaking of the entire parish, he would have stated the number at 60,000. He said he had taken pains to obtain his information from persons in the habit of mixing among the poor—namely, those employed in distributing charity, which again showed that he was speaking of the poor only, and that he had only been able to discover one case. The Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman now stated that there were twenty-one cases in the parish of marriages of all classes. Mr. S. WORTLEY—SmaII shopkeepers and artisans. Mr. P. WOOD—Small shopkeepers were a very wide class. Persons who distributed charity did not go amongst small shopkeepers. But they were not the poor. —.(Hear, hear.) The commissioners estimated the number of these marriages at 1,500, of which there were only forty among the poor, by whom he meant labourers and mechanics. That was about 1-35th of the whole. Now if he took a 35th of these twenty-one cases it would not give one. He knew some rich men, one he knew very well, who was continually putting advertise ments in the newspapers and printing pamphlets on this subject, and who had sent him the Times containing the advertisement, and afterwards an exact copy of it, printed on a very handsome sheet of paper, stating that a person who had been employed by the Church Mis sionary Society to visit the poor had found three other cases. On inquiry, however, it turned out that he could not recollect any of their names. Still if he had, four amongst 30,000 was not so large a number. But he had received a letter from a clergyman in the Potteries, stating that he knew a great many such cases, and that he had married one couple himself. His answer was, that he was sorry to hear that he had married people under such circumstances ; and that with regard to the other cases, he should be much obliged if he would furnish him with the names; but he had never heard from him since. —(Hear, hear.) All this confirmed him in his view. The fact was that the case very seldom happened among the poor, because they all married so young that it seldom happened that, when the wife died, any of her sisters were to be found unmarried. He was surprised to hear the Hon. and Gallant Member for Bradford justify this ex post facto clause, because a number of excellent people had found it right to break an immoral and mischievous law, considering that it had been the law from the time of the Heptarchy to the year 1835. It was said the law was necessary to protect innocent children; but the Hon. and Gallant Colonel refused last year to protect the innocent fruits of mar riages with the deceased wife's niece. But, look at the preposterous nature of the clause, speaking of it as a matter of conscience. If a man had married his wife's sister, and had not committed the second immorality of deserting her and marrying another woman, the mar riage was good and the children legitimate; but if he deserted her and married another, the marriage was illegal.—(Hear.) Another absurdity was involved in the 4th clause, which while it legitimatised the fruits of such marriages, made a reservation of estates and titles of honour vested before the passing of the Aet, which were not to be thereby displaced, so that a man might find himself legitimate, but at the same time might see his younger brother a baronet or a peer. Mr. R. PALMER said the question before the Com mittee involved a principle of very great importance. The question was whether they would or would not accede to the views which were, at least, implied in the amendment— namely, that they would recognise the right of the subjects of the nation to say that the duty of obedience to the statute law in cases of marriage was limited by the extent to which the conscience of the individual recognised that law as binding upon him by a higher sanction than their Act of Parliament? The principle involved was, he repeated, of the greatest im portance; and if they acceded to what was now propose I they would be holding out a premium to disobedience, and pointing out a way to get rid of restraint. It was telling them that the way to make their children legiti mate was to disobey the law. Let them only get up an agitation, get lawyers to take up the mat er, send gentlemen round the country to collect evidence, newspapers to comment on their pro ceedings and discuss the question, and then— not upon grounds of theology, but of expediency— they would induce the Parliament to alter the law—th e y would get Parliament to say that there was no obliga tion to obey the law while it existed. With regard to the observation of the Hon. and Learned Member for Southampton, that a doubt existed us to whether those marriages were valid after the passing of Lord Lynd hurst's Act, he totally denied that any doubt existed. It was true that there were lawyers to be found in the country who were ready to give any opinion you wish upon any question.—(Great cheering and laughter.) He would tell them how—let them seek the man whom they thought would give the opinion they wished for, or let them go to a man of little experience or practice in the law; or let them consult one of the men employed to collect evidence; or state their case clearly and send it to a man who had not time to consider it carefully.— (Oh!) He could refer to the case of one of the most honest and upright judges on the bench, who gave an opinion one way, and afterwards—in a judgment deli vered from the bench when he had carefully considered the law of the case—gave his opinion the contrary way. Mr. BOUVERIE having given a vote against going into Committee, and been defeated, considered the prin ciple of the Bill had now been affirmed, and that it would ultimately pass. With regard to the amendment 'before the Committee, he bad no doubt whatever as to the vote ha was about to give. He should support the clause as it stood, because hero was a class of persons who were themselves perfectly innocent, and to whom a simple act of justice was being done by the present measure. Mr. DRUMMOND did not agree with the Hon. Gen tleman who had last spoken, that the Bill must pass as a matter of course. He could not understand that system of legislation which declared a thing contrary to the law of God at one time, and in accordanc3 Nitta it at another time. He regetted that those Hon. Members who dis approved of the Bill had meddled with it at all in Com mittee. .He did not admit that it would pass. For bis part he should divide the House against the third read ing, and would make use of every advantage in his power to destroy the Bill in Committee if he could. At the same time he could not see how they could refuse to legitimatise those children. The Church, so long as it could express an opinion, was unanimous in condemning those marriages. His belief was that, looking at the fact that the whole people of Scotland was violently opposed to it, seeing that the great mass of the people of that country were opposed to it—(No, no) —he confessed that his belief was that if the Dissenters supported the present measure, it was because they thought that it would give another stab to the authority of the Church, and that it was more upon that ground than any other that it received the sanction of the Dissenting body. Mr. HEALD bad supported the Bill in all stages, be lieving that it was a measure of sound and wise legisla tion. He was satisfied that marriages of that kind had taken place for years past to a very great extent, and adopting the principle that those marriages were not prohibited by the law of God, he thought they would not refuse to extend the advantages of the Bill to that innocent portion of her Majesty's subjects specially con templated by the clause under discussion. Mr. ANSTEY said whatever opinion the Church of Scotland had pronounced with regard to the measure, the recent decision in the case of Gorham and the Bishop of Exeter showed them that the Church of England had no leading authority or organ by which to convey her opinions upon matters of discipline or doctrine. As to the Church of Rome, her teaching was pretty clear on the subject, and was indicated by the evidence given before a Censtnittee of that House. It appeared that the genius of the people of Ireland was against such marriages; but in England and in other countries, where the Roman Catholic religion obtained, these marriages were common; and Dr. Wiseman had declared that he had granted the usual dispensation in hundreds and hundreds of cases during the brief period that he had acted as vicar apostolic of the London dis trict. The Hon. Member for Surrey had repeated the word "dispensation;" but he was too good a canonist end too good a theologian not to know that there could be no dispensation of a prohibition of ,the law of God, but only of prohibitions of the law of the Church. As regarded the social bearing of the question, he would mention one fact. In the north of England a marriage took place since the passing of the Act of William IV. The man had married the sister of his deceased wife. By his first wife he had no children. By the second he had a large family, who were pronounced by the law to be illegitimate. If the father should die intestate the crown would become entitled to his large property. Colonel THOMPSON—Was be a Roman Catholic ? Mr. ANSTEY said he was. He was in favour of the clause as it stood, which gave the Bill a retrospective character, and would consequently provide a remedy for the case to which he had just referred. Mr. MULLINGS would ask the Committee, whether they had considered the rights of other children in re mainder ?—(Hear, hear.) Was a brother to be de prived of his rights in remainder by the circumstance of his elder brother having married his deceased wile's sis ter by whom alone he had children, who would be de clared legitimate if this Bill were to have a retrospective operation? The Committee then divided, when there appeared— For the original clause 111 Against it .., ~„ 68 Majority against the amendment —43 The clause was then agreed to. On clause 3 being proposed, Mr. R. PALMER took occasion to comment upon the weakness of the Bill, by the language of this clause. The proviso, in effect, took away the supposed benefit of the measure from a person who had committed adultery with his wife's silt r, and who had been convicted of the offence during his lifetime. This qualification of a con viction by a court deprived the measure of any reme dial power in respect to the particular offence referred to. He wanted to know how this proviso could operate in the great multitude of cases which arose amongst the poorer classes of society. Why, to such persons the law of divorce was practically a dead letter. This clause stands as a warning against the consequences that were likely to follow from this measure. Since the Bill hal been before under their consideration a case of this kind came before their courts. A man and a woman were both recently executed in Cambridge for the murder of the wife of the man, who was also the sister of the woman. This murder was occasioned by an im proper intimacy of this description. If they destroyed THE SUN, LONDON, that reelieas whicis the Irrir fl! , it at ^,•res . e iea a a to create, fancy mould in a measure encourage the, illicit, connexions. anti this sentence of this court would be no security against such offences.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. F. el AULE then ruse to move a proviso to pre vent this Bill extending to Scotland. His original inten tion was to rut this proviso exactly in the same words as it stood in the Act of 1835, from the operation of which Act Scotland was entirely exempt. He could not un derstand upon what grounds a country, which was not only opposed to such marriages as were here considered, but in which those marriages were not even stated to exist, should be included in this Bill—and why a law was to be forced on Scotland, against which the whole people were repugnant, was to him a complete mystery. He trusted that the House, especially those Hon. Members who professed great regard for the opi nions of the people cf Scotland, would not stand calmly by and see these opinions entirely set at nought. In the Committees that were appointed to inquire into this subject there was not a single clergyman of the Presby terian denomination in Scotland found to give evidence in favour of the measure who had the smallest weight with the body of the people, The only Presbyterian clergyman examined was one from Dublin, who stated that these marriages did not exist in Ireland. Meetings had been held in Scotland to oppose the Bill, particularly a very large one in Edinburgh, which was intruded upon by a paid agent of the supporters of this Bill. The fact of this person not being permitted to move a resolution in favour of the measure, did not, make that meeting one whit less public. There was a committee formed against the Bill, and that committee was composed of ministers of the Church of Scotland and ministers of other persuasions, and in that committee there were various other parsons. This showed a public feeling had existed against the Bill. He might also refer to the petition presented by him that day, and signed by 6,800 of the most respectable females of Edinburgh, who declared that they regarded the Bill as one calculated to destroy the whole fabric of society. In Glasgow there had been a meeting against the Bill; a petition had been presented from Glasgow in favour of the Bill, but it was a petition that did not emanate from a public meeting. It was a petition got up by the same paid agent who had endeavoured to disturb the public meeting at Edinburgh, and who sought to get up one at Glasgow, red failed. Such a measure was opposed to the feeling of Scotland, and it was contrary to the Confession of Faith which was so conformable to the feelings of the Presbyte rians, who, whatever divisions existed amongst them, always adhered to that Confession of Faith. By it they found it declared that no man might marry a nearer connexion of his wife than he could of his own. Now he distinctly denied that he had ever given up the re ligious objections to this measure. The marriage law of Scotland might be objected to. It was a law which enabled a man, on his death-bed, to legitimatise the children of his concubine. It was a law that led to the destruction of female virtue, and he had done his best to rescind it. If the law were extended to Scotland it would be but additional means for enabling the people to stray from the paths of virtue; and, God knew, they were bad enough already. Let them keep temptation out of the way of the people, and then they would not be accountable for their sins. He would have been glad if the Bill had been thrown off the table; and if he could not destroy the Bill as a general measure, yet he entreated them not to enforce it upon a nation that re pudiated it. If they did so, they would gain a victory that would be little creditable to the combined Parlia ment, and it would inflict a great misery upon the people. Mr. OSWALD seconded with great pleasure the proviso of the Right Hon. Member, as it embodied the feeling of nearly the whole of the people of Scotland. That feeling, too, was exhibited by 255 petitions, signed by 14,000 persons; whilst in favour of it there was but one petition, with one signature. He left, then, the House to infer from that fact the feeling of the people of Scotland upon the subject. Mr. J. S. W ORTLEY admitted, that if he took a course that would be most agreeable to his own feelings, it would be at once to assent to the course proposed by the Right Hon. Gentleman. He was bound to admit that the measure was repugnant to the feelings of the people of Scotland, and that a very large portion of his own constituents had expressed their disapprobation, and had even remonstrated with him upon it. He was, however, influenced by the opinions of those he was bound to respect, induced to say that it would be unwise to make any exception. He would lose his own esteem, and that of his, constituents, if he was to yield against his own judgment.—(Hear, hear.) He felt bound to carry out the principle to which he stood pledged, and he would not shrink from his dray. (Hear, hear.) It had been said that no minister of Scot land had been examined before the Committee. The Lord Advocate and himself were members of that Committee, and they were enabled to state that the people of Scotland were opposed to the marriage of a wife's sister. He confessed he was astonished at the difference of opinion among the Scotch people on the subject. The Right Hon. Gentleman said there had been a public meeting in. Edinburgh against the Bill; but the Lord Provost had ordered the police to remove the advocates of the measure. This produced a reaction, and a public meeting was held next day in reality in sup port of it, which was largely attended. The Hon. Mem ber for Edinburgh had presented a petition from 6,800 inhabitants in its favour also; and Linlithgow met and petitioned in its favour likewise. In the county of Ayr there was a very great division of opinion also on the subject. What was the reason for extending the Bill to Scotland? It had been truly stated that the law of mar riage in Scotland was differeat from that of England; it was a difference to be deplored; but the Bill would in some sort amend it. If the Bill was not applied to Scot land it would aggravate the difference that existed be tween the marriage law of the two countries. Ho believed, however, that the aversion to the description of marriage in question was so great in Scotland that few persons contracted them; but then many parties from England crossed the border to have them celebrated in that country. In the Confession of Faith drawn up by John Knox there was not a word of this prohibition; while in a contemporaneous statute only those marriages were specified which were contrary to the Word of God. When the Confession of Faith of Westminster was adopted by Scot land, a statue was passed in. 1645 setting forth the prohibited degrees; but that was repealed at the Resto ration, and never re-enacted. He held in his hand the opinion of the procurator of the Scotch Church in Scot land, in favour of the principle of the BI11; and the Lord Chief Justice Clerk was also of the same opinion. These were the grounds on which he applied the 13111 to Scotland. By its provisions the law of the Church of Scotland was left intact, the confessions of faith and dis cipline of that Chnrch were untouched, and would stand as binding if the Bill passed as they did at present. Any injury to the religious people of Scotland was therefore out of the question; and he (Mr. J. S. Wortley) would sooner cut his right hand off than do any violence to their feelings in that or any other matter. Mr. COWAN would give the measure the most strenuous opposition in his power. The 18th chapter of Leviticus clearly established, to his mind, that these marriages were contrary to the Word of God. What was addressed to the man was ad dressed to the woman in the 16th verse; and in the 17th verse, that view was borne out on the ground of affinity. The social results of the Bill would be most dangerous and disastrous to the morality of Scotland; arid he could not comprehend the policy of excluding, the wife's niece and including her sister—ex cept on the principle of straining at a gnat and swallow ing a camel. He felt perfectly convinced that the mind of Scotland was unanimous against these marriages. Ho (Mr. Cowan) had seen in one of the morning news papers a report of the speech of the Right Hon. Gen tleman, that the Confession of Faith of Scotland was the offspring of fanaticism. This he (Mr. Cowan) denied, and, on the contrary, looked upon it as one of the most splendid monuments of Scottish piety left to the people by men of whom the world was not worthy.— (Hear, hear.) He considered it would be wrong to press the question against the feeling of the women bf this country. Mr. J. S. WORTLEY denied having designated the Confession of Faith as the .ffspring of fanaticism and rebellion; he only meant it was a loptel in a time of re bellion when fanaticism pr&vailed; on the contrary, he believed it to bo a noble monument of the piety of Scot land. Sir F. THESIGER called attention to an advertise ment in the limes newspaper, signed " A Lover of Con sistency," referring to an article in the Low Reviev, said to be written by Sergeant Manning, stating that in Scotland a bastard could marry his halt sister, or even his whole sister. If this was the case then the Scotch, in respect to the Bill, were straining at a gnat and swal lowing a camel—aye, and even a dromedary, too. He wished to know of the Learned Lord Advocate whether there was any ground for this assertion of Sergeant Manning that the law of Scotland was in such a state, and if the fact was not that, in respect to marriage, ille gitimate relations stood on the same footing as legiti mate relations? The LORD ADVOCATE, in reply, said that the Honourable and Learned Gentleman could not be so little read in the law of his own country, or in that of Scotland, as not to know that this bad always been a question of difficulty to determine. With respect to the criminal law of Scotland, he believed there were one or two instances in which the marriage of illegitimate re lations had been visited with punishment in the courts of law. But nobody would now pretend to say that the crime of incest could be charged against a per son who was alleged to have committed it with a Woman with whom he had only a bastard relation ship. And Sir W. Moncrieff was of opinion that such a marriage was lawful, according to his construction of the 18th chapter of Leviticus, and according to the law of Scotland. As to exempting Scotland from the Bill, if the measure was passed for one country, as a matter of necessity it ought to pass for the other ; and it appeared to him utterly indefensible to say that they should think it good for one country and not for the other. Mr. ROEBUCK said the people of Scotland were al most unanimously opposed to the alteration, and Par liament was asked to alter the law merely to save those who had broken the law. If the Bill should come into operation, its effect would be to sow dissensions, jea lousies, and hatreds in families. Mr. COCKBURN said that, according to the autho rity of the Secretary at War, marriage with a deceased wife's sister was utterly unknown in Scotland, and the necessity for ex►.ending it to that country was, if pos sible, to prevent conflict between the law of Scotland and the law of England upon the subject. He knew a case of a man who had been regularly divorced according to the Scotch law. He came to England and married again. He was tried for bigamy, and sentenced to transportation for seven years. Cases were constantly arising out of the state of law in Scotland, and no lawyer would venture to give an opinion as to the validity of either marriages or divorce, iu Scotland, under some circumstances. It was of the greatest importance that the laws should be assimilated between the two coun !,r.fn ;!,-• - c ,v,ru 4,1v0i.50 Lu 61! se s; i plain they would no: take place in Scotland, and therefore no fears need be entertained of extending the law to Scot land. Sir G. CLERK would state what was the universal opinion of the fouling iof the people of Scotland. The feeling against the Bill %,%a almost universal. He would ask the House on what grounds they were going to extend a Bill to Scotland so abhorrent to the Scottish people's feelings? HQ was favourable' to a , similating the laws of Scotland and EnOund, but here they were met by a higher feeling. The people of Scotland believed these marriages were forbidden by the law of God, and he never recollected a question on which there had been so much unanimity of tooling as the feeling against the Bill in Scotland. There was no question on which the fed ins of the people of Scotland ought more to be consulted and regarded than the law of marriage. The Lord Ad vocate, in stating the law of Scotland on this question, had omitted an essential point of the existing !Iles, which would be found to contradict the view he had given. The LORD ADVOCATE here corrected the Right Hon. Gentleman. Sir G. CLERK repeated that as the feeling of Scot land had been so decidedly pronounced against this B►ll it ought to be rejected. He should vote for the amend ment. Colonel THOMPSON, as an Englishman,could not help feeling that England w a the foremost in progress of the three kingdoms—for whenever Bills eonsonait to the a d vance o f the age were passed for England, and an at tempt made to extend them to Scotland and Ireland, they were always met by opposition. There was a great difference between the sentiments of Scotchmen when in England and when in Scotland. In England Scotch men had admitted to him there was in Scotland an over whelming ecclesiastical power which they would resist if they could. He had himself experienced a strange example of this feeling in Scot and. When in Scot land some time ago he called on a man of literary notoriety in Princes•street. It was on Sunday, and the conversation was on certain dry mathematical points which were attributed to Pythagoras. He was about to touch one or two notes on a pianoforte which was in the room—not for the purpose of playing " Cosi fan tutte" or anything of that sort, but merely to illustrate the points in question by touching one or two musical notes. "Beware how you do that," said the Scotch gentleman; " beware how you let the sound of a pianoforte be heard in Princes-street. You will not feel the consequehcos, but I shall. I have an eye on me, though you have not."—(Hear, hear.) The truth was, many of the people of Scotland knew that the prohibition was not supported by scriptural rules; on the contrary, they held the prohibition to be anti scriptural and and anti-Christian. If these had been the times for dying on such a subject, they would have been as ready to do so as the men who lived in the days when they were wont to speak of dying for the Prostestant Reformation—but how willing they were to die in those days he would not venture to determine,—(A laugh.) The position of the question was exactly the same. Now he believed t p ray i t o h g a t and the rhecee beseeching no e Com mittee yto give them the advantage of the advanced state of opinion in England on this and similar subjects. thceot Houseland a po wer f u l mi nority, and the ashiineg S Mr. F. SCOTT moved that the Chairman report pro gress; but After a few words from Mr. F. MAULE, the Com mittee divided, when there appealed — For the proviso to exempt Scotland 137 Against it . . ••• 144 Majority ..• •-• ••• --7 The clause was then agreed to; and, on the motion of Captain BOLDER°, The Rinse resumed. The CHAIRMAN reported progress, and obtained leave to sit again on the 13:h of June. COURT OF PREROGATIVE (IRELAND) BILL. Mr. KEOGH moved the second reading of this Bill, and said, it the House agreed to that motion, he shoulu not object to the Bill being referred to a Select Com mittee. Sir R. INGLIS objected to a Bill, involving such a change as this Bill proposed, being read a second time without any discussion, at. one o'clock in the morning. After a short conversation, in which Mr. Reynolds, Sir R. Inglis, and Mr. Bouverie took part, Sir G. u REY said .he thought that was a fit subject to be referred" to a Select Committee, and expressed a hope that Ihe Bill would then be read a second time. After a few words from Mr. Grogan, Mr. Keogh, and Mr. Turner, the House divided, when there apieared— For the adjournment of the debate ... 34 Against it... ... ... 91 Majority ... ••• •-• —57 Mr. REYNOLDS moved the adjournment of the Home. The House divided, when there appeared— ... 20 ••. ••• 95 Majority ... ••• ••• —75 Colonel CHATTERTON moved the adjournment of he debate. For the motion ... Againit it. . After a short conversation the House divided, whin here appeared— For the motion ... ... 20 Against it 83 Majority ... ... .. —63 An How. MEMBER again moved the adjournment of he House. Sir G. GREY recommended the Hon. and Learned Member for Athlone not to persevere on that occasion with the second reading of the Bill, as it was always in the power of a minority effectually to thwart the pro gress of business in the House. Mr. KEOGH acceded to the suggestion. The debsta on the second reading of the Bill was then postponed till this day. STAMP DUTIES (No. 2). The order of the day for bringing up the report on these duties having been read, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER stated, in reply to Sir H. Willoughby, that he had no means of estimating the precise effect which the Bill would have in the different portions of the scale, because h• could not ascertain what was the special use made of any par- ticular class of stamps. The report was then brought up, and leave was given to bring in a Bill founded on the resolutions. Mr. ANSTEY obtained leave to bring in a Bill to amend the law relating to engines used in the rivers and on the coast of Ireland for the taking of fish. The Marquis of CHANDOS obtained leave to bring in a Bill to provide for the better maintenance and repair of bridges in boroughs. The House adjourned at Twenty minutes put Two o'clock. .NEWSVEtVDERS' BENEVOLENT AND PROVIDENT INSTITUTION. Last night the eleventh annual general meeting of the above society was held at Anderton's Hotel, Fleet-street. It may be stated that some years ago this institu tion was formed for the purpose of granting tempo rary relief, as well as permanent assistance, to mas ters and servants engaged as venders of newspapers. The chair was taken by James Harmer, Esq., the president. The business of the evening was com menced by the chairman calling on the secretary to read th e t haantntuhael institution was From n that m i t ap pearedus in a position give great satisfaction to every well-regulated mind, and that its proceedings have not been unattended with success. At the first annual dinner which took place at the Albion Tavern, in the November of last year, at which Mr. Charles Dickens presided, no less a sum than 2001. was subscribed and added to the funds. It was the duty of the committee to state, that during the past year not one application for relief had been made by any s ubscriber. One party, how ewas not a subscriber, and r, that r e 1 factief who was somewhat fearful of making any applicati on . He was relieved, however, v e who had receivedfro m and the pains of death-bed in some measure soothed. The report concluded by calling on the newsvenders and parties concerned to do their best to promote the objects of the society. The treasurer was then called upon to read his report of the fieancial department. The following account was then read :-Balance at audit May 15, 1849, in the treasurer's hands 11/. 105.9 d. Receipts-Profit annual -dinner in Nov. last, 2011. 64. Bd.; dividends on stock, 301 1 ls. Bd. ; donations and subscriptions, 441.25. 6cl---2761. Os. 10d. total 2871. 112. 7d. 1850-May 14, balance in trea surer's hands, 571. 10s. 10d. ; stock in the Three per Cent. Consols, 1,2001. Paymenta-Purchase of stock, 1911. 17s. 6d.; pension to J. Edwards, 16/. temporary relief cases, 41.; printing, Sm., 81. 9s. Id. ; use of hall, 21.105. ; collector's commission, 9 /. 43. 2d.; secretary's salary, 51.; May, 1850, balance in trea surer's hands, 571. 10s. 10d. ; total, 2 87/. 118. 7d. Mr. WILD moved that the report be adopted, printed, and distributed among the subscribers. He hoped that better days were no w s miling upon them than formerly, when they bad to contend with several difficulties. He saw no reason whatever why that in stitution should not become one of the first in the metropolis. Only one person had become a candidate during the last year, which arose from the circum stance that the rules required that no person should be a pensioner on the funds unless he had previously been a subscriber for five years, and employed in the news trade for ten years; but as their society became older no doubt the applicants would be much increased in number, for most certainly the news trade deserved the support of the public. Mr. THOMPSON seconded the motion. He thought it was the duty of every news agent to join their so ciety, no less from benevolent motives than as a mea sure of positive prudence. He trusted their funds would be so much increased that they might be en abled to pension a large number of candidates. The motion was then passed unanimously. Mr. GILBERT moved the second resolution, record ing the deep obligations of the society to Charles Dickens, Esq., for his kindness in filling the chair at their dinner in November last, by which the society had been so much benefited, and that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to that gentleman. It was the duty both of masters and servants to aid that in stitution to the utmost of their power. It was a dis grace to any member of their trade who did not sub• scribe to their funds. Nr. TERRY seconded the motion, which was unani mously adopted. Mr. MERRETT proposed a vote of thanks to the stewards of the late annual dinner, which, being se conded by Mr. Gravett, was unanimously adopted. Mr. noels moved thanks to those journals which had hitherto noticed their proceedings, which being seconded by Mr. COUTTS, was adopted. FRIDAY. EVENING, MAT. 17, 1850. n tb.10 , _7 of 0 - ._r t -)l.‘T tre4t,urtr, or ins p4st acid itioveLl that he till the same office for the ensuing year; which motion was seconded by Mr. TnomrsoN, and unani mously passed. The committee and other officers having been re elected, Mr. GILBERT moved the thanks of the meeting to their Chairman, for the manner in which he had so efficiently conducted their proceedings, and for his great exertions and liberality in supporting the insti tution which they had met to promote. Mr. WILD seconded the motion, which was passed unanimously. JAMES HAUMEE, Esq., responded, and the meeting separated. THE BRITISH ELECTRIC TELE GRAPH COMPANY. Yesterday this company's Bill, for the establish ment of a new Electric Telegraph Company, came on in Committee, consisting of the Hon. Cornwall Legh, chairman, Marquis of Worcester, Viscount Anson, Mr. Manners Sutton, and Mr. Bagge. Mr. Sergeant Wrangham, Q.C., and Mr. Webster, appeared for the promoters of the Bill, and Mr. Talbot, Q.C., and Mr. Hope for the Electric Telegraph Company. Mr. Sergeant Wrangham, at considerable length, opened the case for the promoters by stating that they were desirous of supplying the public with electric telegraphs on a more economical scale, and on a more improved plan than obtained at the present moment. Arrangements for this purpose had been made by the company with Messrs. Highton, the pa tentees of improved electric telegraphs. At the pre sent moment there were in the United Kingdom about 6,000 miles of railway open, of which little more than 2,000 miles were supplied with tele graphs, leaving 4,000 miles without that facility. In addition to this, a great many important cities and towns were without the advantage of electric telegraphs. By the proposed measure those already supplied would be supplied at a lower rate, while on the public generally there would be con ferred the additional advantage of competition. There were nearly 2,000 miles of railway now con structing, besides 5,000 miles for which Acts had been obtained, which at present were in abeyance, but which might with a single way and the electric tele graph, be constructed at from one-half to two-thirds of their present estimated cost. The instruments and apparatus of the British Electric Telegraph Company were much superior in principle, cheapness, expedi tion, and certainty, to those used by the existing company, and the promoters of the new company sought to extend their operations by obtaining an Act of Parliament to enable more than twelve persons to be owners of the patents, and to work them for the benefit of the public. Powers were intended to be taken to place the wires underground, so as to be out of the reach of damage, and from the effects of atmospheric electricity—a great drawback under the present system. The telegraphs under the plans proposed by the new company could be erected at less than one-half the cost of the existing telegraph company, and the public would consequently be be nefited in that ratio. The only petitioners against the Bill were the present Electric Telegraph Com pany, who, of course, sought to retain their monopoly. Their petitions stated that the wires of the new com pany would interfere with theirs, that they could not be laid down without their consent, and that their interests as a public company were to be protected by Parliament. Mr. Talbot, Q.C., for the Electric Telegraph Company, contended, at length, that the plans of the British Telegraph Company were infringements on some of the patents which the Electric Telegraph Company already had in their possession ; and that the breaking up of the streets to lay down new wires would be attended with inconvenience. On the room being cleared on the question of the locus standi of the Electric Tele graph Company, and on the parties being re-admitted the Hon. Chairman said—The Committee cannot give any decision to-day, the Speaker being at prayers ; but it may be convenient to tell you what would be their decision to-morrow. The Committee have de cided that they do not think the petitioners against the promoters of the Bill have any locus standi against the preamble of the Bill; but I am desired by the Committee to say that in our progress through the Bill we shall be extremely glad to hear any ob jections that can be brought forward by the peti tioners against any of the clauses. We will give our consideration to any of the clauses that may be intro duced, and that they may think will affect their in terest in any way. The Committee then adjourned to this day at twelve o'clock. CAPT. AUSTIN'S ARCTIC EXPE- DITION. We 'have private correspondence from Captain Austin's Arctic expedition, from Stromness, dated May 13. The Resolute, Captain Austin, C. 8., ar rived at the Long Hope, Orkneys, on the 11th, with the Dasher and African steamers. The Intrepid, screw-schooner, Lieutenant Commander B. Cator arrived on the 10th ; Pioneer, screw-schooner, Lieut Commander Osborn, arrived on the 11th; and the Emma Eugenia, freight-ship, in tow of the Light ning, steam-tender, Master Commander Petley, ar rived on the 12th. They were to start again in a day or two; and we may next expect to hear from the expedition from the Whale-fish Islands. The following are extracts from our letters : " Her Majesty's ship --, off Pentland Frith, Friday. " We have been knocking about the North Sea ever since my last, with very unpleasant weather, and have at last arrived at the entrance of the Pentland Frith. Both tenders have parted company, and I fear there will be some difficulty in keeping together. We had a strong gale a few days since, and the screw-tender appeared to labour frightfully. As for the sailing vessels they are as easy and as handy as can be wished. Our crews appear well satisfied, and we are now beginning to find out what they are made of; there is lots of good stuff in them; and, as far as health is concerned, no one has been sick as yet, al though the weather has been rather trying. I think we are in very good time, and will be able to afford a few days for shooting at Whale-fish Islands. " Saturday. " We have just got an Orkney pilot on board, and we are about to send the steamer to Stromness, and anchor at the Hope. We are now in sight of 'John o'Groat's House.' I can hardly believe this dismal-looking coast to be part of Great Britain. "9 r.m. We are now at anchor at the Long Hope. The ca ,twin goes to Stromness to-morrow, and i believe we sail on Monday." An accident, which might have been attended with fatal consequences to one of the best petty officers in the squadron, took place on board the Intrepid screw tender. George Murray, ice-quartermaster, being in charge of the watch at seven, P.M., all hands being employed securing the boats, and close-reefing the s tits, the commander remarked to Murray that the lee-boom topping-lift was unhooked. Not liking to send a tnan to a place rather dangerous at the time, Murray went himself. He had no sooner got on the boom end than the man at the helm inadvertently let the vessels come up in the wind, thereby jibing the main boom. All hands immediately ran to the mainsheet, to shorten it in, so as to steady the boom ; when, in the confusion, they let go of it. The boom then swung seven or eight times across the deck and over the quarter-deck, from rigging to rigging with fear ful velocity. Murray still held on by the topping lift until he saw he must either have his brains knocked out by falling on desk, or be precipitated into the sea. He thereupon chose rather to run the risk of a watery grave than to break his neck ; so be sprang from the boom while it was over the quarters, and dropped some twenty feet from the ship. It was blowing a fresh gale at the time, and a heavy cross sea on, so that the ship had little way, and, being able to swim well, he soon regained her side. Every effort was made to save him, but the boats were all lashed for sea service. The captain threw a cork life-buoy, with a line fast to it, which he got hold of, and was hauled in by it. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. The Right Hon. the First Lord of the Admiralty entertained his colleagues and the heads of depart ment, in honour of the Queen's birthday, on Wednes day last, at the Admiralty. There were present on that occasion the Admiral of the Fleet, Sir T. B. Martin, G.C.8., Rear-Admiral Deans Dundas, C. 13., M.P., Rear-Admiral the Hon. M. F. Berkeley, C. 13. M.P., Captain llouston Stewart, C. 8., Captain A. Mike, Mr. Parker, M.P., First Secretary ; Ca p tain W. A, B. Hamilton, Second Secretary; Admiral Sir C. Adams, K.C.8., Governor and Rear-Admiral Sir James Gordon, K.C.8., Lieutenant -Governor of Greenwich Hospital ; Rear-Admiral Sir W. Pell, and Sir 11. Hart, Commissioners of GrFenwich ; Commodore-Superintendent Eden, Captain Lord Hallyburton, the heads of departments at Somerset House ; Captain Sir Baldwin W. Walker, K.C.8., Surveyor of the Navy; the lion. Mr. Dundas, Storekeeper-General; Lieut. Col. Green, Chief Di rector of Works ; Mr. Crowder, Q.C., Mr. Robson, Colonel Owen, C. 8., R.M., Adjutant-General ; Commandant Parke, C. 8., Captain Sir G. Pechell, Bart., M.P., Dr. Sir W.Burnett, F R.S., Medical Director. General ; Captain Townsend, Commander Fordyce, M.P., &c. DEVoNpoRT, MAY 15.—We have had a grand re view, in honour of her I‘l9jesty's birthday. All the troops assembled on Mount Wise, with the exception of those on guard, and the firing was very good ; but the veterans have praise of beating both the ma rines and line. The ships also fired at noon. The Otter, steam-packet, from Holyhead, arrived yesterday morning. Orders are down to pay off both the Otter and Fire-Queen at this port. Lieutenant William H. Connolly (1846) died on Tuesday last at the residence of his father, Major General Connolly, R.M., King's-terrace, South,ea. Toe gallant deceased was only twenty-nine years of age. His illness commenced some months back while a , rving 41),Tt SAI. C ir PCIT;.OI Fbip he vus mach tsieeiutd uiiU ue:uveu uy huin utiictra and crew. Commander Fiyrer, is about to fit his patent w'neel-stop on board the Dauntless, steam-frigate, at Portsmouth. In a notice we gave some time since, we explained that this invention is to prevent the men at the wheel, when steering the ship, from being thrown over it, when the ship may be struck by a heavy sea. Commander Read goes out in the Avon, West India packet . , that sails to-day from Southampton, to join the Itnautn, Commodore's ship at Jamaica. TILE CUCKOO STEAM-VESSEL SUlNK.—lntelligence was brought to Portsmouth yesterday morning that the Birkenhead, troop-steamer, Commander StevenA, had arrived at Jersey, from Cork, with the 26th Re giment on board ; and we are sorry to say that the Cuckoo steamer, Commander Dutnaresq, in conveying a party of this regiment to the lauding place at St. llilliers, in consequence of a beacon being washed away, grazed a rock and knocked a hole in her bottom. She ran alongside the wharf, however, and the soldiers were landed safely, but the Cuckoo sunk alongside. She can, it is said, be easily raised again. The Birkenhead proceeds on to Dover before she re turns to Portsmouth. PORTSMOTJTII, THURSDAY.—The Ajax, GO, steam guard-ship, Captain Quin, it is expected will sail next week for Queenstown. The Thetis, 40, Captain Codrington, C. 8., will be paid off at Plymouth on her return from her present cruise. _ _ Commander Forsyth's expedition (Lady Franklin's rather) is fitting out with much dispatch, and we are happy to state subscriptions are coming in rapidly in furtherance of the grand object. Besides the general subscription lists another has been opened by a private firm to assist in the good work, Shaw, Maxwell, and Co., of Salisbury-street, Strand. _ WOOLWICH, MAY 16.—The Desperate, 8, steam sloop, of 400-horse power, fitted with engines by Maudslay, Sans, and Field, was towed down the river to Woolwich to-day from the East India Docks, Blackwell, by the Jasper and the Advice steam vessels, and is now ;eking ballast on board prepara tory to being tried down the river on Monday week, the 27th inst. The Desperate is fitted with a screw propeller. The Inflexible steam-frigate bad her steam up in the basin to-day to try her engines, and will soon be ready for service. The Retribution steam-frigate is ordered to be ex pedited in order that she may be ready by the let of July next, as it is expected, if affairs on the continent remain in a quiet state, that her Majesty and Prince Albert will visit Gibraltar and Malta during the ap proaching season, and the Inflexible and Retribution form two of the vessels of the royal squadron. The Princess Alice, Dover mail steam-packet, in having new boilers made for her at the factory at Woolwich Dockyard, and will shortly come round to have them put on hoard. LITERAT URE. THE ZOIST. No. XXIX. The present is a very interesting number of this ex cellently conducted quarterly journal of cerebral phy siology and mesmerism. Tne remarkable case of severe hysteria cured by mesmerism, written by Dr. Guisan, of Vevey in Switzerland, and communicated by the Hon. Caroline Courtenay Boyle, is so re markable in itself, and is so completely authenticated by honourable persons, who can have no possible in terest in misleading, as to imperatively call upoi, medical men calmly and impartially to investigate the powers of mesmerism es a therapeutic and am, anaesthetic agent. The following observations on the tiFcessity of investigation by Dr. Elliotson, in a pa.e On the Superstitions of Mesmerism," appear to us particularly worthy of attention : " Now all the phenomen of mesmerism are a part of na•ural knowledge, and therefore es deserving of invee• tigation as any other part. To doubt this in regard 0 toe ord,nary niestnerie phenomena, shows a person to b nut a whit superior to a priest of the middle ages or a peasant of an Paiian village. Our business is only to ascertain whether each point is tree; and this is more over a duty, far the subject far transcends all the sciences of inanimate nature. cud is one of the must useful arts. Mesmeric sleep-waking, from what appears pri found corns to high activity; rigidity, lessened and heightened sensibility; peculiar susceptibility of impressions from various inanimate objects and from living beings; mental attractions and repulsions; the excitement of individual cerebral organs, &c., are only such phenomena as are at present too generally admitted for a person to deny them without exposing himsell to ridicule. Higher phenomena are not so generally admitted, and some of them are fan cied to be supernatural. Cerebral sympathy of sensation, even of information and emotion, may be admitted and thought natural; clairvoyance, so far as it consists of an intuitive knowledge of the course of a disease and its remedies, in the patient him)elf, or even in another person ; of knowing present objects of vision without the eyes; nay, the power of influencing another by the mere will, may bc admitted. But the higher clairvoyance which perceives the absent and distant, the past and the future, is doubted, and, if believed, considered preter natural. If these things are true, they are of necessity in the course of nature; and the mode of effgcting them must be a natural process. We have no miraculous faculties, nor can anything we do bo miraculous; nor can it or anything we do be necessarily wrong, unless it never can t e dune with good results and without mischief. As the higher varieties of clairvoyance, if true, must be natural facts, the whole deserve close investigation." THE LAND WE LITE IN. Part XXXII. In the current number of this popular periodical— " the pictorial and literary sketch-book of the British Empire"—we find an illustrated description of the " Exhibitions of London." But for the extreme cheapness, completeness, and compactness of several hand-books to the metropolis recently published, we should anticipate as large a circulation of the present instalment of the Land We Live In as it unquestionably deserves. Tne embellishments accompanying the letter press represent St. James's Park near Buckingham Palace, the Britiah Institu tion, the National Gallery, the Society of Arts, Soane's Museum, and includes a variety of sketches from the larger pictures of Barry. The literary matter associated with these excellent engravings 1, remarkable for its intelligence. DRESSMAKERS' AND MILLINERS ASSOCIATION. This association, formed in 1843 for the aid and benefit of this class of persons, held their annual meet ing yesterday at the rooms of the Statistical Society, No. 12, St. James's-square. In the absence of Lord Ashley, the Earl of Arundel and Surrey presided, and read a letter from Lord Ashley expressive of his regret at not being able to attend. The annual report was read by Dr Gavin, which congratulated the supporters of the association on the success that had ettended their eff Its to ameliorete the condition of those engaged in dre.‘stnaking. The system pm sued and its results bad been investigated by persons who were practically acquainted with the business, and the opinion they had recorded was uniforinb favourab!e to the institution. The hours of woik had been reduced in London on the whole, and much more att , ntion was paid generally to the health and comfort of the young females. 'rile subscriptions during the past year were insuffi cient to meet the expenses, though they had received sev,-ral generous donations, and among others 501. from Lady Hoghton, of Astley Hall, Lancashire. The number of persons registered by the as sociation was fewer last year than during several yea rs, the diminution was accounted for by the great generiatli increase of emigration. The report observed with satisfaction an increase in day workers, ewhicloh y t m en en de ts. tended to assimilate dressmaking with other employments. With the view of establishing a provident fund, the a b g e e e n n t o a f u t t h h e o r s e be to receive deposits, and to a 0 s manager of the instituti e o t n as b a a n d i- The the statementseveral sums ot.ae cwoouunitds showedbe placed a tors, in whose naln T e h t in a savings bank. debt of 1101. incurred by the associetion during the past year—the receipts having been 3371., and the ex penditure 447/.lBs. On the motion of Mr. Robert Dick son, M.D., sec onded . by Mr. L , evi, the rep or t was unan i mo usly adopted. (The Earl of Arundel was here obliged, from a previous engagement, to resign the chair, and was succeeded by General Kenah, G B.) The ladies committee and the committee of gentlemen were then named for the ensuing year, and votes of thanks were passed to those who had been connected with the association. A vote of thanks to the chairman having been unanimously passed, General Kenah, in returning thanks, begged to men tion that it had been ascertained that one or two persons had taken advantage of the cessation of a society similar to their own, called " The Dress makers' and Milliners' Home," to impose upon the benevolent public by illegally collecting subscriptions in the name of that society, and keeping the sums subscribed. He cautioned the public to be upon their guard against such impostors. PERSONAL ADVENTURES IN UPPER AND LOWER CALIFortmA, BY W. R. RYAN, ESQ.—" Mr. Shoberl signa lises his publishing career with great activity, and has this; week presented us with a characteristic account of California, whither so many hopes and wishes tend. Mr. Ryan's story is full of strange adventure, and his accounts of all cb;sses of the p• pulation in the wild and unsettled country through which he passed afford a very striking picture of man (vari ous races) in an extraordinary condition, curbed, and aiming at one engulphing object." —Literary Gazette. w i t h passions un [ADvElitTisEmFlNT.] ITGlloway's Ointment and Pills a never-failing Remedy for the Cure of Scurvy and Scor butic Humours.—Thomas Andrews. of Sutton-street, New castle, had been severely afflict ed for years with scurvy an d scoff butic humours all over hi e bod y ; he had been under the treatment of several medical men, but to no purpose, and at last he was pronounced in curable; the poor fellow then, a forlorn hope, commence d using Holloway's Ointment and Pill s ' which so effectually eradicated the disease from his system that in the course of six weeks he 'vas enabled to resume his former employment, and his skin is now as clean in appearance as that of an infant.—Sold by all Druggists, and at Professor Hol loway's E s tablishment, 244, Strand, London. r►`ITTT;T rTn,cITT, 11. r Ltuyal illgouess r, 7, r Ductless of K. bisitA the Queen yesterday. Tne Duke and Duchess de Nemours also paid a visit to her Majesty yesterday, at Buckingham Palace. His Royal Highness Prince Albert rode out on horseback yesterday, attended by Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. A. Gordon. Ilis Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, attended by Mr. Birch, took a drive yesterday morning in an open carriage. His Royal Highness Prince Albert presided yes terday after noon at a meeting of the Royal Com mission for the promotion 05 the Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations to be held in the year 1851. His Royal Highness arrived at the new Palace of Westminster at three o'clock, attended by Lieut.- Col. the Hon. A. Gordon. The Commissioners present were the Duke of Buccleucb, Earl Granville, Lord Overstone, Slr Robert P:fel, Sir Richard West mscott, Mr. J Shepherd, Mr. C )bden, M.P., Mr. Cubit', Mr. T. F. Gibson, Mr. PuAey, M.P., and Mr. R. Stephenson. Mr. Scott Russell and Mr. Stafford Northeote, secretaries to the Royal Commission, were in atterdance. Col. Reid, R.E., Chairman of the Executive Committee, was also present. Before the meeting of the Royal Commission, the Building Committee assembled yesterday morning, in the new Palace of Westminster. There were present the Duke of Buccleuch, Mr. Barry, Mr. Cubitt, Mr. R. Stephenson, Mr. C. R. Cockerell, and Mr. T. L. Donaldson. Mr. Scott Russell, Secretary to the Royal Commission, was in attendance, and Mr. Digby Wyatt was also in attendance. The members of the Building Committee had an interview with Prince Albert and the Royal Com missioners. The meeting broke up at half-past six o'clock. Their Royal Highnesses Prince Alfred, the Prin • cess Royal, the Princess Alice, the Princess Helena, and the Princess Louisa, took their usual exercise yesterday in the garden of Buckingham Palace. Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent and the Duchess of Gloucester visited her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians yesterday. The Duke and Duchess de Nemours also paid a visit to the Queen of the Belgians yesterday, at Buckingham Palace. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, accom panied by his Serene Highness the Prince of Leinin gen, honoured her Majesty's Theatre with their pre sence yesterday evening. Her Royal Highness was attended by Lady Anna Msria Dawson and Lord James Murray. _ _ A Cabinet - Council was held yesterday, at the Foreign-office. It was attended by Lord John Rus sell, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Minto, Sir George Grey, Viscount Palmerston, Earl Grey, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Francis Baring, Sir John Hobhouse, the Earl of Carlisle, the Right Hon. H. Labouchere, and the Right Hon. Fox Manic. rhe Council sat three hours. A deputation from the Corporation of London upon the M.tropolitan Interments Bill, consisting of Sir James Duke, M.P.,Mr. Masterman, M.P., Mr. Low, Mr. Deputy Harrison, Mr. John Wood, Mr. H. L. Taylor, and the City Remembrancur, bad an inter with Sir George Grey, yesterday at the Home office. A deputation from the Committee of the Protest ant Dissenting Deputies on the Metropolis Interments Bill had an interview yesterday with Sir George Grey. The deputation consi,ted of M-. J. R Mills (chairman), Mr. John Wilks, Mr. Juhu Bennett, .ind the S , cretary. Hi. Excellency the Turkish Ambassador left town yesti-rda , .., fur the Hague, by way of C.lais, accom rmieci by Sidik B-y, second secretary to the em bassy, and Yaver Effendi, private secretary. The tile., secretary of the embassy, C. , ..b0u1y Et ndi, who nas lately been promoted to the rail of euncionary .4 the second cla.s, remains as C,iarge d'Aff.tires luring the Ambassador's absence. According to the official announcement in the Con stantinople Journal, of the 24th April, M. ZJhrab Ottoman, Consul- General in this country and first attaché to the Turkish Embassy, has been promoted to the rank of a functionary of the third class, in re ward for his good and faithful services during the thirteen years that he has occupied these posts. Sadtk Bey, second secretary to the Embassy, has also been promoted to the rank of a functionary of the third class. M. Agop Divitgian and Dilaver Effendi, both at taches to the Ottoman Embassy, have lately arrived from Constantinople. A meeting of the Committee appointed by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, to communi cate with the local committees of the metropolis, was held yesterday at the Board of Trade. There were present Earl Granville (chairman), the Marquis of Salisbury, Viscount Canning, Lord Ashburton, Sir John Boileau, Bart., the High Bailiff of Westminster, Mr. Cardwell, M.P., Mr. Locke, M.P., Mr. T. Gibson, sen., Mr. Field, and Mr. Manby. Colonel Reid, R.E., chairman of the Executive Committee, and Dr. Lyon Playfair were also present. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England had a general meeting, at their office in Whitehall-place, yesterday. The Marquis of Salisbury had an interview with Sir George Grey yesterday. Archdeacon Berens, and Mr. 'William Keogb, had also interviews yester day with Sir George Grey. Dispatches were sent off yesterday evening from the Colonial-office for the Governors of the West India colonies. RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE. SOUTH YORKSHIRE, DONCASTER, AND GOOLE.— Mr. Sheridan reported from the Committee that the objects of the Bill were to make a diversion of the main line, 1 miles in length, near Doncaster, and of a short branch therefrom, a quarter of a mile in length, the construction of which will not involve any further outlay of capital beyond that which the company are at present authorised to raise, the steepest gradient being one in 107, and the smallest radius of a curve one furlong ; three roads to be crossed on the level. The clauses for the increase of tolls had been struck out by the committee. A clause was inserted in the Bill enabling the company, at the discretion of a general meeting, to give a priority of dividend, not exceeding 7 per cent., to certain of their shares. The other Bill, for the amendment of Acts devia tions, to Wadworth, &c., will not involve the neces sity of any further outlay of capital beyond that which the company are at present authorised to raise. The steepest gradient is 1 in 63, upon a coal branch, on which the traffic will descend, and smallest radius w o e f t a he c r .u n rv iie e } I m 2 ii,s chaiinn length,s 'fh . e and the two deviationsexte nextension n are f t :h o e - Elseear brunch 2i miles ; the extensions and devia tions to cros , 18 roads on the leve l. Estimated cost of works 208,000/. Land required, 125 acres. ADERDEEN.-011 Tuesday the preawhl. of this comoany'N Bid, to enable them to raise 150.0001 _. and to repeal the Amalg amation Act with the reat North of Scotland Railway, was passed by the Com mittee. ? w e o r u iri n t d ,na 7 ric and e of settled,ac c ommittee under mitt eetb ofe G REA T LEEDS AND LONDON DIRECT.—The pre• roo t e r s of this concern annuuuce that its affairs havi e e n chgtoi be e n°l shareholders er s a n d superintendence f u ll yu appointed in 1845, a further and final dividend of ss. 6d. is now payable to the sub scribers. RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS. BRISTOL, MAY 16. STocK EXCHANGE.—The share market was firm to-day, and a considerable amount of business was done, principally in the Bristol aad Exeter and Great Western lines. The transactions were as follow : Great Western, Quarters, 13% —Ditto, 17/. Shares, 8 dis,—Bristol and Exeter, Thirds, 121/ e dis—Midland, Preterence, 1191, 2 . LIVERPOOL, MAY 16. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The market has been firm to-day at the quotations. The transactions were as follow : Lanca shire and Yorkshire, Fifth, 10 1 4 dis.—London and North- Western, 103 c.—Ditto, New Quarters, 1 dig.—Ditto, Fifths, 1.: 2 die,—Blanchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, Pre ference, 7—Midland, 33 1 4—Ditto, Halves, 2111. ls. ad dia. -- South-Eastern and Dover, 13/. 16s. 3d. Ditto (No. 4), Registered, 4%—Ditto, Thirds, 43,4—York, Newcastle, ami Berwick (G. N. E. Purchase), 6 per cent. till 18',0, 6:ig dis.—Belfast and Ballymena, 179.—Great Northern, 15 1 •4 dia. —Great Western, 53iii—Great Southern and Western (Ire land), 31. MANCHESTER, MAY 16. STOCK EXCHANGE.— Our share market was firm to. day, and a fair amount of business has been done. The transactions were as follow :—Lo ndon and North.Weetern_ Manchester and Birmingham , Q uarters (C), n. p.....xh ia — : cheater, Sheffield, and Lincoln shire, Preference, 7 I_l6— North Staffordshire, 10 1-16 dis. —South.Eastern and Dover consol. (No. 4), 4 3 /s . B IRMINGHAM, MAY 16. STOCK EXCHANGE —The only transaction s t o -d ay were— . South Staffordsh ire, 4 d is.— Shropshire Un ion, 3 1-16 dis. YORK, MAY 15. .—Th7et„,6tranNsactiOn s to-day were as fol- G un z ires, —. orth British, 7 ►„ z —North . re 71 4 —York, Newcastle, and Berwick, 1” Staffordslii , _. d North Midland, York an GLANGow . , MAy 14. SroCK EXCNANGE.— The transactions to-day were as fol low: - Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and Ayr, 40—Ditto. halves (No. 2), s—Edinburgh and Glasgow (Stirling Midland lol S v " i -- c L g ' a s E t e x r c n if t.; N o Junction), gu Iranteed 5 per cent., zo7i—Monkland, 6 per cent. guaranteed, 15%. Frowns you n g b li g htpnt zrf c o oo h h i , l , d7:z i. frosty nights blight Ms• Grtoom's TULIP SHOW.—Th, private view of the superb collection of tulips cultivated at the garden of Mr Groom, at Clapham, was afforded yesterday to many of the nobility and others inte.rested in II , riculture. The bed, containing upward:. of 2,000 tulips, displayed the scientific skill of the grower, and exhibited some of the rarest speci mens of the flowers. Amongst the varieties were the Victoria I:egina, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Sutherland, Marshal Soult, Imperatrix Florum, &c. The coldness of the weather has in some degree prevented the full development of the flower-, which are, nevertheless, in a perfect healthy sate. The collection is among the best which the cultivator has produced lit t t,e course of the day his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge paid a visit to the grounds, and a large number of the aristocracy.